A scoping review of olfactory interventions for fatigue relief: addressing occupational health hazards

BackgroundFatigue poses risks to occupational health and safety, affecting individuals' work efficiency, physical health, and social security, as well as human wellbeing and quality of life. Olfactory interventions, due to their low interference, are considered promising strategies for mitigating fatigue and reducing occupational health hazards.ObjectiveThe objective of this review is to bridge the current gaps in the literature by conducting a scoping review of olfactory interventions on human alertness. It aims to explore their application in various occupational settings and to provide comprehensive and practical guidance for the practical application of olfactory interventions in mitigating fatigue and reducing occupational risks.MethodsThe literature research was conducted in English using electronic databases such as Web of Science. Keywords related to scent and fatigue and the review followed PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews and PICO framework.Results28 studies were included in this work. Participant characteristics, fatigue measurement methods, and scent intervention methods, such as types of scents, intervention strategies, and scent presentation systems, are thoroughly investigated and discussed. Additionally, the study places a specific emphasis on the applications and research within the field of scent interventions for fatigue driving. Olfactory interventions have been applied to populations in various occupational fields, demonstrating beneficial effects on both physiological and psychological fatigue.ConclusionsOlfactory intervention is effective and promising for enhancing alertness and improving the occupational environment. To provide detailed and practical guidance for the actual application of olfactory intervention in fatigue relief and reducing occupational health and safety hazards, further research into the potential mechanisms, applications, and efficacy assessment systems of fatigue-related olfactory interventions is necessary

Designing a Virtual Reality Video for Disability Inclusion: An Action Design Research

Social inclusion of people with disability is one of the priorities of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 10 – Reduced Inequalities. However, people with disability still face exclusion in society, such as inaccessible facilities and negative social attitudes. In this research, we explore virtual reality (VR) as a tool to raise the general public’s awareness of disability. We conduct an action design research to develop an immersive VR video that promotes disability inclusion, in collaboration with disability practitioners, VR practitioners, disability researchers, and individuals using wheelchairs. In this Short Paper, we present three initial design principles that are critical to addressing three key challenges in disability awareness raising. Our VR artefact, once completed, will serve as a tool for disability awareness raising. The prescriptive knowledge developed could inspire Information Systems researchers and practitioners to explore a similar class of artefacts that promote social inclusion through cultivating awareness and behavioural changes

Chain Dimensions and Stiffness of Cellulosic and Amylosic Chains in an Ionic Liquid: Cellulose, Amylose, and an Amylose Carbamate in BmimCl

Jiang X., Kitamura S., Sato T., et al. Chain Dimensions and Stiffness of Cellulosic and Amylosic Chains in an Ionic Liquid: Cellulose, Amylose, and an Amylose Carbamate in BmimCl. Macromolecules, 50(10), 3979-3984, May 8, 2017. Copyright © 2017, American Chemical Society. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.7b00389

Microbial communities and arsenic biogeochemistry at the outflow of an alkaline sulfide-rich hot spring.

Alkaline sulfide-rich hot springs provide a unique environment for microbial community and arsenic (As) biogeochemistry. In this study, a representative alkaline sulfide-rich hot spring, Zimeiquan in the Tengchong geothermal area, was chosen to study arsenic geochemistry and microbial community using Illumina MiSeq sequencing. Over 0.26 million 16S rRNA sequence reads were obtained from 5-paired parallel water and sediment samples along the hot spring's outflow channel. High ratios of As(V)/AsSum (total combined arsenate and arsenite concentrations) (0.59-0.78), coupled with high sulfide (up to 5.87 mg/L), were present in the hot spring's pools, which suggested As(III) oxidation occurred. Along the outflow channel, AsSum increased from 5.45 to 13.86 μmol/L, and the combined sulfide and sulfate concentrations increased from 292.02 to 364.28 μmol/L. These increases were primarily attributed to thioarsenic transformation. Temperature, sulfide, As and dissolved oxygen significantly shaped the microbial communities between not only the pools and downstream samples, but also water and sediment samples. Results implied that the upstream Thermocrinis was responsible for the transformation of thioarsenic to As(III) and the downstream Thermus contributed to derived As(III) oxidation. This study improves our understanding of microbially-mediated As transformation in alkaline sulfide-rich hot springs

Sequencing-enabled Hierarchical Cooperative CAV On-ramp Merging Control with Enhanced Stability and Feasibility

This paper develops a sequencing-enabled hierarchical connected automated vehicle (CAV) cooperative on-ramp merging control framework. The proposed framework consists of a two-layer design: the upper level control sequences the vehicles to harmonize the traffic density across mainline and on-ramp segments while enhancing lower-level control efficiency through a mixed-integer linear programming formulation. Subsequently, the lower-level control employs a longitudinal distributed model predictive control (MPC) supplemented by a virtual car-following (CF) concept to ensure asymptotic local stability, l_2 norm string stability, and safety. Proofs of asymptotic local stability and l_2 norm string stability are mathematically derived. Compared to other prevalent asymptotic local-stable MPC controllers, the proposed distributed MPC controller greatly expands the initial feasible set. Additionally, an auxiliary lateral control is developed to maintain lane-keeping and merging smoothness while accommodating ramp geometric curvature. To validate the proposed framework, multiple numerical experiments are conducted. Results indicate a notable outperformance of our upper-level controller against a distance-based sequencing method. Furthermore, the lower-level control effectively ensures smooth acceleration, safe merging with adequate spacing, adherence to proven longitudinal local and string stability, and rapid regulation of lateral deviations

Subgraph Frequency Distribution Estimation using Graph Neural Networks

Small subgraphs (graphlets) are important features to describe fundamental units of a large network. The calculation of the subgraph frequency distributions has a wide application in multiple domains including biology and engineering. Unfortunately due to the inherent complexity of this task, most of the existing methods are computationally intensive and inefficient. In this work, we propose GNNS, a novel representational learning framework that utilizes graph neural networks to sample subgraphs efficiently for estimating their frequency distribution. Our framework includes an inference model and a generative model that learns hierarchical embeddings of nodes, subgraphs, and graph types. With the learned model and embeddings, subgraphs are sampled in a highly scalable and parallel way and the frequency distribution estimation is then performed based on these sampled subgraphs. Eventually, our methods achieve comparable accuracy and a significant speedup by three orders of magnitude compared to existing methods.Comment: accepted by KDD 2022 Workshop on Deep Learning on Graph

Research on the Integrated Development Mode of Pastoral Agriculture

As an emerging thing different from traditional agriculture, the pastoral complex covers a wide range. This paper mainly designs the agricultural landscape under the concept of the pastoral complex to create a more attractive park, attract more tourists to travel and consume here, develop the local economy, improve local income, and promote the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy in the local area. This paper combines theory with practice, broadens the application methods and theoretical framework of the design of rural complexes, has specific reference value for the research of the design of rural complexes, is conducive to the construction of rural landscapes and the protection of rural ecology, arouses people’s re-examination of the construction of rural landscape, and has specific theoretical and practical significance for the development of rural landscape and the implementation of rural revitalization strategy