Physical Perspectives Research Articles

Exploring the global trade networks of the tungsten supply chain: Insights into the physical and monetary mismatch among countries

AbstractInternational trade is essential to bridge the imbalance between supply and demand of materials along with different nations effectively, especially for critical raw materials such as tungsten that are highly geographically unequally distributed. However, the international trade flows and their complex networks that link those participating nations have remained largely unexplored, which leads to inexplicable concerns for materials' criticality and their supply risks. By integrating the material flow analysis and the complex network analysis, this study traces the global trade flows of tungsten in various forms ranging from primary products to scrap among 223 countries and regions annually from 2000 to 2018 and explores the evolution of participating countries' role involved in international trade networks from both physical and monetary perspectives. We found that (1) there are ∼2673 thousand metric tons of tungsten feeding into supply chains globally during the 19 years, and about 96% of tungsten resources are re‐allocated from Asia to the high‐income regions; (2) the high‐income countries gain the potential benefits from both the resources and economic perspectives and they import 72% of tungsten resources in the form of primary and semi‐products from developing countries, meanwhile earning 87% of global tungsten trade value by exporting tungsten metal products with high value‐added back to those tungsten resources suppliers. Under the growing national interconnections of global tungsten trade networks, this study urges more cooperative actions and targeted supply chain management among the participating countries to secure the tungsten supply and sustainability of the global tungsten cycle.

The Analysis of Regional Economic Development (RED) through Community Based Tourism (CBT) at Ngilngof Tourism Village, Maluku, Indonesia

Ngilngof village is one of the main tourist villages in Manyew Districts of Maluku Province, Indonesia. This is demonstrated by winning the championship award category of the advanced tourism villages in the 2019 National competition. The Development of Village Tourism (DVT) and Community Tourism (CBT) related empowerment needs publicity, with politics an important tool for the development of village management and the development of social and economic benefits and Regional Economic Development (RED). This study aimed to identify a general description of Ngilngof as a tourist village, and study the concept of economic development as a relationship between development and the social welfare and participation of the Ngilngof community. The research method used is a qualitative approach with case study design and interactive model analysis. Research data is measured utilising local economic, social and physical environmental perspectives. The key informants were selected using purposive sampling techniques, including the elements of the Ngilngof village apparatus, community leaders and tourism practitioners. The results showed the criteria for economic development of Ngilngof Tourism Village including attractions, amenities, accessibility and ancillary services have minor impact on the social and economic welfare of Ngilngof Community, however the analysis of RED factors does show a positive impact on rural economic development.

ANALYZING EFFECTIVE INDICATORS OF POLITICAL MANAGEMENT OF SPACE IN TEHRAN METROPOLIS

Spatial policies can be thought of as the interrelationships between functions identities, and physical perspectives. Many experts argue that public-private participation is the key to the success of good governance in the political management of space. The present work aims at examining the effective indicators in the political management of the metropolitan area of Tehran using the fuzzy dimethyl technique, which is descriptive in terms of practical purpose and data collection, being based on the causal method. The sample size was composed of70 university professors and senior managers of political space management, leading to the identification of23factors as well. It was found that regional and spatial relations had the greatest impact on the political management of space ; the existing laws that cause the inefficiency of the political management of space had in contrast the least impact.

New challenges and opportunities for low-field MRI

In this manuscript we deal with recent advances in low-field Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The development of low-cost MRI solutions allowing portability and trustable diagnosis is a hot topic worldwide by these days. We analyze basic technical issues of recent examples of fixed-field instruments operating at low-field. Then we discuss pros and cons of the pre-polarized approach, from both physical and technical perspectives. Permanent magnet and electromagnet technology are confronted. Finally, magnetic field-cycling is introduced as an alternative MRI technique, where field-dependent experiments can be exploded for the development of new contrast mechanisms that are not feasible for fixed-field MRI instruments. As field cycled machines usually deals with switched currents in electromagnets, magnetic field instability and inhomogeneity are the main limiting factors affecting image quality. We finalize this manuscript discussing how it turns possible to overcome these limitations, thus opening new possibilities for the development of cost effective MRI technology.

UX assessment strategy to identify potential stressful conditions for workers

The European Commission defined the new concept of Industry 5.0 meaning a more human-centric, resilient, and sustainable approach for the design of industrial systems and operations. A deep understanding of the work environment and organization is important to start analysing the working conditions and the resulting User eXperience (UX) of the operators. Also, the knowledge about users’ needs and ergonomics is fundamental to optimize the workers’ wellbeing, working conditions, and industrial results. In this context, the paper presents a strategy to effectively assess the UX of workers to promote human-centric vision of manufacturing sites, enhancing the overall sustainability of the modern factories. A set of non-invasive wearable devices is used to monitor human activities and collect physiological parameters, as well as questionnaires to gather subjective self-assessment. This set-up was applied to virtual reality (VR) simulation, replicating heavy duty work sequence tasks that took place in an oil and gas pipes manufacturing site. This approach allowed the identification of possible stressful conditions for the operator, from physical and mental perspectives, which may compromise the performance. This research was funded by the European Community's HORIZON 2020 programme under grant agreement No. 958303 (PENELOPE).

Microstructural tuning and band gap engineering of calcium hydroxides: a novel approach by pH variation.

Here we report a simple, inexpensive, energy benign, yet novel pH-driven chemical precipitation technique to achieve microstructural and band gap engineering of calcium hydroxide nanoparticles (CHNPs). The chemical precipitation route involved the use of 0.4-1.6M Ca(NO3 )2 .4H2 O solutions as the precursor and 1M NaOH solution as the precipitator. The simple variation in precursor molarity induces a pH change from about 12.4 to 11.3 in the reactant solution. The CHNPs characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy techniques confirm a jump of nanocrystallite size from ~50-70 nm with a concomitant reduction of direct optical band gap energy from ~5.38-5.26 eV. The possible mechanisms that could be operative behind obtaining microstructurally tuned (MT)-CHNPS and band gap engineering (BGE) are discussed from both theoretical and physical process perspectives. Furthermore, the implications of these novel results for possible futuristic applications are briefly hinted upon.

Optical band gap enhancements of chemically synthesized α-Ni(OH)2 nanoparticles by a novel technique: Precipitator molarity variation.

Nickel hydroxide nanoparticles (NHNPs) are extremely important semiconducting materials for applications in energy storage and energy harvesting devices. This study uses a novel variation in molarity of the sodium hydroxide (NaOH) precipitator solution to enhance the direct optical band gap in the NHNPs chemically synthesized by using nickel nitrate hexahydrate (Ni(NO3 )2 ·6H2 O) as the precursor. The simple, energy benign chemical precipitation route involved the usage of 1 M (Ni(NO3 )2 ·6H2 O) solutions as the precursor and 0.4M, 0.6M, and 0.8M NaOH solutions as the precipitator solutions. The simple variation in precipitator molarity induces an increase in pH from about 6.9 to 7.5 of the reactant solution. As the molarity of the precursor solution does not change, the change in pH of the reactant solution is equivalent to the change in the pH of the precipitator solution. The NHNPs characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) and ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) techniques confirm a reduction of the nanocrystallite size from about 6.8 to 4.5nm with a concomitant enhancement in the direct optical band gap energy from about 2.64 to 2.74 eV. The possible mechanisms that could be operative behind obtaining microstructurally tuned (MT)-NHNPs and band gap engineering (BGE) of the MT-NHNPs are discussed from both theoretical and physical process perspectives. Further, the implications of these novel results for possible future applications are briefly touched upon. The reported results might be useful to assess the material as an active electrode to improve the performance of batteries.

Social frailty as social aspects of frailty: Research, practical activities, and prospects.

With the topical focus on the prevention of and countermeasures for frailty, scattered studies have subdivided its social elements and aspects as "social frailty." While the concepts and definition of "social frailty" are yet to be established, the purpose of using the term is to capture the attention of professionals using the social aspects of frailty to support older adults. The goal is to increase healthy life expectancy by recognizing that social factors are unlikely to pose a risk of functional decline in isolation, but may increase such a decline when combined with other factors. At feasible scopes of intervention, ways to address these factors should be pursued. Although social aspects are often expressed by frail people, or social factors with complex processes that can cause functional decline, there is no unified definition or indicator of social frailty. Further research and discussion are needed to clarify its academic significance and usefulness for disability prevention. Recognizing this, when the Japanese Socio-Gerontological Society's Study Committee on "Social Frailty" published its recommendations, it suggested that when using the term "social frailty" we should specify the significance of its use; consider the comprehensiveness of frailty; be mindful of the interrelationship of social activities and other social aspects; and consider environmental conditions such as a person's values, preferences and life course, social norms, systems, and government policies. High-risk individuals may need multidisciplinary approaches delivered by various professionals, including clinicians, in realizing a life in line with their unique values and preferences. In such cases, it is necessary to understand the background and process that led to frailty, from physical, psychological, and social perspectives, referring to the abovementioned four points. The introduction of social aspects as one of the assessment frameworks can significantly bridge the gap between medical care and the community. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2022; 22: 991-996.

Effect of storage period on the quality characteristics of frozen beef and mechanisms of change from the corresponding physical and microstructural perspectives

Effect of storage period on the quality characteristics of frozen beef and mechanisms of change from the corresponding physical and microstructural perspectives

Delineating Urban Community Life Circles for Large Chinese Cities Based on Mobile Phone Data and POI Data—The Case of Wuhan

In the recent decade, a new concept, urban community life circle (CLC), has been introduced and widely applied to Chinese community planning and public service facilities configuration alongside people-oriented urbanization. How to delineate the CLC has become a core task of urban CLC planning. The traditional way to determine the CLC using administrative boundaries does not fully consider the needs of residents. Recent research on urban CLC delineation is usually based on residential behavior survey using sample surveys or GPS data. However, it is difficult to generalize the sample surveys or GPS surveys for one specific community to that for others, because of the extremely high cost. Due to the ubiquity of the location-based service (LBS) data, i.e., the mobile phone data and points of interest (POI) data, they can serve as a fine-grained and continuous proxy for conducting human daily activity research with easy accessibility and low cost. Mobile phone data can represent the daily travel activities of residents, and POI data can comprehensively describe the physical conditions. In this paper, we propose a method from both the social and physical perspectives to delineate the CLC based on mobile phone and POI data, named DMP for short. The proposed DMP method is applied to Wuhan. We decipher the CLC’s boundary and residents’ travel activity patterns and demonstrate that (1) the CLC is not a regular circle but a non-homogeneous corridor space extending along streets; and (2) adjacent CLCs are found to share some daily facilities. Based on these findings, we propose that CLC planning should be data-based and people-oriented in general. In addition, sufficient space in the overlapping region of the CLCs should be preserved for future planning of public service facilities configuration, given that adjacent CLCs share some daily facilities.

A multi-sector causal network of urban heat vulnerability coupling with mitigation

As a vital component of urban heat risk, the vulnerability of exposed elements must be assessed before further impact prediction and strategy implementation. In previous studies, heat vulnerability was commonly defined as the tendency to be adversely affected by an extremely high temperature from both physical and social perspectives. However, it cannot explain what the adverse effects are. Also, the decision-making of mitigation strategies was often regarded as an individual section, lacking a combination of heat vulnerability. This paper established a qualitative multi-sector network by discovering existing cause-effect within indicators related to heat vulnerability, extending the concept of vulnerability. It identified what makes population and urban elements vulnerable to urban heat from the view of the effects they trigger. Besides the physical and social sectors of demographic, urban elements and exposure, three essential but frequently ignored effect sectors - emissions, human health, and economy - were also included in the causal network. Based on a new classification of mitigation strategies, they could connect with vulnerability indicators in multi-sectors, forming causal chains from intervention to their profound effects. A discussion of the network's future implementation was conducted in the end, prospecting the potential of a combination with the vulnerability assessment. This paper uncovers that future vulnerability assessments should include productivity as an indicator to show the adverse impact of high temperature on the economy. It also shows that different mitigation strategies can intervene in heat vulnerability assessment through all cause sectors, the sector of exposure, and the sector of emissions.

Deformation monitoring and influence factor analysis of expressway over strong saline soil based on an advanced multi-temporal InSAR technique

Saline soil harbors crystallized salt in the solid phase and salt solution in the liquid phase. By the natural environmental and human activity factors, migration and accumulation of the salt and crystallization process alternated with dissolving, which makes saline soil with significant seasonal differences appear in the deformation and regional scattering characteristic. These phenomena raise the limitation of conventional multi-temporal interferometric synthetic aperture radar (MT-InSAR) technique and consequently high-precision deformation monitoring of strong saline soil subgrade and pavement. To overcome the limitations, this study aimed to propose an advanced MT-InSAR method, which considers the seasonal interferometric coherences caused by precipitation and the temporal physical deformation evolution of the subgrade and pavement over strong saline soil. To present the better performance of the advanced method, a segment of the Qarhan–Golmud Expressway (QGE), which is the first expressway built in the strong saline soil area in China, was selected for this study. Two sets of SAR images acquired from January 2018 to January 2022 from Sentinel-1A ascending and descending orbits over the QGE were utilized, 774 and 928 seasonal filtered interferograms are optimized for deformation monitoring based on the deformation Poisson curve (PC) model. Compared with the method in the previous studies, the accuracy, efficiency, and reliability of the monitoring results increased dramatically. Subsequently, further discussions are conducted in detail on the regularity of expressway deformation over strong saline soil, especially from physical and chemical perspectives. Findings show that the ratio between Cl− and SO42- determines the deformation distribution and morphology. Also, the precipitation and temperature affect the seasonal characteristics. The contributions of this investigation might provide technical references for related expressway management and policy-making departments to ensure the long-term safe operation and stability of the QGE.

Narrowband Emissive Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Materials

AbstractOrganic thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials have attracted significant research interest in the field of organic electronics because of their inherent advantage of 100% exciton utilization capability in organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) without the use of noble metals. However, despite their high internal electroluminescence quantum efficiencies approaching unity, broad emission spectra with sizable full width at half maxima (FWHM; 60–100 nm) present a critical issue that must be solved for their application in ultrahigh‐definition OLED displays. Recently, a new paradigm of TADF materials featuring the multiple resonance (MR) effect based on heteroatom‐doped polycyclic aromatic frameworks, referred to as MR‐TADF materials, has emerged and garnered considerable research interest owing to their remarkable features of efficient narrowband emissions with extremely small FWHMs (≤30 nm). Currently, MR‐TADF materials occupy a prominent position in the cutting‐edge research on organic light‐emitting materials from both chemical and physical perspectives. This review article focuses on recent progress in narrowband emissive MR‐TADF systems from the perspective of molecular design, photophysical properties, and electroluminescence performance in OLEDs. The current status and future prospects of this advanced material technology are discussed comprehensively.

The Strategies of Sustainable Watershed Management at Bedog Sub-Watershed, Special Region of Yogyakarta

A watershed plays significant roles for maintaining the balance of ecosystem, particularly on the fluvial landform dynamics. Bedog Sub-Watershed as a part of Progo Watershed flows across 11 sub-districts from Sleman and Bantul Regency. This sub-watershed indicates rural-urban characteristics and multi-aspects problems, such as the loss of croplands, a massive land-use changes into built-up area, and the decrease of environmental carrying capacity. On the purposes of preventing the negative aftermaths, this research aimed to create the strategies of sustainable environmental management in case of Bedog Sub-Watershed. This research used secondary data from regional planning products, PODES data, and the relevant literature. Primary data was acquired from in-depth interview with BPDASHL Serayu-Opak-Progo and agricultural-related government agency to gain governmental perspective of watershed management. This research used qualitative descriptive technique to analyse the result of interview. Livelihood assets were calculated by scoring index. The SWOT and DPSIR analysis were conducted to create the relevant strategies implying physical, social-economy, and regional development perspectives in the post-COVID-19 pandemic. The strengthening of government’s institutional aspects was the key to the management followed by necessary comprehensive study in Bedog Sub-Watershed management.

Identifying spreading influence nodes for social networks

The identification of spreading influence nodes in social networks, which studies how to detect important individuals in human society, has attracted increasing attention from physical and computer science, social science and economics communities. The identification algorithms of spreading influence nodes can be used to evaluate the spreading influence, describe the node’s position, and identify interaction centralities. This review summarizes the recent progress about the identification algorithms of spreading influence nodes from the viewpoint of social networks, emphasizing the contributions from physical perspectives and approaches, including the microstructure-based algorithms, community structure-based algorithms, macrostructure-based algorithms, and machine learning-based algorithms. We introduce diffusion models and performance evaluation metrics, and outline future challenges of the identification of spreading influence nodes.

Physical Activity Level and Perspectives of Participants Transitioning from Onsite to Virtual Cardiac Rehabilitation during the Early COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed-Method Study.

This mixed-method study aimed to compare physical activity (PA) patterns of a cross-over cardiac rehabilitation (CR) cohort with a center-based CR cohort and to explore barriers and facilitators of participants transitioning and engaging in virtual CR. It included the retrospective self-reported PA of a cross-over CR cohort (n = 75) and a matched center-based CR cohort (n = 75). Some of the participants included in the cross-over cohort (n = 12) attended semi-structured focus group sessions and results were interpreted in the context of the PRECEDE-PROCEED model. Differences between groups were not observed (p > 0.05). The center-based CR cohort increased exercise frequency (p = 0.002), duration (p = 0.007), and MET/minutes (p = 0.007) over time. The cross-over cohort increased exercise duration (p = 0.04) with no significant change in any other parameters. Analysis from focus groups revealed six overarching themes classified under predisposing factors (knowledge), enabling factors (external support, COVID-19 restrictions, mental health, personal reasons/preferences), and reinforcing factors (recommendations). These findings suggest an improvement of the PA levels of center-based CR cohort participants pre-pandemic and mitigated improvement in those who transitioned to a virtual CR early in the pandemic. Improving patients’ exercise-related knowledge, provider endorsements, and the implementation of group videoconferencing sessions could help overcome barriers to participation in virtual CR.

Evolution Mechanism of Mesocrack and Macrocrack Propagation in Carbonaceous Mudstone under the Action of Dry-Wet Cycles

The crack propagation evolution of carbonaceous mudstone under the action of dry-wet cycles is an important cause of the unstable failure of this type of slope. This paper attempts to reveal the evolution mechanism of mesocrack and macrocrack propagation in carbonaceous mudstone under the action of dry-wet cycles from chemical, physical, and mechanical perspectives. Firstly, the soaking solution of carbonaceous mudstone during the dry-wet cycles was extracted for an ion concentration test to analyze the chemical reactions of carbonaceous mudstone. Then, CT scans were performed on the carbonaceous mudstone samples to study the changing pattern of mesostructure of carbonaceous mudstone during the dry-wet cycles. In the end, the mechanical properties and failure characteristics of carbonaceous mudstone after dry-wet cycles were studied by triaxial compression tests. The results showed that chemical reactions such as calcite dissolution, potassium feldspar hydrolysis, and sodium feldspar hydrolysis occurred during the dry-wet cycle of carbonaceous mudstone. Affected by the dry-wet cycles, the mesostructure of the carbonaceous mudstone gradually changed from face-face contact and edge-face contact to edge-corner contact and corner-corner contact, and the interlayer flake structure was opened and was locally curled and fractured. With the increase in the number of dry-wet cycles, the failure characteristic of carbonaceous mudstone transformed from tensile failure to shear failure, the failure surface of carbonaceous mudstone was deflected from 90° to 60°, and the crack propagation path of carbonaceous mudstone became more complicated. The chemical reaction of carbonaceous mudstone minerals during the dry-wet cycle is an important reason for the initiation and development of pores. The dry-wet cycle aggregates the propagation of mesocracks and structural disorder, transforming the uniform stress state of the rock mesostructure to the concentrated stress state, which is the important reason for the macrocrack propagation evolution of carbonaceous mudstone.

Facing Sleep and Mental Health Problems in the Covid-19 Era: What Shall We Do?

Abstract In this interview, Prof. Lin Lu introduced ways to improve sleep and relieve stress, influences of sleep on the heart and mental health, essential qualities of psychiatrists, etc. His major viewpoints are: (a) sleep deprivation disrupts physiological functions, (b) prevalence of mental health problems in the general population, health-care workers, and students showed an increasing trend following COVID-19, and (c) it is a tendency for doctors to develop a comprehensive and integrated treatment plan from the physical and mental perspectives.

Online reputation management in Spanish cancer patients’ associations: a proposal model

Cancer patients’ associations have become valid public health players because they help patients to face this disease from physical, emotional and social perspectives. Some of these associations resort to social media platforms not only to improve their relationships with patients, but also to promote their own brand. This paper seeks to understand how Spanish cancer patients’ associations manage their social media platforms to promote their brand. To do that, we conducted a literature review about health communication; we considered 48 indicators to analyze how 107 associations belonging to the Spanish Group of Cancer Patients (Gepac) managed Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and their corporate website for branding initiatives; and we proposed a communication model for branding cancer patients’ associations on these platforms (MedPac Model). We concluded that Spanish cancer patients’ associations prioritize medical information but not brand-related elements, they lack the economic and human resources to produce a quality content, and they have not yet implemented a true corporate communication approach.

Two hidden taxa in the Japanese encephalitis vector mosquito, Culex tritaeniorhynchus, and the potential for long-distance migration from overseas to Japan.

The Culex vishnui subgroups, particularly Culex tritaeniorhynchus, are considered the primary vectors of the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) in Asia. Recent molecular phylogenetic analyses of JEV isolates from Asian countries have shown that JEVs with diverse genetic variants are present in Asia. Furthermore, some JEV strains have been found to have crossed the East China Sea and been introduced into Japan. In this study, the possibility of overseas migration of the JE vector mosquito, Cx. tritaeniorhynchus was examined from the genetic, physical, and meteorological perspectives. Molecular phylogenetic analysis was performed based on both whole coding sequences and on the barcoding region of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene of Cx. vishnui subgroups collected from Asian countries. Culex tritaeniorhymchus was classified into two genetically independent taxa by COI sequences: the Japanese type (Ct-J), which inhabits Japan except for the Amami Islands of southern Japan, and the continental type (Ct-C), which inhabits the Asian region except for Japan. It was confirmed that approximately 10% of Cx. tritaeniorhynchus trapped during the summer in western Kyushu were Ct-C, and that they could fly for up to 38 h continuously. The meteorological analysis also confirmed that the atmospheric flow occurring over the continent coincided with the date of Ct-C capture. This is the first report showing the existence of two taxa in Cx. tritaeniorhynchus. Their physical and physiological characteristics suggest the possibility of long-distance migration from overseas regions to Japan across the East China Sea. Future efforts are expected to provide evidence to support the occurrence of long-distance migration of Cx. tritaeniorhynchus with JEV.