bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
UAVs and Machine Learning Revolutionising Invasive Grass and Vegetation Surveys in Remote Arid Lands
Authors: Sandino Juan , Gonzalez Felipe , Mengersen Kerrie , Gaston Kevin J.
Published: February 2018

The monitoring of invasive grasses and vegetation in remote areas is challenging, costly, and on the ground sometimes dangerous. Satellite and manned aircraft surveys can assist but their use may be limited due to the ground sampling resolution or cloud cover. Straightforward and accurate surveillance methods are needed to quantify rates of grass invasion, offer appropriate vegetation tracking reports, and apply optimal control methods. This paper presents a pipeline process to detect and generate a pixel-wise segmentation of invasive grasses, using buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) and spinifex (Triodia sp.) as examples. The process integrates unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) also commonly known as drones, high-resolution red, green, blue colour model (RGB) cameras, and a data processing approach based on machine learning algorithms. The methods are illustrated with data acquired in Cape Range National Park, Western Australia (WA), Australia, orthorectified in Agisoft Photoscan Pro, and processed in Python programming language, scikit-learn, and eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) libraries. In total, 342,626 samples were extracted from the obtained data set and labelled into six classes. Segmentation results provided an individual detection rate of 97% for buffel grass and 96% for spinifex, with a global multiclass pixel-wise detection rate of 97%. Obtained results were robust against illumination changes, object rotation, occlusion, background cluttering, and floral density variation.
Flame-Oxidized Stainless-Steel Anode as a Probe in Bioelectrochemical System-Based Biosensors to Monitor the Biochemical Oxygen Demand of Wastewater
Authors: Liang Qiaochu , Yamashita Takahiro , Yamamoto-Ikemoto Ryoko , Yokoyama Hiroshi
Published: February 2018

Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is a widely used index of water quality in wastewater treatment; however, conventional measurement methods are time-consuming. In this study, we analyzed a novel flame-oxidized stainless steel anode (FO-SSA) for use as the probe of bioelectrochemical system (BES)-based biosensors to monitor the BOD of treated swine wastewater. A thinner biofilm formed on the FO-SSA compared with that on a common carbon-cloth anode (CCA). The FO-SSA was superior to the CCA in terms of rapid sensing; the response time of the FO-SSA to obtain the value of R2 > 0.8 was 1 h, whereas the CCA required 4 h. These results indicate that the FO-SSA offers better performance than traditional CCAs in BES biosensors and can be used to improve biomonitoring of wastewater.
Defect-Repairable Latent Feature Extraction of Driving Behavior via a Deep Sparse Autoencoder
Authors: Liu HaiLong , Taniguchi Tadahiro , Takenaka Kazuhito , Bando Takashi
Published: February 2018

Data representing driving behavior, as measured by various sensors installed in a vehicle, are collected as multi-dimensional sensor time-series data. These data often include redundant information, e.g., both the speed of wheels and the engine speed represent the velocity of the vehicle. Redundant information can be expected to complicate the data analysis, e.g., more factors need to be analyzed; even varying the levels of redundancy can influence the results of the analysis. We assume that the measured multi-dimensional sensor time-series data of driving behavior are generated from low-dimensional data shared by the many types of one-dimensional data of which multi-dimensional time-series data are composed. Meanwhile, sensor time-series data may be defective because of sensor failure. Therefore, another important function is to reduce the negative effect of defective data when extracting low-dimensional time-series data. This study proposes a defect-repairable feature extraction method based on a deep sparse autoencoder (DSAE) to extract low-dimensional time-series data. In the experiments, we show that DSAE provides high-performance latent feature extraction for driving behavior, even for defective sensor time-series data. In addition, we show that the negative effect of defects on the driving behavior segmentation task could be reduced using the latent features extracted by DSAE.
An Advanced IoT-based System for Intelligent Energy Management in Buildings
Authors: Marinakis Vangelis , Doukas Haris
Published: February 2018

The energy sector is closely interconnected with the building sector and integrated Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) solutions for effective energy management supporting decision-making at building, district and city level are key fundamental elements for making a city Smart. The available systems are designed and intended exclusively for a predefined number of cases and systems without allowing for expansion and interoperability with other applications that is partially due to the lack of semantics. This paper presents an advanced Internet of Things (IoT) based system for intelligent energy management in buildings. A semantic framework is introduced aiming at the unified and standardised modelling of the entities that constitute the building environment. Suitable rules are formed, aiming at the intelligent energy management and the general modus operandi of Smart Building. In this context, an IoT-based system was implemented, which enhances the interactivity of the buildings’ energy management systems. The results from its pilot application are presented and discussed. The proposed system extends existing approaches and integrates cross-domain data, such as the building’s data (e.g., energy management systems), energy production, energy prices, weather data and end-users’ behaviour, in order to produce daily and weekly action plans for the energy end-users with actionable personalised information.
Gaofen-3 PolSAR Image Classification via XGBoost and Polarimetric Spatial Information
Authors: Dong Hao , Xu Xin , Wang Lei , Pu Fangling
Published: February 2018

The launch of the Chinese Gaofen-3 (GF-3) satellite will provide enough synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images with different imaging modes for land cover classification and other potential usages in the next few years. This paper aims to propose an efficient and practical classification framework for a GF-3 polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) image. The proposed classification framework consists of four simple parts including polarimetric feature extraction and stacking, the initial classification via XGBoost, superpixels generation by statistical region merging (SRM) based on Pauli RGB image, and a post-processing step to determine the label of a superpixel by modified majority voting. Fast initial classification via XGBoost and the incorporation of spatial information via a post-processing step through superpixel-based modified majority voting would potentially make the method efficient in practical use. Preliminary experimental results on real GF-3 PolSAR images and the AIRSAR Flevoland data set validate the efficacy and efficiency of the proposed classification framework. The results demonstrate that the quality of GF-3 PolSAR data is adequate enough for classification purpose. The results also show that the incorporation of spatial information is important for overall performance improvement.
Optimal Scheduling and Fair Service Policy for STDMA in Underwater Networks with Acoustic Communications
Authors: Luque-Nieto Miguel-Ángel , Moreno-Roldán José-Miguel , Otero Pablo , Poncela Javier
Published: February 2018

In this work, a multi-hop string network with a single sink node is analyzed. A periodic optimal scheduling for TDMA operation that considers the characteristic long propagation delay of the underwater acoustic channel is presented. This planning of transmissions is obtained with the help of a new geometrical method based on a 2D lattice in the space-time domain. In order to evaluate the performance of this optimal scheduling, two service policies have been compared: FIFO and Round-Robin. Simulation results, including achievable throughput, packet delay, and queue length, are shown. The network fairness has also been quantified with the Gini index.
Characterization of the Body-to-Body Propagation Channel for Subjects during Sports Activities
Authors: Mohamed Marshed , Cheffena Michael , Moldsvor Arild
Published: February 2018

Body-to-body wireless networks (BBWNs) have great potential to find applications in team sports activities among others. However, successful design of such systems requires great understanding of the communication channel as the movement of the body components causes time-varying shadowing and fading effects. In this study, we present results of the measurement campaign of BBWN during running and cycling activities. Among others, the results indicated the presence of good and bad states with each state following a specific distribution for the considered propagation scenarios. This motivated the development of two-state semi-Markov model, for simulation of the communication channels. The simulation model was validated using the available measurement data in terms of first and second order statistics and have shown good agreement. The first order statistics obtained from the simulation model as well as the measured results were then used to analyze the performance of the BBWNs channels under running and cycling activities in terms of capacity and outage probability. Cycling channels showed better performance than running, having higher channel capacity and lower outage probability, regardless of the speed of the subjects involved in the measurement campaign.
Comparative Study of the Detection of Chromium Content in Rice Leaves by 532 nm and 1064 nm Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy
Authors: Peng Jiyu , Liu Fei , Shen Tingting , Ye Lanhan , Kong Wenwen , Wang Wei , Liu Xiaodan , He Yong
Published: February 2018

Fast detection of toxic metals in crops is important for monitoring pollution and ensuring food safety. In this study, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was used to detect the chromium content in rice leaves. We investigated the influence of laser wavelength (532 nm and 1064 nm excitation), along with the variations of delay time, pulse energy, and lens-to-sample distance (LTSD), on the signal (sensitivity and stability) and plasma features (temperature and electron density). With the optimized experimental parameters, univariate analysis was used for quantifying the chromium content, and several preprocessing methods (including background normalization, area normalization, multiplicative scatter correction (MSC) transformation and standardized normal variate (SNV) transformation were used to further improve the analytical performance. The results indicated that 532 nm excitation showed better sensitivity than 1064 nm excitation, with a detection limit around two times lower. However, the prediction accuracy for both excitation wavelengths was similar. The best result, with a correlation coefficient of 0.9849, root-mean-square error of 3.89 mg/kg and detection limit of 2.72 mg/kg, was obtained using the SNV transformed signal (Cr I 425.43 nm) induced by 532 nm excitation. The results indicate the inspiring capability of LIBS for toxic metals detection in plant materials.
Devising Mobile Sensing and Actuation Infrastructure with Drones
Authors: Bae Mungyu , Yoo Seungho , Jung Jongtack , Park Seongjoon , Kim Kangho , Lee Joon , Kim Hwangnam
Published: February 2018

Vast applications and services have been enabled as the number of mobile or sensing devices with communication capabilities has grown. However, managing the devices, integrating networks or combining services across different networks has become a new problem since each network is not directly connected via back-end core networks or servers. The issue is and has been discussed especially in wireless sensor and actuator networks (WSAN). In such systems, sensors and actuators are tightly coupled, so when an independent WSAN needs to collaborate with other networks, it is difficult to adequately combine them into an integrated infrastructure. In this paper, we propose drone-as-a-gateway (DaaG), which uses drones as mobile gateways to interconnect isolated networks or combine independent services. Our system contains features that focus on the service being provided in the order of importance, different from an adaptive simple mobile sink system or delay-tolerant system. Our simulation results have shown that the proposed system is able to activate actuators in the order of importance of the service, which uses separate sensors’ data, and it consumes almost the same time in comparison with other path-planning algorithms. Moreover, we have implemented DaaG and presented results in a field test to show that it can enable large-scale on-demand deployment of sensing and actuation infrastructure or the Internet of Things (IoT).
Temporal and Fine-Grained Pedestrian Action Recognition on Driving Recorder Database
Authors: Kataoka Hirokatsu , Satoh Yutaka , Aoki Yoshimitsu , Oikawa Shoko , Matsui Yasuhiro
Published: February 2018

The paper presents an emerging issue of fine-grained pedestrian action recognition that induces an advanced pre-crush safety to estimate a pedestrian intention in advance. The fine-grained pedestrian actions include visually slight differences (e.g., walking straight and crossing), which are difficult to distinguish from each other. It is believed that the fine-grained action recognition induces a pedestrian intention estimation for a helpful advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). The following difficulties have been studied to achieve a fine-grained and accurate pedestrian action recognition: (i) In order to analyze the fine-grained motion of a pedestrian appearance in the vehicle-mounted drive recorder, a method to describe subtle change of motion characteristics occurring in a short time is necessary; (ii) even when the background moves greatly due to the driving of the vehicle, it is necessary to detect changes in subtle motion of the pedestrian; (iii) the collection of large-scale fine-grained actions is very difficult, and therefore a relatively small database should be focused. We find out how to learn an effective recognition model with only a small-scale database. Here, we have thoroughly evaluated several types of configurations to explore an effective approach in fine-grained pedestrian action recognition without a large-scale database. Moreover, two different datasets have been collected in order to raise the issue. Finally, our proposal attained 91.01% on National Traffic Science and Environment Laboratory database (NTSEL) and 53.23% on the near-miss driving recorder database (NDRDB). The paper has improved +8.28% and +6.53% from baseline two-stream fusion convnets.
A Model-Driven Co-Design Framework for Fusing Control and Scheduling Viewpoints
Authors: Sundharam Sakthivel Manikandan , Navet Nicolas , Altmeyer Sebastian , Havet Lionel
Published: February 2018

Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) is widely applied in the industry to develop new software functions and integrate them into the existing run-time environment of a Cyber-Physical System (CPS). The design of a software component involves designers from various viewpoints such as control theory, software engineering, safety, etc. In practice, while a designer from one discipline focuses on the core aspects of his field (for instance, a control engineer concentrates on designing a stable controller), he neglects or considers less importantly the other engineering aspects (for instance, real-time software engineering or energy efficiency). This may cause some of the functional and non-functional requirements not to be met satisfactorily. In this work, we present a co-design framework based on timing tolerance contract to address such design gaps between control and real-time software engineering. The framework consists of three steps: controller design, verified by jitter margin analysis along with co-simulation, software design verified by a novel schedulability analysis, and the run-time verification by monitoring the execution of the models on target. This framework builds on CPAL (Cyber-Physical Action Language), an MDE design environment based on model-interpretation, which enforces a timing-realistic behavior in simulation through timing and scheduling annotations. The application of our framework is exemplified in the design of an automotive cruise control system.
Investigation of Sensitivities and Drift Effects of the Arrayed Flexible Chloride Sensor Based on RuO2/GO at Different Temperatures
Authors: Tseng Shi-Chang , Wu Tong-Yu , Chou Jung-Chuan , Liao Yi-Hung , Lai Chih-Hsien , Yan Siao-Jie , Tseng Ting-Wei
Published: February 2018

We investigate the temperature effect on sensing characteristics and drift effect of an arrayed flexible ruthenium dioxide (RuO2)/graphene oxide (GO) chloride sensor at different solution temperatures between 10 °C and 50 °C. The average sensor sensitivities according to our experimental results were 28.2 ± 1.4 mV/pCl (10 °C), 42.5 ± 2.0 mV/pCl (20 °C), 47.1 ± 1.8 mV/pCl (30 °C), 54.1 ± 2.01 mV/pCl (40 °C) and 46.6 ± 2.1 mV/pCl (50 °C). We found the drift effects of an arrayed flexible RuO2/GO chloride sensor in a 1 M NaCl solution to be between 8.2 mV/h and 2.5 mV/h with solution temperatures from 10 °C to 50 °C.
Perceptions and Attitudes Toward Eco-Toilet Systems in Rural Areas: A Case Study in the Philippines
Authors: Ignacio Jonathan Jared , Alvin Malenab Roy , Pausta Carla Mae , Beltran Arnel , Belo Lawrence , Tanhueco Renan Ma. , Era Marlon , Eusebio Ramon Christian , Promentilla Michael Angelo , Orbecido Aileen
Published: February 2018

Death due to diseases from poor sanitation is a serious global issue and it has become one of the priorities of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (i.e., SDG6). This SDG6 aims to provide adequate improved sanitation facilities to over 2.3 billion people around the world who have no or limited access to sanitation, wherein more than two-thirds of these un-served people live in rural areas. One of the strategies for addressing this global issue is through emerging sustainable sanitation technologies such as the Eco-Toilet System (ETS), which uses small amounts of water or is even waterless and recovers nutrients from human waste thereby promoting water-energy conservation, improved sanitation and supplement nutrients essential to plant growth. Social acceptance, however, remains a key barrier in deploying the ETS. A social perception study on the use of the ETS was conducted in a rural community in Mulanay, Philippines. The researchers analyzed the proposed combined technology acceptance model and theory of planned behavior (C-TAM-TPB) using multiple linear regression and the Mann-Whitney U-test to evaluate the perceptions and attitudes of a rural community towards the use of the ETS. The results showed that more than 50% of the respondents are aware of the nutrient value of human excreta and believe that it is usable as fertilizer; however, less than 25% prefer to utilize it for food production. Results also indicate that the behavior of the users is driven by their attitude (β = 0.420, p-value < 0.010). Moreover, the Mann-Whitney U-test results revealed that people who are knowledgeable of the nutrient value of human excreta and are willing to collect them have more positive attitude towards the ETS.
Investing in Natural and Nature-Based Infrastructure: Building Better Along Our Coasts
Authors: Sutton-Grier Ariana , Gittman Rachel , Arkema Katie , Bennett Richard , Benoit Jeff , Blitch Seth , Burks-Copes Kelly , Colden Allison , Dausman Alyssa , DeAngelis Bryan , Hughes A. , Scyphers Steven , Grabowski Jonathan
Published: February 2018

Much of the United States’ critical infrastructure is either aging or requires significant repair, leaving U.S. communities and the economy vulnerable. Outdated and dilapidated infrastructure places coastal communities, in particular, at risk from the increasingly frequent and intense coastal storm events and rising sea levels. Therefore, investments in coastal infrastructure are urgently needed to ensure community safety and prosperity; however, these investments should not jeopardize the ecosystems and natural resources that underlie economic wealth and human well-being. Over the past 50 years, efforts have been made to integrate built infrastructure with natural landscape features, often termed “green” infrastructure, in order to sustain and restore valuable ecosystem functions and services. For example, significant advances have been made in implementing green infrastructure approaches for stormwater management, wastewater treatment, and drinking water conservation and delivery. However, the implementation of natural and nature-based infrastructure (NNBI) aimed at flood prevention and coastal erosion protection is lagging. There is an opportunity now, as the U.S. government reacts to the recent, unprecedented flooding and hurricane damage and considers greater infrastructure investments, to incorporate NNBI into coastal infrastructure projects. Doing so will increase resilience and provide critical services to local communities in a cost-effective manner and thereby help to sustain a growing economy.
Engineering Perspectives and Environmental Life Cycle Optimization to Enhance Aggregate Mining in Vietnam
Authors: Schneider Petra , Oswald Klaus-Dieter , Riedel Wolfgang , Meyer Andreas , Schiller Georg , Bimesmeier Tamara , Pham Thi Viet Anh , Nguyen Khac Long
Published: February 2018

Cleaner Production (CP) addresses precautionary, site-specific environmental measures to reduce emissions and assess resource efficiency potentials at the point of origin by analyzing operational material and energy flows. The approach is generally based on the criteria quality as well as environmental/occupational health and safety, and promotes their integration. The paper presents options for applying CP to aggregate mining, based on a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and illustrated by results from a study of small-scale industrial aggregate mining in Hoa Binh Province (Vietnam). The regulatory framework to limit the impact of mining on the environment is largely comparable to international standards and is suitably enforced. Despite gaining experience through the practical handling of enforcement procedures over the long term, there is still a considerable potential to optimize CP strategies in Vietnam’s aggregate mining industry. This is shown by the results of a survey of aggregates mining companies in Hoa Binh Province as well as on-site data collection to determine the technological characteristics of production facilities alongside economic and environmental factors. The assessment of the survey is supported by LCA results for: (a) the existing situation; and (b) the scenario of a merging of companies, undertaken to improve the resource efficiency of the aggregate mining in Hoa Binh. Findings can help implement an integrated approach to foster the sustainable mining of building aggregates.
How does the Ecological Well-Being of Urban and Rural Residents Change with Rural-Urban Land Conversion? The Case of Hubei, China
Authors: Song Min , Huntsinger Lynn , Han Manman
Published: February 2018

Human well-being can be affected by the loss of ecosystem services from conversion of agricultural lands. Uncovering negative ecological consequences of rural-urban conversion is important for regulating rural-urban land conversion. This paper evaluates the impacts of rural-urban land conversion on the ecological well-being of different interest groups in China and makes policy recommendations for mitigating them. This research empirically quantifies and compares changes in the ecological well-being of rural and urban residents due to rural-urban land conversion and examines how transformation factors affect such changes in Hubei, China using the Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation Model. Results show that compared with urban residents, rural resident ecological well-being level declines more obviously with rural-urban land conversion. Two socio-demographic characteristics, age and education level, as well as zoning characteristics, influence both rural and urban resident well-being changes. It is argued that there is a need for quantitative measurement of agricultural ecosystem services changes and that the construction of ecological compensation policies in areas undergoing rural-urban land conversion is essential for regulating rural-urban land conversion and for maintaining resident ecological well-being.
Can More Environmental Information Disclosure Lead to Higher Eco-Efficiency? Evidence from China
Authors: Yu Yantuan , Huang Jianhuan , Luo Nengsheng
Published: February 2018

The present paper investigates the impact of pollution information transparency index (PITI) on eco-efficiency using a novel panel dataset covering 109 key environmental protection prefecture-level cities in China over the period 2008–2015. We apply an extended data envelopment analysis (DEA) model, simultaneously incorporating metafrontier, undesirable outputs and super efficiency into slack-based measure (Meta-US-SBM) to estimate eco-efficiency. Then, the bootstrap Granger causality approach is utilized to test the unidirectional Granger causal relationship running from PITI to eco-efficiency. Results of DEA model show that there exist significant spatiotemporal disparities of eco-efficiency, on average, the eco-efficiency in eastern region is relative higher than those of central/western region. Estimates of ordinary least square (OLS) method, quantile regression, and spatial Durbin model document that the evidence of an inverted-U-shaped relation between PITI and eco-efficiency is supported, and the turning points vary from 0.3370 to 0.4540 with different model specifications. Finally, supplementary analysis of panel threshold model also supports the robust findings. Policy implications are presented based on the empirical results.
Quantitative Evaluation of the Sustainable Development Capacity of Hydropower in China Based on Information Entropy
Authors: Liang Xuedong , Si Dongyang , Xu Jing
Published: February 2018

A sustainable hydropower development was developed by using the information entropy and the Brusselator principle and was applied to the hydropower data of China. Macro social economic and ecological environmental viewpoints were taken into account. The entropy change of each subsystem in a calendar year is analyzed to evaluate Chinese sustainable development capacity. It is found that the established model can effectively reflect the actual changes of sustainable development levels through the entropy change reaction system. Meanwhile, this model can demonstrate clearly how those indicators impact on the sustainable hydropower development and fill the absence of existing studies on sustainable hydropower development.
Recent Progress in Perennial Buckwheat Development
Authors: Chen Qing-Fu , Huang Xiao-Yan , Li Hong-You , Yang Li-Juan , Cui Ya-Song
Published: February 2018

Grains in the genus Fagopyrum have benefits to human health and are an excellent gluten-free raw material. Of all cereal foods, this genus has the highest total content of amino-acid nutrients necessary for humans; nutrients that are resistant to digestion (protein and starch) resulting in their sustained release; higher dietary fiber content than key cereals, and is rich in a special healthy ingredient (flavonoids). Fagopyrum includes 24 species of which five are perennial. Among them, golden buckwheat (F.cymosum complex) is the most important perennial buckwheat, which is not only used in Chinese medicine, but also has great potential in healthy food crop. In order to provide some clues for perennial crop studies and their industry development, this paper presents the state of perennial buckwheat research in terms of taxonomy; natural chemical products and pharmacological and health functions; genetics and evolution; breeding; and product development and utilization. The great advances such as successful interspecific crossing and its subsequent new perennial buckwheat varieties will speed up the development of the perennial buckwheat industry.
An Ontology-Underpinned Emergency Response System for Water Pollution Accidents
Authors: Meng Xiaoliang , Xu Chao , Liu Xinxia , Bai Junming , Zheng Wenhan , Chang Hao , Chen Zhuo
Published: February 2018

With the unceasing development and maturation of environment geographic information system, the response to water pollution accidents has been digitalized through the combination of monitoring sensors, management servers, and application software. However, most of these systems only achieve the basic and general geospatial data management and functional process tasks by adopting mechanistic water-quality models. To satisfy the sustainable monitoring and real-time emergency response application demand of the government and public users, it is a hotspot to study how to make the water pollution information being semantic and make the referred applications intelligent. Thus, the architecture of the ontology-underpinned emergency response system for water pollution accidents is proposed in this paper. This paper also makes a case study for usability testing of the water ontology models, and emergency response rules through an online water pollution emergency response system. The system contributes scientifically to the safety and sustainability of drinking water by providing emergency response and decision-making to the government and public in a timely manner.
Life Cycle Sustainability Evaluations of Bio-based Value Chains: Reviewing the Indicators from a Swedish Perspective
Authors: Martin Michael , Røyne Frida , Ekvall Tomas , Moberg Åsa
Published: February 2018

Policymakers worldwide are promoting the use of bio-based products as part of sustainable development. Nonetheless, there are concerns that the bio-based economy may undermine the sustainability of the transition, e.g., from the overexploitation of biomass resources and indirect impacts of land use. Adequate assessment methods with a broad systems perspective are thus required in order to ensure a transition to a sustainable, bio-based economy. We review the scientifically published life cycle studies of bio-based products in order to investigate the extent to which they include important sustainability indicators. To define which indicators are important, we refer to established frameworks for sustainability assessment, and include an Open Space workshop with academics and industrial experts. The results suggest that there is a discrepancy between the indicators that we found to be important, and the indicators that are frequently included in the studies. This indicates a need for the development and dissemination of improved methods in order to model several important environmental impacts, such as: water depletion, indirect land use change, and impacts on ecosystem quality and biological diversity. The small number of published social life cycle assessments (SLCAs) and life cycle sustainability assessments (LCSAs) indicate that these are still immature tools; as such, there is a need for improved methods and more case studies.
Melioidosis in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic
Authors: Dance David A.B. , Luangraj Manophab , Rattanavong Sayaphet , Sithivong Noikaseumsy , Vongnalaysane Oulayphone , Vongsouvath Manivanh , Newton Paul N.
Published: February 2018

Melioidosis is clearly highly endemic in Laos, although the disease has only been diagnosed regularly in humans (1359 cases) since 1999, and only a single animal case has been microbiologically confirmed. Burkholderia pseudomallei is extensively and abundantly present in soil and surface water in central and southern Laos, but the true distribution of the disease across the country remains to be determined. Surveillance is almost non-existent and diagnostic microbiology services are not yet well established, whilst awareness of melioidosis is low amongst policy-makers, healthcare providers, and the public. It is hoped that this situation will improve over the next decade as the country rapidly develops, especially as this is likely to be accompanied by a further increase in the prevalence of diabetes, meaning that more people in this predominantly agricultural population will be at risk of contracting melioidosis.
Precessing Black Hole Binaries and Their Gravitational Radiation
Authors: Gergely László , Keresztes Zoltán , Tápai Márton
Published: February 2018

The first and second observational runs of Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) have marked the first direct detections of gravitational waves, either from black hole binaries or, in one case, from coalescing neutron stars. These observations opened up the era of gravitational wave astronomy, but also of gravitational wave cosmology, in the form of an independent derivation of the Hubble constant. They were equally important to prove false a plethora of modified gravity theories predicting gravitational wave propagation speed different from that of light. For a continued and improved testing of general relativity, the precise description of compact binary dynamics, not only in the final coalescence phase but also earlier, when precessional effects dominate, are required. We report on the derivation of the full secular dynamics for compact binaries, valid over the precessional time-scale, in the form of an autonomous closed system of differential equations for the set of spin angles and periastron. The system can be applied for mapping the parameter space for the occurrence of the spin flip-flop effect and for more accurately analyzing the spin-flip effect, which could explain the formation of X-shaped radio galaxies.
Mental State Attributions Mediate the Gaze Cueing Effect
Authors: Morgan Emma J. , Freeth Megan , Smith Daniel T.
Published: February 2018

Understanding the mental states of our social partners allows us to successfully interact with the world around us. Mental state attributions are argued to underpin social attention, and have been shown to modulate attentional orienting to social cues. However, recent research has disputed this claim, arguing that this effect may arise as an unintentional side effect of study design, rather than through the involvement of mentalising processes. This study therefore aimed to establish whether the mediation of gaze cueing by mental state attributions generalises beyond the specific experimental paradigm used in previous research. The current study used a gaze cueing paradigm within a change detection task, and the gaze cue was manipulated such that participants were aware that the cue-agent was only able to ‘see’ in one condition. The results revealed that participants were influenced by the mental state of the cue-agent, and were significantly better at identifying if a change had occurred on valid trials when they believed the cue-agent could ‘see’. The computation of the cue-agent’s mental state therefore mediated the gaze cueing effect, demonstrating that the modulation of gaze cueing by mental state attributions generalises to other experimental paradigms.
The Significance of the Spatial Variability of Rainfall on the Numerical Simulation of Urban Floods
Authors: Courty Laurent Guillaume , Rico-Ramirez Miguel Ángel , Pedrozo-Acuña Adrián
Published: February 2018

The growth of urban population, combined with an increase of extreme events due to climate change call for a better understanding and representation of urban floods. The uncertainty in rainfall distribution is one of the most important factors that affects the watershed response to a given precipitation event. However, most of the investigations on this topic have considered theoretical scenarios, with little reference to case studies in the real world. This paper incorporates the use of spatially-variable precipitation data from a long-range radar in the simulation of the severe floods that impacted the city of Hull, U.K., in June 2007. This radar-based rainfall field is merged with rain gauge data using a Kriging with External Drift interpolation technique. The utility of this spatially-variable information is investigated through the comparison of computed flooded areas (uniform and radar) against those registered by public authorities. Both results show similar skills at reproducing the real event, but differences in the total precipitated volumes, water depths and flooded areas are illustrated. It is envisaged that in urban areas and with the advent of higher resolution radars, these differences will be more important and call for further investigation.
Integrated Assessment of Novel Urban Water Infrastructures in Frankfurt am Main and Hamburg, Germany
Authors: Zimmermann Martin , Felmeden Jörg , Michel Bernhard
Published: February 2018

Existing urban water infrastructures need to be modified if they are to cope with such challenges as demographic change, energy sufficiency and resource efficiency. It is believed that less centralised and hence more flexible systems adapt better to changing conditions. The main goal of this paper is to compare conventional and novel urban water infrastructures in five model areas in two German cities with regard to their sustainability. The novel technical options comprise modules such as blackwater and greywater separation, treatment and reuse as well as heat recovery, which are believed to be much more resource efficient than conventional systems. An assessment framework was developed which is able to comprehend corresponding transformation processes. An integrated assessment was conducted using multi-criteria decision analysis. The assessment results show that no particular technical option prevails over all the others and that the performance of the various options in the assessment is influenced by the general conditions found in the model areas. However, it can be concluded that novel water infrastructures can compete with or even perform better than conventional ones, especially when ecological and social criteria are emphasized.
Economic Feasibility of Underwater Adduction of Rivers for Metropolises in Semiarid Coastal Environments: Case Studies
Authors: Albiero Daniel , Domingues da Silva Marco , Melo Rafaela , Pontin Garcia Angel , Castro Praciano Aline , Belem Fernandes Francisco , De Almeida Monteiro Leonardo , Chioderoli Carlos , Oliveira da Silva Alexsandro , Delfino Barbosa Filho José
Published: February 2018

The supply of raw water to the inhabitants of metropolises is not a trivial problem, and involves many challenges, both in terms of the quantity and quality of this water. When these metropolises are located in semiarid regions, this challenge takes on enormous proportions, and in many situations, there are no sustainable solutions, especially in times of global climate change. One hypothesis to try to mitigate this problem in coastal cities is the underwater adduction of rivers. The objective of this paper was to make the abstraction of drinking water in the mouths of great rivers near semi-arid regions. This water would be led by a pipeline below the water level and would follow the route of the seacoast, where the energy to move the water would be supplied by an axial hydraulic pump embedded in the pipeline by water-cooled electric motors driven by the energy generated from offshore wind turbines. Estimates have been made for the four metropolises in semi-arid regions: Fortaleza-Brazil, Dalian-China, Tel Aviv-Israel, and Gaza-Palestine, where it was possible to calculate economic viability through the Present Worth Value, the internal rate of return, and payback. The results indicated that Fortaleza had economic viability under restrictions. Dalian proved the ideal result. Tel Aviv and Gaza both had great economic viability, but only if Egypt agreed to supply water from the Nile. This paper proved that the management of the water supply for human consumption through the underwater adduction of rivers could be achieved with real clearance for any deficits in the volume of water that due to global climate change are becoming more frequent.
A Comparative Analysis of Exceptional Flood Events in the Context of Heavy Rains in the Summer of 2010: Siret Basin (NE Romania) Case Study
Authors: Romanescu Gheorghe , Mihu-Pintilie Alin , Stoleriu Cristian Constantin , Carboni Donatella , Paveluc Larisa Elena , Cimpianu Catalin Ioan
Published: February 2018

The Siret River crosses northeastern (NE) Romania from the north to the south, and it discharges into the Danube, near the city of Galati. Between 17 June and 10 July 2010, significant amounts of precipitations in the mountainous basin of Siret were recorded. The floods comprised two periods with four bimodal cycles, and they were counted as among the strongest on the Romanian territory. The exceptional floods occurred in the rivers of Siret, Suceava, Moldova, Bistrita, Trotus, and so on. The most important compound flood wave was determined by the precipitations, which fell between 29 June and 1 July 2010, when significant amounts of rain were recorded, sometimes exceeding 80 mm/day. The high discharges on the Bistrita River—downstream from the Bicaz Reservoir—were controlled by complex hydro-technical works. The maximum discharge for summer floods in the year 2010 was recorded at the Dragesti hydrometric station: 2884 m3/s (historic discharge) compared with the preceding historic discharge (2850 m3/s) of the year 2008. The effects of floods were strongest in the counties of Suceava, Neamt, and Bacau. The floods on the main course of the Siret River were analyzed in correlation with the tributaries within the mountainous sector.
Assessment of Sediment Impact on the Risk of River Diversion during Dam Construction: A Simulation-Based Project Study on the Jing River, China
Authors: Song Zida , Liu Quan , Hu Zhigen , Li Huian , Xiong Jianqing
Published: February 2018

Dams are vital for water resource utilization, and river diversion is key for dam construction safety. As sandy river basins are important exploitation areas that have special diversion features, the impact of sediment on the risk of river diversion during dam construction should be assessed. Diversion uncertainty is the origin of diversion risk, and sediment uncertainty changes the storage and discharge patterns of the diversion system. Two Gumbel–Hougaard (GH) copula functions are adopted to couple the random variables of flood and sediment, so that the sediment impacts on diversion storage and discharge can be obtained by the sampling of flood peaks. Based on variable coupling and sediment amendment, a method of Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) with a water balance calculation can quantitatively assess the risk of sandy river diversion, by evaluating the probability of upstream cofferdam overtopping. By introducing one diversion project on the Jing River in China with a clear water contrast, the risk values of dam construction diversion with or without sediment impacts can be obtained. Results show that the MCS method is feasible for diversion risk assessment; sediment has a negative impact on the risk of river diversion during dam construction, and this degradation effect is more evident for high-assurance diversion schemes.
Impact of Climate Change on Water Resources of the Bheri River Basin, Nepal
Authors: Mishra Yogendra , Nakamura Tai , Babel Mukand Singh , Ninsawat Sarawut , Ochi Shiro
Published: February 2018

Streamflow alteration is one of the most noticeable effects of climate change. This study explored the effects of climate change on streamflow in the Bheri River using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. Three General Circulation Models (GCMs) under two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs; 4.5 and 8.5) for the periods of 2020–2044, 2045–2069, and 2070–2099 were used to investigate the impact of climate change. Based on the ensemble of the three models, we observed an increasing trend in maximum and minimum temperatures at the rate of 0.025 °C/year and 0.033 °C/year, respectively, under RCP 4.5, and 0.065 °C/year and 0.071 °C/year under RCP 8.5 in the future. Similarly, annual rainfall will increase by 6.8–15.2% in the three future periods. The consequences of the increment in rainfall and temperature are reflected in the annual streamflow that is projected to increase by 6–12.5% when compared to the historical data of 1975–2005. However, on a monthly scale, runoff will decrease in July and August by up to 20% and increase in the dry period by up to 70%, which is favorable for water users.
Tuning adhesion forces between functionalized gold colloidal nanoparticles and silicon AFM tips: role of ligands and capillary forces
Authors: Oras Sven , Vlassov Sergei , Berholts Marta , Lõhmus Rünno , Mougin Karine
Published: February 2018

Adhesion forces between functionalized gold colloidal nanoparticles (Au NPs) and scanning probe microscope silicon tips were experimentally investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) equipped with PeakForce QNM (Quantitative Nanoscale Mechanics) module. Au NPs were synthesized by a seed-mediated process and then functionalized with thiols containing different functional groups: amino, hydroxy, methoxy, carboxy, methyl, and thiol. Adhesion measurements showed strong differences between NPs and silicon tip depending on the nature of the tail functional group. The dependence of the adhesion on ligand density for different thiols with identical functional tail-group was also demonstrated. The calculated contribution of the van der Waals (vdW) forces between particles was in good agreement with experimentally measured adhesive values. In addition, the adhesion forces were evaluated between flat Au films functionalized with the same molecular components and silicon tips to exclude the effect of particle shape on the adhesion values. Although adhesion values on flat substrates were higher than on their nanoparticle counterparts, the dependance on functional groups remained the same.
Latest development in the synthesis of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA): a critical review
Authors: Tonin Fabio , Arends Isabel W C E
Published: February 2018

Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) is a pharmaceutical ingredient widely used in clinics. As bile acid it solubilizes cholesterol gallstones and improves the liver function in case of cholestatic diseases. UDCA can be obtained from cholic acid (CA), which is the most abundant and least expensive bile acid available. The now available chemical routes for the obtainment of UDCA yield about 30% of final product. For these syntheses several protection and deprotection steps requiring toxic and dangerous reagents have to be performed, leading to the production of a series of waste products. In many cases the cholic acid itself first needs to be prepared from its taurinated and glycilated derivatives in the bile, thus adding to the complexity and multitude of steps involved of the synthetic process. For these reasons, several studies have been performed towards the development of microbial transformations or chemoenzymatic procedures for the synthesis of UDCA starting from CA or chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA). This promising approach led several research groups to focus their attention on the development of biotransformations with non-pathogenic, easy-to-manage microorganisms, and their enzymes. In particular, the enzymatic reactions involved are selective hydrolysis, epimerization of the hydroxy functions (by oxidation and subsequent reduction) and the specific hydroxylation and dehydroxylation of suitable positions in the steroid rings. In this minireview, we critically analyze the state of the art of the production of UDCA by several chemical, chemoenzymatic and enzymatic routes reported, highlighting the bottlenecks of each production step. Particular attention is placed on the precursors availability as well as the substrate loading in the process. Potential new routes and recent developments are discussed, in particular on the employment of flow-reactors. The latter technology allows to develop processes with shorter reaction times and lower costs for the chemical and enzymatic reactions involved.