bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Tree Growth Rings in Tropical Peat Swamp Forests of Kalimantan, Indonesia
Authors: Worbes Martin , Herawati Hety , Martius Christopher
Published: September 2017

Tree growth rings are signs of the seasonality of tree growth and indicate how tree productivity relates to environmental factors. We studied the periodicity of tree growth ring formation in seasonally inundated peatlands of Central Kalimantan (southern Borneo), Indonesia. We collected samples from 47 individuals encompassing 27 tree species. About 40% of these species form distinct growth zones, 30% form indistinct ones, and the others were classified as in between. Radiocarbon age datings of single distinct growth zones (or “rings”) of two species showing very distinct rings, Horsfieldia crassifolia and Diospyros evena, confirm annual growth periodicity for the former; the latter forms rings in intervals of more than one year. The differences can be explained with species-specific sensitivity to the variable intensity of dry periods. The anatomical feature behind annual rings in Horsfieldia is the formation of marginal parenchyma bands. Tree ring curves of other investigated species with the same anatomical feature from the site show a good congruence with the curves from H. crassifolia. They can therefore be used as indicator species for growth rate estimations in environments with weak seasonality. The investigated peatland species show low annual growth increments compared to other tropical forests.
digiMe: An Online Portal to Support Connectivity through E-Learning in Medical Education
Authors: Fan Si , Radford Jan , Fabian Debbie
Published: September 2017

Connectivity is intrinsic to all aspects of our life today, be it political, economic, technological, scientific, or personal. Higher education is also transcending the previous paradigm of technology enabled content delivery and e-learning, with a new emphasis on connectivity, enabling participants to exchange knowledge and collaborate to meet educational goals. In this study, a social media technology supported website—digiMe—was developed and evaluated at the School of Medicine of one Australian university. Connectivity to other medical learners and health professionals is intrinsic to digiMe. This paper reports the functionalities of this website, results of a post-intervention evaluative survey, and statistics of website usage generated from Google Analytics. The results revealed more active adoptions and a more positive attitude towards digiMe from Year 4 students compared to Year 5 students. The participants showed a desire for access to a recommended collection of apps, such as those offered through digiMe. However, many participants did not use digiMe beyond initial introduction to it. digiMe demonstrated its potential in raising awareness of web and mobile apps useful for enhancing connectivity, although it needs to be introduced to students in earlier years of their medical education to achieve a higher impact on their learning.
Optimal Structure of a Plasmonic Chip for Sensitive Bio-Detection with the Grating-Coupled Surface Plasmon-Field Enhanced Fluorescence (GC-SPF)
Authors: Tawa Keiko , Nakayama Takuya , Kintaka Kenji
Published: September 2017

Surface plasmon field-enhanced fluorescence (SPF) has been one of the powerful tools for biosensors and bioimaging. A wavelength-scale periodic structure coated with a thin metal film is called a plasmonic chip, and it can provide SPF. SPF of Cy5-streptavidin (Cy5-SA) was measured on a biotinylated plasmonic chip with a grating of 480 nm-pitch. The optimal structure of a plasmonic sensor-chip was designed for improving detection sensitivity. The silver film thickness dependence of the SPF intensity was measured under the irradiation of the top panel of a sensor chip. Furthermore, the dependence of the SPF intensity on the distance from the metal surface was also investigated. The optimal structure for the largest fluorescence enhancement factor was 150 nm-thick silver and 10 nm-thick SiO2 layers due to the enhanced electric field (excitation field), the surface plasmon coupled emission (SPCE), and the interference effect with reflected light. The largest enhancement factor was found to be 170-fold. Furthermore, not only the largest fluorescence intensity but also stable lower background noise were found to be essential for higher-sensitive detection.
Review on the Antimicrobial Properties of Carbon Nanostructures
Authors: Al-Jumaili Ahmed , Alancherry Surjith , Bazaka Kateryna , Jacob Mohan
Published: September 2017

Swift developments in nanotechnology have prominently encouraged innovative discoveries across many fields. Carbon-based nanomaterials have emerged as promising platforms for a broad range of applications due to their unique mechanical, electronic, and biological properties. Carbon nanostructures (CNSs) such as fullerene, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), graphene and diamond-like carbon (DLC) have been demonstrated to have potent broad-spectrum antibacterial activities toward pathogens. In order to ensure the safe and effective integration of these structures as antibacterial agents into biomaterials, the specific mechanisms that govern the antibacterial activity of CNSs need to be understood, yet it is challenging to decouple individual and synergistic contributions of physical, chemical and electrical effects of CNSs on cells. In this article, recent progress in this area is reviewed, with a focus on the interaction between different families of carbon nanostructures and microorganisms to evaluate their bactericidal performance.
A Graphene-Based Flexible Pressure Sensor with Applications to Plantar Pressure Measurement and Gait Analysis
Authors: Lou Cunguang , Wang Shuo , Liang Tie , Pang Chenyao , Huang Lei , Run Mingtao , Liu Xiuling
Published: September 2017

In the present study, we propose and develop a flexible pressure sensor based on the piezoresistive effect of multilayer graphene films on polyester textile. The pressure response results from the deformation of graphene conductive network structure and the changes in resistance. Here, we show that the graphene pressure sensor can achieve a sensitivity value of 0.012 kPa − 1 , the measurement range can be as high as 800 kPa, and the response time can reach to 50 ms. Subsequently, a stable in-shoe wireless plantar pressure measurement system is developed and dynamic pressure distribution is acquired in real-time. Overall, the graphene textile pressure sensor has the advantage of wide dynamic range, flexibility and comfort, which provides the high possibility for footwear evaluation, clinical gait analysis and pathological foot diagnosis.
Impact of Coalbed Incidence Angle on Methane Enrichment Zone in Longwall Gob
Authors: Hu Shengyong , Zhang Ao , Feng Guorui , Guan Shuwen , Guo Xiangqian , Li Chao , Xu Guang
Published: September 2017

To control methane emissions in gob into longwall working faces, it is necessary to understand the distributions of methane enrichment zones (MEZ) around mined coal seams with different incidence angles. In this paper, FLAC3D software is used to calculate the three-dimensional stress distributions in MEZ in gobs with coalbed incidence angles ranging from 0° to 50°. The results show that MEZ consistently exhibit a “hexagon” shape, and rotate in a clockwise direction as the coalbed angle increases. The MEZ range above the mined seam is larger than that below the mined seam. As the coalbed angle increases, the MEZ range in the roof decreases, while the MEZ range in the floor increases. The MEZ height increases significantly as the coalbed angle increases. The MEZ widths in coal pillars of gobs increase slightly as the coalbed angle increases. The methane concentration increases exponentially as the height in the MEZ increases. The surface borehole bottoms located relatively higher in the MEZ can drain methane with a higher concentration and flow rate, as verified by a field test in the Pansan mine, China.
The Application of Quantitative 1H-NMR for the Determination of Orlistat in Tablets
Authors: Sun Shanshan , Jin Mengxia , Zhou Xia , Ni Jinghua , Jin Xiangju , Liu Hongyue , Wang Yinghong
Published: September 2017

A quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (qNMR) method to measure the content of Orlistat in tablets was studied and found to be efficient, accurate, reliable, and simple. In this paper, phloroglucinolanhydrous and dimethylsulfoxide-d6 (DMSO-d6) served as the internal standard and solvent, respectively. The qNMR methodology, including the linearity, range, the limit of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ), stability, precision, and accuracy, was validated seriatim, and the results were very favorable. The content determination results of three batches of Orlistat in tablets were almost identical upon comparing the qNMR method and the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. The recommended method authentically compensated the deficiencies of the current HPLC method for determining Orlistat content, and proved to be a method complementary to traditional analysis for the purity measurement of Orlistat in some pharmaceutical preparations.
Special Issue: Intramolecular Hydrogen Bonding 2017
Authors: Scheiner Steve
Published: September 2017

Even after more than a century of study [1–6], scrutiny, and detailed examination, the H-bond continues [7–12] to evoke a level of fascination that surpasses many other phenomena [...]
Three-Dimensional, Kinematic, Human Behavioral Pattern-Based Features for Multimodal Emotion Recognition
Authors: Patwardhan Amol
Published: September 2017

This paper presents a multimodal emotion recognition method that uses a feature-level combination of three-dimensional (3D) geometric features (coordinates, distance and angle of joints), kinematic features such as velocity and displacement of joints, and features extracted from daily behavioral patterns such as frequency of head nod, hand wave, and body gestures that represent specific emotions. Head, face, hand, body, and speech data were captured from 15 participants using an infrared sensor (Microsoft Kinect). The 3D geometric and kinematic features were developed using raw feature data from the visual channel. Human emotional behavior-based features were developed using inter-annotator agreement and commonly observed expressions, movements and postures associated to specific emotions. The features from each modality and the behavioral pattern-based features (head shake, arm retraction, body forward movement depicting anger) were combined to train the multimodal classifier for the emotion recognition system. The classifier was trained using 10-fold cross validation and support vector machine (SVM) to predict six basic emotions. The results showed improvement in emotion recognition accuracy (The precision increased by 3.28% and the recall rate by 3.17%) when the 3D geometric, kinematic, and human behavioral pattern-based features were combined for multimodal emotion recognition using supervised classification.
Near-Infrared-Triggered Photodynamic Therapy toward Breast Cancer Cells Using Dendrimer-Functionalized Upconversion Nanoparticles
Authors: Wang Bing-Yen , Liao Ming-Liang , Hong Guan-Ci , Chang Wen-Wei , Chu Chih-Chien
Published: September 2017

Water-soluble upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) that exhibit significant ultraviolet, blue, and red emissions under 980-nm laser excitation were successfully synthesized for performing near infrared (NIR)-triggered photodynamic therapy (PDT). The lanthanide-doped UCNPs bearing oleate ligands were first exchanged by citrates to generate polyanionic surfaces and then sequentially encapsulated with NH2-terminated poly(amido amine) (PAMAM) dendrimers (G4) and chlorine6 (Ce6) using a layer-by-layer (LBL) absorption strategy. Transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis confirm that the hybrid UCNPs possess a polygonal morphology with an average dimension of 16.0 ± 2.1 nm and α-phase crystallinity. A simple calculation derived through thermogravimetric analysis revealed that one polycationic G4 dendrimer could be firmly accommodated by approximately 150 polyanionic citrates through multivalent interactions. Moreover, zeta potential measurements indicated that the LBL fabrication results in the hybrid nanoparticles with positively charged surfaces originated from these dendrimers, which assist the cellular uptake in biological specimens. The cytotoxic singlet oxygen based on the photosensitization of the adsorbed Ce6 through the upconversion emissions can be readily accumulated by increasing the irradiation time of the incident lasers. Compared with that of 660-nm lasers, NIR-laser excitation exhibits optimized in vitro PDT effects toward human breast cancer MCF-7 cells cultured in the tumorspheres, and less than 40% of cells survived under a low Ce6 dosage of 2.5 × 10−7 M. Fluorescence microscopy analysis indicated that the NIR-driven PDT causes more effective destruction of the cells located inside spheres that exhibit significant cancer stem cell or progenitor cell properties. Moreover, an in vivo assessment based on immunohistochemical analysis for a 4T1 tumor-bearing mouse model confirmed the effective inhibition of cancer cell proliferation through cellular DNA damage by the expression of Ki67 and γH2AXser139 protein markers. Thus, the hybrid UCNPs are a promising NIR-triggered PDT module for cancer treatment.
Tracking Dietary Patterns over 20 Years from Childhood through Adolescence into Young Adulthood: The Saskatchewan Pediatric Bone Mineral Accrual Study
Authors: Movassagh Elham , Baxter-Jones Adam , Kontulainen Saija , Whiting Susan , Vatanparast Hassanali
Published: September 2017

Dietary patterns established during adolescence might play a role in adulthood disease. We examined the stability of dietary patterns (DPs) from childhood through adolescence and into young adulthood (from age 8 to 34 years). Data from 130 participants (53 females) of Saskatchewan Pediatric Bone Mineral Accrual Study (aged 8–15 years, at baseline) were included. Multiple 24-h recalls were collected annually from 1991 to 1997, 2002 to 2005, and 2010 and 2011. Using principal component analysis, “Vegetarian-style”, “Western-like”, “High-fat, high-protein”, “Mixed”, and “Snack” DPs were derived at baseline. Applied DP scores for all annual measurements were calculated using factor loading of baseline DPs and energy-adjusted food group intakes. We analyzed data using generalized estimating equations. The tracking coefficient represents correlation between baseline dietary pattern scores and all other follow-up dietary pattern scores. We found a moderate tracking for the “Vegetarian-style” (β = 0.44, p < 0.001) and “High-fat, high-protein” (β = 0.39, p < 0.001) DPs in females and “Vegetarian-style” DP (β = 0.30, p < 0.001) in males. The remaining DPs showed poor-to-fair tracking in both sexes. No tracking for “Western-like” DP in females was observed. Assessing overall change in DP scores from childhood to young adulthood showed an increasing trend in adherence to “Vegetarian-style” DP and decreasing trend in adherence to “High-fat, high-protein” DP by age in both sexes (p < 0.001), while “Western-like” and “Mixed” DP scores increased only in males (p < 0.001). These findings suggest that healthy dietary habits established during childhood and adolescence moderately continue into adulthood.
Music’s Role in Facilitating the Process of Healing—A Thematic Analysis
Authors: Lee Juyoung , Davidson Jane W.
Published: September 2017

This qualitative study aims to understand the factors motivating Korean migrants’ participation in weekly Charismatic Prayer Meetings in a Catholic Church. As music plays a crucial role in these meetings, the paper explores whether active engagement with music motivated the long-term commitment of participants to the meetings. The research is based on a thematic analysis of a focus group comprising six Korean adults living in Australia. Results show that music performed in religious forms such as Praise and Worship and Speaking/Singing in Tongues prayers was found to intensify spiritual experiences of the people as a group, and over time, each participant experienced improved physical and mental wellbeing, which in turn motivated further investment in the meetings. It was evident that the passionate group music-making enabled participants to focus on conscious and subconscious body, mind, and spirit, eliciting transpersonal experiences within each person. The findings of the current study are deemed relevant to this specific cohort and to others in similar contexts, where minority groups use worship and music for socio-cultural inclusion that addresses both spiritual and mental health issues. Though a small-scale study, the current paper provides a rationale for these religious groups to be involved in music-based spiritual practice.
Spatio-Temporal Variability and Model Parameter Sensitivity Analysis of Ice Production in Ross Ice Shelf Polynya from 2003 to 2015
Authors: Cheng Zian , Pang Xiaoping , Zhao Xi , Tan Cheng
Published: September 2017

Antarctic sea ice formation is strongly influenced by polynyas occurring in austral winter. The sea ice production of Ross Ice Shelf Polynya (RISP) located in the Ross Sea is the highest among coastal polynyas around the Southern Ocean. In this paper, daily sea ice production distribution of RISP in wintertime is estimated during 2003–2015, and the spatial and temporal trends of ice production are explored. Moreover, the sensitivity of the ice production model to parameterization is tested. To define the extent of RISP, this study uses sea ice concentration (SIC) maps mainly derived from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for Earth Observing System (AMSRE) and the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) by ARTIST (Arctic Radiation and Turbulence Interaction Study) sea ice algorithm (ASI) and constrains the ice production estimation to areas with SIC less than 75%. ERA-Interim reanalysis meteorological data are applied to a thermodynamic model to estimate daily ice production distribution between April and October during 2003–2015 for the open water fractions within the polynya. This estimation is conducted under the assumption that the meteorological data represent the reality. We further analyzed the spatial variability, monthly trend, and interannual trend for wintertime of the total RISP sea ice production. The results show that the ocean surface produces ice at a high rate within the distance of 20–30 km from the ice shelf front. In most high production areas, the ice production significantly increases. Some local regions show a contrarily significant decreasing trend as a result of ice shelf expansion and iceberg events. The monthly total RISP ice production ranges from 14 to 76 km3, showing substantial fluctuations in each month during 2003–2015. The seasonal variation of each year also shows substantial fluctuations. The wintertime total ice productions of RISP for 2003–2015 range 164–313 km3 with an average of 219 km3, showing no obvious temporal trend. More importantly, we conducted ten sensitivity tests, aiming to illustrate the sensitivity of the ice production model to parameterization. The output of the ice production model is sensitive to the value of the bulk transfer coefficients ( C s and C e ), latent heat of sea ice fusion ( L f ), and the threshold of SIC for RISP extent definition. C s and C e have the greatest influence, leading to a variation of average wintertime total RISP ice production results as high as 87.1%. A set of optimal local parameter values are recommended, including C s and C e = 0.002 and L f = 2.79 × 105 J·kg−1. L f is calculated by the salinity and temperature of sea ice, the value of which may lead to potential influence to the value of L f and the following ice production results.
Remote Sensing of Above-Ground Biomass
Authors: Kumar Lalit , Mutanga Onisimo
Published: September 2017

Accurate measurement and mapping of biomass is a critical component of carbon stock quantification, climate change impact assessment, suitability and location of bio-energy processing plants, assessing fuel for forest fires, and assessing merchandisable timber.[...]
A Convolutional Neural Network-Based 3D Semantic Labeling Method for ALS Point Clouds
Authors: Yang Zhishuang , Jiang Wanshou , Xu Bo , Zhu Quansheng , Jiang San , Huang Wei
Published: September 2017

3D semantic labeling is a fundamental task in airborne laser scanning (ALS) point clouds processing. The complexity of observed scenes and the irregularity of point distributions make this task quite challenging. Existing methods rely on a large number of features for the LiDAR points and the interaction of neighboring points, but cannot exploit the potential of them. In this paper, a convolutional neural network (CNN) based method that extracts the high-level representation of features is used. A point-based feature image-generation method is proposed that transforms the 3D neighborhood features of a point into a 2D image. First, for each point in the ALS data, the local geometric features, global geometric features and full-waveform features of its neighboring points within a window are extracted and transformed into an image. Then, the feature images are treated as the input of a CNN model for a 3D semantic labeling task. Finally, to allow performance comparisons with existing approaches, we evaluate our framework on the publicly available datasets provided by the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Working Groups II/4 (ISPRS WG II/4) benchmark tests on 3D labeling. The experiment results achieve 82.3% overall accuracy, which is the best among all considered methods.
Male and Female Emirati Medical Clerks’ Perceptions of the Impact of Gender and Mobility on Their Professional Careers
Authors: McLean Michelle , Higgins-Opitz Susan
Published: September 2017

Background: Medicine has undergone profound changes in terms of the number of women entering the profession with postulated implications of this ‘feminization’ for the profession. The present phenomenological study sought to gain insight into the experiences of final year male and female Emirati medical students (clerks) in terms of the impact of gender on their careers. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 of the 27 clerks. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed thematically. Findings: There was consensus that the gender profile of medicine in the United Arab Emirates was changing as opportunities emerged for Emirati women to branch into different medical specialties. These opportunities were, however, local or regional due largely to travel restrictions on women. Females would thus receive a less highly regarded board certification than males who were encouraged to specialize abroad. On their return, males would be appointed as consultants or as high-ranking administrators. Participants also acknowledged that like their roles in their society, some medical specialties were ‘gendered’, e.g., surgery (male) and pediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology (female). Conclusion: Although religious and cultural traditions around gender and mobility will influence the professional careers of male and female Emirati medical graduates, the situation is, however, changing.
Integrated Proactive Control Model for Energy Efficiency Processes in Facilities Management: Applying Dynamic Exponential Smoothing Optimization
Authors: Ruan Shunling , Xie Haiyan , Jiang Song
Published: September 2017

Sustainable facilities management (SFM) opens the door of opportunity for companies to evaluate the quality of resources and environment management at their facilities. It enables the principles of sustainable development. There is still inefficiency in quantitative research of integrating environmental factors, particularly multi-source data, to monitor and control complicated systems in buildings. The objective of this research is to develop an effective method to dynamically optimize energy efficiency in SFM plans and strategies. The research question is: can the integrated proactive method reduce energy consumption with dynamically adjustable controls? This paper proposes a coordinated proactive control method using dynamic time-series prediction (PCM-DTSP) for SFM, which optimizes system controls by integrating the prediction results and monitored environmental-data. The results show that, after optimization, the temperature fluctuations are reduced to 33.3%. The average temperature and maximum temperature are reduced by 8% and 13.1%, respectively. The instantaneous power consumption was reduced by 0.17 KW per hour for each cooling system unit. The PCM-DTSP method can significantly optimize energy efficiency, which paves the way for long-term comprehensive energy management. The contribution of the research lies in its optimized control of energy consumption, temperature stabilization, and improvement of environmental comfort solutions, which can be generalized to various types of buildings.
Cell Membrane Stability and Association Mapping for Drought and Heat Tolerance in a Worldwide Wheat Collection
Authors: ElBasyoni Ibrahim , Saadalla Mohamed , Baenziger Stephen , Bockelman Harold , Morsy Sabah
Published: September 2017

Worldwide periods of heat and drought are projected to be more frequent, longer, and occurring earlier, which could deleteriously affect the productivity of cool-season crops including wheat (Triticum spp.). The coexistence of heat and drought stresses affects plant biochemical and physiological processes including cell membrane function. The increased permeability and leakage of ions out of the cell has been used as a measure of cell membrane stability (CMS) and as a screen test for stress tolerance. The main objectives of this research were to: (1) screen a global spring wheat panel for CMS by exposing leaf tissue to heat treatment and osmotic pressure (PEG 600), (2) identify potential quantitative trait loci (QTL)/genes linked with CMS using genome-wide association mapping, and (3) estimate the relationship between the field performance and measured CMS. The results indicated highly significant differences among the 2111 spring wheat accessions regarding CMS. Moreover, several SNPs were found to be significantly linked with CMS. The annotation of the significant SNPs indicated that most of these SNPs are linked with important functional genes, which control solute transport through the cell membrane and other plant biochemical activities related to abiotic stress tolerance. Overall, this study demonstrated the use of genome-wide association mapping for the identification of potentially new genomic regions associated with CMS. Tolerant genotypes identified in this study proved to be more productive under preliminary field stress conditions. Thus, the identified membrane-stable accessions could be used as parental genotypes in breeding programs for heat or drought stress tolerance.
Credit Optimization Algorithm for Calculating LEED Costs
Authors: Park Jae-Yong , Choi Sul-Geon , Kim Da-Kyung , Jeong Min-Chul , Kong Jung-Sik
Published: September 2017

As environmental and energy issues continue to emerge as global concerns, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification is becoming highly valued. However, since additional costs for LEED certification cannot be estimated before proceeding with certification projects, financial losses are often incurred. Additional construction costs are the most significant issue faced by enterprises aiming for LEED certification. Rough estimates of the range of additional construction costs are available, but it is difficult to identify factors that increase or decrease the price of a building. Thus, there is a need for a program that provides average data for LEED certification costs and suggests the easiest way to attain credits for a building. Considering that LEED certification is a rating system, this study develops an optimization algorithm that aims to derive the minimum score for a desired LEED level at minimal cost. Credits are studied and classified by their difficulty and the required cost, allowing for an algorithm that can suggest a customized approach to acquire the minimal required score. The practical, data-driven program developed herein helps shorten the consulting process and increases the accessibility of LEED certification.
Identification of Stakeholders of Public Interest Organisations
Authors: Hawrysz Liliana , Maj Jolanta
Published: September 2017

Organisations are responsible for the impact of their decisions and actions on society and environment. This responsibility should be exercised by, among others, transparent and ethical conduct, which contributes to sustainable development, including the welfare and health of society, consideration of the stakeholders’ expectations, maintaining compliance with the current law, and coherence with international standards of conduct, and should be integrated with the organisation’s actions and exercised in its relations. An organisation’s social responsibility, aside from the fact that it is an obligation towards society, can bring the organisation measurable benefits in the long-term, such as an increase in the interest of investors, for whom a company’s financial credibility is often dependent on its social credibility, improved consumer and stakeholder loyalty, as well as increased competitiveness. The purpose of this article, the consideration of which is embedded in stakeholder theory, is to answer the question of whether Polish stock exchange companies identify their stakeholders, and to identify the possible effects of such identification on the organisations. From among 102 organisations that took part in CATI (computer-assisted telephone interview) studies, 28% identify their stakeholders. It is interesting that organisations that identify their stakeholders generated positive financial results more often than organisations that do not identify them. Organisations that identify their stakeholders are more transparent, i.e., disclose their non-financial information. On the other hand, organisations that do not identify their stakeholders do not practically disclose any non-financial information. In the light of the analysis of the subject literature and the obtained results of our research, we deem it necessary to analyse the stakeholders and assess their expectations in order to select the optimal level of co-operation with the stakeholders—in terms of the entity’s vision—and consider their needs in the company value generation strategy. This action offers managers more resources to achieve success.
Power-to-Gas Implementation for a Polygeneration System in Southwestern Ontario
Authors: Ranisau Jonathan , Barbouti Mohammed , Trainor Aaron , Juthani Nidhi , Salkuyeh Yaser , Maroufmashat Azadeh , Fowler Michael
Published: September 2017

Canada has stockpiles of waste petroleum coke, a high carbon waste product leftover from oil production with little positive market value. A polygeneration process is proposed which implements “power-to-gas” technology, through the use of electrolysis and surplus grid electricity, to use waste petroleum coke and biomass to create a carbon monoxide-rich stream after gasification, which is then converted into a portfolio of value-added products with the addition of hydrogen. A model implementing mixed-integer linear programming integrates power-to-gas technology and AspenPlus simulates the polygeneration process. The downstream production rates are selected using particle swarm optimization. When comparing 100% electrolysis vs. 100% steam reforming as a source of hydrogen production, electrolysis provides a larger net present value due to the carbon pricing introduced in Canada and the cost reduction from removal of the air separation unit by using the oxygen from the electrolysers. The optimal percent of hydrogen produced from electrolysis is about 82% with a hydrogen input of 7600 kg/h. The maximum net present value is $332 M when over 75% production rate is dimethyl ether or $203 M when the dimethyl ether is capped at 50% production. The polygeneration plant is an example of green technology used to environmentally process Canada’s petroleum coke.
Demand-Oriented Design Strategies for Low Environmental Impact Housing in the Tropics
Authors: Zhang Heng , Wey Wann-Ming , Chen Syuan-Jhang
Published: September 2017

This study aims to propose design strategies for low environmental impact (low-EI) housing in the tropics while incorporating user needs to increase its acceptance in the market. The Fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) is adopted initially to draw the user needs for contemporary housing, after which the crucial design factors are identified. The analytic network process (ANP) and house of quality (HOQ) are further utilized to incorporate weightings of user needs into crucial design factors to establish appropriate design strategies. The results show “utility” (0.177), “durability” (0.169), and “comfort” (0.168) are the three greatest user needs for housing. After incorporating the weightings of user needs into design factors, building layout (0.334) and materials (0.302) turned out to be the most important considerations during the planning phase of the design procedure. Correspondingly, during the detailed design phase in the procedure, the most important factors are “low-EI material” (0.195), “orientation” (0.176), “building relationship” (0.158), and “energy-saving material” (0.107). The findings stress the significance of architectural programming and passive design for wider acceptance of low-EI housing in the tropics.
Chiral Stationary Phases for Liquid Chromatography Based on Chitin- and Chitosan-Derived Marine Polysaccharides
Authors: Ribeiro João , Tiritan Maria , Pinto Madalena , Fernandes Carla
Published: September 2017

The development of chiral stationary phases (CSPs) for liquid chromatography (LC) revolutionized the enantioseparation and, nowadays, different types of CSPs are commercially available. Polysaccharide-based CSPs are one of the most versatile and widely used for both analytical and preparative applications and they are able to resolve several classes of racemates. Phenylcarbamates of amylose and cellulose derivatives are the most successful; however, polysaccharide-based CSPs comprising marine-derived polysaccharides are also described revealing high chiral recognition abilities and wider range of mobile phases. A literature survey covering the report on chitin and chitosan based CSPs is presented. The chemical structure of the chiral selectors, their development and applications in chiral LC are emphasized.
Assessment of the Combined Effects of Threshold Selection and Parameter Estimation of Generalized Pareto Distribution with Applications to Flood Frequency Analysis
Authors: Gharib Amr , Davies Evan , Goss Greg , Faramarzi Monireh
Published: September 2017

Floods are costly natural disasters that are projected to increase in severity and frequency into the future. Exceedances over a high threshold and analysis of their distributions, as determined through the Peak Over Threshold (POT) method and approximated by a Generalized Pareto Distribution (GPD), respectively, are widely used for flood frequency analysis. This study investigates the combined effects of threshold selection and GPD parameter estimation on the accuracy of flood quantile estimates, and develops a new, widely-applicable framework that significantly improves the accuracy of flood quantile estimations. First, the performance of several parameter estimators (i.e., Maximum Likelihood; Probability Weighted Moments; Maximum Goodness of Fit; Likelihood Moment; Modified Likelihood Moment; and Nonlinear Weighted Least Square Error) for the GPD was compared through Monte Carlo simulation. Then, a calibrated Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model for the province of Alberta, Canada, was used to reproduce daily streamflow series for 47 watersheds distributed across the province, and the POT was applied to each. The Goodness of Fit for the resulting flood frequency models was measured by the upper tail Anderson-Darling (AD) test and the root-mean-square error (RMSE) and demonstrated improvements for more than one-third of stations by averages of 65% (AD) and 47% (RMSE), respectively.
Mechanochemical synthesis of small organic molecules
Authors: Achar Tapas Kumar , Bose Anima , Mal Prasenjit
Published: September 2017

With the growing interest in renewable energy and global warming, it is important to minimize the usage of hazardous chemicals in both academic and industrial research, elimination of waste, and possibly recycle them to obtain better results in greener fashion. The studies under the area of mechanochemistry which cover the grinding chemistry to ball milling, sonication, etc. are certainly of interest to the researchers working on the development of green methodologies. In this review, a collection of examples on recent developments in organic bond formation reactions like carbon–carbon (C–C), carbon–nitrogen (C–N), carbon–oxygen (C–O), carbon–halogen (C–X), etc. is documented. Mechanochemical syntheses of heterocyclic rings, multicomponent reactions and organometallic molecules including their catalytic applications are also highlighted.
Results of Research to the Issue of Engineer Support in Combat Operations
Authors: Rolenec Ota , Kyjovský Jan , Zelený Jaroslav , Palasiewicz Tibor
Published: September 2017

The paper deals with the ability of engineer units to provide engineer mobility support in combat operations. Based on the analysis of the results of structured interviews conducted with extensive amount of the Czech Armed Forces officers, and their generalization, were found discrepancies between the current and required state in the organizational structure of engineer units to provide effective mobility support, and requirements for engineer devices to support mobility in the Czech Armed Forces conditions were formulated. The aim of this article is to present recommendations for inclusion of different types of engineer devices into formed engineer formations for mobility support in relation to the tasks performed within engineer role of mobility support and determine recommendations for the further direction of research in this area.
A review of biodiversity-related issues and challenges in megadiverse Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries
Authors: von Rintelen Kristina , Arida Evy , Häuser Christoph
Published: September 2017

Indonesia is one of the ten member states of the economically and politically diverse regional organization of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Southeast Asia comprises four of the 25 global biodiversity hotspots, three of the 17 global megadiverse countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines) and the most diverse coral reefs in the world. All member states are Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). We discuss ASEAN-wide joint activities on nature conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity that do not stop at national borders.

The Indonesian archipelago comprises two of the world’s biodiversity hotspots (areas with a high degree of endemic species that are highly threatened by loss of habitats): Its insular character and complex geological history led to the evolution of a megadiverse fauna and flora on the global scale. The importance of biodiversity, e.g., in traditional medicine and agriculture, is deep-rooted in Indonesian society. Modern biodiversity pathways include new fields of application in technology, pharmacy and economy along with environmental policies. This development occurred not only in Indonesia but also in other biodiversity-rich tropical countries.

This review summarizes and discusses the unique biodiversity of Indonesia from different angles (science, society, environmental policy, and bioeconomy) and brings it into context within the ASEAN region. The preconditions of each member state for biodiversity-related activities are rather diverse. Much was done to improve the conditions for biodiversity research and use in several countries, primarily in those with a promising economic development. However, ASEAN as a whole still has further potential for more joint initiatives. Especially Indonesia has the highest biodiversity potential within the ASEAN and beyond, but likewise the highest risk of biodiversity loss.

We conclude that Indonesia has not taken full advantage of this potential yet. A growing national interest in local biodiversity as a natural resource is a welcome development on one hand, but the risk of too many restrictions for, e.g., the science community (high level of bureaucracy at all project stages from planning phase, visa procedures, field work permits, scientific exchange and project managment issues, governmental budget cuts for basic research and restricted access to international literature for Indonesian researchers) does significantly hamper the internationalization of biodiversity-related science. In the long run, Indonesia has to find a balance between protectionism and sensible access to its national biodiversity to tackle global challenges in biodiversity conservation, health issues, food security, and climate change.
Complementary and Integrative Health Practices for Depression
Authors: Haefner Judy
Published: September 2017

The current article reviews selected complementary health approaches for the treatment of depressive symptoms. Complementary and integrative health (CIH) focuses on the whole person with the goal of optimal health—body, mind, and spirit. Patient use of integrative health practices and products is increasing; therefore, providers must understand these practices and products and be able to recommend or advise for or against their use based on research and guidelines. Difficulty with the current limitations of research on CIH practices is discussed, as these studies often may not have the same rigor or scientific weight as conventional treatment research. Although some individuals may use certain treatment options alone, such as massage therapy, meditation, and supplements to diet, the article discusses ways to combine CIH with allopathic care. Nurse practitioners should be open to considering complementary practices for health care and knowledgeable to guide patients in making safe health decisions. [
Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 55
(12), 22–33.]
Impulsivity and Sensation-Seeking Personality Traits as Predictors of Substance Use Among University Students
Authors: Hamdan-Mansour Ayman M. , Mahmoud Khadejah F. , Al Shibi Ahmad N. , Arabiat Diana H.
Published: September 2017

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship between substance use and impulsivity and sensation-seeking personality traits among 655 university students using a cross-sectional, descriptive, correlational design. A significant correlation was found between students' impulsivity level scores and frequency of substance use (
r
= 0.11,
p
< 0.05). A positive correlation was found between frequency of substance use and sensation-seeking levels (
r
= 0.2,
p
< 0.05), as well as impulsivity levels (
r
= 0.31,
p
< 0.01). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the two predictors model was able to account for 12.4% of variation in substance use. Impulsivity and sensation-seeking personality traits are significant predictors of substance use among university students. [
Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 56
(1), 57–63.]
Non-Rapid Eye Movement Arousal Parasomnias in Children
Authors: Ekambaram Vijayabharathi , Maski Kiran
Published: September 2017

Parasomnia is a common pediatric sleep disorder that can cause parents or caregivers distress when experienced by their children. Based on the
International Classification of Sleep Disorders
, parasomnias can be divided into two subgroups: non-rapid eye movement (NREM) parasomnias and rapid eye movement (REM) parasomnias. REM sleep parasomnias include nightmares, REM behavior disorder, and sleep paralysis, whereas NREM sleep parasomnias include disorders of arousal such as confusional arousals, sleepwalking, sleep talking, night terrors, and sleep-related eating disorder. This review focuses on the epidemiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of the most common form of parasomnias—NREM arousal parasomnias. Additionally, this review aims to help clinicians distinguish NREM parasomnias from nocturnal frontal lobe seizures, as this distinction is important to avoid diagnostic delays and inappropriate medication exposure.

[
Pediatr Ann
. 2017;46(9):e327–e331.]
Adolescent Sleepiness: Causes and Consequences
Authors: Hansen Shana L. , Capener Dale , Daly Christopher
Published: September 2017

Insufficient sleep duration and poor sleep quality are common among adolescents. The multidimensional causes of insufficient sleep duration and poor sleep quality include biological, health-related, environmental, and lifestyle factors. The most common direct consequence of insufficient and/or poor sleep quality is excessive daytime sleepiness, which may contribute to poor academic performance, behavioral health problems, substance use, and drowsy driving. Evaluation of sleepiness includes a detailed sleep history and sleep diary, with polysomnography only required for the assessment of specific sleep disorders. Management involves encouraging healthy sleep practices such as having consistent bed and wake times, limiting caffeine and electronics at night before bed, and eliminating napping, in addition to treating any existing sleep or medical disorders.

[
Pediatr Ann
. 2017;46(9):e340–e344.]
Damage caused by Tetranychus Merganser Bondreaux (Acari: Tetranychidae) on Nopal Verdura Opuntia Ficus-Indica (L.) Miller during winter
Authors: Lima-Espíndola J. , Vanegas-Rico J.M.
Published: September 2017

The spider mite Tetranychus merganser occurs in some crops in Mexico and USA. This mite could be considered a potential pest in countries like Japan. In this work we recorded the damages that T. merganser causes to the nopal verdura (prickly pear vegetable crop) in one of the principal cactus crop regions of Mexico.
Metastasis of renal cell carcinoma to urinary bladder: A rare case report with review of literature
Authors: Arpita Saha , Manoj Jain , Kaushik Saha , Anish Srivastava
Published: September 2017

Metachronous metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) to bladder is rare incidence. We report a case of RCC with metachronous metastasis to the urinary bladder occurring 2 years postradical nephrectomy. In a follow‑up for the past 1 year, the patient is doing well. To the best of our knowledge, this case is the second case of bladder metastasis from RCC in the Indian literature. We reviewed literature and discuss the histopathological features of bladder metastasis of RCC.