This paper presents the design of a high frequency zero voltage switching (ZVS) full-bridge converter with a phase-shifted driving signal for photovoltaic applications. The resonant power converter can provide high-power capacity under high-frequency operation. The proposed power converter can also reduce the size of the transformer under the same power rating. The high-frequency transformer was developed by using the resonant and switching frequencies of the power converter to reduce the switching loss and to improve the system efficiency. Phase-shifted modulation was selected to drive the switches of a full-bridge power converter based on the switching loss minimization method. The desired output voltage was controlled using a closed-loop controller under a loop gain stability margin. The simulation results showed that the output voltage can be controlled to the desired constant when the input voltage changes from 30 VDC to 60 VDC. The desired output voltage of power converter is constant at 400 VDC. The power converter can transfer the DC supply to a 220 VAC household via grid-connected inverter. Therefore, the proposed study showed the effectiveness of the phase-shift ZVS full-bridge power converter with high-frequency transformer. This power converter can control the operation of the desired voltage system and has a small sizing of power converter system, low switching loss, and high system efficiency.

Acetylcholine (ACh) is the best one characterized neurotransmitter. Its central roles in the cholinergic areas and central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral (PNS) synapses are well known. It was the first molecule identified as a neurotransmitter and appears to be phylogenetically the oldest one signaling molecules. ACh was detected in bacteria, protozoa, fungi, algae and primitive plants, indicating that the cholinergic system was widely distributed in living organisms before its appearance in the nervous system. The autonomous nervous system (ANS) is an integral part animal kingdom history. It determines fight-escape reactions as well as outlining the vital and cognitive functions bio-organization rhythms. The virus (Covid-19) extraneous effects acting on it could help to better understand its functions. The Blast results show some factors like protein that can be implicated such as bungaro-toxins, phospholipase A2 and the similar prothrombin activator protein. A positive correlation with different toxins is obtained and the Covid-19 double pathogenic mechanism theory is proposed. The process allows us to outline the possibility about toxic-like factors presence.

While the knowledge about the development of understanding positive integers is rapidly growing, the development of understanding zero is not well-known. Here we tested several components of preschoolers’ understanding zero: whether they can use empty sets in numerical tasks, whether they can use empty sets soon after they understand the cardinality principle, whether they know what the word “zero” refers to, and whether they categorize zero as a number. The results show that preschoolers can handle empty sets in numerical tasks as soon as they understand the cardinality principle or even earlier, and some of them know that these sets are labeled as “zero.” However, they are unsure whether zero is a number. These results identify three components of knowledge about zero: operational knowledge, linguistic knowledge, and meta knowledge. To account for these results we propose that preschoolers might understand numbers as the properties of items or objects in a set. In this view, zero cannot be a number, because an empty set does not include any items, and the missing items cannot have any property, excluding also the number property. This model might explain why zero is handled correctly in numerical tasks, while it is not regarded to be a number.

The economic, social and environmental benefits generated by the use of urban public transportation infrastructure constitute a complex dynamic urban public transportation infrastructure utilization benefit system. This paper evaluates the coupling coordination among these three benefits taking four Chinese autonomous municipalities as an example. These four cities have large-scale urban public transportation infrastructures but their utilization has many serious problems. The basic function of urban public transportation infrastructure has not been fully played in these cities. Whether the different benefits of urban public transportation infrastructure have been developed in harmony or not is unclear. We analyzed the coordinated development among three benefits by constructing coupling coordination degree model and used Gini coefficient to study the difference of coordinated development among three benefits of four cities. The result shows that the levels of coordinated development among three benefits of urban public transportation infrastructure were lower in these four cities and have positive correlation with it of urban public transportation infrastructure utilization benefit. Raising the level of urban public transportation infrastructure utilization benefit is the most crucial solution of promoting the coordinated development among three benefits.

The aim of this article is to summarize recent bioinformatic and statistical developments applicable to NMR-based metabolomics. Extracting relevant information from large multivariate datasets by statistical data analysis strategies may be of considerable complexity. Typical tasks comprise for example classification of specimens, identification of differentially produced metabolites, and estimation of fold changes. In this context it is of prime importance to minimize contributions from unwanted biases and experimental variance prior to these analyses. This is the goal of data normalization. Therefore, special emphasize is given to different data normalization strategies. In the first part, we will discuss the requirements and the pros and cons for a variety of commonly applied strategies. In the second part, we will concentrate on possible solutions in case that the requirements for the standard strategies are not fulfilled. In the last part, very recent developments will be discussed that allow reliable estimation of metabolic signatures for sample classification without prior data normalization. In this contribution special emphasis will be given to techniques that have worked well in our hands.

This paper proposes a single-stage asymmetrical half-bridge fly-back (AHBF) converter with resonant mode using dual-mode control. The presented converter has an integrated boost converter and asymmetrical half-bridge fly-back converter and operates in resonant mode. The boost-cell always operates in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) to achieve high power factor. The presented converter operates simultaneously using a variable-frequency-controller (VFC) and pulse-width-modulation (PWM) controller. Unlike the conventional single-stage design, the intermediate bus voltage of this controller can be regulated depending on the main power switch duty ratio. The asymmetrical half-bridge fly-back converter utilizes a variable switching frequency controller to achieve the output voltage regulation. The asymmetrical half-bridge fly-back converter can achieve zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) operation and significantly reduce the switching losses. Detailed analysis and design of this single-stage asymmetrical half-bridge fly-back converter with resonant mode is described. A wide AC input voltage ranging from 90 to 264 Vrms and output 19 V/ 120 W prototype converter was built to verify the theoretical analysis and performance of the presented converter.

Recently two new degree concepts have been defined in graph theory: ev-degree and ve-degree. Also the ev-degree and ve-degree Zagreb and Randić indices have been defined very recently as parallel of the classical definitions of Zagreb and Randić indices. It was shown that ev-degree and ve-degree topological indices can be used as possible tools in QSPR researches . In this paper we define the ve-degree and ev-degree Narumi–Katayama indices, investigate the predicting power of these novel indices and extremal graphs with respect to these novel topological indices. Also we give some basic mathematical properties of ev-degree and ve-degree Narumi-Katayama and Zagreb indices.

This study analyzes how Perceived Credibility of a 360-degree feedback and Evaluation of Outcome impact on ratees’ attitudes towards behavioral change. The study adopts a qualitative-quantitative mixed method approach. Reasoned Action Theory was selected as the theoretical framework, and ten 360-degree assessment ratees were interviewed on their perceived credibility, evaluation of outcome and attitude toward behavioral change in the 360-degree assessment practices. The qualitative inputs were analyzed under the methodology of grounded theory. Additional 159 respondents participated in the quantitative research phase of the research to validate the findings in the qualitative research phase. It was validated that Perceived Credibility, Evaluation of Outcome has impact on Attitude Toward Behavioral Change in 360-degree assessment.

To estimate the recreational value provided by the Foy’s Lake annually using the most applicable model for on-site data is the main objective of this study. Adhere to the objective of this study; Individual Travel Cost Method (ITCM) has been applied and Zero Truncated Poisson Regression Model has been found plausible among other models to estimate consumer surplus. Based on the findings of the study, an estimate of the consumer surplus or recreational benefits per trip per visitor can be recommended as BDT 5,875 or US $ 73.44 and counting the consumer surplus per trip per visitor, the annual recreational value (total consumer surplus) provided by the lake is found to be BDT 321 million or US $ 40.2 million.

Recent discovery of triangular boron Nanotubes makes it a competitor of carbon in many respects. Closed forms of M-polynomial of nanotubes produce closed forms of many degree-based topological indices which are numerical parameters of the structure and, in combination, determine properties of the concerned nanotubes. In this report, we give M-polynomials of triangular boron nanotubes and recover many important topological degree-based indices of these nanotubes. We also plot surfaces associated to these nanotubes.

The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive 2010 calls for the Nearly Zero Energy Standard for new buildings from 2021 onwards: Buildings using “almost no energy” are powered by renewable sources or energy produced by the building itself. For residential buildings, this ambitious new standard has already been reached. But for other building types this goal is still far away. The potential of these buildings to meet a Nearly Zero Energy Standard was investigated by analyzing ten case studies representing non-residential buildings with different uses. The analysis shows that the primary characteristics common to critical building types are a dense building context with a very high degree of technical installation (such as hospital, research and laboratory buildings). The large primary energy demand of these types of buildings cannot be compensated by building and property-related energy generation including off-site renewables. If the future Nearly Zero Energy Standard were to be defined with lower requirements because of this, the state related properties of Bavaria suggest that the real potential energy savings available in at least 85% of all new buildings would be insufficiently exploited. Therefore, it would be useful to instead individualize the legal energy verification process for new buildings to distinguish critical building types such as laboratories and hospitals.

Titania is one of the most comprehensively studied nanostructures due to its widespread applications in production of catalytic, gas- sensing and corrosion- resistance materials [1]. M-polynomial of nanotubes has been vastly investigated as it produces many degree-based topological indices which are numerical parameters capturing structural and chemical properties. These indices are used in the development of quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) in which the biological activity and other properties of molecules are correlated with their structure like boiling point, stability, strain energy etc of chemical compounds. In this paper, we determine M-polynomials of single-walled titanium (SW TiO2) nanotubes and recover important topological degree based indices of them to theoretically judge these nanotubes. We also use Maple to plot surfaces associated to different types of single-walled titanium (SW TiO2) nanotubes.

Aluminum is a strategic mineral resource, and China’s aluminum production and consumption is fairly large. However, its supply guarantee is uncertain because of a high dependency on external raw materials. This uncertainty may expand, so finding a way to reduce the uncertainty of aluminum resource supply is especially important. This paper applies the SFA method to analyze the aluminum flows in mainland China from 1996 to 2014, and establishes a supply structure model to measure its supply guarantee degree. The results claim that: (1) China’s aluminum production can satisfy demand and even create a surplus; (2) Domestic self-productive primary and secondary aluminum increased at an annual rate of 12% and 24%; (3) The proportion of self-productive secondary aluminum in the supply structure increased from 7.7% in 1996 to 12.8% in 2014, while that of primary aluminum decreased from 79.6% to 42.8%; (4) The total supply guarantee degree decreased from 87.3% to 55.6% in this period. These results provide a feasible way to solve this plight: the proportion of secondary aluminum in the supply structure should be enhanced, and an efficient aluminum resource recycling system needs to be established as soon as possible to ensure its sustainable supply.

Clock Network Design (CDN) is a critical step while designing any Integrated-Circuits (ICs). It holds vital importance in the performance of entire circuit. Due to continuous scaling, 3D ICs stacked with TSV are gaining importance, with an objective to continue with the Moore's law. Through-Silicon-Via (TSV) provides the vertical interconnection between two die, which allows the electrical signal to flow through it. 3D ICs has many advantages over conventional 2D planar ICs like reduced power, area, cost, wire-length etc. The proposed work is mainly focused on power reduction and obstacle avoidance for 3D ICs. Various techniques have already been introduced for minimizing clock power within specified clock constraints of the 3D CND network. Proposed 3D Clock Tree Synthesis (CTS) is a combination of various algorithms with an objective to meet reduction in power as well as avoidance of obstacle or blockages while routing the clock signal from one sink to other sink. These blockages like RAM, ROM, PLL etc. are fixed during the placement process. The work is carried out mainly in three steps- first is Generation of 3D Clock tree avoiding the blockages, then Buffering and Embedding and finally validating the results by SPICE simulation. The experimental result shows that our CTS approach results in significant 9% reduction in power as compare to the existing work.

For improving the tracking accuracy and model switching speed of maneuvering target tracking in nonlinear systems, a new algorithm named interacting multiple model fifth-degree spherical simplex-radial cubature filter (IMM5thSSRCKF) is proposed in this paper. The new algorithm is a combination of the interacting multiple model (IMM) filter and fifth-degree spherical simplex-radial cubature filter (5thSSRCKF). The proposed algorithm makes use of Markov process to describe the switching probability among the models, and uses 5thSSRCKF to deal with the state estimation of each model. The 5thSSRCKF is an improved filter algorithm, which utilizes the fifth-degree spherical simplex-radial rule to improve the filtering accuracy. Finally, the tracking performance of the IMM5thSSRCKF is evaluated by simulation in a typical maneuvering target tracking scenario. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm has better tracking performance and quicker model switching speed when disposing maneuver models compared with IMMUKF, IMMCKF and IMM5thCKF.

The world is facing several global issues such as food and energy crisis, climate change and greenhouse gases emissions. To subdue these issues, many entities from academia and industries have innovated alternate techniques of performing regular activities which cause such problems. One of these innovations is the introduction of vertical and zero acreage farming in the field of sustainability. These carry the potential to solve one of the most important affairs of food security in most countries of the world. But, this technology has been in its nascent stage for many years. This paper uses a comprehensive framework proving the feasibility of initiating vertical farming on university campuses to feed the staff and students, which could also set an example to the rest of the world into using this technique on a wider scale. The study chose Huazhong University of science and technology (HUST) in Wuhan city, China for accessing the return on investment and food sufficiency if vertical farming is implemented. Using Central Limit Theorem, a statistical model was developed, and various scenarios were analyzed. The results indicated that if a separate vertical farm is constructed, the breakeven can be achieved in a range of 10-20 depending on parameters such as type of operation, number of floors and amount of vegetation. The study has shown that the use of vertical farming cannot only bring in revenue for the campus but also aid in mitigating climate change.

Quantitative and qualitative fuzzy measures have been proposed to hesitant fuzzy sets (HFSs) from different points. However, few of the existing HFSs fuzzy measures refer to the grey relational analysis (GRA) theory. Actually, the GRA theory is very useful in the fuzzy measure domain, which has been developed for such the intuitionistic fuzzy sets. Therefore, in this paper, we apply the GRA theory to the HFSs and interval-valued hesitant fuzzy sets (IVHFS) domain. We propose the HFSs grey relational degree, HFSs slope grey relational degree, HFSs synthetic grey relational degree and IVHFSs grey relational degree, which describe the closeness, the variation tendency and both the closeness and variation tendency of HFSs and closeness of IVHFSs, respectively, greatly enriching the fuzzy measures of HFSs. Furthermore, with the help of the TOPSIS method, we develop the grey relational based MADM methodology to solve the HFSs and IVHFSs MADM problems. Finally, combined with two practical MADM examples about energy policy selection with HFSs information and emergency management evaluation with IVHFSs information, we obtain the most desirable decision results, and compared with the previous methods, the validity, effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed grey relational degree for HFSs and IVHFSs are demonstrated in detail.

Compared with the traditional slow charging loads, random integration of large scale fast charging loads will exert more serious impacts on the security of power network operation. Besides, to maximize social benefits, effective scheduling strategy guiding fast charging behaviors should be formulated rather than simply increasing infrastructure construction investments on the power grid. This paper has analyzed the charging users’ various responses to the elastic charging service fee, introduced the index of charging balance degree to a target region by considering the influence of fast charging loads on power grid. Then, a multi-objective optimization model of the fast charging service fee is constructed, whose service fee can be further optimized by employing fuzzy programming method. Therefore, both users’ satisfaction degree and the equilibrium of charging loads can be maintained simultaneously by guiding EVs to different fast charging stations reasonably. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed dynamic charging service pricing and the proposed fast charging load guidance strategy.

Topological indices have been used to modeling biological and chemical properties of molecules in quantitive structure property relationship studies and quantitive structure activity studies. All the degree based topological indices have been defined via classical degree concept. In this paper we define a novel degree concept for a vertex of a simple connected graph: S degree. And also we define S indices of a simple connected graph by using the S degree concept. We compute the S indices for well-known simple connected graphs such as paths, stars, complete graphs and cycles.

Topological indices have important role in theoretical chemistry for QSPR researches. Among the all topological indices the Randić and the Zagreb indices have been used more considerably than any other topological indices in chemical and mathematical literature. Most of the topological indices as in the Randić and the Zagreb indices are based on the degrees of the vertices of a connected graph. Recently novel two degree concepts have been defined in graph theory; ev-degrees and ve-degrees. In this study we define ev-degree Zagreb index, ve-degree Zagreb indices and ve-degree Randić index by using these new graph invariants as parallel to their corresponding classical degree versions. We compare these new group ev-degree and ve-degree indices with the other well-known and most used topological indices in literature such as; Wiener, Zagreb and Randić indices by modelling some physicochemical properties of octane isomers. We show that the ev-degree Zagreb index, the ve-degree Zagreb and the ve-degree Randić indices give better correlation than Wiener, Zagreb and Randić indices to predict the some specific physicochemical properties of octanes. We investigate the relations between the second Zagreb index and ev-degree and ve-degree Zagreb indices and some mathematical properties of ev-degree and ve-degree Zagreb indices.

The issue of workplace toxicity constitutes a major problem for employers, employees and society at large. Toxicity in a workplace context relates to damaging behaviours perpetrated by individuals and organisations that netatively impact on the health and wellbeing of others. Workplace toxicty is habitually associated with activities such as bullying, harrassment, unethical and even illegal acts. In this article, today’s workplace is likenened to a cage where ambition and greed drive people to engage in toxic behaviour to fight for whatever scarce rewards are on offer. Set against a backdrop of continuous demands on employees in a era of constant change and challenge, leadership practice in the 21st century is understandably seeped in complexity. Whilst conditions of scarcity are in fact constructed by employers in today’s lean environments, workplace toxicity has significant implications for organisational leaders in terms of work place disputes, absenteeism and litigation etc. Twentieth century hierarchial and autocratic leadership models are now deemed to be both obsolete and wholly inadedgate to inform leadership practice in the knowledge era. This conceptual article looks at the efficacy of complexity leadership theory (CLT) in empowering today’s leader to better understand and address 21st century workplace toxicity.

Zero-Knowledge Proofs ZKP provide a reliable option to verify that a claim is true without giving detailed information other than the answer. A classical example is provided by the ZKP based in the Graph Isomorphism problem (GI), where a prover must convince the verifier that he knows an isomorphism between two isomorphic graphs without publishing the bijection. We design a novel ZKP exploiting the NP-hard problem of finding the algebraic ideal of a multivariate polynomial set, and consequently resistant to quantum computer attacks. Since this polynomial set is obtained considering instances of GI, we guarantee that the protocol is at least as secure as the GI based protocol.

Controversial hypotheses to explain consciousness exist in many fields of science, psychology and philosophy. Recent experimental findings in quantum cognition and magnetic resonance imaging have added new controversies to the field, suggesting that the mind may be based on quantum computing. Quantum computers process information in quantum bits (qubits) using quantum gates. At a first glance, it seems unrealistic or impossible that the brain can meet the challenges to provide either of these. Nevertheless, we show here why the brain has the incredible ability to perform quantum computing and how that may be realized.

This paper presents an optimal design for the inner current control loop of the continuous current conduction mode (CCM) power factor correction (PFC) stage, which it can be used as the front stage of the two stages alternating current-direct current (AC-DC) telecom power supply. Conventional single-phase CCM-PFC boost converter usually implemented with using of the proportional-integral (PI) controllers in both of the voltage and current control loops, to regulate the output DC voltage to the specified value, moreover to maintains the input current follows the input voltage which offers converter with high power factor (P.F) and low current total harmonic distortion (THD). However, due to the slow dynamic response of the PI controller at the zero-crossing point of the input supply current, input current can’t fully follow the input voltage which leads to high THD. Digitally controlled PFC converter with an optimal design of the inner current control loop using doubly control loops IP controller to reduce the THD and to offer input current with unity P.F was performed in this paper. Furthermore, for the economic design of the digitally control PFC converter, two isolated AC and DC voltage sensors are proposed and designed for the interfacing with the microcontroller unit (MCU). PSIM software was used to test the converter performance with using the proposed designed current controllers and isolated voltage sensors. High power density digitally controlled telecom PFC stage with P.F of about 99.93%, full load efficiency of about 98.70% and THD less 5.50% is achieved in this work.

The sustainability of irrigated agriculture depends on the quality of irrigation water used. The electrolyte concentration (EC) of irrigation water may lead to the accumulation of salts in the root zone layers and affect the physiological functions of the crop by osmotic and ion toxicity effects. Further, the cationic and anionic composition of the water may alter the exchangeable cation composition of the soil and as well as its pH. Because of the dominance of sodium salts in many sources of irrigation water, parameters related to sodium such as exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) of soils and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) of soil solutions have been commonly used to study the effects of sodium in irrigation water on soil structural stability. Quirk and Schofield concept of ‘threshold electrolyte concentration’ (TEC) has shown the importance of electrolytes in preventing the effects of sodium on soil structure. Based on this concept, several models have been proposed to relate ESP or SAR with EC to predict the possible impacts of irrigation water on soil structural stability. However, many research reports indicate that this relationship varies with soils and a given model is not suitable for all types of soils. Further, the effects of potassium and magnesium in the processes leading to clay dispersion are disregarded in these models. This essay analyses all the factors involved in the structural failure of soils with different cationic composition, identify the defects in these TEC models and re-defines TEC on the basis of new insights on dispersive and flocculating charges of soils. This review does not deal with EC effects on crops and also the role of contaminant ions not involved with soil structural stability.

The UK economy is overly reliant on unsustainable production and consumption practices, depleting finite resources at rates that will increase production costs, business risk and economic instability. This over-consumption produces emissions and waste that cause climate change and environmental degradation, impacting on the wellbeing of people in the UK and beyond. The Resource Recovery from Waste programme (RRfW) promotes a transition towards waste and resource management in a circular economy that restores the environment, creates societal benefits and promotes clean growth by engaging relevant actors in the transition process. RRfW collaborates with academia, government, and industry to co-produce a shared vision and approach to realise such a transition. Reflecting insights from RRfW’s government engagement, this article presents a positive outlook for changing the UK economy and society. It envisions a long-term future for waste and resource management that maximises the value of materials by circulating them in the economy for as long as possible. Four themes and an approach are proposed, including recommendations for regulatory instruments and a stable policy framework. It recommends further collaborative research to capitalise on opportunities for economic growth, innovation and resilient infrastructure whilst contributing to quality jobs and welfare in all four UK nations.

Sumudu transform of the Dixon elliptic function with non zero modulus a ≠ 0 for arbitrary powers sm^N(x,a) ; N ≥ 1 ; sm^N(x,a)cm(x,a) ; N ≥ 0 and sm^N(x,a)cm²(x,a) ; N ≥ 0 is given by product of Quasi C fractions. Next by assuming denominators of Quasi C fraction to 1 and hence applying Heliermann correspondance relating formal power series (Maclaurin series of Dixon elliptic functions) and regular C fraction, Hankel determinants are calculated and showed by taking a = 0 gives the Hankel determinants of regular C fraction. The derived results were back tracked to the Laplace transform of sm(x,a) ; cm(x,a) and sm(x,a)cm(x,a).

This paper reports a new control strategy to improve sharing of unbalanced currents in islanded LV microgrids. This technique provides fast and effective sharing of positive-, negative- and zero-sequence currents, and is the first example of zero-sequence current sharing in the literature. The controllers are designed in the stationary frame. The control structure consists of four loops; 1)~the current controller; 2)~the voltage controller; 3)~the droop controller and the 4)~negative and zero sequence current controllers. The output current is considered unknown for the controller and is added to the control system as a disturbance. The proposed controller features a high gain in fundamental and harmonic frequencies, hence a good voltage quality is obtained in the presence of unbalanced and nonlinear loads. To this aim, a proportional-resonant (PR) controller is adopted as the current controller. By using a multi-resonant controller as current controller, a unified control structure is obtained which is suitable for both grid-connected and islanded modes. The voltage controller is designed using a resonant controller so that the voltage can have low VUF and THD in the presence of unbalanced and nonlinear loads. Furthermore, in this paper droop method is applied to the control structure to share real and reactive powers. Simulation studies show that the conventional droop method cannot share the oscillatory part of the output power that is due to the presence of unbalanced loads in the microgrid. This paper relies on using zero and negative sequence virtual impedance controller to share the oscillatory part of output power. By using zero-sequence virtual impedance controller (ZSVIC) and negative-sequence virtual impedance controller (NSVIC), the zero and negative sequence currents in the microgrid are controlled and shared effectively. By compensating zero- and negative-sequence currents locally, the flow of these currents in the microgrid is minimized, and the overall power quality of the islanded LV microgrid is improved.

We propose a new theory beyond the standard model of elementary-particle physics. Employing the concept of a quantized spacetime, our theory demonstrates that the zero-point energy of the vacuum alone is sufficient to create all the fields, including gravity, the static electromagnetic field, and the weak and strong interactions. No serious undetermined parameters are assumed. Furthermore, the relations between the forces at the quantum-mechanics level is made clear. Using these relations, we quantize Einstein’s gravitational equation: Beginning with the zero-point energy of the vacuum, and after quantizing Newtonian gravity equation, we combine the energies of a static electromagnetic field and gravity in a quantum spacetime. Applying these results to the Einstein gravity equation, we substitute the energy density derived from the zero-point energy in addition to redefining differentials in a quantized spacetime. This is how we derive the quantized Einstein gravitational equation without assuming the existence of macroscopic masses. For the weak interaction, by considering plane-wave electron and the zero-point energy, we obtain a wavefunction that represents a β collapse. In this process, from a different point of view than Weinberg-Salam theory, we derive the masses of the W and Z bosons and the neutrino, and we calculate the radius and lifetime of the neutron. For the strong interaction, we previously reported an analytical theory for calculating the mass of a proton by providing a specific linear attractive potential obtained from the zero-point energy, which agrees well with the measurements. In the present study, we further calculate the strong interaction between two nucleons, i.e., the mass of the pi-meson. The resulting calculated quantities agree with the measurements, which verifies our proposed theory.

In our previous papers [1,3], using only the concepts of the zero-point energy and quantized space–times, all the fields including gravity were explained. However, the previous papers had the following limitations: First, the concept of the quantized space-time must be experimentally confirmed. Second, we should clarify the meaning of the quantized Einstein’s gravity equation, which is derived in [1]. Moreover, in another paper [2], we succeeded in describing the neutrinos’ self-energy and their oscillations. However, this paper assumes the rest energy of 3-leptons in advance, which is why we needed to uncover the reason why leptons have 3-generations. As mentioned, using the concepts of the zero-point energy and quantized space–times, we derived the quantized Einstein’s gravity equation in our previous paper [1]. The paper provides an analytical solution of this equalized Einstein’s equation, which implies the conservation of angular momentum in terms of quantized space–times. Employing this solution and without the standard big bang model, a unique form of acceleration equation for the acceleration-expansion universe is derived. Moreover, the temperature of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) emission is also obtained. Further, this solution results in an analytical (not numerical) derivation of the gravity wave. Moreover, based on the configuration of quantized space–times in terms of both electric and magnetic fields, we analytically attempted to calculate every equation in terms of electromagnetic and gravity fields, using the solution of the quantized Einstein’s gravity equation. As a result of this theory, first the calculated acceleration and temperature of CMB emission agree with the measurements. Furthermore, the analytical solution of the quantized Einstein’s gravity equation resulted in all the laws of electromagnetic and gravity fields in addition to the analytically derived gravity wave, which agrees well with the recent measurements. Moreover, the calculations of the energies in the basic configuration of the quantized space–times resulted in all 3-leptons’ rest energies. Considering this basic configuration is uniformly distributed everywhere in the universe, we can conclude that τ-particles or static magnetic field energy derived from the basic configuration of the quantized space–times is the identity of dark energy, which also distributes uniformly in the universe.

Background University students’ psychological health is linked to their academic satisfaction. This study aimed to investigate students’ psychological health and academic satisfaction in the context of COVID-19 and academic year-end stress. Methods Standardized self-filled scales for anxiety, depression, stress, psychological well-being, and an ad-hoc COVID-19 stress scale were used in this cross-sectional study. Participants were first- to third-year students of eight different health-related tracks in Geneva, Switzerland. Descriptive statistics and hierarchical regression analyses were applied. Results In June 2020, out of 2835 invited students, 433 (15%) completed the survey. Academic satisfaction was a stronger mental health predictor than COVID-19, which mainly predicted stress and anxiety. Lower academic satisfaction scores were significantly associated with stress (β = -.53, p < .001), depression (β = -.26, p < .001), anxiety (β = -.20, p < .001), while higher scores with psychological well-being (β = .48, p < .001). Being female was strongly associated with anxiety and stress but not with depression or psychological well-being. Lower age was associated with stress only. The nature of the academic training had a lesser impact on mental health and the academic year none. Compared to students starting the academic year, year-end students reported significantly lower academic satisfaction, higher depression, and particularly higher anxiety and stress. There was, however, no difference in psychological well-being. Conclusion Students suffer more from anxiety, stress, depression, and lower satisfaction with studies at the end of the academic year than at the beginning. Academic satisfaction plays a more substantial role than COVID-19 in predicting students’ overall mental health status. Training institutions should address the underlying factors that can enhance students’ academic satisfaction, especially during the COVID-19 period, in addition to ensuring that they have a continuous and adequate learning experience, as well as access to psychosocial services that help them cope with mental distress and enhance their psychological well-being.

The application of graph theory in chemical and molecular structure research far exceeds people's expectations, and it has recently grown exponentially. In the molecular graph, atoms are represented by vertices and bonded by edges. Closed forms of multiplicative degree-based topological indices which are numerical parameters of the structure and determine physico-chemical properties of the concerned molecular compound. In this article, we compute and analyze many multiplicative degree-based topological indices of silicon-carbon Si₂C₃-I[p,q] and Si₂C₃-II[p,q].

The shallow water equations are widely applied for the simulation of flow routing in rivers and floodplains, as well as for flood inundation mapping. From a mathematical point of view, they are a hyperbolic system of nonlinear partial differential equations, whose numerical integration is sometimes computationally burdensome. For this reason, the interest of many researchers has been focused on the study of simplified forms of the original set of equations, which requires less computational effort. One of the most commonly applied simplifications consists in neglecting the inertial terms, which changes the hyperbolic model to a parabolic one. The effects of such a choice on the outputs of the simulations of flooding events are controversial and an important topic of debate. In the present paper, two numerical models, recently proposed for the solution of the complete and zero-inertia forms of the shallow waters equations, are applied to several unsteady flow routing scenarios. We simulate synthetic and laboratory studies, starting from very simple geometries and moving towards complex topographies. Analyzing the role of the terms in the momentum equations, we try to understand the effect, on the computed results, of neglecting the inertial terms in the zero-inertia formulation. We analyze the computational costs.

The acquisition of adverbs in French as L2 (FSL) by learners with different L1s, at various levels of proficiency, has been extensively studied within various SLA projects (ESF, Interfra etc.). In the generativist tradition, it has been noted that “high category adverbs” such as those related to Mood-evaluative, Mood-epistemic and Tense are present early in FSL data. In the functionalist school, the early presence of time adverbs and scope particles in learner varieties has been analysed in relation with the informational and syntactic structures observed in these varieties and in terms of their contribution to temporal reference and other semantic domains in discourse.

Applying a procedure similar to that of E.S. Bring, by using a 4^th degree Tschirnhaus transformation, it was possible to transform the Bring-Jerrard normal quintic (BJQ) equation into a De Moivre form (DMQ), so that it could be solved by radicals. The general solution by radicals of the De Moivre equations of any degree is presented. By the same procedure the BJSx (normal sextic) equation was taken to another one without the 2^nd, 4^th and 6^th terms which was transformed into a cubic (solvable) equation. By applying a 6^th degree Tschirnhaus transformation to the BJSp (normal septic) equation its binormal (without the 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th terms) form was obtained.

Hydrogels incorporated with hydrophobic motifs have received considerable attention to recapitulate the cellular microenvironments, specifically for the bio-mineralization of a 3D matrix. Introduction of hydrophobic motifs into a hydrogel often results in irregular arrangement of the motifs, and further phase separation of hydrophobic domains, but limited efforts have been made to resolve this challenge in the hydrophobically-modified hydrogel. Therefore, this study presents an advanced integrative strategy to incorporate hydrophobic domains regularly in a hydrogel by self-assembling of polymer cross-linkers, building blocks of a hydrogel. Self-assemblies between polymer cross-linkers were examined as micro-domains to incorporate hydrophobic motifs in a hydrogel. The self-assembled structures in a pre-gelled solution were confirmed with the fluorescence analysis and the hydrophobicity of a hydrogel could be tuned by incorporating the motifs in a controlled manner. Overall, the results of this study would greatly serve to tuning performance of a wide array of hydrophobically-modified hydrogels in drug delivery, cell therapies and tissue engineering.

Valorization of food and fruit wastes has the potential for the production of sustainable energy and biochemicals. Approximately 70% of the weight of the original jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus L.) fruit is lost during processing as waste in the form of peeled skin and core, both of which have not been utilized and, thus contribute to disposal as well as pollution issues. The major components, cellulose, and hemicellulose, can be biologically transformed easily into bioenergy sources like ethanol, methanol, and butanol; valuable phenolics and biotechnological products like pectin, citric acid, bromelain, ferulic acid, and vanillin; and many other products. These residues can also be utilized as essential sources for the biological transformation process leading to the production of numerous products with added value, such as phenolic antioxidants, phenolic flavor compounds, and organic acids. Thus, the value addition of jackfruit waste can support the sustainable solution towards food and nutritional security. In this way, zero waste can be achieved through novel biorefineries which are critically highlighted in this paper. Furthermore, novel technologies for the conversion of jackfruit wastes are summarized with recent findings.

Uganda possesses natural rainforests that serve enormous environmental ecosystems and biodiversity services. Moreover, the country is known for its various tropical rainforest hardwoods, birds, and animal species. Over the years, the trend in the natural forest land has declined at an alarming rate; hence need to investigate the possible drivers. The loss of such biodiversity and ecosystems risks desertification and extreme climatic condition. As the world moves towards Zero Deforestation 2030, understanding the determinants of deforestation and forest degradation is paramount. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to understand the impact and relationships between net forest conversion, energy emission, agriculture, and forest production of Roundwood. We used data from FAO for the period 2004-2016. Using the ADF and KPSS test, we checked for the unit root presence in the variables. Also, the study used two different regression models: multiple linear regression and dynamic linear model. To analyze the determinants of deforestation, we used net forest conversion in Uganda. There was 94 % variation in the dependent variable (Net Forest conversion). The outcome of the dynamic linear regression showed that agriculture and energy emission positively impact net forest conversion. Based on our findings, this study recommended the modernization of agriculture by the government of Uganda to stop cutting down the forests on a big scale. Also, the study suggested that the government strictly legislate Roundwood and wood fuels/charcoal and firewood to reduce huge dependency on forests toward Zero-Deforestation by 2030. If well-structured and implemented, government policies could solve the unnecessary over dependency on the rainforest, the heart of the region's climatic conditions.

Bamboo plastic composites have become a hot research topic and a key focus of research. However, the many strong, polar, hydrophilic hydroxyl groups in bamboo flour (BF) results in poor interfacial compatibility between BF and hydrophobic polymers. Maleic anhydride-esterified (MAH-e-BF) and lactic acid-esterified bamboo flour (LA-e-BF) were prepared using an in situ solid-phase esterification method with BF as the raw material and maleic anhydride or lactic acid as the esterifying agent. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results confirmed that BF esterification with maleic anhydride and lactic acid was successful, with the esterification degrees of MAH-e-BF and LA-e-BF at 21.04 and 14.36%%, respectively. Esterified BF was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, contact angle testing, X-ray diffractometry, and thermogravimetric analysis. The results demonstrated that esterified BF surfaces were covered with graft polymer and the surface roughness and bonding degree of MAH-e-BF clearly larger than those of LA-e-BF. The hydrophobicity of esterified BF was significantly higher than BF and the hydrophobicity of MAH-e-BF better than LA-e-BF. The crystalline structure of esterified BF showed some damage, with MAH-e-BF exhibiting a greater decrease in crystallinity than LA-e-BF. Overall, the esterification reaction improved BF thermoplasticity, with the thermoplasticity of MAH-e-BF appearing better than LA-e-BF.

Long-term durability of the vacuum edge-seal plays a significant part in retrofitting triple vacuum glazing (TVG) to existing buildings in achieving towards zero-energy buildings (ZEB) target. Vacuum pressure decrement with respect to time between panes affect the thermal efficiency of TVG. This study reports a 3D finite element model, with validated mathematical methods and comparison, for the assessment of the influence of vacuum pressure diminution on the thermal transmittance (U value) of TVG. The centre-of-pane and total U values of TVG calculated to be 0.28 Wm⁻²K⁻¹ and 0.94 Wm⁻²K⁻¹ at the cavity vacuum pressure of 0.001 Pa. The results suggests that a rise in cavity pressure from 0.001 Pa to 100 kPa increases the centre-of-pane and total U values from 0.28 Wm⁻²K⁻¹ and 0.94 Wm⁻²K⁻¹ to 2.4 Wm⁻²K⁻¹ and 2.58 Wm⁻²K⁻¹, respectively. The temperature descent on the surfaces of TVG between hot and cold sides’ increases by decreasing the cavity vacuum pressure from 50 kPa to 0.001 Pa. To maintain the cavity vacuum pressure of 0.001 Pa for over 20 years of life span in the cavity of 10 mm wide edge sealed triple vacuum glazing, non-evaporable getters will maintain the cavity vacuum pressure that will enable the long-term durability to TVG.

Mill scale is the by-product of iron and steel industry. It can be recycled via sinter plant or solid as sinter feed materials. 85 to 90% of the constituent particles are more than 0.008 inches. The iron content is near around 70 %, with a very small amount of alkaline compounds and non-ferrous metals. Mill scale is polluted and contaminated with lubricants, oils and greases from the equipment. In this experiment for recovering of oil from mill scale, it is treated with three different methods. Then all methods were compared according to the ability of oil elimination and iron recovered. After washing and boiling with surfactants, large amount of polluted waste water becomes a problem for environment so this wastewater was utilized for making of Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs), production of electricity in MFC depends on the biodegradation of organic materials, so different waste were added in wastewater for making MFC. The remaining of MFC was converted in bioethanol, biodiesel and biofertilizer. So this research is economical and environmentally friendly and fulfilled the important aspect of green environment with zero waste. It will be a mile stone in the research of metallurgy, environmental engineering, recycling technology and zero waste management.

This paper explores the potential of using the SAM segmentator to enhance the segmentation capability of known methods. SAM is a promptable segmentation system that offers zero-shot generalization to unfamiliar objects and images, eliminating the need for additional training. The open-source nature of SAM on GitHub allows for easy access and implementation. In our experiments, we aim to improve the segmentation performance by providing SAM with checkpoints extracted from the masks produced by DeepLabv3+, then merging the segmentation masks provided by these two networks. Additionally, we examine the \enquote{oracle} method (as upper bound baseline performance), where segmentation masks are inferred only by SAM with checkpoints extracted from ground truth. In addition, we tested in the CAMO datasets an ensemble of PVTv2 transformers; combining the ensemble and SAM yields state-of-the-art performance in that dataset. The results of our study provide valuable insights into the potential of incorporating the SAM segmentator into existing segmentation techniques. We release with this paper the open-source implementation of our method.

We herein described an investigation of a theory, which describes the energies of neutrinos and the source of neutrino oscillations. A series of experiments were conducted to show evidences of the existence a neutrino mass. We also applied theories to explain the reason for the extremely small energy of a neutrino, mainly by employing a vacuum-derived superconducting energy gap from the Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer ground state. Moreover, we succeeded in obtaining the transition probabilities of neutrinos’ flavors (i.e., in terms of neutrino oscillation). We focused on the fact that up- and down-quantized space pairs combine by the Lorentz forces, undertake Bose-Einstein condensation, and then create a superconducting energy gap at the energy level of the vacuum with quantum mechanics fluctuation. Eventually, the superconducting energy gap vanishes to form a real body of the neutrino. Furthermore, assuming that the speed of the neutrino is near the speed of light and exhibits Planck’s blackbody emissions, we derived many-body interactions of neutrinos and applied them in Fermi’s golden rule. As a result, the neutrino energy we calculated agreed well within the realms of the experimental results. The calculated transition probabilities of neutrino’s flavor also explain the experiment results very well.

Modelling errors, robust stabilization/tracking problems under parameter and model uncertainties complicate the control of the flexible underactuated systems. Chattering-free sliding-mode based input-output control law realizes robustness against the structured and unstructured uncertainties in the system dynamics and avoids excitation of unmodeled dynamics. The main purpose is to propose a robust adaptive solution for stabilizing and tracking direct-drive (DD) flexible robot arms under parameter and model uncertainties, as well as external disturbances. A lightweight robot arm subject to external and internal dynamic effects was taken into consideration. The challenges are compensating actuator dynamics with the inverter switching effects and torque ripples, stabilizing the zero dynamics under parameter/model uncertainties and disturbances while precisely track the predefined reference position. The precise control of this kind of system demands an accurate system model and knowledge of all sources that excite unmodeled dynamics. For this purpose, equations of motion for a flexible robot arm were derived and formulated for the large motion via Lagrange’s method. The goals were determined to achieve high-speed, precise position control, and satisfied accuracy by compensating the unwanted torque ripple and friction that degrades performance through an adaptive robust control approach. The actuator dynamics and their effect on the torque output were investigated due to the transmitted torque to the load side. The high-performance goals, precision&robustness issues, and stability concerns were satisfied by using robust-adaptive input-output linearization-based control law combining chattering-free sliding mode control (SMC) while avoiding the excitation of unmodeled dynamics.

Integrated photovoltaic-fuel cell (IPVFC) systems, amongst other integrated energy generation methodologies are renewable and clean energy technologies that have received diverse research and development attentions over the last few decades due to their potential applications in a hydrogen economy. This article systematically updates the state-of-the-art of IPVFC systems and provides critical insights into the research and development gaps needed to be filled/addressed to advance these systems towards full commercialisation. The design methodologies, renewable energy-based microgrid and off-grid applications, energy management strategies, optimisations and the prospects as self-sustaining power source were covered. IPVFC systems could play an important role in the upcoming hydrogen economy since they depend on solar hydrogen which has almost zero emissions during operation. Highlighted herein are the progresses as well as the technical challenges requiring research efforts to solve to realise numerous potential applications of IPVFC systems such as in unmanned aerial vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, agricultural applications, telecommunications, desalination, synthesis of ammonia, boats, buildings, and distributed microgrid applications.

Liquid metal alloy, incorporated with microfluidic manipulation, has become a promising candidate for flexible resistive sensor array (RSA) that can imitate the functions of human skin. One advantage of RSA with shared rows and shared columns is to reduce the number of wires from M × N to M + N (rows: M and columns: N) and hence to greatly lessen the complexity and burden on the electrical system. The associated drawback is the crosstalk effect between adjacent elements during measurement. Although many literatures have reported several methods to resolve this limitation, almost all of them focus only on the high resistance value (≥100 Ω) RSA. There is a lack of detailed experimental data that addresses low resistance RSA with sensing elements below 100 Ω. Here, we aim to fill the gap of this field. We established two common RSA readout systems, i.e. zero potential methods (ZPM) (setting non-scanned-sampling-electrode zero potential (S-NSSE-ZP) and setting non-scanned-sampling-electrode zero potential with amplifier (S-NSSE-ZP-A)) and to compare their performances in low resistance value (≤100 Ω) RSA. For ideal resistor RSA, the measurement results show that S-NSSE-ZP has at least one time higher error than S-NSSE-ZP-A.

In this paper, mean-field type games between two players with backward stochastic dynamics are defined and studied. They make up a class of non-zero-sum differential games where the players' state dynamics solve backward stochastic differential equations (BSDEs) that depend on the marginal distributions of player states. Players try to minimize their individual cost functionals, also depending on the marginal state distributions. Under some regularity conditions, we derive necessary and sufficient conditions for existence of Nash equilibria. Player behavior is illustrated by numerical examples, and is compared to a centrally planned solution where the social cost, the sum of player costs, is minimized. The inefficiency of a Nash equilibrium, compared to socially optimal behavior, is quantified by the so-called price of anarchy. Numerical simulations of the price of anarchy indicate how the improvement in social cost achievable by a central planner depends on problem parameters.

We present a discussion and analysis regarding the benefits and limitations of open and non-anonymized peer review based on literature results and responses to a survey on the reviewing process of alt.chi, a more or less open-review track within the CHI conference, the predominant conference in the field of human-computer interaction (HCI). This track currently is the only implementation of an open-peer-review process in the field of HCI while, with the recent increase in interest in open science practices, open review is now being considered and used in other fields. We collected 30 responses from alt.chi authors and reviewers and found that, while the benefits are quite clear and the system is generally well liked by alt.chi participants, they are reluctant to see it used in other venues. This concurs with a number of recent studies that suggest a divergence between support for a more open review process and its practical implementation. The data and scripts are available on https://osf.io/vuw7h/, and the figures and follow-up work on http://tiny.cc/OpenReviews.

The development of hydrogen plasma smelting reduction as a CO₂ emission-free steel-making process is a promising approach. This study presents a concept of the reduction of hematite using hydrogen thermal plasma. A laboratory scale and pilot scale hydrogen plasma smelting reduction (HPSR) process are introduced. To assess the reduction behavior of hematite, a series of experiments has been conducted and the main parameters of the reduction behavior, namely the degree of hydrogen utilization, degree of reduction and the reduction rate are discussed. The thermodynamic aspect of the hematite reduction is considered and the pertinent calculations have been carried out using FactSage^TM 7.2. The degree of hydrogen utilization and the degree of reduction were calculated using the off-gas chemical composition. The contribution of carbon, introduced from the graphite electrode, ignition pin and steel crucible, to the reduction reactions was studied. The degree of reduction of hematite, regarding H₂O, CO and CO₂ as the gaseous reduction products, is determined. It is shown that the degree of hydrogen utilization and the reduction rate were high at the beginning of the experiments, then decreased during the reduction process owing to the diminishing of iron oxide. Conducting experiments with the high basicity of slag B₂=2 led to a decrease of the phosphorus concentration in the produced iron.

The spectral properties of a one-dimensional photonic crystal bounded by a resonant absorbing nanocomposite layer with the near-zero permittivity have been studied. The problem of calculating the transmittance, reflectance, and absorptance spectra of such structures at the normal and oblique incidence of light has been solved. It is shown that, depending on the permittivity sign near zero, the nanocomposite is characterized by either metallic or dielectric properties. For the first time, the possibility of simultaneous formation of the Tamm plasmon polariton at the photonic crystal/metallic nanocomposite interface and the localized state similar to the defect mode with the field intensity maximum inside the dielectric nanocomposite layer is demonstrated. Specific features of field localization at the Tamm plasmon polariton and defect mode frequencies are analyzed.

The move to a low carbon economy is very important for enhancing international competitiveness. The eco-innovation is the critical factor of the green paradigm. This study is designed to investigate deeply the determinants of eco-innovation of manufacturing firms in Korea by suggesting anticipated regulations, self-regulations, and industry-specific characteristics as external factors and open information sources as internal factors. The data used in the analysis is 1946 sample firms from Korean Innovation Survey 2010 based on the Oslo Manual. Using the multi-variate probit analysis and the zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) regression analysis, we have found out that the anticipated regulations and self-regulations have significant influences both on eco-process innovation and eco-product innovation, while industrial characteristics have no effects. The empirical results also show that the breadth of information sources has a positive effect on businesses in implementing eco-innovations. Our findings show that the Korean government should provide a good platform where firms can better understand the future trends of environmental policies, particularly policies on anticipated and self-regulations. At the same time, Korean firms should establish a voluntary system to control environmental activities so that they can improve eco-innovations through integrating external information.

The zero velocity update(ZUPT) algorithm is the core of a foot-mounted pedestrian navigation system. The zero velocity detection method is the premise and guarantee of the effective application of the ZUPT algorithm. To make ZUPT work properly, it is necessary to detect zero velocity intervals correctly. The detection accuracy of the existing zero velocity detection methods is easy to be affected by users and environment. A novel zero velocity detection method based on the plantar pressure is proposed in this paper, which has higher detection accuracy and better environmental adaptability. First, the paper analyzes the motion characteristics of foot during walking. Second, the inherent relationship between the plantar pressure and the gait change during walking is studied based on the pressure sensor. Then, the model of the zero velocity detection method using the plantar pressure is established. Finally, the indoor and outdoor multi-scene experiments show that this method not only has a high detection accuracy, but also has good adaptability to users and walking environment.

Considering the fault "N-1" checksum and the power flow, the single-phase power flow model is further transformed into a three-phase power flow model, and the asymmetry of the three-phase power flow is measured by the three-phase unbalance factor. The calculation model is linearized by the second-order cone relaxation and the Big-M method. At the same time, the load response and distribution network reconstruction are used to improve the reliability of the power supply network to cope with the power failure. The relationship between power supply capability and power flow constraints, main transformer capacity and distributed power parameters is analyzed by IEEE 33-node three-phase power distribution system. The feasibility of the proposed model and the accuracy of the second-order cone relaxation are verified by numerical examples, which provides a technical reference for distribution network planning.

In the Global North, there is an increasing interest in pulses both for their beneficial effects in cropping systems and for human health. However, despite these advantages, the acreage dedi-cated to pulses has been declining and their diversity reduced, particularly in European temperate regions, due to several social and economic factors. This decline has stimulated a political debate in the EU on the development of plant proteins. By contrast, in the Global South, a large panel of minor pulses is still cropped in regional patterns of production and consumption. The aim of this paper is to investigate the for cultivation of potential minor pulses in European temperate regions as a complement to common pulses. Our assumption is that some of these crops could adapt to different pedo-climatic conditions, given their physiological adaptation capacity, and that these pulses might be of interest for the development of innovative local food chains in an EU policy context targeting protein autonomy. The research is based on a systematic review of 269 papers retrieved in the Scopus database (1974–2019), which allowed us to identify 41 pulses as candidate species with a protein content higher than 20% that are already consumed as food. For each spe-cies, the main agronomic (e.g. temperature or water requirements) and nutritional characteristics (e.g. proteins or antinutritional contents) were identified in their growing regions. Following their agronomic characteristics, the candidate crops were confronted with variability in the annual growing conditions for spring crops in European temperate areas to determine the earliest poten-tial sowing and latest harvest dates. Subsequently, the potential sum of temperatures was calcu-lated with the Agri4cast database to establish the potential climatic suitability. For the first time, 21 minor pulses were selected to be grown in these temperate areas and appear worthy of inves-tigation in terms of yield potential, nutritional characteristics or best management practices.

Over 130 countries have committed to reaching net-zero CO2 or GHG emissions by 2050, yet this ambition is rarely underpinned by robust policies. By applying a detailed integrated assessment modelling approach for Brazil, we assess, for the first time, the extent to which the existing and planned local policies could put Brazil on the path to its net zero pledge. This includes quantifying the role of nature-based solutions, such as protection and restoration, and engineered solutions, such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). We show protection is the single most important climate mitigation measure at relatively low costs, whereas relying heavily on engineered solutions would jeopardise Brazil’s chances of achieving its net zero pledge. We also show that the mismatch between Brazil's short- and long-term climate targets reflects current weak environmental governance. Our analysis reinforces the urgent need for Brazil to eliminate illegal deforestation and go beyond to help fight climate change whilst curbing biodiversity loss.

The global agricultural sector is increasingly pressured to adopt sustainable practices and reduce its environmental impact. In this context, greenhouses play a crucial role in enabling year-round crop production, ensuring food security, and minimizing reliance on traditional open-field farming. However, the energy consumption associated with greenhouse operations poses a significant challenge to achieving sustainability goals. As a result, there is a growing emphasis on transitioning greenhouses towards near-zero energy consumption. Near-zero energy consumption in greenhouses refers to the ambitious objective of minimizing energy usage to the greatest extent possible while maintaining optimal growing conditions for crops. This goal encompasses reducing energy consumption for heating, cooling, lighting, and other operational needs, as well as exploring renewable energy sources to power greenhouse operations. This review article offers a comprehensive overview of greenhouse energy consumption, with the main goal of analyzing the present situation, identifying key challenges, exploring potential opportunities, and proposing future perspectives for decreasing energy usage in greenhouse environments. As the focus on sustainable agricultural practices grows, the need to reduce energy consumption in greenhouses becomes increasingly important. The review critically examines current technological models and strategies applied in smart greenhouse applications, as well as the monitoring of microclimatic conditions inside the greenhouse, encompassing factors such as temperature, humidity, CO2 levels, soil quality, and crop cultivation. Moreover, it aims to present existing literature that investigates the advancement of greenhouses toward achieving significant reductions in energy consumption.

This paper proposes a method of extracting energy from zero-point energy and evaluates the amount of energy gained. In addition, this electric circuit-based approach exhibits the Meissner effect, suggesting a new type of superconductivity that does not require refrigeration. The proposed method can provide extremely large amounts of energy, which is more than a conventional power station, without consuming fossil fuels or emitting radiation. Thus, it has the potential to solve the global energy problem. It involves preparing two electric loops containing diodes and connecting the loops together with current sources. The diodes are oriented in the same direction within each loop but in opposite directions in different loops. With this setup, the currents from the current sources build iteratively within the loops, resulting in large output currents. Our numerical analysis indicates that extremely large electric potentials are produced, which in turn yield large output currents. In addition, we confirm numerically that the voltage is zero around a loop and show analytically that the Meissner effect is present, proving the existence of a new type of superconductivity. Furthermore, when we introduce induction coils to not break the loop’s symmetry, they store extremely large amounts of energy and we can thus obtain energy from them via discharge currents.

Replacing carbon by hydrogen is a huge step towards reducing CO₂ emissions in the iron- and steel-making industry. The reduction of iron oxides using hydrogen plasma smelting reduction as an alternative to conventional steel-making routes has been studied at Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Austria. The aim of this work was to study the slag formation during the reduction process and the reduction behaviour of iron oxides. Furthermore, the reduction behaviour of iron ore during continuous feeding was assessed. Mixtures of iron ore and calcined lime with a basicity of 0, 0.8, 1.6, 2.3, and 2.9 were melted and reduced by hydrogen. The off-gas composition was measured during the operations to calculate the process parameters. The reduction parameters, namely the degree of reduction, degree of hydrogen utilisation, produced iron, and slag, are presented. The results of the batch-charged experiments showed that at the beginning of the reduction process, the degree of hydrogen utilisation was high, and then, it decreased over the operation time. In contrast, during the continuous-feeding experiment, the degree of hydrogen utilisation could be kept approximately constant. The highest degrees of reduction and hydrogen utilisation were obtained upon the application of a slag with a basicity of 2.3. The experiment showed that upon the continuous feeding of iron ore, the best conditions for the reduction process using hydrogen could be applied.

A nonrenewable resource extraction game model is analyzed in a differential game theory framework with random duration. If the c.d.f. of the final time is discontinuous, the related subgames are differentiated based on the position of the initial instant with respect to the jump. We investigate properties of optimal trajectories and of imputation distribution procedures if the game is played cooperatively.

Conflict between agricultural water resources and socio-economy development is a global problem. Accurate evaluation of coordinated development of agricultural water resources and socio-economy and risk mitigation is necessary for sustainable development. An evaluation method, including selection of criteria, data collection, determination of weight, evaluation of coordinated development, prediction of parameters, and judgment of coordinated development state, has been proposed to study coordinated development degree. To deal with uncertainties, Monte Carlo method and fuzzy set method were used. The method is demonstrated to solve a real-world evaluation problem in Shanxi Province in the middle of China. Results show that coordinated development degrees were (0.7, 0.8) for most of the cities of Shanxi in 2015, indicating that coordinate development state was intermediate coordinate. To achieve balanced development, more attention should be put on socio-economic development in Taiyuan and Yanquan, and agricultural water resources utilization in Jinzhong, Yuncheng and Xinzhou. The average coordinated development degree is 0.758, and coordinate development state was intermediate coordinate from 2006 to 2015. Coordinated development degree has a trend of decreasing markedly, coordinate development state will be barely coordinated, and agricultural water resources utilization lags behind socio-economic development in 2020. The study demonstrates the practicability of the improved method, by evaluating coordinated development degree under uncertainty and forecasting future risks, which will conduce to promote sustainable development of agricultural water resources and socio-economy.

Climate change is expected to influence cooling and heating energy demand of residential buildings and affect overall thermal comfort. Towards this end, the heating degree-day (HDD), the cooling degree-day (CDD) and the HDD+CDD were computed from an ensemble of 7 high-resolution bias-corrected simulations attained from EURO-CORDEX under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. These three indicators were analyzed for 1971-2000 (from E-OBS) and 2011-2040 and 2041-2070, under both RCPs. Results show that the overall spatial distribution of HDD trends for the 3 time-periods points out an increase of energy demand to heat internal environments in Portugal's northern-eastern regions, most significant under RCP8.5. It is projected an increase of CDD values for both scenarios; however, statistically significant linear trends were only found for 2041-2070 under RCP4.5. The need for cooling is almost negligible for the remaining periods, though linear trend values are still considerably higher for 2041-2070 under RCP8.5. By the end of 2070, higher amplitudes for all indicators are depicted for southern Algarve and Alentejo regions, mainly under RCP8.5. For 2041-2070 the Centre and Alentejo (North and Centre) regions present major positive differences for HDD(CDD) under RCP4.5(RCP8.5), within the 5 NUTS II regions predicting higher heating(cooling) requirements for some locations.

Despite the increase in popularity of Zero Waste (ZW) concept, the successful implementation of this concept in waste management is still facing many challenges. The plastic recycling rate in Australia is currently only about 9.4%, which could leave up to 90.6% of plastic consumption being sent to landfills. The state of Victoria (in Australia) has proposed an ambitious plan to upgrade its waste and recycling system and to divert about 80% of waste from landfills by 2030. The aim of this research is to study Victoria’s current waste management plan and to develop a simulation model to assess the feasibility of it achieving zero plastic waste by 2035. In this direction, a fundamental knowledge of global ZW implementation needs to be acquired in order to understand the challenges, obstacles, and uncertainties in achieving ZW target. A simulation model is established using a method called double baselines. This method was developed as an improvisation to address the limitation of data availability for the model development. The model will run on 4 scenarios including one from Victoria’s current plan. Outcomes from the model are produced in comparative charts covering 6 key considerations including the rates of plastic consumption, waste to landfill, diversion, recycling, relative accumulative cost and effort. The findings of this study pointed out that Victoria’s current plan are feasible for its goal and presented with opportunities for improvement especially towards zero plastic waste. Besides, study results also reveal that the Victoria’s current plan to achieve 80% diversion rate by 2030 is possible but the zero plastic waste target by 2035 is less likely to happen.

An explanation of the origin of dark matter is suggested in this work. The argument is based on symmetry considerations about the concept of mass. In the Wigner's view, the rest mass and the spin of a free elementary particle in flat space-time are the two invariants that characterize the associated unitary irreducible representation of the Poincar\'e group. The Poincar\'e group has two and only two deformations with maximal symmetry. They describe respectively the de Sitter (dS) and Anti de Sitter (AdS) kinematic symmetries. Analogously to their shared flat space-time limit, two invariants, spin and energy scale for de Sitter and rest energy for Anti de Sitter, characterize the unitary irreducible representation associated with dS and AdS elementary systems. While the dS energy scale is a simple deformation of the Poincaré rest energy and so has a purely mass nature, AdS rest energy is the sum of a purely mass component and a kind of zero-point energy derived from the curvature. An analysis based on recent estimates on the chemical freeze-out temperature marking in Early Universe the phase transition quark-gluon plasma epoch to the hadron epoch supports the guess that dark matter energy might originate from an effective AdS curvature energy.

The article presents the results of tests of minor head losses through PVC and PP elbows for a flow of water and mixtures of water and sand with grain sizes of up to 0.5 mm and concentrations of 5.6 g∙L-1, 10.84 g∙L-1, and 15.73 g∙L-1. The tests were carried out at variable flow velocities for three elbow diameters of 63, 75, and 90 mm. The flow rate, pressure difference in the tested cross-sections, and temperature of the fluids were measured and automatically recorded. The results of the measurements were used to develop mathematical models for determining the minor head loss coefficient as a function of elbow diameter, sand concentration in the liquid, and Reynolds number. The mathematical model was developed by cross validation. It was shown that when the concentration of sand in the liquid was increased by 1.0 g∙L-1, the coefficient of minor head loss through the elbows increased, in the Reynolds number range of 4.6∙104 − 2.1∙105, by 0.3−0.01% for PP63, 0.6−0.03 % for PP75, 1.1−0.06 % for PP90, 0.8−0.01 % for PVC63, 0.8−0.02 % for PVC75, and 0.9−0.04 % for PVC90. An increase in Re from 5∙104 to 2∙106 for elbows with diameters of 63, 75 and 90 mm caused a 7.3 %, 6.8 %, and 6.0 % decrease in the minor head loss coefficient, respectively.

Background: The passage through university, as a complex experience, can heighten personal susceptibility to eating disorders. The objective of this research is to determine how gender, age, year of course, and center or faculty can influence the risk of an eating disorder among university students. Method: A transversal and descriptive study with a probabilistic sample of 516 Spanish students from 26 university degrees is performed, by administering the Inventory Eating Disorder-Reference criterion (EDI-3-RF) to the students. Results: It was found that the female students enrolled in second-year grades presented a greater obsession with thinness and body dissatisfaction, that the male students did more physical exercise to control their weight, and that those under 20 years and the students from both the Health and Law Faculties presented greater bulimic behavior. Conclusions: It is necessary to implement preventive measures adapted to the university students.

The textbook analysis of vacuum energy density (VED) in flat spacetime follows from Pauli’s lectures of 1951, in which quantum vacuum is modeled as a reservoir of free harmonic oscillators. In his lectures, Pauli shows that deriving a nearly vanishing VED is contingent upon fulfilling three corollary conditions called polynomial-in-mass-constraints. The goal of this work is to evaluate Pauli’s constraints against the Standard Model parameters and the Higgs mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking.

Internet of Things includes all connected objects from small embedded systems with low computational power and storage capacities to efficient ones, as well as moving objects like drones and autonomous vehicles. The concept of Internet of Everything expands upon this idea by adding people, data and processing. The adoption of such systems is exploding and becoming ever more significant, bringing with it questions related to the security and the privacy of these objects. A natural solution to data integrity, confidentiality and single point of failure vulnerability is the use of blockchains. Blockchains can be used as an immutable data layer for storing information, avoiding single point of failure vulnerability via decentralization and providing strong security and cryptographic tools for IoE. However, the adoption of blockchain technology in such heterogeneous systems, containing light devices, presents several challenges and practical issues that need to be overcome. Indeed, most of the solutions proposed to adapt blockchains to devices with low resources confront difficulty in maintaining decentralization or security. The most interesting are probably the Layer 2 solutions which build offchain systems strongly connected to the blockchain. Among these, zk-rollup is a promising new generation of Layer 2/off-chain schemes which can remove the last obstacles to blockchain adoption in IoT, or more generally, in IoE. Despite their promises illustrated by recent systems proposed by startups and private companies, very few scientific publications explaining or applying this barely-known technology have been published, especially for non-financial systems. In this context, the objective of our paper is to fill this gap for IoE systems in two steps. We first propose a synthetic review of recent proposals to improve scalability including onchain (consensus, blockchain organization, ...) and offchain (sidechain, rollups) solutions and we demonstrate that zk-rollups are the most promising ones. In a second step, we focus on IoE by describing several interesting features (scalability, dynamicity, data management, ...) that are illustrated with various general IoE use cases.

Applying a procedure similar to that of E.S. Bring, by using a 4^th degree Tschirnhaus transformation, it was possible to transform the Bring-Jerrard normal quintic (BJQ) equation into a De Moivre form (DMQ), so that it could be solved by radicals. The general solution by radicals of the De Moivre equations of any degree is presented. By the same procedure the BJSx (normal sextic) equation was taken to another one without the 2^nd, 4^th and 6^th terms which was transformed into a cubic (solvable) equation. By applying a 6^th degree Tschirnhaus transformation to the BJSp (normal septic) equation its binormal (without the 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th terms) form was obtained.

The imperfection of theoretical and methodological approaches to regulate the jump process transition when combining differentiated energy resources is a pressing issue. The goal of this paper is to develop a theory and a method to regulate the integration-balancing processes of combining diversified resources. The concept of combining integration and balancing models has been substantiated by methods of transforming multidimensional space and approximating generalized functions that represent jump-like processes. Theoretical and operational-regulatory models of economic sustainability have been developed, substantiating new concepts, patterns, properties, dependencies and indicators of the dynamics of the processes of combination; the optimality conditions for the number of approximations of generalized functions, interpreting the effects of control functions of combining resources, are determined. New methods for solving problems have been developed: the organization of the energy technology complex of facilities for enhanced resource diversification and the Center for Sustainability, improving the quality of managing dynamic processes in terms of combining and diversifying resources.

Transitioning towards net zero emissions is critical in the chemical and process industries to combat climate change and ensure environmental sustainability. Key focus areas of this review include the reduction of carbon emissions, the efficient utilization of energy resources, and the adoption of sustainable practices. Cutting-edge technologies such as biomass utilization, biotechnology applications, and waste management strategies are crucial in achieving this transition. Industries, including cement production, encounter unique challenges in their quest for sustainability and must actively seek innovative solutions to mitigate their carbon footprint effectively. The role of hydrogen as a clean fuel and its potential to revolutionize the chemical and process sectors is also discussed. The European Green Deal and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are significant for the chemical industry. They provide a clear roadmap and framework for promoting sustainability, driving innovation, and reducing the industry's environmental impact. By aligning with these initiatives, the chemical industry can enhance its competitiveness, contribute to societal well-being, and foster collaboration across sectors to achieve shared sustainability objectives.

The use of mixed-state ionic beams in collision dynamics investigations is examined. Using high resolution Auger projectile spectroscopy involving He-like ($1s^2\thinspace^1\!S, 1s2s\thinspace^{3,1}\!S$) mixed-state beams, the spectrum contributions of the $1s2s\thinspace^3\!S$ metastable beam component is effectively separated and clearly identified. This is performed with a technique that exploits two independent spectrum measurements under the same collision conditions, but with ions having quite different metastable fractions, judiciously selected by varying the ion beam charge-stripping conditions. Details of the technique are presented together with characteristic examples. In collisions of 4 MeV B$^{3+}$ with H$_2$ targets, the Auger electron spectrum of the separated $1s2s\thinspace^{3}S$ boron beam component allows for a detailed analysis of the formation of the $1s2s(^3\!S)nl \thinspace^2\!L$ states by direct $nl$ transfer. In addition, the production of hollow $2s2p\thinspace^{1,3}\!P$ doubly- and $2s2p^2\thinspace^2\!D$ triply-excited states, by direct excitation and transfer-excitation processes, respectively, can also be independently studied. In similar mixed-state beam collisions of 15 MeV C$^{4+}$ with H$_2$, He, Ne and Ar targets, the contributions of the $1s^2$, $1s2s\thinspace^{3,1}S$ beam components to the formation of the $2s2p\thinspace^{3,1}\!P$ states by double-excitation, $1s\rightarrow2p$ excitation and transfer-loss processes can be clearly identified, facilitating comparisons with theoretical calculations.

We present an overview over eight brightly luminescent Cu(I) dimers of the type Cu2X2(PN)3 with X = Cl, Br, I and P^N = 2-diphenylphosphino-pyridine (Ph2Ppy), 2-diphenylphosphino-pyrimidine (Ph2Ppym), 1-diphenylphosphino-isoquinoline (Ph2Piqn) including three new crystal structures (Cu2Br2(Ph2Ppy)3, 1-Br, Cu2I2(Ph2Ppym)3, 2-I, and Cu2I2(Ph2Piqn)3, 3-I). However, we mainly focus on their photo-luminescence properties. All compounds exhibit combined thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) and phosphorescence at ambient temperature. Emission color, decay time, and quantum yield varies over large ranges. For deeper characterization, we select Cu2I2(Ph2Ppy)3, 1-I, showing a quantum yield of 81 %. DFT and SOC-TDDFT calculations provide insight into the electronic structures of the singlet S1 and triplet T1 states. Both stem from metal+iodide-to-ligand charge transfer transitions. Evaluation of the emission decay dynamics, measured from 1.2 ≤ T ≤ 300 K, gives ∆E(S1-T1) = 380 cm-1 (47 meV), a transition rate of k(S1→S0) = 2.25×106 s-1 (445 ns), T1 zero-field splittings, transition rates from the triplet substates, and spin-lattice relaxation times. We also discuss the interplay of S1-TADF and T1-phosphorescence. The combined emission paths shorten the overall decay time. For OLED applications, utilization of both singlet and triplet harvesting can be highly favorable for improvement of the device performance.

This paper provides an in-depth exploration of the role of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in advancing dairy farming towards net zero emissions, a critical goal in the face of the global climate crisis. The study emphasizes how these technologies significantly enhance the management of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and optimize resource use, thereby contributing to environmental sustainability in agriculture. A key aspect of this transition is the alignment with international climate commitments, such as the Paris Agreement, which are instrumental in steering global efforts toward emission reduction and mitigating climate change. The integration of Big Data and AI in dairy farming emerges as a powerful tool to reduce the sector's environmental impact while sustaining economic growth. The paper delves into the specific applications of these technologies in emission management, including predictive analytics for feed optimization, manure management, and energy efficiency enhancements. It also addresses the broader implications of technological integration in dairy farming, considering aspects like benchmarking standards, data privacy, and the role of policy in fostering sustainable practices. The study underscores the challenges inherent in adopting these advanced technologies, including the need for improved farmer training, data quality, and compatibility with existing systems. It also advocates for enhanced policy frameworks that support sustainable practices, encourage technological adoption, and balance economic viability with environmental responsibility. This comprehensive analysis offers valuable insights into harnessing digital technologies for climate change mitigation and delineates a path for the dairy industry towards achieving net zero emissions, thereby contributing significantly to global environmental sustainability efforts.

Background Research on the mental health of students in health disciplines mainly focuses on psychological distress and nursing and medical students. This study aimed to investigate the psychological well-being and distress and related factors among undergraduate students training in eight different health-related tracks in Geneva, Switzerland. Methods This cross-sectional study used established self-filled scales for anxiety, depression, stress, psychological well-being, and study satisfaction. Descriptive statistics and hierarchical regression analyses were applied. Results In October 2019, out of 2835 invited students, 915 (32%) completed the survey. Lower academic satisfaction scores were strongly associated with depression (β=-.26, p<.001), anxiety (β=-.27, p<.001), and stress (β=-.70, p<.001), while higher scores with psychological well-being (β=.70, p<.001). Being female was strongly associated with anxiety and stress but not with depression or psychological well-being. Increased age was associated with enhanced psychological well-being. The nature of the academic training had a lesser impact on mental health and the academic year none. Conclusion Academic satisfaction strongly predicts depression, anxiety, stress, and psychological well-being. Training institutions should address the underlying factors that can improve students’ satisfaction with their studies while ensuring that they have access to psychosocial services that help them cope with mental distress and enhance their psychological well-being.

CO₂ emissions have been identified as the main driver for climate change, with devastating consequences for the global natural environment. The steel industry is responsible for ca. 8%-11% of global CO₂ emissions, due to high fossil-fuel and energy consumption. The onus is therefore on industry to remedy the environmental damage caused and to decarbonise production. This desk research report follows a two-tiered route: 1) exploring the Bio Steel Cycle; 2) proposing a seven-step strategy to overcome the challenges within the iron and steel industry. The true levels of CO₂ emissions in the steelmaking process, during the blast-furnace/basic-oxygen-furnace operation, will be detailed first, at 4.61t of CO₂ emissions/t of steel produced. The manuscript proposes a solution for reduced carbon emissions steelmaking with the Bio Steel Cycle components and detail on how to reach net-zero carbon emissions steel production. The 7-step-implementation-strategy as a potential solution to achieve net and true zero carbon emissions steel production in the short to medium-term. The findings of this are pointing towards the conclusion that CO₂ emissions seem to have been under-reported and under-estimated in the past, but the emission can be addressed if the correct scenarios for net-zero steel manufacturing are implemented by 2050.

Already more than 140 countries consider or have pledged to reach net-zero emission targets by 2050 or earlier and the share of global emissions falling into an emission pricing scheme has steeply increased over the past three years. Even where there are no direct implications for industry (yet), there is a series of subtle pressure points driving an increasing number of companies across the globe to work towards climate neutrality and pledging ambitious emission reduction goals. This article sheds light on the pressure points, the subtle triggers, the underlying considerations as well as the hoped-for benefits for industrial companies from achieving net-zero emissions. The observations and ideas presented in this paper are derived from quantitative data obtained via the Energy Efficiency Index of German Industry (EEI) and qualitative data. Not only societal, work force, supply chain and investor expectations play a large role, but also many strategic considerations which have the potential to make the company more resilient and profitable, particularly in time of crisis. Those companies that do not move towards decarbonisation, on the other hand, may face a costly late-mover disadvantage. This piece uncovers subtle interconnections, helping stakeholders from industry and beyond to grasp opportunities and challenges ahead.

Theoretical analysis into the energetics of a novel putative electromagnetic field propulsion device by the author, found that it was able to impart momenergy to the ground state of the electromagnetic field; some rest-energy of the craft was converted to kinetic energy of the craft. Electrical analysis showed that the propulsor was always a net electrical load – if the device accelerated from one frame, then deaccelerated to the original frame, both processes would consume electrical work. The aim of this paper is to look further into this sinking of high-grade electrical energy into the field ground state and to show that an even more pernicious form of 2^nd Law of Thermodynamics exists.

Applying a procedure similar to that of E.S. Bring, by using a 4^th degree Tschirnhaus transformation, it was possible to transform the Bring-Jerrard normal quintic (BJQ) equation into a De Moivre form (DMQ), so that it could be solved by radicals. The general solution by radicals of the De Moivre equations of any degree is presented. By the same procedure the BJSx (normal sextic) equation was taken to another one without the 2^nd, 4^th and 6^th terms which was transformed into a cubic (solvable) equation. By applying a 6^th degree Tschirnhaus transformation to the BJSp (normal septic) equation its Bring-Jerrard binormal (without the 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th terms) form was obtained.

The relation between CO2 emissions and atmospheric CO2 concentration has traditionally been treated with more or less complex models with several boxes. Our approach is motivated by the question of how much CO2 must necessarily be absorbed by sinks. Observations lead to the model assumption, that carbon sinks like oceans or biosphere are linearly dependent on CO2 concentration on a decadal scale. In particular this implies the falsifiable hypothesis that oceanic and biological CO2 buffers have not significantly changed in the past 50 years and are not saturated in the forseeable future. The simple model with 2 parameters explains very well the CO2 emission and historical CO2 concentration data. The model gives estimates of the natural emissions, the pre-industrial CO2 equilibrium concentration levels, the half-life time of an emission pulse, and the future CO2 concentration level from a given emission scenario. This is validated by an ex-post forecast of the last 20 years. The important result is that with the stated polices scenario of the IEA future CO2 concentrations will not rise above 475 ppm. The model is compared with the Carbon modul of the Bern model, mapping their complex IRFs to a single time variant parameter.

Through history, particular attention has been paid of the study of the relationship between the energy use and the city structure. Improving energy efficiency in modern agglomerations is the most promising means to mitigate climate change and its impacts. In this current context of globalisation, European Union proposes initiatives and policy targets to rethink the urban development strategies towards the ‘zero energy objectives’. Providing a methodological approach with a simulation district analysis, the present article summarizes how the ‘zero energy’ challenge is analyzed in an existing district (Epinlieu) to articulate the users’ requirements in energy. This study contributes to the scientific discussion of the districts’ urban structure and energy planning by establishing a linkage among the beneficial influence of the KPIs of the districts’ form to increase their energy efficiency and its application in a real case study in Belgium.

Recently, the relationship between emotional arousal and depression has been studied. Focusing on this relationship, we first developed an arousal level voice index (ALVI) to measure arousal levels using the Interactive Emotional Dyadic Motion Capture database. Then, we calculated ALVI from the voices of depressed patients from two hospitals (Ginza Taimei Clinic [GTC] and National Defense Medical College hospital [NDMC]) and compared them with the severity of depression as measured by the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D). Depending on the HAM-D score, the datasets were classified into a no depression (HAM-D&lt;8) and a depression group (HAM-D≥8) for each hospital. A comparison of the mean ALVI between the groups was performed using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test and a significant difference at the level of 10% (p = 0.094) at GTC and 1% (p = 0.0038) at NDMC was determined. The area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic was 0.66 when categorizing between the two groups for GTC, and the AUC for NDMC was 0.70. The relationship between arousal level and depression severity was indirectly suggested via ALVI.

This study reports an empirical analysis of an all-electric, Net Zero Energy Housing (NZEH) development located in a mixed-humid climate zone (4A, Virginia, USA). Circuit-level energy monitors were used to measure energy consumption and energy production data (solar photovoltaic) at 1-hr intervals in six identical apartments over 24 months. The study employs a multi-step case study methodology to a) empirically evaluate energy consumption and production data, b) identify the temporal variability of energy consumption and production data at different time scales, c) understand the impact(s) of weather and human-building interaction on energy consumption and production, and d) synthesize the study’s “lessons learned” toward data-driven recommendations for future NZEH researchers and practitioners. The study found that the development’s net zero energy goal was achieved in three of six case units and that NZEH housing performance was more influenced by human-building interaction than weather variability. The analysis also found the solar photovoltaic (PV) performance to be reliable across the sampled units over the periods of measurement, suggesting that solar PV could be oversized as an approach to overcome verifiability in HBI and achieve NZEH performance goals.

Green innovation has become the mainstream of the era, and New Urbanization is an inevitable choice in the process of urbanization in China. Focusing on the topics of green innovation and new urbanization, much work has been done to find their factors respectively while the relationship between the two remains to be explored. Hence, in this article, representative indicators of new urbanization and green innovation are selected to study the Yangtze River Delta City Group from the perspective of both the entire urban agglomeration and a single city, in terms of time and space, using the entropy method and the coupling model. The results show that (1). Green innovation promotes the new urbanization development and there is a synergistic effect between the two systems. (2). The level of economic development is an important factor that affects the degree of coupling degree and coordination degree between the two interactions, and its influence is better than the spatial effect. (3). Green innovation and new urbanization have positive spatial autocorrelation and regional agglomeration (there are High-High, Low-Low, and High-Low collections).

The aim of this study is to investigate “resource portfolios” and total capital, as well as the degree of those resources capitalization, which representatives of different social classes in the modern Latvia have at their disposal. The amount and structure of “resource portfolio” and total capital of different social classes studied using the resource-asset-capital approach. The article presents results of the sociological survey of social stratification in modern Latvia on the example of its one region – Latgale (2019, n = 798, representative sample of the adult population), identifying social classes based on two objective (income and education) and one subjective (self-identification of respondents) criteria. Based on the example of the lower working class and the middle class, the authors proved that representatives of these polar social classes have a total capital of different amount, which is determined by two main reasons: 1) the lower working class has statistically significantly smaller “resource portfolio” than the middle class; 2) the lower working class is not so successful as the middle class in activating the resources at their disposal, turning them into their capital. These statistically significant two-level differences have to be considered when pursuing social policies on reducing differences between social classes.

This paper provides an open dataset of measured energy use, solar energy production, and building air leakage data from a 328 m² (3,531 ft²) all-electric, zero energy commercial building in Virginia, USA. Over two years of energy use data were collected at 1-hour intervals using circuit-level energy monitors. Over six years of solar energy production data were measured at 1-hour intervals by 56 microinverters. The building air leakage data was measured post-construction per ASTM-E779 Standard Test Method for Determining Air Leakage Rate by Fan Pressurization and the United States Army Corps (USACE) Building Enclosure Testing procedure; both pressurization and depressurization results are provided. The architectural and engineering (AE) documents are provided to aid researchers and practitioners in reliable modelling of building performance. The paper describes the data collection methods, cleaning, and convergence with weather data. This dataset can be employed to predict, benchmark, and calibrate operational outcomes in zero energy commercial buildings.

As is well known, the main contribution of the FRP strips to the strength of load-bearing walls is an improvement in the in-plane strength. This paper deals with the possibility of applying the FRP strips in way to modify the strengthening mechanism of the FRP reinforcing system, from an in-plane to an out-of-plane strengthening mechanism. In order to achieve this goal, a second reinforcement system – derived from the CAM system (Active Confinement of Masonry) – provides connections between the FRP strips placed on the opposite sides of the wall. This new strengthening technique – called the straps/strips technique – establishes a stiffness constraint that forces the opposing FRP strips to behave like two flanges of an FRP I-beam embedded in the wall. Consequently, the use of FRP strips also improves the flexural strength of the wall. The present paper briefly summarizes the results obtained in previous works with the straps/strips technique and proposes an improvement of this strengthening technique, based on some weak-points emerged in the early experimentations. The paper also shows the results of a further experimental test, performed with the improved straps/strips technique. Finally, the similarity between FRP strips with transversal connection and concrete wythes of a sandwich panel with flexible connectors leads to interpret the behavior of the ideal I-beam in terms of composite action established between the FRP strips. This paves the way for analytical modeling of the straps/strips technique.

The good management of the building maintenance should be based on the regular maintenance work. Repair works are often not carried out or there are shifts in time, which causes degradation of the building. The article presents a method of planning renovation works of a MUBAR (maintenance Management in an Un-renovated Building with Abandoning Renovation) based on the consequences in case of their lack. No renovation work on individual elements in a building can cause a threat to the stability of the building structure, risking the lives of users, continuing damage to the building by damaging further elements, or even a building disaster. The method can also be applied to historic buildings. Often, due to abandonment of repairs caused most often by lack of the owner, improper manager or irresponsible users, degradation of these objects occurs. The consequences of neglected renovation of buildings lead to irreversible processes of their destruction. The aim of the article is to present the developed method of planning renovation works based on the consequences of lack of renovation works.

Background: Manoka Health District (MHD), an enclaved archipelago district in Cameroon, is home to about 1,732 under-2 children. Over 90% of these children have not received a single dose of any vaccine. In this paper, we explored the reasons for the high proportion of zero-dose children in this district so as to generate information that policymakers can use to develop context-specific interventions to boast coverage for routine immunization (RI) in this remote fishing island Methodology: We collected qualitative data via key informant interviews (KII) and focused group discussions (FGD) and analyzed it using thematic analysis. Participants for KII were selected using purposive sampling, and a snowballing approach helped to recruit an intermixed population of locals and immigrants for FGDs. Results: MHD is a hard-to-reach zone with a lone health facility that lack a functional cold chain equipment to cover the 47 islets of the district. Diurnal floods, long distance, sea turbulence, infrastructural and resource constraints, and immigrant population without residence permits hinders optimal childhood vaccination. Insufficient community health workers and lack of proper community engagement with feedback loops hamper effective communication and vaccine uptake during campaigns and outreaches. The reasons for vaccination hesitancy included hospital-based vaccination preference over home-based vaccination, fear of post-vaccination fever, rumors, repeated postponement of the vaccination schedules, and refusal by some ethnic group leaders. Conclusion: This study revealed context-specific reasons for zero-dose childhood vaccination status in MHD. These findings should be leveraged to design tailored interventions to raise RI in MHD and similar under-vaccinated communities. Keywords: zero-dose, childhood vaccination, missed communities, Cameroon

The study on graphs emerging from different algebraic structures like groups, rings, fields, vector spaces, etc. is a prominent area of research in mathematics, as algebra and graph theory are two mathematical fields that focuses on creating and analysing structures. There are numerous studies linking algebraic structures and graphs, which began with the introduction of Cayley graphs of groups. Several algebraic graphs have been defined on rings, which have huge-growing literature. In this article, we systematically review the literature on some variants of Cayley graphs that are defined on rings, to understand the research in this area.

Many corporations and governments aspire to become Net Zero Carbon Dioxide by 2030-2050. Achieving this goal requires understanding where energy is produced and consumed, the magnitude of CO₂ generation, and the Carbon Cycle. Many prior proposed solutions focus on reducing future CO₂ emissions from continued use of fossil fuels. Examination of these technologies exposes their limitations and shows that none offer a complete solution. For example, bioethanol is shown to be both carbon and energy inefficient. Direct Air Capture technologies are needed to reduce CO₂ already in the air. The most natural form of Direct Air Capture involves letting nature do the work of creating biomass via photosynthesis. However, it is necessary to break the Carbon Cycle by permanently sequestering that biomass carbon in “landfills” modified to discourage decomposition to CO₂ and methane. Tree leaves and biomass grown on-purpose, such as high yield switchgrass, are proposed as good biomass sources for this purpose. Left unsequestered, leaves decompose with a short Carbon Cycle time constant releasing CO₂ back to the atmosphere. While in any given year, leaves represent a small fraction of a tree’s above ground biomass, leaves can represent a substantial fraction of the total biomass generated by a tree when integrated over a tree’s lifetime. Understanding the chemistry of the distinct phases landfills undergo is the key to minimizing or eliminating decomposition. First, the compact cross-linked structure of cellulose and keeping water out will make it difficult for initial depolymerization to release sugars. Air ingress should be minimized to minimize Phase I aerobic decomposition. pH manipulation can discourage acid formation during Phase II. Lignocellulose is low in nutrients needed for anaerobic decomposition. Inhibitors can be added if needed. The goal is to move quickly to the dormant phase where decomposition stops. The cost for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) for growing and sequestering high yield switchgrass is estimated to be lower than CCS for steam reforming of methane hydrogen plants (SRM) and supercritical or combined cycle coal power plants. Thus, sequestration of biomass is a natural, carbon efficient, and low-cost method of Direct Capture. Biomass sequestration can provide CO₂ removal on giga tonnes per year scale and can be implemented in the needed timeframe (2030-2050).

Leveraging the open-world understanding capacity of large-scale visual-language pre-trained models has become a hot-spot in point cloud classification. Recent approaches rely on transferable visual-language pre-trained models, classifying point clouds by projecting them into 2D images and evaluating consistency with textual prompts. These methods benefit from the robust open-world understanding capabilities of visual-language pre-trained models and require no additional training. However, they face several challenges summarized as prompt ambiguity, image domain gap, view weights confusion, and feature deviation. In response to these challenges, we propose PointBLIP, a zero-training point cloud classification network based on the recently introduced BLIP-2 visual-language model. PointBLIP is adept at processing similarities between multi-images and multi-prompts. We separately introduce a novel method for point cloud zero-shot and few-shot classification, which involves comparing multiple features to achieve effective classification. Simultaneously, we enhance the input data quality for both the image and text sides of PointBLIP. In point cloud zero-shot classification tasks, we outperform state-of-the-art methods on three benchmark datasets. For few-shot classification tasks, to the best of our knowledge, we present the first zero-training few-shot point cloud method, surpassing previous works under the same conditions and showcasing comparable performance to full-training methods.

There is an increased interest in the district-scale energy transition within interdisciplinary research community. Agent-based modelling presents a suitable approach to address variety of questions related to policies, technologies, processes, and the different stakeholder roles that can foster such transition. This state-of-the-art review focuses on the application of agent-based modelling for exploring policy interventions that facilitate the decarbonisation (i.e., energy transition) of districts and neighbourhoods while considering stakeholders’ social characteristics and interactions. We systematically select and analyse peer-reviewed literature and discuss the key modelling aspects, such as model purpose, agents and decision-making logic, spatial and temporal aspects, and empirical grounding. The analysis reveals that the most established agent-based models’ focus on innovation diffusion (e.g., adoption of solar panels) and dissemination of energy-saving behaviour among a group of buildings in urban areas. We see a considerable gap in exploring the decisions and interactions of agents other than residential households, such as commercial and even industrial energy consumers (and prosumers). Moreover, measures such as building retrofits and conversion to district energy systems involve many stakeholders and complex interactions between them that up to now have hardly been represented in the agent-based modelling environment.

This paper aims to investigate the criteria of behaviour of certain type of third order neutral generalized difference equations with distributed delay. With the technique of generalized Riccati transformation and Philos-type method, some oscillation criteria are obtained to ensure convergence and oscillatory solution of suitable example is listed to illustrate the main result.

A numerical study for the effect of crest width, breaking parameter and trunk permeability on hydrodynamics and flow behavior in the vicinity of rubble-mound, permeable, zero-freeboard breakwaters (ZFBs) is presented. The modified two dimensional Navier-Stokes equations for two-phase flows in porous media with a Smagorinsky model for the subgrid scale stresses were solved numerically. An immersed-boundary/level-set method was used. The numerical model was validated for the cases of wave propagation over a submerged impermeable trapezoidal bar and over a low-crested permeable breakwater. Five cases of breakwaters were examined, and the main results are: (a) The size of the crest width, B, does not notably affect the wave reflection, vorticity and currents in the seaward region of ZFBs, while wave transmission, currents in the leeward side, and mean overtopping discharge, all decrease with increasing B. A non-monotonic behavior of the wave setup is also observed. (b) As the breaking parameter decreases, wave reflection, transmission, currents, mean overtopping discharge, and wave setup decrease. This observation is also verified by relevant empirical formulas. (c) As the ZFB trunk permeability decreases, an increase of the wave reflection, currents, wave setup, and a decrease of wave transmission and mean overtopping discharge is observed.

A new design scheme is proposed for twisting the walls of a microchannel, and its performance is demonstrated numerically. The numerical study was carried out for a T-shaped microchannel with twist angles in the range of 0 to 34π. The Reynolds number range was 0.15 to 6. The T-shaped microchannel consists of two inlet branches and an outlet branch. The mixing performance was analyzed in terms of the degree of mixing and relative mixing cost. All numerical results show that the twisting scheme is an effective way to enhance the mixing in a T-shaped microchannel. The mixing enhancement is realized by the swirling of two fluids in the cross section and is more prominent as the Reynolds number decreases. The twist angle was optimized to maximize the DOM, which increases with the length of the outlet branch. The twist angle was also optimized in terms of the relative mixing. The two optimum twisting angles are generally not coincident. The optimum twist angle shows a dependence on the length of the outlet branch but it is not affected much by the Reynolds number.

Timely crop yield forecasts at national level are substantial to support food policies, to assess agricultural production and to subsidize regions affected by food shortage. This study presents an operational crop yield forecasting system for Poland that employs freely available satellite and agro-meteorological products provided by the Copernicus programme. The crop yield predictors consist of: (1) vegetation condition indicators provided daily by Sentinel-3 OLCI (optical) and SLSTR (thermal) imagery, (2) a backward extension of Sentinel-3 data (before 2018) derived from cross-calibrated MODIS data, (3) air temperature, total precipitation, surface radiation, and soil moisture derived from ERA-5 climate reanalysis generated by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. The crop yield forecasting algorithm is based on thermal time (growing degree days derived from ERA-5 data) to better follow the crop development stage. The recursive feature elimination is used to derive an optimal set of predictors for each administrative unit, which are ultimately employed by the Extreme Gradient Boosting regressor to forecast yields using official yield statistics as a reference. According to intensive leave-one-year-out cross validation for 2000–2019 period, the relative RMSE for NUTS-2 units are: 8% for winter wheat, and 13% for winter rapeseed and maize. Respectively, for the LAU units it equals 14% for winter wheat, 19% for winter rapeseed, and 27% for maize. The system is designed to be easily applicable in other regions and to be easily adaptable to cloud computing environments (such as DIAS or Amazon AWS), where data sets from the Copernicus programme are directly accessible.

proposal for a fundamental theory is described in which classical and quantum physics as a representation of the universe as a gigantic dendrogram are unified. The latter is the explicate order structure corresponding to the purely number-theoretical implicate order structure given by p-adic numbers. This number field was zero-dimensional, totally disconnected, and disordered. Physical systems (such as electrons, photons) are sub-dendrograms of the universal dendrogram. Measurement process is described as interactions among dendrograms; in particular, quantum measurement problems can be resolved using this process. The theory is realistic, but realism is expressed via the the Leibnitz principle of the Identity of Indiscernible. The classical-quantum interplay is based on the degree of indistinguishability between dendrograms (in which the ergodicity assumption is removed). Depending on this degree, some physical quantities behave more or less in a quantum manner (versus classic manner). Ideologically, our theory is very close to Smolin’s dynamics of difference and Rovelli’s relational quantum mechanics. The presence of classical behavior in nature implies a finiteness of the Universe-dendrogram. (Infinite Universe is considered to be purely quantum.) Reconstruction of events in a four-dimensional space type is based on the holographic principle. Our model reproduces Bell-type correlations in the dendrogramic framework. By adjusting dendrogram complexity, violation of the Bell inequality can be made larger or smaller.

Constructing new graph from the graph's parameters and related notions in the way that, the study on the new graph and old graph in their parameters could be facilitated. As graph, new graph has some characteristics and results which are related to the structure of this graph. For this purpose, regular graph is considered so the internal relation and external relation on this new graph are studied. The kind of having same number of edges when this number is originated by common number of graphs like maximum degree, minimum degree, domination number, coloring number and clique number, is founded in the word of having regular graph

The classical propositional calculus (zero-order logic, classical propositional logic), is the most fundamental two-valued logical system. In this paper we present a proof of inconsistency of the classical propositional calculus. Then, we get right away the conclusion that the metatheory of the classical propositional calculus is inconsistent.

Let f : V → V be a Cohomological Expanding Mapping¹ of a smooth complex compact homogeneous manifold with $ dim_{\mathbb{C}}(\Vc)=k \ge 1$ and Kodaira Dimension $\leq 0$. We study the dynamics of such mapping from a probabilistic point of view, that is, we describe the asymptotic behavior of the orbit $ O_{h} (x) = \{h^{n} (x), n \in \mathbb{N} \quad \mbox{or}\quad \mathbb{Z}\}$ of a generic point. Using pluripotential methods, we have constructed in our previous paper \cite{Armand4} a natural invariant canonical probability measure of maximal Cohomological Entropy $ \nu_{h} $ such that ${\chi_{2l}^{-m}} (h^m)^\ast \Omega \to \nu_h \qquad \mbox{as} \quad m\to\infty$ for each smooth probability measure $\Omega $ in $\Vc$ . We have also studied the main stochastic properties of $ \nu_{h}$ and have shown that $ \nu_{h}$ is a smooth equilibrium measure , ergodic, mixing, K-mixing, exponential-mixing. In this paper we are interested on equidistribution problems and we show in particular that $ \nu_{h}$ reflects a property of equidistribution of periodic points by setting out the Third and Fourth Main Results in our study. Finally we conjecture that $$\nu_h:=T_l^+ \wedge T_{k-l}^-,$$ $$\dim_\HH(\nu_h)= \Psi h_{\chi}(h) , $$ $$\dim_\HH( \mbox{Supp} T_l^+) \geq 2(k-l) + \frac{\log \chi_{2l}}{\psi_l},$$ $$|\langle \nu_m^x-\nu_h,\zeta\rangle|\leq M \Big[1+\log^+{1\over D(x,\Tc)}\Big]^{\beta/2}\|\zeta\|_{\Cc^\beta} \gamma^{-\beta m/2}$$ and $$|\langle \nu_m^x-\nu_h,\zeta\rangle|\leq M \Big[1 +\log^+{1\over D(x,E_\gamma)}\Big]^{\beta/2}\|\zeta\|_{\Cc^\beta} \gamma^{-\beta m/2}.$$