bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Impact and Control of Powdery Mildew on Irrigated Soybean Varieties Grown in Southeast Australia
Authors: Dunn Mathew , Gaynor Luke
Published: April 2020

Powdery mildew—caused by the fungus Erisyphe diffusa (syn. Microsphaera diffusa)—was first observed in commercial soybean crops in southern New South Wales (NSW), Australia, in 2011. Its detection raised concerns that soybean production might be constrained if the severity of the disease reached the levels observed in northern Australia. Field experiments were conducted over four consecutive seasons to examine the response of three soybean cultivars—Djakal, SnowyA and the breeding line N005A-80—to two fungicides and two fungicide application regimes. The cultivar Djakal was identified as having a high level of resistance to powdery mildew. The severity of infection symptoms varied between seasons. The most severe symptoms were observed during the 2014–2015 season which resulted in the largest grain yield reduction of 20% for the cultivar SnowyA. All fungicide treatments provided a significant reduction in the severity of symptoms, with the split application of tebuconazole and both the single and split applications of tebuconazole + prothioconazole providing the most effective control of the disease. Few other grain yield effects were found, even when strong disease control was achieved. This was a suspected result of the consistent late-in-the-season onset of the disease. Few differences were observed among the treatments in terms of lodging severity, date of physiological maturity, or grain oil and protein concentrations. It was concluded that both fungicides provided effective control of powdery mildew. However, when disease pressure is low, application might not be warranted in southern NSW.
Social-Aware-Based Resource Allocation for NOMA-Enhanced D2D Communications
Authors: Gu Wenying , Zhu Qi
Published: April 2020

In mobile communication systems, device-to-device (D2D) communication and nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) are effective ways to improve spectrum efficiency and system throughput. In the NOMA-based D2D system, social relationship among D2D users is introduced to form D2D clusters, and NOMA is used for many-to-one communication in each D2D cluster. This paper proposes a joint channel allocation and power control algorithm which decomposes the resource allocation problem into two subproblems: channel allocation and power control. Matching theory is utilized to allocate channels for D2D clusters and sequential convex programming is applied to transform the optimization target to a convex problem before solving it via genetic algorithm. Simulation results indicate the superiority of our algorithm in improving the system throughput on the basis of meeting users’ needs for files.
Stepwise Intelligent Diagnosis Method for Rotor System with Sliding Bearing Based on Statistical Filter and Stacked Auto-Encoder
Authors: Tang Haihong , Liao Zhiqiang , Ozaki Yayoi , Chen Peng
Published: April 2020

Since the raw signal collected from the sliding bearing is contaminated with background noise, and it is difficult to obtain high-precision results for the traditional methods due to the low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Therefore, a stepwise intelligent diagnosis method based on statistical filter and stacked auto-encoder (SAE) that is established with several auto-encoders is proposed to identify several faults of sliding bearing in a rotor system. Firstly, the statistical filter is utilized to reduce the interference information for the different abnormal states and to increase the SNR. Secondly, the stepwise intelligent diagnosis based on SAE is performed to learn the useful fault features, and it can automatically complete the fault diagnosis which is contributed with the superiority binary classification to fully mine the relationship between the fault characteristics and the health condition of bearing. Finally, the diagnosis of the oil whirl and structural faults in a rotor system is cited as an example to demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed method. It can effectively illustrate the advantages of the stepwise diagnosis method to obtain the maximum diagnostic accuracy.
Metabolic Capability of Penicillium oxalicum to Transform High Concentrations of Anti-Inflammatory and Analgesic Drugs
Authors: Olicón-Hernández Darío Rafael , Ortúzar Maite , Pozo Clementina , González-López Jesús , Aranda Elisabet
Published: April 2020

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and analgesics are two of the most employed drug groups around the world due to their use in the treatment of edema and pain. However, they also present an ecological challenge because they are considered as potential water pollutants. In this work, the biodegradation of four NSAIDs (diclofenac, ibuprofen, naproxen and ketoprofen) and one analgesic (acetaminophen) at 50 µM (initial concentration) by Penicillium oxalicum, at both flask and bioreactor bench scales, was evaluated. An important co-metabolic mechanism as part of the global bioremediation process for the elimination of these drugs was observed, as in some cases it was necessary to supplement glucose to achieve a 100% removal rate: both individually and as a complex mixture. Identical behavior in the implementation of a fluidized bench-scale batch bioreactor, inoculated with pellets of this fungus and the complex mix of the drugs, was observed. The role of the cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYP) in the biodegradation of the drugs mix were evidenced by the observation of hydroxylated by-products. The results on the reduction of toxicity (micro and phyto) were not conclusive; however, a reduction in phytotoxicity was detected.
Selection of an Appropriate Pre-Injection Pattern in a Marine Diesel Engine Through a Multiple-Criteria Decision Making Approach
Authors: Lamas Galdo María Isabel , Castro-Santos Laura , Rodríguez Vidal Carlos G.
Published: April 2020

In the present work, a numerical model was developed to analyze a commercial diesel engine. The adequacy of this model was validated using experimental results. This model was employed to study several pre-injection strategies. Particularly, the pre-injection rate, duration and starting instant were analyzed in the ranges 5% to 25%, 1° to 5° and −22° to −18°, respectively. The effect on consumption and emissions of NOx, CO, and HC wereas evaluated. Since some of these configurations have opposite effects on consumption and/or emissions, it is necessary to develop a formal tool to characterize the most appropriate injection pattern. To this end, a multiple-criteria decision making approach was employed. It was found that the injection duration must remain as low as possible due to significant reductions in NOx. The most appropriate injection pattern resulted 1° pre-injection duration, 20% pre-injection rate, and −19° pre-injection starting instant. This configuration leads to increments of 6.7% in consumption, 3.47% in CO, and 3.83% in HC but reduces NOx by 34.67% in comparison with the case without pre-injection.
Surrogacy-Based Maximization of Output Power of a Low-Voltage Vibration Energy Harvesting Device
Authors: Kulik Marcin , Jagieła Mariusz , Łukaniszyn Marian
Published: April 2020

The coreless microgenerators implemented in electromagnetic vibration energy harvesting devices usually suffer from power deficiency. This can be noticeably improved by optimizing the distribution of separate turns within the armature winding. The purposeful optimization routine developed in this work is based on numerical identification of the turns that contribute most to the electromotive force and the elimination of those with the least contribution in order to reduce the internal impedance of the winding. The associated mixed integer nonlinear programming problem is solved comparatively using three approaches employing surrogate models based on kriging. The results show very good performance of the strategy based on a sequentially refined kriging in terms of the ability to accurately localize extremum and reduction of the algorithm execution time. As a result of optimization, the output power of the system increased by some 300 percent with respect to the initial configuration.
FAURAS: A Proxy-Based Framework for Ensuring the Fairness of Adaptive Video Streaming over HTTP/2 Server Push
Authors: Tran Chanh Minh , Nguyen Duc Tho , Tan Phan Xuan , Kamioka Eiji
Published: April 2020

HTTP/2 video streaming has gotten a lot of attention in the development of multimedia technologies over the last few years. In HTTP/2, the server push mechanism allows the server to deliver more video segments to the client within a single request in order to deal with the requests explosion problem. As a result, recent research efforts have been focusing on utilizing such a feature to enhance the streaming experience while reducing the request-related overhead. However, current works only optimize the performance of a single client, without necessary concerns of possible influences on other clients in the same network. When multiple streaming clients compete for a shared bandwidth in HTTP/1.1, they are likely to suffer from unfairness, which is defined as the inequality in their bitrate selections. For HTTP/1.1, existing works have proven that the network-assisted solutions are effective in solving the unfairness problem. However, the feasibility of utilizing such an approach for the HTTP/2 server push has not been investigated. Therefore, in this paper, a novel proxy-based framework is proposed to overcome the unfairness problem in adaptive streaming over HTTP/2 with the server push. Experimental results confirm the outperformance of the proposed framework in ensuring the fairness, assisting the clients with avoiding rebuffering events and lowering bitrate degradation amplitude, while maintaining the mechanism of the server push feature.
Computer-Aided Diagnosis of Skin Diseases Using Deep Neural Networks
Authors: Bajwa Muhammad Naseer , Muta Kaoru , Malik Muhammad Imran , Siddiqui Shoaib Ahmed , Braun Stephan Alexander , Homey Bernhard , Dengel Andreas , Ahmed Sheraz
Published: April 2020

Propensity of skin diseases to manifest in a variety of forms, lack and maldistribution of qualified dermatologists, and exigency of timely and accurate diagnosis call for automated Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD). This study aims at extending previous works on CAD for dermatology by exploring the potential of Deep Learning to classify hundreds of skin diseases, improving classification performance, and utilizing disease taxonomy. We trained state-of-the-art Deep Neural Networks on two of the largest publicly available skin image datasets, namely DermNet and ISIC Archive, and also leveraged disease taxonomy, where available, to improve classification performance of these models. On DermNet we establish new state-of-the-art with 80% accuracy and 98% Area Under the Curve (AUC) for classification of 23 diseases. We also set precedence for classifying all 622 unique sub-classes in this dataset and achieved 67% accuracy and 98% AUC. On ISIC Archive we classified all 7 diseases with 93% average accuracy and 99% AUC. This study shows that Deep Learning has great potential to classify a vast array of skin diseases with near-human accuracy and far better reproducibility. It can have a promising role in practical real-time skin disease diagnosis by assisting physicians in large-scale screening using clinical or dermoscopic images.
Seismic Retrofitting of Traditional Masonry with Pultruded FRP Profiles
Authors: Sciarretta Francesca
Published: April 2020

This paper presents a study on the potentiality of seismic retrofitting solutions with pultruded Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) profiles. This material can be used in connected frames providing lightweight, corrosion-free and reversible retrofitting of masonry buildings with the moderate requirements of surface preservation. In a hypothetical case study, an experimental program was designed; monotonic shear tests on a half-size physical model of the sample wall were performed to assess the structural performance before and after retrofitting with a basic frame of pultruded Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) C-shaped profiles, connected to the masonry by steel threaded bar connections. During the tests, the drift, the diagonal displacements in the masonry and the micro-strain in the profiles were measured. The retrofitted system has proven very effective in delaying crack appearance, increasing the maximum load (+85% to +93%) and ultimate displacement (up to +303%). The failure mode switches from rocking to a combination of diagonal cracking and bed joint sliding. The gauge recordings show a very limited mechanical exploitation of the GFRP material, despite the noticeable effectiveness of the retrofit. The application seems thus promising and worth a deeper research focus. Finally, a finite element modelling approach has been developed and validated, and it will be useful to envisage the effects of the proposed solution in future research.
Optimal Design and Control of MMC STATCOM for Improving Power Quality Indicators
Authors: Diab Ahmed A. Zaki , Ebraheem Terad , Aljendy Raseel , Sultan Hamdy M. , Ali Ziad M.
Published: April 2020

In recent years, modular multilevel converters (MMC) are becoming popular in the distribution and transmission of electrical systems. The multilevel converter suffers from circulating current within the converter that increases the conduction loss of switches and increases the thermal stress on the capacitors and switches’ IGBTs. One of the main solutions to control the circulating current is to keep the capacitor voltage balanced in the MMC. In this paper, a new hybrid control algorithm for the cascaded modular multilevel converter is presented. The Harris hawk’s optimization (HHO) and Atom search optimization (ASO) are used to optimally design the controller of the hybrid MMC. The proposed structure of modular multilevel inverters allows effective operation, a low level of harmonic distortion in the absence of output voltage filters, a low switching frequency, and excellent flexibility to achieve the requirements of any voltage level. The effectiveness of the proposed controller and the multilevel converter has been verified through testing with the application of the MMC-static synchronous compensator (STATCOM). The stability of the voltage capacitors was monitored with balanced and unbalanced loads on the studied network.
Durability and Engineering Performance Evaluation of CaO Content and Ratio of Binary Blended Concrete Containing Ground Granulated Blast-Furnace Slag
Authors: Lee Jaehyun , Lee Taegyu
Published: April 2020

This study aimed to evaluate the durability and engineering performance of concrete mixed with locally produced ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) based on CaO content and ratio, and to derive the optimal CaO content range that can secure durability. Hence, tests were conducted by increasing the GGBS replacement ratio by 10% from 0% to 70%, while the unit binder weight was fixed at 330 kg/m3. The results indicated that the compressive strength exhibited a tendency to increase when the CaO content and basicity increased within 28 d of age, although similar compressive strength characteristics were observed at 56 d of age, irrespective of the CaO content and basicity. Additionally, four test items (i.e., carbonation depth, chloride penetration depth, relative dynamic elastic modulus, and weight reducing ratio) were measured to evaluate durability. The optimal CaO content satisfying all four parameters was observed as ranging between 53% and 56% (GGBS replacement ratio: 27.5%–47.1%). The results of the study can provide guidelines on the mixing proportions of GGBS concrete with excellent durability that can be applied to local construction sites and can be used as basic data to set chemical composition criteria for the development of binders to improve durability.
Neuronless Knowledge Processing in Forests
Authors: Segev Aviv , Curtis Dorothy , Balili Christine , Jung Sukhwan
Published: April 2020

Neurons are viewed as the basic cells that process and transmit information. Trees and neurons share a similar structure and neurotransmitter-like substances. No evidence for structures such as neurons, synapses, or a brain has been found inside plants. Consequently, the ability of a network of trees to process information in a method similar to that of a neural network and to make decisions regarding the usage of resources is unperceived. We show that the network between trees is used for knowledge processing to implement decisions that prioritize the forest over a single tree regarding forest use and optimization of resources, similar to the processes of a biological neural network. We found that when there is resection of a network of trees in a forest, namely a trail, each network part will try optimizing its overall access to light resources, represented by canopy tree coverage, independently. This was analyzed in 323 forests in different locations across the US where forest resection is performed by trails. Our results demonstrate that neuron-like relations can occur in a forest knowledge processing system. We anticipate that other systems exist in nature where the basic knowledge processing for resource usage is performed by components other than neurons.
Contrast Sensitivity Based Multiscale Base–Detail Separation for Enhanced HDR Imaging
Authors: Kwon Hyuk-Ju , Lee Sung-Hak
Published: April 2020

High dynamic range (HDR) imaging is used to represent scenes with a greater dynamic range of luminance on a standard dynamic range display. Usually, HDR images are synthesized through base–detail separations. The base layer is used for tone compression and the detail layer is used for detail preservation. The representative detail-preserved algorithm iCAM06 has a tendency to reduce the sharpness of dim surround images, because of the fixed edge-stopping function of the fast-bilateral filter (FBF). This paper proposes a novel base–detail separation and detail compensation technique using the contrast sensitivity function (CSF) in the segmented frequency domain. Experimental results show that the proposed rendering method has better sharpness features and image quality than previous methods correlated by the human visual system.
Investigation of Photoplethysmography Behind the Ear for Pulse Oximetry in Hypoxic Conditions with a Novel Device (SPYDR)
Authors: Bradke Brian , Everman Bradford
Published: April 2020

Photoplethysmography (PPG) is a valuable technique for noninvasively evaluating physiological parameters. However, traditional PPG devices have significant limitations in high-motion and low-perfusion environments. To overcome these limitations, we investigated the accuracy of a clinically novel PPG site using SPYDR®, a new PPG sensor suite, against arterial blood gas (ABG) measurements as well as other commercial PPG sensors at the finger and forehead in hypoxic environments. SPYDR utilizes a reflectance PPG sensor applied behind the ear, between the pinna and the hairline, on the mastoid process, above the sternocleidomastoid muscle, near the posterior auricular artery in a self-contained ear cup system. ABG revealed accuracy of SPYDR with a root mean square error of 2.61% at a 70–100% range, meeting FDA requirements for PPG sensor accuracy. Subjects were also instrumented with SPYDR, as well as finger and forehead PPG sensors, and pulse rate (PR) and oxygen saturation (SpO2) were measured and compared at various reduced oxygen profiles with a reduced oxygen breathing device (ROBD). SPYDR was shown to be as accurate as other sensors in reduced oxygen environments with a Pearson’s correlation >93% for PR and SpO2. In addition, SPYDR responded to changes in SpO2 up to 50 s faster than PPG measurements at the finger and forehead.
Dispersion of Defects in TiO2 Semiconductor: Oxygen Vacancies in the Bulk and Surface of Rutile and Anatase
Authors: Elahifard Mohammadreza , Sadrian Mohammad Reza , Mirzanejad Amir , Behjatmanesh-Ardakani Reza , Ahmadvand Seyedsaeid
Published: April 2020

Oxygen deficiency (O-vacancy) contributes to the photoefficiency of TiO2 semiconductors by generating electron rich active sites. In this paper, the dispersion of O-vacancies in both bulk and surface of anatase and rutile phases was computationally investigated. The results showed that the O-vacancies dispersed in single- and double-cluster forms in the anatase and rutile phases, respectively, in both bulk and surface. The distribution of the O-vacancies was (roughly) homogeneous in anatase, and heterogenous in rutile bulk. The O-vacancy formation energy, width of defect band, and charge distribution indicated the overlap of the defect states in the rutile phase and thus eased the formation of clusters. Removal of the first and the second oxygen atoms from the rutile surface took less energy than the anatase one, which resulted in a higher deficiency concentration on the rutile surface. However, these deficiencies formed one active site per unit cell of rutile. On the other hand, the first O-vacancy formed on the surface and the second one formed in the subsurface of anatase (per unit cell). Supported by previous studies, we argue that this distribution of O-vacancies in anatase (surface and subsurface) could potentially create more active sites on its surface.
The Impact of In Situ Polymerization Conditions on the Structures and Properties of PANI/ZnO-Based Multiphase Composite Photocatalysts
Authors: Gilja Vanja , Živković Ivana , Klaser Teodoro , Skoko Željko , Kraljić Roković Marijana , Hrnjak-Murgić Zlata , Žic Mark
Published: April 2020

We have synthesized polyaniline/ZnO-based (PANI/ZnO) multiphase composite photocatalysts from acid media by a newly proposed two-step in situ polymerization. The first step of synthesis yielded PANI salt required for the PANI/ZnO synergistic effect. In the second step, the aniline oxidation continued, without ZnO dissolution, and it produced PANI base. Thus, both PANI salt and base phases in the composites were detected by FTIR and UV/Vis, while the presence of both ZnO and PANI polymer was confirmed by XRD. Additionally, XRD also showed Zn5(OH)8(NO3)2·2H2O and Zn(SO4)(H2O) phases in PANI/ZnO-based multiphase composites. Furthermore, the impact of the synthesis conditions on the morphology of the composites was investigated by FE-SEM. The images displayed that ZnO particles were encapsulated in PANI sheets that were formed by the aniline oligomers. Photocatalytic evaluation of PANI/ZnO-based catalysts (i.e., degradation of Acid Blue 25 dye) was conducted and the obtained results confirmed that all the studied composites experienced the PANI/ZnO synergistic effect. It was observed that the best photocatalytic properties were held by the PANI/ZnO_2 sample due to its optimal particle size.
Modern Benthic Foraminiferal Diversity: An Initial Insight into the Total Foraminiferal Diversity along the Kuwait Coastal Water
Authors: Al-Enezi Eqbal , Khader Sawsan , Balassi Eszter , Frontalini Fabrizio
Published: April 2020

Kuwait territorial water hosts an important part of national biodiversity (i.e., zooplankton and phytoplankton), but very limited information exists on the overall diversity of benthic foraminifera. On the basis of the integration of publications, reports and theses with new available data from the Kuwait Bay and the northern islands, this study infers the total benthic foraminiferal diversity within Kuwait territorial water. This new literature survey documents the presence of 451 species belonging to 156 genera, 64 families, 31 superfamilies and 9 orders. These values are relatively high in consideration of the limited extension and the shallow depth of the Kuwait territorial water. Kuwait waters offer a variety of different environments and sub-environments (low salinity/muddy areas in the northern part, embayment, rocky tidal flats, coral reef systems, islands and shelf slope) that all together host largely diversified benthic foraminiferal communities. These figures are herein considered as underestimated because of the grouping of unassigned species due to the lack of reference collections and materials, as well as the neglection of the soft-shell monothalamids (‘allogromiids’).
Tumor Multifocality is a Significant Risk Factor of Urinary Bladder Recurrence after Nephroureterectomy in Patients with Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma: A Single-Institutional Study
Authors: Chen Chuan-Shu , Li Jian-Ri , Wang Shian-Shiang , Yang Cheng-Kuang , Cheng Chen-Li , Yang Chi-Rei , Ou Yen-Chuan , Ho Hao-Chung , Lin Chia-Yen , Hung Sheng-Chun , Chen Cheng-Che , Wang Shu-Chi , Chiu Kun-Yuan , Yang Shun-Fa
Published: April 2020

The purpose of this study was to identify the significant risk factors of urinary bladder recurrence (UBR) after nephroureterectomy (NUx) in patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). A total of 550 patients diagnosed with UTUC between January 2001 and December 2015 were included in this retrospective study. The median age of our patients was 68 (range 24–93) and the median follow-up time after NUx was 40.3 months (range 8–191). The most important censored point of this study was the first episode of UBR. Of the 550 patients, UBR occurred in 164 patients (29.8%). One hundred and forty-two (86.6%) patients with UBR were identified within two years after NUx for UTUC, with the median time interval between NUx and UBR being 8.4 months (range 3–59.8). Through univariate analysis, the positive surgical margin (p = 0.049) and tumor multifocality (p = 0.024) were both significant prognostic factors for UBR-free survival after NUx in patients with UTUC. However, only tumor multifocality (p = 0.037) remained a significant prognostic factor by multivariate analysis. In conclusion, tumor multifocality is a significant risk factor of UBR after nephroureterectomy in patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma.
A New 4 × 4 Rectangular Waveguide Short-Slot Coupler in 3D Printed Technology at Ku-Band
Authors: Haro-Baez Raúl V. , Ruiz-Cruz Jorge A. , Córcoles Juan , Montejo-Garai José R. , Rebollar Jesús M.
Published: April 2020

This paper presents a novel design of an eight-port directional coupler with a very compact structure and simple manufacturing, working in the Ku frequency band. One of the main goals of the design was to ease the manufacturing with a simple structure: the coupler consisted of four rectangular waveguide input ports, four rectangular waveguide output ports, and a central coupling region with only H-plane variation. A prototype was fabricated using additive manufacturing, with a combination of 3D printing and silver coating metallization. The obtained performance showed a theoretical bandwidth of 6.6% with 20 dB return loss for the input/output ports. Good agreement between simulations and measurements was obtained, validating the proposed coupler as a good trade-off for low cost 3D printing, compactness, and high performance for systems requiring a high number of ports as in phase arrays or Butler matrices.
New SOGI-FLL Grid Frequency Monitoring with a Finite State Machine Approach for Better Response in the Face of Voltage Sag and Swell Faults
Authors: Abdali Nejad Sajad , Matas José , Martín Helena , de la Hoz Jordi , Al-Turki Y. A.
Published: April 2020

The SOGI-FLL (Second-Order Generalized Integrator–Frequency-Locked Loop) is a well-known and simple adaptive filter that allows for estimating the parameters of grid voltage with a small computational burden. However, the SOGI-FLL has been shown to be especially sensitive to voltage sags and voltage swells, which deeply distort the estimated parameters, especially the frequency. This problem can be alleviated by simply using a saturation block at the Frequency-Locked Loop (FLL) output to limit the impact of distortion on the estimated frequency. Improving upon this straightforward approach, in this paper we propose the use of a finite state machine (FSM) for the definition of the different states of the SOGI-FLL frequency response during a voltage sag or swell fault. The FSM approach allows for applying different gains during the fault, enhancing the SOGI-FLL transient response. The performance of the FSM-based SOGI-FLL is evaluated by using simulation results, which show a better and faster response to these kinds of faults.
Differential Early Performance of Two Underplanted Hardwood Tree Species Following Restoration Treatments in High-Graded Temperate Rainforests
Authors: Soto Daniel P. , Donoso Pablo J. , Vásquez-Grandón Angélica , González-Chang Mauricio , Salas-Eljatib Christian
Published: April 2020

Raulí (Nothofagus alpina (Poepp. & Endl.)) and Ulmo (Eucryphia cordifolia Cav.) are mid-tolerant tree species in the Coihue-Raulí-Tepa (ca. 0.55 mill ha) and Evergreen (ca. 4.1 mill ha) forest types in south-central Chile, respectively. These species have been selectively logged in old-growth forests especially during the 20th century, Raulí mostly for its highly valuable timber, and Ulmo for its highly demanded firewood and bark for the tannery industry. Natural regeneration of these species occurs mostly through canopy gaps, but it can be retarded, or even inhibited, when the cover of the understory vegetation becomes unusually dense, such as in high-graded forests. Although underplanting is possible for these species, the knowledge about their growth in forest understories is scarce, and necessary to inform restoration programs. Therefore, we evaluated short-term responses (two years) of underplanted containerized seedlings in root-collar diameter, height, stem volume, and in the slenderness index, as a function of canopy openness (%, continuous variable) and three restoration treatments (categorical variables, plus one control treatment) at two different sites with high-graded old-growth forests for each forest type. By using generalized linear mixed-effects models (GLMMs) we determined that Raulí was more sensitive to the influence of both canopy openness and restoration treatments, while Ulmo was mostly influenced by canopy openness. Specifically, Raulí was positively influenced by canopy openness and restoration treatments in all response variables except for the slenderness index. Conversely, Ulmo was influenced by canopy openness in all response variables except the slenderness index, which was influenced by both predictor variables (canopy openness and restoration treatments). Thus, prospects for restoration with these species are discussed, including possible ontogenetic changes in their responses to light that may demand continuous silvicultural operations to recover the productive and functional roles of these species in these forest ecosystems.
Net Primary Productivity of Pinus massoniana Dependence on Climate, Soil and Forest Characteristics
Authors: Huang Xin , Huang Chunbo , Teng Mingjun , Zhou Zhixiang , Wang Pengcheng
Published: April 2020

Understanding the spatial variation of forest productivity and its driving factors on a large regional scale can help reveal the response mechanism of tree growth to climate change, and is an important prerequisite for efficient forest management and studying regional and global carbon cycles. Pinus massoniana Lamb. is a major planted tree species in southern China, playing an important role in the development of forestry due to its high economic and ecological benefits. Here, we establish a biomass database for P. massoniana, including stems, branches, leaves, roots, aboveground organs and total tree, by collecting the published literature, to increase our understanding of net primary productivity (NPP) geographical trends for each tree component and their influencing factors across the entire geographical distribution of the species in southern China. P. massoniana NPP ranges from 1.04 to 13.13 Mg·ha−1·year−1, with a mean value of 5.65 Mg·ha−1·year−1. The NPP of both tree components (i.e., stem, branch, leaf, root, aboveground organs, and total tree) show no clear relationships with longitude and elevation, but an inverse relationship with latitude (p < 0.01). Linear mixed-effects models (LMMs) are employed to analyze the effect of environmental factors and stand characteristics on P. massoniana NPP. LMM results reveal that the NPP of different tree components have different sensitivities to environmental and stand variables. Appropriate temperature and soil nutrients (particularly soil available phosphorus) are beneficial to biomass accumulation of this species. It is worth noting that the high temperature in July and August (HTWM) is a significant climate stressor across the species geographical distribution and is not restricted to marginal populations in the low latitude area. Temperature was a key environmental factor behind the inverse latitudinal trends of P. massoniana NPP, because it showed a higher sensitivity than other factors. In the context of climate warming and nitrogen (N) deposition, the inhibition effect caused by high temperatures and the lack or imbalance of soil nutrients, particularly soil phosphorus, should be paid more attention in the future. These findings advance our understanding about the factors influencing the productivity of each P. massoniana tree component across the full geographical distribution of the species, and are therefore valuable for forecasting climate-induced variation in forest productivity.
Editorial for the Special Issue “Forestry Applications of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)”
Authors: Matese Alessandro
Published: April 2020

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are new platforms that have been increasingly used in the last few years for forestry applications that benefit from the added value of flexibility, low cost, reliability, autonomy, and capability of timely provision of high-resolution data. This special issue (SI) collects nine papers reporting research on different forestry applications using UAV imagery. The special issue covers seven Red-Green-Blue (RGB) sensor papers, three papers on multispectral imagery, and one further paper on hyperspectral data acquisition system. Several data processing and machine learning methods are presented. The special issue provides an overview regarding potential applications to provide forestry characteristics in a timely, cost-efficient way. With the fast development of sensors technology and image processing algorithms, the forestry potential applications will growing fast, but future work should consider the consistency and repeatability of these novel techniques.
Identification of Cryptotermes brevis (Walker, 1853) and Kalotermes flavicollis (Fabricius, 1793) Termite Species by Detritus Analysis
Authors: Bobadilla Ignacio , Martínez Roberto D. , Martínez-Ramírez Manuel , Arriaga Francisco
Published: April 2020

We carried out morphological and dimensional analysis of the detritic elements deposited in the galleries of two termite species of the Kalotermitidae family present in Spain known as drywood termites (Cryptotermes brevis (Walker, 1853) and Kalotermes flavicollis (Fabricius, 1793)). This was in order to gauge the possibility of differentiating the species only on the basis of debris observation and analysis. Ten samples from six different geographical sources were analyzed and measured. Significant statistical differences were found between these two termite species in all measured parameters, and multivariate statistical models, able to predict species on the basis of dimensional measurements, were developed, with a degree of success higher than 75%. The most important dimensional differences were length and width, as well as the variable hexagonal shape of the cross-section of the detritic elements. The detritic elements of both species had a variable form of a hexagonal prism with slightly concave faces, and with pointed or rounded ends. Those of the Cryptotermes brevis species were significantly larger, less elongated, and had a smaller concavity on the faces of the prism. Color was found to be particularly variable in both species, and was not useful. Nevertheless, the debris of Kalotermes flavicollis was markedly “dirty” (mixed with other wood remains).
Applying Data Mining Techniques for Predicting Prognosis in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis
Authors: Wu Chien-Ting , Lo Chia-Lun , Tung Chien-Hsueh , Cheng Hsiu-Lan
Published: April 2020

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systematic chronic inflammatory disease. The disease mechanism remains unclear and may have resulted from autoimmune problems caused by genetic predisposing and pathogen infection. In clinical practice, selection of the initial treatment is based on the degree of disease activity, and treatment plans will be added gradually according to increased severity of the disease. However, treatment results can be unclear and treatment process uncertain and ambiguous, which can cause healthcare quality to become worse. This study attempts to combine expert opinions to construct various classifiers using a number of data mining techniques to analyze the different prognosis of two patient groups, by predicting whether the inflammatory indicator erythrocyte sedimentation rates of these two groups will be within the normal range with different medication strategies. Clinical data were collected for construction of different classifiers and we evaluate the prediction accuracy rate of each classifier afterwards. The optimum prediction model is selected from these classifiers to predict the prognosis of RA within these treatment strategies and analyze various results. The results show the accuracy rate of the prediction model by Logistic, SVM and DT module were 0.7927, 07829 and 0.9094, respectively. In the RA complications dataset, the accuracy rate of were 0.9393, 0.9290 and 0.9812, respectively. Futhermore, gain ratio was used to further analyze the rules and to discover which branch nodes are the most importance factor. The results of this study are helpful for formulation and development of guidelines for clinical RA treatments, and implementation of a decision support system by using the prediction model can assist medical staff to make correct decisions in the disease’s early stage.
An Introduction to Assessing Dental Fear and Anxiety in Children
Authors: Yon Madeline Jun Yu , Chen Kitty Jieyi , Gao Sherry Shiqian , Duangthip Duangporn , Lo Edward Chin Man , Chu Chun Hung
Published: April 2020

Fear and anxiety constitute an important theme in dentistry, especially with children. Anxiety and the fear of pain during dental treatment can lead to avoidance behaviour, which contributes to perpetuating fear and anxiety of dental care. Understanding and assessing dental fear and anxiety in children is important for delivering successful dental care with high satisfaction in this age group. Among the vast assessment method options available today, self-report assessment, parental proxy assessment, observation-based assessment, and physiological assessment are the four major types for dental fear and anxiety in children. Each method has its own merits and limitations. The selection of a method should be based on the objectives, validity, and setting of the assessment. The aim of this paper is to review and discuss the assessment methods for dental fear and anxiety in children.
The Association between Family Caregiver Burden and Subjective Well-Being and the Moderating Effect of Social Participation among Japanese Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study
Authors: Noguchi Taiji , Nakagawa-Senda Hiroko , Tamai Yuya , Nishiyama Takeshi , Watanabe Miki , Kamiya Mayumi , Wakabayashi Ryozo , Hosono Akihiro , Shibata Kiyoshi , Ichikawa Mari , Ema Kanae , Nagaya Kenji , Okamoto Naoko , Tsujimura Shoko , Fujita Hitomi , Kondo Fumi , Yamada Tamaki , Suzuki Sadao
Published: April 2020

We examined the association between family caregiver burden and subjective well-being with social participation’s moderating effect among Japanese adults. Data were obtained from a cross-sectional survey by the Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort Study in the Okazaki area between 2013 and 2017. Study participants included 5321 adults who visited the Public Health Center for annual health check-ups and answered a questionnaire regarding health status and lifestyle. Subjective well-being was assessed by a single item, out of 10 points, and analyzed with multivariable linear regression analysis models by subjective family caregiver burden (“none”, “mild”, “severe”), stratified by gender. Ultimately, 2857 men and 2223 women were included. Mean participant age (standard deviation) in years was 64.7 (10.4) for men and 61.3 (10.0) for women. Multivariable analysis revealed that, among women, higher caregiver burden was inversely associated with subjective well-being (p for trend < 0.001), and the interaction of severe caregiver burden and social participation on subjective well-being was positive and significant (p for interaction < 0.05). High family caregiver burden was inversely associated with subjective well-being among Japanese women, but moderated by the caregiver’s social participation, suggesting the importance of community development that enables family caregivers’ social participation to protect their subjective well-being.
Quantifying the Effects of Visual Road Information on Drivers’ Speed Choices to Promote Self-Explaining Roads
Authors: Qin Yuting , Chen Yuren , Lin Kunhui
Published: April 2020

Roads should deliver appropriate information to drivers and thus induce safer driving behavior. This concept is also known as “self-explaining roads” (SERs). Previous studies have demonstrated that understanding how road characteristics affect drivers’ speed choices is the key to SERs. Thus, in order to reduce traffic casualties via engineering methods, this study aimed to establish a speed decision model based on visual road information and to propose an innovative method of SER design. It was assumed that driving speed is determined by road geometry and modified by the environment. Lane fitting and image semantic segmentation techniques were used to extract road features. Field experiments were conducted in Tibet, China, and 1375 typical road scenarios were picked out. By controlling variables, the driving speed stimulated by each piece of information was evaluated. Prediction models for geometry-determined speed and environment-modified speed were built using the random forest algorithm and convolutional neural network. Results showed that the curvature of the right boundary in “near scene” and “middle scene”, and the density of roadside greenery and residences play an important role in regulating driving speed. The findings of this research could provide qualitative and quantitative suggestions for the optimization of road design that would guide drivers to choose more reasonable driving speeds.
Active Aging: Social Entrepreneuring in Local Communities of Five European Countries
Authors: Socci Marco , Clarke David , Principi Andrea
Published: April 2020

Building on the active aging framework, the aim of this study, carried out between 2016 and 2018, is to analyze concrete experiences of older individuals acting as key players of social change in six local communities of five European countries (Bulgaria, Denmark, England, France, Spain). The 19 seniors involved in the study, according to social contexts, individual past experiences, knowledge, and motivations, acted as senior social entrepreneurs, trying to build a pathway towards social solutions for unmet social problems they detected in local communities. Data were collected via templates and questionnaires and analyzed using the thematic analysis. The results highlighted that the 16 local initiatives created by seniors concerned social problems such as food waste, social isolation, multicultural integration, etc. The social solutions implemented by seniors seemed to have the potential to produce social value and, to different degrees, encouraging results and impact. Since this “social experiment” provided evidence that senior social entrepreneuring could be a driver to solve societal problems, policy makers should sustain the spread of both social entrepreneurial mindset and practices at the European level, for catalyzing the active potential of older people for the benefit of European local communities.
The Prevalence and Context of Alcohol Use, Problem Drinking and Alcohol-Related Harm among Youth Living in the Slums of Kampala, Uganda
Authors: Swahn Monica H. , Culbreth Rachel , Salazar Laura F. , Tumwesigye Nazarius Mbona , Jernigan David H. , Kasirye Rogers , Obot Isidore S.
Published: April 2020

Background. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the prevalence and context of alcohol use, problem drinking and alcohol-related harm among boys and girls in the slums of Kampala, Uganda. Methods. The Kampala Youth Survey is a cross-sectional study conducted in 2014 among youth (ages 12–18 years) living in the slums of Kampala (n = 1133) who were participating in Uganda Youth Development Link (UYDEL) centers. Chi-square tests were used to determine differences in alcohol use behaviors between 1) gender (boys vs. girls), and 2) alcohol use behaviors between problem drinkers and non-problem drinkers, stratified by gender. Results. Among all participants (n = 1133), the prevalence of any alcohol use in the past 12 months was 31% (n = 346). A higher percentage of girl drinkers reported having sex in the past month, without a condom (57.9%) due to alcohol consumption, compared to boy drinkers (41.9%) (   χ 2 = 8.09, df = 1, p = 0.005). For girl and boy drinkers, nearly half (49.5% and 44.1%, respectively) met the criteria for problem drinkers, measured using the Cut-Annoyed-Guilty-Eye-Opener (CAGE) questionnaire. Conclusions. The high prevalence of alcohol use and problem drinking among youth, as well as alcohol-related harm, warrant urgent alcohol prevention and intervention strategies, particularly among these underserved girls.
Association between Weight Status and Physical Fitness in Chinese Mainland Children and Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study
Authors: Xu Yatao , Mei Maorong , Wang Hui , Yan Qingwei , He Gang
Published: April 2020

Background: The increasing prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents is a major public health challenge worldwide. This study examined the relationship between physical fitness and BMI spanning the range from underweight to obese among Chinese mainland children and adolescents. Methods: Participants were 22,681 children and adolescents (11,300 boys and 11,381 girls) aged 10–18 years from the Chinese mainland. Weight status was classified as underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese using WHO 2007 standards. Physical fitness parameters such as cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2max), lower body explosive strength (standing broad jump), upper body explosive strength (handgrip strength), abdominal muscular endurance (sit-ups in 30 s), flexibility (sit-and-reach), and agility (repeat bestride (20 s)) were assessed. Results: There was a significant association between weight status categories and physical fitness in all age groups and sex (plinear < 0.001, pquadratic < 0.001). Underweight adolescents performed better in lower limb strength, flexibility, agility, and cardiorespiratory fitness than their obese peers, but worse in upper limb strength. Underweight boys aged 10–11 and 12–13 years and girls aged 10–11 years showed significantly (p < 0.05) high odds of meeting a low physical fitness index. Obese adolescents have high odds of meeting a low physical fitness index with age. Conclusion: The present study showed a nonlinear relationship between weight status and physical fitness. Children and adolescents who were classified as underweight or obese had poorer physical fitness than their normal-weight peers.