Improved spatio-temporal alignment measurement method for hull deformation

In this paper,an improved spatio-temporal alignment measurement method is presented to address the inertial matching measurement of hull deformation under the coexistence of time delay and large misalignment angle.Large misalignment angle and time delay often occur simultaneously and bring great challenges to the accurate measurement of hull deformation in space and time.The proposed method utilizes coarse alignment with large misalignment angle and time delay estimation of inertial measurement unit modeling to establish a brand-new spatiotemporal aligned hull deformation measurement model.In addition,two-step loop control is designed to ensure the accurate description of dynamic deformation angle and static deformation angle by the time-space alignment method of hull deformation.The experiments illustrate that the proposed method can effectively measure the hull deformation angle when time delay and large misalignment angle coexist.

An Intelligent Framework for Resilience Recovery of FANETs with Spatio-Temporal Aggregation and Multi-Head Attention Mechanism

Due to the time-varying topology and possible disturbances in a conflict environment,it is still challenging to maintain the mission performance of flying Ad hoc networks(FANET),which limits the application of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV)swarms in harsh environments.This paper proposes an intelligent framework to quickly recover the cooperative coveragemission by aggregating the historical spatio-temporal network with the attention mechanism.The mission resilience metric is introduced in conjunction with connectivity and coverage status information to simplify the optimization model.A spatio-temporal node pooling method is proposed to ensure all node location features can be updated after destruction by capturing the temporal network structure.Combined with the corresponding Laplacian matrix as the hyperparameter,a recovery algorithm based on the multi-head attention graph network is designed to achieve rapid recovery.Simulation results showed that the proposed framework can facilitate rapid recovery of the connectivity and coverage more effectively compared to the existing studies.The results demonstrate that the average connectivity and coverage results is improved by 17.92%and 16.96%,respectively compared with the state-of-the-art model.Furthermore,by the ablation study,the contributions of each different improvement are compared.The proposed model can be used to support resilient network design for real-time mission execution.

Beyond authorship: Analyzing contributions in PLOS ONE and the challenges of appropriate attribution

Purpose:This study aims to evaluate the accuracy of authorship attributions in scientific publications,focusing on the fairness and precision of individual contributions within academic works.Design/methodology/approach:The study analyzes 81,823 publications from the journal PLOS ONE,covering the period from January 2018 to June 2023.It examines the authorship attributions within these publications to try and determine the prevalence of inappropriate authorship.It also investigates the demographic and professional profiles of affected authors,exploring trends and potential factors contributing to inaccuracies in authorship.Findings:Surprisingly,9.14%of articles feature at least one author with inappropriate authorship,affecting over 14,000 individuals(2.56%of the sample).Inappropriate authorship is more concentrated in Asia,Africa,and specific European countries like Italy.Established researchers with significant publication records and those affiliated with companies or nonprofits show higher instances of potential monetary authorship.Research limitations:Our findings are based on contributions as declared by the authors,which implies a degree of trust in their transparency.However,this reliance on self-reporting may introduce biases or inaccuracies into the dataset.Further research could employ additional verification methods to enhance the reliability of the findings.Practical implications:These findings have significant implications for journal publishers,Beyond authorship:Analyzing contributions in PLOS ONE and Maddi,A.,&the challenges of appropriate attribution highlighting the necessity for robust control mechanisms to ensure the integrity of authorship attributions.Moreover,researchers must exercise discernment in determining when to acknowledge a contributor and when to include them in the author list.Addressing these issues is crucial for maintaining the credibility and fairness of academic publications.Originality/value:This study contributes to an understanding of critical issues within academic authorship,shedding light on the prevalence and impact of inappropriate authorship attributions.By calling for a nuanced approach to ensure accurate credit is given where it is due,the study underscores the importance of upholding ethical standards in scholarly publishing.

Opinions of Students on the Contribution of the DIVA 3D Virtual Dissection Table to the Teaching of Anatomy at the Faculty of Medicine and Odontostomatology of Bamako

Objective: Study the contribution of the DIVA 3D dissection table in the teaching of anatomy at the Faculty of Medicine and Odontology of Bamako. Material and Methods: This was a qualitative study carried out from November 1 to December 30, 2023 at the clinical and morphological anatomy laboratory of the Faculty of Medicine and Odontostomatology of Bamako. Included in this study were students who participated in practical and tutorial sessions. The variables studied during this study were: the previous performance of dissection on a cadaver by the students, the opinion of the students on dissection on a cadaver, the replacement of dissection on a cadaver by virtual dissection in the absence of a body, the level student satisfaction. Results: We surveyed 130 participants. The average age was 22 ± 0.2 years with extremes of 17 and 29 years. 95.3% of participants were students. According to 66.7% of participants, virtual dissection is a good palliative in the absence of a corpse. 95.3% of participants found using the virtual dissection table easy with an average of 7.88 ± 1.4. The overall assessment was well rated by 99.3% of participants. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, the virtual dissection table should be improved by integrating commented videos. The use of the DIVA 3D virtual dissection table during practical and tutorial sessions is well appreciated by the students. We believe that the teaching of anatomy using 3D digital technology should be included in the study programs of the Faculty of Medicine and Odontostomatology.

National Social Investment Programmes in Nigeria:A Descriptive Analysis of the Socio-Economic Contributions of N-Power Programme in Benue State

This study analysed the socio-economic contributions of N-Power programme amongst the beneficiaries of the scheme in Benue State.Prior to the introduction of N-Power programme,successive administrations in Nigeria have made concerted efforts towards improving the standard of living of the citizenry through the execution of various welfare or social intervention programmes,but not much successes were recorded.Learning from the mistakes of the past regimes,and by way of deliberate state policy,the Buhari’s government initiated a multi-pronged social investment policy,one of which is the N-power programme that came onboard in 2016,which also doubles as the subject of this study.To achieve the goal of this study,a combination of desktop research and survey design was employed.Questionnaires were administered to 390 respondents through a combination of stratified and random sampling techniques.The results of the survey were matched with that of the secondary data obtained through online websites and other related sources.The result indicated that N-Power made positive contributions to the socio-economic life of the beneficiaries in Benue State:specifically,the scheme contributed in poverty eradication,employment generation,skills acquisitions and capacity building.However,some aspect of our findings revealed that the programme has a number of challenges such as:inadequate cash support,delay in monthly cash transfer to beneficiaries,distance participants had to move to their work stations,absence of posting in N-Teach scheme,and lack of adequate working tools amongst others.To salvage this problem the paper recommended the following solutions:expansion of the scheme to cover N-Teach and other aspects,increment in the monthly cash transfer to cushion the high rate of inflation,support for the participants/beneficiaries in transportation and logistics,enrolment of more youth into the various schemes,proper monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the schemes amongst others.

Spatio-Temporal Change of Dispersal Areas of Greater Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) in Lake Bogoria Landscape, Kenya

Decline in wildlife populations is manifest globally, regionally and locally. A wildlife decline of 68% has been reported in Kenya’s rangelands with Baringo County experiencing more than 85% wildlife loss in the last four decades. Greater Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) is endemic to Lake Bogoria landscape in Baringo County and constitutes a major tourist attraction for the region necessitating use of its photo on the County’s logo and thus a flagship species. Tourism plays a central role in Baringo County’s economy and is a major source of potential growth and employment creation. The study was carried out to assess spatio-temporal change of dispersal areas of Greater Kudu (GK) in Lake Bogoria landscape in the last four years for enhanced adaptive management and improved livelihoods. GK population distribution primary data collected in December 2022 and secondary data acquired from Lake Bogoria National Game Reserve (LBNGR) for 2019 and 2020 were digitized using in a Geographic Information System (GIS). Measures of dispersion and point pattern analysis (PPA) were used to analyze dispersal of GK population using GIS. Spatio-temporal change of GK dispersal in LBNR was evident thus the null hypothesis was rejected. It is recommended that anthropogenic activities contributing to GK’s habitat degradation be curbed by providing alternative livelihood sources and promoting community adoption of sustainable technologies for improved livelihoods.

Research on the Spatio-Temporal Evolution and Driving Forces of Green Spaces in the Central Urban Area of Zunyi City

Green space,as a medium for carrying out urban functions and guiding urban development,is becoming a scarce resource along with the urbanization process and the intensification of environmental problems.In the face of the spatial mismatch between high demand and low supply,it is of great significance to clarify the evolution mechanism of green space to undertake national spatial planning,protect the natural strategic resources in the urban fringe area,and promote the sustainable development of the“three living spaces.”The study focuses on the Zunyi City Center,selecting the 20 years of rapid development following its establishment as a city as the study period.It explores the dynamic evolution of green space and the main driving forces during different periods using remote-sensing image data.The study shows that from 2003 to 2023,the total scale of green space has an obvious decreasing trend along with the expansion of the urban built-up area.A large amount of arable land is being converted to construction land,resulting in a sudden decrease in arable land area.In the past 10 years,the comprehensive land use dynamics have accelerated.Still,the spatial difference has gradually narrowed,indicating that the overall development intensity of Zunyi City’s central urban area has increased.There is a gradual spread of the trend to the hilly areas.The limiting effect of the mountainous natural environment on the city’s development has gradually diminished under the superposition of external factors,such as economic development,industrial technological upgrading,and policy orientation so the importance of the effective protection and rational utilization of urban green space has become more prominent.

An Analysis of Innovative Contributions to the Important Discourse on the Development of New Quality Productivity

The discourse on developing high-quality productivity marks a significant theoretical innovation,which is conducive to the modernization and sinicization of Marxism.It refines our understanding of“new quality productivity,”defining it as an advanced form driven by innovation,embodying“high technology,efficiency,and quality,”with the aim of comprehensively enhancing productivity.It elucidates the necessity of cultivating such forces,asserting that they are crucial for achieving high-quality development,securing a leading position in global technology,and fulfilling the aspirations for a better life.Moreover,it outlines a new implementation route,emphasizing strategies such as fostering technological autonomy,nurturing emerging industries,integrating education and talent in technology,adopting a“build through challenges”approach,adjusting solutions locally,and providing categorized guidance,all of which are based on the ongoing comprehensive reforms.

Leveraging Transfer Learning for Spatio-Temporal Human Activity Recognition from Video Sequences

Human Activity Recognition(HAR)is an active research area due to its applications in pervasive computing,human-computer interaction,artificial intelligence,health care,and social sciences.Moreover,dynamic environments and anthropometric differences between individuals make it harder to recognize actions.This study focused on human activity in video sequences acquired with an RGB camera because of its vast range of real-world applications.It uses two-stream ConvNet to extract spatial and temporal information and proposes a fine-tuned deep neural network.Moreover,the transfer learning paradigm is adopted to extract varied and fixed frames while reusing object identification information.Six state-of-the-art pre-trained models are exploited to find the best model for spatial feature extraction.For temporal sequence,this study uses dense optical flow following the two-stream ConvNet and Bidirectional Long Short TermMemory(BiLSTM)to capture longtermdependencies.Two state-of-the-art datasets,UCF101 and HMDB51,are used for evaluation purposes.In addition,seven state-of-the-art optimizers are used to fine-tune the proposed network parameters.Furthermore,this study utilizes an ensemble mechanism to aggregate spatial-temporal features using a four-stream Convolutional Neural Network(CNN),where two streams use RGB data.In contrast,the other uses optical flow images.Finally,the proposed ensemble approach using max hard voting outperforms state-ofthe-art methods with 96.30%and 90.07%accuracies on the UCF101 and HMDB51 datasets.

Relationship between spatio-temporal evolution of soil pH and geological environment/surface cover in the eastern Nenjiang River Basin of Northeast China during the past 30 years

To illuminate the spatio-temporal variation characteristics and geochemical driving mechanism of soil pH in the Nenjiang River Basin,the National Multi-objective Regional Geochemical Survey data of topsoil,the Second National Soil Survey data and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI)were analyzed.The areas of neutral and alkaline soil decreased by 21100 km^(2)and 30500 km^(2),respectively,while that of strongly alkaline,extremely alkaline,and strongly acidic soil increased by 19600 km^(2),18200 km^(2),and 15500 km^(2),respectively,during the past 30 years.NDVI decreased with the increase of soil pH when soil pH>8.0,and it was reversed when soil pH<5.0.There were significant differences in soil pH with various surface cover types,which showed an ascending order:Arbor<reed<maize<rice<high and medium-covered meadow<low-covered meadow<Puccinellia.The weathering products of minerals rich in K_(2)O,Na_(2)O,CaO,and MgO entered into the low plain and were enriched in different parts by water transportation and lake deposition,while Fe and Al remained in the low hilly areas,which was the geochemical driving mechanism.The results of this study will provide scientific basis for making scientific and rational decisions on soil acidification and salinization.

The Contribution Margin due to a Limiting Factor in the Presence of Several Sales Options: Actuality Is Not Always As It Appears at the Beginning of the Analysis

The analysis of company data useful for economic decisions,if not interpreted in an overall view of the company situation,can lead to wrong conclusions.This is the case when a company has to choose between several sales options for one or more products in the presence of a limiting factor.The continuation of the investigation often denies the initial analysis.Not everything is as it appears,therefore,at the beginning of the deepening of the data useful for economic decisions.As it is well known,the choices of profitability concerning the planning of the sale of company products take place,at least in the majority of cases,through the determination of the contribution margin,i.e.the profitability margin connected to the individual goods/services sold by the companies(selling price net of variable costs).The contribution margin can be determined with four objectives:(1)Determination of the yield of the single product,net of variable costs only.In this case,the margin defines unitary,from net product yield to unitary contribution margin.(2)Determination of the return on total sales of an individual product,net of variable costs.In this hypothesis,reference is made to the first level(or gross)contribution margin.(3)Determination of the ability of the individual product to contribute to the coverage of fixed costs common to the company.This margin is determined net of special product variable and fixed costs.This aggregate is defined as a Level II(or semi-gross)margin.(4)Determination of the useful value in the planning choices in case of presence of scarce productive factors.In this case,it must identify the so-called unitary margin for low factor.Here we will only deal with the problem of the use of the contribution margin in the presence of rare factors.To complete the analysis,below are some very brief considerations regarding,respectively,the unitary,level I,and level II contribution margin in order to better understand where the problem of the most convenient choice of income is located in the event of the presence of rare production factors,especially in an environment characterized by a plurality of sales options.

Moisture Sources and Their Contributions to Summer Precipitation in the East of Southwest China

Complex topography,special geographical location and sea-land-air interactions lead to high interannual variability of summer precipitation in the east of Southwest China(ESWC).However,the contributions,influencing factors and mechanisms of remote and local evaporation remain to be further investigated.Using clustering analysis and Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory version 5 model,we analyze the contributions of remote moisture transport and local evaporation to summer precipitation in the ESWC and their causes.There are mainly five remote moisture channels in the ESWC,namely the Arabian Sea channel,Bay of Bengal channel,western Pacific channel,Northwest channel 1 and Northwest channel 2.Among the five channels,the western Pacific channel has the largest number of trajectories,while the Bay of Bengal channel has the largest contribution rate of specific humidity(33.33%)and moisture flux(33.14%).The amount of regional average precipitation is close to that of the precipitation caused by remote moisture transport,and both are considerably greater than the rainfall amount caused by local evaporation.However,on interannual time scales,precipitation recirculation rates are negatively correlated to regional average precipitation and precipitation caused by remote moisture transport but are consistent with that caused by local evaporation.An apparent"+-+"wave train can be found on the height anomaly field in East Asia,and the sea surface temperature anomalies are positive in the equatorial Middle-East Pacific,the South China Sea,the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.These phenomena cause southwest-northeast moisture transport with strong updrafts,thereby resulting in more precipitation in the ESWC.

An evaluation method of contribution rate based on fuzzy Bayesian networks for equipment system-of-systems architecture

The contribution rate of equipment system-of-systems architecture(ESoSA)is an important index to evaluate the equipment update,development,and architecture optimization.Since the traditional ESoSA contribution rate evaluation method does not make full use of the fuzzy information and uncertain information in the equipment system-of-systems(ESoS),and the Bayesian network is an effective tool to solve the uncertain information,a new ESoSA contribution rate evaluation method based on the fuzzy Bayesian network(FBN)is proposed.Firstly,based on the operation loop theory,an ESoSA is constructed considering three aspects:reconnaissance equipment,decision equipment,and strike equipment.Next,the fuzzy set theory is introduced to construct the FBN of ESoSA to deal with fuzzy information and uncertain information.Furthermore,the fuzzy importance index of the root node of the FBN is used to calculate the contribution rate of the ESoSA,and the ESoSA contribution rate evaluation model based on the root node fuzzy importance is established.Finally,the feasibility and rationality of this method are validated via an empirical case study of aviation ESoSA.Compared with traditional methods,the evaluation method based on FBN takes various failure states of equipment into consideration,is free of acquiring accurate probability of traditional equipment failure,and models the uncertainty of the relationship between equipment.The proposed method not only supplements and improves the ESoSA contribution rate assessment method,but also broadens the application scope of the Bayesian network.

Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Drought in the North-Eastern Coastal Region of Vietnam Using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI)

Spatio-temporal analysis of drought provides valuable information for drought management and damage mitigation. In this study, the Standardized Precipitation Index at the time scale of 6 months (SPI-6) is selected to reflect drought conditions in the North-Eastern coastal region of Vietnam. The drought events and their characteristics from 1981 to 2019 are detected at 9 meteorological stations and 10 Chirps rainfall stations. The spatio-temporal variation of drought in the study region is analyzed on the basis of the number, duration, severity, intensity, and peak of the detected drought events at the 19 stations. The results show that from 1981 to 2019 the drought events mainly occurred with 1-season duration and moderate intensity and peak. The number, duration, severity, and peak of the drought events were the greatest in the period 2001-2010 and were the smallest in the period 2011-2019. Among the 19 stations, the drought duration tends to decrease at 11 stations, increase at 7 stations, and has a slight variant at 1 station;the drought severity tends to decrease at 14 stations, increase at 4 stations, and has not a significant trend at 1 station;the drought intensity tends to decrease at 17 stations, increase at 1 station, and has a slight variant at 1 station;and the drought peak tends to decrease at 18 stations and increase at 1 station.

Dynamic Spatio-Temporal Modeling in Disease Mapping

Spatio-temporal models are valuable tools for disease mapping and understanding the geographical distribution of diseases and temporal dynamics. Spatio-temporal models have been proven empirically to be very complex and this complexity has led many to oversimply and model the spatial and temporal dependencies independently. Unlike common practice, this study formulated a new spatio-temporal model in a Bayesian hierarchical framework that accounts for spatial and temporal dependencies jointly. The spatial and temporal dependencies were dynamically modelled via the matern exponential covariance function. The temporal aspect was captured by the parameters of the exponential with a first-order autoregressive structure. Inferences about the parameters were obtained via Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques and the spatio-temporal maps were obtained by mapping stable posterior means from the specific location and time from the best model that includes the significant risk factors. The model formulated was fitted to both simulation data and Kenya meningitis incidence data from 2013 to 2019 along with two covariates;Gross County Product (GCP) and average rainfall. The study found that both average rainfall and GCP had a significant positive association with meningitis occurrence. Also, regarding geographical distribution, the spatio-temporal maps showed that meningitis is not evenly distributed across the country as some counties reported a high number of cases compared with other counties.

“stppSim”: A Novel Analytical Tool for Creating Synthetic Spatio-Temporal Point Data

In crime science, understanding the dynamics and interactions between crime events is crucial for comprehending the underlying factors that drive their occurrences. Nonetheless, gaining access to detailed spatiotemporal crime records from law enforcement faces significant challenges due to confidentiality concerns. In response to these challenges, this paper introduces an innovative analytical tool named “stppSim,” designed to synthesize fine-grained spatiotemporal point records while safeguarding the privacy of individual locations. By utilizing the open-source R platform, this tool ensures easy accessibility for researchers, facilitating download, re-use, and potential advancements in various research domains beyond crime science.

List of Contributors

The Astronomical Techniques and Instruments would like to sincerely thank the following individuals who contribute to this issue.The success of our publication hinges on the contributions of time and energy put forth by these professionals.

Spatio-temporal GIS和GPS优化集成在城市交通管制中的应用研究

本文基于城市交通日益恶化现状和3S集成的迅速发展,表述了Spatio-temporal GIS的定义、时空路径、人类活动的四种时空关系及其坐标系统模型的建立;并根据GPS空间定位、空间导航的原理和模型,将Spatio-temporal GIS和GPS的功能优化集成,阐述了其对城市交通信息的收集、分析、显示等功能;最后论述了Spatio-temporal GIS和GPS的集成对城市交通预警、报警、协调等管制作用。

Soil Organic Nitrogen and Its Contribution to Crop Production

Plant growth and crop production depend to a large extent on soil N supplying capacity （SNSC）： The higher the SNSC, the higher the dependence of crops on soil and the lower the N fertilizer recovery. Of the SNSC, soil organic N （ON） played a key role in supplying N nutrient to crop production and still does in many subsistence and low-input farming systems. In this paper, soil ON contents, types, chemical components and its contribution to plant production are reviewed up to date in details, the characteristics of ON in dryland soils discussed together with its chemical components, and the mineralization and availability to plants of some important chemical components are emphasized at the last part for practical considerations.

Weapons system portfolio selection based on the contribution rate evaluation of system of systems

The weapons system portfolio selection problem arises at the equipment demonstration stage and deals with the military application requirements.Further,the contribution rate of the system is one of the important indicators to evaluate the role of a system,which can facilitate the weapons system portfolio selection.Therefore,combining the system contribution rate with system portfolio selection is the focus of this study.It also focuses on calculating the contribution rates of multiple equipment systems with various types of capabilities.The contribution rate is measured by establishing a hierarchical multi-criteria value model from three dimensions.Based on the value model,the feasible portfolios are developed under certain cost constraints and the optimal weapons system portfolios are obtained by using the classification optimization selection strategy.Finally,an illustrative example is presented to verify the feasibility of the proposed model.