Response of diatom assemblages to the disruption of the running water continuum in urban areas, and its consequences on bioassessment

Transformation of river and stream channels disrupts their natural ecological cycles and interrupts the continuum of their ecosystems. Changes in natural hydromorphological conditions transform lotic communities into those atypical of flowing waters, resulting in bioassessment procedures yielding incorrect results. This study shows how hydromorphological transformations of ecosystems affect the ecological status bioassessment results by disturbing diatom communities typical for rivers. Moreover, the article presents a new biological assessment procedure for urban transformed rivers including the verification of the community structure based on autecology and quantity of species. The ecological status of the ecosystem was assessed using benthic diatom assemblages and supported with results of hydrochemical analysis. The structure of the assemblages and their relationships between individual sampling sites were clarified by shade plot and multivariate data analyses. The analysis of dominant species vitality at sampling sites and their autecology gave the foundation for modification of taxa data matrix and recalculation the diatom indices. Biological assessment showed that one of the artificial ponds constructed at the stream channel was characterized by good ecological status, and its presence strongly affected the state of the downstream ecosystem following the development of a unique assemblage of diatoms that prefer oligosaprobic and oligotrophic waters. The presence of these species was also noted in the downstream sections, but most of the cells were dead. As the indicator values of these taxa are high, their presence artificially increased the ecological status of the stream, resulting in the hydrochemical assessment not being in line with the bioassessment. Therefore, a new procedure was adopted in which non-characteristic taxa for the downstream sections were excluded from analysis. This approach corrected the results of bioassessment characterizing the ecological status of the stream as poor along its entire course, with the exception of this unique pond. For hydromorphologically transformed streams and rivers with disturbed channel continuity, the correct result of an incorrect diatom-based bioassessment may be retrieved after excluding species unusual for the type of ecosystem from the studied assemblages, i.e., the species which are unable to reproduce in that area and are only carried into it by the water flow. Assessment of the ecological status of aquatic ecosystems based on biotic factors is an essential tool of aquatic ecosystems monitoring in many countries. This type of assessment requires a multifaceted approach, in particular, to identify factors that may disrupt this assessment. Standardization of biomonitoring methods is an important step in correct assessment; thus, the findings of this paper will be useful in routine biomonitoring around the world.

Computational Methods for Light Scattering by Metallic Nanoparticles

<p>The unifying theme of this thesis is that of light scattering by particles, using computational approaches. This contributions here are separated into two main areas. The first consists of examining the behaviour of the extended boundary-condition method and T-matrix method, and providing a modified set of equations to use to calculate the relevant integrals. From this, some linear relations between integrals were found, which hint at the possibility of a more efficient means of performing these calculations. As well as this, the severe numerical problems associated with this method were investigated, and the primary source of these problems was identified in the case of two commonly-used shapes, spheroids and offset spheres. The cause of these numerical problems is that dominant, leading terms in the power series expansion of the integrands integrate identically to zero, but in practice, numerical calculations have insufficient precision to compute this exactly, and the overwhelming errors from this lead to drastically incorrect results. Following this identification, a new formulation of the integrals for spheroids is presented, which allows the much easier treatment of spheroids, approaching the level of ease of calculations for spheres in Mie theory. This formulation replaces some terms in the integrands with modified terms, that do not contain the parts of the power series that cause problems. As these should integrate to zero, we are able to remove them from the integrand without affecting the correct result. The second area of this thesis is concerned with calculations of the near-field for systems of interest in plasmonics, and specifically in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Here, the enhancement of the electric field in the vicinity of a metallic surface has a large effect on measured signals. The contribution of this thesis is to study the geometric parameters that influence the distribution of the field enhancement at the particle's resonance, specifically focusing on different effects caused by the overall shape of the particle, as opposed to those effects due to the local shape of the particle in regions of high enhancement. It is shown that the overall shape determines the location of the resonance, while the local shape determines how strongly the enhancement is localised. Understanding the factors that influence the enhancement localisation will help in guiding the design of suitable plasmonic substrates.</p>

Computational Methods for Light Scattering by Metallic Nanoparticles

<p>The unifying theme of this thesis is that of light scattering by particles, using computational approaches. This contributions here are separated into two main areas. The first consists of examining the behaviour of the extended boundary-condition method and T-matrix method, and providing a modified set of equations to use to calculate the relevant integrals. From this, some linear relations between integrals were found, which hint at the possibility of a more efficient means of performing these calculations. As well as this, the severe numerical problems associated with this method were investigated, and the primary source of these problems was identified in the case of two commonly-used shapes, spheroids and offset spheres. The cause of these numerical problems is that dominant, leading terms in the power series expansion of the integrands integrate identically to zero, but in practice, numerical calculations have insufficient precision to compute this exactly, and the overwhelming errors from this lead to drastically incorrect results. Following this identification, a new formulation of the integrals for spheroids is presented, which allows the much easier treatment of spheroids, approaching the level of ease of calculations for spheres in Mie theory. This formulation replaces some terms in the integrands with modified terms, that do not contain the parts of the power series that cause problems. As these should integrate to zero, we are able to remove them from the integrand without affecting the correct result. The second area of this thesis is concerned with calculations of the near-field for systems of interest in plasmonics, and specifically in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Here, the enhancement of the electric field in the vicinity of a metallic surface has a large effect on measured signals. The contribution of this thesis is to study the geometric parameters that influence the distribution of the field enhancement at the particle's resonance, specifically focusing on different effects caused by the overall shape of the particle, as opposed to those effects due to the local shape of the particle in regions of high enhancement. It is shown that the overall shape determines the location of the resonance, while the local shape determines how strongly the enhancement is localised. Understanding the factors that influence the enhancement localisation will help in guiding the design of suitable plasmonic substrates.</p>

The HARDNESS POLYURETHANE AND NATURAL RUBBER EFFECT ON ADHESIVENESS OF AIRLESS TIRES

Airless tires are the best innovation for military tactical vehicles in carrying out the Army's main tasks for military tactical even peace support operations and war military operations. However, in its development there are still imperfections in the results, its fabrications in the adhesion between polyurethane and natural rubber. Therefore, the researchers aimed to develop the adhesion between polyurethane and natural rubber. In this research, a quantitative experimental method was used, namely by varying the hardness of natural rubber and polyurethane to determine the right hardness for airless tires for maximum adhesion. The problem that occurs is that the adhesive glue with the tire tread is problematic, resulting in a tire tread condition without air being released. In carrying out the research, a function test was carried out with a planned weight of 4,500 Kg. Based on the results of the tests that carried out, the correct result was obtained, namely the elongation at break of the most appropriate type of polyurethane L100, which was 9.287 MPa. In order to achieve the goal, namely the appropriate level of elasticity between polyurethane and natural rubber so as to be able to glue the spokes and tire treads, in the end the wheel rotation will rotate according to the desired elasticity.

Specificity and sensitivity as important parameters of the pattern of the homeopathic remedy

Aim: To assess the opportunity of use specificity (Sp) and sensitivity (Se) - indicators that are generally accepted for any diagnostic method - in homeopathy. Methodology: Analysis of comprehensions Specificity and Sensitivity in context of homeopathic knowledge. Results and discussions: In homeopathy, as in mathematics, patterns are identified through research, the main resources: provings, cases, repertory data, Materia Medica, and source information. S. Bohger wrote: “not all symptoms are equivalent”, “peculiar characteristics should be distinguished from the general series”. Considering the different facets in the general pattern of any remedy, we can see that the weight and diagnostic significance of each facet are different. Each facet of the pattern can be characterized by specificity (Sp) and sensitivity (Se) – indicators that are generally accepted for any diagnostic method. Specificity in medicine is the ability of the diagnostic method (facet of the pattern) not to give false positive results in the absence of disease (i.e., not to point to another remedy). Sp shows to what degree this parameter is typical for this remedy. It is defined as the proportion of the truly negative results of healthy individuals in the group under examination (i.e., the more often the facet is found in other remedies, the lower the specificity is). E.g., the Sp of sore throat for Hepar sulphur is how rarely the sore throat will be met in all other cases, except Hepar sulphur). Sensitivity is the ability of the diagnostic method (certain facet of the pattern) to give the correct result (to identify the remedy), which is defined as the proportion of true positive results among all tests performed (i.e., how often this facet of the pattern appears in this remedy compared to others). The Se reflects how often this pattern theme (symptom) occurs among all cases of this remedy, for example, how often we will find the sore throat among all cases of Hepar sulphur. The key symptoms, corresponding to the leading symptoms of the remedy, so-called “grains of gold” in homeopathy, can be attributed to highly specific parameters: they “valuable, few and hidden”, and as the “key to the lock” opening the whole case. Obviously, the key symptoms should have both high Sp and sufficient Se to be some kind of a visiting card of the remedy. Concomitant symptoms can be attributed to sensitive parameters, they complement the overall picture of the remedy, but they cannot be relied on in the decisive choice of the remedy (due to their low specificity). Conclusion: Sp and Se can use for description basic homeopathic terms and concepts and show diagnostic contribution of individual parameters in total pattern of the homeopathic remedy on different levels of disease.

Robust voice querying with MUVE

Recently proposed voice query interfaces translate voice input into SQL queries. Unreliable speech recognition on top of the intrinsic challenges of text-to-SQL translation makes it hard to reliably interpret user input. We present MUVE (Multiplots for Voice quEries), a system for robust voice querying. MUVE reduces the impact of ambiguous voice queries by filling the screen with multiplots, capturing results of phonetically similar queries. It maps voice input to a probability distribution over query candidates, executes a selected subset of queries, and visualizes their results in a multiplot. Our goal is to maximize probability to show the correct query result. Also, we want to optimize the visualization (e.g., by coloring a subset of likely results) in order to minimize expected time until users find the correct result. Via a user study, we validate a simple cost model estimating the latter overhead. The resulting optimization problem is NP-hard. We propose an exhaustive algorithm, based on integer programming, as well as a greedy heuristic. As shown in a corresponding user study, MUVE enables users to identify accurate results faster, compared to prior work.

Beyond gravitomagnetism with applications to Mercury’s perihelion advance and the bending of light

The expansion of both sides of Einstein’s field equations in the weak-field approximation, up to terms of order [Formula: see text] is derived. This new approach leads to an extended form of gravitomagnetism (GEM) properly named as Beyond Gravitomagnetism (BGEM). The metric of BGEM includes a quadratic term in the gravitoelectric potential n the time and also space metric functions in contrast with first post-Newtonian [Formula: see text]PN approximation where the quadratic term appears only in the time metric function. This nonlinear term does not appear in conventional GEM, but is essential in achieving the exact value of Mercury’s perihelion advance as we explicitly show. The new BGEM metric is also applied to the classical problem of light deflection by the Sun, but the contribution of the new nonlinear terms produce higher-order terms in this problem and can be neglected, giving the correct result obtained already in the Lense–Thirring (GEM) approximation. The BGEM approximation also provides new terms that depend on the dynamics of the system, which may bring new insights into galactic and stellar physics.

BOOK REVIEW: PANCASILA MORALS, LAW AND POWER (MORAL PANCASILA, HUKUM, DAN KEKUASAAN)

The book called Moral Pancasila, Hukum, dan Kekuasaan was written by Romli Atmasasmita with the aim of being a form of participation in bringing legal civilization in Indonesia so that it can be better and more advanced. In this book, the author elaborates on legal theory related to Pancasila, which is the state ideology as well as the source of all legal sources. The writing of the book Moral Pancasila, Hukum, dan Kekuasaan is addressed to all readers as well as the nation's generation who are interested in law and especially experts and legal apparatus. The writer hopes that this book can provide insight and invites to manage law in the field of natural and human resources efficiently, productively, and constructively because the legal situation depends on the people who run it. If the law is implemented correctly by the right person, the law will give a fair and correct result.

A Python-Based Interface Design for Electric Power System Education.

Python, which is widely used today, is one of the open-source programming languages. In the Python program, its interface is done through the PyQt5 library. With PyQt5, it is possible to develop object-based software that takes up less space on the disk and runs faster. In this study, an educational calculation and analysis program (ITUPSA) was designed for the Electric power systems course using the Python interface. Electric power systems are one of the fundamental courses in electrical engineering. This main course is taught in three sub-course groups as energy transmission-distribution, energy flow and energy economy. The energy transmission-distribution course package constitutes the first and most comprehensive part of the electric power systems group. In the energy transmission-distribution, the creation of the transmission line model and the calculation of the line parameters form an important part of the training. This section contains very detailed mathematical calculations and it is very important that students get the correct result as a result of these calculations. This can be possible with a lot of practice. The interface design was made by students and faculty to teach practical examples correctly. This developed (ITUPSA) python-based interface program is very suitable for calculation and analysis exercises in both undergraduate and graduate courses in the Electrical Engineering department. The purpose of this study is to create a python-based interface in order to solve the problems related to these lines, to make the types of short, medium and long power transmission lines correct and understandable. In the study, after selecting the type of energy transmission line and all parameters related to the line, the necessary mathematical analysis can be made and also the analysis results can be plotted. The analysis program is available in two languages, English and Turkish.

Study of Swarm Intelligence Algorithms for Optimizing Deep Neural Network for Bitcoin Prediction

Blockchain, a shared digital ledger, operates on a peer-to-peer network which is used for storing the transactions. Cryptocurrencies are used for transactions in blockchain. The most popular breed among cryptocurrency was bitcoin. Predicting the day-to-day value of bitcoin is a challenging task due to nonlinear and market volatility. There are many statistical methods and machine learning algorithms proposed to forecast the cost of bitcoin, but they were lacking to predict the correct result when the input data set is larger and has more noise. To handle large data set, a deep learning technique has been used. The deep learning algorithms, especially LSTM network, also have some drawbacks such as high computational time, inability to generate higher quality prediction result. To avoid these shortcomings and make LSTM a better model for bitcoin prediction, it is necessary to optimize LSTM network. This paper presents a comparative study of numerous optimized deep learning techniques to forecast the price of bitcoin.