bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Medical Student Beliefs about Disclosure of Mental Health Issues: A Qualitative Study
Authors: Winter Peter , Rix Andrew , Grant Andrew
Published: February 2017

In 2012 the United Kingdom's General Medical Council (GMC) commissioned research to develop guidance for medical schools on how best to support students with mental illness. One of the key findings from medical student focus groups in the study was students' strong belief that medical schools excluded students on mental health grounds. Students believed mental illness was a fitness to practice matter that led to eventual dismissal, although neither personal experience nor empirical evidence supported this belief. The objective of the present study was a deeper exploration of this belief and its underlying social mechanisms. This included any other beliefs that influenced medical students' reluctance to disclose a mental health problem, the factors that reinforced these beliefs, and the feared consequences of revealing a mental illness. The study involved a secondary analysis of qualitative data from seven focus groups involving 40 student participants across five UK medical schools in England, Scotland, and Wales. Student beliefs clustered around (1) the unacceptability of mental illness in medicine, (2) punitive medical school support systems, and (3) the view that becoming a doctor is the only successful career outcome. Reinforcing mechanisms included pressure from senior clinicians, a culture of “presenteeism,” distrust of medical school staff, and expectations about conduct. Feared consequences centered on regulatory “fitness to practice” proceedings that would lead to expulsion, reputational damage, and failure to meet parents' expectations. The study's findings provide useful information for veterinary medical educators interested in creating a culture that encourages the disclosure of mental illness and contributes to the debate about mental illness within the veterinary profession.
Poetry
Authors: Wilson Milton
Published: February 2017

Reviews of poetry published in Canada in 1961.
Driving Simulator Study of J-Turn Acceleration–Deceleration Lane and U-Turn Spacing Configurations
Authors: Sun Carlos , Qing Zhu , Edara Praveen , Balakrishnan Bimal , Hopfenblatt James
Published: February 2017

The J-turn, also known as the restricted crossing U-turn and Superstreet, is an innovative geometric design that can improve intersection safety. Although this design has been in use in several states for many years, there is very little research-based guidance for several design parameters. A driving simulator study was conducted to analyze the parameters of lane configuration, U-turn spacing, and signage. Two lane configurations were examined: ( a) an acceleration–deceleration configuration, in which acceleration and deceleration lanes are provided, and ( b) a deceleration-only configuration, in which only deceleration lanes are provided. Lane configuration was found to be the most important parameter affecting J-turn safety according to speed differentials. The only significant interaction effect among parameters was between lane configuration and U-turn spacing. The acceleration–deceleration configuration performed better than the deceleration-only configuration, having 66.3% fewer safety critical events. Vehicle trajectories and average lane change locations showed that U-turn spacing significantly affected the acceleration–deceleration configuration (e.g., average merge locations changed by 96% to .0101%) but not the deceleration-only configuration. No strong preference was demonstrated for either the directional or the diagrammatic signage style. This paper presents one of the first human-factors studies of the J-turn to focus on developing design guidance. This human-factors approach complements traditional approaches such as crash analysis and microsimulation.
Achieving Mobility Access for Older Adults Through Group Travel Instruction
Authors: Lubin Andrea , Alexander Karen , Harvey Elizabeth
Published: February 2017

It is anticipated that the number of older adults in the United States will reach 70 million before midcentury. Although the majority currently meet their transport needs by driving, one in five older adults does not drive. That statistic is expected to rise as senior drivers experience disability, health-related issues, or both, that negatively affect their driving ability. For many older adults accessible public transportation can be a viable transport option provided they are aware of and familiar with available transit services, trip planning, and how to safely and independently utilize transit systems. Findings are presented from a group travel instruction program piloted with older adults in New Jersey that encompassed classroom training and a field trip. A robust survey evaluation protocol was implemented that yielded findings that included the important role of transportation to older adult quality of life; high participant program satisfaction; evidence of participant knowledge and skills gained after program completion; and participant interest, willingness, and actual usage of public transit after the program. Survey respondents also confirmed several quality-of-life indicators experienced from program participation. In total, these findings offer evidence of the benefits of group travel instruction for older adults with and without a disability as they seek to meet some or all of their travel needs via accessible public transportation. The findings also support the value of offering both classroom and field trip components in older adult travel instruction programs.
Viamigo
Authors: Neven An , Vanrompay Yves , Declercq Katrien , Janssens Davy , Wets Geert , Dekelver Jan , Daems Jo , Bellemans Tom
Published: February 2017

Persons with intellectual disabilities (PwIDs) often aspire to more social inclusion by engaging in more community activities but encounter social barriers when traveling independently. Therefore, PwIDs are often accompanied by family members, friends, or volunteers. In order to both support the independent outdoor mobility of PwIDs themselves and reduce the caregivers’ burden, the geographic information system–based application “Viamigo” was developed ( www.viamigo.be ), which allows a personal coach to monitor an individual in real time from a distance. The goal is to teach PwIDs a known individual route that they can accomplish independently while being monitored by a personal coach, caregiver, family member, or friend who is taking care of the individual making the trip. Viamigo determines the location of the user and compares this in time and space within a predetermined range and automatically sends notifications to the coach in case the user deviates from the route, travels at an incorrect speed, or enters or leaves a safe or dangerous zone, among other factors. Besides this on-route functionality, Viamigo also allows the creation of geofences around destinations (to monitor whether the user stays within a predefined zone) and emergency tracking. The initial results are promising: PwIDs successfully used Viamigo for a heterogeneous set of trips performed by several travel modes (bus, cycling, and walking) for several activity purposes (both daily recurrent trips to the day center and trips for shopping, social, and recreational purposes) and for different distances.
Put Your Money where Your Mouth is: The Difference between Real Commitment to Sustainability and Mere Rhetoric
Authors: Bini Laura , Bellucci Marco , Giunta Francesco
Published: February 2017

Companies exhibit growing interest in sustainability rhetoric. Such an interest is alternatively justified by a company's need to address legitimacy instances, rather than to satisfy stakeholders' requests about its sustainability performance. Whatever the case, a main debated issue concerning sustainability rhetoric deals with the difficulties in understanding whether companies' commitment towards sustainability is "real", or it only consists of "empty words" that hide opportunistic strategies. Our paper contributes to this debate, proposing a methodological approach, which is based on a company's business model (BM) representation. We argue that the inclusion of adequate sustainability information in a company's BM representation can testify to a real company's engagement, as it illustrates how sustainability affects its value creation process. Compared to extant methodological proposals, mainly based on linguistic analyses, our approach does not require specific competences to be applied. Moreover, it saves user's time, as it allows the assessment of entire company's sustainability rhetoric through the analysis of the information reported in its BM. Our approach is consistent with previous contributions that propose a company's BM as a representation device able to illustrate strategic information that cannot be represented in the traditional corporate reporting. Our approach proposes a possible answer to address the challenges faced by regulators and standard setters involved in the regulation of sustainability disclosure. Such approach has found a first step of implementation in the UK, where since 2013, listed companies are requested to describe their BM in Strategic Reports.
Sleep Changes with Aging
Authors: Halim AKMY
Published: February 2017

Sleep disorders and sleeping difficulty are poorly-addressed problems of aging. Research has shown that as many as 50% of older adults complain about difficulty in initiating or maintaining sleep. Elderly with varieties of sleep complaints are differentially affected by 'age-related cognitive decline'. Normal developmental processes have been affected with changes in sleep, which can be further compromised by sleep disturbances secondary to medical or psychiatric diseases such as chronic pain, depression, dementia or age-related primary sleep disorders (e.g., sleep disordered breathing and periodic limb movements during sleep), or certain combinations of these high-risk factors. Sleep serves as a protective mechanism to keep the organism out of danger; therefore, it is imperative to consider sleep disorders for quality life. The evaluation of these disorders is discussed in this review.Anwer Khan Modern Medical College Journal Vol. 7, No. 1: Jan 2016, P 45-49
Familiaris reprehensio quasi errantis. Raphael Hythloday, between Plato and Epicurus
Authors: Sissa Giulia
Published: February 2017

Utopia is supposed to implement Plato’s Republic, but it includes an Epicurean morality, centered upon voluptas as securitas, or the minimization of anxiety. This is profoundly anti-Platonic. The improbable combination of Plato and Epicurus compels us to question such an absurd philosophy. Perhaps, it is the parody of an absurd philosopher. Who then is Raphael Hythloday? The answer can only be: Desiderius Erasmus. It is he, not Thomas More, who mixes Epicureanism and Platonism; pleasure and commonality. Drawing on the connections between Erasmian principles and Utopian features, on the distance of Utopia from Thomas More’s other works, and on a number of textual allusions, this paper argues that, although Erasmus and Thomas More were close friends, they disagreed about politics, existential choices, and philosophical engagements. The amicable disagreement between the characters of Morus and Hythloday, matches their differences. Raphael Hythloday is a friendly parody of the author of the Encomium Moriae.
Brabantia: decoding the main characters of Utopia
Authors: Vermeir Maarten M.K.
Published: February 2017

In this study, we propose a new understanding, according to the principles of ‘humanistic interpretation’, of a fundamental layer of meaning in Utopia. In the work of Thomas More, major references can be found to the particular genesis and a crucial purpose of Utopia. Desiderius Erasmus arranged the acquaintance of Thomas More with Peter Giles, a key figure in the development of Erasmus as political thinker. More and Giles together in Antwerp (Giles’s home town), both jurists and humanists, would lay the foundation of Utopia. With this arranged contact, Erasmus handed over to More the knowledge of a particular political system - the earliest form of ‘parliamentary democracy’ in Early modern Europe - embedded in the political culture of the Duchy of Brabant and its constitution, named the ‘Joyous Entry’. We argue that Erasmus, through the indispensable politicalliterary skills of More in Utopia, intended to promote this political system as a new, political philosophy: applicable to all nations in the Respublica Christiana of Christian humanism. With reference to this genesis of Utopia in the text itself and its prefatory letters, we come to a clear recognition of Desiderius Erasmus in the figure of Raphael Hythlodaeus, the sailor who had discovered the ‘isle of Utopia’ and discoursed, as reported by More, about its ‘exemplary’ institutions.
Thomas More on Tyranny: What Is Distinctive in His Early Thematic and Literary Treatment?
Authors: Wegemer Gerard
Published: February 2017

This paper analyzes More’s earliest writings on tyranny completed before More joined Henry VIII’s court in 1518. It argues that More’s treatment is distinctive in several ways: in contrasting the tyrant to Cicero’s princeps rather than to Plato’s just man or to Aristotle’s king; in the use of an unsettling comic tone; in the deeply perplexing and clever ways of engaging inquiry; and in thematic preoccupation with the need for effective citizenship education ordered to peace, prosperity, liberty in law, and civic friendship.
Intention, Choice and Identity in Thomas More’s The History of King Richard the Third/Historia Richardi Tertii
Authors: Gregg Samuel
Published: February 2017

Questions of intentionality and identity have been central to moral and philosophical reflection since Plato. This paper examines the workings of intentionality and free choice in shaping the moral identity of key characters in Thomas More’s The History of King Richard the Third. This reveals More’s emphasis upon the intransitive dimension of human action which makes people as much the object of their own choices as those transitive ends they pursue. The History thus confirms More as someone opposed to deterministic accounts of human choice, a position sharpened in More’s critiques of Reformation conceptions of the will throughout the 1520s.
Constitutional Law as a Bulwark against Tyranny: The American Experience
Authors: Riley Christopher J.
Published: February 2017

This paper considers the legal proceedings in Thomas More’s trial on a charge of treason in contrast with certain specific protections and limitations as to power under the United States Constitution. King Henry VIII’s case against Thomas More demonstrates the risk to liberty when power is concentrated in one entity. A written constitution that limits government power and separates the exercise of judicial, legislative and executive power is the best protection against tyranny.
The Problem of Tyranny in Fifteenth Century England
Authors: Genet Jean-Philippe
Published: February 2017

Was tyranny a crucial political problem in late medieval England? To answer this question, we examine which political texts were most widely read at that time. It is then possible to survey these texts and this reveals the two main meanings of tyranny: the king becomes a tyrant when he is unfair or/and when he is a predator. This second meaning is related to the development of royal taxation. However, the tyrants who are usually described by English authors are those of the ancient times. Tyranny is generally close to cruelty, and rarely referred to in a political context. The immediate preoccupations of the members of the political society in 15th century England were centred upon the problems of disorder and of legitimacy.
Thomas More and Charles V Part I / II: Serenissimo Castellæ principe Carolo
Authors: Olivares Merino Eugenio M.
Published: February 2017

In January 1515, Charles, Prince of Castile, was declared of age; four years later he was the most powerful sovereign in the Western world. At the same time, Thomas More was starting a diplomatic career which would lead him to gain his King’s favour. In the complex maze of sixteenth century diplomacy, the paths of these two men crossed. Insofar as their interests followed at times divergent – or even confronting – lines, they did share two main concerns: the Turks and the Lutheran Reformation.
Justice et utopie chez Thomas More
Authors: Tenaillon Nicolas
Published: February 2017

As a renowned jurist first and then as a top politician, Thomas More has never given up researching about a judicial system where all the fields of justice would be harmonized around a comprehensive logic. From criminal law to divine providence, Utopia, despite its eccentricities, proposes a coherent model of Christian-inspired collective living, based on a concern for social justice, something that was terribly neglected during the early 16th century English monarchy. Not only did History prove many of More’s intuitions right, but above all, it gave legitimacy to the utopian genre in its task of imagining the future progress of human justice and of contributing to its coming.
The Catholic Sage: Remarks on Southey’s Sir Thomas More: or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society
Authors: Bastos da Silva Jorge
Published: February 2017

This article addresses the general question of the status of Thomas More as a cultural icon by focusing on Robert Southey’s Sir Thomas More: or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society (1829). The discussion emphasizes the role of religion in Southey’s view of history and of More’s character, as well as the ways in which Southey’s work conveys a sense of the traditions of utopianism and implies a particular conception of intellectual authority. It is shown that, whereas authors like Thomas Stapleton, Anthony Munday, Robert Bolt and Hilary Mantel represented More as a man who challenged established opinions and authorities, either wisely or presumptuously, in the name of the authority of his own conscience, Southey was interested in overcoming the oppositional view of More’s character, career and moral legacy. The Colloquies accordingly express the author’s hopes of a future, eschatological state in which religious differences between Catholic and Protestant will be subsumed. It becomes clear that the work is as much a commentary on contemporary society, and especially on the condition of the Church of England, as it is an exercise in self-definition on the part of its author.
Pastoral Geography and Utopistic Considerations in Honoré d’Urfé’s L’Astrée
Authors: Cro Melinda A.
Published: February 2017

That setting is important to most novels is self-evident, yet this is particularly true of pastoral literature. Pastoral, a popular mode of writing that underwent renewal in the Renaissance, relies on the setting of Arcadia. An idyllic golden age where shepherds contemplate love, Arcadia is intrinsic to the pastoral’s identity. However, the pastoral landscape is renewed and reconsidered in Honoré d’Urfé’s monumental Astrée (1607–27). The author relocates the pastoral setting from ancient Greece to fifth-century France and the region of Forez. Because this was a popular mode at the time, the change of setting drew the reader’s attention to the authorial choice. In the novel, the author distinguishes his work from tradition by relying upon geographic specificity and the motif of the voyage to establish a foundation myth for France. Moreover, the importance of setting raises questions of the nature of the landscape and considerations of the utopistic ramifications for the pastoral mode as d’Urfé conceives it.
More’s Epigrams and Utopia: journeys in intertextuality
Authors: Cabrillana Concepción
Published: February 2017

Despite controversial interpretations still existing about More’s expressing (some of) his own opinions in Utopia, the comparison of it with the content of several of his epigrams allows finding certain similarities regarding to the possible political and ethical thought of the author. The article will show these similarities from the analysis of the lexicon used by More in both works. The particular use of concepts such as princeps, tyrannus, rexregnum, respublica, ciuis, populus, bellum-pax and other words may be shown as an accurate interpretation key.
Juristic Theology in More’s Polemics: The Bilney Case
Authors: Rockett William
Published: February 2017

Thomas More built his opposition to reform on a foundation of canon law because he believed the offenses of the reformers fell within the spiritual jurisdiction rather than the temporal; that these offenses were by right adjudicated in the church courts, not the Crown courts; and that the supreme authority in cases of unlawful theological innovation was not that of English kings but that of popes and councils. This paper’s argument is that the canonical system that served as More’s defense against innovation was created in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. This was the era of Gregorian reform, of Gratian’s Decretum, and of the phenomenon known as juristic theology. The main premise of juristic theology, that no region of the soul is exempt from legal judgment, is present in More’s critical analysis of the trial of Thomas Bilney in A Dialogue concerning Heresies.
(Neo)Pythagorean Vision in Thomas More’s Utopia
Authors: Mazour-Matusevitch Yelena
Published: February 2017

The inherent utopian tension between the ideal pattern and the earthly reality will be examined here in the context of the Pythagorean tradition, which Utopia shares with Plato’s Republic and Cicero’s De Republica, taken in its widest sense as the vision holding cosmic harmony as a model for organization of human affairs. The article aims to show how this tradition, by means of modification by the Renaissance Neo-Platonists, manifests itself in Utopia, putting to test Thomas More’s moral convictions as well as his faith in Neo-Platonist speculative philosophy.
Geografia e dissimulazione nell’ Utopia di Morus
Authors: Berriel Carlos
Published: February 2017

At the beginning of Book II of Utopia, Thomas More describes the adventures of a hypothetical navigator who approached the isle of Utopia: actually the navigator is none other than us, readers who, through this reading-navigation are approaching the idea of Utopia. However, the Utopians wish to protect themselves from our approach, having built a dangerous harbor, with “shallows on one side and rocks on the other.” “Since the other rocks lie under the water, they are very dangerous. The channels are known only to the Utopians, so hardly any strangers enter the bay without one of their pilots; and even they themselves could not enter safely if they did not direct their course by some landmarks on the coast”. Utopia has two meanings, the book and the island; the reader/navigator must avoid shipwreck on the reefs. The various references and meanings of the work, which are as many landmarks on the coast, frequently change places. Thus it is necessary to find one’s orientation through the evermoving game of such indications.
Thomas More’s Utopia, Gilbert Burnet and Peter the Great
Authors: Mazour-Matusevitch Yelena
Published: February 2017

The article presents a hypothesis concerning a possible connection between Thomas More’s Utopia and the conception of the Russian city of St. Petersburg. The study’s premise is that More’s utopian model might be at least indirectly responsible for Peter the Great’s familiarity, although relative and limited, with Plato’s concept of an ideal city, acquired during the tsar’s prolonged interaction with Utopia’s English translator Gilbert Burnet in 1698 in England. The study focuses in particular on one component of Plato’s utopian model—the idea of an invisible state machine and its adaptation by Thomas More, Gilbert Burnet, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz and Peter the Great.
Geographical, Cartographical and Cosmographical Echoes in Teofilo Folengo’s Baldus (1517)
Authors: Du Verger Jean
Published: February 2017

While exploring Teofilo Folengo’s Baldus (Venice, 1517) my paper draws on the Lipsian view that the practice of reading and travelling during the Renaissance were closely interwoven. In the same way the traveler walks through strange and foreign landscapes, the movement of the reader’s eye explores the text as it slowly merges into a map. In the present paper, I will first examine how Folengo uses cartographic metaphors and conventions in his Liber Macaronicus, to create a world in which geographical reality and fiction are meshed. I will then try to uncover the textual sources which are embedded in this palimpsestic work. Like the Renaissance cartographers and cosmographers (Münster, Mercator, Ortelius and Cuningham), Folengo draws on various ancient sources (Homer’s Odysseus, Lucian’s A True Story and Charron: or, A Survey of the Follies of Mankind, Julius Solinus’s Polyhistor and Navigatio Sancti Brendani) as well as on contemporary geographical knowledge. Finally, I will seek to show how the text hinges on the speculum motif as it questions social, political and religious issues in early modern Italy.
Thomas More’s Humor in his Religious Polemics
Authors: Simon Elliott M.
Published: February 2017

Thomas More’s humor was influenced by his studies of Greek Old and New Comedy and Lucian’s Dialogues. He was fascinated by the multiple ways human follies could be exposed to provoke laughter. Although aware of the “anti-laughter” tradition of the Early Church Fathers, he asserted that the intellectual, moral, and spiritual superiority of “the man who laughed” justified using humor to provoke “critical laughter” as an effective rhetorical strategy to ridicule the comic incongruities and corruption of “the inferior man who was laughed at.” In his religious polemics: Responsio ad Lutherum, Supplication of Souls, Dialogue Concerning Heresies, and Confutation of Tyndale’s Answer, More enjoyed using invectives, lampoons, and scholastic parody to denigrate Lutherans and their heretical doctrines. He considered laughter an appropriate response to heresy, and his vituperative humor provided a rhetorical punishment of derision as an alternative to the horrifying physical punishment of execution proscribed for heretics. More’s humor was intended to discourage his readers from accepting Lutheran doctrines, but it also invited them to share his joyful superior affirmation of faith in the tenets of the Catholic Church that will lead them to “the eternal merriment of heaven.”
Science and Utopia: Thomas More’s Knowledge of Renaissance Science
Authors: Lakowski Romuald I.
Published: February 2017

Thomas More had an extensive knowledge of Renaissance science and mathematics. He was a keen amateur astronomer, and at one point even gave Henry VIII lessons in astronomy. He also had a keen interest in physical geography and was familiar with the more popular Medieval authors of geographical and astronomical theory. Like More, the Utopians show a keen interest in astronomy, and in the climate, weather and tides, but repudiate astrology completely. More also took a keen interest in mathematics. Two of More’s editions of Euclid still survive. The attitude to Nature in Utopia can truly be described as proto-scientific.
Measurement and Analysis of Channel Characteristics in Reflective Environments at 3.6 GHz and 14.6 GHz
Authors: Zhou Xin , Zhong Zhangdui , Bian Xin , He Ruisi , Sun Ruoyu , Guan Ke , Liu Ke , Guo Xiaotao
Published: February 2017

Recently, high frequency bands (above 6 GHz) have attracted more attention for the next generation communication systems due to the limited frequency resources below 6 GHz. To reveal the influence of frequency on propagation channels, channel characterization results at 14.6 and 3.6 GHz bands based on measurements in an indoor scenario and in a reverberation chamber are presented. The measurement results indicate minimal differences in path loss exponents, shadow fading standard deviation, root-mean-square (RMS) delay spread and coherence bandwidth for the two frequency bands, while the path loss at 14.6 GHz band is clearly larger than that at the 3.6 GHz band. Furthermore, the underlying factors that influence the channel characteristics are investigated. It is found that the RMS delay spread is independent of the frequency in the scenario where free space propagation and/or reflection are the main mechanisms. Measurements in the reverberation chamber verify this inference.
FE Model Updating on an In-Service Self-Anchored Suspension Bridge with Extra-Width Using Hybrid Method
Authors: Xia Zhiyuan , Li Aiqun , Li Jianhui , Duan Maojun
Published: February 2017

Nowadays, many more bridges with extra-width have been needed for vehicle throughput. In order to obtain a precise finite element (FE) model of those complex bridge structures, the practical hybrid updating method by integration of Gaussian mutation particle swarm optimization (GMPSO), Kriging meta-model and Latin hypercube sampling (LHS) was proposed. By demonstrating the efficiency and accuracy of the hybrid method through the model updating of a damaged simply supported beam, the proposed method was applied to the model updating of a self-anchored suspension bridge with extra-width which showed great necessity considering the results of ambient vibration test. The results of bridge model updating showed that both of the mode frequencies and shapes had relatively high agreement between the updated model and experimental structure. The successful model updating of this bridge fills in the blanks of model updating of a complex self-anchored suspension bridge. Moreover, the updating process enables other model updating issues for complex bridge structures
Comparison of Oil Spill Classifications Using Fully and Compact Polarimetric SAR Images
Authors: Zhang Yuanzhi , Li Yu , Liang X. , Tsou Jinyeu
Published: February 2017

In this paper, we present a comparison between several algorithms for oil spill classifications using fully and compact polarimetric SAR images. Oil spill is considered as one of the most significant sources of marine pollution. As a major difficulty of SAR-based oil spill detection algorithms is the classification between mineral and biogenic oil, we focus on quantitatively analyzing and comparing fully and compact polarimetric satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) modes to detect hydrocarbon slicks over the sea surface, discriminating them from weak-damping surfactants, such as biogenic slicks. The experiment was conducted on quad-pol SAR data acquired during the Norwegian oil-on-water experiment in 2011. A universal procedure was used to extract the features from quad-, dual- and compact polarimetric SAR modes to rank different polarimetric SAR modes and common supervised classifiers. Among all the dual- and compact polarimetric SAR modes, the π/2 mode has the best performance. The best supervised classifiers vary and depended on whether sufficient polarimetric information can be obtained in each polarimetric mode. We also analyzed the influence of the number of polarimetric parameters considered as inputs for the supervised classifiers, onto the detection/discrimination performance. We discovered that a feature set with four features is sufficient for most polarimetric feature-based oil spill classifications. Moreover, dimension reduction algorithms, including principle component analysis (PCA) and the local linear embedding (LLE) algorithm, were employed to learn low dimensional and distinctive information from quad-polarimetric SAR features. The performance of the new feature sets has comparable performance in oil spill classification.
Reactor Design for CO2 Photo-Hydrogenation toward Solar Fuels under Ambient Temperature and Pressure
Authors: Chen Chun-Ying , Yu Joseph , Nguyen Van-Huy , Wu Jeffrey , Wang Wei-Hon , Kočí Kamila
Published: February 2017

Photo-hydrogenation of carbon dioxide (CO2) is a green and promising technology and has received much attention recently. This technique could convert solar energy under ambient temperature and pressure into desirable and sustainable solar fuels, such as methanol (CH3OH), methane (CH4), and formic acid (HCOOH). It is worthwhile to mention that this direction can not only potentially depress atmospheric CO2, but also weaken dependence on fossil fuel. Herein, 1 wt % Pt/CuAlGaO4 photocatalyst was successfully synthesized and fully characterized by ultraviolet-visible light (UV-vis) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscopy using energy dispersive spectroscopy analysis (FE-SEM/EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), respectively. Three kinds of experimental photo-hydrogenation of CO2 in the gas phase, liquid phase, and gas-liquid phase, correspondingly, were conducted under different H2 partial pressures. The remarkable result has been observed in the gas-liquid phase. Additionally, increasing the partial pressure of H2 would enhance the yield of product. However, when an extra amount of H2 is supplied, it might compete with CO2 for occupying the active sites, resulting in a negative effect on CO2 photo-hydrogenation. For liquid and gas-liquid phases, CH3OH is the major product. Maximum total hydrocarbons 8.302 µmol·g−1 is achieved in the gas-liquid phase.
A Global ETCCDI-Based Precipitation Climatology from Satellite and Rain Gauge Measurements
Authors: Dietzsch Felix , Andersson Axel , Ziese Markus , Schröder Marc , Raykova Kristin , Schamm Kirstin , Becker Andreas
Published: February 2017

Precipitation is still one of the most complex climate variables to observe, to understand, and to handle within climate monitoring and climate analysis as well as to simulate in numerical weather prediction and climate models. Especially over ocean, less is known about precipitation than over land due to the sparsity of in situ observations. Here, we introduce and discuss a global Expert Team on Climate Change and Indices (ETCCDI)-based precipitation climatology. The basis for computation of this climatology is the global precipitation dataset Daily Precipitation Analysis for Climate Prediction (DAPACLIP) which combines in situ observation data over land and satellite-based remote sensing data over ocean in daily temporal resolution, namely data from the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) and the Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data (HOAPS) dataset. The DAPACLIP dataset spans the period 1988–2008 and thus the global ETCCDI-based precipitation climatology covers 21 years in total. Regional aspects of the climatology are also discussed with focus on Europe and the monsoon region of south-east Asia. To our knowledge, this is the first presentation and discussion of an ETCCDI-based precipitation climatology on a global scale.
Effects of Rare Earth Elements on Properties of Ni-Base Superalloy Powders and Coatings
Authors: Hu Chunlian , Hou Shanglin
Published: February 2017

NiCrMoY alloy powders were prepared using inert gas atomization by incorporation of rare earth elements, such as Mo, Nb, and Y into Ni60A powders, the coatings were sprayed by oxy-acetylene flame spray and then remelted with high-frequency induction. The morphologies, hollow particle ratio, particle-size distribution, apparent density, flowability, and the oxygen content of the NiCrMoY alloy powders were investigated, and the microstructure and hardness of the coatings were evaluated by optical microscopy (OM). Due to incorporation of the rare earth elements of Mo, Nb, or Y, the majority of the NiCrMoY alloy particles are near-spherical, the minority of which have small satellites, the surface of the particles is smoother and hollow particles are fewer, the particles exhibit larger apparent density and lower flowability than those of particles without incorporation, i.e., Ni60A powders, and particle-size distribution exhibits a single peak and fits normal distribution. The microstructure of the NiCrMoY alloy coatings exhibits finer structure and Rockwell hardness HRC of 60–63 in which the bulk- and needle-like hard phases are formed.
Evaluation and Reliability Assessment of GaN-on-Si MIS-HEMT for Power Switching Applications
Authors: Chou Po-Chien , Chen Szu-Hao , Hsieh Ting-En , Cheng Stone , Del Alamo Jesús , Chang Edward
Published: February 2017

This paper reports an extensive analysis of the physical mechanisms responsible for the failure of GaN-based metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS) high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). When stressed under high applied electric fields, the traps at the dielectric/III-N barrier interface and inside the III-N barrier cause an increase in dynamic on-resistance and a shift of threshold voltage, which might affect the long term stability of these devices. More detailed investigations are needed to identify epitaxy- or process-related degradation mechanisms and to understand their impact on electrical properties. The present paper proposes a suitable methodology to characterize the degradation and failure mechanisms of GaN MIS-HEMTs subjected to stress under various off-state conditions. There are three major stress conditions that include: VDS = 0 V, off, and off (cascode-connection) states. Changes of direct current (DC) figures of merit in voltage step-stress experiments are measured, statistics are studied, and correlations are investigated. Hot electron stress produces permanent change which can be attributed to charge trapping phenomena and the generation of deep levels or interface states. The simultaneous generation of interface (and/or bulk) and buffer traps can account for the observed degradation modes and mechanisms. These findings provide several critical characteristics to evaluate the electrical reliability of GaN MIS-HEMTs which are borne out by step-stress experiments.
Distributed Economic Dispatch of Virtual Power Plant under a Non-Ideal Communication Network
Authors: Cao Chi , Xie Jun , Yue Dong , Huang Chongxin , Wang Jixiang , Xu Shuyang , Chen Xingying
Published: February 2017

A virtual power plant (VPP) is aimed to integrate distributed energy resources (DERs). To solve the VPP economic dispatch (VPED) problem, the power supply-demand balance, power transmission constraints, and power output constraints of each DER must be considered. Meanwhile, the impacts of communication time delays, channel noises, and the time-varying topology on the communication networks cannot be ignored. In this paper, a VPED model is established and a distributed primal-dual sub-gradient method (DPDSM) is employed to address the presented VPED model. Compared with the traditional centralized dispatch, the distributed dispatch has the advantages of lower communication costs and stronger system robustness, etc. Simulations are realized in the modified IEEE-34 and IEEE-123 bus test VPP systems and the results indicate that the VPED strategy via DPDSM has the superiority of better convergence, more economic profits, and stronger system stability.
Influence of Water Saturation on the Mechanical Behaviour of Low-Permeability Reservoir Rocks
Authors: Zhang Decheng , Pathegama Gamage Ranjith , Perera Mandadige , Zhang Chengpeng , Wanniarachchi Wanniarachchillage
Published: February 2017

The influence of water on the mechanical properties of rocks has been observed by many researchers in rock engineering and laboratory tests, especially for sedimentary rocks. In order to investigate the effect of water saturation on the mechanical properties of low-permeability rocks, uniaxial compression tests were conducted on siltstone with different water contents. The effects of water on the strength, elastic moduli, crack initiation and damage thresholds were observed for different water saturation levels. It was found that 10% water saturation level caused more than half of the reductions in mechanical properties. A new approach is proposed to analyze the stress-strain relations at different stages of compression by dividing the axial and lateral stress-strain curves into five equal stress zones, where stress zones 1–5 refer to 0%–20%, 20%–40%, 40%–60%, 60%–80% and 80%–100% of the peak stress, respectively. Stress zone 2 represents the elastic range better than stress zone 3 which is at half of the peak stress. The normalized crack initiation and crack damage stress thresholds obtained from the stress-strain curves and acoustic emission activities averaged 31.5% and 83% of the peak strength respectively. Pore pressure is inferred to take part in the deformation of low-permeability siltstone samples, especially at full saturation levels. A change of failure pattern from multi-fracturing to single shear failure with the increase of water saturation level was also observed.
Correlation Characteristic Analysis for Wind Speed in Different Geographical Hierarchies
Authors: Liu Shiyu , Li Gengfeng , Xie Haipeng , Wang Xifan
Published: February 2017

As the scale of wind power bases rises, it becomes significant in power system planning and operation to provide detailed correlation characteristic of wind speed in different geographical hierarchies, that is among wind turbines, within a wind farm and its regional wind turbines, and among different wind farms. A new approach to analyze the correlation characteristics of wind speed in different geographical hierarchies is proposed in this paper. In the proposed approach, either linear or nonlinear correlation of wind speed in each geographical hierarchy is firstly identified. Then joint sectionalized wind speed probability distribution is modeled for linear correlation analysis while a Copula function is adopted in nonlinear correlation analysis. By this approach, temporal-geographical correlations of wind speed in different geographical hierarchies are properly revealed. Results of case studies based on Jiuquan Wind Power Base in China are analyzed in each geographical hierarchy, which illustrates the feasibility of the proposed approach.
Effect of Different Flours on the Formation of Hydroxymethylfurfural, Furfural, and Dicarbonyl Compounds in Heated Glucose/Flour Systems
Authors: Mesías Marta , Morales Francisco
Published: February 2017

Traditional cereal-based foods usually include wheat flour in their formulations; however, the search for new products with new ingredients providing different properties to foods is widely pursued by food companies. Replacement of wheat by other flours can modify both nutritional properties and organoleptic characteristics of the final baked food, but can also impact the formation of potentially harmful compounds. The effect of the type of flour on the formation of furfurals and dicarbonyl compounds was studied in a dough model system during baking that contains water or glucose in order to promote the Maillard reaction and caramelization. The formation of methylglyoxal and glyoxal was significantly reduced in spelt and teff formulations compared to wheat flour formulations, respectively. In contrast, samples formulated with oat, teff, and rye showed a significant increase in the levels of 3-deoxyglucosone. Similarly, spelt and teff formulations presented significantly higher concentrations of hydroxymethylfurfural, and spelt, teff, and rye presented higher concentrations of furfural. Therefore, the formation of process contaminants and undesirable compounds in new food products formulated with different flours replacing the traditional wheat flour should be considered carefully in terms of food safety.
Type 1 Diabetes Candidate Genes Linked to Pancreatic Islet Cell Inflammation and Beta-Cell Apoptosis
Authors: Størling Joachim , Pociot Flemming
Published: February 2017

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a chronic immune-mediated disease resulting from the selective destruction of the insulin-producing pancreatic islet β-cells. Susceptibility to the disease is the result of complex interactions between environmental and genetic risk factors. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 50 genetic regions that affect the risk of developing T1D. Most of these susceptibility loci, however, harbor several genes, and the causal variant(s) and gene(s) for most of the loci remain to be established. A significant part of the genes located in the T1D susceptibility loci are expressed in human islets and β cells and mounting evidence suggests that some of these genes modulate the β-cell response to the immune system and viral infection and regulate apoptotic β-cell death. Here, we discuss the current status of T1D susceptibility loci and candidate genes with focus on pancreatic islet cell inflammation and β-cell apoptosis.
Effect of Soil Use and Coverage on the Spectral Response of an Oxisol in the VIS-NIR-MIR Region
Authors: Martín-López Javier , Quintero-Arias Giovanna
Published: February 2017

In this study, the spectral responses obtained from a Typic Red Hapludox (oxisol) were analyzed under different uses and occupations: Ficus elastica cultivation, Citrus + Arachis association cultivation, transitional crops, forest, Mangifera indica, Anacardium occidentale, Elaeis guineensis (18 years), Brachiaria decumbens, Brachiaria brizantha, and Musa × paradisiaca + Zea mays at the La Libertad Research Center in the department of Meta in Colombia (4°04′ North latitude, 73°30′ West longitude, 330 MAMSL). Sampling was performed with four random replicates of the horizon A and B to determine the contents of organic carbon (CO), pH, exchangeable acidity (Ac. I), cation exchange capacity (Cc), P, Ca, Mg, K, Na, sand, lime, and clay and spectral responses were obtained in the visible band (VIS), near infrared (NIR), and infrared (MIR) for each sample under laboratory conditions. A comparison was made between the obtained spectra, determining the main changes in soil properties due to their use and coverage. Variation of soil characteristics such as color, organic carbon content, presence of ferrous compounds, sand, silt, and clay content and mineralogy allow the identification of the main spectral changes of soils, demonstrating the importance of the use of reflectance spectroscopy as a tool of comparison and estimation between physical-chemical properties of the soils.
Copper 5,10,15,20-Tetrakis-(3,4-dibenzyloxyphenyl)porphyrin
Authors: Mathews L. , Tidwell Cynthia , Bharara Prakash , Stephens Glenn , Su Ting , Carter Alexia
Published: February 2017

The copper complex of 5,10,15,20-tetrakis-(3,4-dibenzyloxyphenyl)porphyrin (CuTDBOPP) was synthesized and characterized with electronic absorption spectroscopy and ESI high-resolution spectrometry. In the electronic spectrum, there was a shift in the Soret band from 424 nm to 420 nm that indicated that the insertion of the metal ion was successful. Additionally, the number of Q bands decreased from four peaks to a single peak at 541 nm. The molar absorptivity of the Soret and Q band are 3.4 × 105 cm−1·M−1 and 1.8 × 105 cm−1·M−1, respectively. The ESI HRMS was in excellent agreement with simulated isotopic distribution spectra. CuTDBOPP was incorporated into a series of Gratzel cells where the open current voltage was recorded.
Boron Partitioning Coefficient above Unity in Laser Crystallized Silicon
Authors: Lill Patrick , Dahlinger Morris , Köhler Jürgen
Published: February 2017

Boron pile-up at the maximum melt depth for laser melt annealing of implanted silicon has been reported in numerous papers. The present contribution examines the boron accumulation in a laser doping setting, without dopants initially incorporated in the silicon wafer. Our numerical simulation models laser-induced melting as well as dopant diffusion, and excellently reproduces the secondary ion mass spectroscopy-measured boron profiles. We determine a partitioning coefficient k p above unity with k p = 1 . 25 ± 0 . 05 and thermally-activated diffusivity D B , with a value D B ( 1687 K ) = ( 3 . 53 ± 0 . 44 ) × 10 − 4 cm 2 ·s − 1 of boron in liquid silicon. For similar laser parameters and process conditions, our model predicts the anticipated boron profile of a laser doping experiment.