*5.2. 13000 TEU Container*

The 13000 TEU container uses the following operating modes during voyage: Normal seagoing, port in/out (without thruster), port in/out (with thruster), load/unload, and harboring. The test bed experiments were conducted by adjusting the scale of the values obtained from the electric load analysis or the output of each operating mode of an actual ship. As shown in Figure 12, the hybrid power source was used in the load scenarios of this ship. Normal seagoing was a fuel cell operation interval. Port in/out (without thruster) was a fuel cell + battery operation interval. Port in/out (with thruster) was a fuel cell + battery + diesel generator operation interval. Load/unload and harboring were fuel cell operation intervals. The scale-adjusted electric load analysis was applied to the test bed, and the output tests were performed.

**Figure 12.** Operating modes of the 13000 TEU container.

Figure 13 compares the fuel consumption during each operating mode of this ship. The fuel consumption was at maximum during the port in/out (with thruster) mode and at minimum during the load/unload mode. The load increased (and decreased) as the fuel consumption increased (and decreased), respectively. However, on observing the CO2 emission reduction rates shown in Figure 14, it can be seen that the CO2 emission reduction rate was low in the load/unload and harboring modes despite the low fuel consumption.

**Figure 13.** Fuel consumption in each operating mode of the 13000 TEU container ship.

**Figure 14.** Comparison of CO2 emissions and CO2 emission reduction rate in each operating mode of the 13000 TEU container ship.


**3. Epigenetic plasticity in adulthood as well as adolescence**

While plasticity carrying epigenetic pathways was originally considered to be confined for the premature steps of embryogenesis, now it is becoming more and more apparent to that epigenetic variation can be caused by experiences occurring during the lifespan. In addition, a key facet of memory and learning from infancy to adulthood may be the guiding source to modify DNA methylation and histone tails [55]. Variation of epigenetic, similarly, has been related with the alterations in phenotype and gene expression in the mean time of the latter stages of advancement in the form of studies on the effect of social experiences & stressors. In addition to adult mice with genetically mediated memory dysfunction, being exposed to complicated housing environments for four weeks were found to be associated with enhanced hippocampal histone acetylation as well as memory enhancement and cortex [56]. Surprisingly, these enrichmentinduced effects on histones, memory and comprehending, can as well be obtained with pharmacological remedies in non-memory-impaired mice that promote histone acetylation. Histone modifications (particularly histone methylation) are also observed in mice in enriched settings in the BDNF III, IV, and VI promoter regions [57].

Chronic stress is actually linked to decreases in the expression of this specific gene compared to environmental enrichment, which has been shown to advance stages of BDNF, an epigenetic base might be an issue for such consequences. In rats, immobilization pressure was found to cause great rises in hippocampal DNA methylation in the BDNF gene, coupled with exposure to predator odor [58]. Reductions in BDNF are actually found within the version of social defeat after a month of being exposed to what is known as social stressor, then hippocampal histone demethylation at the promoter of BDNF might take credit for such specific impact [59]. Histone acetylation is temporarily diminished, after that shows elongated risings on mice that is rejected socially. Therefore, such specific impact may be related with long-lasting reductions in histone deacetylase amounts induced by stress [60]. Similarly, increased histone acetylation in rats continues to be observed for up to twenty-four hours

## *Epigenetic DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99964*

following the experience of repeated population-based rejection [61]. In addition, the behavior-based outcomes of interpersonal loss, such as diminished social-based activity, can be pharmacologically turned around thanks to a medication that inhibits histone deacetylases [60]. It is concluded that a group of mice were resistance to our stressor. And the other conclusion is that discomfiture between humans results in consequences which would last long. Stress-susceptible mice were found in a recent study to have elevated levels of CRF mRNA in the PVN and also diminished methylation of DNA in the CRF gene [62]. In comparison, stress-resilient mice were found to undergo no changes in the CRF mRNA or perhaps DNA methylation of this particular gene. In fact, differential sensitivity to the effects of stress is a key thing to consider in these studies, and as a consequence of anxiety, there is growing evidence for strain or perhaps genotype-specific epigenetic consequences [63].


**8. Diagnosis**

Early and accurate diagnosis is important. This is dependent on the co-detection of clinical presentation and tissue-bound and/or circulating autoantibodies.

The diagnosis of pemphigus vulgaris begins with a thorough history and physical examination. Since the presence of mucosal lesions is more common in PV than in other pemphigus, it should detect the presence of mucosal involvement. Mucosal involvement may not always be in the areas to be seen during the examination. Therefore, clinicians should question the presence of ocular symptoms, hoarseness, dysphagia and dyspareunia to assess the involvement of all mucosal surfaces [3]. Drug use should be questioned.

After a thorough history and physical examination, two separate biopsies should be obtained from the patient for both histopathological examination and DIF.

A 4 mm punch biopsy should be taken from the edge of the early lesion or erosion for hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining and routine histopathological examination. For direct immunofluorescence (DIF), an additional perilesional skin biopsy should be taken from normal-appearing skin 4 mm from a vesicle or erosion. Lesions of skin biopsies for DIF are more likely to be associated with false-negative results as a result of the elimination of immunoreactions involved in the inflammatory process of the underlying pemphigus disease. DIF biopsies should not be placed in formalin. Michel medium or Zeus medium should be used. Fresh specimens also may be sent to the laboratory, provided they are kept moist with saline and processing within 24 hours.

The characteristic histopathological finding in PV is acantholysis due to loss of intercellular adhesion without necrosis in keratinocytes and thus the formation of intraepidermal bullae. Although acantholysis is often located just above the basal layer (suprabasal), intraepidermal localization at the level of the stratum spinosum has also been reported to a lesser extent. There are epidermal cell clumps and

acantholytic cells in the bulla cavity. Although basal keratinocytes lose their connection with the adjacent cell, they do not lose their bond with the basal membrane through hemidesmosomes, leading to the appearance of a 'tombstone pattern' [19]. Sparse inflammatory infiltrates in the dermis with eosinophils.

The gold standard in the diagnosis of PV is direct immunofluorescence (DIF) microscopy, which can detect tissue-bound autoantibodies [4]. In DIF, there is the accumulation of IgG and C3 in the intercellular space throughout the mid-lower or entire epidermis.

IIF and ELISA are serological tests that detect circulating autoantibodies that bind epithelial cell surface antigens. These tests are used to further support the diagnosis of pemphigus in patients with a positive DIF result. More than 80% of pemphigus vulgaris patients have circulating antibodies detectable by IIF. The substrate used affects the test sensitivity [25]. The monkey esophagus is the preferred substrate for the diagnosis of pemphigus vulgaris. Intercellular 'honeycomb' or 'coil wire' IgG accumulation is observed in PV [26]. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test can be used for IgG antibodies to Dsg 1 and Dsg 3. ELISA is more sensitive and specific than IIF in the diagnosis of pemphigus vulgaris [25]. The ELISA test can also be used to monitor disease course and response to therapy in PV. In a study in which Dsg 1 and Dsg 3 autoantibody levels were followed in patients under treatment, it was found that Dsg 1 level more clearly showed the course of the disease. Dsg 3 antibody levels remained elevated during remission in some patients with mucosal pemphigus vulgaris [27]. Antibodies can be detected in patients who do not yet have clinical signs of pemphigus and can be found in patients with staphylococcal scalded skin, penicillin adverse drug reactions, toxic epidermolysis necrosis and burns [1].

Additional serological tests that may be used to diagnose pemphigus vulgaris include immunoblotting and immunoprecipitation. However, these tests are more difficult to perform than IIF and ELISA. Therefore, they are rarely used in the clinical setting.

In addition, cytological examination (Tzanck smear) stained with hematoxylin and eosin is useful for rapid demonstration of acantholytic keratinocytes of the spinous layer (abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm and rounded central nucleus) [20].


**5. Future prospects**

#### **5.1 Organ bioengineering and regenerative medicine**

The field of tissue engineering is evolving rapidly and is opening new horizons for novel treatment opportunities. Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine includes artificial and biological materials.

Whole organ decellularization and recellularization have gained importance in recent years. Decellularization, as the name implies, means the removal of all cellular components from the organ and at the same time, the micro and macro anatomy of the extracellular matrix is preserved. These scaffolds are repopulated with patient- derived cells or stem cells to construct an individual specific organ. Consequently immunosuppression is no more needed. Bioreactors are used for decellularization and recellularization [24].

The technology used for organ bioengineering includes seeding cells on supporting scaffolding materials. The cell-scaffold technology uses adult cells, various progenitor cells, and progenitor cells that may differentiate into specific adult cells. Bioreactors are used for uniform scaffold distribution, nutrient supply, and waste removal. The regeneration process takes place in the bioreactors and consequently, bioengineered tissues and organs can be harvested for analysis and implantation. Bioreactors facilitate, monitor, and control biochemical and biophysical processes [25].

Mostly used scaffolds are decellularized allogeneic extracellular matrix which in turn is recellularized by autologous or stem cells. A wide variety of human tissues and organs have been decellularized for tissue engineering. These include cartilage, bone, skeletal muscle, tendon, adipose tissue, heart, arteries and veins, gingiva, cornea, vocal folds, peripheral nerves, intestine, liver, pancreas, kidney, bladder, male and female reproductive systems, products of child birth and complex composite structures. Decellularization requires efficient removal of immunogenic cellular materials and maintenance of nonimmunogenic extracellular matrix. Human tissues are harvested from cadavers and surgery. An advantageous point is the fact that


*4.3. Extreme Steering Condition*

In order to further reflect the control effect of optimal torque distribution, the extreme steering condition test was carried out. The four-axle reverse phase steering mode was adopted, with the first and second axles deflecting in the opposite direction to the third and fourth axles. The target speed of the vehicle was set to 10 km/h. At 20 s, the right wheel of the first axle deflected about 23◦ within 2 s, and the deflection angles of other wheels were calculated according to Ackerman steering principle, as shown in Figure 14a. For the change of speed, the vehicle speed after optimal control was still slightly higher than that under average distribution as shown in Figure 14b, which was the same as the previous simulation results. However, when the vehicle was in steady-state steering, the vehicle speed was basically unchanged compared with driving in the straight line, which indicates that the additional steering resistance was relatively small in this working condition.

**Figure 14.** Changes in vehicle driving parameters after the optimization control in reverse phase steering condition: (**a**) wheel deflection angle; (**b**) longitudinal vehicle speed.

As shown in Figure 15, the driving track of the vehicle remained unchanged basically after optimization. The steering radii of the vehicle after average distribution and optimal distribution were 8.1165 m and 8.1053 m respectively, which means that the optimal distribution of drive torque control did not have a great impact on the vehicle trajectory and body posture.

**Figure 15.** Comparison of vehicle trajectory and body posture under average distribution and optimal distribution.

Figure 16 shows the change of wheel drive torque. 0 s to 20 s was a linear acceleration phase, and the drive torque was distributed between the axles. Since the motor was in the state of low speed and low torque at this stage, in order to improve the overall working efficiency, the driving torque of the vehicle was mainly distributed to the first axle and the third axle to increase the workload of the motor. When entering the steering at 20 s, due to the increase of the driving resistance, the driving torque of the vehicle increased in order to maintain the target speed. However, when the vehicle was in steady-state steering, the drive torque was basically the same as that when the vehicle traveled in a straight line, which was caused by the reduction of driving resistance by the four-axle reverse phase steering. It can be seen that the optimization control made the distribution ratio of the outboard and rear axle wheels increase, which further promoted the reduction of driving resistance, thus achieving the purpose of reducing the driving energy consumption.

**Figure 16.** Comparison of wheel drive torque change under average distribution and optimal distribution.

When the vehicle was in steady-state steering, the total required drive torque of the vehicle with the average torque distribution was 1860.0376 Nm, and after the optimal distribution control, it was only 1656.6745 Nm, which was about 10.9332% lower. Then the change of the vehicle *SOC* during the steering phase was compared. The actual energy consumption decreased by about 13.3679%, which was much more obvious than the conclusion obtained by the above that maximum reduction in energy consumption is about 5%. This is mainly because the working efficiency of the motor is extremely low under low speed conditions [33]. Meanwhile, according to the motor efficiency map used in this paper, when the vehicle speed was lower than 30 km/h, the efficiency changed greatly with the torque, so the optimization control effect was better under this working condition. Besides, it was found that when other conditions were the same and four-axle reverse phase steering was adopted, the vehicle demand torque was far less than that when two-axle steering was adopted, sometimes less than half of that. Smaller drive torque led to lower working efficiency, which also led to the more obvious optimization effect.

### *4.4. Performance Evaluation*

It should be emphasized that the optimal distribution of drive torque control can achieve the maximum energy saving effect of about 5% in the conventional steering conditions, but it is only for the motor efficiency map used in the current paper (Figure 3). The motor efficiency map had a great influence on the actual optimization effect. If the high efficiency area of the in-wheel motor was small, the energy saving control effect on the vehicle was obvious. In addition, the selection of algorithm training conditions should be closer to the actual driving state of the vehicle, and enough training times should be ensured to make the parameters in the Actor network tend to the stable and optimal value.


**6. Conclusion**

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or UAVs are essentially flying robots. Though initially designed for military use, they have are now widely used in various areas, from recreational sports, fire-fighting, flight simulations / trainings to toys for children. In this chapter we presented an application of UAVs to commercial Agriculture. We presented four major types of UAVs, and though the multi-rotor UAV with its ability to hover on spot and take-off and landing vertical may seem well suited for agriculture, its limited flight time is a major limitation. The hybrid-fixed-wing-motor-rotor might be a better fit. A detailed insight into the applications of UAVs in crop production and livestock farming was also presented. A prominent requirement for most UAV application in Agriculture is an integrated camera, as it allows images to be taken. Images are used in weed identification and control, soil analysis, animal monitoring, animal head counts, geo-fencing, mustering among others. Like most machines, UAVs have the advantage of doing repetitive and monotonous works better and more efficiently when compared to humans. Some advantages of applying UAVs in Agriculture were presented, some of which include limited path constraints, time saving and reduction in manual labor. However, there are a number of challenges limiting UAVs, most prominent among which is cost. UAVs that are well suited for Agriculture use are expensive. Operation and maintenance also come at a cost. It is therefore often difficult to convince farmers and Agriculture related stakeholders to integrate UAVs into their business. Beyond cost, battery limitations, safety and legal related issues are still major hurdles that need to be scaled before UAVs can find a strong foothold in agriculture.


**14.3 TBA-7371**

*Molecular Epidemiology Study of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Complex*

**Possible adverse effects**

Isoniazid Hepatotoxicity, dermatological, gastrointestinal, hypersensitivity

Rifampicin Heartburn, epigastric distress, Thrombocytopenia,

Ethambutol Retrobulbar neuritis, gastrointestinal disturbance. Pyrazinamide GI disturbances, Thrombocytopenia, sideroblastic anemia, Mild arthralgia myalgia etc.

Streptomycin burning, crawling, itching, numbness, prickling etc.

Amikacin diarrhea, hearing loss, spinning sensation (vertigo),

Levofloxacin low blood sugar, headache, hunger, sweating, irritability

Gatifloxacin red, irritated, itchy, or teary eyes, blurred vision, eye pain

Ethionamide Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal/stomach pain etc.

persistent nausea, vomiting and diarrhea etc.

fungal infections, low platelet counts etc.

Cycloserine Headache, drowsiness, dizziness, or shaking etc.

Linezolid severe diarrhea or diarrhea that is watery or bloody,

Redaquiline Nausea / Vomiting, Dizziness, Headache, Hemoptysis etc. Clofazimine diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, gastrointestinal intolerance

Amoxicillin severe skin rash, itching, hives, difficulty breathing or

High dose Isoniazid increased blood levels of liver enzymes and numbness

swallowing etc.

numbness etc.

etc.

Kanamicin pain or irritation

Fluroquinol drugs Ofloxacin Nausea, diarrhea, constipation, gas, vomiting etc.

etc.

etc.

Prothionamide depression and hallucinations

etc.

etc.

p-Aminosalicylic

acid

*Current mode of therapy and therapeutic drugs for tuberculosis.*

Leukopenia, hemolytic anemia, Menstrual disturbances

**Mode of therapy Implemented**

First line oral agents (Ref. 33, 34)

Injectable anti-TB

Second line oral drugs

Anti-TB drugs with long term safety

drugs

**Drugs**

mode of action and efficacy of SQ109 differ widely from ethambutol [57, 58]. SQ109 is bactericidal in nature and works by targeting a transmembrane transport protein MmpL3 which is responsible for transmitting trehalose monomicolate during cell wall synthesis [59, 60]. It acts against extracellular as well as intracellular bacilli and works on acute and chronic mouse models of tuberculosis infection [61]. SQ109 improved the pharmacological efficacy of the present four available first-line drugs against tuberculosis and represents synergy with Sirturo. It is presently under phase

It is an amide compound of imidazopyridine and was recognized by the whole-cell screening of infected macrophages [17]. Q203 prevents ATP synthesis via causing an

**20**

**14.2 Q203**

**Table 2.**

2 clinical studies [5, 15].

A member of a series of 1,4-azaindole which was recognized by a strategy of transformation of scaffolds preceded by a program of optimization of lead of a compound imidazopyridine [62]. TBA-7371 inhibits DprE1 non-covalently, a decaprenyl phosphoryl-β-Dribose2′-epimerase, in cell wall Arabian biosynthetic pathway. TBA-7371 is bactericidal and is working against both acute and chronic mouse models of tuberculosis infection. It is under phase 1 clinical studies [3, 46, 57].


**4. Conclusion**

the research on telemonitoring showed that not every person is able or willing to take responsibility for their own healthcare. Secondly, there are dilemmas related to autonomy, privacy and dignity, and safety and control. For example potential conflict was attributed to telecare: (service user) autonomy and (healthcare professional) control. Moreover, with regard to surveillance technology, competing values around safety versus autonomy were described. On the one hand use of surveillance technology with movement sensors (such as GPS) or video surveillance was seen as enhancing personal freedom and autonomy of persons living with dementia. On the other hand it confronted care professionals with issues around guarding the patients safety. Also, some technology was found to have a negative impact on the individuals' privacy and dignity or to hamper personal freedom. These examples show that whilst technology claims to increase the autonomy of service users, it may also compromise their feelings of dignity. Moreover, it challenges healthcare professionals, service users and their significant others to re-consider the weight given to valuing service users' physical safety above other (psychological, social and spiritual) values such as autonomy and freedom of movement [32, 33]. In other words it is important to acknowledge that technological innovations can cause the phenomenon of competing values within healthcare, not only between different stakeholders' groups, but also *within* groups and individuals. These results correspond with literature on surveillance technology for persons living with dementia in which intra-personal/professional conflicts were identified [33–36]. This highlights the need and the difficulty of realizing engagement and involvement of all relevant stakeholders in the implementation of technology in daily practice, which refers to the construct of cognitive participation in the NPT, and elaborates on this construct by including other stakeholders apart from

Finally the results showed dilemmas around practicality: improper use of surveillance technology and the need for tailor made solutions disclosed a paradox. In the pursuit of greater safety, this safety was rather impeded by the use of new technologies than improved. One could argue that the examples around practicality illustrate the importance of acknowledging human-centered design of assistive technology. It underlines the necessity to pay attention to the *inspiration phase,* to understand what service users feel, think and experience, the i*deation phase* in which prototypes are tested and refined after feedback is collected from users, and the i*mplementation phase* in which the final product or service is evaluated, to test the impact of the technology when it is used in care practices. Finally the examples showed that the condition of collective action of the NPT to actually facilitate the use of technology in practice, was not realized. This draws special attention to one of the facilitating conditions of the UTAUT model: the realization of supportive infrastructures (both

The described dilemmas arising when using technology in healthcare, confront us with the need to explicate choices: what do we value most, and in what situation? When using technology, roles, tasks and responsibilities of healthcare professionals and service users should be made explicit and agreed upon between all stakeholders involved. Also there is a need to regularly/continuously evaluate changes to the care relationship and the perspectives of different stakeholders (cf. reflexive monitoring) during its introduction and thereafter [37].

healthcare professionals.

106 Assistive Technologies in Smart Cities

organizational and technical).

The integration of assistive technology into healthcare practice is not only dependent on the intention to use a (technological) innovation but also relates to role and process changes. In health care, professional roles are based on values inspired by personal relations between healthcare professionals and patients or service users. Therefore, for technology to be applied in a successful manner the perspectives of different stakeholders during and after the introduction of technology should be identified and evaluated.


*Health*

One of the most important topics in goat health is which *drugs* and which active *ingredients* can be used with sufficient effectiveness in the maintenance of health in goats. Many active ingredients are used in human medicine in addition to veterinary medicine, so the resistance of certain pathogens to certain active ingredients is and can be extremely important. This summary analysis includes almost everything you need to know about these active ingredients when treating goats. This subject is summarised in this *eighth chapter*.

It should also be noted that many active ingredients appear and, when used, are also found in milk, as a result of which they inadvertently enter the human body and may even cause an undesirable effect there. Moreover, some active substances may be stored in certain organs temporarily or even for a period of time, which requires due attention in the case of meat consumption if, for some reason, the individual to be used has been treated with an antibiotic. Therefore, it is highly recommended to use these useful active ingredients carefully! Care should be taken to avoid bottom and top dosing and to comply with mandatory health waiting periods and to avoid their unjustified introduction into the human body.

**IV**

the USA. Varieties have also developed that hardly occur anywhere else in the world. Of these, perhaps the most interesting is the Myotonic goat, whose meat-to-bone ratio (4:1) stands out even among the meat species. The fact that the world's bestknown goat research institute operates in this country, and the goat population has increased dramatically in recent decades, reaching 2.7 million individuals in early

In the *third chapter* of the volume, the author presents a summary analysis of goat

In the *fourth chapter* of this volume, the reader can get a summary of the goat breeds developed and bred in *Nepal*. The varieties bred there are fundamentally different from those presented in the previous two chapters, although individuals from some of the world's milk and meat varieties have already arrived there.

Nearly 11 million goats are kept in production and breeding in Nepal, and most of them are among the hard Central Asian breeds. Significant genetic differences were also found between the goat breeds kept in each region, and even the authors showed clear differences between the individuals of each breed bred in different regions. In most goat-keeping countries, including Nepal, efforts are being made to improve the milk and meat production of domestic breeds using imported breeds, but breeds that are considered exotic here have also developed in the country. The results of the development based on the applied breeding and selection methods, as well as DNA tests and biotechnological methods are

Cashmere and pashmina (i.e., wool) have become expressions of coveted fashion, elegance, and luxury in recent years (their first traces can be found as early as 3,500

Although both products come from the same goat growing two layers of hair, the average fibre diameter of generic cashmere varies between 12 and 21 microns, while pashmina means a material made up of fibres with a fineness of 11 to 16 microns.

This excellent heat-retaining and light fibrous material is formed in the lower layer of goat hair. The amount is 200-300 grams per individual per year for cashmere goats and 80-180 grams for pashmina. The former is produced in both flat and mountainous areas, while the latter requires a special mountain with a special climate (above 5000 m). The finest and best quality pashmina is produced by goats

In the thousands of years of history of cashmere wool production, it has developed based on goats kept in India, Kashmir, Nepal, Inner Asia, Mongolia, and Northwest China, but this product is already produced in Australia, New Zealand, and in other countries. About 70% of world production is produced in China (about 15,000 tonnes per year), 20% in Mongolia, and 10% in the other countries concerned. There are huge quality differences between the qualities of cashmere produced in

However, the huge demand caused by the increasingly "permissible luxury" has cost the environment. This goat accounts for the vast majority of China's goat population

years ago) and the rise of these products has been huge in the last 20 years.

2020, is also an appreciation of the goat.

presented in this study.

kept around the Himalayas.

various countries.

*Cashmere - Pashmina*

breeds bred and kept in production in the USA.

It is of great importance to be able to vary the range of active ingredients available in order to avoid the development of resistance to certain pathogens and to keep our animals healthy and to prevent unwanted active substances from entering the human body.

In addition, some drugs may be toxic to goats that are debilitated by disease. Therefore, this study suggested the need for an effective system of management, diagnosis, and appropriate treatment that can reduce the risk of infection and increase the productivity of the animals.

The importance of internal *parasites* (goat helminthiasis) in the digestive system cannot be overemphasized. Many parasites can occur in the goat habitat and consequently in goats as well. The presence of parasites is a major deterrent to animal husbandry. They cause not only health problems but also economic damage, not to mention the cost and impact of drugs used against them.

A weakening or poor condition always raises the possibility of the presence of a parasite. It is worth considering that some research shows that the goat is up to four times more susceptible to individual internal parasites than the sheep.

However, it is recommended that the condition of the animals be monitored regularly, that the necessary systematic examinations be carried out if the presence of an internal parasite is suspected, and that appropriate treatments be applied if confirmed. This important subject is presented in this *ninth chapter*.

> **Dr. Sándor Kukovics** Széchenyi István University of Sciences, Hungary

> > **1**

Section 1

Goats and Breeds


**1.2 Brief summary of haptic processing**

Haptic perception requires active exploratory movements derived from proprioceptive information. Unlike vision, which provides useful information from a single glance and at a distance (e.g., Biederman, 1972; Luck & Vogel, 1997), haptic perception relies on sequential examination in which tactile-kinesthetic reafferences can be generated only by direct contact with the stimulus. The absence of vision, however, does not preclude the coding of reference and spatial information (Golledge, 1992; Golledge, Ruggles, Pellegrino, & Gale, 1993; Kitchin, Blades, & Golledge, 1997). Haptic perception enables the blind to identify novel stimuli (Klatzky & Lederman, 2003), detect material properties of objects (Kitchin *et al.*, 1997; Gentaz & Hatwell, 2003; 1995), and to acquire abstract categories (Homa, Kanav, Priyamvada, Bratton, & Panchanathan, 2009). For example, we (Homa et al., 2009) demonstrated that students who are blind can learn concepts whose members vary in size, shape, and texture as rapidly as sighted subjects who were permitted to both touch and view the same stimuli. Interestingly, the blind subjects exhibited lower false alarm rates than normally-sighted subjects who were permitted to view and handle the stimuli or who were blindfolded and relied on touch alone, rarely calling 'new' stimuli 'old', but with one

Wilkie, & Lopez, 1990) involve properties reflecting the various modalities. More direct support has been obtained from motor control studies involving olfaction and vision (Castiello, Zucco, Parma, Ansuini, & Tirindelli, 2006), in which the odor of an object has been shown to influence maximum hand aperature for object grasping, and mental rotation of objects presented haptically and visually (Volcic, Wijnjes, Kool, & Kappers, 2010). Each of

In the present chapter, we report the results of experiments, including recent results from our laboratory, that explore whether concepts learned haptically or visually can transfer their information to the alternate modality. We also report whether categorical information, simultaneously perceived by the two modalities, can be learned when put into conflict. Specifically, the objects explored visually and haptically belonged to the same category but were, unbeknownst to the subject, different objects. In the latter situation, we are especially interested in whether intermodal conflict retards or even precludes learning or whether the disparities provided by touch and vision are readily overcome. We also report the results of a preliminary study that addresses whether concepts can be learned when partial information is provided. Finally, we explore whether the representation of categories acquired haptically or visually differ minimally or dramatically and whether the structures

The lack of research into multi-modal concepts should not imply that little is known about haptic processing. The classic Woodward and Schlosberg (1954) text devoted a chapter to touch and the cutaneous senses, and a recent textbook on haptics (Hatwell, Streri, & Gentaz, 2003) lists 17 subareas of research with over 1000 references. There is now an electronic journal devoted to haptics (Haptics-e), the IEEE Transactions on Haptics was established in 2009, and numerous labs have been formed both nationally and internationally that are dedicated to haptics and haptic interfaces. A brief summary of pertinent research on haptic

Haptic perception requires active exploratory movements derived from proprioceptive information. Unlike vision, which provides useful information from a single glance and at a distance (e.g., Biederman, 1972; Luck & Vogel, 1997), haptic perception relies on sequential examination in which tactile-kinesthetic reafferences can be generated only by direct contact with the stimulus. The absence of vision, however, does not preclude the coding of reference and spatial information (Golledge, 1992; Golledge, Ruggles, Pellegrino, & Gale, 1993; Kitchin, Blades, & Golledge, 1997). Haptic perception enables the blind to identify novel stimuli (Klatzky & Lederman, 2003), detect material properties of objects (Kitchin *et al.*, 1997; Gentaz & Hatwell, 2003; 1995), and to acquire abstract categories (Homa, Kanav, Priyamvada, Bratton, & Panchanathan, 2009). For example, we (Homa et al., 2009) demonstrated that students who are blind can learn concepts whose members vary in size, shape, and texture as rapidly as sighted subjects who were permitted to both touch and view the same stimuli. Interestingly, the blind subjects exhibited lower false alarm rates than normally-sighted subjects who were permitted to view and handle the stimuli or who were blindfolded and relied on touch alone, rarely calling 'new' stimuli 'old', but with one

these studies suggests that our modalities must share a common representation.

**1.1 Summary of proposed studies**

processing is presented first.

**1.2 Brief summary of haptic processing**

are modified in similar ways following category learning.

curious exception – they invariably false alarmed to the category prototypes and at a much higher rate than any other subjects.

Numerous studies have explored how shape (Gliner, Pick, Pick, & Hales, 1969; Moll & Erdmann, 2003; Streri, 1987), texture (Catherwood, 1993; Lederman, Klatzky, Tong, & Hamilton, 2006; Salada, Colgate, Vishton, & Frankel, 2004), and material (Bergmann-Tiest & Kappers, 2006; Stevens & Harris, 1962) are coded following haptic exploration. Researchers have embraced the possibility that learning and transfer are mediated by an integration of information from multiple sensory modalities (Millar & Al-Attar, 2005; Ernst & Bulthoff, 2004), and that visual and tactile shape processing share common neurological sites (Amedi, Jacobson, Hendler, Malach, and Zohary, 2001). Ernst and Banks (2002) concluded that the lateral occipital complex is activated in similar ways to objects viewed or handled. More recently, Ernst (2007) has shown that luminance and pressure resistance can be integrated into a single perception "if the value of one variable was informative about the value of the other". Specifically, participants had a lower threshold to discriminate stimuli when the two dimensions were correlated but not when they were uncorrelated.


**1. Introduction**

Complex projects are a focus of research in project management to meet social demands. For instance, infrastructure projects are being pursued at a breakneck pace in developing countries in water and sewage, electricity, and transportation and communications, while developed countries are improving infrastructure systems to solve outstanding problems [1]. Complex projects refer to construction projects that are large in scale and involve large investments, multiple stakeholders, complex interactions, and a dynamic environment. They thus feature a high level of uncertainty, unknown dependencies, and unpredictability [2]. Uncertainty in complex projects leads to unexpected events, such as incorrect on-site exploration and accidents, while organizations handling such projects need to be flexible because of the unknown dependencies [2]. Unexpected situations often lead to construction delays [3,4]. Therefore, project success is closely related to project complexity, such as the scale and technical difficulty [5,6].

Breaking down project complexity is useful to help practitioners identify complex projects more accurately. It is recognized that project complexity has organizational and technical types [7]. Given the long project life cycle and uncertain final project scope, the dynamic and growth-related traits of projects helped researchers define project complexity from the perspectives of time and space [8]. The composition of project complexity also includes information and targets [9], communication [10], interface management [11], cost

**Citation:** Yang, L.; Hu, X.; Zhao, X. Organization Synchronization in Response to Complex Project Delays: Network-Based Analysis. *Buildings* **2022**, *12*, 662. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/buildings12050662

Academic Editor: Audrius Banaitis

Received: 4 April 2022 Accepted: 13 May 2022 Published: 16 May 2022

**Publisher's Note:** MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

**Copyright:** © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

performance [12], and a dynamic environment [13]. Hence, it is important to summarize existing interaction ways among complex project organizations [14].

Organizations dynamically interact with each other in complex projects and form the behavior of organization synchronization once an accident, such as a delay, occurs [15,16]. Organization interactions are generally made up of different types, such as written, oral, and technical interactions [17,18]. However, it remains unclear in which interaction ways organizations synchronize effectively and which organizations have strong synchronization capabilities. Therefore, this study aimed to resolve the organization synchronization issue by (1) finding the most key construction delay factors (CDFs); (2) establishing an index system of organization interactions; and (3) determining the synchronizability of important organizations and effective interaction ways. The complex network synchronization (CNS) theory was adopted to analyze the process of organization synchronization and a case study was used to validate the application of the CNS theory. Thus, this study contributes to the theory and practice of organizational synchronization and provides a comprehensive way to evaluate synchronizability and the importance of nodes.

#### **2. Literature Review**

#### *2.1. Construction Delay Factors*

Construction delays in complex projects refer to time extensions that result from multiple causes related to different stakeholders at different project phases. The causes of delays are mainly related to project partners, such as clients, contractors, designers, suppliers, investors, laborers, supervisors, and governments [19–23]. Other researchers indicated that some external factors have a large influence on project performance, such as dangerous environments and terrible weather [21,24], rising prices [20,25,26], and cultural influences [27]. As shown in Table 1, we summarized a total of 27 CDFs gleaned from the literature review and deconstructed the causes of delays from the perspective of stakeholders, including financial institutions, clients, contractors, designers, supervisors, governments, and external factors.

Previous studies indicated that the responsibility for delays should be attributed to contractors and their direct stakeholders, such as suppliers and clients [20,26]. For these organizations, the causes of delays include construction mistakes, site management, delayed payments and other problems with materials, personnel, and equipment [3,20,28]. The coordination of service providers related to project sites and project works was particularly weak [29], and poor communication or coordination problems may lead to rework [3,24,27,30,31]. Therefore, smooth coordination is required in order to successfully remain on schedule to prevent variations in critical activities [26]. However, few previous studies have explained how delay issues are solved by organization synchronization in the context of complex projects, which involve large numbers of organizations and complex organization interactions.

**Table 1.** Summary of construction delay factors.

#### *2.2. Organizational Synchronization in Complex Projects*

Synchronization is a ubiquitous process emerging from many dynamically interacting units in many different areas, such as biological ecology, electronic circuits, social relationships, and economic management [36,37]. Examples include numerous fireflies suddenly flashing at the same time and clocks swinging at the same frequency after some imperceptible movements. Importantly, synchronization not only involves multiple interacting units but also the interaction of several signal units that transmit synchronization signals to the other units [38]. Once a complex system has been disturbed by an external or internal accident, the synchronization phenomenon first occurs in the local community that is formed by the signal units and then spreads to the whole system. When achieving a state of synchrony, all units show a high degree of coordination and the complex system reaches a high level of stability.

In other words, the synchronization process helps to rebalance and restore a disturbed complex system. In complex project systems, organizations are the actors who interact to positively solve delay issues and achieve a state of synchrony. Thus, analysis of organization synchronization can contribute to our understanding of delays in complex project management. Similar to the definition of synchronization, we assume that 'organization synchronization' means a dynamic process in which project organizations interact with each other to effectively respond to project accidents and restore the stability of complex project systems. After organizations have been synchronized, it is possible to achieve effective cooperation between organizations and faster information transmission in complex systems [39–41].

Moreover, to better understand organization synchronization, studies need to focus on organization interactions and the early interaction behaviors of signal organizations in complex projects. Generally, organization interactions can be generated in many ways, such as by tasks, documents (e.g., contracts), commitments or trust, information technologies, communications, information sharing, knowledge exchanges, and management procedures [42–48]. However, few studies have established an index system of interaction ways and evaluated the frequency of each interaction way in project organizations. As shown in Table 2, we summarized these interactions and classified them into written interactions, oral interactions, technical interactions, and meetings.

**Table 2.** Organization interactions in complex projects.

Organization interactions and related communication issues have been widely studied by using the Social Network Analysis (SNA) theory in the construction field [43,54–57]. For example, Li adopted SNA to study the influence of Building Information Modeling on project organizations and the communication patterns [58]. Admittedly, SNA is a useful method for solving organization interaction problems. However, further theoretical development would be needed if SNA is to be used to deal with synchronization issues.

In contrast, the complex network synchronization (CNS) theory, which was derived from the complex network theory, has specifically been developed to explore the synchro-

nization process. Watts and Strogatz (1998) first introduced the network theory to analyze the synchronization of cricket chirps [59]. According to Li, previous studies on the CNS theory can be divided into four types: synchronization of a chaotic system, synchronization within a network, synchronization between different networks, and synchronization of a multi-layer network [60]. Organization synchronization studies belong to the second type, which refers to the synchronization behavior of internal network nodes. In addition, most of the research concentrates on cumbersome mathematical calculations and theoretical modeling in different areas. Few studies have applied the CNS theory to figure out the organization synchronization process, particularly in complex projects.

Network synchronizability is greatly affected by the structural properties [61,62], which rely on the characteristics of nodes and links in a complex network. In addition, the structural properties of a network are generally evaluated by diverse parameters, many of which have been found to have numeric relationships with network synchronizability. For instance, degree, average path length, heterogeneity in the degree distribution, and node betweenness centrality vary inversely with network synchronizability [63,64], and modularity, which measures the density between different communities, is positively proportional to network synchronizability [38]. However, these studies assessed network synchronizability based on one single parameter. It is important to provide a sound analysis by combining the relationships between network synchronizabilty and as many parameters as possible.

As mentioned above, organization synchronization emerges from a local synchronization initiated by several signal organizations. Some investigations have shown that flows of large amounts of information or intensive interactions between the signal organizations contribute to a faster synchronization process [38,65]. Hence, signal nodes in complex networks have two general traits: (1) a high degree of connection with the other nodes; and (2) initial nodes that perceive disturbance factors in complex networks and transmit synchronization signals. Correspondingly, in complex projects, the first organization to perceive delay factors and its closely related stakeholders may be signal nodes if they can be proved to be highly linked with the other organizations. To find signal organizations, it is critical to evaluate the importance of nodes from the network's perspective. Node importance is generally assessed by two parameters: (1) node degree [66,67]; and (2) node centrality, including degree centrality, closeness centrality, betweenness centrality, and eigenvector centrality [68]. Nevertheless, conflicting results frequently occur because node importance usually ranks differently between the analysis of the five parameters. Hence, we ranked network nodes and found signal organizations by unifying the above-mentioned five node parameters.