bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On-Board, Real-Time Preprocessing System for Optical Remote-Sensing Imagery
Authors: Qi Baogui , Shi Hao , Zhuang Yin , Chen He , Chen Liang
Published: April 2018

With the development of remote-sensing technology, optical remote-sensing imagery processing has played an important role in many application fields, such as geological exploration and natural disaster prevention. However, relative radiation correction and geometric correction are key steps in preprocessing because raw image data without preprocessing will cause poor performance during application. Traditionally, remote-sensing data are downlinked to the ground station, preprocessed, and distributed to users. This process generates long delays, which is a major bottleneck in real-time applications for remote-sensing data. Therefore, on-board, real-time image preprocessing is greatly desired. In this paper, a real-time processing architecture for on-board imagery preprocessing is proposed. First, a hierarchical optimization and mapping method is proposed to realize the preprocessing algorithm in a hardware structure, which can effectively reduce the computation burden of on-board processing. Second, a co-processing system using a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and a digital signal processor (DSP; altogether, FPGA-DSP) based on optimization is designed to realize real-time preprocessing. The experimental results demonstrate the potential application of our system to an on-board processor, for which resources and power consumption are limited.
Rapid, High Affinity Binding by a Fluorescein Templated Copolymer Combining Covalent, Hydrophobic, and Acid–Base Noncovalent Crosslinks
Authors: Grenier Casey J. , Timberman Anthony , Yang Rongfang , Csoros John , Papantones Alex , Deravi Leila F. , Seitz W. Rudolf
Published: April 2018

A new type of biomimetic templated copolymer has been prepared by reverse addition fragmentation chain transfer polymerization (RAFT) in dioxane. The initial formulation includes the template fluorescein, N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM, 84 mol %), methacrylic acid (MAA, 5-mol %), 4-vinylpyridine (4-VP, 9 mmol %), and N,N′-methylenebis(acrylamide) (MBA, 2 mol %). PolyNIPAM is a thermosensitive polymer that comes out of aqueous solution above its lower critical solution temperature forming hydrophobic ‘crosslinks’. MAA and 4-VP interact in dioxane forming acid–base crosslinks. The excess 4-VP serves as a recognition monomer organizing around the template fluorescein to form a binding site that is held in place by the noncovalent and covalent crosslinks. The MBA is a covalent crosslinker. The RAFT agent in the resulting copolylmer was reduced to a thiol and attached to gold nanoparticles. The gold nanoparticle bound copolymer binds fluorescein completely in less than two seconds with an affinity constant greater than 108 M−1. A reference copolymer prepared with the same monomers by the same procedure binds fluorescein much more weakly.
Feasibility of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) for Intra-Operative Detection of Blood Flow during Gastric Tube Reconstruction
Authors: Jansen Sanne M. , Almasian Mitra , Wilk Leah S. , De Bruin Daniel M. , Van Berge Henegouwen Mark I. , Strackee Simon D. , Bloemen Paul R. , Meijer Sybren L. , Gisbertz Suzanne S. , Van Leeuwen Ton G.
Published: April 2018

In this study; an OCT-based intra-operative imaging method for blood flow detection during esophagectomy with gastric tube reconstruction is investigated. Change in perfusion of the gastric tube tissue can lead to ischemia; with a high morbidity and mortality as a result. Anastomotic leakage (incidence 5–20%) is one of the most severe complications after esophagectomy with gastric tube reconstruction. Optical imaging techniques provide for minimal-invasive and real-time visualization tools that can be used in intraoperative settings. By implementing an optical technique for blood flow detection during surgery; perfusion can be imaged and quantified and; if needed; perfusion can be improved by either a surgical intervention or the administration of medication. The feasibility of imaging gastric microcirculation in vivo using optical coherence tomography (OCT) during surgery of patients with esophageal cancer by visualizing blood flow based on the speckle contrast from M-mode OCT images is studied. The percentage of pixels exhibiting a speckle contrast value indicative of flow was quantified to serve as an objective parameter to assess blood flow at 4 locations on the reconstructed gastric tube. Here; it was shown that OCT can be used for direct blood flow imaging during surgery and may therefore aid in improving surgical outcomes for patients.
The Application of an Ultrasound Tomography Algorithm in a Novel Ring 3D Ultrasound Imaging System
Authors: Liu Chang , Xue Chenyang , Zhang Binzhen , Zhang Guojun , He Changde
Published: April 2018

Currently, breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women all over the world. A novel 3D breast ultrasound imaging ring system using the linear array transducer is proposed to decrease costs, reduce processing difficulties, and improve patient comfort as compared to modern day breast screening systems. The 1 × 128 Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer (PMUT) linear array is placed 90 degrees cross-vertically. The transducer surrounds the mammary gland, which allows for non-contact detection. Once the experimental platform is built, the breast model is placed through the electric rotary table opening and into a water tank that is at a constant temperature of 32 °C. The electric rotary table performs a 360° scan either automatically or mechanically. Pulse echo signals are captured through a circular scanning method at discrete angles. Subsequently, an ultrasonic tomography algorithm is designed, and a horizontal slice imaging is realized. The experimental results indicate that the preliminary detection of mass is realized by using this ring system. Circular scanning imaging is obtained by using a rotatable linear array instead of a cylindrical array, which allows the size and location of the mass to be recognized. The resolution of breast imaging is improved through the adjustment of the angle interval (>0.05°) and multiple slices are gained through different transducer array elements (1 × 128). These results validate the feasibility of the system design as well as the algorithm, and encourage us to implement our concept with a clinical study in the future.
Smart System for Bicarbonate Control in Irrigation for Hydroponic Precision Farming
Authors: Cambra Carlos , Sendra Sandra , Lloret Jaime , Lacuesta Raquel
Published: April 2018

Improving the sustainability in agriculture is nowadays an important challenge. The automation of irrigation processes via low-cost sensors can to spread technological advances in a sector very influenced by economical costs. This article presents an auto-calibrated pH sensor able to detect and adjust the imbalances in the pH levels of the nutrient solution used in hydroponic agriculture. The sensor is composed by a pH probe and a set of micropumps that sequentially pour the different liquid solutions to maintain the sensor calibration and the water samples from the channels that contain the nutrient solution. To implement our architecture, we use an auto-calibrated pH sensor connected to a wireless node. Several nodes compose our wireless sensor networks (WSN) to control our greenhouse. The sensors periodically measure the pH level of each hydroponic support and send the information to a data base (DB) which stores and analyzes the data to warn farmers about the measures. The data can then be accessed through a user-friendly, web-based interface that can be accessed through the Internet by using desktop or mobile devices. This paper also shows the design and test bench for both the auto-calibrated pH sensor and the wireless network to check their correct operation.
Exploring on the Sensitivity Changes of the LC Resonance Magnetic Sensors Affected by Superposed Ringing Signals
Authors: Lin Tingting , Zhou Kun , Yu Sijia , Wang Pengfei , Wan Ling , Zhao Jing
Published: April 2018

LC resonance magnetic sensors are widely used in low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) and surface nuclear magnetic resonance (SNMR) due to their high sensitivity, low cost and simple design. In magnetically shielded rooms, LC resonance magnetic sensors can exhibit sensitivities at the fT/√Hz level in the kHz range. However, since the equivalent magnetic field noise of this type of sensor is greatly affected by the environment, weak signals are often submerged in practical applications, resulting in relatively low signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). To determine why noise increases in unshielded environments, we analysed the noise levels of an LC resonance magnetic sensor (L ≠ 0) and a Hall sensor (L ≈ 0) in different environments. The experiments and simulations indicated that the superposed ringing of the LC resonance magnetic sensors led to the observed increase in white noise level caused by environmental interference. Nevertheless, ringing is an inherent characteristic of LC resonance magnetic sensors. It cannot be eliminated when environmental interference exists. In response to this problem, we proposed a method that uses matching resistors with various values to adjust the quality factor Q of the LC resonance magnetic sensor in different measurement environments to obtain the best sensitivity. The LF-NMR experiment in the laboratory showed that the SNR is improved significantly when the LC resonance magnetic sensor with the best sensitivity is selected for signal acquisition in the light of the test environment. (When the matching resistance is 10 kΩ, the SNR is 3.46 times that of 510 Ω). This study improves LC resonance magnetic sensors for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) detection in a variety of environments.
Soil Organic Carbon Changes for Switchgrass Farms in East Tennessee, USA
Authors: Toliver Dustin K. , English Burton C. , Tyler Donald D. , Lee Jaehoon , Menard R. Jamey , Walton Jon C.
Published: April 2018

Much attention has been paid to switchgrass’s potential for conversion to cellulosic ethanol and its ability to sequester soil organic carbon (SOC). Soil samples from switchgrass farms in East Tennessee were collected at depths of 0–5, 15–30, 30–60, and 60–90 cm and tested for SOC over a 4-year period (2008–2011). Results showed no differences (p ≥ 0.05) in SOC from 2008 to 2011. However, when comparing the initial samples to year four, SOC decreases ranging from 0.04 to 0.47 t ha−1 were observed in the 5–10 and 10–15 cm soil depths. While SOC increased with time in the 90 to 120 cm layer, this increase was not significant at p = 0.05 but was significant at the 0.10 level. Following three full growing seasons, switchgrass’s potential to sequester carbon comes at deeper soil depths due to its vast root structure. Greater levels of carbon were present in soil previously no-tilled compared to that previously under conventional tillage; however, neither gained or lost a significant amount of SOC by year four. Alfisols were the only taxonomic category that had a significant increase in SOC by year four. Green beans were the only previously produced crop that had a significant positive effect on sequestering carbon. Increases in switchgrass yield were correlated to SOC.
Assessing the Effect of Spatial Proximity on Urban Growth
Authors: Gomes Eduardo , Banos Arnaud , Abrantes Patrícia , Rocha Jorge
Published: April 2018

Land-Use/Cover Change (LUCC) reacts to demographic pressures, economic trends, or improved transport networks. Urban growth with implications on LUCC patterns can be measured using a diversity of methods. Our study derives from Tobler’s first law of geography: ‘everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant ones’. We identified and measured the influence of neighbouring distance on urban growth from the edge of existing urban areas. For that, we have developed a method, built using the NetLogo software tool, which we called Land-use chAnge and Neighbouring Distance (LAND). We selected Torres Vedras (Portugal) to conduct our case study due to its increasing urban development in the past few years. The periods of analysis were 1995–2010, 1995–2007, and 2007–2010. The results have shown the influence and the effect of strong spatial correlation between the proximity of existing artificial surfaces and the emergence of new ones. The understanding of the patterns of urban growth is helpful to plan forward land developments. This method can be used to write guidelines for decision makers to monitor urban expansion and define spatial planning priorities.
The Interactive Role of Temporal Team Leadership in the Telecom Sector of Pakistan: Utilizing Temporal Diversity for Sustainable Knowledge Sharing
Authors: Najam Usama , Inam Aneeq , Awan Hayat Muhammad , Abbas Muhammad
Published: April 2018

Human or social dimensions need to be significantly considered to maintain organizational sustainability. Unfortunately, this aspect has received relatively little attention when compared to other dimensions of sustainability. This study promotes the presence of a leader to manage conflicts, which cause hindrances in achieving sustainability. This is possible by maximizing sustainable knowledge sharing in a team, by effectively utilizing temporal diversity, including time urgency, time perspective, and pacing style diversity under a certain time pressure. This study has examined the effect of temporal diversity on knowledge sharing within teams by taking temporal conflict as a mediator. Moreover, it was also investigated whether the role of team temporal leadership is effective in utilizing the conflicts arising from the temporal diversity. The research design was quantitative in nature. A purposive sampling technique was used to gather data from 100 dyads working in the telecom sector of Pakistan, by distributing questionnaires. The findings suggest that team temporal leadership plays an effective role when a conflict arises rather than after it has arisen because more time and resources will be required to resolve such conflicts arising from temporal diversity. When the temporal diversity is low, the leader can manage the conflicts quite well, but as the diversity increases, the role of the temporal leader become much harder which may cause increased conflicts because of the limited capacity of a leader to manage those conflicts. Furthermore, it was observed that conflicts, if managed properly, may lead to increased knowledge sharing.
Interpreting Circularity. Circular City Representations Concealing Transition Drivers
Authors: Marin Julie , De Meulder Bruno
Published: April 2018

Embodying circular economy transition as a sustainable city concept, circularity in cities is increasingly the subject of policy innovations, urban strategies, and research & development agendas. It seems evident that a circular city should include more than the sum or multiplication of urban circular economies. Nevertheless, prevailing discourses remain till today business focused, and how circular economy creates economic, social, and environmental resilience in cities has yet to be explored. This paper conceptualizes the notion of urban circularity. It introduces an analytical framework sorting existing circularity concepts that are based on design and planning characteristics. Adopting comparative case study research on four contemporary forward-looking spatial representations of ‘circular’ places, this paper articulates their circularity interpretation. Demonstrating how diverging sustainability framings and political positions are embedded within the studied spatial representations, this paper aims to bring clarity in contemporary circular city approaches for policymakers as well as for spatial practitioners. The paper concludes with an agenda for multi-perspective and multi-dimensional circular city design, which is anchored in place specific and multi-scalar transition relations. It suggests urban landscape design as a disciplinary field to act as a pivot in transdisciplinary circularity design and research.
Social Work Practices and the Ecological Sustainability of Socially Vulnerable Communities
Authors: Belchior Rocha Helena
Published: April 2018

Environmental problems are also social problems. Social work, as a scientific area, has increasingly assumed the importance of including environmental problems in social intervention. This close linkage to ecological issues is particularly relevant when addressing vulnerable communities. In this article, we analyze the results of a study focused on social work intervention in two Portuguese eco-neighborhoods in the context of ongoing urban regeneration projects, which suggest that social vulnerability accentuates the damage of exposure to environmental threats and amplifies its effects. The analysis of data collected from social workers, through 9 semi-structured interviews and through questionnaires (N = 131), with the residents of the neighborhoods together with non-participant observation, allowed to highlight the difficulties, contradictions, but also the potential of this type intervention. Results appear to support an eco-social model which may help social worker to promote social transformation and change, respecting community rhythms, promoting empowerment of individuals, addressing the challenges of socially vulnerable communities within the complexity of a globalized world.
Consumer Preferences for Local Food: Testing an Extended Norm Taxonomy
Authors: Wenzig Julius , Gruchmann Tim
Published: April 2018

Consumer attitudes toward consuming and buying locally produced food are well studied. By contrast, the topic of consumer preferences for local food, with a special emphasis on the role of norms, still lacks empirical evidence. To study the influence of norms and morals on the intention to buy local food products, a quantitative study (N = 327) focusing on external social and internalized moral norms was conducted using the constructs of the theory of planned behavior in combination with an extended norm taxonomy and the perceived consumer effectiveness measure. The norm constructs consisted of two different personal norms, integrated and introjected, and two social norms, descriptive and injunctive. In a factor analysis, two factors for social norms but only one for personal norms were obtained. Multiple regressions explained 50 percent of the variance in intentions and 29 percent of the variance in past behavior. Norm constructs were proven important in the model, as personal norms had the largest effect among all constructs on intentions, and descriptive norms strongly influenced past behavior. An additional mediation analysis showed that personal norms were internalized social injunctive norms and that intentions mediated the relationship between all constructs. The implications of the findings and recommendations for future research are given accordingly.
Willingness to Pay for Environmentally Friendly Products among Low-Income Households along Coastal Peninsular Malaysia
Authors: Al Mamun Abdullah , Fazal Syed Ali , Ahmad Ghazali Bin , Yaacob Mohd Rafi Bin , Mohamad Mohd. Rosli
Published: April 2018

In an attempt to promote the mass consumption of environmentally friendly products in Malaysia, this study presents an investigation of the effects of several selected factors upon willingness to pay and purchase behavior of environmental-friendly products. This study employed a cross-sectional design, in which quantitative data were gathered from a total of 380 low-income household heads from 38 coastal districts in Peninsular Malaysia. The outcomes of this study revealed the positively significant effects of eco-literacy and environmental concern upon attitudes towards environmental-friendly products; normative beliefs and perceived behavioral control on willingness to pay for environmental-friendly products; as well as willingness to pay for environmental-friendly products and perceived behavioral control on payment behavior for environmental-friendly products, among low-income households in coastal Peninsular Malaysia. Programs and policies should therefore focus on promoting environmental awareness and knowledge concerning the relative advantages that are expected to improve willingness among consumers to pay for environmentally friendly products.
The Impact of Intelligent Transportation System Implementations on the Sustainable Growth of Passenger Transport in EU Regions
Authors: Stawiarska Ewa , Sobczak Paweł
Published: April 2018

This article discusses original studies that demonstrate the relation between developed elements of the transportation network (road system density; railway system density; number of regional railway and bus connections, length of regional railway and bus connections, online accessibility to transportation services and other services related to the development of IT techniques to benefit mass transit) and the regional GNP. A new development relative to preceding studies (as quoted) is that the correlation coefficients calculated do not indicate any essential interrelations between elements of the transport system, or even the number of regional passenger transport services and regional GNP. A determination of the remaining data interrelations indicated the elements of the network which are considered essential to the development of mass transit, as resulting from a study carried out for the first time in 2015 for the Górnośląska-Zagłębioska Metropolis. Considering the fact that the number of railway connections has proven to be the most important determinant of the overall number of passenger transport services, the second part of the article presents studies that focus on the modeling of the railway network, applying the graph theory (extensively applied for ITS). Selected optimized models were analyzed and assessed in terms of possible implementability of specific improvements and the resultant growth in the number of passenger transport services. The research method applied was not novel, but the conclusions drawn from it were surprising, as they indicated that an optimized network of railway connections would not cause any significant increase in the number of passenger transport services. Successive surveys (supplementing statistical analyses) have confirmed the importance of ITS in increasing the share of mass transit in overall transit. (1) The study was carried out in Polish regions, with particular emphasis on Silesia. (2) Its conclusions emphasize the importance of data accumulated for ITS in decision-making processes aiming to ensure the sustainable development of mass/passenger transport. The article confirms a hypothesis which claims that “modeling the regional public transportation grid, applying the principles of ITS, stimulates a growth in the share of passenger transport in the overall bulk of transport, thus contributing to the sustainable development of the region”.
Assessing the Needs and Gaps of Building Information Technologies for Energy Retrofit of Historic Buildings in the Korean Context
Authors: Kim Sean Hay
Published: April 2018

Most domestic modern buildings from the early 1900s have been constructed as heavy mass, and for many years have relied on passive measures for climate control. Since effective passive measures eventually reduce the heating and cooling loads, thus also reducing the system size, passive and hybrid measures are the most preferred Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs). In addition, the domestic situation and climate are additional constraints in energy retrofit decision making, such as a shorter budget and time, poor maintenance history, and uncertainties in vernacular lifestyle. For this reason, the performance improvement and side-effects prior to installing ECMs should be predictable, particularly in case the originality can be damaged. This complexity confirms that simulation-based Measurement and Verification (M&V) would better suit the energy retrofit of domestic historic buildings. However, many domestic investors still believe re-construction has a larger economic value than restoration. Therefore, they are even unwilling to invest in more time than a preset audit period—typically less than a week. Although simulation-based M&V is theoretically favored for retrofit decision making, its process including collecting data, modeling and analysis, and evaluating and designing ECMs could still be too demanding to domestic practitioners. While some manual, repetitive, error-prone works exist in the conventional retrofit process and simulation-based M&V, it is proposed here that enhanced Building Information Technology (BIT) is able to simplify, automate, and objectify, at least the critical steps of the retrofit project. The aim of this study is to find an efficient and effective energy retrofit strategy for domestic historic buildings that appeals to both domestic investors and practitioners by testing selective BIT tools on an actual historic building. This study concludes with the suggestion that software vendors are asked to develop enhanced features to resolve users’ pending demands. It is also suggested that, in the domestic context, how the current practice for each process of the energy retrofit of historic buildings needs to shift to take a full advantage of BIT.
Measurement and Prediction of Regional Tourism Sustainability: An Analysis of the Yangtze River Economic Zone, China
Authors: Liu Canmian , Zhang Ruyun , Wang Min , Xu Jing
Published: April 2018

In view of sustainable development of tourism, this paper firstly constructs a more comprehensive and scientific index system from the economical/societal/resource-related/environmental aspects of tourism and evaluates the sustainable and comprehensive development level of tourism in 11 provinces and cities of the Yangtze River economic zone by using the weighted TOPSIS (The Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution ) method; secondly, it analyzes the coupling coordination evolution relationship between tourism and the economy/society/resources/environment in different provinces and cities of the Yangtze river economic zone based on the coupling coordination model from the spatio-temporal dimension; and finally, it predicts the coupling coordination degree of the provinces and cities in the region in the next few years by the grey model (1,1) and puts forward some countermeasures and suggestions. According to the study, this method provides an effective reference to the study on the sustainable development of tourism and is very significant for learning the sustainable development of regional tourism and establishing specific and scientific countermeasures for improvement.
Environmentally Friendly Utilization of Wheat Straw Ash in Cement-Based Composites
Authors: Memon Shazim Ali , Wahid Israr , Khan Muhammad Khizar , Tanoli Muhammad Ashraf , Bimaganbetova Madina
Published: April 2018

The open burning of biomass residue constitutes a major portion of biomass burning and leads to air pollution, smog, and health hazards. Various alternatives have been suggested for open burning of crop residue; however, each of them has few inherent drawbacks. This research suggests an alternative method to dispose wheat straw, i.e., to calcine it in a controlled environment and use the resulting ash as a replacement of cement by some percentage in cement-based composites. When wheat straw, an agricultural product, is burned, it is very rich in SiO2, which has a pozzolanic character. However, the pozzolanic character is sensitive to calcination temperature and grinding conditions. According to the authors’ best knowledge, until now, no systematic study has been devised to assess the most favorable conditions of burning and grinding for pozzolanic activity of wheat straw ash (WSA). Hence, a systematic experimental program was designed. In Phase I, calcination of WS was carried out at 500 °C, 600 °C, 700 °C, and 800 °C for 2 h. The resulting ashes were tested for color change, weight loss, XRD, XRF, Chapelle activity, Fratini, and pozzolanic activity index (PAI) tests. From test results, it was found that beyond 600 °C, the amorphous silica transformed into crystalline silica. The WSA calcined at 600 °C was found to satisfy Chapelle and Fratini tests requirements, as well as the PAI requirement of ASTM at 28 days. Therefore, WSA produced at 600 °C (WSA600) showed the best pozzolanic performance. In Phase II, WSA600 was ground for various intervals (15–240 min). These ground ashes were tested for SEM, Blaine fineness, Chapelle activity, Fratini, and PAI tests. From test results, it was observed that after 120 min of grinding, there was an increase of 48% in Blaine surface area, with a consequence that WSA-replaced cement cubes achieved a compressive strength almost similar to that of the control mix. Conclusively, wheat straw calcined at 600 °C and ground for 120 min was found to be the most effective way to use pozzolanic material in cement-based composites. The addition of WSA in cement-based composites would achieve manifold objectives, i.e., aiding in the production of environmentally friendly concrete, the use of wheat straw as fuel for electricity production, and adding economic value to wheat straw.
Reserving Charging Decision-Making Model and Route Plan for Electric Vehicles Considering Information of Traffic and Charging Station
Authors: Liu Haoming , Yin Wenqian , Yuan Xiaoling , Niu Man
Published: April 2018

With the advance of battery energy technology, electric vehicles (EV) are catching more and more attention. One of the influencing factors of electric vehicles large-scale application is the availability of charging stations and convenience of charging. It is important to investigate how to make reserving charging strategies and ensure electric vehicles are charged with shorter time and lower charging expense whenever charging request is proposed. This paper proposes a reserving charging decision-making model for electric vehicles that move to certain destinations and need charging services in consideration of traffic conditions and available charging resources at the charging stations. Besides, the interactive mechanism is described to show how the reserving charging system works, as well as the rolling records-based credit mechanism where extra charges from EV is considered to hedge default behavior. With the objectives of minimizing driving time and minimizing charging expenses, an optimization model with two objective functions is formulated. Then the optimizations are solved by a K shortest paths algorithm based on a weighted directed graph, where the time and distance factors are respectively treated as weights of corresponding edges of transportation networks. Case studies show the effectiveness and validity of the proposed route plan and reserving charging decision-making model.
Effects of Non-Stationarity on Flood Frequency Analysis: Case Study of the Cheongmicheon Watershed in South Korea
Authors: Kim Sang Ug , Son Minwoo , Chung Eun-Sung , Yu Xiao
Published: April 2018

Due to global climate change, it is possible to experience the new trend of flood in the near future. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the impact of climate change on flood when establishing sustainable water resources management policy. In order to predict the future flood events, the frequency analysis is commonly applied. Traditional methods for flood frequency analysis are based on the assumption of stationarity, which is questionable under the climate change, although many techniques that are based on stationarity have been developed. Therefore, this study aims to investigate and compare all of the corresponding effects of three different data sets (observed, RCP 4.5, and 8.5), two different frequency models (stationary and non-stationary), and two different frequency analysis procedures (rainfall frequency first approach and direct discharge approach). As a result, the design flood from the observed data by the stationary frequency model and rainfall frequency first approach can be concluded the most reasonable. Thus, the design flood from the RCP 8.5 by the non-stationary frequency model and rainfall frequency first approach should be carefully used for the establishment of flood prevention measure while considering climate change and uncertainty.
Adsorption Characteristics of Ammonium Nitrogen and Plant Responses to Biochar Pellet
Authors: Shin JoungDu , Choi Eunjung , Jang EunSuk , Hong Seung Gil , Lee SangRyong , Ravindran Balasubramani
Published: April 2018

For feasibility of carbon sequestration as well as in the mitigation of greenhouse gases for application of biochar pellet, this experiment was conducted, focusing on the adsorption characteristics of NH4-N on biochar pellet mixed with different ratios of pig manure compost. For NH4-N adsorption on biochar pellets, the loading amount of biochar pellet was 211.5 mg in 50 mL of aqueous solution, and the adsorption fitted very well with Langmuir isotherm. The maximum adsorption and removal rates were 2.94 mg g−1 and 92.2%, respectively, in the pellet that contained 90% of biochar. It was also observed, by kinetic models, that NH4-N was adsorbed fast on biochar pellet with a combination ratio of 9:1 of biochar pellet/pig manure. It was further observed that the higher the amount of biochar contained in the biochar pellet, the greater the adsorption of NH4-N. For the plant response observed for lettuce, it was shown that the leaf biomass in plots treated with a 9:1 biochar/pig manure compost increased by approximately 13% compared with the leaf biomass in plots treated with the compost alone. The leaf biomass of the other treatments was higher than that of the control. This implies that the application of biochar pellets, regardless of the biochar contents, might be useful for soil carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas mitigation for agricultural practices.
A Diploid Evolutionary Algorithm for Sustainable Truck Scheduling at a Cross-Docking Facility
Authors: Dulebenets Maxim A.
Published: April 2018

Supply chains have become more time-sensitive in recent years. Delays in supply chain operations may cause significant negative externalities, including lost sales and customers. In order to facilitate the product distribution process within supply chains, reduce the associated delays, and improve sustainability of the supply chain operations, many distribution companies started implementing the cross-docking technique. One of the challenging problems in management of the cross-docking facilities is efficient scheduling of the arriving trucks. This study proposes a novel Diploid Evolutionary Algorithm for the truck scheduling problem at a cross-docking facility, which—unlike the Evolutionary Algorithms presented in the cross-docking literature to date—stores the genetic information from the parent chromosomes after performing a crossover operation. The objective of the formulated mathematical model is to minimize the total truck service cost. The conducted numerical experiments demonstrate that the optimality gap of the developed algorithm does not exceed 0.18% over the considered small size problem instances. The analysis of the realistic size problem instances indicates that deployment of the developed solution algorithm reduces the total truck handling time, the total truck waiting time, and the total truck delayed departure time on average by 6.14%, 32.61%, and 34.01%, respectively, as compared to a typical Evolutionary Algorithm. Furthermore, application of the diploidy concept decreases the total truck service cost by 18.17%.
Preservation of Cultural Heritage Embodied in Traditional Crafts in the Developing Countries. A Case Study of Pakistani Handicraft Industry
Authors: Yang Yongzhong , Shafi Mohsin , Song Xiaoting , Yang Ruo
Published: April 2018

Cultural heritage embodied in traditional crafts is an integral part of any nation which reflects the culture and tradition of a particular region. Although the importance of handicraft has been widely recognized, the literature regarding preservation of traditional craft is scarce. The present paper aimed to explore and identify issues faced by traditional craftsmanship in developing countries and to address those issues in order to contribute to the sustainability of traditional craft heritage and ensure continuous transmission of craft skills and knowledge from generation to generation. Our study identified several key issues which poses substantial challenges to the preservation of traditional craft heritage in developing countries. In order to add empirical evidence, we examined the case of Pakistani handicraft industry that provided further understanding of highlighted issues which traditional craft heritage face. We have suggested some policies to promote, develop and preserve the traditional craft heritage. The significance of these policy suggestions is underlined with the case study of Pakistan.
Dynamics of Trapped Solitary Waves for the Forced KdV Equation
Authors: Lee Sunmi
Published: April 2018

The forced Korteweg-de Vries equation is considered to investigate the impact of bottom configurations on the free surface waves in a two-dimensional channel flow. In the study of shallow water waves, the bottom topography plays a critical role, which can determine the characteristics of wave motions significantly. The interplay between solitary waves and the bottom topography can exhibit more interesting dynamics of the free surface waves when the bottom configuration is more complex. In the presence of two bumps, there are multiple trapped solitary wave solutions, which remain stable between two bumps up to a finite time when they evolve in time. In this work, various stationary trapped wave solutions of the forced KdV equation are explored as the bump sizes and the distance between two bumps are varied. Moreover, the semi-implicit finite difference method is employed to study their time evolutions in the presence of two-bump configurations. Our numerical results show that the interplay between trapped solitary waves and two bumps is the key determinant which influences the time evolution of those wave solutions. The trapped solitary waves tend to remain between two bumps for a longer time period as the distance between two bumps increases. Interestingly, there exists a nontrivial relationship between the bump size and the time until trapped solitary waves remain stable between two bumps.
Bandwidth-Guaranteed Resource Allocation and Scheduling for Parallel Jobs in Cloud Data Center
Authors: Li Zhen , Chen Bin , Liu Xiaocheng , Ning Dandan , Wei Qihang , Wang Yiping , Qiu Xiaogang
Published: April 2018

Cloud Computing has emerged as a powerful and promising way for running high performance computing (HPC) jobs. Most HPC jobs are designed under multi-processes paradigm and involve frequent communication and synchronization among parallel processes. However, as the underlying resources of cloud data centers are always shared among multiple tenants, the competition of jobs for limited bandwidth resources lead to unpredictable completion times for jobs in the cloud, which may lead to QoS violation and inefficient utilization of resources when scheduling parallel jobs in the cloud. To tackle the issue, it is essential to provide bandwidth guarantees for parallel jobs running in the cloud. Offering a dedicated virtual cluster (VC) for running applications in the cloud is a popular way to guarantee bandwidth demands. Motivated by these problems, in this paper, we firstly design a time-aware virtual cluster (TVC) request model for parallel jobs and consider how to embed requested TVCs of jobs into cloud efficiently under parallel job scheduling framework. An adaptive bandwidth-aware heuristic algorithm, which is denoted as AdaBa, is proposed to improve the job accept rate by adjusting the priorities of servers to accommodate the VMs of TVC adaptively according to the relative size of requested bandwidth demand. Then, a bandwidth-guaranteed migration and backfilling scheduling algorithm, which is denoted as BgMBF, is designed to schedule parallel jobs and the bandwidth demands are guaranteed by AdaBa. To obtain high job responsiveness performance, a bandwidth-reserved job backfilling strategy is designed when the requested TVC for current scheduled job cannot be allocated in the cloud. The migration cost of BgMBF is also considered and an enhanced version BgMBFSDF is then proposed to minimize the number of migration when the execution time of jobs are known. Through extensive simulation experiments on popular parallel workloads, our proposed TVC embedding algorithm AdaBa achieves up to 15 percent of improvement on accept rate compared with existing algorithms such as Oktupus and greedy algorithm. Our proposed BgMBF and BgMBFSDF also significantly outperform other popular scheduling algorithms integrated with AdaBa on average response time and average bounded slow down.
Exploiting Botulinum Neurotoxins for the Study of Brain Physiology and Pathology
Authors: Caleo Matteo , Restani Laura
Published: April 2018

Botulinum neurotoxins are metalloproteases that specifically cleave N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) proteins in synaptic terminals, resulting in a potent inhibition of vesicle fusion and transmitter release. The family comprises different serotypes (BoNT/A to BoNT/G). The natural target of these toxins is represented by the neuromuscular junction, where BoNTs block acetylcholine release. In this review, we describe the actions of botulinum toxins after direct delivery to the central nervous system (CNS), where BoNTs block exocytosis of several transmitters, with near-complete silencing of neural networks. The use of clostridial neurotoxins in the CNS has allowed us to investigate specifically the role of synaptic activity in different physiological and pathological processes. The silencing properties of BoNTs can be exploited for therapeutic purposes, for example to counteract pathological hyperactivity and seizures in epileptogenic brain foci, or to investigate the role of activity in degenerative diseases like prion disease. Altogether, clostridial neurotoxins and their derivatives hold promise as powerful tools for both the basic understanding of brain function and the dissection and treatment of activity-dependent pathogenic pathways.
First Aid and Pre-Hospital Management of Venomous Snakebites
Authors: Parker-Cote Jennifer , Meggs William J.
Published: April 2018

Background: Antivenom is the definitive treatment for venomous snakebites, but is expensive and not available in many rural and poorly developed regions. Timely transportation to facilities that stock and administer antivenom may not be available in rural areas with poorly developed emergency medical services. These factors have led to consideration of measures to delay onset of toxicity or alternatives to antivenom therapy. Methods: PubMed searches were conducted for articles on snakebite treatment, or that contained first aid, emergency medical services, tourniquets, pressure immobilization bandages, suction devices, and lymphatic flow inhibitors. Results: The reviewed articles describe how venoms spread after a venomous snakebite on an extremity, list the proposed first aid measures for delaying the spread of venoms, and evaluate the scientific studies that support or refute methods of snakebite first aid. The recommendations for field treatment of venomous snakebites will be discussed. Conclusions: The evidence suggests that pressure immobilization bandages and related strategies are the best interventions to delay onset of systemic toxicity from venomous snakebites but may increase local toxicity for venoms that destroy tissue at the site of the bite, so their use should be individualized to the circumstances and nature of the venom.
String Sigma Models on Curved Supermanifolds
Authors: Catenacci Roberto , Grassi Pietro Antonio
Published: April 2018

We use the techniques of integral forms to analyze the easiest example of two-dimensional sigma models on a supermanifold. We write the action as an integral of a top integral form over a D = 2 supermanifold, and we show how to interpolate between different superspace actions. Then, we consider curved supermanifolds, and we show that the definitions used for flat supermanifolds can also be used for curved supermanifolds. We prove it by first considering the case of a curved rigid supermanifold and then the case of a generic curved supermanifold described by a single superfield E.
A New Approach to Assessing HSV-1 Recombination during Intercellular Spread
Authors: Law Gabrielle A. , Herr Alix E. , Cwick James P. , Taylor Matthew P.
Published: April 2018

The neuroinvasive Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) utilizes intergenomic recombination in order to diversify viral populations. Research efforts to assess HSV-1 recombination are often complicated by the use of attenuating mutations, which differentiate viral progeny but unduly influence the replication and spread. In this work, we generated viruses with markers that allowed for classification of viral progeny with limited attenuation of viral replication. We isolated viruses, harboring either a cyan (C) or yellow (Y) fluorescent protein (FP) expression cassette inserted in two different locations within the viral genome, in order to visually quantify the recombinant progeny based on plaque fluorescence. We found that the FP marked genomes had a limited negative affect on the viral replication and production of progeny virions. A co-infection of the two viruses resulted in recombinant progeny that was dependent on the multiplicity of infection and independent of the time post infection, at a rate that was similar to previous reports. The sequential passage of mixed viral populations revealed a limited change in the distribution of the parental and recombinant progeny. Interestingly, the neuroinvasive spread within neuronal cultures and an in vivo mouse model, revealed large, random shifts in the parental and recombinant distributions in viral populations. In conclusion, our approach highlights the utility of FP expressing viruses in order to provide new insights into mechanisms of HSV-1 recombination.
Central Asia’s Ili River Ecosystem as a Wicked Problem: Unraveling Complex Interrelationships at the Interface of Water, Energy, and Food
Authors: Pueppke Steven G. , Nurtazin Sabir T. , Graham Norman A. , Qi Jiaguo
Published: April 2018

The Ili River originates in the mountains of Xinjiang, China, and flows across an increasingly arid landscape before terminating in Kazakhstan’s Lake Balkhash, which has no outlet to the ocean. The river has been extensively impounded and diverted over the past half century to produce hydroelectric power and food on irrigated land. Water withdrawals are increasing to the extent that they are beginning to threaten the ecosystem, just as it is becoming stressed by altered inflows as glaciers retreat and disappear. If the Ili River ecosystem is to be preserved, it is crucial that we thoroughly understand the spatial and temporal nuances of the interrelationships between water, energy, and food—and the vulnerability of these components to climate change. The ecosystem has all of the characteristics of a classically-defined “wicked problem”, and so it warrants treatment as a complex and dynamic challenge subject to changing assumptions, unexpected consequences, and strong social and economic overtones. Research should thus focus not just on new knowledge about the water, energy, or food component, but on advancing our understanding of the ecosystem as a whole. This will require the participation of interdisciplinary teams of researchers with both tacit and specialized knowledge.