Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Engineering
Japanese mayfly family classification with a vision transformer model
Published: 2024-02-10
Subjects: Aquaculture and Fisheries Life Sciences, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Biodiversity, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Sciences, Databases and Information Systems, Engineering, Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Benthic macroinvertebrates are a frequently used indicator group for biomonitoring and biological assessment of river ecosystems. However, their taxonomic identification is laborious and requires special expertise. In this study, we aimed to assess the capability of a vision transformer (ViT) model for family-level identification of mayflies (order Ephemeroptera). Specifically, we focused on [...]
The OptoReg system: A simple and inexpensive solution for regulating water oxygen.
Published: 2023-12-06
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences
This paper describes an optocoupler-based regulation apparatus for saturation manipulation of oxygen in water (OptoReg). This system enables control of solenoid valves for oxygen and nitrogen gases using a FireSting-O2 meter, an optocoupler box, and an electronic switch box. The hardware components connect to a computer through USB cables. The control software is free and has a graphical user [...]
Unleashing the Potential of Artificial Reefs Design: A Purpose-Driven Evaluation of Structural Complexity
Published: 2023-06-30
Subjects: Engineering
Artificial reefs (AR) must be built according to their objective and show high complexity to mimic the characteristic of natural habitats. To enhance the integration of artificial structures into ecosystems, a new quantitative method has been developed to evaluate their complexity, using 3D computer-aided design (CAD) models of ARs. The method utilizes six metrics: three related to geometric [...]
Anticipatory responses to drought by plants: What are the environmental cues?
Published: 2021-09-29
Subjects: Agriculture, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Other Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Plant Sciences, Water Resource Management
This study is an attempt to reconcile the physics-driven variation in reference evapotranspiration (ET0) and possible sensory-driven anticipatory acclimation that contributes to tolerance of dry weather spells and drought by plants growing in open fields. We use an original data set measured at high temporal resolution. These data include the standard meteorological observations plus detailed [...]
Applying the FEW nexus concept at the local scale
Published: 2021-04-01
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Engineering, Environmental Studies, Social and Behavioral Sciences
The food-energy-water (FEW) nexus describes interactions among domains that yield gains or tradeoffs when analyzed together rather than independently. In a project about renewable energy in rural Alaska communities, we applied this concept to examine the implications for sustainability and resilience. The FEW nexus provided a useful framework for identifying the cross-domain benefits of renewable [...]
Phyloreferences: Tree-Native, Reproducible, and Machine-Interpretable Taxon Concepts
Published: 2021-03-05
Subjects: Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Computer Sciences, Databases and Information Systems, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Engineering, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Software Engineering
Evolutionary and organismal biology have become inundated with data. At the same rate, we are experiencing a surge in broader evolutionary and ecological syntheses for which tree-thinking is the staple for a variety of post-tree analyses. To fully take advantage of this wealth of data to discover and understand large-scale evolutionary and ecological patterns, computational data integration, i.e. [...]
COVID-19 Outbreak Prediction with Machine Learning
Published: 2020-10-10
Subjects: Computational Engineering, Diseases, Engineering, Health Information Technology, Medicine and Health Sciences, Other Medicine and Health Sciences, Public Health
Several outbreak prediction models for COVID-19 are being used by officials around the world to make informed-decisions and enforce relevant control measures. Among the standard models for COVID-19 global pandemic prediction, simple epidemiological and statistical models have received more attention by authorities, and they are popular in the media. Due to a high level of uncertainty and lack of [...]
An Optical Scattering Based Cost-Effective Approach Towards Quantitative Assessment Of Turbidity And Particle Size Estimation In Drinking Water Using Image Analysis
Published: 2020-09-23
Subjects: Business, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences
Contaminated water consumption primarily for drinking purposes is the cause of approximately 502,000 global deaths every year mostly in economically challenging countries indicating the need for a cheap, easy to use a yet robust and scientifically proven method for determination of water quality. In this work, we have characterized the water quality utilizing the principles of optical scattering [...]