bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Innovating Processes to Determine Quality alongside Increased Inclusivity in Higher Education
Authors: Kelly Nick , Sie Rory , Schuwer Robert
Published: August 2015

The higher education sector is changing alongside developments in information technology. This chapter describes the increased inclusivity the internet has facilitated and functions of the university in determining quality of educators, learners and educational resources. It explains a tension between increased inclusivity and the function of determining quality in two higher education developments: open educational resources (OERs) and massive open online courses (MOOC). An example of the development of quality within an OER repository is described. Wikiwijs is an online space for OERs that has been experimenting with ways to provide quality alongside increased inclusivity so that teachers from primary to university level can find, use and adapt learning materials. Potential higher education futures with even greater inclusivity are discussed. Areas for further innovation in distributing determination of quality in higher education are described.
Re-Purposing MOOCs and OER for Academic Credit in the UK Using a Flexible Work Based Learning Program at an English University
Authors: Talbot Jon
Published: August 2015

The rapid development of open educational resources (OER) and massive open online courses (MOOCs) has resulted for the first time in high quality higher education learning materials being freely available to anyone in the world who has access to the internet. While the emphasis in the literature is principally upon such matters as technology and cost pressures, rather less attention has been paid to ways in which pedagogical practices can be adapted to address these changes. This chapter reports on a UK university where innovative pedagogical practices have developed over a twenty-year period, which enables such adaptation. The development of a flexible work based learning framework enables the exploitation of these developments for the benefit of learners, tutors, and the university. The case study also highlights the importance of quality assurance and cost as key to competitive advantage in an increasingly globalised context.
eRPL and ePR in Higher Education Contexts
Authors: Cameron Roslyn , Pfeiffer Linda
Published: August 2015

This chapter focuses on the use of ePortfolios in the recognition of prior learning (RPL) and professional recognition (PR) within higher education contexts. The term eRPL refers to the recognition practice of utilising ePortfolios for RPL and similarly, ePR refers to the use of ePortfolios for PR. Both are relatively new phenomenon and a developing field of practice and utility. The eRecognition framework developed by Cameron (2012) is built upon to explore the utility of ePortfolios across higher education through a content analysis of papers presented at the ePortfolio and Identity Conference (ePIC) from 2008 to 2012 (n=307) and articles published in the newly established International Journal of ePortfolios from 2011 to 2013 (n=31). Harris's (2000) boundaries and boundary-work framework is applied to position eRecognition practices within the contemporary educational context and the challenges and changes being brought upon educational practices and structures through the open learning movement.
Open-Sourced Personal, Networked Learning and Higher Education Credentials
Authors: Childs Merilyn , Wagner Regine
Published: August 2015

Much has been made about the “disruption” afforded by open learning to higher education. While it is the case that open learning offers opportunities for free content and courses within university studies, self-determined student-generated learning has yet to create meaningful pathways towards credentialing in higher education. In this chapter we explore open learning and a learning journey through an Imaginarium from the perspective of a citizen in the context of a global human rights campaign. The chapter speculates the possibilities for gaining recognition of graduate attributes developed informally outside the institution, yet weaving through open education resources, when the citizen applies to study in an Australian University. We conclude by arguing the importance of seeing emerging developments in Australia related to open learning, micro-credentials, aligned learning outcomes (ALOs) and criterion referenced assessments (CRAs) through a recognition lens.
Quality Assessment and Certification in Open Scholarly Publishing and Inspiration for MOOC Credentialing
Authors: Ren Xiang
Published: August 2015

This chapter looks at the changing landscape of quality assessment and certification/credentialing in open knowledge systems by a comparative study between open publishing and open education. Despite the disruptive changes driven by open publishing in scholarly communication, it is challenging to develop widely accepted methods for quality assessment and certification. Similar challenges exist in open education platforms like the massive open online course (MOOC). This work reviews four types of innovations in open publishing in terms of quality control, namely “light touch” peer review, post-publication assessment, social peer review, and open peer review. Synthesising the principles and strategies of these innovations, it discusses how they might be inspiring for developing solutions and models for MOOC assessment and credentialing. This chapter concludes by suggesting future research directions. It argues that the open initiatives are co-evolving with the “traditional” systems and integrating with the established models.
Strategic Positioning of Huawei on the International Political Stage
Authors: Chung Mona , Mascitelli Bruno
Published: August 2015

Huawei is a giant Chinese telecommunications company which has become the focus of contract exclusion and finger pointing by certain western governments. The argument used by the US and Australia has been that of “national security”. This paper explores the causes and reasons for these actions and to ascertain what key strategic approaches and positioning lie behind the high level political tension. The controversy which this exclusion has provided and the causes behind it are the focal point of this paper. Whether it be due to Cold War legacies or business competition, the exclusions do not sit well in this globalised economy.
Self-Selection and Learning by Exporting from Indian Manufacturing Firms
Authors: Kumar Manoj , Raman Jyoti , Singh Priya
Published: August 2015

Following a growing literature, the authors test in this work the two hypotheses of self-selection and learning by exporting across different Indian manufacturing firms. Using matched sampling techniques, they estimate whether export-oriented firms are more efficient than non-exporters on the basis of the Indian Surveys of manufacturing firms for the period 2005-2013. The findings indicate that export entrants increase their productivity after entry but this increase is only temporary. In fact, the authors document a time-varying relationship between export participation and economic performance. This occurs for both total-factor productivity (TFP) and productivity growth. These results are consistent with those found in the previous literature for many countries. The only lasting significant effect that we find among the different measures of performances between exporters and non-exporters is that the former generates higher profits than their domestic counterparts.
Computer-Mediated Communication for Course Delivery and Teaching Materials Development
Authors: Akutsu Sumie , Marchand Tim
Published: August 2015

This paper describes a university English course which uses computer-mediated communication (CMC) for the dual-purpose of providing lesson materials online and collecting student written output in the form of a news-based blog to develop a learner corpus. Comments on the blog from Japanese university students form the basis of a learner corpus, which is analysed with reference to native speaker norms, allowing needs to be identified and addressed in subsequent materials. The paper discusses CMC as a repository of teaching materials and as a resource to develop teaching materials.
Smartphone Assisted Language Learning and Autonomy
Authors: Leis Adrian , Tohei Akihiko , Cooke Simon D.
Published: August 2015

In the present study we investigate the advantages of using smartphones in an English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom. We compared two groups of Japanese university students who were either prohibited from using their smartphones in the classroom, or encouraged to use them for academic purposes, examining whether those using smartphones in their EFL lessons would show a tendency toward being autonomous. The results indicated that students who were encouraged to use their smartphones during class were inclined to study more in their free time as well as show signs of autonomy by taking charge of their learning and consider ways to improve their own study habits and English proficiency. Our conclusion is that language teachers and learners should be encouraged to use smartphones in the classroom as a means of fueling the desire to learn.
Mobile-based Extensive Reading
Authors: Milliner Brett , Cote Travis
Published: August 2015

Mobile devices have sweeping repercussions in education and suggest shifting content-engagement paradigms. Extensive reading (ER) is not unaffected by the many evolving aspects of mobile technology in second language classrooms. This paper reflects on Xreading®, an online graded reader (GR) and learning management system (LMS) designed for digital ER. Students at a private university in Tokyo had access to this online library using mobile devices. While overall reflections were positive, actual engagement with GR's and the software, was significantly lower for a surprising number of participants. Focusing on those reluctant readers (RRs) this study investigates the basis for disengagement, both with ER and perhaps with mobile technology. Using a post-pilot questionnaire and focus group discussion, the authors attempted to understand reasons behind the disconnect. Key findings for why students neglected this system included: insufficient software training, misconceptions about reading extensively and ineffective exploitation of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators.
A Pedagogical Corpus to Support a Language Teaching Curriculum to Revitalize an Endangered Language
Authors: Gatbonton Elizabeth , Pelczer Ildiko , Cook Conor , Venkatesh Vivek , Nochasak Christine , Andersen Harriet
Published: August 2015

An obstacle to revitalizing an endangered language is the shortage of authentic speech samples for learners to use as models. Digital recordings of community elders performing traditional chores and special rituals or narrating legends and myths are often made to overcome this obstacle. These recordings, however, contain speech that lacks the crucial features of conversational speech that make them appropriate instructional models. Effective model utterances should be short, have a stand-alone format, and have similar structures to utterances used in everyday transactions, which must be labeled and tagged and organized into a searchable corpus. To date, however, no such corpus exists for indigenous languages, and compiling one is an enormous task. To provide native speech models for adult Labrador Inuit learning their endangered language, Inuttitut, the authors explored the feasibility of building a specialized corpus potentially useful for aiding classroom instruction, using an internationally recognized open-source search and retrieval system called Topic Maps to create its database.
Factors Affecting Health Information Technology Expenditure in California Hospitals
Authors: Lee Jinhyung
Published: August 2015

This paper investigates the factors affecting health information technology (IT) investment. Different from previous studies, health IT was measured as the dollar amount of hardware, software and labor related health IT. This study employed Hospital and Patient level data of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) from 2000 to 2006. The generalized linear model (GLM) was employed with log link and normal distribution and controlled for clustering error. This study found that not-for-profit and government hospital, teaching hospitals, competition, health IT expenditure of neighborhood hospitals were positively associated with health IT expenditure. However, rural hospitals were negatively associated with health IT expenditure. Moreover, this study found a significant increase in health IT investment over seven years resulted from increased clinical IT adoption.
UMLS Semantic Network as a UML Metamodel for Improving Biomedical Ontology and Application Modeling
Authors: Saripalle Rishi Kanth
Published: August 2015

In the domain of biomedical and health informatics, ontologies are widely used to capture knowledge ranging from bioinformatics such as gene, protein, protein interactions, etc. to clinical/healthcare informatics knowledge such as diseases, symptoms, treatment, medication, etc. Currently, one medical knowledge source that encapsulates a broad spectrum of medical knowledge is the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS), which can be defined as a compendium of diverse medical ontological standards. The primary components of the UMLS are: Semantic Network (UMLS-SN) – designed by interconnecting well-defined semantic types with semantic relationships, and Metathesaurus (UMLS-META) – the base of UMLS system that is comprised of millions of medical concepts from diverse medical standards. However, within the biomedical and health informatics community, the concepts of software engineering and domain modeling (using meta-models such as ERD, UML, and XML) are very successful in designing and implementing biomedical/health domain application models. In the current status, the UMLS-SN is primarily employed for classification of medical concepts in UMLS-META, but UMLS-SN knowledge can't be viewed or employed as a modeling framework for designing ontological models and is restricted to the UMLS environment. Thus, the impact of the biomedical semantics captured by UMLS-SN might be minimal in medical facilities, research and healthcare organizations that are highly influenced by software engineering, meta-models and domain model-based practices. In order fill this gap, the authors propose a meta-modeling framework for UMLS-SN based on the UML Profile (built using UML meta-model) that will result in a customized domain specific meta-model. This specialized meta-model that encapsulates the medical knowledge semantics of UMLS-SN can then be employed for designing ontological models or relevant healthcare application models and simultaneously be coherent with software meta-models and domain modeling practices.
Understanding the Usability of Course Management Systems (CMS) in Developing Countries
Authors: Hoque Rakibul , Ashraf Mahfuz , Ali Mohammad Afshar , Hasan Rashadul
Published: August 2015

Course Management System (CMS) is now probably the most used educational technologies in higher education, behind only the Internet and common office software. It can facilitate posting content, participating in discussions, maintaining a grade book, tracking participation and managing learning activities in an online environment for instructors and learners. But question arises to what extent these systems are successful in developing countries like Bangladesh. Unfortunately there are very few reports and publication that have tried to focus on above issues. In this study, an evaluation and analysis of CMS in developing countries like Bangladesh was carried out to assess the success of the system by using “ITPOSMO' model. The study found that CMS is partially failing in higher educational institutions in Bangladesh.
Addressing Data Collection Challenges in ICT for Development Projects
Authors: Potnis Devendra Dilip
Published: August 2015

This paper equips researchers for addressing a wide range of data collection challenges experienced when interacting with marginalized communities as part of ICT4D projects in developing countries. This secondary research categorizes data collection challenges reported in multiple disciplines, and summarizes the guidance from the past literature to deal with the challenges. The open, axial, and selective coding of data collection challenges reported by the past literature suggests that it is necessary to manage scope, time, cost, quality, human resources, communication, and risks for addressing the data collection challenges. This paper illustrates the ways to manage these seven dimensions using (a) the success stories of data collection in the past, (b) the lessons learned by researchers during data collection as documented by the past literature, and (c) the advice they offer for collection data from marginalized communities in developing countries.
An Ontology Based Framework for Intelligent Web Based e-Learning
Authors: Senthilnayaki B. , Venkatalakshmi K. , Kannan A.
Published: August 2015

E-Learning is a fast, just-in-time, and non-linear learning process, which is now widely applied in distributed and dynamic environments such as the World Wide Web. Ontology plays an important role in capturing and disseminating the real world knowledge for effective human computer interactions. However, engineering of domain ontologies is very labor intensive and time consuming. Some machine learning methods have been explored for automatic or semi-automatic discovery of domain ontologies. Nevertheless, both the accuracy and the computational efficiency of these methods need to be improved. While constructing large scale ontology for real-world applications such as e-learning, the ability to monitor the progress of students' learning performance is a critical issue. In this paper, a system is proposed for analyzing students' knowledge level obtained using Kolb's classification based on the students level of understanding and their learning style using cluster analysis. This system uses fuzzy logic and clustering algorithms to arrange their documents according to the level of their performance. Moreover, a new domain ontology discovery method is proposed uses contextual information of the knowledge sources from the e-Learning domain. This proposed system constructs ontology to provide an effective assistance in e-Learning. The proposed ontology discovery method has been empirically tested in an e-Learning environment for teaching the subject Database Management Systems. The salient contributions of this paper are the use of Jaccard Similarity measure and K-Means clustering algorithm for clustering of learners and the use of ontology for concept understanding and learning style identification. This helps in adaptive e-learning by providing suitable suggestions for decision making and it uses decision rules for providing intelligent e-Learning.
Efficient CABAC Bit Estimation for H.265/HEVC Rate-Distortion Optimization
Authors: Li Wei , Ren Peng
Published: August 2015

The entropy coding of context-adaptive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC) has been utilized in the H.265/HEVC for higher coding efficiency. But the related complexity also causes a bottleneck for its low-delay applications, owing to the employment of inter-symbol dependency in CABAC. In this paper, a fast bit-rate estimation method is proposed to skip the actual entropy coding of CABAC in mode decision to meet the requirement of low-delay implementations. The presented scheme firstly parses the characteristics of syntax elements and then guided by the principle of CABAC, an efficient scheme is derived following. It is very beneficial for reducing the computational complexity and saving the encoding time in H.265/HEVC mode decision. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed fast algorithm can reduce the CABAC encoding time by 68% in average with negligible degradation in the rate-distortion performance.
PatchR
Authors: Knuth Magnus , Sack Harald
Published: August 2015

Incorrect or outdated data is a common problem when working with Linked Data in real world applications. Linked Data is distributed over the web and under control of various dataset publishers. It is difficult for data publishers to ensure the quality and timeliness of the data all by themselves, though they might receive individual complaints by data users, who identified incorrect or missing data. Indeed, the authors see Linked Data consumers equally responsible for the quality of the datasets they use. PatchR provides a vocabulary to report incorrect data and to propose changes to correct them. Based on the PatchR ontology a framework is suggested that allows users to efficiently report and data publishers to handle change requests for their datasets.
Design of the Micro-Strip Antenna for Wireless Capsule Endoscope
Authors: Zhao Dechun , Chen Xiaoyu , Zhang Longsheng , Zhang Huiquan
Published: August 2015

This paper analyzed the type of mini-type antenna, studied the miniaturization technique based on simulation in depth, and finally designed the high-performance micro-strip antenna. The advantages of micro-strip antenna are light-weight, compact size, relatively thin thickness, and so on. However, it still needs aggressive miniaturization to satisfy the requirements of encapsulation. Techniques for miniaturization of antenna mainly include a ground plane, double-layer patch, shorting pin or wall, lossless dielectric substrate and the spiral structure. The techniques of multi-layer and shorting wall can narrow down the resonant frequency and attain bandwidth enhancement. Nonetheless, they have a complicated structure. Thus, simulation researched the influence of the surrounding tissue in detail, the position relation of shorting pin and the feed point, the substrate parameters and the structure parameters of the spiral antenna on performance. At last, through the techniques of the shorting pin, high permittivity substrate and the spiral shape, two Archimedean micro-strip patch antennas were developed for wireless capsule endoscope. The antenna has the bandwidth of about 300 MHz, the minimum voltage standing-wave ratio of 1.14:1, and the diameter of 8.3 mm. Therefore, the antenna can offer excellent performance for transmitting image data.
Towards an Efficient Management of Mobile Cloud Computing Services based on Multi Agent Systems
Authors: Beloudane Amel , Belalem Ghalem
Published: August 2015

Today, there is an increase of using mobile smart devices. These devices can have an effective access to information and benefit of many applications in the Cloud. Cloud Computing (CC) exploits its full potential with many difficulties due to its inherent problems such as resource scarcity, intermittent network connectivity, and mobility. Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) can treat these problems by executing mobile applications on external resource providers to the mobile device for high-performance and scalability of mobile applications. This paper discusses the authors' approach on mobile cloud computing environment. This analysis permits to select the most appropriate service satisfied SLA while reducing energy consumption and increasing its availability in the Cloud without deteriorating performance and energy consumption. For that, the authors proposed a dynamic, efficient and equilibrated model based on multi-agent system and Top-K technology.
Sox9 expression in canine epithelial skin tumors
Authors: Fantinato E. , Milani L. , Sironi G.
Published: August 2015

Sox9 is a master regulatory gene involved in developmental processes, stem cells maintenance and tumorigenesis. This gene is expressed in healthy skin but even in several skin neoplasms, where its expression patterns often resembles those of the developing hair follicle. In this study, samples from eleven different types of canine skin neoplasms (squamous papilloma, squamous cell carcinoma, infundibular keratinizing acanthoma, inferior tricholemmoma, isthmic tricholemmoma, trichoblastoma, trichoepitelioma, malignant trichoepitelioma, pilomatricoma, subungual keratoacanthoma, subungual squamous cell carcinoma) were immunohistochemically stained and evaluated for Sox9 with the aim to correlate tumor phenotype with molecular characteristics that may help to better define tumor development, contribute to its diagnosis and clinical management. Keratoacanthoma excluded, all the skin neoplasms examined showed a variable positivity to Sox9, especially in the basal layers, but with major intensity in neoplasms developing from the bulge region of the hair follicle, as trichoblastoma. According to our results, Sox9 could be employed as a stem cell marker to better assess the role of stem cells in canine epidermal and follicular tumors.
Autoantibody Profiles in Collagen Disease Patients with Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD): Antibodies to Major Histocompatibility Complex Class l-Related Chain a (MICA) as Markers of ILD
Authors: Furukawa Hiroshi , Oka Shomi , Shimada Kota , Masuo Kiyoe , Nakajima Fumiaki , Funano Shunichi , Tanaka Yuki , Komiya Akiko , Fukui Naoshi , Sawasaki Tatsuya , Tadokoro Kenji , Nose Masato , Tsuchiya Naoyuki , Tohma Shigeto
Published: August 2015

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is frequently associated with collagen disease. It is then designated as collagen vascular disease-associated ILD (CVD-ILD), and influences patients’ prognosis. The prognosis of acute-onset diffuse ILD (AoDILD) occurring in patients with collagen disease is quite poor. Here, we report our investigation of auto-antibody (Ab) profiles to determine whether they maybe useful in diagnosing CVD-ILD or AoDILD in collagen disease. Auto-Ab profiles were analyzed using the Lambda Array Beads Multi-Analyte System, granulocyte immunofluorescence test, ProtoArray Human Protein Microarray, AlphaScreen assay, and glutathione S-transferase capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 34 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with or without CVD-ILD and in 15 patients with collagen disease with AoDILD. The average anti-major histocompatibility complex class I-related chain A (MICA) Ab levels were higher in RA patients with CVD-ILD than in those without (P = 0.0013). The ratio of the average anti-MICA Ab level to the average anti-human leukocyte antigen class I Ab level (ie, MICA/Class I) was significantly higher in RA patients with CVD-ILD compared with those without (P = 4.47 × 10–5). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of auto-Ab profiles in CVD-ILD. The MICA/ Class I ratio could be a better marker for diagnosing CVD-ILD than KL-6 (Krebs von den lungen-6).
La participación del público como valor añadido de servicio público para la televisión de proximidad. Estudio de caso de La noche de…, en ETB 2
Authors: Azurmendi Ana , Llorens Carles , López Vidales Nereida , Bas Portero Juan José
Published: August 2015

Frente a la crítica tradicional que señala a la televisión pública centrada en las audiencias como una televisión más cercana a los modelos comerciales que al  servicio público, la literatura contemporánea sitúa, precisamente, en la participación de las audiencias una de las claves de la televisión pública en la era de la digitalización y la convergencia (Castro 2012; Doyle 2010; Kjus 2009; Bardoel 2007).  El artículo se centra en el estudio de la participación en las televisiones públicas autonómicas, en particular en dos cuestiones: 1. Si la variedad de cauces de participación existentes en las producciones crossmedia –programa de televisión que cuenta con web propia, foros de expresión de opinión y cuentas sociales en Twitter y Facebook– aumentan la participación efectiva de las audiencias; y 2. Si esta participación puede encuadrarse en el cumplimiento de las obligaciones de servicio público de televisión, especialmente, de las de proximidad. Metodología: Se parte de un análisis descriptivo de la literatura sobre participación de las audiencias  y de las formas de participación promovidas por las políticas europeas, estatales y autonómicas. A partir de los resultados obtenidos, se estudia el caso de “la noche de…” un programa de ETB 2. Resultados: Se comprueba que la atención creciente a la participación del público, tanto en la literatura europea y española como en la regulación existente, no tiene un reflejo proporcional en la realidad de la gestión de las televisiones públicas, en particular en las televisiones públicas autonómicas.
Development Paths, Problems and Countermeasures of Chinese Civil Society Organizations
Authors: YE Chao , Onyx Jennifer
Published: August 2015

Although the process of reform and opening-up accelerates continually in China, the speed of development for Chinese Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) is still slow; most organizations still operate under the government shadow and it is very difficult to cut relations with government. The autonomy of Chinese CSOs, to a large extent, is affected by the constraints from government. Overall, Chinese CSOs are still in their infancy, and they need to be further perfected and developed. The aim of this paper is to present a review of the field, with issues and promise identified. Specifically, the paper focuses on the internal management of these organizations and their existing problems in the development process, and some potential solutions for CSOs’ future development.
New Zealand’s Relationship Accord: A case study in the politics of cross-sector rapprochement
Authors: Butcher John R.
Published: August 2015

In New Zealand the Clark Labour government (1999-2008) advocated entering into a compact with the country’s community and voluntary sector. However, owing in part to the reticence of New Zealand’s national umbrella organisations, a bilateral framework agreement between government and the sector was never formalised. It was not until May 2011 that a framework document – Kia Tūtahi Standing Together: The Relationship Accord between the Communities of Aotearoa New Zealand and the Government of New Zealand – was ratified by the National Party government led by Prime Minister, John Key, thus marking the culmination of a decade-long national discussion. This paper charts that policy journey and highlights the importance of key political events and the ways in which key policy actors exploited the windows of policy opportunity associated with those events.
Effect of atmospheric aging on volatility and reactive oxygen species of biodiesel exhaust nano-particles
Authors: Pourkhesalian A. M. , Stevanovic S. , Rahman M. M. , Faghihi E. M. , Bottle S. E. , Masri A. R. , Brown R. J. , Ristovski Z. D.
Published: August 2015

Abstract. In the prospect of limited energy resources and climate change, effects of alternative biofuels on primary emissions are being extensively studied. Our two recent studies have shown that biodiesel fuel composition has a significant impact on primary particulate matter emissions. It was also shown that particulate matter caused by biodiesels was substantially different from the emissions due to petroleum diesel. Emissions appeared to have higher oxidative potential with the increase in oxygen content and decrease of carbon chain length and unsaturation levels of fuel molecules. Overall, both studies concluded that chemical composition of biodiesel is more important than its physical properties in controlling exhaust particle emissions. This suggests that the atmospheric aging processes, including secondary organic aerosol formation, of emissions from different fuels will be different as well. In this study, measurements were conducted on a modern common-rail diesel engine. To get more information on realistic properties of tested biodiesel particulate matter once they are released into the atmosphere, particulate matter was exposed to atmospheric oxidants, ozone and ultra-violet light; and the change in their properties was monitored for different biodiesel blends. Upon the exposure to oxidative agents, the chemical composition of the exhaust changes. It triggers the cascade of photochemical reactions resulting in the partitioning of semi-volatile compounds between the gas and particulate phase. In most of the cases, aging lead to the increase in volatility and oxidative potential, and the increment of change was mainly dependent on the chemical composition of fuels as the leading cause for the amount and the type of semi-volatile compounds present in the exhaust.
OH reactivity and concentrations of Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds in a Mediterranean forest of downy oak trees
Authors: Zannoni N. , Gros V. , Lanza M. , Sarda R. , Bonsang B. , Kalogridis C. , Preunkert S. , Legrand M. , Jambert C. , Boissard C. , Lathiere J.
Published: August 2015

Abstract. Understanding the processes between the biosphere and the atmosphere is challenged by the difficulty to determine with enough accuracy the composition of the atmosphere. Total OH reactivity, which is defined as the total loss of the hydroxyl radical in the atmosphere, has proved to be an excellent tool to identify indirectly the important reactive species in ambient air. High levels of unknown reactivity were found in several forests worldwide and were often higher than at urban sites. Such results demonstrated the importance of OH reactivity for characterizing two of the major unknowns currently present associated to forests: the set of primary emissions from the canopy to the atmosphere and biogenic compounds oxidation pathways. Previous studies also highlighted the need to quantify OH reactivity and missing OH reactivity at more forested sites. Our study presents results of a field experiment conducted during late spring 2014 at the forest site at the Observatoire de Haute Provence, OHP, France. The forest is mainly composed of downy oak trees, a deciduous tree species characteristic of the Mediterranean region. We deployed the Comparative Reactivity Method and a set of state-of-the-art techniques such as Proton Transfer Reaction-Mass Spectrometry and Gas Chromatography to measure the total OH reactivity, the concentration of volatile organic compounds and main atmospheric constituents at the site. We sampled the air masses at two heights: 2 m, i.e. inside the canopy, and 10 m, i.e. above the canopy, where the mean canopy height is 5 m. We found that the OH reactivity at the site mainly depended on the main primary biogenic species emitted by the forest, which was isoprene and to a lesser extent by its degradation products and long lived atmospheric compounds (up to 26 % during daytime). We determined that the daytime total measured reactivity equaled the calculated reactivity obtained from the concentrations of the compounds measured at the site. Hence, no significant missing reactivity is reported in this specific site, neither inside, nor above the canopy. However, during two nights we reported a missing fraction of OH reactivity up to 50 %, possibly due to unmeasured oxidation products. Our results confirm the weak intra canopy oxidation, already suggested in a previous study focused on isoprene fluxes. They also demonstrate how helpful can be the OH reactivity as a tool to clearly characterize the suite of species present in the atmosphere. We show that our result of reactivity is among the highest reported in forests worldwide and stress the importance to quantify OH reactivity at more and diverse Mediterranean forests.
Southwestern Tropical Atlantic coral growth response to atmospheric circulation changes induced by ozone depletion in Antarctica
Authors: Evangelista H. , Wainer I. , Sifeddine A. , Corrège T. , Cordeiro R. C. , Lamounier S. , Godiva D. , Shen C.-C. , Le Cornec F. , Turcq B. , Lazareth C. E. , Hu C.-Y.
Published: August 2015

Abstract. Climate changes induced by stratospheric ozone depletion over Antarctica have been recognized as an important consequence of the recently observed Southern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation. Here we present evidences that the Brazilian coast (Southwestern Atlantic) may have been impacted from both winds and sea surface temperature changes derived from this process. Skeleton analysis of massive coral species living in shallow waters off Brazil are very sensitive to air–sea interactions, and seem to record this impact. Growth rates of Brazilian corals show a trend reversal that fits the ozone depletion evolution, confirming that ozone impacts are far reaching and potentially affect coastal ecosystems in tropical environments.
Household water treatment and safe storage – effectiveness and economics
Authors: Stubbé S. M. L. , Pelgrim-Adams A. , Szanto G. L. , van Halem D.
Published: August 2015

Abstract. Household Water Treatment and safe Storage (HWTS) systems aim to provide safe drinking water in an affordable manner to users where safe piped water supply is either not feasible or not reliable. In this study the effectiveness, costs and cost drivers of three selected HWTS systems were identified. The selected systems are SODIS, ceramic filter and biosand filter. These options were selected based on their current usage rate, available scientific data, and future potential. Data was obtained through peer-reviewed literature, reports, web-pages and informal sources. The findings show a wide dispersion for log removal of effectiveness of the HWTS systems. For bacteria, log removals of 1–9 (SODIS), 0.5–7.2 (ceramic) and 0–3 (biosand) were reported. In the case of viruses, log removals of 0–4.3 (SODIS), 0.09–2.4 (ceramic) and 0–7 (biosand) were found. The dispersions of log removal for both bacteria and viruses range from non-protective to highly protective according to WHO performance targets. The reported costs of HWTS systems show a wide range as well. The price per cubic meter water is found to be EUR 0–8 (SODIS), EUR 0.37–6.4 (ceramic) and EUR 0.08–12.3 (biosand). The retail prices found are: negligible (SODIS), USD 1.9–30 (ceramic) and USD 7–100 (biosand). No relationship was observed between removal efficiency and economics of the three systems.
Tectonic geomorphology at small catchment sizes – extensions of the stream-power approach and the χ method
Authors: Hergarten S. , Robl J. , Stüwe K.
Published: August 2015

Abstract. Quantitative tectonic geomorphology hinges on the analysis of longitudinal river profiles. The model behind almost all approaches in this field originates from an empirical relationship between channel slope and catchment size, often substantiated in form of the stream-power model for fluvial incision. A significant methodological progress was recently achieved by introducing the χ transform. It defines a nonlinear length coordinate in such a way that the inherent curvature of river profiles due to the increase of catchment sizes in downstream direction is removed from the analysis. However, the limitation to large catchment sizes inherited from the stream power approach for fluvial incision persists. As a consequence, only a small fraction of all nodes of a DEM can be used for the analysis. In this study we present and discuss some empirically derived extensions of the stream power law towards small catchment sizes in order to overcome this limitation. Beyond this, we introduce a simple method for estimating the adjustable parameters in the original χ method as well as in our extended approaches. As a main result, an approach originally suggested for debris flow channels seems to be the best approximation if both large and small catchment sizes are included in the same analysis.
Influence of climate variability on water partitioning and effective energy and mass transfer (EEMT) in a semi-arid critical zone
Authors: Zapata-Rios X. , Brooks P. D. , Troch P. A. , McIntosh J. , Rasmussen C.
Published: August 2015

Abstract. The Critical Zone (CZ) is the heterogeneous, near-surface layer of the planet that regulates life-sustaining resources. Previous research has demonstrated that a quantification of the influxes of effective energy and mass (EEMT) to the CZ can predict its structure and function. In this study, we quantify how climate variability in the last three decades (1984–2012) has affected water availability and the temporal trends in EEMT. This study takes place in the 1200 km2 upper Jemez River Basin in northern New Mexico. The analysis of climate, water availability, and EEMT was based on records from two high elevation SNOTEL stations, PRISM data, catchment scale discharge, and satellite derived net primary productivity (MODIS). Records from the two SNOTEL stations showed clear increasing trends in winter and annual temperatures (+1.0–1.3 °C decade−1; +1.2–1.4 °C decade−1, respectively), decreasing trends in winter and annual precipitation (−41.6–51.4 mm decade−1; −69.8–73.2 mm decade−1, respectively) and maximum Snow Water Equivalent (SWE; −33.1–34.7 mm decade−1). The water partitioning fluxes at the basin scale showed statistically significant decreasing trends in precipitation (−61.7 mm decade−1), discharge (−17.6 mm decade−1) and vaporization (−45.7 mm decade−1). Similarly Q50, an indicator of snowmelt timing, is occurring 4.3 days decade−1 earlier. Results from this study indicated a decreasing trend in water availability, a reduction in forest productivity (4 g C m−2 per 10 mm of reduction in Precipitation) and EEMT (1.2–1.3 MJ m2 decade−1). These changes in EEMT point towards a hotter, drier and less productive ecosystem which may alter critical zone processes in high elevation semi-arid systems.
Geometry of the inverted Cretaceous Chañarcillo Basin based on 2-D gravity and field data. An approach to the structure of the western Central Andes of northern Chile
Authors: Martínez F. , Maksymowicz A. , Ochoa H. , Díaz D.
Published: August 2015

Abstract. This paper discusses an integrated approach that provides new ideas about the structural geometry of the NNE-striking, Cretaceous Chañarcillo Basin located along the eastern Coastal Cordillera in the western Central Andes of northern Chile (27–28° S). The results obtained from the integration of two transverse (E–W) gravity profiles with previous geological information, show that the architecture of this basin is defined by a large NNE–SSE-trending and east-vergent anticline ("Tierra Amarilla Anticlinorium"), which is related to the positive reactivation of a former Cretaceous normal fault (Elisa de Bordos Master Fault). Moreover, intercalations of high and low gravity anomalies and steep gravity gradients reveal a set of buried, west-tilted half-grabens associated with a synthetic normal fault pattern. These results, together with the uplift and folding style of the Cretaceous syn-rift recognized within the basin, suggest that their complete structural geometry could be explained by an inverted fault system linked to the shortening of pre-existing Cretaceous normal fault systems. Ages of the synorogenic deposits exposed unconformably over the frontal limb of the Tierra Amarilla Anticlinorium confirm a Late Cretaceous age for the Andean deformation and tectonic inversion of the basin.
Sheet, stream, and shelf flow as progressive ice-bed uncoupling: Byrd Glacier, Antarctica, and Jakobshavn Isbrae, Greenland
Authors: Hughes T. , Sargent A. , Fastook J. , Purdon K. , Li J. , Yan J.-B. , Gogineni S.
Published: August 2015

Abstract. The first-order control of ice thickness and height above sea level is linked to the decreasing strength of ice-bed coupling alone flowlines from an interior ice divide to the calving front of an ice shelf. Uncoupling progresses as a frozen bed progressively thaws for sheet flow, as a thawed bed is progressively drowned for stream flow, and as lateral and/or local grounding vanish for shelf flow. This can reduce ice thicknesses by 90 % and ice elevations by 99 % along flowlines. Original work presented here includes (1) replacing flow and sliding laws for sheet flow with upper and lower yield stresses for creep in cold overlying ice and basal ice sliding over deforming till, respectively, (2) replacing integrating the Navier–Stokes equations for stream flow with geometrical solutions to the force balance, and (3) including resistance to shelf flow caused by lateral confinement in a fjord and local grounding at ice rumples and ice rises. A comparison is made between our approach and two approaches based on continuum mechanics. Applications are made to Byrd Glacier in Antarctica and Jakobshavn Isbrae in Greenland.
CLASSIC STRAIN ENERGY FUNCTIONS AND CONSTITUTIVE TESTS OF RUBBER-LIKE MATERIALS
Authors: Li Xuebing , Wei Yintao
Published: August 2015

Four classic strain energy density (SED) functions for incompressible rubber-like materials, neo-Hookean, Mooney-Rivlin, Yeoh, and Ogden forms, are briefly reviewed. The strain–stress relations of the above-mentioned SED functions for uniaxial, planar (pure shear), and equibiaxial deformation modes and formulas for transforming tensile data to compressive data of these three special deformation modes are given. Three approximate criteria are proposed for judging the validity of test data obtained from various methods. It is found that Treloar's data are the most reasonable among six groups of published data judged using the proposed criteria. Different combinations of Treloar's data were used to determine the parameters of these SED functions. The effects of three special tests on determining the parameters of various SED functions using the curve-fitting tools provided by ABAQUS were analyzed. Uniaxial tension data were found to be sufficient for determining the neo-Hookean, Yeoh, and first-order Ogden models, whereas both uniaxial and equibiaxial data were necessary for determining the Mooney-Rivlin and Ogden (N = 2, 3) models, and planar data were unnecessary to determine the parameters for all reviewed SED functions.
CANDIDATO, PARTIDO E COLIGAÇÃO NA REELEIÇÃO DO PODER EXECUTIVO ESTADUAL
Authors: Maia Jayane Dos Santos
Published: August 2015

No Brasil, a compreensão da dinâmica da reeleição em termos geográficos é essencial para o entendimento das estratégias políticas usadas pelos candidatos e do comportamento do eleitorado. Investigar a possibilidade de regularidades subjacentes à distribuição espacial de votos para os governadores eleitos pode ser um primeiro passo para a identificar os determinantes do sucesso eleitoral em eleições consecutivas para o cargo. O estudo objetivou verificar se o candidato ou partido reeleito mantinha algum apoio da sua base eleitoral entre as eleições e por isso examinou se há estabilidade geográfica na distribuição dos votos para esses casos entre pares de eleições. Buscou-se observar em qual cenário essa estabilidade é mais propensa, considerando quando é o candidato ou o partido que tentam se reeleger ou quando o partido tenta se manter no poder se inserindo em uma coligação partidária. Analisou-se as votações recebidas por uma amostra de candidatos, partidos e coligações reeleitos considerando uma amostra de estados, tendo em vista as quatro últimas eleições – 1998, 2002, 2006 e 2010. Os mapas elaborados indicam as diferenças positiva e negativa entre os percentuais de votos recebidos em cada par de eleição, demonstrando-se a dinâmica espacial dos votos para essas três situações de reeleição. Os dados amostrais indicam que a possibilidade de sucesso de reeleição e de manutenção da votação nos distritos informais é maior quando o partido lança o candidato que foi vitorioso na eleição anterior, o que reitera a preponderância do voto personalista no Brasil. Observou-se ainda que em alguns estados da amostra, como São Paulo, Goiás e Bahia, há uma baixa competição política entre as elites no período considerado e, portanto, um alto grau de dominância eleitoral, isto é, permanência do grupo que está no poder. A análise dos mapas constatou que a reeleição do candidato se relaciona com dispersão da diferença positiva da votação e que a reeleição do partido direciona para a concentração dessa diferença. Os dados encontrados vão de encontro à literatura, que evidencia a fragilidade dos partidos políticos na arena eleitoral em comparação à figura do candidato.