Definition Of Boundaries Research Articles

BOTANICAL RESULTS OF THE 6<sup>TH</sup> WEST HIMALAYAN INTERDISCIPLINARY BIOGEOGRAPHIC EXPEDITION TO THE INDUS AND GANGES INTERFLUVE

The article presents some scientific results of the 6th Western Himalayan Interdisciplinary Biogeographical Expedition of the St. Petersburg Union of Scientists. The flora and vegetation types of the central part, north-east, east and south-east of Himachal Pradesh state (India) were studied. The expedition participants studied plants at altitudes from 200 to 4600 meters. The difficult terrain, the variety of combinations of rocks, soil types, as well as abrupt changes in meso- and microclimatic conditions significantly influenced the nature of vegetation and the composition of flora, the definition of phytocenotic boundaries, the search for rare plants and the clarification of their ecology. Attention was also paid to cultivated component in plant communities. The article, based on the professional interests and individual view of each of the authors, briefly represents the diversity of vegetation along a route of almost 2000 km, passing through all the vertical zonality of the Western Himalayan biogeographical province.

FCPN: Pruning redundant part-whole relations for more streamlined pattern parsing

Most cropping-and-segmenting pattern parsers typically establish a single metric/scheme to reason diverse inner correlations, resulting in over-general and redundant representations. To make pattern parsing more streamlined and efficient, a fragile correlation pruner network (FCPN) with correlation-steered attention shifters (CSASs) and graph attention expectation-maximum routing agreement (GAEMRA) is proposed. CSASs prune fragile (weak and substitutable) part-to-whole correlations. They stipulate that only those primary entities (representing components) fulfilling the criteria of inter-part diversity and intra-object cohesiveness can update senior entities (representing the whole/intermediate composites). To further boost effects, GAEMRA is defined to shield the redundant voting signals of conventional routing agreement. With CSASs and GAEMRA, FCPN gradually parses objective semantic patterns by clustering highly associated secondary entities in a bottom-up "part backtracking" manner. Quantitative and ablation experiments surrounding face and human parsing demonstrate the superiority of FCPN over the state-of-the-arts, especially for the definition of fine-grained semantic boundaries.

Characterization methods for current in-situ stress in oil and gas reservoirs: a mini review

In-situ stress plays a crucial role in governing various parameters such as the distribution of oil and gas accumulation zones, the fracture pattern of reservoirs, formation fracture pressure, and collapse pressure. Understanding the distribution characteristics of current in situ stress of reservoirs has significant implications for exploration and development of oil and gas. This paper focuses on the characterization methods for current in situ stress of oil and gas reservoirs, discussing the research progress in testing methods, computational approaches, numerical simulations, and seismic prediction methods. The results indicate that the testing method including the on-site testing method and the laboratory testing method offer the relatively high accuracy, but this method only provides point-specific magnitude and direction of current in situ stress. The Computational approaches can obtain continuous profiles of current in situ stress along individual wells. After using the testing method for calibration, we can obtain relatively accurate calculation results. The numerical method can predict current in situ stress over large areas, but it requires rigorous model setup, boundary definition, and parameter selection. The seismic prediction method also can predict broad distribution of current in situ stress, but this method is influenced by many factors and we had better apply this method in conjunction with other methods. In the future, engineers and researchers should innovate testing technologies and instruments, and establish models and processes for joint use of multiple methods, and explore the development of novel current in situ stress prediction models based on artificial intelligence and big data.

Considering patient perspectives in economic evaluations of health interventions.

Current guidelines for evaluating the cost-effectiveness of health interventions commonly recommend the use of a payer and/or a societal perspective. This raises the concern that the resulting reimbursement decision may overlook the full spectrum of impacts and equity considerations. In this paper, we argue that a potential solution is to supplement a societal- or payer-perspective economic evaluation with an additional evaluation accounting for exclusively the patient perspective. We present five categories of health interventions for which a patient-perspective analysis may be informative including those (1) that cross the definitional boundary between drugs and non-drug technologies; (2) affect patient adherence to protocol; (3) represent revolutionary treatments for genetic disorders; (4) with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio involving slightly less effective, but substantially less costly, than the current standard; and (5) have been previously approved for funding but now being targeted for potential delisting or disinvestment. Real-world examples are discussed in detail. Lived experience individuals were invited to provide vignettes. Discussions are provided regarding how to incorporate patient inputs to improve patient-centered decision-making.

CtFPPN: A coarse-to-fine pattern parser for dealing with distribution imbalance of pixels

Unbalanced pixel distribution has always plagued pattern parsing tasks. The consequence of this is that the saliency of tiny semantic components is overshadowed by large components, resulting in insufficient graph attentions from the model. Recent attempts typically crop tiny patches and predict masks for each semantic part. However, those strategies consist of separate stages and lack interactions, thus cannot be jointly optimized for collaborative perception. To compensate for this flaw, a coarse-to-fine pattern parsing network (CtFPPN) is proposed based on capsule network (CapsNet). Its coarse-grained parser submodel predicts and binaries coarse-scaled parsing masks for large components. Given the coarse contexts as references, fine-grained parser submodel conducts fine-scaled parsing for tiny components. To connect two parsing phases, the discretization attention fragmentation mechanism (DAFM) and multi-head attention expectation-maximum routing agreement (MhAEMRA) are customized. DAFM balances the model's attention to large and small semantic components. MhAEMRA receives attention tendencies from DAFM and updates learnable parameters. With DAFM and MhAEMRA, CtFPPN gradually deconstruct patterns by clustering highly associated secondary entities in a bottom-up "part backtracking" manner. Quantitative and ablation experiments of face and human parsing demonstrate the superiority of CtFPPN over the state-of-the-arts, especially for the definition of fine-grained semantic boundaries of components.

Untangling the hedge: Genetic diversity in clonally and sexually transmitted genomes of European wild roses, Rosa L.

While European wild roses are abundant and widely distributed, their morphological taxonomy is complicated and ambiguous. In particular, the polyploid Rosa section Caninae (dogroses) is characterised by its unusual meiosis, causing simultaneous clonal and sexual transmission of sub-genomes. This hemisexual reproduction, which often co-occurs with vegetative reproduction, defies the standard definition of species boundaries. We analysed seven highly polymorphic microsatellite loci, scored for over 2 600 Rosa samples of differing ploidy, collected across Europe within three independent research projects. Based on their morphology, these samples had been identified as belonging to 21 dogrose and five other native rose species. We quantified the degree of clonality within species and at individual sampling sites. We then compared the genetic structure within our data to current rose morpho-systematics and searched for hemisexually co-inherited sets of alleles at individual loci. We found considerably fewer copies of identical multi-locus genotypes in dogroses than in roses with regular meiosis, with some variation recorded among species. While clonality showed no detectable geographic pattern, some genotypes appeared to be more widespread. Microsatellite data confirmed the current classification of subsections, but they did not support most of the generally accepted dogrose microspecies. Under canina meiosis, we found co-inherited sets of alleles as expected, but could not distinguish between sexually and clonally inherited sub-genomes, with only some of the detected allele combinations being lineage-specific.

Model-based assessment of interbasin groundwater flow in data scarce areas: the Gallocanta Lake endorheic watershed (Spain)

Aquifer systems, because of the presence of frequently complex geological structures, may extend beyond watersheds limits. Interbasin groundwater flow is often identified among watersheds. Because geological systems are complex ones, modelling tools are needed for its estimation. In this paper, we quantify the outflows from the endhoreic Gallocanta watershed (Spain) by means of a MODFLOW numerical model in order to assess the robustness of the boundaries of the Gallocanta Groundwater Body. Our results show the Gallocanta watershed is hydrogeologically connected with the adjoining Piedra-Ortiz and Jiloca watersheds (discharging annually in these basins about 4 and 1 Mm3 respectively). Furthermore, we hypothesized the presence of geological features altering the groundwater flow. Additional simulations were run to analyse the changes in the water budget in the cases of: i) groundwater pumping no longer allowed by the authorities, and ii) a potential drought scenario. In the first case, the results forecast an increase in discharge to the Piedra-Ortiz and Jiloca watersheds, while in the second case a diminution of the outflows to the two neighboring basins is foreseen.We then propose a larger and unique groundwater body, spanning from the Caminreal Springs on the east and the Piedra-Ortiz basin on the west, including a moving groundwater divide internal to the Gallocanta watershed. Monitoring the baseflow of the Piedra-Ortiz river and of the Caminreal Springs will allow to get information on the evolution of the groundwater resource availability in the Gallocanta watershed. Our results stress the importance of conjunctively using data and traditional geologic knowledge (i.e. surface geology maps) along with numerical modelling analyses. This holds especially true in areas, such those of hard-rock aquifers, where scarce hydrogeologic data are available, to test conceptual models, to derive and to infer information on water budgets and on the presence of relevant structural features driving the groundwater flow. This approach may lead to informed decision-making on groundwater body boundaries definition for the application of relevant groundwater management regulations.

Self-supervised Semantic Segmentation: Consistency over Transformation.

Accurate medical image segmentation is of utmost importance for enabling automated clinical decision procedures. However, prevailing supervised deep learning approaches for medical image segmentation encounter significant challenges due to their heavy dependence on extensive labeled training data. To tackle this issue, we propose a novel self-supervised algorithm, , which integrates a robust framework based on the proposed Inception Large Kernel Attention (I-LKA) modules. This architectural enhancement makes it possible to comprehensively capture contextual information while preserving local intricacies, thereby enabling precise semantic segmentation. Furthermore, considering that lesions in medical images often exhibit deformations, we leverage deformable convolution as an integral component to effectively capture and delineate lesion deformations for superior object boundary definition. Additionally, our self-supervised strategy emphasizes the acquisition of invariance to affine transformations, which is commonly encountered in medical scenarios. This emphasis on robustness with respect to geometric distortions significantly enhances the model's ability to accurately model and handle such distortions. To enforce spatial consistency and promote the grouping of spatially connected image pixels with similar feature representations, we introduce a spatial consistency loss term. This aids the network in effectively capturing the relationships among neighboring pixels and enhancing the overall segmentation quality. The approach iteratively learns pixel-level feature representations for image content clustering in an end-to-end manner. Our experimental results on skin lesion and lung organ segmentation tasks show the superior performance of our method compared to the SOTA approaches.

Work-Life Boundary Management for Working Women: An Examination of Age and Motherhood

Mobile technology has irrevocably altered the barrier between work and personal time. Instead of thinking of the work-life boundary along one segment-integrate continuum, this research shows it is comprised of three dimensions: flexibility, home-boundary permeability, and work-boundary permeability. The purpose of this paper is to examine how professional women maintain boundaries between work and personal life, and whether those boundaries vary based upon age, motherhood, or age of youngest child. This paper uses responses from 189 women who were working full-time to examine flexibility and the permeability of the work and home boundary. Of the examined boundary types examined, women with no flexibility and a permeable home boundary reported the most work-family conflict. Furthermore, findings indicate that working mothers had a more permeable home boundary than non-parents. This research expands the traditional segmentation/integration boundary definition to consider three dimensions (flexibility, home permeability, and work permeability) to define how working women enact a work-life boundary and how those decisions influence work-family conflict, work satisfaction, and life satisfaction.

The Paleocene-Eocene transition in the Gulf of Guinea: Evidence of the PETM in the Douala basin, Cameroon

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was identified for the first time in two sections (Bongue and Dibamba) from the Douala sub-basin located in the Gulf of Guinea, Cameroon. This discovery was based on a multi-disciplinary approach including biostratigraphy and occurrence of benthic and planktic foraminifera and ostracods, major and trace element contents, mercury, organic carbon isotope (δ13Corg values), total organic carbon (TOC), whole-rock and clay mineralogy. A combination of lithology, microfossil assemblage, and carbon isotope data indicate zone P5 and the top of the Paleocene enabling the definition of the Paleocene-Eocene boundary (PEB). A negative carbon-isotope excursion (CIE) spanning from the uppermost Paleocene deposits to the earliest Eocene sediments (PETM interval) shows a shift in δ13Corg values of 1.5‰ in Bongue and 3.0‰ in Dibamba. In both sections, this interval is affected by widespread acidification, as revealed by carbonate dissolution and microfossil preservation (i.e., species are dwarfed, broken, thin shelled, and with holes). The very low carbonate content and the scarcity of microfauna indicate the severity of acidification during the PETM, especially in the early Eocene where only one species was identified (Igorina broedermanni). Mercury anomalies, TOC contents, and trace element concentration ratios, point to volcanic activity linked to the Cameroon Volcanic Line (CVL) intrusive magma, and a decrease in productivity prior to the PETM. In addition to climate change, our geochemical and mineralogical data support the hypothesis that other environmental perturbations such as an increase in productivity and detrital input, as well as a decrease in bottom water oxygenation occurred during the PETM in the Douala sub-basin.

Life cycle assessment of biowaste and green waste composting systems: A review of applications and implementation challenges

Composting is one of the most widely applied methods for recycling organic waste. This process has been proposed as one option that facilitates the reincorporation of materials into the production cycle. However, composting also generates environmental impacts. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the most common approach to evaluate the environmental impacts of a process at different system stages. Nevertheless, applying LCA in composting facilities is challenging due to the extensive information required, the lack of standardization on the initial assumptions, the definition of system boundaries, and the high diversity of existing composting technologies. This paper systematically reviews LCA studies in biowaste and/or green waste composting. The study highlights the challenges that should be met in order to improving the application of LCA to evaluate the environmental impacts of this type or waste treatment strategy. The review protocol used identified 456 papers published between 2010 and 2022. After the screening, 56 papers were selected, read, and thoroughly analyzed. The results show that: i) about 68% of the studies aimed to compare composting with other solid waste management options; ii) there was a wide diversity among the impact categories considered, which predominantly included climate change and ozone depletion; iii) there was no consensus on the functional unit or the system boundaries; iv) the main gaseous emissions studied were ammonia, methane, and nitrogen oxide, which were generally determined by emission factors; v) the avoided environmental impacts associated with the end-product quality and its application as an organic amendment or soil improver were ignored. This work demonstrates the complexity of conducting credible and valid composting LCA studies and proposes seven recommendations for improving the application of this assessment methodology to analyze this waste management alternative.

Legal mechanism for resolving tax disputes, which is initiated by submitting complaints to the business ombudsman council

Research article is devoted to the study of the legal mechanism for resolving tax disputes, which is initiated by submitting complaints to the Council of the Business Ombudsman, identifying the features and characteristics of this mechanism as one of the alternative ways of resolving disputes, in particular tax disputes. It is emphasized that tax disputes cause the submission of the majority of complaints to the business ombudsman, among them the following issues: blocking of tax invoices, VAT reimbursement, restoration of tax-legal status, determination of the customs value of goods, drawing up acts based on the results of tax audits, bringing to financial responsibility for violation of tax legislation, collection of tax debt and others. It is stated that more than 57 percent of complaints submitted to the business ombudsman in Ukraine relate to tax issues. It is shown that the business ombudsman determines the procedure for submitting, taking into consideration and considering complaints from business entities, makes decisions on the consideration of complaints in accordance with the regulations of the Council and forwards them for its consideration, and the Council of the business ombudsman considers complaints, makes requests to public administration bodies regarding their taking measures to implement the recommendations of the Council.The authority of the business ombudsman to organize cooperation on the part of the relevant parties as a mediator for the peaceful settlement of issues (in the form of concluding a “peaceful settlement”), which is the subject of their dispute, has been disclosed. The main features of the business ombudsman institution in Ukraine are highlighted and it is noted that the Business Ombudsman Council is not a threat to the public administration system, but contributes to the establishment of the trust of the business environment in the public administration and in general in the state. It has been noted that the issue of consolidation of the status of the business ombudsman institution at the level of a special law and clear definition of the legal boundaries of the business ombudsman’s exercise of powers, as well as research of the best experience of legal regulation and functioning of similar institutions in foreign countries and existing legal gaps, remains relevant.

Methodological introduction to the carbon footprint evaluation of intermodal transport

Managing logistics processes from an environmental perspective is increasingly important in international supply chains. Essential elements of global logistics are supply chains based on intermodal logistic units. The specificity of this type of shipment, which often involves several modes of transport, requires a precise definition of model boundaries and identification of specific factors determining the level of carbon footprint. This research is focused on identifying the specific emissivity level of each intermodal transport stage. The conducted study refers to the international emission evaluation guidelines gathered in the UN GHG Protocol. The carbon footprint (CF) evaluation commenced during the case study indicated the need to consider the specificity of the assigned modes of transport. Hence selected emission factors such as US DEFRA, US EPA, KOBiZE and UNFCCC were engaged for better carbon footprint evaluation related to each stage of the intermodal transport process. In the summary part, the environmental efficiency level of each mode of transport has been compared. The sea freight mode was indicated as the most efficient in terms of overall kg*eCO2 per kilometre. The study shows that intermodal maritime transport, taking into account the weight of the goods transported and the distance, is approximately 68% more efficient than road transport. However, it must be mentioned that to identify the differences comprehensively, transshipment operations must also be taken into account in each scenario. Further research steps and recommendations have been presented in the last section of this research.

Types of action orientation of primary nurses in building relationships with their patients in forensic psychiatric hospitals

Types of action orientation of primary nurses in building relationships with their patients in forensic psychiatric hospitals Abstract. Background: Building interpersonal relationships with patients is one of the most elementary tasks of mental health nurses in forensic psychiatric hospitals and should be considered as the core of their professional identity. The attitude of forensic psychiatric nurses has a substantial impact on building relationships even though this is often not immediately obvious as an implicit concept. Research question: Which types of action orientation of primary nurses characterize the building of relationships with their patients in forensic psychiatric hospitals? Methodology: To record the collective orientations of nurses, two group discussions were held with eight participants. The evaluation was carried out based on the documentary method. Results: Four types of orientations could be grouped into a generalizable basic typology. The focus is set on the relationship as a necessary precondition for successful cooperation with the patient. Honesty and mutual trust are significant features. Conversations about everyday topics facilitate relationship building. Openness and a genuine interest in the patient are equally as important as the definition and maintenance of personal boundaries. Conclusion: Implicit, action-oriented attitudes of forensic psychiatric nurses should be reflectively accessed in order to define professional relationships and maintain their boundaries. To achieve this, nurses need to have a structured framework to facilitate self-reflection and self-awareness. The goal is the systematic development of personal and interactional competences.

Analysis of PEMFC undershoot behavior and performance stabilization under transient loading

A global full state model considering both steady and dynamic performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is developed to analyze the voltage undershoot behavior and performance stabilization under transient loading. The research investigates the underlying causation of operating conditions, reactant starvation level and control strategy of undershoot behavior. Experiments are conducted to obtain data for calibrating the model. The voltage undershoot principles and the alleviation method are investigated. The results show that the model deviations are limited within 2% relative errors. The voltage undershoots and voltage delay-time recovery under transient loading could be accurately characterized by exploring the internal substance transport and heat transfer. The voltage undershoot amplitudes are mainly influenced by the reactant concentration ratio of consumption part to initial part before loading in membrane electrode assembly. Moreover, the performance stabilization methods can be developed for loading boundary definition and operating parameter adjustment. The study is significant to provide a guidance for the enhancement of PEMFC performance stability.

Aggregate boundary recognition of asphalt mixture CT images based on convolutional neural networks

This study aims to propose an intelligent aggregate boundary segmentation algorithm based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and watershed algorithm for quickly recognising the boundary of aggregates on asphalt mixture CT images. CNN was concisely introduced. An aggregate boundary segmentation method for asphalt mixture CT images based on CNN and watershed algorithm was depicted in detail. The generalisation ability, that is, the effectiveness of image segmentation method by CNN and watershed algorithm was also evaluated. Results showed that the intelligent segmentation algorithm proposed by combining CNNs and watershed algorithm could effectively segment the aggregate boundaries on asphalt mixture CT images with different levels of boundary definition. The adhesion between aggregates on asphalt mixture CT images could be reduced using a custom multi-threshold segmentation (CMTS) method. The intelligent image segmentation algorithm had more accurate segmentation and more convenient operation than Canny and multi-threshold algorithms.

Application of geoinformatics to classify the landcover from satellite imagery using NDVI – A case of peri-urban regions of Southern Chennai

The peri-urban regions of the Indian cities are growing at a rapid rate, engulfing all the available lands in their vicinity. It is vital to map the changes that occur in the available green areas to plan for sustainable urban environments and ecosystems. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is a graphical indicator that utilizes multispectral remote sensing techniques for the classification of land cover. The aim of the current study is to use the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools and its indices to classify the land cover in the areas of interest. For this study, the primary data collection includes the identification of the study area, collection of the toposheets from the Survey of India and satellite images from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) for the study year 2021. The methodology includes the acquisition of data, image processing, application of NDVI technique, accuracy assessment and the presentation of results. For this exercise, the land cover has been classified under three categories namely, water, land and vegetation. The analytical outcomes segregated 30.06 sq.km (3%) area as water bodies, 152.85 sq.km (15%) as land/barren area and 821.97 sq.km (82%) as areas covered with vegetation, out of the total study area of 1004.88 sq. km. The obtained results were validated through field visits and ground truthing method. The accuracy assessment produced an overall accuracy of 91% with a kappa coefficient value of 0.87. Since the peri-urban areas are under constant transformation, it is challenging and time-consuming to physically map the landcover, especially with the lack on definite boundaries. Hence, the current study recommends that NDVI can be used as an effective technique for the classification of Landsat imagery in the constantly-evolving peri-urban regions.

Colourfulness of European beech wood with a round false heartwood in the color space CIE L*a*b*

The paper analyzes the color of dry wood of false heartwood in the color space CIE L*a*b*. The color of dry European beech wood with false heartwood perceived by the human eye is in a wide range of shades from light to brown-yellow to red-brown. The color of the wood of the false heartwood in the color space CIE L*a*b* was measured with a Color reader CR-10 colorimeter (Konica Minolta, Japan). A D65 light source was used and the diameter of the optical sensing aperture was 8 mm. The results of the statistical processing of the measured values of the color of dry beech wood, false heartwood on the planed surface is identified through the values on the lightness coordinate L* = 65.9 4.8 and on the chromatic coordinates: red color a* = 12.7 2.1 and yellow b* = 20.3 1.9. The colourfulness of the darkness and yellow-brown-red shades of wood of the false heartwood is numerically quantified by the total color difference ΔEsx* = 5.5.The presented values of the color of false heartwood beech wood and the definition of color boundaries in the color space CIE L*a*b* create space for designers to model the color variety of compositions and construction and joinery products made of beech wood.

An Exploratory Study on Swedish Stakeholders’ Experiences with Positive Energy Districts

Positive energy district (PED) is a novel idea aimed to have an annual surplus of renewable energy and net zero greenhouse gas emissions within an area. However, it is still an ambiguous concept, which might be due to the complexity of city district projects with interconnected infrastructures and numerous stakeholders involved. This study discusses various aspects of PED implementation and presents practitioners’ experiences with the PED concept, challenges, and facilitators they have faced with real projects. The study is based on interviews with ten Swedish professionals. The major challenges reported for PED implementation were local energy production and energy flexibility, sub-optimization, legislation, suitable system boundaries, and involvement of stakeholders. Most of the interviewees mentioned improved collaboration, integrated innovative technology, political support, and climate change mitigation goals as important facilitators. The interviewees highlighted the importance of a local perspective and considered each city’s preconditions when developing a PED project. The study emphasizes that to facilitate PED implementation and replication in cities, more knowledge and clarity is required about PED such as on the definition and system boundaries.

A Preliminary Genealogy of Yoga in Italy: Between Religion and Contemporary Spirituality

In this article, we design a preliminary genealogy of yoga in Italy, showing its positioning within the growing field of “contemporary spiritualities”, their premodern, esoteric and theosophical roots and Catholicism. Our main claim is that yoga and contemporary spiritualities as practiced in XXI-century Italy are neither entirely new nor are they clearly an alternative to more established religions. We rely on the methods and tools of a “discursive study of religion” approach to unpack the intricacies, genealogical roots and definitional boundaries that yoga, contemporary spiritualities and religion in Italy share. More specifically, we question the novelty of contemporary spiritualities in Italy, unveiling some of their esoteric, theosophical and anthroposophical roots, presenting, in turn, a preliminary genealogy of yoga in Italy, discussing its positioning amid Catholicism and contemporary spiritualities. We conclude by reflecting on the creation, use and limits of sociocultural theorizing about interpreting and understanding the spiritual and religious field, with a specific emphasis on the overlapping and porous boundaries between the concepts of religion, contemporary spiritualities, Western esotericism and modern yoga.