Hasil untuk "Information resources (General)"

Mark Clayton

S. Verba, Nancy Burns, K. Schlozman

M. Heidari, Animesh Dutta, B. Acharya et al.

Abstract Greenhouse gases emitted from the excessive use of fossil fuels are threatening the environment, and thus alternative resources like biomass are being considered as a replacement. Biomass with high moisture content is better treated by hydrothermal carbonization method than any other process to generate biofuel. Research on this method on a lab scale has progressed recently. However, due to the complex reaction mechanisms and operational barriers, more improvements are required to make it a commercial technology. This paper aims to review the development of hydrothermal carbonization with a focus on the practical aspects of the process. Many references have been reviewed critically to provide a well-structured source for improving this process. After providing information about the biomass structure and general knowledge of hydrothermal carbonization, the challenges faced in attempts to improve the process have been identified as lack of valid kinetic and heat transfer models and insufficient data on continuous and large-scale reactors. Useful and practical suggestions have been presented to tackle all these challenges.

A. Al-Fahoum, Ausilah Al-Fraihat

Technically, a feature represents a distinguishing property, a recognizable measurement, and a functional component obtained from a section of a pattern. Extracted features are meant to minimize the loss of important information embedded in the signal. In addition, they also simplify the amount of resources needed to describe a huge set of data accurately. This is necessary to minimize the complexity of implementation, to reduce the cost of information processing, and to cancel the potential need to compress the information. More recently, a variety of methods have been widely used to extract the features from EEG signals, among these methods are time frequency distributions (TFD), fast fourier transform (FFT), eigenvector methods (EM), wavelet transform (WT), and auto regressive method (ARM), and so on. In general, the analysis of EEG signal has been the subject of several studies, because of its ability to yield an objective mode of recording brain stimulation which is widely used in brain-computer interface researches with application in medical diagnosis and rehabilitation engineering. The purposes of this paper, therefore, shall be discussing some conventional methods of EEG feature extraction methods, comparing their performances for specific task, and finally, recommending the most suitable method for feature extraction based on performance.

S. Kaish, B. Gilad

C. Cadogan, C. Hughes

The global spread of COVID-19 is placing unprecedented demands on healthcare services. In this time of crisis, innovative and adaptive methods of practising will be required across all health professions. In order to maximise the use of current available resources, it is vital that existing services are comprehensively reviewed and full use is made of any unrealised potential among healthcare providers. Community pharmacy is one of a number of health professions that has a key role to play in responding to the current pandemic. As the scope of community pharmacy practice varies considerably across countries, it is important to examine ways in which the profession can assist with the public health response to COVID-19 and maintaining the continuity of healthcare services. This article seeks to highlight roles and activities that community pharmacists can undertake to help in relieving pressure on other areas of the health service, such as general practice. This information could help to inform future decisions about the restructuring of existing health services by governments, public health bodies and policy makers in response to public health crises such as COVID-19.

P. López-García, M. Hermenegildo

G. Adesso, T. Bromley, M. Cianciaruso

Quantum information theory is built upon the realisation that quantum resources like coherence and entanglement can be exploited for novel or enhanced ways of transmitting and manipulating information, such as quantum cryptography, teleportation, and quantum computing. We now know that there is potentially much more than entanglement behind the power of quantum information processing. There exist more general forms of non-classical correlations, stemming from fundamental principles such as the necessary disturbance induced by a local measurement, or the persistence of quantum coherence in all possible local bases. These signatures can be identified and are resilient in almost all quantum states, and have been linked to the enhanced performance of certain quantum protocols over classical ones in noisy conditions. Their presence represents, among other things, one of the most essential manifestations of quantumness in cooperative systems, from the subatomic to the macroscopic domain. In this work we give an overview of the current quest for a proper understanding and characterisation of the frontier between classical and quantum correlations (QCs) in composite states. We focus on various approaches to define and quantify general QCs, based on different yet interlinked physical perspectives, and comment on the operational significance of the ensuing measures for quantum technology tasks such as information encoding, distribution, discrimination and metrology. We then provide a broader outlook of a few applications in which quantumness beyond entanglement looks fit to play a key role.

Brian Hilligoss, Soo Young Rieh

D. Grant, Rex T. Nelson, S. Cannon et al.

SoyBase, the USDA-ARS soybean genetic database, is a comprehensive repository for professionally curated genetics, genomics and related data resources for soybean. SoyBase contains the most current genetic, physical and genomic sequence maps integrated with qualitative and quantitative traits. The quantitative trait loci (QTL) represent more than 18 years of QTL mapping of more than 90 unique traits. SoyBase also contains the well-annotated ‘Williams 82’ genomic sequence and associated data mining tools. The genetic and sequence views of the soybean chromosomes and the extensive data on traits and phenotypes are extensively interlinked. This allows entry to the database using almost any kind of available information, such as genetic map symbols, soybean gene names or phenotypic traits. SoyBase is the repository for controlled vocabularies for soybean growth, development and trait terms, which are also linked to the more general plant ontologies. SoyBase can be accessed at http://soybase.org.

F. Torabi, Garrett Warnell, P. Stone

Imitation from observation (IfO) is the problem of learning directly from state-only demonstrations without having access to the demonstrator's actions. The lack of action information both distinguishes IfO from most of the literature in imitation learning, and also sets it apart as a method that may enable agents to learn from a large set of previously inapplicable resources such as internet videos. In this paper, we propose both a general framework for IfO approaches and also a new IfO approach based on generative adversarial networks called generative adversarial imitation from observation (GAIfO). We conduct experiments in two different settings: (1) when demonstrations consist of low-dimensional, manually-defined state features, and (2) when demonstrations consist of high-dimensional, raw visual data. We demonstrate that our approach performs comparably to classical imitation learning approaches (which have access to the demonstrator's actions) and significantly outperforms existing imitation from observation methods in high-dimensional simulation environments.

Euijong Lee, Young-Duk Seo, Se-Ra Oh et al.

Recently, there has been an increase in studies relating to the Internet of Things (IoT) in various fields, such as smart cities, smart homes, smart factories, and healthcare. In an IoT environment, several entities, including users, devices, and information resources, are interconnected and interworked with services. Therefore, interoperability between different entities is essential to accomplish the goals of IoT systems. Further, security is another important aspect to achieve in an IoT environment to protect information resources and privacy when networking between different entities. Therefore, security and interoperability may be significant barriers in the implementation of IoT in the real world. Several studies have been conducted to investigate methods for accomplishing interoperability and security in IoT, but they address only specific problems. Hence, compatibility and generality must be considered to accomplish the goals of IoT systems. International standards provide general methods by listing protocols, rules, guidelines, and characteristics that are defined and approved by authorized organizations, helping develop and manage systems efficiently by applying these standards; interoperability and security are supported by adopting standards in development and management. Therefore, the adoption of international standards is required to overcome the barriers in IoT. Furthermore, international standard organizations are developing IoT-related standards that may provide a solution to interoperability and security. However, a study focusing on interoperability- and security-related standards has not yet been conducted. Therefore, in this paper, we focus on international standards related to interoperability and security for IoT environments. Moreover, we studied international standard organizations that have been developing standards for IoT. In this study, a systematic literature review is conducted, and international standards are analyzed. In addition, any remaining challenges related to interoperability and security for IoT standards are discussed.

Claire Anderson, Lydia Niemi, Naoko Arakawa et al.

Objectives This qualitative study explored public and prescriber awareness of pharmaceutical pollution in the water environment and eco-directed sustainable prescribing (EDSP) as a mitigation strategy to reduce the environmental impact of prescribing in Scotland.Design Focus groups explored prescriber and public perceptions of the topic. Common questions were asked through semistructured facilitation. Focus groups were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim using an artificial intelligence system, then anonymised and thematically analysed using NVivo software. Data were iteratively analysed using the one sheet of paper technique.Setting Public focus groups were held in-person (Inverness, Scotland, April 2023), and prescriber focus groups were held virtually (MS Teams, August 2023).Participants Nine public representatives and 17 NHS Scotland prescribers participated in one of four focus groups. Purposive and opportunistic sampling approaches were used to recruit participants through social media and other channels (ie, community groups, professional emails, general practitioner and hospital flyers). Prescriber representatives registered interest through an online survey to gather information about their professional background. Responses were reviewed to ensure representation of a mixture of medical backgrounds, experience, sectors and health boards.Results There is growing awareness among the public and healthcare professionals of pharmaceutical pollution in the environment, but further education is required on the drivers, potential effects and possible interventions. Suggestions for more sustainable healthcare included public health awareness campaigns, better provision for pharmacy take-back schemes, clear medicine/packaging labelling, regular medicines reviews and more considered patient-centred care. From the prescriber perspective, EDSP resonated well with current sustainability initiatives (eg, Realistic Medicine, switching to dry-powder inhalers), but barriers to EDSP included lack of knowledge, confidence, time and resources to implement changes. Although the public representatives were generally open to the concept of EDSP, this decision required weighing pros/cons considering personal health choices, information accessibility and transparency, and trust in and time with prescribers.Conclusions This study identified new insights from prescribers and the public related to the concept of, and barriers to, EDSP in Scotland, as well as perspectives regarding knowledge support tools and information communication. Cross-sector and transdisciplinary collaborative approaches are needed to address the challenges identified here. Nonetheless, EDSP merits further exploration in developing more sustainable, appropriate and effective healthcare which contributes to improved public and planetary health.

Anusha M D, Deepthi Vikram, Bharathi Raja Chakravarthi et al.

Tulu, a low-resource Dravidian language predominantly spoken in southern India, has limited computational resources despite its growing digital presence. This study presents the first benchmark dataset for Offensive Language Identification (OLI) in code-mixed Tulu social media content, collected from YouTube comments across various domains. The dataset, annotated with high inter-annotator agreement (Krippendorff's alpha = 0.984), includes 3,845 comments categorized into four classes: Not Offensive, Not Tulu, Offensive Untargeted, and Offensive Targeted. We evaluate a suite of deep learning models, including GRU, LSTM, BiGRU, BiLSTM, CNN, and attention-based variants, alongside transformer architectures (mBERT, XLM-RoBERTa). The BiGRU model with self-attention achieves the best performance with 82% accuracy and a 0.81 macro F1-score. Transformer models underperform, highlighting the limitations of multilingual pretraining in code-mixed, under-resourced contexts. This work lays the foundation for further NLP research in Tulu and similar low-resource, code-mixed languages.

Mahboobeh Delpasand, Somayeh Sadat Akhshik, Siamak Mahboub

Objective: This study was conducted with the aim of investigating the level of readiness of librarians in Iranian public libraries to provide readers’ advisory services. Method: This study was conducted using a descriptive-survey method. The statistical population included all librarians working in public libraries under the supervision of the Public Libraries Institution of the country, and a sample of 365 people was selected by convenience sampling method. The research tool was a researcher-made questionnaire with 80 questions that measured readers' consulting competencies in three dimensions: personal characteristics, knowledge, and skills. The data were analyzed using a five-point Likert scale in SPSS. Results: Librarians are at an average level of overall readiness to provide consulting services. In the personal characteristics dimension, librarians were at the above-average level in the components of critical thinking, professional commitment, creative thinking, self-awareness, and non-judgment. In the knowledge dimension, the cultural, legal, evaluation, and development components were at the above-average level, but the process knowledge component was below-average. In the skill dimension, all components were evaluated to be at the above-average level. Conclusion: Based on the results, librarians need to improve their process knowledge and also more develop their skills to provide more effective consulting services.

Chunmei Mao, Junjun Niu

IntroductionThe Yangtze River Delta is where “the Belt and Road” and China’s Yangtze River Economic Belt converge, which plays a crucial strategic location. However, with the demands of economic growth, environmental issues are frequently present in the Yangtze River Delta as a result of human and exploitation of ecological resources, and there is an urgent need to coordinate the relationship between human development and ecology.MethodsThe Yangtze River Delta region is used as the research subject, quantitatively analyzing various ecosystems within the region from three dimensions: ecosystem services value, ecological carrying capacity, and ecological footprint, and analyzing various factors that affect economic and environmental balance. Then calculate eco-compensation and its payment order based on this information, in order to build a foundation for coordinating ecological interests and safeguarding the environment in the Yangtze River Delta region.Results and discussion(1) Jiangsu Province was the main provider of ecosystem services in the Yangtze River Delta; the Yangtze River Delta’s three main ecosystems-waters, forests, and wetlands-accounted for 90% of the ecosystem services valued in the area and must be preserved. (2) The Yangtze River Delta as a whole belonged to an ecological deficit area, showing varying degrees of unsustainable development; In terms of ecological deficits, cultivated land and fossil energy had the worst, and both need to be treated severely. (3) The Yangtze River Delta was a region that paid ecological compensation. The payment order and total amount was 6825.596 billion yuan in Shanghai, 6412.264 billion yuan in Jiangsu, 12088.852 billion yuan in Zhejiang, and 3675.637 billion yuan in Anhui. At the same time, considering the current state of Anhui, the amount of eco-compensation can be appropriately reduced. Finally, recommendations are made based on the findings above, in order to improve the overall ecological benefits of the Yangtze River Delta region and foster ecological integration, all provincial and municipal governments should take reasonable action to reverse the ecological deficit of fossil energy and cultivated land, and also aim to achieve an ecological surplus in both land uses.

Umair Iqbal, Muhammad Zain Bin Riaz

Blockage of cross-drainage hydraulic structures is a significant concern in water resources and civil engineering projects, particularly in urban areas experiencing increased debris supply. During storms or floods, debris can accumulate and restrict the flow capacity of these structures, leading to potential failures and adverse impacts on flood levels. While some argue that blockage at culverts is a non-issue, scientific research supports its significance in specific regions. However, in context of rivers and dams, blockage by Large Wood (LW) is an established issue with plenty of research in terms of its hydraulic impacts, dynamics, modeling and scouring impacts. Specifically in Australasia the Australian Rainfall and Runoff (ARR) initiative recognized the importance of studying blockage at culverts and introduced guidelines incorporating it into design and modeling. These guidelines also included post flood visual inspections of structures to understand blockage, however, this approach has been criticized by hydraulic engineers arguing that post flood visuals can not be considered as the representation of the peak floods blockage. Recently, an approach of using visual information to interpret the blockage has been adopted as a new dimension to the problem. This paper, therefore, highlights the advances, challenges, and opportunities in studying blockage, emphasizing the need for data-driven approaches and interdisciplinary collaboration. Understanding and addressing blockage are crucial for ensuring the efficient operation and longevity of hydraulic structures and promoting the resilience of infrastructure systems in the face of evolving environmental conditions.

Zhao Ying , Wang Haixia , Wang Yi et al.

Water resources are basic natural and economic resources of strategic significance and are vital for the high-quality agricultural development and ecological protection of the Yellow River Basin. To implement the national strategy of ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin, it is significant to improve the use efficiency and allocation of water resources in the basin. This study focuses on the high-efficiency utilization and sustainable development of agricultural water resources, adopts the research methods of systematic hydrology, and adheres to an all-encompassing approach to food. Based on the theories and technologies for the optimal allocation of water resources in the process of high-quality agricultural development, it explores the mechanism for the hydrologic process of farmlands and investigates the challenges faced in terms of water use efficiency improvement, optimal allocation of agricultural and ecological water resources, collaborative optimization of water, food, and ecosystem, and construction of farmland information systems. Countermeasures are further proposed. This study reviews the agricultural water-saving and water resource allocation capabilities of the whole Yellow River Basin from a water cycle perspective and is expected to provide basic support for the optimal allocation of land and water resources, high-quality agricultural development, and ecological protection collaboration in the Yellow River Basin.

Rahim Abdollahzadeh kahrizi, Amir Hossein Kokabinezhad Moghaddam, Edris Merufinia

IntroductionThe increase in demand for water resources due to population growth and economic development along with water wastage and a decrease in rainfall, on the other hand, has made it significant to pay attention to water demand and make sound policies. Our country is facing the risk of a water crisis in the coming years, mainly due to its location in a dry and semi-arid climate, as well as the ever-increasing growth of water consumption. To alleviate the water crisis, international trade in agricultural products can play a significant role in redistributing water resources because traded goods contain a large amount of virtual water. Water restriction in Iran is an undeniable fact, for this purpose, trading based on virtual water can be a solution to reduce the effects of water restriction. Due to being located in a dry and semi-arid climate, Iran is facing the risk of a water crisis in the coming years. Therefore, in order to deal with it, it is necessary to be more sensitive to the types of water consumption. Among these uses is virtual water. The water used in the production process of goods is called virtual water, a part of which is kept in the product. Virtual water trade occurs when goods are imported into global markets. Virtual water trading is expected to reduce water consumption at the national and international levels due to more efficient and specialized use of water. Today, the concept of virtual water is one of the most critical issues in water resources management. Today, the problem of water shortage has become a serious concern due to climate changes and uneven distribution of rainfall in most regions and countries, including Iran, and is considered the most important obstacle to the economic development of these countries. Trade as a tool to prevent the unnecessary withdrawal of water resources, focusing on the strategy of virtual water trade, can play an essential role in achieving the economic development of countries. Materials and Methods The study area of the research is the Shiblo-Poldasht plain in the northwest of Iran. This area is located in the east of the Poldasht study area and in the north of the Qara Ziauddin study area. The aim of this research was to investigate the statistical status of the cultivated area, the production performance, and the evaluation of the productivity and virtual water of agricultural crops in the Poldasht plain. The time frame of the research is from 2011 to 2021 in an 11-years period. Accurate calculation and determination of water requirement (m3 ha-1). The amount of water required by a plant for its proper growth, taking into account the loss of evaporation and transpiration of the plant, is called the water requirement of the plant. Therefore, the water requirement of the plant depends on the amount of evaporation and transpiration of the plant. It is worth noting that due to different climates and weather conditions, plant growth conditions and as a result, the amount of water needed by plants are also different. In the present research, the various productivity indicators and virtual water of the crops of Dasht-Poldasht have been examined. Moreover, according to the objectives of the research, the physical and financial indicators of water productivity, including the performance index per unit of water volume (CDP), income per unit of water volume (BPD), and net return per unit of water volume (NBPD) have been calculated. Results and Discussion In this research, the amount of virtual water and the productivity index as well as the net and gross economic value of the major crops grown in Poldasht city in West Azarbaijan province were investigated. In this regard, first, data and information related to crops were collected through relevant organizations and institutions, and NETWAT, CROPWAT, and CLIMWAT programs and Excel programs were used to draw graphs and graphical results. Then the yield of crops was calculated by dividing the amount of crops produced by the area of ​​planting crops and the productivity index and virtual water. The results of this research show that the watermelon crop with a harvesting area of ​​5789 ha and a production rate of 237951000 kg and a production yield of 41103.99 kg ha-1 with a water requirement of 2760 m3 ha-1 has a productivity of 14.89 kg m-3 and has The highest level of productivity is also the results show that the alfalfa product is the lowest level of productivity. It is worth noting that despite the fact that the watermelon product has high production and productivity at a very low harvest level, it is also a very water-loving product that has a relatively high water requirement, and generally experts are looking for an alternative product due to the lack of water resources. Finally, it is suggested that traditional (submerged) irrigation methods should be replaced by modern pressurized irrigation methods so that in addition to increasing efficiency and productivity, we can see a reduction in water consumption and its wastage. It is also suggested that the water requirements of agricultural crops be compared with each other using the data of the Agricultural Jihad Organization and the aforementioned programs, and its effect on the amount of water consumed and its savings, as well as the net and gross values ​​of the production of crops, and the final results It is compared with the national water document to fully verify the amount of water needed. Conclusion Despite the fact that the watermelon product has high production and productivity at a very low harvest level, it is also a very water consuming product possessing a relatively high water requirement, and generally experts are looking for an alternative product, due to the lack of water resources. Finally, it is suggested that traditional flood irrigation methods should be replaced by modern pressurized irrigation methods, so that in addition to increasing efficiency and productivity, we can encounter with a reduction in water consumption and its wastage. It is also suggested that the water requirement of agricultural crops should be compared with each other using the data of the Agricultural Jihad Organization and the aforementioned programs, and its effect on the amount of water consumed and its saving, as well as the net and gross values of crop production, should be evaluated. Finally, the results have been compared with the national water document so that the amount of water needed can be fully verified.

Zhihong WANG, Supeng LENG, Kai XIONG

Driven by the development of intelligent internet of things (IoT) technology, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarms have been widely used for sensing and monitoring in emergency and rescue scenarios.The UAVs automatically sense and discover mission targets in the mission area, recruiting neighboring UAVs to form perception and computation task groups to collaboratively complete the perception, acquisition and processing of data.However, repetitive sensory data and imbalance in the supply and demand of computational resources between multiple tasks cause additional computational and communication overheads and increase the end-to-end processing latency.To address this challenge, a multi-task resource allocation approach combining bionics and multi-agent independent reinforcement learning was proposed, making collaborative resource allocation decisions based on local task information.The method represents the resource requirements of individual tasks as situational information concentrations and dynamically updates the heterogeneous resource requirements of each task by spreading the situational information across task groups.At the same time, it combines multi-agent independent reinforcement learning methods for intelligent decision making in order to collaboratively allocate the heterogeneous resources of each task.Simulation results show that this solution can not only effectively reduce the task execution time, but also significantly improve the computational resource utilization.