bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Role of Quinone Reductase 2 in the Antimalarial Properties of Indolone-Type Derivatives
Authors: Cassagnes Laure-Estelle , Rakotoarivelo Nambinina , Sirigu Serena , Pério Pierre , Najahi Ennaji , Chavas Léonard , Thompson Andrew , Gayon Régis , Ferry Gilles , Boutin Jean , Valentin Alexis , Reybier Karine , Nepveu Françoise
Published: January 2017

Indolone-N-oxides have antiplasmodial properties against Plasmodium falciparum at the erythrocytic stage, with IC50 values in the nanomolar range. The mechanism of action of indolone derivatives involves the production of free radicals, which follows their bioreduction by an unknown mechanism. In this study, we hypothesized that human quinone reductase 2 (hQR2), known to act as a flavin redox switch upon binding to the broadly used antimalarial chloroquine, could be involved in the activity of the redox-active indolone derivatives. Therefore, we investigated the role of hQR2 in the reduction of indolone derivatives. We analyzed the interaction between hQR2 and several indolone-type derivatives by examining enzymatic kinetics, the substrate/protein complex structure with X-ray diffraction analysis, and the production of free radicals with electron paramagnetic resonance. The reduction of each compound in cells overexpressing hQR2 was compared to its reduction in naïve cells. This process could be inhibited by the specific hQR2 inhibitor, S29434. These results confirmed that the anti-malarial activity of indolone-type derivatives was linked to their ability to serve as hQR2 substrates and not as hQR2 inhibitors as reported for chloroquine, leading to the possibility that substrate of hQR2 could be considered as a new avenue for the design of new antimalarial compounds.
Application of the Crystalline Sponge Method to Revise the Structure of the Phenalenone Fuliginone
Authors: Brkljača Robert , Schneider Bernd , Hidalgo William , Otálvaro Felipe , Ospina Felipe , Lee Shoukou , Hoshino Manabu , Fujita Makoto , Urban Sylvia
Published: January 2017

The structure of fuliginone was revised from a phenyl substituted phenalenone to a hydroxyl substituted phenalenone as a result of its re‐purification via HPLC with subsequent NMR analysis together with an independent synthesis and analysis of the crystal structure, which was secured via the crystalline sponge method. On‐flow High Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled to Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy (HPLC‐NMR) was employed to confirm the presence of the natural product in the plant extract and to monitor for any possible degradation or conversion of the compound.
Oscillating Magnet Array−Based Nanomagnetic Gene Transfection: A Valuable Tool for Molecular Neurobiology Studies
Authors: Subramanian Mahendran , Tyler Aimee-Jayne , Luther Eva , Daniel Elena , Lim Jenson , Dobson Jon
Published: January 2017

To develop treatments for neurodegenerative disorders, it is critical to understand the biology and function of neurons in both normal and diseased states. Molecular studies of neurons involve the delivery of small biomolecules into cultured neurons via transfection to study genetic variants. However, as cultured primary neurons are sensitive to temperature change, stress, and shifts in pH, these factors make biomolecule delivery difficult, particularly non-viral delivery. Herein we used oscillating nanomagnetic gene transfection to successfully transfect SH-SY5Y cells as well as primary hippocampal and cortical neurons on different days in vitro. This novel technique has been used to effectively deliver genetic material into various cell types, resulting in high transfection efficiency and viability. From these observations and other related studies, we suggest that oscillating nanomagnetic gene transfection is an effective method for gene delivery into hard-to-transfect neuronal cell types.
The Road Not So Travelled: Should Measurement of Vitamin D Epimers during Pregnancy Affect Our Clinical Decisions?
Authors: Karras Spyridon , Kotsa Kalliopi , Angeloudi Elena , Zebekakis Pantelis , Naughton Declan
Published: January 2017

Observational studies suggest an adverse effect of maternal hypovitaminosis D during pregnancy. However, intervention studies failed to show convincing benefit from vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy. With analytical advances, vitamin D can now be measured in ten forms—including as epimers—which were thought to be biologically inactive, but can critically impair immunoassays. The aim of this commentary is to highlight the potential clinical and analytical significance of vitamin D epimers in the interpretation of vitamin D roles in pregnancy. Epimers may contribute a considerable proportion of total vitamin D—especially in the neonate—which renders the majority of common assays questionable. Furthermore, epimers have been suggested to have activity in laboratory studies, and evidence suggests that the fetus contributes significantly to epimer production. Maternal epimer levels contribute significantly to predict neonate circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations. In conclusion, the existence of various vitamin D forms (such as epimers) has been established, and their clinical significance remains obscure. These results underscore the need for accurate measurements to appraise vitamin D status, in order to understand the current gap between observational and supplementation studies on the field.
Effect on Insulin, Glucose and Lipids in Overweight/Obese Australian Adults of 12 Months Consumption of Two Different Fibre Supplements in a Randomised Trial
Authors: Pal Sebely , Ho Suleen , Gahler Roland , Wood Simon
Published: January 2017

Higher fibre intakes are associated with risk reduction for chronic diseases. This study investigated the effects of supplementation with PolyGlycopleX® (PGX), a complexed polysaccharide, on insulin, glucose and lipids in overweight and obese individuals. In this double-blind 12 months study, participants were randomised into three groups: control (rice flour); PGX or psyllium (PSY). Participants followed their usual lifestyle and diet but consumed 5 g of their supplement before meals. Insulin was significantly lower in the PGX and PSY groups compared to control at 3 and 6 months and in the PSY group compared to control at 12 months. Serum glucose was significantly lower in the PGX group at 3 months compared to control. Total cholesterol was significantly lower in the PGX and PSY groups compared to control at 3 and 6 months. High density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol was significantly increased in the PGX group compared to control at 12 months. low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol was significantly lower in the PGX group at 3 and 6 months compared to control and in the PSY group at 3 months compared to control. A simple strategy of fibre supplementation may offer an effective solution to glucose, insulin and lipid management without the need for other nutrient modification.
n-Dimensional Laplace Transforms of Occupation Times for Spectrally Negative Lévy Processes
Authors: Kuang Xuebing , Zhou Xiaowen
Published: January 2017

Using a Poisson approach, we find Laplace transforms of joint occupation times over n disjoint intervals for spectrally negative Lévy processes. They generalize previous results for dimension two.
Remote Sensing of Glacier Change in the Central Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Relationship with Changing Climate
Authors: Ke Linghong , Ding Xiaoli , Li Wenkai , Qiu Bo
Published: January 2017

The widely distributed glaciers over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) represent important freshwater reserves and the meltwater feeds many major rivers of Asia. Glacier change over the QTP has shown high temporal and spatial variability in recent decades, and the driving forces of the variability are not yet clear. This study examines the area and thickness change of glaciers in the Dongkemadi (DKMD) region over central QTP by exploring all available Landsat images from 1976 to 2013 and satellite altimetry data over 2003–2008, and then analyzes the relationships between glacier variation and local and macroscale climate factors based on various remote sensing and re-analysis data. Results show that the variation of glacier area over 1976–2013 is characterized by significant shrinkage at a linear rate of −0.31 ± 0.04 km2·year−1. Glacier retreat slightly accelerated in the 2000s, and the mean glacier surface elevation lowered at a rate of −0.56 m·year−1 over 2003–2008. During the past 38 years, glacier change in the DKMD area was dominated by the variation of mean annual temperature, and was influenced by the state of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The mechanism linking climate variability over the central QTP and the state of NAO is most likely via changes in the strength of westerlies and Siberian High. We found no evidence supporting the role of summer monsoons (Indian summer monsoon and East Asian monsoon) in driving local climate and glacier changes. In addition, El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) may be associated with the extreme weather (snow storm) in October 1986 and 2000 which might have led to significant glacier expansion in the following years. Further research is needed to better understand the physical mechanisms linking NAO, ENSO and climate variability over the mid-latitude central QTP.
On the Use of Generalized Volume Scattering Models for the Improvement of General Polarimetric Model-Based Decomposition
Authors: Xie Qinghua , Ballester-Berman J. , Lopez-Sanchez Juan , Zhu Jianjun , Wang Changcheng
Published: January 2017

Recently, a general polarimetric model-based decomposition framework was proposed by Chen et al., which addresses several well-known limitations in previous decomposition methods and implements a simultaneous full-parameter inversion by using complete polarimetric information. However, it only employs four typical models to characterize the volume scattering component, which limits the parameter inversion performance. To overcome this issue, this paper presents two general polarimetric model-based decomposition methods by incorporating the generalized volume scattering model (GVSM) or simplified adaptive volume scattering model, (SAVSM) proposed by Antropov et al. and Huang et al., respectively, into the general decomposition framework proposed by Chen et al. By doing so, the final volume coherency matrix structure is selected from a wide range of volume scattering models within a continuous interval according to the data itself without adding unknowns. Moreover, the new approaches rely on one nonlinear optimization stage instead of four as in the previous method proposed by Chen et al. In addition, the parameter inversion procedure adopts the modified algorithm proposed by Xie et al. which leads to higher accuracy and more physically reliable output parameters. A number of Monte Carlo simulations of polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) data are carried out and show that the proposed method with GVSM yields an overall improvement in the final accuracy of estimated parameters and outperforms both the version using SAVSM and the original approach. In addition, C-band Radarsat-2 and L-band AIRSAR fully polarimetric images over the San Francisco region are also used for testing purposes. A detailed comparison and analysis of decomposition results over different land-cover types are conducted. According to this study, the use of general decomposition models leads to a more accurate quantitative retrieval of target parameters. However, there exists a trade-off between parameter accuracy and model complexity which constrains the physical validity of solutions and must be further investigated.
IEEE 802.15.4 Frame Aggregation Enhancement to Provide High Performance in Life-Critical Patient Monitoring Systems
Authors: Akbar Muhammad , Yu Hongnian , Cang Shuang
Published: January 2017

In wireless body area sensor networks (WBASNs), Quality of Service (QoS) provision for patient monitoring systems in terms of time-critical deadlines, high throughput and energy efficiency is a challenging task. The periodic data from these systems generates a large number of small packets in a short time period which needs an efficient channel access mechanism. The IEEE 802.15.4 standard is recommended for low power devices and widely used for many wireless sensor networks applications. It provides a hybrid channel access mechanism at the Media Access Control (MAC) layer which plays a key role in overall successful transmission in WBASNs. There are many WBASN’s MAC protocols that use this hybrid channel access mechanism in variety of sensor applications. However, these protocols are less efficient for patient monitoring systems where life critical data requires limited delay, high throughput and energy efficient communication simultaneously. To address these issues, this paper proposes a frame aggregation scheme by using the aggregated-MAC protocol data unit (A-MPDU) which works with the IEEE 802.15.4 MAC layer. To implement the scheme accurately, we develop a traffic patterns analysis mechanism to understand the requirements of the sensor nodes in patient monitoring systems, then model the channel access to find the performance gap on the basis of obtained requirements, finally propose the design based on the needs of patient monitoring systems. The mechanism is initially verified using numerical modelling and then simulation is conducted using NS2.29, Castalia 3.2 and OMNeT++. The proposed scheme provides the optimal performance considering the required QoS.
Analytical Protein Microarrays: Advancements Towards Clinical Applications
Authors: Sauer Ursula
Published: January 2017

Protein microarrays represent a powerful technology with the potential to serve as tools for the detection of a broad range of analytes in numerous applications such as diagnostics, drug development, food safety, and environmental monitoring. Key features of analytical protein microarrays include high throughput and relatively low costs due to minimal reagent consumption, multiplexing, fast kinetics and hence measurements, and the possibility of functional integration. So far, especially fundamental studies in molecular and cell biology have been conducted using protein microarrays, while the potential for clinical, notably point-of-care applications is not yet fully utilized. The question arises what features have to be implemented and what improvements have to be made in order to fully exploit the technology. In the past we have identified various obstacles that have to be overcome in order to promote protein microarray technology in the diagnostic field. Issues that need significant improvement to make the technology more attractive for the diagnostic market are for instance: too low sensitivity and deficiency in reproducibility, inadequate analysis time, lack of high-quality antibodies and validated reagents, lack of automation and portable instruments, and cost of instruments necessary for chip production and read-out. The scope of the paper at hand is to review approaches to solve these problems.
Topologically Optimized Nano-Positioning Stage Integrating with a Capacitive Comb Sensor
Authors: Chen Tao , Wang Yaqiong , Liu Huicong , Yang Zhan , Wang Pengbo , Sun Lining
Published: January 2017

Nano-positioning technology has been widely used in many fields, such as microelectronics, optical engineering, and micro manufacturing. This paper presents a one-dimensional (1D) nano-positioning system, adopting a piezoelectric ceramic (PZT) actuator and a multi-objective topological optimal structure. The combination of a nano-positioning stage and a feedback capacitive comb sensor has been achieved. In order to obtain better performance, a wedge-shaped structure is used to apply the precise pre-tension for the piezoelectric ceramics. Through finite element analysis and experimental verification, better static performance and smaller kinetic coupling are achieved. The output displacement of the system achieves a long-stroke of up to 14.7 μm and high-resolution of less than 3 nm. It provides a flexible and efficient way in the design and optimization of the nano-positioning system.
THz Pyro-Optical Detector Based on LiNbO3 Whispering Gallery Mode Microdisc Resonator
Authors: Cosci Alessandro , Cerminara Matteo , Conti Gualtiero , Soria Silvia , Righini Giancarlo , Pelli Stefano
Published: January 2017

This study analyzes the capabilities of a LiNbO3 whispering gallery mode microdisc resonator as a potential bolometer detector in the THz range. The resonator is theoretically characterized in the stationary regime by its thermo-optic and thermal coefficients. Considering a Q-factor of 107, a minimum detectable power of 20 μW was evaluated, three orders of magnitude above its noise equivalent power. This value opens up the feasibility of exploiting LiNbO3 disc resonators as sensitive room-temperature detectors in the THz range.
Evaluation of the Vegetation Coverage Resilience in Areas Damaged by the Wenchuan Earthquake Based on MODIS-EVI Data
Authors: Liu Xiaofu , Jiang Weiguo , Li Jing , Wang Wenjie
Published: January 2017

The concept of resilience was integrated into post-earthquake ecological restoration assessments in 10 counties heavily impacted by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Ecological resilience was defined as the time interval required for the vegetation coverage to recover to pre-earthquake levels in damaged areas. MODIS-EVI data from May to August in 2000 to 2016 were used to calculate the ecological resilience by fitting the curve of recovery rate (RR) versus time. The following conclusions were reached: (1) An area of 424.1 km2 sustained vegetation damage. (2) The vegetation recovery was found to be linear based on the statistical analysis of the most common components of the damaged areas; consequently, linear fitting was used to estimate the resilience. (3) In terms of vegetation coverage, 44.2% of the damaged areas have already recovered. The vast majority of damaged areas are predicted to achieve vegetation recovery by 2022, but 5.3% of the damaged areas will not recover within this time period and have no resilience. (4) The management of damaged areas near roads, rivers and mining operations, especially at elevations of 2000–2500 m, slopes greater than 30°, and precipitation levels greater than 1200 mm, should be prioritized in the future. (5) The innovations of this study include the method used to extract earthquake-related vegetation damage and the prediction of vegetation succession based on resilience.
A Review of Passive RFID Tag Antenna-Based Sensors and Systems for Structural Health Monitoring Applications
Authors: Zhang Jun , Tian Gui , Marindra Adi , Sunny Ali , Zhao Ao
Published: January 2017

In recent few years, the antenna and sensor communities have witnessed a considerable integration of radio frequency identification (RFID) tag antennas and sensors because of the impetus provided by internet of things (IoT) and cyber-physical systems (CPS). Such types of sensor can find potential applications in structural health monitoring (SHM) because of their passive, wireless, simple, compact size, and multimodal nature, particular in large scale infrastructures during their lifecycle. The big data from these ubiquitous sensors are expected to generate a big impact for intelligent monitoring. A remarkable number of scientific papers demonstrate the possibility that objects can be remotely tracked and intelligently monitored for their physical/chemical/mechanical properties and environment conditions. Most of the work focuses on antenna design, and significant information has been generated to demonstrate feasibilities. Further information is needed to gain deep understanding of the passive RFID antenna sensor systems in order to make them reliable and practical. Nevertheless, this information is scattered over much literature. This paper is to comprehensively summarize and clearly highlight the challenges and state-of-the-art methods of passive RFID antenna sensors and systems in terms of sensing and communication from system point of view. Future trends are also discussed. The future research and development in UK are suggested as well.
Liquid Temperature Measurements Using Two Different Tunable Hollow Prisms
Authors: Calixto Sergio , Rosete-Aguilar Martha , Torres-Gomez Ismael
Published: January 2017

This paper describes the design, fabrication, and testing of two hollow prisms. One is a prism with a grating glued to its hypotenuse. This ensemble, prism + grating, is called a grism. It can be applied as an on-axis tunable spectrometer. The other hollow prism is a constant deviation one called a Pellin-Broca. It can be used as a tunable dispersive element in a spectrometer with no moving parts. The application of prisms as temperature sensors is shown.
Enhanced Living by Assessing Voice Pathology Using a Co-Occurrence Matrix
Authors: Muhammad Ghulam , Alhamid Mohammed , Hossain M. , Almogren Ahmad , Vasilakos Athanasios
Published: January 2017

A large number of the population around the world suffers from various disabilities. Disabilities affect not only children but also adults of different professions. Smart technology can assist the disabled population and lead to a comfortable life in an enhanced living environment (ELE). In this paper, we propose an effective voice pathology assessment system that works in a smart home framework. The proposed system takes input from various sensors, and processes the acquired voice signals and electroglottography (EGG) signals. Co-occurrence matrices in different directions and neighborhoods from the spectrograms of these signals were obtained. Several features such as energy, entropy, contrast, and homogeneity from these matrices were calculated and fed into a Gaussian mixture model-based classifier. Experiments were performed with a publicly available database, namely, the Saarbrucken voice database. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed system in light of its high accuracy and speed. The proposed system can be extended to assess other disabilities in an ELE.
A Ring Artifact Correction Method: Validation by Micro-CT Imaging with Flat-Panel Detectors and a 2D Photon-Counting Detector
Authors: Eldib Mohamed , Hegazy Mohamed , Mun Yang , Cho Myung , Cho Min , Lee Soo
Published: January 2017

We introduce an efficient ring artifact correction method for a cone-beam computed tomography (CT). In the first step, we correct the defective pixels whose values are close to zero or saturated in the projection domain. In the second step, we compute the mean value at each detector element along the view angle in the sinogram to obtain the one-dimensional (1D) mean vector, and we then compute the 1D correction vector by taking inverse of the mean vector. We multiply the correction vector with the sinogram row by row over all view angles. In the third step, we apply a Gaussian filter on the difference image between the original CT image and the corrected CT image obtained in the previous step. The filtered difference image is added to the corrected CT image to compensate the possible contrast anomaly that may appear due to the contrast change in the sinogram after removing stripe artifacts. We applied the proposed method to the projection data acquired by two flat-panel detectors (FPDs) and a silicon-based photon-counting X-ray detector (PCXD). Micro-CT imaging experiments of phantoms and a small animal have shown that the proposed method can greatly reduce ring artifacts regardless of detector types. Despite the great reduction of ring artifacts, the proposed method does not compromise the original spatial resolution and contrast.
Real-Time Straight-Line Detection for XGA-Size Videos by Hough Transform with Parallelized Voting Procedures
Authors: Guan Jungang , An Fengwei , Zhang Xiangyu , Chen Lei , Mattausch Hans
Published: January 2017

The Hough Transform (HT) is a method for extracting straight lines from an edge image. The main limitations of the HT for usage in actual applications are computation time and storage requirements. This paper reports a hardware architecture for HT implementation on a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) with parallelized voting procedure. The 2-dimensional accumulator array, namely the Hough space in parametric form (ρ, θ), for computing the strength of each line by a voting mechanism is mapped on a 1-dimensional array with regular increments of θ. Then, this Hough space is divided into a number of parallel parts. The computation of (ρ, θ) for the edge pixels and the voting procedure for straight-line determination are therefore executable in parallel. In addition, a synchronized initialization for the Hough space further increases the speed of straight-line detection, so that XGA video processing becomes possible. The designed prototype system has been synthesized on a DE4 platform with a Stratix-IV FPGA device. In the application of road-lane detection, the average processing speed of this HT implementation is 5.4ms per XGA-frame at 200 MHz working frequency.
Learning to Monitor Machine Health with Convolutional Bi-Directional LSTM Networks
Authors: Zhao Rui , Yan Ruqiang , Wang Jinjiang , Mao Kezhi
Published: January 2017

In modern manufacturing systems and industries, more and more research efforts have been made in developing effective machine health monitoring systems. Among various machine health monitoring approaches, data-driven methods are gaining in popularity due to the development of advanced sensing and data analytic techniques. However, considering the noise, varying length and irregular sampling behind sensory data, this kind of sequential data cannot be fed into classiﬁcation and regression models directly. Therefore, previous work focuses on feature extraction/fusion methods requiring expensive human labor and high quality expert knowledge. With the development of deep learning methods in the last few years, which redeﬁne representation learning from raw data, a deep neural network structure named Convolutional Bi-directional Long Short-Term Memory networks (CBLSTM) has been designed here to address raw sensory data. CBLSTM ﬁrstly uses CNN to extract local features that are robust and informative from the sequential input. Then, bi-directional LSTM is introduced to encode temporal information. Long Short-Term Memory networks(LSTMs) are able to capture long-term dependencies and model sequential data, and the bi-directional structure enables the capture of past and future contexts. Stacked, fully-connected layers and the linear regression layer are built on top of bi-directional LSTMs to predict the target value. Here, a real-life tool wear test is introduced, and our proposed CBLSTM is able to predict the actual tool wear based on raw sensory data. The experimental results have shown that our model is able to outperform several state-of-the-art baseline methods.
Active AU Based Patch Weighting for Facial Expression Recognition
Authors: Xie Weicheng , Shen Linlin , Yang Meng , Lai Zhihui
Published: January 2017

Facial expression has many applications in human-computer interaction. Although feature extraction and selection have been well studied, the speciﬁcity of each expression variation is not fully explored in state-of-the-art works. In this work, the problem of multiclass expression recognition is converted into triplet-wise expression recognition. For each expression triplet, a new feature optimization model based on action unit (AU) weighting and patch weight optimization is proposed to represent the speciﬁcity of the expression triplet. The sparse representation-based approach is then proposed to detect the active AUs of the testing sample for better generalization. The algorithm achieved competitive accuracies of 89.67% and 94.09% for the Jaffe and Cohn–Kanade (CK+) databases, respectively. Better cross-database performance has also been observed.
Use of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs among Participants in a Mountain Ultramarathon Event
Authors: Martínez Sonia , Aguiló Antoni , Moreno Carlos , Lozano Leticia , Tauler Pedro
Published: January 2017

The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the prevalence of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) consumption immediately before, during and immediately after three mountain ultra-endurance runs that differed in their course distance. This observational study took place at the Ultra Mallorca Serra de Tramuntana (Mallorca, Spain), an ultra-endurance mountain event with runners participating either in a 112-km (Ultra, n = 58), a 67-km (Trail, n = 118) or a 44-km (Marathon, n = 62) run competition. Participants in the study answered, within an hour after finishing the competition, a questionnaire focused mainly on NSAIDs consumption. Among study participants, 48.3% reported taking NSAIDs at least for one of the time-points considered: before, during and/or immediately after the competition, with more positive responses (having taken medication) found for the Ultra (60.3%) than for the Trail (49.2%) and the Marathon (35.5%). Among consumers, the Ultra participants reported the lowest intake before and the highest during the race, while participants in the Marathon reported similar consumption levels before and during the race. In conclusion, a high prevalence of NSAID consumption was found among athletes participating in an ultra-endurance mountain event. Competition duration seemed to determine both the prevalence and the chronological pattern of NSAID consumption.
Sustainable Governance in Northeast Asia: Challenges for the Sustainable Frontier
Authors: Choi Yongrok
Published: January 2017

This Special Issue consists of selected papers from the 2016 annual international Sustainable Asia Conference (SAC), held on Jeju Island, South Korea, from 28 June to 2 July 2016. SAC 2016 is one of the leading international conferences for presenting novel and fundamental advances in sustainable development issues for Asia. In this special issue, most of the papers emphasize the importance of sustainable governance in harmonizing economic development with a healthier life, while enhancing the quality of all economic activities. The majority of papers in this special issue also deal with problems of urbanization, because the Northeast Asian countries are experiencing the transformation of their economic structure from quantitatively oriented development to the qualitative, highlighting socioeconomic performance. There has been a vast amount of discussion and many ideas put forward on sustainable development, but as the Marrakech Proclamation of COP 22 concluded in November 2016, it is now time to meet the practical challenges of sustainable development. This special edition will shed light on the action plan against global warming and environmental degradation.
Socio-Cultural Asset Integration for a Green Infrastructure Network Plan in Yesan County, Korea
Authors: Orantes María , Kim Jinki , Kim Jiseok
Published: January 2017

Green Infrastructure (GI) can be used as a framework for planning human settlements and guiding development away from natural areas that possess high ecological value and provide important Ecosystem Services for society’s development. In this paper, we present a GI Plan for Yesan County (Yesan GI Plan), a small shrinking city in the Republic of Korea. Yesan possesses very rich, but still fairly unexplored natural and cultural resources. Therefore, Yesan’s GI Plan was developed through a multifunctional approach based on the different ecological and socio-cultural characteristics of the region, allowing to connect the core elements that conform the vernacular landscape and get the most out of the Ecosystem Services provided by resources in the area. The plan was defined mainly in two stages: first, applying weights to the different ecological and socio/cultural characteristics; secondly, arranging them through a set of GIS spatial analysis tools using a patch-corridor- matrix model approach. The final outcome is a lean network of ecological value hubs, connected to a set of socio-cultural value assets through a network of water bodies, intrinsic forestry characteristics and wildlife mobility in the area. This was followed in order to connect, facilitate and improve mobility and energy flow in Yesan.
Temperature Control by Its Forecasting Applying Score Fusion for Sustainable Development
Authors: Hernández-Travieso José , Herrera-Jiménez Antonio , Travieso-González Carlos , Morgado-Dias Fernando , Alonso-Hernández Jesús , Ravelo-García Antonio
Published: January 2017

Temperature control and its prediction has turned into a research challenge for the knowledge of the planet and its effects on different human activities and this will assure, in conjunction with energy efficiency, a sustainable development reducing CO2 emissions and fuel consumption. This work tries to offer a practical solution to temperature forecast and control, which has been traditionally carried out by specialized institutes. For the accomplishment of temperature estimation, a score fusion block based on Artificial Neural Networks was used. The dataset is composed by data from a meteorological station, using 20,000 temperature values and 10,000 samples of several meteorological parameters. Thus, the complexity of the traditional forecasting models is resolved. As a result, a practical system has been obtained, reaching a mean squared error of 0.136 °C for short period of time prediction and 5 °C for large period of time prediction.
Antibiotic Resistance Profiling and Genotyping of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci Collected from an Urban River Basin in the Provincial City of Miyazaki, Japan
Authors: Nishiyama Masateru , Ogura Yoshitoshi , Hayashi Tetsuya , Suzuki Yoshihiro
Published: January 2017

The distribution characteristics of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and the resistance of enterococcus isolates to various antibiotics were investigated in Yae River, which flows through Miyazaki city, Japan. The prevalence of VRE among specimens collected from the urban river basin using mEI agar was 0.9% (2 of 226 enterococcal isolates). In the 333 enterococcal isolates obtained using mEI agar or vancomycin-supplemented mEI agar, the possession of the vancomycin-resistant genes (vanA, vanB, vanC1, and vanC2/C3) was examined using multiplex PCR analysis. Although VRE possessing vanA and vanB were not detected in any isolates, isolates possessing vanC2/C3 were detected at all sampling sites and on all days. All isolates (101 strains) possessing vanC2/C3 that were obtained on vancomycin-supplemented mEI agar were identified as E. casseliflavus and analyzed for genotypes using pulse-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis. These E. casseliflavus isolates revealed them to be genetically highly divergent strains, suggesting that many contamination sources were present in this study area. Many of the enterococcal isolates obtained were resistant to erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, and tetracycline; enterococci distributed in the studied urban river basin are resistant to universally applicable antibiotics. These results indicate that VRE carrying vanC2/C3 are distributed in Yae River, and the sources of VRE are scattered across the river basin.
Etude de la dynamique de l'azote à haute altitude. II : Etude ultrastructurale de l'endophyte des nodules d'Alnus viridis Chaix
Authors: Capellano André , Moiroud André
Published: January 2017

L'endophyte des nodules racinaires de l'aulne vert a été étudié en microscopie électronique par transmission. Il se présente sous trois formes : hyphes, vésicules et granules. La forme hyphale, ramifiée et septée, représente le stade primaire de l'infection des cellules de l'hôte. Les vésicules, observables dans des cellules plus âgées, prennent naissance au sommet des hyphes et sont également cloisonnées ; dans certaines cellules, elles apparaissent lysées et deviennent des «fantômes» ou «ghosts». Hyphes et vésicules présentent une capsule et sont entourées par la membrane cytoplasmique de l'hôte. Les granules apparaissent dans des cellules plus grandes, dépourvues de noyau et de mitochondries ; ils ont pour origine la forme hyphale de l'endophyte.
Répartition écologique des Tabanidae (Diptera) adultes du département des Hautes-Alpes
Authors: Raymond H.-L
Published: January 2017

Les compositions des peuplements de taons des principales séries de végétation du département sont décrites. L'abondance et la composition des peuplements des environs de Briançon sont déterminées pour les principales sous-séries de cette petite région. Les variations d'abondance et de composition du peuplement d'un alpage sont étudiées en fonction des faciès (catégories phytosociologiques de rang inférieur à l'association) de cet alpage. A ces trois échelles, le climat thermique semble être l'élément déterminant les différences d'abondance ou de composition observées entre divers milieux.
Réflexions sur l'écologie, l'origine et la distribution des Chrysomélides (Col.), des Iles Mascareignes, Océan Indien, avec la description de deux espèces nouvelles
Authors: Jolivet Pierre
Published: January 2017

La faune chrysomélidienne des îles Mascareignes, ensemble d'origine purement océanique, est très pauvre et d'origine africano-malgache, avec une légère influence orientale. Les Alticinae et les Eumolpinae sont essentiellement représentés par des genres et des espèces endémiques dont la plante-hôte est rarement connue car du fait de l'extrême rareté des individus, presque toutes les récoltes ont été faites par fauchage. La destruction des biotopes originaux en moyenne altitude a certainement perturbé et diminué la distribution et la fréquence de la faune originale. Deux nouvelles espèces de Chaetocnema et Lema sont décrites.
Les schistes gravés du Saut-du-Perron à Villerest (Loire -France). Historique et mise au point
Authors: Faure Martine
Published: January 2017

Les schistes gravés du Saut-du-Perron (Loire) (Goutte-Roffat et Gisement Brun) représentent une centaine de plaquettes incomplètes de taille très variable, et collectées pendant près d'un demi-siècle. L'art animalier du Saut-du-Perron est à rapporter à la phase récente du Style IV défini par A. Leroi-Gourhan, correspondant au Magdalénien V -VI. Historique et mise au point nous ont semblé utiles, alors que des fouilles de grande envergure viennent d'être reprise dans ce gisement.
Note sur la systématique et la répartition des Amphibiens Anoures de Chine et des régions avoisinantes. I. Rana exilispinosa Liu & Hu, 1975 et Rana (Paa ) paraspinosa Dubois, 1975
Authors: Dubois Alain
Published: January 2017

This is the first of a series of papers dealing with the systematics and the distribution of the Anuran Amphibians of China and of neighbouring regions. Rana (Paa ) paraspinosa Dubois, 1975, from Hong Kong, is shown to be synonymous of Rana exilispinosa Liu & Hu, 1975, from central Fujian. This species was also found in ancient collection from northern Fujian. A map is given showing the localities where this species has been collected as yet.
Note sur la systématique et la répartition des Amphibiens Anoures de Chine et des régions avoisinantes. II. Rana blanfordii, Boulenger, 1882, Rana polunini Smith, 1951 et Rana yadongensis Wu, 1977
Authors: Dubois Alain
Published: January 2017

On the basis of an analysis of the original description of Rana yadongensis Wu, 1977, it is suggested that the type-series of this species is probably heterogeneous : the specimens collected at Yadong, Xizang, are likely to belong to Rana (Pa a) blanfordii Boulenger, 1882, and those collected at Nyanang, Xizang, to Rana (Paa) polunini Smith, 1951. The holotype of Rana yadongensis being from Yadong, this species should be transferred into the synonymy of Rana blanfordii.
Observation d'une anomalie de la racine de monocotylédone
Authors: Lefranc G. , Lemordant D.
Published: January 2017

Les auteurs signalent une anomalie constatée accidentellement au niveau de la racine de Monocotylédone, qui aboutit à l'existence d'un deuxième endoderme et d'un deuxième péricycle, tous deux en position inversée par invagination.
Notes sur la systématique et la répartition des Amphibiens Anoures de Chine et des régions avoisinantes. III. Rana maculosa Liu, Hu & Yang, 1960, Rana (Paa) arnoldi Dubois, 1975 et Rana maculosa chayuensis Ye, 1977
Authors: Dubois Alain
Published: January 2017

On the basis of an analysis of the original descriptions of Rana maculosa Liu, Hu & Yang, 1960 and of Rana maculosa chayuensis Ye, 1977, it is suggested that both forms should probably be regarded as good species, and that chayuensis is a synonym of Rana (Paa) arnoldi Dubois, 1975. Rana maculosa and Rana arnoldi, which belong to the Rana liebigii super-group of the subgenus Paa, show rather primitive characters for this super-group and may be considered close to the forms wich have realized the transition from the primitive Rana spinosa super-group to the more advanced Rana liebigii super-group.
L'équipement sensoriel de la face supérieure dans la région tympanale des ailes antérieures chez les Chrysopinae (Neuroptera , Planipennia, Chrysopidae ). Examen en microscopie photonique et électronique à balayage
Authors: Séméria Yves
Published: January 2017

La sous-famille des Chrysopinae se distingue des autres sous-familles (Dictyochrysinae, Apochrysinae ) par un organe tympanique situé dans la nervure radiale des ailes antérieures, entre l'origine de celle-ci et jusqu'à la hauteur de la première nervure transversale du champ costal. Il a paru intéressant de rechercher quels éléments sensoriels présentait cette région particulière de l'aile sur sa face supérieure, quelles relations ils entretenaient, éventuellement, avec l'organe tympanique proprement dit et quelles autres fonctions vraisemblables, on pouvait leur attribuer.
Contribution à l'étude de la flore de la région lyonnaise
Authors: Dutartre Gilles
Published: January 2017

Depuis Cariot, de nombreuses espèces végétales se sont raréfiées ou au contraire se sont multipliées ou naturalisées dans la région. A la suite de nombreuses observations que nous avons effectuées, ces dernières années, il nous semble intéressant de signaler des nouvelles stations pour des espèces rarement rencontrées et des localités de plantes inédites dans le Lyonnais. La région ayant été modifiée depuis une vingtaine d'années, certaines espèces communes autrefois sont devenues très rares ou sont disparues. Il faut cependant être prudent pour annoncer la disparition d'une espèce ; certaines sont fugaces et n'apparaissent que les années favorables, d'autres sont à l'heure actuelle très localisées et peuvent passer facilement inaperçues.
Phellinus rimosus (Berk.) Pilat, Polyporacée nouvelle pour la France
Authors: Plank Stefan
Published: January 2017

Phellinus rimosus (Berk.) Pilat is reported for the first time from France, where it was found on Pistacia lentiscus on the île Ste-Marguerite near Cannes (Côte-d'Azur). Ecology and distribution of this thermophilic polypore in the mediterranean region are discussed.
THERMOGPRAHIC RESEARCHES OF TIRE INTERACTION WITH ICE / AUTOMOBILIO PADANGOS SĄVEIKOS SU LEDU TERMOGRAFINIAI TYRIMAI
Authors: Ružinskas Andrius
Published: January 2017

A road covered with ice is one of the most dangerous driving conditions and, in this case, tire plays an important role for traffic safety. The most of nowadays tires have good grip features on ice, but sometimes it’s not enough, especially when talking about the icy road condition. Many factors have significant influence on decrease of tire’s grip – one of them is temperature. The possibilities of using thermography in researches of tire and ice interaction were investigated in this paper. Measurements of tire and ice surfaces temperature were performed at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology with inner drum test bench using an infrared thermal camera. Longitudinal tire traction (braking and accelerating) were investigated and acting forces were measured too. Also optimal settings of thermal camera were determined and measurement results and discussion were presented.
Ledo danga, esanti kelio važiuojamosios dalies paviršiuje, yra viena iš priežasčių, turinti įtakos eismo saugumui. Automobilio padangos savybės taip pat lemia eismo saugumą. Dauguma šiuolaikinių žiemos laikotarpiui skirtų padangų pasižymi geromis sukibimo su kelio danga, padengta ledu, savybėmis, tačiau kartais nepavyksta išvengti skaudžių eismo nelaimių. Nemažai išorinių veiksnių lemia padangos sukibimo sumažėjimą ir vienas iš jų – temperatūra. Straipsnyje siekta atskleisti termografijos, kaip šiuolaikinio inovatyvaus padangų diagnostikos būdo žiemos sąlygomis, potencialą. Karlsrūhės technologijų instituto laboratorijoje atliktas padangos ir ledo temperatūrų matavimas su būgniniu padangų tyrimo stendu, naudojant terminę kamerą. Tyrimas atliktas nagrinėjant išilginę rato dinamiką, t. y. stabdymą ir pagreitėjimą. Nustatyti termostatinės kameros optimalūs parametrai ir pateikti temperatūrų matavimo rezultatai, kurie parodė, jog labiausiai įšyla padangos protektoriaus grioveliai.
IMPORTANCE AND ADVANTAGES OF CONVERSION OF UNUSED INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS IN LITHUANIA / NENAUDOJAMŲ GAMYBINIŲ IR PRAMONIŲ PASTATŲ KONVERSIJOS SVARBA IR PRANAŠUMAI LIETUVOJE
Authors: Pavlovskis Miroslavas , Antuchevičienė Jurgita
Published: January 2017

The article analyzes the concept, goals, and problems of conversion of abandoned industrial buildings and areas, as well as the benefit of successful conversion to urban development. The review of scientific literature allows claiming that the old industrial buildings are very attractive for investment. The article distinguishes the main types of conversion, and their characteristic features. The research describes environmental factors influencing conversion and develops the set of indicators to evaluate conversion. Different types of conversion projects are assessed applying the multi-criteria method WASPAS-G. It is established that the best of the projects is converting a building into a lofttype housing, which could give a significant positive impact on the urban and architectural environment and be environmentally friendly both during the production and exploitation period. Straipsnyje nagrinėjama apleistų gamybos ir pramonės pastatų bei teritorijų konversijos samprata, tikslai, problemos, sėkmingos konversijos rezultatų nauda miesto plėtrai. Atlikta mokslinės literatūros analizė leidžia teigti, kad senieji pramoniniai pastatai yra itin patrauklūs investicijoms. Straipsnyje išskirti pagrindiniai konversijos tipai, jiems būdingi bruožai. Apibūdinti konversiją veikiantys aplinkos veiksniai ir parengta konversijos vertinimo rodiklių aibė. Taikant daugiakriterį sprendimų priėmimo metodą WASPAS-G, įvertinti skirtingų konversijos tipų projektai. Nustatyta, jog geriausias iš nagrinėtų projektų yra pastato konversija į lofto tipo būstą, kuris turi didelę teigiamą įtaką urbanistinei ir architektūrinei miesto aplinkai ir yra palankus aplinkai tiek gamybos metu, tiek ir pastatą eksploatuojant.
GALACTIC EXTINCTION AND REDDENING FROM THE SOUTH GALACTIC CAP u-BAND SKY SURVEY: u-BAND GALAXY NUMBER COUNTS AND u − r COLOR DISTRIBUTION
Authors: Li Linlin , Shen Shiyin , Hou Jinliang , Yuan Fangting , Zhong Jing , Zou Hu , Zhou Xu , Jiang Zhaoji , Peng Xiyan , Fan Dongwei , Fan Xiaohui , Fan Zhou , He Boliang , Jing Yipeng , Lesser Michael , Li Cheng , Ma Jun , Nie Jundan , Wang Jiali , Wu Zhenyu , Zhang Tianmeng , Zhou Zhimin
Published: January 2017

We study the integral Galactic extinction and reddening based on the galaxy catalog of the South Galactic Cap u-band Sky Survey (SCUSS), where u-band galaxy number counts and u − r color distribution are used to derive the Galactic extinction and reddening respectively. We compare these independent statistical measurements with the reddening map of Schlegel et al. (SFD) and find that both the extinction and reddening from the number counts and color distribution are in good agreement with the SFD results at low extinction regions (

mag). However, for high extinction regions (

mag), the SFD map overestimates the Galactic reddening systematically, which can be approximated by a linear relation

]. By combining the results from galaxy number counts and color distribution, we find that the shape of the Galactic extinction curve is in good agreement with the standard R

V
 = 3.1 extinction law of O’Donnell.