Elite Dung Beetle Optimization Algorithm for Multi-UAV Cooperative Search in Mountainous Environments

This paper aims to address the problem of multi-UAV cooperative search for multiple targets in a mountainous environment,considering the constraints of UAV dynamics and prior environmental information.Firstly,using the target probability distribution map,two strategies of information fusion and information diffusion are employed to solve the problem of environmental information inconsistency caused by different UAVs searching different areas,thereby improving the coordination of UAV groups.Secondly,the task region is decomposed into several high-value sub-regions by using data clustering method.Based on this,a hierarchical search strategy is proposed,which allows precise or rough search in different probability areas by adjusting the altitude of the aircraft,thereby improving the search efficiency.Third,the Elite Dung Beetle Optimization Algorithm(EDBOA)is proposed based on bionics by accurately simulating the social behavior of dung beetles to plan paths that satisfy the UAV dynamics constraints and adapt to the mountainous terrain,where the mountain is considered as an obstacle to be avoided.Finally,the objective function for path optimization is formulated by considering factors such as coverage within the task region,smoothness of the search path,and path length.The effectiveness and superiority of the proposed schemes are verified by the simulation.

CFD Investigation of Diffusion Law and Harmful Boundary of Buried Natural Gas Pipeline in the Mountainous Environment

The leakage gas from a buried natural gas pipelines has the great potential to cause economic losses and environmental pollution owing to the complexity of the mountainous environment.In this study,computational fluid dynamics(CFD)method was applied to investigate the diffusion law and hazard range of buried natural gas pipeline leakage in mountainous environment.Based on cloud chart,concentration at the monitoring site and hazard range of lower explosion limit(LEL)and upper explosion limit(UEL),the influences of leakage hole direction and shape,soil property,burial depth,obstacle type on the diffusion law and hazard range are analyzed.Results show that the leakage gas is not radially diffused until it reaches the ground,and the velocity of gas diffusion to the ground and the hazard range decrease as the angle between the leaking direction and the buoyancy direction increases.Triangular and square leak holes have a faster diffusion rate and a wider hazard range than circular.The diffusion rate of leakage gas in soil rises as soil granularity and porosity increase.The time of leakage gas diffusion to the ground increases significantly with the increase of burial depth,and the hazard range reduces as burial depth increases.Boulder-type obstacles will alter the diffusion path of the leakage gas and accelerate the expansion of the hazard distance,while trench-type obstacles will cause the natural gas to accumulate in the trench and form a high concentration region slowing the expansion of the surface gas concentration.

Combining Landsat-8 spectral bands with ancillary variables for land cover classification in mountainous terrains of northern Pakistan

Landsat-8 spectral values have been used to map the earth’s surface information for decades.However,forest types and other land-use/land-cover(LULC)in the mountain terrains exist on different altitudes and climatic conditions.Hence,spectral information alone cannot be sufficient to accurately classify the forest types and other LULC,especially in high mountain complex.In this study,the suitability of Landsat-8 spectral bands and ancillary variables to discriminate forest types,and other LULC,using random forest(RF)classification algorithm for the Hindu Kush mountain ranges of northern Pakistan,was discussed.After prior-examination(multicollinearity)of spectral bands and ancillary variables,three out of six spectral bands and five out of eight ancillary variables were selected with threshold correlation coefficients r2<0.7.The selected datasets were stepwise stacked together and six Input Datasets(ID)were created.The first ID-1 includes only the Surface Reflectance(SR)of spectral bands,and then in each ID,the extra one ancillary variable including Normalized Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI),Normalized Difference Water Index(NDWI),Normalized Difference Snow Index(NDSI),Land Surface Temperature(LST),and Digital Elevation Model(DEM)was added.We found an overall accuracy(OA)=72.8%and kappa coefficient(KC)=61.9%for the classification of forest types,and other LULC classes by using the only SR bands of Landsat-8.The OA=81.5%and KC=73.7%was improved by the addition of NDVI,NDWI,and NDSI to the spectral bands of Landsat-8.However,the addition of LST and DEM further increased the OA,and Kappa coefficient(KC)by 87.5%and 82.6%,respectively.This indicates that ancillary variables play an important role in the classification,especially in the mountain terrain,and should be adopted in addition to spectral bands.The output of the study will be useful for the protection and conservation,analysis,climate change research,and other mountains forest-related management information.

Hydrogen Therapy Reduces Oxidative Stress-associated Risks Following Acute and Chronic Exposure to High-altitude Environment

Low pressure,low oxygen concentration,and intense ultraviolet（UV）radiation in high-altitude environments,can cause oxidative stress which can trigger mountain sickness.A recent study demonstrated that hydrogen gas with a good permeability in biological membranes can treat various disorders by exerting its selective anti-oxidation and anti-inflammatory effects,indicating that hydrogen therapy plays a role in scavenging free radicals and in balancing oxidation and anti-oxidation systems of ceils. Therefore, we hypothesize that inhaling low-dose hydrogen or drinking hydrogen-saturated water is a novel and simple method to prevent and treat oxidative stress injury caused by low pressure, low oxygen concentration and intense UV radiation in plateaus, thus reducing the risk of mountain sickness.

Influence of environmental predispositions on temperate mountain forest damage at different spatial scales during alternating drought and flood periods:case study in Hruby Jeseník Mts.(Czech Republic)

Mountain forests are more prone to environmental predispositions(EPs)than submountain ones.While remote sensing of mountain forests enables instantaneous damage mapping,the investigation of the causes requires field data.However,a local field or regionally modeled environmental characteristics influence remote data evaluation differently.This study focused on the evaluation of EPs effects damaging mountain forests between various spatial resolutions during environmental change.The evaluation was divided into managed and natural forests in the Hruby Jeseník Mts.(Czech Republic;240-1491 m a.s.l.;50.082°N,17.231°E).Damage was assessed through the discrimination analysis of the normalised difference vegetation index(NDVI)by MODIS VI during alternating drought and flood periods 2003-2014.The local environmental influence was assessed using the discrimination function(DF)separability of forest damage in the training sets.The regional influence was assessed through map algebra estimated via the DF and a forest decline spatial model based on EPs from differences between risk growth conditions and biomass fuzzy sets.Management,EPs and soil influenced forest NDVI at different levels.The management afflicted the NDVI more than the EPs.The EPs afflicted the NDVI more than the soil groups.Strong winters and droughts had a greater influence on the NDVI than the flood events,with the winter of 2005/2006 inverting the DF direction,and the 2003 drought increasing differences in managed forest biomass and decreasing differences in natural forest biomasses.More than 50% of declining managed forests in the training sets occurred on Leptosols,Podzols and Histosols.On a regional scale,the soil influence was eliminated by multiple predispositions.The EPs influenced 96% of natural forest and 65% of managed forest,though managed forest damage was more evident.The mountain forest NDVI decline was dependent on both management and risk predispositions.

Experimental Method for Measuring Non-toilet Mountaineer＇s Excrement

The increasing number of mountain climbers made them a significant source of anthropopression. The paper is focused on the devastating impact of non-toilet human waste on high-mountain environment and discusses the scale of this phenomenon. Four male members, of mean age 31.5 （±0.5） years, volunteered for this study. The study was conducted above 12,286 feet （3,745 m）, and consisted of 12 days of measuring human excrement output, as well as calorie and liquid consumption. The average results showed the amount of human excrement remains left by climbers in high-mountain environment on a daily scale; i.e., feces of approximately 128 g （32 g without water） and approximately 1.8 L of urine. During this study, the average daily diet consisted of 4,000 （± 500） calories and average 3.6 （± 1.1） quarts （3.8 ± 1 L） of water. Based on these data, an example calculation of quantitative values of human feces and urine left by climbers in 2013 on Denali （Mount McKinley） was conducted. Results show that the 1,151 people that climbed Denali within 18 days （the mean residence time in the massif） left behind over 660 kg of feces and more than 37 thousand liters of urine in the massif in 2013 alone.

Glaciers One-TimemThe Society Protagonist of the Research

Glaciers one-time involves the citizenship in the development of a popular scientific project, which, among its objectives, aims to make the society conscious of the glacial retreat in action and to quantify the changes in the mountain landscape. All are invited to take photographs of the modern Italian glaciers with the exact points of view of historical photographs, and to make photographic comparisons. Glaciers one-time is carried out in collaboration with institutions that carry out glaciological activities. The institutional network so has the goal to cooperate together for the promotion of research within the society and the understanding of the landscape changes due to retreat of the glaciers. With the active participation of citizenship, it was possible to do a picture of glaciation to publicize the awareness of the state of health of the glaciers and to disseminate the importance of the cryosphere.