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The 2nd International Symposium on New Frontiers in Reef Coral Biotechnology (12 May 2023, Taiwan)

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(12), 7318; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13127318

For the second year in a row, the theme is “reef coral biotechnology”, specifically the interface between basic science and conservation. It has never been more important to attempt to leverage what we know about these beautiful, albeit highly imperiled and fragile, ecosystems towards conserving them. Our invited speakers’ areas of expertise span all levels of biological organization: from molecules within coral cells, to coral tissues, to entire coral colonies, and then up to reef-scale processes. Our goal is to promote communication not only among local Taiwanese marine biologists, but also those within Southeast Asia and farther afield; we especially encourage participation from early-career researchers, including Master’s students, PhD candidates, and post-doctoral researchers. It is our hope that the presentations (and the discussions that follow) will encourage collaboration. As importantly, we envision that the tools and approaches shared amongst us can be tapped into to expedite our collective efforts to better understand, manage, and conserve coral reefs.
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Current Problems of Forest Protection (25–27 October 2022, Katowice Poland)

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(24), 12745; https://doi.org/10.3390/app122412745

Forestry is one of the sectors particularly affected by the threats posed by changing climatic conditions. This is reflected in the deterioration of the health status of stands due to the synergistic effect of numerous abiotic and biotic factors. Current forest health problems are due to dynamic, negative changes in the forest environment. While the amount of precipitation remains at a similar level, its distribution varies throughout the year and, in particular, the lack of soil moisture during the growing season leads to the weakening of trees, including the main forest-forming species in Poland such as Pinus sylvestris. The weakening of trees, in turn, leads to species of insect pests that were previously considered secondary becoming primary pests, such as Ips acuminatus. It is likely that weakening of trees also favours increased occurrence of parasitic plants such as Viscum album ssp. austriacum or Loranthus europaeus. Infestations of the hemiparasitic, xylem-secreting pine mistletoe are of great interest because they are spreading rapidly throughout Europe. Drought in forests is not only a long-term water shortage, but also a situation in which plant-fungal relationships are disrupted. Reduced water availability leads to a number of negative changes in the soil and the mycobiota that live there, affecting entire ecosystems. The effects of climate change and increased international trade are leading to the spread of pathogenic fungi and other harmful organisms whose range was previously restricted to the south of our continent. Unfavourable abiotic and biotic factors leading to weakening of oak stands in the western part of Poland have resulted in activation of new pests like Mediterranean oak borer. Intensification of transport and shortening of its duration, as well as climatic changes, favour the introduction of various organisms, including bark beetles (Scolytinae). In Poland, cyclic insect outbreaks are one of the most important problems in forest protection. Developing methods to monitor, prevent outbreaks and control the density of insect populations below harmful levels can be a challenge to consider. Finding an innovative system for applying insecticides to control spruce bark beetle could also be an interesting solution, where insects attracted to pheromones die after contact with the insecticide. Contact with the insecticide has a dual effect: either directly when the tree is treated, or when the bark beetle attempts to invade the tree. Opportunities for the use of biostimulants in forestry and is an attractive way to regenerate plants after negative stressors such as frost, drought or damage caused by improper use of pesticides, as well as the negative effects of diseases and pests. It acts indirectly by stimulating leaf, stem and root development and improving nutrient uptake. The effects of chemical treatments on fungal biodiversity in forests should be studied using powerful molecular tools such as NGS.
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International Symposium on New Frontiers in Reef Coral Biotechnology (5 May 2022, Taiwan)

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(11), 5758; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12115758

Given the global threats towards coral reefs, this conference’s central theme, “Reef coral biotechnology”, is particularly timely. Our goal is to promote communication and dialogue in this field among marine researchers within and outside of Taiwan, and we have invited experts in the fields of coral reef ecology, physiology, conservation, and biotechnology to discuss their recent findings with a cadre of both local and foreign scientists, as well as students (undergraduate, Master’s, and Ph.D. students). We envision that these presentations will segue into discussions and collaborations that stimulate innovation in reef coral biotechnology, and particularly in the development of tools and approaches that improve the odds of conserving coral reefs and biopreserving reef corals.
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The 12th International Conference on Instrumental Analysis—Modern Trends and Applications (20–23 September 2021, Virtual Event)

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(24), 11767; https://doi.org/10.3390/app112411767

The 12th International Conference on “Instrumental Methods of Analysis” www [...]
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Training and Testing of a Single-Layer LSTM Network for Near-Future Solar Forecasting

Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(17), 5873; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10175873

Increasing integration of renewable energy sources, like solar photovoltaic (PV), necessitates the development of power forecasting tools to predict power fluctuations caused by weather. With trustworthy and accurate solar power forecasting models, grid operators could easily determine when other dispatchable sources of backup power may be needed to account for fluctuations in PV power plants. Additionally, PV customers and designers would feel secure knowing how much energy to expect from their PV systems on an hourly, daily, monthly, or yearly basis. The PROGNOSIS project, based at the Cyprus University of Technology, is developing a tool for intra-hour solar irradiance forecasting. This article presents the design, training, and testing of a single-layer long-short-term-memory (LSTM) artificial neural network for intra-hour power forecasting of a single PV system in Cyprus. Four years of PV data were used for training and testing the model (80% for training and 20% for testing). With a normalized root mean squared error (nRMSE) of 10.7%, the single-layer network performed similarly to a more complex 5-layer LSTM network trained and tested using the same data. Overall, these results suggest that simple LSTM networks can be just as effective as more complicated ones.
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Proceedings of the 2019 NanoFlorida International Conference Held at the University of South Florida, Tampa, FL

Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(14), 4851; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10144851

The nanotechnology revolution embodies an interdisciplinary approach and is bringing scientists together from nearly every area of scientific study [...]
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22nd International Conference on Digital Audio Effects DAFx 2019 (2–6 September 2019, Birmingham, United Kingdom)

Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(3), 1048; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10031048

This meeting report gives an overview of the DAFx 2019 conference held in September 2019 at Birmingham City University, Birmingham, UK. The conference had the same theme as this special issue: digital audio effects. In total, 51 papers were presented at DAFx 2019 either in oral or in poster sessions. The conference had 157 delegates, almost half from industry and the rest from universities around the world. As the number of submissions and participants remains sufficiently high, it is planned that the DAFx conference series will be continued every autumn.
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The 13th International Conference on Advances in Quantitative Laryngology, Voice and Speech Research (June 2–4, 2019, Montreal, Quebec, Canada)

Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(13), 2665; https://doi.org/10.3390/app9132665

The 13th International Conference on Advances in Quantitative Laryngology, Voice and Speech Research (AQL 2019) will be held in Montreal, Canada, 3–4 June 2019. Pre-conference workshops will be held on 2 June 2019. The conference and workshops provide a unique opportunity for partnership and collaboration in the advancement of quantitative methods for the measurement and modelling of voice and speech. The AQL accomplishes this mandate by facilitating an interprofessional scientific conference and training intended for an international community of otolaryngologists, speech–language pathologists and voice scientists. With a continued drive toward advancements in translational and clinical voice science, the AQL has rapidly expanded over the past 20 years, from a forum of 15 European member laboratories to a globally recognized symposium, connecting over 100 delegates from across the world.
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16th Sound and Music Computing Conference SMC 2019 (28–31 May 2019, Malaga, Spain)

Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(12), 2492; https://doi.org/10.3390/app9122492

The 16th Sound and Music Computing Conference (SMC 2019) took place in Malaga, Spain, 28–31 May 2019 and it was organized by the Application of Information and Communication Technologies Research group (ATIC) of the University of Malaga (UMA). The SMC 2019 associated Summer School took place 25–28 May 2019. The First International Day of Women in Inclusive Engineering, Sound and Music Computing Research (WiSMC 2019) took place on 28 May 2019. The SMC 2019 TOPICS OF INTEREST included a wide selection of topics related to acoustics, psychoacoustics, music, technology for music, audio analysis, musicology, sonification, music games, machine learning, serious games, immersive audio, sound synthesis, etc.
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Modeling Properties with Artificial Neural Networks and Multilinear Least-Squares Regression: Advantages and Drawbacks of the Two Methods

Appl. Sci. 2018, 8(7), 1094; https://doi.org/10.3390/app8071094

The mean molecular connectivity indices (MMCI) proposed in previous studies are used in conjunction with well-known molecular connectivity indices (MCI) to model eleven properties of organic solvents. The MMCI and MCI descriptors selected by the stepwise multilinear least-squares (MLS) procedure were used to perform artificial neural network (ANN) computations, with the aim of detecting the advantages and limits of the ANN approach. The MLS procedure can replicate the obtained results for as long as is needed, a characteristic not shared by the ANN methodology, which, on the one hand increases the quality of a description, and on the other hand also results in overfitting. The present study also reveals how ANN methods prefer MCI relatively to MMCI descriptors. Four types of ANN computations show that: (i) MMCI descriptors are preferred with properties with a small number of points, (ii) MLS is preferred over ANN when the number of ANN weights is similar to the number of regression coefficients and, (iii) in some cases, the MLS modeling quality is similar to the modeling quality of ANN computations. Both the common training set and an external randomly chosen validation set were used throughout the paper.
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Report of the 2017 IEEE Cyber Science and Technology Congress

Appl. Sci. 2017, 7(12), 1299; https://doi.org/10.3390/app7121299

The modern digitized world has led to the emergence of a new paradigm on global information networks and infrastructures known as Cyberspace and the studies of Cybernetics, which bring seamless integration of physical, social and mental spaces. Cyberspace is becoming an integral part of our daily life from learning and entertainment to business and cultural activities. As expected, this whole concept of Cybernetics brings new challenges that need to be tackled. The 2017 IEEE Cyber Science and Technology Congress (CyberSciTech 2017) provided a forum for researchers to report their research findings and exchange ideas. The congress took place in Orlando, Florida, USA during 6–10 November 2017. Not counting poster papers, the congress accepted over fifty papers that are divided into nine sessions. In this report, we provide an overview of the research contributions of the papers in CyberSciTech 2017.
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Nobel Symposium on Free Electron Laser Research

Appl. Sci. 2017, 7(4), 408; https://doi.org/10.3390/app7040408

This meeting report describes the Nobel Symposium on Free Electron Laser Research, which was organized in Sigtuna, Sweden, 14–18 June 2015.
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Modeling and Simulation of IGCC Considering Pressure and Flow Distribution of Gasifier

Appl. Sci. 2016, 6(10), 292; https://doi.org/10.3390/app6100292

The integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) is a power generation technology which combines clean coal technology with a combined cycle. The system modeling is significant for design, operation and maintenance of the IGCC power plant. However, the previous IGCC modeling methods only contained a simplified compartment gasifier model, which is useful to consider the heat transfer and chemical reaction inside the gasifier, but cannot analyze the pressure and flow distribution. In order to obtain a more accurate model of IGCC system, the volume-resistance technique and modular modeling method are utilized in this paper. The new model can depict the dynamic response and distribution characteristics of the gasifier, as well as their influence on the IGCC system. The simulation result of the gasifier and IGCC system shows an obvious delay after considering pressure and flow distribution. Therefore, the proposed IGCC system model can obtain a more reliable result when considering the distribution characteristics of the gasifier.
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