During the Holocaust, poets went to extraordinary lengths to write their poems and transmit them. Poems that were written during those years were often buried in the ground, stitched into clothing, smuggled out of prisons, or graffitied onto walls. These object documents carried more than facts about these events; they carried the feeling of living through these events. This research explores the last poems of four Holocaust poets, Władysław Szlengel, Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger, Hannah Szenes, and Abramek Koplowicz, investigating not only the poems but their object-ness and their stories of transference. These poems, like urgent postcards, deliver messages to a family, to a community, to the world. They ask―what does it mean to write a poem as a last will and testament? Full article

Background: HIV case finding is an essential component for ending AIDS, but there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of such a strategy in the pediatric population. We sought to determine HIV positivity rates among children according to entry points in Cameroon. Methods: A facility-based survey was conducted from January 2015 to December 2019 among mother–child couples at various entry points of health facilities in six regions of Cameroon. A questionnaire was administered to parents/guardians. Children were tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Positivity rates were compared between entry points. Associations were quantified using the unadjusted positivity ratio (PR) for univariate analyses and the adjusted positivity ratio (aPR) for multiple Poisson regression analyses with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). p-values < 0.05 were considered significant. Results: Overall, 24,097 children were enrolled. Among them, 75.91% were tested through the HIV prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) program, followed by outpatient (13.27%) and immunization (6.27%) services. In total, PMTCT, immunization, and outpatient services accounted for 95.39% of children. The overall positivity was 5.71%, with significant differences (p < 0.001) between entry points. Univariate analysis showed that inpatient service (PR = 1.45; 95% CI: [1.08, 1.94]; p = 0.014), infant welfare (PR = 0.43; 95% CI: [0.28, 0.66]; p < 0.001), immunization (PR = 0.56; 95% CI: [0.45, 0.70]; p < 0.001), and PMTCT (PR = 0.41; 95% CI: [0.37, 0.46]; p < 0.001) were associated with HIV transmission. After adjusting for other covariates, only PMTCT was associated with transmission (aPR = 0.66; 95% CI: [0.51, 0.86]; p = 0.002). Conclusions: While PMTCT accounts for most tested children, high HIV positivity rates were found among children presenting at inpatient, nutrition, and outpatient services and HIV care units. Thus, systematic HIV testing should be proposed for all sick children presenting at the hospital who have escaped the PMTCT cascade. Full article

Attending university is a time of considerable change, and there are rising concerns about the mental health and well-being of university students, leading to calls for a whole-university approach to student support. Resilience interventions offer an opportunity to improve mental health and well-being, whilst also developing a much sought-after graduate attribute. We conducted a systematic review of interventions designed to increase university students’ levels of resilience and examined the impact of these on students’ mental health and well-being. Five databases identified 1377 unique records, 47 of which were eligible for inclusion. Eligible studies were drawn from a range of countries and adopted different designs, with the most common being the randomised controlled trial (RCT). Interventions were classified into mindfulness, skills-based, psychoeducation, and coaching, with delivery both online and face-to-face. The most common outcomes were depression, anxiety, stress, and well-being. The ‘Quality Assessment Tool for Before-After (Pre-/Post) Studies’ was used to assess the risk of bias with most studies rated as fair. Overall, the studies indicated that there is little evidence of a positive effect on depression, but stress and anxiety may be reduced following interventions. Well-being data were inconclusive. Interestingly, most interventions did not impact measures of resilience or mindfulness, despite the training targeting these constructs. The available research is currently limited and there is a need for more high-quality designs providing descriptions of interventions. Full article

In recent decades, there has been a growing interest in the study of emotions, demonstrating their importance in understanding diverse human and social dynamics. However, as this field of study develops and diversifies, a structural yet simple question remains virtually undiscussed: Is it really possible to say that societies possess emotions or a certain sensitivity akin to individual experiences? This exploratory study, based on documentary analysis, endeavours to identify and examine emotional patterns across six different periods, spanning from the Middle Ages to the present day. Among the eight secondary findings, three fundamental conclusions stand out: (1) throughout history, societies have experienced different emotional atmospheres, sometimes simultaneously; (2) although societies generally propose an emotional model to follow, the reality does not always conform to it; and (3) it is mainly through the culture that society creates a certain emotional harmony, allowing the social body to remain cohesive and develop, thus postponing or preventing its disintegration. This study aims to offer a modest contribution to the complex and under-explored discussion on the correlation between specific emotional climates and particular social contexts. Full article

Reducing the nitrogen (N) application rate and improving water-use efficiency (WUE) are extremely important for sustainable agricultural development in wheat–maize rotation systems in the North China Plain (NCP). We conducted a three-year experiment to investigate the effects of the N application rate on the water-use characteristics of wheat–maize rotation systems in the NCP. The experiment consisted of four N application rates: 250, 167, 84, and 0 kg hm⁻², denoted by N3, N2, N1, and N0, respectively. The results showed the following: For the 0–60 cm soil layer, N deficiency could lead to reduced soil water use (SWU) in wheat seasons, but in maize seasons, N deficiency showed no significant effects on SWU in the 0–60 cm layer. For the 60–140 cm soil layer, N deficiency could lead to reduced SWU in wheat seasons, but in maize seasons, the effects of N deficiency on SWU in the 60–140 cm layer varied with the SWC in the 0–60 cm layer. Throughout the three-year experiment, the evapotranspiration (ET), leaf area index (LAI), yield, and WUE of plants receiving low N treatments decreased with the growing season due to the negative effects of low N treatment (N1 and N0) on the soil. The LAI, total ET, grain yield, and WUE were all positively correlated with each other for both wheat and maize. Considering grain yield and WUE, a single-season N application rate of 167 kg hm⁻² (N2 treatment) in the NCP could meet the growth needs of the wheat–maize rotation system. Full article

The valorization of the large amount of crude glycerol formed from the biodiesel industry is of primordial necessity. One possible direction with high interest to the biorefinery sector is the production of fuel additives such as solketal, through the acetalization of glycerol with acetone. This is a chemical process that conciliates high sustainability and economic interest, since solketal contributes to the fulfillment of a Circular Economy Model through its use in biodiesel blends. The key to guarantee high efficiency and high sustainability for solketal production is the use of recovery and recyclable heterogeneous catalysts. Reported works indicate that high yields are attributed to catalyst acidity, mainly the ones containing Brönsted acidic sites. On the other hand, the catalyst stability and its recycling capacity are completely dependent of the support material and the acidic sites incorporation methodology. This review intends to conciliate the information spread on this topic and indicate the most assertive strategies to achieve high solketal production in short reaction time during various reaction cycles. Full article

Zika (ZIKV) and Chikungunya (CHIKV) viruses are mosquito-transmitted infections, or vector-borne pathogens, that emerged a few years ago. Reliable diagnostic tools for ZIKV and CHIKV—inexpensive, multiplexed, rapid, highly sensitive, and specific point-of-care (POC) systems—are vital for appropriate risk management and therapy. We recently studied a detection system with great success in Mexico (Villahermosa, state of Tabasco), working with human sera from patients infected with those viruses. The research conducted in Mexico validated the efficacy of a novel two-step rapid isothermal amplification technique (RAMP). This approach, which encompasses recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) followed by loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), had been previously established in the lab using lab-derived Zika (ZIKV) and Chikungunya (CHIKV) viruses. Crucially, our findings confirmed that this technique is also effective when applied to human sera samples collected from locally infected individuals in Mexico. Full article

Botulinum toxin (BoNT) injection can safely be done as an office-based procedure, but can be painful itself, especially when injecting pelvic floor muscles to treat chronic pelvic pain (CPP). Mindfulness interventions may reduce procedure-associated acute anxiety and pain. We applied mindfulness techniques to increase the tolerability of office-based pelvic floor BoNT injections in women with CPP. Women enrolled in a clinical trial of BoNT for endometriosis-associated CPP were offered a brief, guided mindfulness session before and/or after transvaginal injection. Anxiety, pain, and dysphoria were rated on a 0–10 numerical rating scale (NRS) before and after each mindfulness session. Eight women underwent mindfulness sessions. Five participants had a session before and two after the transvaginal injection. One participant had two sessions: one before and one after separate injections. All six women completing a session prior to injection had at least moderate anxiety, which lessened after the mindfulness session (median NRS change: −3.3/10). All three women reporting injection-associated pain experienced less intense pain following the post-injection session (median NRS change: −3/10). Three women experiencing dysphoria improved after the session (median NRS change: −3/10). A brief, guided mindfulness session may lessen acute pain, anxiety, and dysphoria associated with office-based transvaginal BoNT injection. Full article

The rapid spread of Internet of Things technologies has enabled a continuous monitoring of indoor environmental quality in office environments by integrating monitoring devices equipped with low-cost sensors and cloud platforms for data storage and visualization. Critical aspects in the development of such monitoring systems are effective data acquisition, processing, and visualization strategies, which significantly influence the performance of the system both at monitoring device and at cloud platform level. This paper proposes novel strategies to address the challenges in the design of a complete monitoring system for indoor environmental quality. By adopting the proposed solution, one can reduce the data rate transfer between the monitoring devices and the server without loss of information, as well as achieve efficient data storage and aggregation on the server side to minimize retrieval times. Finally, enhanced flexibility in the dashboard for data visualization is obtained, thus enabling graph modifications without extensive coding efforts. The functionality of the developed system was assessed, with the collected data in good agreement with those from other instruments used as references. Full article

Introduction: A subset of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) patients experience recurrent urinary tract infection (rUTI) associated with symptom flares. Recurrent UTI subjects with associated IC/BPS were enrolled in the first North American early clinical experience trial evaluating a new sublingual UTI preventative vaccine, MV140. It has been shown that women with rUTI develop an imbalance in the T helper 1 and 2 (Th2 over-expression) in the bladder mucosa. Our hypothesis-generating secondary analysis will suggest that this infection subcategory of IC/BPS patients develop a similar imbalance of Th1-Th2 response type to bacteria present in their urinary microbiome, leading to a bladder hypersensitivity that responds to mucosal immune modulation. Methods: Female participants with ≥3 documented UTI/year underwent a 3-month vaccination treatment period with a 9-month efficacy period after completion of vaccine treatment (total 12 months). There were no exclusion criteria for subjects in relation to baseline urinary symptoms and/or discomfort/pain. Primary outcome was no UTI following vaccination. Secondary outcomes included change in UTI incidence, overall patient-reported subjective global assessment (SGA responder defined as moderately or markedly improved on 7-point scale), and safety. Results: Sixteen subjects with IC/BPS-related symptoms and rUTI (mean age 47; range 23–74 years; mean number of UTI episodes in previous year 6.1 +/− 4.2) were eligible to be included in the Health Canada-approved MV140 vaccine study for prevention of rUTI. All subjects completed the 3-month vaccination period. One subject was lost to follow-up after their 6-month visit. Six subjects were UTI-free, while all 16 subjects had a reduction in UTI episodes compared to the year pre-vaccination. The total post-vaccination reduction in UTI episodes compared to pre-vaccination was 80% (0.1 UTI/subject/month from 0.5 UTI/subject/month, respectively). At 12 months, 13 subjects (81%) were SGA responders (moderately or markedly improved), and the responders reported a reduction in IC/BPS symptoms, with 8 subjects reporting significant or almost complete resolution of their specific long-term bladder discomfort/pain and bothersome urinary frequency or urgency. Four subjects reported mild and self-limited adverse events during vaccination period, but none were related to MV140 vaccine. Conclusion: Sublingual MV140 vaccine in IC/BPS patients with rUTI not only achieved UTI-free or reduced UTI incidence status but also, after approximately 9 months post vaccination, resolution of patients’ long-term treatment-refractory IC/BPS symptoms. This suggests some cases of IC/BPS may be etiologically based on Th2-driven hypersensitivity to bacteria within or entering the urinary microbiome that responds to a vaccine whose mechanism of action is to normalize or balance the bladder Th1/Th2 mucosal immune system. Full article

The management and improvement of yam productivity are associated with a good supply of essential nutrients for the growth and development of the crop that has economic viability. This research aimed to evaluate the economic feasibility of foliar fertilization with Zintrac^® in two yam agricultural seasons (2022/2023 and 2023/2024). Therefore, two experiments were conducted at the Rafael Fernandes Experimental Farm, Mossoró, RN, Brazil. The experimental design was in a Latin square design with five treatments of doses of Zintrac^® (0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 L ha⁻¹) and five replications. Among the production costs of yams, labor and seed acquisition were the most significant. The highest profitability index was achieved with the dose of 1L Zintrac^® ha⁻¹ in the first season and second season, which corresponded to 78.97 and 57.86%. For the first season, increments were observed in all treatments that received zinc doses with increases of 48.70, 31.22, 14.30, and 15.93% for 1, 2, 3, and 4 L of Zintrac^® ha⁻¹ compared to the dose of 0 L ha⁻¹. On the other hand, in the second season, there was an increase only in the dose of 1 L ha⁻¹ of Zintrac^®, which corresponded to 51.3% in the net yield (ha⁻¹) of the dose of 0 L ha⁻¹. Therefore, foliar zinc oxide fertilization was economically viable for the yam crop, obtaining higher economic indices at the dose of 1 L ha⁻¹. The highest cost for growing yams is using a dose of 4 L ha⁻¹ of Zintrac^®, totaling USD 6977.59 (first season) and USD 6868.33 (second season) Full article

The laser beam mode affects the power density distribution on the irradiated target, directly influencing the product quality in laser processing, especially the hole quality in laser drilling. The Gaussian beam shape, Mexican-Hat beam shape, Double-Hump beam shape, and Top-Hat beam shape are four typical laser beam modes used as a laser heat source and introduced into our proficient laser-drilling model, which involves complex physical phenomena such as heat and mass transfer, solid/liquid/gas phase changes, and two-phase flow. Simulations were conducted on an aluminum target, and the accuracy was verified using experimental data. The results of the simulations for the fundamental understanding of this laser–material interaction are presented in this paper; in particular, the hole shape, including the depth–diameter ratio and the angle of the cone, as well as spatter phenomena and, thus, the formed recast layer, are compared and analyzed in detail in this paper. This study can provide a reference for the optimization of the laser-drilling process, especially the selection of laser beam mode. Full article

The dough formation during the kneading for the industrial production of toast pan bread was examined using a series of mechanical tests to assess possible transformations in its rheological properties. For this purpose, the Young’s modulus of elasticity and squeeze flow viscometry of the doughs taken from various processing stages of the kneading process were determined. The rheological properties of the dough were assessed using dynamic and creep tests. Young’s modulus data revealed the changes in the elasticity of the dough exhibited during the different steps of kneading, whereas dynamic and creep tests indicated that throughout kneading, the dough displayed the behavior of a weak solid. Elongational viscosity measurements showed that the dough exhibited pseudoplastic behavior throughout the kneading process. The doughs from the various processing steps exhibited differences in zero shear viscosity values. It is suggested that the changes occurred during the processing stages, related to the development of secondary bonding within the gluten matrix. Full article

A 15-year-old girl was admitted to the Pediatric Emergency Department due to abdominal discomfort, anorexia, diarrhea, emesis, and weight loss. An inflammatory bowel disease diagnosis was suspected and a complete endoscopic investigation was deemed necessary. Initially, only colonoscopy with ileoscopy was performed, with evidence of widespread ileal ulcers, whereas a subsequent esophagogastroduodenoscopy revealed a huge trichobezoar that was further surgically removed. Trichobezoars are intraluminal conglomerates composed of ingested hair and are typically associated with underlying psychiatric disorders. Bezoars can be asymptomatic or present with various gastrointestinal symptoms, mimicking, among other conditions, inflammatory bowel disease. They may extend through the pylorus into the jejunum leading to Rapunzel Syndrome, which may cause intestinal obstruction. The treatment of trichobezoar depends on its location and volume. An endoscopic approach is possible for small-sized trichobezoars, but to avoid bezoar tail migration along the intestine, causing obstruction, conventional laparotomy is the only valid treatment for patients with Rapunzel Syndrome. Due to the increasing incidence of psychiatric disorders in pediatric age during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and their relationship with trichobezoars, an increase in cases of trichobezoars was observed. Thus, interdisciplinary collaboration between psychiatrists, pediatricians, and surgeons is crucial not only during the acute phase but also for long-term management and prevention of recurrence. Full article

This paper presents a method to design a static output feedback active suspension controller for ride comfort improvement and motion sickness reduction in a real vehicle system. Full-state feedback controller has shown good performance for active suspension control. However, it requires a lot of states to be measured, which is very difficult in real vehicles. To avoid this problem, a static output feedback (SOF) controller is adopted in this paper. This controller requires only three sensor outputs, vertical velocity, roll and pitch rates, which are relatively easy to measure in real vehicles. Three types of SOF controller are proposed and optimized with linear quadratic optimal control and the simulation optimization method. Two of these controllers have only three gains to be tuned, which are much smaller than those of full-state feedback. To validate the performance of the proposed SOF controllers, a simulation is carried out on a vehicle simulation package. From the results, the proposed SOF controllers are quite good at improving ride comfort and reducing motion sickness. Full article

Reconstruction of craniomaxillofacial bone defects using 3D-printed hydroxyapatite (HA) bioceramic patient-specific implants (PSIs) is a new technique with great potential. This study aimed to investigate the advantages, disadvantages, and clinical outcomes of these implants in craniomaxillofacial surgeries. The PubMed and Embase databases were searched for patients with craniomaxillofacial bone defects treated with bioceramic PSIs. Clinical outcomes such as biocompatibility, biomechanical properties, and aesthetics were evaluated and compared to those of commonly used titanium or poly-ether-ether-ketone (PEEK) implants and autologous bone grafts. Two clinical cases are presented to illustrate the surgical procedure and clinical outcomes of HA bioceramic PSIs. Literature review showed better a biocompatibility of HA PSIs than titanium and PEEK. The initial biomechanical properties were inferior to those of autologous bone grafts, PEEK, and titanium but improved when integrated. Satisfactory aesthetic results were found in our two clinical cases with good stability and absence of bone resorption or infection. Radiological signs of osteogenesis were observed in the two clinical cases six months postoperatively. HA bioceramic PSIs have excellent biocompatible properties and imitate natural bone biomechanically and radiologically. They are a well-suited alternative for conventional biomaterials in the reconstruction of load-sharing bone defects in the craniomaxillofacial region. Full article

Bidens tripartita L. is a cadmium (Cd) accumulator. However, the real-time influx or efflux of Cd²⁺ around its root apex has not yet been performed. The object of this experiment was to compare the roles of added ions in solution on dynamic Cd extraction by B. tripartita root tip. Quartz sand was used to grow the seedling of B. tripartite. The Cd concentrations of all samples were determined by using ICP-OES after digestion. The Cd²⁺ influx around the root apex was measured in vivo, i.e., using non-invasive micro-test technology (NMT). The results showed that the Cd²⁺ influx was found to be decreased by 35.9%, 43.7%, 20.6%, and 57.5% under 10 μM Cd combined with high content Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Fe³⁺, or K⁺ (16 mM, 8 mM, 0.5 mM, 18 mM, respectively), compared to that under 10 μM Cd stress. But Cd treatments with low content ions with 0.05 mM Fe³⁺ or 0.5 mM S increased the Cd²⁺ influx in roots by 20.5% and 34.6%, respectively. It was also found that Cd treatment with high concentrations of Ca²⁺ or K⁺ increased the shoot biomass of B. tripartita seedlings. Chl a and b contents were significantly decreased in the Cd treatments with low concentrations of Fe³⁺ or S compared to those under Cd stress alone, and the dehydrogenase activity of the roots decreased in the treatment of Cd with 0.05 mM Fe³⁺ or 0.5 mM S. Our results indicate that the addition of 0.05 mM Fe³⁺ or 0.5 mM S promoted Cd²⁺ influx and Cd uptake by B. tripartita. Unlike traditional measurement, the Cd²⁺ movements of three-dimensional space around the B. tripartita root tip had been performed by NMT. It was suggested that the effects of S and Fe³⁺ on the remediation potential of B. tripartita need to be further researched in the future. The results of this study provided a real-time and micro-dynamic theoretical basis for phytoremediation mechanisms. Full article

The study explores the capabilities of large language models (LLMs), particularly GPT-4, in understanding and solving geotechnical problems, a specialised area that has not been extensively examined in previous research. Employing a question bank obtained from a commonly used textbook in geotechnical engineering, the research assesses GPT-4’s performance across various topics and cognitive complexity levels, utilising different prompting strategies like zero-shot learning, chain-of-thought (CoT) prompting, and custom instructional prompting. The study reveals that while GPT-4 demonstrates significant potential in addressing fundamental geotechnical concepts and problems, its effectiveness varies with specific topics, the complexity of the task, and the prompting strategies employed. The paper categorises errors encountered by GPT-4 into conceptual, grounding, calculation, and model inherent deficiencies related to the interpretation of visual information. Custom instructional prompts, specifically tailored to address GPT-4’s shortcomings, significantly enhance its performance. The study reveals that GPT-4 achieved an overall problem-solving accuracy of 67% with custom instructional prompting, significantly higher than the 28.9% with zero-shot learning and 34% with CoT. However, the study underscores the importance of human oversight in interpreting and verifying GPT-4’s outputs, especially in complex, higher-order cognitive tasks. The findings contribute to understanding the potential and limitations of current LLMs in specialised educational fields, providing insights for educators and researchers in integrating AI tools like GPT-4 into their teaching and problem-solving approaches. The study advocates for a balanced integration of AI in education to enrich educational delivery and experience while emphasising the indispensable role of human expertise alongside technological advancements. Full article

This paper presents a new electric drive-reconfigured on-board charger and initial electromagnetic torque suppression method. This proposed reconfigured on-board charger does not need many components added to the original electric drive system: only a connector is needed, which is easy to add. Specifically, the inverter for propulsion is reconfigured as a buck chopper and a conduction path to match the reconfigured windings. Two of the machine phase windings serve as inductors, while the third phase winding is reutilized as a common-mode inductor. In addition, the initial charging torque is generated at the outset of the charging process, which may cause an instant shock or even rotational movement. In order to prevent vehicle movement, the reason for the charging torque and suppression method were analyzed. Further, predictive control of the model based on mutual inductance analysis was adopted, where the charging torque was directly used as a control object in the cost function. Finally, experimental performances were applied to verify the proposed reconfigured on-board charger under constant current and constant voltage charging. Full article

UAV remote sensing (RS) image object detection is a very valuable and challenging technology. This article discusses the importance of key features and proposes an object detection network (URSNet) based on a bidirectional multi-span feature pyramid and key feature capture mechanism. Firstly, a bidirectional multi-span feature pyramid (BMSFPN) is constructed. In the process of bidirectional sampling, bicubic interpolation and cross layer fusion are used to filter out image noise and enhance the details of object features. Secondly, the designed feature polarization module (FPM) uses the internal polarization attention mechanism to build a powerful feature representation for classification and regression tasks, making it easier for the network to capture the key object features with more semantic discrimination. In addition, the anchor rotation alignment module (ARAM) further refines the preset anchor frame based on the key regression features extracted by FPM to obtain high-quality rotation anchors with a high matching degree and rich positioning visual information. Finally, the dynamic anchor optimization module (DAOM) is used to improve the ability of feature alignment and positive and negative sample discrimination of the model so that the model can dynamically select the candidate anchor to capture the key regression features so as to further eliminate the deviation between the classification and regression. URSNet has conducted comprehensive ablation and SOTA comparative experiments on challenging RS datasets such as DOTA-V2.0, DIOR and RSOD. The optimal experimental results (87.19% mAP, 108.2 FPS) show that URSNet has efficient and reliable detection performance. Full article

This paper integrates intelligent reflecting surfaces (IRS) with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to enhance the transmission performance of the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) through non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA). It focuses on strengthening the signals from cell edge vehicles (CEVs) to the base station by optimizing the wireless propagation environment via an IRS-equipped UAV. The primary goal is to maximize the sum data rate of CEVs while satisfying the constraint of the successive interference cancellation (SIC) decoding threshold. The challenge lies in the non-convex nature of jointly considering the power control, subcarrier allocation, and phase shift design, making the problem difficult to optimally solve. To address this, the problem is decomposed into two independent subproblems, which are then solved iteratively. Specifically, the optimal phase shift design is achieved using the deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) algorithm. Furthermore, the graph theory is applied to determine the subcarrier allocation policy and derive a closed-form solution for optimal power control. Finally, the simulation results show that the proposed joint phase shift and resource management scheme significantly enhances the sum data rate compared to the state-of-the-art schemes, thereby demonstrating the benefits of integrating the IRS-equipped UAV into NOMA-enhanced IoV. Full article

In several industrial fields, environmental and operational data are acquired with numerous purposes, potentially generating a huge quantity of data containing valuable information for management actions. This work proposes a methodology for clustering time series based on the K-medoids algorithm using a convex combination of different time series correlation metrics, the COMB distance. The multidimensional scaling procedure is used to enhance the visualization of the clustering results, and a matrix plot display is proposed as an efficient visualization tool to interpret the COMB distance components. This is a general-purpose methodology that is intended to ease time series interpretation; however, due to the relevance of the field, this study explores the clustering of time series judiciously collected from data of a wind farm located on a complex terrain. Using the COMB distance for wind speed time bands, clustering exposes operational similarities and dissimilarities among neighboring turbines which are influenced by the turbines’ relative positions and terrain features and regarding the direction of oncoming wind. In a significant number of cases, clustering does not coincide with the natural geographic grouping of the turbines. A novel representation of the contributing distances—the COMB distance matrix plot—provides a quick way to compare pairs of time bands (turbines) regarding various features. Full article