Rapid Dynamic Changes Research Articles

Short-Term Resilience of Soil Microbial Communities and Functions Following Severe Environmental Changes

Soil microorganisms are key drivers of soil biochemical processes, but the resilience of microbial communities and their metabolic activity after an extreme environmental change is still largely unknown. We studied structural (bacterial and fungal communities) and functional responses (soil respiration, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) content, hydrolase activities involved in the mineralization of organic C, N, P and S, and microbial community-level physiological profiles (CLPPs)) during the microbial recolonization of three heat-sterilized forest soils followed by cross- or self-reinoculation and incubation for 1, 7 and 30 days. Soil ATP content, biochemical activities and CLPP were annihilated by autoclaving, whereas most of the hydrolase activities were reduced to varying extents depending on the soil and enzyme activity considered. During the incubation period, the combination of self- and cross-reinoculation of different sterilized soils produced rapid dynamic changes in enzymatic activity as well as in microbial structure and catabolic activity. Physicochemical properties of the original soils exerted a major influence in shaping soil functional diversity, while reinoculation of sterilized soils promoted faster and greater changes in bacterial community structure than in fungal communities, varying with incubation period and soil type. Our results also confirmed the importance of microbial richness in determining soil resilience under severe disturbances. In particular, the new microbial communities detected in the treated soils revealed the occurrence of taxa which were not detected in the original soils. This result confirmed that rare microbial taxa rather than the dominant ones may be the major drivers of soil functionality and resilience.

Evaluation of New Tools for Embryology Teaching Experience of Tangier Medical School in Morocco

Introduction: During embryonic development, all systems undergo rapid dynamic changes in 3D and over the time. These make learning embryology difficult and very passive through a classic lecture. The objective of this work is to report on the experience of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Tangier (FMPT) to improve human embryology teaching by adopting new interactive and effective teaching methods. Materials and methods: During the lectures of the year 2021, illustrative videos of embryonic development were integrated. In addition, as part of the practical sessions, we used for the first time nationally an innovative educational material made of models designed and dedicated especially for the practical application of all the theoretical concepts developed in the course. This material allowed learners to manipulate the three-dimensional aspects of different embryonic structures via plastic 3D models. The effectiveness of these learning tools is assessed in two subjective and objective ways. Results: 216/228 students participated in the satisfaction survey with a predominance of females (65.7%). 80.1% were able to follow the videos. 98.6% attended the practical sessions. Illustrative videos and practical courses were a great help in understanding embryonic development (73% and 73.6% respectively). They facilitated the memorization of embryonic development (64.3% and 67.6%). They increased students interest in embryology (65.7% and 63.8%). They also showed the medical interest of the practice of embryology (37% and 44 %). Compared with the grades of the 2020 class, these methods improved the results of the 2021 class with an increase in the Mean of 0.732 and a reduction in the Standard Deviation of 1.067. Conclusion: These tools are effective in initiating a reflective attitude in students on knowledge transmission methods and allowed them to emerge from a form of passivity for better learning of human embryology. Keywords: Embryology, Teaching, Tools, Innovation

Oculometric Feature Changes During Acute Hypoxia in a Simulated High-Altitude Airdrop Scenario.

BACKGROUND: Severe acute hypoxia results in a rapid deterioration of cognitive functioning and thus poses a risk for human operations in high altitude environments. This study aimed at investigating the effects of oxygen system failure during a high-altitude high-opening (HAHO) parachute jump scenario from 30,000 ft (9144 m) on human physiology and cognitive performance using a noncontact eye-tracking task.METHODS: Nine healthy male volunteers (ages 27-48) were recruited from the Norwegian Special Operations Commandos. Eye-tracking data were collected to derive information on cognitive performance in the context of rapid dynamic changes in pressure altitude while performing a modified King-Devick test. The baseline data was collected at 8000 ft (2438 m) while breathing 100% oxygen during decompression. For every test, the corresponding arterial blood gas analysis was performed.RESULTS: The study subjects endured severe hypoxia, which resulted in significant prolongations of fixation time (range: 284.1-245.6 ms) until 23,397 ft (131 m) and fixation size (range: 34.6-32.4 mm) until 25,389 ft (7739 m) as compared to the baseline (217.6 ± 17.8 ms and 27.2 ± 4.5 mm, respectively). The increase in the saccadic movement and decrease in the saccadic velocity was observed until 28,998 ft and 27,360 ft (8839 and 8339 m), respectively.DISCUSSION: This is the first study to investigate cognitive performance from measured oculometric variables during severe hypobaric hypoxia in a simulated high-altitude airdrop mission scenario. The measurement of altered oculometric variables under hypoxic conditions represents a potential avenue to study altered cognitive performance using noncontact sensors that can derive information and serve to provide the individual with a warning from impending incapacitation.Pradhan GN, Ottestad W, Meland A, Kåsin JI, Høiseth LØ, Cevette MJ, Stepanek J. Oculometric feature changes during acute hypoxia in a simulated high-altitude airdrop scenario. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2021; 92(12):928-936.

Bidirectional Green Promotion of 6G and AI: Architecture, Solutions, and Platform

The exponential growth of mobile devices has led to an explosion of network traffic in various fields, and application services have also emerged bloomingly in the Internet of Everything era. However, existing networks are not sufficiently intelligent to support rapid dynamic changes in topologies. Simultaneously, it is challenging to coordinate end-edge-cloud communication and computing. and thus green, energy-efficient, and sustainable development cannot be achieved. As a result, experts and scholars have paid attention to the future 6th generation (6G) technology. In response to the above challenges, this article explores artificial intelligence (AI) methods to integrate with 6G to realize the two-way promotion of AI and 6G. Ubiquitous AI will take root in 6G. Likewise, 6G will support new AI applications. We propose a green architecture for air-space-ground-sea integrated networks, oriented to all scenarios. Then, to integrate communication and computing, we put forward green solutions for network perception of radio map and traffic map to advance AI technologies and realize green fusion efficiently. Second, we propose a green wireless management platform based on KubeEdge Wireless, which containerizes nodes and expands the wireless connections to realize joint scheduling and orchestration of resources. Finally, we outline some open research topics and potential solutions/technologies for the two-way promotion of AI and 6G in the future.

Routing in Delay-tolerant network Based on Nodes’ Sociality

To solve the problem of low ratio success delivery, long latency caused by the rapid dynamic change of network topology, limited node buffer, large amount of data transmission and large user population density in delay-tolerant network (DTN). This paper propose a routing algorithm in DTN based on nodes’ sociality. In this paper, contact history was used to determine the node link quality; Markov model was used to predict the node position based on the nodes’ movement track; according to nodes’ social similarity to divide community, then calculated node betweenness centrality. Finally, the best forwarding nodes for message transmission were determined. Besides, to increase the ratio of successful delivery, message delivery probability in the relay node’s buffer was calculated. Experimental results show that compared with traditional routing algorithm, the proposed algorithm performs better on the delivery ratio and average end-to-end delay.

Characterization of the Functional Dynamics in the Neonatal Brain during REM and NREM Sleep States by means of Microstate Analysis

Neonates spend most of their life sleeping. During sleep, their brain experiences fast changes in its functional organization. Microstate analysis permits to capture the rapid dynamical changes occurring in the functional organization of the brain by representing the changing spatio-temporal features of the electroencephalogram (EEG) as a sequence of short-lasting scalp topographies—the microstates. In this study, we modeled the ongoing neonatal EEG into sequences of a limited number of microstates and investigated whether the extracted microstate features are altered in REM and NREM sleep (usually known as active and quiet sleep states—AS and QS—in the newborn) and depend on the EEG frequency band. 19-channel EEG recordings from 60 full-term healthy infants were analyzed using a modified version of the k-means clustering algorithm. The results show that ~ 70% of the variance in the datasets can be described using 7 dominant microstate templates. The mean duration and mean occurrence of the dominant microstates were significantly different in the two sleep states. Microstate syntax analysis demonstrated that the microstate sequences characterizing AS and QS had specific non-casual structures that differed in the two sleep states. Microstate analysis of the neonatal EEG in specific frequency bands showed a clear dependence of the explained variance on frequency. Overall, our findings demonstrate that (1) the spatio-temporal dynamics of the neonatal EEG can be described by non-casual sequences of a limited number of microstate templates; (2) the brain dynamics described by these microstate templates depends on frequency; (3) the features of the microstate sequences can well differentiate the physiological conditions characterizing AS and QS.

Capturing the rapid intra-day change of cyanobacteria bloom by land-based hyperspectral remote sensing in Lake Taihu

受蓝藻自身垂直迁移和频繁风浪扰动影响，太湖蓝藻水华漂浮混合和迁移堆积等变化迅速，在传统的湖面定位和断面监测中总感觉蓝藻水华有些来无影、去无踪，限制了对其形成过程、驱动机制和防控治理的深入认识.卫星遥感可以实现蓝藻水华空间分布同步观测，但由于观测频次的限制很难捕捉蓝藻水华快速动态变化过程.本文利用与杭州海康威视数字技术股份有限公司联合自主研发的陆基（地基、岸基或者平台、船舶、桩基等能固定安装的均可）高光谱多参数水质遥感监测仪，架设于中国科学院太湖湖泊生态系统研究站（简称太湖站）水上观测场，通过对叶绿素a浓度及其他关键水质参数秒-分钟级的连续观测，有效捕捉了一天内蓝藻水华短期突然和快速变化过程.研究结果显示，在微风和小风条件下蓝藻容易在表层水体漂浮，盛行西北风驱动湖面开敞水域蓝藻水华快速漂浮集聚到太湖站岸边，短短半小时内表层水体叶绿素a浓度可以由10 μg/L快速攀升到100 μg/L以上，一天内会出现多个叶绿素a峰值，清晰展示了蓝藻快速日内动态变化过程.受蓝藻快速日内变化影响，透明度、总氮、总磷和高锰酸盐指数等水质参数也呈现出快速日内变化，叶绿素a浓度与透明度存在极显著负相关，与总氮、总磷和高锰酸盐指数存在极显著正相关，叶绿素a能解释总氮、总磷80%以上的变化，说明蓝藻短期内的漂浮和集聚深刻影响到湖泊水质.;Due to the vertical migration of cyanobacteria and frequent wind waves disturbance, the floating, mixing, migration and accumulation of cyanobacteria bloom in Lake Taihu occur rapidly. It is very difficult to accurately capture cyanobacteria bloom occurrence and appearance using the traditional lake positioning and cross-section monitoring due to low temporal and spatial observation frequency and resolution, which limits the in-depth understanding of cyanobacteria bloom formation process, driving mechanism, prevention and control. Satellite remote sensing can realize the synchronous observation of the spatial distribution of cyanobacteria bloom, but it is difficult to capture the rapid dynamics of cyanobacteria bloom due to the limitation of observation frequency. Using independently developed land-based (ground-based, shore-based, or fixed on the platform, ship and pile foundation) hyperspectral water quality remote sensing instrument by the Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., Ltd and Nanjing Zhongke Deep Insight Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd installed in Taihu Laboratory for Lake Ecosystem Research (TLLER) of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the short-term sudden and rapid cyanobacteria bloom dynamics in a day was effectively captured through the continuous observation of chlorophyll-a concentration and other key water quality parameters at the second-minute level. The results show that cyanobacteria are easy to float in the surface water under the conditions of breeze and light wind, and the prevailing northwest wind drives the cyanobacteria bloom in the open water area of the lake to float and accumulate to the shore of TLLER quickly. Chlorophyll-a concentration in surface water can rapidly rise from 10 μg/L to more than 100 μg/L in just half an hour. Several chlorophyll-a peaks are recorded in a day from 8:30 to 18:30. All these results clearly show that cyanobacteria have a rapid hourly dynamic change process. Affected by the rapid hourly variations of cyanobacteria, water quality parameters such as secchi disc depth, total nitrogen, total phosphorus and chemical oxygen demand also show rapid hourly variations. Significantly negative relationship between chlorophyll-a and secchi disc depth but significantly positive relationships between chlorophyll-a and total nitrogen, total phosphorus, chemical oxygen demand are found, which indicate short-term floating and gathering of cyanobacteria have a profound impact on the water quality of lakes.

RETRACTED: Intelligent logistics cost control based on microprocessor system and sensors

All types of markets required for rapid dynamic change and development of emergency logistics and development of external macro-environment and production and management of modern enterprises are ready for rapid response and logistics operations it has led to level emergency testing. To start with, the elements of the blueprint of the crisis coordination's choice emotionally supportive network and the proposed layout of the crisis coordination's choice emotionally supportive network dynamically support the generation of logistics intelligent decision procedures for the emergency logistics system following sensor data. Web Geographic Information System (GIS) technology and construction are based on two system models. A crisis coordination's choice emotionally supportive network model for the information layer, control layer, utilitarian layer, and human cooperation layer. It consists of four parts, the last two main systems of technical improvement and implementation. A system that can solve bottleneck constraints, improve the coordination's framework with the capacity to viably see the yield of the Web GIS layer, control the expense of crisis reaction, and the working productivity of the framework also this operation is based on the Field Programmable Gate array (FPGA) tool.

Long-term meteorological trends of atmospheric precipitation in the Nura river basin (the Сentral Кazakhstan)

For living organisms, the main indicators are the average values are meteorological and hydrological parameters that determine the coverage of the survival of species. Currently, all research on the trend in the landscape of river basins should begin with an analysis of climate change, which is currently undergoing rapid dynamic changes. The purpose of the study is to analyze the long meteorological trends of atmospheric humidity of the Nura River Valley. In the presented study, we analyzed the daily data of two weather stations of the Central Kazakhstan for the period from 1939 to 2019 within. The territory of the Nura river basin belongs to areas of pronounced insufficient moisture. A distinctive feature of the river is that the bulk of the annual flow takes place in a short period of spring flood (early April to mid-May, 4–5 months). Within the Nura river basin, reliable trends of significant changes in annual, semi-annual and seasonal amounts of atmospheric precipitation have been revealed. All identified trends have positive indicators. The results can be used for agricultural planning in the context of climate change in the Central Kazakhstan.

Impulsive wave excitation by rapidly changing granules

It is not yet fully understood how magnetohydrodynamic waves in the interior and atmosphere of the Sun are excited. Traditionally, turbulent convection in the interior is considered to be the source of wave excitation in the quiet Sun. Over the last few decades, acoustic events observed in the intergranular lanes in the photosphere have emerged as a strong candidate for a wave excitation source. Here we report our observations of wave excitation by a new type of event: rapidly changing granules. Our observations were carried out with the Fast Imaging Solar Spectrograph in the Hα and Ca II 8542 Å lines and the TiO 7057 Å broadband filter imager of the 1.6 m Goode Solar Telescope at the Big Bear Solar Observatory. We identify granules in the internetwork region that undergo rapid dynamic changes such as collapse (event 1), fragmentation (event 2), or submergence (event 3). In the photospheric images, these granules become significantly darker than neighboring granules. Following the granules’ rapid changes, transient oscillations are detected in the photospheric and chromospheric layers. In the case of event 1, the dominant period of the oscillations is close to 4.2 min in the photosphere and 3.8 min in the chromosphere. Moreover, in the Ca II–0.5 Å raster image, we observe repetitive brightenings in the location of the rapidly changing granules that are considered the manifestation of shock waves. Based on our results, we suggest that dynamic changes of granules can generate upward-propagating acoustic waves in the quiet Sun that ultimately develop into shocks.

Overview of the holographic-guided cardiovascular interventions and training – a perspective

Abstract Immersive technologies, like Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) have undergone technical evolutions over the last few decades. Their rapid development and dynamic changes enable their effective applications in medicine, in fields like imaging, preprocedural planning, treatment, operations planning, medical students training, and active support during therapeutic and rehabilitation procedures. Within this paper, a comprehensive analysis of VR/AR/MR application in the medical industry and education is presented. We overview and discuss our previous experience with AR/MR and 3D visual environment and MR-based imaging systems in cardiology and interventional cardiology. Our research shows that using immersive technologies users can not only visualize the heart and its structure but also obtain quantitative feedback on their location. The MR-based imaging system proposed offers better visualization to interventionists and potentially helps users understand complex operational cases. The results obtained suggest that technology using VR/AR/MR can be successfully used in the teaching process of future doctors, both in aspects related to anatomy and clinical classes. Moreover, the system proposed provides a unique opportunity to break the boundaries, interact in the learning process, and exchange experiences inside the medical community.

The Estimation of Surface Albedo from DSCOVR EPIC

Surface albedo is an important parameter in climate models. The main way to obtain continuous surface albedo for large areas is satellite remote sensing. However, the existing albedo products rarely meet daily-scale requirements, which has a large impact on climate change research and rapid dynamic changes of surface analysis. The Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) on the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) platform, which was launched into the Sun–Earth’s first Lagrange Point (L1) orbit, can provide spectral images of the entire sunlit face of Earth with 10 narrow channels (from 317 to 780 nm). As EPIC can provide high-temporal resolution data, it is beneficial to explore the feasibility of EPIC to estimate high-temporal resolution surface albedo. In this study, hourly surface albedo was calculated based on EPIC observation data. Then, the estimated albedo results were validated by ground-based observations of different land cover types. The results show that the EPIC albedo is basically consistent with the trend of the ground-based observations in the whole time series variation. The diurnal variation of the surface albedo from the hourly EPIC albedo exhibits a “U” shape curve, which has the same trend as the ground-based observations. Therefore, EPIC is helpful to enhance the temporal resolution of surface albedo to diurnal. Surfaces with a three-dimensional structure that casts shadows display the hotspot effect, producing a reflectance peak in the retro-solar direction and lower reflectance at viewing angles away from the solar direction. DSCOVR observes the entire sunlit face of the Earth, which is helpful to make up for the deficiency in the observations of traditional satellites in the hotspot direction in bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) research, and can help to improve the underestimation of albedo in the direction of hotspot observation.

Early Events in Actin Cytoskeleton Dynamics and E-Cadherin-Mediated Cell-Cell Adhesion during Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays an important role in development and also in initiation of metastasis during cancer. Disruption of cell-cell contacts during EMT allowing cells to detach from and migrate away from their neighbors remains poorly understood. Using immunofluorescent staining and live-cell imaging, we analyzed early events during EMT induced by epidermal growth factor (EGF) in IAR-20 normal epithelial cells. Control cells demonstrated stable adherens junctions (AJs) and robust contact paralysis, whereas addition of EGF caused rapid dynamic changes at the cell-cell boundaries: fragmentation of the circumferential actin bundle, assembly of actin network in lamellipodia, and retrograde flow. Simultaneously, an actin-binding protein EPLIN was phosphorylated, which may have decreased the stability of the circumferential actin bundle. Addition of EGF caused gradual replacement of linear E-cadherin–based AJs with dynamic and unstable punctate AJs, which, unlike linear AJs, colocalized with the mechanosensitive protein zyxin, confirming generation of centripetal force at the sites of cell-cell contacts during EMT. Our data show that early EMT promotes heightened dynamics at the cell-cell boundaries—replacement of stable AJs and actin structures with dynamic ones—which results in overall weakening of cell-cell adhesion, thus priming the cells for front-rear polarization and eventual migration.

Bile acids and ceramide overcome the entry restriction for GII.3 human norovirus replication in human intestinal enteroids

Human noroviruses (HuNoVs) cause sporadic and epidemic outbreaks of gastroenteritis in all age groups worldwide. We previously reported that stem cell-derived human intestinal enteroid (HIE) cultures support replication of multiple HuNoV strains and that some strains (e.g., GII.3) replicate only in the presence of bile. Heat- and trypsin-treatment of bile did not reduce GII.3 replication, indicating a nonproteinaceous component in bile functions as an active factor. Here we show that bile acids (BAs) are critical for GII.3 replication and replication correlates with BA hydrophobicity. Using the highly effective BA, glycochenodeoxycholic acid (GCDCA), we show BAs act during the early stage of infection, BA-dependent replication in HIEs is not mediated by detergent effects or classic farnesoid X receptor or Takeda G protein-coupled receptor 5 signaling but involves another G protein-coupled receptor, sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 2, and BA treatment of HIEs increases particle uptake. We also demonstrate that GCDCA induces multiple cellular responses that promote GII.3 replication in HIEs, including enhancement of 1) endosomal uptake, 2) endosomal acidification and subsequent activity of endosomal/lysosomal enzyme acid sphingomyelinase (ASM), and 3) ceramide levels on the apical membrane. Inhibitors of endosomal acidification or ASM reduce GII.3 infection and exogenous addition of ceramide alone permits infection. Furthermore, inhibition of lysosomal exocytosis of ASM, which is required for ceramide production at the apical surface, decreases GII.3 infection. Together, our results support a model where GII.3 exploits rapid BA-mediated cellular endolysosomal dynamic changes and cellular ceramide to enter and replicate in jejunal HIEs.

Modeling and Deadlock Control of Reconfigurable Multi-Unit Resource Systems

Most existing methods for deadlock control in multi-unit resource systems are developed based on parallel multi-unit resource deadlock algorithms and their hardware implementation. However, the rapid dynamic changes in such resource allocation systems raise the following challenging problems: (a) how to model and control deadlocks in these systems in an alternative way as modeled by Petri nets, and (b) how to quickly and effectively make Petri nets able to adapt to these dynamic changes in such configurable systems. In order to cope with these problems, this study makes five contributions: (1) propose an efficient integrated policy for designing supervisors for multi-unit resource systems based on a class of Petri nets, namely the system of simple sequential processes with resources (S 3 PR) which can model multi-unit resource systems; (2) improve an S 2 PR model to obtain a simple sequential process with resources and part-re-entry (S 2 PRP) that can describe how a failed part re-enters to the system and is reprocessed for a system with processing failures and rework; (3) use the siphon-based deadlock prevention policy to control S 2 PRP; (4) present behavioral analysis and prove that the controlled S 2 PRP is deadlock-free, bounded, and reversible; and (5) apply the proposed policy to a system of simple sequential processes with resources (S 3 PR), and constructs an improved model called system of simple sequential processes with resources and part-re-entry (S 3 PRP). The obtained S 2 PRP (S 3 PRP) is tested and validated using Integrated Net Analyzer (INA). Single-unit and multi-unit resource system examples are adopted to demonstrate the performance of the proposed policy.

Enhancement of DFIG LVRT Capability During Extreme Short-Wind Gust Events Using SMES Technology

Wind energy is one of the premier renewable energy sources that have gained popularity during the last decade. Among the currently available wind energy conversion systems (WECS), doubly fed induction generator-based technology has been widely employed due to its superior advantageous. The key features of the DFIG-based WECS include its ability to capture more wind energy and support the grid with large reactive power during short disturbance events. On the other hand, DFIG is very sensitive to grid faults which affect its fault ride through (FRT) capability. Furthermore, extreme wind gust even for short durations may lead to the violation of the low voltage ride through (LVRT) threshold limits set by worldwide transmission line operators. This situation cannot be mitigated by the turbine blades pitch controller since the response of the pitch mechanical control is much slower than the rapid dynamic change in the wind speed during short duration of wind gust events. While DFIG FRT capability has been discussed in several papers in the literature, not much attention was given to the mitigation of the effects of extreme wind gust of short duration on the DFIG performance. In this paper, the effect of various levels of wind gust on the performance of a DFIG-based wind energy conversion grid-connected system is investigated and mitigated using a new controller for superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) unit. A combination of hysteresis current and fuzzy logic controllers is employed to control the voltage source converter and the DC-DC chopper interfacing the SMES coil with the investigated system. Simulation results reveal the effectiveness of the proposed SMES controller that can be easily implemented within existing as well as new WECS installations.

Coping and Resilience in Life-Long Learning and Ageing: new challenges

Abstract The society is becoming increasingly cosmopolitan as a consequence of driving wave of globalisation. Today we are living in a society with rapid dynamic changes and technologic it can be called the IT era. The one most used paradigm is “knowledge society”. The academic world uses this term for analysing the socio-economic transformation toward so-called post-industrial society. It is also used by politics world when the discourses are about the normative vision that the state, governs should aspire to fulfil or when the economic situation and the link with Universities take into consideration. Often the knowledge society is used in relationship with the economy of innovation or information society or technologic society metaphors that are used for to indicate that the labour market is in rapid change and technological competences are required. The demographic situation is also in rapid evolution: according to UNFPA data in 2019 we are around 7,715 million habitants with 26% of the population aged 0-14, 65% of people aged 15-65 and 9% of people aged more than 65 years. The demographic trends are to have more aged people and less young people. This trend is a new and powerful challenge for society. If we consider that adult percentage of the population is the biggest one and that LLL is seen as a concept that complete the gaps of the formal learning, we can confirm that LLL is a new reply to dynamic exchanges in the society and in the globalised economy. The article purpose is to analyse the different concepts of LLL and its link with ageing. The main focus will be on how LLL can improve the quality of ageing. The used methodology is a review of relevant intervention studies and Political Documents for examining the effectiveness of interventions and how the elder's literacy can be a value for society.

Resilient placement of SDN controllers exploiting disjoint paths

AbstractTraditional IP networks are difficult to manage, owing to their rapid expansion and dynamic changes. Software‐defined networks are introduced to simplify network management by separating the network control plane from the packet forwarding plane. Using one or several controllers, SDN switches can be configured to forward data packets to their destinations. The controller placement problem aims to determine the number of controllers and their locations to meet network service requirements. Early approaches used the k‐median and k‐center algorithms, which select k controllers to minimize propagation latency without considering network resilience. In this paper, we developed a new nodal metric, nodal disjoint path (NDP), which measures a node's importance in terms of its diverse connectivity to other nodes. Based on NDP, we propose two algorithms, NDP‐global and NDP‐cluster, for determining the locations of the k controllers to increase network robustness against targeted attacks. We apply the two selection algorithms to four US‐based fiber‐level networks and evaluate their resilience against five centrality‐based attacks and random failures. The evaluation results indicate that selecting controllers by the NDP‐global algorithm, compared with the NDP‐cluster, k‐median, and k‐center algorithms, provides better network resilience in the face of centrality‐based attacks and random failures. The results also indicate that the NDP‐cluster algorithm has a delay performance comparable to that of the k‐median algorithm and provides higher network resilience.

Ligands and media impact interactions between engineered nanomaterials and clay minerals

The exponential growth in technologies incorporating engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) requires plans to handle waste ENM disposal and accidental environmental release throughout the material life cycle. These scenarios motivate efforts to quantify and model ENM interactions with diverse background particles and solubilized chemical species in a variety of environmental systems. In this study, quantum dot (QD) nanoparticles and clay minerals were mixed in a range of water chemistries in order to develop simple assays to predict aggregation trends. CdSe QDs were used as a model ENM functionalized with either negatively charged or zwitterionic small molecule ligand coatings, while clays were chosen as an environmentally relevant sorbent given their potential as an economical water treatment technology and ubiquitous presence in nature. In our unbuffered experimental systems, clay type impacted pH, which resulted in a change in zwitterionic ligand speciation that favored aggregation with kaolinite more than with montmorillonite. With kaolinite, the zwitterionic ligand-coated QD exhibited greater than ten times the relative attachment efficiency for QD-clay heteroaggregation compared to the negatively charged ligand coated QD. Under some conditions, particle oxidative dissolution and dynamic sorption of ions and QDs to surfaces complicated the interpretation of the removal kinetics. This work demonstrates that QDs stabilized by small molecule ligands and electrostatic surface charges are highly sensitive to changes in water chemistry in complex media. Natural environments enable rapid dynamic physicochemical changes that will influence the fate and mobility of ENMs, as seen by the differential adsorption of water-soluble QDs to our clay media.

Remote Sensing Target Tracking in UAV Aerial Video Based on Saliency Enhanced MDnet

Remote sensing target tracking in the aerial video from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) plays a key role in public security. As the UAV aerial video has rapid changes in scale and perspective, few pixels in the target region, and multiple similar disruptors, and the main tracking methods in this research field generally have relatively low tracking performance and timeliness, we propose a remote sensing target tracking method for the UAV aerial video based on a saliency enhanced multi-domain convolutional neural network (SEMD). First, in the pre-training stage, we combine the least squares generative adversarial networks (LSGANs) with a multi-orientation Gaussian Pyramid to augment typical easily confused negative samples for enhancing the capacity to distinguish between targets and the background. Then, a saliency module was integrated into our tracking network architecture to boost the saliency of the feature map, which can improve the representation power of a rapid dynamic change target. Finally, in the stage for generating tracking samples, we implemented a local weight allocation model to screen for hard negative samples. This approach can not only improve the stability in tracking but also boost efficiency. The comprehensive evaluations of public and homemade hard datasets demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve high accuracy and efficiency results compared with state-of-the-art methods.