bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
RUANDA'YI HATIRLAMAK: JEAN-PHILIPPE STASSEN'İN DEOGRATIAS İSİMLİ GRAFİK ROMANINDA TARİH, BELLEK VE SOYKIRIM
Authors: ÖZKAN Ahmet
Published: March 2020

XX. yüzyılda, çok sayıda toplu
katliam yaşanmıştır. Toplumsal ayrışmanın kaçınılmaz sonucu olarak yaşanan bu
katliamlarda milyonlarca insan ölmüş, yaşanan dramların bireyler üzerindeki
travmatik etkisi kuşaklar arası aktarımla toplumsal belleğe kazınmıştır. Bu
geniş ölçekli şiddet eylemlerinden biri de hiç şüphesiz Ruanda soykırımıdır. Sömürgeci
ve yerel güçlerin etkisiyle tırmanan toplumsal kamplaşma bir iç savaşa
evrilmiş, sonuç olarak Ruanda'nın halklarından olan Hutuların diğer Ruandalılar
Tutsileri ve Twaları hedef alan kanlı şiddet eylemleri gerçekleştirmişlerdir. Bu
şiddet eylemleri sonucunda yaklaşık yüz gün içinde 800.000 kişi hayatını
kaybetmiştir. 1994 yılında yaşanan bu vahşet, sosyolojik, antropolojik, politik
ve edebi birçok çalışmanın konusu olmuştur. Ruanda soykırımını bireysel ve
toplumsal travma ve bellek ekseninde ele alması bakımından Belçikalı çizer
Jean-Philippe Stassen'in Déogratias (2000)
adlı eseri de önemlidir. Eserde soykırım süreci, tanık olduğu insanlık dışı
olayların ardından ölümcül bir deliliğe tutulan genç Hutu Déogratias'ın
gözünden anlatılır. Zamansal düzlem olarak soykırımın hemen sonrasında başlayan
bu anlatıda zihinsel geri dönüşlere sıklıkla yer verilir. Gerçek tanıklıkların
derlenmesiyle kaleme alınan bu kurgusal eserde, çizer Stassen söylenmesi mümkün
olmayan, resmi tarih anlatılarında yer almayanları bir “bellek ödevi”
bilinciyle aktarır. “Soykırımı ve sonuçlarını içeriden görmek” fikrinden yola
çıkan Stassen'in karşılaştığı sorunsal şudur: kelimelere dökülmesi imkansız
olan bu insanlık dramını çizgi ve resimlerle nasıl anlatmak gerekir? Bu
çalışmada Stassen'in grafik romanı Déogratias
tarih ve belleğin çizgisel temsilleri ekseninde ele alınacaktır.
Determinasi Perlindungan Hukum Pemegang Hak Atas Neighbouring Right
Authors: Bakung Dolot Alhasni , Muhtar Mohamad Hidayat
Published: March 2020

ABSRTAK Hak Terkait (Neighbouring Right) dengan Hak Cipta merupakan hak eksklusif bagi Pelaku yang dapat terdiri dari artis film/telivisi, pemusik, penari, pelawak dan lain sebagainya untuk menyiarkan pertunjukannya. Yang dimaksud dengan menyiarkan termasuk menyewakan, melakukan pertunjukan umum (Public Performance), mengkomunikasikan pertunjukan langsung (Live Performance), dan mengkomunikasikan secara interaktis suatu karya rekaman suara pelaku. Selain pelaku, juga produser rekaman suara dan lembaga penyiaran mempunyai hak-hak terkait. Berdasarkan ketentuan Pasal 1 angka 5 Undang-Undang No. 28 Tahun 2014 Tentang Hak Cipta (UUHC) dapat diketahui bahwa yang dimaksud Hak Terkait adalah hak yang berkaitan dengan Hak Cipta yang merupakan hak eksklusif bagi Pelaku Pertunjukan, Produser Fonogram atau Lembaga Penyiaran. Judul Penelitian ini adalah Determinasi Perlindungan Hukum Pemegang Hak atas Neighbouring Right Dalam Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 28 Tahun 2014 Tentang Hak Cipta dengan rumusan masalah. 1. Bagaimana Problematika Pemegang Hak atas Neighbouring Right Dalam Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 28 Tahun 2014 Tentang Hak Cipta? 2. Bagaimana Perlindungan Hukum Pemegang Hak atas Neighbouring Right Dalam Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 28 Tahun 2014 Tentang Hak Cipta?Dari hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa perkembangan globalisasi memberikan kontribusi dengan banyaknya karya cipta seperti lagu, film, acara televisi yang sering disalah gunakan oleh orang yang tidak bertanggung jawab seperti memperbanyak, memasarkan dan segala upaya untuk memperoleh keuntungan finansial, sehingga pencipta atau pemilik hak cipta merasa dirugikan baik dari segi Hak Moral maupun Hak Ekonomi. Karena inilah hak terkait dengan hak cipta lahir dengan tujuan untuk melindungi hak performers, produser rekaman dan lembaga penyiaran dari penyalahgunaan karya mereka. Perlindungan hukum untuk hak terkait diberikan melalui peraturan perundang-undangan yaitu Undang-Undang Nomor 28 Tahun 2014 tentang Hak Cipta juga melalui konvensi konvensi Internasional yaitu Konvensi Roma 1961, Konvensi Jenewa, dan Brussel Convention. Kata Kunci : Hak Terkait (Neighbouring Right), Hak Cipta, Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 28 Tahun 2014 Tentang Hak Cipta
HIGH-RESOLUTION ANOSCOPY IN THE EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CONSERVATIVE TREATMENT FOR CHRONIC HEMORRHOIDS
Authors: Khitaryan A. G. , Alibekov A. Z. , Kovalev S. A. , Orekhov A. A. , Burdakov I. Y. , Lyapinа V. A. , Melnikov D. A.
Published: March 2020

AIM: to assess the effectiveness of micronized purified flavonoid fraction (MPFF) in conservative treatment for chronic hemorrhoids according to high-resolution anoscopy (HRA).

PATIENTS AND METHODS: the study included 192 patients with chronic hemorrhoids, stage III. The general recommendation for all patients was dietary fibers for soft stools. The main group included 96 patients treated with MPFF for 2 months, 96 controls used dietary fibers only. The treatment effectiveness was evaluated due to high-resolution anoscopy data and clinical manifestation of the disease. The calculation of the drug intake compliance was carried out as well.

RESULTS: patients of the main group showed significant clinical improvement after treatment in prolapse correction (66% vs 27%; p=0.001), in pain intensity decrease (5 times vs 1.5 times; p=0.03), in bleeding incidence (4 times vs 1.5 times; p=0.001). HRA showed significant reduction of inflammation (from type 2 to type 1) in main group in 50% and 20% in controls (p=0.02). Compliance with the MPFF in main group 1 was 74%, the total compliance of dietary fiber intake in both groups was 66.3%.

CONCLUSIONS: combination of MPFF with dietary fiber intake significantly reduces clinical manifestations of chronic hemorrhoids stage III and HRA shows significant reduction of inflammation in hemorrhoid piles in these cases.
IMPLEMENTATION OF FAST-TRACK PROGRAM FOR STOMA REVERSAL PROCEDURES
Authors: Darvin V. V. , Ilkanich A. Y. , Voronin Yu. S.
Published: March 2020

AIM: evaluation of the effectiveness of the enhanced recovery protocol for stoma reversal procedures.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: a single-center retrospective analysis of stoma reversal surgery in 130 ostomy patients in 2012-18 was performed. From 2012 to 2015, 56 (43.1%) patients were treated before the implementation of the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocol in clinical practice, 74(56.9%) patients were treated in accordance with the principles of fast-track.

RESULTS: the introduction into clinical practice of the ERAS protocol reduced postoperative complications from 8.5% to 5.4% (p=0.002) and the hospital stay from 16,3±9,4 to 11,4±4,2 days (p=0.003).

CONCLUSION: the fast-track strategy is an effective way to improve the results of stoma reversal procedures.
ENDOSCOPIC PIECEMEAL RESECTION OF LARGE BENIGN COLORECTAL NEOPLASIA: RESULTS OF A RUSSIAN MULTICENTER STUDY
Authors: Zavyalov D. V. , Kashin S. V. , Olevskaya E. R. , Molchanov S. V. , Fedorova E. A. , Kamaletdinova Yu. Yu. , Safuanov A. A. , Korotkevich A. G. , May S. A. , Mersaidova K. I. , Meylah O. V.
Published: March 2020

AIM: to assess the safety of endoscopic piecemeal mucosal resection (EPMR) of large epithelial colorectal lesions and to identify risk factors for tumor recurrence.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: results of EPMR were evaluated in retrospective study, which was carried out in five regional endoscopic centers. The criterion for inclusion in the study was benign colorectal lesion of 20 mm and larger.

RESULTS: we found that complications of EPMR occurred in 13% of cases. In 9.2% it was intraoperative bleeding, which was stopped endoscopically. Postoperative bleeding was detected in 1.2% of patients, perforation – in 2.4%. Tumor recurrence developed in 12%. We have revealed a direct correlation between tumor recurrence and intraoperative bleeding (p=0.013) and a size of lesion >4 cm (p=0.012); the inverse correlation between the tumor recurrence and the fullness of the lifting during the removal (p=0.008) and the male gender of the patient (p=0.043).

CONCLUSION: significant risk factors of tumor recurrence after endoscopic piecemeal resection of large benign colorectal neoplasia were identified before the procedure (gender and tumor size) and intraoperatively (completeness of lifting and the intraoperative bleeding).
Nature-Inspired Optimization Algorithms for the 3D Reconstruction of Porous Media
Authors: Papakostas George , Nolan John , Mitropoulos Athanasios
Published: March 2020

One of the most challenging problems that are still open in the field of materials science is the 3D reconstruction of porous media using information from a single 2D thin image of the original material. Such a reconstruction is only feasible subject to some important assumptions that need to be made as far as the statistical properties of the material are concerned. In this study, the aforementioned problem is investigated as an explicitly formulated optimization problem, with the phase of each porous material point being decided such that the resulting 3D material model shows the same statistical properties as its corresponding 2D version. Based on this problem formulation, herein for the first time, several traditional (genetic algorithms—GAs, particle swarm optimization—PSO, differential evolution—DE), as well as recently proposed (firefly algorithm—FA, artificial bee colony—ABC, gravitational search algorithm—GSA) nature-inspired optimization algorithms were applied to solve the 3D reconstruction problem. These algorithms utilized a newly proposed data representation scheme that decreased the number of unknowns searched by the optimization process. The advantages of addressing the 3D reconstruction of porous media through the application of a parallel heuristic optimization algorithm were clearly defined, while appropriate experiments demonstrating the greater performance of the GA algorithm in almost all the cases by a factor between 5%–84% (porosity accuracy) and 3%–15% (auto-correlation function accuracy) over the PSO, DE, FA, ABC, and GSA algorithms were undertaken. Moreover, this study revealed that statistical functions of a high order need to be incorporated into the reconstruction procedure to increase the reconstruction accuracy.
A Decision Support Method for Choosing an Agricultural Machinery Service Workshop Based on Fuzzy Logic
Authors: Osuch Andrzej , Osuch Ewa , Rybacki Piotr , Przygodziński Przemysław , Kozłowski Radosław , Przybylak Andrzej
Published: March 2020

The quality of technical services is one of the main criteria for assessing the service processes of agricultural machinery, and it has a significant impact on the decision-making process when choosing a service provider. Technical service quality has a significant role in maintaining agricultural machinery in optimal technical condition, thus ensuring its high reliability and durability. The purpose of this study is to present a decision support method for choosing the right agricultural machinery service facility. The method is based on fuzzy inference. The choice of service workshop is based on decision criteria individually accepted by farmers (experts). The method was checked by way of research carried out among 25 farmers facing the choice of a service facility. The decision-making process allows for ranking the decision criteria and decision-makers. The results of the presented research can be used by farm owners and service companies to plan their development directions.
Influence of Harvest Stage and Rootstock Genotype on Compositional and Sensory Profile of the Elongated Tomato cv. “Sir Elyan”
Authors: Mauro Rosario Paolo , Rizzo Valeria , Leonardi Cherubino , Mazzaglia Agata , Muratore Giuseppe , Distefano Miriam , Sabatino Leo , Giuffrida Francesco
Published: March 2020

The present experiment addressed the effects of two harvest stages, namely breaker (S1) and turning (S2), on compositional and sensory profile of grafted, greenhouse elongated tomatoes cv. “Sir Elyan”. The rootstocks “He-Man”, “Interpro”, and “Armstrong” were used. The S1 fruits showed a higher dry matter content, firmness and titratable acidity when compared to the S2 ones (by 6%, 3%, and 15%, respectively). They showed, also, the highest L-ascorbic acid concentration and antioxidant activity. Differently, soluble solid content, lycopene and β-carotene increased in the S2 fruits (by 4%, 92%, and 26%, respectively). Excepting methyl salicylate, all the volatiles detected peaked in the S2 fruits, which were scored by panelists as sweeter and more flavorful than the S1 ones. Among the rootstock genotypes, “He-Man” promoted fruits firmness, carotenoids concentration and antioxidant activity, irrespective of the harvest stage. “Interpro” enhanced the sensory attributes of the S1 fruits in terms of bitterness, sourness, sweetness and flavor. Differently, sweetness, sourness, and tomato flavor of the S2 fruits were promoted by “Armstrong”. The results highlight the influence of rootstock genotype on the nutraceutical and sensorial profile of “Sir Elyan” fruits harvested at early ripening stages.
Association of Morphological, Ecological, and Genetic Diversity of Aerva javanica Populations Growing in the Eastern Desert of Egypt
Authors: El-Tayeh Noha A. , Galal Hanaa K. , Soliman Magda I. , Zaki Hoida
Published: March 2020

Aerva javanica is one of Egypt’s most important traditional medicinal plants used as antidiarrheal and anthelmintic medicine and recently as an anticancer agent. In this study, variations among ten populations of Aerva javanica in different sites in the Eastern Desert of Egypt were analyzed based on morphological and ecological attributes and molecular variation expressed by Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers. Morphological diversity was higher for populations in the Wadi El-Markh and Bir Abbady regions than others. The polymorphism revealed by ten ISSR primers was 79.4% among populations. Distance trees created using the results obtained from soil variables, morphological characterizations, and molecular data showed that the highest similarity was 0.974 between Populations 8 and 9, while the lowest similarity was 0.715 between Population 1 and Population 3 regions. In conclusion, the obtained data are important to design a plan for sustainable conservation of Aerva javanica as an important medicinal plant having a wide interspecific genetic variability within various populations.
Grazing and Cutting under Different Nitrogen Rates, Application Methods and Planting Density Strongly Influence Qualitative Traits and Yield of Canola Crop
Authors: Zaheer Sajjad , Arif Muhammad , Akhtar Kashif , Khan Ahmad , Khan Aziz , Bibi Shahida , Muhammad Aslam Mehtab , Ali Salman , Munsif Fazal , Jalal Fazal , Ul Ain Noor , Said Fazal , Khan Muhammad Ali , Jahangir Muhammad , Wei Fan
Published: March 2020

Canola crop has the potential for both seeds and grazing. Optimal planting density, time of nitrogen (N) fertilizer application and rates are the major aspects for successful qualitative traits and canola yield formation. In this content, optimization of planting density, N levels and its time of application in dual purpose canola are needed. This study was carried out in RCB design with split pot arrangement having three repeats during winter 2012–2013 and 2013–2014. The study evaluated N levels (120 and 80 kg N ha−1), cutting treatment, N application timings and planting density (20 and 40 plants m−2) effects on qualitative traits and yield of canola. No-cut treatment had 7.02%, 2.46%, and 4.26% higher, glucosinolates, oil, and protein content with 31.3% and 30.5% higher biological and grain yield respectively, compared with grazed canola. Compared with no-cut canola, grazed canola resulted in 7.74% of higher erucic acid. Further, application of N at 120 kg N ha−1 had 8.81%, 5.52%, and 6.06% higher glucosinolates, percent protein, and seed yield, respectively than 80 kg N ha−1. In-addition, the application of N into two splits was most beneficial than the rest application timings. Cutting had 15% reduction in grain yield of canola and fetched additional income of 143.6 USD compared with no-cut. Grazing resulted in a 23% reduction in grain yield while had additional income of 117.7 USD from fodder yield. Conclusively, the application of N in two splits at 120 kg N ha−1 combined with 20 plants m−2 is a promising strategy to achieve good qualitative attributes and canola yield under dual purpose system.
Mentha and Oregano Soil Amendment Induces Enhancement of Tomato Tolerance against Soilborne Diseases, Yield and Quality
Authors: Kadoglidou Kalliopi , Chatzopoulou Paschalina , Maloupa Eleni , Kalaitzidis Argyrios , Ghoghoberidze Sopio , Katsantonis Dimitrios
Published: March 2020

Tomato is considered among the most important horticulture crops in both temperate and tropical regions, and two of the major biotic stresses include Fusarium oxysporun f.sp. lycopersici (Fol) and Verticillium dahliae (Vd). The effect of soil incorporated spearmint and oregano dried plant material on physiological, yield and quality parameters of tomato, along with their efficacy against soilborne fungal diseases, was studied in pot experiments conducted in a greenhouse environment. Tomato plants grown in soil amended with spearmint or oregano showed better agronomical characteristics (taller plants with thicker stems) and improved physiological ones (higher chlorophyll content index and photosynthetic rate). Yield was increased and the qualitative features of tomato fruits were enhanced. In addition, plants grown in soil amended with spearmint or oregano and inoculated with Fol or Vd had no visual disease symptoms 50 days from the inoculated tomato transplantation, except from plants grown in soil amended with oregano and inoculated with Fol, which showed symptoms of chlorosis and leaves loss. These enhancements on physiological parameters and on disease suppression resulted in increased fruit yields of plants–grown in soil amended with spearmint and oregano and inoculated with Fol or Vd–by 77%–95% compared with free-disease controls. GC-MS analysis of volatiles derived from soils amended of either spearmint or oregano indicated that several constituents remained in the soil environment long after incorporation of plant material, although, at lower concentrations and considerable modified. The current study reveals that direct incorporation of spearmint or oregano plant material into the soil could improve tomato tolerance against soilborne fungi, soil fertility and consequently increase yield and product quality.
Antibiotic Resistance and Therapy Outcome in H. pylori Eradication Failure Patients
Authors: I.M. Saracino , M. Pavoni , A. Zullo , G. Fiorini , L. Saccomanno , T. Lazzarotto , R. Cavallo , G. Antonelli , D. Vaira
Published: March 2020

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) eradication fails in a definite amount of patients despite one or more therapeutic attempts. Curing these patients is progressively more difficult, due to development of antibiotic resistance. Current guidelines suggest testing antibiotic susceptibility in H. pylori isolates following two therapeutic attempts. Aim: to evaluate the development of antibiotic resistance, MIC values trends and therapeutic outcomes in patients who failed at least one H. pylori eradication therapy. Methods: consecutive patients, referred to perform upper gastrointestinal endoscopy (UGIE) to our Unit from January 2009 to January 2019 following at least one therapeutic attempt were considered. Bacterial resistance towards clarithromycin, metronidazole and levofloxacin was tested. Patients received either a susceptibility-guided therapy or Pylera®. Results: a total of 1223 patients were H. pylori positive, and antibiotic susceptibility was available for 1037. The rate of antibiotic resistance and MIC values significantly increased paralleling the number of previous therapeutic attempts. Eradication rates of antibiogram-tailored therapies remained stable, except for the sequential therapy if used as a third line. As a rescue treatment, the Pylera® therapy achieved cure rates comparable to those of the other culture-guided therapies. Conclusions: A significant increase in the secondary resistance towards the three tested antibiotics was observed, both as rate and MIC values, in correlation with the number of therapy failures. These findings should be considered when administering an empirical second-line therapy. Pylera® therapy eradication rates are comparable to culture-tailored therapies.
Characterization of Arils Juice and Peel Decoction of Fifteen Varieties of Punica granatum L.: A Focus on Anthocyanins, Ellagitannins and Polysaccharides
Authors: Balli Diletta , Cecchi Lorenzo , Khatib Mohamad , Bellumori Maria , Cairone Francesco , Carradori Simone , Zengin Gokhan , Cesa Stefania , Innocenti Marzia , Mulinacci Nadia
Published: March 2020

Pomegranate is receiving renewed commercial and scientific interest, therefore a deeper knowledge of the chemical composition of the fruits of less studied varieties is required. In this work, juices from arils and decoctions from mesocarp plus exocarp were prepared from fifteen varieties. Samples were submitted to High Performance Liquid Chromatography—Diode Array Detector–Mass Spectrometry, spectrophotometric and colorimetric CIEL*a*b* analyses. Antioxidant, antiradical and metal chelating properties, inhibitory activity against tyrosinase and α-amylase enzymes were also evaluated. All varieties presented the same main phenols; anthocyanins and ellagitannins were widely variable among varieties, with the richest anthocyanin content in the juices from the Wonderful and Soft Seed Maule varieties (approx. 660 mg/L) and the highest ellagitannin content in the peel of the Black variety (approx. 133 mg/g dry matter). A good correlation was shown between the colour hue and the delphinidin/cyanidin ratio in juices (R2 = 0.885). Total polysaccharide yield ranged from 3% to 12% of the peels’ dry weight, with the highest content in the Black variety. Decoctions (24.44–118.50 mg KAE/g) showed better in vitro antioxidant properties and higher inhibitory capacity against tyrosinase than juices (not active-16.56 mg KAE/g); the inhibitory capacity against α-amylase was similar and quite potent for juices and decoctions. Knowledge about the chemical composition of different pomegranate varieties will allow for a more aware use of the different parts of the fruit.
Experimental Study of the Temperature Distribution in CRTS-II Ballastless Tracks on a High-Speed Railway Bridge
Authors: Zhao Lei , Zhou Ling-Yu , Zhang Guang-Chao , Wei Tian-Yu , Mahunon Akim D. , Jiang Li-Qiang , Zhang Ying-Ying
Published: March 2020

To study the temperature distribution in the China Railway Track System Type II ballastless slab track on a high-speed railway (HSR) bridge, a 1:4 scaled specimen of a simply-supported concrete box girder bridge with a ballastless track was constructed in laboratory. Through a rapid, extreme high temperature test in winter and a conventional high temperature test in summer, the temperature distribution laws in the track on the HSR bridge were studied, and the vertical and transverse temperature distribution trend was suggested for the track. Firstly, the extreme high temperature test results showed that the vertical temperature and the vertical temperature difference distribution in the track on HSR bridge were all nonlinear with three stages. Secondly, the extreme high temperature test showed that the transverse temperature distribution in the track was of quadratic parabolic nonlinear form, and the transverse temperature gradient in the bottom base was significantly higher than that of the other layers of the track. Thirdly, the three-dimensional temperature distribution in the track on HSR bridge was a nonlinear, three-stage surface. Furthermore, similar regularities were also obtained in the conventional high temperature test, in which the temperature span ranges were different from those of the extreme high temperature test. In addition, the conventional high temperature test also showed that under the natural environment conditions, the internal temperature gradient in the track layers changed periodically (over a period of 24 h).
Automatic Tuning of High Piano Tones
Authors: Shah Sneha , Välimäki Vesa
Published: March 2020

Piano tuning is known to be difficult because the stiffness of piano strings causes the tones produced to be inharmonic. Aural tuning is time consuming and requires the help of a professional. This motivates the question of whether this process can be automated. Attempts at automatic tuning are usually assessed by comparing the Railsback curve of the results with the curve of a professional tuner. In this paper we determine a simple and reliable rule for tuning the high tones of a piano with the help of a listening test. This rule consists of matching the two tones in an octave interval so that the first partial frequency of the upper tone becomes exactly the same as the second partial frequency of the lower tone. This rule was rated best among four tuning rules that were compared in the test. The results found are explained using a beat-based analysis, and are consistent with some previous studies. They are also tested against the existing method of using Railsback curves, and it is shown that comparison using Railsback curves is an unreliable method of assessing different tunings. The findings from this paper can be used to create a complete automatic tuner that could make the process of piano tuning quick and inexpensive.
Mining Characteristic Patterns for Comparative Music Corpus Analysis
Authors: Neubarth Kerstin , Conklin Darrell
Published: March 2020

A core issue of computational pattern mining is the identification of interesting patterns. When mining music corpora organized into classes of songs, patterns may be of interest because they are characteristic, describing prevalent properties of classes, or because they are discriminant, capturing distinctive properties of classes. Existing work in computational music corpus analysis has focused on discovering discriminant patterns. This paper studies characteristic patterns, investigating the behavior of different pattern interestingness measures in balancing coverage and discriminability of classes in top k pattern mining and in individual top ranked patterns. Characteristic pattern mining is applied to the collection of Native American music by Frances Densmore, and the discovered patterns are shown to be supported by Densmore’s own analyses.
Unsupervised Generation and Synthesis of Facial Images via an Auto-Encoder-Based Deep Generative Adversarial Network
Authors: Kwak Jeong gi , Ko Hanseok
Published: March 2020

The processing of facial images is an important task, because it is required for a large number of real-world applications. As deep-learning models evolve, they require a huge number of images for training. In reality, however, the number of images available is limited. Generative adversarial networks (GANs) have thus been utilized for database augmentation, but they suffer from unstable training, low visual quality, and a lack of diversity. In this paper, we propose an auto-encoder-based GAN with an enhanced network structure and training scheme for Database (DB) augmentation and image synthesis. Our generator and decoder are divided into two separate modules that each take input vectors for low-level and high-level features; these input vectors affect all layers within the generator and decoder. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by comparing it with baseline methods. In addition, we introduce a new scheme that can combine two existing images without the need for extra networks based on the auto-encoder structure of the discriminator in our model. We add a novel double-constraint loss to make the encoded latent vectors equal to the input vectors.
Preliminary Numerical Analysis of a Novel Retaining System in Dry Sandy Soil and Its First Application to a Deep Excavation in Wuhan (China)
Authors: Zhang Yapeng , Chen Congxin , Lei Meiqing , Zheng Yun , Zhang Haina , Shao Yong
Published: March 2020

A new form of retaining system for use in deep excavations in crowded cities is proposed in this paper. The new system, which we have coined the herringbone retaining system (HRS) involves the use of vertical and batter piles, capping beams, and wales. A numerical study was conducted (using the finite difference tool FLAC3D) to investigate various aspects of the behavior of the new system and reveal the mechanisms responsible for it. The HRS method was compared subsequently to two other commonly-used systems: the cantilever retaining structure (CRS) and horizontal-strutted retaining structure (HSRS). The results show that using the HRS method significantly reduces the deformation of the vertical piles and bending moments acting on them. More specifically, the maximum values of the deformation and bending moment were calculated to be 4.5% and 23.1% of the corresponding CRS values, respectively (the corresponding figures calculated for the HSRS method are 5.3% and 19.7%, respectively), so the HRS and HSRS methods provide similar levels of support. Finally, a real-world application of the system was presented to provide a valuable reference for the future use of HRS.
Automatically Processing IFC Clipping Representation for BIM and GIS Integration at the Process Level
Authors: Zhu Junxiang , Wu Peng , Chen Mengcheng , Kim Mi Jeong , Wang Xiangyu , Fang Tingchen
Published: March 2020

The integration of building information modeling (BIM) and geographic information system (GIS) is attracting more attention than ever due to its potential benefits for both the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) domain and the geospatial industry. The main challenge in BIM and GIS integrated application comes from the fundamental data conversion, especially for the geometric information. BIM and GIS use different modeling paradigms to represent objects. The BIM dataset takes, for example, Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) that use solid models, such as boundary representation (B-Rep), swept solid, constructive solid geometry (CSG), and clipping, while the GIS dataset mainly uses surface models or B-Rep. The fundamental data conversion between BIM and GIS is the foundation of BIM and GIS integrated application. However, the efficiency of data conversion has been greatly impaired by the human intervention needed, especially for the conversion of the clipping geometry. The goal of this study is to automate the conversion of IFC clipping representation into the shapefile format. A process-level approach was developed with an algorithm for instantiating unbounded half spaces using B-Rep. Four IFC models were used to validate the proposed method. The results show that (1) the proposed approach can successfully automate the conversion of IFC clipping representation into the shapefile format; and (2) increasing boundary size has no effect on the file size of unbounded half spaces, but slightly increases the producing time of half spaces and processing time of building components. The efficiency of this study can be further improved by using an open-source package, instead of using the low-efficiency packages provided by ArcGIS.
Detecting Banana Plantations in the Wet Tropics, Australia, Using Aerial Photography and U-Net
Authors: Clark Andrew , McKechnie Joel
Published: March 2020

Bananas are the world’s most popular fruit and an important staple food source. Recent outbreaks of Panama TR4 disease are threatening the global banana industry, which is worth an estimated $8 billion. Current methods to map land uses are time- and resource-intensive and result in delays in the timely release of data. We have used existing land use mapping to train a U-Net neural network to detect banana plantations in the Wet Tropics of Queensland, Australia, using high-resolution aerial photography. Accuracy assessments, based on a stratified random sample of points, revealed the classification achieves a user’s accuracy of 98% and a producer’s accuracy of 96%. This is more accurate compared to existing (manual) methods, which achieved a user’s and producer’s accuracy of 86% and 92% respectively. Using a neural network is substantially more efficient than manual methods and can inform a more rapid respond to existing and new biosecurity threats. The method is robust and repeatable and has potential for mapping other commodities and land uses which is the focus of future work.
Event Density Based Denoising Method for Dynamic Vision Sensor
Authors: Feng Yang , Lv Hengyi , Liu Hailong , Zhang Yisa , Xiao Yuyao , Han Chengshan
Published: March 2020

Dynamic vision sensor (DVS) is a new type of image sensor, which has application prospects in the fields of automobiles and robots. Dynamic vision sensors are very different from traditional image sensors in terms of pixel principle and output data. Background activity (BA) in the data will affect image quality, but there is currently no unified indicator to evaluate the image quality of event streams. This paper proposes a method to eliminate background activity, and proposes a method and performance index for evaluating filter performance: noise in real (NIR) and real in noise (RIN). The lower the value, the better the filter. This evaluation method does not require fixed pattern generation equipment, and can also evaluate filter performance using natural images. Through comparative experiments of the three filters, the comprehensive performance of the method in this paper is optimal. This method reduces the bandwidth required for DVS data transmission, reduces the computational cost of target extraction, and provides the possibility for the application of DVS in more fields.
The Comprehensive Study of Low Thermospheric Sodium Layers during the 24th Solar Cycle
Authors: Xun Yuchang , Yang Guotao , Wang Jihong , Du Lifang , Wang Zelong , Jiao Jing , Cheng Xuewu , Li Faquan , Zou Xu
Published: March 2020

The low thermospheric sodium layer (LTSL) is the separate sodium atom layer above 105 km. Based on 11,607 h of lidar observations from Yanqing (40.5° N, 116.0° E) from 2010 to 2016, we found 38 LTSLs wherein the peak densities were more than five percent above those of the main sodium layers. This work presents the peak altitudes, peak local times and peak densities of the LTSLs as well as the long-term characteristics of the seasonal and inter-annual variations of LTSLs. We analyzed the correlation between the LTSL and sporadic E layer (Es). The seasonal variation trends of the occurrences of LTSL and Es are similar, and the results showed that 95% of the LTSLs were accompanied by Es. We also found that 69% of the LTSL cases exhibited apparent downward phase progressions, while the descending rates of the LTSLs are consistent with the phase speeds of the tide.
Measuring on-Road Vehicle Hot Running NOx Emissions with a Combined Remote Sensing–Dynamometer Study
Authors: Smit Robin , Kennedy Daniel
Published: March 2020

This study explores the correlation in measured hot running NO/CO2 ratios by a remote sensing device (RSD) and dynamometer testing. Two large diesel cars (E4/E5) are tested on the dynamometer in hot running conditions using a new drive cycle developed for this study and then driven multiple times past the RSD. A number of verification and correction steps are conducted for both the dynamometer and RSD data. A new time resolution adjustment of RSD acceleration values proves important. Comparison of RSD and dynamometer data consistently shows a strong weighted correlation varying from +0.89 to +0.95, despite the high level of variability observed in the RSD measurements. This provides further evidence that relative changes in mean NO/CO2 ratios as measured with the RSD should provide robust emissions data for trend analysis studies and as inputs for regional emissions models. However, a positive bias of approximately 25 ppm NO/% CO2 is observed for the RSD, and bias correction of RSD measurements should be considered pending further testing.
Opinion-Mining on Marglish and Devanagari Comments of YouTube Cookery Channels Using Parametric and Non-Parametric Learning Models
Authors: Shah Sonali Rajesh , Kaushik Abhishek , Sharma Shubham , Shah Janice
Published: March 2020

YouTube is a boon, and through it people can educate, entertain, and express themselves about various topics. YouTube India currently has millions of active users. As there are millions of active users it can be understood that the data present on the YouTube will be large. With India being a very diverse country, many people are multilingual. People express their opinions in a code-mix form. Code-mix form is the mixing of two or more languages. It has become a necessity to perform Sentiment Analysis on the code-mix languages as there is not much research on Indian code-mix language data. In this paper, Sentiment Analysis (SA) is carried out on the Marglish (Marathi + English) as well as Devanagari Marathi comments which are extracted from the YouTube API from top Marathi channels. Several machine-learning models are applied on the dataset along with 3 different vectorizing techniques. Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) with Count vectorizer provides the best accuracy of 62.68% on the Marglish dataset and Bernoulli Naïve Bayes along with the Count vectorizer, which gives accuracy of 60.60% on the Devanagari dataset. Multilayer Perceptron and Bernoulli Naïve Bayes are considered to be the best performing algorithms. 10-fold cross-validation and statistical testing was also carried out on the dataset to confirm the results.
Membrane-Based Operations in the Fruit Juice Processing Industry: A Review
Authors: Conidi Carmela , Castro-Muñoz Roberto , Cassano Alfredo
Published: March 2020

The fruit juice industry is one of the food sectors that has invested the most in the implementation of new technologies, such as non-thermal technologies. Among them, membrane processes are considered today well-established separation techniques to support the production and marketing of innovative fruit juices designed to exploit the sensory characteristics and nutritional peculiarities of fresh fruits. Pressure-driven membrane operations, membrane distillation, osmotic distillation and pervaporation have been widely investigated in the last few decades to replace conventional technologies used in fruit juice processing industry (i.e., clarification, stabilization, concentration and recovery of aroma compounds). This paper will review the significant progresses on the use of membrane-based operations in fruit juice processing industry in the light of the growing interest towards products with improved safety, quality and nutritional value and sustainable processes characterized by low energy consumption and low environmental impact.
Biogenic Ceria Nanoparticles (CeO2 NPs) for Effective Photocatalytic and Cytotoxic Activity
Authors: Balaji Siripireddy , Mandal Badal Kumar , Vinod Kumar Reddy L. , Sen Dwaipayan
Published: March 2020

Ceria nanoparticles (CeO2 NPs) are generally considered in various functional applications, such as catalysts in fuel cells, sensors, and antioxidant and oxidase-like enzymes in the biological environment. The CeO2 NPs were synthesized using the E. globulus leaf extract-mediated hydrothermal technique. The synthesized NPs were characterized by various analytical instruments including powder X-ray diffractometer (PXRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis. The XRD results showed an average NPs sizes of 13.7 nm. Cytotoxic study results showed an IC50 value of 45.5 µg/L for A549 and 58.2 µg/L for HCT 116, indicating that CeO2 NPs are more toxic to A549 compared to HCT116 cell lines. The generation of ROS was responsible for its cytotoxic activity against cancer cell lines. Specific surface area (40.96 m2/g) and pore diameter (7.8 nm) were measured using Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms. CeO2 NPs with a high surface area were used as photocatalyst in degrading sunset yellow (SY) dye under UV-irradiation and 97.3% of the dye was degraded within 90 min. These results suggest that the synthesized CeO2 NPs could be used as a good photocatalyst as well as a cytotoxic agent against human cancer cell lines.
Biomechanical Behavior of a Variable Angle Locked Tibiotalocalcaneal Construct
Authors: Hamandi Farah , Simon Gerard , Laughlin Richard , Goswami Tarun
Published: March 2020

This paper examines the mechanics of the tibiotalocalcaneal construct made with a PHILOS plating system. A failed device consisting of the LCP plate and cortical, locking, and cannulated screws was used to perform the analysis. Visual, microstructure, and fractographic examinations were carried out to characterize the fracture surface topology. These examinations revealed the presence of surface scratching, inclusions, discoloration, corrosion pits, beach marks, and cleavage and striations on the fracture surface. Further examination of the material crystallography and texture revealed an interaction of S, Ni, and Mo-based inclusions that may have raised pitting susceptibility of the device made with Stainless Steel 316L. These features suggest that the device underwent damage by pitting the corrosion-fatigue mechanism and overloading towards the end to fail the plate and screws in two or more components. The screws failed via conjoint bending and torsion fatigue mechanisms. Computer simulations of variable angle locking screws were performed in this paper. The material of construction of the device was governed by ASTM F138-8 or its ISO equivalent 5832 and exhibited inconsistencies in chemistry and hardness requirements. The failure conditions were matched in finite element modeling and those boundary conditions discussed in this paper.
Low Temperature Dissolution of Yeast Chitin-Glucan Complex and Characterization of the Regenerated Polymer
Authors: Araújo Diana , Alves Vítor D. , Marques Ana C. , Fortunato Elvira , Reis Maria A. M. , Freitas Filomena
Published: March 2020

Chitin-glucan complex (CGC) is a copolymer composed of chitin and glucan moieties extracted from the cell-walls of several yeasts and fungi. Despite its proven valuable properties, that include antibacterial, antioxidant and anticancer activity, the utilization of CGC in many applications is hindered by its insolubility in water and most solvents. In this study, NaOH/urea solvent systems were used for the first time for solubilization of CGC extracted from the yeast Komagataella pastoris. Different NaOH/urea ratios (6:8, 8:4 and 11:4 (w/w), respectively) were used to obtain aqueous solutions using a freeze/thaw procedure. There was an overall solubilization of 63–68%, with the highest solubilization rate obtained for the highest tested urea concentration (8 wt%). The regenerated polymer, obtained by dialysis of the alkali solutions followed by lyophilization, formed porous macrostructures characterized by a chemical composition similar to that of the starting co-polymer, although the acetylation degree decreased from 61.3% to 33.9–50.6%, indicating that chitin was converted into chitosan, yielding chitosan-glucan complex (ChGC). Consistent with this, there was a reduction of the crystallinity index and thermal degradation temperature. Given these results, this study reports a simple and green procedure to solubilize CGC and obtain aqueous ChGC solutions that can be processed as novel biomaterials.
Organo-Selenium-Containing Polyester Bandage Inhibits Bacterial Biofilm Growth on the Bandage and in the Wound
Authors: Tran Phat , Enos Tyler , Luth Keaton , Hamood Abdul , Ray Coby , Mitchell Kelly , Reid Ted W.
Published: March 2020

The dressing material of a wound plays a key role since bacteria can live in the bandage and keep re-infecting the wound, thus a bandage is needed that blocks biofilm in the bandage. Using an in vivo wound biofilm model, we examined the effectiveness of an organo-selenium (OS)-coated polyester dressing to inhibit the growth of bacteria in a wound. Staphylococcus aureus (as well as MRSA, Methicillin resistant Staph aureus), Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were chosen for the wound infection study. All the bacteria were enumerated in the wound dressing and in the wound tissue under the dressing. Using colony-forming unit (CFU) assays, over 7 logs of inhibition (100%) was found for all the bacterial strains on the material of the OS-coated wound dressing and in the tissue under that dressing. Confocal laser scanning microscopy along with IVIS spectrum in vivo imaging confirmed the CFU results. Thus, the dressing acts as a reservoir for a biofilm, which causes wound infection. The same results were obtained after soaking the dressing in PBS at 37 °C for three months before use. These results suggest that an OS coating on polyester dressing is both effective and durable in blocking wound infection.
A Dialysis Photocatalytic Reactor for the Green Production of Vanillin
Authors: Camera-Roda Giovanni , Parrino Francesco , Loddo Vittorio , Palmisano Leonardo
Published: March 2020

In the present work, dialysis was used to recover vanillin while being produced by partial photocatalytic oxidation of ferulic acid in an aqueous solution at ambient temperature. The relatively high value of the permeate flux through a dense polyether-block amide membrane allowed continuously extracting vanillin from the reacting solution, thus avoiding its successive oxidation. The rate of vanillin formation was improved, compared to other reactor configurations, because intermediate compounds permeated from the reacting solution and did not hinder the reaction, while ferulic acid permeated in the opposite direction to partially replenish the reactor with the substrate. The photocatalytic membrane reactor obtained by the effective coupling of dialysis with the photocatalytic reaction improved the production yield. For instance, with the utilized experimental set up, the total amount of vanillin produced after 5 h in the membrane reactor was more than one-third higher than in the photocatalytic reactor without dialysis. The results obtained with a mathematical model agree with the experimentally observed behavior. The model allowed estimating vanillin diffusivity in the membrane and showed that concentration polarization might limit the process.
Catalytic Oxidation of HCHO over the Sodium-Treated Sepiolite-Supported Rare Earth (La, Eu, Dy, and Tm) Oxide Catalysts
Authors: Dong Ning , Ye Qing , Chen Mengyue , Cheng Shuiyuan , Kang Tianfang , Dai Hongxing
Published: March 2020

The sodium-treated sepiolite (NaSep)-supported rare earth oxide (RE/NaSep; RE = La, Eu, Dy, and Tm) samples were prepared using the rotary evaporation method. Physicochemical properties of these materials were characterized by XRD, SEM, BET, FTIR, XPS, H2–TPR, NH3–TPD, and in situ DRIFTS, and their catalytic activities for formaldehyde (HCHO) (2000 ppm) oxidation were evaluated. The results show that loading of the rare earth oxide on NaSep improved its catalytic performance. Among all the samples, Eu/NaSep performed the best, and complete HCHO conversion was achieved at a temperature of 150 °C and a gas hourly space velocity of 240,000 mL/(g h); a good catalytic activity was still maintained after 45 h of stability test. The catalytic oxidation mechanism of HCHO was studied using the in situ DRIFTS technique. As a result, the effective and stable catalytic performance of the Eu/NaSep sample was mainly due to the presence of hydroxyl groups on the sepiolite surface and the doped rare earth oxides, which contributed to its high performance. HCHO oxidation underwent via the steps of HCHO + O2 → HCOO− + OH− → H2O + CO2. It is concluded that the optimal catalytic activity of Eu/NaSep was associated with the highest Oads/Olatt atomic ratio, the largest amount of hydroxyl groups, the highest acidity, and the best reducibility. The present work may provide new insights into the application in the removal of high-concentration HCHO over the rare earth oxides supported on natural low-cost clays.