bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On the Use of Nonlinear Model Predictive Control without Parameter Adaptation for Batch Processes
Authors: Binette Jean-Christophe , Srinivasan Bala
Published: August 2016

Optimization techniques are typically used to improve economic performance of batch processes, while meeting product and environmental specifications and safety constraints. Offline methods suffer from the parameters of the model being inaccurate, while re-identification of the parameters may not be possible due to the absence of persistency of excitation. Thus, a practical solution is the Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) without parameter adaptation, where the measured states serve as new initial conditions for the re-optimization problem with a diminishing horizon. In such schemes, it is clear that the optimum cannot be reached due to plant-model mismatch. However, this paper goes one step further in showing that such re-optimization could in certain cases, especially with an economic cost, lead to results worse than the offline optimal input. On the other hand, in absence of process noise, for small parametric variations, if the cost function corresponds to tracking a feasible trajectory, re-optimization always improves performance. This shows inherent robustness associated with the tracking cost. A batch reactor example presents and analyzes the different cases. Re-optimizing led to worse results in some cases with an economical cost function, while no such problem occurred while working with a tracking cost.
Electro- or Turbo-Driven?—Analysis of Different Blast Processes of Blast Furnace
Authors: Sun Wenqiang , Zhao Yueqiang , Wang Yunchun
Published: August 2016

There has always been a dispute about the energy efficiency and energy cost of electro-driven and turbo-driven blast furnace (BF) blast processes. In order to find where the problem lies, energy efficiency analysis models and energy cost analysis models of electro-driven and turbo-driven blast processes were established, and the differences between the two driving processes in terms of theoretical minimum steam consumption, energy efficiency and energy cost were studied. The results showed that the theoretical minimum steam consumption of a blast process depends on steam thermodynamic properties and is unrelated to drive mode and drive process. A certain overlapped interval between electro-driven and turbo-driven blast processes in terms of energy efficiency exists. The equation for calculating the standard coal coefficient of steam was proposed, and the relationship to judge strengths and weaknesses of the two driving modes in terms of energy efficiency and energy cost was established. Finally, two companies were selected for case study research. The results led to different conclusions because of the differences between energy media in terms of standard coal coefficient and unit price. To select the best driving mode, plant-running conditions and energy prices of the region of operation in addition to other relevant factors should all be taken into account.
Individual Building Extraction from TerraSAR-X Images Based on Ontological Semantic Analysis
Authors: Gui Rong , Xu Xin , Dong Hao , Song Chao , Pu Fangling
Published: August 2016

Accurate building information plays a crucial role for urban planning, human settlements and environmental management. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images, which deliver images with metric resolution, allow for analyzing and extracting detailed information on urban areas. In this paper, we consider the problem of extracting individual buildings from SAR images based on domain ontology. By analyzing a building scattering model with different orientations and structures, the building ontology model is set up to express multiple characteristics of individual buildings. Under this semantic expression framework, an object-based SAR image segmentation method is adopted to provide homogeneous image objects, and three categories of image object features are extracted. Semantic rules are implemented by organizing image object features, and the individual building objects expression based on an ontological semantic description is formed. Finally, the building primitives are used to detect buildings among the available image objects. Experiments on TerraSAR-X images of Foshan city, China, with a spatial resolution of 1.25 m × 1.25 m, have shown the total extraction rates are above 84%. The results indicate the ontological semantic method can exactly extract flat-roof and gable-roof buildings larger than 250 pixels with different orientations.
Target Coverage in Wireless Sensor Networks with Probabilistic Sensors
Authors: Shan Anxing , Xu Xianghua , Cheng Zongmao
Published: August 2016

Sensing coverage is a fundamental problem in wireless sensor networks (WSNs), which has attracted considerable attention. Conventional research on this topic focuses on the 0/1 coverage model, which is only a coarse approximation to the practical sensing model. In this paper, we study the target coverage problem, where the objective is to find the least number of sensor nodes in randomly-deployed WSNs based on the probabilistic sensing model. We analyze the joint detection probability of target with multiple sensors. Based on the theoretical analysis of the detection probability, we formulate the minimum ϵ-detection coverage problem. We prove that the minimum ϵ-detection coverage problem is NP-hard and present an approximation algorithm called the Probabilistic Sensor Coverage Algorithm (PSCA) with provable approximation ratios. To evaluate our design, we analyze the performance of PSCA theoretically and also perform extensive simulations to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm.
Automatic Authorship Detection Using Textual Patterns Extracted from Integrated Syntactic Graphs
Authors: Gómez-Adorno Helena , Sidorov Grigori , Pinto David , Vilariño Darnes , Gelbukh Alexander
Published: August 2016

We apply the integrated syntactic graph feature extraction methodology to the task of automatic authorship detection. This graph-based representation allows integrating different levels of language description into a single structure. We extract textual patterns based on features obtained from shortest path walks over integrated syntactic graphs and apply them to determine the authors of documents. On average, our method outperforms the state of the art approaches and gives consistently high results across different corpora, unlike existing methods. Our results show that our textual patterns are useful for the task of authorship attribution.
Mixed Criticality Scheduling for Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Jin Xi , Xia Changqing , Xu Huiting , Wang Jintao , Zeng Peng
Published: August 2016

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have been widely used in industrial systems. Their real-time performance and reliability are fundamental to industrial production. Many works have studied the two aspects, but only focus on single criticality WSNs. Mixed criticality requirements exist in many advanced applications in which different data flows have different levels of importance (or criticality). In this paper, first, we propose a scheduling algorithm, which guarantees the real-time performance and reliability requirements of data flows with different levels of criticality. The algorithm supports centralized optimization and adaptive adjustment. It is able to improve both the scheduling performance and flexibility. Then, we provide the schedulability test through rigorous theoretical analysis. We conduct extensive simulations, and the results demonstrate that the proposed scheduling algorithm and analysis significantly outperform existing ones.
A Saliency Guided Semi-Supervised Building Change Detection Method for High Resolution Remote Sensing Images
Authors: Hou Bin , Wang Yunhong , Liu Qingjie
Published: August 2016

Characterizations of up to date information of the Earth’s surface are an important application providing insights to urban planning, resources monitoring and environmental studies. A large number of change detection (CD) methods have been developed to solve them by utilizing remote sensing (RS) images. The advent of high resolution (HR) remote sensing images further provides challenges to traditional CD methods and opportunities to object-based CD methods. While several kinds of geospatial objects are recognized, this manuscript mainly focuses on buildings. Specifically, we propose a novel automatic approach combining pixel-based strategies with object-based ones for detecting building changes with HR remote sensing images. A multiresolution contextual morphological transformation called extended morphological attribute profiles (EMAPs) allows the extraction of geometrical features related to the structures within the scene at different scales. Pixel-based post-classification is executed on EMAPs using hierarchical fuzzy clustering. Subsequently, the hierarchical fuzzy frequency vector histograms are formed based on the image-objects acquired by simple linear iterative clustering (SLIC) segmentation. Then, saliency and morphological building index (MBI) extracted on difference images are used to generate a pseudo training set. Ultimately, object-based semi-supervised classification is implemented on this training set by applying random forest (RF). Most of the important changes are detected by the proposed method in our experiments. This study was checked for effectiveness using visual evaluation and numerical evaluation.
A Game Theoretic Optimization Method for Energy Efficient Global Connectivity in Hybrid Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Lee JongHyup , Pak Dohyun
Published: August 2016

For practical deployment of wireless sensor networks (WSN), WSNs construct clusters, where a sensor node communicates with other nodes in its cluster, and a cluster head support connectivity between the sensor nodes and a sink node. In hybrid WSNs, cluster heads have cellular network interfaces for global connectivity. However, when WSNs are active and the load of cellular networks is high, the optimal assignment of cluster heads to base stations becomes critical. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a game theoretic model to find the optimal assignment of base stations for hybrid WSNs. Since the communication and energy cost is different according to cellular systems, we devise two game models for TDMA/FDMA and CDMA systems employing power prices to adapt to the varying efficiency of recent wireless technologies. The proposed model is defined on the assumptions of the ideal sensing field, but our evaluation shows that the proposed model is more adaptive and energy efficient than local selections.
Surface Plasmon Resonance-Based Fiber Optic Sensors Utilizing Molecular Imprinting
Authors: Gupta Banshi , Shrivastav Anand , Usha Sruthi
Published: August 2016

Molecular imprinting is earning worldwide attention from researchers in the field of sensing and diagnostic applications, due to its properties of inevitable specific affinity for the template molecule. The fabrication of complementary template imprints allows this technique to achieve high selectivity for the analyte to be sensed. Sensors incorporating this technique along with surface plasmon or localized surface plasmon resonance (SPR/LSPR) provide highly sensitive real time detection with quick response times. Unfolding these techniques with optical fiber provide the additional advantages of miniaturized probes with ease of handling, online monitoring and remote sensing. In this review a summary of optical fiber sensors using the combined approaches of molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) and the SPR/LSPR technique is discussed. An overview of the fundamentals of SPR/LSPR implementation on optical fiber is provided. The review also covers the molecular imprinting technology (MIT) with its elementary study, synthesis procedures and its applications for chemical and biological anlayte detection with different sensing methods. In conclusion, we explore the advantages, challenges and the future perspectives of developing highly sensitive and selective methods for the detection of analytes utilizing MIT with the SPR/LSPR phenomenon on optical fiber platforms.
Impacts of FDI Renewable Energy Technology Spillover on China’s Energy Industry Performance
Authors: Liu Weiwei , Xu Xiandong , Yang Zhile , Zhao Jianyu , Xing Jing
Published: August 2016

Environmental friendly renewable energy plays an indispensable role in energy industry development. Foreign direct investment (FDI) in advanced renewable energy technology spillover is promising to improve technological capability and promote China’s energy industry performance growth. In this paper, the impacts of FDI renewable energy technology spillover on China’s energy industry performance are analyzed based on theoretical and empirical studies. Firstly, three hypotheses are proposed to illustrate the relationships between FDI renewable energy technology spillover and three energy industry performances including economic, environmental, and innovative performances. To verify the hypotheses, techniques including factor analysis and data envelopment analysis (DEA) are employed to quantify the FDI renewable energy technology spillover and the energy industry performance of China, respectively. Furthermore, a panel data regression model is proposed to measure the impacts of FDI renewable energy technology spillover on China’s energy industry performance. Finally, energy industries of 30 different provinces in China based on the yearbook data from 2005 to 2011 are comparatively analyzed for evaluating the impacts through the empirical research. The results demonstrate that FDI renewable energy technology spillover has positive impacts on China’s energy industry performance. It can also be found that the technology spillover effects are more obvious in economic and technological developed regions. Finally, four suggestions are provided to enhance energy industry performance and promote renewable energy technology spillover in China.
Valuing Ecosystem Services and Disservices across Heterogeneous Green Spaces
Authors: Klimas Christie , Williams Allison , Hoff Megan , Lawrence Beth , Thompson Jennifer , Montgomery James
Published: August 2016

This study investigates small-scale variability in ecosystem services and disservices that is important for sustainable planning in urban areas (including suburbs surrounding the urban core). We quantified and valued natural capital (tree and soil carbon stocks) ecosystem services (annual tree carbon sequestration and pollutant uptake, and stormwater runoff reduction) and disservices (greenhouse gas emissions and soil soluble reactive phosphorus) within a 30-hectare heterogeneous green space that included approximately 13% wetland, 13% prairie, 16% forest, and 55% subdivision. We found similar soil organic carbon across green space types, but spatial heterogeneity in other ecosystem services and disservices. The value of forest tree carbon stock was estimated at approximately $10,000 per hectare. Tree carbon sequestration, and pollutant uptake added benefits of $1000+ per hectare per year. Annual per hectare benefits from tree carbon stock and ecosystem services in the subdivision were each 63% of forest values. Total annual greenhouse gas emissions had significant spatial and temporal variation. Soil soluble reactive phosphorus was significantly higher in the wetland than in forest and prairie. Our results have implications for urban planning. Adding or improving ecosystem service provision on small (private or public) urban or suburban lots may benefit from careful consideration of small-scale variability.
Natural Ventilation Building Design Approach in Mediterranean Regions—A Case Study at the Valencian Coastal Regional Scale (Spain)
Authors: Mora-Pérez Miguel , Guillen-Guillamón Ignacio , López-Patiño Gonzalo , López-Jiménez Petra
Published: August 2016

Environmental awareness has led to an increased concern about low carbon technologies implementation. Among these technologies, the following research is focused on the natural ventilation effect evaluation in buildings prior to its construction. The aim is to select the most suitable architectural solution to ensure comfortable indoor environment in the most efficient way in the early building design stage. The design approach takes into account the wind conditions in the region and the building surroundings to evaluate the façade opening distribution impact on natural ventilation performance. The design approach is based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD). In this article, a case study located in the Valencian Community (Spain) is depicted. The Valencian Community coastal climatic conditions are evaluated to assess the low carbon technology energy saving potential. Moreover, the main drivers and barriers involved in the design approach implementation in the region are discussed. The conclusions show that the natural ventilation design approach can improve up to 9.7% the building energy performance respect an initial building design, in which natural ventilation has not been considered. The results contribute to an assessment of the complete low carbon technology effect in the region.
Quantifying the Spatiotemporal Patterns of Urbanization along Urban-Rural Gradient with a Roadscape Transect Approach: A Case Study in Shanghai, China
Authors: Zhang Zhonghao , Tu Yaojen , Li Xin
Published: August 2016

Quantifying the landscape pattern change can effectively demonstrate the ecological progresses and the consequences of urbanization. Based on remotely sensed land cover data in 1994, 2000, 2006 and a gradient analysis with landscape metrics at landscape- and class- level, we attempted to characterize the individual and entire landscape patterns of Shanghai metropolitan during the rapid urbanization. We highlighted that a roadscape transect approach that combined the buffer zone method and the transect-based approach was introduced to describe the urban-rural patterns of agricultural, residential, green, industrial, and public facilities land along the railway route. Our results of landscape metrics showed significant spatiotemporal patterns and gradient variations along the transect. The urban growth pattern in two time spans conform to the hypothesis for diffusion–coalescence processes, implying that the railway is adaptive as a gradient element to analyze the landscape patterns with urbanization. As the natural landscape was replaced by urban landscape gradually, the desakota region expanded its extent widely. Suburb areas witnessed the continual transformation from the predominantly rural landscape to peri-urban landscape. Furthermore, the gap between urban and rural areas remained large especially in public service. More reasonable urban plans and land use policies should push to make more efforts to transition from the urban-rural separation to coordinated urban-rural development. This study is a meaningful trial in demonstrating a new form of urban–rural transects to study the landscape change of large cities. By combining gradient analysis with landscape metrics, we addressed the process of urbanization both spatially and temporally, and provided a more quantitative approach to urban studies.
Reducing Simulation Performance Gap in Hemp-Lime Buildings Using Fourier Filtering †
Authors: Jankovic Ljubomir
Published: August 2016

Mainstream dynamic simulation tools used by designers do not have a built-in capability to accurately simulate the effect of hemp-lime on building temperature and relative humidity. Due to the specific structure of hemp-lime, heat travels via a maze of solid branches whilst the capillary tubes absorb and release moisture. The resultant heat and moisture transfer cannot be fully represented in mainstream simulation tools, causing a significant performance gap between the simulation and the actual performance. The author has developed an analysis method, based on a numerical procedure for digital signal filtering using Fourier series. The paper develops and experimentally validates transfer functions that enhance simulation results and enable accurate representation of behaviour of buildings built from hemp-lime material using the results of a post-occupancy research project. As a performance gap between design simulation and actual buildings occurs in relation to all buildings, this method has a wider scope of application in reducing the performance gap.
Social Science Studies on European and African Agriculture Compared: Bringing Together Different Strands of Academic Debate on GM Crops
Authors: Fischer Klara , Eriksson Camilla
Published: August 2016

This study explored the social science-orientated literature on genetically modified (GM) crops in Europe and compared it with the corresponding literature on GM crops in African contexts, in order to determine the nature and extent of north-south cross-fertilisation in the literature. A total of 1625 papers on GM crops and agriculture falling within the ‘social science and humanities’ subject area in the Scopus abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature were analysed for major trends relating to geographical areas. More detailed analysis was performed on papers discussing African (56 papers) and European (127 papers) contexts. The analysis revealed that studies on policy and politics were common in both strands of the literature, frequently focusing on effects of the relatively restrictive European Union regulations on GM crops. There were also clear differences, however. For example, papers focusing on Africa frequently examined farm-level impacts and production, while this theme was almost non-existent in the Europe literature. It focused instead on policy impacts on trade and consumer attitudes to GM products. The lack of farm-level studies and of empirical studies in general in the European literature indicates a need for empirical research on GM crops in European farming. Social science research on GM crop production in Europe could draw lessons from the African literature.
What Is the Validity Domain of Einstein’s Equations? Distributional Solutions over Singularities and Topological Links in Geometrodynamics
Authors: Zafiris Elias
Published: August 2016

The existence of singularities alerts that one of the highest priorities of a centennial perspective on general relativity should be a careful re-thinking of the validity domain of Einstein’s field equations. We address the problem of constructing distinguishable extensions of the smooth spacetime manifold model, which can incorporate singularities, while retaining the form of the field equations. The sheaf-theoretic formulation of this problem is tantamount to extending the algebra sheaf of smooth functions to a distribution-like algebra sheaf in which the former may be embedded, satisfying the pertinent cohomological conditions required for the coordinatization of all of the tensorial physical quantities, such that the form of the field equations is preserved. We present in detail the construction of these distribution-like algebra sheaves in terms of residue classes of sequences of smooth functions modulo the information of singular loci encoded in suitable ideals. Finally, we consider the application of these distribution-like solution sheaves in geometrodynamics by modeling topologically-circular boundaries of singular loci in three-dimensional space in terms of topological links. It turns out that the Borromean link represents higher order wormhole solutions.
How Polyomaviruses Exploit the ERAD Machinery to Cause Infection
Authors: Dupzyk Allison , Tsai Billy
Published: August 2016

To infect cells, polyomavirus (PyV) traffics from the cell surface to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) where it hijacks elements of the ER-associated degradation (ERAD) machinery to penetrate the ER membrane and reach the cytosol. From the cytosol, the virus transports to the nucleus, enabling transcription and replication of the viral genome that leads to lytic infection or cellular transformation. How PyV exploits the ERAD machinery to cross the ER membrane and access the cytosol, a decisive infection step, remains enigmatic. However, recent studies have slowly unraveled many aspects of this process. These emerging insights should advance our efforts to develop more effective therapies against PyV-induced human diseases.
Implications of Extracellular Polymeric Substance Matrices of Microbial Habitats Associated with Coastal Aquaculture Systems
Authors: Camacho-Chab Juan , Lango-Reynoso Fabiola , Castañeda-Chávez María , Galaviz-Villa Itzel , Hinojosa-Garro Demian , Ortega-Morales Benjamín
Published: August 2016

Coastal zones support fisheries that provide food for humans and feed for animals. The decline of fisheries worldwide has fostered the development of aquaculture. Recent research has shown that extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) synthesized by microorganisms contribute to sustainable aquaculture production, providing feed to the cultured species, removing waste and contributing to the hygiene of closed systems. As ubiquitous components of coastal microbial habitats at the air–seawater and seawater–sediment interfaces as well as of biofilms and microbial aggregates, EPS mediate deleterious processes that affect the performance and productivity of aquaculture facilities, including biofouling of marine cages, bioaccumulation and transport of pollutants. These biomolecules may also contribute to the persistence of harmful algal blooms (HABs) and their impact on cultured species. EPS may also exert a positive influence on aquaculture activity by enhancing the settling of aquaculturally valuable larvae and treating wastes in bioflocculation processes. EPS display properties that may have biotechnological applications in the aquaculture industry as antiviral agents and immunostimulants and as a novel source of antifouling bioproducts.
Multi-Criteria Framework to Assess Large Scale Water Resources Policy Measures
Authors: Udias Angel , Gentile Alessandro , Burek Peter , De Roo Ad , Bouraoui Faycal , Vandecasteele Ine , Lavalle Carlo , Bidoglio Giovanni
Published: August 2016

In order to assess water efficiency options on the European scale, a multi-criteria integrative hydro-economic modeling framework has been developed. With this framework, it is possible to assess combinations of measures which could help reducing the gap between water demand and water availability, while taking into account ecological, water quality, flood risk and economic aspects. The assessed measures include water retention, water savings and nutrient reduction measures. The presented work was carried out within the framework of the “Blueprint to safeguard Europe’s waters” policy initiative of the European Commission. Contrary to earlier studies concentrating on single measures in single river basins, this study shows that this modeling environment can evaluate combinations of measures in multiple river basins that meet the considered objectives, and in general can improve various water quantity and quality indicators as compared to the baseline situation. However, additional work is needed on for example quantifying the economics of damage and benefits before the modelling environment may be used for policy advice.
Le déclin de la châtaigneraie dans l'Aude : le rôle d'un champignon parasite dans le massif de Cuxac-Cabardès-Caudebronde
Authors: Gély Isabelle
Published: August 2016

Le versant sud de la Montagne Noire, moyenne montagne, est depuis une centaine d'années le site de châtaigneraies qui sont des propriétés privées (79,6 %) exploitées pour la fabrication de piquets et de merrains. En 1973-75, Endothia parasítica, un champignon parasite des blessures apparaît dans la région et provoque des chancres à évolution rapide sur les troncs, les branches, les rejets. L'étude faite en mai-juin 1989 dans le massif de Cuxac- Cabardès-Caudebronde permet d'isoler ou de réisoler certains des facteurs du développement de l'Endothia parasítica et deux méthodes complémentaires (étude stationnelle et télédétection) sont proposées pour établir une cartographie des sites propices aux attaques d'Endothia parasítica.
Majorque (Baléares) face aux réserves de la monoactivité touristique
Authors: Segui Llinas Miguel
Published: August 2016

Mallorca and the hazards of an exclusive tourism trade specialisation. Since 1960 Mallorca experimented the advantage of such a sharp growth of tourism that it was pictured as a symbol of mass tourism. Anyhow the tourist agents had to react and fit to new objectives when they were confronted with some critical phases and poor results of this overcrowding trend. Nowadays 42 % of the coast line are classified off limits, hotel amenities are improved and the tourism growth is paced down by various regulations so that Mallorca was prized by the British tour operators. The local island society is changing too and its various components, rural and urban, indigenous and immigrants, European an outcomers are still balanced though they share a small place.
Récurrences de la question agraire en Europe centrale, ou la rivalité des modèles
Authors: Maurel Marie-Claude
Published: August 2016

The present reoccurence of the agrarian dilemma in Central Europe. The current décollectivisation movement seen in all central european states changing to a market economy should be regarded in the context of the history of agrarian structures, which is dominated by the alternation between two main agricultural forms : the large estates, and the small holdings. After world war I and again immediately after the second world war, the dominance of the great estates was questioned, and the small peasant farms and small holdings were favoured by principle. However this trend was interrupted through the advent of collectivisation. This introduced a new form of large agricultural farms, based upon the social or state ownership of land, and agricultural machinery, and the collective reorganisation of labour working for wage. It is useful to analyse, how and when, collectivisation was introduced and organised, and to study the conditions in which the agricultural workers, on coopératives, and state farms, were frustrated and lost their personal relationship with the land which they cultivated. Also it is interesting to understand the problems caused by the return of the former landlords and to speculate on the future of the enterprises that will replace the collectives and be responsible for agricultural production.
Les grandes exploitations agricoles en Languedoc-Roussillon (1970-1988)
Authors: Bernard Marie-Claude , Carrière Pierre
Published: August 2016

Las grandes explotaciones agrícolas en Languedoc-Roussillon (1970-1988). Entre los Censos generales agrícolas de 1970 y 1988, espacio de tiempo suficiente para observar los cambios de la estructura agraria, ¿ ha seguido la concentración agraria en los cuatro departamentos litorales de Languedoc-Roussillon ? Beneficiadas por estos cambios, las grandes explotaciones son definidas aquí sucesivamente por la extensión de la superficie agrícola utilizada (más de 100 ha), la extensión del viñedo (más de 30 ha de vid), por el valor añadido (margen bruto normalizado superior a 40000 UCE, valor de 1973). Cualquiera que sea el criterio utilizado, se nota que la concentración agraria ha progresado menos en dicha zona que en el resto de Francia. Unas diferencias significativas se observan también al respecto dentro de la zona entre los distintos departamentos y entre los diversos cantones agrícolas.
La nouvelle agriculture en Albanie et l'exemple de Korça
Authors: Sivignon Michel
Published: August 2016

Hacia una nueva agricultura albanesa : el ejemplo de Korça. La agricultura albanesa está en curso de privatización. Con la ley agraria de 1991 se han fijado los principios de atribución de la tierra a quienes la cultivan. Después del reparto de las tierras de las cooperativas, ahora les toca a las granjas del Estado. El estudio del caso del distrito de Korça, así como del de la granja del Estado de Plasa, pone de manifiesto las dificultades del paso a la econoomía de mercado y las cuestiones planteadas por la formación de un conjunto de explotaciones egrícolas de reducidísima superficie (menos de dos hectáreas) .
Les dossiers de la Sûreté d'État bulgare : le communisme dans les pliures du temps
Authors: Ragaru Nadège
Published: August 2016

Досиетата на българската Държаваната сигурност. Преплетените времена на социализма.

През декември 2006, в навечерието на присъединяването на България към ЕС, едно оглавявано от социалистите мнозинство прокара закон за отваряне на досиетата на бившата Държавна сигурност. Настоящата статия има за цел да изследва обществените и политическите нагласи, които доведоха до този - на пръв поглед парадоксален - резултат. По-точно разглежда различното социално конструиране на проблемите, заложени в разсекретява- нето на информацията за делата на апарата на бившата Държавна сигурност. Правейки това, текстът развива аргументацията си в две посоки. Първо, въпреки че желанието да се изобличат престъпленията на комунистическия режим беше основната цел на онези социалните актьори, които работиха в продължение на години за разсекретява- нето, това конкретно схващане на проблема беше допълнено от търсенето на по-голяма прозрачност в младата демокрация или на по-ефикасна борба срещу организираната престъпност. На практика през последните двайсет години доминиращото разбиране на въпроса за досиетата премина от оценка на комунистическото минало към желание да се разкрият злодеянията на посткомунистическия преход - т.е. превземането на държавата. Този бавен ход е ключов за обяснението на това как в крайна сметка се достигна до консенсус за отварянето на досиетата. Второ, като резултат, когато преценяваме начините, по които миналото бива разказвано през проблема за комунистическите архиви, трябва да се вземат предвид няколко периода (пред кому ни етическото и комунистическото минало, близкото минало на Прехода, сибитията от настоящето), доколкото въпросът за архивите доведе до преосмисляне не само на опита от комунизма, но и в по-широк план на политическата история на България.
Language Isolates and Their History, or, What’s Weird, Anyway?
Authors: Campbell Lyle
Published: August 2016

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt:How many language isolates are there in the world? (How many language families are there?) Most linguistics do not know, and opinions vary greatly. The answers to these questions are complicated because they depend on different views about fundamental issues in historical linguistics. The goal of this paper is to attempt to answer the questions: How many language isolates are there? How can we advance knowledge of the history of language isolates? What methodological lessons does the study of specific isolates offer to understand better the history of language isolates in general and that of other specific isolates? What are the prospects for finding relatives for some language isolates, that is, for showing that they belong to larger genetic groupings than those known at present?
Orthography Shapes Semantic and Phonological Activation in Reading
Authors: Cheng Hui-wen , Caldwell-Harris Catherine L.
Published: August 2016

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt:This study will investigate whether Chinese orthography differs from English orthography in terms of the relative activation of semantic versus phonological information. Do Chinese characters evoke greater activation of semantic information compared to phonological information? Do they trigger greater activation of semantic information than English orthography? Moreover, few studies have examined Chinese reading and alphabetic reading with the same experimental design. The present study fills these gaps in the literature by examining a previously unstudied phenomenon: semantic substitutions that occur during reading outloud tasks.
Gesture-to-Speech Mismatch in the Construction of Problem Solving Insight
Authors: Elms J.T.E.
Published: August 2016

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt:The present report analyzes a case of problem-solving insight achieved in a dyadic problem-solving discourse task. The task required two participants to work together to solve a murder mystery based on a story by Raymond Chandler. One participant appeared to use propositional speech and gestural simulation as checks on each other while he hypothesized alternative interpretations for the actions of a murder suspect. Each hypothetical scenario began with a gestural metaphor for a named kinship relationship between suspect and murder victim. Irreparable cross-modal mismatch between speech and gesture led to generation of a new kinship metaphor. Merging elements from the two gestural scenarios while maintaining semantic congruence between speech and gesture did not merely precede, but ac-tually constructed, problem-solving insight.
Semantically-Oriented Vowel Reduction in an Amazonian Language
Authors: Everett Caleb
Published: August 2016

While it is an interesting phenomenon, semantically-oriented vowel reduction has only been demonstrated in studies with English-speaking participants. The primary objective of the current endeavor is to establish whether or not there is cross-linguistic evidence for semantically-oriented vowel reduction. In order to do so, we will consider some recently-collected data from Karitiâna (K henceforth). K is a Tupí language spoken in southwestern Amazonia. It is a natural subject for the current study since the author regularly conducts phonetic research on the language, and since there are a number of recent phonetic studies available in the literature on the language (Everett in press a, 2008a, inter alia). An ancillary objective for this study is to contribute to the growing acoustic-phonetic literature on the language and on Amazonian languages more generally (see discussion in Everett in press b).
Universals in the Visual-Kinesthetic Modality: Politeness Marking Features in Japanese Sign Language (JSL)
Authors: George Johnny
Published: August 2016

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt:This work describes results of an experiment that teases out politeness marking features in JSL. The study uncovers a number of prosodic features relevant to marking politeness in JSL, and additionally, demonstrates that non-signers and signers share a visual-kinesthetic medium of communication that enables non-signers to occasionally interpret signs derived from assimilated gestures recognized either culturally in Japan or universally by users of different languages.
On the Reflexive-Antipassive Polysemy: Typological Convergence from Unrelated Languages
Authors: Janic Katarzyna
Published: August 2016

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt:This paper deals with the antipassive construction that has raised considerable interest in the syntactic description of ergative languages over the last few decades (Dixon 1979). Often defined on structural grounds, antipassive is said to be a derived intransitive construction with a two-place predicate, the object argument of which is either suppressed or realized as an oblique (Polinsky 2005). Tradition-ally, the antipassive is related to the ergative system. Although some authors insist on the link between the antipassive and ergativity (Dixon 1979, Cooreman 1993), certain typologically-oriented publications extend discussions on antipassive phenomena to accusative languages (Heath 1976, Polinsky 2005, Creissels 2006).
Position and Height Asymmetries in Hiatus Resolution: A case study of Korean VV sequences
Authors: Kang Hijo
Published: August 2016

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt:Typological patterns in synchronic data, for example, the question of why pattern A is more frequent than B across languages, have been one of the most important issues in linguistics, in particular in phonology. Ohala (1993) seeks the answer in human articulatory and/or auditory mechanisms. If a phonetic ‘perturbation’ is not corrected properly in perception, a hypo-correction could occur and it could result in a sound change. In this model, typological patterns are assumed to reflect the very variation in ordinary speech. Two crosslinguistic asymmetries in hiatus reso-lution are the main concerns in this paper. Casali (1996) and Rosenthall (1997) present positional and height asymmetries. They take another approach to the ty-pological patterns in that they suggest universal constraints and rankings to ac-count for the asymmetries in the framework of Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993). Crosslinguistically, hiatus resolution such as vowel deletion or gliding is more likely to occur in V1 and high vowels than in V2 and non-high vowels. If these patterns result from human articulatory and auditory mechanisms as Ohala (1993) argues, it would be expected that the production of vowel se-quences will show a pattern of phonetic variation, which is similar to the phono-logical processes. As the first step, a set of acoustic data on Korean hiatus is pre-sented in this paper. The results will show that V1 in hiatus is consistently shorter than V2, which corresponds to the positional asymmetry in Casali (1996). As for the height asymmetry, it will be reported that high vowels are more reduced in fast speech, compared to their durations in slow speech.
Person Indexicals in Uyghur Indexical Shifting
Authors: Sudo Yasutada
Published: August 2016

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt:This paper provides novel data of indexical shifting from (Modern) Uyghur. Focusing on the interpretation of 1st and 2nd person singular indexicals, we observe two peculiar features of Uyghur indexical shifting: (i) that 1st person indexicals are obligatorily de se, while 2nd person indexicals are not obligatorily de se in the sense explained below; and (ii) that shifted 2nd person pronouns are not allowed under certain attitude verbs, while shifted 1st person pronouns are always licensed. We propose a formal semantic account of both phenomena.
An Empirical Investigation of Typicality and Uniqueness Effects on Article Choice in Attributive-Possession NPs
Authors: Ward Gregory , Ahern Christopher , Hayden Tom
Published: August 2016

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt:Previous analyses of the use of English definite descriptions have generally taken one of two approaches, loosely characterizable as familiarity and uniqueness. That is, felicitous use of the definite article has been argued to require that the referent of the NP be either known to the hearer within the current context of utterance (e.g. Heim 1983, Prince 1992) or uniquely identifiable to the hearer (e.g. Gundel et al. 1993, Birner & Ward 1994, inter alia). What is common to all previous analyses is that the explanatory principle is presented as categorical; i.e. a referent is familiar or not, unique or not. There is generally no provision for gradience within the theory. In what follows we will investigate how familiarity- and uniqueness-based accounts of definiteness fare in accounting for the class of EMBEDDED DEFINITES known as ATTRIBUTIVE-POSSESSION constructions (McKercher 2001) and how the gradient notion of typicality impacts article choice in these constructions.
Taxonomy of Tricholoma in northern Europe based on ITS sequence data and morphological characters
Authors: Heilmann-Clausen J. , Christensen M. , Frøslev T.G. , Kjøller R.
Published: August 2016

Based on molecular and morphological data we investigated the taxonomy and phylogeny of the ectomycorrhizal genus Tricholoma in northern Europe. Our phylogenetic tree confirmed the presence of at least 72 well circumscribed species within the region. Of these, three species,
viz. T. boreosulphurescens, T. bryogenum and T. ilkkae are described as new to science, based on morphological, distributional, ecological and molecular data. Several other terminal branches represent putative cryptic taxa nested within classical species or species groups.
Molecular type studies and/or designation of sequenced neotypes are needed in these groups, before the taxonomy can be settled. In general our phylogenetic analysis supported previous suprageneric classification systems, but with some substantial changes. Most notably, T. virgatum and
allies were found to belong to sect. Tricholoma rather than sect. Atrosquamosa, while T. focale was found to be clearly nested in sect. Genuina rather than in sect. Caligata. In total, ten sections are accepted, with five species remaining unassigned. The
combination of morphological and molecular data showed pileus colour, pileipellis structure, presence of clamp connections and spore size to be rather conservative characters within accepted sections, while the presence of a distinct ring, and especially host selection were highly variable
within these.
MAGNETAR-LIKE ACTIVITY FROM THE CENTRAL COMPACT OBJECT IN THE SNR RCW103
Authors: Rea N. , Borghese A. , Esposito P. , Zelati F. Coti , Bachetti M. , Israel G. L. , Luca A. De
Published: August 2016

The 6.67 hr periodicity and the variable X-ray flux of the central compact object (CCO) at the center of the supernova remnant RCW 103, named 1E 161348–5055, have been always difficult to interpret within the standard scenarios of an isolated neutron star (NS) or a binary system. On 2016 June 22, the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on board Swift detected a magnetar-like short X-ray burst from the direction of 1E 161348–5055, also coincident with a large long-term X-ray outburst. Here, we report on Chandra, Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, and Swift (BAT and XRT) observations of this peculiar source during its 2016 outburst peak. In particular, we study the properties of this magnetar-like burst, we discover a hard X-ray tail in the CCO spectrum during outburst, and we study its long-term outburst history (from 1999 to 2016 July). We find the emission properties of 1E 161348–5055 consistent with it being a magnetar. However, in this scenario, the 6.67 hr periodicity can only be interpreted as the rotation period of this strongly magnetized NS, which therefore represents the slowest pulsar ever detected, by orders of magnitude. We briefly discuss the viable slow-down scenarios, favoring a picture involving a period of fall-back accretion after the supernova explosion, similarly to what is invoked (although in a different regime) to explain the “anti-magnetar” scenario for other CCOs.
THE WISE DETECTION OF AN INFRARED ECHO IN TIDAL DISRUPTION EVENT ASASSN-14li
Authors: Jiang Ning , Dou Liming , Wang Tinggui , Yang Chenwei , Lyu Jianwei , Zhou Hongyan
Published: August 2016

We report the detection of a significant infrared variability of the nearest tidal disruption event (TDE) ASASSN-14li using Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and newly released Near-Earth Object WISE Reactivation data. In comparison with the quiescent state, the infrared flux is brightened by 0.12 and 0.16 mag in the W1 (3.4 μm) and W2 (4.6 μm) bands at 36 days after the optical discovery (or ∼110 days after the peak disruption date). The flux excess is still detectable ∼170 days later. Assuming that the flare-like infrared emission is from the dust around the black hole, its blackbody temperature is estimated to be ∼2.1 × 103 K, slightly higher than the dust sublimation temperature, indicating that the dust is likely located close to the dust sublimation radius. The equilibrium between the heating and radiation of the dust claims a bolometric luminosity of ∼1043–1045 erg s−1, comparable with the observed peak luminosity. This result has for the first time confirmed the detection of infrared emission from the dust echoes of TDEs.