bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Elevated Ozone Concentration Reduces Photosynthetic Carbon Gain but Does Not Alter Leaf Structural Traits, Nutrient Composition or Biomass in Switchgrass
Authors: Li Shuai , Courbet Galatéa , Ourry Alain , Ainsworth Elizabeth A.
Published: April 2019

Elevated tropospheric ozone concentration (O3) increases oxidative stress in vegetation and threatens the stability of crop production. Current O3 pollution in the United States is estimated to decrease the yields of maize (Zea mays) up to 10%, however, many bioenergy feedstocks including switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) have not been studied for response to O3 stress. Using Free Air Concentration Enrichment (FACE) technology, we investigated the impacts of elevated O3 (~100 nmol mol−1) on leaf photosynthetic traits and capacity, chlorophyll fluorescence, the Ball–Woodrow–Berry (BWB) relationship, respiration, leaf structure, biomass and nutrient composition of switchgrass. Elevated O3 concentration reduced net CO2 assimilation rate (A), stomatal conductance (gs), and maximum CO2 saturated photosynthetic capacity (Vmax), but did not affect other functional and structural traits in switchgrass or the macro- (except potassium) and micronutrient content of leaves. These results suggest that switchgrass exhibits a greater O3 tolerance than maize, and provide important fundamental data for evaluating the yield stability of a bioenergy feedstock crop and for exploring O3 sensitivity among bioenergy feedstocks.
Comprehensive Analysis of Rhodomyrtus tomentosa Chloroplast Genome
Authors: Huang Yuying , Yang Zerui , Huang Song , An Wenli , Li Jing , Zheng Xiasheng
Published: April 2019

In the last decade, several studies have relied on a small number of plastid genomes to deduce deep phylogenetic relationships in the species-rich Myrtaceae. Nevertheless, the plastome of Rhodomyrtus tomentosa, an important representative plant of the Rhodomyrtus (DC.) genera, has not yet been reported yet. Here, we sequenced and analyzed the complete chloroplast (CP) genome of R. tomentosa, which is a 156,129-bp-long circular molecule with 37.1% GC content. This CP genome displays a typical quadripartite structure with two inverted repeats (IRa and IRb), of 25,824 bp each, that are separated by a small single copy region (SSC, 18,183 bp) and one large single copy region (LSC, 86,298 bp). The CP genome encodes 129 genes, including 84 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, eight rRNA genes and three pseudogenes (ycf1, rps19, ndhF). A considerable number of protein-coding genes have a universal ATG start codon, except for psbL and ndhD. Premature termination codons (PTCs) were found in one protein-coding gene, namely atpE, which is rarely reported in the CP genome of plants. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that R. tomentosa has a sister relationship with Eugenia uniflora and Psidium guajava. In conclusion, this study identified unique characteristics of the R. tomentosa CP genome providing valuable information for further investigations on species identification and the phylogenetic evolution between R. tomentosa and related species.
Acinetobacter baumannii Deactivation by Means of DBD-Based Helium Plasma Jet
Authors: Svarnas Panagiotis , Spiliopoulou Anastasia , Koutsoukos Petros , Gazeli Kristaq , Anastassiou Evangelos
Published: April 2019

Acinetobacter baumannii is a typically short, almost round, rod-shaped (coccobacillus) Gram-negative bacterium. It can be an opportunistic pathogen in humans, affecting people with compromised immune systems, and it is becoming increasingly important as a hospital-associated (nosocomial) infection. It has also been isolated from environmental soil and water samples. In this work, unlike conventional medical methods like antibiotics, the influence of atmospheric-pressure cold plasma on this bacterium is evaluated by means of a colony count technique and scanning electron microscopy. The plasma used here refers to streamers axially propagating into a helium channel penetrating the atmospheric air. The plasma is probed with high resolution optical emission spectroscopy and copious reactive species are unveiled under low-temperature conditions. Based on the experimental results, post-treatment (delayed) biochemical effects on Acinetobacter baumannii and morphological modifications appear dominant, leading to complete deactivation of this bacterium.
Comparison of AFM Nanoindentation and Gold Nanoparticle Embedding Techniques for Measuring the Properties of Polymer Thin Films
Authors: Jiang Guojun , Xie Sheng
Published: April 2019

The surfaces of polymer and interfaces between polymer and inorganic particles are of particular importance for the properties of polymers and composites. However, the determination of the properties of surfaces and interfaces poses many challenges due to their extremely small dimensions. Herein, polystyrene and polymethyl methacrylate thin film on silicon wafer was used as a model system for the measurement of the properties of the polymer near free surface and at the polymer-solid interface. Two different methods, i.e., nanoindentation using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and the gold nanoparticle embedding technique, were used for these measurements. The results showed the elastic modulus of PS near the free surface determined by nanoindentation was lower than the bulk value. Based on contact mechanics analysis, nanoparticle embedding also revealed the existence of a lower-modulus, non-glassy layer near the free surface at temperatures below the bulk glass transition temperature (Tg). However, near the polymer-solid interface, the AFM nanoindentation method is not applicable due to the geometry confinement effect. On the other hand, the nanoparticle embedding technique can still correctly reflect the interactions between the polymer and the substrate when compared to the ellipsometry results.
Deuteration-Induced Volume Phase Transition Temperature Shift of PNIPMAM Microgels
Authors: Cors Marian , Wiehemeier Lars , Oberdisse Julian , Hellweg Thomas
Published: April 2019

The effect of deuteration on the volume phase transition (VPT) temperature of poly (N-isopropylmethacrylamide) (pNIPMAM) microgels in aqueous suspension is determined via IR spectroscopy and size measurements by photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS). We study the effect of a hydrogenated and a deuterated solvent (H2O/D2O), and of the hydrogenated and (partially) deuterated monomer. Deuteration of the monomer or copolymerization with deuterated monomers shifts the volume phase transition temperature (VPTT) by up to 8.4 K to higher temperatures, in good agreement with known results for pNIPAM microgels. Moreover, the shape of the swelling curve is found to depend on deuteration, with the highest deuteration leading to the sharpest VPT. Finally, the quantitative agreement between FTIR spectroscopy and PCS evidences the spatial homogeneity of the microgel particles. Our results are rationalized in terms of the effect of deuteration on hydrogen bonding. They shall be of primary importance for any experimental measurements close to the VPT involving isotopic substitution, and in particular contrast variation small angle neutron scattering.
Nanoparticle Reinforced Polymers
Authors: Díez-Pascual Ana María
Published: April 2019

The beginning of nanomaterials and nanoscience dates back to 1959 when the Nobel laureate in Physics Richard Feynman gave the famous lecture entitled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom [...]
Preparation of a Hydrophobic-Associating Polymer with Ultra-High Salt Resistance Using Synergistic Effect
Authors: Zhang Yang , Mao Jincheng , Zhao Jinzhou , Yang Xiaojiang , Xu Tao , Lin Chong , Mao Jinhua , Tan Hongzhong , Zhang Zhaoyang , Yang Bo , Ma Shaoyun
Published: April 2019

Polymer, SRP-2-1, was synthesized by micellar polymerization and characterized by 1H NMR. Salt tolerance and viscoelasticity tests verified that the salt resistance of SRP-2-1 was promoted by the synergistic effects of oxyethylene groups, sulfonate, and hydrophobic chains. It is suggested that the structure of SRP-2-1 became more compact with increasing salinity. Furthermore, a mechanism is proposed as to why SRP-2-1 solution has excellent salt-resistance properties. The experimental results indicate that, because of the good shear resistance properties, the polymer SRP-2-1 could be used as an alternative in many fields, for instance in fracturing fluids, enhanced oil recovery, and sewage treatment.
Multilingual Research Writing beyond English: The Case of Norwegian Academic Discourse in an Era of Multilingual Publication Practices
Authors: Solli Kristin , Ødemark Ingjerd Legreid
Published: April 2019

Although English is the dominant language of scholarly publication, many multilingual scholars continue to publish in other languages while they also publish in English. A large body of research documents how these multilingual scholars negotiate writing in English for publication. We know less, however, about the implications of such negotiations for other languages that scholars work in. We wanted to investigate trends in writing conventions in language other than English during a period when multilingual publication patterns have been common. Specifically, we examined changes in rhetorical patterns in the introduction sections of the 1994 and the 2014 volumes of three Norwegian-language journals in three different disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. Our findings show that while certain features of our material might be interpreted as the result of a non-English discourse community adopting dominant Anglo-American models, the overall picture is more complex. Our study indicates that we need more research that examines cross-linguistic textual practices that focus on English and any other languages that scholars may work in. We also consider the possible pedagogical implications of such a focus.
“Cogent Religious Instruction”: A Response to the Phenomenon of Radical Islamist Terrorism in Australia
Authors: Rane Halim
Published: April 2019

Over the past 15 years, 47 Muslim Australians have been convicted for terrorism offences. Australian courts have determined that these acts were motivated by the offenders’ “Islamic” religious beliefs and that interpretations of Quranic verses concerning jihad, in relation to shariah, caliphate, will of God and religious duty contributed to the commission of these crimes. This paper argues that these ideas, derived from certain classical-era Islamic jurisprudence and modern Islamist thought, contradict other classical-era interpretations and, arguably, the original teachings of Islam in the time of the Prophet Muhammad. In response to the call for “cogent religious instruction” to combat the phenomenon of radical Islamist terrorism, this paper outlines a deradicalization program that addresses late 20th- and early 21st-century time-period effects: (1) ideological politicization associated with Islamist jihadism; (2) religious extremism associated with Salafism; and (3) radicalization associated with grievances arising from Western military interventions in Muslim-majority countries. The paper offers a counter narrative, based on a contextualized reading of the Quran and recent research on the authentication of the Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad. It further contends that cogent religious instruction must enhance critical-thinking skills and provide evidence-based knowledge in order to undermine radical Islamist extremism and promote peaceful coexistence.
The Road to Redemption: Killing Snakes in Medieval Chinese Buddhism
Authors: Chen Huaiyu
Published: April 2019

In the medieval Chinese context, snakes and tigers were viewed as two dominant, threatening animals in swamps and mountains. The animal-human confrontation increased with the expansion of human communities to the wilderness. Medieval Chinese Buddhists developed new discourses, strategies, rituals, and narratives to handle the snake issue that threatened both Buddhist and local communities. These new discourses, strategies, rituals, and narratives were shaped by four conflicts between humans and animals, between canonical rules and local justifications, between male monks and feminized snakes, and between organized religions and local cultic practice. Although early Buddhist monastic doctrines and disciplines prevented Buddhists from killing snakes, medieval Chinese Buddhists developed narratives and rituals for killing snakes for responding to the challenges from the discourses of feminizing and demonizing snakes as well as the competition from Daoism. In medieval China, both Buddhism and Daoism mobilized snakes as their weapons to protect their monastic property against the invasion from each other. This study aims to shed new light on the religious and socio-cultural implications of the evolving attitudes toward snakes and the methods of handling snakes in medieval Chinese Buddhism.
Spatiotemporal Patterns of Urban Land Use Change in Typical Cities in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS)
Authors: Cao Hui , Liu Jian , Chen Jianglong , Gao Jinlong , Wang Guizhou , Zhang Wanfeng
Published: April 2019

The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) has experienced rapid economic growth and urbanization. However, few studies have paid attention to urban land use dynamics, especially spatiotemporal patterns of urban expansion and land use change, in this region. This research aimed to conduct a comprehensive study of urban land use change in Xishuangbanna, Yangon, Vientiane, Phnom Penh, Bangkok, and Ho Chi Minh City, from 1990 to 2015. The analysis was based on land use maps derived from Landsat satellite products and employed urban expansion intensity, sector analysis, gradient-direction analysis, and landscape metrics. The results show Xishuangbanna, Yangon, Vientiane, Phnom Penh, Bangkok, and Ho Chi Minh City all experienced dramatic urban expansion and land use change since 1990, with urban expansion intensities of 15.01, 5.26, 9.15, 1.56, 11.88 and 11.91, respectively. The landscape metrics analysis indicated that urban areas were always aggregated and self-connected, while other land use types showed trends of disaggregation and fragmentation. In the process of urban expansion, paddy and natural land use types were commonly transformed to built up area. The results further reveal several common issues in urban land use, e.g., land fragmentation and loss of natural land use types. Finally, the discussion on the relationship between government policy and land use change for these cities shows land reform and attitude toward foreign direct investments played important roles in urban land use change in GMS.
Using Hyperspectral Crop Residue Angle Index to Estimate Maize and Winter-Wheat Residue Cover: A Laboratory Study
Authors: Yue Jibo , Tian Qingjiu , Dong Xinyu , Xu Kaijian , Zhou Chengquan
Published: April 2019

Crop residue left in the field after harvest helps to protect against water and wind erosion, increase soil organic matter, and improve soil quality, so a proper estimate of the quantity of crop residue is crucial to optimize tillage and for research into environmental effects. Although remote-sensing-based techniques to estimate crop residue cover (CRC) have proven to be good tools for determining CRC, their application is limited by variations in the moisture of crop residue and soil. In this study, we propose a crop residue angle index (CRAI) to estimate the CRC for four distinct soils with varying soil moisture (SM) content and crop residue moisture (CRM). The current study uses laboratory-based tests ((i) a dry dataset (air-dried soils and crop residues, n = 392); (ii) a wet dataset (wet soils and crop residues, n = 822); (iii) a saturated dataset (saturated soils and crop residues, n = 402); and (iv) all datasets (n = 1616)), which allows us to analysis the soil and crop residue hyperspectral response to varying SM/CRM. The CRAI combines two features that reflect the moisture content in soil and crop residue. The first is the different reflectance of soil and crop residue as a function of moisture in the near-infrared band (833 nm) and short-wave near-infrared band (1670 nm), and the second is different reflectance of soils and crop residues to lignin, cellulose, and moisture in the bands at 2101, 2031, and 2201 nm. The effects of moisture and soil type on the proposed CRAI and selected traditional spectral indices ((i) hyperspectral cellulose absorption index; (ii) hyperspectral shortwave infrared normalized difference residue index; and (iii) selected broad-band spectral indices) were compared by using a laboratory-based dataset. The results show that the SM/CRM significantly affects the broad-band spectral indices and all other spectral indices investigated are less correlated with CRC when using all datasets than when using only the dry, wet, or saturated dataset. Laboratory study suggests that the CRAI is promising for estimating CRC with the four soils and with varying SM/CRM. However, because the CRAI was only validated by a laboratory-based dataset, additional field testing is thus required to verify the use of satellite hyperspectral remote-sensing images for different crops and ecological areas.
Monitoring Student Activities with Smartwatches: On the Academic Performance Enhancement
Authors: Herrera-Alcántara Oscar , Barrera-Animas Ari Yair , González-Mendoza Miguel , Castro-Espinoza Félix
Published: April 2019

Motivated by the importance of studying the relationship between habits of students and their academic performance, daily activities of undergraduate participants have been tracked with smartwatches and smartphones. Smartwatches collect data together with an Android application that interacts with the users who provide the labeling of their own activities. The tracked activities include eating, running, sleeping, classroom-session, exam, job, homework, transportation, watching TV-Series, and reading. The collected data were stored in a server for activity recognition with supervised machine learning algorithms. The methodology for the concept proof includes the extraction of features with the discrete wavelet transform from gyroscope and accelerometer signals to improve the classification accuracy. The results of activity recognition with Random Forest were satisfactory (86.9%) and support the relationship between smartwatch sensor signals and daily-living activities of students which opens the possibility for developing future experiments with automatic activity-labeling, and so forth to facilitate activity pattern recognition to propose a recommendation system to enhance the academic performance of each student.
Battery Powered Portable Thermal Cycler for Continuous-Flow Polymerase Chain Reaction Diagnosis by Single Thermostatic Thermoelectric Cooler and Open-Loop Controller
Authors: Wu Di , Wu Wenming
Published: April 2019

Temperature control is the most important and fundamental part of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR). To date, there have been several methods to realize the periodic heating and cooling of the thermal-cycler system for continuous-flow PCR reactions, and three of them were widely used: the thermo-cycled thermoelectric cooler (TEC), the heating block, and the thermostatic heater. In the present study, a new approach called open-loop controlled single thermostatic TEC was introduced to control the thermal cycle during the amplification process. Differing from the former three methods, the size of this microdevice is much smaller, especially when compared to the microdevice used in the heating block method. Furthermore, the rising and cooling speed of this method is much rapider than that in a traditional TEC cycler, and is nearly 20–30% faster than a single thermostatic heater. Thus, a portable PCR system was made without any external heat source, and only a Teflon tube-wrapped TEC chip was used to achieve the continuous-flow PCR reactions. This provides an efficient way to reduce the size of the system and simplify it. In addition, through further experiments, the microdevice is not only found to be capable of amplification of a PCR product from Human papillomavirus type 49 (Genbank ref: X74480.1) and Rubella virus (RUBV), but also enables clinical diagnostics, such as a test for hepatitis B virus.
Height of Driver’s Eye and Taillight Measurements from a Camera-Based Roadside Setup
Authors: Dupuis Yohan , Chabani Azzedine , Doucet David , Subirats Peggy
Published: April 2019

This paper presents an approach that can be used to measure height of driver’s eyes and rear position lamps from a video, i.e., two important metrics used to set sight distance standards. This data plays an important role in the definition of geometric design of highways and streets. Our method automatically estimates the camera pose with respect to the road. It then requires selecting two points to obtain the height. New vehicles tend to be higher and larger. Consequently, this information shoud be updated. This approach has been applied on a large panel of vehicles. Our method was evaluated on vehicle height measurements. Our results suggest that our method achieves less than 1.8 cm (0.7 in) mean absolute error. Our experiments show an increase in the height of driver’s eyes and taillights.
Dust Aerosol Detection by the Modified CO2 Slicing Method
Authors: Someya Yu , Imasu Ryoichi , Shiomi Kei
Published: April 2019

Dust aerosols, which have diverse and strong influences on the environment, must be monitored. Satellite data are effective for monitoring atmospheric conditions globally. In this work, the modified CO2 slicing method, a cloud detection technique using thermal infrared data from space, was applied to GOSAT data to detect the dust aerosol layer height. The results were compared using lidar measurements. Comparison of horizontal distributions found for northern Africa during summer revealed that both the relative frequencies of the low level aerosol layer from the slicing method and the dust frequencies of CALIPSO are high in northern coastal areas. Comparisons of detected layer top heights using collocated data with CALIPSO and ground-based lidar consistently showed high detection frequencies of the lower level aerosol layer, although the slicing method sometimes produces overestimates. This tendency is significant over land. The main causes of this tendency might be uncertainty of the surface skin temperature and a temperature inversion layer in the atmosphere. The results revealed that obtaining the detailed behavior of dust aerosols using the modified slicing method alone is difficult.
A Discrete Curvature Estimation Based Low-Distortion Adaptive Savitzky–Golay Filter for ECG Denoising
Authors: Huang Hui , Hu Shiyan , Sun Ye
Published: April 2019

Electrocardiogram (ECG) sensing is an important application for the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases. Recently, driven by the emerging technology of wearable electronics, massive wearable ECG sensors are developed, which however brings additional sources of noise contamination on ECG signals from these wearable ECG sensors. In this paper, we propose a new low-distortion adaptive Savitzky-Golay (LDASG) filtering method for ECG denoising based on discrete curvature estimation, which demonstrates better performance than the state of the art of ECG denoising. The standard Savitzky-Golay (SG) filter has a remarkable performance of data smoothing. However, it lacks adaptability to signal variations and thus often induces signal distortion for high-variation signals such as ECG. In our method, the discrete curvature estimation is adapted to represent the signal variation for the purpose of mitigating signal distortion. By adaptively designing the proper SG filter according to the discrete curvature for each data sample, the proposed method still retains the intrinsic advantage of SG filters of excellent data smoothing and further tackles the challenge of denoising high signal variations with low signal distortion. In our experiment, we compared our method with the EMD-wavelet based method and the non-local means (NLM) denoising method in the performance of both noise elimination and signal distortion reduction. Particularly, for the signal distortion reduction, our method decreases in MSE by 33.33% when compared to EMD-wavelet and by 50% when compared to NLM, and decreases in PRD by 18.25% when compared to EMD-wavelet and by 25.24% when compared to NLM. Our method shows high potential and feasibility in wide applications of ECG denoising for both clinical use and consumer electronics.
Electrochemical Enzyme Biosensor Bearing Biochar Nanoparticle as Signal Enhancer for Bisphenol A Detection in Water
Authors: Liu Yang , Yao Lan , He Lingzhi , Liu Na , Piao Yunxian
Published: April 2019

An electrochemical tyrosinase enzyme (Tyr) biosensor using a highly conductive sugarcane derived biochar nanoparticle (BCNP) as a transducer and signal enhancer (BCNPs/Tyr/Nafion/GCE) was developed for the sensitive detection of bisphenol A (BPA). The BCNPs/Tyr/Nafion/GCE biosensor exhibited improved amperometric current responses such as higher sensing signal, decreased impedance and lowered reduction potential compared with the Tyr/Nafion/GCE due to high conductivity property of the biochar nanoparticle. Under the optimized conditions, it could detect BPA in good sensitivity with linear range from 0.02 to 10 μM, and a lowest detection limit of 3.18 nM. Moreover, it showed a low Km value, high reproducibility and good selectivity over other reagents, and the BCNPs/Tyr complex solution also showed good stability with 86.9% of sensing signal maintained after one month storage. The biosensor was also successfully utilized for real water detection with high accuracy as validated by high performance liquid chromatography. Therefore, the biochar nanoparticle based enzyme biosensor proved to be a potential and reliable method for high performance detection of pollutants in the environment.
Cloud Computing Research Profiling: Mapping Scholarly Community and Identifying Thematic Boundaries of the Field
Authors: Sudolska Agata , Lis Andrzej , Błaś Róża
Published: April 2019

The aim of the study was to map the scholarly community interested in research on cloud computing and to identify thematic boundaries of the field. The methodology of research profiling, representing bibliometric descriptive studies, was applied to achieve the aim of the study. Using research profiling for mapping the cloud computing field can be considered as an innovation. Although the research profiling methodology has been widely used across various subject areas, including Computer Science, Social Sciences, Engineering, Arts and Humanities, Business, Management and Accounting, and Psychology, thus far neither Scopus nor Web of Science indexed publications including the conjunction of phrases “cloud computing” and “research profiling” in their titles, keywords and abstracts. The previous important scientometric study of the research output in the field was published by Heilig and Voß in 2014. Taking into account a very dynamic growth of the field, all this indicates the research gap to be filled. The research sample is made of 14,158 publications indexed in Scopus database comprising the phrase “cloud computing” in their titles. The study was purposely limited to the title search to concentrate the attention of publications relating directly to the issue of cloud computing. Applying the quantitative approach provides an opportunity for broad scanning of subject-related literature. First, general publication profiling recognized the main contributors (countries, research intuitions, source titles and authors) to the scholarly community interested in cloud computing. Secondly, subject area profiling was applied to find how multidisciplinary is the research in the field and how the research output is distributed across subject areas. Finally, topic profiling unveiled leading topics of studies in the field and their distribution by authors, journal, subject areas and core references.
“Is Renewable Energy Affordable?” By Derek George Birkett; Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. (2019). Price £58.99 ISBN (10): 1-5275-2046-3; ISBN (13): 978-1-5275-2046-2
Authors: Simpson Michael
Published: April 2019

This book is written by a retired grid engineer and deals with renewable sources of energy and the instability of the electrical distribution grid. Derek Birkett carefully goes through the arguments about the electrical supply and the effect of intermittent and variable renewable sources of energy on grid stability. As a result of investment in renewable energy and the increasing costs of carbon taxes levied on fossil fuel fired generation, the government has created a situation which is very expensive for consumers and industry, and is unsustainable. The government has intervened in the energy market and provided subsidies and policy support for renewable energy without considering the consequences for the stability of the electrical grid system. The government has no strategic vision of the future for energy generation and no expertise to draw upon. Consumers experience increasing energy costs, power outages and blackouts which will be costly and hard to recover from. Derek states quite clearly that “… the state should no longer use environmental regulation for political purposes unless there is a clear imperative for national well-being and security.”
Industrial Symbiosis Dynamics, a Strategy to Accomplish Complex Analysis: The Dunkirk Case Study
Authors: Morales Manuel E. , Diemer Arnaud
Published: April 2019

Industrial symbiosis (IS) is presented as an inter-firm organizational strategy with the aim of social innovation that targets material and energy flow optimization but also structural sustainability. In this paper, we present geographical proximity as the theoretical framework used to analyse industrial symbiosis through a methodology based on System Dynamics and the underpinning use of Causal Loop Diagrams, aiming to identify the main drivers and hindrances that reinforce or regulate the industrial symbiosis’s sustainability. The understanding of industrial symbiosis is embedded in a theoretical framework that conceptualizes industry as a complex ecosystem in which proximity analysis and stakeholder theory are determinant, giving this methodology a comparative advantage over descriptive statistical forecasting, because it is able to integrate social causal rationality when forecasting attractiveness in a region or individual firm’s potential. A successful industrial symbiosis lasts only if it is able to address collective action problems. The stakeholders’ influence then becomes essential to the complex understanding of this institution, because by shaping individual behaviour in a social context, industrial symbiosis provides a degree of coordination and cooperation in order to overcome social dilemmas for actors who cannot achieve their own goals alone. The proposed narrative encourages us to draw up scenarios, integrating variables from different motivational value dimensions: efficiency, resilience, cooperation and proximity in the industrial symbiosis. We use the Dunkirk case study to explain the role of geographical systems analysis, identifying loops that reinforce or regulate the sustainability of industrial symbiosis and identifying three leverage points: “Training, workshop and education programs for managers and directors,” “Industrial symbiosis governance” and “Agreements in waste regulation conflicts.” The social dynamics aims for the consolidation of the network, through stakeholder interaction and explains the local success and failure of every industrial symbiosis through a system dynamics analysis.
Relationship between Green Design and Material Flow Cost Accounting in the Context of Effective Resource Utilization
Authors: Tu Jui-Che , Huang Hsieh-Shan
Published: April 2019

The consumption of fossil fuels has been gradually exhausting resources and deteriorating the environment on a global scale. There are two ways to resolve these problems: The application of green energy and new materials; and the development of energy efficiency techniques such as green design and material flow cost accounting. Material flow cost accounting does not create new sources of energy, but its implementation can encourage the effective use of resources or reduce the consumption of resources, and hence reduce the impact on the environment. The International Organization for Standardization has enacted material flow cost accounting as an international standard, and this will have a profound impact on multinational firms. This paper examines material flow cost accounting in the context of grounded theory, and conducts a case study on the companies which have implemented material flow cost accounting. The purpose of this research is to identify the relationship between material flow cost accounting and green design, and to provide a reference for the production design of the enterprise. After analysis, material flow cost accounting can generate detailed waste data, and provide a green design reference in actual energy conservation. These two outcomes complement each other, and will support achievement of the goal of mutual financial and environmental protection.
Comparisons of Acid and Water Solubilities of Rice Straw Ash Together with Its Major Ash-Forming Elements at Different Ashing Temperatures: An Experimental Study
Authors: Zhang Yi , Zhang Guanmin , Wei Min , Gao Zhenqiang , Tian Maocheng , He Fang
Published: April 2019

Recycling utilization of straw ash as a fertilizer in farmland is expected to play an important role in the sustainable development of both agriculture and biomass energy. However, the ashing temperature and the aqueous solution characteristics may affect the recycling properties of the nutrients contained in the ash. The solubilities of both the ash and its elements can represent the above recycling properties. This paper presents a systematic experimental investigation on the acid solubilities of both rice straw ash and its major elements produced from combustion at 400–800 °C, and these findings are compared with the corresponding water solubilities obtained from the authors’ previous work. Meanwhile, the correlations of two solubilities with the ashing temperature were given based on the experimental data. Results show that the acid solubility of rice straw ash decreases linearly by approximately 76% as the ashing temperature increases from 400 to 800 °C, while it is significantly higher than the corresponding water solubility at different temperatures. The acid solubilities of K, P, Ca, Mg, and Na are higher than their water solubilities, whereas two solubilities of S and Cl have almost no dependence on the temperature and the acidity of solution. This study also reveals a strong negative linear relationship between the solubility of K and the temperature. The solubilities of other elements (P, S, Na, Ca, Mg, and Cl) with the temperature have quadratic curve or cubic curve relationships. Furthermore, it is recommended that the ashing temperature should be lower than 600 °C to avoid the loss of some nutrients in the straw ash.
Optimization of Concrete Mixture Design Using Adaptive Surrogate Model
Authors: Cen Xiaoqian , Wang Qingyuan , Shi Xiaoshuang , Su Yan , Qiu Jingsi
Published: April 2019

The increase in urban construction in China has been accompanied by increasing concrete output, which has reached 2250 million m3 in recent years, ranked as the highest in the world. Consequentially, its environmental burden is significant in terms of resource use and carbon emissions. An adaptive surrogate model based on an extended radial basis function and adaptive sampling method was used to optimize the design of a concrete mixture in order to reduce its CO2 emissions and cost. The adaptive sampling method based on the multi-island genetic algorithm was adopted in order to improve the adaptive capability and accuracy of the surrogate model by selecting the proper sample size and ensuring uniform distribution of the sample points in the designed space. Three types of concrete with different strength, that is, C70, C40 and C30, were optimized by controlling the amount of fly ash and phosphorous slag in the samples. The optimized results showed that fly ash and phosphorous slag have a significant influence on the CO2 emissions of concrete and optimized concrete’s cost, while CO2 emissions were less than that of the reference samples. Therefore, the optimal mixture is with great significance to reduce the carbon emission of concrete, which also has implications for decreasing the environmental burden of concrete. In this way, we can optimize concrete of different strength to reduce carbon dioxide emission.
The Performance of Supply-Push Versus Demand-Pull Technology Transfer and the Role of Technology Marketing Strategies: The Case of a Korean Public Research Institute
Authors: Choe Won Jun , Ji Ilyong
Published: April 2019

Technology transfer is one of important strategies in sustainable economic growth. There are supply-push and demand-pull directions of technology transfer, and recently Korean research institutes have paid increasing attention to demand-pull technology transfer in an attempt to improve public research institutes’ technology transfer performance (TTP). However, our view is that simply adopting a demand-pull or a supply-push model does not always guarantee improved TTP. We argue that technology marketing strategies, such as mass marketing and target marketing, should also be considered. This study aims to investigate the relationship between technology transfer directions and TTP, and the role of technology marketing strategies. We collected a Korean research institute’s technology transfer data from 2014 to 2015, and then employed a two-way ANOVA to analyze the data. The result of the analysis shows that TTPs differ by technology transfer directions and technology marketing strategies. More importantly, we found that the demand-pull model yields higher TTP, especially when the model is associated with target marketing strategies rather than mass-marketing strategies. This result implies that marketing strategies, such as market segmentation and customer targeting, are needed if an organization wants to improve TTP by implementing the demand-pull technology transfer model.
Urban Transit Network Properties Evaluation and Optimization Based on Complex Network Theory
Authors: Jia Guo-Ling , Ma Rong-Guo , Hu Zhi-Hua
Published: April 2019

Urban public transportation contributes greatly to sustainable urban development. An urban public transportation network is a complex system. It is meaningful for theory and practice to analyze the topological structure of an urban public transportation network and explore the spatial structure of an urban transportation network so as to mitigate and prevent traffic congestion and achieve sustainability. By examining the Xi’an bus network, the degree distribution, average path length, aggregation coefficient, and betweenness centrality of the bus station network were computed using models in complex network theory. The results show that the node degrees of the Xi’an bus network are unevenly distributed and present a polarization diagram with long average path length and high aggregation. A model based on betweenness and its solution method was developed to improve the public transportation network’s sustainability and discuss the possibility of optimizing the sustainability by network analyzing methods.
A Panel Investigation of High-Speed Rail (HSR) and Urban Transport on China’s Carbon Footprint
Authors: Li Hongchang , Strauss Jack , Liu Lihong
Published: April 2019

Rapid urbanization and industrialization in Chinese cities have substantially elevated carbon emissions, and transportation plays a major role in these emissions. Due to data availability, research on the impact of both high-speed rail (HSR) and other urban transportation modes on urban carbon emissions is rare. Using a relatively large panel of 194 Chinese cities from 2008–2013, we examine the impact of HSR, conventional rail, bus, roads, and subways on urban carbon emissions. We further document the interaction of these transport modes with geo-economic variables, and more accurately measure HSR’s impact on emissions using a comprehensive accessibility metric. During this time, China developed, constructed and began to operate an extensive HSR network. Our results show that increases in HSR lead to rises in carbon emissions, emissions per GDP unit and per capita. We also find that transportation’s impact on carbon emissions differs by city size and region, and transportation modes significantly interact with GDP, population and urban area to affect carbon emissions. These interactions imply that the government’s promotion of HSR over conventional rail may have unintended consequences and boost urban carbon emissions.
Optimal Orientation and Tilt Angle for Maximizing in-Plane Solar Irradiation for PV Applications in Japan
Authors: Yu Cao , Khoo Yong Sheng , Chai Jing , Han Shuwei , Yao Jianxi
Published: April 2019

To maximize the direct insolation received by flat-plate photovoltaic (PV) modules, the tilt angle is usually the site’s latitude and the modules are oriented towards the equator. However, this may not be the optimal placement, as the local climatic conditions will influence the optimal orientation and tilt angle. Transposition models can be used to simulate the insolation on planes with various tilts and azimuths, using a single set of (horizontal) global and diffuse irradiance measurements. Following this method, five maps including optimal orientations, tilt angles, maximum annual tilted irradiations, percentage improvements of the optimally-tilted PV installation versus the conventional latitude-tilted PV installation, and annual diffuse fraction were plotted over the geographical area of Japan. Spatial patterns in these maps were observed and analyzed. The key contribution of this work is to establish a database of optimal PV installations in Japan. Compared to the conventional rule of thumb of tilting the module at latitude facing south, it is shown that the optimally tilted surface receives up to 2% additional annual solar irradiation.
Patterns of Diversity of Floral Symmetry in Angiosperms: A Case Study of the Order Apiales
Authors: Nuraliev Maxim S. , Sokoloff Dmitry D. , Karpunina Polina V. , Oskolski Alexei A.
Published: April 2019

Floral symmetry is widely known as one of the most important structural traits of reproductive organs in angiosperms. It is tightly related to the shape and arrangement of floral parts, and at the same time, it plays a key role in general appearance (visual gestalt) of a flower, which is especially important for the interactions of zoophilous flowers with their pollinators. The traditional classification of floral symmetry divides nearly all the diversity of angiosperm flowers into actinomorphic and zygomorphic ones. Within this system, which is useful for ecological studies, many variations of symmetry appear to be disregarded. At the same time, the diversity of floral symmetry is underpinned not only by ecological factors, but also by morphogenetic mechanisms and constraints. Sometimes it is not an easy task to uncover the adaptive or developmental significance of a change of the floral symmetry in a particular lineage. Using the asterid order Apiales as a model group, we demonstrate that such changes can correlate with the merism of the entire flower or of its particular whorl, with the relative orientation of gynoecium to the rest of the flower, with the presence of sterile floral elements and other morphological characters. Besides, in some taxa, the shape and symmetry of the flower change in the course of its development, which should be taken in consideration in morphological comparisons and evaluations of synapomorphies in a particular clade. Finally, we show that different results can be obtained due to employment of different approaches: for instance, many flowers that are traditionally described as actinomorphic turn out to be disymmetric, monosymmetric, or asymmetric from a more detailed look. The traditional method of division into actinomorphy and zygomorphy deals with the general appearance of a flower, and mainly considers the shape of the corolla, while the geometrical approach handles the entire three-dimensional structure of the flower, and provides an exact number of its symmetry planes.
Evaluation of Bootstrap Confidence Intervals Using a New Non-Normal Process Capability Index
Authors: Rao Gadde Srinivasa , Albassam Mohammed , Aslam Muhammad
Published: April 2019

This paper assesses the bootstrap confidence intervals of a newly proposed process capability index (PCI) for Weibull distribution, using the logarithm of the analyzed data. These methods can be applied when the quality of interest has non-symmetrical distribution. Bootstrap confidence intervals, which consist of standard bootstrap (SB), percentile bootstrap (PB), and bias-corrected percentile bootstrap (BCPB) confidence interval are constructed for the proposed method. A Monte Carlo simulation study is used to determine the efficiency of newly proposed index C p k w over the existing method by addressing the coverage probabilities and average widths. The outcome shows that the BCPB confidence interval is recommended. The methodology of the proposed index has been explained by using the real data of breaking stress of carbon fibers.
Time-reversal Symmetry in Antenna Theory
Authors: Silveirinha Mário
Published: April 2019

Here, I discuss some implications of the time-reversal invariance of lossless radiating systems. I highlight that time-reversal symmetry provides a rather intuitive explanation for the conditions of polarization and impedance matching of a receiving antenna. Furthermore, I describe a solution to generate the time-reversed electromagnetic field through the illumination of a matched receiving antenna with a Herglotz wave.
Multimodal Emotion Recognition Using the Symmetric S-ELM-LUPI Paradigm
Authors: Yang Lingzhi , Ban Xiaojuan , Mukeshimana Michele , Chen Zhe
Published: April 2019

Multimodal emotion recognition has become one of the new research fields of human-machine interaction. This paper focuses on feature extraction and data fusion in audio-visual emotion recognition, aiming at improving recognition effect and saving storage space. A semi-serial fusion symmetric method is proposed to fuse the audio and visual patterns of emotional recognition, and a method of Symmetric S-ELM-LUPI is adopted (Symmetric Sparse Extreme Learning Machine-Learning Using Privileged Information). The method inherits the generalized high speed of the Extreme Learning Machine, and combines this with the acceleration in the recognition process by the Learning Using Privileged Information and the memory saving of the Sparse Extreme Learning Machine. It is a learning method, which improves the traditional learning methods of examples and targets only. It introduces the role of a teacher in providing additional information to enhance the recognition (test) without complicating the learning process. The proposed method is tested on publicly available datasets and yields promising results. This method regards one pattern as the standard information source, while the other pattern as the privileged information source. Each mode can be treated as privileged information for another mode. The results show that this method is appropriate for multi-modal emotion recognition. For hundreds of samples, the execution time is less than one percent seconds. The sparsity of the proposed method has the advantage of storing memory economy. Compared with other machine learning methods, this method is more accurate and stable.