bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Data-Gathering Scheme with Joint Routing and Compressive Sensing Based on Modified Diffusion Wavelets in Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Gu Xiangping , Zhou Xiaofeng , Sun Yanjing
Published: February 2018

Compressive sensing (CS)-based data gathering is a promising method to reduce energy consumption in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Traditional CS-based data-gathering approaches require a large number of sensor nodes to participate in each CS measurement task, resulting in high energy consumption, and do not guarantee load balance. In this paper, we propose a sparser analysis that depends on modified diffusion wavelets, which exploit sensor readings’ spatial correlation in WSNs. In particular, a novel data-gathering scheme with joint routing and CS is presented. A modified ant colony algorithm is adopted, where next hop node selection takes a node’s residual energy and path length into consideration simultaneously. Moreover, in order to speed up the coverage rate and avoid the local optimal of the algorithm, an improved pheromone impact factor is put forward. More importantly, theoretical proof is given that the equivalent sensing matrix generated can satisfy the restricted isometric property (RIP). The simulation results demonstrate that the modified diffusion wavelets’ sparsity affects the sensor signal and has better reconstruction performance than DFT. Furthermore, our data gathering with joint routing and CS can dramatically reduce the energy consumption of WSNs, balance the load, and prolong the network lifetime in comparison to state-of-the-art CS-based methods.
Real-Time Spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar Float-Point Imaging System Using Optimized Mapping Methodology and a Multi-Node Parallel Accelerating Technique
Authors: Li Bingyi , Shi Hao , Chen Liang , Yu Wenyue , Yang Chen , Xie Yizhuang , Bian Mingming , Zhang Qingjun , Pang Long
Published: February 2018

With the development of satellite load technology and very large-scale integrated (VLSI) circuit technology, on-board real-time synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging systems have facilitated rapid response to disasters. A key goal of the on-board SAR imaging system design is to achieve high real-time processing performance under severe size, weight, and power consumption constraints. This paper presents a multi-node prototype system for real-time SAR imaging processing. We decompose the commonly used chirp scaling (CS) SAR imaging algorithm into two parts according to the computing features. The linearization and logic-memory optimum allocation methods are adopted to realize the nonlinear part in a reconfigurable structure, and the two-part bandwidth balance method is used to realize the linear part. Thus, float-point SAR imaging processing can be integrated into a single Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) chip instead of relying on distributed technologies. A single-processing node requires 10.6 s and consumes 17 W to focus on 25-km swath width, 5-m resolution stripmap SAR raw data with a granularity of 16,384 × 16,384. The design methodology of the multi-FPGA parallel accelerating system under the real-time principle is introduced. As a proof of concept, a prototype with four processing nodes and one master node is implemented using a Xilinx xc6vlx315t FPGA. The weight and volume of one single machine are 10 kg and 32 cm × 24 cm × 20 cm, respectively, and the power consumption is under 100 W. The real-time performance of the proposed design is demonstrated on Chinese Gaofen-3 stripmap continuous imaging.
Ontology-Based Method for Fault Diagnosis of Loaders
Authors: Xu Feixiang , Liu Xinhui , Chen Wei , Zhou Chen , Cao Bingwei
Published: February 2018

This paper proposes an ontology-based fault diagnosis method which overcomes the difficulty of understanding complex fault diagnosis knowledge of loaders and offers a universal approach for fault diagnosis of all loaders. This method contains the following components: (1) An ontology-based fault diagnosis model is proposed to achieve the integrating, sharing and reusing of fault diagnosis knowledge for loaders; (2) combined with ontology, CBR (case-based reasoning) is introduced to realize effective and accurate fault diagnoses following four steps (feature selection, case-retrieval, case-matching and case-updating); and (3) in order to cover the shortages of the CBR method due to the lack of concerned cases, ontology based RBR (rule-based reasoning) is put forward through building SWRL (Semantic Web Rule Language) rules. An application program is also developed to implement the above methods to assist in finding the fault causes, fault locations and maintenance measures of loaders. In addition, the program is validated through analyzing a case study.
Can Social Capital influence Smallholder Farmers’ Climate-Change Adaptation Decisions? Evidence from Three Semi-Arid Communities in Burkina Faso, West Africa
Authors: Yaméogo Thomas , Fonta William , Wünscher Tobias
Published: February 2018

This study examines the influence of farmers’ social capital on their decisions to deal with climate change and climate variability in Burkina Faso. The study is based on a household survey conducted among 450 households, randomly selected from three communities in Burkina Faso. Two indexes were constructed to capture farmers’ structural and cognitive social capital; and using generalized Poisson regression (GPR) and a multivariate probit model, the study probes the effect of farmers’ social capital on their choice of adaptation alternatives, the number of adaptation practices used, and the extent to which adaptation measures were applied. The results indicated that the effect of social capital depends on the type of indicator used and on the type of adaptation strategies necessary. Farmers’ cognitive social capital was significantly and positively related to their choice of soil and water conservation techniques (SWCT), and techniques such as agroforestry and irrigation. Structural social capital, on the other hand, was positively associated with the adoption of new varieties and conservation tillage strategies and negatively associated with the use of a crop-diversification strategy. The results also highlighted that socio-economic, institutional and agro-ecological variables determine farmers’ decisions to adapt to climate change.
A Parallel and Optimization Approach for Land-Surface Temperature Retrieval on a Windows-Based PC Cluster
Authors: Tie Bo , Huang Fang , Tao Jian , Lu Jun , Qiu Dongwei
Published: February 2018

Land-surface temperature (LST) is a very important parameter in the geosciences. Conventional LST retrieval is based on large-scale remote-sensing (RS) images where split-window algorithms are usually employed via a traditional stand-alone method. When using the environment to visualize images (ENVI) software to carry out LST retrieval of large time-series datasets of infrared RS images, the processing time taken for traditional stand-alone servers becomes untenable. To address this shortcoming, cluster-based parallel computing is an ideal solution. However, traditional parallel computing is mostly based on the Linux environment, while the LST algorithm developed within the ENVI interactive data language (IDL) can only be run in the Windows environment in our project. To address this problem, we combine the characteristics of LST algorithms with parallel computing, and propose the design and implementation of a parallel LST retrieval algorithm using the message-passing interface (MPI) parallel-programming model on a Windows-based PC cluster platform. Furthermore, we present our solutions to the problems associated with performance bottlenecks and fault tolerance during the deployment stage. Our results show that, by improving the parallel environment of the storage system and network, one can effectively solve the stability issues of the parallel environment for large-scale RS data processing.
Harvesting Water for Living with Drought: Insights from the Brazilian Human Coexistence with Semi-Aridity Approach towards Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals
Authors: Lindoso Diego , Eiró Flávio , Bursztyn Marcel , Rodrigues-Filho Saulo , Nasuti Stephanie
Published: February 2018

The Semi-Arid region of Brazil (SAB) has been periodically affected by moderate to extreme droughts, jeopardizing livelihoods and severely impacting the life standards of millions of family farmers. In the early 1990s the Human Coexistence with Semi-Aridity (HCSA) emerged as a development approach. The debate on HCSA is limited to Brazilian literature but as a technological and a bottom-up governance experience, researches on the topic could add some insights to international debate on living with drought. The present paper adopts an historical perspective on HCSA before discussing the main HCSA’s rainwater-harvesting methods found in two case studies in the SAB as a local appropriate and advanced technological package for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Qualitative analysis of 32 semi-structured interviews with key local stakeholders, 29 unstructured interviews with family farmers, and surveys in 499 family farms are used. The results show that regardless the highly adaptive potential, the technologies are adopted in differ rates among them and in between case studies chosen, influenced by non-technological factors and interacting the broader public policies context. Scaling up the HCSA’s technologies in the rural SAB is a development path towards the SDGs.
Contrasting Urban Landscapes and Reduced Irrigation Engender Water Conservation in a Desert Environment
Authors: Frietze Victoria , Gioannini Rachel , Al-Ajlouni Malik , VanLeeuwen Dawn , Hilaire Rolston
Published: February 2018

With increased interest in water conservation, traditional residential landscapes, which often include turfgrass and other high-water use plants, are often eliminated in favor of low water use desert landscape plants. But even with a desert landscape, home owners often overwater, thereby reducing any water conservation possibility. This experiment was designed to demonstrate that plants can retain physiological health even when on reduced irrigation. Three 26.8-m2 plots each of two contrasting landscapes, designated as either traditional or desert, were installed in a desert environment using a pot-in-pot in-ground system. Plots were irrigated at 100% or 50% of evapotranspiration (ET) with either sprinklers (turf) or drip emitters (trees and shrubs) using a modified crossover design. Midday stem water potentials (Ψmd) for Arizona ash, Indian hawthorn and Cleveland sage exhibited seasonal differences. In Chinese pistache, Ψmd remained stable when irrigation treatments were lowered from late spring/early summer (−0.26 MPa) to late summer (−0.35 MPa). Chinese pistache maintained less negative osmotic potential when irrigation increased from 50% ET (−5.13 MPa) to 100% ET (−3.68 MPa) in early fall. The ability of Chinese pistache to maintain Ψmd and osmotic potential may indicate this species’ resilience to drought. Surprisingly, Arizona ash sustained greater relative water content in late fall when irrigated at 50% ET (92% elative water content (RWC)) than when irrigated at 100% ET (76% RWC) and this might be due to osmotic adjustment. The plants used in this study recovered after two weeks of full (100% ET) irrigation suggesting that landscape managers could irrigate at 50% ET for a limited period (approx. four weeks) as a way to conserve water.
Blue Water Footprint Management in a UK Poultry Supply Chain under Environmental Regulatory Constraints
Authors: Tsolakis Naoum , Srai Jagjit , Aivazidou Eirini
Published: February 2018

Chicken is the most consumed meat in the UK, accounting for 40% of meat consumption, while national production sufficiency reaches about 80%. As a farmed animal product, chicken meat is responsible for significant freshwater appropriation volumes during its production cycle. In this context, this research aims at exploring freshwater dynamics in the UK processed poultry industry. Specifically, we develop a System Dynamics model to capture the blue water footprint, as a key sustainability performance indicator of a poultry supply chain, in the case that relevant environmental and regulatory constraints are applied. The model contributes towards investigating the impact of two potential policy-making scenarios, namely, the “water penalty” and the “water tax”, on the nexus between profitability and water usage across the poultry supply chain. Responding to the regulatory constraints, the food processor either reconfigures the supply chain through rethinking desired inventory levels or implements a water management intervention. The results indicate that investing in water-friendly production technologies could offer a greater advantage to sustainable supply chains in terms of blue water efficiency and profitability, compared to employing inventory management strategies. Overall, our analysis highlights that effective policy-making and technology-driven interventions could provide potential towards ensuring economic growth and environmental sustainability of the UK poultry sector.
The WHS Designation—A Factor of Sustainable Tourism Growth for Romanian Rural Areas?
Authors: Iațu Corneliu , Ibănescu Bogdan-Constantin , Stoleriu Oana , Munteanu Alina
Published: February 2018

The presence of World Heritage Sites has been frequently used as a mean of tourism promotion and increased attractiveness. However, previous studies showed contradictory results regarding the territorial impact of World Heritage Sites, and very few researchers discussed their impact in Eastern Europe. This paper examines how the presence of World Heritage Sites in rural localities influenced the tourism growth and sustainable development in Romania after 2000. Independent Sample t-test was used to analyse the evolution of tourism and sustainable development indicators between 2001 and 2016. The results suggest an absence of a positive effect induced by World Heritage Sites in rural areas. It seems that, by itself, the brand has not enough power to sustain tourist attractiveness if it is not endorsed by national, regional, and local initiatives. These findings lead a discussion about how certain sites managed to induce a sustained tourism growth while others failed to do so.
Risks Induced by Room Mining Goaf and Their Assessment: A Case Study in the Shenfu-Dongsheng Mining Area
Authors: Luan Hengjie , Lin Huili , Jiang Yujing , Wang Yahua , Liu Jiankang , Wang Pu
Published: February 2018

A large area of room mining goaf has been left throughout the history of coal mining worldwide. However, because the pillars cannot perpetually retain stability, the sudden collapse of a large area of goaf can occur. The existing large areas of room mining goaf have become a potential source of geological risks in mining areas with room mining goafs worldwide. To elucidate the distribution and state of the goafs, a survey of the characteristics of goafs was carried out by geophysical exploration and drilling methods. From this complete survey of room mining goafs, this paper has outlined eight common goaf risks, emphasizing the types of goaf risks that require precautions, and the formation mechanisms of each goaf risk has been analyzed. Considering that the occurrence of a risk may lead to several other risks and there is a certain interaction between the risks, more specific room mining goaf risk forms, causes and scopes of influence have been listed. It is advantageous to use a support vector machine, which is useful for small-sample problems, to assess the goafs. A support vector machine assessment model of room mining goafs was established, and sample training and verification were carried out. Comparing the risk assessment results with those of the field investigation, it can be seen that the evaluation model has a high accuracy. This work can greatly contribute to the prediction and prevention of risks induced by room mining goaf.
Progress and Bottlenecks in the Early Domestication of the Perennial Oilseed Silphium integrifolium, a Sunflower Substitute
Authors: Vilela Alejandra , González-Paleo Luciana , Turner Kathryn , Peterson Kelsey , Ravetta Damián , Crews Timothy , Van Tassel David
Published: February 2018

Silflower (Silphium integrifolium Michx.) is in the early stages of domestication as a perennial version of oilseed sunflower, its close relative. Grain crops with deep perennial root systems will provide farmers with new alternatives for managing soil moisture and limiting or remediating soil erosion, fertilizer leaching, and loss of soil biota. Several cycles of selection for increased seed production potential following initial germplasm evaluation in 2002 have provided opportunities to document the botany and ecology of this relatively obscure species, to compare agronomic practices for improving its propagation and management, and to evaluate the differences between semi-domesticated and wild accessions that have accrued over this time through intentional and unintentional genetic processes. Key findings include: domestication has increased aboveground biomass at seedling and adult stages; seed yield has increased more, achieving modest improvement in harvest index. Harvest index decreases with nitrogen fertilization. Silflower acquires nitrogen and water from greater depth than typical crops. In agricultural silflower stands within its native range, we found that Puccinia silphii (rust) and Eucosma giganteana (moth) populations build up to unacceptable levels, but we also found genetic variation for traits contributing to resistance or tolerance. Breeding or management for reduced height and vegetative plasticity should be top priorities for future silflower research outside its native range.
Mapping Mangroves Extents on the Red Sea Coastline in Egypt using Polarimetric SAR and High Resolution Optical Remote Sensing Data
Authors: Abdel-Hamid Ayman , Dubovyk Olena , Abou El-Magd Islam , Menz Gunter
Published: February 2018

Mangroves ecosystems dominate the coastal wetlands of tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world. They are among the most productive forest ecosystems. They provide various ecological and economic ecosystem services. Despite of their economic and ecological importance, mangroves experience high yearly loss rates. There is a growing demand for mapping and assessing changes in mangroves extents especially in the context of climate change, land use change, and related threats to coastal ecosystems. The main objective of this study is to develop an approach for mapping of mangroves extents on the Red Sea coastline in Egypt, through the integration of both L-band SAR data of ALOS/PALSAR, and high resolution optical data of RapidEye. This was achieved via using object-based image analysis method, through applying different machine learning algorithms, and evaluating various features such as spectral properties, texture features, and SAR derived parameters for discrimination of mangroves ecosystem classes. Three non-parametric machine learning algorithms were tested for mangroves mapping; random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), and classification and regression trees (CART). As an input for the classifiers, we tested various features including vegetation indices (VIs) and texture analysis using the gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM). The object-based analysis method allowed clearly discriminating the different land cover classes within mangroves ecosystem. The highest overall accuracy (92.15%) was achieved by the integrated SAR and optical data. Among all classifiers tested, RF performed better than other classifiers. Using L-band SAR data integrated with high resolution optical data was beneficial for mapping and characterization of mangroves growing in small patches. The maps produced represents an important updated reference suitable for developing a regional action plan for conservation and management of mangroves resources along the Red Sea coastline.
Spatial Assessment of Urban Flood Susceptibility Using Data Mining and Geographic Information System (GIS) Tools
Authors: Lee Sunmin , Lee Saro , Lee Moung-Jin , Jung Hyung-Sup
Published: February 2018

Using geographic information system (GIS) tools and data-mining models, this study analyzed the relationships between flood areas and correlated hydrological factors to map the regional flood susceptibility of the Seoul metropolitan area in South Korea. We created a spatial database of data describing factors including topography, geology, soil, and land use. We used 2010 flood data for training and 2011 data for model validation. Frequency ratio (FR) and logistic regression (LR) models were applied to 2010 flood data to determine the relationships between the flooded area and its causal factors and to derive flood-susceptibility maps, which were substantiated using the area flooded in 2011 (not used for training). As a result of the accuracy validation, FR and LR model results were shown to have 79.61% and 79.05% accuracy, respectively. In terms of sustainability, floods affect water health as well as causing economic and social damage. These maps will provide useful information to decision makers for the implementation of flood-mitigation policies in priority areas in urban sustainable development and for flood prevention and management. In addition to this study, further analysis including data on economic and social activities, proximity to nature, and data on population and building density, will make it possible to improve sustainability.
User’s Emotions and Usability Study of a Brain-Computer Interface Applied to People with Cerebral Palsy
Authors: García Ramírez Alejandro , Da Silva Jéferson , Savall Ana , Catecati Tiago , Ferreira Marcelo
Published: February 2018

People with motor and communication disorders face serious challenges in interacting with computers. To enhance this functionality, new human-computer interfaces are being studied. In this work, a brain-computer interface based on the Emotiv Epoc is used to analyze human-computer interactions in cases of cerebral palsy. The Phrase-Composer software was developed to interact with the brain-computer interface. A system usability evaluation was carried out with the participation of three specialists from The Fundação Catarinense de Educação especial (FCEE) and four cerebral palsy volunteers. Even though the System Usability Scale (SUS) score was acceptable, several challenges remain. Raw electroencephalography (EEG) data were also analyzed in order to assess the user’s emotions during their interaction with the communication device. This study brings new evidences about human-computer interaction related to individuals with cerebral palsy.
True Lies: Using Proteomics to Assess the Accuracy of Transcriptome-Based Venomics in Centipedes Uncovers False Positives and Reveals Startling Intraspecific Variation in Scolopendra subspinipes
Authors: Smith Jennifer , Undheim Eivind
Published: February 2018

Centipede venoms have emerged as a rich source of novel bioactive compounds. However, most centipede species are commonly considered too small for venom extraction and transcriptomics is likely to be an attractive way of probing the molecular diversity of these venoms. Examining the venom composition of Scolopendra subspinipes, we test the accuracy of this approach. We compared the proteomically determined venom profile with four common toxin transcriptomic toxin annotation approaches: BLAST search against toxins in UniProt, lineage-specific toxins, or species-specific toxins and comparative expression analyses of venom and non-venom producing tissues. This demonstrated that even toxin annotation based on lineage-specific homology searches is prone to substantial errors compared to a proteomic approach. However, combined comparative transcriptomics and phylogenetic analysis of putative toxin families substantially improves annotation accuracy. Furthermore, comparison of the venom composition of S. subspinipes with the closely related S. subspinipes mutilans revealed a surprising lack of overlap. This first insight into the intraspecific venom variability of centipedes contrasts the sequence conservation expected from previous findings that centipede toxins evolve under strong negative selection. Our results highlight the importance of proteomic data in studies of even comparably well-characterized venoms and warrants caution when sourcing venom from centipedes of unknown origin.
Relation between Observed and Perceived Traffic Noise and Socio-Economic Status in Urban Blocks of Different Characteristics
Authors: Von Szombathely Malte , Albrecht Myriam , Augustin Jobst , Bechtel Benjamin , Dwinger Isabel , Gaffron Philine , Krefis Anne , Oßenbrügge Jürgen , Strüver Anke
Published: February 2018

Living in cities offers many benefits and thus more and more people are living in urban areas. However, the concentration of human activities also creates environmental stressors with severe influence on people’s health and well-being. Noise is an environmental stressor with known health impact. Despite this, studies investigating small-scale difference in noise exposure and annoyance are lacking. Against this background, this case study investigates environmental justice empirically, focusing on the distribution of road traffic noise and its perception in Hamburg, Germany. The study outlines a methodological approach that takes into account subjective and objective measures of exposure in small-scale residential blocks. The results show that annoyance by noise is clearly related to noise emission. Moreover, different groups are affected by noise pollution in our study area unequally. In particular, younger people and people with lower socio-economic status have higher probabilities to be affected by noise. Additionally, it emerged that participants reporting higher levels of annoyance from noise are on average younger than those feeling less annoyed. Overall, these results show that the current legal noise limits applicable to residential planning processes in German cities are not sufficient to prevent substantial annoyance effects in residential populations.
No Metathesis in Harmonic Serialism
Authors: Takahashi Chikako
Published: February 2018

This paper presents a Harmonic Serialism analysis of synchronic metathesis, proposing to eliminate metathesis as an atomic operation, instead analyzing apparent metathesis cases as a result of the sequential application of simpler operations such as copy + deletion or fusion + fission, and not as segment reordering. The analysis of Rotuman phase alternation in this paper offers a unified account of apparent metathesis, deletion, and umlaut as all going through the processes of copy + deletion and subsequent fusion. Balangao CC metathesis is analyzed as fusion + fission incorporating an idea that CC metathesis is phonetically motivated. Removing the atomic metathesis operation has several benefits: (a) it simplifies the inventory of operations in Harmonic Serialism, (b) it correctly predicts locality restrictions on metathesis patterns without the help of other constraints that are otherwise needed in HS analysis, (c) and it correctly predicts the typological restrictions on the types of segments that undergo CC metathesis.
Vowel Nasalisation in Scottish Gaelic: The Search for Paradigm Uniformity Effects in Fine-Grained Phonetic Detail
Authors: Morrison Donald Alasdair
Published: February 2018

According to the modular feedforward architecture of grammar, the phonetics is sensitive only to the output of the phonology and is thus blind to morphological or lexical conditioning (Pierrehumbert 2002). However, this prediction is challenged by claims that fine-grained phonetic detail may display paradigm uniformity (PU) effects (Steriade 2000). In the present study I search for phonetic PU effects in vowel nasalisation in Scottish Gaelic by investigating alternating items in which a nasalising environment is removed by a morpho(phono)logical process known as lenition, which replaces initial [m] with [v] under certain morphosyntactic conditions.In vowels following initial [m], a clear distinction is found between (i) categorical phonological nasalisation, which may be subject to lexically conditioned blocking and which displays overapplication in lenited forms, and (ii) gradient phonetic nasalisation, which applies in those items where categorical phonological nasalisation fails to occur and which disappears completely in lenited forms. The differing patterns displayed by these two types of nasalisation fit neatly with the predictions of a modular architecture, in which categorical phonology has direct access to morphological information but gradient phonetics does not, and I conclude that non-modular architectures such as Exemplar Theory are not the correct explanation for putative PU effects.
spind: an R Package to Account for Spatial Autocorrelation in the Analysis of Lattice Data
Authors: Carl Gudrun , Levin Sam , Kühn Ingolf
Published: February 2018

spind is an R package aiming to provide a useful toolkit to account for spatial dependence in the analysis of lattice data. Grid-based data sets in spatial modelling often exhibit spatial dependence, i.e. values sampled at nearby locations are more similar than those sampled further apart. spind methods, described here, take this kind of two-dimensional dependence into account and are sensitive to its variation across different spatial scales. Methods presented to account for spatial autocorrelation are based on the two fundamentally different approaches of generalised estimating equations as well as wavelet-revised methods. Both methods are extensions to generalised linear models. spind also provides functions for multi-model inference and scaling by wavelet multiresolution regression. Since model evaluation is essential for assessing prediction accuracy in species distribution modelling, spind additionally supplies users with spatial accuracy measures, i.e. measures that are sensitive to the spatial arrangement of the predictions.
Optic Nerve Sheath Dural Arteriovenous Fistula Misdiagnosed As A Carotid Cavernous Fistula
Authors: Downs Elena
Published: February 2018

Dural arteriovenous fistulas (dAVf) are uncommon, acquired vascular lesions. Their location and vascular anatomy produces varied signs and symptoms and are misdiagnosed as other vascular anomalies. We present an atypical case of a dAVf identified along the left optic nerve sheath. The patient presented with progressive ophthalmological signs and was initially misdiagnosed with a left carotid-cavernous fistula. The aetiology, classification and treatment options are discussed.
Large septic pulmonary embolus complicating streptococcus mutans pulmonary valve endocarditis
Authors: Inchaustegui Christian Andres , Wang Kevin Yuqi , Teniola Oluwadamilola , Lenge de Rosen Veronica V.
Published: February 2018

Large septic pulmonary embolus is a rare finding in right-sided endocarditis. The entity represents a challenging diagnosis due to its variable and nonspecific clinical and radiological presentation and similarities with other conditions. We present a case of a 41 year-old woman who developed a large main pulmonary artery embolus and bilateral cavitary lung nodules in the setting of severe sepsis. Pulmonary artery exploration and clot retrieval ultimately revealed a large septic embolus from Streptococcus mutans native pulmonary valve endocarditis. The diagnosis of septic pulmonary emboli from right-sided endocarditis should be considered in patients with ancillary findings of septic embolic phenomenon, particularly the presence of multifocal cavitary nodules and in the setting of appropriate predisposing factors.
Enhanced Assessment Technology and Neurocognitive Aspects of Specific Learning Disorder with Impairment in Mathematics.
Authors: Pappas Marios A. , Drigas Athanasios , Malli Eugenia , Kalpidi Vasiliki
Published: February 2018

Specific Learning Disorder with impairment in Mathematics (Developmental Dyscalculia) is a complex learning disorder which affects arithmetic skills, symbolic magnitude processing, alertness, flexibility in problem solving and maintained attention. Neuro-cognitive studies revealed that such difficulties in children with DD could be related to poor Working Memory and attention deficits. Furthermore, neuroimaging studies indicate that brain structure differences in children with DD compared to typically developing children could affect mathematical performance. In this study we present the cognitive profile of Dyscalculia, as well as the neuropsychological aspects of the deficit, with special reference to the utilization of enhanced assessment technology such as computerized neuropsychological tools and neuroimaging techniques.
Climate Change and Agriculture
Authors: Londhe Sunil Lalasaheb
Published: February 2018

Increasing evidence shows that shifts in Earth's climate have already occurred and indicates that changes will continue in the coming years. This chapter is an attempt to distil what is known about the likely effects of climate change on food security and nutrition in coming decades. Apart from few exceptions, the likely impacts of climate change on agricultural sector in the future are not understood in any great depth. There are many uncertainties as to how changes in temperature, rainfall and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations will interact in relation to agricultural productivity. The consequences of climate change on various important aspects of agriculture such as crop production, livestock, availability of water, pest and diseases etc. are discussed and summarized. Each of this aspect of agriculture sector will have certain impact which may be positive or negative. The chapter also discusses on the possible mitigation measures and adaptations for agriculture production in the future climate change scenarios.
A CGE Analysis of the Effects of Global Climate Change Mitigation Policies on India
Authors: Pradhan Basanta K. , Ghosh Joydeep
Published: February 2018

This paper compares the effects of a global carbon tax and a global emissions trading regime on India using a dynamic CGE framework. The sensitivity of the results to the value of a crucial elasticity parameter is also analysed. The results suggest that the choice of the mitigation policy is relatively unimportant from an efficiency perspective. However, the choice of the mitigation policy and the value of the substitution elasticity between value added and energy were found to be important determinants of welfare effects. Global climate change mitigation policies have the potential for promoting low carbon and inclusive growth in India.
Sentiment Analysis of Social Networking Websites using Gravitational Search Optimization Algorithm
Authors: Goel Lavika , Garg Anubhav
Published: February 2018

Analysing sentiments of various online communities have become now an interesting topic of research and industry. The behaviour of online communities resembles that of a swarm. This article presents a Gravitational Search algorithmic approach for sentiment analysis of online communities, and an optimization algorithm which is based on the mass interactions and law of gravity. In the end, the authors present comparisons with other techniques, particularly ant colony optimization and Naive Bayes classification for sentiment analysis.
Detecting the Use of Anonymous Proxies
Authors: McKeague Jonathan , Curran Kevin
Published: February 2018

The Internet is built atop the Internet Protocol (IP) which has at its heart a unique identifier known as an IP address. Knowing the location of an IP address can be very useful in many situations such as for banks to know if a connection is in progress from online fraud hotspots. IP addresses can be spoofed allowing hackers to bypass geographical IP restrictions and thus render some category of fraud prevention useless. Anonymous proxies (AP) which act as intermediate relays which disguise the source IP addresses can play a large role in cybercrime. There is a need to ascertain whether an incoming IP connection is an original source matched IP address, or one being routed through an anonymising proxy. This article concentrates on various methods used by anonymising proxies, the characteristics of the anonymous proxies and the potential mechanisms available to detect if a proxy is in use.
Privacy Preserving and Efficient Outsourcing Algorithm to Public Cloud
Authors: Kumar Malay , Vardhan Manu
Published: February 2018

The growth of the cloud computing services and its proliferation in business and academia has triggered enormous opportunities for computation in third-party data management settings. This computing model allows the client to outsource their large computations to cloud data centers, where the cloud server conducts the computation on their behalf. But data privacy and computational integrity are the biggest concern for the client. In this article, the authors attempt to present an algorithm for secure outsourcing of a covariance matrix, which is the basic building block for many automatic classification systems. The algorithm first performs some efficient transformation to protect the privacy and verify the computed result produced by the cloud server. Further, an analytical and experimental analysis shows that the algorithm is simultaneously meeting the design goals of privacy, verifiability and efficiency. Also, found that the proposed algorithm is about 7.8276 times more efficient than the direct implementation.
Seismic Performance Assessment of Existing Steel Buildings: A Case Study
Authors: di Sarno Luigi , Paolacci Fabrizio , Sextos Anastasios G.
Published: February 2018

Numerous existing steel framed buildings located in earthquake prone regions world-wide were designed without seismic provisions. Slender beam-columns, as well as non-ductile beam-to-column connections have been employed for multi-storey moment-resisting frames (MRFs) built before the 80’s. Thus, widespread damage due to brittle failure has been commonly observed in the past earthquakes for steel MRFs. A recent post-earthquake survey carried out in the aftermath of the 2016-2017 Central Italy seismic swarm has pointed out that steel structures may survive the shaking caused by several main-shocks and strong aftershocks without collapsing. Inevitably, significant lateral deformations are experienced, and, in turn, non-structural components are severely damaged thus inhibiting the use of the steel building structures. The present papers illustrates the outcomes of a recent preliminary numerical study carried out for the case of a steel MRF building located in Amatrice, Central Italy, which experienced a series of ground motion excitations suffering significant damage to the masonry infills without collapsing. A refined numerical model of the sample structure has been developed on the basis of the data collected on site. Given the lack of design drawings, the structure has been re-designed in compliance with the Italian regulations imposed at the time of construction employing the allowable stress method. The earthquake performance of the case study MRF has been then investigated through advanced nonlinear dynamic analyses and its structural performance has been evaluated according to Eurocode 8-Part 3 for existing buildings. The reliability of the codified approaches has been evaluated and possible improvements emphasized.
Seismic Response of Long Span Continuous Rigid-Framed Steel Arch Bridge
Authors: Liu Ai Rong , Pi Yong Lin
Published: February 2018

This paper investigates seismic responses of Xinguang Bridge, a 3-span continuous rigid-frame and steel-truss arch bridge. Earthquake excitation input is a key issue for the seismic analysis. This paper uses a finite element method to study the traveling wave effect on Xinguang Bridge and its interaction with the dynamic properties of the bridge under the condition of two steps and two levels probability. The seismic response of the bridge under the coincident earthquake excitation is also analyzed. Comparisons show that the seismic response of the long-span bridge by considering the traveling wave effect is much different from that under consistent earthquake excitation. The influence of the shear wave speed on the seismic response of the long span continuous bridge is also explored and the shear wave speed is found to greatly affect the wave shape and magnitude of the time-history of the longitudinal displacement at the crown of the main arch of the bridge. It is concluded that traveling wave effect and shear wave speed of ground have significant influences on the seismic response of the long span continuous rigid-framed and steel-truss arch bridge.
Low Damage Moment Resisting Connection Using Blind Bolts
Authors: Pokharel Tilak , Goldsworthy Helen , Gad Emad
Published: February 2018

Concrete Filled Steel Tubes (CFSTs) are being used as columns in moment resisting frames in many parts of the world. Because of their aesthetic appearance, favourable ductility and large load bearing capacity, they are popular with architects and engineers. The use of CFSTs is limited in some countries (like Australia) due to the problems and cost associated with the connection of steel beams to the closed column section, unlike open H-shaped columns where ordinary structural bolts can be used. In this paper, a structural system is proposed which uses moment resisting frames as the lateral load resisting system. This system eliminates the use of welds at the site, which is the most common method, although expensive, which is used to achieve a moment resisting connections. The proposed system uses double T-stub connections to connect universal beams on opposite sides of the CFST column, and headed anchored blind bolts are used to connect those T-stubs to the column. This system provides sufficient stiffness and strength to be used in low to mid-rise buildings in low to moderate seismic regions. The proposed system uses a capacity design method to limit the load and non-recoverable damage in the connection (especially in the anchorage). One of the components in the connection, the web of the bottom T-stub, is designed as a fuse to create a low damage system for very rare earthquakes.
Estimation Method on Hysteresis Characteristics of Subassemblage with Ductile Knee-Brace Member
Authors: Honma Sayuri , Harada Yukihiro , Ebato Kazumasa
Published: February 2018

The reinforcement of beam-to-column connection with the knee brace members have been used as an efficient seismic retrofitting measure for existing steel buildings. In order to make the knee brace member absorb more seismic energy in the overall frame, authors have proposed a ductile knee brace member with a built-in-comb-shaped damper. The object of this study is to estimate hysteresis characteristics of the reinforced subassemblage frame with the ductile knee brace. For the analytical model of the reinforced subassemblage specimen, an elasto-plastic analysis was conducted by using the force method, so that the experimental hysteretic curve was simulated well by the elasto-plastic analysis. In addition, an ideal type of ductile knee brace was added in the analysis. the hysteressis characteristics of it was estimated by the same method, and a influence on the ideal type of knee brace was considered.
Shear Resistance Mechanisms on Steel Sheet Shear Walls with Burring Holes and the Effect of Cross-Rails
Authors: Kawai Yoshimichi , Fujihashi Kazunori , Tohnai Shigeaki , Sato Atsushi , Ono Tetsuro
Published: February 2018

Steel sheet shear walls are panels in which sheets with burring holes aligned along the vertical direction are fastened to frame members and are applied to multi-story buildings in seismic regions. The wall that receives the in-plane shear force allows shear stress to concentrate in intervals between the burring holes. Finite element analyses and in-plane shear experiments revealed that all intervals between the holes were simultaneously deformed, and buckling areas were limited in the intervals by ring-shaped ribs of the burring holes. The effects of cross-rails are minimal in elastic region. Post-buckling behavior depends on tension fields on the intervals and restraints by cross-rails. The allowable design strength formulas and the indices of strength after buckling are developed.
Seismic Fragility Analysis of MRFs with PR Bolted Connections Using IDA Approach
Authors: Brunesi Emanuele , Nascimbene Roberto , Rassati Gian Andrea
Published: February 2018

Partially restrained (PR) bolted beam-to-column connections are a promising typology of connection in modern steel moment resisting frames (MRFs). Both high-fidelity three-dimensional solid models and mechanics-based idealisations have been extensively explored in order to investigate the behaviour of this attractive solution, applicable both to new construction and to retrofitting of existing structures. Despite this, structural safety has been probabilistically assessed and controlled in a relatively few cases, thus neglecting characterisation, modelling and propagation of uncertainties. As such, this paper moves from a deterministic to a probabilistic framework, proposing fragility models at multiple damage states for low-and medium-rise MRF structures with T-stub and top-and-seat angle connections which may be applied for seismic risk assessment and management. After validation against past experimental data, use was made of component-based modelling to reproduce the seismic response of these PR bolted connection systems within planar MRFs designed for earthquake resistance in accordance with current European rules. A set of 44 records scaled at increasing seismic intensity was considered to perform a series of incremental dynamic analyses (IDAs). Fragility functions for each damage state of interest were then derived and compared. The analysis results show the influence of connection typology and structure height.
Theoretical Study on Steel Reinforced Concrete Hybrid Walls with Centered and Staggered Openings
Authors: Dan Daniel , Florut Sorin Codrut , Todea Viorel , Stoian Valeriu
Published: February 2018

Buildings placed in seismic areas are designed to simultaneously ensure strength, ductility and stiffness during earthquakes. In most cases the lateral resisting system is composed by shear walls. Lately for mid and high rise buildings the solution to use steel reinforced concrete shear walls, called hybrid walls, has been used. In most cases, the shear walls provided to limit the lateral displacement of the buildings, need to have openings due to architectural requirements. The existing theoretical and experimental studies presented in the literature refer to the behavior of solid/plain walls and a lack of information was identified for hybrid walls with openings. A theoretical and experimental program was developed at Politehnica University Timisoara, Romania with the aim to study the behavior of hybrid walls with centered and staggered openings. The current paper presents the results of nonlinear finite element analyses using ATENA package performed in order to assess the structural capabilities of the proposed experimental specimens with openings. Using the results obtained in one previous experimental program, consisting in tests on 1:3 scale steel-concrete composite elements, the paper presents a comparative study regarding the behavior of hybrid walls with openings versus solid walls. The study is focused on nonlinear behavior of elements with key parameters being evaluated, i.e. maximum load, deformation capacity and stiffens degradation.