bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Toward a Systemic Ontology
Authors: Ulivi Lucia
Published: September 2019

The aim of this article is to discuss whether it is possible to derive a coherent ontological proposal from the premises of systemic thinking. The author claims that systemic thinking is committed to pluralism both in epistemology and in ontology, because pluralism is a natural consequence of the systemic distinction of objects in different and irreducible levels of observation. Different levels of observation must be adopted when describing different systemic levels (the well-known sub-systems, systems, systems of systems). It is implied that different epistemologies are accepted, each having its own criteria and validation methods suitable for each level, and that there are irreducible ontological differences among entities. The study results are thus committed to ontological and epistemological pluralism. An interesting moral and social consequence of pluralism is a tolerant attitude towards different perspectives and cultures, that can easily be transformed into a general charity principle inspiring the regulation of multicultural societies.
International Tourism Demand and Determinant Factor Analysis in Ethiopia
Authors: Takele Yezihalemâ Sisayâ
Published: September 2019

In Ethiopia, the goal is to position tourism as a key economic sector, since recently it has been identified as one of the major strategies of using tourism to alleviate poverty. Motivated by this need, the study sought to investigate the determinants of international tourism demand. Specifically, the effect of economic factors, tourist socio-demographic characteristics, political factors, and destination characteristics on international tourism demand in Ethiopia. The study used both longitudinal and cross-sectional research designs and panel data for economic variables from eleven countries for the period of only one month time as of (December 10th, 2018 to January 10th, 2019). Data was collected from the World Bank database, the United Nations Database, the International Monetary Fund Database and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism Statistics. Survey data was collected from individual tourists leaving the country by using questionnaires. The study used a dynamic panel regression model to determine the effect of economic factors on international tourism demand and a count data regression model to determine the effect of socio-demographic characteristics, political factors and destination characteristics on international tourism demand. The study results indicated that tourism price, travelling cost, trade openness and word of mouth effect were the main economic factors influencing international tourism demand in Ethiopia. The tourist's socio-demographic characteristics such as annual household income, age, and occupational status were found to significantly influence international tourism demand. The political factors composite index and destination characteristics composite index were also important determinants of international tourism demand. Taking into consideration of all these factors affecting tourism demand, the government and all the tourism stakeholders should work towards making Ethiopia's tourism product competitive, maintain reasonable prices, further develop the tourism infrastructure and offer quality services, along with the diversification of tourism products.
Classifying Sentences in Court Case Transcripts using Discourse and Argumentative Properties
Authors: Rathnayake G. , Rupasinghe T. , De Silva N. , Warushavithana M. , Gamage V. , Perera M. , Perera A. S.
Published: September 2019

Information that is available in court case transcripts which describes the proceedings of previous legal cases are of significant importance to legal officials. Therefore, automatic information extraction from court case transcripts can be considered as a task of huge importance when it comes to facilitating the processes related to the legal domain. A sentence can be considered as a fundamental textual unit of any document which is made up of text. Therefore, analyzing the properties of sentences can be of immense value when it comes to information extraction from machine-readable text. This paper demonstrates how the properties of sentences can be used to extract valuable information from court case transcripts. As the first task, the sentence pairs were classified based on the relationship type which can be observed between the two sentences. There, we defined relationship types that can be observed between sentences in court case transcripts. A system combining a machine learning model and a rule-based approach was used to classify pairs of sentences according to the relationship type. The next classification task was performed based on whether a given sentence provides a legal argument or not. The results obtained through the proposed methodologies were evaluated using human judges. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study where discourse relationships between sentences have been used to determine relationships among sentences in legal court case transcripts. Similarly, this study provides novel and effective approaches to identify argumentative sentences in court case transcripts.
A Hybrid Approach for Aspect Extraction from Customer Reviews
Authors: Senarath Yasas , Jihan Nadheesh , Ranathunga Surangika
Published: September 2019

Aspect Extraction from consumer reviews has become an essential factor for successful Aspect Based Sentiment Analysis. Typical user trends to mention his opinion against several aspects in a single review; therefore, aspect extraction has been tackled as a multi-label classification task. Due to its complexity and the variety across different domains, yet, no single system has been able to achieve comparable accuracy levels to the human-accuracy. However, novel neural network architectures and hybrid approaches have shown promising results for aspect extraction. (Support Vector Machines) SVMs and (Convolutional Neural Networks) CNNs pose a viable solution to the multi-label text classification task and has been successfully applied to identify aspects in reviews. In this paper, we first define an improved CNN architecture for aspect extraction which achieves comparable results against the current state-of-the-art systems. Then we propose a mixture of classifiers for aspect extraction, combining the proposed improved CNN with an SVM that uses the state-of-the-art manually engineered features. The combined system outperforms the results of individual systems while showing a significant improvement over the state-of-the-art aspect extraction systems that employ complex neural architectures such as MTNA.
National standards for the survey of Canada Lands
Authors:   Canada Surveyor General Branch
Published: September 2019

The National Standards for the Survey of Canada Lands provides professional Canada Lands Surveyors with the technical standards that apply to legal surveys undertaken on Canada Lands, and constitutes the instructions of the Surveyor General for surveys of Canada
Lands as specified in Section 24 (2) of the Canada Lands Surveys Act.
National standards for the survey of Canada Lands
Authors:   Canada Surveyor General Branch
Published: September 2019

The National Standards for the Survey of Canada Lands replaces the previous publication entitled General Instructions for the Survey of Canada Lands. It provides professional Canada Lands Surveyors with the technical standards that apply to legal surveys
undertaken on Canada Lands, and constitutes the instructions of the Surveyor General for surveys of Canada Lands as specified in Section 24 (2) of the Canada Lands Surveys Act.
Trabalho escravo e trabalho livre: os libertos ocupados nos serviços domésticos no Recife oitocentista
Authors: Lima Tatiana Silva de
Published: September 2019

Este estudo evidencia as relações sociais e de trabalho entre os forros engajados nos serviços domésticos, seus ex-proprietários e os demais trabalhadores das famílias recifenses oitocentistas. Essas relações sofreram influências das diferentes conjunturas advindas da política emancipacionista do Estado imperial e da crise do escravismo na segunda metade do século XIX. Fundamentadas no paternalismo, elas produziam libertos dependentes e continuavam a exploração e o controle, tradicionalmente ligados ao trabalho escravo, sobre os mesmos. Por outro lado, essas relações não eram apenas ditadas pelo paternalismo e peladomesticidade. Criadas e amas, em especial as forras e livres, conseguiam gozar de mais e menos autonomia e inseriam-se na lógica contratual do trabalho, inclusive demandando judicialmente o pagamento de salários não pagos.
Commonwealth Local Government Forum’s support of Local Councils Associations in Pakistan
Authors: Akbar Noor
Published: September 2019

After a brief overview of the recent developments in the legal framework for local government in Pakistan, this paper summarises the objectives and activities to date of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum’s project ‘Strengthening the Associations of Local Governments and their Members for Enhanced Governance and Effective Development Outcomes in Pakistan’. The project seeks to strengthen local democracy and good governance through the local council associations in the four provinces of Pakistan: Baluchistan, Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The project seeks to support local government to deal with the unique challenges of inclusive representation and equitable and effective service delivery. Building on the recently promulgated provincial local government acts, the project aims to strengthen the capacity of the local councils’ associations to raise the voice of local government and ensure they are able to play their appointed developmental role at the local level.  The project main components are to strengthen how the local council associations actively provide services to their members and advocate for the betterment of local government in Pakistan and pilot the territorial approach to local development (TALD) so as to align the general methodology to the Pakistan context.
Evolution of anthropogenic air pollutant emissions in Guangdong Province, China, from 2006 to 2015
Authors: Bian Yahui , Huang Zhijiong , Ou Jiamin , Zhong Zhuangmin , Xu Yuanqian , Zhang Zhiwei , Xiao Xiao , Ye Xiao , Wu Yuqi , Yin Xiaohong , Li Cheng , Chen Liangfu , Shao Min , Zheng Junyu
Published: September 2019

Abstract. Guangdong Province (GD), one of the most prosperous and populous regions in
China, still experiences haze events and growing ozone pollution in spite of
the substantial air-quality improvement in recent years. Integrated control
of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone in GD calls for a
systematic review of historical emissions. In this study, emission trends,
spatial variations, source-contribution variations, and reduction potentials
of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), PM2.5,
inhalable particles (PM10), carbon monoxide (CO), ammonia (NH3),
and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in GD from 2006 to 2015 were first
examined using a dynamic methodology, taking into account economic
development, technology penetration, and emission controls. The relative
change rates of anthropogenic emissions in GD during 2006–2015 are −48 %
for SO2, −0.5 % for NOx, −16 % for PM2.5, −22 % for
PM10, 13 % for CO, 3 % for NH3, and 13 % for VOCs. The
declines of SO2, NOx, PM2.5, and PM10 emissions in the
whole province mainly resulted from the stringent emission control in
the Pearl River delta (PRD) region, where most previous control measures
were focused, especially on power plants (SO2 and NOx), industrial
combustion (SO2, PM2.5, PM10), on-road mobile sources
(NOx), and dust sources (PM2.5 and PM10). Emissions from other
areas (non-PRD, NPRD), nevertheless, remain relatively stable due to the
lax control measures and rapidly growing energy consumption. In addition,
emission leaks of SO2 and NOx from industries are observed from PRD
to NPRD in 2010 and 2011. As a result, emissions in NPRD are increasingly
important in GD, particularly those from industrial combustion. The contribution
of NPRD to the total SO2 emissions in GD, for example, increased from
27 % in 2006 to 48 % in 2015. On-road mobile sources and solvent use are
the two key sources that should receive more effective control measures in
GD. Current control-driven emission reductions from on-road mobile sources are neutralized
by the substantial growth of the vehicle population, while VOC emissions in GD
steadily increase due to the growth of solvent use and the absence of
effective control measures. Besides, future work could focus on power plants
and industrial combustion in GD and industrial process sources in NPRD, which
still have large emission reduction potentials. The historical emission
inventory developed in this study not only helps to understand the emission
evolution in GD, but also provides robust data to quantify the impact of
emission and meteorology variations on air quality and unveil the primary
cause of significant air-quality change in GD in the recent decade.
Evaluation of GPM-DPR precipitation estimates with WegenerNet gauge data
Authors: Lasser Martin , O Sungmin , Foelsche Ulrich
Published: September 2019

Abstract. The core satellite of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission provides precipitation observations measured with the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR). The precipitation can only be estimated from the radar data, and therefore independent validations using direct precipitation measurements on the ground as a true reference need to be performed. Moreover, the quality and the accuracy of satellite observational data depend on various influencing factors, such as altitude, topography and rainfall type. In this way, a validation may help to minimise those uncertainties. The DPR Level 2 algorithms provide three different sets of radar rain rate estimates: Ku-band-only rain rates, Ka-band-only rain rates, and a product using both the Ku and Ka band. This study presents an evaluation of the three GPM-DPR surface precipitation estimates based on the gridded precipitation data of the WegenerNet, a local-scale terrestrial network of 153 meteorological stations in southeastern Austria. The validation is based on graphical and statistical approaches, using only data where both Ku- and Ka-band measurements are available. The focus lies on the resemblance of the rainfall variability within the whole network and the over- and underestimation of the precipitation through the GPM-DPR. The analysis rests upon 15 rainfall events observed by the GPM-DPR over the WegenerNet in the last 4 years; the meteorological winter is excluded due to technical challenges of snow measurements. The WegenerNet provides between 8 and 12 gauges within each GPM-DPR footprint. Its biases are well studied and corrected; thus, it can be taken as a robust ground reference. This work also includes considerations on the limits of such comparisons between small terrestrial networks with a high density of stations and precipitation observations from a satellite. Our results show that the GPM-DPR estimates basically match with the WegenerNet measurements, but absolute quantities are biased. The three types of radar estimates deliver similar results, where Ku-band and dual-frequency estimates are very close to each other. On a general level, Ka-band precipitation estimates deliver better results due to their greater sensitivity to low rainfall rates.
Improved fuzzy logic method to distinguish between meteorological and non-meteorological echoes using C-band polarimetric radar data
Authors: Zhang Shuai , Huang Xingyou , Min Jinzhong , Zhang Hengheng
Published: September 2019

Abstract. In order to obtain better performance of meteorological applications, it is necessary to distinguish radar echoes from meteorological and non-meteorological targets. After the comprehensive analysis of the computational efficiency and radar system characteristics, a fuzzy logic method similar to the MetSignal algorithm is adopted, but its performance is improved significantly in weak signal regions where polarimetric variables are severely affected by noise. In addition, post-processing is adjusted to prevent anomalous propagation at far range to be misclassified as meteorological echo. Moreover, an additional fuzzy logic echo classifier is introduced into post-processing to suppress misclassification in the melting layer. An independent test set is selected to evaluate algorithm performance, and the statistical results show that the performance of the algorithm has been significantly improved, especially with respect to the classification of meteorological echoes in weak signal regions.
Multi-channel coupling of decay instability in three-dimensional low-beta plasma
Authors: Comişel Horia , Narita Yasuhito , Motschmann Uwe
Published: September 2019

Abstract. Three-dimensional hybrid simulations have been carried out to verify the hypothesis of simultaneous multi-channel decay of
a large-amplitude Alfvén wave in a
low-beta plasma, e.g., in the shock-upstream region or the solar corona.
Obliquely propagating daughter modes
are excited along the perpendicular direction to the mean magnetic field at the same parallel wavenumbers and frequencies as the daughter modes driven by the field-aligned decay. We find that
the transversal spectrum of waves
is controlled by the multi-channel coupling of the decay process
in low-beta plasmas and
originates in the dispersion state of the shear Alfvén wave.
Realization and opto-electronic Characterization of linear Self-Reset Pixel Cells for a high dynamic CMOS Image Sensor
Authors: Hirsch Stefan , Strobel Markus , Klingler Wolfram , Schulze Spüntrup Jan Dirk , Yu Zili , Burghartz Joachim N.
Published: September 2019

Abstract. Conventional CMOS image sensors with a linear transfer
characteristic only have a limited dynamic range (DR) of about 60–70 dB. To
extend the dynamic range considerably, the already successfully demonstrated
concept of a linear self-reset pixel was employed in this work. With the
self-reset concept the limit of the maximum analyzable photo generated
charge (Qmax⁡) during the exposure time is extended to a multiple of the
saturation charge of the photo diode (Qsat) by asynchronous self-resets of
the photo diode. Additionally, the remaining charge at the end of the
exposure time is evaluated to increase the resolution of the opto-electronic
conversion. Thus we achieved pixels with a DR of more than 120 dB combined
with an improved low light sensitivity using a pinned photodiode. This paper focuses on two topics: One is the realization and opto-electronic
characterization of further self-reset pixel cells for an experimental
optimization of the functionality with respect to linearity and high
signal-to-noise ratio. The second one is the assembly and digital readout of
a cluster structure composed of 16 × 16 pixel matrix on a CMOS test chip.
One constraint for later usage of the pixel cells in a high resolution
(> VGA) image sensor is the required layout area of the
individual circuit blocks. For the cluster structure a size of 20 × 20 µm2 for the analog part of the pixel containing the photo diode
and the other analog circuit blocks, the comparator and the signal shaping,
was desired. The circuit design and layout work included several variants of
the pinned photo diode with floating diffusion (FD) readout node, which is
also used for analog voltage storage, and different control transistors.
Further for the comparator a telescopic differential amplifier with high
gain was implemented as well as peripheral 10 bit counter/shift register as
static and dynamic versions. Test chips have been fabricated in an advanced
0.18 µm CMOS technology for optical sensors with low leakage
currents. The sensor chips have been evaluated with a specifically developed test
setup which gives the flexibility to arbitrarily generate the digital and
analog control signals in terms of timing and voltage levels. Based on this,
the number of asynchronous self-resets could be read out from the counters
of the pixel cells as coarse values. The remaining charge at the end of the
integration time was digitized using a ramp analog to digital conversion and
could be read out as fine values. An opto-electronic characterization with
adjustable illumination from 0 lx to 13 klx was done to measure and analyze
the opto-electronic conversion function (OECF) and the noise of six
different self-reset pixel cells having the high-gain differential amplifier
as comparator. Finally the coarse values of two implemented 16 × 16 pixel
clusters could be read out as a mini camera using a lens for optical image
formation.
A new discrete multiplicative random cascade model for downscaling intermittent rainfall fields
Authors: Schleiss Marc
Published: September 2019

Abstract. Spatial downscaling of rainfall fields is a challenging mathematical problem for which many different types of methods have been proposed. One popular solution consists in redistributing rainfall amounts over smaller and smaller scales by means of a discrete multiplicative random cascade (DMRC). This works well for slowly varying, homogeneous rainfall fields but often fails in the presence of intermittency (i.e., large amounts of zero rainfall values). The most common workaround in this case is to use two separate cascade models, one for the occurrence and another for the intensity. In this paper, a new and simpler approach based on the notion of equal-volume areas (EVAs) is proposed. Unlike classical cascades where rainfall amounts are redistributed over grid cells of equal size, the EVA cascade splits grid cells into areas of different sizes, each of them containing exactly half of the original amount of water. The relative areas of the sub-grid cells are determined by drawing random values from a logit-normal cascade generator model with scale and intensity dependent standard deviation. The process ends when the amount of water in each sub-grid cell is smaller than a fixed bucket capacity, at which point the output of the cascade can be re-sampled over a regular Cartesian mesh. The present paper describes the implementation of the EVA cascade model and gives some first results for 100 selected events in the Netherlands. Performance is assessed by comparing the outputs of the EVA model to bilinear interpolation and to a classical DMRC model based on fixed grid cell sizes. Results show that on average, the EVA cascade outperforms the classical method, producing fields with more realistic distributions, small-scale extremes and spatial structures. Improvements are mostly credited to the higher robustness of the EVA model to the presence of intermittency and to the lower variance of its generator. However, improvements are not systematic and both approaches have their advantages and weaknesses. For example, while the classical cascade tends to overestimate small-scale extremes and variability, the EVA model tends to produce fields that are slightly too smooth and blocky compared with observations.
AUTOMATED ALIGNMENT OF LOCAL POINT CLOUDS IN DIGITAL BUILDING MODELS
Authors: Kaiser T. , Clemen C. , Maas H.-G.
Published: September 2019

Abstract. For the correct usage and analysis within a BIM environment, image-based point clouds that were created with Structure from Motion (SfM) tools have to be transformed into the building coordinate system via a seven parameter Helmert Transformation. Usually control points are used for the estimation of the transformation parameters. In this paper we present a novel, highly automated approach to calculate these transformation parameters without the use of control points. The process relies on the relationship between wall respectively plane information of the BIM and three-dimensional line data that is extracted from the image data. In a first step, 3D lines are extracted from the oriented input images using the tool Line3D++. These lines are defined by the 3D coordinates of the start and end points. Afterwards the lines are matched to the planes originating from the BIM model representing the walls, floors and ceilings. Besides finding a suitable functional and stochastic model for the observation equations and the adjustment calculation, the most critical aspect is finding a correct match for the lines and the planes. We therefore developed a RANSAC-inspired matching algorithm to get a correct assignment between elements of the two data sources. Synthetic test data sets have been created for evaluating the methodology.
EXCHANGE INFORMATION ENHANCEMENT IN EXECUTION METHOD BY USING VIRTUAL REALITY
Authors: Tran N. A. Q.
Published: September 2019

Abstract. Applications based on virtual reality (VR) have hit the main stream nowadays. The latest innovations have been kept updating from film, game, automotive to any engineering industry and construction industry is no exception. There are many obvious key benefits gained by go through a completed building project or a construction site in 3D real-time environment which will help saving significant time and cost by the real work on site or reducing repetitive mistakes, errors in designing between disciplines/departments. Moreover, it can improve the exchanged information on site execution with the help of VR and building information model (BIM).
COMPARISON OF SOFTWARE FOR AIRBORNE LASER SCANNING DATA PROCESSING IN SMART CITY APPLICATIONS
Authors: Badenko V. , Zotov D. , Muromtseva N. , Volkova Y. , Chernov P.
Published: September 2019

Abstract. Problems of processing of point clouds of airborne laser scanning using different software for Smart City projects are considered. Results of comparison of suitable software on the base of a test point cloud are presented. For comparison we had chosen a criterion for how results of point cloud processing can be used in the smart city application. The following software were chosen for comparison: Erdas IMAGINE, ENVI Lidar, TerraSolid (without Terraslave), GlobalMapper, Autodesk InfraWorks. Comparison have been conducted in qualitative and quantitative terms. The results presented allowed us to create recommendations on the usage of specific software for airborne laser scanning data processing for Smart City projects.
Debris cover and the thinning of Kennicott Glacier, Alaska, Part C: feedbacks between melt, ice dynamics, and surface processes
Authors: Anderson Leif S. , Armstrong William H. , Anderson Robert S. , Buri Pascal
Published: September 2019

Abstract. The mass balance of many valley glaciers is enhanced by the presence of melt hotspots within otherwise continuous debris cover. We assess the effect of debris, melt hotspots, and ice dynamics on the thinning of Kennicott Glacier in three companion papers. In Part A we report in situ measurements from the debris-covered tongue. In Part B, we develop a method to delineate ice cliffs using high-resolution imagery and produce distributed mass balance estimates. Here in Part C we describe feedbacks controlling rapid thinning under thick debris. Despite the extreme abundance of ice cliffs on Kennicott Glacier, average melt rates are strongly suppressed downglacier due to thick debris. The estimated melt pattern therefore appears to reflect Østrem’s curve (the debris thickness-melt relationship). As Kennicott Glacier has thinned over the last century Østrem’s curve has manifested itself in two process domains on the glacier surface. The portion of the glacier affected by the upper-limb of Østrem’s curve corresponds to high melt, melt gradients, and ice dynamics, as well as high ice cliff and stream occurrence. The portion of the glacier affected by the lower-limb of Østrem’s curve corresponds to low melt, melt gradients, and ice dynamics, as well as high ice cliff and stream occurrence. The upglacier end of the zone of maximum thinning on Kennicott Glacier occurs at the boundary between these process domains and the bend in Østrem’s curve. The expansion of debris upglacier appears to be linked to changes in the surface velocity pattern through time. In response to climate warming, debris itself may therefore control where rapid thinning occurs on debris-covered glaciers. Ice cliffs are most abundant at the upglacier end of the zone of maximum thinning.
Bollywood in the Hollywood Era: Narratives of Ultra-nationalism, Terrorism and Violence
Authors: Shailo Iqbal
Published: September 2019

The study examines how some renowned Hollywood and Bollywood movies deal with geopolitical representations of empire and regional politics through the construction of discourses centered on the building of “empire” and “nation”. These movies reflect how government machineries evaluate the political situation and strategic policies of the country in managing geopolitical environments through the construction of security narratives, political rhetoric and geopolitical discourses.  The narratives of specific Hollywood movies tend to explain contemporary geopolitics with an emphasis on America’s military power, strategy and world leadership while the genre of Bollywood movies reconnects the ideology of division through the establishment of geographies of ‘us’ and ‘them’ setting aside the so-called “secular face” of the state.
Rethinking Pornography within the Context of the New French Extremity: The Case of Baise-Moi Şirin Fulya Erensoy
Authors: Erensoy Sirin Fulya
Published: September 2019

Baise-Moi(Despentes and Trinh Thi, 2000) is the story of two women who, marginalized by society, go on a destructive rampage where they ‘fuck’ and kill men. This study will discuss the anxieties the film has unearthed in relation to the alternative depiction of culturally accepted sexual roles and legitimate applications of violent acts, through its subversion of the generic expectations of pornography. Furthermore, it will be argued that the film, despite being progressive in form, challenging classical narrative structures and playing with generic tropes, is inherently a pessimistic film, because of its conservative ending that reaffirms the status quo.
Comic Venus: Women and Comedy in American Silent Film
Authors: Moss Joshua Louis
Published: September 2019

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V. Normas Editoriales
Authors: Arredondo Erika
Published: September 2019

N/A
Sample Treatment Methods for the Determination of Phenolic Environmental Estrogens in Foods and Drinking Water
Authors: Li Yongxin , Yin Shuo , Yang Yi , Chen Jing , Wu Ling , Sun Chengjun
Published: September 2019

Environmental endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are a large category of chemicals that can disrupt normal endocrine functions of organisms. They can enter the environment and foodstuffs in different ways and bring great threat to human health. Phenolic environmental estrogens (PEEs) are the typical representatives of EDCs and include bisphenols, alkylphenols, and others such as dibromophenol, dichlorophenol, 4-nitrophenononylphenol, etc. Even trace amounts of PEEs can cause serious damage to the human reproductive, nervous, and immune systems; therefore, it is very important to develop accurate and sensitive methods for their determination in different matrixes. At the present, there are still many challenges in the determination of PEEs in the samples with complex matrixes, and the sample treatment is one of the key issues. This review deals with the recent advances in sample treatment methods for the analysis of PEEs in foods and drinking water, including improved and newly developed liquid–liquid extraction, solid-phase extraction (SPE), magnetic SPE, matrix solid-phase dispersion with new adsorbent materials, and stir-bar sorptive extraction. In addition, the challenges and perspectives are also briefly discussed.
A New Perceptual Adverbialism
Authors: D'Ambrosio Justin ,   Journal of Philosophy Inc.
Published: September 2019

In this paper, I develop and defend a new adverbial theory of perception. I first present a semantics for direct-object perceptual reports that treats their object-positions as supplying adverbial modifiers, and I show how this semantics definitively solves the many-property problem for adverbialism. My solution is distinctive in that it articulates adverbialism from within a well-established formal semantic framework and ties adverbialism to a plausible semantics for perceptual reports in English. I then go on to present adverbialism as a theory of the metaphysics of perception. The metaphysics I develop treats adverbial perception as a directed activity: it is an activity with success conditions. When perception is successful, the agent bears a relation to a concrete particular, but perception need not be successful; this allows perception to be fundamentally non-relational. The result is a novel formulation of adverbialism that eliminates the need for representational contents, but also treats successful and unsuccessful perceptual events as having a fundamental common factor.
The genus Parbatthorax Tanasevitch, 2019 (Araneae, Linyphiidae) new to China, with a new species from the Gaoligong Mountains
Authors: Irfan Muhammad , Peng Xianjin
Published: September 2019

Parbatthorax proiectus sp. nov. (♂♀) is described from the Gaoligong Mountains in Yunnan, China. A detailed morphological description, photographs of the body and copulatory organs, line drawings of the copulatory organs, as well as a locality map are provided.
Utility of a modified components separation for abdominal wall reconstruction in the liver and kidney transplant population
Authors: Black Cara K , Zolper Elizabeth G , Walters Elliot T , Wang Jessica , Martinez Jesus , Tran Andrew , Naz Iram , Kotha Vikas , Kim Paul J , Sher Sarah R , Evans Karen K
Published: September 2019

Background Incisional hernia is a common complication following visceral organ transplantation. Transplant patients are at increased risk of primary and recurrent hernias due to chronic immune suppression and large incisions. We conducted a retrospective review of patients with a history of liver or kidney transplantation who underwent hernia repair to analyze outcomes and hernia recurrence.

Methods This is a single center, retrospective review of 19 patients who received kidney and/or liver transplantation prior to presenting with an incisional hernia from 2011 to 2017. All hernias were repaired with open component separation technique (CST) with biologic mesh underlay.

Results The mean age of patients was 61.0±8.3 years old, with a mean body mass index of 28.4±4.8 kg/m2, 15 males (78.9%), and four females (21.1%). There were seven kidney, 11 liver, and one combined liver and kidney transplant patients. The most common comorbidities were hypertension (16 patients, 84.2%), diabetes (9 patients, 47.4%), and tobacco use (8 patients, 42.1%). Complications occurred in six patients (31.6%) including hematoma (1/19), abscess (1/19), seroma (2/19), and hernia recurrence (3/19) at mean follow-up of 28.7±22.8 months. With the exception of two patients with incomplete follow-up, all patients healed at a median time of 27 days.

Conclusions This small, retrospective series of complex open CST in transplant patients shows acceptable rates of long-term hernia recurrence and healing. By using a multidisciplinary approach for abdominal wall reconstruction, we believe that modified open CST with biologic mesh is a safe and effective technique in the transplant population with complex abdominal hernias.
Modified Poly(ethylene terephthalate) Nano Fibers for Removal of Copper(II) Ions
Authors: Azizinezhad Fariborz
Published: September 2019

In this research, the adsorption of Cu2+ ions from aqueous solution was investigated by the modified poly (ethylene terephthalate) fibers as a new adsorbent. The best condition of electrospinning was recorded (voltage= 10 kV- distance from nozzle= 12.5 cm - solution convcentration= 0.2 g/mL). The optimum condition for removal of Cu2+ ions were determined (pH=10 - time= 60 min - C= 120 mg/L, qm = 62.4 mg/g). The adsorption data were best fitted by dubinin-radushkevich isotherm and pseudo-second order kinetic models, as well. Structure of the nanofibers were emphasized by scanning electron microscpy (SEM) and thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA).
Indicadores de sustentabilidade em agroecossistemas de urucuzeiro e sua relação com os visitantes florais
Authors: Silva Sérgio Aparecido Seixas da , Rodrigues Suellen Fernanda Mangueira , Modro Anna Frida Hatsue , Rosell Eduardo Cândido Franco , Souza Emanuel Fernando Maia de
Published: September 2019

A biodiversidade através de seus atributos funcionais tem desempenhado um papel fundamental na sustentabilidade e no equilíbrio dos agroecossistemas, contribuindo para a geração de serviços ecossistêmicos. Assim, objetivou-se determinar a sustentabilidade de cultivos de urucuzeiro e sua relação com a riqueza, diversidade e abundância de visitantes florais. Os dados foram coletados em 15 (quinze) cultivos de urucuzeiro, localizados no Território Vale do Guaporé, região sudoeste do Estado de Rondônia. Para avaliar sustentabilidade do cultivo, foi empregada metodologia de avaliação agroecológica de sustentabilidade onde o indicador é composto de grupos de indicadores de qualidade do solo e de saúde dos cultivos. O estudo dos visitantes florais do urucuzeiro foi realizado por meio de observação, coleta ativa e coleta passiva e os organismos coletados após a classificação taxonômica, foram reunidos em grupos funcionais. A média obtida nos quinze agroecossistemas para a qualidade do solo foi de 9,1 e para a saúde dos cultivos foi de 7,7, os indicadores apontaram que os agroecossistemas de urucuzeiro são sustentáveis por apresentarem valores próximos ao máximo. Foram observados visitando as flores do urucuzeiro um grupo diverso de artrópodes, da classe Arachnida e da classe Insecta, sendo a ordem Hymenoptera a mais visualizada e presente nos agroecossistemas. As abelhas das famílias Andrenidae, Apidae e Halictidae, foram as mais ocorrentes nas áreas de estudo, na coleta ativa foram capturadas 39 espécies (morfotipos) de abelhas, sendo 16 espécies (morfotipos) de abelhas de maior tamanho corporal e 23 espécies (morfotipos) de menor tamanho corporal, sendo que as de pequeno porte, 18 apresentavam capacidade vibratória e 5 delas não apresentavam comportamento vibratório ao coletar o pólen. Os polinizadores efetivos e ocasionais ocorreram em todos os agroecossistemas estudados. Na coleta passiva, a ordem Hymenoptera apresentou uma riqueza de 51 morfotipos, com abundância de 737 indivíduos, distribuídos nas famílias Apidae, Halictidae, Formicidae e Vespidae. A riqueza, diversidade e abundância de artrópodes não manteve relação direta com os indicadores de sustentabilidade, na medida em que os indicadores se aproximavam ao valor máximo de sustentabilidade para os agroecossistemas, a riqueza, a diversidade e abundância não mantiveram a tendência. Indicando que outras variáveis não mensuradas devem ser analisadas em conjunto com atributos do solo e saúde dos cultivos para garantir os serviços ecossistêmicos providos por esses grupos funcionais.
Caracterização da drenagem pluvial no Bairro Parque Eldorado, localizado em Porto Nacional (TO)
Authors: Duarte Francisco Adriano Rodrigues , Lima Diogo Pedreira
Published: September 2019

O cenário atual brasileiro, no que diz respeito à drenagem urbana, não é dos melhores. O país passa por problemas que, em sua maioria, foram desencadeados pela forma ineficiente como as cidades se desenvolveram: falta de planejamento; ausência de medidas controladoras para o uso do solo; rigor, quanto à ocupação de áreas de risco; e implantação de sistemas de drenagem inapropriados, o que acaba por gerar significativos problemas sociais. O modelo de drenagem urbana mais usado atualmente no Brasil consiste em coletar as águas pluviais e direcioná-las o mais rápido possível até o seu destino final, que são os cursos d’água, com o intuito de minimizar os problemas causados à sociedade e ao meio ambiente. No Bairro Parque Eldorado, o cenário é parecido, a inexistência de um sistema de drenagem pluvial compromete o bem-estar da população em épocas chuvosas, devido aos constantes alagamentos, enxurradas e erosões do solo, o que afeta diariamente a qualidade de vida. Este trabalho analisa a capacidade de infiltração de água do solo e identifica os pontos mais críticos e os seus principais problemas. Com a finalização da presente pesquisa, foi possível oferecer uma alternativa viável para a destinação das águas pluviais de forma eficiente e prática.
Curvas de dosagem para concreto convencional produzido com materiais da região de Porto Nacional (TO)
Authors: Guimarães Fábio Barreira , Oliveira Júnior José Silvério de
Published: September 2019

No Brasil, o concreto convencional é produzido, basicamente, pela mistura de água cimento, areia e brita ou seixo como agregado graúdo. Por muito tempo, a qualidade do concreto era definida apenas pela capacidade de resistência, assim a brita leva vantagem na escolha por apresentar maior valores de resistência. Mas atualmente, o seixo vem ganhando espaço no setor por apresentar um baixo custo em relação à brita. Assim, este trabalho tem por objetivo utilizar o método IPT/EPUSP para determinação das curvas de dosagem de concreto convencional utilizando a brita e o seixo rolado disponível na cidade de Porto Nacional (TO). A pesquisa utilizou como agregados para produção do concreto os materiais disponíveis nas jazidas que atendem a cidade de Porto Nacional (TO) e Cimento Portland CPII E32. A primeira etapa foi destinada à caracterização do material utilizado como agregado para produção do concreto. Para dosagem do concreto, foi adotado o método IPT/EPUSP. Este método foi desenvolvido pelo Instituto Tecnológico do Estado de São Paulo e a Escola Politécnica da USP. Os resultados mostraram que, mesmo a brita apresentando valores de resistência superiores, o seixo pode ser aplicado na produção de concretos convencionais até um determinado valor, atendendo às resistências exigidas de normas e à viabilidade econômica.
Initial embedding of TRANSPARENT TESTA GLABRA 1 in the Arabidopsis thaliana flowering time regulatory pathway
Authors: Paffendorf Barbara A M , Qassrawi Rawan , Meys Andrea M , Trimborn Laura , Schrader Andrea
Published: September 2019

Pleiotropic regulatory factors mediate concerted responses of the plant’s trait network to endogenous and exogenous cues. TRANSPARENT TESTA GLABRA 1 (TTG1) is a pleiotropic regulator that has been predominantly described in its role as a regulator of early accessible developmental traits. Although its closest homologs LIGHT-REGULATED WD1 (LWD1) and LWD2 are regulators of photoperiodic flowering, a role of TTG1 in flowering time regulation has not been reported.

Here we reveal that TTG1 is a regulator of flowering time in Arabidopsis thaliana and changes transcription levels of different targets within the flowering time regulatory pathway. TTG1 mutants flower early and TTG1 overexpression lines flower late at long-day conditions. Consistently, TTG1 can suppress the transcript levels of the floral integrators FLOWERING LOCUS T and SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CO1 and can act as an activator of circadian clock components. Moreover, TTG1 might form feedback loops at the protein level. The TTG1 protein interacts with PSEUDO RESPONSE REGULATOR (PRR)s and basic HELIX-LOOP-HELIX 92 (bHLH92) in yeast. In planta, the respective pairs exhibit interesting patterns of localization including a recruitment of TTG1 by PRR5 to subnuclear foci. This mechanism proposes additional layers of regulation by TTG1 and might aid to specify the function of bHLH92.

Within another branch of the pathway, TTG1 can elevate FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) transcript levels. FLC mediates signals from the vernalization, ambient temperature and autonomous pathway and the circadian clock is pivotal for the plant to synchronize with diurnal cycles of environmental stimuli like light and temperature. Our results suggest an unexpected positioning of TTG1 upstream of FLC and upstream of the circadian clock. In this light, this points to an adaptive value of the role of TTG1 in respect to flowering time regulation.
A survey of new PIs in the UK
Authors: Acton Sophie E , Bell Andrew JD , Toseland Christopher P , Twelvetrees Alison
Published: September 2019

The challenges facing a new independent group leader, principal investigator (PI) or university lecturer are formidable: secure funding, recruit staff and students, establish a research programme, give lectures, and carry out various administrative duties. Here we report the results of a survey of individuals appointed as new group leaders, PIs or university lecturers in the UK between 2012 and 2018. The concerns expressed include difficulties in recruiting PhD students, maintaining a good work-life balance and securing permanent positions. Gender differences were also found in relation to starting salary and success with research funding. We make recommendations to employers and funders to address some of these concerns, and offer advice to those applying for PI positions.
Fgf-signaling is compartmentalized within the mesenchyme and controls proliferation during salamander limb development
Authors: Purushothaman Sruthi , Elewa Ahmed , Seifert Ashley W
Published: September 2019

Although decades of studies have produced a generalized model for tetrapod limb development, urodeles deviate from anurans and amniotes in at least two key respects: their limbs exhibit preaxial skeletal differentiation and do not develop an apical ectodermal ridge (AER). Here, we investigated how Sonic hedgehog (Shh) and Fibroblast growth factor (Fgf) signaling regulate limb development in the axolotl. We found that Shh-expressing cells contributed to the most posterior digit, and that inhibiting Shh-signaling inhibited Fgf8 expression, anteroposterior patterning, and distal cell proliferation. In addition to lack of a morphological AER, we found that salamander limbs also lack a molecular AER. We found that amniote and anuran AER-specific Fgfs and their cognate receptors were expressed entirely in the mesenchyme. Broad inhibition of Fgf-signaling demonstrated that this pathway regulates cell proliferation across all three limb axes, in contrast to anurans and amniotes where Fgf-signaling regulates cell survival and proximodistal patterning.
Viral miRNA adaptor differentially recruits miRNAs to target mRNAs through alternative base-pairing
Authors: Gorbea Carlos , Mosbruger Tim , Nix David A , Cazalla Demián
Published: September 2019

HSUR2 is a viral non-coding RNA (ncRNA) that functions as a microRNA (miRNA) adaptor. HSUR2 inhibits apoptosis in infected cells by recruiting host miRNAs miR-142–3p and miR-16 to mRNAs encoding apoptotic factors. HSUR2’s target recognition mechanism is not understood. It is also unknown why HSUR2 utilizes miR-16 to downregulate only a subset of transcripts. We developed a general method for individual-nucleotide resolution RNA-RNA interaction identification by crosslinking and capture (iRICC) to identify sequences mediating interactions between HSUR2 and target mRNAs in vivo. Mutational analyses confirmed identified HSUR2-mRNA interactions and validated iRICC as a method that confidently determines sequences mediating RNA-RNA interactions in vivo. We show that HSUR2 does not display a ‘seed’ region to base-pair with most target mRNAs, but instead uses different regions to interact with different transcripts. We further demonstrate that this versatile mode of interaction via variable base-pairing provides HSUR2 with a mechanism for differential miRNA recruitment.