bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Hierarchical Porous Polyamide 6 by Solution Foaming: Synthesis, Characterization and Properties
Authors: Wang Liang , Wu Yu-Ke , Ai Fang-Fang , Fan Jie , Xia Zhao-Peng , Liu Yong
Published: November 2018

Porous polym er materials have received great interest in both academic and industrial fields due to their wide range of applications. In this work, a porous polyamide 6 (PA6) material was prepared by a facile solution foaming strategy. In this approach, a sodium carbonate (SC) aqueous solution acted as the foaming agent that reacted with formic acid (FA), generating CO2 and causing phase separation of polyamide (PA). The influence of the PA/FA solution concentration and Na2CO3 concentration on the microstructures and physical properties of prepared PA foams were investigated, respectively. PA foams showed a hierarchical porous structure along the foaming direction. The mean pore dimension ranged from hundreds of nanometers to several microns. Low amounts of sodium salt generated from a neutralization reaction played an important role of heterogeneous nucleation, which increased the crystalline degree of PA foams. The porous PA materials exhibited low thermal conductivity, high crystallinity and good mechanical properties. The novel strategy in this work could produce PA foams on a large scale for potential engineering applications.
Two Faces of the Manchu Shaman: “Participatory Observation” in Western and Chinese Contexts
Authors: Qu Feng
Published: November 2018

Russian anthropologist Shirokogoroff and Chinese ethnographers have provided different understandings of Manchu shamanism. The former approach is centered in the psychological dimension based on the Western context while the latter approach focuses on the ritual and sacrificial systems based on a non-Western Chinese context. However, an in-depth analysis of Chinese ethnographic writings shows that the Chinese context also embodies aspects of existing Western concepts. Due to the fact that both approaches have problems in writing cultures, the author suggests that a constructive dialogue between the Western experience and Chinese experience should be conducted in reconstruction of shamanism theories.
Erratum: Mohammed, K. Islām and Genesis 17: A Study in Scriptural Intertextuality. Religions 9 (2018): 293
Authors:   Religions Editorial Office
Published: November 2018

The Editorial Office wants to make the following correction to the paper[...]
Urbanization and Spillover Effect for Three Megaregions in China: Evidence from DMSP/OLS Nighttime Lights
Authors: Zhang Xiaoxin , Guo Shan , Guan Yanning , Cai Danlu , Zhang Chunyan , Fraedrich Klaus , Xiao Han , Tian Zhuangzhuang
Published: November 2018

Urbanization drives human social development and natural environmental changes and shows complex implications for sustainability and challenges of future development, particularly in emerging countries. While extensive studies focus on extracting urban areas more precisely, less attention has been devoted to understand megaregion evolution and its related socioeconomic processes, not by socioeconomic statistics, but by comparing remote sensing based spatiotemporal evolution and the related spillover effect. Three main megaregions (with large area, high population and total gross domestic product) in China are selected for the analysis of development changes in an urbanization (magnitude, development)-diagram, of growth pattern changes based on Gravity Center and weighted Standard Deviation Ellipses and of the megaregions’ spillover effect. Employing the spatiotemporally continuous lighted areas (DN ≥ 12) from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program/Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) nighttime signal (1992–2013) to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH), the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), and the Pearl River Delta (PRD) leads to the following results: (i) Developments in the (magnitude, development)-diagram indicate 25.97%, 45.95%, and 39.10% of the first (high urbanization, fast development) class of the BTH, YRD, and PRD megaregions are rapidly developing into highly urbanized regions. The first class may slow down in the future like the second (high urbanization, slow development) class acting from 1992 to 2013, and the third (moderate urbanization, fast development) class shows potential to become the first class in the future. (ii) The original core function zones of YRD and PRD have highly developed till 1992 and expanding out with fast development from 1992 to 2013. Contrarily, BTH indicates more fast development toward the original core function zones while spatial expansion. (iii) The gravity distance evolution of the three megaregions shows a tendency towards the geometric distance 2013. However, YRD and PRD (BTH) indicate a light intensity expansion (concentration). This may relate to a positive spillover effect of YRD and PRD upon their neighbor cities, with the strongest signal in the early 21st Century and thereafter adjusting and followed by another positive spillover.
Automatic Recognition of Pole-Like Objects from Mobile Laser Scanning Point Clouds
Authors: Shi Zhenwei , Kang Zhizhong , Lin Yi , Liu Yu , Chen Wei
Published: November 2018

Mobile Laser Scanning (MLS) point cloud data contains rich three-dimensional (3D) information on road ancillary facilities such as street lamps, traffic signs and utility poles. Automatically recognizing such information from point cloud would provide benefits for road safety inspection, ancillary facilities management and so on, and can also provide basic information support for the construction of an information city. This paper presents a method for extracting and classifying pole-like objects (PLOs) from unstructured MLS point cloud data. Firstly, point cloud is preprocessed to remove outliers, downsample and filter ground points. Then, the PLOs are extracted from the point cloud by spatial independence analysis and cylindrical or linear feature detection. Finally, the PLOs are automatically classified by 3D shape matching. The method was tested based on two point clouds with different road environments. The completeness, correctness and overall accuracy were 92.7%, 97.4% and 92.3% respectively in Data I. For Data II, that provided by International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Working Group (ISPRS WG) III/5 was also used to test the performance of the method, and the completeness, correctness and overall accuracy were 90.5%, 97.1% and 91.3%, respectively. Experimental results illustrate that the proposed method can effectively extract and classify PLOs accurately and effectively, which also shows great potential for further applications of MLS point cloud data.
Deep Memory Connected Neural Network for Optical Remote Sensing Image Restoration
Authors: Xu Wenjia , Xu Guangluan , Wang Yang , Sun Xian , Lin Daoyu , Wu Yirong
Published: November 2018

The spatial resolution and clarity of remote sensing images are crucial for many applications such as target detection and image classification. In the last several decades, tremendous image restoration tasks have shown great success in ordinary images. However, since remote sensing images are more complex and more blurry than ordinary images, most of the existing methods are not good enough for remote sensing image restoration. To address such problem, we propose a novel method named deep memory connected network (DMCN) based on the convolutional neural network to reconstruct high-quality images. We build local and global memory connections to combine image detail with global information. To further reduce parameters and ease time consumption, we propose Downsampling Units, shrinking the spatial size of feature maps. We verify its capability on two representative applications, Gaussian image denoising and single image super-resolution (SR). DMCN is tested on three remote sensing datasets with various spatial resolution. Experimental results indicate that our method yields promising improvements and better visual performance over the current state-of-the-art. The PSNR and SSIM improvements over the second best method are up to 0.3 dB.
Electrocardiograph Identification Using Hybrid Quantization Sparse Matrix and Multi-Dimensional Approaches
Authors: Tseng Kuo-Kun , Lo Jiao , Chen Chih-Cheng , Tu Shu-Yi , Yang Cheng-Fu
Published: November 2018

Electrocardiograph (ECG) technology is vital for biometric security, and blood oxygen is essential for human survival. In this study, ECG signals and blood oxygen levels are combined to increase the accuracy and efficiency of human identification and verification. The proposed scheme maps the combined biometric information to a matrix and quantifies it as a sparse matrix for reorganizational purposes. Experimental results confirm a much better identification rate than in other ECG-related identification studies. The literature shows no research in human identification using the quantization sparse matrix method with ECG and blood oxygen data combined. We propose a multi-dimensional approach that can improve the accuracy and reduce the complexity of the recognition algorithm.
A High Compressibility Pressure—Sensitive Structure Based on CB@PU Yarn Network
Authors: Chen Xingtong , Liu Chunguo , Liu Shuo , Lyu Bing , Li Donglai
Published: November 2018

In this work, a piezoresistive sensor structure based on carbon black (CB)@polyurethane (PU) yarn material was developed. Specifically, CB@PU yarn was constructed by the polymer-mediated water-based electrostatic deposition method. The distribution of the yarn was artificially controlled to fabricate conductive networks. The CB conductive layer was efficiently supported by the net-like structure of PU yarn, thus generating collaborative advantage. The as-fabricated pressure sensor not only displayed compressibility of over 97%, but also detected a wide pressure change from 25 Pa to 20 kPa. Furthermore, this sensor exhibited response time of less than 70 ms and reproducibility of over 10,000 cycles. The advantages of the CB@PU network ensured this pressure-sensitive structure enormous potential application in pressure sensitive equipment.
Magnetic Properties of Ferromagnetic Particles under Alternating Magnetic Fields: Focus on Particle Detection Sensor Applications
Authors: Jia Ran , Ma Biao , Zheng Changsong , Wang Liyong , Ba Xin , Du Qiu , Wang Kai
Published: November 2018

The electromagnetic wear particles detection sensor has been widely studied due to its ability to monitor the wear status of equipment in real time. To precisely estimate the change of the magnetic energy of the sensor coil caused by the wear particles, the magnetic property models of wear particles under the alternating magnetic field was established. The models consider the hysteresis effect and the eddy current effect of the wear particles. The analysis and experimental results show that with the increase of the effective field frequency, the change of the magnetic energy caused by the wear particles gradually decrease, which makes the induced electromotive force output by the sensor reduce with the decrease of the particle speed, so a signal compensation method is presented to obtain a unified signal when the same wear particle passing through the sensor in different speeds. The magnetic coupling effect between the two adjacent wear particles is analyzed. The result illustrates that the change of the magnetic energy caused by the dual wear particles system is larger than the sum of the energy variation caused by two independent wear particles, and with the increase of the interparticle distance, the magnetic coupling effect gradually weakens and disappears.
RECRP: An Underwater Reliable Energy-Efficient Cross-Layer Routing Protocol
Authors: Liu Jun , Yu Meiming , Wang Xingwang , Liu Yuanyuan , Wei Xiaohui , Cui Junhong
Published: November 2018

A reliable energy-efficient routing protocol plays a key role in underwater data transmission. In the face of acoustic communication challenges in underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs), including long propagation delay, topology change, limited energy, and communication voids, we propose RECRP, a Reliable Energy-efficient Cross-layer Routing Protocol to achieve high data delivery rate. RECRP is a location-free single-copy protocol. The information of the physical layer such as Doppler scale shift measurement, Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), etc. are adopted to estimate the distance, thus no extra hardware is needed for localization. Moreover, the overhead introduced by redundant packets is avoided with the single-copy mechanism. To improve the two-hop packet delivery rate and balance energy consumption among adjacent nodes, an optimal max–min method is proposed that dynamically controls transmission power and channel frequency. Furthermore, a surface to bottom routing establishment method is also adopted to handle communication voids. Compared with depth-based routing (DBR) and hop-by-hop vector-based forwarding (HH-VBF), RECRP is more energy-efficient with a higher delivery rate.
Exploring the Consequences of Crowd Compression Through Physics-Based Simulation
Authors: Sun Libo , Badler Norman I.
Published: November 2018

Statistical analysis of accidents in recent years shows that crowd crushes have become significant non-combat, non-environmental public disasters. Unlike common accidents such as fires, crowd crushes may occur without obvious external causes, and may arise quickly and unexpectedly in otherwise normal surroundings. We use physics-based simulations to understand the processes and consequences of compressive forces on high density static crowds consisting of up to 400 agents in a restricted space characterized by barriers to free movement. According to empirical observation and experimentation by others, we know that local high packing density is an important factor leading to crowd crushes and consequent injuries. We computationally verify our hypothesis that compressive forces create high local crowd densities which exceed human tolerance. Affected agents may thus be unable to move or escape and will present additional movement obstacles to others. Any high density crowd simulation should therefore take into account these possible negative effects on crowd mobility and behavior. Such physics-based simulations may therefore assist in the design of crowded spaces that could reduce the possibility of crushes and their consequences.
A High-Resolution Leaky Coaxial Cable Sensor Using a Wideband Chaotic Signal
Authors: Xu Hang , Qiao Jun , Zhang Jianguo , Han Hong , Li Jingxia , Liu Li , Wang Bingjie
Published: November 2018

A high-resolution leaky coaxial cable (LCX) sensor for perimeter intrusion detection is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. In our proposed sensor system, a wideband Boolean-chaos signal is used as the probe signal, and a pair of leaky coaxial cables (LCXs) is applied for transmitting the probe signal and receiving the echo signal, respectively. By correlating the chaotic echo signal with its delayed duplicate and comparing the correlation traces before and after intrusion, the intruder can be accurately located. Experimental results demonstrate the proposed sensor can simultaneously detect multiple intruders. The range resolution reaches 30 cm, whilst the dynamic range can achieve 50 dB. In addition, this sensor possesses the excellent anti-interference performance to the noise and uncorrelated chaotic signal, which makes it show robust performance in the detection environment with noise or multiple chaotic LCX sensors cooperation.
Localization Reliability Improvement Using Deep Gaussian Process Regression Model
Authors: Teng Fei , Tao Wenyuan , Own Chung-Ming
Published: November 2018

With the widespread use of the Global Positioning System, indoor positioning technology has attracted increasing attention. Many systems with distinct deployment costs and positioning accuracies have been developed over the past decade for indoor positioning. The method that is based on received signal strength (RSS) is the most widely used. However, manually measuring RSS signal values to build a fingerprint database is costly and time-consuming, and it is impractical in a dynamic environment with a large positioning area. In this study, we propose an indoor positioning system that is based on the deep Gaussian process regression (DGPR) model. This model is a nonparametric model and it only needs to measure part of the reference points, thus reducing the time and cost required for data collection. The model converts the RSS values into four types of characterizing values as input data and then predicts the position coordinates using DGPR. Finally, after reinforcement learning, the position coordinates are optimized. The authors conducted several experiments on a simulated environment by MATLAB and physical environments at Tianjin University. The experiments examined different environments, different kernels, and positioning accuracy. The results showed that the proposed method could not only retain the positioning accuracy, but also save the computation time that is required for location estimation.
A Comparative Study of On-Body Radio-Frequency Links in the 420 MHz–2.4 GHz Range
Authors: Thielens Arno , Benarrouch Robin , Wielandt Stijn , Anderson Matthew G. , Moin Ali , Cathelin Andreia , Rabaey Jan M.
Published: November 2018

While there exists a wide variety of radio frequency (RF) technologies amenable for usage in Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs), which have been studied separately before, it is currently still unclear how their performance compares in true on-body scenarios. In this paper, a single reference on-body scenario—that is, propagation along the arm—is used to experimentally compare six distinct RF technologies (between 420 MHz and 2.4 GHz) in terms of path loss. To further quantify on-body path loss, measurements for five different on-body scenarios are presented as well. To compensate for the effect of often large path losses, two mitigation strategies to (dynamically) improve on-body links are introduced and experimentally verified: beam steering using a phased array, and usage of on-body RF repeaters. The results of this study can serve as a tool for WBAN designers to aid in the selection of the right RF frequency and technology for their application.
Bilevel Optimization-Based Time-Optimal Path Planning for AUVs
Authors: Yao Xuliang , Wang Feng , Wang Jingfang , Wang Xiaowei
Published: November 2018

Using the bilevel optimization (BIO) scheme, this paper presents a time-optimal path planner for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) operating in grid-based environments with ocean currents. In this scheme, the upper optimization problem is defined as finding a free-collision channel from a starting point to a destination, which consists of connected grids, and the lower optimization problem is defined as finding an energy-optimal path in the channel generated by the upper level algorithm. The proposed scheme is integrated with ant colony algorithm as the upper level and quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization as the lower level and tested to find an energy-optimal path for AUV navigating through an ocean environment in the presence of obstacles. This arrangement prevents discrete state transitions that constrain a vehicle’s motion to a small set of headings and improves efficiency by the usage of evolutionary algorithms. Simulation results show that the proposed BIO scheme has higher computation efficiency with a slightly lower fitness value than sliding wavefront expansion scheme, which is a grid-based path planner with continuous motion directions.
Social Solidarity, Collective Identity, Resilient Communities: Two Case Studies from the Rural U.S. and Uruguay
Authors: Leap Braden , Thompson Diego
Published: November 2018

Worldwide, communities face disruptions driven by phenomena such as climate change and globalization. Socio-ecological resilience theorists have called for greater attention to the social dynamics that inform whether and how communities are reorganized and sustained in response to such challenges. Scholars increasingly stress that social heterogeneities provide resources that communities can mobilize to adapt and sustain themselves in response to disruptions. Utilizing the sociological literature that emphasizes that social solidarities and collective identities are centrally important to community responses to socio-ecological disruptions, we argue that solidarities grounded in collective identities can act as important mediators between social heterogeneity and resilience. Drawing on qualitative data from rural communities in the central United States and southwestern Uruguay, we explore how group solidarity enabled individuals to more effectively draw on their diverse knowledges, skills, and resources to sustain their communities. Linked by a collective identity grounded in rurality, in each setting, individuals effectively worked together to adapt to emerging socio-ecological disruptions. These results suggest that we can better understand how social heterogeneities inform resilience by considering how solidarities grounded in collective identities influence whether and how individuals can successfully cooperate to rearrange and sustain their communities. When working with rural communities, specifically, it will be especially important to account for solidarities and collective identities tied to rurality.
Strategic Aspects of Ensuring Sustainable Development of Gold Enterprises of the Russian Federation
Authors: Zhuravlyov Vladimir , Varkova Natalia , Aliukov Sergei , Khudyakova Tatyana
Published: November 2018

This article focuses on the sustainable, equilibrium development of Russian enterprises engaged in the extraction and processing of gold. The conditions for the effective activity of companies in the field of gold mining were considered. The main factors causing crisis situations and problems in the strategic management of gold mining enterprises of the Russian Federation were highlighted. The main objective of the study was to develop proposals for improving the model and mechanism of the strategic management of the gold mining company. The study analyzed a wide range of theoretical sources, identified gaps in scientific works in contact with the topic of this work. These gaps were associated primarily with the inadequate reflection in the existing models of industrial enterprise management of the specifics of the activities of gold companies and the lack of key components of the model, affecting sustainable business development. The methodological basis of the study was: Systems theory and systems approach, economic and mathematical models of firm management, investment design, theoretical studies in the field of business valuation. In connection with the growing risks, socio-economic instability, the fall in the growth rate of gold mining, the problems presented in the study are relevant. Maintaining competitiveness and improving performance indicators requires the improvement of the process of the strategic management of mining companies. This article discusses the fundamental components of an improved model of strategic management of gold mining enterprises proposed by the authors, presents a graphical model, suggests directions for describing an improved management mechanism for a gold mining company using mathematical modeling methods designed to link the most problematic components and gold mining business processes: investment, technology intelligence and gold mining, capital investment, timing of the project Comrade, the profitability of production. The dynamic simulation model of strategic management presented in this study and strategy assessment tools based on the concept of the organization’s life cycle take into account the specifics of the activities of gold companies in Russia; were introduced into the practice of the enterprises of Siberia, Sakha-Yakutia, which led to increased economic sustainability and improved financial performance of these companies.
Confucius and Herding Behaviour in the Stock Markets in China and Taiwan
Authors: Munkh-Ulzii Batmunkh John , McAleer Michael , Moslehpour Massoud , Wong Wing-Keung
Published: November 2018

It has been argued in the literature that financial markets with a Confucian background tend to exhibit herding behaviour, or correlated behavioural patterns in individuals. This paper applies the return dispersion model to investigate financial herding behaviour by examining index returns from the stock markets in China and Taiwan. The sample period is from 1 January 1999 to 31 December 2014, and the data were obtained from Thomson Reuters Datastream. Although the sample period finishes in 2014, the data are more than sufficient to test the three hypotheses relating to the stock markets in China and Taiwan, both of which have Confucian cultures. The empirical results demonstrate significant herding behaviour under both general and specified markets conditions, including bull and bear markets, and high-low trading volume states. This paper contributes to the herding literature by examining three different hypotheses regarding the stock markets in China and Taiwan, and showing that there is empirical support for these hypotheses.
Impact of the Wildlife Management Units Policy on the Conservation of Species and Ecosystems of Southeastern Mexico
Authors: Álvarez-Peredo Carolina , Contreras-Hernández Armando , Gallina-Tessaro Sonia , Pineda-Vázquez Mariana , Ortega-Argueta Alejandro , Tejeda-Cruz Carlos , Landgrave Rosario
Published: November 2018

Wildlife in Latin America is subject to enormous pressures and, as in most countries, has been negatively impacted in Mexico. In 1997, the Mexican government implemented a policy of conservation and sustainable use of wildlife units (called UMAs, by their Spanish acronym) that comprises intensive and free-living management. Since then, no national or regional assessments have been conducted to estimate impacts and benefits even with 5529 registered UMAs now covering almost 20% of the national territory. The objective of this study was to characterize the SUMA (UMAs System) in a regional context in three states of southeastern Mexico. The impact of UMAs was studied in depth through a selection of representative case studies: three species of mangrove (Avicennia germinans, Laguncularia racemosa and Rhizophora mangle), ponytail palm (Beaucarnea recurvata), red cedar (Cedrela odorata) and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), and a connectivity analysis, in order to evaluate the contribution of the UMAs to the conservation of species and ecosystems. The number of active UMAs at regional scale was 834, managing 273 species; 7.1% of the UMAs manage nationally-prioritized species, while 8.3% and 94.3% manage endemic and native species, respectively. Conservation of ecosystems has been successfully achieved through the UMAs that manage mangrove and white-tailed deer. We propose to promote the establishment of free-living UMAs that would contribute to increase the conservation areas. Finally, we highlight the relevance of regional-scale spatial analysis as an important tool for improving environmental policy and conservation strategies.
The Status Quo and Ways of STEAM Education Promoting China’s Future Social Sustainable Development
Authors: Wang Xingwei , Xu Wenwen , Guo Liang
Published: November 2018

In the process of future sustainable development, human society faces problems such as severe population load, economic transition, and a lack of educational measures. One of the root causes of these problems is the shortage of innovative talents. Therefore, how to cultivate learners with multidisciplinary integration and innovation ability is a key point that should be paid attention to when promoting the concept of quality education and coping with the future sustainable development process. This paper uses the questionnaire survey and literature analysis methods to analyze the development of many educational institutions with the Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM) concept as the core in China since 2017. It is found that the existing STEAM educational institutions generally have the following problems: a lack of team composition, difficulty in independent research and development, single course content, and an insufficient validation of course effectiveness. In order to more effectively promote the sustainable development of China’s future course, STEAM education institutions should focus on strengthening the following development strategies: gradient team building, continuous independent research and development, cutting-edge projects, mechanisms of curriculum transformation, and multi-angle course effectiveness verification.
Influence of Social Exchange Relationships on Affective Commitment and Innovative Behavior: Role of Perceived Organizational Support
Authors: Nazir Sajjad , Qun Wang , Hui Li , Shafi Amina
Published: November 2018

The current study objective is to investigate how and when leader member exchange (LMX), tie strength, and innovative organizational culture influences employee innovative behavior. In particular, this study uses the social exchange theory to analyze that nurses who demonstrate high affective commitment exhibit a higher level of creativity in the workplace. Based on social exchange theory and perceived organizational support (POS) literature, the current study aims to reveal how perceived organizational support (POS) serves as an imperative mediating process between LMX, tie strength, innovative organizational culture, and employee IB. A questionnaire survey was utilized to collect the data from nurses working in public sector hospitals in Jiangsu province China. A total sample size consists of 325 nurses. Structural equation modeling through AMOS 20 was utilized to analyze the survey data. Results from the structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis indicated that LMX, tie strength, and POS are significantly related to affective commitment and employees’ IB. However, innovative organizational culture has a significant influence on POS and IB, but has no impact on affective commitment. This study covers only public sector hospitals and is limited to Jiangsu province, China. The research could be reproduced in other designated areas in different organizational setups with a bigger sample size to further enhance the understanding of the topic. The key understanding of social exchange theory (SET) is that social relationships can be used appropriately to foster an employee’s IB. It also expands research in the area of LMX, tie strength, innovative organizational culture, and POS as antecedents of affective commitment and IB. This study is a remarkable analysis of LMX, POS, organization culture, commitment, and IB in the Chinese organizational context.
Exploring the Role of Mountain Origin and Autochthonous Breed on Urban Consumers’ Acceptability
Authors: Resano Helena , Sanjuán Ana Isabel
Published: November 2018

In the last decades, the European Union (EU) agricultural policy has encouraged extensive livestock farming systems as a sustainable way of production, while more recently, voluntary certification schemes on mountain origin and autochthonous breeds have been put in place to further contribute to the preservation of biodiversity and economic activity in mountainous areas. The aim of this study is twofold: first, to investigate the role of the mountain origin and local autochthonous breed certification on urban consumer’s acceptability; and second, to compare consumer’s overall acceptability at central location versus home-based. These two specific objectives are designed to better ascertain the suitability of these voluntary certifications as a marketing tool that helps to bridge the gap between urban consumers’ beef choices and rural sustainability. Main methods of analysis included internal preference mapping and cluster analysis. Findings suggested that both claims, mountain origin (Pyrenean in particular) and autochthonous breed conveyed relevant information to consumers at the moment of testing, while the former played a stronger role on hedonic valuations. We have found that the environmental setting significantly influences acceptability with higher ratings obtained in the home test. A small niche market for Pyrenean cattle breeders was also detected, while reaching the larger and more product involved segment of urban consumers would require further marketing actions.
Urban Resilience Discourse Analysis: Towards a Multi-Level Approach to Cities
Authors: Rogov Mikhail , Rozenblat Céline
Published: November 2018

This study aims to understand the current state of research in urban resilience, its relations to urban sustainability and to integrate several distinct approaches into a multi-level perspective of cities comprising micro, meso and macro levels and their interactions. In fact, based on the meta-analysis of nearly 800 papers from Scopus from 1973 to 2018, we show that urban resilience discourses address micro and meso levels, considering shocks of bottom-up origin such as natural disasters. In contrast, the regional resilience approach addresses meso and macro levels (regional and global scales), considering shocks of top-down origin such as world economic crises. We find these approaches complementary and argue that in order to expand the urban resilience theory and overcome its limitations, they should be combined. For that purpose we propose a multi-level perspective that integrates both top-down and bottom-up dynamic processes. We argue that urban resilience is shaped by the synchronicity of adaptive cycles on three levels: micro, meso and macro. To build the multi-level approach of dynamics of adaptive cycles we use the panarchy framework.
Sustainability in Material Purchasing: A Multi-Objective Economic Order Quantity Model under Carbon Trading
Authors: Battini Daria , Calzavara Martina , Isolan Ilaria , Sgarbossa Fabio , Zangaro Francesco
Published: November 2018

Sustainability in material purchasing is a growing area of research. Goods purchasing decisions strongly affect transportation path flows, vehicle consolidation, inventory levels, and related obsolescence costs. These choices have an economic impact on the supply chain, in terms of different logistic costs, and an environmental impact, in terms of the carbon emissions produced during goods transportation, storage and final recovery. In this paper, we initially analyze and compare the environmental economic policies established by the International Governments in relation to the carbon trading systems adopted. Then, we overcome a traditional single objective formulation, by developing a bi-objective lot-sizing model in which costs and emissions are kept separated and analyzed by using a Pareto frontier subject to a Cap and Trade mitigation policy. The model is useful in practice to support managers in understanding the Pareto frontier shape linked to a specific purchasing problem, defining the cost-optimal and emission-optimal solutions and identifying a sustainable quantity to purchase when a Cap and Trade mitigation policy is present. We further analyze the model behavior according to variation in market carbon price and we finally analytically demonstrate that today carbon prices are still far too low to motivate managers towards sustainable purchasing choices: there is still a gap of about 79%.
Application of Biochar to the Remediation of Pb-Contaminated Solutions
Authors: Boni Maria Rosaria , Chiavola Agostina , Marzeddu Simone
Published: November 2018

BIOTON® biochar, produced by a wood biomass pyrolysis process, which is usually applied as soil amendment, was investigated for a novel application, i.e., the adsorption of lead from contaminated solutions. The experimental activity included physical and chemical characterization of BIOTON®; and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images to highlight its internal structure. The adsorption process was investigated through batch and column experiments. Adsorption kinetics showed very rapid achievement of equilibrium conditions, i.e., 50 mg/L and 100 mg/L initial Pb concentration at 2 h and 4 h, respectively. Complete removal also occurred within the same time. The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller model was a better fit for the equilibrium data of both Pb concentrations, whereas the kinetics were best represented by the pseudo second-order model. Column tests showed that the addition of biochar as an adsorbent media within the bed significantly extended the time of breakthrough and exhaustion, with respect to the column filled with soil only. The values found for the adsorption capacity of BIOTON®- versus lead-containing solutions were comparable to those reported for commercial adsorbents. Therefore, BIOTON® can be considered a valid option: It also offers the additional benefit of allowing the recovery of a residue, which alternately would need to be disposed of.
Higher Education for Professional and Civic Values: A Critical Review and Analysis
Authors: Shephard Kerry , Egan Tony
Published: November 2018

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is generally thought to involve some degree of education for particular professional and civic values, attitudes and behaviours (leading to, as examples, being environmentally, socially and culturally responsible); although it is notable that the application of ESD in higher education is contested. This conceptual article analyses literature that describes how higher education addresses professional and civic values, mindfully or unintentionally, in an attempt to provide clarity to the arguments involved in this contestation. The article uses three disciplinary lenses (education, psychology and professional education) in the context of four educational paradigms (experiential learning; role modelling; assessment/evaluation; critical thinking) to explore the theoretical and practical bases of values-education. Our conceptual analysis confirms that values are: of great interest to higher education; a significant focus within experiential learning and in the context of role modelling; but challenging to define and even more so to assess or to evaluate the attainment of. Our three disciplinary lenses also lead us to conclude that encouraging students to develop a disposition to explore their world critically is a form of values-education; and that this may be the only truly legitimate form of values-education open to higher education.
Rethinking User Behaviour Comfort Patterns in the South of Spain—What Users Really Do
Authors: Domínguez-Amarillo Samuel , Fernández-Agüera Jesica , Sendra Juan José , Roaf Susan
Published: November 2018

Although energy analysis techniques can contribute to substantial energy savings in housing stock retrofitting operations, the outcomes often deviate significantly from the predicted results, which tend to overestimate potential savings by overestimating the starting energy baselines, particularly in southern Europe. This deviation can be largely attributed to occupant practice relating to the use of air conditioning facilities and the temperatures at which occupants feel comfortable. The patterns observed differed widely from standard values. In this study environmental variables, primarily indoor air temperature both with and without HVAC, were monitored in occupied dwellings for a full year. The data gathered were supplemented with surveys on occupants’ temperature-related behaviour to define comfort patterns. The findings show that the standards in place are not consistent with actual comfort-accepted patterns in medium- to low-income housing in southern Spain, where energy consumption was observed to be lower than expected, mostly because occupants endure unsuitable, even unhealthy, conditions over long periods of time. A new user profile, better adjusted to practice in southern Europe, particularly in social housing, is proposed to reflect the current situation.
Theoretical Study on the Production of Environment-Friendly Recycled Cement Using Inorganic Construction Wastes as Secondary Materials in South Korea
Authors: Kim Jihoon , Tae Sungho , Kim Rakhyun
Published: November 2018

The cement industry endeavors to reduce CO2 emissions from cement manufacturing by utilizing industrial by-products as alternative fuels and developing secondary concrete products from construction wastes. With these efforts, the cement industry is attempting to become more eco-friendly and reduce environmental load. This study analyzed the possibility of using inorganic construction wastes to produce environmentally friendly recycled cement using the process of proportioning. To this end, the types and production trends of recyclable construction wastes and previous studies on the development of recycled cement using such construction wastes were analyzed. Based on this analysis, recyclable inorganic construction wastes were selected, and real waste was collected. The chemical composition of each inorganic construction waste was analyzed using X-ray fluorescence, and the composition of ordinary commercial cement was used as the baseline. After the collected inorganic construction wastes were mixed, they were fired using the Bogue formula. The mineral components of clinker, which was generated from the firing process, were predicted and analyzed. Waste gypsum board and ceiling materials were shown to contain large amounts of CaO, which could substitute limestone—a key component of cement. These results suggested that if the limestone content was greater than 85 wt %, mixing inorganic construction wastes in appropriate proportions could be used to develop various types of Portland cement.
The Relationship of Organisational Value Frames with the Configuration of Alliance Portfolios: Cases from Electricity Utilities in Great Britain
Authors: Dzhengiz Tulin
Published: November 2018

Increasing concerns over global and local sustainability issues motivate businesses to develop solutions via collaborative partnerships. While many studies explain the contributions of sustainable alliances to economic, environmental, and social sustainability, less is known about how a portfolio of these alliances is configured. This study aims to answer this question by examining the relationship between organisational value frames and alliance portfolio configurations of 16 utility companies in the electricity industry of Great Britain. The study finds that organisational value frames play a key role in the selection of alliance partners and hence the configuration of alliance portfolios. The results demonstrate that British electricity utilities often collaborate with cognitively similar organisations. The results demonstrate that cognitive homophily is common in selecting partners to tackle sustainability issues. While previous studies demonstrated homophily in partner selection as resource homophily or status homophily, in the sustainability context, this study shows that homophily is also about values that guide interpretations of sustainability issues.
Generalized Liouville–Caputo Fractional Differential Equations and Inclusions with Nonlocal Generalized Fractional Integral and Multipoint Boundary Conditions
Authors: Alsaedi Ahmed , Alghanmi Madeaha , Ahmad Bashir , Ntouyas Sotiris K.
Published: November 2018

We develop the existence criteria for solutions of Liouville–Caputo-type generalized fractional differential equations and inclusions equipped with nonlocal generalized fractional integral and multipoint boundary conditions. Modern techniques of functional analysis are employed to derive the main results. Examples illustrating the main results are also presented. It is imperative to mention that our results correspond to the ones for a symmetric second-order nonlocal multipoint integral boundary value problem under suitable conditions (see the last section).
Algorithm for T-Spherical Fuzzy Multi-Attribute Decision Making Based on Improved Interactive Aggregation Operators
Authors: Garg Harish , Munir Muhammad , Ullah Kifayat , Mahmood Tahir , Jan Naeem
Published: November 2018

The objective of this manuscript is to present some new, improved aggregation operators for the T-spherical fuzzy sets, which is an extension of the several existing sets, such as intuitionistic fuzzy sets, picture fuzzy sets, neutrosophic sets, and Pythagorean fuzzy sets. In it, some new, improved operational laws and their corresponding properties are studied. Further, based on these laws, we propose some geometric aggregation operators and study their various relationships. Desirable properties, as well as some special cases of the proposed operators, are studied. Then, based on these proposed operators, we present a decision-making approach to solve the multi-attribute decision-making problems. The reliability of the presented decision-making method is explored with the help of a numerical example and the proposed results are compared with several prevailing studies’ results. Finally, the superiority of the proposed approach is explained with a counter example to show the advantages of the proposed work.
Seasonality of Discrepancies between Admission and Discharge Diagnosis for Medicare Patients
Authors: Shrestha Aashara , Zikos Dimitrios , Fegaras Leonidas
Published: November 2018

Admission and discharge diagnoses of in-hospital patients are often in discord. Incorrect admission diagnoses are related to an increased cost of care and patient safety. Additionally, due to the seasonality of many conditions, this discord may vary across the year. In this paper, we used medical claims data to develop a methodological framework that examines these differences for Medicare beneficiaries. We provide examples for pneumonia, which is a condition with seasonal implications, and aneurysm, where early detection can be lifesaving. Following a Bayesian approach, our work quantifies and visualizes with time-series plots the degree that any clinical condition is correctly diagnosed upon admission. We examined differences in weekly intervals over a calendar year. Furthermore, the median length of stay and the mean hospital charges were compared between matching and non-matching {admission, discharge Dx} pairs, and 95% confidence intervals of the difference were estimated. We applied statistical process control methods, and then visualized the differences among the hospital charges and the length of stay, per week, with time-series plots. Our methodology and the visualizations underline the importance of a rigorous and non-delayed diagnostic process upon admission, since there are significant implications in terms of hospital outcomes and cost of care.
Effective Biodegradation of Aflatoxin B1 Using the Bacillus licheniformis (BL010) Strain
Authors: Wang Ye , Zhang Haiyang , Yan Hai , Yin Chunhua , Liu Yang , Xu Qianqian , Liu Xiaolu , Zhang Zhongbao
Published: November 2018

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), a pollutant of agricultural products, has attracted considerable attention in recent years, due to its potential impact on health. In the present study, Bacillus licheniformis (BL010) was demonstrated to efficiently degrade AFB1, reducing over 89.1% of the toxin content within 120 h. A crude enzyme solution of BL010 exhibited the highest degradation level (97.3%) after three induction periods. However, uninduced BL010 bacteria was not capable of reducing AFB1. Furthermore, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis showed that while a cell-free extract caused a significant decrease in AFB1 content (93.6%, p < 0.05), cell culture fluid treatment did not significantly degrade AFB1. The biotransformation products of AFB1 were detected and further identified by quadrupole time-of-flight liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-Q-TOF/MS); these corresponded to a molecular formula of C12H14O4. A sequence analysis of whole BL010 genes with a bioinformatics approach identified the secondary structures of two degrading enzymes (Chia010 and Lac010), providing an important basis for subsequent homology modeling and functional predictions.