bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Investigation of a Forward-Rate Mortality Framework
Authors: Alai Daniel H. , Ignatieva Katja , Sherris Michael
Published: June 2019

Stochastic mortality models have been developed for a range of applications from demographic projections to financial management. Financial risk based models built on methods used for interest rates and apply these to mortality rates. They have the advantage of being applied to financial pricing and the management of longevity risk. Olivier and Jeffery (2004) and Smith (2005) proposed a model based on a forward-rate mortality framework with stochastic factors driven by univariate gamma random variables irrespective of age or duration. We assess and further develop this model. We generalize random shocks from a univariate gamma to a univariate Tweedie distribution and allow for the distributions to vary by age. Furthermore, since dependence between ages is an observed characteristic of mortality rate improvements, we formulate a multivariate framework using copulas. We find that dependence increases with age and introduce a suitable covariance structure, one that is related to the notion of ax minimum. The resulting model provides a more realistic basis for capturing the risk of mortality improvements and serves to enhance longevity risk management for pension and insurance funds.
Surveying Wild Animals from Satellites, Manned Aircraft and Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs): A Review
Authors: Wang Dongliang , Shao Quanqin , Yue Huanyin
Published: June 2019

This article reviews studies regarding wild animal surveys based on multiple platforms, including satellites, manned aircraft, and unmanned aircraft systems (UASs), and focuses on the data used, animal detection methods, and their accuracies. We also discuss the advantages and limitations of each type of remote sensing data and highlight some new research opportunities and challenges. Submeter very-high-resolution (VHR) spaceborne imagery has potential in modeling the population dynamics of large (>0.6 m) wild animals at large spatial and temporal scales, but has difficulty discerning small (<0.6 m) animals at the species level, although high-resolution commercial satellites, such as WorldView-3 and -4, have been able to collect images with a ground resolution of up to 0.31 m in panchromatic mode. This situation will not change unless the satellite image resolution is greatly improved in the future. Manned aerial surveys have long been employed to capture the centimeter-scale images required for animal censuses over large areas. However, such aerial surveys are costly to implement in small areas and can cause significant disturbances to wild animals because of their noise. In contrast, UAS surveys are seen as a safe, convenient and less expensive alternative to ground-based and conventional manned aerial surveys, but most UASs can cover only small areas. The proposed use of UAS imagery in combination with VHR satellite imagery would produce critical population data for large wild animal species and colonies over large areas. The development of software systems for automatically producing image mosaics and recognizing wild animals will further improve survey efficiency.
Individual Tree-Crown Detection in RGB Imagery Using Semi-Supervised Deep Learning Neural Networks
Authors: Weinstein Ben G. , Marconi Sergio , Bohlman Stephanie , Zare Alina , White Ethan
Published: June 2019

Remote sensing can transform the speed, scale, and cost of biodiversity and forestry surveys. Data acquisition currently outpaces the ability to identify individual organisms in high resolution imagery. We outline an approach for identifying tree-crowns in RGB imagery while using a semi-supervised deep learning detection network. Individual crown delineation has been a long-standing challenge in remote sensing and available algorithms produce mixed results. We show that deep learning models can leverage existing Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR)-based unsupervised delineation to generate trees that are used for training an initial RGB crown detection model. Despite limitations in the original unsupervised detection approach, this noisy training data may contain information from which the neural network can learn initial tree features. We then refine the initial model using a small number of higher-quality hand-annotated RGB images. We validate our proposed approach while using an open-canopy site in the National Ecological Observation Network. Our results show that a model using 434,551 self-generated trees with the addition of 2848 hand-annotated trees yields accurate predictions in natural landscapes. Using an intersection-over-union threshold of 0.5, the full model had an average tree crown recall of 0.69, with a precision of 0.61 for the visually-annotated data. The model had an average tree detection rate of 0.82 for the field collected stems. The addition of a small number of hand-annotated trees improved the performance over the initial self-supervised model. This semi-supervised deep learning approach demonstrates that remote sensing can overcome a lack of labeled training data by generating noisy data for initial training using unsupervised methods and retraining the resulting models with high quality labeled data.
SAR ATR of Ground Vehicles Based on ESENet
Authors: Wang Li , Bai Xueru , Zhou Feng
Published: June 2019

In recent studies, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) automatic target recognition (ATR) algorithms that are based on the convolutional neural network (CNN) have achieved high recognition rates in the moving and stationary target acquisition and recognition (MSTAR) dataset. However, in a SAR ATR task, the feature maps with little information automatically learned by CNN will disturb the classifier. We design a new enhanced squeeze and excitation (enhanced-SE) module to solve this problem, and then propose a new SAR ATR network, i.e., the enhanced squeeze and excitation network (ESENet). When compared to the available CNN structures that are designed for SAR ATR, the ESENet can extract more effective features from SAR images and obtain better generalization performance. In the MSTAR dataset containing pure targets, the proposed method achieves a recognition rate of 97.32% and it exceeds the available CNN-based SAR ATR algorithms. Additionally, it has shown robustness to large depression angle variation, configuration variants, and version variants.
Anomaly Detection for Hyperspectral Imagery Based on the Regularized Subspace Method and Collaborative Representation
Authors: Tan Kun , Hou Zengfu , Wu Fuyu , Du Qian , Chen Yu
Published: June 2019

Most of the conventional anomaly detectors only take advantage of the spectral information and do not consider the spatial information within neighboring pixels. Recently, the spectral-spatial based local summation anomaly detection (LSAD) algorithm has achieved excellent detection performances. In order to obtain various local spatial distributions with the neighboring pixels of the pixels under test, the LSAD algorithm exploits a multiple-window sliding filter, which can be computationally expensive and time-consuming. In this paper, to address these issues, two modified LSAD-based methods are proposed. The first method, called local summation unsupervised nearest regularized subspace with an outlier removal anomaly detector (LSUNRSORAD), is based on the concept that each pixel in the background can be approximately represented by its spatial neighborhood. The second method, called local summation anomaly detection based on collaborative representation and inverse distance weight (LSAD-CR-IDW), uses the surrounding pixels collected inside the outer window, while outside the inner window, to linearly represent the test pixel and introduces collaborative representation and inverse distance weight to further improve the computational speed and detection precision, respectively. The proposed methods were applied to a synthetic dataset and three real datasets. The experimental results show that the proposed methods have a better detection accuracy and computational speed when compared with the LSAD algorithm and others.
Downscaling Land Surface Temperature from MODIS Dataset with Random Forest Approach over Alpine Vegetated Areas
Authors: Bartkowiak Paulina , Castelli Mariapina , Notarnicola Claudia
Published: June 2019

In this study, we evaluated three different downscaling approaches to enhance spatial resolution of thermal imagery over Alpine vegetated areas. Due to the topographical and land-cover complexity and to the sparse distribution of meteorological stations in the region, the remotely-sensed land surface temperature (LST) at regional scale is of major area of interest for environmental applications. Even though the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) LST fills the gap regarding high temporal resolution and length of the time-series, its spatial resolution is not adequate for mountainous areas. Given this limitation, random forest algorithm for downscaling LST to 250 m spatial resolution was evaluated. This study exploits daily MODIS LST with a spatial resolution of 1 km to obtain sub-pixel information at 250 m spatial resolution. The nonlinear relationship between coarse resolution MODIS LST (CR) and fine resolution (FR) explanatory variables was performed by building three different models including: (i) all pixels (BM), (ii) only pixels with more than 90% of vegetation content (EM1) and (iii) only pixels with 75% threshold of homogeneity for vegetated land-cover classes (EM2). We considered normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and digital elevation model (DEM) as predictors. The performances of the thermal downscaling methods were evaluated by the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and the Mean Absolute Error (MAE) between the downscaled dataset and Landsat LST. Validation indicated that the error values for vegetation fraction (EM1, EM2) were smaller than for basic modelling (BM). BM model determined averaged RMSE of 2.3 K and MAE of 1.8 K. Enhanced methods (EM1 and EM2) gave slightly better results yielding 2.2 K and 1.7 K for RMSE and MAE, respectively. In contrast to the EMs, BM showed a reduction of 22% and 18% of RMSE and MAE respectively with regard to Landsat and the original MODIS LST. Despite some limitations, mainly due to cloud contamination effect and coarse resolution pixel heterogeneity, random forest downscaling exhibits a large potential for producing improved LST maps.
Loss of Significance and Its Effect on Point Normal Orientation and Cloud Registration
Authors: Young Matthew , Pretty Chris , Agostinho Sérgio , Green Richard , Chen Xiaoqi
Published: June 2019

Point normal calculation and cloud registration are two of the most common operations in point cloud processing. However, both are vulnerable to issues of numerical precision and loss of significance. This paper documents how loss of significance in the open-source Point Cloud Library can create erroneous point normals and cause cloud registration to fail. Several test clouds are used to demonstrate how the loss of significance is caused by tight point spacing and clouds being shifted far from the origin of their coordinate system. The results show that extreme loss of significance can cause point normals to be calculated with a random orientation, and cause meters of error during cloud registration. Depending on the structure of the point cloud, loss of significance can occur when the cloud is at hundreds or even tens of meters from the origin of its coordinate system. Shifting to larger data types (e.g., from 32-bit “floats” to 64-bit “doubles”) can alleviate the problem but will not solve it completely. Several “best practice” recommendations for avoiding this issue are proposed. But the only solution guaranteed to eliminate loss of significance is de-meaning the entire cloud, or clusters of points before processing.
Evaluation of Leaf N Concentration in Winter Wheat Based on Discrete Wavelet Transform Analysis
Authors: Li Fenling , Wang Li , Liu Jing , Wang Yuna , Chang Qingrui
Published: June 2019

Leaf nitrogen concentration (LNC) is an important indicator for accurate diagnosis and quantitative evaluation of plant growth status. The objective was to apply a discrete wavelet transform (DWT) analysis in winter wheat for the estimation of LNC based on visible and near-infrared (400–1350 nm) canopy reflectance spectra. In this paper, in situ LNC data and ground-based hyperspectral canopy reflectance was measured over three years at different sites during the tillering, jointing, booting and filling stages of winter wheat. The DWT analysis was conducted on canopy original spectrum, log-transformed spectrum, first derivative spectrum and continuum removal spectrum, respectively, to obtain approximation coefficients, detail coefficients and energy values to characterize canopy spectra. The quantitative relationships between LNC and characteristic parameters were investigated and compared with models established by sensitive band reflectance and typical spectral indices. The results showed combining log-transformed spectrum and a sym8 wavelet function with partial least squares regression (PLS) based on the approximation coefficients at decomposition level 4 most accurately predicted LNC. This approach could explain 11% more variability in LNC than the best spectral index mSR705 alone, and was more stable in estimating LNC than models based on random forest regression (RF). The results indicated that narrowband reflectance spectroscopy (450–1350 nm) combined with DWT analysis and PLS regression was a promising method for rapid and nondestructive estimation of LNC for winter wheat across a range in growth stages.
Monitoring Land Cover Change and Disturbance of the Mount Wutai World Cultural Landscape Heritage Protected Area, Based on Remote Sensing Time-Series Images from 1987 to 2018
Authors: Bai Xuyu , Du Peijun , Guo Shanchuan , Zhang Peng , Lin Cong , Tang Pengfei , Zhang Ce
Published: June 2019

The contextual-based multi-source time-series remote sensing and proposed Comprehensive Heritage Area Threats Index (CHATI) index are used to analyze the spatiotemporal land use/land cover (LULC) and threats to the Mount Wutai World Heritage Area. The results show disturbances, such as forest coverage, vegetation conditions, mining area, and built-up area, in the research area changed dramatically. According to the CHATI, although different disturbances have positive or negative influences on environment, as an integrated system it kept stable from 1987 to 2018. Finally, this research uses linear regression and the F-test to mark the remarkable spatial-temporal variation. In consequence, the threats on Mount Wutai be addressed from the macro level and the micro level. Although there still have some drawbacks, the effectiveness of threat identification has been tested using field validation and the results are a reliable tool to raise the public awareness of WHA protection and governance.
Sport for All and Social Inclusion of Individuals with Impairments: A Case Study from Brazil
Authors: Kirakosyan Lyusyena
Published: June 2019

This article examines the discourses about Sport for All (SFA) and their evolution over the past four decades in Brazil and analyzes the implications of those discourses for social inclusion of Brazilians with impairments in sport and leisure. It provides an overview of four political milestones in the development of sport participation in Brazil: the launch of the SFA program under the military dictatorship; the adoption of the 1988 Constitution; the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; and the Rio 2016 Paralympics. Foucault’s archaeological-genealogical approach has been used to explain how the principle of social inclusion has been practised and enacted through the SFA discourses in Brazil and to discuss the implications of sport and leisure policies for the population with impairments.
Late-Presenting Swimming-Induced Pulmonary Edema: A Case Report Series from the Norseman Xtreme Triathlon
Authors: Melau Jørgen , Bonnevie-Svendsen Martin , Mathiassen Maria , Mykland Hilde Janne , Oma Lars , Hisdal Jonny
Published: June 2019

Swimming-induced pulmonary edema (SIPE) may develop during strenuous physical exertion in water. This case series reports on three cases of suspected late-presenting SIPE during the Norseman Xtreme Triathlon. A 30-year-old male professional (PRO) triathlete, a 40-year-old female AGE GROUP triathlete and a 34-year-old male AGE GROUP triathlete presented with shortness of breath, chest tightness and coughing up pink sputum during the last part of the bike phase. All three athletes reported an improvement in breathing during the first major uphill of the bike phase and increasing symptoms during the downhill. The PRO athlete had a thoracic computed tomography, and the scan showed bilateral ground glass opacity in the peripheral lungs. The male AGE GROUP athlete had a normal chest x-ray. Both athletes were admitted for further observation and discharged from hospital the following day, with complete regression of symptoms. The female athlete recovered quickly following pre-hospital oxygen treatment. Non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema associated with endurance sports is rare but potentially very dangerous. Knowledge and awareness of possible risk factors and symptoms are essential, and the results presented in this report emphasize the importance of being aware of the possible delayed development of symptoms. To determine the presence of pulmonary edema elicited by strenuous exercise, equipment for measuring oxygen saturation should be available for the medical staff on site.
Personality Effects on the Endorsement of Ethically Questionable Negotiation Strategies: Business Ethics in Canada and China
Authors: Liu Xiaoyi , Ma Zhenzhong , Liang Dapeng
Published: June 2019

This study explores personality effects on the endorsement of ethically questionable negotiation strategies in Canada and China. With a sample of over 400 business professionals, this study examines the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and the perceived appropriateness of five categories of negotiation strategies in the two cultures. The results show that the Big Five personality traits strongly affect the endorsement of ethically questionable negotiation strategies (EQNS) both in Canada and in China, but in different ways. For Canadian negotiators, individuals high in conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness are more prone to use EQNS, and individuals high in emotional stability and agreeableness are less likely to use them. For negotiators from Mainland China, only agreeableness and emotional stability are negatively associated with the endorsement of the EQNS. Implications for research on business ethics and for negotiation practitioners and policymakers are then discussed.
A Resilience Approach to Community-Scale Climate Adaptation
Authors: Choko Onyinye Prince , Schmitt Olabisi Laura , Onyeneke Robert Ugochukwu , Chiemela Stella Nwawulu , Liverpool-Tasie Lenis Saweda O. , Rivers Louie
Published: June 2019

Climate risk is expected to impact rural communities in West Africa in multiple ways. However, most current research addresses resilience and climate adaptation at either the national or the household scale; very little is known about community-scale interventions. We interviewed 934 community members in six communities in southeastern Nigeria about sources of climate risk and community-based actions for climate change adaptation. We found these communities contained multiple active and engaged groups that have implemented a wide range of interventions to reduce climate risk, most of which are seen as effective by community members. Flooding was the most common form of risk in this region, but drought, windstorms, and irregular rainy seasons are also frequent, implying that effective climate adaptation will have to be sensitive to multiple types of risk. Structural interventions (constructing roads, bridges, etc.) were the most common type of intervention, suggesting that communities are capable of marshalling considerable organizational and human power for adaptation efforts, even in the absence of external assistance. Efforts to boost community resilience and adaptation to climate change would benefit from first understanding what community actions are currently underway, and working with the groups implementing these actions to support and extend them.
Exploring Tangible and Intangible Heritage and its Resilience as a Basis to Understand the Cultural Landscapes of Saxon Communities in Southern Transylvania (Romania)
Authors: Pătru-Stupariu Ileana , Pascu Marioara , Bürgi Matthias
Published: June 2019

Landscape researchers tend to reduce the diversity of tangible heritage to physical aspects of cultural landscapes, from the wealth of intangible heritage they focus on land-use practices which have a direct and visible impact on the landscape. We suggest a comprehensive assessment of both tangible and intangible heritage, in order to more accurately assess the interconnection of local identity and the shaping of cultural landscapes. As an example, we looked at Saxon culture and cultural landscapes in southern Transylvania (Romania), where we assessed features of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, identified their resilience and the driving forces of their change. Our analysis, based on 74 interviews with residents in ten villages in southern Transylvania, showed a high resilience of tangible heritage and a low resilience of intangible heritage. A major factor responsible for changes in the Saxon heritage was a decline in the population at the end of the Cold War, due to migration, driven by political and economic factors. We conclude by discussing the specific merits of such an analysis for integrated landscape management.
Harnessing Sustainable Motivation: A Grounded Theory Exploration of Public Service Motivation in Local Governments of the State of Oregon, United States
Authors: Haider Sajjad , Bao Guoxian , Larsen Gary L. , Draz Muhammad Umar
Published: June 2019

Employee motivation has always been a matter of concern for both public and private sector organizations. Since the industrial revolution in the late 18th century, organizations have struggled to foster workforce motivation and morale to enhance productivity. While a plethora of literature focuses on private sector motivation research, public sector organizations receive only modest scholarly attention. However, a new concept has emerged in public management literature during the late 1980s and 1990s, later known as public service motivation (PSM). The debate about PSM is premised on the notion that the motivation of public sector employees is quite different from their private sector counterparts because of their orientation to public service. Perry and Wise (1990) expressed this concept in the theory of PSM. Subsequently, a growing stream of scholarship has emerged which explores the many aspects of antecedents and outcomes related to PSM. However, questions remain about how to best keep the motivation of public sector employees sustainably high, and about what factors embolden or enervate the motivation and morale of public sector employees. This study focuses on the sustainable work motivation of local government employees. Its arguments and discussions draw from PSM theory, total quality management (TQM) principles, and inspiration from Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study examines and attempts to uncover the career trajectories of local government employees in the State of Oregon, United States, through a rigorous grounded theory method (GTM) of inquiry. The study reveals a number of factors that facilitate and/or inhibit employees’ PSM. We expect the findings to be useful for both practitioners and government human resource policymakers in understanding the subtlety and vicissitudes of public sector employee careers and motivations.
Polycentricity in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration (YRDUA): More Cohesion or More Disparities?
Authors: Chen Wen , Yenneti Komali , Wei Yehua Dennis , Yuan Feng , Wu Jiawei , Gao Jinlong
Published: June 2019

Urban spatial structure is a critical component of urban planning and development, and among the different urban spatial structure strategies, ‘polycentric mega-city region (PMR)’ has recently received great research and public policy interest in China. However, there is a lack of systematic understanding on the spatiality of PMR from a pluralistic perspective. This study aims to fill this gap by investigating the spatiality of PMR in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration (YRDUA) using city-level data on gross domestic product (GDP), population share, and urban income growth for the period 2000–2013. The results reveal that economically, the YRDUA is experiencing greater polycentricity, but in terms of social welfare, the region manifests growing monocentricity. We further find that the triple transition framework (marketization, urbanization, and decentralization) can greatly explain the observed patterns. Although the economic goals are accomplished with better spatial linkages and early economic development policies, inequality in spatial distribution of public services and the continuing legacy of central planning remain barriers for the YRDUA to emerge as a successful PMR. The results of this research offer meaningful insights on the impact of polycentric policies in the YRDUA and support policymakers in the implementation of appropriate urban spatial development strategies.
Core Firm Based View on the Mechanism of Constructing an Enterprise Innovation Ecosystem: A Case Study of Haier Group
Authors: Jiang Shimei , Hu Yimei , Wang Ziyuan
Published: June 2019

The fierce competitive status of the business world has urged innovation activities to transform from mechanistic to ecological and organic. An innovation ecosystem consists of multilateral organizations and emerges as a favorable mechanism for value co-creation and sustainable growth. Yet the theorizing of an innovation ecosystem is still at an early stage and in-depth studies from emerging economy leaders are insufficient. This study aims to investigate how an innovation ecosystem is constructed and coordinated from a core-firm based view. An exploratory single case study on the Haier Group is adopted. Through analyzing the multi-bedded units (i.e., six innovation projects/technological breakthroughs), we extract and depict Haier’s innovation ecosystem and the ecological niches within it. We highlight an innovation ecosystem that promotes sustainable development and is based on complementarities in technologies and resources, while at the same time integrates non-technological issues such as strategy, culture, institution, and the market. Regarding ecosystem coordination, value appropriability should be ensured to sustain the innovation ecosystem. Moreover, we argue that the ultimate purpose of innovation ecosystem is not to facilitate the realization of one specific project, but rather to improve the overall success rate of innovations within it. This research complements and extends literature on enterprise innovation ecosystems, and provides implications as to the construction, coordination, and sustainability of innovation ecosystems for emerging economy firms.
Evaluation of Water and Energy Nexus in Wami Ruvu River Basin, Tanzania
Authors: Miraji Mngereza , Li Xi , Liu Jie , Zheng Chunmiao
Published: June 2019

In African nations, national and regional development targets for water and energy sectors seldom consider the nexus between the two, risking imbalances and inefficiencies in resource allocation and utilization. A typical example is the development and expansion of biofuel in the Wami Ruvu River Basin, Tanzania (WRB). Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) model was applied to the WRB to investigate the Water Energy Nexus (WEN), specifically, whether the development plan calling for biofuel expansion is a sound approach. Results show that WEN is much stronger in the biofuel irrigation consuming 69.3% and 61% of total biofuel’s water and energy requirement, respectively. By 2035, the nexus continues to be stronger, consuming 54.5% and 49% of total biofuel’s water and energy requirement, respectively, and thus first generation biofuels use much more resources in the growing than the refining process. An additional 768.2 million meter cubic of water and 413.4 million kWh of energy are needed for planned biofuel expansion, reallocating water to biofuels in water-scarce regions inherit related problems to other sectors such as increasing water use for the industry, agriculture, and energy sector by 67%, 45%, and 9%, respectively, which could further exacerbate stresses on water and energy supplies in the basin. Biofuel generation rely heavily on energy imports, as it consumes substantially more energy than it produces. Policies should promote the coordinated development of sustainable biofuel programs that are less water intensive with very low inputs of fossil fuels.
Men in Grey Suits: Shark Activity and Congestion of the Surfing Commons
Authors: Mixon Franklin G. , Sankaran Chandini
Published: June 2019

This study extends recent research on informal property rights at surf breaks by exploring the process through which nature, by establishing conditions conducive (or not) to the presence of sharks, shapes the baseline level of exploitation by surfers of the common-pool resource represented by surf breaks. Since 1980, there have been nine fatal shark attacks off the coast of California, and in all nine cases the great white shark was the offending species. Given this inherent danger, the presence of large sharks mitigates, at least to some degree, the tendency toward the ‘tragedy of the commons’ in the case of surf breaks. Using data on surf break congestion, surf break quality, shark activity, and other key variables from 144 surf breaks in California, empirical results from OLS and ordered probit models presented in this study indicate that surf breaks in California that are associated with the highest levels of shark activity tend to be less congested, perhaps by as much as 28%, than their counterparts that are visited less often by sharks.
Perspectives from the Field: Adaptions in CSA Models in Response to Changing Times in the U.S.
Authors: Smith Diane , Wang Weiwei , Chase Lisa , Estrin Hans , Van Soelen Kim Julia
Published: June 2019

Representing three states in the United States, the authors describe approaches and practices of direct-to-consumer markets from their combined experience of 40 plus years of working with Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), beginning in the early years of skepticism about the CSA model to the periods of rapid growth and optimism followed by today’s challenges regarding market saturation, competition from mainstream foods, complex logistics, and cultural disconnect. Through Cooperative Extension appointments in California, Vermont, and Washington, the authors have supported farmers as they have adopted CSA models and then adapted these models in response to changing consumer demand. This article examines the term and concept of CSA and how it has evolved in practice in different parts of the United States and at times been misused and co-opted for marketing purposes. We explore recent variations on the CSA model, including Farm Fresh Food Boxes (F3B), and discuss economic factors, marketing considerations, environmental stewardship, and community connections. The article concludes with projections for the future of CSA and the importance of maintaining authentic and beneficial relationships between farmers and consumers.
Evaluating the Thermal Performance of Wet Swales Housing Ground Source Heat Pump Elements through Laboratory Modelling
Authors: Rey-Mahía Carlos , Sañudo-Fontaneda Luis A. , Andrés-Valeri Valerio C. , Álvarez-Rabanal Felipe Pedro , Coupe Stephen John , Roces-García Jorge
Published: June 2019

Land-use change due to rapid urbanization poses a threat to urban environments, which are in need of multifunctional green solutions to face complex future socio-ecological and climate scenarios. Urban regeneration strategies, bringing green infrastructure, are currently using sustainable urban drainage systems to exploit the provision of ecosystem services and their wider benefits. The link between food, energy and water depicts a technological knowledge gap, represented by previous attempts to investigate the combination between ground source heat pump and permeable pavement systems. This research aims to transfer these concepts into greener sustainable urban drainage systems like wet swales. A 1:2 scaled laboratory models were built and analysed under a range of ground source heat pump temperatures (20–50 °C). Behavioral models of vertical and inlet/outlet temperature difference within the system were developed, achieving high R2, representing the first attempt to describe the thermal performance of wet swales in literature when designed alongside ground source heat pump elements. Statistical analyses showed the impact of ambient temperature and the heating source at different scales in all layers, as well as, the resilience to heating processes, recovering their initial thermal state within 16 h after the heating stage.
Exploring Coordinative Mechanisms for Environmental Governance in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area: An Ecology of Games Framework
Authors: Zhou Wenjie , Mu Rui
Published: June 2019

To solve regional environmental problems, there is a trend of establishing urban agglomerations and formulating cooperative policy institutions in China. The extant studies on policy institutions largely focus on the coordinative mechanisms of multiple actors within one single institution. Only a few studies have tried to understand how different policy institutions are interlinked and mutually affected to influence actors’ decisions and problem resolutions. This article applies a network-based analytical approach and adopts the Ecology of Games Framework to explore how regional environmental governance is coordinated in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. It was found that coordinative mechanisms in regional environmental governance can happen around three elements: policy institutions, policy actors, and policy issues. Policy institutions tend to serve as an umbrella for many diverse and interdependent activities and actors within individual institutions. Additionally, positive externalities emerging between different policy institutions perform as coordinators across institutions. For actors, state-level actors usually play as facilitators of policy institutions while they are not active in participating in policy games in later phases; it is regional actors, particularly from Guangdong, that are active in the operation of policy institutions. For policy issues, they emerge because they are often tied with each other, and some of them play as the common ground for seemly separating policy institutions.
Adaptive Reuse of Apartments as Heritage Assets in the Seoul Station Urban Regeneration Area
Authors: Yoon Jungwon , Lee Jihye
Published: June 2019

Apartments were crucial solutions to provide sufficient dwellings and to improve residential environment quality in the period after the Korean War. Thirty years after the first rush of apartment construction, many of those apartments have been demolished. However, several small-scale apartment complexes or single-building apartments without collective estates were not included in reconstruction efforts due to property, ownership, and reconstruction feasibility issues. Four such apartments remain in the Seoul Station Urban Regeneration Area. Although they are considered severely deteriorated, their architectural, historical, and cultural heritage values warrant inclusion in the Seoul Future Heritage list. From the perspective of urban regeneration, these apartments should be targeted for revitalization not only to preserve their originality but to improve the quality of sustainable building conditions and operations. In this study, we examine Choongjeong Apartment, Hoehyeon Civic Apartment, St.Joseph Apartment, and Seosomun Apartment in terms of balance among six heritage values and their improvement needs, as well as possible revitalization strategies that support sustainable urban regeneration in the area. We argue that their physical conditions can be brought up to applicable building codes, if financial support is forthcoming and numerous decision-makers allow. However, sustainable revitalization of apartments requires examination of factors affecting adaptive reuse. Through a literature and data collection review within an analysis framework, we analyze factors and issues for adaptive reuse of the four apartments. It is expected that the findings of this paper will provide insight into the role of various actors determining and taking actions for strategic physical interventions and change of uses.
Effects of Foreign Directors’ Nationalities and Director Types on Corporate Philanthropic Behavior: Evidence from Korean Firms
Authors: Kang Yeong Seon , Huh Eunji , Lim Mi-Hee
Published: June 2019

Addressing the fact that there are few studies exploring the relationship between board characteristics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in non-Western contexts, this study examines the relationship in South Korean corporate contexts. We concentrate on foreign directors as a board attribute, which is reported as a remarkable change in Korean corporate boards, and propose that foreign directors have different impacts on CSR investment depending on their nationality (Anglo-Americans vs. non-Anglo-Americans) and director types (insiders vs. outsiders). In detail, the presence of directors from Anglo-American countries (e.g., the United States, the United Kingdom) decreases firms’ CSR involvement, whereas the presence of directors from non-Anglo-American countries (e.g., France, Germany) increases firms’ CSR involvement. Moreover, the effects of Anglo-Americans on CSR are strengthened when they are inside (rather than outside) directors. Empirical analyses using a sample of 1828 Korean firms from 2002 to 2015 provide evidence to support the predictions. This study theoretically contributes to CSR and corporate governance literature in that it sheds light on the CSR in non-Western companies and reveals varied effects of foreign directors contingent upon their individual attributes. It also has practical implications for policymakers and corporate managers by providing insights of the changes generated by foreign members in a boardroom.
Contributing to Fisheries Sustainability: Inequality Analysis in the High Seas Catches of Countries
Authors: Gutiérrez María-José , Inguanzo Belén
Published: June 2019

The uneven exploitation of scarce natural resources threatens their sustainability by altering the commitment of agents. In fisheries, a great portion of catches is known to be concentrated in a few countries. Aiming to provide a more complete view on the distributional issues associated to the exploitation of common marine resources, this article focuses on the analysis of catches from high seas, which can be understood as the common marine resources under the current legislation. The analysis focuses on the evolution of several inequality indexes (the Gini index as well as others from the Atkinson and General Entropy families) from 1960 to 2014. Additionally, the Theil index is decomposed to observe whether this inequality is given by biological (between inequality) or technological (within inequality) reasons. All inequality indexes confirm that the exploitation of fishing resources in high seas is very unequal across countries. However, this inequality has decreased between 29% and 65% from 1960 to 2014. When considering the origin of catches, between 46% and 82% of the inequality observed is due to technological and fishermen capacity differences across the countries operating within fishing areas, while between 18% and 54% of the inequality can be attributed to biological differences between the fishing areas. Over time, the within component has decreased more than 35%, reflecting the greater reliance of more countries on high seas fisheries and their catching up on fishing technology. Being aware on the existence and the nature of catches inequality observed is necessary to develop successful policies for maintaining the sustainability of the fishery resources.
The Meir–Keeler Fixed Point Theorem for Quasi-Metric Spaces and Some Consequences
Authors: Romaguera Salvador , Tirado Pedro
Published: June 2019

We obtain quasi-metric versions of the famous Meir–Keeler fixed point theorem from which we deduce quasi-metric generalizations of Boyd–Wong’s fixed point theorem. In fact, one of these generalizations provides a solution for a question recently raised in the paper “On the fixed point theory in bicomplete quasi-metric spaces”, J. Nonlinear Sci. Appl. 2016, 9, 5245–5251. We also give an application to the study of existence of solution for a type of recurrence equations associated to certain nonlinear difference equations.
Study on a Novel Fault Diagnosis Method Based on VMD and BLM
Authors: Zheng Jianjie , Yuan Yu , Zou Li , Deng Wu , Guo Chen , Zhao Huimin
Published: June 2019

The bearing system of an alternating current (AC) motor is a nonlinear dynamics system. The working state of rolling bearings directly determines whether the machine is in reliable operation. Therefore, it is very meaningful to study the fault diagnosis and prediction of rolling bearings. In this paper, a new fault diagnosis method based on variational mode decomposition (VMD), Hilbert transform (HT), and broad learning model (BLM), called VHBLFD is proposed for rolling bearings. In the VHBLFD method, the VMD is used to decompose the vibration signals to obtain intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). The HT is used to process the IMFs to obtain Hilbert envelope spectra, which are transformed into the mapped features and the enhancement nodes of BLM according to the complexity of the modeling tasks, and the nonlinear transformation mean according to the characteristics of input data. The BLM is used to classify faults of the rolling bearings of the AC motor. Next, the pseudo-inverse operation is used to obtain the fault diagnosis results. Finally, the VHBLFD is validated by actual vibration data. The experiment results show that the BLM can quickly and accurately be trained. The VHBLFD method can achieve higher identification accuracy for multi-states of rolling bearings and takes on fast operation speed and strong generalization ability.
Recent Development on Detection Methods for the Diagnosis of Diabetic Retinopathy
Authors: Qureshi Imran , Ma Jun , Abbas Qaisar
Published: June 2019

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a complication of diabetes that exists throughout the world. DR occurs due to a high ratio of glucose in the blood, which causes alterations in the retinal microvasculature. Without preemptive symptoms of DR, it leads to complete vision loss. However, early screening through computer-assisted diagnosis (CAD) tools and proper treatment have the ability to control the prevalence of DR. Manual inspection of morphological changes in retinal anatomic parts are tedious and challenging tasks. Therefore, many CAD systems were developed in the past to assist ophthalmologists for observing inter- and intra-variations. In this paper, a recent review of state-of-the-art CAD systems for diagnosis of DR is presented. We describe all those CAD systems that have been developed by various computational intelligence and image processing techniques. The limitations and future trends of current CAD systems are also described in detail to help researchers. Moreover, potential CAD systems are also compared in terms of statistical parameters to quantitatively evaluate them. The comparison results indicate that there is still a need for accurate development of CAD systems to assist in the clinical diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy.
Quaternion Electromagnetism and the Relation with Two-Spinor Formalism
Authors: Hong In Ki , Kim Choong Sun
Published: June 2019

By using complex quaternion, which is the system of quaternion representation extended to complex numbers, we show that the laws of electromagnetism can be expressed much more simply and concisely. We also derive the quaternion representation of rotations and boosts from the spinor representation of Lorentz group. It is suggested that the imaginary “i” should be attached to the spatial coordinates, and observe that the complex conjugate of quaternion representation is exactly equal to parity inversion of all physical quantities in the quaternion. We also show that using quaternion is directly linked to the two-spinor formalism. Finally, we discuss meanings of quaternion, octonion and sedenion in physics as n-fold rotation.
Transcriptional Control and mRNA Capping by the GDP Polyribonucleotidyltransferase Domain of the Rabies Virus Large Protein
Authors: Ogino Tomoaki , Green Todd J.
Published: June 2019

Rabies virus (RABV) is a causative agent of a fatal neurological disease in humans and animals. The large (L) protein of RABV is a multifunctional RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, which is one of the most attractive targets for developing antiviral agents. A remarkable homology of the RABV L protein to a counterpart in vesicular stomatitis virus, a well-characterized rhabdovirus, suggests that it catalyzes mRNA processing reactions, such as 5′-capping, cap methylation, and 3′-polyadenylation, in addition to RNA synthesis. Recent breakthroughs in developing in vitro RNA synthesis and capping systems with a recombinant form of the RABV L protein have led to significant progress in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of RABV RNA biogenesis. This review summarizes functions of RABV replication proteins in transcription and replication, and highlights new insights into roles of an unconventional mRNA capping enzyme, namely GDP polyribonucleotidyltransferase, domain of the RABV L protein in mRNA capping and transcription initiation.
Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma (PPARγ) Suppresses Inflammation and Bacterial Clearance during Influenza-Bacterial Super-Infection
Authors: Gopal Radha , Mendy Angelico , Marinelli Michael A. , Richwalls Lacee J. , Seger Philip J. , Patel Shivani , McHugh Kevin J. , Rich Helen E. , Grousd Jennifer A. , Forno Erick , Alcorn John F.
Published: June 2019

Influenza virus is among the most common causes of respiratory illness worldwide and can be complicated by secondary bacterial pneumonia, a frequent cause of mortality. When influenza virus infects the lung, the innate immune response is activated, and interferons and inflammatory mediators are released. This “cytokine storm” is thought to play a role in influenza-induced lung pathogenesis. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) is a member of the nuclear hormone receptor super-family. PPARγ has numerous functions including enhancing lipid and glucose metabolism and cellular differentiation and suppressing inflammation. Synthetic PPARγ agonists (thiazolidinediones or glitazones) have been used clinically in the treatment of type II diabetes. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), diabetic participants taking rosiglitazone had an increased risk of mortality from influenza/pneumonia compared to those not taking the drug. We examined the effect of rosiglitazone treatment during influenza and secondary bacterial (Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus) pneumonia in mice. We found decreased influenza viral burden, decreased numbers of neutrophils and macrophages in bronchoalveolar lavage, and decreased production of cytokines and chemokines in influenza infected, rosiglitazone-treated mice when compared to controls. However, rosiglitazone treatment compromised bacterial clearance during influenza-bacterial super-infection. Both human and mouse data suggest that rosiglitazone treatment worsens the outcome of influenza-associated pneumonia.