bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effects of Quantitative Ordinal Scale Design on the Accuracy of Estimates of Mean Disease Severity
Authors: Liu Hung I. , Tsai Jia Ren , Chung Wen Hsin , Bock Clive H. , Chiang Kuo Szu
Published: September 2019

Estimates of plant disease severity are crucial to various practical and research-related needs in agriculture. Ordinal scales are used for categorizing severity into ordered classes. Certain characteristics of quantitative ordinal scale design may affect the accuracy of the specimen estimates and, consequently, affect the accuracy of the resulting mean disease severity for the sample. The aim of this study was to compare mean estimates based on various quantitative ordinal scale designs to the nearest percent estimates, and to investigate the effect of the number of classes in an ordinal scale on the accuracy of that mean. A simulation method was employed. The criterion for comparison was the mean squared error of the mean disease severity for each of the different scale designs used. The results indicate that scales with seven or more classes are preferable when actual mean disease severities of 50% or less are involved. Moreover, use of an amended 10% quantitative ordinal scale with additional classes at low severities resulted in a more accurate mean severity compared to most other scale designs at most mean disease severities. To further verify the simulation results, estimates of mean severity of pear scab on samples of leaves from orchards in Taiwan demonstrated similar results. These observations contribute to the development of plant disease assessment scales to improve the accuracy of estimates of mean disease severities.
Back to the Future: Revisiting the Application of an Enzyme Kinetic Equation to Maize Development Nearly Four Decades Later
Authors: Kiniry James R. , Kim Sumin , Tonnang Henri E. Z.
Published: September 2019

With the recent resurgence in interest in models describing maize (Zea mays L.) development rate responses to temperature, this study uses published data to refit the Poikilotherm equation and compare it to broken stick “heat stress” equations. These data were for the development rate of eight open pollinated maize varieties at diverse sites in Africa. The Poikilotherm equation was applied with the original published parameters and after refitting with the data in this study. The heat stress equation was tested after fitting with just the first variety and after fitting with each variety. The Poikilotherm equation with the original parameter values had large errors in predicting development rates in much of the temperature range. The adjusted Poikilotherm equation did much better with the root-mean-square error (RMSE) decreasing from 0.034 to 0.003 (1/day) for a representative variety. The heat stress equation fit to the first variety did better than the Poikilotherm equation when applied to all the varieties. The heat stress equations fitted separately for each variety did not have an improved fit compared to the one heat stress equation. Thus, separate fitting of such an equation for different varieties may not be necessary. The one heat stress equation, the separate heat stress equation, and the Poikilotherm equation each had a better fit than nonlinear Briere et al. curves. The Poikilotherm equation showed promise, realistically capturing the high, low, and optimum rate values measured. All the equations showed promise to some degree for future applications in simulating the maize development rate. When fitting separate regressions for each variety for the heat stress equations, the base temperatures had a mean of 5.3 °C, similar to a previously published value of 6 °C. The last variety had noticeably different rates than the others. This study demonstrated that a simple approach (the heat stress equation) should be adequate in many cases. It also demonstrated that more detailed equations can be useful when a more mechanistic system is desired. Future research could investigate the reasons for the different development rate response of the last variety and investigate similar varieties.
A Pilot Study of Wet Lung Using Lung Ultrasound Surface Wave Elastography in an Ex Vivo Swine Lung Model
Authors: Zhang Xiaoming , Zhou Boran , Zhang Alex X.
Published: September 2019

Extravascular lung water (EVLW) is a basic symptom of congestive heart failure and other conditions. Computed tomography (CT) is standard method used to assess EVLW, but it requires ionizing radiation and radiology facilities. Lung ultrasound reverberation artifacts called B-lines have been used to assess EVLW. However, analysis of B-line artifacts depends on expert interpretation and is subjective. Lung ultrasound surface wave elastography (LUSWE) was developed to measure lung surface wave speed. This pilot study aimed at measureing lung surface wave speed due to lung water in an ex vivo swine lung model. The surface wave speeds of a fresh ex vivo swine lung were measured at 100 Hz, 200 Hz, 300 Hz, and 400 Hz. An amount of water was then filled into the lung through its trachea. Ultrasound imaging was used to guide the water filling until significant changes were visible on the imaging. The lung surface wave speeds were measured again. It was found that the lung surface wave speed increases with frequency and decreases with water volume. These findings are confirmed by experimental results on an additional ex vivo swine lung sample.
Preparation and Characterization of Chitosan–Alginate Polyelectrolyte Complexes Loaded with Antibacterial Thyme Oil Nanoemulsions
Authors: Hamedi Hamid , Moradi Sara , Tonelli Alan E. , Hudson Samuel M.
Published: September 2019

Biomedical industries are attempting to utilize natural materials, as they are bio-compatible, non-toxic, and show bioactive properties, like antimicrobial activity. In this study, natural polyelectrolyte complexed chitosan/alginate films (PECs) were prepared via a casting/solvent evaporation technique, and their characteristics and drug release properties were investigated. PEC films made with two different overall polymer contents, 0.4 and 1 w/v%, were loaded with thyme oil nanoemulsion as drug carrier. The structure of the films was studied by FTIR and optical and scanning electron microscopy. Prepared PEC films had good mechanical and water vapor permeability properties. Release of the thyme oil from the pH-sensitive PEC films (TM-PEC) was detected and followed by UV spectroscopy. The results indicated that the drug release rate of TM-PEC films was the fastest when the chitosan content was 1 %w/v, and various mathematical models were analyzed for investigating the drug release mechanism. Antibacterial tests were performed by counting the number of surviving gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. The in vitro test indicated the limitation Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus) growth in the presence of TM-PEC films. The MTT test showed more cell viability of the TM-PEC film in comparison with that of the PEC film without TM. Based on the measured physical and antibacterial properties, the chitosan–alginate PEC films loaded with antibacterial essential oils can be considered for biomedical applications, such as wound dressings or controlled release systems.
Continuous-Variable Quantum Key Distribution Robust Against Polarization-Dependent Loss
Authors: Guo Ying , Cai Minglu , Huang Duan
Published: September 2019

Polarization is one of the physical characteristics of optical waves, and the polarization-division-multiplexing (PDM) scheme has gained much attraction thanks to its capability of achieving high transmission rate. In the PDM-based quantum key distribution (QKD), the key information could be encoded independently by the optical fields E x and E y , where the 2-dimensional modulation and orthogonal polarization multiplexing usually result in two-fold channel capacity. Unfortunately, the non-negligible polarization-dependent loss (PDL) caused by the crystal dichroism in optical devices may result in the signal distortion, leading to an imbalanced optical signal-to-noise ratio. Here, we present a polarization-pairwise coding (PPC) scheme for the PDM-based continuous-variable (CV) QKD systems to overcome the PDL problem. Numerical simulation results indicate that the PDL-induced performance degradation can be mitigated. In addition, the PPC scheme, tailored to be robust against a high level of PDL, offers a suitable solution to improve the performance of the PDM-based CVQKD in terms of the secret key rate and maximal transmission distance.
Shipborne Acquisition, Tracking, and Pointing Experimental Verifications towards Satellite-to-Sea Laser Communication
Authors: He Dong , Wang Qiang , Liu Xiang , Song Zhijun , Zhou Jianwei , Wang Zhongke , Gao Chunyang , Zhang Tong , Qi Xiaoping , Tan Yi , Ren Ge , Qi Bo , Ren Jigang , Cao Yuan , Huang Yongmei
Published: September 2019

Acquisition, tracking, and pointing (ATP) is a key technology in free space laser communication that has a characteristically high precision. In this paper, we report the acquisition and tracking of low-Earth-orbit satellites using shipborne ATP and verify the feasibility of establishing optical links between laser communication satellites and ships in the future. In particular, we developed a shipborne ATP system for satellite-to-sea applications in laser communications. We also designed an acquisition strategy for satellite-to-sea laser communication. In addition, a method was proposed for improving shipborne ATP pointing error. We tracked some stars at sea, achieving a pointing accuracy of less than 180μrad.We then acquired and tracked some low-Earth-orbit satellites at sea, achieving a tracking accuracy of about 20μrad. The results achieved in this work experimentally demonstrate the feasibility of ATP in satellite-to-sea laser communications.
On Evolution of Young Wind Waves in Time and Space
Authors: Shemer Lev
Published: September 2019

The mechanisms governing the evolution of the wind-wave field in time and in space are not yet fully understood. Various theoretical approaches have been offered to model wind-wave generation. To examine their validity, detailed and accurate experiments under controlled conditions have to be carried out. Since it is next to impossible to get the required control of the governing parameters and to accumulate detailed data in field experiments, laboratory studies are needed. Extensive previously unavailable results on the spatial and temporal variation of wind waves accumulated in our laboratory under a variety of wind-forcing conditions and using diverse measuring techniques are reviewed. The spatial characteristics of the wind-wave field were determined using stereo video imaging. The turbulent airflow above wind waves was investigated using an X-hot film. The wave field under steady wind forcing as well as evolving from rest under impulsive loading was studied. An extensive discussion of the various aspects of wind waves is presented from a single consistent viewpoint. The advantages of the stochastic approach suggested by Phillips over the deterministic theory of wind-wave generation introduced by Miles are demonstrated. Essential differences between the spatial and the temporal analyses of wind waves’ evolution are discussed, leading to examination of the applicability of possible approaches to wind-wave modeling.
Energy Management of a DC Microgrid Composed of Photovoltaic/Fuel Cell/Battery/Supercapacitor Systems
Authors: A. Kamel Ahmed , Rezk Hegazy , Shehata Nabila , Thomas Jean
Published: September 2019

In this paper, a classic proportional–integral (PI) control strategy as an energy management strategy (EMS) and a microgrid stand-alone power system configuration are proposed to work independently out of grid. The proposed system combines photovoltaics (PVs), fuel cells (FCs), batteries, and supercapacitors (SCs). The system supplies a dump load with its demand power. The system includes DC/DC and DC/AC converters, as well as a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) to maximize the harvested energy from PV array. The system advantages are represented to overcome the problem of each source when used individually and to optimize the hydrogen consumption. The classic PI control strategy is used to control the main system parameters like FC current and the state-of-charge (SOC) for the battery and SC. In order to analyze and monitor the system, it was implemented in the MATLAB/Simulink. The simulation done for fuzzy logic and high frequency decoupling and state machine control strategies to validate the PI classic control strategy. The obtained results confirmed that the system works efficiently as a microgrid system. The results show that the SOC for the battery is kept between 56 and 65.4%, which is considered a proper value for such types of batteries. The DC bus voltage (VDC) is kept within the acceptable level. Moreover, the H2 fuel consumption is 12.1 gm, as the FCs are used as supported sources working with the PV. A big area for improvement is available for cost saving, which suggests the need for further research through system optimization and employing different control strategies.
In-Line Monitoring of Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) Production during High-Cell-Density Plant Oil Cultivations Using Photon Density Wave Spectroscopy
Authors: Gutschmann Björn , Schiewe Thomas , Weiske Manon T.H. , Neubauer Peter , Hass Roland , Riedel Sebastian L.
Published: September 2019

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biodegradable plastic-like materials with versatile properties. Plant oils are excellent carbon sources for a cost-effective PHA production, due to their high carbon content, large availability, and comparatively low prices. Additionally, efficient process development and control is required for competitive PHA production, which can be facilitated by on-line or in-line monitoring devices. To this end, we have evaluated photon density wave (PDW) spectroscopy as a new process analytical technology for Ralstonia eutropha (Cupriavidus necator) H16 plant oil cultivations producing polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) as an intracellular polymer. PDW spectroscopy was used for in-line recording of the reduced scattering coefficient µs’ and the absorption coefficient µa at 638 nm. A correlation of µs’ with the cell dry weight (CDW) and µa with the residual cell dry weight (RCDW) was observed during growth, PHB accumulation, and PHB degradation phases in batch and pulse feed cultivations. The correlation was used to predict CDW, RCDW, and PHB formation in a high-cell-density fed-batch cultivation with a productivity of 1.65 gPHB·L−1·h−1 and a final biomass of 106 g·L−1 containing 73 wt% PHB. The new method applied in this study allows in-line monitoring of CDW, RCDW, and PHA formation.
Assessment of the Inner Surface Microstructure of Decellularized Cortical Bone by a Scanning Electron Microscope
Authors: Jeong Heonuk , Asai Jungo , Ushida Takashi , Furukawa Katsuko S.
Published: September 2019

The microstructural changes of bones, which form a hierarchy of skeletal tissue, vary, depending on their condition, and are affected by the behaviors of bone cells. The purpose of this study is to assess the microstructural changes in the inner femoral surface of Sprague Dawley rats according to the conditions using a scanning electron microscope. Microstructural differences on the endocortical surface were observed in the characteristics of osteocytic canaliculi, bone fibers, and surface roughness, showing a rougher surface in old adults and an osteoporosis model by quantitative comparison. These results could be helpful for developing a basic understanding of the microstructural changes that occur on the bone surface under various conditions.
Elevated SH3BP5 Correlates with Poor Outcome and Contributes to the Growth of Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cells
Authors: Li Minjing , Hao Shiyu , Li Chunling , Xiao Huimin , Sun Liyuan , Yu Zhenhai , Zhang Naili , Xiong Yanlian , Zhao Dongmei , Yin Yancun
Published: September 2019

Current strategies are not especially successful in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The identification and characterization of oncogenes crucial to the survival and growth of leukemia cells will provide potential targets for the exploitation of novel therapies. Herein, we report that the elevated expression of SH3 domain-binding protein 5 (SH3BP5) significantly correlates with poor outcomes of AML patients. To test whether SH3BP5 contributes to the growth and survival of AML cells, we use the shRNA-encoding lentivirus system to achieve the knockdown of SH3BP5 expression in human AML cell lines U937, THP-1, Kasumi-1, and MV4-11. Functionally, the knockdown of SH3BP5 expression markedly inhibits the cell viability and induced apoptosis of these leukemia cells. Mechanistically, western blot analysis indicates that the knockdown of SH3BP5 expression decreases the phosphorylation of JNK and BAD. Moreover, the JNK agonist anisomycin rescues the growth inhibition phenotype of SH3BP5 deficiency in THP-1 cells. Moreover, the expression of SH3BP5 positively correlates with CD25 and CD123 levels. Finally, our study highlights the crucial role of SH3BP5 in promoting the survival of AML cells, and its suppression may be a potential therapeutic strategy for treating human AML.
Latest Trends in Biosensing for Microphysiological Organs-on-a-Chip and Body-on-a-Chip Systems
Authors: Kratz Sebastian , Höll Gregor , Schuller Patrick , Ertl Peter , Rothbauer Mario
Published: September 2019

Organs-on-chips are considered next generation in vitro tools capable of recreating in vivo like, physiological-relevant microenvironments needed to cultivate 3D tissue-engineered constructs (e.g., hydrogel-based organoids and spheroids) as well as tissue barriers. These microphysiological systems are ideally suited to (a) reduce animal testing by generating human organ models, (b) facilitate drug development and (c) perform personalized medicine by integrating patient-derived cells and patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into microfluidic devices. An important aspect of any diagnostic device and cell analysis platform, however, is the integration and application of a variety of sensing strategies to provide reliable, high-content information on the health status of the in vitro model of choice. To overcome the analytical limitations of organs-on-a-chip systems a variety of biosensors have been integrated to provide continuous data on organ-specific reactions and dynamic tissue responses. Here, we review the latest trends in biosensors fit for monitoring human physiology in organs-on-a-chip systems including optical and electrochemical biosensors.
Flexible PET/ITO/Ag SERS Platform for Label-Free Detection of Pesticides
Authors: Nowicka Ariadna B. , Czaplicka Marta , Kowalska Aneta A. , Szymborski Tomasz , Kamińska Agnieszka
Published: September 2019

We show a new type of elastic surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) platform made of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) covered with a layer of indium tin oxide (ITO). This composite is subjected to dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) that develops the active surface of the PET/ITO foil. To enhance the Raman signal, a modified composite was covered with a thin layer of silver using the physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique. The SERS platform was used for measurements of para-mercaptobenzoic acid (p-MBA) and popular pesticides, i.e., Thiram and Carbaryl. The detection and identification of pesticides on the surface of fruits and vegetables is a crucial issue due to extensive use of those chemical substances for plant fungicide and insecticide protection. Therefore, the developed PET/ITO/Ag SERS platform was dedicated to quantitative analysis of selected pesticides, i.e., Thiram and Carbaryl from fruits. The presented SERS platform exhibits excellent enhancement and reproducibility of the Raman signal, which enables the trace analysis of these pesticides in the range up to their maximum residues limit. Based on the constructed calibration curves, the pesticide concentrations from the skin of apples was estimated as 2.5 µg/mL and 0.012 µg/mL for Thiram and Carbaryl, respectively. Additionally, the PET/ITO/Ag SERS platform satisfies other spectroscopic properties required for trace pesticide analysis e.g., ease, cost-effective method of preparation, and specially designed physical properties, especially flexibility and transparency, that broaden the sampling versatility to irregular surfaces.
Fumaric Acids Do Not Directly Influence Gene Expression of Neuroprotective Factors in Highly Purified Rodent Astrocytes
Authors: Pars Kaweh , Gingele Marina , Kronenberg Jessica , Prajeeth Chittappen K , Skripuletz Thomas , Pul Refik , Jacobs Roland , Gudi Viktoria , Stangel Martin
Published: September 2019

(1) Background: Dimethylfumarate (DMF) has been approved for the treatment of relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis. However, the mode of action of DMF and its assumed active primary metabolite monomethylfumarate (MMF) is still not fully understood. Former reports suggest a neuroprotective effect of DMF mediated via astrocytes by reducing pro-inflammatory activation of these glial cells. We investigated potential direct effects of DMF and MMF on neuroprotective factors like neurotrophic factors and growth factors in astrocytes to elucidate further possible mechanisms of the mode of action of fumaric acids; (2) Methods: highly purified cultures of primary rat astrocytes were pre-treated in vitro with DMF or MMF and incubated with lipopolysaccharides (LPS) or a mixture of interferon gamma (IFN-γ) plus interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β) in order to simulate an inflammatory environment. The gene expression of neuroprotective factors such as neurotrophic factors (nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (NGF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF)) and growth factors (fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2), platelet-derived growth factor subunit A (PDGFa), ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF)) as well as cytokines (tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), interleukin 6 (IL-6), IL-1β, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS)) was examined by determining the transcription level with real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR); (3) Results: The stimulation of highly purified astrocytes with either LPS or cytokines changed the expression profile of growth factors and pro- inflammatory factors. However, the expression was not altered by either DMF nor MMF in unstimulated or stimulated astrocytes; (4) Conclusions: There was no direct influence of fumaric acids on neuroprotective factors in highly purified primary rat astrocytes. This suggests that the proposed potential neuroprotective effect of fumaric acid is not mediated by direct stimulation of neurotrophic factors in astrocytes but is rather mediated by other pathways or indirect mechanisms via other glial cells like microglia as previously demonstrated.
Heat Transfer Behavior of Green Roof Systems under Fire Condition: A Numerical Study
Authors: Gerzhova Nataliia , Blanchet Pierre , Dagenais Christian , Côté Jean , Ménard Sylvain
Published: September 2019

Currently, green roof fire risks are not clearly defined. This is because the problem is still not well understood, which raises concerns. The possibility of plants catching fire, especially during drought periods, is one of the reasons for necessary protection measures. The potential fire hazard for roof decks covered with vegetation has not yet been fully explored. The present study analyzes the performance of green roofs in extreme heat conditions by simulating a heat transfer process through the assembly. The main objective of this study was to determine the conditions and time required for the roof deck to reach a critical temperature. The effects of growing medium layer thickness (between 3 and 10 cm), porosity (0.5 to 0.7), and heating intensity (50, 100, 150, and 200 kW/m2) were examined. It was found that a green roof can protect a wooden roof deck from igniting with only 3 cm of soil coverage when exposed to severe heat fluxes for at least 25 minutes. The dependency of failure time on substrate thickness decreases with increasing heating load. It was also found that substrate porosity has a low impact on time to failure, and only at high heating loads.
Regulation of Ketogenic Enzyme HMGCS2 by Wnt/β-catenin/PPARγ Pathway in Intestinal Cells
Authors: Kim Ji Tae , Li Chang , Weiss Heidi L. , Zhou Yuning , Liu Chunming , Wang Qingding , Evers B. Mark
Published: September 2019

The Wnt/β-catenin pathway plays a crucial role in development and renewal of the intestinal epithelium. Mitochondrial 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA synthase 2 (HMGCS2), a rate-limiting ketogenic enzyme in the synthesis of ketone body β-hydroxybutyrate (βHB), contributes to the regulation of intestinal cell differentiation. Here, we have shown that HMGCS2 is a novel target of Wnt/β-catenin/PPARγ signaling in intestinal epithelial cancer cell lines and normal intestinal organoids. Inhibition of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway resulted in increased protein and mRNA expression of HMGCS2 and βHB production in human colon cancer cell lines LS174T and Caco2. In addition, Wnt inhibition increased expression of PPARγ and its target genes, FABP2 and PLIN2, in these cells. Conversely, activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling decreased protein and mRNA levels of HMGCS2, βHB production, and expression of PPARγ and its target genes in LS174T and Caco2 cells and mouse intestinal organoids. Moreover, inhibition of PPARγ reduced HMGCS2 expression and βHB production, while activation of PPARγ increased HMGCS2 expression and βHB synthesis. Furthermore, PPARγ bound the promoter of HMGCS2 and this binding was enhanced by β-catenin knockdown. Finally, we showed that HMGCS2 inhibited, while Wnt/β-catenin stimulated, glycolysis, which contributed to regulation of intestinal cell differentiation. Our results identified HMGCS2 as a downstream target of Wnt/β-catenin/PPARγ signaling in intestinal epithelial cells. Moreover, our findings suggest that Wnt/β-catenin/PPARγ signaling regulates intestinal cell differentiation, at least in part, through regulation of ketogenesis.
Analytic Expressions for Radar Sea Clutter WSSUS Scattering Functions
Authors: Cooke Corey
Published: September 2019

Bello’s stochastic linear time-varying system theory has been widely used in the wireless communications literature to characterize multipath fading channel statistics. In the context of radar backscatter, this formulation allows for statistical characterization of distributed radar targets in range and Doppler using wide-sense stationary uncorrelated scattering (WSSUS) models. WSSUS models separate the channel from the effect of the waveform and receive filter, making it an ideal formulation for waveform design problems. Of particular interest in the radar waveform design community is the ability to suppress unwanted backscatter from the earth’s surface, known as clutter. Various methods for estimating WSSUS system functions have been studied in the literature, but to date no analytic expressions for radar surface clutter range-Doppler scattering functions exist. In this work we derive a frequency-selective generalization of the Jakes Doppler spectrum model, which is widely used in the wireless communications literature, adapt it for use in radar problems, and show how the maximum entropy method can be used to extend this model to account for internal clutter motion. Validation of the spectral and stationarity properties of the proposed model against a subset of the Australian Ingara sea clutter database is performed, and good agreement is shown.
A Systematic Mapping of Translation-Enabling Technologies for Sign Languages
Authors: Naranjo-Zeledón Luis , Peral Jesús , Ferrández Antonio , Chacón-Rivas Mario
Published: September 2019

Sign languages (SL) are the first language for most deaf people. Consequently, bidirectional communication among deaf and non-deaf people has always been a challenging issue. Sign language usage has increased due to inclusion policies and general public agreement, which must then become evident in information technologies, in the many facets that comprise sign language understanding and its computational treatment. In this study, we conduct a thorough systematic mapping of translation-enabling technologies for sign languages. This mapping has considered the most recommended guidelines for systematic reviews, i.e., those pertaining software engineering, since there is a need to account for interdisciplinary areas of accessibility, human computer interaction, natural language processing, and education, all of them part of ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) computing classification system directly related to software engineering. An ongoing development of a software tool called SYMPLE (SYstematic Mapping and Parallel Loading Engine) facilitated the querying and construction of a base set of candidate studies. A great diversity of topics has been studied over the last 25 years or so, but this systematic mapping allows for comfortable visualization of predominant areas, venues, top authors, and different measures of concentration and dispersion. The systematic review clearly shows a large number of classifications and subclassifications interspersed over time. This is an area of study in which there is much interest, with a basically steady level of scientific publications over the last decade, concentrated mainly in the European continent. The publications by country, nevertheless, usually favor their local sign language.
Model-Checking Speculation-Dependent Security Properties: Abstracting and Reducing Processor Models for Sound and Complete Verification
Authors: Cabodi Gianpiero , Camurati Paolo , Finocchiaro Fabrizio , Vendraminetto Danilo
Published: September 2019

Spectre and Meltdown attacks in modern microprocessors represent a new class of attacks that have been difficult to deal with. They underline vulnerabilities in hardware design that have been going unnoticed for years. This shows the weakness of the state-of-the-art verification process and design practices. These attacks are OS-independent, and they do not exploit any software vulnerabilities. Moreover, they violate all security assumptions ensured by standard security procedures, (e.g., address space isolation), and, as a result, every security mechanism built upon these guarantees. These vulnerabilities allow the attacker to retrieve leaked data without accessing the secret directly. Indeed, they make use of covert channels, which are mechanisms of hidden communication that convey sensitive information without any visible information flow between the malicious party and the victim. The root cause of this type of side-channel attacks lies within the speculative and out-of-order execution of modern high-performance microarchitectures. Since modern processors are hard to verify with standard formal verification techniques, we present a methodology that shows how to transform a realistic model of a speculative and out-of-order processor into an abstract one. Following related formal verification approaches, we simplify the model under consideration by abstraction and refinement steps. We also present an approach to formally verify the abstract model using a standard model checker. The theoretical flow, reliant on established formal verification results, is introduced and a sketch of proof is provided for soundness and correctness. Finally, we demonstrate the feasibility of our approach, by applying it on a pipelined DLX RISC-inspired processor architecture. We show preliminary experimental results to support our claim, performing Bounded Model-Checking with a state-of-the-art model checker.
Short-Term Operation Scheduling of a Microgrid under Variability Contracts to Preserve Grid Flexibility
Authors: Kim Sunwoong , Kim Dam , Yoon Yong Tae
Published: September 2019

The conventional microgrid (MG) price-based operation scheme with respect to the hourly market price considers only profit maximization from energy transactions and disregards variability. This causes flexibility burdens on the main grid system operator (SO), which must then utilize its ramping capability to cover the net load variability. As the proportion of renewable energy sources (RESs) involving intermittency in MGs continues to increase owing to global energy policies, net load variability within shorter time intervals has also increased, making proper management guidelines necessary. Thus, this paper proposes an MG-SO variability contract on intra-hour and inter-hour time intervals for regulating variability such that the SO can support and distribute its relevant costs between the MG and the SO. To prove the effectiveness of the proposed contract, an MG variability contract-based scheduling model is also proposed, and the results were compared with those of the price-based model. A case study demonstrates that the introduction of RESs increases the variability in shorter intervals and that the suggested contract is effective in terms of decreasing the variability with increased MG operating costs. A sensitivity analysis between the reduced variability and additional operating costs was also conducted in the case study.
Research and Application of a Novel Hybrid Model Based on a Deep Neural Network Combined with Fuzzy Time Series for Energy Forecasting
Authors: Wei Danxiang , Wang Jianzhou , Ni Kailai , Tang Guangyu
Published: September 2019

In recent years, although deep learning algorithms have been widely applied to various fields, ranging from translation to time series forecasting, researchers paid limited attention to modelling parameter optimization and the combination of the fuzzy time series. In this paper, a novel hybrid forecasting system, named CFML (complementary ensemble empirical mode decomposition (CEEMD)-fuzzy time series (FTS)-multi-objective grey wolf optimizer (MOGWO)-long short-term memory (LSTM)), is proposed and tested. This model is based on the LSTM model with parameters optimized by MOGWO, before which a fuzzy time series method involving the LEM2 (learning from examples module version two) algorithm is adopted to generate the final input data of the optimized LSTM model. In addition, the CEEMD algorithm is also used to de-noise and decompose the raw data. The CFML model successfully overcomes the nonstationary and irregular features of wind speed data and electrical power load series. Several experimental results covering four wind speed datasets and two electrical power load datasets indicate that our hybrid forecasting system achieves average improvements of 49% and 70% in wind speed and electrical power load, respectively, under the metric MAPE (mean absolute percentage error).
Uncertainty Simulation of Wood Chipping Operation for Bioenergy Based on Queuing Theory
Authors: Yoshida Mika , Takata Katsuhiko
Published: September 2019

Managing uncertainty is the way to secure stability of the supply chain. Uncertainty within chipping operation and chip transportation causes production loss. In the wood chip supply chain for bioenergy, operational uncertainty mainly appears in the moisture content of the material, chipping productivity, and the interval of truck arrival. This study theoretically quantified the loss in wood chip production by applying queuing theory and stochastic modelling. As well as the loss in production, the inefficiency was identified as the idling time of chipper and the queuing time of trucks. The aim of this study is to quantify the influence of three uncertainties on wood chip production. This study simulated the daily chip production using a mobile chipper by applying queuing theory and stochastic modelling of three uncertainties. The result was compared with the result of deterministic simulation which did not consider uncertainty. Uncertainty reduced the production by 14% to 27% compared to the production of deterministic simulation. There were trucks scheduled but not used. The cases using small trucks show the largest daily production amount, but their lead time was the longest. The large truck was sensitive to the moisture content of material because of the balance between payload and volumetric capacity. This simulation method can present a possible loss in production amount and enables to evaluate some ways for the loss compensation quantitatively such as outsourcing or storing buffer. For further development, the data about the interval of truck arrival should be collected from fields and analyzed. We must include the other uncertainties causing technical and operator delays.
Deoxynivalenol (DON) Accumulation and Nutrient Recovery in Black Soldier Fly Larvae (Hermetia illucens) Fed Wheat Infected with Fusarium spp.
Authors: Gulsunoglu Zehra , Aravind Smitha , Bai Yuchen , Wang Lipu , Kutcher H. Randy , Tanaka Takuji
Published: September 2019

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is one of the most significant causes of economic loss in cereal crops, resulting in a loss of $50–300 million for Canadian agriculture. The infected grain (containing Fusarium-damaged kernels (FDKs)) is often both lower in quality and kernel weight, and it may be unsuitable for human and animal consumption due to mycotoxin presence. However, it still contains a considerable amount of nutrients. A method to recover the nutrients without the mycotoxins should be beneficial for the agricultural economy. In this study, our objective was to examine recovery methods of the nutrients in relation to mycotoxin accumulation in the insect. The FDKs were fermented with Aspergillus oryzae and/or Lactobacillus plantarum (solid-state fermentation (SSF)). The SSF kernels were then provided to 50 young, black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) for 12 days. Weight gain, chemical composition, and mycotoxin bioaccumulation of BSFL and spent feed were evaluated. After 12 days of insect culture, the BSFL grew 5–6 times their initial weight. While the overall weights did not significantly vary, the proteins and lipids accumulated more in SSF FDK-fed insects. During the active growth period, the larval biomass contained deoxynivalenol (DON), a mycotoxin, at detectable levels; however, by day 12, when the larvae were in the pre-pupal stage, the amount of DON in the insect biomass was nearly negligible, i.e., BSFL did not accumulate DON. Thus, we conclude that the combination of BSFL and SSF can be employed to recover DON-free nutrients from FHB-infected grain to recover value from unmarketable grain.
Incorporating Background Checks with Sentiment Analysis to Identify Violence Risky Chinese Microblogs
Authors: Jia Yun-Fei , Li Shan , Wu Renbiao
Published: September 2019

Based on Web 2.0 technology, more and more people tend to express their attitude or opinions on the Internet. Radical ideas, rumors, terrorism, or violent contents are also propagated on the Internet, causing several incidents of social panic every year in China. In fact, most of this content comprises joking or emotional catharsis. To detect this with conventional techniques usually incurs a large false alarm rate. To address this problem, this paper introduces a technique that combines sentiment analysis with background checks. State-of-the-art sentiment analysis usually depends on training datasets in a specific topic area. Unfortunately, for some domains, such as violence risk speech detection, there is no definitive training data. In particular, topic-independent sentiment analysis of short Chinese text has been rarely reported in the literature. In this paper, the violence risk of the Chinese microblogs is calculated from multiple perspectives. First, a lexicon-based method is used to retrieve violence-related microblogs, and then a similarity-based method is used to extract sentiment words. Semantic rules and emoticons are employed to obtain the sentiment polarity and sentiment strength of short texts. Second, the activity risk is calculated based on the characteristics of part of speech (PoS) sequence and by semantic rules, and then a threshold is set to capture the key users. Finally, the risk is confirmed by historical speeches and the opinions of the friend-circle of the key users. The experimental results show that the proposed approach outperforms the support vector machine (SVM) method on a topic-independent corpus and can effectively reduce the false alarm rate.
Vehicular Delay-Tolerant Networks with Image Recognition-Based Adaptive Array Antenna for Winter Road Surveillance in Local Areas
Authors: Uchida Noriki , Sato Goshi , Shibata Yoshitaka
Published: September 2019

The rapid growth of the ITS (intelligent transport system) development requires us to realize new kinds of applications, such as the winter road surveillance system. However, it is still necessary to consider the network difficulty areas for LTE (long-term evolution) or 3G transmissions when one visits sightseeing spots such as ski resorts or spas in mountain areas. Therefore, this paper proposes a winter road surveillance system in the local area based on vehicular delay-tolerant networks. The adaptive array antenna controlled by image recognition with the Kalman filter algorithm is proposed as well to the system in order to realize higher delivery rates. The implementations of the prototype system are presented in this paper as well, and the effectivity of the radio transmission in the prototype system is realized by vehicular image recognition methods and the asynchronous voltage controls for antenna elements for the rapid directional controls of the radio transmission. The experimental results showed that the radio directional controls by the prototype system for the target vehicle can proceed within one second, and that the simulation with the GIS (geographic information system) map pointed out the delivery rates of the proposed method—which are better than those of the epidemic DTN (delay-tolerant networking) routing by the nondirectional antenna. The experiments of the proposed methods indicate a higher efficiency of the data transmissions—even in the mountain area. Furthermore, future research subjects are discussed in this paper.
Forming Big Datasets through Latent Class Concatenation of Imperfectly Matched Databases Features
Authors: Bartlett Christopher W. , Klamer Brett G. , Buyske Steven , Petrill Stephen A. , Ray William C.
Published: September 2019

Informatics researchers often need to combine data from many different sources to increase statistical power and study subtle or complicated effects. Perfect overlap of measurements across academic studies is rare since virtually every dataset is collected for a unique purpose and without coordination across parties not-at-hand (i.e., informatics researchers in the future). Thus, incomplete concordance of measurements across datasets poses a major challenge for researchers seeking to combine public databases. In any given field, some measurements are fairly standard, but every organization collecting data makes unique decisions on instruments, protocols, and methods of processing the data. This typically denies literal concatenation of the raw data since constituent cohorts do not have the same measurements (i.e., columns of data). When measurements across datasets are similar prima facie, there is a desire to combine the data to increase power, but mixing non-identical measurements could greatly reduce the sensitivity of the downstream analysis. Here, we discuss a statistical method that is applicable when certain patterns of missing data are found; namely, it is possible to combine datasets that measure the same underlying constructs (or latent traits) when there is only partial overlap of measurements across the constituent datasets. Our method, ROSETTA empirically derives a set of common latent trait metrics for each related measurement domain using a novel variation of factor analysis to ensure equivalence across the constituent datasets. The advantage of combining datasets this way is the simplicity, statistical power, and modeling flexibility of a single joint analysis of all the data. Three simulation studies show the performance of ROSETTA on datasets with only partially overlapping measurements (i.e., systematically missing information), benchmarked to a condition of perfectly overlapped data (i.e., full information). The first study examined a range of correlations, while the second study was modeled after the observed correlations in a well-characterized clinical, behavioral cohort. Both studies consistently show significant correlations >0.94, often >0.96, indicating the robustness of the method and validating the general approach. The third study varied within and between domain correlations and compared ROSETTA to multiple imputation and meta-analysis as two commonly used methods that ostensibly solve the same data integration problem. We provide one alternative to meta-analysis and multiple imputation by developing a method that statistically equates similar but distinct manifest metrics into a set of empirically derived metrics that can be used for analysis across all datasets.
Occurrence of Cortical Arousal at Recovery from Respiratory Disturbances during Deep Propofol Sedation
Authors: Urahama Ryuma , Uesato Masaya , Aikawa Mizuho , Kunii Reiko , Isono Shiroh , Matsubara Hisahiro
Published: September 2019

Recent evidences suggest that non-arousal mechanisms can restore and stabilize breathing in sleeping patients with obstructive sleep apnea. This possibility can be examined under deep sedation which increases the cortical arousal threshold. We examined incidences of cortical arousal at termination of apneas and hypopneas in elderly patients receiving propofol sedation which increases the cortical arousal threshold. Ten elderly patients undergoing advanced endoscopic procedures under propofol-sedation were recruited. Standard polysomnographic measurements were performed to assess nature of breathing, consciousness, and occurrence of arousal at recovery from apneas and hypopneas. A total of 245 periodic apneas and hypopneas were identified during propofol-induced sleep state. Cortical arousal only occurred in 55 apneas and hypopneas (22.5%), and apneas and hypopneas without arousal and desaturation were most commonly observed (65.7%) regardless of the types of disordered breathing. Chi-square test indicated that incidence of no cortical arousal was significantly associated with occurrence of no desaturation. Higher dose of propofol was associated with a higher apnea hypopnea index (r = 0.673, p = 0.033). In conclusion, even under deep propofol sedation, apneas and hypopneas can be terminated without cortical arousal. However, extensive suppression of the arousal threshold can lead to critical hypoxemia suggesting careful respiratory monitoring.
Neighborhood Walkability Is Not Associated with Adults’ Sedentary Behavior in the Residential Setting: Evidence from Breda, The Netherlands
Authors: Luijkx Menno , Helbich Marco
Published: September 2019

Sedentary behavior has negative health effects. It is assumed that the walkability of the living environment is related to the amount of time spent on sedentary behavior in the residential setting. However, evidence on such a relation is still scarce, and results are contradictory. Therefore, we examined to what extent residential neighborhood walkability is associated with a variety of sedentary behaviors that frequently occur in the residential setting among adults. We carried out a cross-sectional survey using the domain-specific sedentary behavior questionnaire among adults in Breda, the Netherlands. Respondents’ walkability of the living environment was assessed objectively by means of road network buffers. We employed gamma generalized linear regressions to assess correlations between multiple sedentary behaviors and neighborhood walkability. We found no significant associations between residential neighborhood walkability and sedentary behavior levels. The lack of correlations was consistent across buffer sizes. Our models showed that adults with a higher education, a job, and a driver’s license spent significantly less time on sedentary behaviors. Our findings suggest that person-level characteristics should be targeted when developing intervention strategies to counteract sedentary time, rather than intervening in the walkability of the residential living environment.