bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Remote Sensing in Agriculture—Accomplishments, Limitations, and Opportunities
Authors: Khanal Sami , KC Kushal , Fulton John P. , Shearer Scott , Ozkan Erdal
Published: November 2020

Remote sensing (RS) technologies provide a diagnostic tool that can serve as an early warning system, allowing the agricultural community to intervene early on to counter potential problems before they spread widely and negatively impact crop productivity. With the recent advancements in sensor technologies, data management and data analytics, currently, several RS options are available to the agricultural community. However, the agricultural sector is yet to implement RS technologies fully due to knowledge gaps on their sufficiency, appropriateness and techno-economic feasibilities. This study reviewed the literature between 2000 to 2019 that focused on the application of RS technologies in production agriculture, ranging from field preparation, planting, and in-season applications to harvesting, with the objective of contributing to the scientific understanding on the potential for RS technologies to support decision-making within different production stages. We found an increasing trend in the use of RS technologies in agricultural production over the past 20 years, with a sharp increase in applications of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) after 2015. The largest number of scientific papers related to UASs originated from Europe (34%), followed by the United States (20%) and China (11%). Most of the prior RS studies have focused on soil moisture and in-season crop health monitoring, and less in areas such as soil compaction, subsurface drainage, and crop grain quality monitoring. In summary, the literature highlighted that RS technologies can be used to support site-specific management decisions at various stages of crop production, helping to optimize crop production while addressing environmental quality, profitability, and sustainability.
A Method of Marine Moving Targets Detection in Multi-Channel ScanSAR System
Authors: Yang Junying , Qiu Xiaolan , Shang Mingyang , Zhong Lihua , Ding Chibiao
Published: November 2020

Azimuth multi-channel Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) system operated in burst mode makes high-resolution ultrawide-swath (HRUS) imaging become a reality. This kind of imaging mode has excellent application value for the maritime scenarios requiring wide-area monitoring. This paper suggests a moving target detection (MTD) method of marine scenes based on sparse recovery, which integrates detection, velocity estimation, and relocation. Firstly, the typical phenomenon of scene folding in the coarse-focused domain is introduced in detail. Given that the spatial distribution of moving vessels is highly sparse, the idea of sparse recovery is utilized to acquire the azimuth time characterizing the position of the moving target reasonably. Subsequently, the radial velocity and position information about the targets are obtained simultaneously. What makes the proposed method effective are two characteristics of the moving targets in ocean scenes, high signal-to-clutter ratio (SCR) and sparsity of the spatial distribution. Then, estimation performances under different SCR are analyzed by Monte Carlo experiments. And the actual SCR of the vessels in the ocean scene obtained by GaoFen-3 dual-receive channel mode is invoked as a reference value to verify the effectiveness. Besides, some simulation experiments demonstrate the capability to indicate marine moving targets.
Dark Glacier Surface of Greenland’s Largest Floating Tongue Governed by High Local Deposition of Dust
Authors: Humbert Angelika , Schröder Ludwig , Schultz Timm , Müller Ralf , Neckel Niklas , Helm Veit , Zindler Robin , Eleftheriadis Konstantinos , Salzano Roberto , Salvatori Rosamaria
Published: November 2020

Surface melt, driven by atmospheric temperatures and albedo, is a strong contribution of mass loss of the Greenland Ice Sheet. In the past, black carbon, algae and other light-absorbing impurities were suggested to govern albedo in Greenland’s ablation zone. Here we combine optical (MODIS/Sentinel-2) and radar (Sentinel-1) remote sensing data with airborne radar and laser scanner data, and engage firn modelling to identify the governing factors leading to dark glacier surfaces in Northeast Greenland. After the drainage of supraglacial lakes, the former lake ground is a clean surface represented by a high reflectance in Sentinel-2 data and aerial photography. These bright spots move with the ice flow and darken by more than 20% over only two years. In contrast, sites further inland do not exhibit this effect. This finding suggests that local deposition of dust, rather than black carbon or cryoconite formation, is the governing factor of albedo of fast-moving outlet glaciers. This is in agreement with a previous field study in the area which finds the mineralogical composition and grain size of the dust comparable with that of the surrounding soils.
Irrigation Control through Acoustic Proximal Sensing of the Onset of Surface Water
Authors: Bradley Stuart , Radionova Anna , Ghimire Chandra , Grundy Laura , Laurenson Seth , Snow Val
Published: November 2020

Irrigation is a useful crop enhancement procedure up to the point where free surface water appears. However, over-irrigation can lead to an accumulation of free water on the soil surface, which in turn results in overland flow and a high risk of contaminant loss. The current work addresses the problem of measuring free water on the surface of agricultural soils by a real-time acoustic remote sensing method. Directional acoustic transmitter and receiver arrays are used to define a “footprint” on the ground from which changes in reflectance are sensed. These arrays are mounted on a moving irrigator. Chirp signals are used to provide along-path resolution and to ensure robustness against unwanted acoustic background noise from farm machinery and the irrigator. Field measurements have been conducted above a well-defined “quadrat” with controlled and measured water content and also with the instrument mounted on an operational irrigator. A structured light camera mounted above the footprint is used to validate surface water fraction. It is found that the areal fraction of free water on the soil surface can be reliably estimated from changes in the amplitude of the reflected sound waves. The mechanism giving rise to the observed acoustic reflectivity changes is discussed and a model is developed which agrees with normalized intensity observations with a coefficient of determination R2 between 0.65 and 0.83. The rms error between model predictions and observations is comparable to the rms variation of the measurements, indicating that there is insignificant error due to the choice of model.
Features of Sizing and Enumeration of Silica and Polystyrene Nanoparticles by Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA)
Authors: Usfoor Zohair , Kaufmann Katharina , Rakib Al Shahriar Hossain , Hergenröder Roland , Shpacovitch Victoria
Published: November 2020

Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) allows for the simultaneous determination of both size and concentration of nanoparticles in a sample. This study investigates the accuracy of particle size and concentration measurements performed on an LM10 device. For experiments, standard nanoparticles of different sizes composed of two materials with different refractive indices were used. Particle size measurements were found to have a decent degree of accuracy. This fact was verified by the manufacturer-reported particle size—determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM)—as well as by performed scanning electron microscopy (SEM) measurements. On the other hand, concentration measurements resulted in overestimation of the particle concentration in majority of cases. Thus, our findings confirmed the accuracy of nanoparticle sizing performed by the LM10 instrument and highlighted the overestimation of particle concentration made by this device. In addition, an approach of swift correction of the results of concentration measurements received for samples is suggested in the presented study.
Assessment of Sit-to-Stand Transfers during Daily Life Using an Accelerometer on the Lower Back
Authors: Adamowicz Lukas , Karahanoglu F. Isik , Cicalo Christopher , Zhang Hao , Demanuele Charmaine , Santamaria Mar , Cai Xuemei , Patel Shyamal
Published: November 2020

The ability to perform sit-to-stand (STS) transfers has a significant impact on the functional mobility of an individual. Wearable technology has the potential to enable the objective, long-term monitoring of STS transfers during daily life. However, despite several recent efforts, most algorithms for detecting STS transfers rely on multiple sensing modalities or device locations and have predominantly been used for assessment during the performance of prescribed tasks in a lab setting. A novel wavelet-based algorithm for detecting STS transfers from data recorded using an accelerometer on the lower back is presented herein. The proposed algorithm is independent of device orientation and was validated on data captured in the lab from younger and older healthy adults as well as in people with Parkinson’s disease (PwPD). The algorithm was then used for processing data captured in free-living conditions to assess the ability of multiple features extracted from STS transfers to detect age-related group differences and assess the impact of monitoring duration on the reliability of measurements. The results show that performance of the proposed algorithm was comparable or significantly better than that of a commercially available system (precision: 0.990 vs. 0.868 in healthy adults) and a previously published algorithm (precision: 0.988 vs. 0.643 in persons with Parkinson’s disease). Moreover, features extracted from STS transfers at home were able to detect age-related group differences at a higher level of significance compared to data captured in the lab during the performance of prescribed tasks. Finally, simulation results showed that a monitoring duration of 3 days was sufficient to achieve good reliability for measurement of STS features. These results point towards the feasibility of using a single accelerometer on the lower back for detection and assessment of STS transfers during daily life. Future work in different patient populations is needed to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm, as well as assess the sensitivity and reliability of the STS features.
A Fast Deploying Monitoring and Real-Time Early Warning System for the Baige Landslide in Tibet, China
Authors: Wu Yongbo , Niu Ruiqing , Wang Yi , Chen Tao
Published: November 2020

Landslide early warning systems (EWSs) have been widely used to reduce disaster losses. The effectiveness of a landslide EWS depends highly on the prediction methods, and it is difficult to correctly predict landslides in a timely manner. In this paper, we propose a real-time prediction method to provide real-time early warning of landslides by combining the Kalman filtering (KF), fast Fourier transform (FFT), and support vector machine (SVM) methods. We also designed a fast deploying monitoring system (FDMS) to monitor the displacement of landslides for real-time prediction. The FDMS can be quickly deployed compared to the existing system. This system also has high robustness due to the usage of the ad-hoc technique. The principle of this method is to extract the precursory features of the landslide from the surface displacement data obtained by the FDMS and, then, to train the KF-FFT-SVM model to make a prediction based on these precursory features. We applied this fast monitoring and real-time early warning system to the Baige landslide, Tibet, China. The results showed that the KF-FFT-SVM model was able to provide real-time early warning for the Baige landslide with high accuracy.
Empirical Model of Radio Wave Propagation in the Presence of Vegetation inside Greenhouses Using Regularized Regressions
Authors: Cama-Pinto Dora , Damas Miguel , Holgado-Terriza Juan Antonio , Arrabal-Campos Francisco Manuel , Gómez-Mula Francisco , Martínez-Lao Juan Antonio Martínez , Cama-Pinto Alejandro
Published: November 2020

Spain is Europe’s leading exporter of tomatoes harvested in greenhouses. The production of tomatoes should be kept and increased, supported by precision agriculture to meet food and commercial demand. The wireless sensor network (WSN) has demonstrated to be a tool to provide farmers with useful information on the state of their plantations due to its practical deployment. However, in order to measure its deployment within a crop, it is necessary to know the communication coverage of the nodes that make up the network. The multipath propagation of radio waves between the transceivers of the WSN nodes inside a greenhouse is degraded and attenuated by the intricate complex of stems, branches, leaf twigs, and fruits, all randomly oriented, that block the line of sight, consequently generating a signal power loss as the distance increases. Although the COST235 (European Cooperation in Science and Technology - COST), ITU-R (International Telecommunications Union—Radiocommunication Sector), FITU-R (Fitted ITU-R), and Weisbberger models provide an explanation of the radio wave propagation in the presence of vegetation in the 2.4 GHz ICM band, some significant discrepancies were found when they are applied to field tests with tomato greenhouses. In this paper, a novel method is proposed for determining an empirical model of radio wave attenuation for vegetation in the 2.4 GHz band, which includes the vegetation height as a parameter in addition to the distance between transceivers of WNS nodes. The empirical attenuation model was obtained applying regularized regressions with a multiparametric equation using experimental signal RSSI measurements achieved by our own RSSI measurement system for our field tests in four plantations. The evaluation parameters gave 0.948 for R2, 0.946 for R2 Adj considering 5th grade polynomial (20 parameters), and 0.942 for R2, and 0.940 for R2 Adj when a reduction of parameters was applied using the cross validation (15 parameters). These results verify the rationality and reliability of the empirical model. Finally, the model was validated considering experimental data from other plantations, reaching similar results to our proposed model.
Wearable Health Technology to Quantify the Functional Impact of Peripheral Neuropathy on Mobility in Parkinson’s Disease: A Systematic Review
Authors: Corrà Marta Francisca , Warmerdam Elke , Vila-Chã Nuno , Maetzler Walter , Maia Luís
Published: November 2020

The occurrence of peripheral neuropathy (PNP) is often observed in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients with a prevalence up to 55%, leading to more prominent functional deficits. Motor assessment with mobile health technologies allows high sensitivity and accuracy and is widely adopted in PD, but scarcely used for PNP assessments. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the methodologies and the most relevant features to investigate PNP and PD motor deficits with wearables. Because of the lack of studies investigating motor impairments in this specific subset of PNP-PD patients, Pubmed, Scopus, and Web of Science electronic databases were used to summarize the state of the art on PNP motor assessment with wearable technology and compare it with the existing evidence on PD. A total of 24 papers on PNP and 13 on PD were selected for data extraction: The main characteristics were described, highlighting major findings, clinical applications, and the most relevant features. The information from both groups (PNP and PD) was merged for defining future directions for the assessment of PNP-PD patients with wearable technology. We established suggestions on the assessment protocol aiming at accurate patient monitoring, targeting personalized treatments and strategies to prevent falls and to investigate PD and PNP motor characteristics.
Face Memorization Using AIM Model for Mobile Robot and Its Application to Name Calling Function
Authors: Mikawa Masahiko , Chen Haolin , Fujisawa Makoto
Published: November 2020

We are developing a social mobile robot that has a name calling function using a face memorization system. It is said that it is an important function for a social robot to call to a person by her/his name, and the name calling can make a friendly impression of the robot on her/him. Our face memorization system has the following features: (1) When the robot detects a stranger, it stores her/his face images and name after getting her/his permission. (2) The robot can call to a person whose face it has memorized by her/his name. (3) The robot system has a sleep–wake function, and a face classifier is re-trained in a REM sleep state, or execution frequencies of information processes are reduced when it has nothing to do, for example, when there is no person around the robot. In this paper, we confirmed the performance of these functions and conducted an experiment to evaluate the impression of the name calling function with research participants. The experimental results revealed the validity and effectiveness of the proposed face memorization system.
Application of Near-Infrared Spectroscopy to Investigate Some Endogenic Properties of Pleurotus ostreatus Cultivars
Authors: Fodor Marietta , Mikola Erika Etelka , Geösel András , Stefanovits-Bányai Éva , Mednyánszky Zsuzsanna
Published: November 2020

Fourteen different Pleurotus ostreatus cultivars (Po_1–Po_14) were tested for free amino acid content (fAA), total polyphenol content (TPC), and antioxidant capacity (Ferric Reducing Ability of Plasma—FRAP) to select the cultivars with the most favorable traits. Automatic amino acid analyzer (fAA) and spectrophotometric assay (TPC, FRAP) results as well as Fourier-transform near infrared (FT-NIR) spectra were evaluated with different chemometric methods (Kruskal–Wallis test, Principal Component Analysis—PCA, Linear Discriminant Analysis—LDA). Based on total free amino acid concentrations and FRAP values, the Po_2 cultivar was found to be the most favorable. Types Po_3, Po_8, Po_10 and Po_12 were separated using PCA. Based on the spectral profile, they may contain polyphenols and reducing compounds of different qualities. LDA classification that was based on the concentrations of all free amino acids, cysteine, and proline of the cultivars was performed with an accuracy of over 90%. LDA classification that was based on the TPC and FRAP values was performed with an accuracy of over 83%.
High Magnetic Field Sensitivity in Ferromagnetic–Ferroelectric Composite with High Mechanical Quality Factor
Authors: Lee Yong-Woo , Soh Joon-Young , Yoo Il-Ryeol , Cho Jiung , Ahn Cheol-Woo , Choi Jong-Jin , Hahn Byung-Dong , Cho Kyung-Hoon
Published: November 2020

In this study, composite devices were fabricated using ferromagnetic FeSiB-based alloys (Metglas) and ferroelectric ceramics, and their magnetic field sensitivity was evaluated. Sintered 0.95Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3-0.05Pb(Mn1/3Sb2/3)O3 (PZT-PMS) ceramic exhibited a very dense microstructure with a large piezoelectric voltage coefficient (g31 = −16.8 × 10−3 VmN−1) and mechanical quality factor (Qm > 1600). Owing to these excellent electromechanical properties of the PZT-PMS, the laminate composite with a Metglas/PZT-PMS/Metglas sandwich structure exhibited large magnetoelectric voltage coefficients (αME) in both off-resonance and resonance modes. When the length-to-width aspect ratio (l/w) of the composite was controlled, αME slightly varied in the off-resonance mode, resulting in similar sensitivity values ranging from 129.9 to 146.81 VT−1. Whereas in the resonance mode, the composite with small l/w exhibited a large reduction of αME and sensitivity values. When controlling the thickness of the PZT-PMS (t), the αME of the composite showed the largest value when t was the smallest in the off-resonance mode, while αME was the largest when t is the largest in the resonance mode. The control of t slightly affected the sensitivity in the off-resonance mode, however, higher sensitivity was obtained as t increased in the resonance mode. The results demonstrate that the sensitivity, varying with the dimensional control of the composite, is related to the mechanical loss of the sensor. The composite sensor with the PZT-PMS layer exhibited excellent magnetic field sensitivity of 1.49 × 105 VT−1 with a sub-nT sensing limit, indicating its potential for application in high-performance magnetoelectric sensor devices.
Reducing Recurrent Care Proceedings: Building a Local Evidence Base in England
Authors: Cox Pamela , McPherson Susan , Mason Claire , Ryan Mary , Baxter Vanessa
Published: November 2020

Recent studies of public law care proceedings within the family justice system in England and Wales suggest that up to a quarter of all mothers who appear in such proceedings will reappear within a subsequent—or recurrent—set of such proceedings within seven years. In the last decade, new interdisciplinary research spanning social work, clinical psychology and sociology has defined and investigated the previously hidden challenge and social costs of ‘recurrent care proceedings’ (RCP). This article adds to this new field by analysing the core values, practice and impact of three different local services in the northwest of England working with birth parents to reduce the risk of recurrent proceedings. The article combines data gathered from the three distinct services using a common evaluation framework co-produced by the authors working with service leads, practitioners and users. It explores how all three services are seeking to reduce the risk of recurrent care proceedings in their local areas without requiring women to use long acting reversible contraception (LARC) or other forms of contraception as a condition of accessing the service. It concludes that insights gained from these and cognate services can inform an emergent community of practice in the recurrent care field.
Forward-Looking Sustainability Agency for Developing Future Cruise Ships
Authors: Jokinen Leena , Palonen Tuire , Kalliomäki Helka , Apostol Oana , Heikkilä Katariina
Published: November 2020

The study addressed sharing of futures insights as a component of sustainability agency for long-term company enhancement in an interorganizational shipbuilders’ network. The purpose was to analyze social structures under “agency” terminology. This joint sustainability project involved a partnership of firms, academia, and nongovernmental organization (NGO) actors in collaborative cruise ship building. The study adapted a mixed method approach where social network analysis (SNA) was enriched with other contextual data to make network data more applicable and accessible. The results revealed a loose and thin network structure, with relatively high trust among network actors. The network’s social structure was found to facilitate insight sharing. Lead firm actors clearly played a central role in enhancing sustainability, and the researchers, as well as industrial association actors, made a significant contribution to insight sharing and transmission. The findings suggest that the case network would benefit from an open and balanced social structure that incorporates a number of insight brokers to enhance forward-looking sustainability agency (F-L SA). Futures insight sharing enhances agency in the context of joint sustainability actions and improves capacity to respond to systemic challenges. Understanding how proactive agency can be promoted in network settings strengthens strategic aspects of managerial practice and contributes to discourse around sustainability agency.
Going beyond Good Intentions for the Sustainable Conservation of Built Heritage: A Systematic Literature Review
Authors: Gonçalves Joana , Mateus Ricardo , Silvestre José Dinis , Roders Ana Pereira
Published: November 2020

This research addresses the performance gap between intentions towards a sustainable conservation of built heritage and its actual implementation. Socio-psychological models of human behaviour, such as the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), have been studying this dissonance between intention and behaviour, and allow to recognise latent critical factors. This paper provides a systematic literature review of research publications on the intersection of the topics of human behaviour, heritage, and sustainability. It aims to analyse how the TPB has been used in the field of sustainable conservation of built heritage. The studies are categorised according to the type of heritage, main actors targeted, aims, and methodology. A total of 140 publications were analysed. The results show a recent field of research. In the domain of built heritage conservation, behaviour is commonly addressed as a synonym of performance, targeting the building itself. Most publications relating socio-psychological constructs of behaviour and heritage sustainability can be found in the tourism and hospitality field, focusing on tourists’ and residents’ behaviours. The review shows that practitioners are still absent from the literature. However, research addressing other stakeholders shows that the theoretical framework can play an important role in the implementation of sustainable conservation practices in the built heritage.
Creating Realistic Mathematics Tasks Involving Authenticity, Cognitive Domains, and Openness Characteristics: A Study with Pre-Service Teachers
Authors: Paredes Sara , Cáceres María José , Diego-Mantecón José-Manuel , Blanco Teresa F. , Chamoso José María
Published: November 2020

Creating mathematics tasks provide opportunities for students to develop their thinking, reasoning, communication, and creativity. This paper presents a study on teaching pre-service teachers to create realistic mathematics tasks in real contexts and amending them through an iterative process of analysis and refinement. The study was undertaken with pre-service teachers from two university training courses in Spain, undergraduate students from a primary teacher training course, and graduate students from an educational Master’s course. The students worked in groups to collaborate in the creation of the requested tasks and improvement of them based on critical thinking and creativity. The tasks were not only evaluated concerning their level of realism, but also regarding their level of authenticity, the cognitive domains involved, and their openness characteristic. These are the key characteristics related to environmental and sustainability aspects. The outcomes confirmed that the creation of realistic mathematics tasks was a challenge for future primary teachers; however, they were able to create tasks with high levels of cognitive domain, authenticity, and openness. This evidences, on the one hand, the difficulty that future teachers have in understanding the realism of a mathematics task, and, on the other, the possibilities offered by the task’s creation and the revision activity, which has educational implications and opens paths for future research.
Determinants of Reputation at Private Graduate Online Schools
Authors: Martín-Miguel Juan , Prado-Román Camio , Cachón-Rodríguez Gabriel , Avendaño-Miranda Lilliana L.
Published: November 2020

Reputation is considered an intangible asset that provides a competitive advantage in organizations, although in the field of education, its study and, specifically, its antecedents need further study. The aim of this paper is to analyze the effect of sustainability, innovation, perceived performance, service quality, work environment and good governance on reputation in private graduate online schools. This study is based on quantitative data collected from a survey. The sample consists of 349 students from a private graduate online school. The results obtained through PLS-SEM show that sustainability, service quality and good governance have a positive and significant influence on reputation. However, innovation, perceived performance and governance do not have a positive effect on the reputation of this type of organization. Therefore, more studies covering a greater sampling variety are required to determine the generalizability of these results. This study is a useful contribution since it will help managers of the private graduate online schools to know which aspects generate more reputation and, therefore, are the most valued by the public, so that the organization has a basis for decision-making.
Accounting for Water Footprint of an Open-Pit Copper Mine
Authors: Islam Kamrul , Murakami Shinsuke
Published: November 2020

Water is a crucial input for any production system, and mining is no exception. A huge amount of water is being used in the various phases of mining activities. In the coming decades, the competition in using a sufficient amount of fresh water will become a major hurdle for the mining industry. Water footprint (WF), an accounting framework for tracking the amount of water used to produce a unit of product, can be useful to the mining companies by quantifying their water resource appropriation and identifying ways to reduce the consumption. In this study, we accounted for the green, blue, and grey water footprint of an open-pit copper mine that is located in Laos. The input–output water flows of the mine are also developed from the inventory of water use. Moreover, we have calculated the uncertainty in the water footprint accounting to check the robustness of the findings. According to the results, the green, blue, and grey WF of the studied mine are 52.04, 988.83, and 69.78 m3/tonne of copper concentrate, respectively. After the installation of a passive effluent treatment system in 2013, the calculated grey WF of the mine was 13.64 m3/tonne, a fivefold decrease than before. The uncertainty in the footprint ranges between 8% to 11% which shows the robustness of the analysis. Although green WF is ignored by most studies, we suggest incorporating it into the accounting. The responsible share of a supply-chain WF to the total blue WF is about 98%, which is quite huge. Water embedded in the hydroelectricity is mainly responsible for such a huge amount of blue WF. Evidently, the use of electricity from hydropower results in the consumption of a large amount of water in exchange for a reduction in carbon emissions. Thus, the article attempts to demonstrate the escalating importance of WF accounting of this mine.
Awareness and Knowledge of Portugal Residents about Natura 2000
Authors: Oliveira Sofia S. , Pereira Joana , Santos Paulo , Pereira Ruth
Published: November 2020

Natura 2000 is the European Union’s key strategy to address the current sharp decline in biodiversity. However, according to a recent survey, most Europeans have never heard about it. The present study intended to further explore the perceptions of residents in Portugal about this network of protected areas through the nationwide implementation of a survey. Overall, 232 questionnaires were fulfilled, which showed that most respondents (n = 126, 54%) had never heard of Natura 2000. Furthermore, even the respondents who knew what Natura 2000 is were not well-informed about it. For instance, on average, they were only able to name 2.8 ± 2.2 sites within Portugal; plus, 66% (n = 65) could not correctly name any wild species that inhabited their favourite site. Surprisingly, literacy levels were not significantly correlated with the number of visits to the network (rs = 0.181, p = 0.082), and they were only weakly correlated with the frequency that the respondents engaged in ecological behaviours (rs = 0.277, p = 0.007). Overall, the current findings are in agreement with similar studies carried out in Poland that revealed that the population was poorly informed about this important network of protected areas. This scenario is especially worrisome, considering that public participation is regarded as a key factor for successful nature conservation initiatives.
Generating Marketing Outcomes through Internet of Things (IoT) Technologies
Authors: Tariq Beenish , Taimoor Sadaf , Najam Hammad , Law Rob , Hassan Waseem , Han Heesup
Published: November 2020

This paper highlights the effectiveness of data stored from the operational use of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies for generating marketing-related outcomes, such as business intelligence for product development, product support, and customer relationship management (CRM), by exploring this research domain under the lens of the well-established means–ends theory. This study conducted a multidisciplinary literature review to develop the conceptual framework. Moreover, a smart refrigerator was chosen as an example to demonstrate how the analysis of data stored from the operational use of IoT devices can help generate marketing outcomes such as new product development, customer support, and CRM. The study articulates that IoT technology helps in furthering the objectives of CRM along with other strategies of business growth and success. Using a practical example backed by a sound theoretical framework, this study will not only help practitioners to empirically test this significant yet under-explored topic but will also help elucidate that, by embedding IoT devices in their products, business managers can ensure business longevity. Furthermore, it explains how the IoT can provide support to improve communication ties between the product manufacturer and consumer through product support and CRM strategies.
The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure on the Future Earnings Response Coefficient (ASEAN Banking Analysis)
Authors: Istianingsih  , Trireksani Terri , Manurung Daniel T. H.
Published: November 2020

Corporate social responsibility in the banking industry has an impact on the environment and society. Research was conducted on the impacts of environmental social responsibility disclosure on future income response coefficients of The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Banking to determine the level of concern ASEAN banks have in disclosing corporate responsibility, and to understand the levels of future revenue response coefficients. The variable in this research was measured by corporate social responsibility disclosure, while the variable of the Future Earnings Response Coefficient (FERC) was based on the value of banking stocks. Other variables—size, growth, earning persistence, and earnings volatility—were the control variables. The sampling method used was a purposive sampling approach; a research sample of 280 banks in 5 ASEAN countries was determined with this provision: banking report data were taken from the stock exchanges of each country and sustainability reports, using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standard version 4 (G4) from 2014 to 2018. The researchers used conducted multiple regression analysis to examine the variables. The analysis tools used included panel data, so that data processing was carried out using review software. The results of the study show that corporate social responsibility disclosure has a positive and significant effect on the future earnings response coefficient, whereas other variables (i.e., company size, growth, and earnings persistence), do not have a relationship with the disclosure of corporate responsibility or FERC. Only the volatility of earnings has an influence on disclosure of corporate social responsibility and FERC.
Cultural Influences on Fruit and Vegetable Food-Wasting Behavior in the European Union
Authors: Pelau Corina , Sarbu Roxana , Serban Daniela
Published: November 2020

In a context of increased world population and imbalanced access to resources, the concept of food waste has gained increased attention in the past years. The waste of food has a negative impact on the economy, the society and the environment. In order to reduce the quantities of wasted food, it is important to understand the factors and the situations in which food waste occurs. Several studies have shown that food waste happens mostly at the consumer level and that it is determined by a wide range of factors, such as socio-demographic characteristics and consumption patterns. The objective of this paper is to determine the impact of the national culture on the quantity of wasted fruit and vegetables. Based on secondary data, the panel regression analysis was applied for 28 European countries with the purpose of determining the influence of the cultural dimensions as described by Hofstede on the quantities of wasted fruit and vegetables. The results of the research show that the uncertainty avoidance of a culture complemented by the indulgence index influences the quantity of wasted fruit and vegetables, confirming that certain characteristics of the national culture are factors that affect the quantity of wasted food.
An External Parameter Independent Novel Cost Function for Evolving Bijective Substitution-Boxes
Authors: Freyre-Echevarría Alejandro , Alanezi Ahmad , Martínez-Díaz Ismel , Ahmad Musheer , Abd El-Latif Ahmed A. , Kolivand Hoshang , Razaq Abdul
Published: November 2020

The property of nonlinearity has high importance for the design of strong substitution boxes. Therefore, the development of new techniques to produce substitution boxes with high values of nonlinearity is essential. Many research papers have shown that optimization algorithms are an efficient technique to obtain good solutions. However, there is no reference in the public literature showing that a heuristic method obtains optimal nonlinearity unless seeded with optimal initial solutions. Moreover, the majority of papers with the best nonlinearity reported for pseudo-random seeding of the algorithm(s) often achieve their results with the help of some cost function(s) over the Walsh–Hadamard spectrum of the substitution. In the sense, we proposed to present, in this paper, a novel external parameter independent cost function for evolving bijective s-boxes of high nonlinearity, which is highly correlated to this property. Several heuristic approaches including GaT (genetic and tree), LSA (local search algorithm), and the Hill Climbing algorithm have been investigated to assess the performance of evolved s-boxes. A performance comparison has been done to show the advantages of our new cost function, with respect to cost functions for s-boxes like Clark’s and Picek’s cost functions.
Stakeholder Symbiosis in the Context of Corporate Social Responsibility
Authors: Wang Danli , Zhu Weidong , Zhang Chao , Li Hongyi , Wu Yong
Published: November 2020

With the rise of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the great changes of the organization scale of the modern enterprise, it is difficult to maintain an ideal development only by maximizing the equity of shareholders. The co-governance of stakeholders can meet the interests of all stakeholders, which is the embodiment of corporate social responsibility in corporate governance. The creation and sharing of enterprise values are the foundation of the coexistence of stakeholders. A rational allocation of the limited enterprise values among stakeholders plays a crucial role in balancing their relationship and realizing the sustainable development of the enterprise. Based on the application of corporate social responsibility in stakeholder governance, this paper constructs a stakeholder symbiosis evolution model with the help of symbiosis theory. By solving the differential equation, the symbiotic evolution path of stakeholders is analyzed. The dynamic mechanism of stakeholder Symbiosis evolution is analyzed by using the system analysis method and evolution theory. The dynamic mechanism of the population evolution of stakeholders is represented in an original graphical manner to describe the symbiotic evolution process of stakeholders. Lastly, we use the numerical simulation method to simulate different symbiosis models which are reflected by different symbiosis coefficients. It is concluded that the symmetric mutual benefit symbiosis model is the most effective model to reflect corporate social responsibility.
Identification and Prediction of Human Behavior through Mining of Unstructured Textual Data
Authors: Davahli Mohammad Reza , Karwowski Waldemar , Gutierrez Edgar , Fiok Krzysztof , Wróbel Grzegorz , Taiar Redha , Ahram Tareq
Published: November 2020

The identification of human behavior can provide useful information across multiple job spectra. Recent advances in applying data-based approaches to social sciences have increased the feasibility of modeling human behavior. In particular, studying human behavior by analyzing unstructured textual data has recently received considerable attention because of the abundance of textual data. The main objective of the present study was to discuss the primary methods for identifying and predicting human behavior through the mining of unstructured textual data. Of the 823 articles analyzed, 87 met the predefined inclusion criteria and were included in the literature review. Our results show that the included articles could be symmetrically classified into two groups. The first group of articles attempted to identify the leading indicators of human behavior in unstructured textual data. In this group, the data-based approaches had three main components: (1) collecting self-reported survey data, (2) collecting data from social media and extracting data features, and (3) applying correlation analysis to evaluate the relationship between two sets of data. In contrast, the second group focused on the accuracy of data-based approaches for predicting human behavior. In this group, the data-based approaches could be categorized into (1) approaches based on labeled unstructured textual data and (2) approaches based on unlabeled unstructured textual data. The review provides a comprehensive insight into unstructured textual data mining to identify and predict human behavior and personality traits.
Vapochromism of Organic Crystals Based on Macrocyclic Compounds and Inclusion Complexes
Authors: Ono Toshikazu , Hisaeda Yoshio
Published: November 2020

Vapochromic materials, which change color and luminescence when exposed to specific vapors and gases, have attracted considerable attention in recent years owing to their potential applications in a wide range of fields such as chemical sensors and environmental monitors. Although the mechanism of vapochromism is still unclear, several studies have elucidated it from the viewpoint of crystal engineering. In this mini-review, we investigate recent advances in the vapochromism of organic crystals. Among them, macrocyclic molecules and inclusion complexes, which have apparent host–guest interactions with analyte molecules (specific vapors and gases), are described. When the host compound is properly designed, its cavity size and symmetry change in response to guest molecules, influencing the optical properties by changing the molecular inclusion and recognition abilities. This information highlights the importance of structure–property relationships resulting from the molecular recognition at the solid–vapor interface.
Rhinovirus-Induced Modulation of Epithelial Phenotype: Role in Asthma
Authors: Michi Aubrey N. , Love Michelle E. , Proud David
Published: November 2020

Human rhinoviruses have been linked both to the susceptibility of asthma development and to the triggering of acute exacerbations. Given that the human airway epithelial cell is the primary site of human rhinovirus (HRV) infection and replication, the current review focuses on how HRV-induced modulation of several aspects of epithelial cell phenotype could contribute to the development of asthma or to the induction of exacerbations. Modification of epithelial proinflammatory and antiviral responses are considered, as are alterations in an epithelial barrier function and cell phenotype. The contributions of the epithelium to airway remodeling and to the potential modulation of immune responses are also considered. The potential interactions of each type of HRV-induced epithelial phenotypic changes with allergic sensitization and allergic phenotype are also considered in the context of asthma development and of acute exacerbations.
Yersinia pestis Antigen F1 but Not LcrV Induced Humoral and Cellular Immune Responses in Humans Immunized with Live Plague Vaccine—Comparison of Immunoinformatic and Immunological Approaches
Authors: Feodorova Valentina A. , Lyapina Anna M. , Khizhnyakova Maria A. , Zaitsev Sergey S. , Saltykov Yury V. , Motin Vladimir L.
Published: November 2020

The recent progress in immunoinformatics provided the basis for an accelerated development of target-specific peptide vaccines as an alternative to the traditional vaccine concept. However, there is still limited information on whether the in silico predicted immunoreactive epitopes correspond to those obtained from the actual experiments. Here, humoral and cellular immune responses to two major Yersinia pestis protective antigens, F1 and LcrV, were studied in human donors immunized with the live plague vaccine (LPV) based on the attenuated Y. pestis strain EV line NIIEG. The F1 antigen provided modest specific cellular (mixed T helper 1 (Th1)/Th2 type) and humoral immune responses in vaccinees irrespective of the amount of annual vaccinations and duration of the post-vaccination period. The probing of the F1 overlapping peptide library with the F1-positive sera revealed the presence of seven linear B cell epitopes, which were all also predicted by in silico assay. The immunoinformatics study evaluated their antigenicity, toxicity, and allergenic properties. The epitope TSQDGNNH was mostly recognized by the sera from recently vaccinated donors rather than antibodies from those immunized decades ago, suggesting the usefulness of this peptide for differentiation between recent and long-term vaccinations. The in silico analysis predicted nine linear LcrV-specific B-cell epitopes; however, weak antibody and cellular immune responses prevented their experimental evaluation, indicating that LcrV is a poor marker of successful vaccination. No specific Th17 immune response to either F1 or LcrV was detected, and there were no detectable serum levels of F1-specific immunoglobulin A (IgA) in vaccinees. Overall, the general approach validated in the LPV model could be valuable for the rational design of vaccines against other neglected and novel emerging infections with high pandemic potency.
Comparison of Exosomes Derived from Non- and Gamma-Irradiated Melanoma Cancer Cells as a Potential Antigenic and Immunogenic Source for Dendritic Cell-Based Immunotherapeutic Vaccine
Authors: Kim Woo Sik , Choi DaeSeong , Park Ji Min , Song Ha-Yeon , Seo Ho Seong , Lee Dong-Eun , Byun Eui-Baek
Published: November 2020

Cancer cells can secrete exosomes under various stressful conditions, whose functions are involved in the delivery of various biologically active materials into host cells and/or modulation of host immune responses. Therefore, an improved understanding of the immunological interventions that stress-induced tumor exosomes have may provide novel therapeutic approaches and more effective vaccine designs. Here, we confirmed the phenotypical and functional alterations of dendritic cells (DCs), which act as a bridge between the innate and adaptive arms of immunity, following non-irradiated (N-exo) and gamma-irradiated melanoma cancer cell-derived exosome (G-exo) stimulation, and evaluated the N-exo- and G-exo-stimulated DCs as therapeutic cancer vaccine candidates. We demonstrated that G-exo-stimulated DCs result in DC maturation by the upregulation of surface molecule expression, pro-inflammatory cytokine release, and antigen-presenting ability, and the downregulation of endocytic capacity. In addition, these cells promoted T cell proliferation and the generation of T helper type 1 (Th1) and interferon (IFN)-γ-producing CD8+ T cells. However, N-exo-stimulated DCs induced semi-mature phenotypes and functions, eventually inhibiting T cell proliferation, decreasing IFN-γ, and increasing IL-10-producing CD4+ T cells. In addition, although N-exo and G-exo stimulations showed similar levels of antigen-specific IFN-γ production, which served as tumor antigen sources in melanoma-specific T cells, G-exo-stimulated DC vaccination conferred a stronger tumor growth inhibition than N-exo-stimulated DC vaccination; further, this was accompanied by a high frequency of tumor-specific, multifunctional effector T cells. These results suggest that gamma irradiation could provide important clues for designing and developing effective exosome vaccines that can induce strong immunogenicity, especially tumor-specific multifunctional T cell responses.