bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Relationship between Generalized and Abdominal Obesity with Diabetic Kidney Disease in Type 2 Diabetes: A Multiethnic Asian Study and Meta-Analysis
Authors: Man Ryan Eyn Kidd , Gan Alfred Tau Liang , Fenwick Eva Katie , Gupta Preeti , Wong Mark Yu Zheng , Wong Tien Yin , Tan Gavin Siew Wei , Teo Boon Wee , Sabanayagam Charumathi , Lamoureux Ecosse Luc
Published: November 2018

This study examined the associations of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-hip ratio (WHR) and waist-height ratio (WHtR) with diabetic kidney disease (DKD) in a clinical sample of Asian patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM); substantiated with a meta-analysis of the above associations. We recruited 405 patients with T2DM (mean (standard deviation (SD)) age: 58 (7.5) years; 277 (68.4%) male; 203 (50.1%) with DKD) from a tertiary care centre in Singapore. DKD was defined as urinary albumin-creatinine ratio >3.3 mg/mmoL and/or estimated glomerular filtration rate <60 mL/min/1.73 m2. All exposures were analysed continuously and categorically (World Health Organization cut-points for BMI and WC; median for WHR and WHtR) with DKD using stepwise logistic regression models adjusted for traditional risk factors. Additionally, we synthesized the pooled odds ratio of 18 studies (N = 19,755) in a meta-analysis of the above relationships in T2DM. We found that overweight and obese persons (categorized using BMI) were more likely to have DKD compared to under/normal weight individuals, while no associations were found for abdominal obesity exposures. In meta-analyses however, all obesity parameters were associated with increased odds of DKD. The discordance in our abdominal obesity findings compared to the pooled analyses warrants further validation via longitudinal cohorts.
Demand and Supply Side Barriers that Limit the Uptake of Nutrition Services among Pregnant Women from Rural Ethiopia: An Exploratory Qualitative Study
Authors: Bezabih Afework , Wereta Mekonnen , Kahsay Znabu , Getahun Zewditu , Bazzano Alessandra
Published: November 2018

Despite poverty reduction and increased promotion of improved nutrition practices in the community, undernutrition in Ethiopia remains a concern. The present study aimed to explore the demand and supply side barriers that limit the uptake of nutrition services among pregnant women from the rural communities of the Tigray Region, Northern Ethiopia. A community-based qualitative study was conducted in December through January 2017. A total of 90 key informant in-depth interviews and 14 focus group discussions were undertaken. Study participants were purposively selected for specific characteristics, along with health professionals deployed at various levels of the health system, including health posts, health centers, woreda health offices, and the regional health bureau. Study participants were asked to identify the barriers and implementation challenges that limit access to nutrition services for pregnant women. Participants’ responses were transcribed verbatim, without editing the grammar, to avoid losing meaning. The data were imported to ATLAS.ti 7 (qualitative data analysis software) for coding and analyzed using a thematic content analysis approach. The study findings indicated that the dietary quality of pregnant women in the study area remains poor and in some cases, poorer quality than pre-pregnancy. Across study sites, heavy workloads, food taboos and avoidances, low husband support, lack of economic resources, lack of awareness, low educational level of women, poor dietary habits, increased expenditure for cultural and religious festivities, “dependency syndrome”, low physical access to health facilities, poorly equipped health facilities, focus on child health and nutrition, poor coordination among nutrition specific and sensitive sectors, and limited sources of nutrition information were identified as the demand and supply side barriers limiting the uptake of nutrition services during pregnancy. In conclusion, the community would benefit from improved social behavior change communication on nutrition during pregnancy and multi-sectoral coordination among nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive sectors.
A Tailored Thermosensitive PLGA-PEG-PLGA/Emulsomes Composite for Enhanced Oxcarbazepine Brain Delivery via the Nasal Route
Authors: El-Zaafarany Ghada M. , Soliman Mahmoud E. , Mansour Samar , Cespi Marco , Palmieri Giovanni Filippo , Illum Lisbeth , Casettari Luca , Awad Gehanne A. S.
Published: November 2018

The use of nanocarrier delivery systems for direct nose to brain drug delivery shows promise for achieving increased brain drug levels as compared to simple solution systems. An example of such nanocarriers is emulsomes formed from lipid cores surrounded and stabilised by a corona of phospholipids (PC) and a coating of Tween 80, which combines the properties of both liposomes and emulsions. Oxcarbazepine (OX), an antiepileptic drug, was entrapped in emulsomes and then localized in a poly(lactic acid-co-glycolic acid)-poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(lactic acid-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA-PEG-PLGA) triblock copolymer thermogel. The incorporation of OX emulsomes in thermogels retarded drug release and increased its residence time (MRT) in rats. The OX-emulsome and the OX-emulsome-thermogel formulations showed in vitro sustained drug release of 81.1 and 53.5%, respectively, over a period of 24 h. The pharmacokinetic studies in rats showed transport of OX to the systemic circulation after nasal administration with a higher uptake in the brain tissue in case of OX-emulsomes and highest MRT for OX-emulsomal-thermogels as compared to the IN OX-emulsomes, OX-solution and Trileptal® suspension. Histopathological examination of nasal tissues showed a mild vascular congestion and moderate inflammatory changes around congested vessels compared to saline control, but lower toxic effect than that reported in case of the drug solution.
Introduction to a New Open Access Journal by MDPI: Physics
Authors: Sarkisyan-Grinbaum Edward K.
Published: November 2018

Herewith, we launch a new MDPI journal, Physics, for which I am honored to serve as Editor-in-Chief. [...]
Preparation and Photoluminescence of Transparent Poly(methyl methacrylate)-Based Nanocomposite Films with Ultra-High-Loading Pendant ZnS Quantum Dots
Authors: Xu Jinku , Li Dongmei
Published: November 2018

Transparent nanocomposite films containing quantum dots are popular because of their extensive applications. However, nanoparticles tend to aggregate, resulting in phase separation of the nanoparticles in the polymer matrix. Herein, we present a bulk thermo-curing copolymerization method to fabricate poly(methyl methacrylate)-based nanocomposite films with ultra-high-loading ZnS quantum dots (ZnS/PMMA), utilizing polymerizable group-capped ZnS and monomer of methyl methacrylate (MMA). We found that the nanocomposite film is highly transparent, although the transmittance decreases with the ZnS content, especially at the wavelength between 300 nm and 400 nm. The results from X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) show that the ZnS quantum dots maintain their original crystal structure, and are uniformly dispersed in the nanocomposite films, even with a very high ZnS content (41 wt %, determined by thermogravimetric analysis). The thermogravimetric analysis shows that the nanocomposite films possess a better thermal stability than that of pure PMMA film. The photoluminescence measurements show that ZnS/PMMA nanocomposite films have good optical properties. The fluorescence intensity increases with the increment of free ZnS content to 30 wt %, and then decreases due to self-reabsorption at a higher ZnS content. The transparent ZnS/PMMA nanocomposite films have a potential application as photoluminescence material.
Influence of Chain-Extension Reaction on Stereocomplexation, Mechanical Properties and Heat Resistance of Compressed Stereocomplex-Polylactide Bioplastic Films
Authors: Baimark Yodthong , Kittipoom Sumet
Published: November 2018

Stereocomplex polylactide (scPLA) films were prepared by melt blending of poly(l-lactide) (PLLA) and poly(d-lactide) (PDLA) with and without an epoxy-based chain extender before compression molding. The obtained scPLA films were characterized through differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffractometry (XRD), tensile testing and dimensional stability to heat. XRD patterns revealed that all the scPLA films had only stereocomplex crystallites. The obtained results showed that the chain-extension reaction improved mechanical properties of the scPLA films, however, it suppressed stereocomplexation and heat resistance.
Effect of Domain Structure of Segmented Poly(urethane-imide) Membranes with Polycaprolactone Soft Blocks on Dehydration of n-Propanol via Pervaporation
Authors: Sokolova Maria P. , Bugrov Alexander N. , Smirnov Michael A. , Smirnov Alexander V. , Lahderanta Erkki , Svetlichnyi Valentin M. , Toikka Alexander M.
Published: November 2018

Segmented poly(urethane-imide)s (PUIs) were synthesized by polyaddition reaction and applied for preparation of membranes. Tolylene-2,4-diisocyanate, pyromellitic dianhydride, and m-phenylenediamine for chain extension were used to form hard aromatic blocks. Polycaprolactone diols with molecular weights equal to 530 and 2000 g mol−1 were chosen as soft segments. The effect of the length of soft segments on the structure, morphology, and transport properties of segmented poly(urethane-imide) membranes were studied using atomic force microscopy, small-angle and wide-angle X-ray scattering, and pervaporation experiments. It was found that a copolymer with a shorter soft segment (530 g mol−1) consists of soft domains in a hard matrix, while the introduction of polycaprolactone blocks with higher molecular weight (2000 g mol−1) leads to the formation of hard domains in a soft matrix. Additionally, the introduction of hard segments prevents crystallization of polycaprolactone. Transport properties of membranes based on segmented PUIs containing soft segments of different length were tested for pervaporation of a model mixture of propanol/water with 20 wt % H2O content. It was found that a membrane based on segmented PUIs containing longer soft segments demonstrates higher flux (8.8 kg μm m−2 h−1) and selectivity (179) toward water in comparison with results for pure polycaprolactone reported in literature. The membrane based on segmented PUIs with 530 g mol−1 soft segment has a lower flux (5.1 kg μm m−2 h−1) and higher selectivity (437).
Thinning Approximation for Calculating Two-Dimensional Scattering Patterns in Dissipative Particle Dynamics Simulations under Shear Flow
Authors: Hagita Katsumi , Murashima Takahiro , Iwaoka Nobuyuki
Published: November 2018

Modifications to improve thinning approximation (TA) were considered in order to calculate two-dimensional scattering patterns (2DSPs) for dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations of polymer melts under a shear flow. We proposed multipoint TA and adaptive TA because the bond lengths in DPD chains vary widely when compared to those in Kremer–Grest (KG) chains, and the effectiveness of these two types of TA for the two major DPD parameter sets were investigated. In this paper, we report our findings on the original DPD model with soft bonds and that with rigid bonds. Based on the behavior of the 2DSPs and the distribution of orientations of the bond vectors, two spot patterns originating from the oriented chain correlations were observed when distinct distributions of the highly oriented bond vectors in the shear direction were obtained. For multipoint TA, we concluded that at least two additional midpoints ( n mid ≥ 2 ) are required to clearly observe the two spot patterns. For adaptive TA, a dividing distance of l ATA ≤ 0.4 is sufficient for clear observation, which is consistent with the requirement of n mid ≥ 2 for multipoint TA.
Multicellular Models Bridging Intracellular Signaling and Gene Transcription to Population Dynamics
Authors: Islam Mohammad Aminul , Roy Satyaki , Das Sajal K. , Barua Dipak
Published: November 2018

Cell signaling and gene transcription occur at faster time scales compared to cellular death, division, and evolution. Bridging these multiscale events in a model is computationally challenging. We introduce a framework for the systematic development of multiscale cell population models. Using message passing interface (MPI) parallelism, the framework creates a population model from a single-cell biochemical network model. It launches parallel simulations on a single-cell model and treats each stand-alone parallel process as a cell object. MPI mediates cell-to-cell and cell-to-environment communications in a server-client fashion. In the framework, model-specific higher level rules link the intracellular molecular events to cellular functions, such as death, division, or phenotype change. Cell death is implemented by terminating a parallel process, while cell division is carried out by creating a new process (daughter cell) from an existing one (mother cell). We first demonstrate these capabilities by creating two simple example models. In one model, we consider a relatively simple scenario where cells can evolve independently. In the other model, we consider interdependency among the cells, where cellular communication determines their collective behavior and evolution under a temporally evolving growth condition. We then demonstrate the framework’s capability by simulating a full-scale model of bacterial quorum sensing, where the dynamics of a population of bacterial cells is dictated by the intercellular communications in a time-evolving growth environment.
Simulation of High Pressure Separator Used in Crude Oil Processing
Authors: Al-Mhanna Najah M.
Published: November 2018

The aim of this research was to simulate a high-pressure (HP) separator in order to investigate the effect of changing separator operating conditions on product properties. In this study, the results obtained using the CHEMCAD simulation software package were compared with those obtained using the UniSim software package. The simulation results were comparable with industrial data. A sensitivity study was conducted by changing the gas stream properties, such as temperature, pressure, and flow rate, in order to investigate and optimize the process. The results showed that increasing the separator inlet pressure from 30 to 80 bar decreased the outlet gas flow rate from 1202 to 871.15 kmol/h. Also, the methane mole fraction increased from 0.69 to 0.74; however, the preheater heating duty was increased from 8.71 to 11.48 GJ/h. The simulation results showed that increasing the temperature of the separator feed stream from 43 to 83 °C increased the flow rate of the outlet gas stream from 871.15 to 1142.98 kmol/h. However, this temperature change reduced the methane concentration in the gas product and decreased the heating duty of the heat exchanger. Finally, the study demonstrated that there is no effect of increasing the inlet feed flow rate on the produced methane gas concentration.
Tracing the Satipaṭṭhāna in the Korean Ganhwa Seon Tradition: Its Periscope Visibility in the Mindful hwadu Sisimma, ‘Sati-Sisimma’
Authors: Choo B. Hyun
Published: November 2018

The Buddha is said to have awakened to the true nature of existence and attained final liberation from suffering through the practice of Satipaṭṭhāna. This practice begins by addressing sensations from the processes of body and mind, as characterized by ‘bare attention’ and ‘clear comprehension’ through non-judgmental observation, ultimately effecting a transformation into a unique religious experience. During its transmission to East Asian countries, particularly in the Chan tradition, the essence of Satipaṭṭhāna-sutta has become transformed, while maintaining the theme of intense concentration, perhaps in the form of ‘counter-illumination’—an extended equivalent of ‘bare attention’. Not much has been written on which aspects of the Indian contemplative tradition were passed on to the Chan/Seon schools. In the Korean Ganhwa Seon practice, however, there are some indications that the spirit of Satipaṭṭhāna, resonating as a role of sustained attention with mindfulness, has been partially manifested, having crystallized into the mindful hwadu called Sisimma, or ‘Sati-Sisimma’. To substantiate this, this paper investigates how the two seemingly different practices can be seen to link together in the Korean Seon tradition, and proposes pari passu meditative parallels, Satipaṭṭhāna and Sati-Sisimma, recommending for an ‘attentive’ mode and a ‘non-attentive’ mode respectively, in modern meditative practices.
The Spiritual Dimensions of the Permaculture Movement in Cuba
Authors: Caraway Rose T.
Published: November 2018

Following the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, Cuba experienced an acute economic crisis in the 1990s known as the “Special Period”. This crisis challenged not only the state’s ability to provide for Cubans’ material needs, but also the moral vision of creating a “New Human” within the Revolution’s political framework. During the Special Period, a variety of new religious and civil society movements emerged to meet both the material and spiritual needs of Cubans. Permaculture, a holistic design system that arrived from Australia in 1993, promotes more harmonious relationships between human beings and nature through a set of three ethical principles: (1) Care for the Earth; (2) Care for People; and (3) Sharing Resources. Within the Cuban context, the growing permaculture movement is part of a larger set of religious and civil society revivals since the fall of the Soviet Bloc. Using qualitative fieldwork, this paper argues that permaculture is functioning as a religious-like movement in Cuba because it provides both spiritual and material benefits to individuals through networks of mutual aid and social solidarity. The permaculture movement also provides flexibility for individual perspectives about nature as sacred and having intrinsic value apart from usefulness to humans.
Shakespeare and Religion
Authors: Cox John D.
Published: November 2018

Shakespeare’s personal religious affiliation is impossible to determine. Nearly all the books published about him in the last ten years eschew an earlier attempt to identify him as Catholic and focus, instead, on the plays, not the playwright. Some attention has been paid to Judaism and Islam, but Christianity is the overwhelming favorite. Nearly all of these books include a discussion of Measure for Measure, the only play Shakespeare wrote with a biblical title and a central concern with Christian ethics. Though there is some inevitable overlap, each writer approaches religion in the plays differently.
Coastal Tourism Management Model toward Developing Independent Tourist Village in Central Lombok District, Indonesia
Authors: Hakim Mustajab , Hakim Abdul , Hakim Luchman , Harahab Nuddin
Published: November 2018

Village development aims to improve the welfare of villagers and the quality of human life. The purpose of this study was to formulate a coastal tourism management model toward developing independent tourist villages. This study employed a quantitative approach by using survey methods. The data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling (SEM). There were four variables namely: the potential of mangrove ecosystem, the perception of the coastal community, the coastal tourism facilities, and the coastal ecotourism. The results indicated that there were two variables which had a significant effect on the management of coastal tourist villages, namely the perception of coastal community and coastal ecotourism. Furthermore, the management of a coastal tourist village had a significant effect on the development of independent coastal tourist villages, and the management of coastal tourist villages was a strong mediator to develop an independent coastal tourist village.
The Advantages of Landsat 8-OLI-Derived Suspended Particulate Matter Maps for Monitoring the Subtidal Extension of Amazonian Coastal Mud Banks (French Guiana)
Authors: Abascal Zorrilla Noelia , Vantrepotte Vincent , Gensac Erwan , Huybrechts Nicolas , Gardel Antoine
Published: November 2018

The coast of French Guiana is characterised by the northwestward migration of large mud banks alongshore and by high concentrations of suspended particulate matter (SPM) resulting from the strong influence of the Amazon River outflow. Surface OLI SPM concentration, linked to the footprint of the subtidal part of mud banks due to resuspension and migration processes, was used to develop a method to estimate the location of this footprint. A comparison of the results from this method with those obtained by locating the limit of the wave damping, which characterises muddy coasts, revealed good performance of the method based on recurring SPM values. The migration rates of the mud banks in French Guiana were calculated according to the delimitation of their subtidal parts, and showed slightly higher values (2.31 km/year) than suggested by earlier studies. In comparison with other methods, the migration rate estimated using the method proposed within the framework of this study takes into account the variability of the shape of the subtidal part for the first time. It was also shown that the mud banks existing on the coastal area of French Guiana present two different shapes. Our results clearly demonstrate the advantage of ocean colour data to describe mud banks according to their subtidal part, delimited using the assessment of SPM temporal variability.
Wheat Height Estimation Using LiDAR in Comparison to Ultrasonic Sensor and UAS
Authors: Yuan Wenan , Li Jiating , Bhatta Madhav , Shi Yeyin , Baenziger P. Stephen , Ge Yufeng
Published: November 2018

As one of the key crop traits, plant height is traditionally evaluated manually, which can be slow, laborious and prone to error. Rapid development of remote and proximal sensing technologies in recent years allows plant height to be estimated in more objective and efficient fashions, while research regarding direct comparisons between different height measurement methods seems to be lagging. In this study, a ground-based multi-sensor phenotyping system equipped with ultrasonic sensors and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) was developed. Canopy heights of 100 wheat plots were estimated five times during a season by the ground phenotyping system and an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), and the results were compared to manual measurements. Overall, LiDAR provided the best results, with a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 0.05 m and an R2 of 0.97. UAS obtained reasonable results with an RMSE of 0.09 m and an R2 of 0.91. Ultrasonic sensors did not perform well due to our static measurement style. In conclusion, we suggest LiDAR and UAS are reliable alternative methods for wheat height evaluation.
Modelling and Design of MEMS Piezoresistive Out-of-Plane Shear and Normal Stress Sensors
Authors: Zhang Yi , Li Lin
Published: November 2018

In this paper, the design of MEMS piezoresistive out-of-plane shear and normal stress sensor is described. To improve the sensor sensitivity, a methodology by the incorporation of stress concentration regions, namely surface trenches in the proximity of sensing elements was explored in detail. The finite element (FE) model, verified by a five-layer analytical model was developed as a tool to model the performance of the sensor and guide the geometric optimization of the surface trenches. Optimum location and dimensions of the surface trenches have been obtained through a comprehensive FE analysis. The microfabrication and packing scheme was introduced to prototype the sensor with optimum geometric characteristics of surface trenches. Signal output from the prototyped sensor was tested and compared with those from FE simulation. Good agreement has been achieved between the simulation and experimental results. Moreover, the results suggest the incorporation of surface trenches can help improve the sensor sensitivity. More specifically, the sum of signal output from the sensor chip with surface trenches are 4.52, 5.06 and 5.72 times higher compared to flat sensor chip for center sensing area, edge sensing areas 1 and 2, respectively.
SDN Architecture for 6LoWPAN Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Miguel Marcio L. F. , Jamhour Edgard , Pellenz Marcelo E. , Penna Manoel C.
Published: November 2018

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) are being increasingly used for data acquisition and control of remote devices. However, they present some constraints in critical and large-scale scenarios. The main limitations come from the nature of their components, such as lossy links, and devices with power supply limitations, poor processing power and limited memory. The main feature of software-defined networks (SDN) is the separation between the control plane and the data plane, making available a logically unified view of the topology in the controllers. In this way, it is possible to build network applications that take into account this unified view, which makes the SDN an alternative approach to solve the mentioned limitations. This paper presents the SD6WSN (software-defined 6LoWPAN wireless sensor network) architecture, developed to control the behavior of the data traffic in 6LoWPAN according to the SDN approach. It takes into account the specific characteristics of WSN devices, such as low data transfer rate, high latency, packet loss and low processing power, and takes advantage of the flexibility provided by flow-based forwarding, allowing the development of specific networking applications based on a unified view. We provide a detailed description of how we have implemented SD6WSN in the Contiki operating system. The new architecture is assessed in two experiments. The first considers a typical advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) network and measures the overhead of SD6WSN control messages in configurations involving different path lengths. The results indicate that the overhead introduced is not excessive, given the advantages that the SDN approach can bring. The second considers a grid-topology to evaluate the average latency of the peer-to-peer communication. It was observed that the average latency in the SD6WSN is considerably lower than that obtained with standard 6LoWPAN, showing the potential of the proposed approach.
Characterizing Focused Attention and Working Memory Using EEG
Authors: Mohamed Zainab , El Halaby Mohamed , Said Tamer , Shawky Doaa , Badawi Ashraf
Published: November 2018

Detecting the cognitive profiles of learners is an important step towards personalized and adaptive learning. Electroencephalograms (EEG) have been used to detect the subject’s emotional and cognitive states. In this paper, an approach for detecting two cognitive skills, focused attention and working memory, using EEG signals is proposed. The proposed approach consists of the following main steps: first, subjects undergo a scientifically-validated cognitive assessment test that stimulates and measures their full cognitive profile while putting on a 14-channel wearable EEG headset. Second, the scores of focused attention and working memory are extracted and encoded for a classification problem. Third, the collected EEG data are analyzed and a total of 280 time- and frequency-domain features are extracted. Fourth, several classifiers were trained to correctly classify and predict three levels (low, average, and high) of the two cognitive skills. The classification accuracies that were obtained on 86 subjects were 84% and 81% for the focused attention and working memory, respectively. In comparison with similar approaches, the obtained results indicate the generalizability and suitability of the proposed approach for the detection of these two skills. Thus, the presented approach can be used as a step towards adaptive learning where real-time adaptation is to be done according to the predicted levels of the measured cognitive skills.
A Survey of NFC Sensors Based on Energy Harvesting for IoT Applications
Authors: Lazaro Antonio , Villarino Ramon , Girbau David
Published: November 2018

In this article, an overview of recent advances in the field of battery-less near-field communication (NFC) sensors is provided, along with a brief comparison of other short-range radio-frequency identification (RFID) technologies. After reviewing power transfer using NFC, recommendations are made for the practical design of NFC-based tags and NFC readers. A list of commercial NFC integrated circuits with energy-harvesting capabilities is also provided. Finally, a survey of the state of the art in NFC-based sensors is presented, which demonstrates that a wide range of sensors (both chemical and physical) can be used with this technology. Particular interest arose in wearable sensors and cold-chain traceability applications. The availability of low-cost devices and the incorporation of NFC readers into most current mobile phones make NFC technology key to the development of green Internet of Things (IoT) applications.
Joint Sparsity Constraint Interferometric ISAR Imaging for 3-D Geometry of Near-Field Targets with Sub-Apertures
Authors: Fang Yang , Wang Baoping , Sun Chao , Wang Shuzhen , Hu Jiansheng , Song Zuxun
Published: November 2018

This paper proposes a new interferometric near-field 3-D imaging approach based on multi-channel joint sparse reconstruction to solve the problems of conventional methods, i.e., the irrespective correlation of different channels in single-channel independent imaging which may lead to deviated positions of scattering points, and the low accuracy of imaging azimuth angle for real anisotropic targets. Firstly, two full-apertures are divided into several sub-apertures by the same standard; secondly, the joint sparse metric function is constructed based on scattering characteristics of the target in multi-channel status, and the improved Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP) method is used for imaging solving, so as to obtain high-precision 3-D image of each sub-aperture; thirdly, comprehensive sub-aperture processing is performed using all sub-aperture 3-D images to obtain the final 3-D images; finally, validity of the proposed approach is verified by using simulation electromagnetic data and data measured in the anechoic chamber. Experimental results show that, compared with traditional interferometric ISAR imaging approaches, the algorithm proposed in this paper is able to provide a higher accuracy in scattering center reconstruction, and can effectively maintain relative phase information of channels.
Amphiphilic Fluorine-Containing Block Copolymers as Carriers for Hydrophobic PtTFPP for Dissolved Oxygen Sensing, Cell Respiration Monitoring and In Vivo Hypoxia Imaging with High Quantum Efficiency and Long Lifetime
Authors: Li Jiaze , Qiao Yuan , Pan Tingting , Zhong Ke , Wen Jiaxing , Wu Shanshan , Su Fengyu , Tian Yanqing
Published: November 2018

New amphiphilic star or multi-arm block copolymers with different structures were synthesized for enabling the use of hydrophobic oxygen probe of platinum (II)-tetrakis (pentafluorophenyl) porphyrin (PtTFPP) for bioanalysis. The amphiphilic star polymers were prepared through the Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP) method by using hydrophilic 4-arm polyethylene glycol (4-arm-PEG) as an initiator. Among the five block copolymers, P1 series (P1a, P1b, and P1c) and P3 possess fluorine-containing moieties to improve the oxygen sensitivity with its excellent capacity to dissolve and carry oxygen. A polymer P2 without fluorine units was also synthesized for comparison. The structure-property relationship was investigated. Under nitrogen atmosphere, high quantum efficiency of PtTFPP in fluorine-containing micelles could reach to 22% and long lifetime could reach to 76 μs. One kind of representative PtTFPP-containing micelles was used to detect the respiration of Escherichia coli (E. coli) JM109 and macrophage cell J774A.1 by a high throughput plate reader. In vivo hypoxic imaging of tumor-bearing mice was also achieved successfully. This study demonstrated that using well-designed fluoropolymers to load PtTFPP could achieve high oxygen sensing properties, and long lifetime, showing the great capability for further in vivo sensing and imaging.
Electroanalytical Determination of Cysteine Using the Electrodes Based on Ternary Silver-Copper Sulfides
Authors: Vladislavić Nives , Rončević Ivana Škugor , Buljac Maša , Brinić Slobodan , Krivić Denis , Buzuk Marijo
Published: November 2018

The amperometric determination of cysteine, using an electrode based on ternary silver-copper sulfide, is presented. Electrochemical characterizations (using cyclic voltammetry) of three electrode materials revealed that the electrode based on the material that consists of jalpaite (Ag3CuS2), doped with a small amount of metallic silver, has the best electrocatalytical performance for cysteine oxidation. For the amperometric determination, 0.142 V at pH 5 and 0.04 V at pH 7 vs. Ag/AgCl, related to the electrocatalytical oxidation of thiol group, were chosen. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy together with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) revealed that oxidation takes place on the electrode surface with fouling effect, which does not affect a wide linear working range between 1 μM and 100 μM. Sensitivities, at pH 5 and pH 7, are calculated to be 0.11 μA μM−1 and 0.10 μA μM−1, respectively. The detection limits were determined to be 0.036 μM and 0.024 μM for pH 5 and pH 7, respectively. In the presence of uric acid, folic acid, ascorbic acid, and glucose no interference was noticed. This electrode showed remarkable stability and excellent reproducibility. The electrode was exploited for the determination of cysteine in a dietary supplement with the excellent recoveries.
A Two-Stage Approach for Routing Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with Stochastic Fuel Consumption
Authors: Venkatachalam Saravanan , Sundar Kaarthik , Rathinam Sivakumar
Published: November 2018

The past decade has seen a substantial increase in the use of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in both civil and military applications. This article addresses an important aspect of refueling in the context of routing multiple small UAVs to complete a surveillance or data collection mission. Specifically, this article formulates a multiple-UAV routing problem with the refueling constraint of minimizing the overall fuel consumption for all the vehicles as a two-stage stochastic optimization problem with uncertainty associated with the fuel consumption of each vehicle. The two-stage model allows for the application of sample average approximation (SAA). Although the SAA solution asymptotically converges to the optimal solution for the two-stage model, the SAA run time can be prohibitive for medium- and large-scale test instances. Hence, we develop a tabu search-based heuristic that exploits the model structure while considering the uncertainty in fuel consumption. Extensive computational experiments corroborate the benefits of the two-stage model compared to a deterministic model and the effectiveness of the heuristic for obtaining high-quality solutions.
A Location-Aware Waypoint-Based Routing Protocol for Airborne DTNs in Search and Rescue Scenarios
Authors: Bujari Armir , Calafate Carlos , Cano Juan-Carlos , Manzoni Pietro , Palazzi Claudio , Ronzani Daniele
Published: November 2018

In this paper, we propose GeoSaW, a delay-tolerant routing protocol for Airborne Networks in Search and Rescue scenarios. The protocol exploits the geographical information of UAVs to make appropriate message forwarding decisions. More precisely, the information about the future UAV’s motion path is exploited to select the best UAV carrying the message towards the destination. Simulation results show that the proposed solution outperforms the classic DTN routing protocols in terms of several performance metrics.
0.16 µm–BCD Silicon Photomultipliers with Sharp Timing Response and Reduced Correlated Noise
Authors: Sanzaro Mirko , Signorelli Fabio , Gattari Paolo , Tosi Alberto , Zappa Franco
Published: November 2018

Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) have improved significantly over the last years and now are widely employed in many different applications. However, the custom fabrication technologies exploited for commercial SiPMs do not allow the integration of any additional electronics, e.g., on-chip readout and analog (or digital) processing circuitry. In this paper, we present the design and characterization of two microelectronics-compatible SiPMs fabricated in a 0.16 µm–BCD (Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS) technology, with 0.67 mm × 0.67 mm total area, 10 × 10 square pixels and 53% fill-factor (FF). The photon detection efficiency (PDE) surpasses 33% (FF included), with a dark-count rate (DCR) of 330 kcps. Although DCR density is worse than that of state-of-the-art SiPMs, the proposed fabrication technology enables the development of cost-effective systems-on-chip (SoC) based on SiPM detectors. Furthermore, correlated noise components, i.e., afterpulsing and optical crosstalk, and photon timing response are comparable to those of best-in-class commercial SiPMs.
A Self Regulating and Crowdsourced Indoor Positioning System through Wi-Fi Fingerprinting for Multi Storey Building
Authors: Rana Soumya Prakash , Prieto Javier , Dey Maitreyee , Dudley Sandra , Corchado Juan Manuel
Published: November 2018

Unobtrusive indoor location systems must rely on methods that avoid the deployment of large hardware infrastructures or require information owned by network administrators. Fingerprinting methods can work under these circumstances by comparing the real-time received RSSI values of a smartphone coming from existing Wi-Fi access points with a previous database of stored values with known locations. Under the fingerprinting approach, conventional methods suffer from large indoor scenarios since the number of fingerprints grows with the localization area. To that aim, fingerprinting-based localization systems require fast machine learning algorithms that reduce the computational complexity when comparing real-time and stored values. In this paper, popular machine learning (ML) algorithms have been implemented for the classification of real time RSSI values to predict the user location and propose an intelligent indoor positioning system (I-IPS). The proposed I-IPS has been integrated with multi-agent framework for betterment of context-aware service (CAS). The obtained results have been analyzed and validated through established statistical measurements and superior performance achieved.
Improving the Security and QoE in Mobile Devices through an Intelligent and Adaptive Continuous Authentication System
Authors: Jorquera Valero José María , Sánchez Sánchez Pedro Miguel , Fernández Maimó Lorenzo , Huertas Celdrán Alberto , Arjona Fernández Marcos , De Los Santos Vílchez Sergio , Martínez Pérez Gregorio
Published: November 2018

Continuous authentication systems for mobile devices focus on identifying users according to their behaviour patterns when they interact with mobile devices. Among the benefits provided by these systems, we highlight the enhancement of the system security, having permanently authenticated the users; and the improvement of the users’ quality of experience, minimising the use of authentication credentials. Despite the benefits of these systems, they also have open challenges such as the authentication accuracy and the adaptability to new users’ behaviours. Continuous authentication systems should manage these challenges without forgetting critical aspects of mobile devices such as battery consumption, computational limitations and response time. With the goal of improving these previous challenges, the main contribution of this paper is the design and implementation of an intelligent and adaptive continuous authentication system for mobile devices. The proposed system enables the real-time users’ authentication by considering statistical information from applications, sensors and Machine Learning techniques based on anomaly detection. Several experiments demonstrated the accuracy, adaptability, and resources consumption of our solution. Finally, its utility is validated through the design and implementation of an online bank application as proof of concept, which allows users to perform different actions according to their authentication level.
A Fluorescence Sensor Capable of Real-Time Herbicide Effect Monitoring in Greenhouses and the Field
Authors: Wang Pei , Li Hui , Jia Weidong , Chen Yin , Gerhards Roland
Published: November 2018

Herbicide resistant weeds need to be identified early so that yield loss can be avoided by applying proper field management strategies. A novel chlorophyll-fluorescence-imaging sensor has been developed to conduct real-time herbicide effect evaluation. In this research, greenhouse and field experiments were conducted to calibrate the capability of the sensor in monitoring herbicide effects on different biotypes of two grass weeds (Alopecurus myosuroides, Apera spica-venti) in southwestern Germany. Herbicides with different modes of action were applied for the effect monitoring. Chlorophyll fluorescence yield of the plants was measured 3–15 days after treatment (DAT) using the new fluorescence sensor. Visual assessment of the weeds was carried out on 21 DAT. The results showed that the maximal PS II quantum yield (Fv/Fm) of herbicide sensitive weeds was significantly lower than the values of resistant populations in 5 DAT. The new technology was capable of quickly identifying the herbicide’s effect on plants. It can be used to optimize management strategies to control herbicide resistant weeds.
High-Resolution Aerial Imagery Semantic Labeling with Dense Pyramid Network
Authors: Pan Xuran , Gao Lianru , Zhang Bing , Yang Fan , Liao Wenzhi
Published: November 2018

Semantic segmentation of high-resolution aerial images is of great importance in certain fields, but the increasing spatial resolution brings large intra-class variance and small inter-class differences that can lead to classification ambiguities. Based on high-level contextual features, the deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) is an effective method to deal with semantic segmentation of high-resolution aerial imagery. In this work, a novel dense pyramid network (DPN) is proposed for semantic segmentation. The network starts with group convolutions to deal with multi-sensor data in channel wise to extract feature maps of each channel separately; by doing so, more information from each channel can be preserved. This process is followed by the channel shuffle operation to enhance the representation ability of the network. Then, four densely connected convolutional blocks are utilized to both extract and take full advantage of features. The pyramid pooling module combined with two convolutional layers are set to fuse multi-resolution and multi-sensor features through an effective global scenery prior manner, producing the probability graph for each class. Moreover, the median frequency balanced focal loss is proposed to replace the standard cross entropy loss in the training phase to deal with the class imbalance problem. We evaluate the dense pyramid network on the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) Vaihingen and Potsdam 2D semantic labeling dataset, and the results demonstrate that the proposed framework exhibits better performances, compared to the state of the art baseline.
Conductive Thread-Based Textile Sensor for Continuous Perspiration Level Monitoring
Authors: Jia Ji , Xu Chengtian , Pan Shijia , Xia Stephen , Wei Peter , Noh Hae Young , Zhang Pei , Jiang Xiaofan
Published: November 2018

Individual perspiration level indicates a person’s physical status as well as their comfort level. Therefore, continuous perspiration level measurement enables people to monitor these conditions for applications including fitness assessment, athlete physical status monitoring, and patient/elderly care. Prior work on perspiration (sweat) sensing required the user either to be static or to wear the adhesive sensor directly on the skin, which limits users’ mobility and comfort. In this paper, we present a novel conductive thread-based textile sensor that measures an individual’s on-cloth sweat quantity. The sensor consists of three conductive threads. Each conductive thread is surrounded by a braided cotton cover. An additional braided cotton cover is placed outside the three conductive threads, holding them in a position that is stable for measurement. the sensor can be embedded at various locations on a person’s clothing. When the person sweats, the cotton braids absorb the sweat and change the conductivity (resistance) between conductive threads. We used a voltage dividing circuit to measure this resistance as the sensor output (DC). We then conducted a sensor calibration to map this measured voltage to the quantity of electrolyte solution (with the same density as sweat) applied to the sensor. We used this sensor to measure individuals’ perspiration quantity and infer their perceived perspiration levels. The system is able to limit the average prediction error to 0.4 levels when compared to five pre-defined perceived perspiration levels.
New Dark Area Sensitive Tone Mapping for Deep Learning Based Traffic Sign Recognition
Authors: Khan Jameel Ahmed , Yeo Donghoon , Shin Hyunchul
Published: November 2018

In this paper, we propose a new Intelligent Traffic Sign Recognition (ITSR) system with illumination preprocessing capability. Our proposed Dark Area Sensitive Tone Mapping (DASTM) technique can enhance the illumination of only dark regions of an image with little impact on bright regions. We used this technique as a pre-processing module for our new traffic sign recognition system. We combined DASTM with a TS detector, an optimized version of YOLOv3 for the detection of three classes of traffic signs. We trained ITSR on a dataset of Korean traffic signs with prohibitory, mandatory, and danger classes. We achieved Mean Average Precision (MAP) value of 90.07% (previous best result was 86.61%) on challenging Korean Traffic Sign Detection (KTSD) dataset and 100% on German Traffic Sign Detection Benchmark (GTSDB). Result comparisons of ITSR with latest D-Patches, TS detector, and YOLOv3 show that our new ITSR significantly outperforms in recognition performance.
A Reliability Scheduling Algorithm for the Static Segment of FlexRay on Vehicle Networks
Authors: Lee Trong-Yen , Lin I-An , Wang Jun-Jie , Tsai Ju-Tse
Published: November 2018

FlexRay is a next-generation in-vehicle communication protocol which works in real time with flexibility. The most common applications in FlexRay are high bandwidth. X-by-wire applications, such as brake by wire and throttle by wire. However, there is no mechanism which can prevent transient faults in the application layer of FlexRay. If a transient fault occurs during driving, this would be very dangerous; therefore, we propose a fast reliability scheduling algorithm (FRSA) to improve the communication reliability of FlexRay. The proposed method reduces the probability of transient faults in one clock cycle by using a retransmission mechanism to recover the transient errors, and further improves computational complexity using the lookup table method to ensure system reliability. In this paper, we analyze a related literature to establish the system reliability constraints needed to evaluate the necessary time and slot usage, and the proposed cost function is used to evaluate the performance and efficiency when the number of messages is increased. Experimental results show that the proposed FRSA reduces execution time by an average 70.76% and cost by an average 13.33% more than the other existing methods. This method can be useful to others, especially regarding research about periodic time-triggered communication systems.