S-shaped Growth Research Articles

Removal of Fe2+ in coastal aquaculture source water by manganese ores: Batch experiments and breakthrough curve modeling.

Excessive Fe2+ in coastal aquaculture source water will seriously affect the aquaculture development. This study used manganese sand to investigate the removal potential and mechanism of Fe2+ in coastal aquaculture source water by column experiments. The pseudo-first-order kinetic model could better describe Fe2+ removal process with R2 in the range of 0.9451-0.9911. More than 99.7% of Fe2+ could be removed within 120 min while the removal rate (k) was positively affected by low initial concentration of Fe2+, high temperature, and low pH. Logistic growth (S-shaped growth) model could better fit the concentration variation of Fe2+ in the effluent of the column (R2>0.99). The Fe2 breakthrough curve could be fitted by Bohart-Adams, Yoon-Nelson, and Thomas models (R2>0.95). Smooth slices with irregular shapes existed on the surface of manganese sand after the reaction while Fe content increased significantly on the surface of manganese sand after the column experiment. Moreover, FeO (OH) was mainly formed on the surface of manganese sand after the reaction. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Fe2+ in coastal aquaculture source water could be removed by manganese ores. The pseudo-first-order kinetic model better described the Fe2+ removal process. FeO (OH) was mainly formed on the surface of manganese sand after the reaction.

Plant Hormone Pathway Is Involved in Regulating the Embryo Development Mechanism of the Hydrangea macrophylla Hybrid.

The research is aimed to elucidate the role of plant hormones in regulating the development of hybrid embryos in Hydrangea macrophylla. Fruits from the intraspecific cross of H. macrophylla 'Otaksa' × 'Coerulea' were selected at the globular, heart, and torpedo stages of embryo development. Transcriptome sequencing and differential gene expression analysis were conducted. The results showed that fruit growth followed a single "S-shaped growth curve, with globular, heart, and torpedo embryos appearing at 30, 40, and 50 d post-pollination, respectively, and the embryo maintaining the torpedo shape from 60 to 90 d. A total of 12,933 genes was quantified across the three developmental stages, with 3359, 3803, and 3106 DEGs in the S1_vs_S2, S1_vs_S3, and S2_vs_S3 comparisons, respectively. Among these, 133 genes related to plant hormone biosynthesis and metabolism were differentially expressed, regulating the synthesis and metabolism of eight types of plant hormones, including cytokinin, auxin, gibberellin, abscisic acid, and jasmonic acid. The pathways with the most differentially expressed genes were cytokinin, auxin, and gibberellin, suggesting these hormones may play crucial roles in embryo development. In the cytokinin pathway, CKX (Hma1.2p1_0579F.1_g182670.gene, Hma1.2p1_1194F.1_g265700.gene, and NewGene_12164) genes were highly expressed during the globular embryo stage, promoting rapid cell division in the embryo. In the auxin pathway, YUC (Hma1.2p1_0271F.1_g109005.gene and Hma1.2p1_0271F.1_g109020.gene) genes were progressively up-regulated during embryo growth; the early response factor AUX/IAA (Hma1.2p1_0760F.1_g214260.gene) was down-regulated, while the later transcriptional activator ARF (NewGene_21460, NewGene_21461, and Hma1.2p1_0209F.1_g089090.gene) was up-regulated, sustaining auxin synthesis and possibly preventing the embryo from transitioning to maturity. In the gibberellin pathway, GA3ox (Hma1.2p1_0129F.1_g060100.gene) expression peaked during the heart embryo stage and then declined, while the negative regulator GA2ox (Hma1.2p1_0020F.1_g013915.gene) showed the opposite trend; and the gibberellin signaling repressor DELLA (Hma1.2p1_1054F.1_g252590.gene) increased over time, potentially inhibiting embryo development and maintaining the torpedo shape until fruit maturity. These findings preliminarily uncover the factors affecting the development of hybrid H. macrophylla embryos, laying a foundation for further research into the regulatory mechanisms of H. macrophylla hybrid embryo development.

Modeling residential photovoltaic adoption: A system dynamics approach for solar energy expansion

Using a system dynamics approach and the Generalized Bass model, we model the diffusion of Photovoltaic System (PVS) adoption among Iranian households. The model recreates the interplay between economic, social capital, managerial, political, and technical factors influencing PVS adoption. While existing literature indicates that technology diffusion typically follows an S-shaped growth pattern, this is not true in Iran. Our research reveals that the deviation can be attributed to the low estimated values of innovation and imitation coefficients. Our study emphasizes the positive impact of factors such as society's awareness and interest, environmental concerns, and government-provided incentives while highlighting the negative influence of factors like inflation and increased payback periods on PVS adoption. This study provides insights for practitioners and policymakers to develop effective strategies for PVS adoption, fostering a sustainable energy future in Iran and other emerging nations.

Analysis of Growth Trajectories and Verification of Related SNPs in Populus deltoides.

As an important timber genus with high economic and ecological values, Populus is a model for dissecting the genetic architecture of growth traits in perennial forest trees. However, the genetic mechanisms of longitudinal growth traits in poplar remain incompletely understood. In this study, we conducted longitudinal genetic analysis of height and diameter at breast height (DBH) in eleven-year poplar clones using ultra-deep sequencing datasets. We compared four S-shaped growth models, including asymptotic, Gompertz, logistic, and Richard, on eleven-year height and DBH records in terms of five metrics. We constructed the best-fitting growth model (Richard) and determined poplar ontogenetic stages by virtue of growth curve fitting and likelihood ratio testing. This study provides some scientific clues for temporal variation of longitudinal growth traits in Populus species.

Analysis of matrix properties on ballistic mechanisms of aramid fabric composites: From experiment to numerical simulation

The matrix employed in the manufacture of composites significantly affects ballistic performances. However, the influence of mechanical properties of the matrix on ballistic mechanisms of composites has still not investigated thoroughly. Polyurethane, as a commonly used matrix, can be designed for various mechanical properties by modulating hard segment (HS) contents. In this work, polyurethanes with different HS contents (HSx-PUs) were prepared as matrix to investigate the ballistic mechanisms of the composites. The thermal and mechanical properties of the HSx-PUs were characterized. The HSx-PUs exhibited increases in the modulus and tensile strength but decreases in the elongation at break as the HS contents increased, and the mechanical properties transformed from soft and tough (HS45-PU and HS55-PU) to rigid and brittle (HS65-PU and HS75-PU). Moreover, quasi-static tests, ballistic test, and numerical simulation were integrated to explore the ballistic performances and mechanisms of aramid fabric reinforced HSx-PUs composites (HSx-PU/AF). The results revealed that the ballistic performances of HSx-PU/AF laminates exhibited an S-shaped growth trend as the HS content decreased. Compared with the HS65-PU/AF and HS75-PU/AF composites, the soft and tough HS45-PU and HS55-PU matrix can help to reduce delamination damage which can force more fibers to combine with each other, thus facilitating energy absorption of the composites. Moreover, the HS45-PU and HS55-PU matrix can reduce the modulus of the composites, which enabled matrix to deform with the fibres during penetration and improved the ballistic performances.

Sovereign debt and post-war Ukrainian economic growth – system dynamics approach

The aim of the article is to examine the post-war national economy, notably overburdened with significant war expenditures and the effects of sovereign debt restructuring in a wartime period. The research uses system dynamics modelling methods, operates with S-shaped growth, overshoot and collapse dynamic patterns. The oscillation patterns of behaviour have been used to demonstrate the scenario options of possible external debt minimization.The dynamic hypothesis about non-linear behaviour of post-war debt trajectory has revealed the intrinsic growth rate in debt-dependent economy and the inflection point of no return to stable economic growth without radical decision of sovereign debt cancellation. The direct consequence of a negative solution for debt cancellation would be the unpredictable, even chaotic fluctuations of national economic growth rate. Baseline simulation to prove the results of research has been provided. The embedded “dependent-economy” type of macrostructure does not allow to overcome the critical debt overhang level and needs a new national model with appropriate policy to stabilize the economy. Performance of post-war debt repayment depends mostly on an innovative fund, which can be created by export abilities in the framework of post-war recovery plan. The results of the research may be applied by national authorities responsible for macroeconomic debt policy. The obtained results of the study allow us to draw a conclusion about the impossibility of developing the national economy within the framework of the existing economic structure of the developing country. The debt trap, which cannot be eliminated, does not allow to develop the national innovative economy and ensure economic growth and development.
 JEL classification: E37, F34, F35, G28, H63

TESTOSTERONE INDUCES POSTMENOPAUSAL HYPERTENSIVE HYPERTROPHY THROUGH INHIBITING THE ACTIVATION OF AMPK- FOXO1/MURF1 SIGNALING PATHWAY

Objective: It has been found that relative elevated level of testosterone could exacerbates postmenopausal hypertensive left ventricular hypertrophy(PM-HTN-LVH), but the mechanisms responsible are unknown. Moreover, MuRF1, a muscle-specific E3 ubiquitin ligase in the ubiquitination process, was newly identified as a negative regulatory factor of myocardial and muscle tissue in exerting a protective functions on the cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. There are little study to certify whether MuRF1 took part in testosterone-induced PM-HTN-LVH. Design and method: Femal spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) were ovariectomized (OVX group) or sham-operated (Sham group) at 12 weeks and then the OVX group were intramuscularly injected the testosterone (T 2.85 mg/kg/ quaque omni die im) (OVX+T group) or vehicle (OVX+ vehicle group) for 4 weeks. Futher, Cultured cardiomyocytes were respectively stimulated with different concentration gradients of testosterone for 24h, then measured the expression of myosin heavy chain (MHC) and MuRF1, as well as the phosphorylation levels of AMPK(p-AMPK) and Forkhead box O 1 (p-FOXO1), were separately measured using western blot. Results: After 4 weeks of testosterone supplementation, SHR heart exhibited significant increments in the heart weight/tibial length and the levels of IVST, LVPWT, LVM and the expression of MHC, and have a lower expression of the MuRF1, p-AMPK and p-FOXO1 in the OVX+T group, compared with OVX group and Sham group. Moreover, the expression level of p-AMPK and p-FOXO1 in the heart were at least twice as many as gastrocnemius muscle among the three group, but the MuRF1 was equivalent between heart and gastrocnemius muscle. In vivo, after the treatment of different gradients of testosterone for 24h, the protein expression of MHC showed an S-shaped growth trend and MuRF1, p-AMPK and p-FOXO1 presented with reverse S-shaped reduction along with increasing of testosterone concentration, peaking at 10-6M testosterone. Conclusions: The present study demonstrates that testosterone induces PM-HTN-LVH by modulating the atrophy related AMPK-FOXO1/MuRF1 signaling pathway in vitro and vivo. Increased the heart expression of MuRF1 by activation of AMPK may reverse testosterone-mediated PM-HTN-LVH, which might cause little change of MuRF1 expression in the skeletal muscle resulting in the muscle atrophy.

Process performance evaluation of faecal matter treatment via black soldier fly

Abstract Sustainable management of faecal matter is a prevailing global challenge. In this study, we assessed black soldier fly (BSF) process performance during co-treatment of faecal matter using kitchen waste (FM:KW) to formulate five feeding substrates. About 1 kg of each feed substrate was treated utilizing 5 g of 5-day-old BSF larvae after which 100 larvae were randomly picked at 3-day intervals from each treatment to monitor the larval weight gain across the treatment process. Larval days to 50% pupation, mean pupal yield, waste reduction rate (WR), bioconversion rates (BRs), and feed conversion rates (FCRs) were monitored for the process performance. Study results showed that the substrate 1:1 attained the best measures of high WR, waste reduction index (WRI), BR, FCR, and overall pre-pupal yield within a shorter development time. Further, we modelled the BSF larval weight gain using the modified Gompertz model to assess the least time for optimal biomass conversion for animal feed processing. The BSF larvae exhibited an S-shaped growth curve and the modified Gompertz model adequately quantified the BSF larval growth performance. In the future, our methodology will pave the way for effective treatment and valorization of faecal matter from onsite sanitation facilities, manage organic municipal wastes and provide alternative animal feed and bio-fertilizer.

Precipitation Conditions Constrain the Sensitivity of Aboveground Net Primary Productivity in Tibetan Plateau Grasslands to Climate Change

Continued climate warming and precipitation fluctuations are expected to further affect aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) across alpine grasslands, with associated implications for ecosystem functions. The spatial and temporal variability of ANPP in Tibetan Plateau (TP) grasslands and its response to temperature and precipitation were investigated in this study, based on the ANPP estimated by means of ensemble analysis of multiple machine learning models. First, the response of the spatial distribution of ANPP to variations in the precipitation gradient was nonlinear and showed an S-shaped growth pattern, which could be divided into four stages (stationary, rapid growth, slower growth, and saturation) corresponding to arid (mean annual precipitation (MAP) < 250 mm), semiarid (250 mm < MAP < 450 mm), semihumid (450 mm < MAP < 650 mm) and humid (MAP > 650 mm) precipitation regimes, respectively. Second, regional precipitation regimes affected the sensitivity of ANPP’s interannual variability to temperature and precipitation; ANPP is more sensitive to temperature in wetter areas than in dryer areas of the TP region. The results of our study suggest that in the region of Tibetan Plateau, the response of grassland ANPP variation to climate was constrained by the background precipitation regimes.

Spatiotemporal characteristics and prediction of carbon emissions/absorption from land use change in the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains

Changes in land use significantly contribute to carbon emissions and other environmental problems. Regional carbon emissions changes from land use have been affected by rapid urbanization. To dynamically assess land use change and the spatiotemporal characteristics of carbon emissions from 1990 to 2020, this study used the PLUS, grey back-propagation neural network, and related carbon emission accounting models as well as four distinct 2030 scenario simulations. According to the findings, the urbanization of the urban agglomeration on the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains (UANSTM) developed rapidly from 1990 to 2020 with a noticeable transfer of diverse types of land. In particular, the quantity of construction land and cropland belonging to carbon source land increased by 153.271% and 55.072% respectively. Simultaneously, carbon emissions showed a trend of continuous increase and demonstrated an S-shaped curve growth, with relatively rapid growth from 2000 to 2015, that has tended to be stable in recent years. If this carbon emission trend continues, an inflection point will appear around 2028. Land use simulations for 2030 reveal that the ecological security (ES) scenario, which slows the expansion of construction land and cropland while increasing ecological land, is most likely to reduce the negative environmental consequences of urbanization. This is because higher potential peak carbon emissions per unit area that may be obtained with carbon sink land. Consequently, the ES scenario of the study region is comparable to the future urban agglomeration development model. The results provide a reference for territorial space planning and dual carbon target recommendations in the UANSTM.

Viral intra-host evolutionary dynamics revealed via serial passage of Japanese encephalitis virus in vitro.

Analyses of viral inter- and intra-host mutations could better guide the prevention and control of infectious diseases. For a long time, studies on viral evolution have focused on viral inter-host variations. Next-generation sequencing has accelerated the investigations of viral intra-host diversity. However, the theoretical basis and dynamic characteristics of viral intra-host mutations remain unknown. Here, using serial passages of the SA14-14-2 vaccine strain of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) as the in vitro model, the distribution characteristics of 1,788 detected intra-host single-nucleotide variations (iSNVs) and their mutated frequencies from 477 deep-sequenced samples were analyzed. Our results revealed that in adaptive (baby hamster kidney (BHK)) cells, JEV is under a nearly neutral selection pressure, and both non-synonymous and synonymous mutations represent an S-shaped growth trend over time. A higher positive selection pressure was observed in the nonadaptive (C6/36) cells, and logarithmic growth in non-synonymous iSNVs and linear growth in synonymous iSNVs were observed over time. Moreover, the mutation rates of the NS4B protein and the untranslated region (UTR) of the JEV are significantly different between BHK and C6/36 cells, suggesting that viral selection pressure is regulated by different cellular environments. In addition, no significant difference was detected in the distribution of mutated frequencies of iSNVs between BHK and C6/36 cells.

Early postglacial hunter-gatherers show environmentally driven “false logistic” growth in a low productivity environment

Studies that employ probability distributions of radiocarbon dates to study past population size often use exponential increase in radiocarbon dates with time as a standard of comparison for detecting population fluctuations. We show that in the case of early postglacial interior Scandinavia, however, the summed probability distribution of radiocarbon dates has best fit with a S-shaped logistic growth curve. Despite the logistic growth model having solid grounding in ecological theory, we further argue that what our data indicate is not logistic growth in the population ecological sense but “false logistic” growth that mainly follows from climatic and environmental forcing. In the initial postglacial phase, 9500–7500 BCE, human settlement was located almost exclusively along the Scandinavian Atlantic coast and the use of the mountainous interior remained low. Thereafter the formation of separate inland adaptations resulted in population growth in tandem with increasing climatic warming and environmental productivity. Some millennia later, when environmental productivity started to decrease after the Holocene Thermal Maximum, hunter-gatherer population size in interior Scandinavia reached a plateau that lasted at least 2000 years. Lowering productivity prevented any population growth that would be detectable in the available archaeological record.

Prediction of heading date, culm length, and biomass from canopy-height-related parameters derived from time-series UAV observations of rice.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are powerful tools for monitoring crops for high-throughput phenotyping. Time-series aerial photography of fields can record the whole process of crop growth. Canopy height (CH), which is vertical plant growth, has been used as an indicator for the evaluation of lodging tolerance and the prediction of biomass and yield. However, there have been few attempts to use UAV-derived time-series CH data for field testing of crop lines. Here we provide a novel framework for trait prediction using CH data in rice. We generated UAV-based digital surface models of crops to extract CH data of 30 Japanese rice cultivars in 2019, 2020, and 2021. CH-related parameters were calculated in a non-linear time-series model as an S-shaped plant growth curve. The maximum saturation CH value was the most important predictor for culm length. The time point at the maximum CH contributed to the prediction of days to heading, and was able to predict stem and leaf weight and aboveground weight, possibly reflecting the association of biomass with duration of vegetative growth. These results indicate that the CH-related parameters acquired by UAV can be useful as predictors of traits typically measured by hand.

Relationship between Shale Hydration and Shale Collapse.

Shale gas has become the major source of natural gas. However, shale is rich in clay and easily collapsed by water invasion. This not only causes collapse of the reservoir but also causes the loss of natural gas and can even cause local earthquakes and affect the safety of human beings. This paper describes an investigation of the relationship between hydration and collapse. Shale samples were obtained from a series of wells drilled in the lower Silurian Longmaxi Formation at a depth of 3500 m. The different hydrated shales were simulated to analyze the hydration-collapse relationship. Magnetic resonance analysis and mechanical analysis were combined to analyze the collapse of the hydrated shales. The collapse progression was found to follow an S-shaped growth curve that can be divided into three parts, namely, the potential period, the exciting period, and the mature period. The hydration state and degree of damage were determined from the magnetic resonance of water molecules. This paper proposes a mechanism for shale hydration collapse based on basal and numerical data that can be used to predict shale collapse as a function of hydration.

Peak event: the rise, crisis and potential decline of the Olympic Games and the World Cup

This paper tracks the growth of two of the largest tourist events: the Olympic Games and the Football World Cup, drawing on a dataset containing all events between 1964 and 2018. Overall, the size of the three events has grown about 60-fold over the past 50 years, thirteen times faster than world GDP. We identify an S-shaped growth curve and four different growth periods, with an emergent crisis phase in the late 2010s that may have brought us to ‘peak event’ – the point at which these events have reached their largest size. Outlining three different scenarios, we argue that the Olympics and the World Cup are at a critical bifurcation point, which also requires new bidding and hosting policies.

High-Temporal-Resolution Forest Growth Monitoring Based on Segmented 3D Canopy Surface from UAV Aerial Photogrammetry

Traditional forest monitoring has been mainly performed with images or orthoimages from aircraft or satellites. In recent years, the availability of high-resolution 3D data has made it possible to obtain accurate information on canopy size, which has made the topic of canopy 3D growth monitoring timely. In this paper, forest growth pattern was studied based on a canopy point cloud (PC) reconstructed from UAV aerial photogrammetry at a daily interval for a year. Growth curves were acquired based on the canopy 3D area (3DA) calculated from a triangulated 3D mesh. Methods for canopy coverage area (CA), forest coverage rate, and leaf area index (LAI) were proposed and tested. Three spectral vegetation indices, excess green index (ExG), a combination of green indices (COM), and an excess red union excess green index (ExGUExR) were used for the segmentation of trees. The results showed that (1) vegetation areas extracted by ExGUExR were more complete than those extracted by the other two indices; (2) logistic fitting of 3DA and CA yielded S-shaped growth curves, all with correlation R2 > 0.92; (3) 3DA curves represented the growth pattern more accurately than CA curves. Measurement errors and applicability are discussed. In summary, the UAV aerial photogrammetry method was successfully used for daily monitoring and annual growth trend description.

Influence of Soil Wetting and Drying Cycles on Soil Detachment

Agricultural soils undergo periods of saturation followed by desiccation throughout the course of a growing season. It is believed that these periods of wetting and drying influence soil structure and may affect the rate of soil detachment. Thus, an experiment was conducted to investigate the influence of a disturbed soil (soil sieved to simulate tillage) subjected to various wetting and drying cycles, on soil bulk density and the resistance to soil detachment with runoff. Seven treatments consisting of wetting and drying cycles ranging from 0 to 6 cycles were evaluated under laboratory conditions using an experimental flume apparatus. A Richards growth model proposed for predicting the influence of wetting and drying on soil detachment was also evaluated. Results showed that the soil bulk density increased as the number of wetting and drying cycles increased. The soil detachment rate decreased as the number of wetting and drying cycles increased. Moreover, initial soil detachment (occurring as soon as runoff began) rates were high for 1 to 3 wetting and drying cycles, while the rate of initial detachment decreased after the third cycle. For example, soils with two and three wetting and drying cycles took 6.5 and 7 min to reach the maximum 1 cm souring depth, respectively, while the soils subjected to four or more wetting and drying cycles did not reach the maximum 1 cm depth during the 15 min runoff experiment. In addition, the proposed S-Shaped Richards growth model was a good predictor for estimating the soil detachment of soils experiencing various wetting and drying cycles. Findings from this study suggest that more attention should be given to the influence that soil wetting and drying have on the prediction of soil detachment. Information from this study is expected to be useful for improving soil management strategies for reducing soil erosion.

Efficiency Evaluation of Software Faults Correction Based on Queuing Simulation

Fault-counting data are collected in the testing process of software development. However, the data are not used for evaluating the efficiency of fault correction activities because the information on the fault detection and correction times of each fault are not recorded in the fault-counting data. Furthermore, it is difficult to collect new data on the detection time of each fault to realize efficiency evaluation for fault correction activities from the collected fault-counting data due to the cost of personnel and data collection. In this paper, we apply the thinning method, using intensity functions of the delayed S-shaped and inflection S-shaped software reliability growth models (SRGMs) to generate sample data of the fault detection time from the fault-counting data. Additionally, we perform simulations based on the infinite server queuing model, using the generated sample data of the fault detection time to visualize the efficiency of fault correction activities.

Modeling Performance of Microservices Systems with Growth Theory

ContextThe microservices architectural style is gaining momentum in the IT industry. This style does not guarantee that a target system can continuously meet acceptable performance levels. The ability to study the violations of performance requirements and eventually predict them would help practitioners to tune techniques like dynamic load balancing or horizontal scaling to achieve the resilience property.ObjectiveThe goal of this work is to study the violations of performance requirements of microservices through time series analysis and provide practical instruments that can detect resilient and non-resilient microservices and possibly predict their performance behavior.MethodWe introduce a new method based on growth theory to model the occurrences of violations of performance requirements as a stochastic process. We applied our method to an in-vitro e-commerce benchmark and an in-production real-world telecommunication system. We interpreted the resulting growth models to characterize the microservices in terms of their transient performance behavior.ResultsOur empirical evaluation shows that, in most of the cases, the non-linear S-shaped growth models capture the occurrences of performance violations of resilient microservices with high accuracy. The bounded nature associated with this models tell that the performance degradation is limited and thus the microservice is able to come back to an acceptable performance level even under changes in the nominal number of concurrent users. We also detect cases where linear models represent a better description. These microservices are not resilient and exhibit constant growth and unbounded performance violations over time. The application of our methodology to a real in-production system identified additional resilience profiles that were not observed in the in-vitro experiments. These profiles show the ability of services to react differently to the same solicitation. We found that when a service is resilient it can either decrease the rate of the violations occurrences in a continuous manner or with repeated attempts (periodical or not).ConclusionsWe showed that growth theory can be successfully applied to study the occurences of performance violations of in-vitro and in-production real-world systems. Furthermore, the cost of our model calibration heuristics, based on the mathematical expression of the selected non-linear growth models, is limited. We discussed how the resulting models can shed some light on the trend of performance violations and help engineers to spot problematic microservice operations that exhibit performance issues. Thus, meaningful insights from the application of growth theory have been derived to characterize the behavior of (non) resilient microservices operations.

Prediction of Mining-Induced Kinematic 3-D Displacements From InSAR Using a Weibull Model and a Kalman Filter

Accurately predicting ground surface deformation is a crucial task in mining-related geohazards control. Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) technique can widely detect historical line-of-sight (LOS) displacements with a high spatial resolution. By incorporating with spatio-temporal deformation models, InSAR can predict kinematic 3-D displacements due to underground mining. However, this method depends on the geometric parameters (at least seven generally) of underground mined-out areas, hindering its practical applications especially over a large area. To circumvent this, we proposed a new method for predicting kinematic 3-D mining displacements by incorporating InSAR with a temporal model, rather than spatio-temporal models used before, in this article. In doing so, much less prior parameters (only three and can be empirically given) are required, with respect to the previous InSAR-based methods. To achieve this, we first revealed that InSAR LOS displacements caused by underground longwall mining at a single point temporally follow an S-shaped growth pattern. Meanwhile, we also showed that a Weibull model can describe the temporal evolution well. Based on these findings, the proposed method first predicts, in a point-wise manner, the kinematic LOS mining displacements from historical InSAR measurements using the Weibull model and a Kalman filter. The kinematic 3-D displacements are then resolved from the predicted LOS displacements with the help of a common prior information relating to mining deformation. The proposed method was tested in the Datong coal mining area of north China. The results show an averaged accuracy of about 0.007 m of the resolved kinematic 3-D displacements.