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Publications - 6374

Counterhegemony: Radical Economics and the Appeal of State Socialism in Cold War Era Nigeria (1946–1990)

Adam Mayer

Publication Name: International Journal of African Historical Studies

Publication Date: 2021-01-01

Volume: 54

Issue: 3

Page Range: 377-397

Description:

Normative state socialist economic theory appeared in the mid-1920s with Soviet economist Preobrazhensky. In Nigeria, many economic thinkers were influenced by Soviet and other Eastern European economic theory during the Cold War years. Bala Usman and Segun Osoba focused on the destruction of feudal land law and on delinking from the capitalist world economy; Bade Onimode and Ola Oni on emulating state socialist Eastern European economic theory and practice in an effort to overcome structural underdevelopment; Claude Ake in his Marxist phase made use of the Hungarian economist Tamás Szentes’s heterodox socialist development theory that the latter developed while the two were colleagues at the University of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania. Nigeria’s oil incomes were to be used in all these plans to kick-start heavy industry in the country. As the USSR’s alternative globalization path disappeared and then the Nigerian compradores’ share of profits grew by the early 21st century, interest in these radical classics reappeared in Nigeria.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: DOI not available

Where Do Pedestrians Look, When Crossing Suburban Railway Lines with Right- and Left-Hand Traffic?

Gabriella Kosztolányi-Iván Csaba Koren Bayasgalan Nemekh

Publication Name: Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems

Publication Date: 2025-01-01

Volume: 1258 LNNS

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: 107-119

Description:

We have learned from childhood on, that before crossing a street, first we must look left, then to right. This is related with the right-hand traffic system of cars. The research question in this paper is: how we behave in an unfamiliar situation, when crossing left-hand traffic. In Budapest, four of the five suburban railway lines operate with right-hand traffic, but one of them works in the left-hand system. The aim of this article is to investigate the behavior of pedestrians in level crossings with right- and left-hand railway traffic and to reveal any differences between their behavior, as well as the safety of these lines. The main findings are that pedestrians look at the “built-in” left-right order, even it is not the safest option. Parallelly, accident data show worse safety situation of the line with left-hand traffic. As conclusion, some low-cost infrastructure measures are recommended.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-81799-1_11

Towards a modern, integrated virtual laboratory system

Miklós Kuczmann Tamás Budai

Publication Name: Acta Polytechnica Hungarica

Publication Date: 2018-01-01

Volume: 15

Issue: 3

Page Range: 191-204

Description:

The aim of this paper is to give an overview on virtual and remote laboratory systems and to evaluate current solutions focusing on feasibility and applicability in higher education. Based on the conclusions of this evaluation, a new set of requirements are established against a modern virtual laboratory system. Finally, an overview of state of the art infocommunication technologies, including cognitive infocommunication are presented, which can help create high user experience in the new virtual laboratory environment.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.12700/APH.15.3.2018.3.11

Mapping the Climate–Water–Health Nexus Across African Climatic Regions (2000–2020)

Zoltán Ködmön

Publication Name: Water Switzerland

Publication Date: 2026-04-01

Volume: 18

Issue: 7

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

This study develops and applies a Climate–Water–Health (CWH) Nexus Index to compare multi-dimensional risk trajectories across six African Least Developed Countries, namely, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Niger, and Togo, each representing major climatic regions. Using decadal averages for 2000–2009 and 2010–2020, the study constructs three sub-indices—Climate Risk Index, Water Insecurity Index, and Health Burden Index—and then aggregates them into a composite CWH index. Indicators are harmonized via min–max normalization, and water and health measures are expressed per 100,000 population to ensure cross-country comparability under differing population sizes. The results of the study indicate substantial heterogeneity in both levels and drivers of nexus risk. The CWH risk decreased in most countries from the 2000s to the 2010s, while relative positions shifted as improvements occurred unevenly across dimensions. Sensitivity analysis with equal and dimension-focused weights confirms that core country groupings and extremes are robust to plausible weighting schemes. External consistency checks show a strong negative Pearson correlation between the standard CWH and the Human Development Index in both decades, indicating that higher human development is associated with lower Nexus risk. The proposed framework is transparent, scalable, and suitable for extension to broader African coverage and subnational mapping.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3390/w18070767

Effect of Geocell, on the Mechanical Behavior of Railway Embankments, Using FE Modeling

Morteza Esmaeili Guoqing Jing Guixian Liu Farshad Astaraki Majid Movahedi Rad Reza Esfandiari Mehni

Publication Name: Acta Polytechnica Hungarica

Publication Date: 2022-01-01

Volume: 19

Issue: 6

Page Range: 63-80

Description:

In nature, the mechanical properties of soils, vary from region to region and in some areas, high-strength soil resources lack is a serious difficulty that geotechnical engineers may face where constructing earthworks such as railway and road embankments is required. Although a wide range of soil improvement techniques exists to improve such soils, the effect of geocell, as an effective solution, has not yet been investigated for railway embankments, hence, the present study aims to develop a three-dimensional (3D) Finite Element (FE) model, to fill the gap. To do this, first, six, 1/20 scaled-down railway embankments, including an unreinforced and 5 reinforced ones, were constructed in the lab and their load-settlement behavior, was assessed. Second, a 3D FE model was validated by experimental results and then, using a parametric study, the effect of geocell opening size and geocell layers number, were investigated on bearing capacity and settlement of the embankments, for five various types of soil ranging from poor soils (ST1), to high strength soils (ST5). The outcomes indicated, although adding geocell layers up to 15 layers, results in reducing the exerted stress in railway embankments by a maximum of near 50%, the crest settlement is not efficiently affected. Moreover, it was found that geocell’s opening size has a negligible effect on decreasing the embankment’s settlement, while it affects the bearing capacity significantly, up to a maximum of 50%.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: DOI not available

Bridging Diagnostic Condition Monitoring and NVH Tonal Excitation Through Frequency–Domain Structural Mapping

Krisztian Horvath Krisztián Horváth

Publication Name: Applied Sciences Switzerland

Publication Date: 2026-04-01

Volume: 16

Issue: 8

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

Featured Application: The mapping methodology presented in this manuscript can aid in the vibration-based assessment of tonal excitation-related response in powertrain systems, providing a structural link between diagnostic monitoring and NVH assessment practices. In general, condition monitoring (CM) and noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) are often treated as separate disciplines, despite the fact that both rely on vibration measurements. CM relies on broadband statistical metrics such as RMS, kurtosis, and envelope analysis to detect faults. Meanwhile, NVH investigates tonal excitation mechanisms related to gear mesh frequency (GMF) and its modulation components. In this study, we investigate whether a numerical relationship can be established between classical CM indicators and physically based tonal excitation indicators derived from frequency–domain analysis. Using healthy and damaged benchmark gearbox recordings, Spearman correlation analysis was performed between broadband metrics and GMF-related tonal features, including GMF-band energy and absolute sideband energy. Results show moderate but statistically significant correlations between RMS, envelope peak amplitude, and tonal indicators, whereas kurtosis exhibits no meaningful association. Additionally, tonal response amplification in the damaged gearbox is shown to be non-uniformly distributed across sensor locations, indicating sensor-dependent structural sensitivity rather than uniform response growth. These findings demonstrate that broadband CM indicators partially encode changes in tonal excitation-related response, establishing a reproducible data-driven bridge between diagnostic condition monitoring and NVH excitation analysis.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3390/app16083709

Assessing the Chronic Environmental Risk of Graphene Oxide Using a Multimarker Approach Across Three Trophic Levels of the Aquatic Ecosystem

Benjámin Gyarmati Ildikó Fekete-Kertész Zoltán Molnár Anna Bulátkó Mónika Molnár Krisztina László

Publication Name: Nanomaterials

Publication Date: 2025-10-01

Volume: 15

Issue: 20

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

With the rapid increase in the synthesis and application of graphene oxide (GO), questions have emerged about its inadvertent entry into aquatic habitats and the ecological consequences associated with such exposure While several studies have addressed the acute effects of GO, knowledge on its chronic impacts across multiple trophic levels remains limited. In this study, we assessed the chronic toxicity of a well-characterized GO product using model organisms representing three trophic levels: the bioluminescent marine bacterium Aliivibrio fischeri, unicellular green algae (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, Chlorella vulgaris, Desmodesmus subspicatus), the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus, and the freshwater cladoceran Daphnia magna. Endpoints included bioluminescence inhibition in bacteria, growth inhibition in photosynthetic primary producers, and reproduction and refined physiological parameters (heart rate, feeding activity) in D. magna. Our results demonstrated clear concentration-dependent chronic effects of GO, with A. fischeri, the applied photosynthetic primary producers and D. magna exhibiting significant inhibition of bioluminescence, growth, delayed onset of reproduction, and reduced fitness parameters, respectively. Based on the collected data, a comprehensive ecotoxicological risk assessment was carried out, revealing that pristine GO may pose negligible hazard to aquatic ecosystems under environmentally relevant exposure scenarios. The outcomes clearly demonstrate the relevance of incorporating chronic and multi-trophic effects when evaluating the ecological risks of emerging nanomaterials such as GO.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3390/nano15201553

Rethinking running biomechanics: a critical review of ground reaction forces, tibial bone loading, and the role of wearable sensors

Vickie Shim Yaodong Gu Gusztáv Fekete Justin Fernandez Liangliang Xiang Zixiang Gao Alan Wang

Publication Name: Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology

Publication Date: 2024-01-01

Volume: 12

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

This study presents a comprehensive review of the correlation between tibial acceleration (TA), ground reaction forces (GRF), and tibial bone loading, emphasizing the critical role of wearable sensor technology in accurately measuring these biomechanical forces in the context of running. This systematic review and meta-analysis searched various electronic databases (PubMed, SPORTDiscus, Scopus, IEEE Xplore, and ScienceDirect) to identify relevant studies. It critically evaluates existing research on GRF and tibial acceleration (TA) as indicators of running-related injuries, revealing mixed findings. Intriguingly, recent empirical data indicate only a marginal link between GRF, TA, and tibial bone stress, thus challenging the conventional understanding in this field. The study also highlights the limitations of current biomechanical models and methodologies, proposing a paradigm shift towards more holistic and integrated approaches. The study underscores wearable sensors’ potential, enhanced by machine learning, in transforming the monitoring, prevention, and rehabilitation of running-related injuries.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2024.1377383

Enhanced discrete bacterial memetic evolutionary algorithm - An efficacious metaheuristic for the traveling salesman optimization

Peter Foldesi Boldizsar Tuu-Szabo Laszlo T. Koczy

Publication Name: Information Sciences

Publication Date: 2018-09-01

Volume: 460-461

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: 389-400

Description:

In this paper we present a novel universal metaheuristic, Discrete Bacterial Memetic Evolutionary Algorithm (DBMEA), which is based on the combination of the Bacterial Evolutionary Algorithm and local search techniques, used for solving NP-hard optimization problems. The algorithm was tested on a series of symmetric Traveling Salesman Problems (TSP) and Traveling Salesman Problem with time windows (TSPTW) benchmarks. The size of the symmetric TSP benchmarks went up to 5 000 cities. In all cases the DBMEA algorithm produced optimal or near-optimal solutions and the difference from the known best values was within 0.16%. While for large size problems it was much faster than the Concorde solver, it was found to be slower compared to the Helsgaun-Lin-Kernighan heuristic, which is the most efficient TSP solver method. With some slight modifications the same algorithm was also tested on TSP with time windows (TSPTW) benchmark instances. In most cases the DBMEA procedure found the known best solutions, and it was again the second fastest method compared with the state-of-the-art techniques for the TSPTW. DBMEA is called efficacious because it is a universal method. It can be efficiently applied to various NP-hard optimization problems and, as in all cases, it results in the optimal or a very near-optimal solutions, while its runtime is very predictable in terms of the size of the problem, and the topology of the instance does not affect its runtime significantly. Even though heuristics developed for a particular type of problem might perform better for that restricted class, our novel method proposed here is universally applicable and may be deployed successfully for optimizing other discreet NP-hard graph search and optimization problems as well.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1016/j.ins.2017.09.069