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Cloud detection is one of the important tasks in remote sensing image preprocessing, and this paper uses RGB preview images of remote sensing images to extract cloud regions efficiently. The preview images make the detection of cloud regions more challenging due to the lack of resolution and spectral information. The existing remote sensing image cloud detection methods, and feature fusion process, due to unreasonable feature fusion strategy, so that the encoded features cannot be fully utilized, which may introduce noise information, and ultimately lead to the problems of false detection and missing detection. To address these problems, this work designs a gated aggregation network (GANet) for remote sensing image cloud detection. GANet has a novel encoder–decoder architecture, a gated feature aggregation module (GFAM), and a pyramidal attention pooling module (PAPM). GFAM bridges the gap between high resolution with spatial details and low-resolution features with high-level semantics, fully selectively fusing semantic and spatial features to alleviate the semantic divide problem when fusing multi-level features. PAPM extracts multi-scale global contextual features without loss of resolution. The method is validated on three datasets: the publicly available 38-Cloud and SPARCS datasets and the self-built Landsat-8 cloud detection dataset with higher spatial resolution. The experimental results show that the proposed method achieves competitive performance under different evaluation metrics. Codes and datasets can be found at https://github.com/HaiLei-Fly/GANet/. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern key-value (KV) storage systems adopt append-only writes to update KV pairs with the out-of-place manner, because the performance of sequential accesses is much better than that of random accesses for HDDs. Compaction or GC operations will be deployed by traditional KVs or KV separation schemes due to updating KV pairs via append-only writes. Unfortunately, the system performance will be hurt because extra reads and writes are triggered during those operations, especially under update-intensive workloads.We find that the performance gap for SSDs between sequential and random accesses will get close when the request size becomes large in our experiments. Motivated by this, we propose InPlaceKV built atop SSDs, which adopts an in-place large-update scheme with a hotness-aware method to update KV pairs rather than use append-only writes with the LSM-tree. We further design the working flow of system operations with appropriate data structures. Finally, we compare InPlaceKV with state-of-the-art KV storage systems via extensive experiments under update-intensive workloads, and results validate the effectiveness of our design in improving the system throughput. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tandem bicycles are used for all para-cycling events for visually impaired athletes. Tandems are structurally more challenging to design than solo bicycles: they must resist higher loading over a longer wheelbase, yet must still fit between the legs of the riders. Despite this, there is limited published work on tandem design. This paper presents a method for determining maximal loading of a tandem bicycle frame in racing scenarios. The only inputs required are the dimensions of the frame and the torques exerted by the riders. Outputs are the forces acting on the frame. The method is used to provide loads for structural analyses of tandem frames of different topologies. Twisting of the frame under a starting effort is shown to be the worst load case. The "double diamond" is shown to be the most efficient tubular frame design, on a stiffness per weight basis, but is only 2% superior to an "open" topology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of digital media has changed the way people live and learn. In the context of the new era, digital media is gradually integrating into people's life and learning. Digital media contains massive images, and fine-grained image recognition for digital media has become an important topic. The challenge of fine-grained image recognition is that the difference between different categories is small, and the difference between the same categories is sometimes large. This work designs a fine-grained image recognition based on feature enhancement (FIRFE). This extracts as much information as possible from fine-grained images under weak supervision to improve the recognition accuracy. When the existing methods extract image features, the feature extraction other than the most significant local feature is not enough. This deals with local features alone and ignores the relationship between features. First, this paper designs a feature enhancement and suppression module to process image features. Secondly, this paper designs pyramid residual convolution. This uses different scale convolution kernels to capture different levels of features in the scene. Thirdly, this paper uses the softpool method to rationally allocate the information weight in the pooling process. Fourth, this paper uses feature focus module to mine more features. This focuses on obtaining similar information in multiple local features as discriminant features to further improve the recognition. Fifthly, this paper carried out systematic experiments on the designed method. The proposed method achieves 94.3%/95.7% accuracy, 92.9%/94.1% recall, and 91.4%/92.2% F1 score on different datasets. This verified the superiority of this method for fine-grained image recognition of digital media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a methodology for developing a volcano-seismic event classification system using a multi-station deep learning approach to support monitoring the Nevados del Chillán Volcanic Complex, which has been active since 2017. A convolutional network of multiple inputs processes the information from an event recorded up to five seismic stations. Each record is represented by its normalized spectrogram; thus, the network may receive from one to five spectrograms as input. The design includes entering additional information into the network, like the stations configuration and the event duration, information not provided by the spectrograms. Finally, this work includes the design and implementation of a relational database to access the continuous traces of events, showing different subsets of data quickly and efficiently. The results show that the classification of an event recorded up to five stations is substantially more effective than a single-station strategy. However, incorporating additional information of the signal does not significantly improve the classification performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of quantum technology challenges the security of modern cryptography, which causes concern from the cryptographic community about the quantum implementation of cryptographic algorithms, as it is an important component of many quantum attacks. In this paper, the construction of quantum circuits for Camellia block cipher is investigated. Firstly, a 4-bit S-box is derived from the hardware circuit of the Camellia S-box, which divides the S-box circuit into three parts. Then, based on the rearranged circuit, as well as the implementation of the CCCNOT gate, the construction of the NCT-based circuit for the Camellia S-box is researched. Meanwhile, combined with the observations on the rearranged S-box circuit and the discussion on the in-place implementation of different matrices, a quantum circuit for the Camellia S-box with lower T-depth is presented. As an application, the various S-box circuits are used to construct quantum circuits for the Camellia family. The results reveal that the memory-efficient and depth-efficient quantum circuits of Camellia can be constructed with lower T-depth and T · M value. Besides, for each instance of Camellia, compared with existing state-of-the-art implementation with lowest T-depth and T · M value, the depth-efficient circuit designed in this work only costs about 35% of the qubits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work demonstrates the design and straightforward syntheses of several novel probe-based on rhodamine B and 2-mercaptoquinoline-3-carbaldehydes as a naked-eye colorimetric probe, indicating a sensitive and selective recognition towards nickel (II) with a limit of detection 0.30 μmol L−1 (0.02 mg L−1). Further, by employing the oxidation property of hypochlorite (OCl−), this novel probe parallelly has been deployed to detect hypochlorite in laboratory conditions with a limit of detection of 0.19 μmol mL−1 and in living cells. Regarded to negligible cell toxicity toward mammalian cells, this probe has the potential to determine these analytes in in-vivo investigation and foodstuff samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work designs a powerful new nonlinear control technique using synergetic control (SC), proportional-integral (PI) controller, and genetic algorithm (GA) for multi-rotor wind energy (MRWE) conversion systems, whereby an asynchronous generator (AG) is used to achieve optimal energy extraction. The direct power control (DPC) technique is used based on the proposed SC-PI-GA (SPI-GA) technique to control the AG-based MRWE system, where this new nonlinear control technique is used to achieve stable control characteristics under random changes in wind speed and to provide great robustness against modeling uncertainties. Moreover, the pulse width modulation (PWM) technique is used to control the AG inverter due to its simplicity and ease of implementation. In this proposed DPC-SPI-GA technique, we need to measure current and voltage to estimate the active power and the reactive power. Also, inner loops are not used in this proposed DPC-SPI-GA technique as is the case in the field-oriented control (FOC) technique, where the proposed system in this work is characterized by an integrated structure. Three different tests are proposed to study and verify the behavior of the designed DPC-SPI-GA strategy compared to the traditional DPC technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this work is to design a new iterative method based on Armijo's type-modified extragradient method for solving the inclusion problem (A + B) - 1 (0) , where A is a maximal monotone vector field and B is a continuous monotone vector field. The proposed method requires one projection at each iteration, reducing the cost of computational viewpoint and improving the convergence rate. A convergence theorem is established for the proposed extragradient method, significantly improving existing results. We provide concrete examples of Hadamard manifolds and convergency for numerical confirmation. Moreover, we demonstrate convergence results for the variational inequality problems in which the vector field's monotonicity can be removed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work demonstrates the design and straightforward syntheses of several novel probe-based on rhodamine B and 2-mercaptoquinoline-3-carbaldehydes as a naked-eye colorimetric probe, indicating a sensitive and selective recognition towards nickel (II) with a limit of detection 0.30 μmol L−1 (0.02 mg L−1). Further, by employing the oxidation property of hypochlorite (OCl−), this novel probe parallelly has been deployed to detect hypochlorite in laboratory conditions with a limit of detection of 0.19 μmol mL−1 and in living cells. Regarded to negligible cell toxicity toward mammalian cells, this probe has the potential to determine these analytes in in-vivo investigation and foodstuff samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this work is to design continuous feedback controls for global asymptotic stabilization (GAS) of affine systems, with control value set given by a convex polytope. This stabilization problem is solved based on a design of a feedback function restricted to the hyperbox and obtained by means of the CLF theory. By "normalizing" this feedback, the continuous stabilizer restricted to such control value set is obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents a design of a power-performance-area optimized MOS current mode logic pre-scaler. The divide-by-3 pre-scaler is realized in TSMC 180 nm technology node. The post-layout simulation results show that the proposed pre-scaler can operate faithfully up to 10.58 GHz operating frequency in the worst speed corner with a maximum power dissipation of 2.86 mW at the worst power corner. The divider occupies 0.115 × 0.128 mm2 area. The overall performance trade-off presents the figure of merit: FoM of 24 dB, which shows a better trade-off when compared with the state of the art. The impact of PVT variations is also analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constructions with vibratory mixing devices designed for processing liquids, suspensions, and gas–liquid dispersions are reviewed analytically. Various design schemes of such devices are discussed, the design features of the working bodies are described, and various design options for vibration drives and equipment operating modes are examined. More than 170 relevant patent documents published within the last 70 years are identified to determine the development trend of the technology. Analysis of the global development trends suggests that inventors are interested in works performed to improve the current types of equipment and to develop new ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study synthesized 14 published and unpublished group design and single-case design studies on bullying interventions for individuals with disabilities. The specific objectives were to examine the general characteristics and design qualities of the studies, quantify the magnitude of the intervention effects, and identify potential moderating variables. Four studies were excluded from the meta-analysis due to being outliers or having insufficient data. The design qualities of the 14 studies were assessed before conducting the meta-analysis. Analysis of the study characteristics revealed that approximately one-third of the studies included participants with a singular diagnosis, many of the participants were elementary or secondary high school age, researcher was the most common implementer, schools were the most common setting, and interventions targeted bully victims more than bullies themselves. The results indicated that six studies (43%) met the What Works Clearinghouse Design Standards, with or without reservations. The overall effect size for bullying intervention with individuals with disabilities was small, and effect size of individual studies was small to large. Interventions implemented by teachers had the largest effect size; however, no statistical significance was found across implementers. Implications for practice and future research are discussed in the following areas: implementer, dose of intervention, and implementation supports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A filter structure that can realize 2D circular filters of different bandwidths, which can be controlled by any arbitrary rational values without changing the overall architecture and without having the prior knowledge of the bandwidths to be realized, is the main contribution of this work. Here, a multiplier-less transformation is made use of to obtain the two dimensional (2D) filter from its one dimensional (1D) counterpart. The first stage of the work involves the design of a Farrow structure based variable bandwidth 1D filter. The Farrow filter obtained is of non-linear phase and since the transformation based methods to design the 2D filters can be applied only to the linear phase 1D filter, a fold and average block are employed to convert the 1D Farrow filter into linear phase. Finally, to map the coefficients from 1D to the 2D domain, a multiplier-free P 3 transformation is employed. Thus, by cascading a 1D Farrow filter with a fold and average block and transformation block, different circular filters with a wide range of bandwidths decided by tuning a single parameter in the 1D domain are obtained. Hence, the complexity of implementation of this proposed arbitrarily variable circular filter involves only the complexity of realizing a 1D Farrow filter, a fold and average block and the transformation block. The fine adjustability in bandwidths and the performance parameters of the 2D filters resulting from the proposed architecture are illustrated with the help of variable low-pass and band-pass circular filters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'digital plumber' is a conceptualisation in ubicomp research that describes the work of installing and maintaining IoT devices. But an important and often understated element of commercial IoT solutions is their long-term socio-technical infrastructural nature, and therefore long-term installation and maintenance needs. This adds complexity to both the practice of digital plumbing and to the work of design that supports it. In this paper we study a commercial company producing and installing IoT alarm systems. We examine video recordings that capture how a digital plumbing representative and software development team members make changes to both the installation process and supporting technology. Our data enables us to critically reflect on concepts of infrastructuring, and uncover the ways in which the team methodically foreground hidden elements of the infrastructure to address a point of failure experienced during field trials of a new version of their product. The contributions from this paper are twofold. Firstly, our findings build on previous examples of infrastructuring in practice by demonstrating the use of notions of elemental states to support design reasoning through the continual foregrounding and assessment of tensions identified as key factors at the point of failure. Secondly, we build on current notions of digital plumbing work. We argue that additional responsibilities of 'reporting failure' and 'facilitation of change' are part of the professional digital plumbing role and that commercial teams should support these additional responsibilities through collaborative troubleshooting and design sessions alongside solid communication channels with related stakeholders within the product team. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work designs a powerful new nonlinear control technique using synergetic control (SC), proportional-integral (PI) controller, and genetic algorithm (GA) for multi-rotor wind energy (MRWE) conversion systems, whereby an asynchronous generator (AG) is used to achieve optimal energy extraction. The direct power control (DPC) technique is used based on the proposed SC-PI-GA (SPI-GA) technique to control the AG-based MRWE system, where this new nonlinear control technique is used to achieve stable control characteristics under random changes in wind speed and to provide great robustness against modeling uncertainties. Moreover, the pulse width modulation (PWM) technique is used to control the AG inverter due to its simplicity and ease of implementation. In this proposed DPC-SPI-GA technique, we need to measure current and voltage to estimate the active power and the reactive power. Also, inner loops are not used in this proposed DPC-SPI-GA technique as is the case in the field-oriented control (FOC) technique, where the proposed system in this work is characterized by an integrated structure. Three different tests are proposed to study and verify the behavior of the designed DPC-SPI-GA strategy compared to the traditional DPC technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel approach is proposed to suppress bounded exogenous disturbances in linear control systems using a PI controller. The approach is based on reducing the original problem to a nonconvex matrix optimization problem. A gradient method for finding the controller's parameters is derived and its justification is provided. The corresponding recurrence procedure is rather effective and yields quite satisfactory controllers in terms of engineering performance criteria. This paper continues a series of the author's research works devoted to the design of feedback control laws from an optimization point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the complexity of teams involved in creating AI-based systems, how can we understand who should be held accountable when they fail? This paper reports findings about accountable AI from 26 interviews conducted with stakeholders in AI drawn from the fields of AI research, law, and policy. Participants described the challenges presented by the distributed nature of how AI systems are designed, developed, deployed, and regulated. This distribution of agency, alongside existing mechanisms of accountability, responsibility, and liability, creates barriers for effective accountable design. As agency is distributed across the socio-technical landscape of an AI system, users without deep knowledge of the operation of these systems become disempowered, unable to challenge or contest when it impacts their lives. In this context, accountability becomes a matter of building systems that can be challenged, interrogated, and, most importantly, adjusted in use to accommodate counter-intuitive results and unpredictable impacts. Thus, accountable system design can work to reconfigure socio-technical landscapes to protect the users of AI and to prevent unjust apportionment of risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presented the design and test of a double-arm actuated compliant piezoelectric microgripper based on three-stage amplification mechanism, which can also perceive the gripping displacement and force simultaneously. Developing a proper structure for the microgripper to achieve large amplification ratio in a compact space and to ensure sufficient natural frequency is a fundamental and challenging task. Firstly, the structure of piezoelectric microgripper was designed and the kinematic principle of the amplification mechanism was analyzed. Meanwhile, theoretical and simulation analysis of the statics and dynamics were carried out. Then, the calibration methods for both force and displacement sensors are presented. The calibration coefficients are 0.163 mN/mV and 0.040 μ m/mV , respectively. Finally, a series of experiments were performed to verify the performance of the designed microgripper. The test results show that the displacement amplification ratio of the microgripper is 16.8, and the maximum output displacement of 102.30 μ m and the maximum gripping force of 227.70 mN can be reached when applying a sinusoidal input voltage with the frequency of 0.10 Hz and the amplitude of 100 V . The closed-loop experiment shows that the peak-to-valley errors of both gripping displacement and force are less than 0.49 μ m and 3.74 mN respectively. The obtained natural frequency of 215.1 Hz. The micro-gripper achieves excellent static and dynamic performance in clamping accuracy, natural frequency, clamping range, and dual finger independence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ising model provides a natural mapping for many computationally hard combinatorial optimization problems (COPs). Consequently, dynamical system-inspired computing models and hardware platforms that minimize the Ising Hamiltonian, have recently been proposed as a potential candidate for solving COPs, with the promise of significant performance benefit. However, prior work on designing dynamical systems as Ising machines has primarily considered quadratic interactions among the nodes. Dynamical systems and models considering higher order interactions among the Ising spins remain largely unexplored, particularly for applications in computing. Therefore, in this work, we propose Ising spin-based dynamical systems that consider higher order (> 2) interactions among the Ising spins, which subsequently, enables us to develop computational models to directly solve many COPs that entail such higher order interactions (i.e., COPs on hypergraphs). Specifically, we demonstrate our approach by developing dynamical systems to compute the solution for the Boolean NAE-K-SAT (K ≥ 4) problem as well as solve the Max-K-Cut of a hypergraph. Our work advances the potential of the physics-inspired 'toolbox' for solving COPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synthetic oscillators have become a research hotspot because of their complexity and importance. The construction and stable operation of oscillators in large-scale environments are important and challenging. Here, we introduce a synthetic population-level oscillator in Escherichia coli that operates stably during continuous culture in non-microfluidic environments without the addition of inducers or frequent dilution. Specifically, quorum-sensing components and protease regulating elements are employed, which form delayed negative feedback to trigger oscillation and accomplish the reset of signals through transcriptional and post-translational regulation. We test the circuit in devices with 1 mL, 50 mL, 400 mL of medium, and demonstrate that the circuit could maintain stable population-level oscillations. Finally, we explore potential applications of the circuit in regulating cellular morphology and metabolism. Our work contributes to the design and testing of synthetic biological clocks that function in large populations. A synthetic population-level oscillator in Escherichia coli is designed in non-microfluidic environments without the addition of inducers or frequent dilution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hygroscopic properties of wood have been utilized in adaptive façades to respond to variation in humidity levels. Shape-shifting materials have been developed to replace mechanical actuators that respond to climatic variation with zero-energy consumption. This paper presents a systematic review of the literature on the use of hygromorphic behaviour in developing adaptive architectural façades, with the primary focus of identifying the venues of implementation of hygroscopic actuation in adaptive facades. The paper triangulates the intersection between hygroscopic design parameters with manufacturing strategies and their application as a passive motion mechanism in adaptive facades. This review focuses on state-of-the-art experimental work in hygroscopic design, with specific interest in manufacturing methods of hygromorphic adaptive façades, response motion behaviour evaluation and tracking, analysis of the current applications of hygromorphic design in real weather conditions, and performance prediction. Results reveal that most of the studied papers focus on the response behaviour of programmable materials to variation in moisture content and the implementation of hygroscopic design in adaptive façades. From the literature analysis, it was shown that programming the response behaviour of hygroscopic materials mainly takes place through variation in fabrication methods, followed by passive layer configurations, which act as actuators that are controlled by differences in layer properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multilevel inverter (MLI) has grown rapidly in recent years to achieve higher voltage levels, lower voltage stress of the power switches, and lower harmonic distortion of the inverter voltage. The proposed work emphasizes the design of a generalized multilevel inverter using symmetrical and asymmetrical DC sources at the input. The merit of the proposed MLI can efficiently reduce the power electronic devices to produce the output voltage and generate seven-level using 7 power switches, whereas generating 11, 13, and 15-level using ten power switches only. Proposed MLI can be expanded in a cascaded fashion, reducing complexity, and size and thus significantly improving inverter cost and performance. With some newly developed topologies, a wide range of comparisons are made in order to prove the performance of the proposed MLI. Besides, the total standing voltage and the level-to-switch ratio are estimated to show the effectiveness of the proposed inverter further, and the parameters are compared with the newly developed MLI topologies. A multicarrier pulse width method, as well as a low-frequency modulation technique, is adopted to generate the desired gate pulses of the IGBT switches using the DSPACE-1103-based controller. A laboratory prototype of the proposed seven-level, 11-level, 13-level, and 15-level inverters is developed, and the experimental results of the MLIs at different loading or voltage conditions are presented. Further, the inverter losses, efficiency, and the %THD are also analyzed and compared with the other topologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cryogenic liquids such as liquid nitrogen are of relevance for numerous processes in engineering, and the food and pharmaceutical industries. However, as a result of its strong evaporation at ambient conditions, its handling for laboratory purposes and experimentation is so far cumbersome. In the present work an original design approach for a supply device for liquid nitrogen is developed and characterized in detail. With the device pure liquid nitrogen is supplied from a pressurized dewar flask to a hypodermic needle without contamination of the liquid with its own vapor or frost, finally enabling to generate a free liquid jet or single droplets in a way comparable to the handling of non-cryogenic liquids using a syringe and a hypodermic needle. Compared to previous approaches for the generation of liquid nitrogen droplets in scientific studies which mostly rely on a reservoir for liquid nitrogen from which droplets form at a bottom outlet due to gravity, the present design allows generation of droplets and free liquid jets in a significantly better controlled and more flexible way. The device is experimentally characterized for varying operational conditions during generation of a free liquid jet, and its versatility for laboratory research purposes is further briefly demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum hash function is an important area of interest in the field of quantum cryptography. Quantum hash function based on controlled alternate quantum walk is a mainstream branch of quantum hash functions by virtue of high efficiency and flexibility. In recent development of this kind of schemes, evolution operators determined by an input message depend on not only coin operators, but also direction-determine transforms, which usually are hard to extend. Moreover, the existing works ignore the fact that improper choice of initial parameters may cause some periodic quantum walks, and further collisions. In this paper, we propose a new quantum hash function scheme based on controlled alternate lively quantum walks with variable hash size and provide the selection criteria for coin operators. Specifically, each bit of an input message determines the magnitude of an additional long-range hop for the lively quantum walks. Statistical analysis results show excellent performance in the aspect of collision resistance, message sensitivity, diffusion and confusion property, and uniform distribution property. Our study demonstrates that a fixed coin operator, along with different shift operators, can effectively work on the design of a quantum hash function based on controlled alternate quantum walks, and shed new light on this field of quantum cryptography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To metallize non-metallic surfaces by cold spray, bond layers (BLs) are often used to achieve a degree of compatibility between the substrate and the deposit and generally to mitigate the disparate properties of substrate and deposit. The objective of the present work is to design hybrid (Al-epoxy) BLs for metallization of epoxy-based carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRPs) and to determine parametric effects on adhesion and deposition yield. The few studies that have focused on metal deposition onto thermoset composites have highlighted risks of erosion of the thermoset matrix and of fiber fracture. To address these problems, a BL is introduced to reduce erosion of CFRP and to provide surfaces for impinging powder to cold-weld onto and interlock. Effort is devoted to engineer a BL compatible with cold spray and to develop understanding of the quantitative effects of BL microstructure on adhesion. The BL microstructure strongly affected the adhesion of the deposit, which relied on BL-CFRP, powder-BL, and powder-powder bonding. Analysis of initial stages of deposition revealed matrix erosion and subsequent compaction, both contributing to mechanical interlocking. The findings indicate a pathway for CS deposition onto CFRP through judicious design of BLs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental flow is an important indicator of river health as it maintains the natural flow pattern of riverine ecosystem. Although numerous researches for analyzing the hydrological alterations are there, still insightful investigation of site specific knowledge should be required for riverine ecosystem protection. In this study, the objective is to analyze the hydrological status of the Sone river basin in Bihar region, India. This study also focuses to develop a flow duration curve (FDC) to show the time duration–frequency of low-flow events. The hydrological status of the basin was analyzed using indicators of hydrologic alteration (IHA). Low flows were estimated using period of record flow duration curve (POR FDC), and design environmental flow was assessed for 10-year and 100-year return period using stochastic flow duration curve (stochastic FDC). Daily discharge data collected from Koelwar station of Sone river for 1990–2020 period were used for the hydrological analysis. Depending on the quantitative and qualitative assessment of the hydrological alterations, it was found that the hydrological status of the river basin is in a "very altered" state. The POR FDC analyzed 7-day mean discharge values (7dQ) appropriate for determining low flows, and discharge values corresponding to 95% probability of exceedance (Q95) were considered as low flow for 7dQ. Stochastic FDCs generated 7-day mean flow duration curves for 10-year (7Q10) and 100-year (7Q100) recurrence intervals. Discharge values corresponding to 95% probability of exceedance for 7Q10 range from 120 to 125 cumec and those for 7Q100 range from 135 to 140 cumec. The methodology proposed in this work to design environmental flow considering the effects of hydrological alteration can help in making the long-term strategies to protect the riverine ecosystem in Sone river basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coordination of maintenance work in manufacturing poses a crucial productivity factor in small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) but often seems to be rather neglected in practice as well as in much of the literature on maintenance. We shed light upon maintenance coordination work by presenting a design case study conducted in an SME over approximately two years. We took a participatory design-oriented approach, involving all roles on the shopfloor affected by maintenance work. In three major iterations during the pre-study, a release-ready prototype was developed and implemented by the users over the course of one year. The evaluation of the tool showed how a new and mostly unintended practice of information flow, error reporting, and prioritization emerged such that, for instance, foremen becoming a central node of communication, formal prioritization shifting away from higher management, and actual prioritization being done by maintainers. This paper contributes to the body of CSCW work on maintenance practice in SMEs by presenting detailed empirical findings on the coordination work of maintainers, as well as the evaluation of socio-technical interventions into maintenance practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our work group designed and synthesized a promissory compound N-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-2-propylpentanamide (HO-AAVPA). The HO-AAVPA is a HDAC1 inhibitor and antiproliferative in cancer cell lines. However, HO-AAVPA is poor water solubility and enzymatically metabolized. In this work, the fourth-generation poly(amidoamine) dendrimer (PAMAM-G4) was used as a drug deliver carrier of HO-AAVPA. Moreover, HO-AAVPA and HO-AAVPA-PAMAM complex were submitted to forced degradation studies (heat, acid, base, oxidation and sunlight). Also, the HO-AAVPA-PAMAM-G4 complex was assayed as antiproliferative in a breast cancer cell line (MCF-7). The HO-AAVPA-PAMAM-G4 complex was obtained by docking and experimentally using three pH conditions: acid (pH = 3.0), neutral (pH = 7.0) and basic (pH = 9.0) showing that PAMAM-G4 captureand protect the HO-AAVPA from forced degradation, it is due to sunlight yielded a by-product from HO-AAVPA. In addition, the PAMAM-G4 favored the HO-AAVPA water solubility under basic and neutral pH conditions with significant difference (F(2,18) = 259.9, p < 0.001) between the slopes of the three conditions being the basic condition which solubilizes the greatest amount of HO-AAVPA. Finally, the HO-AAVPA-PAMAM-G4 complex showed better antiproliferative effects on MCF-7 (IC50 = 75.3 μM) than HO-AAVPA (IC50 = 192 μM). These results evidence that PAMAM-G4 complex improve the biological effects of HO-AAVPA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present review introduces the electrochemical properties of macrocyclic compounds in the light of their use as supramolecular electrochemically controlled systems with reversible switchable binding of ions, molecules and redox-triggered reversible molecular motion of components with respect to each other. In particular, the electrochemical properties of calix[n]arenes, macrocyclic biindolizines, pseudorotaxanes, rotaxanes and catenanes are comprehensively considered. Besides that, the present article provides the readers with the brightest examples of reversible redox-switchable molecular motions, redox-switchable shuttles on the basis of mechanically interlocked molecules such as catenanes and rotaxanes. Donor and acceptor structural blocks of considered macrocyclic systems are described separately with the aim to familiarize the readers with this information first before introduction to the redox-switchable systems on their basis. Finally, the paper contains references to the most important and comprehensive literature on the subject of redox-switchable molecular systems. This approach will be especially useful for young researches wishing to study and work in the field of design of electrochemically driven devices based on supramolecular complexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern software development requires agile methods to deploy and scale increasingly demanded distributed systems. Practitioners have adopted the microservices architecture to cope with the challenges posed by modern software demands. However, the adoption and deployment of this architecture also creates technical and organizational challenges, potentially slowing down the development and operation teams, which require more time and effort to implement a quality deployment process that allows them to constantly release new features to production. The adoption of a DevOps culture, along with its practices and tools, alleviates some of these new challenges. In this paper we propose a guide for the deployment of systems with a microservices architecture, considering the practices of a DevOps culture, providing practitioners with a base path to start implementing the necessary platform for this architecture. We conducted this work following the Design Science Research Methodology for Information Systems (DSRM). In this way, we identified the problem, and also defined the solution objectives through the execution of a Systematic Literature Mapping and a Gray Literature Review, having as a result the proposed guide. This work can be summarized as follows: (I) Identification of practices and technologies that support the deployment of microservices. (II) Identification of recommendations, challenges, and best practices for the deployment process. (III) Modeling of the microservices deployment process using SPEM. (IV) Integration of the knowledge in a guide to deploying microservices by adopting DevOps practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A determination of the composition of primary cosmic rays in the energy range between 1 and 1000 PeV is an important objective in studies of processes involving the formation and propagation of cosmic rays. On the basis of experience gained in exploiting the SPHERE-2 balloon-based facility, a SPHERE-3 facility, which possesses a wider aperture and a better optical resolution, is developed. The current status of work on designing this facility is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has been an interest in visual sports analytics, and especially in player and ball detection, action recognition, and camera pose estimation in various sports. The greatest interest is associated with football or soccer. The purpose of this work is the design and implementation of a low-cost methodology that extracts football analytics from simple TV broadcasts, using solely computer vision techniques. In the paper, we discuss the state of the art in this field and propose an integrated pipeline that solves the problem of player localization in the court and extracts useful insights. Technical details concerning the proposed methods that enhance track player–ball movement and camera pose, along with post-analytic results, are presented. The paper concludes with some future expansions of the proposed pipeline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lower costs and higher employee satisfaction are some of the benefits driving organizations to adopt dispersed and virtual working arrangements. Despite these advantages, product design engineering teams—those who develop physical products—have not widely adopted this working style due to perceived critical dependence on physical facilities and the belief that it is ineffective to communicate technical details virtually. This paper uses the mass shift in working conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to explore the feasibility of virtual and distributed work in product design engineering. We conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with product design engineers working virtually to uncover current challenges of, and the beginning of promising strategies for, effective virtual engineering work. We categorize and analyze Tangible Design activities, Intangible Design activities, and Communication and Project Management activities throughout the product design process. Contrary to present opinions, we found that much of a product design engineer's work is realizable in a virtual and distributed setting. However, there are still many challenges, especially when attempting Tangible Design activities—those that require physical products and tools—from home. These challenges, missing from existing virtual product design engineering literature, include but are not limited to individuals' lessened sense of accountability, fewer de-risking opportunities before product sign-off, and limited supervision of production staff. Product design engineers described novel strategies that emerged organically to mitigate these challenges, such as creating digital alternatives for engineering reviews and sign-offs and leveraging rapid prototyping. Recent advances in technology, an increased commitment to reducing environmental impact, and better work-life balance expectations from new generations of workers will only push society faster towards a distributed working model. Thus, it is critical that we use this opportunity to understand the existing challenges for distributed product design engineers, so that organizations can best prepare and become resilient to future shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A ternary synergistic photocatalyst H3PW12O40/Pt/UiO-66-NH2 was successfully fabricated for the first time through a simple solvothermal synthetic strategy. We found that the introduced solid acid of H3PW12O40 could provide bonded H+ to improve the oxidation power of Cr(VI), while the introduction of Pt would enhance the charge separation to provide abundant electrons, as a result showing a synergistic effect to facilitate the fast Cr(VI) reduction to Cr(III) under original pH conduction. Benefited from the aforementioned advantages, the as-prepared H3PW12O40/Pt/UiO-66-NH2 shows excellent photocatalytic performance toward toxic Cr(VI) reduction, where the Cr(VI) with a concentration of 10 mg L–1 could be totally reduced into its low toxic state of Cr(III) within one hour of catalytic reaction under neutral pH conditions. The innovative design shown in this work opens a new viewpoint in planning high performance semiconductors for environmental concerned applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fog computing has the capability to provide computing resources to end-to-end devices like Internet-of-Things (IoT), thereby reducing the burden on the cloud. However, due to the growth of IoT devices and an increase in resource consumption, load balancing in fog computing has turned into a challenging task, since improper load allocation may result in underutilization and overutilization while transferring the tasks from one node to another. In order to solve these challenges, we presented an Energy-efficient load balancing algorithm named Hybrid Priority Assigned Laxity (HPAL) algorithm that allocates the tasks to a suitable Virtual Machine (VM) and completes the task within the minimum time. After the task allocation, the load balancing is handled by calculating the fog optimal time and minimum execution time. Response Time (RT), Processing Time (PT), Delay Time (DT), Execution Time (ET) and Energy Consumption (EC) are the five factors considered in this work to design an energy-efficient load balancing in Fog Nodes (FNs). The proposed algorithm carries two phases, among which in the first phase the task is allocated to each VM according to priority within the fog optimal time and in the second phase, the reallocation of tasks is executed within the minimum execution time considering the energy factor. Therefore, the task migration between the FNs is handled in an energy-efficient manner without affecting the lifetime of the FNs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper is described a methodology of design of satellite mechanism consisting of two non-circular gears (externally toothed rotor and internally toothed curvature) and circular gears (satellites). In the presented methodology is assumed that the rotor pitch line is known, and the curvature pitch line is necessary to designate. The presented methodology applies to mechanisms for which the number of the curvature humps is at least one greater than the number of rotor humps. The selection of the number of gears and the number of teeth in gear and rotor and curvature is also presented. The methodology of calculating the position of the satellite center and the angle of its rotation in order to shape the teeth on the rotor and curvature is presented. The article is also showed different types of satellite mechanisms—satellite mechanisms with the different numbers of humps on the rotor and curvature. The technical parameters of the mechanism for the rotor pitch line described by the cosine function are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this work is to design a novel nonlinear fractional seventh kind of singular (NSKS) Emden–Fowler model (EFM), i.e., NSKS-EFM together with its six categories. The novel design of NSKS-EFM is obtained with the use of typical EFM of the second kind. The shape factor and singular points detail is accessible for all six categories of the NSKS-EFM. The singular problems arise in the mathematical engineering problems, like as inverse models, creep or viscoelasticity problems. To check the correctness of the designed novel NSKS-EFM, three different cases of the first category will be solved by using the supervised neural networks (SNNs) together with the Levenberg–Marquardt backpropagation method (LMBM), i.e., SNNs-LMBM. A reference dataset based on the exact solutions with the SNNS-LMBM will be performed for each case of the novel NSKS-EFM. The obtained approximate solutions of all three cases of the first group based on the novel NSKS-EFM is available using the testing, training and verification procedures of the proposed NNs to summarize the mean square error (MSE) along with the LMBM. To check the efficiency, effectiveness, and correctness of the novel NSKS-EFM and the proposed SNNS-LMBM, the numerical investigations are obtainable using the comparative actions of MSE results, regression, error histograms and correlation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the requirements of a flight planning tool for safe urban operations, which may be used to design operations considering flight constraints and limitations. This system is designed to work in coordination with an unmanned traffic management system in charge of distributing available very low level airspace resources among different operations and authorizing them, and of monitoring compliance of actual flights with flight authorizations. Representative examples of flight planning are described, as calculated by a prototype flight planning tool following this requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This pre-registered work was designed to replicate and extend previous research finding that autonomy is associated with greater extent of belief in symbolic immortality (feeling that some aspect of an individual will endure and/or be remembered long after death). Study 1 (n = 1185) replicated this prior work, finding that self-reported autonomy predicted extent of belief in symbolic immortality, which mediated the relationship between autonomy and meaning in life. Study 2 (n = 117) provided an experimental extension of Study 1, finding that reading about an individual with an autonomous (vs. controlled) life increased perceptions of that individual's symbolic immortality, which mediated the relationship between reading about the autonomous life and perceptions of the individual's satisfaction with life. Study 3 (n = 175) replicated the results of Study 2 and also showed that the extent to which people viewed the target individual as feeling autonomous predicted perceptions of that individual's symbolic immortality even after controlling for perceived self-esteem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of the mechanisms linked to creativity has become a topic of great interest in various scientific fields in recent decades. One area in which a particularly large amount of research has been conducted is on the positive effect of natural environments on creativity. Yet, none of these studies have focused on the interaction that may arise with the design method used. That is, they consider the empowering effect of nature on creativity to be something general, without taking into account other factors that may influence it, such as the type of methodology used. This paper therefore aims to go a step further and investigate how the type of design methodology used—intuitive or logical—in a simulated natural environment affects the designer's creativity. The analysis of both the design process and its outcomes shows that the main differences in the way of working with design methodologies occur mainly in the case of intuitive methodologies, helping designers to improve the quality of their outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work focuses on the design, modeling, simulation and parametric analysis of fixed-guided two beam (FG2B) and fixed-guided four beam (FG4B) piezoelectric energy harvester for ambient energy harvesting application. In these configurations, two and four rectangular beams are connected to the square-shaped proof mass at the center of the structure. The parametric analysis is carried out for the evaluation of displacement, von Mises stress, electric potential and total electric energy generated under varying load conditions i.e., from 1 to 5 g (g = 9.8 m / s 2) . From the modal and the static analysis, it can be deduced that the two beams of FG2B and the four beams of FG4B arrangements are capable of generating 930 mV and 945.12 mV and 48.84 pJ and 51 pJ of electric potential and total electric energy at 5 g input acceleration with the resonant frequency of 556.29 Hz and 780.36 Hz, respectively. These configurations can also be implemented as an energy harvester for low frequency applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few years, automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RSs) have been increasingly improving. It is worth mentioning that multi-shuttle storage/retrieval (S/R) machines were gradually introduced to the market some years ago. These machines, which possess a high speed of execution, are able to transport several pallets at a time during the same trip, as opposed to single-shuttle S/R machines, which can carry only one pallet at a time. It should be noted that the installation of this type of system requires a significant financial investment, and therefore, it is highly recommended that this system be well studied and designed prior to its installation. It is widely acknowledged that one of the most important objectives while designing an AS/RS is to achieve the shortest time for one single cycle. The present work aims at designing an AS/RS with optimal dimensions for the purpose of minimizing the time in a multi-cycle implementation. To do this, it was decided to consider a multi-aisle automated storage/ retrieval system (AS/RS) with a multi-shuttle S/R machine. In addition, a genetic algorithm (GA) was used for the optimization of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New technologies are ever evolving and have the power to change human work for the better or the worse depending on the implementation. For human–robot interaction (HRI), it is decisive how humans and robots will share tasks and who will be in charge for decisions on task allocation. The aim of this online experiment was to examine the influence of different decision agents on the perception of a task allocation process in HRI. We assume that inclusion of the worker in the allocation will create more perceived work resources and will lead to more satisfaction with the allocation and the work results than a decision made by another agent. To test these hypotheses, we used a fictional production scenario where tasks were allocated to the participant and a robot. The allocation decision was either made by the robot, by an organizational unit, or by the participants themselves. We then looked for differences between those conditions. Our sample consisted of 151 people. In multiple ANOVAs, we could show that satisfaction with the allocation process, the solution, and with the result of the work process was higher in the condition where participants themselves were given agency in the allocation process compared to the other two. Those participants also experienced more task identity and autonomy. This has implications for the design of allocation processes: The inclusion of workers in task allocation can play a crucial role in leveraging the acceptance of HRI and in designing humane work systems in Industry 4.0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is growing, widespread recognition that expectations of US primary care vastly exceed the time and resources allocated to it. Little research has directly examined how time scarcity contributes to harm or patient safety incidents not readily capturable by population-based quality metrics.To examine near-miss events identified by primary care physicians in which taking additional time improved patient care or prevented harm.Qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews.Twenty-five primary care physicians practicing in the USA.Participants completed a survey that included demographic questions, the Ballard Organizational Temporality Scale and the Mini-Z scale, followed by a one hour qualitative interview over video-conference (Zoom). Iterative thematic qualitative data analysis was conducted.Primary care physicians identified several types of near-miss events in which taking extra time during visits changed their clinical management. These were evident in five types of patient care episodes: high-risk social situations, high-risk medication regimens requiring patient education, high acuity conditions requiring immediate workup or treatment, interactions of physical and mental health, and investigating more subtle clinical suspicions. These near-miss events highlight the ways in which unreasonably large patient panels and packed schedules impede adequate responses to patient care episodes that are time sensitive and intensive or require flexibility.Primary care physicians identify and address patient safety issues and high-risk situations by spending more time than allotted for a given patient encounter. Current quality metrics do not account for this critical aspect of primary care work. Current healthcare policy and organization create time scarcity. Interventions to address time scarcity and to measure its prevalence and implications for care quality and safety are urgently needed.Objective: There is growing, widespread recognition that expectations of US primary care vastly exceed the time and resources allocated to it. Little research has directly examined how time scarcity contributes to harm or patient safety incidents not readily capturable by population-based quality metrics.To examine near-miss events identified by primary care physicians in which taking additional time improved patient care or prevented harm.Qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews.Twenty-five primary care physicians practicing in the USA.Participants completed a survey that included demographic questions, the Ballard Organizational Temporality Scale and the Mini-Z scale, followed by a one hour qualitative interview over video-conference (Zoom). Iterative thematic qualitative data analysis was conducted.Primary care physicians identified several types of near-miss events in which taking extra time during visits changed their clinical management. These were evident in five types of patient care episodes: high-risk social situations, high-risk medication regimens requiring patient education, high acuity conditions requiring immediate workup or treatment, interactions of physical and mental health, and investigating more subtle clinical suspicions. These near-miss events highlight the ways in which unreasonably large patient panels and packed schedules impede adequate responses to patient care episodes that are time sensitive and intensive or require flexibility.Primary care physicians identify and address patient safety issues and high-risk situations by spending more time than allotted for a given patient encounter. Current quality metrics do not account for this critical aspect of primary care work. Current healthcare policy and organization create time scarcity. Interventions to address time scarcity and to measure its prevalence and implications for care quality and safety are urgently needed.Design: There is growing, widespread recognition that expectations of US primary care vastly exceed the time and resources allocated to it. Little research has directly examined how time scarcity contributes to harm or patient safety incidents not readily capturable by population-based quality metrics.To examine near-miss events identified by primary care physicians in which taking additional time improved patient care or prevented harm.Qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews.Twenty-five primary care physicians practicing in the USA.Participants completed a survey that included demographic questions, the Ballard Organizational Temporality Scale and the Mini-Z scale, followed by a one hour qualitative interview over video-conference (Zoom). Iterative thematic qualitative data analysis was conducted.Primary care physicians identified several types of near-miss events in which taking extra time during visits changed their clinical management. These were evident in five types of patient care episodes: high-risk social situations, high-risk medication regimens requiring patient education, high acuity conditions requiring immediate workup or treatment, interactions of physical and mental health, and investigating more subtle clinical suspicions. These near-miss events highlight the ways in which unreasonably large patient panels and packed schedules impede adequate responses to patient care episodes that are time sensitive and intensive or require flexibility.Primary care physicians identify and address patient safety issues and high-risk situations by spending more time than allotted for a given patient encounter. Current quality metrics do not account for this critical aspect of primary care work. Current healthcare policy and organization create time scarcity. Interventions to address time scarcity and to measure its prevalence and implications for care quality and safety are urgently needed.Participants: There is growing, widespread recognition that expectations of US primary care vastly exceed the time and resources allocated to it. Little research has directly examined how time scarcity contributes to harm or patient safety incidents not readily capturable by population-based quality metrics.To examine near-miss events identified by primary care physicians in which taking additional time improved patient care or prevented harm.Qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews.Twenty-five primary care physicians practicing in the USA.Participants completed a survey that included demographic questions, the Ballard Organizational Temporality Scale and the Mini-Z scale, followed by a one hour qualitative interview over video-conference (Zoom). Iterative thematic qualitative data analysis was conducted.Primary care physicians identified several types of near-miss events in which taking extra time during visits changed their clinical management. These were evident in five types of patient care episodes: high-risk social situations, high-risk medication regimens requiring patient education, high acuity conditions requiring immediate workup or treatment, interactions of physical and mental health, and investigating more subtle clinical suspicions. These near-miss events highlight the ways in which unreasonably large patient panels and packed schedules impede adequate responses to patient care episodes that are time sensitive and intensive or require flexibility.Primary care physicians identify and address patient safety issues and high-risk situations by spending more time than allotted for a given patient encounter. Current quality metrics do not account for this critical aspect of primary care work. Current healthcare policy and organization create time scarcity. Interventions to address time scarcity and to measure its prevalence and implications for care quality and safety are urgently needed.Approach: There is growing, widespread recognition that expectations of US primary care vastly exceed the time and resources allocated to it. Little research has directly examined how time scarcity contributes to harm or patient safety incidents not readily capturable by population-based quality metrics.To examine near-miss events identified by primary care physicians in which taking additional time improved patient care or prevented harm.Qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews.Twenty-five primary care physicians practicing in the USA.Participants completed a survey that included demographic questions, the Ballard Organizational Temporality Scale and the Mini-Z scale, followed by a one hour qualitative interview over video-conference (Zoom). Iterative thematic qualitative data analysis was conducted.Primary care physicians identified several types of near-miss events in which taking extra time during visits changed their clinical management. These were evident in five types of patient care episodes: high-risk social situations, high-risk medication regimens requiring patient education, high acuity conditions requiring immediate workup or treatment, interactions of physical and mental health, and investigating more subtle clinical suspicions. These near-miss events highlight the ways in which unreasonably large patient panels and packed schedules impede adequate responses to patient care episodes that are time sensitive and intensive or require flexibility.Primary care physicians identify and address patient safety issues and high-risk situations by spending more time than allotted for a given patient encounter. Current quality metrics do not account for this critical aspect of primary care work. Current healthcare policy and organization create time scarcity. Interventions to address time scarcity and to measure its prevalence and implications for care quality and safety are urgently needed.Key Results: There is growing, widespread recognition that expectations of US primary care vastly exceed the time and resources allocated to it. Little research has directly examined how time scarcity contributes to harm or patient safety incidents not readily capturable by population-based quality metrics.To examine near-miss events identified by primary care physicians in which taking additional time improved patient care or prevented harm.Qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews.Twenty-five primary care physicians practicing in the USA.Participants completed a survey that included demographic questions, the Ballard Organizational Temporality Scale and the Mini-Z scale, followed by a one hour qualitative interview over video-conference (Zoom). Iterative thematic qualitative data analysis was conducted.Primary care physicians identified several types of near-miss events in which taking extra time during visits changed their clinical management. These were evident in five types of patient care episodes: high-risk social situations, high-risk medication regimens requiring patient education, high acuity conditions requiring immediate workup or treatment, interactions of physical and mental health, and investigating more subtle clinical suspicions. These near-miss events highlight the ways in which unreasonably large patient panels and packed schedules impede adequate responses to patient care episodes that are time sensitive and intensive or require flexibility.Primary care physicians identify and address patient safety issues and high-risk situations by spending more time than allotted for a given patient encounter. Current quality metrics do not account for this critical aspect of primary care work. Current healthcare policy and organization create time scarcity. Interventions to address time scarcity and to measure its prevalence and implications for care quality and safety are urgently needed.Conclusions: There is growing, widespread recognition that expectations of US primary care vastly exceed the time and resources allocated to it. Little research has directly examined how time scarcity contributes to harm or patient safety incidents not readily capturable by population-based quality metrics.To examine near-miss events identified by primary care physicians in which taking additional time improved patient care or prevented harm.Qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews.Twenty-five primary care physicians practicing in the USA.Participants completed a survey that included demographic questions, the Ballard Organizational Temporality Scale and the Mini-Z scale, followed by a one hour qualitative interview over video-conference (Zoom). Iterative thematic qualitative data analysis was conducted.Primary care physicians identified several types of near-miss events in which taking extra time during visits changed their clinical management. These were evident in five types of patient care episodes: high-risk social situations, high-risk medication regimens requiring patient education, high acuity conditions requiring immediate workup or treatment, interactions of physical and mental health, and investigating more subtle clinical suspicions. These near-miss events highlight the ways in which unreasonably large patient panels and packed schedules impede adequate responses to patient care episodes that are time sensitive and intensive or require flexibility.Primary care physicians identify and address patient safety issues and high-risk situations by spending more time than allotted for a given patient encounter. Current quality metrics do not account for this critical aspect of primary care work. Current healthcare policy and organization create time scarcity. Interventions to address time scarcity and to measure its prevalence and implications for care quality and safety are urgently needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensionally confined nanomaterials, popularly known as layered materials, are an emerging class of novel nano-sized materials with exotic chemical and physical properties. 2D materials like graphene, MoS2 and WS2 have offered fabrication of smart nano-electronic devices in recent years. However, based on their particular application, their properties have to be tuned for specific purposes. Presently, photoelectronic applications of these materials demand fine-tuning of their work function for the design of efficient contact materials, field-emission-based devices and high catalytic response in energy evolution reaction. The work function of layered materials can be effectively modulated through defect engineering. Defects generated in these nanomaterials create strain in the crystal structure which in turn change the work function of the materials. In this work, the defect-induced strain-assisted surface electronic response of layered materials has been reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of asymmetrical disc tools for the mining of hard and very hard rocks is a promising direction for developing mechanical mining methods. A significant obstacle in developing mining methods with the use of asymmetric disc tools is the lack of adequate computational methods. A deep understanding of rock–tool interaction can develop industrial applications of asymmetric disc tools significantly. The fundamental problem in designing work systems with asymmetric disc tools is the lack of adequate analytical models to identify tool loads during the mining process. One reasonable approach is to use computer simulation. The purpose of the research was to develop a simulation model of rock cutting using an asymmetrical disc tool and then evaluate the developed model. In the article, the Discrete-Element Method (DEM) in LS-Dyna was adopted to simulate rock cutting with asymmetrical disc tools. Numerical tests were conducted by pushing the disc into a rock sample at a given distance from the sample edge until the material was detached entirely. Two types of rock samples were used in the simulation tests: concrete and sandstone. The independent variables in the study were the disc diameter and the cut spacing. To validate the simulation model, analogous laboratory tests were carried out. The article presents a comparison of the results of simulation and laboratory tests. The given comparison showed good accordance LS-Dyna model with the experimental studies. The proposed test results can be input data for developing simulation models on a larger scale. Thus, it will be possible to consider the complex kinematics of the dynamics of the rock-mining process with disc tools using the DEM simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Job scheduling in MapReduce plays a vital role in Hadoop performance. In recent years, many researchers have presented job scheduler algorithms to improve Hadoop performance. Designing a job scheduler that minimizes job execution time with maximum resource utilization is not a straightforward task. The primary purpose of this paper is to investigate agents affecting job scheduler efficiency and present a novel classification for job schedulers based on these factors. We provide a comprehensive overview of existing job schedulers in each group, evaluating their approaches, their effects on Hadoop performance, and comparing their advantages and disadvantages. Finally, we provide recommendations on choosing a preferred job scheduler in different environments for improving Hadoop performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Multiple barriers exist to delivering efficient, effective well child care, especially in low-income, immigrant communities. Practice redesign strategies, including group well child care, have shown promise in improving care delivery and healthcare outcomes. To assess the feasibility of a group well child care program at multiple urban, academic practices caring for underserved, mostly immigrant children, and to evaluate health outcomes and process measures compared to traditional care. Methods: Prospective, intervention control study with participants recruited to group well child care visits or traditional visits during the first year of life. A culturally sensitive curriculum was designed based on American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendations. Process and health outcomes were analyzed via patient surveys and medical record information. Results: One hundred and one families enrolled in group care and 74 in traditional care. Group care participants had higher rates of all recommended postpartum depression screening and domestic violence screening (65% vs 37%, 38% vs 17% respectively), higher anticipatory guidance retention (67% vs 37%) and higher patient satisfaction with their provider. The group care redesign did not increase length of time spent in clinic. Conclusions for Practice: Group well child care is a feasible method for practice redesign, which allows for increased psychosocial screening and anticipatory guidance delivery and retention compared to traditional visits, for low income, predominantly immigrant families. Parental satisfaction with group care is higher and these visits provide greater face-to-face time with the provider, without increasing time spent in the practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]