bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Perfectionist Turn
Authors: Den Uyl Douglas , Rasmussen Douglas
Published: May 2018

Contemporary political philosophy—especially the works of Martha Nussbaum, John Rawls, and Amartya Sen—has assumed it can in various ways separate itself from more comprehensive philosophical positions and frameworks, and much of contemporary ethics—especially the works of Gerald Gaus and Stephen Darwall—has assumed that ethics can be based on a legislative or juridical model. Den Uyl and Rasmussen challenge both these trends. They do so by amplifying an account of human flourishing, which they call “individualistic perfectionism,” that they presented in their earlier work, Norms of Liberty. They continue to challenge the assumption that a neo-Aristotelian ethical framework cannot support a liberal, non-perfectionist political theory by describing in greater detail the nature of the perfectionist ethical approach they utilized in their previous political theorizing. They show that individualistic perfectionism represents a major and powerful alternative to much contemporary ethical thinking.
Life on Earth and Death from Heaven: The Golden Pectoral of the Scythian King from the Tolstaya Mogila (Ukraine)
Authors: Künzl Ernst
Published: May 2018

In the grave mound (kurgan) in the Ukraine known as Tolstaya Mogila there was found in 1971 a piece of gold jewellery that has entered the archaeological record as the pectoral of an unknown Scythian king (see Fig. 13.7 below). The collar or pectoral is made up of four torques, enclosing three decorative zones: the overall shape is that of an apotropaic lunula. The decoration is composed in relief, on a background of sheet gold in the middle zone, and as relief-like tableaux of free-standing figures in the upper and lower zones. The three thematically distinct friezes portray, respectively, the life of successful and happy Scythians and their livestock; the blossoming flora of Scythia; and the looming danger of death for all animal and plant life. This menace is embodied by six griffins, bearing down from above on the noble horses of the Scythians. Further motifs in this zone are animal combats with lions, panthers, a stag and boar, as well as hounds hunting hares.
Realisation of Self and Power
Authors: Debaise Didier
Published: May 2018

The process of individuation has an end. The passage from disjunctive diversity to the unity of a new entity embodied by the subject has a conclusion, namely, the effective realisation of the entity, its full actualisation. This end point of individuation is reached following the determination of every positive and negative prehension of the entity, that is, when all of its relations with other entities have been established. It is, then, fully a perspective, a being-situated in the universe, a junction between and a unity of everything that exists. It attains, in its final state of concrescence, what Whitehead calls ‘satisfaction’. This ‘satisfaction’ is not a common end, identifiable with all the others, as if there were a pre-existing finality in individuation that would be actualised in a particular manner. It is ‘a generic term: there are specific differences between the “satisfactions” of different entities, including gradations of intensity’ (PR, 84). In the same way that every prehension is singular and belongs to the subjective orientation of every actual entity, the end of an entity is specific, it is that end for that entity.
Michel Foucault
Authors: Lemm Vanessa
Published: May 2018

Michel Foucault begins to play a major role in Giorgio Agamben’s work starting with his book Homo Sacer. Agamben’s thinking about biopolitics, sovereignty, governmentality and form-of-life is deeply influenced by the work of Foucault, as evidenced by his sustained engagement with Foucault’s texts throughout the entire Homo Sacer series. One commentator notes that the trajectory of Agamben’s work since the mid-1990s ‘makes evident that it is proceeding by an ongoing interpretation of the thought of Michel Foucault’.1 But Agamben’s debt to Foucault does not end here. With The Signature of All Things, Agamben also shows that his research methods arise from reflections on Foucault’s use of archaeology and genealogy in his studies of discourse formation. As Agamben remarked in an interview from 2004, ‘I see my work as closer to no one than to Foucault.’2 It is therefore not surprising that Foucault has been referred to as the ‘single most decisive influence on Agamben’s later works’.
Hannah Arendt
Authors: Grumley John
Published: May 2018

In his fine introduction to Agamben’s philosophical world, Leland de la Durantaye draws our attention to the very early contact between Agamben and Arendt in 1970, when the former was a young man only just finding his own theoretical voice. In a personal letter, the then unknown Italian scholar writes to Arendt expressing both admiration and gratitude for what he judges to be a ‘decisive experience’ – not just the experience of historical rupture, but also the unexpected possibility of change accompanying this loss.2 The disruption of tradition is both emancipatory and a burden: it provides meaning but also clouds and limits present possibilities. In tune with Agamben’s messianic temperament and his critique of the Western tradition, he is primarily interested in the critical potential of the moment of rupture and its emancipatory possibilities.
Georges Bataille
Authors: Hartmann Nadine
Published: May 2018

Throughout his oeuvre, Giorgio Agamben makes numerous references to Georges Bataille. Already in the 1977 Stanzas, Bataille’s general economy is afforded one of the scholia of the chapter ‘The Appropriation of Unreality’ and scolded for its alleged simplification of Marcel Mauss’s account of the gift. A brief discussion of the letters that Bataille and Alexandre Kojève exchanged in 1937 is contained in Agamben’s 1982 Language and Death and picked up again in 2002’s The Open: Man and Animal. The only text that exclusively deals with Bataille, however, is Agamben’s 1987 essay ‘Bataille e il paradosso della sovranità’. By the time Agamben begins the Homo Sacer project (1995), and in particular in Means Without End (1996), Bataille has been banished into unambiguously dismissive footnotes or ‘thresholds’ in which Agamben distances himself from Bataille’s definitions of the sacred, sacrifice and sovereignty. Thus, unlike Carl Schmitt, Martin Heidegger, Walter Benjamin or Michel Foucault, Bataille not only cannot be considered one of Agamben’s main informants, but receives all but marginal attention from him – and this despite the fact that Bataille is generally held to be one of the crucial thinkers of the sacred and of sovereignty.
Baruch Spinoza
Authors: Bernstein Jeffrey A.
Published: May 2018

There is currently a paucity of literature relating to Agamben’s philosophical treatment of Spinoza (Julie Klein, Dimitris Vardoulakis and Miguel Vatter being notable exceptions).1 There has certainly been no attempt to show how Agamben’s manifold references to the seventeenth-century Dutch-Jewish philosopher form a constellation in his thought. In this chapter, I will attempt to bring those references together under the categorial headings of (1) ‘Living in the Middle Voice’ and (2) ‘The Contemplative Life as Inoperativity’. I choose these categories because Agamben’s key concern (as I read him) involves radically rethinking the figures of ‘life’ and ‘living’ as well as providing a new apologia for contemplation. First, however, a few methodological remarks.
Sigmund Freud
Authors: Brower Virgil W.
Published: May 2018

Can Freud be abandoned? Interrelations between sacer, ambivalence, exception, suspension, property, use and civil war around the origin of law are traces of Freud that manifest themselves throughout the development of Agamben’s thought. Most direct engagements are found in early texts,2 best articulated in Stanzas. Here is incipient indication of (a) Freud’s guilt by association with shortcomings of the sociology of religion (S 137).3 Agamben displays (b) lessons learned from Freud in terms of phantasm, fetishism and the unconscious (S 22–3, 31–3, 145–7; IH 48), but overall performs (c) critical discouragement of an alleged Freudian delimitation (under the influence of Schelling) of the Unheimlich in terms of repression (S 144).4 Damage done by repressions return in a later text, The Signature of All Things, specifically Chapter 3, burrowed within its summary of (d) Foucault’s critique of Freud as justification for Agamben’s own idiomatic adoption of the archaeological method (ST 96–107)
Media
Authors: Munnik Michael B.
Published: May 2018

Muslims are a subsidiary concern for religion reporting in Scotland’s news media. If journalists must cover religion, issues pertaining to Christian sectarianism still occupy a central focus, although, as more Scots identify with no religion, news reports take on a memorialising tone, marking religion’s decline. Sometimes these storylines merge, as was the case with the biggest religion story in the news during my research about Muslims and the news media in Scotland: the revelation of the sexual abuse of several priests by Cardinal Keith O’Brien (Deveney, 2013). The dominant Scottish story overall was the preparation for the referendum on independence. Muslims played a humble part in coverage of the second story and no part at all in the first.
Resistance and Psychoanalysis
Authors: Morgan Wortham Simon
Published: May 2018

As calls mount for resistance to recent political events, Simon Morgan Wortham explores the political implications and complexities of a psychoanalytic conception of resistance. Through close readings of a range of authors, both within and outside of the psychoanalytic tradition, the question of the politics of psychoanalysis itself is read back into the task of thinking resistance from a psychoanalytic point of view. Simon Morgan Wortham explores what he sees as the phobic resistance at the centre of the politics of psychoanalysis, one that creates fresh possibilities for contemporary cultural and political analysis.
A Study on the Improvement Effect and Field Applicability of the Deep Soft Ground by Ground Heating Method
Authors: Park Mincheol
Published: May 2018

The soft ground in coastal areas should be treated when it needs to be used for the sustainably developed of urban or industrial complex constructions. The ground heating method for soft ground improvement was applied in Eastern Europe in the 1960s, but it was not widely used due to economic and environmental problems. The author developed a device for improving soft ground using an electric heating pipe. This paper investigates the improvement effect and field application of deep soft ground by the ground heating method using the electric heating pipe. Ground heating increases the temperature of the deep soft ground and increases the tip resistance of the static electronic piezo-cone penetration test. Additionally, the pressure of the pore water decreases because the pore water is evaporated due to the ground heating. As a result of the experiment, it was verified that there was an improvement in the effect of deep soft ground by the ground heating method. With ground heating for 96 h, the tip resistance was increased by 61% at a point 0.35 m horizontally away from the electric heat pipe, 22% at 0.97 m, and 2% at 1.31 m. As a result of the field test, it was found that there were no problems in the power supply of the diesel generator and the control panel. It was easy to install the electric heating pipes in the deep soft ground. However, due to boring, the ground was disturbed and water vapor was discharged through this gap. To minimize the discharge of water vapor, it is necessary to drive the electric heating pipe.
Origin of the Fine Scale Tortuosity in Sparks and Lightning Channels
Authors: Cooray Vernon
Published: May 2018

The physical reason for the small-scale tortuosity observed in sparks and lightning channels is unknown at present. In this paper, it is suggested that the small-scale tortuosity of the discharge channels is caused by the natural tendency for subsequent leader streamer bursts to avoid each other but at the same time to align as much as possible along the direction of the background electric field. This process will give rise to a discharge channel that re-orients in space during each streamer burst creating the small scale tortuosity.
Effect of Methylcellulose Molecular Weight on the Properties of Self-Assembling MC-g-PNtBAm Nanogels
Authors: Jamard Marion , Sheardown Heather
Published: May 2018

The efficiency of drug delivery to the eye using topical drop therapy is limited by the ocular clearance mechanisms. Nanocarriers, able to encapsulate bioactive compounds and slow down their release, may allow for prolonged on-eye residence times when combined with topical application for treatment of ocular conditions. Previously, self-assemblies of methylcellulose (MC) hydrophobized with N-tert-butylacrylamide side chains (MC-g-PNtBAm) were developed. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the impact of the methylcellulose backbone length on the properties of the nanogels. We synthesized MC-g-PNtBAm nanogels using four different molecular weights of MC with two degrees of hydrophobic modification and investigated the physical and chemical properties of the resulting polymeric nanogels. While no significant change could be observed at a high degree of hydrophobization, properties were affected at a lower one. Increasing the molecular weight of MC improved the swelling capacity of the nanogels, increasing their size in water. An effect on the drug release was also noted. Nanogels prepared using MC with a molecular weight of 30 kDa did not retain as much dexamethasone and released it faster compared to those prepared using 230 kDa MC. Thus, besides the degree of hydrophobization, the length of MC chains provides another means of tuning the properties of MC-g-PNtBAm nanogels.
FMSP-Nanoparticles Induced Cell Death on Human Breast Adenocarcinoma Cell Line (MCF-7 Cells): Morphometric Analysis
Authors: Khan Firdos Alam , Akhtar Sultan , Almofty Sarah Ameen , Almohazey Dana , Alomari Munthar
Published: May 2018

Currently, breast cancer treatment mostly revolves around radiation therapy and surgical interventions, but often these treatments do not provide satisfactory relief to the patients and cause unmanageable side-effects. Nanomaterials show promising results in treating cancer cells and have many advantages such as high biocompatibility, bioavailability and effective therapeutic capabilities. Interestingly, fluorescent magnetic nanoparticles have been used in many biological and diagnostic applications, but there is no report of use of fluorescent magnetic submicronic polymer nanoparticles (FMSP-nanoparticles) in the treatment of human breast cancer cells. In the present study, we tested the effect of FMSP-nanoparticles on human breast cancer cells (MCF-7). We tested different concentrations (1.25, 12.5 and 50 µg/mL) of FMSP-nanoparticles in MCF-7 cells and evaluated the nanoparticles response morphometrically. Our results revealed that FMSP-nanoparticles produced a concentration dependent effect on the cancer cells, a dose of 1.25 µg/mL produced no significant effect on the cancer cell morphology and cell death, whereas dosages of 12.5 and 50 µg/mL resulted in significant nuclear augmentation, disintegration, chromatic condensation followed by dose dependent cell death. Our results demonstrate that FMSP-nanoparticles induce cell death in MCF-7 cells and may be a potential anti-cancer agent for breast cancer treatment.
The General Solution of Singular Fractional-Order Linear Time-Invariant Continuous Systems with Regular Pencils
Authors: Batiha Iqbal M. , El-Khazali Reyad , AlSaedi Ahmed , Momani Shaher
Published: May 2018

This paper introduces a general solution of singular fractional-order linear-time invariant (FoLTI) continuous systems using the Adomian Decomposition Method (ADM) based on the Caputo's definition of the fractional-order derivative. The complexity of their entropy lies in defining the complete solution of such systems, which depends on introducing a method of decomposing their dynamic states from their static states. The solution is formulated by converting the singular system of regular pencils into a recursive form using the sequence of transformations, which separates the dynamic variables from the algebraic variables. The main idea of this work is demonstrated via numerical examples.
Entropy Change of Biological Dynamics in Asthmatic Patients and Its Diagnostic Value in Individualized Treatment: A Systematic Review
Authors: Sun Shixue , Jin Yu , Chen Chang , Sun Baoqing , Cao Zhixin , Lo Iek , Zhao Qi , Zheng Jun , Shi Yan , Zhang Xiaohua
Published: May 2018

Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease featured with unpredictable flare-ups, for which continuous lung function monitoring is the key for symptoms control. To find new indices to individually classify severity and predict disease prognosis, continuous physiological data collected from monitoring devices is being studied from different perspectives. Entropy, as an analysis method for quantifying the inner irregularity of data, has been widely applied in physiological signals. However, based on our knowledge, there is no such study to summarize the complexity differences of various physiological signals in asthmatic patients. Therefore, we organized a systematic review to summarize the complexity differences of important signals in patients with asthma. We searched several medical databases and systematically reviewed existing asthma clinical trials in which entropy changes in physiological signals were studied. As a conclusion, we find that, for airflow, heart rate variability, center of pressure and respiratory impedance, their entropy values decrease significantly in asthma patients compared to those of healthy people, while, for respiratory sound and airway resistance, their entropy values increase along with the progression of asthma. Entropy of some signals, such as respiratory inter-breath interval, shows strong potential as novel indices of asthma severity. These results will give valuable guidance for the utilization of entropy in physiological signals. Furthermore, these results should promote the development of management and diagnosis of asthma using continuous monitoring data in the future.
Vague Entropy Measure for Complex Vague Soft Sets
Authors: Selvachandran Ganeshsree , Garg Harish , Quek Shio Gai
Published: May 2018

The complex vague soft set (CVSS) model is a hybrid of complex fuzzy sets and soft sets that have the ability to accurately represent and model two-dimensional information for real-life phenomena that are periodic in nature. In the existing studies of fuzzy and its extensions, the uncertainties which are present in the data are handled with the help of membership degree which is the subset of real numbers. However, in the present work, this condition has been relaxed with the degrees whose ranges are a subset of the complex subset with unit disc and hence handle the information in a better way. Under this environment, we developed some entropy measures of the CVSS model induced by the axiomatic definition of distance measure. Some desirable relations between them are also investigated. A numerical example related to detection of an image by the robot is given to illustrate the proposed entropy measure.
Effect of a Roughness Element on the Receptivity of a Hypersonic Boundary Layer over a Blunt Cone Due to Pulse Entropy Disturbance with a Single Frequency
Authors: Wang Zhenqing , Shi Mingfang , Tang Xiaojun , Lv Hongqing , Xu Lidan
Published: May 2018

A high-order finite difference method was used to simulate the hypersonic flow field over a blunt cone with different height roughness elements. The unsteady flow field induced by pulse disturbances was analyzed and compared with that under continuous disturbances. The temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of disturbances in the boundary layer were investigated and the propagation of different disturbance modes in the boundary layer was researched through the fast Fourier transform (FFT) method. The effect of the roughness element on the receptivity characteristic of the hypersonic boundary layer under pulse entropy disturbances was explored. The results showed that the different mode disturbances near roughness in the boundary layer were enlarged in the upstream half of the roughness element and suppressed in the downstream half. However, the effect of roughness weakened gradually as the disturbance frequency increased in the boundary layer. A phenomenon of mode competition in the downstream region of the roughness element exited. As the disturbances propagated downstream, the fundamental mode gradually became the dominant mode. A certain promotion effect on the mode competition was induced by the roughness element and the effect was enhanced with the increase in the roughness element height.
Thermoelectricity and Thermodiffusion in Magnetic Nanofluids: Entropic Analysis
Authors: Salez Thomas J. , Nakamae Sawako , Perzynski Régine , Mériguet Guillaume , Cebers Andrejs , Roger Michel
Published: May 2018

An analytical model describing the thermoelectric potential production in magnetic nanofluids (dispersions of magnetic and charged colloidal particles in liquid media) is presented. The two major entropy sources, the thermogalvanic and thermodiffusion processes are considered. The thermodiffusion term is described in terms of three physical parameters; the diffusion coefficient, the Eastman entropy of transfer and the electrophoretic charge number of colloidal particles, which all depend on the particle concentration and the applied magnetic field strength and direction. The results are combined with well-known formulation of thermoelectric potential in thermogalvanic cells and compared to the recent observation of Seebeck coefficient enhancement/diminution in magnetic nanofluids in polar media.
New Forms of Quantum Value Indefiniteness Suggest That Incompatible Views on Contexts Are Epistemic
Authors: Svozil Karl
Published: May 2018

Extensions of the Kochen–Specker theorem use quantum logics whose classical interpretation suggests a true-implies-value indefiniteness property. This can be interpreted as an indication that any view of a quantum state beyond a single context is epistemic. A remark by Gleason about the ad hoc construction of probability measures in Hilbert spaces as a result of the Pythagorean property of vector components is interpreted platonically. Unless there is a total match between preparation and measurement contexts, information about the former from the latter is not ontic, but epistemic. This is corroborated by configurations of observables and contexts with a truth-implies-value indefiniteness property.
Gear Ratio Optimization of a Multi-Speed Transmission for Electric Dump Truck Operating on the Structure Route
Authors: Tan Senqi , Yang Jue , Zhao Xinxin , Hai Tingting , Zhang Wenming
Published: May 2018

Research demonstrated that the application of a multi-speed transmission could improve the dynamic and economic performance of electric vehicles. This paper deals with a novel multi-speed transmission for the electric dump truck (EDT) operating on the structure route (SR), which has a definite starting point and end point without complex traffic conditions. To optimize the gear ratio and shift schedule to reduce energy consumption in such conditions, the mathematical model of the transmission and the dynamic model of the EDT are initially required. Following this, the shift schedule is presented according to the motor efficiency map. After that, the gear ratio optimization is carried out by a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. Moreover, the proposed EDT is compared with an EDT with a single-speed transmission. The simulation results show that the energy consumption is reduced by 6.1%.
ICT Based HIL Validation of Voltage Control Coordination in Smart Grids Scenarios
Authors: Shahid Kamal , Petersen Lennart , Olsen Rasmus Løvenstein , Iov Florin
Published: May 2018

This paper aims to validate the capability of renewable generation (ReGen) plants to provide online voltage control coordination ancillary service to the system operators in smart grids. Simulation studies about online coordination concepts from ReGen plants have already been identified in previous publications. However, here, the results are validated through a real-time Hardware-In-the-Loop framework using an exemplary benchmark grid area in Denmark as a base case that includes flexible renewable power plants providing voltage control functionality. The provision of voltage control support from ReGen plants is verified on a large-scale power system against the baseline scenario, considering the hierarchical industrial controller platforms used nowadays in power plants. Moreover, the verification of online voltage control support is carried out by taking into account a communication network as well as the associated data traffic patterns obtained from a real network. Based on the sets of recordings, guidelines and recommendations for practical implementation of the developed control algorithms for targeted ancillary service are made. This provides a deep insight for stakeholders, i.e., wind turbine and photo-voltaic system manufacturers and system operators, regarding the existing boundaries for current technologies and requirements for accommodating the new ancillary services in industrial application.
Modified Cuckoo Search Algorithm: A Novel Method to Minimize the Fuel Cost
Authors: Nguyen Thang Trung , Vo Dieu Ngoc , Vu Quynh Nguyen , Van Dai Le
Published: May 2018

Economic load dispatch (ELD) is an important optimization problem for operating and controlling modern power systems, and if ELD is effectively executed, power systems work stably and economically. The main objective of this paper is to develop a novel method to solve the ELD with the purpose of minimizing the total fuel cost of all available generating units while requirements are to satisfy all constraints regarding thermal units, generators, and transmission power networks. The proposed high performance cuckoo search algorithm (HPCSA) is developed from the efficient technique for the second new solution generation of conventional cuckoo search algorithm (CCSA), called adaptive mutation technique. This proposed technique diversifies the local search ability based on a new comparison criterion. The HPCSA is verified on difference systems under special conditions, namely the 10-unit system with multi fuels, 15-unit system considering prohibited operating zones, and three IEEE systems with 30, 57, and 118 buses considering transmission power network constraints. The specific evaluation of the HPCSA is compared to that of Lagrange optimization-based methods (LMS), neural network-based methods (NNMS), CCSA, and other popular methods such as Particle swarm optimization (PSO) variants, Differential evolution (DE) variants, Genetic Algorithm (GA) variants, and state-of-the-art methods. In comparison with CCSA, the proposed method is always more effective and more robust since the proposed method can find most solutions with better quality and faster convergence speed. In comparison with LMS and NNMS, the proposed method can also find solutions with approximate or equal quality. In comparison with popular methods and state-of-the-art methods, the proposed method has more potential since it can reach faster convergence to valid solutions with approximate or better quality. Consequently, it can be concluded that the proposed HPCSA is an effective optimization tool for dealing with ELD problems.
Visualization of Operational Performance of Grid-Connected PV Systems in Selected European Countries
Authors: Kausika Bala Bhavya , Moraitis Panagiotis , Van Sark Wilfried G. J. H. M.
Published: May 2018

This paper presents the results of the analyses of operational performance of small-sized residential PV systems, connected to the grid, in the Netherlands and some other European countries over three consecutive years. Web scraping techniques were employed to collect detailed yield data at high time resolution (5–15 min) from a large number (31,844) of systems with 741 MWp of total capacity, delivering data continuously for at least one year. Annual system yield data was compared from small and medium-sized installations. Cartography and spatial analysis techniques in a geographic information system (GIS) were used to visualize yield and performance ratio, which greatly facilitates the assessment of performance for geographically scattered systems. Variations in yield and performance ratios over the years were observed with higher values in 2015 due to higher irradiation values. The potential of specific yield and performance maps lies in the updating of monitoring databases, quality control of data, and availability of irradiation data. The automatic generation of performance maps could be a trend in future mapping.
Co-Simulation of Smart Distribution Network Fault Management and Reconfiguration with LTE Communication
Authors: Garau Michele , Ghiani Emilio , Celli Gianni , Pilo Fabrizio , Corti Sergio
Published: May 2018

Transition towards a smart grid requires network modernization based on the deployment of information and communication technologies for managing network operation and coordinating distributed energy resources in distribution systems. The success of the most advanced smart grid functionalities depends on the availability and quality of communication systems. Amongst the most demanding functionalities, those related to fault isolation, location and system restoration (FLISR) to obtain a self-healing smart grid are critical and require low latency communication systems, particularly in case of application to weakly-meshed operated networks. Simulation tools capable of capturing the interaction between communication and electrical systems are of outmost utility to check proper functioning of FLISR under different utilization conditions, to assess the expected improvements of Quality of Service, and to define minimum requirements of the communication system. In this context, this paper investigates the use of public mobile telecommunication system 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) for FLISR applications in both radially and weakly-meshed medium voltage (MV) distribution networks. This study makes use of a co-simulation software platform capable to consider power system dynamics. The results demonstrate that LTE can be used as communication medium for advanced fault location, extinction, and network reconfiguration in distribution networks. Furthermore, this paper shows that the reduction of performances with mobile background usage does not affect the system and does not cause delays higher than 100 ms, which is the maximum allowable for power system protections.
Urban Environment and Solar PV Performance: The Case of the Netherlands
Authors: Moraitis Panagiotis , Kausika Bala Bhavya , Nortier Nick , Van Sark Wilfried
Published: May 2018

The modern urban landscape creates numerous challenges for the deployment of solar Photovoltaic (PV) technology. The large structures that dominate the skyline of every city create compactness, which, in turn, limits the available rooftop area and creates unpredicted shading patterns. The majority of research today relies on modern applications such as geographical information system (GIS) software to evaluate urban morphology; however, this approach is computationally intensive and therefore it is usually limited to a small geographical area. In this paper, we approach this issue from another perspective, utilizing the enormous amount of high resolution PV yield data that is available for the Netherlands. Our results not only correlate performance losses with urban compactness indicators, but they also reveal a significant seasonality effect that can reach 15% in some cases.
A New Method for Contrasting Energy Performance and Near-Zero Energy Building Requirements in Different Climates and Countries
Authors: Ahmed Kaiser , Carlier Margaux , Feldmann Christian , Kurnitski Jarek
Published: May 2018

In this study a robust method enabling one to compare the energy performance in different climates was developed. Derived normalization factors allow “to move” the building from one climate to another with corresponding changes in heating, cooling, and electric lighting energy. Degree days, solar-air temperature and economic insulation thickness were used to normalize space heating and cooling needs. Solar-air temperature based degree days resulted in 5% accuracy in space heating and dry-bulb air temperature based cooling degree days were trustworthy in cooling need normalization. To overcome the limitation of the same thermal insulation in all climates, an economic insulation thickness was applied. Existing and nearly zero energy requirements were contrasted in four countries with a reference office building to analyze the impacts of climate and national regulation on primary energy use. By applying standard energy calculation input data and primary energy factors from European standards to buildings with national technical solutions, nearly zero energy building requirements comparison with European Commission benchmarks was possible to conduct. Generally, in Central and North Europe comparison, national input data caused much more difference than the climate.
METATECH: METeorological Data Analysis for Thermal Energy CHaracterization by Means of Self-Learning Transparent Models
Authors: Di Corso Evelina , Cerquitelli Tania , Apiletti Daniele
Published: May 2018

In the last few years, a large number of smart meters have been deployed in buildings to continuously monitor fine-grained energy consumption. Meteorological data deeply impact energy consumption, and an in-depth analysis of collected and correlated data can uncover interesting and actionable insights to improve the overall energy balance of our communities and to enhance people’s awareness of energy wasting. To effectively extract meaningful and interpretable insights from large collections of energy measurements and multi-dimensional meteorological data, innovative data science methodologies should be devised. Research frontiers are addressing self-learning approaches, which allow non-experts to exploit machine learning techniques more easily, and algorithmic transparency of models, hence providing actionable, explicit, declarative knowledge representation. This paper presents METeorological Data Analysis for Thermal Energy CHaracterization (METATECH), a data mining engine based on both exploratory and unsupervised data analytics algorithms, devised to build transparent models correlating weather conditions and energy consumption in buildings. METATECH exploits a joint approach coupling cluster analysis and generalized association rules to allow a deeper yet human-readable understanding of how meteorological data impact heating consumption. First, a partitional clustering algorithm is applied to weather conditions. Then, resulting clusters are characterized by means of generalized association rules, which provide a self-learning explainable model of the most interesting correlations between energy consumption and weather conditions at different granularity levels. The experimental evaluation performed on real datasets demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach in automatically extracting interesting knowledge from data, and provide it transparently to domain experts.
Widespread Distribution of Trypodendron laeve in the Carpathian Mountains (Romania)
Authors: Olenici Nicolai , Duduman Mihai-Leonard , Isaia Gabriela , Knížek Miloš , Vasian Iuliana
Published: May 2018

Trypodendron laeve Eggers, 1939 is a species of ambrosia beetle much less known than the other three Trypodendron species occurring in Europe. Its status (native or alien) in Central Europe has been a subject of debate over the past two decades. In Romania, the species was discovered in 2008 and the aim of the research presented in this paper was to investigate its distribution in the Carpathians, mainly at high altitudes (>800 m), in tree stands with Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] H. Karst). Panel intercept traps baited with synthetic pheromone for Trypodendron lineatum (Olivier, 1795) were used in the spring of 2015, at 31 locations. Adults of T. laeve were caught in 20 of them. Additional observations were made within some studies using similar baits and T. laeve specimens were caught in eight locations. T. laeve was always trapped together with T. lineatum, and at some locations also together with T. domesticum (Linnaeus, 1758) and T. signatum (Fabricius, 1787). In all traps, fewer specimens of T. laeve were caught compared to T. lineatum. The species has a widespread distribution in the mountain regions, within forests composed of native tree species and generally located far away from commercial routes. There, it occurs together with other native species of the same taxonomic genus. It seems to be more abundant at high altitudes, but overall its populations are less abundant than those of T. lineatum.
Comparison of Whole-Tree Wood Property Maps for 13- and 22-Year-Old Loblolly Pine
Authors: Schimleck Laurence , Antony Finto , Mora Christian , Dahlen Joseph
Published: May 2018

Maps developed using Akima’s interpolation method were used to compare patterns of within-tree variation for Pinus taeda L. (loblolly pine) wood properties in plantation-grown trees aged 13 and 22 years. Air-dry density, microfibril angle (MFA) and modulus of elasticity (MOE) maps represented the average of 18 sampled trees in each age class. Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy models calibrated using SilviScan provided data for the analysis. Zones of high density, low MFA and high MOE wood increased markedly in size in maps of the older trees. The proportion of wood meeting the visually graded No. 1 (11 GPa) and No. 2 (9.7 GPa) MOE design values for southern pine lumber increased from 44 to 74% and from 58 to 83% respectively demonstrating the impact of age on end-product quality. Air-dry density increased from pith to bark at all heights but lacked a significant trend vertically, while radial and longitudinal trends were observed for MFA and MOE. Changes were consistent with the asymptotic progression of properties associated with full maturity in older trees.
Analysis of Nitrogen Utilization Capability during the Proliferation and Maturation Phases of Norway Spruce (Picea abies (L.) H.Karst.) Somatic Embryogenesis
Authors: Dahrendorf Julia , Clapham David , Egertsdotter Ulrika
Published: May 2018

Somatic embryogenesis (SE) is a laboratory-based method that allows for cost-effective production of large numbers of clonal copies of plants, of particular interest for conifers where other clonal propagation methods are mostly unavailable. In this study, the effect of l-glutamine as an organic nitrogen source was evaluated for three contrasted media (containing NH4 + NO3 without glutamine, or glutamine + NO3, or glutamine without inorganic nitrogen) during proliferation and maturation of Norway spruce somatic embryos through analyses of activities of the key enzymes of nitrogen metabolism: nitrate reductase (NR), glutamine synthetase (GS) and arginase. A major change in nitrogen metabolism was indicated by the increased activity of GS from zero in the proliferation stage through maturation to high activity in somatic embryo-derived plantlets; furthermore, NR activity increased from zero at the proliferation stage to high activity in maturing embryos and somatic-embryo derived plantlets. In contrast, arginase activity was high at all stages. In accordance with the GS and NR data, proliferation was fastest on the glutamine media, the largest number of mature embryos developed on the glutamine medium without inorganic nitrogen, and the ammonium content of proliferating cultures was much higher than that of mature somatic embryos. The best developed embryos, judged by germination, were from the glutamine + NO3 medium. These insights into nitrogen utilization will help to improve culture medium composition.
Kinetic Analysis of the Color of Larch Sapwood and Heartwood during Heat Treatment
Authors: Wei Yanxia , Zhang Peng , Liu Yang , Chen Yao , Gao Jianmin , Fan Yongming
Published: May 2018

The kinetics of color changes in larch sapwood and heartwood during heat treatment were investigated in this study in order to determine if the process of color change that occurs in the surface of wood can be regulated. Wood samples were heated at 90, 110, 130, and 150 °C in an oven, vacuum, and in an oven subjected to saturated steam for 3, 6, 9, and 12 h each. The results of the color measurement showed that the values of L* (lightness) and ΔE* (total color difference) decreased and increased in both the sapwood and heartwood, respectively, with increasing temperature and treatment time. The three kinetic model approach, consisting of (i) the time-temperature superposition principle (TTSP); (ii) zero-order reaction model; and, (iii) first-order reaction model, was used to model the kinetics of color changes. The results indicated that the L* value of the sample (including heartwood and sapwood) was well fitted to the first-order reaction model (R2 = 0.9999). The Arrhenius activation energy was 14.2369 and 11.0984 kJ/mol for the sapwood and heartwood, respectively. The first-order reaction model also showed a better fit for the ΔE* values between sapwood and heartwood with higher R2 values than the other two methods. Therefore, the color changes of larch wood could successfully be analyzed using the first-order reaction model.
Soil Chemical Attributes, Biometric Characteristics, and Concentrations of N and P in Leaves and Litter Affected by Fertilization and the Number of Sprouts per the Eucalyptus L’Hér. Strain in the Brazilian Cerrado
Authors: Godoi Natasha M. I. , Araújo Sabrina N. dos S. , Buzetti Salatiér , Gazola Rodolfo de N. , Celestrino Thiago de S. , Silva Alexandre C. da , Nogueira Thiago A. R. , Teixeira Filho Marcelo C. M.
Published: May 2018

Given the lack of recommendations for the fertilization of Eucalyptus clones in the second production cycle, the effects of fertilizer rates and the number of sprouts per strain in terms of the soil chemical attributes, biometric characteristics, and the concentrations of N and P in the leaves and in the litter of Eucalyptus L’Hér. in the Brazilian Cerrado were evaluated. The experimental design was a randomized block with four replicates, arranged in a 2 × 4 factorial scheme: one or two sprouts per strain; four fertilizer rates (0, 50, 100, or 200% of 200 kg ha−1 of the formula 06-30-06 + 1.5% Cu + 1% Zn) applied immediately after sprout definition. The option of one sprout per strain yielded higher contents of organic matter (K, S, B, and Mn) in the 0.20–0.40-m layer, the leaf chlorophyll index, the diameter at breast height, and the height of the Eucalyptus 44 months after the definition of sprouts. However, N and P leaf concentrations and the wood volume did not differ as a function of the sprout numbers. The fertilizer dosage did not influence the wood volume, even in sandy soil with low fertility. Approximately 86% of the wood volume was obtained from the supply of soil and root nutrient reserves and 14% of this productivity is due to fertilization minerals. The adequate fertilization in the first cycle of the Eucalyptus supplies almost the entire nutritional demand of the forest in the second production cycle.
Selective Activation of Alternative MYC Core Promoters by Wnt-Responsive Enhancers
Authors: Bardales Jorge A. , Wieser Evin , Kawaji Hideya , Murakawa Yasuhiro , Darzacq Xavier
Published: May 2018

In Metazoans, transcription of most genes is driven by the use of multiple alternative promoters. Although the precise regulation of alternative promoters is important for proper gene expression, the mechanisms that mediates their differential utilization remains unclear. Here, we investigate how the two alternative promoters (P1, P2) that drive MYC expression are regulated. We find that P1 and P2 can be differentially regulated across cell-types and that their selective usage is largely mediated by distal regulatory sequences. Moreover, we show that in colon carcinoma cells, Wnt-responsive enhancers preferentially upregulate transcription from the P1 promoter using reporter assays and in the context of the endogenous Wnt induction. In addition, multiple enhancer deletions using CRISPR/Cas9 corroborate the regulatory specificity of P1. Finally, we show that preferential activation between Wnt-responsive enhancers and the P1 promoter is influenced by the distinct core promoter elements that are present in the MYC promoters. Taken together, our results provide new insight into how enhancers can specifically target alternative promoters and suggest that formation of these selective interactions could allow more precise combinatorial regulation of transcription initiation.
Asthma among World Trade Center First Responders: A Qualitative Synthesis and Bias Assessment
Authors: Kim Hyun , Baidwan Navneet Kaur , Kriebel David , Cifuentes Manuel , Baron Sherry
Published: May 2018

The World Trade Center (WTC) disaster exposed the responders to several hazards. Three cohorts i.e., the Fire Department of New York (FDNY), the General Responder Cohort (GRC), and the WTC Health Registry (WTCHR) surveyed the exposed responder population. We searched Pubmed and Web of Science for literature on a well-published association between the WTC exposures and asthma, focusing on new-onset self-reported physician-diagnosed asthma. The resulting five articles were qualitatively assessed for potential biases. These papers were independently reviewed by the co-authors, and conclusions were derived after discussions. While, the cohorts had well-defined eligibility criteria, they lacked information about the entire exposed population. We conclude that selection and surveillance biases may have occurred in the GRC and WTCHR cohorts, but were likely to have been minimal in the FDNY cohort. Health care benefits available to responders may have increased the reporting of both exposure and outcome in the former, and decreased outcome reporting in the FDNY cohort. Irrespective of the biases, the studies showed similar findings, confirming the association between WTC exposure and self-reported physician-diagnosed asthma among responders. This suggests that health data gathered under great duress and for purposes other than epidemiology can yield sound conclusions. Potential biases can, however, be minimized by having validated survey instruments and worker registries in place before events occur.
Lead Exposure and Associated Risk Factors among New Migrant Children Arriving in Greece
Authors: Tanaka Marsela , Petsios Konstantinos , Dikalioti Stavroula K. , Poulopoulou Stavroula , Matziou Vassiliki , Theocharis Stamatios , Pavlopoulou Ioanna D.
Published: May 2018

Background: This study aims to assess lead exposure and associated risk factors among newly arrived migrant (M) (immigrant and refugees) children in Greece and a matched control of native (N) children. Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional study was performed in an outpatient clinic of a tertiary children’s hospital. Results: From 2010 to 2014, 598 children (M/N: 349/249) with a mean age of 6.96 years old (range 1–14, SD 3.76) were enrolled. Blood lead levels (BLLs) ranged from 0.7 to 21 μg/dL in migrant and from 0.4 to 10 μg/dL in native Greek children. Elevated BLLs ≥ 5 μg/dL were detected in 27.7% of migrants and 1.2% of natives (p < 0.001). A significant association was found between EBLLs and childrens’ age (≤5 years) (OR: 1.8, p-value 0.02) and EBLLs with Asian origin (OR: 3.63, p-value 0.023). Conclusion: New migrant children presented with increased BLLs when compared to their age- and sex-matched controls. Younger age and Asian origin were significant risk factors associated with elevated BLLs among children. Early screening, secondary prevention, and regular follow-up could prove useful in this vulnerable population.