bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Novel Stereo Matching Algorithm for Digital Surface Model (DSM) Generation in Water Areas
Authors: Yang Wenhuan , Li Xin , Yang Bo , Fu Yu
Published: March 2020

Image dense matching has become one of the widely used means for DSM generation due to its good performance in both accuracy and efficiency. However, for water areas, the most common ground object, accurate disparity estimation is always a challenge to excellent image dense matching methods, as represented by semi-global matching (SGM), due to the poor texture. For this reason, a great deal of manual editing is always inevitable before practical applications. The main reason for this is the lack of uniqueness of matching primitives, with fixed size and shape, used by those methods. In this paper, we propose a novel DSM generation method, namely semi-global and block matching (SGBM), to achieve accurate disparity and height estimation in water areas by adaptive block matching instead of pixel matching. First, the water blocks are extracted by seed point growth, and an adaptive block matching strategy considering geometrical deformations, called end-block matching (EBM), is adopted to achieve accurate disparity estimation. Then, the disparity of all other pixels beyond these water blocks is obtained by SGM. Last, the median value of height of all pixels within the same block is selected as the final height for this block after forward intersection. Experiments are conducted on ZiYuan-3 (ZY-3) stereo images, and the results show that DSM generated by our method in water areas has high accuracy and visual quality.
Review of Terahertz Pulsed Imaging for Pharmaceutical Film Coating Analysis
Authors: Alves-Lima Décio , Song Jun , Li Xiaoran , Portieri Alessia , Shen Yaochun , Zeitler J. Axel , Lin Hungyen
Published: March 2020

Terahertz pulsed imaging (TPI) was introduced approximately fifteen years ago and has attracted a lot of interest in the pharmaceutical industry as a fast, non-destructive modality for quantifying film coatings on pharmaceutical dosage forms. In this topical review, we look back at the use of TPI for analysing pharmaceutical film coatings, highlighting the main contributions made and outlining the key challenges ahead.
Estimation Methods for Viscosity, Flow Rate and Pressure from Pump-Motor Assembly Parameters
Authors: Elenkov Martin , Ecker Paul , Lukitsch Benjamin , Janeczek Christoph , Harasek Michael , Gföhler Margit
Published: March 2020

Blood pumps have found applications in heart support devices, oxygenators, and dialysis systems, among others. Often, there is no room for sensors, or the sensors are simply unreliable when long-term operation is required. However, control systems rely on those hard-to-measure parameters, such as blood flow rate and pressure difference, thus their estimation takes a central role in the development process of such medical devices. The viscosity of the blood not only influences the estimation of those parameters but is often a parameter that is of great interest to both doctors and engineers. In this work, estimation methods for blood flow rate, pressure difference, and viscosity are presented using Gaussian process regression models. Different water–glycerol mixtures were used to model blood. Data was collected from a custom-built blood pump, designed for intracorporeal oxygenators in an in vitro test circuit. The estimation was performed from motor current and motor speed measurements and its accuracy was measured for: blood flow rate r2 = 0.98, root mean squared error (RMSE) = 46 mL.min−1; pressure difference r2 = 0.98, RMSE = 8.7 mmHg; and viscosity r2 = 0.98, RMSE = 0.049 mPa.s. The results suggest that the presented methods can be used to accurately predict blood flow rate, pressure, and viscosity online.
Arrowhead Technology for Digitalization and Automation Solution: Smart Cities and Smart Agriculture
Authors: Marcu Ioana , Suciu George , Bălăceanu Cristina , Vulpe Alexandru , Drăgulinescu Ana-Maria
Published: March 2020

The Internet of Things (IoT) concept has met requirements for security and reliability in domains like automotive industry, food industry, as well as precision agriculture. Furthermore, System of Systems (SoS) expands the use of local clouds for the evolution of integration and communication technologies. SoS devices need to ensure Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities including service-oriented management and different QoS characteristics monitoring. Smart applications depend on information quality since they are driven by processes which require communication robustness and enough bandwidth. Interconnectivity and interoperability facilities among different smart devices can be achieved using Arrowhead Framework technology via its core systems and services. Arrowhead Framework is targeting smart IoT devices with wide applicability areas including smart building, smart energy, smart cities, smart agriculture, etc. The advantages of Arrowhead Framework can be underlined by parameters such as transmission speed, latency, security, etc. This paper presents a survey of Arrowhead Framework in IoT/SoS dedicated architectures for smart cities and smart agriculture developed around smart cities, aiming to outline its significant impact on the global performances. The advantages of Arrowhead Framework technology are emphasized by analysis of several smart cities use-cases and a novel architecture for a telemetry system that will enable the use of Arrowhead technology in smart agriculture area is introduced and detailed by authors.
Fusion of Mid-Wave Infrared and Long-Wave Infrared Reflectance Spectra for Quantitative Analysis of Minerals
Authors: Desta Feven , Buxton Mike , Jansen Jeroen
Published: March 2020

Accurate quantitative mineralogical data has significant implications in mining operations. However, quantitative analysis of minerals is challenging for most of the sensor outputs. Thus, it requires advances in data analytics. In this work, data fusion approaches for integrating datasets pertaining to the mid-wave infrared (MWIR) and long-wave infrared (LWIR) spectral regions are proposed, aiming to facilitate more accurate prediction of SiO2, Al2O3, and Fe2O3 concentrations in a polymetallic sulphide deposit. Two approaches of low-level data fusion were applied to these datasets. In the first approach, the pre-processed blocks of MWIR and LWIR data were concatenated to form a fused data block. In the second approach, a prior variable selection was performed to extract the most important features from the MWIR and LWIR datasets. The extracted informative features were subsequently concatenated to form a new fused data block. Next, prediction models that link the mineralogical concentrations with the infrared reflectance spectra were developed using partial-least squares regression (PLSR), principal component regression (PCR) and support vector regression (SVR) analytical techniques. These models were applied to the fused data blocks as well as the individual (MWIR and LWIR) data blocks. The obtained results indicate that SiO2, Al2O3, and Fe2O3 mineral concentrations can be successfully predicted using both MWIR and LWIR spectra individually, but the prediction performance greatly improved with data fusion; where the PLSR, PCR, and SVR models provided good and acceptable results. The proposed approach could be extended for online analysis of mineral concentrations in different deposit types. Thus, it would be highly beneficial in mining operations, where indications of mineralogical concentrations can have significant financial implications.
A Generic Design of Driver Drowsiness and Stress Recognition Using MOGA Optimized Deep MKL-SVM
Authors: Chui Kwok Tai , Lytras Miltiadis D. , Liu Ryan Wen
Published: March 2020

Driver drowsiness and stress are major causes of traffic deaths and injuries, which ultimately wreak havoc on world economic loss. Researchers are in full swing to develop various algorithms for both drowsiness and stress recognition. In contrast to existing works, this paper proposes a generic model using multiple-objective genetic algorithm optimized deep multiple kernel learning support vector machine that is capable to recognize both driver drowsiness and stress. This algorithm simplifies the research formulations and model complexity that one model fits two applications. Results reveal that the proposed algorithm achieves an average sensitivity of 99%, specificity of 98.3% and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 97.1% for driver drowsiness recognition. For driver stress recognition, the best performance is yielded with average sensitivity of 98.7%, specificity of 98.4% and AUC of 96.9%. Analysis also indicates that the proposed algorithm using multiple-objective genetic algorithm has better performance compared to the grid search method. Multiple kernel learning enhances the performance significantly compared to single typical kernel. Compared with existing works, the proposed algorithm not only achieves higher accuracy but also addressing the typical issues of dataset in simulated environment, no cross-validation and unreliable measurement stability of input signals.
ZnO Composite Graphene Coating Micro-Fiber Interferometer for Ultraviolet Detection
Authors: Shen Tao , Dai Xiaoshuang , Zhang Daqing , Wang Wenkang , Feng Yue
Published: March 2020

A simple and reliable ultraviolet sensing method with high sensitivity is proposed. ZnO and ZnO composite graphene are successfully prepared by the hydrothermal method. The optical fiber sensor is fabricated by coating the single-mode-taper multimode-single-mode (STMS) with different shapes of ZnO. The effects of the sensitivity of ultraviolet sensors are further investigated. The results show that the sensor with ZnO nanosheets exhibits a higher sensitivity of 357.85 pm/nW·cm−2 for ultraviolet sensing ranging from 0 to 4 nW/cm2. The ultraviolet characteristic of STMS coated flake ZnO composite graphene has been demonstrated with a sensitivity of 427.76 pm/nW·cm−2. The combination of sensitive materials and optical fiber sensing technology provides a novel and convenient platform for ultraviolet detection technology.
The Reflectance of Human Skin in the Millimeter-Wave Band
Authors: Owda Amani Yousef , Salmon Neil , Casson Alexander J , Owda Majdi
Published: March 2020

The millimeter-wave band is an ideal part of the electromagnetic radiation to diagnose human skin conditions because this radiation interacts only with tissue down to a depth of a millimetre or less over the band range from 30 GHz to 300 GHz. In this paper, radiometry is used as a non-contact sensor for measuring the human skin reflectance under normal and wet skin conditions. The mean reflectance of the skin of a sample of 50 healthy participants over the (80–100) GHz band was found to be ~0.615 with a standard deviation of ~0.088, and an experimental measurement uncertainty of ±0.005. The thinner skin regions of the back of the hand, the volar forearms and the inner wrist had reflectances 0.068, 0.068 and 0.062 higher than the thicker skin regions of the palm of the hand, the dorsal forearm and the outer wrist skin. Experimental measurements of human skin reflectance in a normal and a wet state on the back of the hand and the palm of the hand regions indicated that the mean differences in the reflectance before and after the application of water were ~0.078 and ~0.152, respectively. These differences were found to be statistically significant as assessed using t-tests (34 paired t-tests and six independent t-tests were performed to assess the significance level of the mean differences in the reflectance of the skin). Radiometric measurements in this paper show the quantitative variations in the skin reflectance between locations, sexes, and individuals. The study reveals that these variations are related to the skin thickness and water content, a capability that has the potential to allow radiometry to be used as a non-contact sensor to detect and monitor skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis, malignancy, and burn wounds.
Combination of Sensor Data and Health Monitoring for Early Detection of Subclinical Ketosis in Dairy Cows
Authors: Sturm Valentin , Efrosinin Dmitry , Öhlschuster Manfred , Gusterer Erika , Drillich Marc , Iwersen Michael
Published: March 2020

Subclinical ketosis is a metabolic disease in early lactation. It contributes to economic losses because of reduced milk yield and may promote the development of secondary diseases. Thus, an early detection seems desirable as it enables the farmer to initiate countermeasures. To support early detection, we examine different types of data recordings and use them to build a flexible algorithm that predicts the occurence of subclinical ketosis. This approach shows promising results and can be seen as a step toward automatic health monitoring in farm animals.
Rapid On-Site Phenotyping via Field Fluorimeter Detects Differences in Photosynthetic Performance in a Hybrid—Parent Barley Germplasm Set
Authors: Fernández-Calleja Miriam , Monteagudo Arantxa , Casas Ana M. , Boutin Christophe , Pin Pierre A. , Morales Fermín , Igartua Ernesto
Published: March 2020

Crop productivity can be expressed as the product of the amount of radiation intercepted, radiation use efficiency and harvest index. Genetic variation for components of radiation use efficiency has rarely been explored due to the lack of appropriate equipment to determine parameters at the scale needed in plant breeding. On the other hand, responses of the photosynthetic apparatus to environmental conditions have not been extensively investigated under field conditions, due to the challenges posed by the fluctuating environmental conditions. This study applies a rapid, low-cost, and reliable high-throughput phenotyping tool to explore genotypic variation for photosynthetic performance of a set of hybrid barleys and their parents under mild water-stress and unstressed field conditions. We found differences among the genotypic sets that are relevant for plant breeders and geneticists. Hybrids showed lower leaf temperature differential and higher non-photochemical quenching, resembling closer the male parents. The combination of traits detected in hybrids seems favorable, and could indicate improved photoprotection and better fitness under stress conditions. Additionally, we proved the potential of a low-cost, field-based phenotyping equipment to be used routinely in barley breeding programs for early screening for stress tolerance.
Regional Ecological Risk Assessment of Wetlands in the Sanjiang Plain with Respect to Human Disturbance
Authors: Wang Hui , Song Changchun , Song Kaishan
Published: March 2020

Characterization of the intensity of regional human disturbances on wetlands is an important scientific issue. In this study, the pole-axis system (involving multi-level central places and roads) was recognized as a proxy of direct risk to wetlands stemming from human activities at the regional or watershed scale. In this respect, the pole-axis system and central place theory were adopted to analyze the spatial agglomeration characteristics of regional human activities. Soil erosion and non-point source (NPS) pollution, indicating the indirect effect of human activities on wetlands, were also considered. Based on these human disturbance proxies, which are considered regional risk sources to wetlands, incorporated with another two indicators of regional environment, i.e., vulnerability and ecological capital indexes, the regional ecological risk assessment (RERA) framework of wetlands was finally established. Using this wetland RERA framework, the spatial heterogeneity of risk grades within the Naoli River Basin, a typical concentrated wetland region in the Sanjiang Plain, was analyzed. The results showed that (1) high- and very high-risk source intensity areas displayed a ring-shape distribution pattern, which reflected the influence of the regional pole-axis system; (2) owing to their high ecological capital value per unit area and vulnerability level, the wetlands had the highest risk grade, as did central places (i.e., those areas where county seats and administration bureaus of farms were located). In terms of proportion, the low-, medium-, high-, and very high-risk areas accounted for 72.0%, 16.8%, 10.1%, and 1.1% of the study area, respectively. The identification and classification of risk sources to wetlands that are related to human activity at the watershed scale could provide clear perspectives in order to reduce severe risk sources to these areas, especially those Ramsor Convention-appointed sites of international importance. Moreover, the assessment framework used in this paper will provide a helpful reference for related research in the future. Finally, the new management guidelines proposed in this paper will be beneficial for lowering the ecological risk level of wetlands at the watershed or regional scale for the Sanjiang Plain or other wetland-concentrated regions.
Critical Success Factors for Sustainable Construction Project Management
Authors: Gunduz Murat , Almuajebh Mohammed
Published: March 2020

It is necessary to identify critical success factors (CSFs) that affect the construction process. This paper’s aim is to define the CSFs considering views of all construction project stakeholders. The contribution of this paper is to categorize project success factors into categories and quantify the effect of each category taking into account the effect of all stakeholders on project efficiency and progress. To achieve this objective, a comprehensive literature review was carried out. After literature review, 40 success factors were compiled into seven categories: project-related factors, company- and work-related factors, client-related factors, project management factors, design-team-related factors, contractor-related factors, project-manager-related factors. Consequently, a survey including these listed success factors was prepared and distributed to various experts in the construction field to be ranked; 148 responses were received. Employing the Relative Importance Index (RII) and traditional Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method with Saaty random index that prioritizes these CSFs, the collected data were analyzed after receiving responses. Even though there were disagreements in stakeholders’ views and their goals, significant areas have been identified as project financial issues, managerial aspects, and authorities’ approval mechanism. The outcome of this paper would be used by construction industry professionals to support, evaluate, and measure the success of projects for better allocation of resources.
Firm Characteristics and Corporate Social Responsibility: The Case of Czech Transportation and Storage Industry
Authors: Činčalová Simona , Hedija Veronika
Published: March 2020

Nowadays, corporate social responsibility is an important factor in sustainable growth. The paper aims to examine the relationship between selected characteristics of firms (firm age, firm size, firm performance, and gender diversity of boards) and the application of a corporate social responsibility concept in the Czech transportation and storage industry. Using the data from own survey, the Albertina database, and the Business Register, and applying the Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients and regression analysis, it has been found that there is a statistically significant relationship between firm size, firm financial performance, and CSR practice of firms. On the other hand, firm age and gender diversity of boards are not the factors affecting the CSR practice. These findings have brought new insights in the area of CSR and its application in the Czech Republic.
Sustainable Portfolio Optimization with Higher-Order Moments of Risk
Authors: Khan Kanwal Iqbal , Naqvi Syed M. Waqar Azeem , Ghafoor Muhammad Mudassar , Akash Rana Shahid Imdad
Published: March 2020

Sustainable economic growth and development of stock market plays an important role in diversifying the investment opportunities that can be assessed accordingly. However, a true diversification in portfolio is impossible without inclusion of higher-order moments, skewness and kurtosis. However, the risk-taking behavior of investors is modelled with the help of higher-order moments of risk. Therefore, this study is intended to construct optimal portfolios and efficient frontiers with the inclusion of higher-order moments of risk. The findings show that optimized portfolios with inclusion of skewness and kurtosis are sustainable and significantly different than those from mean-variance optimized portfolios which show asymmetric and fat-tail risk. Results further confirm its significance in balancing the additional risk dimensions and returns in Asian emerging stock markets for sustainable returns. The results also endorse that induction of skewness and kurtosis affects portfolio allocation weights and expected returns. Therefore, this study strongly recommends the inclusion of higher moments of risk for optimization to curtail their effect and sub-optimal decisions.
The Role of Gender Diversity on Tax Aggressiveness and Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Italian Listed Companies
Authors: Vacca Andrea , Iazzi Antonio , Vrontis Demetris , Fait Monica
Published: March 2020

The paper aims to examine the moderating role of gender diversity within a corporate board on the relationship between tax aggressiveness and a firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach. This analysis was conducted using a set of indicators of financial statements of 168 Italian listed firms between 2011 and 2018. In addition, the sustainability reports of the same companies were observed. To perform the analysis a logit regression model is used. This paper shows different empirical results. First, this study notes that there is not a direct relationship between tax aggressiveness and CSR reporting. Second, gender diversity in a board of directors increases the orientation of companies to CSR disclosure, but does not have an impact on the relationship between tax aggressiveness and CSR disclosure. Instead, CEO gender has a positive influence on the relationship between corporate tax planning and CSR reporting in accordance with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards. This study emphasizes the key role of gender diversity in the growth of the CSR approach and the reputation of companies. Therefore, governments and policymakers of major countries should promote gender diversity in corporate decision-making bodies, which contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Sustainable Production of Nannochloris atomus Biomass Towards Biodiesel Production
Authors: Bounnit Touria , Saadaoui Imen , Rasheed Rihab , Schipper Kira , Al Muraikhi Maryam , Al Jabri Hareb
Published: March 2020

Nannochloris atomus (QUCCCM31) is a local marine microalga showing potential to serve as renewable feedstock for biodiesel production. The investigation of the impact of temperature variation and nitrogen concentrations on the biomass and lipid productivities evidenced that biomass productivity increased with the temperature to reach an optimum of 195 mgL−1 d−1 at 30 °C. Similarly, the lipid content was strongly influenced by the elevation of temperature; indeed, it increased up to ~3 folds when the temperature increased from 20 to 40 °C. When both stresses were combined, triacylglycerols and lipid productivity reached a maximum of 45% and 88 mgL−1 d−1, respectively at 40 °C. Cultures under high temperatures along with Nitrogen-Depleted (ND) favored the synthesis of Fatty Acids Methyl Ester (FAMEs) suitable for high quality biodiesel production, whereas cultures conducted at low temperature coupled with Nitrogen-Limited (NL) led to a production of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Our results support the feasibility of cultivating the thermotolerant isolate QUCCCM31 year-round to meet the sustainability challenges of algal biomass production by growing under temperature and nitrogen variations. The presence of omega 3 and 9 fatty acids as valuable co-products will help in reducing the total process cost via biorefinery.
Intelligent PV Panels Fault Diagnosis Method Based on NARX Network and Linguistic Fuzzy Rule-Based Systems
Authors: Samara Sufyan , Natsheh Emad
Published: March 2020

The expanding use of photovoltaic (PV) systems as an alternative green source for electricity presents many challenges, one of which is the timely diagnosis of faults to maintain the quality and high productivity of such systems. In recent years, various studies have been conducted on the fault diagnosis of PV systems. However, very few instances of fault diagnostic techniques could be implemented on integrated circuits, and these techniques require costly and complex hardware. This work presents a novel and effective, yet small and implementable, fault diagnosis algorithm based on an artificial intelligent nonlinear autoregressive exogenous (NARX) neural network and Sugeno fuzzy inference. The algorithm uses Sugeno fuzzy inference to isolate and classify faults that may occur in a PV system. The fuzzy inference requires the actual sensed PV system output power, the predicted PV system output power, and the sensed surrounding conditions. An artificial intelligent NARX-based neural network is used to obtain the predicted PV system output power. The actual output power of the PV system and the surrounding conditions are obtained in real-time using sensors. The algorithm is proven to be implementable on a low-cost microcontroller. The obtained results indicate that the fault diagnosis algorithm can detect multiple faults such as open and short circuit degradation, faulty maximum power point tracking (MPPT), and conditions of partial shading (PS) that may affect the PV system. Moreover, radiation and temperature, among other non-linear associations of patterns between predictors, can be captured by the proposed algorithm to determine the accurate point of the maximum power for the PV system.
Development of Sustainable Test Sites for Mineral Exploration and Knowledge Spillover for Industry
Authors: Kesselring Michaela , Wagner Frank , Kirsch Moritz , Ajjabou Leila , Gloaguen Richard
Published: March 2020

In mineral exploration, pressure is growing to develop innovative technologies and methods with a lower impact on the social and physical environment. To assess the performance and impact of these technologies and methods, test sites are required. Embedded in the literature on sustainable development, this paper explores how social and environmental measures can be implemented in the design of test sites and what industry stake can learn from sustainable test sites. Through qualitative research, two value networks were developed, one for a sustainable test site approach and another for the existing business practice in mineral exploration. Respondents include public sector officials as well as experts in the social, environmental, business, geoscience, and industry fields. The analysis identifies key drivers for the development of socially and environmentally accepted test sites, thus drawing up actionable points for the mineral exploration industry to increase sustainability. The findings of this paper suggest that the integration of experts and partners from social, as well as environmental, sciences drives sustainability at test sites. For industry application, this results in the need to adapt the activities performed, align resource use with sustainability indicators, and also reconfigure the network of partners towards more socially and environmentally oriented business practices.
Joint Governance Regions and Major Prevention Periods of PM2.5 Pollution in China Based on Wavelet Analysis and Concentration-Weighted Trajectory
Authors: Li Youting , Zhao Wenhui , Fu Jianing , Liu Zhiqiang , Li Congying , Zhang Jingying , He Chuan , Wang Kai
Published: March 2020

China has made some progress in controlling PM2.5 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of ≤2.5 μm) pollution, but there are still some key areas that need further strengthening. Considering that excessive prevention and control efforts affect economic development, this paper combined an empirical orthogonal function, a continuous wavelet transform, and a concentration-weighted trajectory method to study joint regional governance during key pollution periods to provide suggestions for the efficient control of PM2.5. The results from our panel of data of PM2.5 in China from 2016 to 2018 could be decomposed into two modes. In the first mode, the pollution center was in central Shaanxi Province, and the main eruption period was from November to January of the following year. As the center of this region, Xi’an should cooperate with the four cities in eastern Sichuan (Nanchong, Guangan, Bazhong, and Dazhou) to control PM2.5, since the eruption occurred in this area. Moreover, governance should last for at least two cycles, where one cycle is at least 23 days. The pollution center of the second mode was in the western part of Xinjiang. Therefore, after the prevention and control efforts during the first mode are completed, the regional city of Kashgar should continue to build a joint governance zone for PM2.5 along the Tianshan mountains in the east, focusing on prevention and control over two cycles (where one cycle is 28 days).
Problems of Sustainable Transport of Large-Sized Roundwood
Authors: Mydlarz Katarzyna , Wieruszewski Marek
Published: March 2020

When considering the economic and environmental aspects of forestry, especially the issues related to timber harvesting, emphasis should be placed on the importance of the availability of raw material resources for the sustainable flow of goods. It would also be difficult to disregard certain issues related to transport, which play a key role in the efficient flow of wooden raw materials. It has to be noticed that timber transport options are limited by a number of factors, including the considerable fragmentation of wood resources and the lack of adequately developed railway transport facilities. This paper focuses on issues related to the road transport of timber carried out by transport companies. Observations to date of large-sized roundwood (thicker than 14 cm and longer than 3 m) transport in Poland indicate a relatively frequent occurrence of overloaded vehicles, exceeding the permissible total weight limit. Empirical evidence also suggests that in many cases, it is an effect of improperly endorsed standards with regard to the density of the transported material. Moreover, there is a clear correlation between the loading volume and economic as well as environmental factors. Therefore, the aim of this article was to show both the current situation in the transport of bulky timber and to present the possibilities for its optimization, from the point of view of locational, economic and environmental factors.
Can the Gap and Rating of Market Expectation Promote Innovation Input of China Manufacturers?
Authors: Jiang Zhangsheng
Published: March 2020

Under the strategic background of Made-in-China to Mind-in-China, how the capital market expectation affects enterprise innovation input has reached no coincident conclusion. This paper uses Chinese A-share manufacturing listed companies from 2010 to 2017 to investigate the internal mechanism among the gap and rating of market expectation and enterprise innovation input, and further explores the moderating effects of institutional coverage and government subsidies. The results show that: firstly, innovation input will first decrease and then increase with the market expectation gap increase. However, innovation input will first increase and then decrease with the market expectation rating increase. Secondly, when the institutional coverage and government subsidies increase, innovation input will remarkably transform from the first decrease and then increase into the first increase, then decrease with the market expectation gap increase. Finally, when institutional coverage is high and government subsidies are low, innovation input will remarkably transform from the first increase and then decrease into the first decrease, and then increase with the market expectation rating increases. These research findings can provide some academic support and policy references for managers to deal with effectively external performance pressures, institutional coverage, and optimize government subsidies to promote manufacturers’ innovation-driven upgrading.
Chemical Characterisation of Construction and Demolition Waste in Skopje City and Its Surroundings (Republic of Macedonia)
Authors: Bianchini Gianluca , Ristovski Igor , Milcov Igor , Zupac Alojz , Natali Claudio , Salani Gian Marco , Marchina Chiara , Brombin Valentina , Ferraboschi Andrea
Published: March 2020

In the Republic of Macedonia, construction and demolition (C&D) waste is often dumped, underestimating the potential recycling and re-use as raw materials for civil engineering works and/or cement/ceramic industries. SAMCODE (Sustainable Approach to Managing Construction and Demolition Waste) is a know-how exchange program, the focus of which is chemical characterisation in terms of major and trace elements in order to evaluate the possible Macedonian C&D waste recycling. Thirty-nine C&D waste samples were collected from different dumps in Skopje and surroundings. X-ray fluorescence analyses, carried out on powdered samples, show i) highly variable concentrations, indicative of the heterogenous nature of C&D waste, and ii) high concentration in Cr, Ni, and Zn with respect to Italian, Chinese, and Dutch tolerance limits, probably due to the presence of these elements in ophiolitic rocks and sulphide-bearing deposits, used as raw material in building activity. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry analyses of leachates, performed to assess the mobility of heavy metals, show significant concentrations of Cr, and to a lesser extent, Ni. Results suggest that homogenisation processes of the recycled materials should be implemented and preliminary screening of C&D waste should be performed to eliminate heavy metals-bearing components.
Assessment of Different Parking Pricing Strategies: A Simulation-based Analysis
Authors: Mei Zhenyu , Feng Chi , Kong Liang , Zhang Lihui , Chen Jun
Published: March 2020

Parking demand exceeding parking supply and uneven parking demand distribution are the existing conflicts in city centers. Parking pricing is frequently utilized to manage parking resources. This study aims to assess different parking pricing strategies through simulations for providing operational suggestions for urban parking managers. Two widely used parking pricing strategies in China combined with an optimized parking pricing strategy are proposed and compared. We introduce an agent-based simulation system to describe the parking and traffic conditions. Various measures of effectiveness under different parking pricing strategies can be obtained via agent-based simulations. We then construct a comprehensive benefit combining average cost and failure rate. Results show that the second strategy with charging different parking fees by considering locations and third optimized strategy can effectively improve traffic efficiency. However, the second strategy may lead to higher average cost than that of the third one. Thus, the third optimized strategy performs the best and can be used to optimize the parking policy of parking managers in the future. The entire assessment through simulations can provide evaluation suggestions for parking managers to adjust parking policies.
The Role of Earth Observation Satellites in Maximizing Renewable Energy Production: Case Studies Analysis for Renewable Power Plants
Authors: Argentiero Mariarosa , Falcone Pasquale Marcello
Published: March 2020

This paper is based on a novel approach towards clean energy production, i.e., space innovative applications toward sustainable development. Specifically, the role of Earth observation (EO) satellites in maximizing renewable energy production is considered to show the enormous potential in exploiting sustainable energy generation plants when the Earth is mapped by satellites to provide some peculiar parameters (e.g., solar irradiance, wind speed, precipitation, climate conditions, geothermal data). In this framework, RETScreen clean energy management software can be used for numerical analysis, such as energy generation and efficiency, prices, emission reductions, financial viability and hazard of various types of renewable-energy and energy-efficient technologies (RETs), based on a large database of satellite parameters. This simplifies initial assessments and provides streamlined processes that enable funders, architects, designers, regulators, etc. to make decisions on future clean energy initiatives. After describing the logic of life cycle analysis of RETScreen, two case studies (Mexicali and Toronto) on multiple technologies power plant are analyzed. The different results obtained, when projecting the two scenarios, showed how the software could be useful in the pre-feasibility phase to discriminate the type of installation not efficient for the selected location or not convenient in terms of internal rate of return (IRR) on equity.
Mixed Logit Models for Travelers’ Mode Shifting Considering Bike-Sharing
Authors: Ye Mao , Chen Yajing , Yang Guixin , Wang Bo , Hu Qizhou
Published: March 2020

This study quantifies the impact of individual attributes, the built environment, and travel characteristics on the use of bike-sharing and the willingness of shifting to bike-sharing-related travel modes (bike-sharing combined with other public transportation modes such as bus and subway) under different scenarios. The data are from an RP (Revealed Preference) survey and SP (Stated Preference) survey in Nanjing, China. Three mixed logit models are established: an individual attribute–travel characteristics model, a various-factor bike-sharing usage frequency model, and a mixed scenario–transfer willingness model. It is found that age and income are negatively associated with bike-sharing usage; the transfer distance (about 1 km), owning no car, students, and enterprises are positively associated with bike-sharing usage; both weather and travel distance have a significant negative impact on mode shifting. The sesearch conclusions can provide a reference for the formulation of urban transportation policies, the daily operation scheduling, and service optimization of bike-sharing.
Centrifuge Modeling and the Analysis of Ancient Landslides Subjected to Reservoir Water Level Fluctuation
Authors: Li Songlin , Xu Qiang , Tang Minggao , Li Huajin , Yang He , Wei Yong
Published: March 2020

Landslides are among the most severe natural hazards with significant impacts in human life and infrastructure. The Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA) is vulnerable to landslides because of the geological environment and human activities. A centrifuge model test of a landslide with a planar sliding surface in the TGRA was conducted. Based on the multiple monitoring systems composed of a 3D laser scanner, pore water pressure transducers, particle image velocimetry and earth pressure sensors, multiphysical data were obtained. The work described here had the objective of researching the long-term deformation pattern of this kind of landslide that was subjected to periodic fluctuations in the reservoir water level. The results indicated that the failure processes were characterized by progressive retrogression and cracks caused by the reservoir drawdown. Transverse tensile cracks first appeared in the submerged zone of the slope. The front part of the slope was dominated by horizontal displacement, while the consolidation and compaction deformation in the vertical direction dominated at the mid-rear part of the slope. When the water level dropped again, the front part slid down and fell into the river, but the mid-rear part had no obvious deformation and exhibited a phenomenon of self-stabilization. Moreover, the phreatic line is a concave shape directed into the slope during reservoir filling and converts to a convex shape pointing out of the slope during reservoir drawdown. The earth pressures in the slope vary with the failure process of the landslide. Good agreement is obtained for the deformation characteristics between the experimental results and those of prototype landslides.
Sustainable Thermal Energy Generation at Universities by Using Loquat Seeds as Biofuel
Authors: Perea-Moreno Miguel-Angel , Manzano-Agugliaro Francisco , Hernandez-Escobedo Quetzalcoatl , Perea-Moreno Alberto-Jesus
Published: March 2020

Global energy consumption has increased the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG), these being the main cause of global warming. Within renewable energies, bioenergy has undergone a great development in recent years. This is due to its carbon neutral balance and the fact that bioenergy can be obtained from a range of biomass resources, including residues from forestry, agricultural or livestock industries, the rapid rotation of forest plantations, the development of energy crops, organic matter from urban solid waste, and other sources of organic waste from agro-food industries. Processing factories that use loquats to make products such as liqueurs and jams generate large amounts of waste mainly in the form of skin and stones or seeds. These wastes are disposed of and sent to landfills without making environmentally sustainable use of them. The University of Almeria Sports Centre is made up of indoor spaces in which different sports can be practiced: sports centre pavilion (central court and two lateral courts), rocodrome, fitness room, cycle inner room, and indoor swimming pool. At present, the indoor swimming pool of the University of Almeria (UAL) has two fuel oil boilers, with a nominal power of 267 kW. The main objective of this study is to propose an energetic analysis to determine, on the one hand, the energetic properties of the loquat seed and, on the other hand, to evaluate its suitability to be used as a solid biofuel to feed the boilers of the heated swimming pool of the University of Almeria (Spain), highlighting the significant energy and environmental savings obtained. Results show that the higher calorific value of loquat seed (17.205 MJ/kg), is like other industrial wastes such as wheat straw, or pistachio shell, which demonstrates the energy potential of this residual biomass. In addition, the change of the fuel oil boiler to a biomass (loquat seed) boiler in the UAL’s indoor swimming pool means a reduction of 147,973.8 kg of CO2 in emissions into the atmosphere and an annual saving of 35,739.5 €, which means a saving of 72.78% with respect to the previous fuel oil installation. A sensitivity analysis shows that fuel cost of base case is the variable with the most sensitivity changing the initial cost and net present value (NPV).
Compact Square-Wave Pulse Electroporator with Controlled Electroporation Efficiency and Cell Viability
Authors: Stankevic Voitech , Simonis Povilas , Zurauskiene Nerija , Stirke Arunas , Dervinis Aldas , Bleizgys Vytautas , Kersulis Skirmantas , Balevicius Saulius
Published: March 2020

The design and development of a compact square-wave pulse generator for the electroporation of biological cells is presented. This electroporator can generate square-wave pulses with durations from 3 μs up to 10 ms, voltage amplitudes up to 3500 V, and currents up to 250 A. The quantity of the accumulated energy is optimized by means of a variable capacitor bank. The pulse forming unit design uses a crowbar circuit, which gives better control of the pulse form and its duration, independent of the load impedance. In such cases, the square-wave pulse form ensures better control of electroporation efficiency by choosing parameters determined in advance. The device has an integrated graphic LCD screen and measurement modules for the visualization of the current pulse, allowing for express control of the electroporation quality and does not require an external oscilloscope for current pulse recording. This electroporator was tested on suspensions of Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cells, during which, it was demonstrated that the application of such square-wave pulses ensured better control of the electroporation efficiency and cell viability after treatment using the pulsed electric field (PEF).
Gnathostomiasis Acquired by Visitors to the Okavango Delta, Botswana
Authors: Frean John
Published: March 2020

Gnathostomiasis is a zoonotic nematode parasite disease, most commonly acquired by eating raw or undercooked fish. Although the disease is well known in parts of Asia and Central and South America, relatively few cases have been reported from Africa. Raw fish consumed in the Okavango River delta area of Botswana, and in nearby western Zambia, has previously produced laboratory-proven gnathostomiasis in tourists. The purpose of this communication is to record additional cases of the infection acquired in the Okavango delta, and to alert visitors to the inadvisability of eating raw freshwater fish in the southern African region.
Immunization of Cats against Fel d 1 Results in Reduced Allergic Symptoms of Owners
Authors: Thoms Franziska , Haas Stefanie , Erhart Aline , Nett Claudia S. , Rüfenacht Silvia , Graf Nicole , Strods Arnis , Patil Gauravraj , Leenadevi Thonur , Fontaine Michael C. , Toon Lindsey A. , Jennings Gary T. , Senti Gabriela , Kündig Thomas M. , Bachmann Martin F.
Published: March 2020

An innovative approach was tested to treat cat allergy in humans by vaccinating cats with Fel-CuMV (HypoCatTM), a vaccine against the major cat allergen Fel d 1 based on virus-like particles derived from cucumber mosaic virus (CuMV-VLPs). Upon vaccination, cats develop neutralizing antibodies against the allergen Fel d 1, which reduces the level of reactive allergen, thus lowering the symptoms or even preventing allergic reactions in humans. The combined methodological field study included ten cat-allergic participants who lived together with their cats (n = 13), that were immunized with Fel-CuMV. The aim was to determine methods for measuring a change in allergic symptoms. A home-based provocation test (petting time and organ specific symptom score (OSSS)) and a general weekly (or monthly) symptom score (G(W)SS) were used to assess changes in allergic symptoms. The petting time until a pre-defined level of allergic symptoms was reached increased already early after vaccination of the cats and was apparent over the course of the study. In addition, the OSSS after provocation and G(W)SS recorded a persistent reduction in symptoms over the study period and could serve for long-term assessment. Hence, the immunization of cats with HypoCatTM (Fel-CuMV) may have a positive impact on the cat allergy of the owner, and changes could be assessed by the provocation test as well as G(W)SS.
Structures of Three Actinobacteriophage Capsids: Roles of Symmetry and Accessory Proteins
Authors: Podgorski Jennifer , Calabrese Joshua , Alexandrescu Lauren , Jacobs-Sera Deborah , Pope Welkin , Hatfull Graham , White Simon
Published: March 2020

Here, we describe the structure of three actinobacteriophage capsids that infect Mycobacterium smegmatis. The capsid structures were resolved to approximately six angstroms, which allowed confirmation that each bacteriophage uses the HK97-fold to form their capsid. One bacteriophage, Rosebush, may have a novel variation of the HK97-fold. Four novel accessory proteins that form the capsid head along with the major capsid protein were identified. Two of the accessory proteins were minor capsid proteins and showed some homology, based on bioinformatic analysis, to the TW1 bacteriophage. The remaining two accessory proteins are decoration proteins that are located on the outside of the capsid and do not resemble any previously described bacteriophage decoration protein. SDS-PAGE and mass spectrometry was used to identify the accessory proteins and bioinformatic analysis of the accessory proteins suggest they are used in many actinobacteriophage capsids.