bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Investment Incentives in Competitive Electricity Markets
Authors: Valinejad Jaber , Barforoshi Taghi , Marzband Mousa , Pouresmaeil Edris , Godina Radu , P. S. Catalão João
Published: October 2018

This paper presents the analysis of a novel framework of study and the impact of different market design criterion for the generation expansion planning (GEP) in competitive electricity market incentives, under variable uncertainties in a single year horizon. As investment incentives conventionally consist of firm contracts and capacity payments, in this study, the electricity generation investment problem is considered from a strategic generation company (GENCO) ′ s perspective, modelled as a bi-level optimization method. The first-level includes decision steps related to investment incentives to maximize the total profit in the planning horizon. The second-level includes optimization steps focusing on maximizing social welfare when the electricity market is regulated for the current horizon. In addition, variable uncertainties, on offering and investment, are modelled using set of different scenarios. The bi-level optimization problem is then converted to a single-level problem and then represented as a mixed integer linear program (MILP) after linearization. The efficiency of the proposed framework is assessed on the MAZANDARAN regional electric company (MREC) transmission network, integral to IRAN interconnected power system for both elastic and inelastic demands. Simulations show the significance of optimizing the firm contract and the capacity payment that encourages the generation investment for peak technology and improves long-term stability of electricity markets.
Correlation between Gait Asymmetry and Leg Length Discrepancy—What Is the Role of Clinical Abnormalities?
Authors: Khamis Sam , Danino Barry , Ovadia Dror , Carmeli Eli
Published: October 2018

Reducing the effect of leg length discrepancy (LLD) on gait abnormalities while other abnormal conditions such as spasticity, joint contractures or weak muscle strength are exhibited is challenging. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of mild LLD on lower limb biomechanics, on participants with anatomic LLD with and without other clinical abnormalities. A motion capture system was utilized on 32 participants to measure lower limb kinematics and dynamic leg length (DLL) throughout the gait cycle, calculated as the absolute distance from the hip joint center, either to the heel, ankle joint center, or forefoot. The Pearson correlation coefficient found that LLD was associated with 5 kinematic variables only when LLD appeared with no other clinical abnormalities present (r = 0.574 – 0.846, p < 0.05). When clinical abnormalities were present, the random forest classification accuracy was lower (64% versus 80%), implying that the used kinematics are low predictors for anatomic LLD, revealing a higher asymmetrical clearance index (the difference between the maximal stance phase and the minimal contra-lateral swing phase DLL) and a different kinematic variable importance index. Clinical abnormalities in pathological gait will in all probability significantly affect gait deviations, affirming mild anatomic LLD as inconsequential. A functional measurement can offer a better estimate as to the side and extent of the functional discrepancy.
Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Six-Bar Linkage Application to Bellow Globe Valve for Compact Design
Authors: Azam Farooq I , Abdul Rani Ahmad Majdi , Altaf Khurram , Zaharin Haizum Aimi
Published: October 2018

Bellow sealing in valves provides the characteristic of no emission sealing by extending or compressing within the elastic limit to operate the valve. To keep the motion of the bellow within the elastic limit, a long length of bellow is required, which increases the length of the shaft and height of the valve. Increased height restricts valve usage, especially for large sizes, due to the limited platform space. This study presents the application of a six-bar linkage to operating mechanism by replacing the reciprocating shaft in an attempt to reduce the height of the valve. The mechanism produced aims to reduce the input displacement while maintaining the output displacement in order to reduce the required bellow length. Graphical synthesis of the mechanism was carried out using Autodesk Inventor. The designed mechanism was then subjected to analysis using a simulation tool for the position, force, and flow analysis. The prototype valve with the application of the new mechanism was manufactured using additive manufacturing, which was later used for experimental testing. Application of the mechanism to the bellow valve reduced the required input by 75%, which as a result, reduced the height of the valve up to 50%. The force analysis depicted that the force required to operate the mechanism was approximately eight times higher than the conventional design. Flow analysis of the valve showed that the introduction of the new mechanism had no effect on the flow efficiency of the valve and the flow coefficient of valve remained the same. Application of the six-bar linkage to the valve control mechanism made the design of the valve compact when compared to conventional design in terms of height, which makes it more suitable for use in industry.
Convolutional Neural Network-Based Remote Sensing Images Segmentation Method for Extracting Winter Wheat Spatial Distribution
Authors: Zhang Chengming , Gao Shuai , Yang Xiaoxia , Li Feng , Yue Maorui , Han Yingjuan , Zhao Hui , Zhang Ya’nan , Fan Keqi
Published: October 2018

When extracting winter wheat spatial distribution by using convolutional neural network (CNN) from Gaofen-2 (GF-2) remote sensing images, accurate identification of edge pixel is the key to improving the result accuracy. In this paper, an approach for extracting accurate winter wheat spatial distribution based on CNN is proposed. A hybrid structure convolutional neural network (HSCNN) was first constructed, which consists of two independent sub-networks of different depths. The deeper sub-network was used to extract the pixels present in the interior of the winter wheat field, whereas the shallower sub-network extracts the pixels at the edge of the field. The model was trained by classification-based learning and used in image segmentation for obtaining the distribution of winter wheat. Experiments were performed on 39 GF-2 images of Shandong province captured during 2017–2018, with SegNet and DeepLab as comparison models. As shown by the results, the average accuracy of SegNet, DeepLab, and HSCNN was 0.765, 0.853, and 0.912, respectively. HSCNN was equally as accurate as DeepLab and superior to SegNet for identifying interior pixels, and its identification of the edge pixels was significantly better than the two comparison models, which showed the superiority of HSCNN in the identification of winter wheat spatial distribution.
Modeling Power Generation and Energy Efficiencies in Air-Cathode Microbial Fuel Cells Based on Freter Equations
Authors: Lin Hongjian , Wu Sarah (Xiao) , Zhu Jun
Published: October 2018

The model proposed in this study was based on the assumption that the biomass attached to the anode served as biocatalysts for microbial fuel cell (MFC) exoelectrogenesis, and this catalytic effect was quantified by the exchange current density of anode. By modifying the Freter model and combining it with the Butler–Volmer equation, this model could adequately describe the processes of electricity generation, substrate utilization, and the suspended and attached biomass concentrations, at both batch and continuous operating modes. MFC performance is affected by the operating variables such as initial substrate concentration, external resistor, influent substrate concentration, and dilution rate, and these variables were revealed to have complex interactions by data simulation. The external power generation and energy efficiency were considered as indices for MFC performance. The simulated results explained that an intermediate initial substrate concentration (about 100 mg/L under this reactor configuration) needed to be chosen to achieve maximum overall energy efficiency from substrate in the batch mode. An external resistor with the value approximately that of the internal resistance, boosted the power generation, and a resistor with several times of that of the internal resistance achieved better overall energy efficiency. At continuous mode, dilution rate significantly impacted the steady-state substrate concentration level (thus substrate removal efficiency and rate), and attached biomass could be fully developed when the influent substrate concentration was equal to or higher than 100 mg/L at any dilution rate of the tested range. Overall, this relatively simple model provided a convenient way for evaluating and optimizing the performance of MFC reactors by regulating operating parameters.
Thermoresponsive Behavior of Magnetic Nanoparticle Complexed pNIPAm-co-AAc Microgels
Authors: Lee Su-Kyoung , Park Yongdoo , Kim Jongseong
Published: October 2018

Characterization of responsive hydrogels and their enhancement with novel moieties have improved our understanding of functional materials. Hydrogels coupled with inorganic nanoparticles have been sought for novel types of responsive materials, but the efficient routes for the formation and the responsivity of complexed materials remain for further investigation. Here, we report that responsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylic acid) (pNIPAm-co-AAc) hydrogel microparticles (microgels) are tunable by varying composition of co-monomer and crosslinker as well as by their complexation with magnetic nanoparticles in aqueous dispersions. Our results show that the hydrodynamic diameter and thermoresponsivity of microgels are closely related with the composition of anionic co-monomer, AAc and crosslinker, N,N′-Methylenebisacrylamide (BIS). As a composition of hydrogels, the higher AAc increases the swelling size of the microgels and the volume phase transition temperature (VPTT), but the higher BIS decreases the size with no apparent effect on the VPTT. When the anionic microgels are complexed with amine-modified magnetic nanoparticles (aMNP) via electrostatic interaction, the microgels decrease in diameter at 25 °C and shift the volume phase transition temperature (VPTT) to a higher temperature. Hysteresis on the thermoresponsive behavior of microgels is also measured to validate the utility of aMNP-microgel complexation. These results suggest a simple, yet valuable route for development of advanced responsive microgels, which hints at the formation of soft nanomaterials enhanced by inorganic nanoparticles.
Effective Implementation of Edge-Preserving Filtering on CPU Microarchitectures
Authors: Maeda Yoshihiro , Fukushima Norishige , Matsuo Hiroshi
Published: October 2018

In this paper, we propose acceleration methods for edge-preserving filtering. The filters natively include denormalized numbers, which are defined in IEEE Standard 754. The processing of the denormalized numbers has a higher computational cost than normal numbers; thus, the computational performance of edge-preserving filtering is severely diminished. We propose approaches to prevent the occurrence of the denormalized numbers for acceleration. Moreover, we verify an effective vectorization of the edge-preserving filtering based on changes in microarchitectures of central processing units by carefully treating kernel weights. The experimental results show that the proposed methods are up to five-times faster than the straightforward implementation of bilateral filtering and non-local means filtering, while the filters maintain the high accuracy. In addition, we showed effective vectorization for each central processing unit microarchitecture. The implementation of the bilateral filter is up to 14-times faster than that of OpenCV. The proposed methods and the vectorization are practical for real-time tasks such as image editing.
Evaluation of a Smart System for the Optimization of Logistics Performance of a Pruning Biomass Value Chain
Authors: Bosona Techane , Gebresenbet Girma , Olsson Sven-Olof , Garcia Daniel , Germer Sonja
Published: October 2018

The paper presents a report on the performance evaluation of a newly developed smart logistics system (SLS). Field tests were conducted in Spain, Germany, and Sweden. The evaluation focused on the performance of a smart box tool (used to capture information during biomass transport) and a web-based information platform (used to monitor the flow of agricultural pruning from farms to end users and associated information flow). The tests were performed following a product usability testing approach, considering both qualitative and quantitative parameters. The detailed performance evaluation included the following: systematic analysis of 41 recordable parameters (stored in a spreadsheet database), analysis of feedback and problems encountered during the tests, and overall quality analysis applying the product quality model adapted from ISO/IEC FDIS 9126-1 standard. The data recording and storage and the capability to support product traceability and supply chain management were found to be very satisfactory, while assembly of smart box components (mainly the associated cables), data transferring intervals, and manageability could be improved. From the data retrieved during test activities, in more than 95% of the parameters within 41 columns, the expected values were displayed correctly. Some errors were observed, which might have been caused mainly by barriers that could hinder proper data recording and transfer from the smart box to the central database. These problems can be counteracted and the performance of the SLS can be improved so that it can be upgraded to be a marketable tool that can promote sustainable biomass-to-energy value chains.
Investigation on Coal Fragmentation by High-Velocity Water Jet in Drilling: Size Distributions and Fractal Characteristics
Authors: Xiao Songqiang , Ge Zhaolong , Lu Yiyu , Zhou Zhe , Li Qian , Wang Lei
Published: October 2018

Water jet drilling (WJD) technology is a highly efficient method to extract coalbed methane from reservoirs with low permeability. It is crucial to efficiently remove the coal fragments while drilling. In this study, to disclose coal fragmentation features and size distributions under water jet impact in drilling, the image processing method was utilized to obtain the geometric dimensions of coal fragments. The size distributions, morphologies and fractal characteristics of coal fragmentation were studied based on generalized extreme value distribution and fractal theory. The effects of the jet impact velocity and coal strength on the fragmentation features were analyzed. The results show that fine particles dominate the coal fragments in WJD for coal seams with various strengths. In experiments conducted at the Fengchun coal mine, owing to the higher coal strength of the M7 coal seam, the fragmentation degree of coal subjected to water jets during WJD is lower in the M7 coal steam than in the M8 coal seam, which results in a large dominant fragment size and small fractal dimension under the same impact energy. It was found that the higher the jet impact velocity is, the higher the quantity of fragments generated from WJD and the smaller the particle size. The NUM-based cumulative probability distribution curves of coal fragments are more intensive in the range of relatively small particle sizes and then become sparser with the increase in particle size. When the impact velocity increases, (i) the size distribution curves move toward smaller particle sizes, and the dominant fragment size decreases; (ii) the shape (major axis/minor axis) of coal fragments move toward the upper left, and the curve shape for a high impact velocity attains unity more quickly; and (iii) the fractal dimension value increases linearly. In addition, the fractal dimensions are obviously affected by the dominant fragment size; they increase with the decrease in the dominant fragment size. This study can provide a basis for further research on coal fragment transportation in WJD and parameter selection for discharging coal fragments during drilling for CBM development.
Viscosity and Waterproofing Performance Evaluation of Synthetic Polymerized Rubber Gel (SPRG) after Screw Mixing
Authors: Ahn Dong Soo , Oh Kyu Hwan , Park Jin Sang , Oh Sang Keun
Published: October 2018

As opposed to asphalt emulsion waterproofing membrane, Synthetic Rubber Polymer Gel (SPRG) waterproofing materials are not heated prior to installation in concrete structures. SPRG materials are typically required to undergo a screw-mixing process to temporarily reduce the high viscosity and facilitate membrane installation on a concrete surface. However, there is no standard regulation on the duration of screw-mixing time during SPRG construction. Reported construction cases indicate that SPRG are left under constant screw mixing and are reused after hours or days of rest without being replaced with fresh products. When installed in this condition, SPRGs are subject to waterproofing performance degradation. In this study, SPRG viscosity properties are measured after five different screw-mixing procedures (no screw mixing, 10, 20, 30 and 60 min) and are set to rest in storage (2 h, 1, 2, 3, and 7 days). Specimens prepared under the respective screw mixing and storage times are evaluated for their changes in waterproofing properties through a series of ISO TS 16774 standard evaluation methods. A correlative comparison of the property evaluation results is presented to provide the changes to SPRG property and waterproofing performance. These results are then used to propose a general guideline for selecting optimal screw-mixing time with respect to maintaining adequate waterproofing performance and the viscosity recovery property of SPRG.
Practical Quantum Bit Commitment Protocol Based on Quantum Oblivious Transfer
Authors: Song Yaqi , Yang Li
Published: October 2018

Oblivious transfer (OT) and bit commitment (BC) are two-party cryptographic protocols which play crucial roles in the construction of various cryptographic protocols. We propose three practical quantum cryptographic protocols in this paper. We first construct a practical quantum random oblivious transfer (R-OT) protocol based on the fact that non-orthogonal states cannot be reliably distinguished. Then, we construct a fault-tolerant one-out-of-two oblivious transfer ( O T 1 2 ) protocol based on the quantum R-OT protocol. Afterwards, we propose a quantum bit commitment (QBC) protocol which executes the fault-tolerant O T 1 2 several times. Mayers, Lo and Chau (MLC) no-go theorem proves that QBC protocol cannot be unconditionally secure. However, we find that computing the unitary transformation of no-go theorem attack needs so many resources that it is not realistically implementable. We give a definition of physical security for QBC protocols and prove that the practical QBC we proposed is physically secure and can be implemented in the real world.
Imaging Material Texture of As-Deposited Selective Laser Melted Parts Using Spatially Resolved Acoustic Spectroscopy
Authors: Patel Rikesh , Hirsch Matthias , Dryburgh Paul , Pieris Don , Achamfuo-Yeboah Samuel , Smith Richard , Light Roger , Sharples Steve , Clare Adam , Clark Matt
Published: October 2018

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a production technology where material is accumulated to create a structure, often through added shaped layers. The major advantage of additive manufacturing is in creating unique and complex parts for use in areas where conventional manufacturing reaches its limitations. However, the current class of AM systems produce parts that contain structural defects (e.g., cracks and pores) which is not compatible with certification in high value industries. The probable complexity of an AM design increases the difficulty of using many non-destructive evaluation (NDE) techniques to inspect AM parts—however, a unique opportunity exists to interrogate a part during production using a rapid surface based technique. Spatially resolved acoustic spectroscopy (SRAS) is a laser ultrasound inspection technique used to image material microstructure of metals and alloys. SRAS generates and detects `controlled’ surface acoustic waves (SAWs) using lasers, which makes it a non-contact and non-destructive technique. The technique is also sensitive to surface and subsurface voids. Work until now has been on imaging the texture information of selective laser melted (SLM) parts once prepared (i.e., polished with R a < 0.1 μ m)—the challenge for performing laser ultrasonics in-process is measuring waves on the rough surfaces present on as-deposited parts. This paper presents the results of a prototype SRAS system, developed using the rough surface ultrasound detector known as speckle knife edge detector (SKED)—texture images using this setup of an as-deposited Ti64 SLM sample, with a surface roughness of S a ≈ 6 μ m, were obtained.
Characterization of Human Dermal Papilla Cells in Alginate Spheres
Authors: Mali Nanda Maya , Kim Yong-Hee , Park Jung Min , Kim Donghyun , Heo Wook , Dao Buu Le , Lim Jeong Ok , Oh Ji Won
Published: October 2018

Maintenance of trichogenecity of dermal papilla cells (DPCs) have been a problem during cell therapy for androgenic alopecia, as they lose their regenerative potential in in vitro culture. Various spheroid culture techniques are used to increase and maintain trichogenecity of these cells. However, there are some critical drawbacks in these methods. Applying a hydrocell plate for sphere formation or hanging drop methods by hand would be difficult to control the size and cell density inside it. It would be difficult to commercialize or mass production for clinical therapy. In aim to address and overcome these drawbacks, we have introduced alginate sphere. The alginate sphere of DPCs were prepared by electrospinning at different voltages to control the size of sphere. Then the obtained alginate spheres were evaluated for cellular dynamics and density of DPCs under different conditions. In this study, we found that DPCs do not proliferate in alginate sphere. However, the number of DPCs were maintained and found to be in dormant state. Further, the dormant DPCs in the alginate sphere have upregulated DPC signature genes (SOX2, ALPL, WIF1, Noggin, BMP4 and VCAN) and proliferative capacity. Thus, we speculate that alginate sphere environment maintains the dormancy of DPCs with increased trichogenecity.
The Impacts of Smoke Emitted from Boreal Forest Wildfires on the High Latitude Radiative Energy Budget—A Case Study of the 2002 Yakutsk Wildfires
Authors: Lu Zheng , Sokolik Irina N.
Published: October 2018

We examine the 2002 Yakutsk wildfire event and simulate the impacts of smoke aerosols on local radiative energy budget, using the WRF-Chem-SMOKE model. When comparing satellite retrievals (the Surface Radiation Budget (SRB) dataset) with model simulations, we found that the agreement is generally good, except for the regions where the model predicts too few clouds or SRB misclassifies strong smoke plumes as clouds. We also found that the smoke-induced changes in upward shortwave fluxes at top of atmosphere (TOA) vary under different burning and meteorological conditions. In the first period of the fire season (9–12 August), smoke particles cause a warming effect around 3 W/m2, mainly through functioning as ice nuclei, which deplete the cloud water amount in the frontal system. At the beginning of the second period of the fire season (19–20 August), large amounts of pre-existing smoke particles cause a strong cooling effect of −8 W/m2. This is offset by the warming effect caused by relatively small amounts of cloud condensation nuclei increases, which promotes the rain formation and depletes the cloud water amount. After the cloud decks are well mixed with smoke plumes (21–22 August), the first indirect and direct effects of smoke together lead to a cooling of −10 W/m2. These results highlight the importance of meso-scale modeling efforts in estimating the smoke-induced changes in the radiative energy budget over high latitudes.
On the Degree-Based Topological Indices of the Tickysim SpiNNaker Model
Authors: Imran Muhammad , Siddiqui Muhammad Kamran , Ahmad Ali , Ali Usman , Hanif Nazia
Published: October 2018

Tickysim is a clock tick-based simulator for the inter-chip interconnection network of the SpiNNaker architecture. Network devices such as arbiters, routers, and packet generators store, read, and write forward data through fixed-length FIFO buffers. At each clock tick, every component executes a “read” phase followed by a “write” phase. The structures of any finite graph which represents numerical quantities are known as topological indices. In this paper, we compute degree-based topological indices of the Tickysim SpiNNaker Model ( T S M ) sheet.
Big-Crypto: Big Data, Blockchain and Cryptocurrency
Authors: Hassani Hossein , Huang Xu , Silva Emmanuel
Published: October 2018

Cryptocurrency has been a trending topic over the past decade, pooling tremendous technological power and attracting investments valued over trillions of dollars on a global scale. The cryptocurrency technology and its network have been endowed with many superior features due to its unique architecture, which also determined its worldwide efficiency, applicability and data intensive characteristics. This paper introduces and summarises the interactions between two significant concepts in the digitalized world, i.e., cryptocurrency and Big Data. Both subjects are at the forefront of technological research, and this paper focuses on their convergence and comprehensively reviews the very recent applications and developments after 2016. Accordingly, we aim to present a systematic review of the interactions between Big Data and cryptocurrency and serve as the one stop reference directory for researchers with regard to identifying research gaps and directing future explorations.
“The Smartphone’s Guide to the Galaxy”: In Situ Analysis in Space
Authors: Nelis Joost , Elliott Christopher , Campbell Katrina
Published: October 2018

A human mission to Mars can be viewed as the apex of human technological achievement. However, to make this dream a reality several obstacles need to be overcome. One is devising practical ways to safeguard the crew health during the mission through the development of easy operable and compact sensors. Lately, several smartphone-based sensing devices (SBDs) with the purpose to enable the immediate sensitive detection of chemicals, proteins or pathogens in remote settings have emerged. In this critical review, the potential to piggyback these systems for in situ analysis in space has been investigated on application of a systematic keyword search whereby the most relevant articles were examined comprehensively and existing SBDs were divided into 4 relevant groups for the monitoring of crew health during space missions. Recently developed recognition elements (REs), which could offer the enhanced ability to tolerate those harsh conditions in space, have been reviewed with recommendations offered. In addition, the potential use of cell free synthetic biology to obtain long-term shelf-stable reagents was reviewed. Finally, a synopsis of the possibilities of combining novel SBD, RE and nanomaterials to create a compact sensor-platform ensuring adequate crew health monitoring has been provided.
Dyslexia as a Neurodevelopmental Disorder and What Makes It Different from a Chess Disorder
Authors: Fraga González Gorka , Karipidis Iliana I. , Tijms Jurgen
Published: October 2018

The convenience of referring to dyslexia as a neurodevelopmental disorder has been repeatedly brought into question. In this opinion article, we argue in favor of the current diagnosis of dyslexia based on the criteria of harm and dysfunction. We discuss the favorable clinical and educational outcomes of a neuroscience-informed approach of dyslexia as a disorder. Furthermore, we discuss insights derived from neuroimaging studies and their importance to address problems related to developmental dyslexia.
Development of Biotransamination Reactions towards the 3,4-Dihydro-2H-1,5-benzoxathiepin-3-amine Enantiomers
Authors: González-Martínez Daniel , Fernández-Sáez Nerea , Cativiela Carlos , Campos Joaquín M. , Gotor-Fernández Vicente
Published: October 2018

The stereoselective synthesis of chiral amines is an appealing task nowadays. In this context, biocatalysis plays a crucial role due to the straightforward conversion of prochiral and racemic ketones into enantiopure amines by means of a series of enzyme classes such as amine dehydrogenases, imine reductases, reductive aminases and amine transaminases. In particular, the stereoselective synthesis of 1,5-benzoxathiepin-3-amines have attracted particular attention since they possess remarkable biological profiles; however, their access through biocatalytic methods is unexplored. Amine transaminases are applied herein in the biotransamination of 3,4-dihydro-2H-1,5-benzoxathiepin-3-one, finding suitable enzymes for accessing both target amine enantiomers in high conversion and enantiomeric excess values. Biotransamination experiments have been analysed, trying to optimise the reaction conditions in terms of enzyme loading, temperature and reaction times.
Bacterial Biodegradation of 4-Monohalogenated Diphenyl Ethers in One-Substrate and Co-Metabolic Systems
Authors: Pacholak Amanda , Smułek Wojciech , Zdarta Agata , Zgoła-Grześkowiak Agnieszka , Kaczorek Ewa
Published: October 2018

The use of diphenyl ether (DE) and its 4-monohalogenated derivatives (4-HDE) as flame retardants, solvents, and substrates in biocide production significantly increases the risk of ecosystem contamination. Their removal is important from the point of view of environmental protection. The aim of this study was to evaluate the degradation processes of DE and 4-HDE by enzymes of the environmental bacterial strains under one-substrate and co-metabolic conditions. The study is focused on the biodegradation of DE and 4-HDE, the enzymatic activity of microbial strains, and the cell surface properties after contact with compounds. The results show that the highest biodegradation (96%) was observed for 4-chlorodiphenyl ether in co-metabolic culture with P. fluorescens B01. Moreover, the activity of 1,2-dioxygenase during degradation of 4-monohalogenated diphenyl ethers was higher than that of 2,3-dioxygenase for each strain tested. The presence of a co-substrate provoked changes in dioxygenase activity, resulting in the increased activity of 1,2-dioxygenase. Moreover, the addition of phenol as a co-substrate allowed for increased biodegradation of the diphenyl ethers and noticeable modification of the cell surface hydrophobicity during the process. All observations within the study performed have led to a deeper understanding of the contaminants’ biodegradation processes catalyzed by environmental bacteria.
α-Glucan Phosphorylase-Catalyzed Enzymatic Reactions Using Analog Substrates to Synthesize Non-Natural Oligo- and Polysaccharides
Authors: Kadokawa Jun-ichi
Published: October 2018

As natural oligo- and polysaccharides are important biomass resources and exhibit vital biological functions, non-natural oligo- and polysaccharides with a well-defined structure can be expected to act as new functional materials with specific natures and properties. α-Glucan phosphorylase (GP) is one of the enzymes that have been used as catalysts for practical synthesis of oligo- and polysaccharides. By means of weak specificity for the recognition of substrates by GP, non-natural oligo- and polysaccharides has precisely been synthesized. GP-catalyzed enzymatic glycosylations using several analog substrates as glycosyl donors have been carried out to produce oligosaccharides having different monosaccharide residues at the non-reducing end. Glycogen, a highly branched natural polysaccharide, has been used as the polymeric glycosyl acceptor and primer for the GP-catalyzed glycosylation and polymerization to obtain glycogen-based non-natural polysaccharide materials. Under the conditions of removal of inorganic phosphate, thermostable GP-catalyzed enzymatic polymerization of analog monomers occurred to give amylose analog polysaccharides.
Water: Friend or Foe in Catalytic Hydrogenation? A Case Study Using Copper Catalysts
Authors: Govender Alisa , Mahomed Abdul S. , Friedrich Holger B.
Published: October 2018

Copper oxide supported on alumina and copper chromite were synthesized, characterized, and subsequently tested for their catalytic activity toward the hydrogenation of octanal. Thereafter, the impact of water addition on the conversion and selectivity of the catalysts were investigated. The fresh catalysts were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), BET surface area and pore volume, SEM, TEM, TGA-DSC, ICP, TPR, and TPD. An initial catalytic testing study was carried out using the catalysts to optimize the temperature and the hydrogen-to-aldehyde ratio—which were found to be 160 °C and 2, respectively—to obtain the best conversion and selectivity to octanol prior to water addition. Water impact studies were carried out under the same conditions. The copper chromite catalyst showed no deactivation or change in octanol selectivity when water was added to the feed. The alumina-supported catalyst showed no change in conversion, but the octanol selectivity improved marginally when water was added.
Characterization of a New Glyoxal Oxidase from the Thermophilic Fungus Myceliophthora thermophila M77: Hydrogen Peroxide Production Retained in 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural Oxidation
Authors: Kadowaki Marco Antonio Seiki , Godoy Mariana Ortiz de , Kumagai Patricia Suemy , Costa-Filho Antonio José da , Mort Andrew , Prade Rolf Alexander , Polikarpov Igor
Published: October 2018

Myceliophthora thermophyla is a thermophilic industrially relevant fungus that secretes an assortment of hydrolytic and oxidative enzymes for lignocellulose degradation. Among them is glyoxal oxidase (MtGLOx), an extracellular oxidoreductase that oxidizes several aldehydes and α-hydroxy carbonyl substrates coupled to the reduction of O2 to H2O2. This copper metalloprotein belongs to a class of enzymes called radical copper oxidases (CRO) and to the “auxiliary activities” subfamily AA5_1 that is based on the Carbohydrate-Active enZYmes (CAZy) database. Only a few members of this family have been characterized to date. Here, we report the recombinant production, characterization, and structure-function analysis of MtGLOx. Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) spectroscopy confirmed MtGLOx to be a radical-coupled copper complex and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) revealed an extended spatial arrangement of the catalytic and four N-terminal WSC domains. Furthermore, we demonstrate that methylglyoxal and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), a fermentation inhibitor, are substrates for the enzyme.
Automatic Configurable Hardware Code Generation for Software-Defined Radios
Authors: Tsoeunyane Lekhobola , Winberg Simon , Inggs Michael
Published: October 2018

The development of software-defined radio (SDR) systems using field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) compels designers to reuse pre-existing Intellectual Property (IP) cores in order to meet time-to-market and design efficiency requirements. However, the low-level development difficulties associated with FPGAs hinder productivity, even when the designer is experienced with hardware design. These low-level difficulties include non-standard interfacing methods, component communication and synchronization challenges, complicated timing constraints and processing blocks that need to be customized through time-consuming design tweaks. In this paper, we present a methodology for automated and behavioral integration of dedicated IP cores for rapid prototyping of SDR applications. To maintain high performance of the SDR designs, our methodology integrates IP cores using characteristics of the dataflow model of computation (MoC), namely the static dataflow with access patterns (SDF-AP). We show how the dataflow is mapped onto the low-level model of hardware by efficiently applying low-level based optimizations and using a formal analysis technique that guarantees the correctness of the generated solutions. Furthermore, we demonstrate the capability of our automated hardware design approach by developing eight SDR applications in VHDL. The results show that well-optimized designs are generated and that this can improve productivity while also conserving the hardware resources used.
Monitoring Human Visual Behavior during the Observation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) Videos
Authors: Krassanakis Vassilios , Perreira Da Silva Matthieu , Ricordel Vincent
Published: October 2018

The present article describes an experimental study towards the examination of human visual behavior during the observation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) videos. Experimental performance is based on the collection and the quantitative & qualitative analysis of eye tracking data. The results highlight that UAV flight altitude serves as a dominant specification that affects the visual attention process, while the presence of sky in the video background seems to be the less affecting factor in this procedure. Additionally, the main surrounding environment, the main size of the observed object as well as the main perceived angle between UAV’s flight plain and ground appear to have an equivalent influence in observers’ visual reaction during the exploration of such stimuli. Moreover, the provided heatmap visualizations indicate the most salient locations in the used UAVs videos. All produced data (raw gaze data, fixation and saccade events, and heatmap visualizations) are freely distributed to the scientific community as a new dataset (EyeTrackUAV) that can be served as an objective ground truth in future studies.
Stock Net Entropy: Evidence from the Chinese Growth Enterprise Market
Authors: Lv Qiuna , Han Liyan , Wan Yipeng , Yin Libo
Published: October 2018

By introducing net entropy into a stock network, this paper focuses on investigating the impact of network entropy on market returns and trading in the Chinese Growth Enterprise Market (GEM). In this paper, indices of Wu structure entropy (WSE) and SD structure entropy (SDSE) are considered as indicators of network heterogeneity to present market diversification. A series of dynamic financial networks consisting of 1066 daily nets is constructed by applying the dynamic conditional correlation multivariate GARCH (DCC-MV-GARCH) model with a threshold adjustment. Then, we evaluate the quantitative relationships between network entropy indices and market trading-variables and their bilateral information spillover effects by applying the bivariate EGARCH model. There are two main findings in the paper. Firstly, the evidence significantly ensures that both market returns and trading volumes associate negatively with the network entropy indices, which indicates that stock heterogeneity, which is negative with the value of network entropy indices by definition, can help to improve market returns and increase market trading volumes. Secondly, results show significant information transmission between the indicators of network entropy and stock market trading variables.
The Effect of Governance Quality on Economic Growth: Based on China’s Provincial Panel Data
Authors: Liu Jiandang , Tang Jie , Zhou Bo , Liang Zhijun
Published: October 2018

This paper investigates the impact of governance quality on economic growth in China. After developing a theoretical framework for the effect of governance quality on local economic growth, this article studies the panel data in provincial regions over the period 2001–2015 by constructing a new comprehensive index of provincial governance, and checks the robustness of the empirical findings from four aspects. The results show that governance quality has a positive effect on economic growth, due to good governance strengthening the “helping hand” or weakening the “grabbing hand” of power. Governance quality presents diminishing marginal returns, which means that the high-speed economic growth effect becomes less and less, while the high-quality economic development effect becomes more and more. Higher governance quality could bring a high-speed economic growth effect in the western region, while higher governance quality could bring a high-quality economic development effect in the eastern region. Compared with fixed-asset investment, human capital has played a more important role in economic growth. In order to promote the sustainable development of China’s economy, policy makers should improve local governance quality, strengthen the capacity of independent innovation, and promote the accumulation of high-quality human capital.
Religious and Heritage Education in Israel in an Era of Secularism
Authors: Katz Yaacov J.
Published: October 2018

Israel as a unique country composed of a religiously heterogeneous society of native-born Israelis whose parents arrived in the country before the declaration of Israel as an independent state in 1948 and immigrant Jews coming from countries spread throughout the world, mainly from the early 1960s until the present time, as well as Arab Moslem, Arab Christian, and Druze citizens born in the country. The Jewish population consists of secularized Jews who are almost totally estranged from the Jewish religion; traditional Jews who identify with the Jewish religion; religious modern orthodox observant Jews who share common societal goals with members of secular and religious Jewish society; and religious ultra-orthodox observant Jews who are rigid in their faith and oppose absorption and assimilation into general society. The Israeli Arab population comprises Moslems who are generally more religious than Israeli Jews, but are less religious and more flexible in their religious beliefs than Moslems living in many other countries in the Middle East. Christians who identify with their religion; and a moderately religious Druze community. Because of the heterogeneity of Israeli society, mandatory religious and heritage education presents each sector with a unique curriculum that serves the particular needs considered vital for each sector be they secular, traditional, or religious. In order to offset the differences in religious and heritage education and to enhance common social values and social cohesion in Israeli society, citizenship education, coupled with religious and heritage education, is compulsory for all population sectors.
A Fixed-Frequency Sliding-Mode Controller for Fourth-Order Class-D Amplifier
Authors: Zaman Haider , Zheng Xiancheng , Wu Xiaohua , Khan Shahbaz , Ali Husan
Published: October 2018

Since the parasitic voltage ringing and switching power losses limit the operation of active devices at elevated frequencies; therefore, a higher-order inductor-capacitor (LC) filter is commonly used, which offers extended attenuation above the cutoff frequency and thus, improves the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the amplifier. This paper applies the concept of integral sliding-mode control to a fourth-order class-D amplifier. Two fixed-frequency double integral sliding-mode (FFDISM) controllers are proposed, where one uses the inductor current while the other involves the capacitor current feedback. Their equivalent control equations are derived, but from the realization viewpoint, the controller using the capacitor current feedback is advantageous and, therefore, is selected for final implementation. The performance of the proposed FFDISM controller for fourth-order GaN class-D amplifier is confirmed using simulation and experimental results.
A Mechanical Model of Gas Drainage Borehole Clogging under Confining Pressure and Its Application
Authors: Wang Yonglong , Yu Zaijiang , Wang Zhenfeng
Published: October 2018

Drilling in a coal seam that has gas and coal outburst activities is closely related to the discharge of drill cuttings into a borehole. Due to the low effectiveness of slagging, there is a risk that the drilling equipment will be lost if the borehole contains too many drill cuttings, especially when drilling in soft coal seams that suffer from borehole deformation and instability problems. In order to investigate the mechanisms underlying clogged boreholes, a mechanical model is established that considers the confining pressure pi that surrounds a borehole. The characteristics of clogged boreholes, which are affected by parameters such as the clogging segment’s length L, the drilling angle θ and confining pressure pi, were analyzed. The results show that the dredging pressure has nearly exponential growth as the clogging segment’s length L increases and the gravity of the clogging segment reduces the demand for dredging pressure, especially in upward drilling. In downward drilling, the blowing-through pressure increases as the absolute value of the drilling angle increases and will reach a maximum value when the drilling angle θD is in the range of −π/2~0. At the same time, the borehole’s confining pressure pi is the dominant factor in borehole clogging. Meanwhile, boreholes with a high confining pressure pi, especially in soft coal seams and coal seams with a coal outburst, constitute a significant risk. Finally, an actual drilling field construction was evaluated and optimized by applying the clogging segment mechanical model. The results show that the drilling depth was improved by 18.5% on average, and the drilling efficiency was improved by 39.7%, in comparison to drilling activities without optimization.
Wind Turbine Wake Characterization for Improvement of the Ainslie Eddy Viscosity Wake Model
Authors: Kim Hyungyu , Kim Kwansu , Bottasso Carlo Luigi , Campagnolo Filippo , Paek Insu
Published: October 2018

This paper presents a modified version of the Ainslie eddy viscosity wake model and its accuracy by comparing it with selected exiting wake models and wind tunnel test results. The wind tunnel test was performed using a 1.9 m rotor diameter wind turbine model operating at a tip speed ratio similar to that of modern megawatt wind turbines. The control algorithms for blade pitch and generator torque used for below and above rated wind speed regions similar to those for multi-MW wind turbines were applied to the scaled wind turbine model. In order to characterize the influence of the wind turbine operating conditions on the wake, the wind turbine model was tested in both below and above rated wind speed regions at which the thrust coefficients of the rotor varied. The correction of the Ainslie eddy viscosity wake model was made by modifying the empirical equation of the original model using the wind tunnel test results with the Nelder-Mead simplex method for function minimization. The wake prediction accuracy of the modified wake model in terms of wind speed deficit was found to be improved by up to 6% compared to that of the original model. Comparisons with other existing wake models are also made in detail.