Scientific Projects Research Articles

New Architecture Design of Magnetic Field Monitoring System Based on HIAF

The High-Intensity Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility (HIAF) is one of China's major scientific and technological infrastructure projects, aimed at providing an internationally leading research platform for nuclear physics, nuclear astrophysics, nuclear energy development, nuclear safety, and materials science. During the operation of HIAF, the high-precision measurement and control of magnetic fields are crucial for the stable operation of core equipment. To meet the high demands of HIAF for precision, real-time performance, and system autonomy in magnetic field measurement, this research designs and implements a high-precision magnetic field measurement system based on the LACCS (Large-scale Accelerator Cluster Control System) architecture. The system integrates advanced hardware and software designs, enabling it to efficiently and accurately complete distributed magnetic field measurement tasks, thus providing technical support for the smooth operation of HIAF.

Exploration and Empirical Study on Spatial Distribution of SOC at the Core Area in Coastal Tamarix Forests’ Inland Side of Changyi National Marine Ecological Area

The forest soil carbon pool plays a vital role in terrestrial ecosystems, being of great significance for maintaining global balance, regulating the global carbon cycle, and facilitating ecological restoration. Shandong Changyi Marine Ecological Special Protection Area is the only state-level marine special protection area in China with tamarisk as the main object of protection, and it is the largest continuous and the best preserved natural tamarisk forest distribution area on the mainland coast of China. Compared to other forested areas, research on the spatial distribution of SOC at the core area in coastal Tamarix forests’ inland side appears to be relatively scarce. Based on this, this paper takes the core area of the Changyi National Marine Ecological Special Protection Zone, located on the southern coast of Laizhou Bay, as the research subject, based on the potassium dichromate oxidation-external heating, one-way ANOVA, and Bonferroni methods, analyzing the spatial distribution of the SOC content inland of coastal Tamarix forests. The research yielded the following conclusions: (1) The surface layer (0–10 cm) contributes significantly to the total SOC content within a 0–60 cm depth, accounting for at least 31% and shows notable surface accumulation. (2) The combined SOC content in the surface and subsurface layers (10–20 cm) accounts for at least 50% of the total SOC content within a 0–60 cm depth, indicating the dominance of these two soil layers in carbon storage. (3) The SOC content decreases with the soil depth at all six sampling points within the 0–60 cm range, with a marked drop from 0–10 cm to 10–20 cm. (4) One-way ANOVA and multiple comparisons reveal that the soil depth significantly affects the SOC distribution, particularly between the surface and 20–30 cm layers (p < 0.001), indicating high robustness and statistical significance. (5) Horizontally, the total SOC at 0 m is 45% lower than at 2 m in the 0–60 cm layer. The SOC in the 0–20 cm layer fluctuates significantly with distance from the shrub trunk, while the SOC in the 30–60 cm layers is low and stable, with minimal variations with depth. In addition, this study found that the SOC content in the core area of the protected area is lower than that in the common forest ecosystem. In the future, scientific ecological restoration projects and management protection methods should be used to improve soil’s carbon storage and carbon sink capacity. These findings not only validate the patterns of SOC’s spatial distribution in coastal Tamarix forest wetlands but also provide a scientific basis for carbon assessment and the formulation of ecological protection measures in coastal wetlands.

What’s in it for citizen scientists? An Analysis of Participant Inclusivity in Citizen Science Projects in Advanced Physics Research

Citizen science projects optimise the democratisation of the production of scientific knowledge. In these initiatives, research processes do not rely solely on scientists’ but on citizens’ engagement, likewise with benefits on both sides. As previous work shows, the inclusivity perspective of citizen science projects might be viewed critically as some groups of citizens tend to be overrepresented in these initiatives while others are left out. This paper explores the claim of inclusivity and the citizens’ benefits based on four citizen science projects in the fields of astrophysics and particle physics on the citizen science platform Zooniverse. Besides a general engagement strategy, the citizen science projects addressed two groups specifically, the elderly and people with visual impairments. The claim for inclusivity is reflected in the analysis of citizens’ demographic variables as an indicator for accessibility of the research projects. We used a pre-post design with questionnaires on science attitudes, motivations, skills, self-efficacy, and knowledge to assess what citizen scientists gained from participating in the project. The demographic analysis of the data reveals that participants were quite heterogeneous and that people who feel that they belong to a group that is discriminated against are particularly motivated to participate in citizen science projects. In terms of benefits, the results indicate knowledge and scientific skills gains, but no changes on other evaluative dimensions. Their attitude towards science was, in general, already rather positive when joining the projects, thus not leaving much room for change. These results confirm the importance of and call for a diversified citizen science engagement strategy and show that even in citizen science projects where the citizens’ task is limited to classifying data lead to scientific knowledge and skills gains.

UPdec-Webb: A Data Set for Coaddition of JWST NIRCam Images

Abstract We present the application of the image coaddition algorithm, upsampling and point-spread function (PSF) deconvolution coaddition (UPDC), for stacking multiple exposure images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Near-Infrared Camera. By addressing the PSF effect, UPDC provides visually enhanced and sharper images. Furthermore, the antialiasing and superresolution capabilities of UPDC make it easier to deblend sources overlapped on images, yielding a higher accuracy of aperture photometry. We apply this algorithm to the SMACS J0723 imaging data. Comparative analysis with the Drizzle algorithm demonstrates significant improvements in detecting faint sources, achieving accurate photometry, and effectively deblending (superresolution) closely packed sources. As a result, we have newly detected a pair of close binary stars that were previously unresolvable in the original exposures or the Drizzled image. These improvements significantly benefit various scientific projects conducted by JWST. The resulting data set, named “UPdec-Webb,” can be accessed through the official website of the Chinese Virtual Observatory.

Behind the science

AbstractHamamatsu Photonics has contributed to the success of numerous scientific research projects by providing advanced optical detectors and sensors. In this article, we reveal these key technologies behind two of the most exciting high‐energy physics experiments, the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory CTAO and the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL‐LHC) at CERN, which strive to uncover the deepest mysteries of our universe.

Open Soil Spectral Library (OSSL): Building reproducible soil calibration models through open development and community engagement.

Soil spectroscopy is a widely used method for estimating soil properties that are important to environmental and agricultural monitoring. However, a bottleneck to its more widespread adoption is the need for establishing large reference datasets for training machine learning (ML) models, which are called soil spectral libraries (SSLs). Similarly, the prediction capacity of new samples is also subject to the number and diversity of soil types and conditions represented in the SSLs. To help bridge this gap and enable hundreds of stakeholders to collect more affordable soil data by leveraging a centralized open resource, the Soil Spectroscopy for Global Good initiative has created the Open Soil Spectral Library (OSSL). In this paper, we describe the procedures for collecting and harmonizing several SSLs that are incorporated into the OSSL, followed by exploratory analysis and predictive modeling. The results of 10-fold cross-validation with refitting show that, in general, mid-infrared (MIR)-based models are significantly more accurate than visible and near-infrared (VisNIR) or near-infrared (NIR) models. From independent model evaluation, we found that Cubist comes out as the best-performing ML algorithm for the calibration and delivery of reliable outputs (prediction uncertainty and representation flag). Although many soil properties are well predicted, total sulfur, extractable sodium, and electrical conductivity performed poorly in all spectral regions, with some other extractable nutrients and physical soil properties also performing poorly in one or two spectral regions (VisNIR or NIR). Hence, the use of predictive models based solely on spectral variations has limitations. This study also presents and discusses several other open resources that were developed from the OSSL, aspects of opening data, current limitations, and future development. With this genuinely open science project, we hope that OSSL becomes a driver of the soil spectroscopy community to accelerate the pace of scientific discovery and innovation.

Advice to early career nutritionists on working in and with the food industry.

Early career researchers (ECRs) in nutrition and related fields often wish to approach commercial organisations for possible funding or collaboration in scientific projects and other activities. However, ECRs may experience challenges from their limited experience, lack of understanding of the food industry and concerns about working practices and research integrity. This commentary is oriented toward providing some basic, practical guidance for nutritionist scientists, to help in developing credible, principled and effective working relationships with the food industry. Based on the author's experience as an academic and industry researcher, and an advisor to academic-industry collaborative projects, the text addresses a range of related aspects including: understanding and approaching the food industry; the industry environment and drivers; contracts, confidentiality and communication; potential challenges; and ensuring scientific integrity.

Tales of Transitions: Seeking Scientific Software Sustainability

Software is crucial to science, but sustaining projects for long term impact is challenging. Scientists and funders look to ''the open source way'' (known as peer production in the organizational literature) as a promising route to sustainability. We studied scientific software projects funded by research grants and which were encouraged by their funder to develop a sustainable community around their open source code. Using interviews and content analysis of online presences, we studied the projects over a seven year period, from receiving grants around 2014 through the typically three years of funding, and for up to four years following the funding. We make four contributions: First, we find that by far the most successful route to peer production was beginning as peer production, a result with clear policy implications. Second, through our taxonomies of organizational forms and of organizational change, we paint a landscape of the variety of forms that scientific software development can take on and transition between providing language for discussion in the literature and among communities of practice. Third, we use these taxonomies to describe multiple routes to sustainable software development. Finally, we discuss the challenges and strategies involved in sustaining scientific software, including choices not to pursue peer production at all.

Can science help discover the nature of well-being?

In recent years the study of well-being has attracted considerable attention, fostering hope that the scientific community will ultimately succeed in discovering its very nature, thereby emulating successful scientific projects in other disciplines. However, there have been recurring worries about how to measure and define well-being. In this context, Hersch (Br J Philos Sci 73:1045-1065, 2022) has recently argued that we could progressively alleviate these worries through an iterative dialogue between theory and measurement, by seeing them as stemming from a coordination problem. In this article, I argue that the concept of well-being fails to meet the prerequisites for Hersch's approach. If the latter is the best defense of the capacity of science to uncover the nature of well-being, it follows that the science of well-being should probably relinquish this ambition.

Reimagining citizen science as inclusive praxis

The Banbury My Life My Choice Self-Advocacy Group, Jessica Carr and three supervisors worked together to research how people with learning disabilities do citizen science. As a research group, we made our own citizen science project exploring an issue of relevance and interest to us. Using creative research methods, we learnt about research skills together and found out what research we would like to do. We then used these skills to make our own citizen science project, and we worked together to create a project of relevance to our community. This article looks at how we worked together to do our research, explores some of the challenges we faced and shows how we solved them. Our aim is to share what we have learnt to provide researchers with examples of how to work with and support people with learning disabilities to do citizen science.

Optimized husbandry and targeted gene-editing for the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis.

Optimized laboratory conditions for research models are crucial for the success of scientific projects. This includes controlling the entire life cycle, having access to all developmental stages and maintaining stable physiological conditions. Reducing the life cycle of a research model can also enhance the access to biological material and speed up genetic tool development. Thus, we optimized the rearing conditions for the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, a cnidarian research model to study embryonic and post-metamorphic processes, such as regeneration. We adopted a semi-automated aquaculture system for N. vectensis and developed a dietary protocol optimized for the different life stages. Thereby, we increased spawning efficiencies, juvenile growth and survival rates, and considerably reduced the overall life cycle down to two months. To further improve the obtention of CRISPR-Cas9 mutants, we optimized the design of sgRNAs leading to full KO animals in F0 polyps using a single sgRNA. Finally, we show that NHEJ-mediated transgene insertion is possible in N. vectensis. In sum, our study provides additional resources for the scientific community that uses or will use N. vectensis as a research model.

Illuminating power dynamics that influenced a relational coordination program in a tertiary hospital: An institutional ethnography study.

Amidst the difficulty and contentiousness of improving hospitals, a relatively new approach is the Relational Model of Organizational Change (RMOC). However, this approach has its own challenges, including reports that its focus on communication and relationships is undervalued despite evidence supporting its use to facilitate practice improvements in hospitals. Research suggests power dynamics in hospitals influences how the RMOC is used, but the precise mechanisms through which this occurs have not been fully examined. The purpose of this study was to examine how power dynamics shaped the implementation of a program using the RMOC in a hospital: the QPH RC Program. Institutional ethnography was applied to explicate textually mediated ruling relations (power dynamics) and examine how they exerted their influence on the QPH RC Program. This involved interviewing people and analyzing texts embedded in work processes that organized the implementation of the program. The QPH RC Program was embedded in a cluster of ruling relations comprising an economic rationalist and scientific discourse and project management methodology. These ruling relations exerted their power via textually mediated social processes that influenced the focus and management of the program. The ruling relations functioned to align the QPH RC Program with the priorities of the hospital, suggesting that financial objectives were prioritized over objectives to improve communication or culture. Future research and practice change should include investigating and addressing the intersection of institutional contexts and the application of the RMOC to facilitate practice improvements in health care organizations, particularly hospitals.

Estimating Accessibility Problems in the Swedish Housing Stock Using Citizen Science: The Housing Experiment 2021.

Accessible housing for the aging population is important, but large-scale reliable information on accessibility problems in ordinary housing is lacking. This study aimed to describe the prevalence of environmental barriers and analyze potential accessibility problems in the Swedish housing stock and to evaluate the validity and representativeness of housing data collected in a citizen science project. Data on environmental barriers in 1181 dwellings were collected by members of the public. Prevalence of barriers and potential accessibility problems were analyzed using descriptive statistics and ranking methodology. Validity and representativeness were addressed by comparisons with public statistics and research, and analysis of data properties. It was found there are substantial numbers of environmental barriers in dwellings across Sweden that generate accessibility problems for people with functional limitations. The results suggest that with user-friendly data collection tools and instructions, data validity and representativeness can be achieved in citizen science projects involving older adults.

A data management system for precision medicine.

Precision, or personalised medicine has advanced requirements for medical data management systems (MedDMSs). MedDMS for precision medicine should be able to process hundreds of parameters from multiple sites, be adaptable while remaining in sync at multiple locations, real-time syncing to analytics and be compliant with international privacy legislation. This paper describes the LogiqSuite software solution, aimed to support a precision medicine solution at the patient care (LogiqCare), research (LogiqScience) and data science (LogiqAnalytics) level. LogiqSuite is certified and compliant with international medical data and privacy legislations. This paper evaluates a MedDMS in five types of use cases for precision medicine, ranging from data collection to algorithm development and from implementation to integration with real-world data. The MedDMS is evaluated in seven precision medicine data science projects in prehospital triage, cardiovascular disease, pulmonology, and oncology. The P4O2 consortium uses the MedDMS as an electronic case report form (eCRF) that allows real-time data management and analytics in long covid and pulmonary diseases. In an acute myeloid leukaemia, study data from different sources were integrated to facilitate easy descriptive analytics for various research questions. In the AIDPATH project, LogiqCare is used to process patient data, while LogiqScience is used for pseudonymous CAR-T cell production for cancer treatment. In both these oncological projects the data in LogiqAnalytics is also used to facilitate machine learning to develop new prediction models for clinical-decision support (CDS). The MedDMS is also evaluated for real-time recording of CDS data from U-Prevent for cardiovascular risk management and from the Stroke Triage App for prehospital triage. The MedDMS is discussed in relation to other solutions for privacy-by-design, integrated data stewardship and real-time data analytics in precision medicine. LogiqSuite is used for multi-centre research study data registrations and monitoring, data analytics in interdisciplinary consortia, design of new machine learning / artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, development of new or updated prediction models, integration of care with advanced therapy production, and real-world data monitoring in using CDS tools. The integrated MedDMS application supports data management for care and research in precision medicine.

Testing four design interventions for sustained participation in an agricultural citizen science project

Testing four design interventions for sustained participation in an agricultural citizen science project

Foreign Experience in Managing Educational Emigration of Youth

Educational migration has become an integral part of the development of higher education systems in large countries and a way to solve several social, economic, and demographic problems. The article analyzes the approaches of a few states to the regulation of outbound educational migration, i.e. aimed at preserving human capital within the country, or an attempt to attract students studying abroad to scientific, social, cultural, or economic projects implemented by the country. The article identifies three groups of tools used in the state policy of educational migration management: retention, return and involvement. Examples of countries implementing certain programs belonging to these three groups are given. The paper analyzes the shortcomings of domestic methods of managing the flows of educational migrants and makes recommendations that could be considered when adjusting national policy in this area, allowing expanding the target audience of measures already being implemented, as well as allowing Russia to use the potential of students abroad of domestic students within the framework of “brain circulation”.

Protocol to implement and evaluate a culturally secure, strength-based, equine-assisted learning program, "Yawardani Jan-ga" (horses helping), to support the social and emotional wellbeing of Australian aboriginal children and young people.

Australian Aboriginal people experience stressors from inequalities across crucial social determinants, including deep and entrenched disadvantage and exclusion. The impact of unaddressed historical issues is pervasive and intergenerational. The disproportionate rates of Aboriginal youth suicide, juvenile detention and imprisonment highlight the inadequacy of existing social and emotional wellbeing programs and services for Aboriginal children and young people. There is increasing recognition in Australia that aligning social and emotional wellbeing interventions with Western values and conceptions of mental health is one of the main barriers to service uptake among Aboriginal people. This suggests fundamental questions remain unanswered about what type of services effectively address the complex constellation of social-emotional and wellbeing challenges arising from intergenerational poverty and trauma. Yawardani Jan-ga is an Aboriginal-led, operated, culturally secure, Equine-Assisted Learning (EAL) project designed by and with local Aboriginal young people, community Elders, members, and experts to address the complex constellation of social-emotional, spiritual and wellbeing needs of Aboriginal children and young people, aged 6-26 years, across multiple communities in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. EAL is a strengths-based learning approach where participants work with horses' inherent characteristics to learn transferable life skills, such as communication skills, self-awareness, and emotional regulation, to promote social and emotional growth and wellbeing. Although EAL has been previously used with Aboriginal children and young people internationally, they are yet to be widely used with Aboriginal people in Australia. Here, we describe the three subcomponents of the Yawardani Jan-ga implementation science project and the planned Participatory Action Research and phenomenological approaches to capture the distinctive experiences of participants and the local communities where the intervention is implemented. We anticipate that findings will build an evidence base that informs policy and practice by understanding key intervention elements of social and emotional wellbeing support for Aboriginal youth, how to incorporate Aboriginal worldviews across different stages of interventions, and how to capture impact best using culturally secure methods.

Developing High-Quality Science and Technology Human Resources in Universities through Knowledge Transfer from International Science and Technology Projects: A Theoretical Approach

Universities are crucial in developing high-quality human resources for national development goals. In many countries, universities are regarded as the "cradle of talent," contributing to social progress and enhancing national competitiveness. Alongside their research function, universities serve as "incubators" for high-quality science and technology (S&T) human resources. In addition to training potential personnel such as students, graduate students, and doctoral candidates, universities are also hubs for knowledge transfer activities targeting high-quality S&T human resources. These efforts aim to cultivate a workforce capable of producing innovative and high-quality S&T products, thereby contributing significantly to national development. Accordingly, the implementation of international collaborative projects in the field of S&T has proven to be highly effective in facilitating multi-level knowledge transfer activities. Such initiatives enable universities to achieve streamlined and intelligent governance. Building upon theoretical frameworks and project management approaches, this paper will analyze the critical importance of promoting knowledge transfer activities for developing S&T human resources in universities. Furthermore, it proposes a specialized model for this knowledge transfer process through international S&T projects conducted within universities.

VIDEO-BASED LEARNING IN THE DIGITAL AGE: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

The research is devoted to the study of the utmost issue of enhancing the digitalisation of modern education through video-based learning. On the basis of scientific and methodic literature review, legislation and statistics analysis, and observation of best practices the essential findings of the study have been done. The article deals with video as a learning tool. The etymology of the notion “video” is considered. The study reveals the evolution of video as an audiovisual aid in chronological order. The Ukrainian state policy aimed at video-based learning integration, support, and development is scrutinized. A review of a wide range of vivid educational resources (e.g., the English language curriculum, coursebook “Speakout”, the activity of All-Ukrainian Online School, scientific and pedagogical project “Intellect”, Center for Distance Learning Technologies of Kyiv Borys Hrinchenko University, online platforms Prometheus, EdEra, Diia.Education, application Leya AI) has been done to illustrate the role of video as a pivotal learning tool in the present day. To state the frequency, benefits, and challenges of video use, a questionnaire was designed. A survey was conducted among 67 people, including teenagers, youth, and adults. The findings have showcased the transformation of learning with the aid of video nowadays. The evolution of video has been traced by the development of techniques of its use from 1895 to 2024 including demonstration (e.g. motion pictures, silent movies), explanation (e.g. feature-length movies with sound and colour), engagement (e.g. television, live broadcast real-world scenarios), interaction (e.g. online videos), personalisation (e.g. AI tutors, streaming videos). The didactic value of video-based learning for personal, academic and professional knowledge, skills, and competencies enhancement has been presented in the article. The weaknesses and strengths of using videos for learning have been outlined by the author.

Юбилей Соловьевского семинара: 25 лет служения русской философии

The article presents the characteristics of the activity of the Interregional Scientific and Educational Center for Research V.S. Solovyov’s legacy (Solovyov Seminar), established at the Ivanovo State Power University in November 1999. The systematic nature of the center's work aimed at integrating science and education being the most important task of implementing the national project “Science and Universities” is noted. The activities of the center in the scientific, educational, pedagogic spheres of university life, the most important scientific and cultural projects of the Solovyov seminar, and the participation of Russian and foreign scientists in them are characterized. Information is provided about the publications of the center, including the “Solovyov Studies” journal. Special attention is paid to the analysis of student projects of the Solovyov seminar – student scientific conferences and cultural events that contribute to the formation of high professional, civic and moral qualities of a person. Information on the cooperation of the Solovyov seminar with Russian and foreign scientific centers is provided.