bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Vers une expertise démocratiquement soutenable ?
Authors: Agacinski Daniel
Published: September 2019

L’expertise joue un rôle essentiel aujourd’hui, et depuis plus d’un demi-siècle en France, dans la prise de décision politique, qu’il s’agisse de la santé, de l’emploi, des transports, etc. Or celle-ci est fortement contestée par une part croissante de l’opinion, comme on a pu le constater en France concernant des sujets comme la vaccination, ou plus récemment lors des débats ayant animé la crise des « gilets jaunes », témoignant d’une réelle défiance à l’égard des élites en charge des politiques publiques. Comment en est-on arrivé là et que pourrait engendrer cette défiance si elle perdurait ou venait à s’aggraver ? Daniel Agacinski, qui a contribué à diverses réflexions sur le rapport des Français à l’expertise dans le cadre de France Stratégie, présente ici l’évolution de ce rapport à l’expertise et ses ressorts, sociologiques et historiques. Il appelle à un renouveau dans la manière de pratiquer l’expertise, de sorte de la rendre compatible avec la démocratie : il faut « faire avec la défiance » et accepter, en réponse à cette défiance, d’élargir le cercle de l’expertise en y associant les citoyens, même profanes, de manière à construire l’action publique le plus démocratiquement possible. S.D.
Crime organisé et marchés légaux
Authors: Operti Elisa
Published: September 2019

Compte tenu de son caractère occulte, il est difficile de disposer aujourd’hui de données précises et récentes sur le poids économique du crime organisé. Les dernières données officielles, émanant de l’Office des Nations unies contre la drogue et le crime, datent de 2009 ; elles estimaient alors que le montant cumulé des marchés criminels représentait plus de 3 % du produit intérieur brut mondial. Dix ans plus tard, compte tenu notamment de l’explosion des paris en ligne et autres canaux de cybercriminalité s’ajoutant aux voies plus classiques, il y a fort à parier que cette part a encore progressé. Et s’il est évidemment indispensable de combattre cette économie illicite, il faut aussi relever qu’elle occupe une place, certes peu médiatisée mais néanmoins tangible, dans l’économie légale. C’est ce que montre ici Elisa Operti, qui a étudié le rôle et le poids du crime organisé dans le financement des activités économiques classiques et de l’entrepreneuriat. Ses recherches, qu’elle présente ici brièvement, indiquent en effet que le crime organisé peut constituer un soutien important aux acteurs économiques traditionnels et à certains territoires, en particulier en période de crise. Cet aspect peut-être méconnu doit être pris en compte par les acteurs luttant contre la criminalité, de sorte que leur combat puisse être adapté au contexte institutionnel et sociopolitique dans lequel il s’inscrit. S.D.
La dynamique des classes moyennes
Authors: Damon Julien
Published: September 2019

En France, le spectre du déclassement social fait régulièrement la une de l’actualité. Qu’il corresponde à la réalité ou ne soit que le reflet d’une crainte légitime, le sentiment de vivre moins bien que la génération antérieure concernait un Français sur quatre en 2015 selon l’INSEE (Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques). Et parmi les plus préoccupés par ces questions, se trouvent ceux appartenant à la classe dite moyenne, qui ont le sentiment de redescendre dans l’échelle sociale. Quelle est la part de vérité dans ce ressenti ? La classe moyenne est-elle en recul en France et, plus généralement, dans les pays développés ? Qu’en est-il à l’échelle mondiale ; de quelles données chiffrées disposons-nous sur le sujet ? Julien Damon, s’appuyant sur des travaux récents de l’OCDE, propose ici une analyse de la dynamique des classes moyennes à l’échelle mondiale, montrant qu’elles tendent à se contracter dans les pays développés mais à croître dans les pays émergents. Il souligne surtout qu’elles ne recouvrent pas la même réalité économique partout. Ainsi, dans le contexte d’une polarisation accrue de l’emploi et d’une augmentation du coût de la vie, les classes moyennes occidentales se trouvent de plus en plus sous tension ; et cette situation porte en germe des risques sociaux et politiques majeurs. S.D.
La prospective stratégique au Parlement européen
Authors: Réchard-Spence Danièle
Published: September 2019

Suite aux élections de mai 2019, le Parlement européen entre dans une nouvelle mandature et un certain nombre d’institutions européennes, dans la foulée, changent de dirigeant (Banque centrale, Commission, Conseil, Parlement…). Ceci peut être l’occasion, pour l’Union européenne, d’un nouvel élan politique. Si tel est le cas, les politiques européennes seront-elles en phase avec les grands défis d’avenir qui s’annoncent ? Plus généralement, comment les enjeux de long terme sont-ils pris en compte par les institutions européennes ? Danièle Réchard-Spence, qui dirige, au sein du Parlement européen, l’unité en charge de déceler et d’analyser les grandes tendances d’évolution en cours, montre ici, à l’aune de son expérience, en quoi consiste la prospective stratégique dans cette institution et comment celle-ci nourrit le travail parlementaire. S’il n’est jamais aisé d’apprécier l’influence véritable des travaux prospectifs sur l’action et les décisions parlementaires, il demeure très instructif de comprendre comment ces travaux sont élaborés et diffusés auprès de nos représentants au Parlement européen. C’est ce que propose cet article de Danièle Réchard-Spence. S.D.
Cinq chantiers majeurs pour le XXI e siècle
Authors: Fleurbaey Marc , Salles-Djelic Marie-Laure
Published: September 2019

Il y a cinq ans s’est constitué, sous le parrainage d’Amartya Sen, un collectif de 300 chercheurs en sciences sociales issus du monde entier, le PIPS, Panel international sur le progrès social, visant à développer des solutions pluridisciplinaires et non partisanes pour répondre aux enjeux majeurs auxquels doivent aujourd’hui faire face nos sociétés. Marc Fleurbaey et Marie-Laure Salles-Djelic, qui font partie de ce collectif et ont activement participé à la publication de ses premières réflexions et préconisations, présentent dans ce forum la vision des perspectives de progrès social pour le XXI e  siècle qui ont été identifiées par le PIPS. Ils décrivent les principales réformes institutionnelles qui leur paraissent les plus prometteuses pour faire face aux défis actuels, ciblant cinq chantiers majeurs : 1) dépasser les idéologies du XX e  siècle ; 2) réformer l’économie de marché pour la remettre au service de l’être humain ; 3) transformer l’entreprise pour en faire un vecteur de progrès plutôt que d’extraction et d’exploitation ; 4) réformer l’État pour dépasser sa fonction protectrice et le mettre au service de l’émancipation de chacun ; 5) réformer la vie politique pour approfondir la démocratie. Et pour mener à bien ces chantiers, ils identifient un certain nombre d’acteurs moteurs du progrès social. S.D.
L’Union européenne, la paix et la démocratie
Authors: Drevet Jean-François
Published: September 2019

En mai 2019, les Européens, appelés à voter pour désigner leurs représentants nationaux au sein du Parlement européen, se sont nettement plus mobilisés que lors des précédents scrutins : le taux de participation a augmenté de huit points par rapport à 2014, frôlant les 51 %. Il est difficile de dire précisément ce qui a motivé cette participation, mais comme le montre ici Jean-François Drevet, on peut légitimement penser que les citoyens européens commencent à prendre conscience de l’espace de liberté que constitue l’Union européenne, et s’attachent à s’y investir un peu plus. Car, à bien des égards, l’UE offre de vraies garanties de paix et de démocratie. Les nations celtiques ont pu le constater dans le contexte du Brexit, l’Union européenne leur laissant plus de liberté d’évolution que le Royaume-Uni. De manière générale, l’exigence démocratique et le respect de l’état de droit sont des conditions préalables à l’entrée dans l’UE ; et une fois membres, les États sont tenus de continuer à s’y conformer, les institutions européennes s’efforçant d’y veiller du mieux possible. Enfin, s’il lui reste encore des efforts à faire en matière de sécurité et défense communes, l’UE a quand même réussi à préserver la paix à l’intérieur de ses frontières, tout en respectant la souveraineté des peuples qui la composent. Ce n’est pas rien au vu du passé — même récent — du Vieux Continent et cela commence peut-être à porter ses fruits. S.D.
Integrating ICT in English for Academic Purposes Materials through Task-Based Approach
Authors: Yundayani Audi , Kardijan Dian , Herawan Tutut
Published: September 2019

English communication is a crucial skill that should be mastered by students at the university level due to the demand of study skills comprehension. Nevertheless, students still have low motivation and lack of practicing English proficiency as substantial ability in academic field. This condition is strengthened by the limited owing to the required time in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) classes. Covering the ongoing situation, information and communications technology (ICT) presents an virtual educational setting that is able to provide accessible effective materials to assist participants in learning. In addition, the task-based approach is taken based on the students’ need to practice authentic English through meaningful tasks. This study aims at analyzing the students’ perceptions on the implementation of integrating ICT into EAP materials through a task-based approach and identifying the implications. We employ descriptive qualitative method, where a survey was carried out to obtain some information about the students’ viewpoint regarding the materials. This results reveals that the practice of integrating ICT into English Academic Purposes (EAP) materials through task-based approach promotes students’ motivation and gains meaningful learning experiences.
Partnership of University and Schools Within the Preparation of Future Teachers
Authors: Galustyan Olga Vladimirovna , Kirik Vladimir Alexandrovich , Mazáčová Nataša
Published: September 2019

The article analyzes partnership of university and schools within the preparation of future teachers. It deals with preparation of future teacher in order to master the project competence which is necessary for the implementation of future professional activities. The authors identify organizational, procedural, communicative, reflective components within the structure of project competence. The authors conclude that an important role plays organizing partnerships within the project activities during pedagogical practice of university students at schools.
A SPOC Teaching Mode of College English Translation Based on "Rain Classroom"
Authors: Sun Hua
Published: September 2019

College English translation is a specialty for students’ all-around development in listening, speaking, reading and writing. Traditional “Duck-stuffing” method is only effective to teach students to listen and write, and even results in students’ rejection to learning oral English. With the traditional teaching method, students and teacher seldom interact with each other, and students are passive to absorb the content of courses, and no positive feedback on teaching, which impacts the teaching efficiency to a certain extent. In view of this, an SPOC teaching mode based on “rain classroom” was designed by combining rain classroom that is based on WeChat and intelligent teaching tools of multimedia with SPOC blended teaching and partitioning the whole learning process into stage before class, stage during class and stage after class, applied in College English translation course, and checked for the teaching efficiency to verify the effectiveness of SPOC teaching mode. Results show that the SPOC teaching mode based on “rain classroom” put forward herein has some effect on teaching reform of college English translation course.
Career Transitions
Authors: Chirino-Klevans Ivonne
Published: September 2019

Every organization requires leaders. What “leadership” looks like is different across industries and across cultures. This chapter provides academics, executive education instructors, and other skill development specialist with an opportunity to analyze a real case scenario from the perspective of emotional intelligence, cross-cultural communication, motivation, and leading across cultures. Students will benefit from using analytic skills to identify areas of opportunity in a case that presents a real-life situation involving various concepts used in leadership development programs. Names and other key details have been changed to keep confidentiality.
La Vêture
Authors: Andrews Matthew A.
Published: September 2019

In just eight years, La Vêture has grown from a startup founded by three young French entrepreneurs to become the dominant player in retail e-commerce services for French apparel brands. But now with a staff over 100 people, and three floors of open space in the city center, the company is facing a number of challenges. La Vêture is grappling with questions such as whether or not the founder's original business model and vision are well aligned with current market conditions, and whether or not the informal, entrepreneurial management style and company culture have hidden costs which are preventing the company from further developing. Employees sometimes find themselves caught in impossible dilemmas. The e-commerce manager and the newly hired human resources manager are trying to chart a way forward.
The Servant Leadership Movement
Authors: Pressentin Maria
Published: September 2019

Uncommon to other well-known leadership models, servant leadership explicitly states that the leader serves as steward by focusing the needs of the follower, whilst growing the followers' autonomy. Consequentially, followers increase in capabilities and collaboration, strengthen the leader-follower relationships through partnership, generating decisions that can withstand challenges and sustain organizational success. The purpose of this chapter is to convey the applicability of this universal leadership model, illustrating how it would support culturally diverse case studies. Research has already stated that servant leadership is beneficial to Millennials. Little literature has focused on how to operationalize it for the younger generation. Barbuto Jr. and Gottfredson mentioned the vital necessity to train Millennials in servant leadership behaviors. This chapter highlights how servant leadership might be applied based on Van Dierendonck's and Van Dierendonck and Nuijten's research on Millennials in Asia.
Theater as the STEAM Engine for Engaging Those Previously Disengaged
Authors: Jablon Paul C.
Published: September 2019

This chapter connects the use of creative dramatics with engaging students previously disengaged with STEM classes. It elucidates a variety of reasons how creative dramatics allows STEM teachers and their students to succeed. Each of the assertions is backed by citations of research studies, classroom practice, and details of the theoretical underpinnings. Also included are detailed descriptions of three effective classroom methodologies using theater in STEM classes, along with specific examples of each that include student and teacher interactions.
Tower Design, Build and Test as a STEAM Project
Authors: Bazler Judith
Published: September 2019

The next generation science standards promote the teaching of engineering skills including the designing, testing, and building of models. Tower building can yield real world experience that not only provides the student with physics and mathematics through motion and stability but also through the explanation of the use of models and the engineering practice of design, redesign, and testing of these models. Tia Pliskow used the project of building a tower with her middle school students in order to provide a cooperative team long-term project. She focused first on the design, using background information on existing towers. She required each team to design their tower first using graph paper and scale. This process stressed the need for science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics. The case included in this article expands her process by including a cost analysis attempting to promote real world engineering, links to more content, and final project photos. In addition, by building a shake platform, a test for the tower is added.
Cases on STEAM Education in Practice Catapults and History of Catapults
Authors: DiBiase Warren James , McDonald Judith R. , Strong Kellan
Published: September 2019

The catapult was one of the most effective and deadly weapons in medieval siege warfare. They have been critical to warfare since ancient times and have been used by Greek, Roman, and Chinese warriors to vanquish their enemies. This case will present a problem-based scenario where students will assume the identity of an astronaut stranded on Mars. Like the character in the Disney film The Martian, the astronaut only has a small collection of “spare parts” at their disposal. In an effort to fend off predators, they must design and construct a catapult.
A Mathematical Approach to Designing Insulators
Authors: Pedings-Behling Kathryn Electa
Published: September 2019

How do we keep hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold? Companies such as Tervis, YETI, and Thermos spend their time researching and designing products around that very question. In this lesson, students will discover, through mathematical modeling, which materials provide the best insulation and be tasked with designing their own insulator. This lesson has been designed at two different levels for students from grade three through high school with an optional extension activity for more advanced students. Students will use technology to explore the rate of change of the temperature of hot water over two minutes using different insulation materials. After this exploration, students will use the data they have collected to determine the best materials for designing their own insulator. This insulator will then be judged based on the ability to keep a hot drink hot and on the aesthetic value.
Engineering and Art
Authors: Smith Sara B.
Published: September 2019

This chapter discusses challenges faced by first year pre-engineering students. Also discussed are several topics taught within the curriculum including: the engineering design process, sketching, measurement, the elements and principles of design, and three-dimensional modeling. The chapter proposes a design project for engineering students that would tie all of these concepts together to provide an additional learning opportunity for students and more relevant practice of skills like isometric sketching, creating three-dimensional computer-aided design models, and measurement. Samples of student work from the project are included.
Improvement of Arc Properties in GTAW of Aluminium Alloys
Authors: Kiselev Aleksey S. , Gordynets Anton S. , Slobodyan Mikhail S.
Published: September 2019

Gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) is a widely used method of joining aluminium and its alloys. Despite the fact that a lot of research has been done in this area for several decades, there are many unresolved issues on the welding process control. Optimization of square wave alternating current profiles is one of them. This paper presents the results of studies on control of spatial position of an arc by an improved heat input algorithm taking into account the necessary relationship between direct current of straight and reverse polarity. It is shown that an increase in direct current reverse polarity to over 10 A contributes to expansion of a cathode spots space and, consequently, a greater deviation of the arc from the axis of a tungsten electrode. The spatial position of the arc is almost coaxial to the tungsten electrode when direct current reverse polarity is short-term reduced to 5 A at the final stage. These results are correct for a wide range of the square wave alternating current profiles.
Influence of Technological Process for Microelectromechanical Sensors Manufacturing on their Technical Characteristics
Authors: Nesterenko Tamara G. , Barbin Evgeniy S. , Koleda Alexey N.
Published: September 2019

The article discusses the technological process for MEMS sensors manufacturing, which provides the minimum allowable technological defects to achieve MEMS technical characteristics. The paper deals with experiments on the definition of technological operations and the choice of their parameters. The factors influencing the size of technological defects are revealed. There is a technology to manufacture MEMS considered as "silicon on glass." There were successful experiments with the use of mask thickness of 540 nm and 450 nm. The slope of the faces does not exceed 1o, the maximum height of the surface roughness profile was 75 nm.
Water Absorption Effect on the Propagation Velocity of Normal Waves in Composite Rebars
Authors: Muravieva Olga V. , Khasanov Robert R. , Strizhak Viktor A. , Mkrtchyan Sergey S.
Published: September 2019

The article proposes the use of the acoustic waveguide method with normal Pochhammer waves to estimate the water absorption of composite fiberglass rebars. The results of experimental studies on the water absorption and temperature influence on the propagation velocity of rod and torsional waves in composite rebars samples with different physical and mechanical characteristics are presented. The sensitivity of the wave velocity parameter to water absorption and temperature fluctuations is estimated. The proposed acoustic waveguide method is characterized by high accuracy, reliability and efficiency.
Diagnostics of Fibre-Reinforced Concrete by the Nondestructive Method Based on Mechanoelectric Transformations Phenomenon
Authors: Petrov Maxim V. , Dann Denis D.
Published: September 2019

This article presents the results of a study of the effect of crack formation in concrete that occurs during uniaxial compression on the parameters of the electrical response under periodic impulse shock action. Researches were conducted on fibre-reinforced concrete samples and samples without reinforcement. It is shown that the method based on mechanoelectric transformations phenomenon can be equally applied to both unreinforced and fibre-reinforced concrete samples.
Estimation of Efficiency of Welding Incident Mitigation Measures at Mechanical Engineering
Authors: Anishchenko Yuliya , Vtorushina Anna N. , Gorshkova Vasilisa
Published: September 2019

Welding is the basic process of metal working and metal structural repair in mechanical engineering and other industrial settings. However, welding is considered to be potentially hazardous work. Welding can be a source of injury causing eye damage, body burns, mechanical injuries and poisoning. The present paper identified the possible causes of burns by the Causal tree method. The probability of initial events, leading to burn, was estimated by the expert evaluation method. The severity of the injury consequences for welder's health was assessed. The severity of the consequences was defined as the financial loss of a company depending on the damage to worker's health during the welding work performance. The risk of burn of various severities was estimated and measures for its reduction were offered. The estimation of efficiency for the offered safety measures was carried out based on the cost for their implementation.
The Phase Composition and Structure of Silicon-Carbon Coatings
Authors: Rudenkov Alexander S. , Rogachev Alexander V. , Kupo Alexander N. , Luchnikov Petr A. , Chicherina Nataliya
Published: September 2019

The effect of the formation and heat treatment modes of silicon-carbon coatings deposited by ion-beam sputtering of silicon carbide on their morphology, chemical and phase composition is determined. It has been established that an increase in the power of the ion source from 432 W to 738 W leads to a decrease in the sp3/sp2 phase ratio by 1.7 times and an increase in the ratio of Si-C/Si-O bonds by 1.9 times. It is shown that doping of carbon coatings with silicon carbide increases their heat resistance.
XRD Analysis of Ferrite Ceramics with Different Heat Treatment
Authors: Surzhikov Anatoly P. , Ghyngazov Sergei A. , Vlasov Vitaly A. , Stary Oldrich , Sokolovskiy Alexey N.
Published: September 2019

A comparative analysis of the structural characteristics of LiZnTi ferrites sintered at the temperature of 1280 and 1360 K was performed. The qualitative and quantitative X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of the samples, main phase structural analysis, and unit cell parameters were carried out using the non-standard method (Rietveld method). Diffraction patterns were recorded on an ARL X'TRA diffractometer in the CuKα1+α2 and CuKβ scanning modes.
Modeling Arc Spraying Process for Eccentric Sleeve of Cone Crusher GP 500 Using Computer-Aided Design
Authors: Aizhambaeva Saulekul , Zhetessova Gulnara , Nikonova Tatyana , Vavilova Galina , Belik Michael
Published: September 2019

This article deals with studying the technology of electric arc spraying of the eccentric body by selection of the copper-steel pseudo-alloy for spraying a covering. The part durability with the placed covering depends on the technology of spraying and the properties of the sprayed material. By increasing the strength of adhesion of the covering to the base it is possible to establish the optimal indicators of the coating mode. It became the main criterion of studying the arc spraying technology from the mathematical point of view.
Dielectric Losses in Nanosized Ferroelectric and Diamond-Like Films on SHF
Authors: Afanasyev Mikhail S. , Luchnikov Petr A. , Afanasjev Sergei A. , Malakhova Olga A. , Moyzes B.B.
Published: September 2019

The article considers the issues of receiving nanosized Ba0,8Sr0,2TiO3 ferroelectric films and diamond-like films in the range of 10‒60 GHz with various thickness between 0.1‒10 μm and their dielectric properties. Peculiarities of SHF dissipation measuring method in dielectric films are discussed. It shows the influence of structural perfection of films on the value of losses of SHF energy.
Acute Eosinophilic Appendicitis after Generalized Skin Reaction Due to Unknown Cause in a Child: Case Report and Literature Review
Authors: Aggelidou Maria , Kambouri Katerina , Kouroupi Maria , Cassimos Dimitrios , Foutzitzi Soultana , Deftereos Savas
Published: September 2019

Acute eosinophilic appendicitis (AEA) is a rare variant of appendix inflammation possibly linked to allergy. Histopathological evidence of eosinophilic infiltration of the muscularis propria and edema separating the muscle fibers is the gold standard for the diagnosis. Here, we report a case of a young boy with AEA following a skin reaction of possible allergic origin. A 6-year-old male was presented to the emergency department with a two-day diffuse abdominal pain and tenderness in the right lower quadrant. A possible allergic reaction had occurred five days before as a pruritic rash. There was no history of allergy and the stool examination was negative for parasites. The initial diagnosis was acute appendicitis, and appendectomy was performed. The histopathological diagnosis was AEA. Further studies on the proper diagnostic and treatment approach of AEA before surgery are required.
Matija Murko, Roman Jakobson in Parry-Lordova teorija ustnega pesništva
Authors: Fischerová Sylva
Published: September 2019

Namen pričujoče raziskave je prikazati do sedaj zanemarjeno vlogo češkoslovaških slavistov pri oblikovanju Parry-Lordove teorije ustnega pesništva. Potek predstavlja v obliki zgodbe o pristnem odkritju, ki izhaja iz določenega znanstvenega okolja (Antoine Meillet, praški lingvistični krožek itd.). Glavne vloge v njej igrajo Matija Murko, ustanovitelj češkoslovaške slavistike Roman Jakobson in nekateri drugi raziskovalci. Največ pozornosti članek posveča Murkovim in Parryjevim znanstveno-raziskovalnim strategijam, ki sta jih uporabljala med potovanji na Balkan leta 1930, in jih primerja. Članek razkriva tudi določene povezave med Murkom in Lordom, ter nekatere njihove dokaze, ki do sedaj še niso bili objavljeni.
A Low Cost Synthesis and Characterization of CuO Nanoparticles for Photovoltaic Applications
Authors: Yankson A. A. , Kuditcher A. , Gebreyesus G. , Egblewogbe M. N. Y. H. , Amuzu J. K. A. , Armah E. A.
Published: September 2019

A simple low cost chemical route has been used to synthesize cupric oxide nanoparticles. The synthesized CuO nanoparticles were characterized using XRD, TEM and UV-absorption. X-ray diffraction analysis showed the synthesized nanoparticles to be a pure cupric oxide. EDAX analysis showed the presence of copper and Oxygen in the as prepared CuO nano particles, with the AAS indicating that Cu2+ represented 53.5% of the sample. The particle size and particle size distribution of the cupric oxide nanoparticles were obtained by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) whereas the crystallite size and crystallite size distribution were obtained by X-ray diffraction. The particle size was found to be between 20 nm and 60 nm. The particle size distribution obtained from cumulative percentage frequency plots features a log-normal function. Absorbance measurements and analysis showed that the material has an absorbance peak at 314 nm and energy bandgap of 1.48 eV, making it a good candidate for photovoltaic applications.
Use and Management of Medicinal Plants by Indigenous People in Boji Dirmeji District, Western Ethiopia
Authors: Duguma I. O. , Mesele M. A.
Published: September 2019

Ethnobotanical study of traditional medicinal plants used by local people of Kondala Woreda was conducted from September 2016 to June 2017. The aim of the study was to collect, identify, describe, compile and document medicinal plant species used by the local people for the treatments of human and livestock ailments. A total of 49 informants from seven kebeles were selected. A total of 64 plant species were collected. Out of these, 78% of medicinal plant species were used as cure for human ailments, 12% of species for livestock and 10% of species for the treatment of both human and livestock. The most frequently used plant parts were leaves and roots. In the study area, there are threats to medicinal plants and firewood was ranked first by selected key informant followed by, agricultural expansion. Results indicated that Viciafaba is most effective in treating stomach ache while Cordia africana is used as multipurpose medicinal plants. Majority of the 64 medicinal plants that were cited by informants, (57.8%) were used to treat a specific ailment. Thus, the community should conserve and manage these medicinal plant species before they become extinct.
Marx and Keynes: from exploitation to employment
Authors: Helmedag Fritz
Published: September 2019

Marx's and Keynes's analyses of capitalism complement each other well. In a largely general model including the public sector and international trade it is shown that the labour theory of value provides a sound foundation to reveal the factors influencing employment. Workers buy ‘necessaries’ out of their disposable wages from an integrated basic sector, whereas the ‘luxury’ division's revenues spring from other sources of income. In order to maximize profits, the wage–good industry controls the level of unit labour costs. Ultimately, effective demand governs the volume of work. On this basis, implications for economic policy are outlined.
In-situ vertical characteristics of optical properties and heating rates of aerosol over Beijing
Authors: Tian Ping , Liu Dantong , Zhao Delong , Yu Chenjie , Liu Quan , Huang Mengyu , Deng Zhaoze , Ran Liang , Wu Yunfei , Ding Shuo , Hu Kang , Zhao Gang , Zhao Chunsheng , Ding Deping
Published: September 2019

Abstract. Characterizing vertical profiles of aerosol optical properties is important because only replying on the surface or column-integrated measurements is unable to unambiguously constrain the radiative impacts of aerosol. This study presents series of vertical profiles of in-situ measured multi-wavelength optical properties of aerosols during three pollution events in Nov. to Dec. 2016 over Beijing region. For all pollution events, clean periods (CP) before pollution initialization showed higher scattering Ångström exponent and smaller asymmetry parameter (g), and relatively uniform vertical structures. The heavy pollution (HP) periods showed increased particle size, causing these parameters to vary in the opposite way. During the transition periods (TP), regional transport of aged aerosols at upper level was found. The AERONET aerosol optical depth (AOD) matched the in-situ measurements within 10 %, however the AERONET absorption optical depth (AAOD) was 10–20 % higher than in-situ measurements, and this positive discrepancy increased to 30 % at shorter wavelength. The absorption of brown carbon (BrC) was identified by increased absorption Ångström exponent (AAE), and the heating rate of black carbon (BC) and BrC was calculated by computing the wavelength-dependent absorption coefficient and actinic flux by the radiative transfer model. BC and BrC had heating rate up to 0.18 K/h and 0.05 K/h in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) respectively during the pollution period. The fraction of BrC absorption increased from 12 % to 40 % in the PBL from CP to HP period. Notably, higher contribution of BrC heating was found above the PBL under polluted condition. This study gives a full picture of shortwave heating impacts of carbonaceous aerosols during different stages of pollution event, and highlights the increased contribution of BrC absorption especially at higher level during pollution.
Multi-scale data on intertidal macrobenthic biodiversity and environmental features in three New Zealand harbours
Authors: Kraan Casper , Greenfield Barry L. , Thrush Simon F.
Published: September 2019

Abstract. Understanding how the plants and animals that live in the seafloor vary in their spatial patterns of diversity and abundance is fundamental to gaining insight in the role of biodiversity in maintaining ecosystem functioning in coastal ecosystems, as well as advancing the modelling of species distributions under realistic assumptions. Yet, it is virtually unknown how the relationships between abundance patterns and different biotic and environmental processes change depending on spatial scales, which is mainly due to a lack of data. Within the project Spatial Organization of Species Distributions: Hierarchical and Scale-Dependent Patterns and Processes in Coastal Seascapes at the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) in New Zealand we collected multi-scale and high-resolution data on macrobenthic biodiversity. We found 146 species, i.e. bivalves, polychaetes and crustaceans (> 500 μm) that live hidden in marine sandflats, and collected point measurements of important environmental variables (sediment grain-size distributions, chlorophyll a concentration, and visible sandflat parameters) in three large intertidal Harbours (Kaipara, Tauranga and Manukau). In each Harbour we sampled 400 points for macrobenthic community composition and abundances, as well as the full set of environmental variables. Using an elaborate sampling design, we were able to cover scales from 30 centimetres to a maximal extent of 1 km. All data and extensive metadata are available from the data publisher PANGAEA via the persistent identifier https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.903448.
The impact of elevation and flow dynamics on hydrological drought
and wet spell characteristics in semi-arid southeast Arizona
Authors: Lu Mengtian , Hazenberg Pieter , Lei Xiaohui , Wang Hao
Published: September 2019

Abstract. Identification and understanding of the dominant control mechanisms of hydrological extremes has drawn worldwide attention in recent decades. However, detailed understanding of drought and wet spells within semi-arid regions has been hampered by the fact that identification is difficult for no flow conditions. Classification methods that have been developed for regions with perennial flow, do not work for ephemeral semi-arid rivers, while approaches for arid environments have difficulties to deal with seasonal runoff. Recently, a method was presented to identify hydrological extremes within semi-arid regions, by combining approaches developed for perennial flow and arid environments. However, this combined approach shows difficulties to identify drought and wet spells within semi-arid domains with a yearly precipitation cycle (e.g. monsoon). The current paper proposes to modify the combined method and make it suitable for these domains. The modified combined approach presented here to identify hydrological extremes was applied to decade-long discharge observations from 12 different locations within the San Pedro basin in southeastern Arizona. These locations correspond to catchments covering multiple elevation bands and runoff characteristics. Southern Arizona receives the majority of its rainfall from the summertime North American Monsoon (NAM), with frontal systems providing additional precipitation in winter. Using the modified method, the identified droughts and wet spells last longer compared to the previously defined combined procedure, and drought generally does not only start in spring at the end of the dry season. Furthermore, results show that if a drought or wet spell starts during the NAM or post-NAM season, it will generally last longer as compared to one that starts in winter or spring. This specifically holds for catchments with no perennial flow. By increasing the flow averaging interval, the new method also enables to observe multi-year drought and wet spells patterns. For the precipitation limited semi-arid San Pedro basin results show that multi-year wet spell and drought are rare. This is caused by the strong impact of the summertime NAM that generally acts both as a start and reset button for both types of hydrological extremes.
DRAW AND ORDER – MODELESS INTERACTIVE ACQUISITION OF OUTLINES
Authors: Meidow J. , Lucks L.
Published: September 2019

Abstract. The representation of an object’s outline with polygons or more specific shapes is the first choice for interactive outline acquisition. Usually, an operator has to select appropriate tools to capture an object’s outline according to his or her notion of the shape with its underlying construction principles. We propose a modeless approach guided by geometric reasoning, i.e., the user does not have to select operation modes according to his or her model. To cope with modern input devices such as touch pens, styluses, or fingers, we consider strokes as input in arbitrary order. By approximating theses strokes with straight line segments, we obtain estimated levels of noise accounting for the uncertainty of the acquisition. These straight line segments are the basis for the subsequent hypothesis generation to recognize geometric relations. After identifying sets of consistent and nonredundant constraints, we enforce these constraints in an adjustment process. To demonstrate the usability of the proposed approach, we capture the outlines of buildings and roof areas in true orthophotos of a benchmark data set.
IMAGE-TO-IMAGE TRANSLATION FOR ENHANCED FEATURE MATCHING, IMAGE RETRIEVAL AND VISUAL LOCALIZATION
Authors: Mueller M. S. , Sattler T. , Pollefeys M. , Jutzi B.
Published: September 2019

Abstract. The performance of machine learning and deep learning algorithms for image analysis depends significantly on the quantity and quality of the training data. The generation of annotated training data is often costly, time-consuming and laborious. Data augmentation is a powerful option to overcome these drawbacks. Therefore, we augment training data by rendering images with arbitrary poses from 3D models to increase the quantity of training images. These training images usually show artifacts and are of limited use for advanced image analysis. Therefore, we propose to use image-to-image translation to transform images from a rendered domain to a captured domain. We show that translated images in the captured domain are of higher quality than the rendered images. Moreover, we demonstrate that image-to-image translation based on rendered 3D models enhances the performance of common computer vision tasks, namely feature matching, image retrieval and visual localization. The experimental results clearly show the enhancement on translated images over rendered images for all investigated tasks. In addition to this, we present the advantages utilizing translated images over exclusively captured images for visual localization.
EVALUATION OF DEEP LEARNING TECHNIQUES FOR DEFORESTATION DETECTION IN THE AMAZON FOREST
Authors: Ortega M. X. , Bermudez J. D. , Happ P. N. , Gomes A. , Feitosa R. Q.
Published: September 2019

Abstract. Deforestation is one of the main causes of biodiversity reduction, climate change among other destructive phenomena. Thus, early detection of deforestation processes is of paramount importance. Motivated by this scenario, this work presents an evaluation of methods for automatic deforestation detection, specifically Early Fusion (EF) Convolutional Network, Siamese Convolutional Network (S-CNN) and the well-known Support Vector Machine (SVM), taken as the baseline. These methods were evaluated in a region of the Brazilian Legal Amazon (BLA). Two Landsat 8 images acquired in 2016 and 2017 were used in our experiments. The impact of training set size was also investigated. The Deep Learning-based approaches clearly outperformed the SVM baseline in our approaches, both in terms of F1-score and Overall Accuracy, with a superiority of S-CNN over EF.
EFFICIENT SURFACE-AWARE SEMI-GLOBAL MATCHING WITH MULTI-VIEW PLANE-SWEEP SAMPLING
Authors: Ruf B. , Pollok T. , Weinmann M.
Published: September 2019

Abstract. Online augmentation of an oblique aerial image sequence with structural information is an essential aspect in the process of 3D scene interpretation and analysis. One key aspect in this is the efficient dense image matching and depth estimation. Here, the Semi-Global Matching (SGM) approach has proven to be one of the most widely used algorithms for efficient depth estimation, providing a good trade-off between accuracy and computational complexity. However, SGM only models a first-order smoothness assumption, thus favoring fronto-parallel surfaces. In this work, we present a hierarchical algorithm that allows for efficient depth and normal map estimation together with confidence measures for each estimate. Our algorithm relies on a plane-sweep multi-image matching followed by an extended SGM optimization that allows to incorporate local surface orientations, thus achieving more consistent and accurate estimates in areasmade up of slanted surfaces, inherent to oblique aerial imagery. We evaluate numerous configurations of our algorithm on two different datasets using an absolute and relative accuracy measure. In our evaluation, we show that the results of our approach are comparable to the ones achieved by refined Structure-from-Motion (SfM) pipelines, such as COLMAP, which are designed for offline processing. In contrast, however, our approach only considers a confined image bundle of an input sequence, thus allowing to perform an online and incremental computation at 1Hz–2Hz.
USING NEURAL NETWORKS TO DETECT OBJECTS IN MLS POINT CLOUDS BASED ON LOCAL POINT NEIGHBORHOODS
Authors: Borgmann B. , Hebel M. , Arens M. , Stilla U.
Published: September 2019

Abstract. This paper presents an approach which uses a PointNet-like neural network to detect objects of certain types in MLS point clouds. In our case, it is used for the detection of pedestrians, but the approach can easily be adapted to other object classes. In the first step, we process local point neighborhoods with the neural network to determine a descriptive feature. This is then further processed to generate two outputs of the network. The first output classifies the neighborhood and determines if it is part of an object of interest. If this is the case, the second output determines where it is located in relation to the object center. This regression output allows us to use a voting process for the actual object detection. This processing step is inspired by approaches based on implicit shape models (ISM). It is able to deal with a certain amount of incorrectly classified neighborhoods, since it combines the results of multiple neighborhoods for the detection of an object. A benefit of our approach as compared to other machine learning methods is its low demand for training data. In our experiments, we achieved a promising detection performance even with less than 1000 training examples.
SEMANTIC URBAN MESH ENHANCEMENT UTILIZING A HYBRID MODEL
Authors: Tutzauer P. , Laupheimer D. , Haala N.
Published: September 2019

Abstract. We propose a feature-based approach for semantic mesh segmentation in an urban scenario using real-world training data. There are only few works that deal with semantic interpretation of urban triangle meshes so far. Most 3D classifications operate on point clouds. However, we claim that point clouds are an intermediate product in the photogrammetric pipeline. For this reason, we explore the capabilities of a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based approach to semantically enrich textured urban triangle meshes as generated from LiDAR or Multi-View Stereo (MVS). For each face within a mesh, a feature vector is computed and fed into a multi-branch 1D CNN. Ordinarily, CNNs are an end-to-end learning approach operating on regularly structured input data. Meshes, however, are not regularly structured. By calculating feature vectors, we enable the CNN to process mesh data. By these means, we combine explicit feature calculation and feature learning (hybrid model). Our model achieves close to 80% Overall Accuracy (OA) on dedicated test meshes. Additionally, we compare our results with a default Random Forest (RF) classifier that performs slightly worse. In addition to slightly better performance, the 1D CNN trains faster and is faster at inference.
DEEP RESIDUAL LEARNING FOR SINGLE-IMAGE SUPER-RESOLUTION OF MULTI-SPECTRAL SATELLITE IMAGERY
Authors: Wagner L. , Liebel L. , Körner M.
Published: September 2019

Abstract. Analyzing optical remote sensing imagery depends heavily on their spatial resolution. At the same time, this data is adversely affected by fixed sensor parameters and environmental influences. Methods for increasing the quality of such data and concomitantly optimizing its information content are, thus, in high demand. In particular, single-image super-resolution (SISR) approaches aim to achieve this goal solely by observing the individual images.We propose to adapt a generic deep residual neural network architecture for SISR to deal with the special properties of remote sensing satellite imagery, especially taking into account the different spatial resolutions of individual Sentinel-2 bands, i.e., ground sampling distances of 20 m and 10 m. As a result, this method is able to increase the perceived resolution of the 20 m channels and mesh all spectral bands. Experimental evaluation and ablation studies on large datasets have shown superior performance compared to the state-of-the-art and that the model is not bound by its capacity.
TREE DROUGHT STRESS DETECTION BASED ON 3D MODELLING
Authors: Xia Y. , Tian J. , d’Angelo P. , Reinartz P.
Published: September 2019

Abstract. Precise and detailed reconstruction of 3D plant models is an important goal in computer vision. Based on these models, important parameters can be extracted, which would be very useful for monitoring the tree health situation. This paper has firstly constructed the 3D plant model based on MC-CNN using close-range photogrammetric imagery, and then applied a leaf index based segmentation to highlight the leaves region. In the end, the 3D model of each leaf can be represented and some geometric parameters of the leaf are designed and analyzed to predict the drought status. The experiments on real close-range stereo imagery justified the performance of the proposed approach to differentiate drought and healthy leaves.