bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Crystallization of Polymers under the Influence of an External Force Field
Authors: Payal Rajdeep Singh , Sommer Jens-Uwe
Published: June 2021

We simulated the crystallization and melting behavior of entangled polymer melts using molecular dynamics where each chain is subject to a force dipole acting on its ends. This mimics the deformation of chains in a flow field but represents a well-defined equilibrium system in the melt state. Under weak extension within the linear response of the chains, the mechanical work done on the system is about two orders of magnitude smaller as compared with the heat of fusion. As a consequence, thermodynamic and simple arguments following the secondary nucleation model predict only small changes of the crystalline phase. By contrast, an increase of the stem length up to a factor of two is observed in our simulations. On the other hand, the lamellar thickening induced by the external force is proportional to the increase of the entanglement length in the melt prior to crystallization as measured by the primitive path method. While the mechanical work done on the system is only a small perturbation for thermodynamics of polymer crystallization, the change of the primitive path is large. This suggests that a strong increase in the lamellar thickness induced, by external deformation, a topological rather than a thermodynamic origin.
Characterization of Chitosan Extracted from Fish Scales of the Colombian Endemic Species Prochilodus magdalenae as a Novel Source for Antibacterial Starch-Based Films
Authors: Molina-Ramírez Carlos , Mazo Paulina , Zuluaga Robin , Gañán Piedad , Álvarez-Caballero Juan
Published: June 2021

Scales of Prochilodus magdalenae, a Colombian endemic fish species, were used to obtain chitosan for application as an antibacterial agent integrated into starch-based films. Analysis of its composition during the demineralization and deproteinization process indicated that minerals and protein were both removed successfully. At this point, mild conditions for the deacetylation process were employed, namely, 2, 4, and 6 wt.% NaOH at room temperature for 16 h. Chitosan processed under 2 wt.% NaOH had low molecular weight, with the lowest value of 107.18 ± 24.99 kDa, which was closely related to its antibacterial activity. Finally, this chitosan was integrated into a banana starch-based film, and its antibacterial activity was assayed in Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus cultures, with positive results in the former culture, especially due to the low-molecular-weight characteristic of chitosan.
Depolymerization and Hydrogenation of Organosolv Eucalyptus Lignin by Using Nickel Raney Catalyst
Authors: Morgana Massimo , Viola Egidio , Zimbardi Francesco , Cerone Nadia , Romanelli Assunta , Valerio Vito
Published: June 2021

The use of lignocellulosic biomass to obtain biofuels and chemicals produces a large amount of lignin as a byproduct. Lignin valorization into chemicals needs efficient conversion processes to be developed. In this work, hydrocracking of organosolv lignin was performed by using nickel Raney catalyst. Organosolv lignin was obtained from the pretreatment of eucalyptus wood at 170 °C for 1 h by using 1/100/100 (w/v/v) ratio of biomass/oxalic acid solution (0.4% w/w)/1-butanol. The resulting organic phase of lignin in 1-butanol was used in hydrogenation tests. The conversion of lignin was carried out with a batch reactor equipped with a 0.3 L vessel with adjustable internal stirrer and heat control. The reactor was pressurized at 5 bar with hydrogen at room temperature, and then the temperature was raised to 250 °C and kept for 30 min. Operative conditions were optimized to achieve high conversion in monomers and to minimize the loss of solvent. At the best performance conditions, about 10 wt % of the lignin was solubilized into monomeric phenols. The need to find a trade-off between lignin conversion and solvent side reaction was highlighted.
Synthesis of a Benzothiadiazole-Based D−A Molecule with Aggregation-Induced Emission and Controlled Assembly Properties
Authors: Chen Songhua , Liu Yongqi , He Meiyun , Huang Jianhua
Published: June 2021

An electron-donating−accepting (D−A) molecule, namely, 4-(1-(4-(9H-carbazol-9-yl)phenyl)-1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole (BT-SCC) containing carbazole as the donor moiety and benzothiadiazole as the acceptor moiety is prepared. Single-crystal X-ray structure analysis elucidated the multiple intermolecular interactions, such as hydrogen bonds, CH…π, and π…π interplays. Interestingly, the aggregation-induced emission phenomenon is observed for BT-SCC featured with enhanced fluorescent quantum yield from diluted solution of CH2Cl2 (Φ = ca. 0.1) to CH2Cl2/hexane mixed solutions or solid states (Φ = ca. 0.8). Finally, aggregates of BT-SCC are obtained through precipitating from hot and saturated solutions or solvent-vapor methods and the aggregating morphologies could be easily controlled through different preparation methods. Fabulous cube-like micro-crystals and nanospherical structures are obtained, which is established by the synergistic effects of the multiple non-covalent interactions, endowing potential utility in the field of optoelectronic devices.
Synthesis, Characterization and Ecotoxicity Evaluation of Biochar-Derived Carbon Dots from Spruce Tree, Purple Moor-Grass and African Oil Palm
Authors: Barrientos Kaory , Gaviria Maria I. , Arango Juan Pablo , Placido Jersson , Bustamante Sandra , Londoño Martha E. , Jaramillo Marisol
Published: June 2021

Biochar-derived C-Dots from Picea, Molinia caerulea and Elaeis guineensis were synthesized through a hydrothermal process, and their physicochemical and optical characteristics and environmental effects were compared. These C-Dots were characterized by techniques such as Attenuated Total Reflection–Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR), UV-Vis spectrophotometry, fluorescence spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), Z potential, and High-Resolution Transmission Electronical Microscopy (HR-TEM). The ecotoxicity tests were performed using the Microtox™ test, making this study one of the few that use this method. The C-Dots from Molinia caerulea showed the best quantum yield (QY) of 8.39% and moderate ecotoxicity, while Elaeis guineensis has the lowest QY (2.31%) but with zero toxicity. Furthermore, the C-Dots from Picea presents good optical properties but showed high toxicity and limits its use. Finally, all C-Dots showed functional groups that could be biofunctionalized with biomolecules, especially C-Dots from Molinia caerulea and Elaeis guineensis show potential for use in the development of optical biosensors.
Special Issue: Advances of Peptide Engineering
Authors: Usui Kenji , Tomizaki Kin-ya
Published: June 2021

Peptides have been gaining increasing attention for their applications in various fields, such as medical, biotechnological, and nanotechnological fields [...]
Using Artificial Intelligence for Optimizing Natural Frequency of Recycled Concrete for Mechanical Machine Foundation
Authors: Lashin Maha M. A. , Khokhar Aamir , Alrowais Fadwa , Malibari Areej , Saleh Wafaa
Published: June 2021

This paper investigates the mechanical properties of two different types of recycled concrete, which use wood and rubber, relative to those characteristics of pure concrete, in terms of maximum load and natural frequencies. This paper contributes to the state of the art in this area in a number of ways. Firstly, the paper provides furtherance to the progressively growing literature in the field of recycled concrete and mechanical properties of materials. Secondly, the paper investigates the mechanical properties of two different types of recycled concrete by means of investigating the natural frequency of the samples, which is a new contribution. Lastly, the results from predicting the natural frequencies of concrete using fuzzy logic have been effectively assessed and compared with the analytical results. Results from the study show that the pure concrete samples produced maximum natural frequency, then concrete samples with wood, and lastly, concrete samples with rubber. The tolerance between the lab test results and fuzzy logic is approximately 5%. These results could have significant implications for furthering recycled concrete research and for designing machine foundations. Evidence of the applicability of fuzzy logic as a predictive and analysis tool for the mechanical properties of recycled concrete are discussed.
The Clash of Cultures of Radical Enlightenment and Humanism Open to Transcendence. The Perspective of Pope Benedict XVI
Authors: Węgrzecki Janusz
Published: June 2021

The article analyzes the content of the Pope’s speeches discussing, reconstructing and interpreting the concept of two dominant western cultures and their mutual relationships to the perspective of Pope Benedict XVI, who calls them the culture of radical enlightenment and the culture of humanism that is open to transcendence. The article identifies fundamental contentious issues including: anthropological issues, human dignity, political anthropology, freedom, reason, its rationality, and the role of religion in the public sphere. Thus, the article provides a positive answer to the question of whether the perspective of the clash of cultures outlined by Samuel Huntington can be cognitively used in interpreting the contrast of cultures presented from the perspective of Pope Benedict XVI. However, contrary to Huntington, who describes the clash of western cultures with other, non-western cultures, Pope Benedict XVI claims that there is a clash between two dominant western cultures.
Spiritual Synchronicity: Icon Veneration in Evangelical and Orthodox Religious Practices in the 21st Century
Authors: Cannon Mae Elise , Vollrath Kevin
Published: June 2021

Much scholarship in the dialogue between evangelical and Orthodox believers focuses on doctrinal compatibility. This article contributes to that literature by giving an example of a spiritual practice (icon veneration) that creates additional space for ecumenical dialogue and unity. Some US-evangelicals in the 21st century have incorporated the use of icons into their personal faith practices. Icon veneration is ripe with ecumenical potential for evangelical–Orthodox relations because of its prominence in Orthodox communions while at the same time appealing to a growing number of evangelicals. This article considers three sites of evangelical icon use in turn: the Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia (EBCG), Icons of Black Saints, and an evangelical ministry called “Heart of the Artist”. Each site adopts a slightly unique understanding of icons that may appeal to evangelical believers. Although Orthodox and evangelical believers may understand theologies of icon veneration differently, the emergence of icon veneration among evangelicals remains a spiritual synchronicity, and ought to be recognized as such. Evangelicals continue to receive the gift of icon veneration from their Orthodox siblings in ways in line with the EBCG, Black Orthodox icons, and Heart of the Artist, so icon veneration has potential to further resource ecumenical dialogue.
“‘But the Fountain Sprang Up and the Bird Sang Down’: Heidegger’s Gathering of the Fourfold and the Seven-Sacraments Font at Salle, Norfolk.”
Authors: Clausén Marie
Published: June 2021

My paper analyses the 15th-century seven-sacraments font at the medieval church of St Peter and St Paul at Salle in Norfolk (England). The church guides and gazetteers that describe the font, and the church in which it is situated, owe both their style and content to Art History, focusing as they do on their material and aesthetic dimensions. The guides also tend towards isolating the various elements of the font, and these in turn from the rest of the architectural elements, fittings and furniture of the church, as if they could be meaningfully experienced or interpreted as discrete entities, in isolation from one another. While none of the font descriptions can be faulted for being inaccurate, they can, as a result of these tendencies, be held insufficient, and not quite to the purpose. My analysis of the font, by means of Heidegger’s concept of Dwelling, does not separate the font either from the rest of the church, nor from other fonts, but acknowledges that it comes to be, and be seen as, what it is only when considered as standing in ‘myriad referential relations’ to other things, as well as to ourselves. This perspective has enabled me to draw out what it is about the font at Salle that can be experienced as not merely beautiful or interesting, but also as meaningful to those—believers and non-believers alike—who encounter it. By reconsidering the proper mode of perceiving and engaging with the font, we may spare it from being commodified, from becoming a unit in the standing reserve of cultural heritage, and in so doing, we, too, may be momentarily freed from our false identities as units of production and agents of consumption. The medieval fonts and churches of Norfolk are, I argue, not valuable as a result of their putative antiquarian qualities, but invaluable in their extending to us a possibility of dwelling—as mortals—on the earth—under the sky—before the divinities.
RUF: Effective Sea Ice Floe Segmentation Using End-to-End RES-UNET-CRF with Dual Loss
Authors: Nagi Anmol Sharan , Kumar Devinder , Sola Daniel , Scott K. Andrea
Published: June 2021

Sea ice observations through satellite imaging have led to advancements in environmental research, ship navigation, and ice hazard forecasting in cold regions. Machine learning and, recently, deep learning techniques are being explored by various researchers to process vast amounts of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data for detecting potential hazards in navigational routes. Detection of hazards such as sea ice floes in Marginal Ice Zones (MIZs) is quite challenging as the floes are often embedded in a multiscale ice cover composed of ice filaments and eddies in addition to floes. This study proposes a segmentation model tailored for detecting ice floes in SAR images. The model exploits the advantages of both convolutional neural networks and convolutional conditional random field (Conv-CRF) in a combined manner. The residual UNET (RES-UNET) computes expressive features to generate coarse segmentation maps while the Conv-CRF exploits the spatial co-occurrence pairwise potentials along with the RES-UNET unary/segmentation maps to generate final predictions. The whole pipeline is trained end-to-end using a dual loss function. This dual loss function is composed of a weighted average of binary cross entropy and soft dice loss. The comparison of experimental results with the conventional segmentation networks such as UNET, DeepLabV3, and FCN-8 demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed architecture.
Tropical Cyclone Center Positioning Using Single Channel Microwave Satellite Observations of Brightness Temperature
Authors: Hu Yanyang , Zou Xiaolei
Published: June 2021

Satellite observations of brightness temperature from the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) and Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) humidity sounding channels can provide relatively high horizontal resolution information about cloud and atmospheric moisture in the troposphere, thus revealing the structures of tropical cyclones (TCs). There is usually a high brightness temperature in a TC eye region and low brightness temperature reflecting spiral rain bands. An azimuthal spectral analysis method is used as a center-fixing algorithm to determine the TC center objectively using the brightness temperature observations of the ATMS humidity-sounding channel 18 (183.31 ± 7.0 GHz) and MHS humidity-sounding channel 5 (190.31 GHz). The position in the brightness temperature field encompassing a TC that achieves the largest symmetric component is regarded as the TC center. Two Atlantic hurricanes in 2012, Hurricanes Sandy and Isaac, are first used to analyze the performance of the TC center-fixing technique. Compared with the National Hurricane Center best track, the root-mean-square differences of the center fixing results for Hurricanes Sandy and Isaac are less than 47.3 and 34.3 km, respectively. It is found that the uncertainty of the TC center-fixing algorithm and thus the difference from the best track increases when the brightness temperature distribution within a TC is significantly asymmetric. Then, the TC center-fixing technique is validated for all tropical storms and hurricanes over Northern Atlantic and Western Pacific in 2019. Compared with the best track data, the root-mean-square differences for tropical storms and hurricanes are 33.81 and 26.20 km, respectively. The demonstrated successful performance of the proposed TC center-fixing algorithm to use the single channel of microwave humidity sounders for TC positioning is important for vortex initialization in operational hurricane forecasts.
Comparing 3D Point Cloud Data from Laser Scanning and Digital Aerial Photogrammetry for Height Estimation of Small Trees and Other Vegetation in a Boreal–Alpine Ecotone
Authors: Næsset Erik , Gobakken Terje , Jutras-Perreault Marie-Claude , Ramtvedt Eirik Næsset
Published: June 2021

Changes in vegetation height in the boreal-alpine ecotone are expected over the coming decades due to climate change. Previous studies have shown that subtle changes in vegetation height (<0.2 m) can be estimated with great precision over short time periods (~5 yrs) for small spatial units (~1 ha) utilizing bi-temporal airborne laser scanning (ALS) data, which is promising for operation vegetation monitoring. However, ALS data may not always be available for multi-temporal analysis and other tree-dimensional (3D) data such as those produced by digital aerial photogrammetry (DAP) using imagery acquired from aircrafts and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) may add flexibility to an operational monitoring program. There is little existing evidence on the performance of DAP for height estimation of alpine pioneer trees and vegetation in the boreal-alpine ecotone. The current study assessed and compared the performance of 3D data extracted from ALS and from UAS DAP for prediction of tree height of small pioneer trees and evaluated how tree size and tree species affected the predictive ability of data from the two 3D data sources. Further, precision of vegetation height estimates (trees and other vegetation) across a 12 ha study area using 3D data from ALS and from UAS DAP were compared. Major findings showed smaller regression model residuals for vegetation height when using ALS data and that small and solitary trees tended to be smoothed out in DAP data. Surprisingly, the overall vegetation height estimates using ALS (0.64 m) and DAP data (0.76 m), respectively, differed significantly, despite the use of the same ground observations for model calibration. It was concluded that more in-depth understanding of the behavior of DAP algorithms for small scattered trees and low ground vegetation in the boreal-alpine ecotone is needed as even small systematic effects of a particular technology on height estimates may compromise the validity of a monitoring system since change processes encountered in the boreal-alpine ecotone often are subtle and slow.
Spectral Characteristics of the Antarctic Vegetation: A Case Study of Barton Peninsula
Authors: Chi Junhwa , Lee Hyoungseok , Hong Soon Gyu , Kim Hyun-Cheol
Published: June 2021

Spectral information is a proxy for understanding the characteristics of ground targets without a potentially disruptive contact. A spectral library is a collection of this information and serves as reference data in remote sensing analyses. Although widely used, data of this type for most ground objects in polar regions are notably absent. Remote sensing data are widely used in polar research because they can provide helpful information for difficult-to-access or extensive areas. However, a lack of ground truth hinders remote sensing efforts. Accordingly, a spectral library was developed for 16 common vegetation species and decayed moss in the ice-free areas of Antarctica using a field spectrometer. In particular, the relative importance of shortwave infrared wavelengths in identifying Antarctic vegetation using spectral similarity comparisons was demonstrated. Due to the lack of available remote sensing images of the study area, simulated images were generated using the developed spectral library. Then, these images were used to evaluate the potential performance of the classification and spectral unmixing according to spectral resolution. We believe that the developed library will enhance our understanding of Antarctic vegetation and will assist in the analysis of various remote sensing data.
Multiscale Semantic Feature Optimization and Fusion Network for Building Extraction Using High-Resolution Aerial Images and LiDAR Data
Authors: Yuan Qinglie , Shafri Helmi Zulhaidi Mohd , Alias Aidi Hizami , Hashim Shaiful Jahari bin
Published: June 2021

Automatic building extraction has been applied in many domains. It is also a challenging problem because of the complex scenes and multiscale. Deep learning algorithms, especially fully convolutional neural networks (FCNs), have shown robust feature extraction ability than traditional remote sensing data processing methods. However, hierarchical features from encoders with a fixed receptive field perform weak ability to obtain global semantic information. Local features in multiscale subregions cannot construct contextual interdependence and correlation, especially for large-scale building areas, which probably causes fragmentary extraction results due to intra-class feature variability. In addition, low-level features have accurate and fine-grained spatial information for tiny building structures but lack refinement and selection, and the semantic gap of across-level features is not conducive to feature fusion. To address the above problems, this paper proposes an FCN framework based on the residual network and provides the training pattern for multi-modal data combining the advantage of high-resolution aerial images and LiDAR data for building extraction. Two novel modules have been proposed for the optimization and integration of multiscale and across-level features. In particular, a multiscale context optimization module is designed to adaptively generate the feature representations for different subregions and effectively aggregate global context. A semantic guided spatial attention mechanism is introduced to refine shallow features and alleviate the semantic gap. Finally, hierarchical features are fused via the feature pyramid network. Compared with other state-of-the-art methods, experimental results demonstrate superior performance with 93.19 IoU, 97.56 OA on WHU datasets and 94.72 IoU, 97.84 OA on the Boston dataset, which shows that the proposed network can improve accuracy and achieve better performance for building extraction.
Performance Analysis of Two-Way Satellite-Terrestrial Relay Network with SWIPT
Authors: Li Zhen , Yang Mingchuan , Wang Gang
Published: June 2021

In this paper, we investigated the performance of a two-way satellite-terrestrial DF relay network with asymmetric simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT). In particular, selective physical-layer network coding (SPNC) was employed in the proposed network, improving the throughput performance. We derived the expressions of system average end-to-end throughput and single node detection (SND) occurrence probability. Furthermore, to observe the effects of the power splitting (PS) coefficient on the energy efficiency performance, the expressions of energy harvested in the physical-layer network coding (PNC) and SPNC protocol were also derived. Finally, theoretical analyses and Monte Carlo simulation results are presented to show: (i) SPNC protocol outperforms the conventional PNC protocol in the two-way satellite-terrestrial relay network with SWIPT in infrequent light shadowing (ILS), average shadowing (AS), and frequent heavy shadowing (FHS) Shadowed-Rician fading channels; (ii) as the channel state gets worse, SPNC protocol can achieve more performance improvement than PNC protocol; (iii) as the PS coefficient increases, the average end-to-end throughput performance increases progressively, and the average energy efficiency performance increases progressively within a certain range, while decreasing in the others.
Li-Pos: A Light Positioning Framework Leveraging OFDM for Visible Light Communication
Authors: Wu Jianbin , Haider Sami Ahmed , Irshad Muhammad , Arshad Jehangir , Noman Sohail M. , Murthy Aparna
Published: June 2021

The design of solid-state lighting is vital, as numerous metrics are involved in their exact positioning, and as it is utilized in various processes, ranging from intelligent buildings to the internet of things (IoT). This work aims to determine the power and delay spread from the light source to the receiver plane. The positions of the light source and receiver were used for power estimation. We focus on analog orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) in visible light communication (VLC) and assess the area under the curve (AUC). The proposed system was designed using modulation techniques (i.e., quadrature amplitude modulation; QAM) for visible light communication (VLC) and pulse-width modulation (PWM) for dimming sources. For the positioning and spreading of brightness, the proof-of-concept was weighted equally over the entire area. Therefore, the receiver plane was analyzed, in order to measure the power of each light-emitting diode (LED) in a given area, using the delayed mean square error (MSE). A framework was applied for the placement of LEDs, using full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) parameters with varying distances. Then, the received power was confirmed. The results show that the AUC using DRMS values for LEDs significantly increased (by 30%) when the number of source LEDs was changed from four to three. These results confirm that our system, associated with the simple linear lateration estimator, can achieve better energy consumption.
Optical Design of Imaging Spectrometer Based on Linear Variable Filter for Nighttime Light Remote Sensing
Authors: Xie Yunqiang , Liu Chunyu , Liu Shuai , Fan Xinghao
Published: June 2021

Nighttime light remote sensing has unique advantages on reflecting human activities, and thus has been used in many fields including estimating population and GDP, analyzing light pollution and monitoring disasters and conflict. However, the existing nighttime light remote sensors have many limitations because they are subject to one or more shortcomings such as coarse spatial resolution, restricted swath width and lack of multi-spectral data. Therefore, we propose an optical system of imaging spectrometer based on linear variable filter. The imaging principle, optical specifications, optical design, imaging performance analysis and tolerance analysis are illustrated. The optical system with a focal length of 100 mm, F-number 4 and 43° field of view in the spectrum range of 400–1000 nm is presented, and excellent image quality is achieved. The system can obtain the multi-spectral images of eight bands with a spatial resolution of 21.5 m and a swath width of 320 km at the altitude of 500 km. Compared with the existing nighttime light remote sensors, our system possesses the advantages of high spatial and high spectral resolution, wide spectrum band and wide swath width simultaneously, greatly making up for the shortage of the present systems. The result of tolerance analysis shows our system satisfy the requirements of fabrication and alignment.
A LoRa-Based Mesh Network for Peer-to-Peer Long-Range Communication
Authors: Berto Riccardo , Napoletano Paolo , Savi Marco
Published: June 2021

LoRa is a long-range and low-power radio technology largely employed in Internet of Things (IoT) scenarios. It defines the lower physical layer while other protocols, such as LoRaWAN, define the upper layers of the network. A LoRaWAN network assumes a star topology where each of the nodes communicates with multiple gateways which, in turn, forward the collected data to a network server. The main LoRaWAN characteristic is the central role of the gateways; however, in some application scenarios, a much lighter protocol stack, relying only on node capabilities and without the presence of gateways, can be more suitable. In this paper, we present a preliminary study for realizing a LoRa-based mesh network, not relying on LoRaWAN, that implements a peer-to-peer communication between nodes, without the use of gateways, and extends node reachability through multi-hop communication. To validate our investigations, we present a hardware/software prototype based on low-power-consumption devices, and we preliminarily assess the proposed solution.
The Proposition and Evaluation of the RoEduNet-SIMARGL2021 Network Intrusion Detection Dataset
Authors: Mihailescu Maria-Elena , Mihai Darius , Carabas Mihai , Komisarek Mikołaj , Pawlicki Marek , Hołubowicz Witold , Kozik Rafał
Published: June 2021

Cybersecurity is an arms race, with both the security and the adversaries attempting to outsmart one another, coming up with new attacks, new ways to defend against those attacks, and again with new ways to circumvent those defences. This situation creates a constant need for novel, realistic cybersecurity datasets. This paper introduces the effects of using machine-learning-based intrusion detection methods in network traffic coming from a real-life architecture. The main contribution of this work is a dataset coming from a real-world, academic network. Real-life traffic was collected and, after performing a series of attacks, a dataset was assembled. The dataset contains 44 network features and an unbalanced distribution of classes. In this work, the capability of the dataset for formulating machine-learning-based models was experimentally evaluated. To investigate the stability of the obtained models, cross-validation was performed, and an array of detection metrics were reported. The gathered dataset is part of an effort to bring security against novel cyberthreats and was completed in the SIMARGL project.
Characterization of Quercetin Derivatives in Crossing Combination of Habanero White and Capsicum annuum Peppers and of Anti-Inflammatory and Cytotoxic Activity
Authors: Acquavia Maria Assunta , Pascale Raffaella , Pappalardo Ilaria , Santarsiero Anna , Martelli Giuseppe , Bianco Giuliana
Published: June 2021

The overproduction of reactive oxygen species and the exposure of the human body to free radicals contribute to the aetiology of many chronic health problems, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. Supplementation with natural antioxidants could be helpful, preventing free-radical-induced tissue damage through the inhibition of the radicals’ formation. Quercetin derivatives have recently been shown to inhibit the production of inflammatory mediators and to reduce the proliferation of tumoral cells, thus being valid compounds to be promoted as dietary supplements. In this work, an HPLC-MS/MS investigation on the derivatives of quercetin in a methanolic extract of peppers deriving from an original crossing combination between Habanero white and Capsicum annuum revealed the occurrence of nine glycoconjugates, either monosaccharide, disaccharide or trisaccharide, as well as an acylated disaccharidic derivative (i.e., quercetin rhamnoside-(feruloyl-hexoside)). Due to the great variability in the quercetin derivatives’ profiles, the Habanero white hybrid pepper extract was subjected to in vitro cytotoxicity assays. The pepper extract under study was proved to have anti-inflammatory activity comparable to that shown by a Capsicum annuum pepper extract since it reduced ROS levels compared to activated cells. Due to its beneficial effects, it could be exploited as a natural constituent of nutraceutical formulations.
Having a Positive Relationship to Physical Activity: Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Age as Predictors for Students’ Enjoyment in Physical Education
Authors: Leisterer Sascha , Gramlich Leonie
Published: June 2021

Physical activity is fundamental to prevent common illnesses in youth and research shows that students who perceive enjoyment in physical education (PE) have a more physically active lifestyle. This study aims to identify psychological antecedents of student enjoyment in PE. We addressed this by assessing aspects of self-determination theory (SDT), including the extent of autonomy-supportive teaching in PE (reported by teachers), the satisfaction of students’ basic psychological needs, and student age (reported by students), via questionnaires. Correlational and multiple linear regression analyses of the collected data of N = 170 students (M = 14.3 ± 2.20, 10–19 years of age) and N = 10 teachers show that autonomy support is related to autonomy satisfaction in students (r = 0.20, p < 0.01). In turn, student perception of autonomy correlates with competence (r = 0.64, p < 0.001) and belonging (r = 0.37, p < 0.001). All three basic psychological needs predict enjoyment in PE (F(1, 163) = 19.59, R2 = 0.68, p < 0.01). Additional analyses show that higher student age predicts a decrease in enjoyment (ΔR2 = 0.04, B = −0.73, β = −0.21, p < 0.01). Thus, student enjoyment in PE, as a foundation for a physically active lifestyle, can help to prevent common illnesses by satisfying basic psychological needs in PE.
A Divergent View of the Impact of Digital Transformation on Academic Organizational and Spending Efficiency: A Review and Analytical Study on a University E-Service
Authors: Brdesee Hani
Published: June 2021

With the aim of achieving a global ranking and academic distinction, a large number of universities have decided to focus on competition and greater academic quality on a global scale. During the course of such a journey, universities have to face numerous challenges, including the enhancement of organizational efficiency. In the context of organizational efficiency, the most significant pillar supporting this drive is recognized as being digital transformation. It is widely accepted that digital transformation allows electronic systems to be used in the process of teaching and learning. These electronic systems (e-services) enhance universities’ operational efficiency. Keeping this in mind, this research paper aims to analyze the impact of digital transformation on the organizational and spending efficiency of universities, with a special focus on one particular e-service provided by the Saudi University. For this, the study examines the effort made by the government to spread the culture of rationalization and improve the efficiency of spending through a case study involving a statistical analysis of real data from an electronic system. The results of the study state that an increase in the number of subject withdrawals will weaken the spending and organizational efficiency of the University.
Linking Green and Sustainable Entrepreneurial Intentions and Social Networking Sites; The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy and Risk Propensity
Authors: Hussain Iftikhar , Nazir Mehrab , Hashmi Saadia Bano , Shaheen Imrab , Akram Sabahat , Waseem Muhammad Arfaq , Arshad Adeel
Published: June 2021

This study investigated the impact of the use of social networking sites on university graduate students’ green sustainable entrepreneurial intentions by developing a mediating effect. This study provided a research framework using Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior and Shapero’s model to illustrate the relationship between self-efficacy and risk propensity towards green and sustainable entrepreneurial intentions. This research model posited a relationship between the use of social networking sites and green and sustainable entrepreneurship intentions with a mediating role of risk propensity and self-efficacy. The structural questionnaire was adopted, validated, and disseminated to the 300 respondents of university students. This study’s findings confirmed that there was a significant positive effect of the use of social networking sites on green and sustainable entrepreneurship intentions with the indirect impact of risk propensity and self-efficacy. These substantial outcomes have essential practices and academic implications for representatives, policy makers, and entrepreneurial institutes, such as how to direct the use of such relative niche technologies for communication and the role of the internet to promote green and sustainable entrepreneurial practices among young people.
Spirals of Sustainable Academic Motivation, Creativity, and Trust of Higher Education Staff
Authors: Blašková Martina , Tumová Dominika , Blaško Rudolf , Majchrzak-Lepczyk Justyna
Published: June 2021

Sustainability has to penetrate more and more into higher education. It should not focus only on traditional elements. It should also enter new, but for future improvement, extremely important areas. Based on this premise, creativity and motivation, when additionally interconnected and supported by trust that is provided and achieved, decide on the progress and sustainability of universities. This connection is gaining importance especially from the point of view of building solid foundations and mechanisms that functionally preserve the potential effects of these elements in the future. For this reason and following the nature, importance, and content of sustainable academic motivation (SAM), the paper introduces two new concepts: sustainable academic creativity (SAC) and sustainable academic trust (SAT). For further original contributions, the paper hypothesizes the existence of mutual—spiral—relations of sustainable academic motivation (SAM), sustainable academic creativity (SAC), and sustainable academic trust (SAT). The empirical section tests the validity of this claim in the universities of two countries: the Slovak Republic and Poland. A survey performed on a sample of n=181 pedagogical, scientific, management, and administrative staff in higher education confirms the existence of these spirals. The results indicate the spiral effect of motivation when connected with creativity and trust and show that it is accented by the crucial principles of sustainability (responsibility, novelty, usefulness, progress, etc.). Therefore, the paper’s conclusion contains the explanations for the potential occurrence of three types of sustainably mutual systems and complexes. These are: (a) individual sustainable systems of SAM, SAC, and SAT; (b) group/sectional sustainable systems of SAM, SAC, and SAT; and (c) the global sustainable complex of SAM, SAC, and SAT in the university.
Recently Developed Adsorbing Materials for Fluoride Removal from Water and Fluoride Analytical Determination Techniques: A Review
Authors: Tolkou Athanasia K. , Manousi Natalia , Zachariadis George A. , Katsoyiannis Ioannis A. , Deliyanni Eleni A.
Published: June 2021

In recent years, there has been an increase in public perception of the detrimental side-effects of fluoride to human health due to its effects on teeth and bones. Today, there is a plethora of techniques available for the removal of fluoride from drinking water. Among them, adsorption is a very prospective method because of its handy operation, cost efficiency, and high selectivity. Along with efforts to assist fluoride removal from drinking waters, extensive attention has been also paid to the accurate measurement of fluoride in water. Currently, the analytical methods that are used for fluoride determination can be classified into chromatographic methods (e.g., ionic chromatography), electrochemical methods (e.g., voltammetry, potentiometry, and polarography), spectroscopic methods (e.g., molecular absorption spectrometry), microfluidic analysis (e.g., flow injection analysis and sequential injection analysis), titration, and sensors. In this review article, we discuss the available techniques and the ongoing effort for achieving enhanced fluoride removal by applying novel adsorbents such as carbon-based materials (i.e., activated carbon, graphene oxide, and carbon nanotubes) and nanostructured materials, combining metals and their oxides or hydroxides as well as natural materials. Emphasis has been given to the use of lanthanum (La) in the modification of materials, both activated carbon and hybrid materials (i.e., La/Mg/Si-AC, La/MA, LaFeO3 NPs), and in the use of MgO nanostructures, which are found to exhibit an adsorption capacity of up to 29,131 mg g−1. The existing analytical methodologies and the current trends in analytical chemistry for fluoride determination in drinking water are also discussed.
Phosphate-Solubilizing Bacteria as a Panacea to Alleviate Stress Effects of High Soil CaCO3 Content in Phaseolus vulgaris with Special Reference to P-Releasing Enzymes
Authors: Bamagoos Atif A. , Alharby Hesham F. , Belal Eman E. , Khalaf Ahmed E. A. , Abdelfattah Mahmoud A. , Rady Mostafa M. , Ali Esmat F. , Mersal Gaber A. M.
Published: June 2021

The present study examines the role of leguminous compost (LC), humic acids (HA), and phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (P-SB) in alleviating the stress effects of high soil CaCO3 content in Phaseolus vulgaris. Two pot trials for two consecutive seasons; fall 2019 and summer 2020 were implemented in an open greenhouse. A mixed three-way ANOVA, two independent factors (season and soil treatments) and one within factors (time) were used with four replicates. Residual maximum likelihood (REML) analysis was used for the mixed model of the studied traits. Inoculation of calcareous soil with P-SB (a 1:1 mixture of two Pseudomonas sp.; Ps. mallei and Ps. cepaceae) significantly exceeded LC, HA, or even LC+HA for the positive results obtained. P-SB facilitated nutrient solubility (e.g., N, K, Fe, and Mn), including conversion of insoluble phosphorous into a form available in the tested soil due to increased soil enzymatic activities (e.g., phosphatases and phytases). This mechanism, combined with a decrease in soil calcium carbonate content and an increase in cation exchange capacity (CEC) and organic matter (OM) content, increased the availability of various nutrients to plants, including P, in the soil, which contributed to the increased plant output. Adequate P content in plants led to a marked decrease in plant acid phosphatase activity under high content of CaCO3. The study concluded that the use of P-SB promotes biological activities, nutrient availability, and thus the productivity of calcareous soils, enabling Phaseolus vulgaris plants to withstand stress produced by high CaCO3 content through the development and/or adoption of potentially effective mechanisms. Strong highly significant interactions between the treatments and time were observed using the Wald’s statistics test, which indicates a positive correlation.
Scientometric Analysis of Diesel Pollutions in Antarctic Territories: A Review of Causes and Potential Bioremediation Approaches
Authors: Roslee Ahmad Fareez Ahmad , Ahmad Siti Aqlima , Gomez-Fuentes Claudio , Shaharuddin Noor Azmi , Khalil Khalilah Abdul , Zulkharnain Azham
Published: June 2021

Despite the continuous enforcement of Antarctic Treaty System, ATS (1961), today Antarctica is constantly plagued by hydrocarbon pollution from both legacy and present-day wastes, especially near where anthropogenic activities are the most intense. The advances of science have led to multiple breakthroughs to bolster bioremediation techniques and revamp existing laws that prevent or limit the extent of hydrocarbon pollution in Antarctica. This review serves as the extension of collective efforts by the Antarctic communities through visual representation that summarizes decades of findings (circa 2000–2020) from various fields, pertinent to the application of microbe-mediated hydrocarbons remediation. A scientometric analysis was carried out based on indexed, scientific repositories (ScienceDirect and Scopus), encompassing various parameters, including but not limited to keywords co-occurrences, contributing countries, trends and current breakthroughs in polar researches. The emergence of keywords such as bioremediation, biosurfactants, petroleum hydrocarbons, biodiesel, metagenomics and Antarctic treaty policy portrays the dynamic shifts in Antarctic affairs during the last decades, which initially focused on exploration and resources exploitation before switching to scientific research and the more recent ecotourism. This review also presents the hydrocarbonoclastic microbes studied in the past, known and proposed metabolic pathways and genes related to hydrocarbon biodegradation as well as bacterial adaptations to low-temperature condition.
Social Capital as an Inclusion Tool from a Solidarity Finance Angle
Authors: Salinas Juanita , Sastre-Merino Susana
Published: June 2021

Within rural environments, the construction of financial ecosystems that both stimulate local development and contribute to poverty reduction requires an increase in associative community activity. Such activity serves as a fundamental means of organizing territorial production systems, reinforcing capacities, and strengthening the negotiating position of the population being offered financial services. Solidarity finance is important because it recognizes that collective action and criteria such as social efficiency, local capacities, cooperation, associativity, the social fabric, self-management, and resource recirculation are integral aspects of financial evaluation. Therefore, this research proposes a methodology to reinforce the financial service delivery of solidarity finance institutions through the evaluation of social capital in rural production organizations. Social capital is regarded as a resource of the organization’s constituents that can facilitate financial inclusion and generate value for rural populations.
Agricultural Climate Change Adaptation in Kebumen, Central Java, Indonesia
Authors: Sekaranom Andung Bayu , Nurjani Emilya , Nucifera Fitria
Published: June 2021

Productive agricultural areas in Kebumen, Central Java, Indonesia are potentially vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change. We surveyed small-scale farmers to assess climate change-related perceptions and adaptations in the agriculture sector. The majority of the respondents agreed that there were changes in climatological variables affecting their farming activities, especially in terms of precipitation and temperature. However, the results also revealed that only 13% of respondents believed that human activities play a significant role. Three forms of adaptations have been developed by the farmers, namely: (1) agricultural diversification, (2) agricultural intensification, and (3) socioeconomic adaptation. Changing crops to more climate-tolerant varieties was one of the most common agricultural diversification practices (implemented by 88% of farmers). Most of the farmers also tried to maintain agricultural productivity by adjusting a local planting calendar (implemented by 94% of farmers). The use of machinery to intensify farming practice was an uncommon strategy (implemented by only 30% of farmers) because of expensive maintenance and small cultivation areas. The results suggested the importance of increasing farmers’ knowledge and technological know-how related to climate change and its implications, developing effective adaptation and mitigation efforts, and constructing climate-resilient infrastructure in the agricultural sector.