Local Approach Research Articles

‘Left Behind’ neighbourhoods in England: Where they are and why they matter

AbstractThe term ‘left behind’ has come to connote political disaffection, alongside social and spatial inequalities in wealth and opportunity. Yet the term is also widely contested, often prioritising a regional and economic perspective at the expense of a more local and nuanced approach. In response, we argue that neighbourhood context is integral to understanding and identifying ‘left behind’ places. Building a neighbourhood classification of ‘left behindness’ for England, we evaluate the extent to which the neighbourhood trajectory contributes to our understanding of a range of multidimensional individual‐level outcomes. Our findings reveal a geography of neighbourhoods that are systematically disadvantaged over time, concentrated in major urban conurbations, and post‐industrial and coastal towns. The magnitude and impact is highlighted through poorer economic, health, social and political outcomes for those living in ‘left behind’ areas.

Developing classroom ICT teaching techniques, principles and practice for teachers in rural Ghana without access to computers or internet: a framework based on literature review

PurposeThis paper aims to propose a conceptual framework for integrating information and communication technologies (ICT) into teaching practices for educators in rural Ghana lacking computer and internet access. Bridging the rural–urban digital divide is critical for equitable quality education. This research identifies distinct infrastructure, financial, human, and socio-cultural challenges of ICT adoption in underserved Ghanaian schools through an exhaustive literature review. The framework provides tailored strategies to empower teachers to leverage ICT for innovative pedagogy despite limitations. Ultimately, the goal is to offer pragmatic, evidence-based solutions to advance ICT-enabled instruction and digital equity in marginalized settings.Design/methodology/approachThis study utilizes a qualitative literature review methodology to develop a conceptual framework for ICT teaching techniques tailored to the rural Ghanaian context. Published empirical studies, theoretical papers, and reports focused on ICT education in developing countries, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, were systematically reviewed across multidisciplinary databases. Relevant theories and models, like TPACK and SAMR, were analyzed to determine appropriate modifications for the framework design. The proposed strategies emphasize affordable technologies, teacher training, localized content, and culturally relevant pedagogies selected based on evidence from literature to address the unique barriers and needs of the rural setting.FindingsThe literature review revealed profound infrastructure, financial, human, and socio-cultural barriers to ICT adoption in rural Ghanaian schools. These include lack of electricity, internet, hardware, and software alongside inadequate teacher training and support. The proposed conceptual framework offers solutions including leveraging low-cost technologies like mobile devices, prioritizing teacher professional development, developing localized digitally-enabled resources, and fostering community participation. Culturally relevant pedagogies are also emphasized. This tailored, evidence-based approach holds promise for enhancing ICT-enabled instruction and bridging digital divides to promote equitable quality education. Further findings will emerge through framework implementation and evaluation.Research limitations/implicationsThis conceptual framework requires implementation and evaluation to truly determine its impact and effectiveness in the intended rural Ghanaian context. As a literature review, primary data collection was not undertaken. Practical application of the framework in schools can yield direct insights through surveys, interviews, observations, and analysis of key educational outcomes pre and post-implementation. Comparisons with control groups may further illuminate its efficacy. Monitoring and adaptation over time is also essential. Ultimately, this research sets the foundation for praxis-oriented work transforming ICT integration in marginalized communities to advance digital equity and inclusion.Practical implicationsThis research provides an evidence-based, context-aware framework with pragmatic solutions to enhance ICT-enabled teaching and learning in underserved rural Ghanaian schools. It offers guidance to teachers, administrators, and policymakers on integrating technology despite infrastructure and resource constraints. The emphasis on cost-effective innovations, educator training, localized content, and community participation can inform planning and investments in ICT education. Broader applications include adapting the framework for other developing country contexts facing comparable challenges. Overall, this work promotes digital equity and quality education access, catalyzing social development and aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.Social implicationsThis research highlights the urgent need to address digital divides exacerbating educational inequalities between rural and urban communities in Ghana. Lack of technology access and utilization in rural schools threatens to widen gaps in skills, capabilities, and opportunities for students. Strategic integration of ICT can promote social inclusion, cultivate digital literacy, and equip youth to participate in the global digital economy, thereby enhancing prospects. More broadly, advancing digital equity and ICT-enabled education empowers marginalized groups, fosters community empowerment, and drives progressive social change. This work underscores that localized, context-appropriate solutions are pivotal for promoting development and social justice.Originality/valueThis research fills a crucial gap by proposing a conceptual framework tailored specifically for integrating ICT in teaching practices in rural Ghanaian schools lacking digital access, responding to context-specific barriers and needs. While extensive literature examines ICT education models globally, few studies offer localized strategies for resource-constrained environments. This framework adapts established models based on a systematic literature review, emphasizing affordability, capacity building, and cultural relevance. By synthesizing evidence-based, pragmatic solutions to advance ICT-enabled instruction in marginalized settings, this work provides a valuable foundation for praxis transforming rural education. The localization approach could inform frameworks for other developing regions.

Developing a Drought Resilience Matrix to Evaluate Water Supply Alternatives

Cities around the world are facing increased sensitivity to drought effects. Climate-change-induced drought affects not only the natural hydrology of the broad macroclimate but also those in the urban microclimates. The increasing frequency and duration of droughts are creating challenges for urban water utilities to convey water through distribution systems to customers reliably and consistently. This has led many urban areas like San Francisco, California, to search for unique alternative water supply projects to help bolster the drought resilience of the coupled human and natural water system. This paper focuses on applying the features of resilience (i.e., plan, adapt, absorb, and recover) through a drought resilience matrix to water supply alternatives to analyze how the addition of these projects would increase the overall water system’s drought resilience. San Francisco, California, was used as the case study to test the use of this matrix. Three portfolios (modifying existing supply, recycling, and desalination, as well as local approaches) were created and tested in the matrix. Each portfolio is composed of various alternative water supply projects that the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) is considering for implementation. Results concluded that the local approaches portfolio provided the most drought resilience, with the recycling and desalination portfolio providing the least resilience. The study approach and the presented findings will provide guidance to water utility professionals in supply planning to enhance drought resilience.

Open source robot localization for nonplanar environments

AbstractThe operational environments in which a mobile robot executes its missions often exhibit nonflat terrain characteristics, encompassing outdoor and indoor settings featuring ramps and slopes. In such scenarios, the conventional methodologies employed for localization encounter novel challenges and limitations. This study delineates a localization framework incorporating ground elevation and incline considerations, deviating from traditional two‐dimensional localization paradigms that may falter in such contexts. In our proposed approach, the map encompasses elevation and spatial occupancy information, employing Gridmaps and Octomaps. At the same time, the perception model is designed to accommodate the robot's inclined orientation and the potential presence of ground as an obstacle, besides usual structural and dynamic obstacles. We provide an implementation of our approach fully working with Nav2, ready to replace the baseline Adaptative Monte Carlo Localization (AMCL) approach when the robot is in nonplanar environments. Our methodology was rigorously tested in both simulated environments and through practical application on actual robots, including the Tiago and Summit XL models, across various settings ranging from indoor and outdoor to flat and uneven terrains. Demonstrating exceptional precision, our approach yielded error margins below 10 cm and 0.05 radians in indoor settings and less than 1.0 m in extensive outdoor routes. While our results exhibit a slight improvement over AMCL in indoor environments, the enhancement in performance is significantly more pronounced when compared to three‐dimensional simultaneous localization and mapping algorithms. This underscores the considerable robustness and efficiency of our approach, positioning it as an effective strategy for mobile robots tasked with navigating expansive and intricate indoor/outdoor environments.

Local Government Empowerment and Collaborative Approaches in the Electricity Sector: A Constitutional Analysis

This article explores the constitutional provisions and legislative aspects governing the role of local governments in generating and distributing electricity in South Africa. It encompasses the constitutional framework, which grants municipalities specific powers and responsibilities, highlighting the significance of these "original powers" derived directly from the Constitution. The article emphasises the need for intergovernmental cooperation at national, provincial, and local government levels to effectively address the complexities of electricity provision, taking into account related services such as water, sanitation, and environmental rights. The article further assesses recent amendments to the Electricity Regulation Act 4 of 2006, which grant municipalities greater involvement in electricity generation and procurement from independent power producers. While these amendments are seen as positive, the article highlights the need for financial resources and technical capacity building to empower municipalities to undertake these new responsibilities effectively. Ultimately, it emphasises the critical role of local governments in ensuring a sustainable and reliable supply of electricity for their communities while calling for comprehensive support from higher government levels to realise this goal.

A Local Approach to Parameter Space Reduction for Regression and Classification Tasks

Parameter space reduction has been proved to be a crucial tool to speed-up the execution of many numerical tasks such as optimization, inverse problems, sensitivity analysis, and surrogate models’ design, especially when in presence of high-dimensional parametrized systems. In this work we propose a new method called local active subspaces (LAS), which explores the synergies of active subspaces with supervised clustering techniques in order to carry out a more efficient dimension reduction in the parameter space. The clustering is performed without losing the input–output relations by introducing a distance metric induced by the global active subspace. We present two possible clustering algorithms: K-medoids and a hierarchical top–down approach, which is able to impose a variety of subdivision criteria specifically tailored for parameter space reduction tasks. This method is particularly useful for the community working on surrogate modelling. Frequently, the parameter space presents subdomains where the objective function of interest varies less on average along different directions. So, it could be approximated more accurately if restricted to those subdomains and studied separately. We tested the new method over several numerical experiments of increasing complexity, we show how to deal with vectorial outputs, and how to classify the different regions with respect to the LAS dimension. Employing this classification technique as a preprocessing step in the parameter space, or output space in case of vectorial outputs, brings remarkable results for the purpose of surrogate modelling.

A study on climate‐driven vulnerabilities in the Ranganadi river basin: Sand‐Casting impacts on rural households

A study on climate‐driven vulnerabilities in the Ranganadi river basin: Sand‐Casting impacts on rural households

Something in Our Ears Is Oscillating, but What? A Modeller's View of Efforts to Model Spontaneous Emissions.

When David Kemp discovered "spontaneous ear noise" in 1978, it opened up a whole new perspective on how the cochlea works. The continuous tonal sound emerging from most healthy human ears, now called spontaneous otoacoustic emissions or SOAEs, was an unmistakable sign that our hearing organ must be considered an active detector, not just a passive microphone, just as Thomas Gold had speculated some 30 years earlier. Clearly, something is oscillating as a byproduct of that sensitive inbuilt detector, but what exactly is it? Here, we give a chronological account of efforts to model SOAEs as some form of oscillator, and at intervals, we illustrate key concepts with numerical simulations. We find that after many decades there is still no consensus, and the debate extends to whether the oscillator is local, confined to discrete local sources on the basilar membrane, or global, in which an assembly of micro-mechanical elements and basilar membrane sections, coupled by inner ear fluid, interact over a wide region. It is also undecided whether the cochlear oscillator is best described in terms of the well-known Van der Pol oscillator or the less familiar Duffing or Hopf oscillators. We find that irregularities play a key role in generating the emissions. This paper is not a systematic review of SOAEs and their properties but more a historical survey of the way in which various oscillator configurations have been applied to modelling human ears. The conclusion is that the difference between the local and global approaches is not clear-cut, and they are probably not mutually exclusive concepts. Nevertheless, when one sees how closely human SOAEs can be matched to certain arrangements of oscillators, Gold would no doubt say we are on the right track.

Policy Recommendations and Key Takeaway Points

Blue Papers was set up to connect academic and practical analysis of water, culture, heritage and sustainable development and provide concepts, methodologies and case studies to guide policymakers in developing value-based decisions and strategies. The first five issues of the journal brought together over 130 authors from academia, practice, private sector, major public institutions and NGOs. Their insights from multiple sectors and scientific fields – including policymaking, governance, water management, biology, urban planning, heritage and history – shed light on global and local dynamics, challenges and approaches to contemporary urgencies in the water sector and their impact on space, society and culture. The 85 articles so far published in Blue Papers have explored examples from 31 countries, highlighting positive and negative aspects of governance, historical processes and socio-cultural practices related to water.

LiDAR-Based Intensity-Aware Outdoor 3D Object Detection.

LiDAR-based 3D object detection and localization are crucial components of autonomous navigation systems, including autonomous vehicles and mobile robots. Most existing LiDAR-based 3D object detection and localization approaches primarily use geometric or structural feature abstractions from LiDAR point clouds. However, these approaches can be susceptible to environmental noise due to adverse weather conditions or the presence of highly scattering media. In this work, we propose an intensity-aware voxel encoder for robust 3D object detection. The proposed voxel encoder generates an intensity histogram that describes the distribution of point intensities within a voxel and is used to enhance the voxel feature set. We integrate this intensity-aware encoder into an efficient single-stage voxel-based detector for 3D object detection. Experimental results obtained using the KITTI dataset show that our method achieves comparable results with respect to the state-of-the-art method for car objects in 3D detection and from a bird's-eye view and superior results for pedestrian and cyclic objects. Furthermore, our model can achieve a detection rate of 40.7 FPS during inference time, which is higher than that of the state-of-the-art methods and incurs a lower computational cost.

Non-similar analysis of bioconvection MHD micropolar nanofluid on a stretching sheet with the influences of Soret and Dufour effects

In this study, we investigate the capabilities of magnetohydrodynamic bioconvective micropolar nanofluids, considering the impact of Soret and Dufour effects using a non-similarity analysis. Our objective is to forecast the complex heat and mass transfer phenomena observed in both biological and industrial systems. In recent years, notable progress in energy applications has spurred our inquiry and exploration. To augment thermal conductivity and explore potential biocompatibility, we utilize blood as the base fluid, incorporating silver Ag\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\left({\ ext{Ag}}\\right)$$\\end{document} and copper oxide (CuO)\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$({\ ext{CuO}})$$\\end{document}. This distinctive configuration offers improved control over thermal properties and supports the exploration of advanced applications across various domains. In our analysis, we also consider factors such as viscous dissipation, the influences of Soret and Dufour effects, the existence of a magnetic field, and the occurrence of heat generation. The governing PDEs and their corresponding boundary conditions are transformed into dimensionless form through the use of suitable non-similar transformations. The outcomes generated by the modified model are obtained through the application of a local non-similarity approach, extended up to the second degree of truncation, and integrated with a finite difference code (bvp4c). Furthermore, the effects of different factors on fluid flow, micro-rotation, heat transfer, volume fraction, and microorganism properties in the analyzed flow scenarios are demonstrated and examined through visual representations, following the attainment of satisfactory agreement between the obtained results and those reported in prior studies. The tables are designed to present numerical variations for the drag coefficient and Nusselt number. A comparative analysis is conducted on previously published work, despite certain limitations, in order to evaluate the accuracy of the numerical scheme. It can be shown that the material parameter K\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$K$$\\end{document} has two effects on micropolar fluid dynamics: it increases the micro-rotation profile, which leads to higher fluid stiffness, and it reduces the velocity profile in response to an angled magnetic field. Furthermore, in bio-convective micropolar fluid, greater K\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$K$$\\end{document} values are correlated with an elevated temperature profile, showing enhanced heat transfer efficiency via increased fluid speed and kinetic energy production. The velocity profiles in bioconvective micropolar fluids rise with higher magnetic field values (M)\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$(M)$$\\end{document}, highlighting the significance of magnetic field orientations for a thorough comprehension of the behavior of fluids in these systems. Increasing the Dufour effect (Du)\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$({\ ext{Du}})$$\\end{document} raises the temperature profile, whereas increasing the Soret effect (Sr)\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$({\ ext{Sr}})$$\\end{document} lowers the concentration profile. Furthermore, increasing the bio-convective Lewis numbers (Le)\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$({\ ext{Le}})$$\\end{document} results in larger concentrations of moving microorganisms, but increasing the Peclet number (Pe)\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$({\ ext{Pe}})$$\\end{document} results in a drop in microbe concentrations. The main focus of our study is to devise unique transformations customized to address the intricacies of the specific problem under investigation. These transformations aim to produce precise and efficient outcomes, offering valuable insights for future research in the realm of nanofluid flows, particularly concerning pressure ulcer problems.

Radioligand therapies in meningioma - evidence and future directions.

Meningiomas are the most common intracranial neoplasms in adults. While most meningiomas are cured by resection, further treatment by radiotherapy may be needed, particularly in WHO grade 2 and 3 tumors which have an increased risk of recurrence, even after conventional therapies. Still, there is an urgent need for novel therapeutic strategies after exhaustion of local treatment approaches. Radionuclide therapies combine the specificity of tumor-specific antibodies or ligands with the cytotoxic activity of radioactive emitters. Alongside, integrated molecular imaging allows for a non-invasive assessment of predictive biomarkers as treatment targets. Whereas the concept of "theranostics" has initially evolved in extracranial tumors such as thyroid diseases, neuroendocrine tumors, and prostate cancer, data from retrospective case series and early phase trials underscore the potential of this strategy in meningioma. This review aims to explore the available evidence of radionuclide treatments and ongoing clinical trial initiatives in meningioma. Moreover, we discuss optimal clinical trial design and future perspectives in the field, including compound- and host-specific determinants of the efficacy of "theranostic" treatment approaches.

On the (Non-)Existence of Tight Distance-Regular Graphs: a Local Approach

Let $\Gamma$ denote a distance-regular graph with diameter $D\geq 3.$ Jurišić and Vidali conjectured that if $\Gamma$ is tight with classical parameters $(D,b,\alpha,\beta)$, $b\geq 2$, then $\Gamma$ is not locally the block graph of an orthogonal array nor the block graph of a Steiner system. In the present paper, we prove this conjecture and, furthermore, extend it from the following aspect. Assume that for every triple of vertices $x, y, z$ of $\Gamma$, where $x$ and $y$ are adjacent, and $z$ is at distance $2$ from both $x$ and $y$, the number of common neighbors of $x$, $y$, $z$ is constant. We then show that if $\Gamma$ is locally the block graph of an orthogonal array (resp.~a Steiner system) with smallest eigenvalue $-m$, $m\geq 3$, then the intersection number $c_2$ is not equal to $m^2$ (resp. $m(m+1)$). Using this result, we prove that if a tight distance-regular graph $\Gamma$ is not locally the block graph of an orthogonal array or a Steiner system, then the valency (and hence diameter) of $\Gamma$ is bounded by a function in the parameter $b=b_1/(1+\theta_1)$, where $b_1$ is the intersection number of $\Gamma$ and $\theta_1$ is the second largest eigenvalue of $\Gamma$.

A multi-stage localization framework for accurate and precise docking of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs)

Abstract Autonomous navigation has been a long-standing research topic, and researchers have worked on many challenging problems in indoor and outdoor environments. One application area of navigation solutions is material handling in industrial environments. With Industry 4.0, the simple problem in traditional factories has evolved into the use of autonomous mobile robots within flexible production islands in a self-decision-making structure. Two main stages of such a navigation system are safe transportation of the vehicle from one point to another and reaching destinations at industrial standards. The main concern in the former is roughly determining the vehicle’s pose to follow the route, while the latter aims to reach the target with high accuracy and precision. Often, it may not be possible or require extra effort to satisfy requirements with a single localization method. Therefore, a multi-stage localization approach is proposed in this study. Particle filter-based large-scale localization approaches are utilized during the vehicle’s movement from one point to another, while scan-matching-based methods are used in the docking stage. The localization system enables the appropriate approach based on the vehicle’s status and task through a decision-making mechanism. The decision-making mechanism uses a similarity metric obtained through the correntropy criterion to decide when and how to switch from large-scale localization to precise localization. The feasibility and performance of the developed method are corroborated through field tests. These evaluations demonstrate that the proposed method accomplishes tasks with sub-centimeter and sub-degree accuracy and precision without affecting the operation of the navigation algorithms in real time.

Abstract PO3-22-10: 3D-CT mapping with a photo-translucent application using iPad delineates tumor lesions on patient breast skin in breast-conserving surgery: Preliminary results

Abstract Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of a 3D-CT mapping technique with a photo-translucent application using an iPad for tumor localization on the patient's breast skin in breast-conserving surgery (BCS). We also compared the accuracy of tumor localization between conventional methods and 3D-CT mapping. Methods: Between February and July 2023, 20 female patients with early-stage (0 to 2) breast cancer scheduled for BCS were enrolled in this study. Preoperative enhanced CT scans were performed, and a 3D-CT image was generated by incorporating the patient's skin and manually marking the contrast-enhanced lesion using SYNAPSE VINCENT software. The 3D-CT images, adjusted to individual rotation angles to match the horizontal skin position above the tumor, were imported into an iPad equipped with a photo-translucent application. Using a securely fixed iPad holder, the translucent image was superimposed on the patient's breast, and the enhanced lesion was marked on the skin using a blue pen. Conventional tumor marking was performed based on ultrasound imaging, CT, and MRI findings using a black pen. Photographs were taken to simulate BCS based on the 3D-CT blue marking. All patients underwent BCS with resection margins of 1.5-2 cm from the black marking, and intraoperative frozen section analysis was performed to assess the resection margins. Results: The majority of patients had hormone receptor-positive breast cancers, and neoadjuvant chemotherapy was administered in three patients (Table 1). The extent of tumor involvement assessed by pathological assessment and imaging findings showed the least discrepancy with MRI, with an average error of 4.2 mm. MRI also had the lowest rate of missed tumor detection compared to other imaging modalities. The initial positive margin rate was 20%, and the simulation conducted in this study did not alter that value. Furthermore, the simulation demonstrated more effective excision of the tumor's center compared to conventional surgical methods (Table 2). Conclusion: The use of 3D-CT mapping with a photo-translucent application on an iPad offers a promising approach for accurate tumor localization in BCS. This technique provides a simplified and efficient method, and it can also be applied to cases where lesions have completely disappeared after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. XX- XX XX- XX Citation Format: Gou Watanabe, Akihiko Suzuki. 3D-CT mapping with a photo-translucent application using iPad delineates tumor lesions on patient breast skin in breast-conserving surgery: Preliminary results [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PO3-22-10.

Performance Potential for Locally Contacted Perovskite Solar Cells

In perovskite solar cells (PSCs), a common characteristic of highly effective interface passivation materials is low conductivity. Gains in voltage are thus often disproportionately offset by resistive losses. Local contact approaches can minimize this trade‐off and have a proven track record in conventional silicon photovoltaics. Indeed, recent record efficiencies for centimeter‐scale PSCs exploit architectures where the passivation layer partially covers the perovskite‐transport layer interface. Herein, a three‐dimensional numerical device model is used to determine practical performance limits to local contact geometries and consider both the optimum contact dimensions and the trade‐offs involved in relaxing these dimensions for ease of fabrication. It is observed that the potential for substantial power conversion efficiency (PCE) increases with local contacts. In devices where power loss occurs solely through recombination at the contacted interface, PCE can be enhanced by up to 10% absolute compared to a full‐area contact. However, optimum PCEs depend on contacts on the order of nanometers. It is shown that more fabrication‐friendly micrometer‐scale contacts still boost PCE, but the absolute enhancement falls short due to the relatively low bulk perovskite charge carrier diffusion length. This may ultimately motivate methods of interface engineering that produce “effective” local contact geometries at nanometer scales, such as via self‐forming layers.

Analysis and performance evaluation of computation models for node localization in deep sea using UWSN

SummaryUnderwater wireless sensor network (UWSN) connects the real world to the hidden resources available deep into the sea using sensor nodes deployed sparsely and are interconnected to gather information for any movement/change in the ocean. The computed information on nodes obtained from concurrently running UWSN's applications will be meaningful, only if the location of this change will be identified. Nevertheless, it is always difficult to obtain the exact location coordinates of any misadventure like tectonic plate's movement but using localization algorithms in UWSN helps to obtain the coordinates. Since localization algorithms for terrestrial networks are not feasible for UWSN because of environmental challenges. Moreover, GPS systems do not work after 15 m of depth and the radio frequency gets suppressed. So, the requirement arises to analyze existing localization approaches in the deep sea where acoustic signals are used for communication and data transfer. In this paper, along with describing the UWSN's applications and challenges, the underwater localization schemes are reviewed to present, summarize, and mention the scope of improvement. Further, classification into range‐based and range‐free categories of these schemes is depicted with implementation in the NS2.30 simulation environment of some of the recent techniques to showcase the reasons for better performance.

Wellbeing, support and intention to leave: a survey of nurses, midwives and healthcare support workers in Wales

Wellbeing, support and intention to leave: a survey of nurses, midwives and healthcare support workers in Wales

A Survey and Study of Signal and Data-Driven Approaches for Pipeline Leak Detection and Localization

A Survey and Study of Signal and Data-Driven Approaches for Pipeline Leak Detection and Localization

Development of a method for computer processing of fractographic images to assess the cohesion of inclusions to the matrix in the weld metal after its operational degradation and hydrogenation

In this paper, the method for automated processing of digital fractographic SEM images based on the modified local Otsu approach was developed. The effectiveness of the developed method was demonstrated. The method is used to identify inclusions or their traces at the bottom of dimples in weld metal fractures with subsequent assessment of their quantity. It is assumed that a decrease in the cohesion of inclusions to the matrix is one of the signs of damage to the weld metal at the microstructural level. Consequently, the more inclusions were found at the bottom of ductile fracture dimples, the stronger their connection with the matrix and, accordingly, the less damage in the weld metal. The effect of operational degradation of the weld metal on a circumferential weld on thick pipes of thermal power plant steam pipelines is analyzed. For this purpose, the features of cohesion of inclusions with the matrix in the weld metal in the initial state and after operation on the main steam pipeline for 23 years were compared. The influence of hydrogen (absorbed by the weld metal during long-term operation, as well as during its additional electrolytic charging) on the cohesion of inclusions in its structure with the surrounding matrix is also considered. A decrease in cohesion between these two components of the weld metal structure under the influence of all analized factors is shown. Thus, a method for quantitative assessment of fractographic features caused by the decohesion of inclusions from the matrix developed on the basis of analysis and computer processing of scanning electron microscope images, can be used to assess the operational damage of the weld metal at the microscopic level.