JACIII Distinguished Editor & Outstanding Reviewer Awards 2021

The JACIII Distinguished Editor and Outstanding Reviewer Awards were established for the purpose to honor and editors who have made a significant contribution to the growth of the JACIII in 2018 and to acknowledge reviewers who have made a significant contribution to reviewing in 2019. We express our deepest gratitude for their professional work, which we believe conductive to development of not only the JACIII but also scientific research. JACIII DISTINGUISHED EDITOR AWARD 2021 Tomomi Hashimoto (Saitama Institute of Technology, Japan) Zhen-Tao Liu (China University of Geosciences, China) Bin Xin (Beijing Institute of Technology, China) Jianqiang Yi (Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China) Junzo Watada (Waseda University, Japan) Yaping Dai (Beijing Institute of Technology, China) Zhiyang Jia (Beijing Institute of Technology, China) Wentao Gu (Zhejiang Gongshang University, China)

Preface

2021 The 2nd International Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Materials (ICMEM 2021) will be held in Beijing, China during 19-20 November, 2021. The ICMEM 2021 organized by Hubei Zhongke Institute of Geology and Environment Technology intends to invite worldwide famous scientists, experts, scholars, and researchers for academic presentations. ICMEM 2021 proceeding covers all aspects of mechanical engineering and material sciences, such as Dynamics, Vibration and Sound Engineering, Materials and Technology, Fluids Engineering, Solid Mechanics and Design, Micro/Nano Engineering and Technology, Production Engineering, Robotics and Control, Thermal and Power Engineering, Vehicle Technology, Machine Fault Diagnostics and Prognostics, Intelligent Transport System, Intelligent Monitoring Technology, Metallic Alloys, Tool Materials, Ceramics and Glasses, Composite Materials, Amorphous Materials, Nanomaterials, Biomaterials, Polymers, etc.. 88 articles were selected from more than 190 submissions after peer-review, and authors participated in ICMEM 2021 with oral presentations and posters, promoting the communication among researchers and experts from institutes and universities, including Northwestern Polytechnical University, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing Institute of Space Mechanics & Electricity, State Key Laboratory of Engine Reliability, Chinese Academy of Sciences, etc. List of Conference Committee are available in this pdf.

Teaching Industrial Ecology to Undergraduate Students: Lessons Learned

Industrial ecology (IE) education is a topic that has received attention in institutions of higher education throughout the world. Some universities have been teaching and researching IE for the past 20 years but its scope is still being defined. There is a need to catalog and exchange experiences of IE teaching and their results. Based on a literature review, this paper aims to provide a framework composed of content and strategies for IE teaching. This framework is tested in teaching IE as a general education course for undergraduate students at Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT). The methodology applied in this paper is of a descriptive and empirical nature and thus this paper focuses on a practice-oriented perspective in describing the experience of BIT. A range of different strategies, including lectures, group discussions, case studies, role playing games, oral presentations, evaluation, and student feedback have been incorporated in the course. The results show that the course received a highly positive evaluation by the participating students. Students were impressed by IE’s characteristics of interdisciplinarity, ways of thinking, and practical value. Additionally, the course appears to influence students’ values, attitudes, and behavioral intentions. The paper concludes with some thoughts on ways of improving IE education in the future.

Genotype Profile of Global EYS-Associated Inherited Retinal Dystrophy and Clinical Findings in a Large Chinese Cohort

PurposeThe aim of this study was to probe the global profile of the EYS-associated genotype-phenotype trait in the worldwide reported IRD cases and to build a model for predicting disease progression as a reference for clinical consultation.MethodsThis retrospective study of 420 well-documented IRD cases with mutations in the EYS gene included 39 patients from a genotype-phenotype study of inherited retinal dystrophy (IRD) conducted at the Beijing Institute of Ophthalmology and 381 cases retrieved from global reports. All patients underwent ophthalmic evaluation. Mutations were revealed using next-generation sequencing, followed by Sanger DNA sequencing and real-time quantitative PCR analysis. Multiple regression models and statistical analysis were used to assess the genotype and phenotype characteristics and traits in this large cohort.ResultsA total of 420 well-defined patients with 841 identified mutations in the EYS gene were successfully obtained. The most common pathogenic variant was a frameshift c.4957dupA (p.S1653Kfs∗2) in exon 26, with an allele frequency of 12.7% (107/841), followed by c.8805C > A (p.Y2935X) in exon 43, with an allele frequency of 5.9% (50/841). Two new hot spots were identified in the Chinese cohort, c.1750G > T (p.E584X) and c.7492G > C (p.A2498P). Several EYS mutation types were identified, with CNV being relatively common. The mean age of onset was 20.54 ± 11.33 (4–46) years. Clinical examinations revealed a typical progression of RPE atrophy from the peripheral area to the macula.ConclusionThis large global cohort of 420 IRD cases, with 262 distinct variants, identified genotype-phenotype correlations and mutation spectra with hotspots in the EYS gene.

Moving Vehicle Detection and Classification Using Gaussian Mixture Model and Ensemble Deep Learning Technique

In recent decades, automatic vehicle classification plays a vital role in intelligent transportation systems and visual traffic surveillance systems. Especially in countries that imposed a lockdown (mobility restrictions help reduce the spread of COVID-19), it becomes important to curtail the movement of vehicles as much as possible. For an effective visual traffic surveillance system, it is essential to detect vehicles from the images and classify the vehicles into different types (e.g., bus, car, and pickup truck). Most of the existing research studies focused only on maximizing the percentage of predictions, which have poor real-time performance and consume more computing resources. To highlight the problems of classifying imbalanced data, a new technique is proposed in this research article for vehicle type classification. Initially, the data are collected from the Beijing Institute of Technology Vehicle Dataset and the MIOvision Traffic Camera Dataset. In addition, adaptive histogram equalization and the Gaussian mixture model are implemented for enhancing the quality of collected vehicle images and to detect vehicles from the denoised images. Then, the Steerable Pyramid Transform and the Weber Local Descriptor are employed to extract the feature vectors from the detected vehicles. Finally, the extracted features are given as the input to an ensemble deep learning technique for vehicle classification. In the simulation phase, the proposed ensemble deep learning technique obtained 99.13% and 99.28% of classification accuracy on the MIOvision Traffic Camera Dataset and the Beijing Institute of Technology Vehicle Dataset. The obtained results are effective compared to the standard existing benchmark techniques on both datasets.

Potential Therapeutics Pathways in Solving the Challenges of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Millions of lives throughout the globe are under threat due to the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 causes severe respiratory tract infections. In most countries COVID-19 Infections and deaths continue to soar despite the various measures put in place by the World Health Organization. These measures include limited mobility through lock down and banning international travelers. Furthermore, social distancing, wearing masks, frequent hand washing with soap and sanitizing were undertaken to slow down the rate of the virus spread. Only few countries like South Korea have been able to contain the virus to date. Our only hope is in biotechnology which have been used to develop diagnostic kits and more recently approved vaccines: vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna; AstraZeneca and Oxford University vaccine; Sputnik V vaccine; Sinopharm and the Beijing Institute of Biological Products vaccine. However, the vaccines are yet to reach the majority of the world population. Hence, there is need for concerted effort among governments and non-governmental organizations in all nations to develop the necessary infrastructures to step up vaccine production, and procurement as well as vaccination programmes. There is need for continued effort in biotechnology, to develop COVID-19 therapeutic drugs.

The Design of the College English Curriculum from the Perspective of International Engineering Education Accreditation—A Case Study from the Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology

A scientific curriculum system is of vital importance for an institution’s professional accreditation. This paper seeks to improve the previous College English curriculum by resolving certain recalcitrant problems impeding both teaching and learning; furthermore, it takes into account the demands of international society. By embracing an outcome-based, student-centered approach for International Engineering education accreditation, the paper emphasizes teaching targets of a College English curriculum for future engineers based on knowledge, capacity and quality. In addition, it provides a graduation requirement index matrix and, a differentiated curriculum system, which specifies a clear relationship between the system and students’ outcomes. Finally, four characteristics of the system are elaborated: compulsory courses and optional courses are compared; English for General Purpose (EGP) and English for Special Purpose (ESP) are correlated; classroom teaching and extracurricular context are integrated; and formative assessment and summative assessment are combined.

Normalized Parameter Creep Model of DD6 Nickel-Based Single Crystal Superalloy

For nickel-based single crystal superalloy DD6 (AECC Beijing Institute of Aeronautical Materials, Beijing, China) material, a method for predicting creep rupture time was proposed based on a newly defined equivalent stress method. An anisotropic creep model for describing the orientation-dependent creep behavior and lifetime of a nickel-based single crystal superalloy was proposed. The creep subroutine was written based on the proposed nickel-based single crystal creep model. The stability of the model was improved by adjusting the iterative algorithm. The creep calculation results in [001], [011], and [111] loading directions were compared with the experimental results. The accuracy of the calculation results by the nickel-based single crystal creep subroutine was verified. The initial time step and maximum time step of the creep subroutine were studied.