Laptop Research Articles

The Environmental Impact of a High-Altitude Medical Research Expedition.

Joyce, Kelsey E., Catherine A. Campbell, Arthur R. Bradwell, Samuel J.E. Lucas, Christopher T. Lewis, Rebekah A.I. Lucas, and Mark Edsell. The environmental impact of a high-altitude medical research expedition. High Alt Med Biol. 00:00-00, 2024. Introduction: Scientists must begin examining the environmental cost(s) of their research. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a component of the environmental impact of a high-altitude medical research expedition by totaling the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions calculated from as many direct and indirect sources as possible. Methods: Eighteen individuals flew from London to Bagdogra (via Delhi), and then drove onward to Lachung (via Gangtok) where they began their ascent on foot to 4,800 m (Kanchenjunga National Park, Sikkim). Several research experiments were conducted throughout the expedition, which required use of a laboratory centrifuge, solid CO2 (specimen storage), rechargeable laptop computers and battery-powered oximeters. International Civil Aviation Organization calculators estimated aviation CO2 production. Land emissions were calculated for Mahindra vehicles. Solid waste was weighed and CO2 emissions estimated for its incineration. Results: Total CO2 emissions equated to ∼16.7 tonnes from the following sources: air and land transportation of expedition team (87.3%); sublimation and transportation of solid CO2 (7.7%), waste incineration (0.58%), generator transportation and gasoline (12 l) combustion (0.48%), and battery transportation (3.3%). Conclusions: Air travel contributed the most to the overall environmental cost of the research expedition. Further investigation is required to contextualize these findings in relation to lab-based alternative(s).

Dependence of the Emotional Experience of Newspaper Photographic Illustration on the Medium of Realization

The paper investigated the experience and emotional reaction of respondents to different newspaper photographic illustrations depending on the media of realization (print in newspaper press, laptop computer screen, and smartphone screen). Due to differences in the formation of basic visual psychophysical reactions in affirmative childhood, the respondents were chosen from two separate age groups: younger from 19 to 23 years and mature from 38 to 49 years. Respondents rated from 1 to 5 the emotional reaction caused by the observed photographic illustration according to the offered reactions: happiness, love, hope, fear, sadness, hatred, anger, envy, shock, sexual attraction, disgust, shame, pride, attraction, and sympathy. Through the research, the difference in experiences and emotional reactions depending on the gender and age difference was monitored. The results of the research indicate that depending on the medium of display, there are significant differences in the experience of photographic newspaper illustrations depending on the age of the respondents, gender, but that previous, but more current, habits of using display technologies also have a significant influence.

A platinum degradation reaction model for the high-speed computation in the integrated fuel cell system simulator and its validation by the accelerated stress test data of the commercial fuel cells

A model to estimate the Pt degradation rate and the numerical methods for high-speed computation were developed for the year-long and system-scale durability simulation in an acceptable accuracy and computational time. The parameters in the model were determined to reproduce the published accelerated stress test (AST) data with the 1 cm2 MEA of 2nd-generation MIRAI (MIRAI-2), state-of-the-art commercial fuel cell electric vehicle. Accuracy of the simulation results was validated by the published data of the ASTs with the FC stack having 13 cells of MIRAI-2, which consists of the 30000 startup-shutdown cycles in 0–0.88 V and 73000 acceleration-deceleration cycles in 0.6–0.9 V. The experimental and simulation results of the residual fractions of the electrochemical surface area in the cathode catalyst layer after the ASTs were 68 and 69 %, respectively, and they agreed in an acceptable accuracy. It was confirmed from the AST simulation with the different initial particle size distributions that even the small number of the coarse particles significantly accelerated the Pt degradation. The developed model was integrated to the FC system simulator the current authors had presented and a remarkable computational speed for the year-long and system-scale durability simulation was demonstrated with a normal laptop computer.

A platinum degradation reaction model for the high-speed computation in the integrated fuel cell system simulator and its validation by the accelerated stress test data of the commercial fuel cells

A model to estimate the Pt degradation rate and the numerical methods for high-speed computation were developed for the year-long and system-scale durability simulation in an acceptable accuracy and computational time. The parameters in the model were determined to reproduce the published accelerated stress test (AST) data with the 1 cm2 MEA of 2nd-generation MIRAI (MIRAI-2), state-of-the-art commercial fuel cell electric vehicle. Accuracy of the simulation results was validated by the published data of the ASTs with the FC stack having 13 cells of MIRAI-2, which consists of the 30000 startup-shutdown cycles in 0–0.88 V and 73000 acceleration-deceleration cycles in 0.6–0.9 V. The experimental and simulation results of the residual fractions of the electrochemical surface area in the cathode catalyst layer after the ASTs were 68 and 69 %, respectively, and they agreed in an acceptable accuracy. It was confirmed from the AST simulation with the different initial particle size distributions that even the small number of the coarse particles significantly accelerated the Pt degradation. The developed model was integrated to the FC system simulator the current authors had presented and a remarkable computational speed for the year-long and system-scale durability simulation was demonstrated with a normal laptop computer.

An open-source, QGIS-based solution for digital geological mapping: GEOL-QMAPS

Digital geological mapping has experienced significant growth over the past three decades due to the advent of commercial geographical information systems, advances in global positioning systems, and the availability of portable hand-held devices, such as mobile personal computers (PCs), smartphones, and tablets. Numerous software packages have been developed to collect, combine, organise, visualise, publish, and share field data with enhanced spatial accuracy and minimal post-field processing. However, many of these tools are not open-source or are not made available to the geoscientific community, remaining specific to given mapping projects or organisations.In this contribution we introduce GEOL-QMAPS, an open-source, QGIS-based solution promoting digital geological mapping in a harmonised, comprehensive and flexible way. It can be used in the field with a tablet PC or via the QGIS-based QField app on iOS or Android mobile devices, enabling synchronisation with desktop QGIS and the creation of field databases. Designed as a general solution, the GEOL-QMAPS solution consists of a QGIS field data entry template and a custom QGIS plugin, both available on free-access online repositories. The plugin allows for the adaptation of dictionaries (i.e., lists of attributes describing geological features), initially set to international nomenclatures, to the guidelines of different mapping projects. The solution also facilitates the loading and consultation of relevant legacy geodatasets (e.g., preexisting field data, geochemical, geophysical maps or punctual datasets). A fact map, created from field data collected across the Archean Sula-Kangari greenstone belt in Sierra Leone, demonstrates the solution's advantages in terms of post-field processing and raw field data sharing.

Digital Health: The Critical Value of Mobile Technology for the Health Sector, Different Application Examples from the World and Current Trends

The internet technology, which began to integrate into our lives rapidly by the end of the 1990s, underwent significant transformations with the advent of mobile technology in the 2000s. Initially accessible through desktop or notebook computers, the internet has evolved to become an integral part of virtually every aspect of our lives as mobile technology advanced throughout the 2000s. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of mobile technologies within current health technologies, investigate the necessary competencies, evaluate mobile technology developments both in Türkiye and globally, and assess the information technology infrastructure, competencies, and skills required by the sector. Our research details various and specific mobile applications from numerous countries. Findings indicate that mobile technology has established itself much more rapidly and effectively in countries with strong internet infrastructure. Mobile health services are perceived as highly valuable by citizens. The real quality and effectiveness of mobile technology depend on its acceptance and swift implementation by users. Gamification is an important tool in the adoption of mobile health applications. These applications can enhance motivation by enabling both doctors to monitor patient care services and patients to track their own health. A good mobile health system should be accepted by both patients and doctors. In countries like Türkiye, where the health system is largely supported by the state, it is seen as necessary for the Ministry of Health to prioritize mobile services to establish a robust mobile health system. Furthermore, to effectively structure mobile services, it is essential to focus on the right problems and identify issues in order of priority. Literature review reveals that various mobile applications have been implemented in fields such as dermatology, orthopedics, ophthalmology, neurosurgery, and clinical pathology. Mobile technologies offer significant cost advantages in the delivery of health services. As the population ages in European Union countries, national governments are seeking ways to reduce healthcare costs. Mobile health is considered a solution to transform the delivery of health services and reduce costs through viable new care models for both industrialized and developing countries. Moreover, it has been observed that mobile applications provide significant benefits for the elderly, particularly in developed countries such as Germany and Sweden. Our study provides a comprehensive assessment of mobile technology in the healthcare sector, highlights prominent applications from Türkiye and around the world, and offers an extensive evaluation for field readers.

Variational prior replacement in Bayesian inference and inversion

SUMMARY Many scientific investigations require that the values of a set of model parameters are estimated using recorded data. In Bayesian inference, information from both observed data and prior knowledge is combined to update model parameters probabilistically by calculating the posterior probability distribution function. Prior information is often described by a prior probability distribution. Situations arise in which we wish to change prior information during the course of a scientific project. However, estimating the solution to any single Bayesian inference problem is often computationally costly, as it typically requires many model samples to be drawn, and the data set that would have been recorded if each sample was true must be simulated. Recalculating the Bayesian inference solution every time prior information changes can therefore be extremely expensive. We develop a mathematical formulation that allows the prior information that is embedded within a solution, to be changed using variational methods, without recalculating the original Bayesian inference. In this method, existing prior information is removed from a previously obtained posterior distribution and is replaced by new prior information. We therefore call the methodology variational prior replacement (VPR). We demonstrate VPR using a 2-D seismic full waveform inversion example, in which VPR provides similar posterior solutions to those obtained by solving independent inference problems using different prior distributions. The former can be completed within minutes on a laptop computer, whereas the latter requires days of computations using high-performance computing resources. We demonstrate the value of the method by comparing the posterior solutions obtained using three different types of prior information: uniform, smoothing and geological prior distributions.

Design Concerns for Integrated Scripting and Interactive Visualization in Notebook Environments.

Interactive visualization can support fluid exploration but is often limited to predetermined tasks. Scripting can support a vast range of queries but may be more cumbersome for free-form exploration. Embedding interactive visualization in scripting environments, such as computational notebooks, provides an opportunity to leverage the strengths of both direct manipulation and scripting. We investigate interactive visualization design methodology, choices, and strategies under this paradigm through a design study of calling context trees used in performance analysis, a field which exemplifies typical exploratory data analysis workflows with Big Data and hard to define problems. We first produce a formal task analysis assigning tasks to graphical or scripting contexts based on their specificity, frequency, and suitability. We then design a notebook-embedded interactive visualization and validate it with intended users. In a follow-up study, we present participants with multiple graphical and scripting interaction modes to elicit feedback about notebook-embedded visualization design, finding consensus in support of the interaction model. We report and reflect on observations regarding the process and design implications for combining visualization and scripting in notebooks.

Diversity Assessment of Bivalves in the Intertidal Zone in Pilar Bay

Municipality of Pilar is the last town in the eastern province of Capiz. Pilar Bay, spanning 20 square kilometers, is a boon. At low tide, a variety of edible bivalves' shells may be found around the bay's shoreline, offering a source of money for the residents. The loss in bivalve variety, abundance, and ecological functions due to overharvesting signifies a loss of environmental integrity at the local and watershed levels. The purpose of this study was to catalog and assess the variety of edible bivalves found in the Municipality's intertidal zone. Descriptive survey methods were used to gather data from December 2015 to January 2016 in eight barangays in Pilar: Dulangan, Binaobawan, Rosario, Poblacion, Natividad, San Ramon, Casanayan, Balogo, and Dayhagan. Three 1 × 1 m2 quadrats were placed down in each of the nine stations that were chosen using the belt transect approach and a quadrat. The following items were utilized to perform the study: a tiny garden trowel, a laptop computer, a nylon rope, pegs, a meter stick, and a camera. The findings indicate that seven (7) edible bivalves belonging to the families Arcidae, Veneridae, Psammobidae, Mactridea, and Solenidae were known locally as paros, litob, punaw, bug-atan, higda-higda, tikhan, and kagaykay. It also demonstrates which species were most prevalent and prolific in Pilar's intertifal zone: litob, punaw, kagaykay, higda-higda, and bug-atan.

A semi-phenomenological dynamics model for full-life predictions of stress corrosion cracking

A semi-phenomenological model mimicking the full-time process of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) is proposed, and its attractive characteristics can be summarised as follows. Firstly, the role played by the hydrostatic pressure gradient at a crack tip in anodic dissolution is centralised by the proposed partial differential equation system, so as to formulate the interplay of load and corrosion in a mechanistic manner. As a result, the model can naturally reproduce the repeated film rupture mechanism that is believed central to general SCC phenomena. Secondly, the model implementation is extremely efficient, outputting a full-life SCC prediction within a few seconds on a normal laptop computer. Thirdly, a general rule for model calibration is introduced against limited experimental data, enabling its predictability over SCC indices that are not experimentally trackable. The efficacy and the generality of the proposed model are examined with three SCC scenarios, including (a) Inconel 600 alloys in nuclear pipelines, (b) stainless steels in oil pipelines, and (c) magnesium alloys used as structural materials in blood vessels. It is shown that SCC indices such as the SCC incubation period, which may be too long to be experimentally measured, can be quickly predicted with the present model after being calibrated.

Common and proper nouns in mild Alzheimer’s disease

Introduction Disturbance in naming accuracy and reaction time (RT) is one of the early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Naming performance can be considered a diagnostic key in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which has remained diagnostically challenging. Although most of the studies in this field have been conducted on the naming accuracy of common nouns, others have shown that proper nouns are more sensitive for detecting the onset of AD. This study aims to compare the naming of common and proper nouns. Method Eighty pictures of common and proper nouns (40 items each) were presented to 18 healthy older adults and 18 people with mild Alzheimer’s disease using DMDX software on a laptop computer. The patients’ responses were transcribed into a pre-designed form, and their reaction times were captured by DMDX. Results Study results indicated a significant difference in the number of errors and RTs between proper and common nouns in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease (p-value=), implying that proper nouns may be more sensitive to mild AD. Moreover, patients with mild Alzheimer’s had more problems in common and proper nouns than healthy older adults. Conclusion This study demonstrated that individuals with mild AD experienced greater difficulty recalling proper nouns, which were found to be more susceptible to the effects of AD.

A Compact, Portable Device for Microscopic Magnetic Imaging Based on Diamond Quantum Sensors

AbstractMagnetic imaging based on ensembles of diamond nitrogen‐vacancy quantum sensors has emerged as a useful technique for the spatial characterization of magnetic materials and current distributions. However, demonstrations have so far been restricted to laboratory‐based experiments using relatively bulky apparatus and requiring manual handling of the diamond sensing element, hampering broader adoption of the technique. Here a simple, compact device that can be deployed outside a laboratory environment and enables robust, simplified operation is presented. It relies on a specially designed sensor head that directly integrates the diamond sensor while incorporating a microwave antenna and all necessary optical components. This integrated sensor head is complemented by a small control unit and a laptop computer that displays the resulting magnetic image. The device is tested by imaging a magnetic sample, demonstrating a spatial resolution of 4 µm over a field of view exceeding 1 mm, and a best sensitivity of 45 µT per (5 µm)2 pixel. The portable magnetic imaging instrument may find use in situations where taking the sample to be measured to a specialist lab is impractical or undesirable.

Parsimonious statistical techniques for the detection of drifts toward dangerous operational conditions in tokamaks

The approaching initial operation of major new tokomaks is rendering more pressing the need for effective disruption prediction techniques. The required tools should be not only accurate but also capable of operating with a minimum number of signals, because in the first campaigns of new devices typically only a very limited number of diagnostics is available. The present work reports the results obtained with two advanced statistical techniques, chaos onset and concept drift (CD). These methods are capable of detecting the plasma drifting towards dangerous regions of the operational space using only global signals such as the plasma current or the locked mode amplitude. The obtained performances meet the requirements of mitigation in devices such as JT60-SA and ITER at the beginning of their operation. The computational times of the chaos onset approach are already of the order of 1 ms on laptop computers, whereas the CD technique requires implementation on FPGAs or GPUs to be compatible with real time requirements.

F1ALA: ultrafast and memory-efficient ancestral lineage annotation applied to the huge SARS-CoV-2 phylogeny.

The unprecedentedly large size of the global SARS-CoV-2 phylogeny makes any computation on the tree difficult. Lineage identification (e.g. the PANGO nomenclature for SARS-CoV-2) and assignment are key to track the virus evolution. It requires annotating clade roots of lineages to unlabeled ancestral nodes in a phylogenetic tree. Then the lineage labels of descendant samples under these clade roots can be inferred to be the corresponding lineages. This is the ancestral lineage annotation problem, and matUtils (a package in pUShER) and PastML are commonly used methods. However, their computational tractability is a challenge and their accuracy needs further exploration in huge SARS-CoV-2 phylogenies. We have developed an efficient and accurate method, called "F1ALA", that utilizes the F1-score to evaluate the confidence with which a specific ancestral node can be annotated as the clade root of a lineage, given the lineage labels of a set of taxa in a rooted tree. Compared to these methods, F1ALA achieved roughly an order of magnitude faster yet with ∼12% of their memory usage when annotating 2277 PANGO lineages in a phylogeny of 5.26 million taxa. F1ALA allows real-time lineage tracking to be performed on a laptop computer. F1ALA outperformed matUtils (pUShER) with statistical significance, and had comparable accuracy to PastML in tests on empirical and simulated data. F1ALA enables a tree refinement by pruning taxa with inconsistent labels to their closest annotation nodes and re-inserting them back to the pruned tree to improve a SARS-CoV-2 phylogeny with both higher log-likelihood and lower parsimony score. Given the ultrafast speed and high accuracy, we anticipated that F1ALA will also be useful for large phylogenies of other viruses. Codes and benchmark datasets are publicly available at https://github.com/id-bioinfo/F1ALA.

Exploring different content creation and display methods for remote collaboration supported by eXtended reality: comparative analysis of distinct task scenarios

AbstractRemote collaboration using eXtended Reality (XR) has been explored to establish a common ground between physically distributed individuals. To achieve usable and impactful solutions, it is paramount to understand how different content creation and display methods contribute to the work effort of each member (remote and on-site). Additionally, explore how various task scenarios influence the collaborative process, specifically examining how activities with unique characteristics and complexities affect remote work. Hence, the question arises, ’How do different display and interaction methods impact the collaborative process within specific task domains?’ In this paper, two user studies with 30 distinct participants each are described, focusing on different content creation support (Laptop Computer; Video Wall & Keyboard; Interactive Projector) and display methods (Hand-Held Device (HHD); HHD & Articulated Support; Head-Mounted Display (HMD)) for remote and on-site collaborators respectively, during scenarios of remote guidance. Plus, different physical tasks were considered for each study (Lego pieces assembly; Tangram puzzle assembly; Maintenance procedures; Resource management in a map; Training activity in a laboratory classroom), to understand which method stands out according to the characteristics of the said tasks. We report the results obtained, suggesting that for the remote part of the collaborative process, using a Video Wall & Keyboard appears to be more suitable for tasks associated with maintenance procedures, learning, and training activities. As for the on-site part, using HMD was considered the better option for maintenance, and learning tasks, closely followed by HHD & Articulated Support.

Real-time dual-parameter full-waveform inversion of GPR data based on robust deep learning

SUMMARY Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is becoming an increasingly important tool for understanding the shallow electrical structures of the Earth and planets due to its adaptability to harsh detection environments, efficient data acquisition and accurate detection results. GPR full-waveform can simultaneously constrain the permittivity and resistivity of the medium, providing more comprehensive geophysical information and reducing the non-uniqueness of inversion. However, given the highly non-linear inverse problem and the massive data resulted from high temporal and spatial samplings, traditional full-waveform inversion algorithms are prohibitively costly. Inspired by Google's vision semantic segmentation system, we develop a robust deep learning-guided network that integrates geology and geophysics knowledge to support the real-time translation of zero-offset GPR data into dual-parameter electrical structures. We test our proposed network using synthetic data, which demonstrates that the algorithm can provide an accurate dual-parameter electrical model from a GPR sounding in milliseconds on a common laptop PC, exhibiting high robustness and adaptability to noise interference and extreme values of model parameters. We also apply our network to field data gathered for pollutant investigation in the United States. The resulting dual-parameter structure provides a more comprehensive and realistic depiction of subsurface electrical properties and reveals the migration and ageing of pollutants. Our algorithm's real-time and accurate advantages are expected to further unleash the potential of GPR technology and enable it to play a more significant role in earth and planetary exploration.

Concentrations, Profiles, and Potential Sources of Liquid Crystal Monomers in Residential Indoor Dust from the United States.

Liquid crystal monomers (LCMs) are biphenyl- or cyclohexane-based organic chemicals used in electronic digital displays, and several of them possess bioaccumulative and toxic properties. Little is known about their occurrence in indoor dust from the United States. We analyzed 60 LCMs in 104 residential indoor dust samples collected from 16 states across the United States. Forty-seven of 60 LCMs were detected in dust samples at a median ∑LCM concentration of 402 ng/g (range: not detected to 4300 ng/g). Trans-4-propylcyclohexyl trans,trans-4'-propylbicyclohexyl-4-carboxylate (MPVBC) and (trans,trans)-4-fluorophenyl 4'-pentyl-[1,1'-bi(cyclohexane)]-4-carboxylate (FPeBC) were frequently detected in dust samples. We investigated potential sources of LCMs in dust by determining concentrations and profiles of these chemicals in smartphone screens, desktop and laptop computer monitors, and displays of other electronic devices and found that profiles in smartphones matched closely with those found in dust. The calculated median daily intake of ∑LCM through dust ingestion was 1.19 ng/kg bw/d for children, whereas that through dermal absorption was 0.18 ng/kg bw/d for adults in the United States.

Estimating Biogeochemical Rates Using a Computationally Efficient Lagrangian Approach

Nutrient concentrations in many estuaries have increased over the past century due to increases in wastewater discharge and increased agricultural intensity, contributing to multiple environmental problems. Numerous biogeochemical and physical processes in estuaries influence nutrient concentrations during transport, resulting in complex spatial and temporal variability and challenges identifying predominant processes and their rates. Mechanistic models which require these rates to quantify biogeochemical processes become complex and difficult to calibrate as the number of processes and parameters grows, owing to the high dimensionality of the parameter space and the computational cost of simultaneously modeling the transport and transformations of constituents. We developed a modeling approach that decouples transport from transformations, enabling fast, data-driven exploration of the parameter space. The approach extracted information including water age, cumulative exposure to specific habitats, and mean water depth exposure from a hydrodynamic model. Using this information, a biogeochemical model was implemented to predict ammonium and nitrate concentrations in a Lagrangian frame. The model performed each simulation in milliseconds on a laptop computer, allowing the fitting of rate parameters for key transformations by optimization. The optimization used fixed station nitrate observations and the model was then validated against high-resolution mapping observations of ammonium and nitrate. The results suggest that the observed spatial and temporal variation can be largely represented with five transformation processes and their associated rates. Dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) losses occurred only in shallow vegetated areas in the model, highlighting that biogeochemical processes in these areas should be included in DIN models.

Enhancing a Display’s Sunlight Readability with Tone Mapping

The sunlight readability of display devices, such as notebook computers, transparent displays, vehicle displays, and augmented reality, is a significant technical challenge due to degraded image quality. To mitigate this problem, by fitting the human eye function, we propose a tone mapping method on a mobile phone display panel to enhance low grayscale image readability under bright ambient light. Additionally, we adapt a mini-LED backlight model to simulate real images under different ambient lighting conditions. Both experimental and simulated results indicate that high luminance displays with an optimized gamma value significantly enhance sunlight readability and image quality. Moreover, global color rendering can alleviate color shift. Such a method is also valid for the optimization of optical see-through devices under diverse environmental conditions.

Extending Jupyter with Multi-Paradigm Editors

Computational notebooks like the Jupyter programming environment have been popular, particularly for developing data-driven applications. One of its main benefits is that it easily supports different programming languages with exchangeable kernels. Thus, it makes the user interface of computational notebooks broadly accessible. While their literate programming paradigm has advantages, we can use this infrastructure to make other paradigms similarly easily and broadly accessible to developers. In our work, we demonstrate how the Jupyter infrastructure can be utilized with different interfaces for different programming paradigms, enabling even greater flexibility for programmers and making it easier for them to adopt different paradigms when they are most suitable. We present a prototype that adds graphical programming and a multi-paradigm editor on top of the Jupyter system. The multi-paradigm editor seamlessly combines the added graphical programming with the familiar notebook interface side-by-side, which can further help developers switch between programming paradigms when desired. A subsequent user evaluation demonstrates the benefits not only of alternate interfaces and paradigms but also of the flexibility of seamlessly switching between them. Finally, we discuss some of the challenges in implementing these systems and how these can enhance the software development process in the future.