Results Of Monitoring Research Articles

The Use of Remote Sensing in the Study of Open-pit Mining and the Ecology of Disturbed Lands in Deposits of Cement Raw Materials in the Regions of Russia

Based on the results of remote monitoring, the state of mining operations in quarries for the extraction of mineral raw materials consumed by cement plants in Russia was investigated. The fleet of mining and transport vehicles in operation in cement quarries was studied. The production capacity of each quarry in terms of rock mass and the total production potential of quarries in Russia, estimated at 210 million tons per year, have been determined. The environmental indicators of disturbed lands during the development of mineral deposits for use in the cement industry as a whole are presented.

Information Management for Remote Monitoring of the Ecology of Disturbed Lands During the Development of Deposits of Chrysotile-asbestos and Fluxing Limestone

Based on the results of remote monitoring, the current state of mining operations in quarries for the extraction of chrysotile-asbestos and metallurgical fluxes used in various sectors of the Russian national economy was studied. The production capacity of each quarry in terms of rock mass at the studied deposits and the total production potential of the quarries for the extraction of minerals, estimated at at least 95 million tons per year, have been determined. The environmental indicators of disturbed lands during the development of deposits of chrysotile-asbestos and metallurgical fluxes are presented.

Self-Interested Coalitional Crowdsensing for Multi-Agent Interactive Environment Monitoring.

As a promising paradigm, mobile crowdsensing (MCS) takes advantage of sensing abilities and cooperates with multi-agent reinforcement learning technologies to provide services for users in large sensing areas, such as smart transportation, environment monitoring, etc. In most cases, strategy training for multi-agent reinforcement learning requires substantial interaction with the sensing environment, which results in unaffordable costs. Thus, environment reconstruction via extraction of the causal effect model from past data is an effective way to smoothly accomplish environment monitoring. However, the sensing environment is often so complex that the observable and unobservable data collected are sparse and heterogeneous, affecting the accuracy of the reconstruction. In this paper, we focus on developing a robust multi-agent environment monitoring framework, called self-interested coalitional crowdsensing for multi-agent interactive environment monitoring (SCC-MIE), including environment reconstruction and worker selection. In SCC-MIE, we start from a multi-agent generative adversarial imitation learning framework to introduce a new self-interested coalitional learning strategy, which forges cooperation between a reconstructor and a discriminator to learn the sensing environment together with the hidden confounder while providing interpretability on the results of environment monitoring. Based on this, we utilize the secretary problem to select suitable workers to collect data for accurate environment monitoring in a real-time manner. It is shown that SCC-MIE realizes a significant performance improvement in environment monitoring compared to the existing models.

Groundwater Quality Assessment in the Area of the Zinc Smelter in Miasteczko Śląskie (Poland) Using Selected Metal Indices

Groundwater quality assessment in the region of potential pollution sources can be performed through the use of index-based methods. The aim of this paper was to present the results of the groundwater quality assessment in the region of the zinc smelter in Miasteczko Śląskie (southern Poland) for the Quaternary aquifer based on monitoring data from 2000, 2011, and 2022. The following parameters were used in the analysis: Pb, Cd, Ni, Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn. Three indices were calculated, i.e., the landfill water pollution index (LWPI), heavy metal pollution index (HPI), and metal index (MI). The values of the indicators suggest that in the described study area, there are waters that are under the strong influence of the zinc smelter infrastructure and landfills. The highest values obtained are about 17 for LWPI, about 66 for HPI, and about 133 for MI. These values indicate significant anthropogenic pollution of the groundwater of the Quaternary aquifer in the study area. Taking into account the values obtained for all three indices, it can be concluded that the HPI indicator is the least reliable due to the need to select two limit values (background and ideal content in waters for each of the parameters), which would suggest that in some cases, waters are not very contaminated. The other two indices show similarities (mainly in their spatial distribution), and only the choice of parameters determines which of the indices should be used. A comparison of the results of local groundwater quality monitoring with the results of the calculated indices indicate that the values of the calculated MI indices are closest to the actual water quality status.

Weed detection in soybean fields using improved YOLOv7 and evaluating herbicide reduction efficacy.

With the increasing environmental awareness and the demand for sustainable agriculture, herbicide reduction has become an important goal. Accurate and efficient weed detection in soybean fields is the key to test the effectiveness of herbicide application, but current technologies and methods still have some problems in terms of accuracy and efficiency, such as relying on manual detection and poor adaptability to some complex environments. Therefore, in this study, weeding experiments in soybean fields with reduced herbicide application, including four levels, were carried out, and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was utilized to obtain field images. We proposed a weed detection model-YOLOv7-FWeed-based on improved YOLOv7, adopted F-ReLU as the activation function of the convolution module, and added the MaxPool multihead self-attention (M-MHSA) module to enhance the recognition accuracy of weeds. We continuously monitored changes in soybean leaf area and dry matter weight after herbicide reduction as a reflection of soybean growth at optimal herbicide application levels. The results showed that the herbicide application level of electrostatic spraying + 10% reduction could be used for weeding in soybean fields, and YOLOv7-FWeed was higher than YOLOv7 and YOLOv7-enhanced in all the evaluation indexes. The precision of the model was 0.9496, the recall was 0.9125, the F1 was 0.9307, and the mAP was 0.9662. The results of continuous monitoring of soybean leaf area and dry matter weight showed that herbicide reduction could effectively control weed growth and would not hinder soybean growth. This study can provide a more accurate, efficient, and intelligent solution for weed detection in soybean fields, thus promoting herbicide reduction and providing guidance for exploring efficient herbicide application techniques.

Timely Constructed and Enhanced Lining for Managing Extensive Deformations of Tunnel in Coal Stratum: A Case Study

Background The Sanlian Tunnel case study exemplifies that even after implementing the initial support within the coal stratum, the surrounding rocks exhibited ongoing deformation devoid of stabilization indications. Addressing this issue calls for innovative control technologies that mitigate extensive deformations and redefine safe and sustainable coal stratum tunnel construction. Methods The field experiment was adopted to select the appropriate technical measures to control extensive deformations. Three experiment schemes were developed and applied to the construction. Scheme One was the enhanced initial support structure, and Scheme Two was the combined use of enhanced initial support structure, lengthened sidewall anchor rods and added steel pipe piles. Scheme Three was the “timely constructed and enhanced lining structure” proposed on the basis of Scheme Two, and the secondary lining was applied if the horizontal displacement exceeded 450mm. Then, field observations of displacements and stresses were implemented to evaluate the effectiveness of different experimental schemes in controlling extensive deformations. Results Scheme One and Two cannot control extensive deformations effectively, as the displacement of the initial support continued to increase with no sign of stabilization. Regarding Scheme Three, structural deformation progressively attained a state of stability around 80 days subsequent to the secondary lining construction. Additionally, the stress within the support structure remains stable below the permissible threshold, affirming the secure condition. Conclusion Emanating from the field monitoring results, it is evident that the suggested “timely constructed and enhanced lining structure” scheme control technology holds substantial promise for practical implementation in engineering scenarios.

A novel monitoring method based on multi-model information extraction and fusion

Abstract Modern industrial processes are increasingly complex, where multiple characteristics usually coexist in process data. Therefore, traditional monitoring methods based on a single model may ignore other data characteristics and obtain poor monitoring performance. Aiming at this problem, a novel monitoring method based on multi-model information extraction and fusion is proposed in this paper. Firstly, several methods are used to extract different characteristics from process data. For example, principal component analysis, independent component analysis and slow features analysis can be used to extract Gaussian, non-Gaussian and dynamic characteristics respectively. Secondly, features extracted from multiple models are combined into new potential features. Then, Lasso regression models between potential features and process variables are established. In this way, not only are multiple characteristics in process data considered during the reconstruction, but key potential features (KPFs) can be selected for each process variable. The KPFs for each process variable can form a monitoring subspace to enhance the sensitivity for fault detection. Furthermore, cluster analysis is used to reduce the redundancy of monitoring subspaces based on the similarity of each subspace. Process monitoring can be achieved by fusing the monitoring results of finally determined multiple subspaces and residual space. Case studies on three simulation processes and a real industrial process demonstrate the effectiveness and better performance.

High-Precision Photoacoustic Nitrogen Dioxide Gas Analyzer for Fast Dynamic Measurement.

A high-precision photoacoustic (PA) gas analyzer for fast dynamic measurement of ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO2) was developed. The PA analyzer used a differential PA cell combined with two mufflers to achieve rapid gas flow gas detection. A high-power laser diode (LD) with a center wavelength of 450 nm was used as the PA signal excitation source. To reduce the saturated absorption effect of NO2, ambient air was pumped into the analyzer at a flow rate of 900 sccm. Two mufflers were combined with the differential PA cell to reduce the noise caused by the airflow and pump. The parameters of the mufflers were optimized by using a finite element method. The experimental results showed that the gas flow noise was suppressed by 95%. The response time of the PAS analyzer was 34 s. The detection limits of the analyzer were 0.64 and 0.17 ppb when the integration times were 1 and 15 s, respectively. A 120 h continuous monitoring result was compared with the data from the National Environmental Monitoring Station to demonstrate the high reliability of the analyzer.

Monitoring of simulated clandestine graves of victims using UAVs, GPR, electrical tomography and conductivity over 4-8 years post-burial to aid forensic search investigators in Colombia, South America

In Colombia there are estimated to be over 121,000 missing people and victims of forced disappearances. Forensic investigators therefore need assistance in determining optimal detection techniques for buried victims, to give victims’ families closure and for the wider community to see that justice is being served. Previous research has created 12 controlled simulated clandestine graves of typical Colombian murder victim scenarios at 0.5 m – 1.2 m depths in savannah and rainforest sites in Colombia. The 0–3 years of geophysical monitoring results of were published, with this paper reporting on 4–8 years monitoring of both UAV drone results and geophysical data. The UAV results from the year 8 survey, published for first time from Colombia, showed that the simulated graves could still be located using NDVI and NIR multi-spectral data, but not using optical or other multi-spectral data. The 0–3 years of geophysical data found the simulated clandestine graves could be detected with electrical resistivity and GPR methods, with the 4–8 year surveys evidencing that they could still be detected using bulk ground conductivity surveys, GPR horizontal time slice datasets and 2D ERT profiles. Research implications suggest initial use of UAV remote sensing technology to pinpoint likely search areas, before subsequent ground reconnaissance, geophysical surveys and their interpretation, before intrusive investigation methods are employed for detecting missing and disappeared persons in Colombia.

Online legal driving behavior monitoring for self-driving vehicles

Defined traffic laws must be respected by all vehicles when driving on the road, including self-driving vehicles without human drivers. Nevertheless, the ambiguity of human-oriented traffic laws, particularly compliance thresholds, poses a significant challenge to the implementation of regulations on self-driving vehicles, especially in detecting illegal driving behaviors. To address these challenges, here we present a trigger-based hierarchical online monitor for self-assessment of driving behavior, which aims to improve the rationality and real-time performance of the monitoring results. Furthermore, the general principle to determine the ambiguous compliance threshold based on real driving behaviors is proposed, and the specific outcomes and sensitivity of the compliance threshold selection are analyzed. In this work, the effectiveness and real-time capability of the online monitor were verified using both Chinese human driving behavior datasets and real vehicle field tests, indicating the potential for implementing regulations in self-driving vehicles for online monitoring.

Mechanical responses and stress distribution of rock-like specimen containing a spherical defect under uniaxial compression

Spherical defect is often seen in rock material, and the size and position of the defect seriously affect the stability of rock mass. In this study, a locating device for preparing spherical defects was designed. A series of uniaxial compression tests and simulations were conducted to study the influence of the defect size and location on the mechanical, micro-cracking, failure characteristics, and stress distribution of the sample containing a spherical defect. The results indicate that the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) and Young’s modulus both decrease with increasing defect size. The location variation of the same-sized spherical defect has a significant influence on the UCS but hardly influences Young’s modulus. The closer the defect is to the boundary, the lower the UCS is. The acoustic emission (AE) monitoring results indicate that the damage point aggregates and expands around the defect, forming a failure surface in the later stage of specimen loading. The failure modes of the specimen are divided into tensile failure, shear failure, and tensile-shear failure. Laboratory test results match well with the numerical simulation results obtained through the PFC3D program. The numerical stress monitoring results indicate that there is significant stress concentration near the defect. And the concentrated stress at the defect boundary drops before the the model reaches its peak stress, which can be used to predict the failure of the defected rock mass. The research findings could supply a certain reference for stability analysis and control of rock material containing similar types of defects.

Monitoring the promotion of cultural and educational projects in digital environment

The article raises the problem of using digital marketing tools to assess the effectiveness of promoting a cultural and educational project. The manuscript was prepared on the basis of “Profile Shifts” project, which is implemented by the state organization of additional education for children “Academy of Talents” with the aim of identifying and supporting gifted and talented youth in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region. The project is part of the regional project “The Success of Every Child”, implemented within the framework of the national project “Education”. Based on the study of the specific project the authors describe the process and results of information and communication monitoring, identify the gaps in project popularization, and provide the recommendations. The results of monitoring the promotion of cultural and educational project are considered in the aspect of reputation audit.

Inundation and nutrient assessment of farmed prairie potholes during a cropping season with high precipitation

AbstractEnclosed topographical depressions that retain water intermittently are abundant across the prairie pothole region of the United States. These depressional wetlands (potholes) are located at local minimum elevations with small contributing micro‐watersheds. These features are often located in areas where the primary land use is row crop agriculture; thus subsurface tile drainage has been implemented to improve crop production and field accessibility. However, even with drainage improvements, farmed potholes still tend to retain water during high precipitation periods. This study monitored 10 farmed potholes in 2018, a year with 32% more precipitation than the 30‐year average. Potholes were inundated between 12% and 81% of the monitored growing season; the highest inundation percentage occurred in a pothole without surface intakes. Nutrient concentrations in 2018 were lower on average than previously reported for the same potholes, possibly due to higher precipitation and less fertilizer applied because most of the potholes were in soybeans rather than corn. Total nitrogen and nitrate‐N median concentrations were 16.71 and 14.82 mg N L−1 lower (p‐value < 0.0001) during the early season (May 15–July 7) than concentrations in 2016–2017. Total phosphorus and dissolved reactive P median concentrations, conversely, were slightly but significantly lower during the late season (July 8–November 1) with 0.15 and 0.13 mg P L−1 difference (p‐value < 0.01), respectively. Observed DRP concentrations increased by 63% during multiday inundation periods. Our monitoring results suggest during seasons of heavy precipitation, farmed potholes might act as hotspots, contributing elevated levels of P to downstream waters.

A new indicator for estimating the degree of mining-induced land subsidence: the overburden’s average GSI value

Underground coal mining leads to land subsidence, which, in turn, results in damage to buildings and infrastructure, disturbs the original ecological environment, and hinders the sustainable development of coal mining cities. A reasonable estimation of land subsidence, on the other hand, is the foundation for building protection, land reclamation, and ecological environment reconstruction. However, when we applied the existing land subsidence estimation theory to the deep mining areas of the Ordos coalfield in western China, there was a significant deviation between the estimations and the measurements. To explain such unusual case, we propose using the overburden’s average GSI (Geological Strength Index) value instead of the compressive strength (UCS) of rock specimens for a better representation of the overburden’s overall properties. By using on-site subsidence monitoring results and historical data, we provided evidence which supports that the overburden’s average GSI value has a much greater impact on subsidence rates than the UCS. Subsequently, we investigated the relationship between three typical overburden’s GSI values and the subsidence rates via a calibrated numerical model, revealing the variation patterns of maximum surface subsidence when the overburden’s average GSI value is set at 30, 50, and 75, respectively. Finally, on the basis of the measured and simulated results, we discussed a non-conventional strip mining method for mining subsidence control in the deep mining areas of the Ordos coalfield in western China, and explained why it is possible and what are the significant advantages behind. The proposed methods, findings, and suggestions in this paper are therefore quite helpful for researchers and engineers who wish to estimate and control the mining-induced land subsidence, as well as for those who are particularly interested in the study of environment science related to land subsidence.

Risk factors for the occurrence of laryngopharyngeal reflux disease in the aged and the clinical characteristics of patients complicated with pneumonia

Objective: To investigate the risk factors for the occurrence of laryngopharyngeal reflux disease in the aged, and to analyze the characteristics of patients with pneumonia. Methods: Patients who underwent 24-hour laryngopharyngeal pH monitoring from June 2020 to July 2022 and the positive patients of those who underwent 24-hour esophageal pH monitoring from March 2017 to July 2022 at the Second Medical Center of the PLA General Hospital were enrolled retrospectively. Positive results of 24-hour laryngopharyngeal reflux monitoring were in the laryngopharyngeal reflux group, and the negative results were in the non-laryngopharyngeal reflux group. Patients with pneumonia and simple gastroesophageal reflux disease were in the esophageal reflux pneumonia group, and patients with pneumonia and simple laryngopharyngeal reflux disease were in the laryngopharyngeal reflux pneumonia group. Patients' basic data, co-morbidities, drug use and relevant examination and test results were collected. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the risk factors of laryngopharyngeal reflux disease in the aged and its relationship with pneumonia. Results: A total of 80 patients with 24-hour laryngopharyngeal pH monitoring were enrolled finally, including 34 cases, all male, aged (73±12) years, in the laryngopharyngeal reflux group, and 46 cases [44 males, 2 females, aged (78±11) years] in the non-laryngopharyngeal reflux group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the risk factors of laryngopharyngeal reflux disease in the aged included age ≤70 years (OR=13.07, 95%CI: 2.53-67.68), body mass index (BMI) (OR=1.37, each additional 1 kg/m2, 95%CI: 1.03-1.83), use of antipsychotic drugs (OR=8.00, 95%CI: 1.40-45.73) and calcium channel blockers (OR=5.27, 95%CI: 1.13-24.53) (all P<0.05). The protective factors of the laryngopharyngeal reflux disease in the aged included antacids (OR=0.19, 95%CI: 0.04-0.90, P=0.035). The incidence of pneumonia was higher in the laryngopharyngeal reflux group compared with the non-laryngopharyngeal reflux group [44.1% (15/34) vs 21.7% (10/46), P=0.033]. The esophageal reflux pneumonia group included 32 cases [31 males and 1 females, aged (84±12) years]. The laryngopharyngeal reflux pneumonia group included 15 cases [ 15 males, aged (79±11) years]. Compared to the patients in the laryngopharyngeal reflux pneumonia group, the patients in the esophageal reflux pneumonia group had a longer course of antibiotics [(27.7±27.0) vs (14.6±13.9) days, P=0.034], a higher frequency of seizure frequency [(4.3±3.0) vs (1.8±1.5) times/year, P<0.001] and a higher maximal body temperature [(38.2±0.9) vs (37.6±1.1) ℃, P=0.037]. Conclusions: The risk factors of laryngopharyngeal reflux disease in the aged included age ≤70 years, higher BMI, use of antipsychotic drugs and calcium channel blockers. The incidence of pneumonia in laryngopharyngeal reflux disease is higher, but the condition of pneumonia is milder.

Status and distribution of a novel redfin lineage, Pseudobarbus sp. ‘burchelli Tradouw’ from the Cape Fold Ecoregion of South Africa

Freshwater fish are threatened globally and in addition, knowledge of their diversity is incomplete and species richness is underestimated. Within the ichthyofauna of the Cape Fold Ecoregion of South Africa, many undescribed lineages exist and for most of these, information is limited regarding their ecology, distribution and threats. The Tradouw redfin Pseudobarbus sp. ‘burchelli Tradouw’ is a novel and range-restricted lineage within the Breede River redfin Pseudobarbus burchelli. Annual monitoring conducted between 2012 and 2016 investigated spatial and temporal trends in the distribution and population dynamics of this taxon. Results indicated that it is highly fragmented within its distribution range, likely a result of the combined pressures of invasive fish and poor land use practices. Short-term monitoring results indicated that invasive fish are established in most of the catchment and that the relative abundance of redfins remained constant only in the limited section of river where alien fish were absent. Poor land use practices such as water over-abstraction and surface water pollution, are pervasive threats, but the extent to which these affect the redfins requires further investigation. The long-term survival of this taxon remains uncertain, and short-term and long-term conservation and management options are explored.

Ultrasonic monitoring of cement setting based on embedded sensor

The hydration property of cement directly affects the performance index of concrete, so it is necessary to monitor the hydration setting process of cement. The aim of this paper is to monitor the process of cement hydration setting by ultrasonic wave. Ultrasonic monitoring is a kind of dynamic non-destructive testing technology, which has the advantages of real-time, on-line and continuous. In this paper, an in-situ monitoring technology of cement hydration setting based on embedded piezoelectric ceramic sensor is introduced. The monitoring results show that the amplitude change of ultrasonic signal received by the sensor can indirectly reflect the change process of cement hydration solid and liquid, especially the initial setting node has a high catching ability.

Digital model of psychophysiological support for university students

The paper presents a digital model of psychophysiological support for students, organized at various sites of the university. The digital model of psychophysiological support includes a set of procedures and activities aimed at ensuring the impact and support of health indicators, biological functions of homeostasis, and the psychophysiological well-being of students. Among the components of the digital model is the innovative project “Online Curator”, which contains a step-by-step description of the sequence of pedagogical actions of curators of student groups, which are based on the constantly updated information resource “Electronic methodological library”. Pedagogical actions are carried out by curators based on the results of annual monitoring and identification of risk groups among the students. Typical problems of students identified during testing in 2021 were problems of the emotional and personal sphere; communication problems; intrapersonal problems and difficulties of adaptation. The resource “Electronic methodological library” described in the paper is an original bank of methodological information designed to improve the psychological and pedagogical competence of curators and to directly organize a variety of extracurricular work with students. The inclusion of the curator’s figure in collective and individual activities for the psychological support of students using IS resources allows him to effectively carry out socializing, preventive, regulatory functions, providing effective support for the psychological well-being of students.

Comprehensive Hygienic Assessment of Anthropogenic Load on the Territory of the Voronezh Region

Introduction: A comprehensive assessment of adverse human health effects of environmental pollutants found in residential areas has been carried out in the Voronezh Region. Objective: To conduct a comprehensive hygienic assessment of the anthropogenic load on the territory of the Voronezh Region. Materials and methods: We analyzed the results of ambient air, drinking water, and soil quality monitoring collected by the Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in the Voronezh Region in 2018–2022 for compliance with the maximum permissible concentrations specified in Regulations SanPiN 1.2.3685–21. The complex load was estimated in accordance with method guidelines MR 01-19/17-17. Results: We established that pollution of ambient air in residential areas contributed the most (69.8 %) to the total anthropogenic load in the town Pavlovsk; drinking water – to that in the Semiluksky district (36.5 %), and soil – in the Rossoshansky district (10.5 %). In the city of Voronezh, the level of complex anthropogenic load exceeded both the regional and district averages. The problem of ambient air pollution dominates in all districts; it should be noted, however, that air sampling is carried out only in urban areas and urban-type settlements. In rural areas, effects of agriculture-associated nitrate pollution of drinking water is more pronounced. The impact of soil pollution is more pronounced in urban residential areas. At the same time, the excess of maximum permissible concentrations of soil pollutants were registered neither in rural nor in urban areas over the study period. Conclusion: In Voronezh, the level of complex anthropogenic load exceeds the average values estimated for the region and districts. Ambient air pollution with vehicle and industrial emissions make the greatest contributions to this load both on the territory of Voronezh and in the districts. Nitrate pollution of potable water associated with agriculture is a challenge in rural areas.

Characterisation of a low-momentum high-rate muon beam monitor for the FAMU experiment at the CNAO-XPR beam facility

The FAMU experiment aims at an indirect measurement of the Zemach radius of the proton. The measurement is carried out on muonic hydrogen atoms (μH) produced through the low-momentum (50–60 MeV/c) muon beam a the RIKEN-RAL μ- facility. The particle flux plays an important role in this measurement, as it is proportional to the number of μH atoms produced, which is the target of the FAMU experimental method. The beam monitor calibration technique and results, presented here, are meant to extract a reliable estimation of the muon flux during the FAMU data taking. These measurements were carried out at the CNAO synchrotron in Pavia, Italy, using proton beams and supported by Monte Carlo simulation of the detector in Geant4.