Tag: Cross Border

Abstract

Tortum Lake, in Turkey, which is a natural feature and a large landslide barrier lake, was formed due to a natural landslide disaster. In this context, areas with the potential to create landslides in Tortum Lake and the waterfall region are identified and displaced with zoning. Microtremor horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio method and seismic refraction studies were used, and by considering the results, the areas with high landslide potential were determined. It aims to choose an effective study area by determining the areas with high landslide capability and revealing the boundaries of the geotechnical project. Areas with high landslide potential were compared with those where landslides have happened, and it showed that this method can be used for determining sliding risk before it happens. Results showed that regions with low V_S30, combined with the slope, create the potential for landslides. Afterward, when the map of ground amplification values obtained from the microtremor data was reviewed, it was found that the physical properties of areas with high ground amplification values would be the same as those of areas with low V_S30 values. When these two maps are reviewed, it is observed that areas with low V_S30 values and high ground amplification values are in the same locations as those with high sliding potential. The correct determination of the geotechnical project work area is important both to draw attention to the right area to be designed and to avoid wasting unnecessary time and money on unnecessary areas.

Abstract

We present the latest magnetotelluric models on profiles in the northeastern part of Slovakia and the southeastern part of Poland. These models are focused on deciphering the tectonic structures at the contact of the Inner Carpathians with the European Platform in this area. For the Inner Carpathian block, we propose the term Carpathia. Profile SA-01 shows shallower structures and the parallel MT-05 profile shows deeper structures. These models are also correlated with the seismic profile CEL-05. All results are compatible and show an original subduction-collisional structure, which was later replaced by a transpressive-transtensional one. The most striking structures are thick highly conductive subhorizontal zones in the middle crust and a tectonically controlled deep vertical conductive structure—the Carpathian conductive zone. Other significant structures, which also appear in the seismic section, are back thrusting of Flysch Belt and the Klippen Belt basement (Penninic crust) uplift.

Abstract

Because of the high growth rates often achieved by invasive alien macrophytes, their establishment in recipient ecosystems may alter the abundance and composition of litter entering detrital pathways, representing a significant—but often overlooked—ecological effect of these invasions. Crassula helmsii (Kirk) Cockayne (New Zealand pygmyweed) is an invasive alien macrophyte, notorious for its profuse growth in invaded waterbodies. C. helmsii is perennial and often forms dense stands, producing abundant detritus. To investigate whether some of C. helmsii’s impacts are mediated by this detritus, we conducted an 85-day litterbag experiment comparing decomposition of C. helmsii with that of Callitriche stagnalis Scop. (water-starwort), a commonly co-occurring native macrophyte. Macroinvertebrate assemblage composition was comparable between macrophyte species throughout the experiment, but shifted as plants decayed. Litterbags were initially dominated by the invasive shredder Crangonyx pseudogracilis Bousfield, 1958 and later by Euglesa casertana (Poli, 1791), an interstitial suspension feeder. C. helmsii litter decomposed more slowly, with proportionally less invertebrate-mediated breakdown, but was ultimately colonised by more abundant macroinvertebrates, including more C. pseudogracilis. Decomposition may be slowed by C. helmsii’s high carbon: nitrogen ratio. These results suggest that C. helmsii invasion may impact macroinvertebrate assemblages via the production of long-lasting and relatively unpalatable detritus.

Abstract

Both heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) develop due to metabolic dysregulation, has similar risk factors (e.g., insulin resistance, systemic inflammation) and are unresolved clinical challenges. Therefore, the potential link between the two disease is important to study. We aimed to evaluate whether NASH is an independent factor of cardiac dysfunction and to investigate the age dependent effects of NASH on cardiac function. C57Bl/6 J middle aged (10 months old) and aged mice (24 months old) were fed either control or choline deficient (CDAA) diet for 8 weeks. Before termination, echocardiography was performed. Upon termination, organ samples were isolated for histological and molecular analysis. CDAA diet led to the development of NASH in both age groups, without inducing weight gain, allowing to study the direct effect of NASH on cardiac function. Mice with NASH developed hepatomegaly, fibrosis, and inflammation. Aged animals had increased heart weight. Conventional echocardiography revealed normal systolic function in all cohorts, while increased left ventricular volumes in aged mice. Two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography showed subtle systolic and diastolic deterioration in aged mice with NASH. Histologic analyses of cardiac samples showed increased cross-sectional area, pronounced fibrosis and Col1a1 gene expression, and elevated intracardiac CD68⁺ macrophage count with increased Il1b expression. Conventional echocardiography failed to reveal subtle change in myocardial function; however, 2D speckle tracking echocardiography was able to identify diastolic deterioration. NASH had greater impact on aged animals resulting in cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis, and inflammation.

Abstract

Ostracods are small, bivalved crustaceans living in all types of aquatic habitats. All non-marine species belong to the order Podocopida. They usually possess a simple optical system composed of three eyecups called naupliar eye. Phylogenetic data and morphological characteristics support the homology of naupliar eyes between ostracods and other crustacean groups. The photoreceptive system is formed by several specialised cells and can be approximated by a lens-mirror optical apparatus. In some cases, a transparent area of the calcitic carapace can form an additional lens. The visual stimuli are processed by the protocerebrum, possibly via monoaminergic neurons. The presence or absence of one or more specialised cells influence the function of the eyes, and, most likely, their evolution or loss are associated with the adaptation to different habitats. Podocopid ostracods may express long wavelength-sensitive rhabdomeric opsins and may possess nonvisual opsins. The few ethological experiments so far conducted demonstrate that non-marine ostracods might be capable of associative learning when trained with light or specific light wavelengths. This work will provide an overview of what is known and what remains to be further investigated about vision and how light cues affect the behaviour in non-marine ostracods.

Abstract

It is an enormous challenge for imbalanced data learning in the field of machine learning. To construct balanced datasets, oversampling techniques have been studied extensively. However, many oversampling methods suffer from introducing noisy samples and blurring classification boundaries, leading to overfitting. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a new oversampling method, namely CS-SMOTE, for synthesizing minority class samples by three-point interpolation. CS-SMOTE is mainly based on the center offset factor and a synthesis strategy. First, the CS-SMOTE method removes noise samples, calculates the center offset factor, and selects sparsely distributed minority class samples by using the K-distance graph technique. Next, new samples are generated based on sparse minority samples, random minority samples, and sub-cluster centers located in the same sub-cluster samples. Finally, multiple comparative experiments on 18 well-known datasets demonstrate the effectiveness and general applicability of the proposed CS-SMOTE method for the imbalanced data classification. The experiments show that CS-SMOTE outperforms other competitors in terms of classification accuracy, while avoiding the issue of overfitting.

Abstract

Wireless sensor network is large-scale, self-organizing and reliable. It is widely used in the military, disaster management, environmental monitoring, and other fields. Algorithms for localization can be classified as range-based or range-free based on their ability to achieve effective localization. Range-based algorithms require hardware support, which increases deployment costs and complexity. Instead of measuring distance directly, range-free algorithms estimate the position based on hop counts between nodes. While simpler in terms of hardware requirements, this algorithm suffers from large localization errors. To address this problem, this paper proposes an improved 3D DV-Hop localization algorithm (3D DEHDV-Hop) using a differential evolutionary algorithm. First of all, theoretical analysis shows a correlation between the volume of the intersection area containing the communication range between neighbors and the number of shared single-hop nodes. Then, using the number of shared single-hop nodes between nodes, the number of hops is converted from a discrete value to an exact continuous value. Finally, the localization problem is transformed into a minimum optimization problem by incorporating a differential evolutionary algorithm. As compared to the other four algorithms compared, 3D DEHDV-Hop improves localization accuracy by an average of 10.3% under different anchor node densities, 13.7% under different communication radiuses, and 12.1% under different anchor node numbers.