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This paper is the second part of a two-part survey series on large-scale global optimization. The first part covered two major algorithmic approaches to large-scale optimization, namely decomposition methods and hybridization methods such as memetic algorithms and local search. In this part we focus on sampling and variation operators, approximation and surrogate modeling, initialization methods, and parallelization. We also cover a range of problem areas in relation to large-scale global optimization, such as multi-objective optimization, constraint handling, overlapping components, the component imbalance issue, and benchmarks, and applications. The paper also includes a discussion on pitfalls and challenges of current research and identifies several potential areas of future research.

In this paper, three different scenarios were experimentally investigated to compare carbon dioxide based enhanced oil recovery methods. These methods are continuous carbon dioxide (immiscible injection), water alternating gas, and cyclic carbon dioxide injection were investigated. In scenario A, the maximum oil recovery factor for water flooding is about 19% when there is no oil production. The maximum oil recovery at miscibility stage is about 46%. The reason for this low value of oil recovery factor might correspond to the sufficient interaction time between oil and dissolved gas. In scenario B, the total oil recovery factor is about 60% when the water alternating gas injection was performed in the system. In scenario C, after cyclic carbon dioxide injection, final oil recovery factor reached to 62%. The maximum oil recovery after miscibility stage is about 78%. In scenario B and C, regarding the more oil volume production, there are more void spaces that can be a good place for carbon dioxide storage. However, for scenario B, as the injection pattern has been changed alternatively, the void spaced had been occupied by water and this is why the carbon storage capacity was being decreased for this scenario rather than other two scenarios.

When pursuing a controversial socio-scientific issue, readers are expected to construct balanced representations that include overlapping and opposing information. However, readers’ mental representations are often biased towards their prior beliefs. Previous research on such text-belief consistency effects have been conducted mostly in monolingual contexts. The present study investigated whether document language, as a source characteristic, moderates text-belief consistency effects at the situation-model and text-base representation levels. Eighty-seven bilingual readers—selected from a larger initial sample—read two documents on the global spread of English. The documents were either presented in participants’ first (Persian) and second (English) languages, or one was presented in Persian and the other one in English. A recognition task was used to assess situation-model strength and text-base strength. Overall, participants built stronger situation models for the belief-consistent information as opposed to belief-inconsistent information. However, document language moderated the text-belief consistency effect. When both texts were presented in English, the text-belief consistency effect was smaller than when both texts were presented in Persian. For the combination of English and Persian texts, the text-belief consistency effect was enlarged when the belief-consistent text was presented in English and the belief-inconsistent text in Persian but disappeared when the text-belief consistent text was presented in Persian and the belief-inconsistent text in English. These results suggest that document language can serve as a strong credibility cue that can eliminate belief effects, at least when the document language and the controversial issue are inherently related.

BACKGROUND Occupational health hazards and injuries are an alarming concern among traffic police. Occupational injuries affect the physical, social, and mental well-being of police personnel, which has various public health implications. The evaluation of occupational health and safety policies and regulations for the traffic police relies on their occupational exposure and health hazard statistics and assessments. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this scoping review is to systematically explore, analyze, and describe relevant findings from all studies conducted on occupational exposure and associated health hazards among traffic police in South Asia. METHODS The scoping review will include studies that assessed occupational exposure prevalence, types, knowledge, predisposing factors, and prevention strategies. Databases like PubMed, Springer Link, EBSCOhost, the Cochrane library, and Google Scholar will be used to obtain both published and unpublished works in the English language. Relevant gray literature, including governmental and international organization reports, will be examined. After removing duplicates and screening titles and abstracts, the full-text analysis will begin. Arksey and O'Malley's methodology framework for scoping reviews will be followed. According to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews, the scoping review will be reported. Two qualified reviewers will independently conduct article screening and data extraction. The extracted data will then be tabulated and accompanied by an explanation to facilitate comprehension. We will extract relevant article results using NVivo (version 10; QSR International) and thematic content analysis. The included articles will be evaluated using the mixed methods appraisal tool (version 2018). RESULTS The scoping review will provide insight into how occupational health hazards affect traffic police physically and psychologically in South Asia. The theoretical conceptualization of different aspects of the occupational health of traffic police will emphasize future studies in this region, which will inform policy makers to revise their occupational health and safety policies and principles. It will have implications for taking necessary preventive measures in the future to reduce occupational injuries and fatalities resulting from different types of occupational hazards. CONCLUSIONS This scoping review will describe the overview of occupational hazards among South Asian traffic police and will provide insights for policy makers to implement changes and to adapt new strategies. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT PRR1-10.2196/42239

In all educational settings, teachers are likely to encounter learners with different emotional and cognitive characteristics, particularly learners who are demotivated or disengaged and as a resul...

Purpose This paper aims to study the impact of liquidity risk and transaction costs on stock pricing in Iran, a closed market operating under a financial embargo and compare the results with those of an important neighboring market, namely, Turkey. Design/methodology/approach This study follows Liu et al. (2016) and incorporates liquidity risk and transaction costs into the traditional consumption-based asset-pricing model (CCAPM) from 2009 to 2017. Effective transaction costs are estimated a la Hasbrouck (2009) and liquidity risk according to eight different criteria. Findings According to the results, both liquidity risk and transaction costs are higher in Iran, possibly due to the financial embargo. Thus, relative to Turkey, this paper should expect a higher increase in the CCAPM pricing performance in Iran when accounting for these two variables. The results are in line with this expectation and indicate that adjusting the CCAPM significantly increases its pricing performance in both countries, but relatively more in Iran. Originality/value This study compares liquidity risk and transaction costs in an economy under the extreme case of a financial embargo to an open yet in other important aspects similar economy from the same region.

A feasibility level nearshore wave energy resource characterization is conducted for the East Coast of the United States using a 32-year (1979–2010) hindcast from a high-resolution unstructured-grid Simulating Waves Nearshore (SWAN) model with a spatial resolution of 200 m along the coastline. Wave energy resource attributes including wave energy potentials, seasonal variability, frequency and directional spreading, and extreme sea states are characterized using a broad range of resource parameters from which opportunities, risks, and constraints for wave energy conversion (WEC) projects are assessed. Cross-shore and alongshore variations of these parameters due to varying wave energy climate and coastline orientation relative to the dominant wave systems are examined. The present study also introduces a zero-crossing method for delineating wave energy climate regions based on a broad range of resource attributes beyond just wave power. Applying this method, eight nearshore wave energy climate regions are delineated for the East Coast; each region with a unique set of resource attributes to inform regional energy planning, WEC project development, conceptual WEC design, and the operation and maintenance of WEC projects.

This study proposed a simple method to evaluate the effect of technological changes in sectors on energy consumption changes. Technological changes decomposed into two factors. Input substitution i...

Readers are expected to construct balanced mental representations of socioscientific issues discussed across controversial documents. However, readers tend to be biased toward documents that presen...

Teacher pedagogical knowledge base (PKB) has secured a notable position in research on teacher cognition. One obvious gap in this strand of research concerns variations in teachers’ thought processes in relation to individual difference variables despite indications that PKB is likely to differ across individual differences. To fill part of the void, this study investigated how teachers’ PKB—conceptualized as the frequency and dominance of pedagogical thought units/categories—vary as a function of teachers’ levels of grit. To this end, eight EFL teachers (four High-Grit and four Low-Grit) were chosen to participate in the study. Stimulated recall interviews were used to explore the pedagogical thought units that underlie the teachers’ instruction. The thought units of the two groups were then identified by segmenting, coding and categorizing them. The results showed that there were significant differences between the two groups of teachers in the number and list of dominant pedagogical thought categories. Language Management, Procedure Check, Affective, Self-Reflection, Progress Review, Beliefs, and Problem Check constituted the list of dominant PTCs of High-Grit teachers, whereas Low-Grit teachers’ dominant thought categories included Language Management, Procedure Check, Time Check, Progress Review, and Problem Check. The results advance the scholarship on teachers’ PKB by extending the findings to individual differences.

Low efficiency of anaerobic digestion and membrane fouling, treating landfill leachate, are big barriers in the application of anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR). Anaerobic digestion enhancement and membrane fouling mitigation of AnMBR with graphite addition, treating landfill leachate, were investigated in this study. The effect of graphite on organics removal, biogas production, methane content in biogas, membrane fouling, microbial responses and foulant compositions were analyzed. With the graphite addition, chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal of 78% was achieved for influent COD concentration of 3000 mg/l, which was significantly higher than the stage without graphite addition (65%) for influent COD concentration of 2000 mg/l. Similarly, methane content in biogas with graphite addition was 56%, while without graphite addition it was 46%. These digestion improvements were due to the promotion of organics degradation, facilitated by direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) mechanism via graphite addition in AnMBR. The graphite addition prolonged membrane cleaning cycle from 13 days to 30 days. Protein content in loosely bound extracellular polymeric substance (LB-EPS) was the main fouling agent, which decreased with the graphite addition. The main mechanism behind membrane fouling mitigation was the protein content reduction in LB-EPS, which was biodegraded by Trichococcus being increased in relative abundance with the graphite addition. Furthermore, abundance of Denitratisoma decreased in anaerobic sludge and its accumulation reduced on membrane surface, subsequently membrane fouling was mitigated. Overall, graphite addition in AnMBR is a potential eco-innovative approach that efficiently removes pollutants from landfill leachate, enhances biogas quality and mitigates membrane fouling.

Differentiated instruction (DI) has received extensive attention in general teacher education. Little research, however, has specifically focused on language teachers’ understanding of DI, particul...

To evaluate the influence of different plant growth stimulants on yield and yield components of corn (Zea mays L), a greenhouse experiment was conducted as a factorial arrangement based on a completely randomized design. The studied treatments (T) were in 8 levels: (T0, control, T1, foliar application of amino acid, T2, foliar application of seaweed, T3, fertigation of humic acid, T4, foliar application of fulvic acid, T5, foliar application of humic acid, T6, inoculation of plant growth-promoting bacteria, T7, foliar application of humic acid+ seaweed+ amino acid). Also, fertilizers (F) were applied in 3 levels (F0, control, F1, 75 kg, F2, 100 kg). The results showed that the studied factors significantly affected the yield and chemical composition of the plant. The highest average of grain number per rows (39.89) happened in F2+T0. The highest average of 100-grain weight (23.31 g) and ear number (8) were respectively belonged to F1+T1 and F2+T2. The highest average of Zn (52.33 mg kg-1) concentration was measured under F2+ T5. Under the application of F1+ T3 the highest average of catalase (4.54 mg/Protein) was measured but the highest superoxide dismutase (105.89 mg/Protein) happened in the control treatment. Generally, application of bio-stimulants helps to increase the yield and yield components of corn by affecting the nutrients availability and plant enzymes.

Objectives The present investigation is based on the green synthesis of copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) from aqueous extract of Capparis spinosa L. fruit. Their effects on liver function and hematological parameters in mice were evaluated. Materials and methods The green synthesis of CuNPs by means of C. spinosa extract was achieved. Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy were used to identify the synthesized nanoparticles. BALB/c mice were orally administrated CuNPs at doses of 1000, 2000, and 5000 μg/kg for 2 weeks. Later, the effects of CuNPs on liver function in the treated mice were evaluated by measuring the serum levels of enzymes such as alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, and bilirubin as well as hematological parameters including hemoglobin, hematocrit, white blood cell, red blood cell, and platelet counts. Results A maximum peak at wavelength 414 nm confirmed the biosynthesis of CuNPs. FTIR spectrum analysis revealed that the factor groups shaped a coating extract on the surface of the nanoparticles. SEM images demonstrated a particle size between 17 and 41 nm. Although some liver enzymes and hematological parameters increased with increasing dose of extract, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) between oral administrations of CuNPs at doses of 1000, 2000, and 5000 μg/kg and the control group. Conclusion The findings revealed that CuNPs biosynthesized from aqueous extract of C. spinosa fruit have no toxic effects on the liver functions and hematological parameters of mice. However, more studies are needed for evaluation of the hepatoprotective effects of CuNPs.

A large number of studies have explored grammar instruction through implicit and explicit instructional conditions. The general conclusion drawn from these studies points to the superiority of explicit instruction; however, the claim has been attenuated by a number of reservations raised regarding its generalizability across types of grammatical structures and learners of different characteristics. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the comparative effectiveness of these two types of instructional conditions in acquiring explicit and implicit knowledge of complex and simple linguistic features by participants holding different epistemic beliefs. The results demonstrated a relative advantage for explicit instruction. However, the results also showed that the effectiveness of explicit/implicit instructional conditions varied for the participants. Additionally, the findings provided evidence against the assumption that complex structures are best learned through implicit instructional conditions and simple structures are best taught explicitly. The hypothesis that learners with more sophisticated epistemic beliefs outperform those with more naive epistemic beliefs in learning complex grammatical structures was not borne out by the analyses. Conclusions and suggestions for further research are provided.

Research publication has increasingly turned into academics’ top priority around the world. Since researchers’ professional survival/growth in the current competitive academic atmosphere hinges upo...

During the production from shale oil formations, the produced water has been dedicated to different procedures such as chemical enhanced oil recoveries, drilling mud making (e.g., for various purposes of lubrication and cooling) and hydraulic fracturing. One of the main challenges of wastewater treatment corresponds to (TDS) total dissolved solids. To measure the required water needed for different processes, it is necessary to proceed with every step saving and then make an average to calculate the required freshwater. In this regard, we have selected five different oil wells with the same rock and reservoir characteristics. SOW#3 has the highest rate of treatment (26%) and SOW#1 has the minimum treated wastewater during hydraulic fracturing processes. It corresponds to the large volume of solid and oil particles, which remained in the treatment devices. However, it is observed that SOW#1 has the highest rate of treatment (32%) and SOW#4 has the minimum treated wastewater (14%) in chemical enhanced oil recovery methods. On the other hand, SOW#3 has the highest rate of treatment (27%) and SOW#5 has the minimum treated wastewater from drilling mud preparation and other well facilities. It is observed that SOW#1 has the highest rate of treatment (27%) and SOW#5 has the minimum saving water during hydraulic fracturing processes, SOW#1 has the highest rate of treatment (38%) and SOW#4 has the minimum saving water (9%).

Environmental innovations play a vital role in reducing air pollution and the number of pollution-related mortality. Most of the previous studies have examined the role of eco-innovations in environmental quality. However, to our knowledge, no study has evaluated the effects of eco-innovation on air pollution as a cause of mortality. For this purpose, this research examines the effect of eco-innovations on premature deaths from indoor and outdoor air pollution in twenty-nine European countries from 1995 to 2019. The Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MM-QR) is used to assess the impacts. The results confirm the heterogeneous effects of the main variables in both models. Both models indicate that eco-innovations reduce premature deaths from outdoor and indoor air pollution, and these effects are more significant in high quantities (75th and 90th). Also, the effect of eco-innovations on reducing mortality due to indoor pollution is more significant than that related to outdoor pollution. Eco-innovation, economic growth, renewable energy consumption, and urbanization reduce premature mortality indoors and outdoors, but CO

Cold fronts are meteorological phenomena that impact the northern Gulf of Mexico, mostly between the fall and spring seasons. On average, they pass the region every 3–7 days, with a duration ranging between 24 and 74 h. In the present study, a high-resolution FVCOM model with an unstructured mesh was used to simulate the effect of the fall cold front winds on water column mixing over the Louisiana shelf, which is often stratified in the summer, leading to hypoxia. Numerical experiments were conducted for October 2009, a period with five consecutive cold front events. Winds from an offshore station forced the model, while climatological temperature/salinity profiles prepared by NOAA for September were used for model initialization. The model performance was evaluated by comparing it with the surface current measurements at two offshore stations, and the results showed a good agreement between the model results and observations. Shelf mixing and stratification were investigated through examining the simulated sea surface temperature as well as the longitudinal and cross-shelf vertical sections. Simulation results showed a significant effect on shelf mixing, with the mixed layer depth increasing from the initial values of 5 m to 25 m at the end of simulation at different parts of the shelf, with maximum mixed layer depths corresponding to the peak of cold fronts. The buoyancy frequency, Richardson number, and the average potential energy demand (APED) for mixing the water column were used to quantify the stratification at two selected locations over the shelf. Results showed that all these parameters almost continuously decreased due to mixing induced by cold front wind events during this time. At the station off the Terrebonne Bay with a water depth of 20 m, the water column became fully mixed after three of the cold front events, with Richardson numbers smaller than 0.25 and approaching zero. This continued mixing trend was also proven by obtaining a decreasing trend of APED from 100 to 5 kg/m.s2 with several close to zero energy demand values.

Anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) is a promising treatment technique for various types of wastewaters, and is preferred over other conventional aerobic and anaerobic methods. However, membrane fouling is considered a bottleneck in AnMBR system, which technically blocks membrane pores by numerous inorganics, organics, and other microbial substances. Various materials can be added in AnMBR to control membrane fouling and improve anaerobic digestion, and studies reporting the materials addition for this purpose are hereby systematically reviewed. The mechanism of membrane fouling control including compositional changes in extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) and soluble microbial products (SMPs), materials properties, stimulation of antifouling microbes and alteration in substrate properties by material addition are thoroughly discussed. Nonetheless, this study opens up new research prospects to control membrane fouling of AnMBR, engineered by material, including compositional changes of microbial products (EPS and SMP), replacement of quorum quenching (QQ) by materials, and overall improvement of reactor performance. Regardless of the great research progress achieved previously in membrane fouling control, there is still a long way to go for material-mediated AnMBR applications to be undertaken, particularly for materials coupling, real scale application and molecular based studies on EPSs and SMPs, which were proposed for future researches.

To solve complex real-world problems, heuristics and concept-based approaches can be used to incorporate information into the problem. In this study, a concept-based approach called variable functioning (Fx) is introduced to reduce the optimization variables and narrow down the search space. In this method, the relationships among one or more subsets of variables are defined with functions using information prior to optimization; thus, the function variables are optimized instead of modifying the variables in the search process. By using the problem structure analysis technique and engineering expert knowledge, the Fx method is used to enhance the steel frame design optimization process as a complex real-world problem. Herein, the proposed approach was coupled with particle swarm optimization and differential evolution algorithms then applied for three case studies. The algorithms are applied to optimize the case studies by considering the relationships among column cross-section areas. The results show that Fx can significantly improve both the convergence rate and the final design of a frame structure, even if it is only used for seeding.

Simulating WAves Nearshore (SWAN) on a structured grid over the Louisiana shelf in the northern Gulf of Mexico is used to evaluate the performance of three different classes of formulations for quantifying wind input and whitecapping dissipation. The formulations include Komen based on the mean spectral parameters, Westhuysen based on the saturation concept of the wave groups, and the most recent observation-based physics package ST6. The evaluation was implemented for two summer months (July and August 2015) to assess these formulations for a low wave energy period. The modeling area consists of the Louisiana inner shelf with the offshore open boundary located beyond the continental shelf. The model was forced using the spatially variable Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) wind field and wave parameters obtained from the NOAA’s WAVEWATCH-III (WWIII) model along the open boundaries. Simulated wave parameters and spectra regarding each formulation were evaluated and compared with measured wave data at NDBC stations; comparisons showed that the most appropriate formulation for the simulation of low energy waves for the study area to be ST6. The e performance of each whitecapping formulation was described by examining 1D/2D spectra and the source term balance at different met-ocean conditions during the simulation period. It was also shown that the inaccuracies in the input wind field and boundary conditions can substantially contribute to the model inaccuracy.

Globally, around 70% of waste is disposed of in open dumps or landfill sites, with the leachate generated from these sites containing high concentrations of organic and inorganic compounds, which will adversely affect aquatic environments if discharged without proper treatment. Anaerobic digestion of landfill leachate is an environmentally-friendly method that efficiently converts organic compounds into methane-rich biogas. However, the widespread application of anaerobic digestion has been hindered by poor system stability, low methanogenic activity and a high level of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) accumulation, increasing the operational costs of treatment. Conductive materials can be added to the digester to improve the performance of anaerobic digestion in landfill leachate treatment systems and studies reporting the use of conductive materials for this purpose are hereby thoroughly reviewed. The mechanism of microbial growth and enrichment by conductive materials is discussed, as well as the subsequent effect on waste metabolism, methane production, syntrophic relationships and interspecies electron transfer. The porous structure, specific surface area and conductivity of conductive materials play vital roles in the facilitation of syntrophic relationships between fermentative bacteria and methanogenic archaea. In addition, the mediation of direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) by conductive materials increases the methane content of biogas from 16% to 60% as compared to indirect interspecies electron transfer (IIET) in conventional anaerobic digestion systems. This review identifies research gaps in the field of material-amended anaerobic systems, suggesting future research directions including investigations into combined chemical-biological treatments for landfill leachate, microbial management using conductive materials for efficient pollutant removal and the capacity for material reuse. Moreover, findings of this review provide a reference for the efficient and large-scale treatment of landfill leachate by anaerobic digestion with conductive materials.

Despite the recognition of the importance of teachers’ professional development, the exploration of teachers’ Critical Incidents (CIs) as a type of professional development initiative has received ...

This study aimed to develop and validate three measures of Possible Language Teacher Selves: Ideal Language Teacher Self (visions of who a teacher desires to become), Feared Language Teacher Self (who a teacher is afraid of becoming), and Ought-to Language Teacher Self (who significant others expect a teacher to become). To this end, an initial pool of items was prepared based on a review of the related literature and interviews with a group of participants. Through exploratory factor analysis, items for each scale were selected and were further corroborated by confirmatory factor analysis. The internal reliability and content, discriminant, and convergent validity indices were also ascertained in the validation process. The results suggest that the developed scales are reliable and valid measures of language teachers’ possible selves.

This review focuses on the research literature published in 2018 relating to thermal effects in wastewater and solid waste treatment. This review is divided into the following sections: treatment of wastewater and sludge, removal and recovery of nitrogen and phosphorus, reduction and recovery of heavy metals, membrane technology, and treatment and disposal of solid wastes. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Thermal effect plays an important role in the treatment of wastewater and sewage sludge. Recovery of nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater and sewage sludge offers an excellent feedstock for soil amendment. Increase of treatment temperature facilitates removal and recovery of heavy metals from water and soil environment.

In this paper, N-TiO2/Graphene/Ho2O3/Titanium bifacial nanocomposite electrode was prepared. First, the effect of Ho2O3 to N-TiO2 wt.% in the nanocomposite preparation matrix was investigated through studying visible light photoelectrocatalysis process in industrial wastewater decolorization. Characterizations of optimum catalyst were performed using DRS, XRD, SEM and EDX analyses. Then, the effect of operating variables i.e. catalyst dosage (electrode number(s)), wastewater pH, applied bias potential, visible light power and contact time on the extent of wastewater decolorization was investigated by the visible light photoelectrocatalysis process. It was observed that almost 80% wastewater decolorization was achieved using the photoelectrocatalysis at the optimum conditions by N-TiO2/Graphene/(10%) Ho2O3. Artificial neural network was used for model the photoelectrocatalysis process and determine the relative importance of investigated operating variables. It was also established that combination of photoelectrocatalysis with ozonation yielded 100% decolorization in 90 min and 96% COD removal in 270 min under the optimized conditions. Moreover, the catalyst sheet was enough stable to be used in all wastewater treatment experiments.

Sediment transport over Sandy Point dredge pit in the northern Gulf of Mexico during a cold front event in November 2014 was examined using a finely resolved numerical model. The Delft3D model was used to perform numerical experiments that simulate the effect of wind-generated waves, wind-driven currents, river discharge, and tides on sediment dynamics in Sandy Point dredge pit. The hydrodynamics and sediment models were validated and calibrated using field data of current, wave, water level, and suspended sediment concentration. Two potential sources of sediment were examined: fluvial sediment from the Mississippi River and resuspended sediments from the seabed. Results showed that during a cold front, shear stress from wave motions played a significant role in the resuspension of sediments in Sandy Point dredge pit. The maximum cold front-related wave impact on sediment resuspension could increase near-bed sediment concentration in Sandy Point dredge pit by 20–50 times. In addition, the results suggest that the primary source of sediment for Sandy Point dredge pit during a cold front was resuspension from the ambient seabed due to increased bottom shear stress by wind-induced waves and strong southward wind-driven currents. Currents dispersed sediments from the Mississippi River passes and inhibited riverine sediment supply from Sandy Point dredge pit. Results also showed that cold fronts contribute 16%–24% of the annual sedimentation in Sandy Point dredge pit.

Rail is considered as one of the most important ways of transferring passengers. High passenger loads has implications on train punctuality. One of the important parameters affecting punctuality is the average boarding/alighting time. Organizing boarding/alighting flows not only reduces the risk of extended dwell time, but also minimizes the risk of injuries and improves the overall service quality. In this paper, we investigate the possibility of minimizing the boarding/alighting time by maintaining a uniform load on carriages through systematic distribution of passengers with flexible tickets, such as season or anytime tickets where no seat information are provided at the time of reservation. To achieve this, the proposed algorithm takes other information such as passenger final destination, uniform load of luggage areas, as well as group travelers into account. Moreover, a discrete event simulation is designed for measuring the performance of the proposed method. The performance of the proposed method is compared with three algorithms on different test scenarios. The results show the superiority of the proposed method in terms of minimizing boarding/alighting time as well as increasing the success rate of assigning group of seats to group of passengers.

In the light of the substantial surge of interest in identity in L2 teacher research, it has become necessary to explore the inner dynamics of the development/construction of the construct. For this reason, the present study draws on data from face-to-face interviews, class observations, and the participants' Instagram pages to explore two EFL teachers’ identity development. Informed by activity theory as a conceptual lens, the iterative analyses of the data revealed that identity development was principally enacted by individual teachers. This individual identity enactment was, however, shown to be mediated by the teachers' past personal experiences, prolonged engagement in the practice of teaching, the immediate contextual and the broader social structure (family, organizational culture, community of friends/colleagues, and the society as a broad activity system), future-oriented ideals, tensions and conflicts involved in the negotiation of multiple identities the teachers experienced, and the power relations and tensions involved in parallel or alternate systems of activity they were engaged in. The article concludes by suggesting that teacher education initiatives should establish an explicit focus on teacher identity.

This paper addresses the issue of computational resource allocation within the context of cooperative coevolution. Cooperative coevolution typically works by breaking a problem down into smaller subproblems (or components) and coevolving them in a round-robin fashion, resulting in a uniform resource allocation among its components. Despite its success on a wide range of problems, cooperative coevolution struggles to perform efficiently when its components do not contribute equally to the overall objective value. This is of crucial importance on large-scale optimization problems where such difference are further magnified. To resolve this imbalance problem, we extend the standard cooperative coevolution to a new generic framework capable of learning the contribution of each component using multi-armed bandit techniques. The new framework allocates the computational resources to each component proportional to their contributions towards improving the overall objective value. This approach results in a more economical use of the limited computational resources. We study different aspects of the proposed framework in the light of extensive experiments. Our empirical results confirm that even a simple bandit-based credit assignment scheme can significantly improve the performance of cooperative coevolution on large-scale continuous problems, leading to competitive performance as compared to the state-of-the-art algorithms.

Single pretreatment of sewage sludge, either physical, chemical or biological, has its own drawbacks in term of poor sanitization, energy intensity and high operational and capital cost. To tackle these drawbacks, combined high pressure homogenization (HPH) and free nitrous acid (FNA) pretreatment for sludge solubilization and further biodegradation in anaerobic digestion was investigated. Synergistic effect of combined HPH (40 MPa) and FNA (2.49 mg/L) pretreatment (HPH-FNA) for improving anaerobic digestion was evaluated, and its effect on archaeal and bacterial community structure was analyzed. Compared with single HPH and FNA pretreatments, HPH-FNA pretreatment efficiently solubilized wasted activated sludge (WAS), subsequently improved anaerobic digestion. Cumulative biogas production from sewage sludge pretreated with HPH-FNA was 154%, 108% and 284% more than that with single pretreatment of FNA, HPH and raw sludge, respectively. In addition, volumetric biogas production of combined pretreatment system (815 ml) was more than the sum from single pretreatment (710 ml). Methane content in biogas for raw sludge, FNA, HPH and HPH-FNA pretreated sludge was 45%, 51%, 55% and 65%, respectively. Illumina MiSeq sequencing analysis revealed that HPH-FNA pretreatment promoted bacterial growth of phyla Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Synergistetes and archaeal genera Methanospirillum and Methanosaeta. Overall, combined HPH-FNA pretreatment of sewage sludge, prior to anaerobic digestion, is an environmentally-friendly and potentially economic technology.