A bibliometric analysis of the development of autonomous ships in inland waterway transport

Inland waterway transport (IWT) plays a critical role in global logistics, offering large-capacity, long-distance transport at a lower cost. Recently, the advent of autonomous ships has promised to revolutionize efficiency and sustainability within the shipping industry. While existing research predominantly targets maritime settings, the distinct challenges of inland waterways such as fluctuating water depths, varying river currents, and confined channels demand tailored technological solutions. This study provides a thorough bibliometric analysis of autonomous ships in inland waterway transport, based on 163 publications from the Web of Science (WoS) core collection. This study identifies key technological milestones in this field and highlights the research gaps of adapting maritime autonomous ship technologies to inland waterways. The pressing need for customized solutions is also discussed. By reviewing the current landscape, this study contributes to the field as a beneficial reference for researchers, industry professionals, and policymakers, promoting the development of autonomous ship technology in inland waterways.</jats:p

Deep learning-based target spraying control of weeds in wheat fields at tillering stage

In this study, a target spraying decision and hysteresis algorithm is designed in conjunction with deep learning, which is deployed on a testbed for validation. The overall scheme of the target spraying control system is first proposed. Then YOLOv5s is lightweighted and improved. Based on this, a target spraying decision and hysteresis algorithm is designed, so that the target spraying system can precisely control the solenoid valve and differentiate spraying according to the distribution of weeds in different areas, and at the same time, successfully solve the operation hysteresis problem between the hardware. Finally, the algorithm was deployed on a testbed and simulated weeds and simulated tillering wheat were selected for bench experiments. Experiments on a dataset of realistic scenarios show that the improved model reduces the GFLOPs (computational complexity) and size by 52.2% and 42.4%, respectively, with mAP and F1 of 91.4% and 85.3%, which is an improvement of 0.2% and 0.8%, respectively, compared to the original model. The results of bench experiments showed that the spraying rate under the speed intervals of 0.3-0.4m/s, 0.4-0.5m/s and 0.5-0.6m/s reached 99.8%, 98.2% and 95.7%, respectively. Therefore, the algorithm can provide excellent spraying accuracy performance for the target spraying system, thus laying a theoretical foundation for the practical application of target spraying

Giant magnetic quantum oscillations in the thermal conductivity of TaAs: Indications of chiral zero sound

Charge transport of topological semimetals has been in the focus of intensive investigations because of their non-trivial band topology. Heat transport of these materials, on the other hand, is largely unexplored and remains elusive. Here we report on an observation of unprecedented, giant magnetic quantum oscillations of thermal conductivity in the prototypical Weyl semimetal TaAs. The oscillations are antiphase with the quantum oscillating electronic density of states of a Weyl pocket, and their amplitudes amount to two orders of magnitude of the estimation based on the Wiedemann-Franz law. Our analyses show that all the conventional heat-transport mechanisms through diffusions of propagating electrons, phonons and electron-hole bipolar excitations, are far inadequate to account for these phenomena. Taking further experimental facts that the parallel field configuration favors much higher magneto-thermal conductivity, we propose that the newly proposed chiral zero sound provides a reasonable explanation to these exotic phenomena. More work focusing on other topological semimetals along the same line is badly called for.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

Strain-restricted transfer of ferromagnetic electrodes for constructing reproducibly superior-quality spintronic devices

Spintronic device is the fundamental platform for spin-related academic and practical studies. However, conventional techniques with energetic deposition or boorish transfer of ferromagnetic metal inevitably introduce uncontrollable damage and undesired contamination in various spin-transport-channel materials, leading to partially attenuated and widely distributed spintronic device performances. These issues will eventually confuse the conclusions of academic studies and limit the practical applications of spintronics. Here we propose a polymer-assistant strain-restricted transfer technique that allows perfectly transferring the pre-patterned ferromagnetic electrodes onto channel materials without any damage and change on the properties of magnetism, interface, and channel. This technique is found productive for pursuing superior-quality spintronic devices with high controllability and reproducibility. It can also apply to various-kind (organic, inorganic, organic-inorganic hybrid, or carbon-based) and diverse-morphology (smooth, rough, even discontinuous) channel materials. This technique can be very useful for reliable device construction and will facilitate the technological transition of spintronic study

A Bibliometric Analysis and Overall Review of the New Technology and Development of Unmanned Surface Vessels

With the significant role that Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs) could play in industry, the military and the transformation of ocean engineering, a growing research interest in USVs is attracted to their innovation, new technology and automation. Yet, there has been no comprehensive review grounded in bibliometric analysis, which concentrates on the most recent technological advancements and developments in USVs. To provide deeper insight into the relevant research trends, this study employs a bibliometric analysis to examine the basic features of the literature from 2000 to 2023, and identifies the key research hotspots and modeling techniques by reviewing their current statuses and the recent efforts made in these areas. Based on the analysis of the temporal and spatial trends, disciplines and journals&rsquo; distribution, institutions, authors and citations, the publications relating to the new technology of USVs are assessed based on their keywords and the term analysis in the literature; six future research directions are proposed, including enhanced intelligence and autonomy, highly integrated sensor systems and multi-modal task execution, extended endurance and resilience, satellite communication and interconnectivity, eco-friendly and sustainable practices and safety and defense. The scientific literature is reviewed in a systematic way using a comparative analysis of existing tools, and the results greatly contribute to understanding the overall situation of new technology in USVs. This paper is enlightening to students, international scholars and institutions, as it can facilitate partnerships between industry and academia to allow for concerted efforts to be made in the domain of USVs

Temporal trends in Black‐White disparities in cancer surgery and cancer‐specific survival in the United States between 2007 and 2015

Abstract Background The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has strived to address racial/ethnic disparities in cancer care since 2009. Surgery plays a pivotal role in cancer care; however, it is unclear whether and how racial/ethnic disparities in cancer surgery have changed over time. Methods This cohort study included 1,113,256 White and Black cancer patients across 9 years (2007–2015) using patient data extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)‐18 registries. Patient data were included from 2007 to adjust insurance status and by 2015 to obtain at least a 3‐year survival follow‐up (until 2018). The primary outcome was a surgical intervention. The secondary outcomes were the use of (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy and cancer‐specific survival (CSS). Adjusted associations of the race (Black/White) with the outcomes were measured in each cancer type and year. Results The gap between surgery rates for Black and White patients narrowed overall, from an adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of 0.621 (0.592–0.652) in 2007 to 0.734 (0.702–0.768) in 2015. However, the racial gap persisted in the surgery rates for lung, breast, prostate, esophageal, and ovarian cancers. In surgically treated patients with lymph node metastasis, Black patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) were less likely to receive (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy than White patients. Black patients undergoing surgery were more likely to have a worse CSS rate than White patients undergoing surgery. In breast cancer patients, the overall trend was narrow, but continuously present, with an adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of 1.224 (1.278–1.173) in 2007 and 1.042 (1.132–0.96) in 2015. Conclusions Overall, progress has been made toward narrowing the Black‐White gap in cancer surgical opportunity and survival. Future efforts should be directed toward those specific cancers for which the Black‐White gap continues. Additionally, it is worth addressing the Black‐White gap regarding the use of (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy for CRC treatment