Generalized Rayleigh quotient optimization method for inter-channel nonlinearity compensation in coherent optical communication systems.

Inter-channel nonlinearity compensation plays a crucial role in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) systems for improving transmission capacity and distance. In this work, we propose a novel, to the best of our knowledge, inter-channel nonlinearity compensation method called generalized Rayleigh quotient optimization (GRQO) method with two different working modes. In an 8 × 64 GBaud 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (16-QAM) experimental system over 1600 km standard single-mode fiber (SSMF), the proposed method shows a 0.40 dB Q2 factor improvement over nonlinear polarization cross talk canceller (NPCC) with a moderately low computational complexity of about 2000 real multiplications per bit (RMb).

An interpretable clustering approach to safety climate analysis: Examining driver group distinctions.

The transportation industry, particularly the trucking sector, is prone to workplace accidents and fatalities. Accidents involving large trucks accounted for a considerable percentage of overall traffic fatalities. Recognizing the crucial role of safety climate in accident prevention, researchers have sought to understand its factors and measure its impact within organizations. While existing data-driven safety climate studies have made remarkable progress, clustering employees based on their safety climate perception is innovative and has not been extensively utilized in research. Identifying clusters of drivers based on their safety climate perception allows the organization to profile its workforce and devise more impactful interventions. The lack of utilizing the clustering approach could be due to difficulties interpreting or explaining the factors influencing employees' cluster membership. Moreover, existing safety-related studies did not compare multiple clustering algorithms, resulting in potential bias. To address these problems, this study introduces an interpretable clustering approach for safety climate analysis. This study compares five algorithms for clustering truck drivers based on their safety climate perceptions. It also proposes a novel method for quantitatively evaluating partial dependence plots (QPDP). Then, to better interpret the clustering results, this study introduces different interpretable machine learning measures (Shapley additive explanations, permutation feature importance, and QPDP). The Python code used in this study is available at https://github.com/NUS-DBE/truck-driver-safety-climate. This study explains the clusters based on the importance of different safety climate factors. Drawing on data collected from more than 7,000 American truck drivers, this study significantly contributes to the scientific literature. It highlights the critical role of supervisory care promotion in distinguishing various driver groups. Moreover, it showcases the advantages of employing machine learning techniques, such as cluster analysis, to enrich the scientific knowledge in this field. Future studies could involve experimental methods to assess strategies for enhancing supervisory care promotion, as well as integrating deep learning clustering techniques with safety climate evaluation.

Recognition of intrinsic values of sentient beings explains the sense of moral duty towards global nature conservation.

Whether nature is valuable on its own (intrinsic values) or because of the benefits it provides to humans (instrumental values) has been a long-standing debate. The concept of relational values has been proposed as a solution to this supposed dichotomy, but the empirical validation of its intuitiveness remains limited. We experimentally assessed whether intrinsic/relational values of sentient beings/non-sentient beings/ecosystems better explain people's sense of moral duty towards global nature conservation for the future. Participants from a representative sample of the population of Singapore (n = 1508) were randomly allocated to two "the last human" scenarios. We found that the best predictor of such a sense of moral duty for future nature conservation is the recognition of the intrinsic values of sentient beings. Our results suggest that the concern for animal welfare may enhance rather than compete with the sense of moral duty towards nature conservation.

Multiscale Pore Structure Characteristics and Crack Propagation Behavior of Coal Samples from High Gas Seam.

Investigation on the pore-fracture features and crack propagation behavior of coal is necessary to prevent coal mine disasters. The pore structure features of coal samples taken from high gas seam were obtained by mercury injection porosimetry (MIP) and gas adsorption methods. The process of deformation and failure for coal samples under three-point bending conditions were obtained. The results demonstrate that the adsorption pores with diameter less than 100 nm are the most developed and their surfaces are the roughest (the average surface fractal dimension Ds is 2.933). The surface of micro-cracks is smoother (Ds is 2.481), which is conducive to gas seepage. It may be the explanation for that 14-3# coal seam is a high gas seam, while there was almost no gas outburst accident so far. At the initial stage of crack propagation, the main crack on the coal sample expanded along the direction of the natural cracks. In the process of crack propagation, the surface fractal dimension of the main crack increased, suggesting that the bending degree of the main crack enhanced. The brittle characteristics of coal samples can be reflected by the ratio of the dissipated energy to the accumulated energy.

Gabor-GLCM-Based Texture Feature Extraction Using Flame Image to Predict the O2 Content and NO x.

Flame image feature extraction is the basis for boiler combustion monitoring and control. The flame video images of recent research are mainly derived from experimental burners in the laboratory, and few pay attention to the flame images in industrial boilers. The actual industrial boiler flame images differ significantly from the laboratory flame images. Additionally, certain flame image features cannot be captured in the laboratory owing to the limitations of the camera installations. Therefore, a flame image texture feature extraction algorithm based on an industrial boiler is proposed in this paper. The texture features were enhanced using a Gabor filter for the RGB channels of the flame images, and then, the statistics of the texture features were scalarized by a gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM). The data were filtered and downscaled by a data compressor consisting of Gaussian-weighted mean and principal component analysis (PCA) to obtain eight key variables. The extracted eight variables were verified to be effective in characterizing the O2 and NO x contents of flue gas using the mutual information method. The combustion process regression model was constructed using a gated recurrent unit (GRU) on the 8 h combustion data of the boiler, and the predicted mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) for O2 and NO x content in the test set reached 7.5 and 10.2%, respectively. Compared to the conventional methods of direct PCA on images and GLCM plus PCA on images, the MAPE for O2 content prediction was reduced by 12.3 and 7.3%, and the MAPE for NO x content prediction was reduced by 10.5 and 6.1%, respectively. The advantage of the new flame feature based on Gabor-GLCM is suitable for the subsequent analysis and control of an industrial combustion system.

The Acceptability and Influencing Factors of an Internet-Based Tinnitus Multivariate Integrated Sound Therapy for Patients With Tinnitus.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the acceptability and influencing factors of an Internet-based Tinnitus Multivariate Integrated Sound Therapy (iT-MIST). The individually tailored sound therapy used narrowband noise centered on the patient's tinnitus frequency in combination with natural sounds and relaxing music. DESIGN: Patients with tinnitus were given a 1-week trial of iT-MIST. Semistructured interviews were then carried out and a thematic analysis used to analyze, identify, organize, and report factors discovered in the data. STUDY SAMPLE: Semistructured interviews were carried out with 11 participants, 2 women and 9 men, mean age 39.82 years. RESULTS: The first theme identified from patient interview analysis was their motivation to undertake and expectations of iT-MIST. Nearly half of the participants indicated that advice from the physician was considered very important and professional. Benefits acknowledged by most participants from their iT-MIST experience were accessibility, convenience, time- and cost-effectiveness, and emotional benefit. However, a few participants with poor understanding of tinnitus and iT-MIST showed a negative acceptability with doubtful thoughts and complaints about technical issues such as being easily interrupted by messages and phone calls. CONCLUSION: Patients with tinnitus in this study were not universally accepting of the iT-MIST therapy. Concerns about their tinnitus and ability to comply with doctor's recommendations were the main influencing factors. Attitude or willingness to explore new therapies facilitated its use. Emotional benefits, for example, relaxation and comfort, were seen to sustain motivation, while doubtful thoughts and technical problems negatively affected acceptability.

The Association Between Effectiveness of Tinnitus Intervention and Cognitive Function-A Systematic Review.

Tinnitus refers to the perception of sound in the absence of an external stimulus. This can be problematic and can lead to health problems in some sufferers, including effects on cognitive functions such as attention and memory. Although several studies have examined the effectiveness of tinnitus interventions, e.g., cognitive behavioral therapy and sound therapy, it is still unclear as to the overall quality and limitations of these studies and whether their results could be generalized. Clarification is also needed as to whether poor cognitive function will lead to a less favorable intervention outcome in tinnitus patients. The present systematic review was therefore designed to critically appraise and synthesize findings from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of tinnitus intervention and its effects on cognition. The methodology followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA). Medline (PubMed), Embase, and PsycINFO were searched. Only RCTs that compared the effectiveness of a tinnitus intervention and a measure of cognitive function in adult participants with tinnitus were included. A total of 8 studies involving 610 participants tested using 11 cognitive function assessment tools (e.g., Stroop Color and Word Test and Visual Continuous Performance Task) and 5 tinnitus intervention outcome measurements (e.g., Tinnitus Handicap Inventory and Tinnitus Questionnaire) were included and analyzed. The outcomes of the review suggest that tinnitus intervention not only facilitates tinnitus management but also improves cognitive functions. It is likely that cognition and emotion play an important role in a patient's adjustment to tinnitus. Whether cognition can predict treatment outcomes is unclear due to insufficient evidence. Future research is needed using a standardized assessment protocol focusing on the effect of sound-based interventions on tinnitus severity and cognitive functions. Studies on whether cognitive function measurement can be used as a predictor for the effectiveness of tinnitus therapy are also needed.

Gallic acid-functionalized graphene hydrogel as adsorbent for removal of chromium (iii) and organic dye pollutants from tannery wastewater.

The pollution caused by tannery wastewater containing high concentrations of trivalent chromium ions [Cr(iii)] and organic dyes has severely restricted the sustainable development of the leather industry. To address this problem, a three-dimensional (3D) porous graphene-based hydrogel with good mechanical strength and large surface area was fabricated by self-assembly of graphene oxide (GO) sheets reduced and modified by gallic acid (GA) through π-π interactions. As an adsorbent, this GA-functionalized graphene hydrogel (GA-GH) can effectively capture Cr(iii) by coordination complexation between Cr(iii) and deprotonated carboxylic groups of GA at pH ∼ 4.0. Moreover, GA-GH could be easily regenerated by desorption of adsorbed Cr(iii) at pH 2.0 and maintained its high adsorption capacity after multiple adsorption-desorption cycles, which was also helpful for reusing desorbed Cr(iii) as tanning agent. In addition, compared with a graphene hydrogel (GH) without modification by GA, adsorption capacity of GA-GH for organic dye was significantly improved due to the enhanced π-π interactions between the GA-GH and aromatic dyes.

Facile fabrication of a biomass-based film with interwoven fibrous network structure as heterogeneous catalysis platform.

The stable and efficient immobilization of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on/into processable biomass-based macro-support with porous networks is a promising and sustainable strategy to achieve both high catalytic activity and excellent reusability for heterogeneous catalysis. In this work, a collagenic composite film was facilely fabricated at room temperature, via the self-assembly of natural collagen fibers (CFs) and gallic acid modified silver nanoparticles (GA@AgNPs) induced by chromium (III) cross-linking in water. The morphology and microstructure of such GA@AgNPs-Cr-CFs composite film was investigated by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. The results revealed that the cross-linking based on the coordinated complexation between chromium ions (Cr3+) and carboxyl groups on CFs and GA@AgNPs played the critical role in the interwoven of collagen fibers, leading to a three dimensional (3D) interconnected porous network of the composite film with simultaneously incorporation and high payload of silver nanoparticles. Furthermore, this GA@AgNPs-Cr-CFs composite film exhibited excellent catalytic activity toward the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP), taking the advantage of its high specific surface area given by the interwoven fibrous network structure. More than that, such sustainable composite catalyst could be easily recovered and reused for ten cycles because of its high stability based on cross-linking. This catalytic platform constructed by natural fibers, noble metal nanoparticles and trivalent metal ions showed a sustainable avenue for heterogeneous catalytic system.

Pretreatment of printing and dyeing wastewater by Fe/C micro-electrolysis combined with H2O2 process.

A novel iron-carbon (Fe/C) micro-electrolysis combined with H2O2 (ICMH) process was proposed to pretreat the printing and dyeing wastewater (PDW), using a micro-electrolysis filling. The effects of H2O2 concentration, reaction time, initial pH, and Fe/C dosage on chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal rate of PDW were optimized by response surface methodology (RSM). The maximum COD removal rate was approximately 77.65% after 186 min treatment, when the concentration of H2O2, initial pH and the dosage of Fe/C were 8.88 g/L, 1.5 and 837 g/L, respectively. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed a high coefficient of determination value (R2 = 0.9780). And H2O2 concentration and initial pH were the key factors to improve the treatment effect. UV-Vis spectra indicated that a significant blue shift at 220 nm, attributing that fused aromatic hydrocarbons were degraded effectively. 3D-EEM spectra analysis showed that the water samples of PDW mainly contained three kinds of organic matter: refractory fulvic acid, soluble microbial metabolites and aromatic proteins, and the degradation rate of these was 81.76%, 53.78% and 70.83%, respectively.

Fabrication of silver nanoparticle sponge leather with durable antibacterial property.

Leather product with durable antibacterial property is of great interest both from industry and consumer's point of view. To fabricate such functional leather, gallic acid modified silver nanoparticles (GA@AgNPs) were first in situ synthesized with a core-shell structure and an average size of 15.3nm. Due to its hydrophilic gallic acid surface, the GA@AgNPs possessed excellent stability and dispersibility in wide pH range from 3 to 12 and also showed effective antibacterial activity with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of around 10µgmL-1. Then, such GA@AgNPs were used as retanning agent to be successfully filled into leather matrix during the leather manufacturing process. Moreover, taking the advantage of its high surface density of carboxyl groups, these GA@AgNPs could be further chemically cross-linked onto collagen fibers by chrome tanning agent. After retanning, the resultant leather was given a "AgNPs sponge" feature with high payload of silver nanoparticles against laundry, exhibiting high and durable antibacterial activity.

Synthesis, crystal structures, DFT studies, molecular docking and urease inhibition studies of three Ni(II) complexes with a sexidentate N2O4-donor bis-Schiff base ligand.

Three Ni(II) complexes with a sexidentate N2O4-donor bis-Schiff base ligand, namely Ni(C36H34N2O8)·2CH3OH (1), Ni(C28H34N2O8S2)·H2O (2) and Ni(C40H36N4O8)·3CH3OH (3) (C36H34N2O8=1,2-bis(2-methoxy-6-formylphenoxy)ethane-l-phenylalanine; C28H34N2O8S2=1,2-bis(2-methoxy-6-formylphenoxy)ethane-l-methionine; C40H36N4O8=1,2-bis(2-methoxy-6-formylphenoxy)ethane-l-tryptophan) were synthesized and structurally characterized. Theoretical studies of the three complexes were carried out by density functional theory (DFT) Becke's three-parameter hybrid (B3LYP) method employing the 6-31G basis set. Moreover, the inhibitory activities were tested in vitro against jack bean urease. At the same time, molecular docking was investigated to determine the probable binding mode by inserting the complexes into the active site of jack bean urease. The experimental values and docking simulation exhibited that complex 3 showed strong inhibitory activity (IC50=11.27±2.08µM) compared with the positive reference acetohydroxamic acid. Their structure-activity relationships were further discussed.