bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Microstructure–Property Relationships in Thermomechanically Processed Medium-Mn Steels with High Al Content
Authors: Grajcar Adam , Kilarski Andrzej , Kozlowska Aleksandra
Published: November 2018

Detailed studies on microstructure–property relationships of thermomechanically processed medium-Mn steels with various manganese contents were carried out. Microscopic techniques of different resolution (LM, SEM, TEM) and X-Ray diffraction methods were applied. Static tensile tests were performed to characterize mechanical properties of the investigated steels and to determine the tendency of retained austenite to strain-induced martensitic transformation. Obtained results allowed to characterize the microstructural aspects of strain-induced martensitic transformation and its effect on the mechanical properties. It was found that the mechanical stability of retained austenite depends significantly on the manganese content. An increase in manganese content from 3.3% to 4.7% has a significant impact on the microstructure, stability of γ phase and mechanical properties of the investigated steels. The initial amount of retained austenite was higher for the 3Mn-1.5Al steel in comparison to 5Mn-1.5%Al steel—17% and 11%, respectively. The mechanical stability of retained austenite is significantly affected by the morphology of this phase.
Critical Metal Particles in Copper Sulfides from the Supergiant Río Blanco Porphyry Cu–Mo Deposit, Chile
Authors: Crespo Jorge , Reich Martin , Barra Fernando , Verdugo Juan José , Martínez Claudio
Published: November 2018

Porphyry copper–molybdenum deposits (PCDs) are the world’s most important source of copper, molybdenum and rhenium. Previous studies have reported that some PCDs can have sub-economic to economic grades of critical metals, i.e., those elements that are both essential for modern societies and subject to the risk of supply restriction (e.g., platinum group elements (PGE), rare earth elements (REE), In, Co, Te, Ge, Ga, among others). Even though some studies have reported measured concentrations of Pd and Pt in PCDs, their occurrence and mineralogical forms remain poorly constrained. Furthermore, these reconnaissance studies have focused predominantly on porphyry Cu–Au deposits, but very limited information is available for porphyry Cu–Mo systems. In this contribution, we report the occurrence of critical metal (Pd, Pt, Au, Ag, and Te) inclusions in copper sulfides from one of the largest PCDs in the world, the supergiant Río Blanco-Los Bronces deposit in central Chile. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) observations of chalcopyrite and bornite from the potassic alteration zone reveal the presence of micro- to nano-sized particles (<1–10 μm) containing noble metals, most notably Pd, Au, and Ag. The mineralogical data show that these inclusions are mostly tellurides, such as merenskyite ((Pd, Pt) (Bi, Te)2), Pd-rich hessite (Ag2Te), sylvanite ((Ag,Au)Te2) and petzite (Ag3AuTe2). The data point to Pd (and probably Pt) partitioning in copper sulfides during the high-temperature potassic alteration stage, opening new avenues of research aimed at investigating not only the mobility of PGE during mineralization and partitioning into sulfides, but also at exploring the occurrence of critical metals in porphyry Cu–Mo deposits.
One-Step Synthesis of Hydroxysodalite Using Natural Bentonite at Moderate Temperatures
Authors: Liu Bo , Sun Hongjuan , Peng Tongjiang , He Qian
Published: November 2018

Ca-bentonite was used as the feedstock material for the synthesis of hydroxysodalite due to its high Al, Si content, good chemical reactivity, and natural abundance. A one-step method is proposed here to fabricate hydroxysodalite in a water bath at moderate temperature. The effects of the Na/Si molar ratio, Si/Al molar ratio, reaction time, and reaction temperature on the synthesis of hydroxysodalite have been systematically investigated here. The crystallizing phases and morphology of the synthetic products were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. The results showed that the Na/Si molar ratio and reaction temperature both played important roles in controlling the degree of crystallinity of the synthetic hydroxysodalite. The Si/Al molar ratio and reaction time both affect the purity of the synthetic hydroxysodalite. Optimum conditions for synthesizing hydroxysodalite using a one-step water-bath method at moderate temperature are as follows: a Na/Si molar ratio of 12, a Si/Al molar ratio of 1.0, a reaction temperature of 90 °C, and a reaction time of 12 h.
A Genomic Survey of Angiotensin-Converting Enzymes Provides Novel Insights into Their Molecular Evolution in Vertebrates
Authors: Lv Yunyun , Li Yanping , Yi Yunhai , Zhang Lijun , Shi Qiong , Yang Jian
Published: November 2018

Angiotensin-converting enzymes, ACE and ACE2, are two main elements in the renin–angiotensin system, with a crucial role in the regulation of blood pressure in vertebrates. Previous studies paid much attention to their physiological functions in model organisms, whereas the studies on other animals and related evolution have been sparse. Our present study performed a comprehensive genomic investigation on ace and ace2 genes in vertebrates. We successfully extracted the nucleotide sequences of ace and ace2 genes from high-quality genome assemblies of 36 representative vertebrates. After construction of their evolutionary tree, we observed that most of the phylogenetic positions are consistent with the species tree; however, certain differences appear in coelacanths and frogs, which may suggest a very slow evolutionary rate in the initial evolution of ace and ace2 in vertebrates. We further compared evolutionary rates within the entire sequences of ace and ace2, and determined that ace2 evolved slightly faster than ace. Meanwhile, we counted that the exon numbers of ace and ace2 in vertebrates are usually 25 and 18 respectively, while certain species may occur exon fusion or disruption to decrease or increase their exon numbers. Interestingly, we found three homologous regions between ace and ace2, suggesting existence of gene duplication during their evolutionary process. In summary, this report provides novel insights into vertebrate ace and ace2 genes through a series of genomic and molecular comparisons.
Quinazolin-4(3H)-ones and 5,6-Dihydropyrimidin-4(3H)-ones from β-Aminoamides and Orthoesters
Authors: Gavin Joshua T. , Annor-Gyamfi Joel K. , Bunce Richard A.
Published: November 2018

Quinazolin-4(3H)-ones have been prepared in one step from 2-aminobenzamides and orthoesters in the presence of acetic acid. Simple 2-aminobenzamides were easily converted to the heterocycles by refluxing in absolute ethanol with 1.5 equivalents of the orthoester and 2 equivalents of acetic acid for 12–24 h. Ring-substituted and hindered 2-aminobenzamides as well as cases incorporating an additional basic nitrogen required pressure tube conditions with 3 equivalents each of the orthoester and acetic acid in ethanol at 110 °C for 12–72 h. The reaction was tolerant towards functionality on the benzamide and a range of structures was accessible. Workup involved removal of the solvent under vacuum and either recrystallization from ethanol or trituration with ether-pentane. Several 5,6-dihydropyrimidin-4(3H)-ones were also prepared from 3-amino-2,2-dimethylpropionamide. All products were characterized by melting point, FT-IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, and HRMS.
Hydration Thermodynamics of Non-Polar Aromatic Hydrocarbons: Comparison of Implicit and Explicit Solvation Models
Authors: Lee Hankyul , Lim Hyung-Kyu , Kim Hyungjun
Published: November 2018

The precise description of solute-water interactions is essential to understand the chemo-physical nature in hydration processes. Such a hydration thermodynamics for various solutes has been explored by means of explicit or implicit solvation methods. Using the Poisson-Boltzmann solvation model, the implicit models are well designed to reasonably predict the hydration free energies of polar solutes. The implicit model, however, is known to have shortcomings in estimating those for non-polar aromatic compounds. To investigate a cause of error, we employed a novel systematic framework of quantum-mechanical/molecular-mechanical (QM/MM) coupling protocol in explicit solvation manner, termed DFT-CES, based on the grid-based mean-field treatment. With the aid of DFT-CES, we delved into multiple energy parts, thereby comparing DFT-CES and PB models component-by-component. By applying the modified PB model to estimate the hydration free energies of non-polar solutes, we find a possibility to improve the predictability of PB models. We expect that this study could shed light on providing an accurate route to study the hydration thermodynamics for various solute compounds.
Integrated Proteomics and Lipidomics Investigation of the Mechanism Underlying the Neuroprotective Effect of N-benzylhexadecanamide
Authors: Zhou Yanyan , Wang Hongjie , Guo Feifei , Si Nan , Brantner Adelheid , Yang Jian , Han Lingyu , Wei Xiaolu , Zhao Haiyu , Bian Baolin
Published: November 2018

Macamides are very important secondary metabolites produced by Lepidium meyenii Walp, which possess multiple bioactivities, especially in the neuronal system. In a previous study, we observed that macamides exhibited excellent effects in the recovery of injured nerves after 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+)-induced dopaminergic neuronal damage in zebrafish. However, the mechanism underlying this effect remains unclear. In the present study, we observed that N-benzylhexadecanamide (XA), which is a typical constituent of macamides, improved the survival rate of neurons in vitro. We determined the concentration of neurotransmitters in MN9D cells and used it in conjunction with an integrated proteomics and lipidomics approach to investigate the mechanism underlying the neuroprotective effects of XA in an MPP+-induced neurodegeneration cell model using QqQ MS, Q-TOF MS, and Orbitrap MS. The statistical analysis of the results led to the identification of differentially-expressed biomarkers, including 11 proteins and 22 lipids, which may be responsible for the neuron-related activities of XA. All these potential biomarkers were closely related to the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases, and their levels approached those in the normal group after treatment with XA. Furthermore, seven lipids, including five phosphatidylcholines, one lysophosphatidylcholine, and one phosphatidylethanolamine, were verified by a relative quantitative approach. Moreover, four proteins (Scarb2, Csnk2a2, Vti1b, and Bnip2) were validated by ELISA. The neurotransmitters taurine and norepinephrine, and the cholinergic constituents, correlated closely with the neuroprotective effects of XA. Finally, the protein–lipid interaction network was analyzed. Based on our results, the regulation of sphingolipid metabolism and mitochondrial function were determined to be the main mechanisms underlying the neuroprotective effect of XA. The present study should help us to better understand the multiple effects of macamides and their use in neurodegenerative diseases.
A Brief History of Charcot-Leyden Crystal Protein/Galectin-10 Research
Authors: Su Jiyong
Published: November 2018

Eosinophils are present in tissues, such as the respiratory tract, spleen, lymph nodes and blood vessels. The significant presence of eosinophils in these tissues are associated with various diseases, including asthma, allergies, acute myeloid leukemia, etc. Charcot-Leyden crystal protein/galectin-10 is overexpressed in eosinophils and has also been identified in basophils and macrophages. In human body, this protein could spontaneously form Charcot-Leyden crystal in lymphocytes or in the lysates of lymphocytes. At present, the role of Charcot-Leyden crystal protein/galectin-10 in lymphocytes is not fully understood. This review summarizes research progress on Charcot-Leyden crystal protein/galectin-10, with emphasis on its history, cellular distributions, relations to diseases, structures and ligand binding specificity.
Assessing Configurational Sampling in the Quantum Mechanics/Molecular Mechanics Calculation of Temoporfin Absorption Spectrum and Triplet Density of States
Authors: De Vetta Martina , Baig Omar , Steen Dorika , Nogueira Juan , González Leticia
Published: November 2018

The absorption properties of Temoporfin, a second-generation photosensitizer employed in photodynamic therapy, are calculated with an electrostatic-embedding quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) scheme in methanol. The suitability of several ensembles of geometries generated by different sampling techniques, namely classical-molecular-dynamics (MD) and QM/MM-MD thermal sampling, Wigner quantum sampling and a hybrid protocol, which combines the thermal and quantum approaches, is assessed. It is found that a QM description of the chromophore during the sampling is needed in order to achieve a good agreement with respect to the experimental spectrum. Such a good agreement is obtained with both QM/MM-MD and Wigner samplings, demonstrating that a proper description of the anharmonic motions of the chromophore is not relevant in the computation of the absorption properties. In addition, it is also found that solvent organization is a rather fast process and a long sampling is not required. Finally, it is also demonstrated that the same exchange-correlation functional should be employed in the sampling and in the computation of the excited states properties to avoid unphysical triplet states with relative energies close or below 0 eV.
Extraction, Purification, and Hydrolysis Behavior of Apigenin-7-O-Glucoside from Chrysanthemum Morifolium Tea
Authors: Wang Yuxiao , Xu Zhenzhen , Huang Yuqi , Wen Xin , Wu Yue , Zhao Yuhan , Ni Yuanying
Published: November 2018

Apigenin-7-O-glucoside is an active phenolic compound in Asteraceae flowers and possesses remarkable therapeutic applications. However, its high price and low abundance in plants limit its use, meanwhile it would hydrolyze in the purification process. In this study, apigenin-7-O-glucoside extracted with ultrasound and purified with preparative HPLC from Chrysanthemum morifolium ‘Huangju’ was investigated, as well as its hydrolysis behavior and bioactivities. The optimized extraction conditions were: solid/liquid ratio: 1:20, extraction time: 35 min, temperature: 50 °C, and ultrasound power: 350 W. The content of apigenin-7-O-glucoside was up to 16.04 mg/g. Apigenin-7-O-glucoside was then purified with preparative HPLC from the extract, and confirmed by Q-TOF/MS. Apigenin-7-O-glucoside was partially hydrolyzed in acidic condition, and the hydrolysis rate depended on the pH value and temperature. The antioxidant activity increased as a result of the hydrolysis process. This study provided a green and effective way to obtain apigenin-7-O-glucoside and would be beneficial for further investigations into nutritional and functional aspects apigenin-7-O-glucoside and other glycosides.
Review of Generated Waste from Cruisers: Dubrovnik, Split, and Zadar Port Case Studies
Authors: Slišković Merica , Ukić Boljat Helena , Jelaska Igor , Jelić Mrčelić Gorana
Published: November 2018

The amount of waste generated is becoming an increasing problem both in terms of inefficient use of resources and its harmful effects. Large quantities of waste originate from land, but a certain amount of waste is generated at sea, in which shipping holds its share. A recent analysis for 2015–2016 has rated the Croatian ports of Dubrovnik, Split, and Zadar in the top 10 out of 20 main cruising ports in the Adriatic Sea. As it is clear that a large number of persons present onboard generate a large amount of waste, the aim of this paper is to estimate the amount of waste (plastic, domestic, and food) and examine the significance of its increasing quantity produced by cruisers in the three main cruiser ports in the Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea for the period 2014–2017. Cruise calls correlation, together with repeated measures one-way Analysis of variance -ANOVA, showed that a future increase in the port calls for Zadar can be expected while, for the port of Dubrovnik, a decrease is projected, which is in correspondence with the taken measures for a reduction in the adverse effects of the cruise industry. Regarding the type of waste, domestic waste contributes the most with 62%, followed by the plastic waste with 26%, and food waste, which makes only 11% of the total amount of waste for that year. Waste minimization practices and further recommendations for the improvement of waste management practices are presented and put into relation with specific measures to protect and preserve the quality of the environment.
Evaluation of Spatial Generalization Characteristics of a Robust Classifier as Applied to Coral Reef Habitats in Remote Islands of the Pacific Ocean
Authors: Gapper Justin J. , El-Askary Hesham , Linstead Erik , Piechota Thomas
Published: November 2018

This study was an evaluation of the spectral signature generalization properties of coral across four remote Pacific Ocean reefs. The sites under consideration have not been the subject of previous studies for coral classification using remote sensing data. Previous research regarding using remote sensing to identify reefs has been limited to in-situ assessment, with some researchers also performing temporal analysis of a selected area of interest. This study expanded the previous in-situ analyses by evaluating the ability of a basic predictor, Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), trained on Depth Invariant Indices calculated from the spectral signature of coral in one location to generalize to other locations, both within the same scene and in other scenes. Three Landsat 8 scenes were selected and masked for null, land, and obstructed pixels, and corrections for sun glint and atmospheric interference were applied. Depth Invariant Indices (DII) were then calculated according to the method of Lyzenga and an LDA classifier trained on ground truth data from a single scene. The resulting LDA classifier was then applied to other locations and the coral classification accuracy evaluated. When applied to ground truth data from the Palmyra Atoll location in scene path/row 065/056, the initial model achieved an accuracy of 80.3%. However, when applied to ground truth observations from another location within the scene, namely, Kingman Reef, it achieved an accuracy of 78.6%. The model was then applied to two additional scenes (Howland Island and Baker Island Atoll), which yielded an accuracy of 69.2% and 71.4%, respectively. Finally, the algorithm was retrained using data gathered from all four sites, which produced an overall accuracy of 74.1%.
Comparison of TMPA-3B42RT Legacy Product and the Equivalent IMERG Products over Mainland China
Authors: Wu Lei , Xu Youpeng , Wang Siyuan
Published: November 2018

The near-real-time legacy product of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (3B42RT) and the equivalent products of Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement mission (IMERG-E and IMERG-L) were evaluated and compared over Mainland China from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2016 at the daily timescale, against rain gauge measurements. Results show that: (1) Both 3B42RT and IMERG products overestimate light rain (0.1–9.9 mm/day), while underestimate moderate rain (10.0–24.9 mm/day) to heavy rainstorm (≥250.0 mm/day), with an increase in mean (absolute) error and a decrease in relative mean absolute error (RMAE). The IMERG products perform better in estimating light rain to heavy rain (25.0–49.9 mm/day), and heavy rainstorm, while 3B42RT has smaller error magnitude in estimating light rainstorm (50.0–99.9 mm/day) and moderate rainstorm (100.0–249.9 mm/day). (2) Higher rainfall intensity associates with better detection. Threshold values are <2.0 mm/day, below which 3B42RT is unreliable at detecting rain; and <1.0 mm/day, below which both 3B42RT and IMERG products are more likely to cause false alarms. (3) Generally, both 3B42RT and IMERG products perform better in wet areas with relatively heavy rainfall intensity and/or during wet season than in dry areas with relatively light rainfall intensity and/or during dry season. Compared with 3B42RT, IMERG-E and IMERG-L constantly improve performance in space and time, but it is not obvious in dry areas and/or during dry season. The agreement between IMERG products and rain gauge measurements is low and even negative for different rainfall intensities, and the RMAE is still at a high level (>50%), indicating the IMERG products remain to be improved. This study will shed light on research and application during the transition in multi-satellite rainfall products from TMPA to IMERG and future algorithms improvement.
Tuneable Q-Factor of MEMS Cantilevers with Integrated Piezoelectric Thin Films
Authors: Fischeneder Martin , Oposich Martin , Schneider Michael , Schmid Ulrich
Published: November 2018

In atomic force microscopes (AFM) a resonantly excited, micro-machined cantilever with a tip is used for sensing surface-related properties. When targeting the integration of AFMs into vacuum environments (e.g., for enhancing the performance of scanning electron microscopes), a tuneable Q-factor of the resonating AFM cantilever is a key feature to enable high speed measurements with high local resolution. To achieve this goal, in this study an additional mechanical stimulus is applied to the cantilever with respect to the stimulus provided by the macroscopic piezoelectric actuator. This additional stimulus is generated by an aluminum nitride piezoelectric thin film actuator integrated on the cantilever, which is driven by a phase shifted excitation. The Q-factor is determined electrically by the piezoelectric layer in a Wheatstone bridge configuration and optically verified in parallel with a laser Doppler vibrometer. Depending on the measurement technique, the Q-factor is reduced by a factor of about 1.9 (electrically) and 1.6 (optically), thus enabling the damping of MEMS structures with a straight-forward and cheap electronic approach.
Data Fusion Using Improved Support Degree Function in Aquaculture Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Shi Pei , Li Guanghui , Yuan Yongming , Kuang Liang
Published: November 2018

For monitoring the aquaculture parameters in pond with wireless sensor networks (WSN), high accuracy of fault detection and high precision of error correction are essential. However, collecting accurate data from WSN to server or cloud is a bottleneck because of the data faults of WSN, especially in aquaculture applications, limits their further development. When the data fault occurs, data fusion mechanism can help to obtain corrected data to replace abnormal one. In this paper, we propose a data fusion method using a novel function that is Dynamic Time Warping time series strategy improved support degree (DTWS-ISD) for enhancing data quality, which employs a Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) time series segmentation strategy to the improved support degree (ISD) function. We use the DTW distance to replace Euclidean distance, which can explore the continuity and fuzziness of data streams, and the time series segmentation strategy is adopted to reduce the computation dimension of DTW algorithm. Unlike Gauss support function, ISD function obtains mutual support degree of sensors without the exponent calculation. Several experiments were finished to evaluate the accuracy and efficiency of DTWS-ISD with different performance metrics. The experimental results demonstrated that DTWS-ISD achieved better fusion precision than three existing functions in a real-world WSN water quality monitoring application.
Three-Dimensional Holographic Electromagnetic Imaging for Accessing Brain Stroke
Authors: Wang Lulu
Published: November 2018

The authors recently developed a two-dimensional (2D) holographic electromagnetic induction imaging (HEI) for biomedical imaging applications. However, this method was unable to detect small inclusions accurately. For example, only one of two inclusions can be detected in the reconstructed image if the two inclusions were located at the same XY plane but in different Z-directions. This paper provides a theoretical framework of three-dimensional (3D) HEI to accurately and effectively detect inclusions embedded in a biological object. A numerical system, including a realistic head phantom, a 16-element excitation sensor array, a 16-element receiving sensor array, and image processing model has been developed to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method for detecting small stroke. The achieved 3D HEI images have been compared with 2D HEI images. Simulation results show that the 3D HEI method can accurately and effectively identify small inclusions even when two inclusions are located at the same XY plane but in different Z-directions. This preliminary study shows that the proposed method has the potential to develop a useful imaging tool for the diagnosis of neurological diseases and injuries in the future.
Mapping Soil Alkalinity and Salinity in Northern Songnen Plain, China with the HJ-1 Hyperspectral Imager Data and Partial Least Squares Regression
Authors: Bai Lin , Wang Cuizhen , Zang Shuying , Wu Changshan , Luo Jinming , Wu Yuexiang
Published: November 2018

In arid and semi-arid regions, identifying and monitoring of soil alkalinity and salinity are in urgently need for preventing land degradation and maintaining ecological balances. In this study, physicochemical, statistical, and spectral analysis revealed that potential of hydrogen (pH) and electrical conductivity (EC) characterized the saline-alkali soils and were sensitive to the visible and near infrared (VIS-NIR) wavelengths. On the basis of soil pH, EC, and spectral data, the partial least squares regression (PLSR) models for estimating soil alkalinity and salinity were constructed. The R2 values for soil pH and EC models were 0.77 and 0.48, and the root mean square errors (RMSEs) were 0.95 and 17.92 dS/m, respectively. The ratios of performance to inter-quartile distance (RPIQ) for the soil pH and EC models were 3.84 and 0.14, respectively, indicating that the soil pH model performed well but the soil EC model was not considerably reliable. With the validation dataset, the RMSEs of the two models were 1.06 and 18.92 dS/m. With the PLSR models applied to hyperspectral data acquired from the hyperspectral imager (HSI) onboard the HJ-1A satellite (launched in 2008 by China), the soil alkalinity and salinity distributions were mapped in the study area, and were validated with RMSEs of 1.09 and 17.30 dS/m, respectively. These findings revealed that the hyperspectral images in the VIS-NIR wavelengths had the potential to map soil alkalinity and salinity in the Songnen Plain, China.
Reinforcement Learning-Based Multi-AUV Adaptive Trajectory Planning for Under-Ice Field Estimation
Authors: Wang Chaofeng , Wei Li , Wang Zhaohui  , Song Min , Mahmoudian Nina
Published: November 2018

This work studies online learning-based trajectory planning for multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to estimate a water parameter field of interest in the under-ice environment. A centralized system is considered, where several fixed access points on the ice layer are introduced as gateways for communications between the AUVs and a remote data fusion center. We model the water parameter field of interest as a Gaussian process with unknown hyper-parameters. The AUV trajectories for sampling are determined on an epoch-by-epoch basis. At the end of each epoch, the access points relay the observed field samples from all the AUVs to the fusion center, which computes the posterior distribution of the field based on the Gaussian process regression and estimates the field hyper-parameters. The optimal trajectories of all the AUVs in the next epoch are determined to maximize a long-term reward that is defined based on the field uncertainty reduction and the AUV mobility cost, subject to the kinematics constraint, the communication constraint and the sensing area constraint. We formulate the adaptive trajectory planning problem as a Markov decision process (MDP). A reinforcement learning-based online learning algorithm is designed to determine the optimal AUV trajectories in a constrained continuous space. Simulation results show that the proposed learning-based trajectory planning algorithm has performance similar to a benchmark method that assumes perfect knowledge of the field hyper-parameters.
BLocate: A Building Identification Scheme in GPS Denied Environments Using Smartphone Sensors
Authors: Ashraf Imran , Hur Soojung , Park Yongwan
Published: November 2018

Indoor localization systems assume that the user’s current building is known by the GPS (Global Positioning System). However, such assumptions do not hold true in GPS denied environments or where the GPS cannot determine the user’s definite location. We present a novel solution to identify the building where the user is present now. The proposed building identification method works on the pervasive magnetic field using a smartphone. The accelerometer data determines the user’s activity of being stationary or walking. An Artificial Neural Network is used to identify the user’s activities and it shows good results. The magnetometer data is used to identify the user’s current building using the fingerprinting approach. Contrary to a traditional fingerprinting approach which stores intensity values, we utilize the patterns formed by the magnetic field strength in the form of a Binary Grid (BG). The BG approach overcomes the limitation of Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) whose performance is degraded when the magnitude of the magnetic data is changed. The experiments are performed with Samsung Galaxy S8 for eight various buildings with different altitudes and number of floors in Yeungnam University, Korea. The results demonstrate that the proposed building identification method can potentially be deployed for building identification. The precision, UAR (Unweighted Average Recall), F score, and Cohen’s Kappa values are used to determine the performance of the proposed system. The proposed systems shows very promising results. The system operates without any aid from any infrastructure dependent technologies like GPS or WiFi. Furthermore, we performed many experiments to investigate the impact of isolated points data to build fingerprint database on system’s accuracy with 1 m and 2 m distance. Results illustrate that by trading off a minor accuracy, survey labor can be reduced by 50 percent.
Away from Politics? Trajectories of Italian Third Sector after the 2008 Crisis
Authors: Busso Sandro
Published: November 2018

In modern democracies, nonprofit organizations and social enterprises have a relevant political role that may be threatened by the entry into the market of services. This risk increases in time of economic crisis, when the competition grows stronger and the economic needs become more urgent. Starting from this assumption, the article analyzes the relationship between the managerial strategies and the political role of the Italian third sector, focusing on the implications of the management models put in place in order to “survive” the 2008 economic crisis. Two ideal-typical strategies will be outlined, labelled respectively “entrepreneurial turn” and “hyper-embeddedness”, which seem to have effects both in terms of the manner in which the political role is realized, and in terms of the degree of politicization of the organizations. Since such strategies can both increase or decrease nonprofits’ political ambitions, it is not possible to give an interpretation in terms of a tout court distancing from politics. However, it will be argued that a trait common to all the trajectories is the withdrawal from what Mouffe defines “the political”, referring specifically to the dimension of conflict and antagonism.
Research on Sustainable Development of the Stock Market Based on VIX Index
Authors: Ruan Lei
Published: November 2018

The frequent occurrence of financial crises has made the dynamic linkage between international financial markets an important research topic. In the past, scholars mostly studied the correlation between financial markets directly, however ignored the impact of exogenous financial variables on financial markets. The stock market is an important part of the financial market and plays an important role in the overall economy. Information asymmetry is common and has a certain degree of impact on investors’ returns. However, many scholars believe that the problem of information asymmetry in China has seriously negatively impacted investors, forming an unsustainable state. At present, there are still many problems in the Chinese stock market, especially the stock market fraud, which brings great challenges to the sustainable development of the stock market. Based on the idea of the STCC model, it is assumed that the Copula parameter is affected by the exogenous variables and the time-varying dynamic Copula model-ST-VCopula model is established. Based on the model, the influence of market volatility (VIX index) on the stock market is explored and then the stock index data of several countries are empirically analyzed. The empirical results show that the VIX index has a significant impact on the linkage between stock markets. The VIX index is easy and more intuitive to obtain, providing another way for the dynamic linkage research between the market, which can provide investors with some guidance and advice when conducting financial activities such as diversification.
Surveying the Solar Power Gap: Assessing the Spatial Distribution of Emerging Photovoltaic Solar Adoption in the State of Georgia, U.S.A.
Authors: Tidwell Jacqueline Hettel , Tidwell Abraham , Nelson Steffan
Published: November 2018

Despite a global push in the development and implementation of widespread alternative energy use, significant disparities exist across given nation-states. These disparities reflect both technical and economic factors, as well as the social, political, and ecological gaps between how communities see energy development and national/global policy goals. Known as the “local-national gap”, many nations struggle with fostering meaningful conversations about the role of alternative energy technologies within communities. Mitigation of this problem first requires understanding the distribution of existing alternative energy technologies at the local level of policymaking. To address the limitation of existing adoption trend analysis at the scale of local governance (e.g., county governments), this paper demonstrates a novel method for contextualizing solar technology adoption by using the State of Georgia in the United States as an exemplar. Leveraging existing work on the Gini Coefficient as a metric for measuring energy inequity, we argue these tools can be applied to analyze where gaps exist in ongoing solar adoption trends. As we demonstrate, communities that adopt solar tend to be concentrated in a few counties, indicating existing conversations are limited to a circumscribed set of social networks. This information and the model we demonstrate can enable focused qualitative analyses of existing solar trends, not only among high-adoption areas but within communities where little to no adoption has occurred.
Cross-Laminated Secondary Timber: Experimental Testing and Modelling the Effect of Defects and Reduced Feedstock Properties
Authors: Rose Colin M. , Bergsagel Dan , Dufresne Thibault , Unubreme Evi , Lyu Tianyao , Duffour Philippe , Stegemann Julia A.
Published: November 2018

The construction industry creates significant volumes of waste timber, much of which has residual quality and value that dissipates in conventional waste management. This research explored the novel concept of reusing secondary timber as feedstock for cross-laminated timber (CLT). If cross-laminated secondary timber (CLST) can replace conventional CLT, structural steel and reinforced concrete in some applications, this constitutes upcycling to displace materials of greater environmental impacts. The fabrication process and mechanical properties of CLST were tested in small-scale laboratory experiments, which showed no significant difference between the compression stiffness and strength of CLST and a control. Finite element modelling suggested that typical minor defects in secondary timber have only a small effect on CLST panel stiffness in compression and bending. Mechanically Jointed Beams Theory calculations to examine the potential impacts of secondary timber ageing on CLST panels found that this has little effect on compression stiffness if only the crosswise lamellae are replaced. Since use of secondary timber to make CLST has a more significant effect on bending stiffness, effective combinations of primary and secondary timber and their appropriate structural applications are proposed. The article concludes with open research questions to advance this concept towards commercial application.
Genetic Algorithm for Optimizing Routing Design and Fleet Allocation of Freeway Service Overlapping Patrol
Authors: Sun Xiuqiao , Wang Jian , Wu Weitiao , Liu Wenjia
Published: November 2018

The freeway service patrol problem involves patrol routing design and fleet allocation on freeways that would help transportation agency decision-makers when developing a freeway service patrols program and/or altering existing route coverage and fleet allocation. Based on the actual patrol process, our model presents an overlapping patrol model and addresses patrol routing design and fleet allocation in a single integrated model. The objective is to minimize the overall average incident response time. Two strategies—overlapping patrol and non-overlapping patrol—are compared in our paper. Matrix encoding is applied in the genetic algorithm (GA), and to maintain population diversity and avoid premature convergence, a niche strategy is incorporated into the traditional genetic algorithm. Meanwhile, an elitist strategy is employed to speed up the convergence. Using numerical experiments conducted based on data from the Sioux Falls network, we clearly show that: overlapping patrol strategy is superior to non-overlapping patrol strategy; the GA outperforms the simulated annealing (SA) algorithm; and the computational efficiency can be improved when LINGO software is used to solve the problem of fleet allocation.
Vintage Urban Planning in Italy: Land Management with the Tools of the Mid-Twentieth Century
Authors: Romano Bernardino , Zullo Francesco , Marucci Alessandro , Fiorini Lorena
Published: November 2018

This paper describes a critical situation for Italy, which is one of the causes of the overall disorganization of settlement growth in the past decades. Using the data extracted from some institutional databases, we show that a large part of the national territory is managed with highly effective decision-making tools (such as municipal town planning schemes in Italy), which are, however, lagging behind in their conception and fulfilment of scientific, cultural, and political requirements deemed essential today for effective and sustainable land transformation. Municipalities with plans dating back to a quarter of a century ago, or without any plans, are 1445 in number (17% of the total) and involve 6,200,000 ha of territory (1/5 of Italy) with almost 10 million residents. The territorial changes in these geographical areas, mainly concentrated in the south, are managed with tools based on mid-20th century concepts and techniques, although a large proportion of these territories are demographically active and transform substantial portions of land. Thus, for at least 15–20 years, these territories underwent transformations disconnected from town plans and driven essentially by one-off measures or managed through numerous exceptional and negotiated procedures provided for by national legislation. Today, it seems necessary for southern Italy to overcome its extensive delay in territorial planning, and the drive can only come from national government. This would help it finally respond to current environmental sustainability, risk resilience, and territorial security requirements, through appropriate and technically advanced management procedures not envisaged in previous planning procedures.
Apple Cubes Drying and Rehydration. Multiobjective Optimization of the Processes
Authors: Winiczenko Radosław , Górnicki Krzysztof , Kaleta Agnieszka , Janaszek-Mańkowska Monika , Choińska Aneta , Trajer Jędrzej
Published: November 2018

The effect of convective drying temperature (Td), air velocity (v), rehydration temperature (Tr), and kind of rehydrating medium (pH) was studied on the following apple quality parameters: water absorption capacity (WAC), volume ratio (VR) color difference (CD). To model, simulate, and optimize parameters of the drying and rehydration processes hybrid methods artificial neural network and multiobjective genetic algorithm (MOGA) were developed. MOGA was adapted to the apple tissue, where the simultaneous minimization of CD and VR and the maximization of WAC were considered. The following parameters range were applied, 50 ≤ Td ≤ 70 °C and 0.01 ≤ v ≤ 6 m/s for drying and 20 ≤ Tr ≤ 95 °C for rehydration. Distilled water (pH = 5.45), 0.5% solution of citric acid (pH = 2.12), and apple juice (pH = 3.20) were used as rehydrating media. For determining the rehydrated apple quality parameters the mathematical formulas were developed. The following best result was found. Td = 50.1 °C, v = 4.0 m/s, Tr = 20.1 °C, and pH = 2.1. The values of WAC, VR, and CD were determined as 4.93, 0.44, and 0.46, respectively. Experimental verification was done, the maximum error of modeling was lower than 5.6%.
Detect User’s Rating Characteristics by Separate Scores for Matrix Factorization Technique
Authors: Zhao Jia , Sun Gang
Published: November 2018

A recommender system can effectively solve the problem of information overload in the era of big data. Recent research on recommender systems, specifically Collaborative Filtering, has focused on Matrix Factorization methods, which have been shown to have excellent performance. However, these methods do not pay attention to the influence of a user’s rating characteristics, which are especially important for the accuracy of prediction or recommendation. Therefore, in order to get better performance, we propose a novel method based on matrix factorization. We consider that the user’s rating score is composed of two parts: the real score, which is decided by the user’s preferences; and the bias score, which is decided by the user’s rating characteristics. We then analyze the user’s historical behavior to find his rating characteristics by using the matrix factorization technique and use them to adjust the final prediction results. Finally, by comparing with the latest algorithms on the open datasets, we verified that the proposed method can significantly improve the accuracy of recommender systems and achieve the best performance in terms of prediction accuracy criterion over other state-of-the-art methods.
On Degree-Based Topological Indices of Symmetric Chemical Structures
Authors: Liu Jia-Bao , Ali Haidar , Shafiq Muhammad , Munir Usman
Published: November 2018

A Topological index also known as connectivity index is a type of a molecular descriptor that is calculated based on the molecular graph of a chemical compound. Topological indices are numerical parameters of a graph which characterize its topology and are usually graph invariant. In QSAR/QSPR study, physico-chemical properties and topological indices such as Randić, atom-bond connectivity (ABC) and geometric-arithmetic (GA) index are used to predict the bioactivity of chemical compounds. Graph theory has found a considerable use in this area of research. In this paper, we study HDCN1(m,n) and HDCN2(m,n) of dimension m , n and derive analytical closed results of general Randić index R α ( G ) for different values of α . We also compute the general first Zagreb, ABC, GA, A B C 4 and G A 5 indices for these Hex derived cage networks for the first time and give closed formulas of these degree-based indices.
Dose and Exposure Time-Dependent Renal and Hepatic Effects of Intraperitoneally Administered Fumonisin B1 in Rats
Authors: Szabó András , Szabó-Fodor Judit , Kachlek Mariam , Mézes Miklós , Balogh Krisztián , Glávits Róbert , Ali Omeralfaroug , Zeebone Yarsmin Yunus , Kovács Melinda
Published: November 2018

Male Wistar rats were treated intraperitoneally (i.p.) with fumonisin B1 (FB1; 0, 20, 50 and 100 mg/kg dietary dose equivalent) for 5 and 10 days (n = 24–24 in each setting) to gain dose- and time-dependent effects on antioxidant status and oxidative stress response, clinical chemical endpoints and liver, kidney and lung histopathology and lymphocyte damage (genotoxicity). FB1 decreased feed intake, body weight gain and absolute liver weight, irrespective of the toxin dose. Relative kidney weight increased in the 10-day setting. Linear dose response was found for plasma aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, total cholesterol, urea and creatinine, and exposure time-dependence for plasma creatinine level. The latter was coupled with renal histopathological findings, tubular degeneration and necrosis and the detachment of tubular epithelial cells. The pronounced antioxidant response (reduced glutathione accretion, increasing glutathione peroxidase activity) referred to renal cortical response (5–10 days exposure at 50–100 ppm FB1). Hepatic alterations were moderate, referring to initial phase lipid peroxidation (exposure time dependent difference of conjugated diene and triene concentrations), and slight functional disturbance (↑ total cholesterol). Lymphocyte DNA damage was moderate, supporting a mild genotoxic effect of FB1.
Applicability Assessment and Uncertainty Analysis of Multi-Precipitation Datasets for the Simulation of Hydrologic Models
Authors: Guo Binbin , Zhang Jing , Xu Tingbao , Croke Barry , Jakeman Anthony , Song Yongyu , Yang Qin , Lei Xiaohui , Liao Weihong
Published: November 2018

Hydrologic models are essential tools for understanding hydrologic processes, such as precipitation, which is a fundamental component of the water cycle. For an improved understanding and the evaluation of different precipitation datasets, especially their applicability for hydrologic modelling, three kinds of precipitation products, CMADS, TMPA-3B42V7 and gauge-interpolated datasets, are compared. Two hydrologic models (IHACRES and Sacramento) are applied to study the accuracy of the three types of precipitation products on the daily streamflow of the Lijiang River, which is located in southern China. The models are calibrated separately with different precipitation products, with the results showing that the CMADS product performs best based on the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency, including a much better accuracy and better skill in capturing the streamflow peaks than the other precipitation products. The TMPA-3B42V7 product shows a small improvement on the gauge-interpolated product. Compared to TMPA-3B42V7, CMADS shows better agreement with the ground-observation data through a pixel-to-point comparison. The comparison of the two hydrologic models shows that both the IHACRES and Sacramento models perform well. The IHACRES model however displays less uncertainty and a higher applicability than the Sacramento model in the Lijiang River basin.