bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Improving Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Remote Sensing-Based Rice Nitrogen Nutrition Index Prediction with Machine Learning
Authors: Zha Hainie , Miao Yuxin , Wang Tiantian , Li Yue , Zhang Jing , Sun Weichao , Feng Zhengqi , Kusnierek Krzysztof
Published: January 2020

Optimizing nitrogen (N) management in rice is crucial for China’s food security and sustainable agricultural development. Nondestructive crop growth monitoring based on remote sensing technologies can accurately assess crop N status, which may be used to guide the in-season site-specific N recommendations. The fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based remote sensing is a low-cost, easy-to-operate technology for collecting spectral reflectance imagery, an important data source for precision N management. The relationships between many vegetation indices (VIs) derived from spectral reflectance data and crop parameters are known to be nonlinear. As a result, nonlinear machine learning methods have the potential to improve the estimation accuracy. The objective of this study was to evaluate five different approaches for estimating rice (Oryza sativa L.) aboveground biomass (AGB), plant N uptake (PNU), and N nutrition index (NNI) at stem elongation (SE) and heading (HD) stages in Northeast China: (1) single VI (SVI); (2) stepwise multiple linear regression (SMLR); (3) random forest (RF); (4) support vector machine (SVM); and (5) artificial neural networks (ANN) regression. The results indicated that machine learning methods improved the NNI estimation compared to VI-SLR and SMLR methods. The RF algorithm performed the best for estimating NNI (R2 = 0.94 (SE) and 0.96 (HD) for calibration and 0.61 (SE) and 0.79 (HD) for validation). The root mean square errors (RMSEs) were 0.09, and the relative errors were <10% in all the models. It is concluded that the RF machine learning regression can significantly improve the estimation of rice N status using UAV remote sensing. The application machine learning methods offers a new opportunity to better use remote sensing data for monitoring crop growth conditions and guiding precision crop management. More studies are needed to further improve these machine learning-based models by combining both remote sensing data and other related soil, weather, and management information for applications in precision N and crop management.
Coastal Mangrove Response to Marine Erosion: Evaluating the Impacts of Spatial Distribution and Vegetation Growth in Bangkok Bay from 1987 to 2017
Authors: Xiao Han , Su Fenzhen , Fu Dongjie , Wang Qi , Huang Chong
Published: January 2020

Long time-series monitoring of mangroves to marine erosion in the Bay of Bangkok, using Landsat data from 1987 to 2017, shows responses including landward retreat and seaward extension. Quantitative assessment of these responses with respect to spatial distribution and vegetation growth shows differing relationships depending on mangrove growth stage. Using transects perpendicular to the shoreline, we calculated the cross-shore mangrove extent (width) to represent spatial distribution, and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was used to represent vegetation growth. Correlations were then compared between mangrove seaside changes and the two parameters—mangrove width and NDVI—at yearly and 10-year scales. Both spatial distribution and vegetation growth display positive impacts on mangrove ecosystem stability: At early growth stages, mangrove stability is positively related to spatial distribution, whereas at mature growth the impact of vegetation growth is greater. Thus, we conclude that at early growth stages, planting width and area are more critical for stability, whereas for mature mangroves, management activities should focus on sustaining vegetation health and density. This study provides new rapid insights into monitoring and managing mangroves, based on analyses of parameters from historical satellite-derived information, which succinctly capture the net effect of complex environmental and human disturbances.
ICENET: A Semantic Segmentation Deep Network for River Ice by Fusing Positional and Channel-Wise Attentive Features
Authors: Zhang Xiuwei , Jin Jiaojiao , Lan Zeze , Li Chunjiang , Fan Minhao , Wang Yafei , Yu Xin , Zhang Yanning
Published: January 2020

River ice monitoring is of great significance for river management, ship navigation and ice hazard forecasting in cold-regions. Accurate ice segmentation is one most important pieces of technology in ice monitoring research. It can provide the prerequisite information for the calculation of ice cover density, drift ice speed, ice cover distribution, change detection and so on. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) aerial photography has the advantages of higher spatial and temporal resolution. As UAV technology has become more popular and cheaper, it has been widely used in ice monitoring. So, we focused on river ice segmentation based on UAV remote sensing images. In this study, the NWPU_YRCC dataset was built for river ice segmentation, in which all images were captured by different UAVs in the region of the Yellow River, the most difficult river to manage in the world. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first public UAV image dataset for river ice segmentation. Meanwhile, a semantic segmentation deep convolution neural network by fusing positional and channel-wise attentive features is proposed for river ice semantic segmentation, named ICENET. Experiments demonstrated that the proposed ICENET outperforms the state-of-the-art methods, achieving a superior result on the NWPU_YRCC dataset.
A New Cycle Slip Detection and Repair Method Using a Single Receiver’s Single Station B1 and L1 Frequencies in Ground-Based Positioning Systems
Authors: Zhao Xinyang , Niu Zun , Li Gaoxu , Shuai Qiangqiang , Zhu Bocheng
Published: January 2020

The detection and repair of the cycle slip is a key step for high precision navigation and positioning in indoor environments. Different methods have been developed to detect and repair cycle slips for carrier phase processing. However, most approaches are designed to eliminate the effects of the ionosphere in an outdoor environment, and many of them use pseudorange (code) information that is no longer suitable for indoor multipath environments. In this paper, a method based on the geometry-free combination without the pseudorange data is proposed to detect and fix cycle slips. A ground-based navigation system is built for data collection. Unlike the traditional dual-frequency cycle slip detection method, the Beidou B1, GPS L1 carrier phase combination is used instead of the B1, B2, or L1, L2 carrier phase combination, Ublox is used for data collecting. For fixing the cycle slips quickly, an improved adaptive Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm is employed. We compared the performance of the new method with the existing two methods using simulated data in different conditions. The results show that the proposed method has better performance than other methods.
Detection of Crack Locations in Aluminum Alloy Structures Using FBG Sensors
Authors: Zhang Weifang , Zhang Meng , Lan Yudong , Zhao Yan , Dai Wei
Published: January 2020

This study investigated the reflected spectral deformation mechanism of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors with crack propagation. This analysis was performed based on the simulated FBG response by applying modified-transfer matrix modeling (TMM) with the strain states, which were extracted by the finite element method (FEM) analysis. Experimental data were obtained from FBG sensors bonded in an aluminum alloy structure and subjected to multiple crack lengths, and the strain values were obtained by digital image correlation (DIC) technology. Based on the simulations and the experimental full spectral response, we compared the performance of two damage features: The full width at half maximum (FWHM) and the spectral difference. In addition, results showed that the two features were insensitive to experimental noise and were highly sensitive to the complex strain field caused by crack propagation. Moreover, the damage features changes in the crack propagation process also provided a way for crack position measurement. Ultimately, the 10 mm grating lengths sensors showed better performance to the crack detection with longer sensitivity distance. According to the research in this paper, the crack position was quantitatively determined by evaluating different damage features of the reflected spectrum.
Three Dimensional UAV Positioning for Dynamic UAV-to-Car Communications
Authors: Hadiwardoyo Seilendria A. , Calafate Carlos T. , Cano Juan-Carlos , Krinkin Kirill , Klionskiy Dmitry , Hernández-Orallo Enrique , Manzoni Pietro
Published: January 2020

In areas with limited infrastructure, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can come in handy as relays for car-to-car communications. Since UAVs are able to fully explore a three-dimensional environment while flying, communications that involve them can be affected by the irregularity of the terrains, that in turn can cause path loss by acting as obstacles. Accounting for this phenomenon, we propose a UAV positioning technique that relies on optimization algorithms to improve the support for vehicular communications. Simulation results show that the best position of the UAV can be timely determined considering the dynamic movement of the cars. Our technique takes into account the current flight altitude, the position of the cars on the ground, and the existing flight restrictions.
Sensor Technologies to Manage the Physiological Traits of Chronic Pain: A Review
Authors: Naranjo-Hernández David , Reina-Tosina Javier , Roa Laura M.
Published: January 2020

Non-oncologic chronic pain is a common high-morbidity impairment worldwide and acknowledged as a condition with significant incidence on quality of life. Pain intensity is largely perceived as a subjective experience, what makes challenging its objective measurement. However, the physiological traces of pain make possible its correlation with vital signs, such as heart rate variability, skin conductance, electromyogram, etc., or health performance metrics derived from daily activity monitoring or facial expressions, which can be acquired with diverse sensor technologies and multisensory approaches. As the assessment and management of pain are essential issues for a wide range of clinical disorders and treatments, this paper reviews different sensor-based approaches applied to the objective evaluation of non-oncological chronic pain. The space of available technologies and resources aimed at pain assessment represent a diversified set of alternatives that can be exploited to address the multidimensional nature of pain.
Farms in Progress-Providing Childcare Services as a Means of Empowering Women Farmers in South Tyrol, Italy
Authors: Gramm Verena , Dalla Torre Cristina , Membretti Andrea
Published: January 2020

In recent years, social farming has developed into an opportunity for income diversification in the South Tyrolean agricultural sector. In the northern Italian province, predominantly women farmers implement the provision of social services on farms. Starting from rural gender studies and women empowerment-literature, we hypothesize that social farming promotes the empowerment of the involved women. Accordingly, our study investigates the recognized impacts of offering farm-based childcare services on three types of power: power to, power with, and power within. In order to test our hypothesis, we conducted semi-structured interviews with seven women farmers that provide childcare services and with four experts. The results show that the provision of childcare services has enhanced the autonomy of women farmers and has had positive impacts on their skills and competences. This activity has changed their social role in the community by revalorizing rural lifestyles and by enabling the reconciliation of work and personal life for working mothers. Nevertheless, women farmers have recognized some negative effects on their workload, and on their interfamilial as well as other social relations. Finally, the study discusses the relationship between the specific ethno-linguistic context in South Tyrol and the effects of the activity of childcare provision on women farmers’ empowerment.
Enterprise Adaptive Marketing Capabilities and Sustainable Innovation Performance: An Opportunity–Resource Integration Perspective
Authors: Shen Jian , Sha Zhenquan , Wu Yenchun Jim
Published: January 2020

As innovative entrepreneurship in China has increased, the transformation and upgrade of mature enterprises through secondary innovation has become a pressing issue. Using the concept of opportunity–resource integration as the research framework, this study examines the relationships between adaptive marketing capabilities (AMCs), opportunity exploitation, and sustainable innovation performance (SIP). The potential moderating effect of organizational legitimacy on these relationships is also investigated. Based on collected data from 163 high tech enterprises based in the Pearl River Delta region of China, the current study confirms that, first, both enterprise AMCs and opportunity exploitation significantly and positively affect sustainable innovation performance, and, second, that interaction between AMCs and opportunity exploitation significantly and positively affect SIP. The results also demonstrated that organizational legitimacy positively moderates not only the direct effects on SIP from both AMC and opportunity exploitation, but also the effect on SIP from the interaction between AMCs and opportunity exploitation.
Spatiotemporal Trends and Attribution of Drought across China from 1901–2100
Authors: Ding Yongxia , Peng Shouzhang
Published: January 2020

Investigating long-term drought trends is of great importance in coping with the adverse effects of global warming. However, little attention has been focused on studying the detailed spatial variability and attribution of drought variation in China. In this study, we first generated a 1 km resolution monthly climate dataset for the period 1901–2100 across China using the delta spatial downscaling method to assess the variability of the Standardized Precipitation Evaporation Index (SPEI). We then developed a simple approach to quantifying the contributions of water supply (precipitation) and demand (potential evapotranspiration, PET) on SPEI variability, according to the meaning of the differentiating SPEI equation. The results indicated that the delta framework could accurately downscale and correct low-spatial-resolution monthly temperatures and precipitation from the Climatic Research Unit and general circulation models (GCMs). Of the 27 GCMs analyzed, the BNU-ESM, CESM1-CAM5, and GFDL-ESM2M were found to be the most accurate in modeling future temperatures and precipitation. We also found that, compared with the past (1901–2017), the climate in the future (2018–2100) will tend toward significant droughts, although both periods showed a high spatial heterogeneity across China. Moreover, the proportion of areas with significantly decreasing SPEI trends was far greater than the proportion of those with increasing trends in most cases, especially for northwestern and northern China. Finally, the proposed approach to quantifying precipitation and PET contributions performed well according to logical evaluations. The percentage contributions of precipitation and PET on SPEI variability varied with study periods, representative concentration pathway scenarios, trend directions, and geographic spaces. In the past, PET contributions for significant downward trends and precipitation contributions for significantly upward trends accounted for 95% and 72%, while their future contributions were 57 ± 22%–149 ± 20% and 95 ± 27%–190 ± 58%, respectively. Overall, our results provide detailed insights for planning flexible adaptation and mitigation strategies to cope with the adverse effects of climate drought across China.
Spatiotemporal Patterns and Drivers of the Surface Urban Heat Island in 36 Major Cities in China: A Comparison of Two Different Methods for Delineating Rural Areas
Authors: Niu Lu , Tang Ronglin , Jiang Yazhen , Zhou Xiaoming
Published: January 2020

Urban heat islands (UHIs) are an important issue in urban sustainability, and the standardized calculation of surface urban heat island (SUHI) intensity has been a common concern of researchers in the past. In this study, we used the administrative borders (AB) method and an optimized simplified urban-extent (OSUE) algorithm to calculate the surface urban heat island intensity from 2001 to 2017 for 36 major cities in mainland China by using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) images. The spatiotemporal differences between these two methods were analyzed from the perspectives of the regional and national patterns and the daily, monthly, and annual trends. Regardless of the spatial or temporal scale, the calculation results of these two methods showed extremely similar patterns, especially for the daytime. However, when the calculated SUHI intensities were investigated through a regression analysis with multiple driving factors, we found that, although natural conditions were the main drivers for both methods, the anthropogenic factors obtained from statistical data (population and gross domestic product) were more correlated with the SUHI intensity from the AB method. This trend was probably caused by the spatial extent of the statistical data, which aligned more closely with the rural extent in the AB method. This study not only explores the standardization of the calculation of urban heat intensity but also provides insights into the relationship between urban development and the SUHI.
Case Study to Analyze the Impact of Multi-Course Project-Based Learning Approach on Education for Sustainable Development
Authors: Khandakar Amith , Chowdhury Muhammad Enamul Hoque , Gonzales Antonio Jr. San Pedro , Touati Farid , Emadi Nasser Al , Ayari Mohamed Arselene
Published: January 2020

This work presents a multi-course project-based learning (MPL) approach implemented using two electrical engineering (EE) interdisciplinary undergraduate courses at Qatar University. Implementing an MPL approach helps in the development of critical thinking and collaborative decision-making skills. The attainment of these skills is also the outcome of education for sustainable development (ESD); the skills help students acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and values necessary to shape a sustainable future. The participating students’ worked on a design project, which was used to assess the fulfillment of a set of student learning outcomes (SLOs), focusing on engineering soft skills and project management skills. The skills include the ability to communicate effectively, to work collaboratively in a team, to think both critically and creatively, and to manage projects efficiently with realistic constraints and standards. The challenges of implementing the MPL method are the organization of pedagogical activities that are planned for each of the courses involved, the coordination of the materials delivered by each course, and the supervision of around 90 students per year performing the MPL method. The experience of MPL deployment in the EE program was rated using student surveys. It was assumed that the MPL approach would be beneficial to the students based on the instructors’ and students’ feedback from the same courses in previous years. This was verified using chi-square statistics of the survey results. The implementation of the MPL also helped in increasing the average marks scored by the students in the design project. Some interesting feedback, statistical analyses, and improvement actions are reported for future upgrades. This work also contributes to the MPL pragmatic body of knowledge by exploring a successful initiative and its outcomes, which can help in attaining the skills needed for ESD.
The Impact of Corruption and Shadow Economy on the Economic and Sustainable Development. Do They “Sand the Wheels” or “Grease the Wheels”?
Authors: Hoinaru Răzvan , Buda Daniel , Borlea Sorin Nicolae , Văidean Viorela Ligia , Achim Monica Violeta
Published: January 2020

Having in mind the main debate “grease the wheels” vs. “sand the wheels”, the main objective of this study is to find the way in which corruption and shadow economy influence economic and sustainable development. A large cross-country database of 185 countries is used for the 2005–2015 time period. We find that corruption and shadow economy are poverty-driven diseases and they highly characterize low-income countries. Thus, the higher levels of corruption and shadow economy are correlated with low levels of economic and sustainable development. Then, the main contribution of this work consists of finding general and empirical evidence for the destructive role held by the corruption and shadow economy phenomena upon the economic and sustainable development of states. However, we also find some evidence that corruption can be also seen as a way to circumvent the law in order to achieve higher economic benefits and thereby to increase economic development. In addition, we find that economic and sustainable development in high-income countries is more strongly and negatively affected by the phenomena of corruption and shadow economy than in the case of low-income countries. Our research may have political implications for the government institutions that need to adopt the best-required policies, in order to boost economic and sustainable development. For low-income countries, we find some evidence for positive effects of corruption and shadow economy upon economic and sustainable development and the immediate practical implications are not to encourage but to effectively and strongly fight against these destructive phenomena and to find the proper channels to increase the institutional quality and to adopt the appropriate regulatory policies.
Indoor Environmental Quality Analysis for Optimizing Energy Consumptions Varying Air Ventilation Rates
Authors: Mancini Francesco , Nardecchia Fabio , Groppi Daniele , Ruperto Francesco , Romeo Carlo
Published: January 2020

The energy refurbishment of the existing building heritage is one of the pillars of Italian energy policy. Aiming for energy efficiency and energy saving in end uses, there are wide and diversified improvement strategies, which include interventions on the building envelope and Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, with the introduction of renewable energy sources. The research aims at evaluating the building energy consumptions and Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ), varying the airflow rates handled by the HVAC system. A Case Study (the Aula Magna of a university building) is analysed; an in-situ monitoring campaign was carried out to evaluate the trend of some environmental parameters that are considered to be significant when varying the external airflow rates handled by the HVAC system. Additionally, dynamic simulations were carried out, with the aim of evaluating the energy savings coming from the airflow rates reduction. The results of this case study highlight the opportunity to achieve significant energy savings, with only slight variations in IEQ; a 50% reduction in airflow rate would decrease energy consumption by up to 45.2%, while increasing the carbon dioxide concentration from 545 ppm to 655 ppm, while the Particulate Matter and Total Volatile Organic Compounds increase is insignificant.
Does the Stock Market Value Inclusion in a Sustainability Index? Evidence from Borsa Istanbul
Authors: Yilmaz Mustafa K. , Aksoy Mine , Tatoglu Ekrem
Published: January 2020

This study examines the relationships between corporate sustainability (CS) performance of the companies (proxied by inclusion in sustainability index) listed in Borsa Istanbul (BIST, Istanbul, Turkey) and market-specific company performance measures over the period of 2014–2017. The results show that there is no strong evidence of the effect of inclusion in or exclusion from the BIST Sustainability Index (BIST SI) on stock returns and systematic risk (betas) of companies. However, the results reveal that inclusion in the BIST SI reduces the total risk of the companies and protects them from stock declines in case of a severe crisis by improving their resilience compared to other companies not included in the BIST SI. Although no significant link is found concerning the impact of the companies’ inclusion on the level of foreign ownership, a positive association is noted between BIST SI inclusion and the level of institutional ownership.
The Evolution of Racehorse Clusters in the United States: Geographic Analysis and Implications for Sustainable Agricultural Development
Authors: Gottlieb Paul D. , Weinert Jennifer R. , Dobis Elizabeth , Malinowski Karyn
Published: January 2020

Sustainability is frequently defined as the need to place equal emphasis on three societal goals: economic prosperity, environment, and social equity. This “triple bottom line” (TBL) framework is embraced by practitioners in both corporate and government settings. Within agriculture, the horse-racing industry and its breeding component are an interesting case study for the TBL approach to local development. The sector is to some extent a “knowledge industry”, agglomerating in relatively few regions worldwide. In the USA, choices made by breeders or owners are likely affected by sudden changes in specific state policies, especially those related to gambling. Both of these unusual conditions—for agriculture at least—have been playing out against a background of national decline in the number of registered racehorse breeding stock. This study traces changes, between 1995 and 2017, in the geographic distribution of registered Thoroughbred and Standardbred stallions. We find that isolated, scattered registered stallions have largely disappeared, strengthening one or more core states (or counties) that had an initially high percentage of stallions. The gainers and losers among previously core regions appear to be heavily influenced by state-level policies. It follows that such policies can influence the conservation of agricultural landscapes as well as racing revenues.
Intergenerational Dialogue, Collaboration, Learning, and Decision-Making in Global Environmental Governance: The Case of the IUCN Intergenerational Partnership for Sustainability
Authors: Zurba Melanie , Stucker Dominic , Mwaura Grace , Burlando Catie , Rastogi Archi , Dhyani Shalini , Koss Rebecca
Published: January 2020

This article provides evidence and a rationale based on adaptive governance studies for why creating meaningful youth engagement should be understood in terms of intergenerational dialogue, collaboration, learning, and substantive decision-making in global environmental governance. We have centered our discussion on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), as the largest global conservation organization. Through an organizational ethnography approach, we have demonstrated how generational concerns within the IUCN have been framed in terms of participation, and then present the IUCN Intergenerational Partnership for Sustainability (IPS) as a case study of a grassroots movement that is focused on transforming the IUCN towards being a fully intergenerational global governance system for nature conservation. We have described the development of intergenerational thinking and action within the IUCN, and discussed intergenerational governance as being essential for addressing nature conservation challenges faced by local communities in times of increasing global uncertainty. We conclude by providing recommendations for enhancing intergenerational dialogue and building intergenerational governance structures within global conservation organizations.
Behavior of Rejects from a Biological-Mechanical Treatment Plant on the Landfill to Laboratory Scale
Authors: Esteban-Altabella Joan , Colomer-Mendoza Francisco J , Gallardo Antonio , Edo-Alcón Natalia
Published: January 2020

This paper describes the laboratory-scale simulation of the behaviour of rejects from a biological-mechanical treatment (BMT) plant in Castellón (Spain). For this purpose, four lysimeters were built, with different densities. Simulations were carried out for 7 weeks and leachate recirculation was applied to two of them. The experimental results allowed us to determine: (i) dirt in fractions, which was relatively high (up to 15% in some fractions) due to biological processes; (ii) the field capacity for this waste with similar values to other works, which varied depending on the experiment; (iii) variation in the biomass percentage which lowered after experiments in all cases (59.5% lower on average), and the rejects’ calorific value was higher after experiments (28.2% on average); (iv) the evolution of leachate properties with or without recirculation, where percolation, in addition to the dragging of soluble materials, stabilised waste, which diminished its biological activity. Rejects’ increased calorific value will allow combustible material to be recovered in the future as a way to exploit the energy potential stored in landfills.
On a General Extragradient Implicit Method and Its Applications to Optimization
Authors: Ceng Lu-Chuan , Yuan Qing
Published: January 2020

Let X be a Banach space with both q-uniformly smooth and uniformly convex structures. This article introduces and considers a general extragradient implicit method for solving a general system of variational inequalities (GSVI) with the constraints of a common fixed point problem (CFPP) of a countable family of nonlinear mappings { S n } n = 0 ∞ and a monotone variational inclusion, zero-point, problem. Here, the constraints are symmetrical and the general extragradient implicit method is based on Korpelevich’s extragradient method, implicit viscosity approximation method, Mann’s iteration method, and the W-mappings constructed by { S n } n = 0 ∞ .
Envelope-Specific IgG3 and IgG1 Responses Are Associated with Clearance of Acute Hepatitis C Virus Infection
Authors: Walker Melanie R. , Eltahla Auda A. , Mina Michael M. , Li Hui , Lloyd Andrew R. , Bull Rowena A.
Published: January 2020

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) can be cleared naturally in a subset of individuals. However, the asymptomatic nature of acute HCV infection makes the study of the early immune response and defining the correlates of protection challenging. Despite this, there is now strong evidence implicating the humoral immune response, specifically neutralising antibodies, in determining the clearance or chronicity outcomes of primary HCV infection. In general, immunoglobulin G (IgG) plays the major role in viral neutralisation. However, there are limited investigations of anti-HCV envelope protein 2 (E2) isotypes (IgM, IgG, IgA) and IgG subclasses (IgG1–4) in early HCV infection. In this study, using a rare cohort of 14 very recently HCV-infected individuals (4–45 days) with varying disease outcome (n = 7 clearers), the timing and potency of anti-HCV E2 isotypes and IgG subclasses were examined longitudinally, in relation to neutralising antibody activity. Clearance was associated with anti-E2 IgG, specifically IgG1 and IgG3, and appeared essential to prevent the emergence of new HCV variants and the chronic infection outcome. Interestingly, these IgG responses were accompanied by IgM antibodies and were associated with neutralising antibody activity in the subjects who cleared infection. These findings provide novel insights into the early humoral immune response characteristics associated with HCV disease outcome.
Comparison of Long Short Term Memory Networks and the Hydrological Model in Runoff Simulation
Authors: Fan Hongxiang , Jiang Mingliang , Xu Ligang , Zhu Hua , Cheng Junxiang , Jiang Jiahu
Published: January 2020

Runoff modeling is one of the key challenges in the field of hydrology. Various approaches exist, ranging from physically based over conceptual to fully data driven models. In this paper, we propose a data driven approach using the state-of-the-art Long-Short-Term-Memory (LSTM) network. The proposed model was applied in the Poyang Lake Basin (PYLB) and its performance was compared with an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and the Soil & Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). We first tested the impacts of the number of previous time step (window size) in simulation accuracy. Results showed that a window in improper large size will dramatically deteriorate the model performance. In terms of PYLB, a window size of 15 days might be appropriate for both accuracy and computational efficiency. We then trained the model with 2 different input datasets, namely, dataset with precipitation only and dataset with all available meteorological variables. Results demonstrate that although LSTM with precipitation data as the only input can achieve desirable results (where the NSE ranged from 0.60 to 0.92 for the test period), the performance can be improved simply by feeding the model with more meteorological variables (where NSE ranged from 0.74 to 0.94 for the test period). Moreover, the comparison results with the ANN and the SWAT showed that the ANN can get comparable performance with the SWAT in most cases whereas the performance of LSTM is much better. The results of this study underline the potential of the LSTM for runoff modeling especially for areas where detailed topographical data are not available.
Effects of Hydropeaking on Bed Mobility: Evidence from a Pyrenean River
Authors: Vericat Damià , Ville Fanny , Palau-Ibars Antonio , Batalla Ramon J.
Published: January 2020

Hydropower production involves significant impacts on the dynamics and continuity of river systems. In this paper we analyse the effects of hydropeaks on river-bed particle mobility along a 2-km river channel. For this, a total of four study reaches were stablished: one considered a control reach (no impact by hydropeaking) and three impacted (upstream and downstream from the confluence of tributaries). Mobility related to three hydrological scenarios considered representative of the entire flow conditions in the control and impacted reaches was investigated. Results indicate that sediment availability and dynamics proved different in the control reach to those observed downstream in reaches daily affected by hydropeaks. In the absence of large floods capable of resetting the system from a sedimentary point-of-view, only the role of tributaries during small flow events reduces the effects of hydropeaks on river-bed particles’ availability and mobility. The effects of a hydropeaked regime are not observed for the whole spectrum of grain-sizes present in the river-bed. While the structural large elements (i.e., boulders) in the channel do not move, sand and fine gravel stored in patches of the bed are constantly entrained, transported and depleted whereas, in between, medium and large gravel are progressively winnowed. Our results point out that hydropeaked flows, which are generally not considered as disturbances in geomorphic terms, initiate frequent episodes of (selected) bed mobility and, consequently, the river-bed becomes depleted of fine sediments from patches and progressively lacks other fractions such as medium gravels, all of which are highly relevant from the ecological point of view.
Drought in the Twenty-First Century in a Water-Rich Region: Modeling Study of the Wabash River Watershed, USA
Authors: Dierauer Jennifer R. , Zhu Chen
Published: January 2020

Climate change is expected to alter drought regimes across North America throughout the twenty-first century, and, consequently, future drought risk may not resemble the past. To explore the implications of nonstationary drought risk, this study combined a calibrated, regional-scale hydrological model with statistically downscaled climate projections and standardized drought indices to identify intra-annual patterns in the response of meteorological, soil moisture, and hydrological drought to climate change. We focus on a historically water-rich, highly agricultural watershed in the US Midwest—the Wabash River Basin. The results show likely increases in the frequency of soil moisture and hydrological drought, despite minimal changes in the frequency of meteorological drought. We use multiple linear regression models to interpret these results in the context of climate warming and show that increasing temperatures amplify soil moisture and hydrological drought, with the same amount of precipitation yielding significantly lower soil moisture and significantly lower runoff in the future than in the past. The novel methodology presented in this study can be transferred to other regions and used to understand how the relationship between meteorological drought and soil moisture/hydrological drought will change under continued climate warming.
Optimasi Persediaan Pupuk Non-Subsidi Menggunakan Programa Dinamis Model Inventory (UD. Barokah)
Authors: Kusumah Reynaldi Teja , Ilmaniati Anita
Published: January 2020

Pupuk  merupakan  salah  satu  komponen yang berperan penting dalam peningkatan produksi dan produktivitas pertanian. Penyaluran pupuk yang efektif dan efisien menjadi kunci utama dalam optimasi penjualan. Sering kali timbul permasalahan dalam penyaluran pupuk yaitu persediaan yang tidak sesuai dengan jumlah permintaan. UD Barokah merupakan salah satu pengecer resmi pupuk bersubsidi maupun non-subsidi di Kabupaten Cianjur yang sering mengalami permasalahan penumpukan stok pupuk non-subsidi. Rata-rata penumpukan pada UD Barokah mencapai 4213 kg pupuk non-subsidi per-bulan dalam tahun 2017. Penumpukan tersebut menjadi beban biaya tambahan bagi UD Barokah. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menentukan jumlah persediaan pupuk non-subsidi yang optimal dan biaya optimal untuk persediaan pupuk non-subsidi. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode peramalan permintaan dengan regresi linier dan programa dinamis untuk menentukan persediaan. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian, didapatkan bahwa pengaturan persediaan pupuk non-subsidi pada tahun 2018-2019 di UD. Barokah berikisar antara 18.000 kg -26.000 per bulan dengan total biaya adalah Rp.7.741.134.625.Kata Kunci: Optimasi, programa dinamis, peramalan permintaan
EXPLORATION NATURAL BATIK COLOR IN CONTEXT OF COLOR ETHNIC TRADITION IN SABAH
Authors: Baeren Erren Jossie , Jusilin Humin
Published: January 2020

The color tradition has come through several historical stories based on events that have occurred in ancient times and passed down orally. The natural color from natural resources has been intensified among ethnic groups in Sabah especially in handicrafts. Hence, various methods and mixes of natural resources are blended to produce a variety of colors according to the places and ethnicities that support them. The objective of this study is focused on the exploration of plants that have potential to produce natural color for batik in Sabah. In this research, experiments were performed systematically involving the initial process until the final process for obtaining color experiment. The main materials on this experiment are textiles, natural resources and fixing color. The experiment is conducted through three stages, starting with mordanting process, extracting natural resources and fixing color.The researchers then conducted experiments of natural color on the color effects produced on the textile . The fixing color that have been used such as tawas (Al2SO4), tunjung (FeSO4), kapur (CaCO3), sodium silicate, papaya leaves and lime.
VARK LEARNING STYLES TOWARDS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AMONG STUDENTS OF PRIVATE UNIVERSITY IN SELANGOR
Authors: Md Zain Noor Nasyikin , Tamsir Fazilah , Ibrahim Noor Ayuernie , Poniran Halimi , Mohd Ghazali Amirul Syafiq
Published: January 2020

The objectives of this study are twofold: (a) to examine the influence of students’ learning styles on their academic performance; and (b) to identifies the preferred learning styles of students between high/low achievers, gender, and different clusters. By using VARK standard questionnaire, 433 undergraduate students from four faculties at the Private University in Selangor are used as observations for this study. The study finds that all students were unimodal learners and Kinesthetic (K) type of learning style is the learner type with the most number of students. High achievers are preferred Kinesthetic (K) learning style while Read/Write (R) learning style is more practiced by students with low achievement. Male students are more preferred Kinesthetic (K) learning style, but female students had a preference for Visual (V) learning style. Social science students are more preferred an Aural (A) as compared to the pure science students which are more preferred Read/Write (R) learning style. Further, this study confirms that Visual (V) and Kinesthetic (K) learning style preferences are positively and significantly influence students’ academic performance. This indicates that different subjects required different kinds of learning styles and instructions to optimally potentiate and benefit the students. This result is consistent with the “Meshing Hypothesis” which states that the learning outcomes could be highly achieved if learning was matched with a predominant learning style of the learner. This study gives a better representation of the current situation in the learning preferences among undergraduate students in Malaysia.
BOX ENHANCEMENTS FOR WATER PIPES
Authors: А.А. Prihodko
Published: January 2020

The article describes the strengthening of the pipe under the embankment of roads in mountain conditions.
LIGHT REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES BASED ON POLYSTYRENE
Authors: ZH.A. Abdyraimov  , S.ZH.Melibaev  , M.E.Oparin
Published: January 2020

The article presents the results of a study on the construction of thermal insulation polystyrene concrete and its use in the composition of reinforced concrete structures.
CURRENT STATE OF TREATMENT FACILITIES OF THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC
Authors: J.B. Maatkulova  , N. Mirbek kyzy
Published: January 2020

This article discusses the state of treatment facilities in the Kyrgyz Republic. All regions are covered and the treatment plant is shown and their condition today.
High Performance Network Intrusion Detection System
Authors:   Associate Professor, Computer Science & Engineering, Bharat Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, Telangana., Bai Dr. Anita , Devi Dr. R. Delshi Howsalya ,   Associate Professor, Computer Science & Engineering, Bharat Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, Telangana., Mohana Dr. R. Madana ,   Professor, Computer Science & Engineering, Bharat Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, Telangana.
Published: January 2020

In this paper, we present intrusion detection system for finding the variant types of attacks in the network. It is the way to enhance the functionality in the network by reducing the chances of risks. ICMP protocol and AES encryption algorithm are used to report the error messages and manage the information being sent from source to destination. If there is any malicious activity occurred in the network, the user will be alerted of it by specifying them the type of malicious activity. As a result it reduces the chances of intrusions and contacting multiple resources for resolving single issue.
Temperature Dependence of the Density of States and the Change in the Band Gap in Semiconductors
Authors:   Namangan Engineering and Technology Institute Kassansay Str. 7, Namangan, 160115, Republic of Uzbekistan, Sharibayev Nosir , Mirzayev Jasurbek ,   Namangan Engineering and Technology Institute Kassansay Str. 7, Namangan, 160115, Republic of Uzbekistan
Published: January 2020

The temperature dependence of the density of energy states in semiconductors has been studied. Strong doping with impurities with deep levels broadens the conduction band and the valence band. This enhances the absorption of light below the red border. Consequently, a possible change in the width of the forbidden zone. In this paper, using the mathematical model, temperature dependence of the density spectrum of states, changes in the band gap are shown by analyzing the density spectrum of energy states, an explanation of the anomalous temperature dependence in acceleration semiconductors is proposed, the effects of doping with a high concentration on the band gap of the semiconductor are investigated. Explained absorption in the range of 0.6-0.9 eV for silicon.
Smart Ration Card System using Lab View
Authors:   Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering,MLR Institute of Technology, Dundigal, Hyderabad, Prasad S.V.S , Vijetha T. ,   Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering,MLR Institute of Technology, Dundigal, Hyderabad, Sudhakar A. ,   Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering,MLR Institute of Technology, Dundigal, Hyderabad, Naik M. Raju ,   Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, MLR Institute of Technology, Dundigal, Hyderabad.
Published: January 2020

This paper proposes the innovative distribution system called "smart ration card program using LabVIEW." Money is wasted in the PDS (public distribution system) due to corruption. Instead of a traditional ration card, this paper utilizes the basic RFID Tag system used as an e-Ration card. This machine is identical to the one used by ATM Machine. Compared to our debit / credit card, the e-ration card. Instead of a conventional ration card, the user must use this card to get the ration from the proposed system. Research on reducing bribery and better management of PDS (public distribution system) is being brought together from our side.
Modeling Discrete Channels Based on Gilbert Model using MATLAB Software
Authors:   Lecturer, Department of Telecommunications Engineering, Urgench branch of Tashkent University of Information Technologies named after Muhammad al-Khwarizmi., Omonboyevich Rakhimov Temurbek , Kuzievich Ismailov Shavkat ,   Head, Department of Telecommunication Engineering, Urgench branch of Tashkent University of Information Technologies named after Muhammad al-Khwarizmi., Karimovich Matyokubov Utkir ,   Lecturer, Department of Telecommunications Engineering, Urgench branch of Tashkent University of Information Technologies named after Muhammad al-Khwarizmi., Kutlimuratovich Eschanov Umar ,   Assistant, Department of Software Engineering, Urgench Branch of Tashkent University of Information Technologies named after Muhammad al-Khwarizmi., Alisherovich Kuchkarov Voxid ,   Assistant, Department of Telecommunications Engineering, Urgench Branch of Tashkent University of Information Technologies named after Muhammad al-Khwarizmi.
Published: January 2020

Examining the state of discrete channels requires the study of the physical and mathematical characteristics of these channels. The Gilbert model allows for the determination of the channel state for detecting and correcting errors mainly in discrete channels. In the Gilbert model, the channel can be in two cases. It is a good case that there are no errors, and in the worst case, an error with px is likely to occur. The need for error-free channels for discrete channels, as well as the use of discrete channels for data transmission, as well as the use of Virtual programs for error detection and correction. The article deals with the use of Gilbert's model to detect and correct errors in discrete channels, and to combat noise in providing reliability and resilience of information. In addition, Gilbert's model is based on the modeling of the discrete channels using the MATLAB software and the removal of detected errors by a virtual model.