Search Results (18)

Alkaline fertilizers demonstrate significant potential in mitigating rice cadmium (Cd) accumulation, yet the combined effects of calcium–magnesium phosphate (CMP) with potassium (K) fertilizer types and split application strategies remain unclear. Through multi-site field trials in Cd-contaminated paddy soils, we evaluated split applications of K₂CO₃, K₂SO₄, and K₂SiO₃ at tillering and booting stages following basal CMP amendment. Optimized K regimes reduced brown rice Cd concentrations (up to 89% reduction) compared to conventional fertilization. Notably, at the CF site, split K₂SiO₃ application (TB-K₂SiO₃) and single tillering-stage K₂SO₄ (T-K₂SO₄) achieved brown rice Cd levels of 0.13 mg/kg, complying with China’s food safety standard (≤0.20 mg/kg), thereby eliminating non-carcinogenic risks. Mechanistically, TB-K₂SiO₃ enhanced soil pH by 0.21 units and increased available K (AK) by 50.26% and available Si (ASi) by 21.35% while reducing Cd bioavailability by 43.55% compared to non-split K₂SiO₃. In contrast, T-K₂SO₄ elevated sulfate-driven Cd immobilization. Structural equation modeling prioritized soil available Cd, root Cd, and antagonistic effects of AK and ASi as dominant factors governing Cd accumulation. The integration of CMP with split K₂SiO₃ application at the tillering and booting stages or single K₂SO₄ application at the tillering stage ensures safe rice production in Cd-contaminated soils, offering scalable remediation strategies for paddy ecosystems. Full article

Stripe rust caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici and leaf rust caused by Puccinia triticina, are two devastating diseases on wheat, which seriously affect the production safety of wheat. Timely detection and identification of the two diseases are essential for taking effective disease management measures to reduce wheat yield losses. To realize the accurate identification of wheat stripe rust and wheat leaf rust during the different growth stages, in this study, the image-based identification of wheat stripe rust and wheat leaf rust during different growth stages was investigated based on deep learning using image processing technology. Based on the YOLOv5s model, we built identification models of wheat stripe rust and wheat leaf rust during the seedling stage, stem elongation stage, booting stage, inflorescence emergence stage, anthesis stage, milk development stage, and all the growth stages. The models were tested on the different testing sets in the different individual growth stages and in all the growth stages. The results showed that the models performed differently in disease image identification. The model based on the disease images acquired during an individual growth stage was not suitable for the identification of the disease images acquired during the other individual growth stages, except for the model based on the disease images acquired during the milk development stage, which had acceptable identification performance on the testing sets in the anthesis stage and the milk development stage. In addition, the results demonstrated that wheat growth stages had a great influence on the image identification of the two diseases. The model built based on the disease images acquired in all the growth stages produced acceptable identification results. Mean F1 Score values between 64.06% and 79.98% and mean average precision (mAP) values between 66.55% and 82.80% were achieved on each testing set composed of the disease images acquired during an individual growth stage and on the testing set composed of the disease images acquired during all the growth stages. This study provides a basis for the image-based identification of wheat stripe rust and wheat leaf rust during the different growth stages, and it provides a reference for the accurate identification of other plant diseases. Full article

Aims: To investigate the road safety concerns associated with pet dogs in New Zealand. Methods: An online survey was developed and offered to New Zealanders via SurveyMonkey© from 8 January 2019 to 31 March 2019) using New Zealand residents aged ≥ 18 years. Questions about the demographics of respondents and their number of pet dogs along with those about dog transportation and dog roaming were asked. Results: Of 2744 respondents who completed the online survey, 1494 (65%) owned a dog. Of the total respondents, 1511 completed the question about how their dog or dogs travel in vehicles. Of these, 2% (n = 29) let their dog sit on the driver’s knee, and 12% (n = 179) allowed their dog to sit on the passenger’s knee. Only 7% (n = 105) allowed the dog to roam free throughout the vehicle, while 44% (n = 663) allowed their dogs to roam free in the backseat area only and 19% (n = 280) put their dog in the boot/hatchback area. A minority of respondents (2%, n = 22) indicated they let their dog travel unrestrained on the deck of a ute or truck. Approximately half, 51% (n = 767), of the respondents indicated that they restrained or crated their dogs in or on the vehicle. Respondents also expressed concerns about roaming dogs being a road safety hazard with the themes of responsible ownership, physical and psychological harm, and the dangers of rescue altruism emerging. Conclusions: Increased awareness about proper pet restraints during transportation and preventing dogs from roaming, especially near and on roads, is crucial to ensure traffic safety for humans and dogs. Full article

Background: This study aims to assess the impact of safety footwear (SF) on workers concerning foot-related problems, especially regarding discomfort, foot pain, and skin lesions. Methods: A literature search of PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Cochrane databases was performed according to PRISMA guidelines. Studies reporting foot-related problems in workers wearing SF were included. Exclusion criteria included non-English papers, reviews, laboratory and animal studies, expert opinions, letters to the editor, and grey literature. The quality assessment was performed using the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale. Descriptive statistic was used to present data. Result: The initial search results yielded 483 articles; 7 articles were included in the review process. Despite the extensive variety of SF, all studies consistently reported symptomatic discomfort and pain. The discomfort factors included heat, sweating, heaviness, and footwear flexibility, with primary issues in the toes, toecaps, or metatarsal–toe crease region. The pain prevalence ranged from 42.3% to 60.8% in various anatomical regions. Irritant Contact Dermatitis was the most common (97.9%) foot dermatosis, but other foot lesions were reported: dry skin (30.2%), calluses (30%), hard nails (28%), corns (27%), and blisters. Conclusions: Current SFs are designed to comply with safety regulations but are influenced by the frequent occurrence of discomfort and foot problems. The literature review identified weaknesses in certain design features. Recommendations have been proposed to improve SF development. These include addressing issues such as the selection of specific types and designs of SF based on task performance and the working environment, footwear weight, and breathable materials for moisture permeation. Considerations should also encompass distinct sizing for an optimal fit, insole application, especially for prolonged standing users, and education programs to prevent foot-related issues. Full article

Background: In this study, we hypothesized that safety footwear (SF) impacts gait patterns, potentially contributing to the podiatric symptoms reported by workers. The purpose of this work was to compare the gait analyses of workers wearing SF and sneakers using inertial sensors while also examining the occurrence of foot problems. Methods: A consecutive cohort of workers from different occupational sectors who wore SF during their work shifts were prospectively assessed through a gait analysis. The gait analysis was conducted under two conditions: first, while wearing SF, and second, while wearing sneakers. In both conditions, inertial sensors were used (Wiva^® MOB). Participants also underwent a podiatric physical examination to evaluate foot problems. Results: This study shows that SF resulted in a worsening gait pattern compared to sneakers in both genders. The impact was particularly pronounced in female participants, resulting in a significant decline in walking speed and cadence. Discomfort was reported by 83.3% of participants, with a higher prevalence in females (46.6% vs. 36.6%). The SF group exhibited an elevated prevalence of foot problems, with no significant gender variations. It seems that foot problems are more likely to occur when a foot deformity, such as flat or cavus foot or hallux valgus, is present. Conclusions: This study suggests that SF may contribute to the reported podiatric symptoms among workers. Certain footwear characteristics, including weight, mis-fit, and inadequate design, may be factors associated with footwear discomfort and adverse gait patterns, potentially leading to increased foot problems among workers. Full article

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a method for assessing the environmental impact of a product, activity, or system across all the stages of its life cycle. LCA can identify the activities with a major impact on the environment throughout the life cycle of a product. To analyze the environmental implications of footwear, the LCA was applied to a pair of shoes designed for professional use. In this paper, the impact of a single pair of shoes was studied. Every year, footwear production worldwide is over 22 billion pairs, which has a significant impact on the environment. In this case study, the “cradle-to-grave” approach was used, which refers to all the activities involved in the life cycle of a footwear product, starting from raw material extraction, manufacturing, use, maintenance, and, in the end, disposal. The LCA was conducted using the SimaPro software. The environmental impact assessment of the analyzed shoe needed the acquisition of two crucial datasets. Background inventory data were sourced from the Ecoinvent database (version 3.3). The impact was quantified using the Global Warming Potential (GWP) metric, which calculates the contribution of emissions to global warming over a 100-year time limit according to the established values provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The impact of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions was measured in relative carbon dioxide equivalents (kg CO₂eq) to facilitate a standardized comparison. The results show that the total carbon footprint for a pair of safety boots is 18.65 kg of CO₂eq with the “component manufacture” stage as a major contributor accumulating almost 80%. Full article

The importance of vehicle security has increased in recent years in the automotive field, drawing the attention of both the industry and academia. This is due to the rise in cybersecurity threats caused by (1) the increase in vehicle connectivity schemes, such as the Internet of Things, vehicle-to-x communication, and over-the-air updates, and (2) the increased impact of such threats because of the added functionalities that are controlled by vehicle software. These causes and threats are further amplified in autonomous vehicles, which are generally equipped with more electronic control units (ECUs) that are connected through controller area networks (CANs). Due to the holistic nature of CANs, attacks on the networks can affect the functionality of all vehicle ECUs and the whole system. This can lead to a breach of privacy, denial of services, alteration of vehicle performance, and exposure to safety threats. Although cryptographic encryption and authentication algorithms and intrusion detection systems (IDS) are currently being used to detect and prevent CAN bus attacks, they have certain limitations. Therefore, this study proposed a mitigation scheme that can detect and prevent such attacks at the ECU level, which could address the limitations of existing algorithms. This study proposed the usage of a secure boot scheme to detect and prevent the execution of malicious codes, as the presence of one or more ECUs with a malicious code is the root cause of most CAN bus attacks. Secure boot schemes apply cryptographic data integrity algorithms to ensure that only authentic and untampered software can run on the vehicle’s ECUs. The selection of an appropriate cryptographic algorithm is important because it affects the secure boot schemes’ security level and performance. Therefore, this study also tested and compared the performance of the proposed secure boot scheme with five different data security algorithms implemented using the hardware security module (HSM) of the TC399 32-bit AURIX™ TriCore™ microcontroller through an electric autonomous vehicle’s control unit. The tests showed that the two most favorable schemes with the selected hardware are the secure boot scheme with the cipher-based message authentication code (CMAC), because it possesses the highest performance with an execution rate of 26.07 (ms/MB), and the secure boot scheme with the elliptic curve digital signature algorithm (ECDSA), because it provides a higher security level with an acceptable compromise in speed. This study also introduced and tested a novel variation of the ECDSA algorithm based on the CMAC algorithm, which was found to have a 19% performance gain over the standard ECDSA-based secure boot scheme. Full article

Ski mountaineering, a new Olympic winter sport involving both climbing and descending snowy slopes, requires considerable physical and technical abilities, as well as highly specialized equipment. Herein, we briefly describe this equipment and its influence on performance and consider potential future advances. Skis, boots, and bindings must be light enough to facilitate climbing uphill (in which as much as 85% of the total racing time is spent) and, at the same time, provide stability and safety in often-challenging descents. A skier must be able to easily and rapidly attach and remove the adhesive skins under the skis that provide grip while skiing uphill. Poles and their baskets must be designed optimally to transfer propulsive force and help maintain balance. Despite the popularity of ski mountaineering, research on this sport is scarce, and we indicate a number of areas wherein improvements in equipment could potentially advance both performance and safety. Such advances must be based on a better understanding of the biomechanics of ski mountaineering, which could be obtained with novel sensor technology and can be best achieved via more extensive collaboration between researchers, skiers and their coaches, and manufacturers of ski mountaineering equipment. Full article

While design modifications present on work boots improve safety, they may not always provide optimal human performance during work tasks. Understanding the impact of these different design features on biomechanical and physiological postural control and locomotion variables can aid in better design modifications that can provide a safe and efficient human performance. This brief review focuses on a series of studies conducted by the current research team, that have tested three different work boots (SB: high-top steel-toed work boots; TB: high-top tactical work boots; SR: low-top slip-resistant work boots). The series of studies included testing of these work boots or combinations of them under acute and chronic simulated occupational workloads, assessing biomechanical variable such as postural stability, gait, slips, and muscle activity, as well as physiological variables such as heart rate, energy expenditure, oxygen consumption, and pain perception. The impact of each of the work boots and their design feature on postural control and locomotion are summarized from these studies’ previously published literature. Finally, work boot design suggestions for optimal human performance are provided for better work boot selection, modification, and design. Full article

The aim of this scoping review was to investigate the impact of footwear on worker physical task performance and injury risk. The review was guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews protocol and registered in the Open Science Framework. Key search terms were entered into five academic databases. Following a dedicated screening process and critical appraisal, data from the final articles informing this review were extracted, tabulated, and synthesised. Of 19,614 identified articles, 50 articles informed this review. Representing 16 countries, the most common populations investigated were military and firefighter populations, but a wide range of general occupations (e.g., shipping, mining, hairdressing, and healthcare workers) were represented. Footwear types included work safety boots/shoes (e.g., industrial, gumboots, steel capped, etc.), military and firefighter boots, sports shoes (trainers, tennis, basketball, etc.) and various other types (e.g., sandals, etc.). Occupational footwear was found to impact gait and angular velocities, joint ranges of motion, posture and balance, physiological measures (like aerobic capacity, heart rates, temperatures, etc.), muscle activity, and selected occupational tasks. Occupational footwear associated with injuries included boots, conventional running shoes, shoes with inserts, harder/stiffer outsoles or thin soles, and shoes with low comfort scores—although the findings were mixed. Occupational footwear was also linked to potentially causing injuries directly (e.g., musculoskeletal injuries) as well as leading to mechanisms associated with causing injuries (like tripping and slipping). Full article

Short-term car rental services, i.e., carsharing, is a solution that has been developing better and better in urban transport systems in recent years. Along with intensive expansion, service providers have to face an increasing number of challenges to compete with each other. One of them is meeting the expectations of customers about the fleet of vehicles offered in the system. While this aspect is noticed in the literature review mainly in terms of fleet optimization and management, there is a research gap regarding the appropriate selection of vehicle models. In response, the article was dedicated to identifying the vehicles that were best suited to carsharing systems from the point of view of frequent customers. The selection of appropriate vehicles was treated as a multi-criteria decision issue, therefore the study used one of the multi-criteria decision support methods—ELECTRE III. The work focuses on researching the opinions of users (experts) who often use carsharing services in Poland. The study included a list of the most popular vehicles in Europe in 2021, including classic, electric, and hybrid cars, and a list of 11 evaluation criteria. The research results indicate for frequent users the advantage of conventional drive vehicles over electric and hydrogen vehicles. Moreover, they indicate that the best vehicles are relatively large cars (European car segments C and D) with the greatest possible length, boot capacity, engine power, number of safety systems, and quality. On the other hand, the least important issues are the number of seats in the vehicle and the number of doors. Interestingly, the vehicles selected by frequent users questioned the concept of small city cars, which occupied a small public space on which carsharing was supposed to focus. The results obtained support the operators of carsharing services in making fleet decisions. Full article

Listeria monocytogenes is a major foodborne pathogen that can contaminate food products and colonize food-producing facilities. Foodservice operations (FSOp) are frequently responsible for foodborne outbreaks due to food safety practices failures. We investigated the presence of and characterized L. monocytogenes from two FSOp (cafeterias) distributing ready-to-eat meals and verified FSOp’s compliance with good manufacturing practices (GMP). Two facilities (FSOp-A and FSOp-B) were visited three times each over 5 months. We sampled foods, ingredients, and surfaces for microbiological analysis, and L. monocytogenes isolates were characterized by phylogenetic analyses and phenotypic characteristics. GMP audits were performed in the first and third visits. A ready-to-eat salad (FSOp-A) and a frozen ingredient (FSOp-B) were contaminated with L. monocytogenes, which was also detected on Zone 3 surfaces (floor, drains, and a boot cover). The phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that FSOp-B had persistent L. monocytogenes strains, but environmental isolates were not closely related to food or ingredient isolates. GMP audits showed that both operations worked under “fair” conditions, and “facilities and equipment” was the section with the least compliances. The presence of L. monocytogenes in the environment and GMP failures could promote food contamination with this pathogen, presenting a risk to consumers. Full article

The analysis of the reliability parameters of a technical object and the determination of the change in the reliability of the object over time, requires the knowledge of the functional characteristics and reliability parameters of the elements included in a system. On the basis of the failure data of the selected element of the object, in this case the vehicle, it is possible to determine the average working time to failure of the element and the appropriate form of distribution that characterizes the reliability and durability parameters of the tested element. The main purpose of the research presented in the article was to develop a method of assessing the reliability of an electronic component of a vehicle-a boot lid contactor. This paper also presents three possible methods of repairing the boot lid contactor (sealing the housing with adhesive with better way, replacing the element with a new one or the most time-consuming solution, changing the shape of the boot lid). The authors also decided to determine the reliability and cost parameters that will allow preventive replacement of this element. The tests were carried out on a fleet of 61 vehicles of the same model, but with different body structures. Contactor failures were reported in 41 cases, of which 29 were in the hatchback construction and 12 in the estate type. The analysis of the distribution selection for the tested part of the passenger car-the boot lid contactor-was performed using the Likelihood Value (LKV) test to determine the rank of distributions. Also the maximum likelihood (MLE) method was used to estimate the distribution parameters. The three-parameter Weibull distribution was the best-fitted distribution in both cases. It was clearly defined that one model of car with two different types of body have vastly different reliability characteristic. Based on the reliability characteristic and parameters, the appropriate preventive actions can be taken, minimizing the risk of damage, thus avoiding financial losses and guaranteeing an appropriate level of vehicle safety. Full article

In booted sleeper floating track systems wherein the concrete bed, rail, and sleeper are structurally separated, mismatches can occur between the substructure and track owing to deformations. Nevertheless, the mutual behavior between substructures and track systems has not been studied extensively. To address this limitation, the effect of substructure uplift and subsidence on the deformation of a boosted sleeper floating track system installed in a subway box tunnel was analyzed using finite element analysis. A detailed three-dimensional model consisting of all track system components was constructed to determine the interaction between the rail and concrete bed. The sleepers were observed to rotate in response to substructure deformation, and their resulting contact conditions on the concrete bed were analyzed to determine the track status accordingly. The zones of likely tension and shear cracking in the concrete bed were then determined to provide focus areas for track design and maintenance efforts. The results of this study can be used to improve the design and inspection of floating track systems to ensure the safety and functionality of railway tunnels in areas likely to experience uplift or subsidence. Full article

Reconfigurable computing is becoming ubiquitous in the form of consumer-based Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Reconfigurable computing architectures have found their place in safety-critical infrastructures such as the automotive industry. As the target architecture evolves, it also needs to be updated remotely on the target platform. This process is susceptible to remote hijacking, where the attacker can maliciously update the reconfigurable hardware target with tainted hardware configuration. This paper proposes an architecture of establishing Root of Trust at the hardware level using cryptographic co-processors and Trusted Platform Modules (TPMs) and enable over the air updates. The proposed framework implements a secure boot protocol on Xilinx based FPGAs. The project demonstrates the configuration of the bitstream, boot process integration with TPM and secure over-the-air updates for the hardware reconfiguration. Full article