Multiple Changes Research Articles

Comparison of models for the relationship between respiration rate or rectal temperature and increased heat load in farm animals

Heat stress is an increasing challenge for production animals, particularly in warmer regions of the world. The aim of this study was to compare the fit of three different relationships when modelling respiration rate (RR) and rectal temperature (RT) in animals exposed to increased load.Data from three published studies on finishing pigs, gestating sows and dairy cows were analysed. RR and RT are characterized by being unaffected by increased heat load as long as it is kept below a certain level, and in warmer conditions they increase with increased heat load. As an expression of heat load either the air temperature or the ET (Effective Temperature) was used. The ET unites the effect of air temperature, air humidity and velocity on the animal perception of increased heat load. The relationship between RR and RT and the temperature or the ET was analysed by multiple change point regression and the cubic relationships were modelled. In general, the models provided better fits for RR compared to RT.Relationships with an unaffected piece followed by a quadratic relationship and the cubic relationships performed nearly equally well. Using ET resulted in better correlations than using temperature alone for gestating sows and dairy cows.

Thermal Management and Electrical Efficiency for Concentrator Photovoltaic Systems Using Multiple Phase Change Materials

The performance of solar panels in generating electrical energy is closely tied to the effectiveness of the employed cooling system. While the utilization of phase change materials (PCMs) as latent thermal units as a cooling system has been suggested for recovering solar panels’ heat, research focusing on a comprehensive comparison of various PCMs for this purpose has been lacking. To address this gap, our study aims to provide a thorough comparative analysis of three distinct PCMs: Gallium, Paraffin RT35HC and CaCl2.6H2O. The objective is to determine the most efficient PCM for cooling solar panels. Using Fluent-Ansys-based numerical simulations, our study investigates the transient (unsteady) thermal exchange between PCMs and a solar panel. The research examines various PCM types housed in a container behind the solar panel, while also assessing the impact of inclination angles (0° to 90°) on thermal and electrical efficiency. Our results highlight Gallium's superior cooling performance and sustained high electrical efficiency. Conversely, CaCl2.6H2O leads to decreased electrical efficiency (less cooling performance), while RT35HC shows potential at extreme angles with a slight efficiency decline (∼10.2%). By offering a comprehensive comparative assessment of diverse PCMs and considering the influence of inclination angles, our study contributes valuable insights to optimizing solar panel cooling systems and enhancing overall energy generation efficiency.

Separation of K+ and Bi3+ displacements in a Pb-free, monoclinic piezoelectric at the morphotropic phase boundary

The best piezoelectric properties of any perovskite oxide known are found in the solid solution of the relaxor Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3 and ferroelectric PbTiO3. Despite its impressive properties, this system has limited analogy. We present the compositional exploration of the Pb-free analogue (1-x)(K1/2Bi1/2)(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-x(K1/2Bi1/2)TiO3 (KBMN-KBT). We locate the morphotropic phase boundary between x = 0.86 and 0.88 changing from Cm to Pm symmetry and the optimally performing composition at x = 0.88. We report a piezoelectric figure of merit (d33*) of 192 pm V−1 from strain measurements. Diffraction methods reveal disordered displacements of K+ and Bi3+ which persist from the KBMN endmember through multiple changes in symmetry. Rearrangement of the Bi3+ displacements along the uncommon [011]c direction drives the physical response. Ferroelectric, dielectric, and piezoresponse force microscopy are used to study the progression of physical properties through the MPB and attribute the mechanism to a polarization rotation. Taking account for local, short-range, and average structural features yield a balanced perspective on the structure and properties of this system, isolating the driving force within this system to the Bi3+ bonding configuration. This work yields a strong analogy to the Pb-based analogue, and provides strategies for further optimization.

Manajemen Risiko terhadap Kontrak Perencanaan Konstruksi Jalan Tol dengan Metode Simulasi Monte Carlo

The XYZ Toll Road Section Project experienced contract failure due to multiple changes in the planning contract (addendum), resulting in disruptions to the implementation process and the failure to meet the overall project completion target. The objective of this research is to analyze the potential risks that led to contract failure and propose mitigation efforts for each identified risk. The method employed is the Monte Carlo Simulation, providing a comprehensive approach through empirical data from questionnaires and simulation results to enhance the accuracy of the analysis. This study identified 9 high-level risks and 4 medium-level risks based on risk analysis and categorization on the risk map. The research also strives to implement mitigation measures for each risk based on the prioritized risk values, from highest to lowest, as a form of risk management. This approach aims to minimize the likelihood of contract failure and enhance the operational efficiency of the project.

Enhancement of telomerase extension via quadruple nucleic acid recycling to develop a novel colorimetric biosensing method for kanamycin assay

BackgroundColorimetric biosensors have important value for antibiotic residue testing. However, many previous methods were constructed based on the optical density change of certain unstable single-colored products with poor discrimination for visual measurements. Moreover, their low extinction coefficients usually result in low sensitivity of biosensors. In addition, many conventional signal amplification strategies often involve sophisticated nanomaterial preparation, inconvenient multi-step assay manipulation and limited signal amplification ability. Therefore, the development of new colorimetric biosensing strategies with excellent visual discrimination, high sensitivity and convenient manipulation is highly desirable. ResultsWe designed a target recycling accelerated cascade DNA walking amplification mechanism to trigger a telomerase extension-related enzymatic reaction, and developed a novel colorimetric biosensing strategy for kanamycin (Kana) assay. The target recycling was induced by an exonuclease III-assisted aptamer recognition reaction, which could also trigger the successive DNA walking at the streptavidin (SA)- and magnetic bead (MB)-based tracks. This not only caused the quantitative exposure of the telomeric substrate primers on MB surfaces but also released another strand to accelerate the SA-based DNA walking. By using the telomerase extension product to link numerous alkaline phosphatases and induce the plasmonic property change of gold nanobipyramids (Au NBPs), a colorimetric signal output strategy was constructed. This method could be applied for the high-resolution visual screening of Kana, and it also showed a very low detection limit of 17.6 fg mL−1 for assaying Kana over a wide, five-order-magnitude linear range. SignificanceThe quadruple nucleic acid recycling-enhanced telomerase extension resulted in the ultrahigh sensitivity of the method and also excluded the sophisticated manipulations involved in conventional biosensing strategies. The multiple enzyme catalysis-induced plasmonic property change of Au NBPs realized the stable and multicolor visual signal transduction. Together with its low cost, simple operation, high selectivity, excellent repeatability, and reliable performances, this method exhibits great potential for use in practical applications.

The Tomato’s Tale: Exploring taxonomy, biogeography, domestication and microbiome for enhanced resilience

Plant domestication and breeding not only resulted in multiple phenotypic changes, but also impacted agricultural ecosystems where our current crops are cultivated. Most crops to date rely on the extensive use of fertilizers and pesticides to support crop growth and health. To minimize the environmental impact of these management practices, the plant microbiome got renewed attention as a large, yet untapped resource of microorganisms with beneficial effects on plant growth and health. In the past decade, it has become evident that the microbiome of plants plays a key role in nutrient acquisition, plant development and tolerance to diverse abiotic and biotic stresses. Here we review past and present knowledge of the microbiome of tomato as a model for unraveling the functional potential of plant microbiomes, the impact of domestication and the underlying genetics of microbiome assembly and activity. We also provide perspectives on how this knowledge can be adopted to enhance crop productivity and strengthen the sustainability of agricultural management practices.

Morphological hallmarks of dopaminergic neurodegeneration are associated with altered neuron function in Caenorhabditis elegans

Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is an excellent model system to study neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease, as it enables analysis of both neuron morphology and function in live animals. Multiple structural changes in neurons, such as cephalic dendrite morphological abnormalities, have been considered hallmarks of neurodegeneration in this model, but their relevance to changes in neuron function are not entirely clear. We sought to test whether hallmark morphological changes associated with chemically induced dopaminergic neuron degeneration, such as dendrite blebbing, breakage, and loss, are indicative of neuronal malfunction and result in changes in behavior. We adapted an established dopaminergic neuronal function assay by measuring paralysis in the presence of exogenous dopamine, which revealed clear differences between cat-2 dopamine deficient mutants, wildtype worms, and dat-1 dopamine abundant mutants. Next, we integrated an automated image processing algorithm and a microfluidic device to segregate worm populations by their cephalic dendrite morphologies. We show that nematodes with dopaminergic dendrite degeneration markers, such as blebbing or breakage, paralyze at higher rates in a dopamine solution, providing evidence that dopaminergic neurodegeneration morphologies are correlated with functional neuronal outputs.

Is there a case for a coal moratorium in Indonesia? Power sector optimization modeling of low-carbon strategies

Indonesia is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with an electricity system reliant on fossil fuels and renewable electricity contributing a small portion of their growing demand. In this study, an optimization approach is utilized to analyze different policy-driven pathways for Indonesia's long-term electricity planning by formulating different scenarios based on current policy discussions and changes in the power sector. Through an optimization model, several scenarios incorporating multiple changes such as cost reductions of technologies, halting coal capacity beyond the current pipeline, and carbon taxation schemes are built. The findings show the magnitude of transformation needed to achieve net zero goals and consolidate the discussion around halting coal capacity addition beyond currently planned in terms of technical, environmental, and economic aspects. These findings will be useful to electricity sector policymakers and planners as Indonesia continues along its sustainable economic development pathway.

Incorporating experiments into management to facilitate rapid learning about climate change adaptation

Conservation agencies worldwide are adapting their management plans to climate change. Dozens of climate change adaptation strategies have been proposed in the literature, and practitioners are already implementing many of these strategies. However, very few strategies have been tested empirically to determine if and when they will be effective. Hence, conservation agencies could be investing significant resources in strategies that fail to produce the desired results or cause harmful unintended consequences. Rigorous tests of climate change adaptation strategies are likely lacking because of a tradeoff between the time and resources necessary to implement these tests, and the urgent need for action. Here, we suggest that management actions should be designed as experiments to test climate change adaptation strategies without delaying action. Specifically, we suggest that practitioners employ multiple climate change adaptation strategies simultaneously following the tenets of experimental design. Using this experimental approach will not only provide the evidence necessary to support future actions, it also has many other benefits, including: (1) increasing resilience of the managed system through the portfolio effect, (2) providing tests of our knowledge in climate change biology, (3) helping practitioners and funders overcome the fear of failure, (4) resolving stakeholder conflicts, and (5) providing opportunities for highly effective science and management communication. We provide two case studies to demonstrate how ecological restorations can be designed as experiments to test commonly proposed climate change adaptation strategies. We conclude by suggesting creative ways to implement and fund experimental approaches through co-production of research and unconventional funding strategies.

Air-Working Electrochromic Artificial Muscles.

Artificial muscles are indispensable components for next-generation robotics to mimic the sophisticated movements of living systems and provide higher output energies when compared with real muscles. However, artificial muscles actuated by electrochemical ion injection have problems with single actuation properties and difficulties in stable operation in air. Here, air-working electrochromic artificial muscles (EAMs) with both color-changing and actuation functions are reported, which are constructed based on vanadium pentoxide nanowires and carbon tube yarn. Each EAM can generate a contractile stroke of ≈12% during stable operation in the air with multiple color changes (yellow-green-gray) under ±4V actuation voltages. The reflectance contrast is as high as 51%, demonstrating the excellent versatility of the EAMs. In addition, a torroidal EAM arrangement with fast response and high resilience is constructed. The EAM's contractile stroke can be displayed through visual color changes, which provides new ideas for future artificial muscle applications in soft robots and artificial limbs.

Editorial Presentation - Perspectives on innovation governance: challenges and dilemmas

Editorial Presentation - Perspectives on innovation governance: challenges and dilemmas

Interactive Change-Aware Transformer Network for Remote Sensing Image Change Captioning

Remote sensing image change captioning (RSICC) aims to automatically generate sentences describing the difference in content in remote sensing bitemporal images. Recent works extract the changes between bitemporal features and employ a hierarchical approach to fuse multiple changes of interest, yielding change captions. However, these methods directly aggregate all features, potentially incorporating non-change-focused information from each encoder layer into the change caption decoder, adversely affecting the performance of change captioning. To address this problem, we proposed an Interactive Change-Aware Transformer Network (ICT-Net). ICT-Net is able to extract and incorporate the most critical changes of interest in each encoder layer to improve change description generation. It initially extracts bitemporal visual features from the CNN backbone and employs an Interactive Change-Aware Encoder (ICE) to capture the crucial difference between these features. Specifically, the ICE captures the most change-aware discriminative information between the paired bitemporal features interactively through difference and content attention encoding. A Multi-Layer Adaptive Fusion (MAF) module is proposed to adaptively aggregate the relevant change-aware features in the ICE layers while minimizing the impact of irrelevant visual features. Moreover, we extend the ICE to extract multi-scale changes and introduce a novel Cross Gated-Attention (CGA) module into the change caption decoder to select essential discriminative multi-scale features to improve the change captioning performance. We evaluate our method on two RSICC datasets (e.g., LEVIR-CC and LEVIRCCD), and the experimental results demonstrate that our method achieves a state-of-the-art performance.

Empirical Study for Capturing and Allocating Significant Risk Factors in School Construction Projects in Iraq

In Iraq, more than 1031 school projects have been halted due to disputes and claims resulting from financial, contractual, or other issues. This research aims to identify, prioritize, and allocate the most critical risk factors that threaten these projects’ success for the duration (2017-2022). Based on a multi-step methodology developed through systematic literature reviews, realistic case studies, and semi-structured interviews, 47 risk factors were identified. Based on 153 verified responses, the survey reveals that the top-ranked risk factors are corruption and bribery, delaying the payments of the financial dues to the contractors or sub-contractors, absence of risk management strategy, multiple change orders due to changing designs and specifications during construction; inaccuracy in time and budget estimation; construction material price; financial and economic crisis/financial instability; selecting the contractor only based on the lowest bid, regardless of technical competence; instability within the political system of the government/instability of the government as a client; foreign exchange rates fluctuate against the Iraqi dinar. The study also showed that the respondents recommended allocating four risks to the owner, eight risk factors to the contractor, one risk to the consultant, and 32 factors allocated as shared. The study concluded that the results could help identify the most critical risks facing this type of project and the contracting party that can bear the risks and manage them efficiently.

The divergence of South Korea's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) from the EU ETS: An institutional complementarity view

AbstractEmissions trading schemes (ETS) have spread across the globe to tackle climate change. However, limited attention has been given to how ETS characteristics and designs differ and why. We use the concept of institutional complementarity to explore how the EU ETS and South Korea's ETS (K‐ETS) adapt to complement established political economy. The EU ETS is characterized as a market with stakeholder ownership, while the K‐ETS is more regulatory in nature with government leadership. The EU ETS complements a decentralized political system with liberalized energy market, and the K‐ETS became compatible with the centralized majoritarian politics and a regulated electricity market. The ETSs have evolved incrementally, and they are not likely to link in the foreseeable future due to divergence. We suggest a strong focus on “how to adapt” an ETS to its own institution rather than adopting the established blueprint model in countries with a strong regulatory style of governance.Related ArticlesCaliskan, Cantay. 2020. “The Influence of Elite Networks on Green Policy Making.” Politics & Policy 48(6): 1104–37. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12382.Tanaka, Yugo, Andrew Chapman, Tetsuo Tezuka, and Shigeki Sakurai. 2020. “Multiple Streams and Power Sector Policy Change: Evidence from the Feed‐In Tariff Policy Process in Japan.” Politics & Policy 48(3): 464–89. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12357.von Malmborg, Fredrik. 2023. “Combining the Advocacy Coalition Framework and Argumentative Discourse Analysis: The Case of the ‘Energy Efficiency First’ Principle in EU Energy and Climate Policy.” Politics & Policy 51(2): 222–41. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12525.

Investigating the influence of 3D building models on pedestrian wind comfort through wind computational fluid dynamics analysis

Wind flow plays a crucial role in determining pedestrian comfortability in the surrounding environment. However, the shape and detailing of buildings, as well as the angle of the wind, can manipulate the wind flow patterns and velocity. Different urbanized areas have different building shapes and detailing, which can lead to diverse wind flow patterns and velocities, affecting pedestrian wind comfort (PWC). This study utilized wind Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technique to investigate the influence of building models on wind velocity and its impact on PWC. The CFD simulation integrated with a 3D urbanized building model provided wind velocity values throughout the study area, which were used to analyze wind comfort at 1.75m elevation based on Beaufort wind force criteria. The study found that diverse effects due to different building detailing were observed, leading to multiple flow patterns and changes in wind velocity. The downstream building recorded a lower velocity value than the upstream building mainly because of wind flow separation from the building frontal. Wind comfort levels were represented using the Beaufort wind force scale (BWS), and all values fell in level 2 and 3, indicating good wind comfort level because of the BWS ≤ 3. This study highlights the significance of building models in determining wind flow patterns and velocity, which ultimately impacts PWC. Despite the study area involving multiple buildings with different shapes and detailing, the wind comfort levels were found to be suitable for pedestrians.

Wetland soil microbial responses to upland agricultural intensification and snail invasion

Wetland soils harbor diverse microorganisms including bacteria, archaea, and fungi, all of which play significant roles in maintaining soil health and ecosystem functions but are susceptible to influences from multiple environmental changes. Agricultural intensification and biological invasion are two fundamental drivers of environmental change for wetlands, but their interactive effects on soil microbial communities remain less well understood, particularly for seasonal subtropical wetlands. Yet such understanding is vital for wetland conservation and management. In this study, we conducted a 14-week field mesocosm experiment to investigate how agricultural intensification and invasive apple snail (Pomacea maculata) – an emerging and increasingly concerning threat to natural and agricultural systems in southeastern U.S. – altered wetland soil microbial communities and structures. We found that invasive P. maculata showed selective effects on relative abundance of specific microbial taxa (e.g., Proteobacteria, Nitrospirota), and interactive effects with upland intensification on Spirochaetota and Mortierellomycota. Upland agricultural intensification also exerted significant and consistent effects on microbial composition and diversity across microbial domains. Changes in microbial composition were partly manifested through modifications in water chemistry, such as dissolved oxygen, which acted as environmental regulators. In addition, upland intensification led to more complex but sparsely connected microbial networks, while invasive snail presence decreased network complexity and resulted in greater modularity, less edge density, and longer path length, indicative of lower molecular information exchange efficiency. Our research emphasizes the need for a comprehensive evaluation of microbial responses (i.e., composition, diversity, and co-occurrence patterns) to better understand multi-stressor impacts from human activities on wetland belowground microbial communities. By holistically characterizing microbial responses, our findings show how global change drivers may impact wetland microorganisms in subtropical biomes and infer their functional consequences. Our results have important implications for sustainable landscape management and conservation of wetlands that are experiencing escalating human-induced environmental changes.

Longitudinal relationships between lifestyle risk factors and neurodevelopment in early adolescence.

The goal of this study is to investigate the cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between clustered lifestyle risk factors (sleep, physical activity, body mass index [BMI], and screen time) and neurodevelopment over the early adolescent period. Data from the ABCD Study Data Release 3.0 consisted of 11,878 participants (aged 9-10 years) at baseline and 6,571 participants (aged 11-12 years) at 2-year follow-up. The interrelationships between lifestyle risk factors and brain structure were analyzed using bivariate multiple indicator latent change score models. Using confirmatory factor analysis, a single lifestyle risk factor domain (measured by sleep, physical activity, BMI, and screen time) was shown to fit the data well. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, seven brain structure domains were extracted and labeled as temporal-parietal, frontotemporal, occipital, orbitofrontal, temporal, cingulate, parietal, and cuneus domains. All bivariate latent change score models accounted for age, sex at birth, race/ethnicity, parental education, and marital status. Higher lifestyle risk was associated with smaller brain volume at baseline. Higher baseline lifestyle risk was also associated with a greater rate of change (i.e., greater decreases) in brain volume for the temporal-parietal, frontotemporal, orbitofrontal, parietal, and cuneus domains. Effects were not reciprocal; baseline brain volume did not predict changes in lifestyle behaviors over time. These findings are important for understanding the biological mechanisms underpinning health risk factors and can be used to target interventions and improve brain health during this critical developmental phase. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Variation of the secondary acoustic paths from loudspeakers at the seat shoulder in an automobile cabin

The secondary path is essential in the design of adaptive active noise control systems, and it varies with several factors in practical implementation. In this paper, the acoustic responses from secondary loudspeakers installed at the shoulder of the front passenger seat to the error microphones at the passenger's ears in an automobile cabin are measured, when the factors including the passenger movement, the seat posture and the passenger number change. The upper limit frequency where the phase variation is within 90 deg. compared to the reference position is analyzed. The results show that the state of both the passenger head and the seat back determines the lowest upper limit frequency among all the factors under investigation. If multiple factors change at the same time, the upper limit frequency will be further reduced.

Designing an AI compatible open government data ecosystem for public governance

AI solutions can significantly leverage open government data (OGD) ecosystems in public governance. For that, it is important to design effective and transparent governance mechanisms that create value in an OGD ecosystem through AI solutions. This article develops a conceptual model for a systematic design of an OGD governance model, which adopts a platform governance approach and integrates the governance needs derived from the use of AI. The purpose of the conceptual model is to systematically identify and analyze the interrelationships among multiple change factors on OGD governance design and to project available AI-based solutions for the OGD ecosystem by assessing the managerial, organizational, legal, technological, moral, and institutional variances. The proposed ‘6-step model’ suggests that an AI-compatible OGD ecosystem design requires (i) identifying contingencies, (ii) identifying data prosumers, (iii) assigning data governance roles, (iv) identifying design values, (v) designing the governance of AI, and (vi) designing the governance by AI. Through the recursive and reflexive analysis of each step, policymakers and system designers can develop reliable strategies in leveraging AI solutions for the use of OGD in public governance.

Did interventions in a massive transfusion protocol program change transfusion practice?

Abstract Current literature supports improved clinical outcomes in the setting of trauma when a Massive Transfusion Protocol (MTP) adheres to transfusion at, or close, to a 1:1 ratio (RBC:Plasma). At our institution, between 2008 and 2015, the number of MTP activations increased ten-fold, accompanied by increased wastage of blood products and stress on the transfusion service. In response, in 2016-2018, we undertook an extensive root-cause analysis, and deployed multiple interventions, including clinician education and multiple process changes to the MTP, which succeeded in reining in inappropriate activation of the MTP, as we have previously published. Heretofore, we have not addressed whether these interventions also affected the ratio of blood products transfused during MTPs activated at our institution. Here, we test the hypothesis that the changes deployed in 2016-2018 were associated with improved adherence to the desired 1:1 ratio. The study is a retrospective analysis of massive transfusion data collected from 2008 to 2022. We reviewed RBC and Plasma units transfused to all patients receiving blood products through the MTP during this period. All patients transfused seven or more RBC and/or Plasma units following MTP activation were included in the study (total n = 443). Activations were classified by year. For each patient, the (RBC:Plasma) ratio transfused was calculated and assessed for adherence to a 1:1 ratio, with a ratio of 2:1 or greater classified as “suboptimal”. Our institution does not use Whole Blood. MTP usage at our institution gradually increased from 2008, when the MTP was established, to 2016, when the MTP procedure was revised. Suboptimal transfusion ratios (RBC:Plasma) also increased from 2008-2016. Between 2008 and 2013, 15% of patients received suboptimal ratios following MTP activation. In 2014-2016, suboptimal ratios were observed in 25% of MTPs. Following multiple interventions, the frequency of MTP activation dropped precipitously, as described, and was accompanied by a decrease in the percentage of suboptimal ratios; in 2020 to 2022, 11% of MTPs involving seven or more transfused units had a suboptimal ratio. In summary, the dramatic increase in activations of the MTP observed between 2008 and 2016 at our medical center was accompanied by an increase in suboptimal RBC:Plasma transfusion ratios. Interventions deployed between 2016 and 2018 led not only to reduced blood wastage, and lower stress of BB staff, but also to improved adherence to best transfusion practices, in the form of appropriate (RBC:Plasma) ratios transfused during MTPs.