bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Pilocarpine-Induced Status Epilepticus Is Associated with P-Glycoprotein Induction in Cardiomyocytes, Electrocardiographic Changes, and Sudden Death
Authors: Auzmendi Jerónimo , Buchholz Bruno , Salguero Jimena , Cañellas Carlos , Kelly Jazmín , Men Paula , Zubillaga Marcela , Rossi Alicia , Merelli Amalia , Gelpi Ricardo J. , Ramos Alberto J. , Lazarowski Alberto
Published: February 2018

Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) is the major cause of death in those patients suffering from refractory epilepsy (RE), with a 24-fold higher risk relative to the normal population. SUDEP risk increases with seizure frequency and/or seizure-duration as in RE and Status Epilepticus (SE). P-glycoprotein (P-gp), the product of the multidrug resistant ABCB1-MDR-1 gene, is a detoxifying pump that extrudes drugs out of the cells and can confer pharmacoresistance to the expressing cells. Neurons and cardiomyocytes normally do not express P-gp, however, it is overexpressed in the brain of patients or in experimental models of RE and SE. P-gp was also detected after brain or cardiac hypoxia. We have previously demonstrated that repetitive pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced seizures increase P-gp expression in the brain, which is associated with membrane depolarization in the hippocampus, and in the heart, which is associated with fatal SE. SE can produce hypoxic-ischemic altered cardiac rhythm (HIACR) and severe arrhythmias, and both are related with SUDEP. Here, we investigate whether SE induces the expression of hypoxia-inducible transcription factor (HIF)-1α and P-gp in cardiomyocytes, which is associated with altered heart rhythm, and if these changes are related with the spontaneous death rate. SE was induced in Wistar rats once a week for 3 weeks, by lithium-pilocarpine-paradigm. Electrocardiograms, HIF-1α, and P-gp expression in cardiomyocytes, were evaluated in basal conditions and 72 h after SE. All spontaneous deaths occurred 48 h after each SE was registered. We observed that repeated SE induced HIF-1α and P-gp expression in cardiomyocytes, electrocardiographic (ECG) changes, and a high rate of spontaneous death. Our results suggest that the highly accumulated burden of convulsive stress results in a hypoxic heart insult, where P-gp expression may play a depolarizing role in cardiomyocyte membranes and in the development of the ECG changes, such as QT interval prolongation, that could be related with SUDEP. We postulate that this mechanism could explain, in part, the higher SUDEP risk in patients with RE or SE.
A Novel Interaction Between the TLR7 and a Colchicine Derivative Revealed Through a Computational and Experimental Study
Authors: Gentile Francesco , Deriu Marco , Barakat Khaled , Danani Andrea , Tuszynski Jack
Published: February 2018

The Toll-Like Receptor 7 (TLR7) is an endosomal membrane receptor involved in the innate immune system response. Its best-known small molecule activators are imidazoquinoline derivatives such as imiquimod (R-837) and resiquimod (R-848). Recently, an interaction between R-837 and the colchicine binding site of tubulin was reported. To investigate the possibility of an interaction between structural analogues of colchicine and the TLR7, a recent computational model for the dimeric form of the TLR7 receptor was used to determine a possible interaction with a colchicine derivative called CR42-24, active as a tubulin polymerization inhibitor. The estimated values of the binding energy of this molecule with respect to the TLR7 receptor were comparable to the energies of known binders as reported in a previous study. The binding to the TLR7 was further assessed by introducing genetic transformations in the TLR7 gene in cancer cell lines and exposing them to the compound. A negative shift of the IC50 value in terms of cell growth was observed in cell lines carrying the mutated TLR7 gene. The reported study suggests a possible interaction between TLR7 and a colchicine derivative, which can be explored for rational design of new drugs acting on this receptor by using a colchicine scaffold for additional modifications.
Improved Syntheses of the mGlu5 Antagonists MMPEP and MTEP Using Sonogashira Cross-Coupling
Authors: Mu Boshuai , Mu Linjing , Schibli Roger , Ametamey Simon M. , Milicevic Sephton Selena
Published: February 2018

The Sonogashira cross-coupling, a key step in the syntheses of the mGlu5 antagonists MMPEP and MTEP, provided an improved three-step method for the preparation of MMPEP in 62% overall yield. Using Spartan molecular modeling kit an explanation for the failure to employ analogues method in the synthesis of MTEP was sought. The DFT calculations indicated that meaningful isolated yields were obtained when the HOMO energy of the aryl halide was lower than the HOMO energy of the respective alkyne.
Minimizing Freshwater Consumption in the Wash-Off Step in Textile Reactive Dyeing by Catalytic Ozonation with Carbon Aerogel Hosted Bimetallic Catalyst
Authors: Hu Enling , Shang Songmin , Tao Xiaoming , Jiang Shouxiang , Chiu Ka-Lok
Published: February 2018

In textile reactive dyeing, dyed fabrics have to be rinsed in the wash-off step several times to improve colorfastness. Thus, the multiple rinsing processes drastically increase the freshwater consumption and meanwhile generate massive waste rinsing effluents. This paper addresses an innovative alternative to recycle the waste effluents to minimize freshwater consumption in the wash-off step. Accordingly, catalytic ozonation with a highly effective catalyst has been applied to remedy the waste rinsing effluents for recycling. The carbon aerogel (CA) hosted bimetallic hybrid material (Ag–Fe2O3@CA) was fabricated and used as the catalyst in the degradation of residual dyes in the waste rinsing effluents by ozonation treatments. The results indicate the participation of Ag–Fe2O3@CA had strikingly enhanced the removal percentage of chemical oxidation demand by 30%. In addition, it has been validated that waste effluents had been successfully reclaimed after catalytic ozonation with Ag–Fe2O3@CA. They could be additionally reused to reduce freshwater consumption in the wash-off step, but without sacrificing the color quality of corresponding fabrics in terms of color difference and colorfastness. This study may be the first to report the feasibility of catalytic ozonation in minimization of freshwater consumption in the wash-off step in textile reactive dyeing.
Investigation of Mechanical Properties of Silicone/Phosphor Composite Used in Light Emitting Diodes Package
Authors: Pan Yongjun , Zhu Fulong , Fan Jiajie , Tao Jiaquan , Lin Xinxin , Wang Fengren , Shi Lang
Published: February 2018

Mass fraction of phosphor in silicone and aging time play important roles in the optics and mechanical performance of the silicone that is used in the light emitting diode (LED) package. In this paper, the mechanical properties of silicone/phosphor composites are investigated experimentally by separate tensile and compression tests. Distribution of the phosphors is observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to ensure the homogeneity of the samples. Different loading rates are applied to study the silicone material’s rate-dependent properties. The experimental results of the tensile and compression test show that the Young’s modulus increases with the mass fraction of phosphor in silicone. Longer aging time stiffens the silicone composite and weakens the ductility of the materials. A three-dimensional model used cohesive zone material (CZM) between the interface of the phosphor particles, and matrix silicone is built up to study the degradation mechanism at a micro-scale level. The simulation results indicate that the diameter of particles in silicone also impacts its interface debonding and crack growth. The theoretical results concerning the mass fraction of phosphor are in good agreement with the experiments.
Poly(mono/diethylene glycol n-tetradecyl ether vinyl ether)s with Various Molecular Weights as Phase Change Materials
Authors: Pei Dongfang , Chen Sai , Li Wei , Zhang Xingxiang
Published: February 2018

At present, research on the relationship of comb-like polymer phase change material structures and their heat storage performance is scarce. Therefore, this relationship from both micro and macro perspectives will be studied in this paper. In order to achieve a high phase change enthalpy, ethylene glycol segments were introduced between the vinyl and the alkyl side chains. A series of poly(mono/diethylene glycol n-tetradecyl ether vinyl ethers) (PC14EnVEs) (n = 1, 2) with various molecular weights were polymerized by living cationic polymerization. The results of PC14E1VE and PC14E2VE showed that the minimum number of carbon atoms required for side-chain crystallization were 7.7 and 7.2, which were lower than that reported in the literature. The phase change enthalpy 89 J/g (for poly(mono ethylene glycol n-tetradecyl ether vinyl ethers)) and 86 J/g (for poly(hexadecyl acrylate)) were approximately equal. With the increase of molecular weight, the melting temperature, the melting enthalpy, and the initial thermal decomposition temperature of PC14E1VE changed from 27.0 to 28.0 °C, from 95 to 89 J/g, and from 264 to 287 °C, respectively. When the number average molar mass of PC14EnVEs exceeded 20,000, the enthalpy values remained basically unchanged. The introduction of the ethylene glycol chain was conducive to the crystallization of alkyl side chains.
Thermally Induced Structural Transitions of Nylon 4 9 as a New Example of Even–Odd Polyamides
Authors: Olmo Cristian , Casas Maria Teresa , Martínez Juan Carlos , Franco Lourdes , Puiggalí Jordi
Published: February 2018

Crystalline morphology and structure of nylon 4 9 have been studied by means of optical and transmission electron microscopies, and X-ray diffraction. Rhombic crystals were characteristic of crystallization from glycerin dilute solutions, although the final morphology was dependent on the crystallization temperature. In any case, a single electron diffraction pattern was always obtained, being characteristic a 2 mm symmetry and reflections at spacings that were indicative of a projected rectangular unit cell with hydrogen bonds established along two planar directions (i.e., the diagonals of the unit cell), as it was determined from related polyamides. Crystallization from the melt gave rise to negative birefringent spherulites with a morphology (axialitic, speckled or ringed) that was dependent on the crystallization temperature. Kinetic analysis indicated that melt crystallization took place according to two growth mechanisms (Regimes II and III), which reflect distinct secondary nucleation rates. A complex polymorphic behavior on heating and cooling processes was evidenced by real time synchrotron experiments, being determined an intermediate crystalline structure as well as the typical pseudohexagonal arrangement associated to the Brill transition. Polymorphic transitions were highly dependent on the initial crystalline structure, being enhanced the structural transition from the low temperature structure to the intermediate one when traces of the latter were initially present. Calorimetric and infrared studies supported also the detected thermal transitions of nylon 4 9.
Renewable, Eugenol—Modified Polystyrene Layer for Liquid Crystal Orientation
Authors: Ju Changha , Kim Taehyung , Kang Hyo
Published: February 2018

We synthesized a series of plant-based and renewable, eugenol-modified polystyrene (PEUG#) (# = 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100, in which # is the molar content of the eugenol moiety in the side group). Eugenol is extracted from clove oil. We used polymer modification reactions to determine the liquid crystal (LC) orientation properties of the polymer films. In general, the LC cells fabricated using the polymer films with a higher molar content of eugenol side groups exhibited vertical LC orientation behavior. The vertical orientation behavior was well correlated with the surface energy value of the polymer films. The vertical LC orientation could be formed due to the low polar surface energy value on the polymer film generated by the nonpolar carbon group. Electro-optical performances (e.g., voltage holding ratio (VHR), residual DC voltage (R-DC), and thermal orientation stabilities) were good enough to be observed for LC cells using PEUG100 polymer as an eco-friendly LC orientation material.
Preparation of Water-soluble Polyion Complex (PIC) Micelles Covered with Amphoteric Random Copolymer Shells with Pendant Sulfonate and Quaternary Amino Groups
Authors: Nakahata Rina , Yusa Shin-ichi
Published: February 2018

An amphoteric random copolymer (P(SA)91) composed of anionic sodium 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonate (AMPS, S) and cationic 3-acrylamidopropyl trimethylammonium chloride (APTAC, A) was prepared via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) radical polymerization. The subscripts in the abbreviations indicate the degree of polymerization (DP). Furthermore, AMPS and APTAC were polymerized using a P(SA)91 macro-chain transfer agent to prepare an anionic diblock copolymer (P(SA)91S67) and a cationic diblock copolymer (P(SA)91A88), respectively. The DP was estimated from quantitative 13C NMR measurements. A stoichiometrically charge neutralized mixture of the aqueous P(SA)91S67 and P(SA)91A88 formed water-soluble polyion complex (PIC) micelles comprising PIC cores and amphoteric random copolymer shells. The PIC micelles were in a dynamic equilibrium state between PIC micelles and charge neutralized small aggregates composed of a P(SA)91S67/P(SA)91A88 pair. Interactions between PIC micelles and fetal bovine serum (FBS) in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) were evaluated by changing the hydrodynamic radius (Rh) and light scattering intensity (LSI). Increases in Rh and LSI were not observed for the mixture of PIC micelles and FBS in PBS for one day. This observation suggests that there is no interaction between PIC micelles and proteins, because the PIC micelle surfaces were covered with amphoteric random copolymer shells. However, with increasing time, the diblock copolymer chains that were dissociated from PIC micelles interacted with proteins.
George Jeffreys: Pentecostal and Contemporary Implications
Authors: Kay William K
Published: February 2018

The life and work of the Welsh evangelist George Jeffreys resulted in the planting of two denominations in the UK between 1915 and 1962, when he died. The Elim churches continue to this day to be one of the larger classical Pentecostal denominations in the UK, while the Bible Pattern Fellowship dispersed on Jeffreys’ death. The disputes that led to Jeffreys’ departure from Elim were said to have arisen from his adherence to British Israel doctrine, though his supporters believed they arose from his championing of local church ownership and democracy. This paper considers sociological and other reasons for Jeffreys’ remarkable success in the interwar years and his eventual departure from a denomination he founded. It concludes by reflecting on topics (such as the importance of debate and law) that have relevance for contemporary Pentecostalism.
Rethinking Material Religion in the East: Orientalism and Religious Material Culture in Contemporary Western Academia
Authors: Wang Xing
Published: February 2018

This paper reviews the historical development of the modern discourse of “Orientalism” and the emergence of material culture as a self-reflexive theoretical transition in the West. Further, it investigates new types of Orientalism in the study of religious material culture. The traditional Orientalist approach to understanding foreign cultures has been abandoned in Western academia for decades owing to its moral judgment and lack of neutrality. However, an implicit form of Orientalism still exists in contemporary Western academia. Material culture appeared as a new trend in understanding the world as not solely dominated by human beings but also transformed by material objects. Religious material culture, far from explaining the reality of religious phenomena in different cultures, constructs new realities to solve problems in Western intellectual discourse. This is the case with the study of Chinese religions and material life.
Standardized Soil Moisture Index for Drought Monitoring Based on Soil Moisture Active Passive Observations and 36 Years of North American Land Data Assimilation System Data: A Case Study in the Southeast United States
Authors: Xu Yaping , Wang Lei , Ross Kenton , Liu Cuiling , Berry Kimberly
Published: February 2018

Droughts can severely reduce the productivity of agricultural lands and forests. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Southeast Regional Climate Hub (SERCH) has launched the Lately Identified Geospecific Heightened Threat System (LIGHTS) to inform its users of potential water deficiency threats. The system identifies droughts and other climate anomalies such as extreme precipitation and heat stress. However, the LIGHTS model lacks input from soil moisture observations. This research aims to develop a simple and easy-to-interpret soil moisture and drought warning index—standardized soil moisture index (SSI)—by fusing the space-borne Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) soil moisture data with the North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS) Noah land surface model (LSM) output. Ground truth soil moisture data from the Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN) were collected for validation. As a result, the accuracy of using SMAP to monitor soil moisture content generally displayed a good statistical correlation with the SCAN data. The validation through the Palmer drought severity index (PDSI) and normalized difference water index (NDWI) suggested that SSI was effective and sensitive for short-term drought monitoring across large areas.
Erratum: Wang, G. et al. Multi-Spectral Remote Sensing of Phytoplankton Pigment Absorption Properties in Cyanobacteria Bloom Waters: A Regional Example in the Western Basin of Lake Erie. Remote Sens. 2017, 9, 1309
Authors: Wang Guoqing , Lee Zhongping , Mouw Colleen
Published: February 2018

After publication of the research paper [1], the authors wish to make the following correction[...]
Spatio-Temporal Interpolation of Cloudy SST Fields Using Conditional Analog Data Assimilation
Authors: Fablet Ronan , Huynh Viet Phi , Lguensat Redouane , Horrein Pierre-Henri , Chapron Bertrand
Published: February 2018

The ever increasing geophysical data streams pouring from earth observation satellite missions and numerical simulations along with the development of dedicated big data infrastructure advocate for truly exploiting the potential of these datasets, through novel data-driven strategies, to deliver enhanced satellite-derived gapfilled geophysical products from partial satellite observations. We here demonstrate the relevance of the analog data assimilation (AnDA) for an application to the reconstruction of cloud-free level-4 gridded Sea Surface Temperature (SST). We propose novel AnDA models which exploit auxiliary variables such as sea surface currents and significantly reduce the computational complexity of AnDA. Numerical experiments benchmark the proposed models with respect to state-of-the-art interpolation techniques such as optimal interpolation and EOF-based schemes. We report relative improvement up to 40%/50% in terms of RMSE and also show a good parallelization performance, which supports the feasibility of an upscaling on a global scale.
Three-Dimensional Physical and Optical Characteristics of Aerosols over Central China from Long-Term CALIPSO and HYSPLIT Data
Authors: Lu Xin , Mao Feiyue , Pan Zengxin , Gong Wei , Wang Wei , Tian Liqiao , Fang Shenghui
Published: February 2018

Aerosols greatly influence global and regional atmospheric systems, and human life. However, a comprehensive understanding of the source regions and three-dimensional (3D) characteristics of aerosol transport over central China is yet to be achieved. Thus, we investigate the 3D macroscopic, optical, physical, and transport properties of the aerosols over central China based on the March 2007 to February 2016 data obtained from the Cloud–Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) mission and the hybrid single-particle Lagrangian integrated trajectory (HYSPLIT) model. Our results showed that approximately 60% of the aerosols distributed over central China originated from local areas, whereas non-locally produced aerosols constituted approximately 40%. Anthropogenic aerosols constituted the majority of the aerosol pollutants (69%) that mainly distributed less than 2.0 km above mean sea level. Natural aerosols, which are mainly composed of dust, accounted for 31% of the total aerosols, and usually existed at an altitude higher than that of anthropogenic aerosols. Aerosol particles distributed in the near surface were smaller and more spherical than those distributed above 2.0 km. Aerosol optical depth (AOD) and the particulate depolarization ratio displayed decreasing trends, with a total decrease of 0.11 and 0.016 from March 2007 to February 2016, respectively. These phenomena indicate that during the study period, the extinction properties of aerosols decreased, and the degree of sphericity in aerosol particles increased. Moreover, the annual anthropogenic and natural AOD demonstrated decreasing trends, with a total decrease of 0.07 and 0.04, respectively. This study may benefit the evaluation of the effects of the 3D properties of aerosols on regional climates.
Assimilation of MODIS Snow Cover Fraction Observations into the NASA Catchment Land Surface Model
Authors: Toure Ally M. , Reichle Rolf H. , Forman Barton A. , Getirana Augusto , De Lannoy Gabrielle J. M.
Published: February 2018

The NASA Catchment land surface model (CLSM) is the land model component used for the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA). Here, the CLSM versions of MERRA and MERRA-Land are evaluated using snow cover fraction (SCF) observations from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Moreover, a computationally-efficient empirical scheme is designed to improve CLSM estimates of SCF, snow depth, and snow water equivalent (SWE) through the assimilation of MODIS SCF observations. Results show that data assimilation (DA) improved SCF estimates compared to the open-loop model without assimilation (OL), especially in areas with ephemeral snow cover and mountainous regions. A comparison of the SCF estimates from DA against snow cover estimates from the NOAA Interactive Multisensor Snow and Ice Mapping System showed an improvement in the probability of detection of up to 28% and a reduction in false alarms by up to 6% (relative to OL). A comparison of the model snow depth estimates against Canadian Meteorological Centre analyses showed that DA successfully improved the model seasonal bias from −0.017 m for OL to −0.007 m for DA, although there was no significant change in root-mean-square differences (RMSD) (0.095 m for OL, 0.093 m for DA). The time-average of the spatial correlation coefficient also improved from 0.61 for OL to 0.63 for DA. A comparison against in situ SWE measurements also showed improvements from assimilation. The correlation increased from 0.44 for OL to 0.49 for DA, the bias improved from −0.111 m for OL to −0.100 m for DA, and the RMSD decreased from 0.186 m for OL to 0.180 m for DA.
An Efficient Framework Model for Optimizing Routing Performance in VANETs
Authors: Al-Kharasani Nori M. , Zulkarnain Zuriati Ahmad , Subramaniam Shamala , Hanapi Zurina Mohd
Published: February 2018

Routing in Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANET) is a bit complicated because of the nature of the high dynamic mobility. The efficiency of routing protocol is influenced by a number of factors such as network density, bandwidth constraints, traffic load, and mobility patterns resulting in frequency changes in network topology. Therefore, Quality of Service (QoS) is strongly needed to enhance the capability of the routing protocol and improve the overall network performance. In this paper, we introduce a statistical framework model to address the problem of optimizing routing configuration parameters in Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication. Our framework solution is based on the utilization of the network resources to further reflect the current state of the network and to balance the trade-off between frequent changes in network topology and the QoS requirements. It consists of three stages: simulation network stage used to execute different urban scenarios, the function stage used as a competitive approach to aggregate the weighted cost of the factors in a single value, and optimization stage used to evaluate the communication cost and to obtain the optimal configuration based on the competitive cost. The simulation results show significant performance improvement in terms of the Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR), Normalized Routing Load (NRL), Packet loss (PL), and End-to-End Delay (E2ED).
On-Site Detection of Aflatoxin B1 in Grains by a Palm-Sized Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensor
Authors: Moon Jeong , Byun Jihyun , Kim Hongki , Lim Eun-Kyung , Jeong Jinyoung , Jung Juyuen , Kang Taejoon
Published: February 2018

Aflatoxins (AFs) are highly toxic compounds that can cause both acute and chronic toxicity in humans. Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is considered the most toxic of AFs. Therefore, the rapid and on-site detection of AFB1 is critical for food safety management. Here, we report the on-site detection of AFB1 in grains by a portable surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor. For the detection of AFB1, the surface of an SPR Au chip was sequentially modified by cysteine-protein G, AFB1 antibody, and bovine serum albumin (BSA). Then, the sample solution and AFB1-BSA conjugate were flowed onto the Au chip in serial order. In the absence of AFB1, the SPR response greatly increased due to the binding of AFB1-BSA on the Au chip. In the presence of AFB1, the SPR response showed little change because the small AFB1 molecule binds on the Au chip instead of the large AFB1-BSA molecule. By using this portable SPR-based competitive immunoassay, the sensor showed low limits of detection (2.51 ppb) and quantification (16.32 ppb). Furthermore, we successfully detected AFB1 in rice, peanut, and almond samples, which suggests that the proposed sensing method can potentially be applied to the on-site monitoring of mycotoxins in food.
Distributed Water Pollution Source Localization with Mobile UV-Visible Spectrometer Probes in Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Ma Junjie , Meng Fansheng , Zhou Yuexi , Wang Yeyao , Shi Ping
Published: February 2018

Pollution accidents that occur in surface waters, especially in drinking water source areas, greatly threaten the urban water supply system. During water pollution source localization, there are complicated pollutant spreading conditions and pollutant concentrations vary in a wide range. This paper provides a scalable total solution, investigating a distributed localization method in wireless sensor networks equipped with mobile ultraviolet-visible (UV-visible) spectrometer probes. A wireless sensor network is defined for water quality monitoring, where unmanned surface vehicles and buoys serve as mobile and stationary nodes, respectively. Both types of nodes carry UV-visible spectrometer probes to acquire in-situ multiple water quality parameter measurements, in which a self-adaptive optical path mechanism is designed to flexibly adjust the measurement range. A novel distributed algorithm, called Dual-PSO, is proposed to search for the water pollution source, where one particle swarm optimization (PSO) procedure computes the water quality multi-parameter measurements on each node, utilizing UV-visible absorption spectra, and another one finds the global solution of the pollution source position, regarding mobile nodes as particles. Besides, this algorithm uses entropy to dynamically recognize the most sensitive parameter during searching. Experimental results demonstrate that online multi-parameter monitoring of a drinking water source area with a wide dynamic range is achieved by this wireless sensor network and water pollution sources are localized efficiently with low-cost mobile node paths.
An Activity Recognition Framework Deploying the Random Forest Classifier and A Single Optical Heart Rate Monitoring and Triaxial Accelerometer Wrist-Band
Authors: Mehrang Saeed , Pietilä Julia , Korhonen Ilkka
Published: February 2018

Wrist-worn sensors have better compliance for activity monitoring compared to hip, waist, ankle or chest positions. However, wrist-worn activity monitoring is challenging due to the wide degree of freedom for the hand movements, as well as similarity of hand movements in different activities such as varying intensities of cycling. To strengthen the ability of wrist-worn sensors in detecting human activities more accurately, motion signals can be complemented by physiological signals such as optical heart rate (HR) based on photoplethysmography. In this paper, an activity monitoring framework using an optical HR sensor and a triaxial wrist-worn accelerometer is presented. We investigated a range of daily life activities including sitting, standing, household activities and stationary cycling with two intensities. A random forest (RF) classifier was exploited to detect these activities based on the wrist motions and optical HR. The highest overall accuracy of 89.6 ± 3.9% was achieved with a forest of a size of 64 trees and 13-s signal segments with 90% overlap. Removing the HR-derived features decreased the classification accuracy of high-intensity cycling by almost 7%, but did not affect the classification accuracies of other activities. A feature reduction utilizing the feature importance scores of RF was also carried out and resulted in a shrunken feature set of only 21 features. The overall accuracy of the classification utilizing the shrunken feature set was 89.4 ± 4.2%, which is almost equivalent to the above-mentioned peak overall accuracy.
HPT: A High Spatial Resolution Multispectral Sensor for Microsatellite Remote Sensing
Authors: Kurihara Junichi , Takahashi Yukihiro , Sakamoto Yuji , Kuwahara Toshinori , Yoshida Kazuya
Published: February 2018

Although nano/microsatellites have great potential as remote sensing platforms, the spatial and spectral resolutions of an optical payload instrument are limited. In this study, a high spatial resolution multispectral sensor, the High-Precision Telescope (HPT), was developed for the RISING-2 microsatellite. The HPT has four image sensors: three in the visible region of the spectrum used for the composition of true color images, and a fourth in the near-infrared region, which employs liquid crystal tunable filter (LCTF) technology for wavelength scanning. Band-to-band image registration methods have also been developed for the HPT and implemented in the image processing procedure. The processed images were compared with other satellite images, and proven to be useful in various remote sensing applications. Thus, LCTF technology can be considered an innovative tool that is suitable for future multi/hyperspectral remote sensing by nano/microsatellites.
A Novel Hard Decision Based Simultaneous Target Tracking and Classification Approach
Authors: Cao Wen , Hui Meng , Wu Qisheng
Published: February 2018

Methods dealing with the problem of Joint Tracking and Classification (JTC) are abundant, among which Simultaneous Tracking and Classification (STC) provides a modularized scheme solving tracking and classification subproblems simultaneously. However, there is no explicit hard decision on the class label but only soft decision (class probability) is provided. This does not fit many practical cases, in which a hard decision is urgently needed. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a Hard decision-based STC (HSTC) method. HSTC takes all the decision error rate, timeliness, and estimation error into account. Specifically, for decision, the sequential probability ratio test is adopted due to its nice properties and also the adaptability to our situation. For estimation, by utilizing the two-way information exchange between the tracker and the classifier, we propose flexible three tracking schemes related to decision. The HSTC tracking result is divided into three parts according to the time of making the hard decision. In general, the proposed HSTC method takes advantage of both SPRT and STC. Finally, two illustrative JTC examples with hard decision verify the effectiveness of the the proposed HSTC method. They show that HSTC can meet the demand of the problem, and also has the performance superiority in both decision and estimation.
Personalized Physical Activity Coaching: A Machine Learning Approach
Authors: Dijkhuis Talko B. , Blaauw Frank J. , Van Ittersum Miriam  W. , Velthuijsen Hugo , Aiello Marco
Published: February 2018

Living a sedentary lifestyle is one of the major causes of numerous health problems. To encourage employees to lead a less sedentary life, the Hanze University started a health promotion program. One of the interventions in the program was the use of an activity tracker to record participants' daily step count. The daily step count served as input for a fortnightly coaching session. In this paper, we investigate the possibility of automating part of the coaching procedure on physical activity by providing personalized feedback throughout the day on a participant's progress in achieving a personal step goal. The gathered step count data was used to train eight different machine learning algorithms to make hourly estimations of the probability of achieving a personalized, daily steps threshold. In 80% of the individual cases, the Random Forest algorithm was the best performing algorithm (mean accuracy = 0.93, range = 0.88–0.99, and mean F1-score = 0.90, range = 0.87–0.94). To demonstrate the practical usefulness of these models, we developed a proof-of-concept Web application that provides personalized feedback about whether a participant is expected to reach his or her daily threshold. We argue that the use of machine learning could become an invaluable asset in the process of automated personalized coaching. The individualized algorithms allow for predicting physical activity during the day and provides the possibility to intervene in time.
Design and Implementation of e-Health System Based on Semantic Sensor Network Using IETF YANG
Authors: Jin Wenquan , Kim Do Hyeun
Published: February 2018

Recently, healthcare services can be delivered effectively to patients anytime and anywhere using e-Health systems. e-Health systems are developed through Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) that involve sensors, mobiles, and web-based applications for the delivery of healthcare services and information. Remote healthcare is an important purpose of the e-Health system. Usually, the eHealth system includes heterogeneous sensors from diverse manufacturers producing data in different formats. Device interoperability and data normalization is a challenging task that needs research attention. Several solutions are proposed in the literature based on manual interpretation through explicit programming. However, programmatically implementing the interpretation of the data sender and data receiver in the e-Health system for the data transmission is counterproductive as modification will be required for each new device added into the system. In this paper, an e-Health system with the Semantic Sensor Network (SSN) is proposed to address the device interoperability issue. In the proposed system, we have used IETF YANG for modeling the semantic e-Health data to represent the information of e-Health sensors. This modeling scheme helps in provisioning semantic interoperability between devices and expressing the sensing data in a user-friendly manner. For this purpose, we have developed an ontology for e-Health data that supports different styles of data formats. The ontology is defined in YANG for provisioning semantic interpretation of sensing data in the system by constructing meta-models of e-Health sensors. The proposed approach assists in the auto-configuration of eHealth sensors and querying the sensor network with semantic interoperability support for the e-Health system.
The Effects of Cueing and Framing on Youth Attitudes towards Gun Control and Gun Rights
Authors: Wu Stephen
Published: February 2018

I analyze attitudes towards gun control from a recent survey of American high school students. For students who most closely identify as Republicans, cueing them to think about prior school shootings increases their agreement that armed staff in schools will improve safety and arming citizens will reduce risk of mass shootings. For those identifying as Democrats and Independents, providing them with selective information that certain states have loose gun control laws and low rates of gun violence makes them more supportive of gun rights. For Republicans, providing selective information that certain states have loose gun control laws and high rates of gun violence makes them less supportive of gun rights. These results suggest that emotional cues may exacerbate a priori biases, while informational cues may be more likely to change people’s minds about firearm policies.
The Use of an Optical Measurement System to Monitor Sports Performance
Authors: Magrum Eric D. , Wagle John P. , DeWeese Brad H. , Sato Kimitake , Stone Michael H.
Published: February 2018

The purpose of this study was to compare ground contact time between an optical measurement system and a force platform. Participants in this study included six collegiate level athletes who performed drop jumps and sprint strike steps for a total of 15 repetitions each. Ground contact data was simultaneously collected from an optical measurement system and a force platform, at a sampling frequency of 1000 Hz. Data was then analyzed with Pearson’s correlation and paired sample t-tests. The measures from the optical measurement system were found to be significantly higher (p < 0.001) than measures from the force platform in both conditions. Although significantly different, the extremely large relationships (0.979, 0.993) found between the two devices suggest the optical sensor is able to detect similar changes in performance to that of a force platform. Practitioners may continue to utilize optical sensors to monitor performance as it may provide a superior user-friendly alternative to more traditional based monitoring procedures, but must comprehend the inherent limitations due to the design of the optical sensors.
CSR Performance, Financial Reporting, and Investors’ Perception on Financial Reporting
Authors: Timbate Lukas , Park Cheong Kyu
Published: February 2018

This study examines whether socially responsible firms behave differently from other firms in their financial reporting. Specifically, we question whether firms that are better in their corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance also behave in a responsible manner to maintain their financial reporting quality and whether the market rewards such responsible behaviors. Using data from S&P 500 US companies, we find that socially responsible firms are less likely to manage their earnings. However, we fail to find significant relationships between CSR and investors’ perceptions on earnings, measured by stock returns and earnings response coefficient. We interpret the results as investors not fully reflecting the benefits from CSR performance. Our findings are consistent with the notion that CSR activities are motivated by managers’ ethical incentives to serve the interests of stakeholders.
A Hybrid Approach to Explore the Risk Dependency Structure among Agribusiness Firms
Authors: Lei Zhimei , Wu Kuo-Jui , Cui Li , Lim Ming K
Published: February 2018

Although the risk management of agricultural firms is important, studies on the extreme risk dependence among agribusiness firms are minimal due to the diversity and complexity of the risks faced by agricultural firms. In this study, we developed a hybrid approach to analyse and uncover the potential risk dependence among agricultural firms. We examined thirty-two agricultural companies to study their dependence structure for risk losses. Three primary findings emerged. First, risk dependence is strong with an average value of 0.96. Second, the dependence structure is hierarchical and includes two network communities. Third, some key agricultural firms were identified in the dependence structure. These key firms are critical for the transmission of negative impacts across agricultural firms. Correspondingly, we suggest measures and strategies (such as improving the level of technological innovation and joint risk resistance capability) to reduce the impact of risk dependence.
An Assessment Tool to Integrate Sustainability Principles into the Global Supply Chain
Authors: Muñoz-Torres María Jesús , Fernández-Izquierdo María Ángeles , Rivera-Lirio Juana M. , Ferrero-Ferrero Idoya , Escrig-Olmedo Elena , Gisbert-Navarro José Vicente , Marullo María Chiara
Published: February 2018

The integration of sustainability principles into the assessment of companies along the supply chains is a growing research area. However, there is an absence of a generally accepted method to evaluate corporate sustainability performance (CSP), and the models and frameworks proposed by the literature present various important challenges to be addressed. A systematic literature review on the supply chain at the corporate level has been conducted, analyzing the main strengths and gaps in the sustainability assessment literature. Therefore, this paper aims to contribute to the development of this field by proposing an assessment framework a leading company can adopt to expand sustainability principles to the rest of the members of the supply chain. This proposal is based on best practices and integrates and shares efforts with key initiatives (for instance, the Organizational Environmental Footprint from the European Commission and United Nations Environment Programme and the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry UNEP/SETAC); moreover, it overcomes important limitations of the current sustainability tools in a supply chain context consistent with the circular economy, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), planetary boundaries, and social foundation requirements. The results obtained create, on the one hand, new opportunities for academics; and, on the other hand, in further research, the use of this framework could be a means of actively engaging companies in their supply chains and of achieving the implementation of practical and comprehensive CSP assessment.
Family Businesses Transitioning to a Circular Economy Model: The Case of “Mercadona”
Authors: Núñez-Cacho Pedro , Molina-Moreno Valentín , Corpas-Iglesias Francisco A. , Cortés-García Francisco J.
Published: February 2018

Sustainability addresses environmental and social issues affecting this and future generations. When family businesses perceive that the community is disrupted, recognize an environmental problem and respond by implementing new environmental policies or regulations, the family business’s socio-emotional values press to transition to a more sustainable production system, such as the ‘Circular Economy.’ Drawing on the Dubin (1978) methodology—a paradigm for building models through deduction—we design a sustainable model, which shows family businesses’ responses to changes in the environment. It explains the reasons why family firms transition to the Circular Economy, based on the theory of Socio-Emotional Wealth (SEW). We check the model through the case study of the food retail leader in the Spanish market—Mercadona—which applies policies about energy, resources and waste to become a Circular Economy business model. Because of the strong family character of Mercadona, this case can be useful for the decision-making of other family businesses.
A Regional Analysis of the Life Cycle Environmental and Economic Tradeoffs of Different Economic Growth Paths
Authors: Mo Weiwei , Balen Darline , Moura Marianna , Gardner Kevin H.
Published: February 2018

Different economic development strategies may result in varied socioeconomic and environmental synergies or tradeoffs, suggesting an opportunity for environmentally conscious planning. To understand such synergies or tradeoffs, a dynamic environmental life cycle assessment was conducted for eleven groups of New Hampshire industries. Historical state level Gross Domestic Product (GDP)-by-industry data was combined with economic input-output analysis to calculate the direct and life cycle energy use, freshwater use, greenhouse gas emissions, and eutrophication potential of each industry on a yearly basis for the period of 1997–2012. The future development of agriculture, traditional manufacturing, high tech, and tourism industries were investigated based on government projections. Total life cycle impacts of the 11 industries were found to represent around three to seven times those of direct impacts, indicating the significance of the supply chain impacts. Traditional manufacturing has the highest life cycle impacts even though it contributes to less than 10% of the state GDP. Future development of high tech was found to be the best strategy to increase GDP while imposing the least additional environmental impacts. Tourism presents relatively high impacts in terms of freshwater use and eutrophication potential, and a change in recreational style might be able to reduce its impacts.
Broadcasting and Telecommunications Industries in the Convergence Age: Toward a Sustainable Public-Centric Public Interest
Authors: Choi Hwanho
Published: February 2018

The emergence of new digital technologies, such as the Internet and new business models such as over-the-top (OTT) operators that utilize them, has transformed the media and broadcasting industries. As advanced technologies and business models are adopted, convergence between the broadcasting and telecommunication (“telecom”) sectors has become a common business practice. Using the South Korean case study of a failed acquisition attempt of CJ HelloVision by SK Telecom, this research identifies the three essential features (economic, sociocultural, and industrial structure issues) related to convergence in the broadcasting and media industries. Further, this study reveals the potential consequences of convergence to the public, industry, and society, and offers critical implications for future policy direction. Finally, this study suggests the need for a change in the policy direction in the age of convergence in the broadcasting and media industries. In addition, it calls for the importance of a public-centric public benefit. Social and consumer welfare, and not profit or industrial growth, should dictate the public interest orientation in the broadcasting and media industries. Therefore, the meaning of public interest in broadcasting and media should not be limited in the industrial context of media; rather, it should consider the access to service by the public, the condition of consumption, and its consequences in the perspective of social and consumer welfare.
Veterinary Telemedicine: A System Dynamics Case Study
Authors: Voyer John , Jordan Tristan
Published: February 2018

Veterinary telemedicine has existed since the late 1990s. Various scholars have predicted its growth, others its decline. We constructed a system dynamics model of a veterinary telemedicine company providing services in one specialty in the industry. The model showed that severe shortages of specialists would limit growth in that, even with extensive marketing efforts. This limitation is likely to hold in other aspects of veterinary telemedicine. The paper concludes with recommendations for the company and the industry.