The hyperspectral image compression scheme is a trade-off between the limited hardware resources of the on-board platform and the ever-growing resolution of the optical instruments. Predictive coding attracts researchers due to its low computational complexity and moderate memory requirements. We propose a near-lossless prediction-based compression scheme that removes spatial and spectral redundant information, thereby significantly reducing the size of hyperspectral images. This scheme predicts the target pixel’s value via a linear combination of previous pixels. The weight matrix of the predictor is iteratively updated using a recursive least squares filter with a loop quantizer. The optimal number of bands for prediction was analyzed experimentally. The results indicate that the proposed scheme outperforms state-of-the-art compression methods in terms of the compression ratio and quality retrieval. Full article

Due to mobile and IoT devices’ ubiquity and their ever-growing processing potential, Dew computing environments have been emerging topics for researchers. These environments allow resource-constrained devices to contribute computing power to others in a local network. One major challenge in these environments is task scheduling: that is, how to distribute jobs across devices available in the network. In this paper, we propose to distribute jobs in Dew environments using artificial intelligence (AI). Specifically, we show that an AI agent, known as Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO), can learn to distribute jobs in a simulated Dew environment better than existing methods—even when tested over job sequences that are five times longer than the sequences used during the training. We found that using our technique, we can gain up to 77% in performance compared with using human-designed heuristics. Full article

Pollen allergies are seasonal epidemic diseases that are accompanied by high incidence rates, especially in Beijing, China. With the development of deep learning, key progress has been made in the task of automatic pollen grain classification, which could replace the time-consuming and laborious manual identification process using a microscope. In China, few pioneering works have made significant progress in automatic pollen grain classification. Therefore, we first constructed a multi-class and large-scale pollen grain dataset for the Beijing area in preparation for the task of pollen classification. Then, a deblurring pipeline was designed to enhance the quality of the pollen grain images selectively. Moreover, as pollen grains vary greatly in size and shape, we proposed an easy-to-implement and efficient multi-scale deep learning architecture. Our experimental results showed that our architecture achieved a 97.7% accuracy, based on the Resnet-50 backbone network, which proved that the proposed method could be applied successfully to the automatic identification of pollen grains in Beijing. Full article

Sandwich panels are promising composite materials, although the possibilities for their thermal joining are limited due to the degradation of the polymer core at elevated temperatures. The purpose of this study is to improve the quality of the butt joints in metal–polymer sandwich composites performed by laser welding. A pulsed Nd:YAG Rofin StarWeld Performance laser was used to perform the two-sided welding of the metal–polymer three-layer composite material. On each of the two sides of the material, a welded joint was made with partial penetration of the covering steel sheets, which was considered a prerequisite for preventing the degradation of the core polymer layer. The energy density of the laser irradiation was redistributed by increasing the diameter of the laser spot. The structure of the welded joints was examined using a polarized optical microscope and a scanning electron microscope. It was determined that the laser treatment resulted in a partial penetration weld on each of the two covering metal sheets of the material, reaching a depth of more than 50% of the sheet’s thickness without damaging the polymer. The welding area consisted of two zones, one being the weld metal and the other the heat-affected zone. As a result of relatively rapid heating and cooling cycles, fine-dispersed structures were formed in the heat-affected and remelted zones. The performed tensile tests showed that the strength of the welded area was about 80% of that of the base material. Full article

To study the blockage effects in wind tunnel tests for tall buildings with surrounding buildings and establish a reasonable calculation method for the blockage ratio, this paper carried out fifty-one test conditions of pressure model wind tunnel tests with three scale ratios. The tests considered the relative location, relative height, and model number of the surrounding buildings to those of the target building by the rigid pressure models. Based on the wind tunnel tests, the blockage effects on the pressure coefficients and drag coefficients were studied in detail. The results showed that the blockage effects were different when the relative positions of the surrounding models to the target model were different, even if the blockage ratio was the same. The blockage effects caused by the surrounding models with unit blockage ratio were usually more significant than those caused by the target pressure-measuring model itself. The existing correction methods for the blockage effects are mainly derived from the wind tunnel tests of an isolated building model. Using existing calculations to evaluate the blockage effect of wind tunnel tests for tall buildings with surrounding buildings may result in obvious deviations. Finally, the concept of the equivalent blockage ratio was proposed, which can be used to calculate the blockage ratio of wind tunnel tests of tall buildings with surrounding buildings. The proposed calculation method of this equivalent blockage ratio can provide a reference for the determination of scale ratios for wind tunnel test models of tall buildings. Full article

Patients with upper limb disorders are limited in their activities of daily living and impose an important healthcare burden due to the repetitive rehabilitation they require. A way to reduce this burden is through home-based therapy using virtual reality solutions, since they are readily available, provide immersion, and enable accurate motion tracking, and custom applications can be developed for them. However, there is lack of guidelines for the design of effective VR rehabilitation applications in the literature, particularly for bimanual training. This work introduces a VR telerehabilitation system that uses off-the-shelf hardware, a real-time remote setup, and a bimanual training application that aims to improve upper extremity motor function. It is made of six activities and was evaluated by five physiotherapists specialised in (2) neuromotor disorders and (3) functional rehabilitation and occupational therapy. A descriptive analysis of the results obtained from the System Usability Scale test of the application and a collection of qualitative assessments of each game have been carried out. The application obtained a mean score of 86.25 (±8.96 SD) in the System Usability Scale, and the experts concluded that it accurately reproduces activities of daily living movements except for wrist and finger movements. They also offer a set of design guidelines. Full article

The electromagnetically induced transparency effect of terahertz metamaterials exhibits excellent modulation and sensing properties, and it is critical to investigate the modulation effect of the transparent window by optimizing structural parameters. In this work, a unilateral symmetrical metamaterial structure based on the cut-wire resonator and the U-shaped split ring resonator is demonstrated to achieve electromagnetically induced transparency-like (EIT-like) effect. Based on the symmetrical structure, by changing the structural parameters of the split ring, an asymmetric structure metamaterial is also studied to obtain better tuning and sensing characteristics. The parameters for controlling the transparent window of the metamaterial are investigated in both passive and active modulation modes. In addition, the metamaterial structure based on the cut-wire resonator, unilateral symmetric and asymmetric configurations are investigated for high performance refractive index sensing purposes, and it is found that the first two metamaterial structures can achieve sensitivity responses of 63.6 GHz/RIU and 84.4 GHz/RIU, respectively, while the asymmetric metamaterial is up to 102.3 GHz/RIU. The high sensitivity frequency response of the proposed metamaterial structures makes them good candidates for various chemical and biomedical sensing applications. Full article

The current limitations of design for additive manufacturing (DfAM) are the state of knowledge on materials and the effects of production parameters. As more engineering-grade polymers become available for fused filament fabrication (FFF), the designs and processes must be adapted to fully utilize the structural properties of such materials. By studying and comparing the production parameters of a material test specimen and a component, the effects of layer temperature on the strength, surface roughness, and dimensional accuracy of PA6-CF were found. As the cross-section increases in component manufacturing, maintaining the layer temperature becomes a major challenge. From the findings, the concept of thermal layer design (TLD) was introduced as a way of increasing strength via temperature in selected regions after presenting the effect of layer temperature. TLD proved to have a major effect on layer temperature and heat distribution. Depending on the investigated layer temperature, from 147 °C to 193 °C the UTS of PA6-CF increased from 42 MPa to 73 MPa. Implementing TLD in DfAM represents a big leap for designing high-performance polymer components. Full article

The concept of deep transfer learning has spawned broad research into fault diagnosis with small samples. A considerable covariate shift between the source and target domains, however, could result in negative transfer and lower fault diagnosis task accuracy. To alleviate the adverse impacts of negative transfer, this research proposes an intra-domain transfer learning strategy that makes use of knowledge from a data-abundant source domain that is akin to the target domain. Concretely, a pre-trained model in the source domain is built via a vanilla transfer from an off-the-shelf inter-domain deep neural network. The model is then transferred to the target domain using shallow-layer freezing and finetuning with those small samples. In a case study involving rotating machinery, where we tested the proposed strategy, we saw improved performance in both training efficiency and prediction accuracy. To demystify the learned neural network, we propose a heat map visualization method using a channel-wise average over the final convolutional layer and up-sampling with interpolation. The findings revealed that the most active neurons coincide with the corresponding fault characteristics. Full article

Background: Rabbits are common companion animals in many European countries. Rabbit-assisted interventions in primary schools are suitable for decreasing the anxiety levels of children, which may increase the education efficiency of teachers. Methods: In our present study, the behavior of dwarf rabbits was tested in a children’s summer camp organized by the Family and Child Protection Service in Várpalota, Hungary, 2021. In two occasions, altogether 20 rabbits were evaluated, while 120 children were involved in the examinations. All the rabbits were the progeny of the same buck and three different does. Four of them had been previously socialized to humans during the sensitive period after birth. Results: The familiarity level of the rabbits with their owner was significantly lower after the interventions compared to the previously measured scores (p < 0.05). In the interventions, children also made behavior surveys with the rabbits in which they contacted the animals, touched them and held them. After three successive interventions, rabbits became significantly less tolerant compared to the first intervention (p < 0.05). In both cases, the rabbits who had been socialized obtained higher scores on the behavior tests compared to the non-handled conspecifics. However, by the third session, socialized rabbits showed a considerable decrease in cooperation. Conclusions: The stress tolerance of rabbits receiving handling exceeds that of those that were not handled previously. The familiarity level of the imprinted rabbits was higher in both cases: with the owner and children. When using rabbits in AAI, a maximum of two 20 min sessions is recommended for handled rabbits. Full article

In order to study the influence of moisture on the interface of crumb rubber–asphalt (CR) mixture, the interface bonding performance and crack resistance of a crumb rubber–asphalt mixture under dry and wet conditions were studied at three scales. At the macroscale, the characteristics of medium temperature fatigue cracking and low temperature fracture were studied by semi-circular bending tensile test (SCB) on the example of digital image correlation (DIC) technique. At the microscale, the surface energy of CR with basalt and limestone was measured using the contact angle measurement test, and then the adhesion work was calculated and analyzed. At the molecular scale, the model of CR, the model of basalt representative mineral (augite) and limestone representative mineral (calcite) were studied by molecular dynamics simulation. The relationship between these three scales was further explored to reveal the mechanism of the damage of moisture on the interface deterioration of the CR mixture. The results show that moisture has a certain effect on the interface of the CR mixture, which is characterized by macroscopically reducing the crack resistance of the asphalt mixture, microscopically reducing the adhesion ability between the asphalt and the aggregate and weakening the interaction between the asphalt and aggregate molecules at the molecular scale. Molecular dynamics can accurately simulate the deterioration of micro asphalt-aggregate adhesion under the damage of moisture. The decrease in microadhesion leads to the decrease in the crack resistance of the macro-CR mixture. Full article

Petroglyph sites exist all over the world. They are one of the earliest forms of mankind’s expression and a precursor to art. Despite their outstanding value, comprehensive research on conservation and preservation of rock art is minimal, especially as related to biodeterioration. For this reason, the main objective of this study was to explore the factors involved in the degradation of petroglyph sites in the Negev desert of Israel, with a focus on biodegradation processes. Through the use of culture-independent microbiological methods (metagenomics), we characterized the microbiomes of the samples, finding they were dominated by bacterial communities, in particular taxa of Actinobacteria and Cyanobacteria, with resistance to radiation and desiccation. By means of XRF and Raman spectroscopies, we defined the composition of the stone (calcite and quartz) and the dark crust (clay minerals with Mn and Fe oxides), unveiling the presence of carotenoids, indicative of biological colonization. Optical microscopy and SEM–EDX analyses on thin sections highlighted patterns of weathering, possibly connected to the presence of biodeteriorative microorganisms that leach the calcareous matrix from the bedrock and mobilize metal cations from the black varnish for metabolic processes, slowly weathering it. Full article

Environmental stimuli can have a significant impact on our decisions. Elements of the store atmosphere, such as music, lights and smells, all have effects on choices, but these have been only vaguely investigated. In the present study, we aim to uncover the effect of strawberry scent on the gazing behavior and choices of the 62 recruited participants. A static eye-tracker was used to study the effect of scent, released by a diffuser. In total, 31 participants completed the study under odorless conditions, while another 31 participants had strawberry fragrance sprayed into the air. The objectives of the study were (1) to determine whether the most gazed-upon product in each of the four categories (chocolate, tea, muesli bar, yoghurt) was chosen, (2) whether the presence of the strawberry scent influenced consumer decision making, i.e., whether the strawberry scent influenced more people to choose strawberry-flavored products, and (3) to introduce the application of a fast and easy-to-use technique for the qualitative analysis of strawberry aroma present in the air during eye-tracking measurements. The results show that (1) participants chose the product they had studied the longest, for all four categories, and (2) the presence or absence of the scent had no significant effect on choice, with the same frequencies of choosing each product in the two conditions regardless of the flavor of the products. Full article

Fusarium wilt (FW), caused by the soil-borne fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. Tracheiphilum, is a serious threat to cowpea production worldwide. Understanding the genetic architecture of FW resistance is a prerequisite to combatting this disease and developing FW resistance varieties. In the current study, a genetic diversity panel of 99 cowpea accessions was collected, and they were infected by a single strain, FW-HZ. The disease index (DI) based on the two indicators of leaf damage (LFD) and vascular discoloration (VD) varied highly across the population: most accessions were susceptible, and only seven accessions showed resistant phenotypes by both indicators. Through a genome-wide association study (GWAS), 3 and 7 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) significantly associated with LFD and VD were detected, respectively, which were distributed on chromosomes 3, 4, 5, 6 and 9, accounting for 0.68–13.92% of phenotypic variation. Based on the cowpea reference genome, 30 putative genes were identified and proposed as the likely candidates, including leucine-rich repeat protein kinase family protein, protein kinase superfamily protein and zinc finger family protein. These results provide novel insights into the genetic architecture of FW resistance and a basis for molecular breeding of FW resistant cultivars in cowpea. Full article

The aim of this study was to identify wrist actimetry-based indices associated with the sleep–wake rhythm characteristics of healthy individuals. The study involved 79 healthy subjects of both sexes (age range 15–62 years (mean: 21.5 ± 9.6 years, women: 77.8%)). Each participant provided personal data, filled out two questionnaires, the Munich ChronoType Questionnaire (MCTQ) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and wore a wrist actimeter for a week. A significant positive association of the chronotype with the mid-phase of the most active 10 h period (M10t: B = 0.252, p = 0.015), the mid-phase of the least active 5 h period (L5t: B = 0.338, p = 0.005), and the interdaily stability (IS: B = −0.021, p = 0.017) was noted, as well as the sleep duration with the M10t (B = −0.257, p = 0.003), L5t (B = −0.340, p = 0.001), and IS (B = 0.042, p = 0.003). There was a significant association of social jetlag (B = 0.320, p = 0.032) and sleep quality (B = 0.990, p = 0.013) with motor activity in bed, as well as sleep efficiency with the acrophase (B = −0.043, p = 0.007). Nonparametric indices of the 24 h rest–activity rhythm are useful tools for assessing the sleep–wake rhythm of healthy individuals. Full article