Development of a Towed Underwater Platform That Can Operate in a Marine Environment and Explore the Sea Bottom

Owing to environmental constraints, it is challenging to stably conduct various missions or surveys of the seabed for a prolonged period in the marine environment. To address this challenge, several devices and technologies are being developed. In this study, we aimed to develop an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV)—specifically, a towed underwater platform—that can be loaded and unloaded via joint operation with an unmanned surface vehicle, which can be connected to a wired cable to obtain a stable power supply and high-speed communication. In addition, various sensors for detection are employed to investigate the marine environment and conduct missions. Furthermore, we operated the developed UUV in actual waters, reviewed the results, and examined its practical operability.

Estimating wind using a quadrotor

The aim of this work is to estimate the average wind influencing a quadrotor drone only based on standard navigation sensors and equations of motion. It can be used in several situation, including atmospheric studies, trajectory planning under environmental constraints, or as a reference for studying flights in shear layer. For this purpose, a small quadrotor drone with spherical shape has been developed. Flight data are recorded from telemetry during indoor and outdoor flight tests and are post-processed. The proposed solution is based on a calibration procedure with global optimization to extract the drag model and a Kalman Filter for online estimation of the wind speed and direction. Finally, an on-board implementation of the real-time estimation is demonstrated with real flights in controlled indoor environment.

Comparison of TrackMan Data between Professional and Amateur Golfers at Swinging to Uphill and Downhill Fairways

Background: Golfers face different environmental conditions in each game played under various constraints. Enhancing affordances through training in a constrained outdoor environment is crucial. Objective: To analyze club head behavior at ball impact of a tee shot by 42 professional (PGs) and 25 amateur (AGs) golfers in swinging to uphill and downhill fairway environments using the TrackMan portable launch monitor. Methods: We used TrackMan to compare golf club movement adaptations in 42 PGs and 25 AGs. A 330-m driving range facing both the uphill (+5°) and downhill (-5°) fairways were used. The tee shot area was the only flat ground surface, with the uneven ground between the shot area and the 200-yard fairway. Results: The clubhead speed and attack angle were significantly higher among PGs than among AGs. PGs could adapt their swings to the uphill fairway by increasing the attack angle (3.6°±2.4) by 3.3° compared with the downhill fairway. The attack angle did not correlate with the launch angle among the AGs in the downhill condition, suggesting that they were unable to control the height of the ball based on the far side of the fairway. Conclusion: PGs increased the attack angle in uphill conditions, and their awareness of the affordance, which was different from that of AGs, allowed them to change the optimal ball trajectory to avoid perceived fairway risks. Thus, the more skill a player had, the better he was at recognizing the affordance of the visual field. PGs demonstrated a better ability to adapt to environmental constraints.

Taming, Domestication and Exaptation: Trajectories of Transposable Elements in Genomes

During evolution, several types of sequences pass through genomes. Along with mutations and internal genetic tinkering, they are a useful source of genetic variability for adaptation and evolution. Most of these sequences are acquired by horizontal transfers (HT), but some of them may come from the genomes themselves. If they are not lost or eliminated quickly, they can be tamed, domesticated, or even exapted. Each of these processes results from a series of events, depending on the interactions between these sequences and the host genomes, but also on environmental constraints, through their impact on individuals or population fitness. After a brief reminder of the characteristics of each of these states (taming, domestication, exaptation), the evolutionary trajectories of these new or acquired sequences will be presented and discussed, emphasizing that they are not totally independent insofar as the first can constitute a step towards the second, and the second is another step towards the third.

CROWDFUNDING DALAM PANDANGAN NEGARA KESEJAHTERAAN: DAMPAK REVOLUSI INDUSTRI 4.0 DAN COVID-19 TERHADAP PROGRAM PERLINDUNGAN SOSIAL

Kajian ini bertujuan menawarkan solusi pandangan negara kesejahteraan terhadap crowdfunding sebagai sebuah platform big data PMKS mengoptimalkan program perlindungan sosial. Revolusi Industri 4.0 dan pandemi Covid-19 secara sistemik, membawa perubahan program perlindungan sosial dalam bentuk big data terintegrasi dari pemerintah pusat sampai daerah dan mempercepat arus perubahan. Sementara beban Kemensos dalam program perlindungan sosial begantung pada struktur APBN yang mempunyai keterbatasan anggaran. Program Keluarga Harapan (PKH) sebagai alat intervensi pemerintah menjembatani program perlindungan sosial yang terkoneksi dengan data kesehatan, pendidikan, dan layanan sosial perlu beradaptasi dengan perubahan. Dengan menggunakan soft system dynamic methodology (SSDM), pendekatan negara kesejahteraan melalui konsep crowdfunding, dapat memperluas cakupan penerima layanan perlindungan sosial serta mempertajam ketepatan sasaran penerima yang dikelola terintegrasi dengan big data. Peneliti melakukan analisis customers, actors, transformation process, worldview, owners, dan environmental constraints CATWOE dan menggunakan aplikasi Vensim. Hasil pengolahan data berupa diagram kausalitas (CLD) sistem berpikir menggambarkan kondisi sebenarnya terhadap perbandingan kausalitas sistem berpikir seharusnya. Kata Kunci: Perubahan Sosial Ekonomi, Pembangunan, Jalur Lintas Selatan

Green TFP Heterogeneity in the Ports of China’s Pilot Free Trade Zone under Environmental Constraints

In the context of China’s Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ), ports have a new opportunity to realize high-quality development. Based on the analysis of the current situation of pollutant emissions from ports in China’s Pilot Free Trade Zones (FTZs), this paper introduces environmental factors into the analysis framework of the total factor productivity (TFP) of ports in China’s FTZs, and uses the Global Malmquist–Luenberger index method to analyze the evolution trend and heterogeneity of green TFP in 28 ports of China’s 19 FTZs from 2011 to 2017. The results show that firstly, the emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOX) and other pollutants in China’s FTZs have been decreasing year by year. Secondly, both the green TFP and the traditional TFP of the ports in FTZs are on the rise. The absence of environmental factors leads to the underestimation of the TFP of ports. For the green TFP, the main source of its growth is technological progress. Thirdly, there is obvious port heterogeneity in the green TFP of FTZ ports. Nanjing Port has the highest green TFP growth rate, with an average annual growth rate of 21.95%. Ningbo Port, which ranks 14th, has an average annual growth rate of 5.46%. Fuzhou Port, which is rated last, has negative growth. Fourthly, there is also obvious types and regional heterogeneity in the green TFP of FTZ ports. When categorized by type, the average annual growth rate of green TFP in inland ports is significantly higher than that of coastal ports. When categorized by region, the descending order of the average annual growth rate of green TFP is the western region, the eastern region and the central region. Fifthly, the green TFP differences among the eastern, central, and western regions, as well as between inland ports and coastal ports, are shrinking. Moreover, the green TFP differences within inland ports and coastal ports and within central ports and eastern ports are also shrinking, implying there may be σ convergence. The conclusions of this paper have important implications for the scientific understanding of the heterogeneity of green TFP growth in ports in China’s FTZs, and how to promote the green development of ports in China’s FTZs under environmental constraints.

Energy and Water Related Parameters in Tomato and Cucumber Greenhouse Crops in Semiarid Mediterranean Regions. A Review, Part II: Irrigation and Fertigation

Increasing agricultural systems’ resource efficiency is the key action for producing adequate food quantities in semi-arid Mediterranean regions while coping with water scarcity, environmental constraints and economic issues. Optimisation of irrigation and fertigation practices imposes different approaches, considering plant-water-soil relationships based on prevailing greenhouse microclimatic conditions, ensuring optimal production per drop of water and unit of fertiliser. In the content of "precision agricultural farming systems", nutrient uptake modelling, phyto-sensing, smart and sustainable technologies must be applied for monitoring and evaluating water and nutrients crops supply. However, in many cases, the use of irrigation and fertigation recipes given in the literature may not be compatible in the Mediterranean, as they usually originated based on northern European climatic conditions. The objective of this work is an attempt to understand various aspects of irrigation and fertigation management in vegetable fruiting crops such as tomato and cucumber towards nutrients and water resource sustainability in Mediterranean greenhouses.