bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Role and Responsibilities of Governing Boards in Response to Student Action
Authors: Brumfield Randall W.
Published: October 2018

This chapter outlines the issues associated with free speech and student activism, and how contemporary practices adopted by college and university governing boards facilitate learning environments that protect and promote First Amendment ideals. In order to accomplish this, boards must balance the competing views of student free speech while absorbing a diverse array of public and political pressures. Scrutiny by students, elected officials, and media is increasingly placed on institutions to implement policies accommodating a wide range of stakeholder needs. Governing boards are therefore called on to provide leadership that is responsive to these interests.
Student-Athletes as Change Agents
Authors: Lyst Rene
Published: October 2018

This chapter aims to understand how student-athletes create on-campus change both for themselves and other constituents. The voice of the student-athlete is stronger than ever. Therefore, this chapter will explore a short history of student-athlete advocacy as a backdrop to today's influences. Student-athletes utilize two avenues to create change: (1) their position as a student-athlete and (2) the formal Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) for institutional, regional, and national change. Both avenues have effectively realized change in the last decade.
Faculty and Student Activism
Authors: Tolliver David V. , Miller Michael T. , Miles Jennifer M. , Nadler Daniel P.
Published: October 2018

Colleges and universities can be important social drivers in the functioning of society. Through their efforts and activities, they can educate an electorate and teach behaviors that ultimately benefit the society in which they work. Additionally, students can learn from their faculty mentors not only academic content, but important behaviors about how to be involved activists in seeking change. This chapter explores how faculty and students are activists, how they learn and interact with each other, and ultimately, what impact this has on the operation on individual higher education institutions and the higher education industry at large.
Computational Investigation of Versatile Activity of Piperine
Authors: Marudhadurai Thenmozhi , Irfan Navabshan
Published: October 2018

Piperine is known for its versatile therapeutic activity. It has been used for various disease conditions (e.g., cold, cough, etc.). Piperine is an alkaloid found in black pepper. It possesses various pharmacological actions like anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-cholinergic, and anti-cancerous. The above-mentioned properties will be studied by selecting target proteins COX-2 protein, angiotensin converting enzyme, acetylcholineesterases, and survivin using computational docking study. This chapter explains the inhibition property of piperine against selected target protein from the results of docking studies. Based on the docking scores and protein-ligand interactions, piperine was found to bind well in the active site of the selected target proteins. It ensures the binding efficacy of piperine against selected target proteins. Docking scores and protein-ligand interactions plays an important role in its therapeutic activity.
Construction and Analysis of Protein-Protein Interaction Network
Authors: Dasagrandhi Divya , Ravindran Arul Salomee Kamalabai , Muthuswamy Anusuyadevi , Jayachandran K. S.
Published: October 2018

Understanding the mechanisms of a disease is highly complicated due to the complex pathways involved in the disease progression. Despite several decades of research, the occurrence and prognosis of the diseases is not completely understood even with high throughput experiments like DNA microarray and next-generation sequencing. This is due to challenges in analysis of huge data sets. Systems biology is one of the major divisions of bioinformatics and has laid cutting edge techniques for the better understanding of these pathways. Construction of protein-protein interaction network (PPIN) guides the modern scientists to identify vital proteins through protein-protein interaction network, which facilitates the identification of new drug target and associated proteins. The chapter is focused on PPI databases, construction of PPINs, and its analysis.
Serious Games in Entrepreneurship Education
Authors: Almeida Fernando , Simões Jorge
Published: October 2018

One of the main strategies for fostering the entrepreneurial mindset in students has been the development of training activities inside and outside classrooms using serious games. The chapter makes a brief description regarding five serious games initiatives that intend to promote and facilitate entrepreneurship education for different educational stages. Furthermore, the authors discuss the key benefits and challenges by the introduction of serious games in the learning process. The authors concluded by identifying that serious games have the potentiality of improving the learning process by providing an immersive experience for students that increases their motivation and potentiates the acquisition of multidisciplinary competencies. However, there are some challenges that should be properly considered and mitigated, namely in terms of assessing learning goals, integration with didactical systems, and support for different styles of learning.
Implementing a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System
Authors: Skoumpopoulou Dimitra , Franklin Benjamin
Published: October 2018

CRM systems offer companies a unique ability to manage their customers more effectively. There is a wealth of benefits to CRM both internally and externally, and if used correctly, they can grow a company's customer base and profits. Despite this, the implementations of these systems have a high rate of failure, with companies often spending large amounts of money without gaining anything other than an internal reporting tool. This chapter looks at the reasons behind these failures, looking at previous case studies, theories, and problems to decipher the main issues. The authors then use a recent CRM implementation as a case study to see how these issues relate to a real-life scenario. The research concludes with a 10-step plan which can help academics and practitioners in gaining a better understanding of the implementation issues involved with such complex systems.
Taxonomy for “Homo Consumens” in a 3.0 Era
Authors: Ballesteros Carlos
Published: October 2018

We are all consumers, and we understand and recognize one another as such. Recently, however, many facets of our identities as consumers have been arising and modeling this essence. The use of social networks, the financial crisis, and the new trends such as sharing economies may be factors of change toward new ways of understanding the relationship of the people to the market. This chapter intends to produce an overview of the different types of consumers according to their behaviors and the trends that have been emerging since the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century. Prosumer, presumer, crowdsumer, trysumer, and knowcoster are some of the terms to be analyzed and defined in this chapter, which ends with a call for consumer sovereignty.
Facilitating Interaction Between Virtual Agents Through Negotiation Over Ontological Representation
Authors: McNeill Fiona
Published: October 2018

Fluent, effortless, and diverse e-business transactions depend on the ability of automated agents to interact. The difficulties of tailoring representation and information to be consistent and therefore interoperable needs to fall not on human users but on these automated agents. In this chapter, the authors present their system, ORS (ontology repair system), which is designed to be a tool for automated agents, acting on behalf of people or systems which need to interact, to enable them to understand one another, despite the fact that they are not centrally or consistently designed.
On-Line Credit and Debit Card Processing and Fraud Prevention for E-Business
Authors: Williams James G.
Published: October 2018

As the number of purchases over the internet has increased and the method of payment is a credit or debit card, e-commerce merchants must be able to accept online payment using the card data. Cyber-criminals have found ways to capture the information on credit and debit cards and use this information to make purchases and remove money from bank accounts which costs merchants lost revenue and chargebacks fees and costs consumers and banks lost funds. The process by which credit and debit card payments are processed beginning with the e-commerce merchant's website to a card processor or service gateway to the credit or debit card company's network to the issuing bank's network with an accept or decline response being returned to the merchant's shopping cart system via the same networks is discussed. The issue of credit and debit card fraud in terms of how cyber-criminals function and the solutions used to deter these attempts by the cyber-criminals is covered. The security standards and a list of preventive measures that should be used by e-commerce merchants are discussed.
Adoption and Use of Mobile Money Services in Nigeria
Authors: David-West Olayinka , Umukoro Immanuel Ovemeso , Muritala Omotayo
Published: October 2018

Nigeria, like many developing economies, has been fighting financial exclusion through different mechanisms and with a financial inclusion target set at 80% by 2020 by its National Financial Inclusion Strategy, and mobile money has been identified as a platform for achieving this goal. Consequently, 21 mobile money operators were licensed by the apex bank (Central Bank of Nigeria) to provide mobile money services to millions of Nigerians as a means of bridging the gap between the financially served, the under-served, as well as the un-served. Using empirical evidence from two nationwide mobile money adoption and financial inclusion surveys, and a synthesis of technology acceptance and use models, this chapter explores the causes of mobile money adoption and extent of use across the adult population. It further provides recommendations to policymakers, mobile money operators, and agents, as well as institutions that support the enhancement of financial inclusion towards optimizing the benefits of mobile money and realization of the 80% financial inclusion target.
Has Bitcoin Achieved the Characteristics of Money?
Authors: Loon Donovan Peter Chan Wai , Kumar Sameer
Published: October 2018

Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer network that facilitates transactions between parties minus the proof requirement of an appointed third party (i.e., banks or financial institutions). Accurate understanding into the implementation of bitcoin can be acquired from data of the universal record of bitcoin transactions. Although data from numerous websites show that bitcoin daily transactions count has reached capacities of tens of thousands, it is widely believed that most of these transactions comprise activities between speculators and only a few are actually used for trading of goods and services. The chapter explores if bitcoin has achieved the characteristics of money. For it to survive, bitcoin must overcome the problems of its unconventional pricing mechanism, shortage of vendors who accept it, and the circuitous way of obtaining it.
The Importance of Electronic Commerce in Modern Business
Authors: Kasemsap Kijpokin
Published: October 2018

This chapter explains the overview of e-commerce and the importance of electronic commerce (e-commerce) in modern business. E-commerce consists of the purchasing and selling of products or services through electronic systems, such as computer networks and the internet. In this modern world of technology, e-commerce is becoming a very significant option for many businesses as there are lots of companies that are interested in developing their online stores. E-commerce becomes one of the preferred ways of shopping as they enjoy their online because of its easiness and convenience. Because of its convenience, consumers can save time as well as money by searching their products easily and making purchasing online. The chapter argues that applying e-commerce has the potential to enhance organizational performance and gain sustainable competitive advantage in modern business.
New Advances in E-Commerce
Authors: Nagaty Khaled Ahmed
Published: October 2018

Advances in computers design and communication technology have led to the introduction of global, dynamic, and intelligent e-business models and new tools for e-commerce. These models use artificial intelligence techniques and Web 2.0 technologies to perform online transactions between businesses and customers. As the number of clients over the internet grows rapidly, advanced intelligent e-business models are needed to efficiently respond to clients with an optimum selection for their requests. In B2C models there are a large number of buyers and sellers where buyers specify their preferences and sellers specify their products and selling prices. The major role of AI techniques in B2C e-commerce is to come up with the best match between a buyer and seller. In B2B the major role of AI techniques is supply chain management to help clients make the right decisions. Modern tools used by intelligent e-commerce models include algorithmic trading, decentralized autonomous corporations (DAC), crypto-currency systems, smart contracts, internet of things, cloud computing, and big data analytics.
Online Mediation in E-Commerce Matters
Authors: Pulido Ángela Coello
Published: October 2018

Conflict is not an exceptional fact in a human being's life but an ordinary phenomenon in relationships between parties who have different points of view and different positions. Moreover, e-commerce has increased its importance in the last years because of its usefulness in the business world. Information and communications technology is an unquestionable reality, and because of that, online relationships should be developed in an agile, certain, and peaceful way. To that effect, it must be emphasized that an amicable settlement instead of going to court could be appropriate in this field. Therefore, mediation is a useful instrument in order to fulfill that task because even through the intervention of a mediator, the solution arises from the decision of the parties. The aim of this chapter is to describe why online mediation is an appropriate instrument for conflict solving in the e-commerce field and what are some of the advantages and disadvantages of this ODR not only for citizens but also for organizations.
Retail Prices and E-Commerce
Authors: Chen Jihui
Published: October 2018

This chapter provides a broad survey of recent literature on online price dispersion in the fields of economics, information system, and marketing, and offers a number of explanations documented in various electronic retailing markets from both the demand and supply sides, such as branding/reputation, market competition, consumer heterogeneity, dynamic pricing, and oligopoly strategies, to name a few. In addition, it also discusses several potential directions for future research in this area.
Use of Bitcoin for Internet Trade
Authors: Khalil Sadia , Masood Rahat , Shibli Muhammad Awais
Published: October 2018

Bitcoin is considered to be the world's first peer-to-peer and unregulated crypto-currency which has received widespread popularity in the last few years. It is issued and controlled by the members of the Bitcoin system. The success of Bitcoin has spurred the launch of many other crypto-currencies. Despite being widely adopted by various large-scale businesses, Bitcoin transactions are still exposed to many known as well as zero-day attacks due to various vulnerabilities being exploited by the malicious entities. In order to achieve reliable and secure transactions, extensive research needs to be carried out to critically examine Bitcoin architecture and its level of security. In this regard, this chapter presents a holistic analysis of Bitcoin architecture and a survey of the attacks prevalent to its transactions. As an evaluation of the Bitcoin system, a comparison of different crypto-currencies has been presented, based on their features, possible attacks, disadvantages, and the advantages which they possess over Bitcoin.
The Impact of Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene on Electronics Industry
Authors: Vargas-Bernal Rafael , Herrera-Pérez Gabriel , Tecpoyotl-Torres Margarita
Published: October 2018

Since their discovery in 1991, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), by Sumio Iijima, and graphene, by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov in 2004, have been extensively studied around the world. Both materials have electronic, thermal, magnetic, optical, chemical, and mechanical extraordinary properties. International technology roadmap for semiconductors (ITRS) has predicted that these nanomaterials are potential replacements of the conventional materials used in the manufacturing of integrated circuits. Two of the technological aspects that both materials share and have reduced their extensive use are processing and dispersion required to homogenize the electrical properties of the materials based on them. Fortunately, these problems are being solved thanks to the ongoing investigation, and in a short time the materials used in today's electronics industry will be replaced by devices based on these novel materials. The impact of the applications of both materials in the electronics industry as well as future trends in the following decades are discussed in this chapter.
Current Scenario of Youth Entrepreneurship in India
Authors: Baporikar Neeta
Published: October 2018

Entrepreneurship is gaining added attention in the present economic predicament. Entrepreneurship is not only a key facet of economic dynamism but also an imperative for economic growth, productivity, innovation, and employment. Hence, many countries have made entrepreneurship, especially youth entrepreneurship, an explicit policy priority. As globalization reshapes the international economic landscape and technological change creates greater uncertainty in the world economy, youth entrepreneurship is believed to offer new ways to meet economic, social, and environmental challenges. Entrepreneurship objectives and policies differ among countries due to diverse perspectives and policy needs. Yet, youth unemployment is a cause of concern for many. Through grounded theory approach and based on review of policy documents and secondary data, the chapter aims to provide contemporary perspective on youth entrepreneurship with reference to India and hopes to enhance and bring improvement in the policies as, ultimately, policymaking must be guided, as far as possible, by evidence and facts.
Augmented Reality for Tourist Destination Image Formation
Authors: Hassan Azizul
Published: October 2018

In principle, the application of technology is unprecedentedly increasing for destination image formation, and augmented reality (AR) can be a primal example in such context. This chapter synthesizes the functionalities of AR in tourism destination image formation. This chapter explores AR application aspects for tourism destination image formation while placing them in an emerging tourism economy perspective with Bangladesh as the example. A critical explanation generated from reviewing the current literature is offered. Results determine interrelatedness between tourist destination image formation and AR application. In the emerging tourism market scenario, the possibilities of AR application are unlimited, but the policy and structural capacities remain largely inadequate. Study upshots also show that this technology convincingly creates better perceptions leading to positive tourist destination image.
Destination @-Branding of Ten European Capitals Through the Institutional Stems and Commercial Logos
Authors: Bocci Elena , Silvana de Rosa Annamaria , Dryjanska Laura
Published: October 2018

The chapter compares the social representations evoked by brands of the 10 European capitals (Rome, London, Paris, Helsinki, Vienna, Warsaw, Berlin, Madrid, Brussels, and Lisbon) among potential first-visitors. The associative network technique has been applied using as iconic stimuli both the institutional stems and the commercial logos of each of the 10 capitals. Moreover, a grid has been created ad hoc to identify the distinctive elements of the institutional stems and the commercial logos. The analysis of the institutional stems resulted in detecting some elements that many cities have in common: textual elements (words written in Latin) as well as royal, military, and symbolic elements, evoking especially mythological and historical aspects, narrating the history of the cities since their foundation. On the other hand, the commercial logos always include the names of the cities, and as iconic urban narratives, they use abstract signs to recall modern aspects and topicality of the brand. They meet the city's identity-related needs of distinctiveness and recognition.
Social Media Use and Customer Engagement
Authors: Garrido-Moreno Aurora , Lockett Nigel , García-Morales Víctor
Published: October 2018

Social media has totally changed the way companies relate to the market, opening a vast array of new opportunities for firms to reinvent customer interactions. The strategic use of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube can facilitate business transformation, improving the management of customer relationships, brand image, and enhancing customer retention. Although research on social media has greatly evolved in recent years, there is still some skepticism regarding the real value it can create for firms. To shed light on the topic, drawing on a sample of 212 Spanish hotels, the chapter examines what are the main social media tools used in this sector and what is the impact of using these platforms in promoting customer engagement behaviors. The chapter offers relevant implications for theory and practice.
Software Development Process Standards for Very Small Companies
Authors: O'Connor Rory V.
Published: October 2018

For very small software development companies, the quality of their software products is a key to competitive advantage. However, the usage of software engineering standards is extremely low amongst such very small software companies. A primary reason cited by many such companies for this lack of quality standards adoption is the perception that they have been developed for large multi-national software companies and not with small and very small organizations in mind and are therefore not suitable for their specific needs. This chapter describes the design and development of the software process lifecycle standard for very small entities. This chapter presents a unique insight from the perspective of some of the standards authors on the development of the ISO/IEC 29110 standard, including the rationale behind its development and the innovative design of implementation guides to assist very small companies in adopting the standards, as well outlining a pilot project scheme for usage in early trials of this standard.
3D Integrated High-Precision Passives on Thin Glass Substrates for Miniaturized and High-Performance RF Components
Authors: Wu Zihan , Min Junki , Pulugurtha Markondeya Raj , Ravichandran Siddharth , Sundaram Venky , Tummala Rao R.
Published: October 2018

Double-side or 3-D integration of high-precision and high-performance bandpass and lowpass filters that are interconnected with through-vias were designed and demonstrated on 100-micron thin glass substrates for ultra-miniaturized diplexer components. A novel process for achieving high precision with large-area fabrication was developed to achieve much improved tolerance in electrical performance. High-precision, high quality factor, and high component densities with thin-film layers on glass were used to realize innovative topologies on glass for high out-of-band rejection and low insertion loss. Low-loss 100-μm thick glass cores and multiple layers of 15-μm thin polymer films were used to build the filters on substrates. The demonstrated diplexers have dimensions of 2.3 ×2.8 ×.2 mm. Aided by the dimensional stability of glass and process control with semiadditive patterning, the performance of the fabricated filters showed excellent correlation with the simulation. The impact of process-sensitivity analysis on diplexer performance was also analyzed. Finally, a unique and innovative process solution was demonstrated to control the process deviation and achieve good diplexer tolerance. The performance deviation was controlled by ~3.5X with the new process.
A Simple Method for Thermal Characterization of Stacked Die Electronic Packages in Staggered Arrangement
Authors: Bharadwaj Bharath R. , Kandagadla SriNithish , Nadkarni Praveen J. , Krishna V. , Seetharam T. R. , Seetharamu K. N.
Published: October 2018

The need for compactness and efficiency of processing devices has kept increasing rapidly over the past few years. This need for compactness has driven the dice to be stacked one above the other. But with this come the difficulty of heat dissipation and its characterization because there are multiple heat sources and a single effective heat-conductive path. Hence, it becomes important to know the distribution and characterization of heat and temperature to provide effective cooling systems. In this article, we discuss the temperature distribution of various power configurations on stacked dice with five dice, when the dice are in staggered arrangement. The simulations have been carried out for both free convection and forced convection conditions using the ANSYS commercial software. The linear Superposition principle (LSP) is demonstrated on these configurations and validated with the results obtained from ANSYS simulation. LSP can be applied for the quick estimation of die temperatures with negligible error.
Consecutive Integers with Close Kernels
Authors: De Koninck Jean-Marie , Luca Florian
Published: October 2018

Let $k$ be an arbitrary positive integer and let $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}(n)$ stand for the product of the distinct prime factors of $n$. For each integer $n\geqslant 2$, let $a_{n}$ and $b_{n}$ stand respectively for the maximum and the minimum of the $k$ integers $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}(n+1),\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}(n+2),\ldots ,\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}(n+k)$. We show that $\liminf _{n\rightarrow \infty }a_{n}/b_{n}=1$. We also prove that the same result holds in the case of the Euler function and the sum of the divisors function, as well as the functions $\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}(n)$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FA}(n)$, which stand respectively for the number of distinct prime factors of $n$ and the total number of prime factors of $n$ counting their multiplicity.
Local decay for weak interactions with massless particles
Authors: Barbaroux Jean-Marie , Faupin Jérémy , Guillot Jean-Claude
Published: October 2018

We consider a mathematical model for the weak decay of the intermediate boson

Z^0

into neutrinos and antineutrinos. We prove that the total Hamiltonian has a unique ground state in Fock space and we establish a limiting absorption principle, local decay and a property of relaxation to the ground state for initial states and observables suitably localized in energy and position. Our proofs rest, in particular, on Mourre’s theory and a low-energy decomposition.
The Jacobson radical of an evolution algebra
Authors: Velasco M. Victoria
Published: October 2018

In this paper we characterize the maximal modular ideals of an evolution algebra

A

in order to describe its Jacobson radical, Rad

(A)

. We characterize semisimple evolution algebras (i.e. those such that Rad

(A)=\{0\})

as well as radical ones. We introduce two elemental notions of spectrum of an element

a

in an evolution algebra

A

, namely the spectrum

\sigma^{A}(a)

and the

m

-spectrum

\sigma _{m}^{A}(a)

(they coincide for associative algebras, but in general

\sigma ^{A}(a)\subseteq \sigma_{m}^{A}(a),

and we show examples where the inclusion is strict). We prove that they are non-empty and describe

\sigma ^{A}(a)

and

\sigma _{m}^{A}(a)

in terms of the eigenvalues of a suitable matrix related with the structure constants matrix of

A.

We say

A

is

m

-
semisimple
(respectively
spectrally semisimple
) if zero is the unique ideal contained into the set of

a

in

A

such that

\sigma _{m}^{A}(a)=\{0\}

(respectively

\sigma^{A}(a)=\{0\}

). In contrast to the associative case (where the notions of semisimplicity, spectrally semisimplicty and

m

-semisimplicity are equivalent) we show examples of

m

-semisimple evolution algebras

A

that, nevertheless, are radical algebras (i.e Rad

(A)=A

). Also some theorems about automatic continuity of homomorphisms will be considered.
Wavelet transform based fault detector for protection of series capacitor compensated three phase transmission line
Authors: Kapoor Gaurav
Published: October 2018

This paper proposes wavelet transform based fault detector for the protection of series capacitor compensated three phase transmission line. Three phase current measured at the relay location of a transmission line is processed using wavelet transform with daubechies-4 mother wavelet. Numerous fault situations are studied to check the performance of the proposed fault detector. To assess the performance of proposed fault detector, various fault parameters such as fault inception time, fault resistance, fault location, fault type and ground resistance are varied. Simulation results exemplify the accurateness and effectiveness of the proposed fault detector.Keywords: Wavelet transform, series compensated transmission line protection and fault detection
Averaging bias correction for the future space-borne methane IPDA lidar mission MERLIN
Authors: Tellier Yoann , Pierangelo Clémence , Wirth Martin , Gibert Fabien , Marnas Fabien
Published: October 2018

Abstract. The CNES (French Space
Agency) and DLR (German Space Agency) project MERLIN is a future integrated
path differential absorption (IPDA) lidar satellite mission that aims at
measuring methane dry-air mixing ratio columns (XCH4) in order
to improve surface flux estimates of this key greenhouse gas. To reach a
1 % relative random error on XCH4 measurements, MERLIN
signal processing performs an averaging of data over 50 km along the
satellite trajectory. This article discusses how to process this horizontal
averaging in order to avoid the bias caused by the non-linearity of the
measurement equation and measurements affected by random noise and horizontal
geophysical variability. Three averaging schemes are presented: averaging of
columns of XCH4, averaging of columns of differential absorption
optical depth (DAOD) and averaging of signals. The three schemes are affected
both by statistical and geophysical biases that are discussed and compared,
and correction algorithms are developed for the three schemes. These
algorithms are tested and their biases are compared on modelled scenes from
real satellite data. To achieve the accuracy requirements that are limited to
0.2 % relative systematic error (for a reference value of 1780 ppb), we
recommend performing the averaging of signals corrected from the statistical
bias due to the measurement noise and from the geophysical bias mainly due to
variations of methane optical depth and surface reflectivity along the
averaging track. The proposed method is compliant with the mission relative
systematic error requirements dedicated to averaging algorithms of 0.06 %
(±1 ppb for XCH4=1780ppb) for all tested scenes
and all tested ground reflectivity values.
ChAMBRe: a new atmospheric simulation chamber for aerosol modelling and bio-aerosol research
Authors: Massabò Dario , Danelli Silvia Giulia , Brotto Paolo , Comite Antonio , Costa Camilla , Di Cesare Andrea , Doussin Jean François , Ferraro Federico , Formenti Paola , Gatta Elena , Negretti Laura , Oliva Maddalena , Parodi Franco , Vezzulli Luigi , Prati Paolo
Published: October 2018

Abstract. Atmospheric simulation chambers are exploratory platforms used to study
various atmospheric processes at realistic but controlled conditions. We
describe here a new facility specifically designed for the research on
atmospheric bio-aerosol as well as the protocols to produce, inject, expose
and collect bio-aerosols. ChAMBRe (Chamber for Aerosol
Modelling and Bio-aerosol Research) is
installed at the Physics Department of the University of Genoa, Italy, and it
is a node of the EUROCHAMP-2020 consortium. The chamber is made of stainless
steel with a total volume of about 2.2 m3. The lifetime of aerosol
particle with dimension from a few hundreds of nanometres to a few microns
varies from about 2 to 10 h. Characteristic parts of the facility are the
equipment and the procedures to grow, inject, and extract bacterial strains
in the chamber volume while preserving their viability. Bacteria are part of
the atmospheric ecosystem and have impact on several levels as: health
related issues, cloud formation, and geochemistry. ChAMBRe will host
experiments to study the bacterial viability vs. the air quality level, i.e.
the atmospheric concentration of gaseous and aerosol pollutants. In this
article, we report the results of the characterization tests as well as of
the first experiments performed on two bacterial strains belonging to the
Gram-positive and Gram-negative groups. A reproducibility at the 10 %
level has been obtained in repeated injections and collection runs with a
clean atmosphere, assessing this way the chamber sensitivity for systematic
studies on bacterial viability vs. environmental
conditions.
Evaluation of ORCHIDEE-MICT-simulated soil moisture over China and impacts of different atmospheric forcing data
Authors: Yin Zun , Ottlé Catherine , Ciais Philippe , Guimberteau Matthieu , Wang Xuhui , Zhu Dan , Maignan Fabienne , Peng Shushi , Piao Shilong , Polcher Jan , Zhou Feng , Kim Hyungjun ,   other China-Trend-Stream project members
Published: October 2018

Abstract. Soil moisture is a key variable of land surface hydrology, and its correct representation in land surface models is crucial for local to global climate predictions. The errors may come from the model itself (structure and parameterization) but also from the meteorological forcing used. In order to separate the two source of errors, four atmospheric forcing datasets, GSWP3 (Global Soil Wetness Project Phase 3), PGF (Princeton Global meteorological Forcing), CRU-NCEP (Climatic Research Unit-National Center for Environmental Prediction), and WFDEI (WATCH Forcing Data methodology applied to ERA-Interim reanalysis data), were used to drive simulations in China by the land surface model ORCHIDEE-MICT(ORganizing Carbon and Hydrology in Dynamic EcosystEms: aMeliorated Interactions between Carbon and Temperature). Simulated soil moisture was compared with in situ and satellite datasets at different spatial and temporal scales in order to (1) estimate the ability of ORCHIDEE-MICT to represent soil moisture dynamics in China; (2) demonstrate the most suitable forcing dataset for further hydrological studies in Yangtze and Yellow River basins; and (3) understand the discrepancies of simulated soil moisture among simulations. Results showed that ORCHIDEE-MICT can simulate reasonable soil moisture dynamics in China, but the quality varies with forcing data. Simulated soil moisture driven by GSWP3 and WFDEI shows the best performance according to the root mean square error (RMSE) and correlation coefficient, respectively, suggesting that both GSWP3 and WFDEI are good choices for further hydrological studies in the two catchments. The mismatch between simulated and observed soil moisture is mainly explained by the bias of magnitude, suggesting that the parameterization in ORCHIDEE-MICT should be revised for further simulations in China. Underestimated soil moisture in the North China Plain demonstrates possible significant impacts of human activities like irrigation on soil moisture variation, which was not considered in our simulations. Finally, the discrepancies of meteorological variables and simulated soil moisture among the four simulations are analyzed. The result shows that the discrepancy of soil moisture is mainly explained by differences in precipitation frequency and air humidity rather than differences in precipitation amount.
Influence of initial stratification, wind and sea ice on the modelled
oceanic circulation in Nares Strait, northwest Greenland
Authors: Waldrop Bergman Lovisa , Heuzé Céline
Published: October 2018

Abstract. Nares Strait in northwest Greenland is one of the main gateways for oceanic freshwater and heat exchanges between the Arctic and the North Atlantic. With a changing Arctic climate, understanding the processes that govern the oceanic circulation in Arctic straits has become crucial and urgent, but this cannot be done with current geographically and temporally sparse in-situ observations only. High resolution regional modelling is thus required, but costly. We here report on one-year sensitivity experiments performed with the coupled ice-ocean regional model MITgcm to determine the relative importance of wind forcing, initial stratification and sea ice thickness on the accuracy of the modelled oceanic circulation in Nares Strait. We find that the modelled basin's circulation is mainly driven by density gradients in the upper oceanic layer, making accurate initial fields of temperature and salinity essential for a realistic oceanic circulation. The influence of the wind and sea ice thickness is less important, potentially making such high resolution fields not necessary for accurate strait modelling, provided these results are valid for other sea ice models as well. Comparison with ship-based measurements collected in summer 2015 reveals the experiments to be too cold at the surface, probably because of a not-dynamic-enough sea ice cover. Although the modelled freshwater is rather accurate, large efforts need to be put into observing the ocean and the sources of freshwater continuously throughout the year to produce realistic and efficient model simulations of the Arctic Straits, key players in the entire Arctic system and global climate.
The internal structure of the Brunt Ice Shelf from ice-penetrating radar analysis and implications for ice shelf fracture
Authors: King Edward C. , De Rydt Jan , Gudmundsson G. Hilmar
Published: October 2018

Abstract. The rate and direction of rift propagation through ice shelves
depend on both the stress field and the heterogeneity (or otherwise) of the
physical properties of the ice. The Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica has
recently developed new rifts, which are being actively monitored as they
lengthen and interact with the internal structure of the ice shelf. Here we
present the results of a ground-penetrating radar survey of the Brunt Ice
Shelf aimed at understanding variations in the internal structure. We find
that there are flow bands composed mostly of thick (ca. 250 m) meteoric ice
interspersed with thinner (ca. 150 m) sections of ice shelf that have a large
proportion of sea ice and seawater-saturated firn. Therefore the ice shelf
is, in essence, a series of ice tongues cemented together with ice
mélange. The changes in structure are related both to the thickness and
flow speed of ice at the grounding line and to subsequent processes of firn
accumulation and brine infiltration as the ice shelf flows towards the
calving front. It is shown that rifts propagating through the Brunt Ice Shelf
preferentially skirt the edges of blocks of meteoric ice and slow their rate
of propagation when forced by the stress field to break through them, in
contrast to the situation on other ice shelves where rift propagation speeds
up in meteoric ice.
Political Economy of Coal Mining Policy: A Case Study in Rent Seeking of Surveyor’s Data Manipulation in East Kalimantan (2009-2014)
Authors: Arwanto Bambang
Published: October 2018

Both rent seeking and mining policy are two interesting discourses which have enriched the Indonesian policy studies within last two decades. One of prominent problems in this sector is formulation policy process of mining permit (IUP). The concern of mining sector is because the huge economic incentive behind mining business including coal mining. Since the economic incentive is extremely high, the rent seeking is getting higher and more competitive. The competition on rent seeking contest is developed in different policy formulation stages through the elites of business people and bureaucrats.The consequences are the objectivity on issuing the coal mining policy, including extra regulation about surveyors.  The policy formulation in this very case produces the dynamic and complex rent seeking activity among the main players. This study is aimed to reveal the case of rent seeking using surveyors on coal mining policy. Using qualitative method and non positivist approach, this case of study was one of five studies that tried to understand the social relationship among the policy actors during mining policy formulation.Findings in the study were: (i) the role of surveyors as “third person” as mediator who played prominent roles in delivering the interest and determined the data through surveyor’s report, (ii) bargaining power of the businessman to get access in penetrating the bureaucracy through bribing and lobbying, and (iii) the role of bureaucrat in manipulating regulation to accommodate their interest through extra regulation making.
A satisfação profissional de cirurgiões-dentistas da atenção básica em um município no sul do Brasil com diretrizes municipais de saúde bucal
Authors: Alves Júlia Guedes , Digmayer Romero Vitor Henrique , Boeira Peterson Oliveira , Bighetti Tania Izabel , Castilhos Eduardo Dickie de
Published: October 2018

Objetivo: identificar a satisfação profissional de cirur­giões-dentistas atuantes na atenção básica do Sistema Único de Saúde em um município do sul do Brasil, que foi pioneiro na implantação de diretrizes municipais de saúde bucal. Sujeitos e método: para a coleta dos da­dos, foram utilizados componentes descritivos a partir de dados secundários obtidos por meio de um questio­nário aplicado para todos os cirurgiões-dentistas atuan­tes no referido serviço. Resultados: no total, 46 profis­sionais foram incluídos na amostra, sendo que 82,5% estavam satisfeitos em seu trabalho e, desses, o reco­nhecimento dos usuários do serviço foi o fator que os cirurgiões-dentistas mais associaram à felicidade. Já os fatores mais relacionados à infelicidade no trabalho são as críticas ao salário e os usuários não colaboradores; 97,8% acreditavam que seu trabalho fazia diferença na comunidade em que estavam inseridos. Conclusão: este estudo sugere que estabelecer diretrizes no proces­so de trabalho pode ter um impacto positivo na prática e na satisfação dos profissionais, e essas estratégias po­dem ser utilizadas como amparo para planejamento em gestão de saúde bucal de forma sistematizada.
Paracoccidioidomicose com repercussão oral: relato de caso em zona urbana
Authors: Souza Ana Flávia Barros , Dos Santos Rennan Luiz Oliveira , Miniello Thaís Gimenez , Paula Claudete Rodrigues , Domaneschi Carina , Gallo Camila De Barros
Published: October 2018

Objetivo: relatar um caso de paracoccidioidomicose (Pbmicose), diagnosticado pelo cirurgião-dentista, e o tratamento instituído a um morador de zona urba­na. Relato de caso: paciente do sexo masculino, com 59 anos de idade, leucoderma, compareceu à clínica odontológica com lesão em boca há cerca de vinte dias e queixa de mobilidade dental na região anteroinferior. Durante a anamnese, constatou-se dificuldade respi­ratória, hipertensão controlada, tabagismo e etilismo crônico. No exame físico, foi observado aumento de volume do lábio inferior, linfadenopatia bilateral sub­mandibular e lesões ulceradas com aspecto moriforme em mucosa bucal e gengiva inserida do elemento 31 ao 45. Foi realizada biópsia incisional na lesão com resultado positivo para Pbmicose. O paciente foi me­dicado com itraconazol e apresenta-se periodicamente para acompanhamento. Considerações finais: as lesões bucais dessa doença correspondem a úlceras crônicas e granulomatosas, semelhantes à lesão provocada pelo carcinoma epidermoide oral, assim, o cirurgião-dentista deve conhecer esta micose e considerá-la na elabora­ção do diagnóstico diferencial.
Uso de chupeta em pré-escolares do sul do Brasil: prevalência e fatores associados
Authors: Vargas-Ferreira Fabiana , Senna Rita De Azevedo , Ilha Mariana Cezar , Figueiró Patrícia , Feldens Carlos Alberto , Kramer Paulo Floriani
Published: October 2018

Objetivo: investigar a prevalência e os fatores asso­ciados ao uso de chupeta em pré-escolares. Sujeitos e método: estudo transversal foi realizado com 1.316 crianças de 0 até 5 anos de idade no município de Ca­noas, no Rio Grande do Sul. O instrumento de pesquisa foi um questionário semiestruturado respondido pelos responsáveis sobre características sociodemográficas (sexo, cor da pele, idade da criança e materna, esco­laridade materna, estrutura e renda familiar) e compor­tamentais (uso da mamadeira e aleitamento materno). O desfecho foi presença/ausência de uso de chupeta. A análise estatística compreendeu regressão de Poisson com variância robusta bruta e ajustada. Resultados: a prevalência de uso de chupeta em algum momento da vida foi de 68,1%. A análise multivariável ajustada mostrou que crianças que usaram mamadeira tiveram três vezes maior prevalência do desfecho (RP: 3,21; IC95% 2,25-4,59; p<0,001) se comparadas àquelas que nunca usaram mamadeira. Além disso, a análise adicio­nal encontrou que crianças mais novas ainda usam a chupeta quando comparadas às mais velhas. Conclu­são: conclui-se que a prevalência do uso de chupeta é alta e está associada com hábitos de nutrição. Assim, entender a associação de aspectos biopsicossociais e sua rede de causalidade torna-se essencial para o es­tabelecimento de estratégias de promoção de saúde na primeira infância.
Concentração de íons flúor em águas minerais envasadas no Rio Grande do Sul
Authors: Silva Alexandre Emidio Ribeiro da , Bastos Francisco Roberto de Avelar , Echeverria Mariana Silveira , Radünz Jiuliani , Oliveira Camila Reis de , Klein-Junior Celso Afonso
Published: October 2018

Objetivo: avaliar o nível de flúor presente nas águas mi­nerais carbogasosas e não carbogasosas envasadas no estado do Rio Grande do Sul, comparando os dados com as informações descritas nos rótulos das embala­gens. Materiais e método: foram analisadas cinco mar­cas comerciais de água mineral. Os valores de padrão/ amostra e tampão Tisab foram utilizados em uma re­lação de 1:1, e as amostras foram lidas em duplicata. As amostras carbogasosas foram agitadas com bastão magnético para eliminação do gás carbônico. Para de­terminação de flúor, foram utilizados analisador espe­cífico de íons, eletrodo seletivo para íon flúor, eletrodo de referência Ag/AgCl de junção simples. Resultados: foram encontradas concentrações de flúor variando en­tre 0,13 mg F-/L e 1,31 mg F-/L, com diferenças entre os valores estipulados nos rótulos das marcas de água mineral avaliadas e as análises laboratoriais na presente investigação. Os valores de duas marcas de água mine­ral com flúor analisadas no estudo mostraram-se acima, considerando os valores de referência (0,6-0,8 mg F-/L), e uma marca não apresentou valores de ação preventi­va contra a cárie dentária (valores abaixo de 0,6 mg F-/ L). Conclusão: conclui-se que há divergência entre os valores de íons flúor encontrados nas medições e os in­formados nos rótulos, sendo necessário um sistema de melhor vigilância para o controle dos níveis de flúor nas águas minerais disponibilizadas à população do estado do Rio Grande do Sul, considerando os benefícios do consumo de águas minerais para prevenção dos níveis de cárie na população.