Multiple Services Research Articles

Forest fates: Unraveling the peri-urban social-ecological trajectories in Mexico City's conservation land.

Peri-urban areas provide multiple ecosystem services, but face critical challenges, including deforestation, unplanned urban sprawl, and environmental pollution and degradation. To address these issues, environmental public policy instruments have been implemented. This paper aims to investigate the social ecological trajectories of a peri-urban area of Mexico City and the role of environmental public policy instruments in addressing land use change. Focusing on four watersheds of the southern periphery of the city, we analyze land use change drivers through neural networks and Markov chains, and we develop two land use scenarios for the next 20years: one characterized by business as usual and another with a more restrictive land use regime. Our findings show that infrastructure drivers are the most critical factor overall, when combined with the historical social ecological trajectory of the study area. The impact of environmental public policy instruments on future trajectories demonstrates their potential to decrease deforestation. The results provide insights for the integrated territorial planning of peri-urban areas with similar social ecological dynamics and developing context.

Development Problems and Suggestions for the Giant Salamander Industry

The Chinese giant salamander (<i>Andrias davidianus</i>), the American giant salamander (<i>Cryptobranchus alleganiensis</i>), and the Japanese giant salamander (<i>A. japonicum</i>) are precious aquatic protected animals that currently exist in the world. The latter two cannot be traded locally, whether wild or cultivated, and can only be protected, so they have not formed an industry. However, China allows the second generation of artificially bred offspring giant salamander to be traded and has already formed a factory scale breeding. The Chinese giant salamander has high economic value in food, health, medicine, beauty and other fields. In recent years, its artificial breeding industry has been widely developed in China and has a certain industrial scale. However, there are also many problems in the development of the giant salamander industry. In order to promote the high-quality development of the giant salamander industry and improve its quality, this article conducts research on the giant salamander industry, identifies existing problems, and provides suggestions. Firstly, this article analyzes the problems in the development process of giant salamanders from multiple perspectives, including management, service, market, research and development, and brand awareness. Secondly, corresponding industrial development strategies are proposed, including increasing regulatory efforts, enhancing service awareness, building market order, expanding sales channels, increasing research and development investment, reducing disease occurrence, extending the industrial chain, and strengthening brand awareness. Finally, the prospects for the development of the giant salamander industry are discussed.

Strip cropping increases yield and revenue: multi-year analysis of an organic system in the Netherlands

Intercropping is proposed as a promising strategy to meet future food demand while reducing agriculture’s environmental impact by re-diversifying agricultural fields. Strip cropping, a form of intercropping, has a potential to simultaneously deliver multiple ecosystem services including productivity, while facilitating management as strip width can be adjusted to the working width of available machines. While the yield performance of strip cropping systems is influenced by the interaction between neighboring crops, to date, empirical studies on the performance of various crop combinations in strip cropping systems are limited. Here we used three-year data (2020–2022) from a 64-ha organic strip cropping system in the Netherlands to (1) evaluate the effects of crop neighbors and strip cropping on yield and (2) explore if optimizing the allocation of crop neighbors in alternative strip cropping configurations can improve yield and revenue performances. We analyzed the edge effect and strip cropping effect on yield of six crops grown in strips, each neighboring a total of five crops. The yield data was then used to evaluate the performance of the current and alternative strip configurations in terms of LER and relative revenue. Results showed that except for the positive effect observed on potato when neighboring celeriac or broccoli, edge effects lacked statistical significance. Strip cropping effect varied per crop: positive for faba bean and parsnip, neutral for celeriac and potato, and negative for oat and onion. Analysis across crops showed an overall significant positive strip cropping effect on yield. These findings highlighted the value of analysis at the cropping system level in developing designs aimed at unlocking the potential of strip cropping. The positive but variable strip cropping effects observed in the current experimental design and the two alternative configurations suggests prioritizing an overall increased crop diversity over optimizing their spatial arrangement. While we demonstrated increased productivity with strip cropping, further research is needed to expand the database on optimal crop combinations, extending the evaluation beyond yield and revenue performances to facilitate broader adoption of strip cropping in the Netherlands and Western Europe.

Modelling interrelations between C-ITS impact categories: a system-dynamics approach using causal loop diagrams

The growing number of connected vehicles has led to an increased focus on Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communication in the field of transport research. This communication paradigm facilitates cooperation between vehicles and infrastructure to address traffic challenges such as efficiency, sustainability and safety. The development and standardisation of such Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) has been pursued in several projects. Beyond technical considerations, assessing the effect of these applications in terms of various impact categories is of paramount importance. However, existing research tends to examine impact categories such as efficiency, sustainability, safety, psychological or socioeconomic impacts separately, often overlooking potential interactions and interdependencies. This approach is inadequate as impacts on one category can have both cascading effects on others and rebound effects. To address this gap, this paper proposes a system dynamics approach using Causal Loop Diagrams (CLD) to illustrate the interconnectedness of impact categories and the potential impacts of C-ITS services. By depicting general relationships, interdependencies and feedback loops between impact category elements, the model accommodates the introduction of single or multiple C-ITS services as separate modules, allowing an analysis of their combined effects on the overall system. To this end, two use cases demonstrate the applicability of the developed CLD and illustrate some of the multiple interrelations between the effects of C-ITS services. The results of this paper support road operators and researchers when setting up the impact assessment of C-ITS services by revealing the dynamic and intertwined nature of different impact categories.

Request Deadline Split and Interference‐Aware Request Migration in Edge Cloud

ABSTRACTEdge computing extends computing resources from the data center to the edge of the network to better handle latency‐sensitive tasks. However, with the rise of the Internet of Things, edge devices with limited processing capabilities face difficulties in executing requests with fluctuating request peaks. In order to meet the deadline constraints of latency‐sensitive tasks, a feasible solution is to offload some latency‐sensitive tasks to other nearby edge devices. This article studies the problem of request migration in edge computing systems and minimizes the request deadline violation rate based on actual online arrival patterns, performance interference phenomena, and deadline constraints. Since a request contains multiple services and request migration will lead to changes in server resource competition pressure, we split the problem into three sub‐problems, dividing the request deadline to determine the maximum response time of the service, determining the performance of the service under different resource pressures and the request migration strategies. To this end, we propose two deadline splitting methods, a performance interference model under multi‐resource pressure, and two heuristic request migration strategies. Since this article considers online edge scenarios, the number and type of requests are black boxes. We conduct simulation experiments and find that our method has only one‐third the number of request violations of other methods.

Revealing the optimal strategy for tree plantations on controlling soil erosion in China: A meta-analysis

Tree plantation has increased globally, driven by a desire to supply multiple ecosystem services including soil erosion control. However, how to plant trees can more effectively mitigate soil erosion still lacks systematic investigation. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis consisting of 412 paired observations from 80 studies to rigorously compare the effects of tree plantations on soil erosion control across different plantation approaches in China. The results showed that plantation age and ground cover type were the primary factors influencing the efficiency of tree plantations on runoff and sediment reduction. Mature plantations (>20 years) showed more efficiency in runoff (80.9 %) and sediment (97.2 %) reduction than young plantations (<10 years). The benefit of tree plantations with grass cover on runoff reduction was 70 %, while the capacity of plantations without ground cover was not significant. In addition, tree plantations in areas with steep slope, low mean annual precipitation, high soil sand content, and low soil organic carbon had better benefits on soil erosion control. Loess Plateau and Karst areas suffer the most severe water erosion in China, with distinct environmental conditions. This paper further revealed the targeted plantation strategy for these two regions: tree plantations in Karst areas should focus on the lithophyticity and drought tolerance of tree species, in the Loess Plateau should consider the trade-off between water consumption and soil erosion control.

Organic Fertilization Improves Soil Multifunctionality in Sugarcane Agroecosystems

Soil multifunctionality is closely tied to soil health, yet a comprehensive understanding of this link in agricultural soils is lacking. The aim of this study was to understand how long-term fertilization practices affect the provision of multiple services by comparing the multifunctionality of soils. The three objectives were to (i) determine whether the effect of fertilization is consistent across soil types, (ii) describe the effect of the different fertilizers on soil multifunctionality, and (iii) identify soil chemical properties that can be easily used proxies of soil multifunctionality. The descriptors belong to three functioning indexes associated with nutrient availability, carbon transformation, and soil structure maintenance. This study is the first to investigate the effect of a variety of organic fertilizers on the health of three soil types by combining physical, chemical, and biological indicators in sugarcane agroecosystems. An increase in soil multifunctionality was obtained, with no effect on yield. The effect of fertilizers was consistent across soil types. Filter mud and green waste compost significantly increased the multifunctionality and functioning indexes compared to mineral fertilizer. Modifications in soil properties did not fully explain the observed variations. Our results confirm the high potential of organic fertilization to improve multifunctionality and provide ecosystem services.

Value Based Conduct Confirmation in BPaaS Configuration

Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) is a cloud-based delivery model that combines business process outsourcing (BPO) with the scalability and flexibility of cloud computing. In BPaaS, organizations outsource specific business processes—such as payroll, customer support, or inventory management—to a cloud service provider. These services are designed for multitenancy, meaning they serve multiple clients simultaneously. By leveraging the cloud, companies gain cost efficiency, access to cutting-edge technologies, and the ability to scale on demand. Essentially, BPaaS streamlines operations, allowing businesses to focus on their core competencies while leaving process management to experts in the cloud. The purpose behind BPaaS is to turn multiple service companies into a corporate process system that can then be provided as its own service to consumers. Naturally, BPaaS providers target common or proven business processes applicable to a broad potential market, or require multiple complex components management. This is attractive for customers, because it offers a cheap, low risk outsource option for integral business activities. Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) is an emerging sort of cloud provider that gives configurable and executable business processes to customers over the internet. As BPaaS is still in early years of research, many open troubles remain managing the configuration of BPaaS builds on regions which include software product strains and configurable commercial enterprise approaches. The problem has concerns to recollect from numerous perspectives, along with the different forms of variable features, constraints among configuration options, and gratifying the necessities supplied by the client. In this method, the system uses temporal logic templates to elicit transactional requirements from customers that the configured carrier ought to adhere to. For formalizing constraints over configuration, feature fashions are used. To manage all these issues at some stage in BPaaS configuration, the system developed a structured approach that applies formal techniques whilst directing customers via specifying transactional necessities and choosing configurable features.

Soil Erosion Under Climate and Land Use Changes in China: Incorporating Ecological Policy Constraints

ABSTRACTProjections of soil erosion under climate and land use changes are pivotal for optimizing soil conservation strategies. Ecological policies are thought to influence future land‐use changes and associated soil erosion dynamics. However, these policies are inadequately incorporated into projections, leaving the future trajectory of soil erosion still unclear. China's ecological redline policy (ERP) is among the first national policies to integrate multiple ecosystem services into land use planning, preventing anthropogenic soil erosion on over 25% of the territory. Therefore, focusing on China, three alternative Shared Socioeconomic Pathway and Representative Concentration Pathway scenarios (SSP1‐2.6, SSP3‐7.0, and SSP5‐8.5) were coupled with future‐oriented ERP to reflect future soil erosion patterns by the late‐21st century. Projections rely on an integrated multi‐model approach. The conducted analysis suggests that climate change is projected to exacerbate soil erosion by 12.06%–36.90% due to increased precipitation, characterized by high‐intensity events. Land use change is projected to mitigate or even reverse the climate‐induced increase in soil erosion. The combined climate and land use simulations showed that the annual average soil erosion rate will increase by 26.36% under the SSP5‐8.5 scenario, while it will decrease by 8.08% and 14.94% under the SSP1‐2.6 and SSP3‐7.0 scenarios, respectively. The implementation of ERP reduces potential soil erosion by 4.08%–14.89% (equal to 0.31–0.86 Gt year−1 soil loss) in the late‐21st century, particularly in scenarios with intensive conflicts between population and land sources. This study provides a valuable reference for the formulation of national strategies aimed at controlling soil loss accelerated by climate change.

Heating Industrial Buildings with Heat Pump Air Systems: Is It Always the Most Advantageous Option?

According to extant Italian legislation implementing the Renewable Energy Directive, the mandatory renewable quota for a new building is 60% referring to a single service (e.g., heating during winter) or to multiple services (e.g., heating during winter and air conditioning during summer), depending on which services are actually present. The obligation to satisfy this minimum value often leads heating and ventilation plant designers to provide heat pump systems in industrial buildings, typically air/water or direct expansion type coupled with air terminals (air heaters or ventilation units) or radiant floors. The question is: Is this always the most advantageous option for industrial buildings? A typical industrial building was modeled by Trnsys® in two different climates. Based on the calculated thermal heating loads, the condensing radiant tubes and heat pump coupled with the air heaters systems were analyzed through dynamic simulation, evaluating their performance from an energy, environmental impact, and economic point of view. The analysis carried out revealed that a heat pump system is not always the most advantageous solution depending on the climate, the characteristics of the building (less or more thermal insulation, which corresponds to existing buildings rather than new ones), and the size of the photovoltaics system eventually installed on the roof.

Spatial heterogeneity of ecosystem service bundles and the driving factors in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region

Defining a multi-service spatial pattern and ecosystem packages is the key to ensuring regional ecological security and sustainable development. Ecosystem service bundles can effectively discern the interactions among multiple services and regionalize ecological functional zones. Aiming at a range of environmental and ecological challenges in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, such as water scarcity, soil erosion, land degradation, poor forest and grassland quality, and shrinking agricultural land, the spatial pattern and driving forces of eight crux ecosystem services, including product supply, soil conservation, water conservation, carbon storage, sand fixation, environment purification, biological diversity and recreation culture, were analyzed by combining multiple model algorithms. Additionally, spatial system clustering was employed to identify ecosystem services bundles and optimize the ecological functional zoning. The results revealed significant spatial heterogeneity of the eight ecosystem services in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. High product supply concentrated in plain regions, while the rest seven ecosystem services were dominant in in mountainous areas. The region can be classified into four service bundles: ecological conservation service (ECS), ecological restoration service (ERS), product supply service (PSS) and ecological fragile service (EFS). ECS and ERS are dominated by regulating and supporting services, which are primarily driven by climatic factors and NDVI. ERS exhibits relatively low service level and is the crucial area for future ecological restoration. PSS is dominated by food supply, with land use change being the primary driving force. At present, with the rapid urbanization, various ecosystem services provided by EFS is inadequate. In the future, urban ecological construction should be strengthened to enhance regional ecosystem services capabilities.

Implementation of High Availability Based on Load Balancing and Failover Method in E-commerce Using MySQL Database

The rapid growth of e-commerce has brought about challenges in managing traffic loads and ensuring the availability of database servers. One critical issue is what happens when the main database server fails, potentially leading to downtime or data loss. This research aims to address these problems by optimizing server resource distribution and implementing data replication across multiple database servers. The goal is to enhance system efficiency, prevent server overloads, ensure data availability, and minimize downtime or data loss when server failures occur.This research utilizes a multi-stage methodology. First, data collection was conducted to gather relevant information. In the second stage, a needs analysis was performed to identify system requirements. The third stage involved designing the system architecture, including the creation of entity-relationship diagrams (ERD), flowcharts, and network topologies. In the final stage, the system was implemented through database replication and the application of failover methods.The results demonstrate that the failover mechanism operates effectively, ensuring that data is successfully replicated across all database servers. This confirms that the system achieves high availability and minimizes the risk of data loss or service downtime. The implications of this research provide a reliable solution for improving the resilience and performance of e-commerce systems, particularly in managing database server failures.

Patient and family aftercare enhance interactions between Helicopter Emergency Medicine Services and former patients and families

BackgroundHelicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) in the United Kingdom (UK) deliver enhanced care to high-acuity, critically ill and injured patients. To enable patients to meet the HEMS team who treated them, many services within the UK have developed or are in the process of developing a Patient and Family Aftercare Service (PFAS). This study aims to evaluate whether the introduction of PFAS mitigates anxiety associated with patient aftercare visits.MethodsA service evaluation of anxiety in HEMS team members before and after patient aftercare visits were conducted. The study was carried out between 1 September 2023, and 31 October 2023, and patient visits were undertaken between March 2022 and July 2023. An electronic survey was distributed to the respondents who provided informed consent for participation. The survey comprised the validated generalised anxiety disorder anxiety scale (GAD-7) and five additional contextualised statements developed through the wider PFAS. Anonymised data were collected using REDCap, a secure electronic database and was analysed in R programming. Free-text comments were reported by content analysis, placed into themes, and discussed with a narrative to complement the quantitative analysis.ResultsOf the 33 recipients, 25 completed the questionnaire. Between the pre- and post-aftercare visits, a statistically significant difference was found between scores for GAD-7 (0.004, p < 0.05) and contextualised statements (0.001, p < 0.05). In addition, six broad themes were identified through content analysis. These include the emotional impact of patient interaction, coping strategies and structural changes in the aftercare system, challenges in patient and family expectations, anxieties relating to operational commitments, memory and recall of the incident, and a positive impact on personal growth.ConclusionAnxiety related to patient aftercare visits was reduced when measured before and after the patient visits. Following this service evaluation, we can hypothesise that within pre-hospital care, PFAS plays an important structural role. Future research should focus on affirming the correct tool to measure anxiety in multi-disciplinary teams and prospectively evaluating these methods collaboratively across multiple pre-hospital services.

An Integrated Approach to Improving Itinerary Completion in Coordinated Care Networks

Problem definition: Coordinated care network (CCN) is a burgeoning paradigm where patients’ diagnosis and treatment plans are developed based on collaboration between multiple, colocated medical specialties to holistically address patients’ health needs. A primary performance metric for CCNs is how quickly patients can complete their itinerary of appointments at multiple medical services in the network. Rapid completion is critical to care delivery but also presents a major operational challenge. Because information about a patient’s condition and treatment options evolves over the course of the itinerary, care paths are not known a priori. Thus, appointments (except for the first one) cannot be reserved in advance, which may result in significant delays if capacity is not allocated properly. Methodology/results: We study capacity allocation for the patient’s first (root) appointment as the primary operational lever to achieve rapid itinerary completion in CCNs. We develop a novel queueing-based analytical framework to optimize this root appointment allocation, maximizing the proportion of patients completing care by prespecified deadlines. Our framework accounts for the complex interactions among all patients in the network through the blocking process, which contrasts with conventional siloed planning. We provide an exact characterization of the itinerary time and develop a mean-field approximation with convergence guarantees that permits tractable solutions for large-scale network problems. In a simulation case study of Mayo Clinic, our solution improves on-time completion from 60% under the current plan to more than 93%. Managerial implications: We demonstrate that root appointment allocation is a multifaceted problem and that ignoring any of those facets can lead to poor performance. Simultaneously accounting for all of these complexities makes manual template design or traditional optimization methods inadequate, highlighting the significance of our integrated approach. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2022.0649 .

A functional trait-based assessment of urban street tree selection for Ethiopia

Urbanization in Ethiopia is rapidly reducing green space and biodiversity, and placing ecological stress on trees. Urban street trees (UST) can provide multiple ecosystem services, but need to cope with challenging street ecology and future climate risks. However, UST selection in Ethiopia is poor, and conventional trials and modern breeding are costly and time consuming to apply in Ethiopia. The main objective of the study was to identify potential UST species for two Ethiopian cities; Addis Ababa, and Arba Minch, by studying interspecific differences in functional traits. For the purpose, we created a database with list of 120 candidate UST gathered from multi-stakeholder workshop, literature review, and senior experts survey, and their ecological with their phenological and morphological features. Then we filtered 25 potential UST through framework analysis considering eco-morphological features of the trees. For the 25 species, we measured three types of plant functional traits: conservative traits (leaf mass per area and leaf dry matter content), acquisitive traits (leaf area, specific leaf area and leaf water content) and drought tolerance traits (leaf turgor pressure loss point, and leaf succulence index). Our results showed a strong trade-off between conservative and acquisitive traits, particularly between leaf dry matter content (LDMC) and specific leaf area (SLA) (r = −0.71), consistent with plant economic spectrum theory. Using PCA analysis, we identified three groups of potential USTs (Type I, II and III) that exhibit different adaptation strategies, consistent with Grime’s trait-based classification of universal plant adaptation strategies (CSR). Compared to species with high acquisitive traits (Type II and Type III), Type I species have high conservative and drought-tolerant traits shows better adaptation to harsh road environments, whereas Type II and Type III species may be more advantageous for urban parks and other resource-rich components of urban ecology. We also found significant variation in conservative, acquisitive and drought-tolerant traits among different species, indicating their different adaptation strategies. Our research advances the knowledge of plant adaptation in urban environments and provides a useful method for UST selection.

Coherent time- and wavelength-division multiplexed point-to-multipoint optical access network using low-cost DFB lasers enabled by a frequency comb

Coherent reception, along with time- and wavelength-division multiplexing (TWDM), is a promising concept to simultaneously support multiple services in future high-speed point-to-multipoint passive optical networks (PONs). The next-generation PON 2 (NG-PON2) standard describes a TWDM-PON based on IM/DD intensity modulation and direct detection (IM/DD) which employs tunable-lasers and optical filters such as tunable optical filters or cyclic arrayed-waveguide gratings. Here, we investigate what we believe to be a novel coherent TWDM-PON architecture based on a frequency comb source in the optical line terminal (OLT), and thermally-tuned distributed-feedback (DFB) lasers in the optical network units (ONUs). For downstream operation, we broadcast multiple copies of two 25 GBd dual-polarization quadrature phase shift keying (DP-QPSK) signals, resulting in a total PON downstream capacity of 200 Gbit/s. The copies of the downstream signals are spanning ±2 nm (±250 GHz). In the ONUs, we align the wavelengths of the DFB lasers, which act as local oscillators (LOs), to one of the downstream signals by a thermal heater or by changing the direct current. In upstream, the already aligned DFB lasers act as transmit lasers and the frequency comb as LO. We demonstrate TWDM upstream by emulating two ONUs with 25 GBd DP-QPSK, resulting in a total PON upstream capacity of 200 Gbit/s.

External Support for Solar-Powered Water Pumping Systems in Rural Areas: A Systematic Review.

The Sustainable Development Goals emphasize coordination and integration between sectors. Solar-powered submersible water pumping systems are versatile technology that help address community drinking water, irrigation, and electricity needs. Stakeholders external to the community, particularly solar photovoltaic experts, are vital in ensuring continued system services; however, there has been no comprehensive assessment of different solar-powered water pumping system support efforts. This review is the first to systematically evaluate external support for solar-powered systems from multiple regions and implementing organizations. We reviewed solar-powered water pumping system literature to identify implemented external support and factors that affect implementation. Publication databases, organization Web sites, and citations were searched. Seventy-four studies were included and evaluated using inductive coding and thematic synthesis. We derived a framework that organized support activities and factors into three nested levels of implementation: system, program, and sector. For support efforts implemented after 2010, most support providers worked at all levels. Each provider type worked at levels aligned with their knowledge and resources and complementary to other providers' work. Drivers of support specific to solar-powered water systems were the existence of solar photovoltaic markets and infrastructure, support providers experienced with solar photovoltaics, and government and community solar advocates. We grouped support factors that study authors associated with system functionality into four categories: location and quality of support, reliability of support arrangements, frequency and timeliness of support, and policy and regulatory environment. No study outlined support for multiple uses of the systems or end-of-lifecycle care of solar panels. Solar-powered water pumping systems provide multiple community services, and their management will be bolstered by support providers collaborating to optimally apply their skill sets and create support plans that comprehensively address system versatility.

Differential response of multiple stream ecosystem processes to basin- and reach-scale drivers

Stream ecosystems are inherently dependent on their surroundings and, thus, highly vulnerable to anthropogenic impacts, which alter both their structure and functioning. Anchored in biologically-mediated processes, the response of stream ecosystem functioning to environmental conditions exhibits intricate patterns, reflecting both natural dynamics and human-induced changes. Our study aimed at determining the natural and anthropogenic drivers influencing multiple stream ecosystems processes (nutrient uptake, biomass accrual, decomposition, and ecosystem metabolism) at a regional scale. By examining 38 natural and anthropogenic variables across 63 stream reaches in Gipuzkoa (northern Iberian Peninsula), we used structural equation modeling to unravel the cascading effect of basin- and reach-scale drivers onto ecosystem process. The results reveal significant variability in ecosystem processes, with contrasting spatial patterns, suggesting that studied processes respond differently to environmental factors. Urban land-use emerged as a primary basin-scale driver, whereas reach-scale variables reflected both natural and anthropogenic influence. Nutrient uptake rates were primarily driven by nutrient concentrations in stream water, but models for biomass accrual, decomposition, and ecosystem metabolism exhibited more complex cause-effect relationships. Our findings highlight the impact of urban areas on multiple ecosystem processes and services, disproportionate when considering their small land cover. The present study emphasizes the convenience of measuring multiple ecosystem functions simultaneously to get a comprehensive diagnosis of the functional status of rivers.

Failure analysis and life extension of mechanical products under multiple service conditions

Abstract During the service of engineering machinery products, the interaction of mechanical load, service environment and other conditions leads to the diversity and uncertainty of failure modes. Mechanism analysis is difficult to accurately calculate the dynamic changes of performance. Most existing machine learning methods only focus on the remaining useful life, without considering the internal mechanism and connection of multiple failure modes. In this paper, a resistance degradation model is established based on the data of multiple service cycles. According to the service data under different working conditions, a dynamic resistance degradation model based on classification and regression tree (CART) and a product service life enhancement strategy based on working condition sequence optimization are proposed. Firstly, the characteristics of different working conditions are analysed. Secondly, the data of multiple sensors are fused, and CART is used to fit the degradation model. Finally, a product service life optimization problem is designed to increase the life. Experiments show that the proposed method can fit the resistance degradation process, and can significantly improve the life of mechanical products.

DB-FL: DAG blockchain-enabled generalized federated dropout learning

To protect user privacy and data security, the integration of Federated Learning (FL) and blockchain has become an emerging research hotspot. However, the limited throughput and high communication complexity of traditional blockchains limit their application in large-scale FL tasks, and the synchronous traditional FL will also reduce the training efficiency. To address these issues, in this paper, we propose a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) blockchain-enabled generalized Federated Dropout (FD) learning strategy, which could improve the efficiency of FL while ensuring the model generalization. Specifically, the DAG maintained by multiple edge servers will guarantee the security and traceability of the data, and the Reputation-based Tips Selection Algorithm (RTSA) is proposed to reduce the blockchain consensus delay. Second, the semi-asynchronous training among Intelligent Devices (IDs) is adopted to improve the training efficiency, and a reputation-based FD technology is proposed to prevent overfitting of the model. In addition, a Hybrid Optimal Resource Allocation (HORA) algorithm is introduced to minimize the network delay. Finally, simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed algorithms.