bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
PedNet: A Spatio-Temporal Deep Convolutional Neural Network for Pedestrian Segmentation
Authors: Ullah Mohib , Mohammed Ahmed , Alaya Cheikh Faouzi
Published: September 2018

Articulation modeling, feature extraction, and classification are the important components of pedestrian segmentation. Usually, these components are modeled independently from each other and then combined in a sequential way. However, this approach is prone to poor segmentation if any individual component is weakly designed. To cope with this problem, we proposed a spatio-temporal convolutional neural network named PedNet which exploits temporal information for spatial segmentation. The backbone of the PedNet consists of an encoder–decoder network for downsampling and upsampling the feature maps, respectively. The input to the network is a set of three frames and the output is a binary mask of the segmented regions in the middle frame. Irrespective of classical deep models where the convolution layers are followed by a fully connected layer for classification, PedNet is a Fully Convolutional Network (FCN). It is trained end-to-end and the segmentation is achieved without the need of any pre- or post-processing. The main characteristic of PedNet is its unique design where it performs segmentation on a frame-by-frame basis but it uses the temporal information from the previous and the future frame for segmenting the pedestrian in the current frame. Moreover, to combine the low-level features with the high-level semantic information learned by the deeper layers, we used long-skip connections from the encoder to decoder network and concatenate the output of low-level layers with the higher level layers. This approach helps to get segmentation map with sharp boundaries. To show the potential benefits of temporal information, we also visualized different layers of the network. The visualization showed that the network learned different information from the consecutive frames and then combined the information optimally to segment the middle frame. We evaluated our approach on eight challenging datasets where humans are involved in different activities with severe articulation (football, road crossing, surveillance). The most common CamVid dataset which is used for calculating the performance of the segmentation algorithm is evaluated against seven state-of-the-art methods. The performance is shown on precision/recall, F 1 , F 2 , and mIoU. The qualitative and quantitative results show that PedNet achieves promising results against state-of-the-art methods with substantial improvement in terms of all the performance metrics.
Residents’ Perception of Informal Green Space—A Case Study of Ichikawa City, Japan
Authors: Kim Minseo , Rupprecht Christoph , Furuya Katsunori
Published: September 2018

Urban green space (UGS) has been proven to be essential for improving the health of residents. Local governments thus need to provide attractive UGS to enhance residents’ wellbeing. However, cities face spatial and finanical limitations in creating and managing UGS. As a result, greening plans often fail or are postponed indefinitely. To evaluate whether informal urban green space (IGS) can supplement existing UGS, we conducted a questionnaire survey of 567 residents in Ichikawa (Japan), a city currently providing only 3.43 m2 green space per capita. In particular, we analyzed how residents’ existing green space activities affect IGS perception, as it may be difficult to recognize IGS as greenery because it is not an officially recognized space for recreation. Results show that residents took a favorable stance towards IGS, but perception differs depending on their green environment exposure. Residents who are frequently exposed to green environments in their daily lives highly recognized the environmental improvement aspects of IGS and significantly perceived spatial accessibility as an advantage of IGS. Willingness to participate in conservation activities of UGS was linked with a likelihood of recognizing IGS as UGS. Our results encourage understanding IGS as supplementary green space taking into account the attitude of residents to UGS, and contribute to introducing the IGS discourse into green space planning.
Impact of Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction and Biomarkers on Pulmonary Hypertension in Patients with Severe Aortic Stenosis
Authors: Gumauskienė Birutė , Krivickienė Aušra , Jonkaitienė Regina , Vaškelytė Jolanta Justina , Siudikas Adakrius , Ereminienė Eglė
Published: September 2018

Background: Severe aortic stenosis (AS) complicated by pulmonary hypertension (PH) is associated with poor outcomes after surgical aortic valve replacement (AVR). There is still scarce information about predictors of secondary PH in this group of patients. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic impact of biomarkers together with conventional Doppler echocardiographic parameters of left ventricular diastolic function on elevated pulmonary systolic pressure (PSP) in severe AS patients before surgical AVR. Methods: Sixty patients with severe isolated AS (aortic valve area <1 cm2) underwent echocardiography, N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) measurements before AVR. PSP, left ventricular ejection fraction (LV EF), parameters of LV diastolic function (E/E’ ratio, mitral valve deceleration time (MV DT) and left atrial (LA) volume) were evaluated. PH was defined as an estimated PSP ≥ 45 mmHg. Results: Of the 60 patients, 21.7% with severe isolated AS had PH with PSP ≥ 45 mmHg (58.5 ± 11.2 mmHg). LV EF did not differ between groups and was not related to an elevated PSP (50 ± 8 vs. 49 ± 8%, p = 0.58). Parameters of LV diastolic dysfunction (E/E’ ratio > 14 (OR 6.00; 95% CI, 1.41–25.48; p = 0.009), MV DT ≤ 177.5 ms (OR 9.31; 95% CI, 2.06–41.14; p = 0.001), LA volume > 100 mL (OR 9.70; 95% CI, 1.92–49.03; p = 0.002)) and biomarkers (NT-proBNP > 4060 ng/L (OR 12.54; 95% CI, 2.80–55.99; p < 0.001) and GDF-15 > 3393 pg/mL (OR 18.33; 95% CI, 2.39–140.39; p = 0.001)) were significantly associated with elevated PSP in severe AS. Conclusions: Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction and elevated biomarkers levels could predict the development of pulmonary hypertension in patients with severe aortic stenosis. Elevation of biomarkers paired with worsening of LV diastolic dysfunction could help to stratify patients for earlier surgical treatment before the development of pulmonary hypertension.
Effects of Beetroot Juice Supplementation on Performance and Fatigue in a 30-s All-Out Sprint Exercise: A Randomized, Double-Blind Cross-Over Study
Authors: Cuenca Eduardo , Jodra Pablo , Pérez-López Alberto , González-Rodríguez Liliana G. , Fernandes da Silva Sandro , Veiga-Herreros Pablo , Domínguez Raúl
Published: September 2018

As a nitric oxide precursor, beetroot juice (BJ) is known to enhance high-intensity exercise performance (80–100% VO2max) yet its impacts on higher intensity sprint exercise (>100% VO2max) remain to be established. This study sought to examine the effects of BJ supplementation on performance and subsequent fatigue during an all-out sprint exercise. Using a randomized cross-over, double-blind, placebo-controlled design, 15 healthy resistance-trained men (22.4 ± 1.6 years) ingested 70 mL of either BJ or placebo. Three hours later, participants undertook a 30-s all-out Wingate test. Before and after the sprint exercise and at 30 s and 180 s post-exercise, three countermovement jumps (CMJ) were performed and blood lactate samples were obtained. Compared to placebo, BJ consumption improved peak (placebo vs. BJ, 848 ± 134 vs. 881 ± 135 W; p = 0.049) and mean (641 ± 91 vs. 666 ± 100 W; p = 0.023) power output and also reduced the time taken to reach Wpeak in the Wingate test (8.9 ± 1.4 vs. 7.3 ± 0.9 s; p = 0.003). No differences were detected in the fatigue index. In addition, while over time CMJ height and power diminished (ANOVA p < 0.001) and blood lactate levels increased (ANOVA p < 0.001), no supplementation effect was observed. Our findings indicate that while BJ supplementation improved performance at the 30-s cycling sprint, this improvement was not accompanied by differences in fatigue during or after this type of exercise.
Effect of Adherence to a Mediterranean Diet and Olive Oil Intake during Pregnancy on Risk of Small for Gestational Age Infants
Authors: Martínez-Galiano Juan , Olmedo-Requena Rocío , Barrios-Rodríguez Rocío , Amezcua-Prieto Carmen , Bueno-Cavanillas Aurora , Salcedo-Bellido Inmaculada , Jimenez-Moleon Jose , Delgado-Rodríguez Miguel
Published: September 2018

To quantify the effect of a Mediterranean dietary pattern, as well as the consumption of olive oil (OO), on the risk of having a small for gestational age infants (SGA), a matched case-control study was conducted in Spain. Dietary intake during pregnancy was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Three indices were used to evaluate the adherence to Mediterranean diet (MD) (Predimed, Trichopoulou and Panagiotakos). Crude odds ratios (cOR) and adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using conditional logistic regression models. Results were stratified by severity of SGA: moderate (percentiles 6–10), and severe (percentiles ≤5). For moderate, four or more points in the Predimed´s index was associated with a 41% reduction of having SGA compared with women with a score ≤3, aOR = 0.59 (95% CI 0.38–0.98); for severe, the reduction in risk was not statistically significant. Similar results were found when the other MD indexes were used. An intake of OO above 5 g/day was associated with a lower risk of SGA (aOR = 0.53, 95% CI 0.34–0.85); statistical significance was observed for moderate SGA (aOR = 0.53, 95% CI 0.30–0.96), but not for severe SGA (aOR = 0.51, 95% CI 0.24–1.07), although the magnitude of ORs were quite similar. Adherence to a MD and OO intake is associated with a reduced risk of SGA.
Design of an Ultrahigh Birefringence Photonic Crystal Fiber with Large Nonlinearity Using All Circular Air Holes for a Fiber-Optic Transmission System
Authors: Biswas Shovasis Kumar , Islam S. M. Rakibul , Islam Md. Rubayet , Mia Mohammad Mahmudul Alam , Sayem Summit , Ahmed Feroz
Published: September 2018

This paper proposes a hexagonal photonic crystal fiber (H-PCF) structure with all circular air holes in order to simultaneously achieve ultrahigh birefringence and high nonlinearity. The H-PCF design consists of an asymmetric core region, where one air hole is a reduced diameter and the air hole in its opposite vertex is omitted. The light-guiding properties of the proposed H-PCF structure were studied using the full-vector finite element method (FEM) with a circular perfectly matched layer (PML). The simulation results showed that the proposed H-PCF exhibits an ultrahigh birefringence of 3.87 × 10−2, a negative dispersion coefficient of −753.2 ps/(nm km), and a nonlinear coefficient of 96.51 W−1 km−1 at an excitation wavelength of 1550 nm. The major advantage of our H-PCF design is that it provides these desirable modal properties without using any non-circular air holes in the core and cladding region, thus making the fiber fabrication process much easier. The ultrahigh birefringence, large negative dispersion, and high nonlinearity of our designed H-PCF make it a very suitable candidate for optical backpropagation applications, which is a scheme for the simultaneous dispersion and nonlinearity compensation of optical-fiber transmission links.
Capturing the Diurnal Cycle of Land Surface Temperature Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Authors: Malbéteau Yoann , Parkes Stephen , Aragon Bruno , Rosas Jorge , McCabe Matthew
Published: September 2018

Characterizing the land surface temperature (LST) and its diurnal cycle is important in understanding a range of surface properties, including soil moisture status, evaporative response, vegetation stress and ground heat flux. While remote-sensing platforms present a number of options to retrieve this variable, there are inevitable compromises between the resolvable spatial and temporal resolution. For instance, the spatial resolution of geostationary satellites, which can provide sub-hourly LST, is often too coarse (3 km) for many applications. On the other hand, higher-resolution polar orbiting satellites are generally infrequent in time, with return intervals on the order of weeks, limiting their capacity to capture surface dynamics. With recent developments in the application of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), there is now the opportunity to collect LST measurements on demand and at ultra-high spatial resolution. Here, we detail the collection and analysis of a UAV-based LST dataset, with the purpose of examining the diurnal surface temperature response: something that has not been possible from traditional satellite platforms at these scales. Two separate campaigns were conducted over a bare desert surface in combination with either Rhodes grass or a recently harvested maize field. In both cases, thermal imagery was collected between 0800 and 1700 local solar time. The UAV-based diurnal cycle was consistent with ground-based measurements, with a mean correlation coefficient and root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.99 and 0.68 °C, respectively. LST retrieved over the grass surface presented the best results, with an RMSE of 0.45 °C compared to 0.67 °C for the single desert site and 1.28 °C for the recently harvested maize surface. Even considering the orders of magnitude difference in scale, an exploratory analysis comparing retrievals of the UAV-based diurnal cycle with METEOSAT geostationary data yielded pleasing results (R = 0.98; RMSE = 1.23 °C). Overall, our analysis revealed a diurnal range over the desert and maize surfaces of ~20 °C and ~17 °C respectively, while the grass showed a reduced amplitude of ~12 °C. Considerable heterogeneity was observed over the grass surface at the peak of the diurnal cycle, which was likely indicative of the varying crop water status. To our knowledge, this study presents the first spatially varying analysis of the diurnal LST captured at ultra-high resolution, from any remote platform. Our findings highlight the considerable potential to utilize UAV-based retrievals to enhance investigations across multi-disciplinary studies in agriculture, hydrology and land-atmosphere investigations.
Adaptive Local Aspect Dictionary Pair Learning for Synthetic Aperture Radar Target Image Classification
Authors: Zhang Xinzheng , Tan Zhiying , Liu Guo , Liu Hongqing , Wang Yijian , Liu Shujun , Li Yongming , Xu Hao , Xia Jili
Published: September 2018

In this paper, a new target classification algorithm based on adaptive local aspect dictionary pair learning for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images is developed. To that end, first, the aspect sector of one testing sample is determined adaptively by a regularized non-negative sparse learning method. Second, a synthesis dictionary and an analysis dictionary are jointly learned from the corresponding training subset located in the aspect sector. By doing so, the local aspect dictionary pair is obtained. Finally, the class label of the testing sample is inferred by a use of the minimum reconstruction residual under the representation with the local aspect dictionary pair. Using the local aspect sector training subset rather than the global aspect training set reduces the interference of a large amount of unrelated training samples, which leads to a more discriminative local aspect dictionary pair for target classification. The experiments are conducted with the Moving and Stationary Target Acquisition and Recognition (MSTAR) database, and the results demonstrate that the proposed approach is effective and superior to the state-of-the-art methods.
A Coalitional Formation Game for Physical Layer Security of Cooperative Compressive Sensing Multi-Relay Networks
Authors: Li Jialun , Chang Shuai , Fu Xiaomei , Zhang Liang , Su Yishan , Jin Zhigang
Published: September 2018

Cooperative relaying is an effective technology to improve the capacity of physical-layer security, in which the relay helps forward the received signal to the destination. In this paper, a cooperative compressive sensing and amplify-and-forward (CCS-AF) scheme, which combines the compressive sensing theory and amplify-and-forward strategy, is proposed to increase the secrecy capacity. To optimize the secrecy performance, a coalition formation algorithm based on coalitional game theory of optimal relay selection is proposed to maximize the secrecy capacity. Different to maximizing the individual utility based on the traditional pareto order, the max-coalition order rule is newly defined to guide the coalitional formation. Simulation results indicate that with the proposed algorithm, part of the relays could form a coalition to forward the information and the proposed algorithm could significantly improve the secrecy capacity of cooperative multi-relay networks.
A Dynamic Calibration Method of Installation Misalignment Angles between Two Inertial Navigation Systems
Authors: Hua Ming , Li Kui , Lv Yanhong , Wu Qi
Published: September 2018

Generally, in order to ensure the reliability of Navigation system, vehicles are usually equipped with two or more sets of inertial navigation systems (INSs). Fusion of navigation measurement information from different sets of INSs can improve the accuracy of autonomous navigation effectively. However, due to the existence of misalignment angles, the coordinate axes of different systems are usually not in coincidence with each other absolutely, which would lead to serious problems when integrating the attitudes information. Therefore, it is necessary to precisely calibrate and compensate the misalignment angles between different systems. In this paper, a dynamic calibration method of misalignment angles between two systems was proposed. This method uses the speed and attitude information of two sets of INSs during the movement of the vehicle as measurements to dynamically calibrate the misalignment angles of two systems without additional information sources or other external measuring equipment, such as turntable. A mathematical model of misalignment angles between two INSs was established. The simulation experiment and the INSs vehicle experiments were conducted to verify the effectiveness of the method. The results show that the calibration accuracy of misalignment angles between the two sets of systems can reach to 1″ while using the proposed method.
Subchronic Toxicity Evaluation of Ethanol Extract of Picria fel-terrae Lour. Leaf in Wistar Rats
Authors: Harahap Urip , Yuandani  , Marianne  , Agustya Hafiza Mitha , Azizah Dira Ummul , Alfiah Syari Widia
Published: September 2018

Picria fel-terrae extract has been investigated for its hepatoprotective activity. This current study was conducted to evaluate the subchronic toxic effect of Picria fel-terrae Lour. leaf extract. The subchronic toxicity of ethanol extract of P. fel-terrae leaf was evaluated by OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) guidelines. The extract at doses of 125, 250, 500, 1000 mg/kg body weight (BW) were orally administered to the test animals for 90 days. Signs of toxicity and mortality were observed for 90 days and 118 days. The biochemistry, hematology, macropathology, relative organ weight and histopathology examination was also performed. The macroscopic and microscopic examinations of liver, lung, kidney, spleen and heart displayed normal color and texture after treatment, with ethanol extract P. fel-terrae leaf at doses of 125 and 250 mg/kg BW. The signs of toxicity, mortality, macroscopic and microscopic changes, as well as increasing biochemistry parameters were observed after treatment, with extract at the dose of 500 and 1000 mg/kg BW. However, the abnormal value of biochemistry parameters was returned to normal when the treatment was stopped. There was no effect on hematological parameters at all doses of extract. The ethanol extract P. fel-terrae leaf is untoxic for long-term use at dose 125 and 250 mg/kg BW. The toxic effect of P. fel-terrae at 500 and 1000 mg/kg BW was reversible.
“They’re Not Building It for Us”: Displacement Pressure, Unwelcomeness, and Protesting Neighborhood Investment
Authors: Danley Stephen , Weaver Rasheda
Published: September 2018

In some of Camden, NJ’s most underdeveloped neighborhoods, new investment is perceived as a catch-22. Such investment is badly needed, but residents fear gentrification and the creation of white spaces. Our study examines that puzzle, that residents protest badly needed investment, using ethnographic and interview data from residents and Camden, NJ, as a case study for examining community understanding of gentrification. In doing so, we draw upon gentrification literature that focuses on displacement pressure and exclusionary displacement, but argue that the Camden case points towards a different dimension of gentrification. Our findings show how (1) exclusion and “unwelcomeness” created by the development of white spaces is conceptualized by residents as being distinct from the impact such exclusion has on future displacement and (2) that residents internalize that exclusion from white spaces, dampening their support and increasing their resistance for new development. Our findings represent a contribution to the discussion on displacement pressure, which focuses primarily on exclusion through financial and economic pressure on residents, and shows that racialized exclusion is, itself, a fundamental element of residential fear of gentrification. We point to an opportunity to address fears of gentrification not only through economic means but also by focusing on issues of access and exclusion in urban space as a direct response to such residential fears.
Optimization of China Sponge City Design: The Case of Lincang Technology Innovation Park
Authors: Li Nan , Qin Chengxin , Du Pengfei
Published: September 2018

China launched the sponge city (SPC) initiative in 2013 to reduce municipal stormwater runoff. The design criteria are mainly the annual comprehensive runoff coefficient (ACRC) regulated in a design guideline. Numerous SPC alternatives with varied low-impact development (LID) measures can be designed to meet the ACRC. Obviously, the optimization of SPC design is significant. This study provides an approach to SPC design optimization that applies an optimized module of SUSTAIN to simulate SPC performance over a 10-year period. The targeted volume reduction was derived from the SWMM model and corresponded to the ACRC criteria. Based on the reduction, the minimal cost and cost-effectiveness analyses were conducted. The proposed approach was applied to the Lincang Technology Innovation Park (LCTIP) as a test case. Three scenarios were analyzed: The original design implemented on the site, the landscape improved design, and the most economical design. The results indicated that the optimized alternative may save up to 12.3% of the cost while meeting that ACRC value. The approach improves upon SPC design, particularly with regards to flood control. The present research will help decision makers to develop and select the most appropriate SPC design that is most cost-effective.
Design and Analysis of Partitioned-Stator Switched-Flux Dual-Excitation Machine for Hybrid Electric Vehicles
Authors: Lee Christopher , Chau Kwok , Ching Tze , Chan Ching
Published: September 2018

In this paper, an advanced partitioned-stator switched-flux dual-excitation (PS-SFDE) machine, which is highly suitable for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), is proposed. By artfully implementing two excitation sources, namely the high-power-density permanent-magnet (PM) source and the DC-field excitation source, the proposed machine can take benefits from both sides. Unlike the existing PS-SFDE machines that sacrifice the PM materials for DC-field winding accommodation, the proposed machine instead shares the space of the armature winding with the DC-field winding. Hence, comparable power and torque levels can be potentially achieved.
Exosomal miR-1228 From Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts Promotes Cell Migration and Invasion of Osteosarcoma by Directly Targeting SCAI
Authors: Wang Jian-Wei , Wu Xiao-Feng , Gu Xiao-Juan , Jiang Xing-Hua
Published: September 2018

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) play a predominant role in regulating tumor progression. Understanding how CAFs communicate with osteosarcoma is crucial for developing novel approaches for osteosarcoma therapy. Exosomes are able to transmit messages between cells. In this study,
we demonstrated that CAFs transfer exosomes to osteosarcoma cells, which promotes osteosarcoma cell migration and invasion. Using a miRNA microarray analysis, we identified 13 miRNAs that are significantly increased in exosomes derived from cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and corresponding
paracancer fibroblasts (PAFs). In vitro studies further validated that the levels of microRNA-1228 (miR-1228) were increased in CAFs, its secreted exosomes, and in recipient osteosarcoma cells, which can downregulate endogenous SCAI mRNA and protein level in osteosarcoma. Furthermore, our
findings demonstrate that SCAI was downregulated in osteosarcoma tissues. Taken together, this study provides evidence that CAF exosomal miR-1228 is able to promote osteosarcoma invasion and migration by targeting SCAI, which may represent a critical therapeutic target for osteosarcoma treatment.
« Crise du lait » et trajectoires de résilience des petits producteurs à Madagascar
Authors: Droy Isabelle , Rasolofo Patrick
Published: September 2018

À Madagascar, la production de lait destinée à la commercialisation a été développée depuis plusieurs décennies dans le cadre d’une petite agriculture familiale diversifiée sur des plateaux d’altitude. En 2009, suite à des événements politiques ayant entraîné la disparition d’un acteur majeur de la collecte et de la transformation, la « crise du lait » a affecté l’ensemble de la filière et entraîné d’importantes recompositions dans son organisation. À partir des données pluriannuelles d’un observatoire rural, nous avons reconstitué les trajectoires d’adaptation ou de résilience des petits producteurs laitiers, que nous avons replacées dans une perspective systémique qui interroge les politiques publiques agricoles conduites dans le pays.
Grands périmètres irrigués et résilience des paysans au Sahel
Authors: Tapsoba Abdoulaye , Gérard Françoise , Daré William’s
Published: September 2018

L’analyse de la situation des ménages de Bagré et de la zone pluviale alentour montre que la vulnérabilité des ménages à l’insécurité économique et alimentaire est très forte et concerne les deux tiers de la population. Quatre indicateurs sont proposés pour analyser la sécurité économique et alimentaire des ménages ainsi que leur résilience, comprise comme leur exposition et capacité à surmonter des chocs. La situation est préoccupante sur l’ensemble de la zone, mais, surtout, les ménages pauvres de la zone irriguée sont plus vulnérables que ceux de la zone pluviale, ce qui questionne le bien-fondé des travaux d’extension prévus pour ce périmètre. Une analyse des dysfonctionnements rencontrés est proposée.
«Palos en la rueda…» Acción exterior del sindicalismo estadounidense en España, 1945-1975
Authors: Rodríguez-Jiménez Francisco
Published: September 2018

La derrota republicana en la guerra civil española generó una especie de «sentimiento de culpabilidad» en buena parte de la izquierda europea y estadounidense. Durante la II Guerra Mundial el interés del sindicalismo internacional por España no desapareció, pero quedó en un segundo plano. Tras la derrota de Hitler, el sindicalismo estadounidense impulsó numerosas campañas de ayuda a quienes luchaban contra la dictadura franquista, considerada vestigio del fascismo derrotado. Pero tal solidaridad trasatlántica se produjo en un contexto desfavorable. La politizada atmósfera de la guerra fría cercenó la acción exterior de los sindicatos estadounidenses. Algo que no siempre comprendieron sus homólogos europeos. Pese a ello, aquella ayuda del otro lado del Atlántico contribuyó a la supervivencia del sindicalismo antifranquista; fue importante para denunciar la represión franquista en distintos foros internacionales. En las páginas siguientes intento explicar los pormenores de lo sucedido en el período 1945-1975, contrastando documentación inédita de archivos estadounidenses con fuentes españolas.
El nacimiento de Solidaridad Democrática Española en Francia y la participación de la Unión General de Trabajadores
Authors: Collado Jiménez Juan Carlos
Published: September 2018

Reorganizado el Partido Socialista y la Unión General de Trabajadores en Francia, en torno a la ciudad de Toulouse, en enero de 1945 nacía Solidaridad Democrática Española, una asociación pensada inicialmente para prestar ayuda y auxilio a los exiliados cercanos a sus organizaciones. Pero a los refugiados de la Guerra Civil acogidos en Francia se fueron uniendo todos los clandestinos que cruzaban la frontera porque huían del régimen de Franco o querían reagruparse con otros familiares exiliados. Tomando como punto de partida la situación en la que se encontraban los refugiados españoles en 1945, el presente trabajo pretende estudiar las causas que llevaron a la formación de Solidaridad, su financiación y ámbito de actuación, la función desarrollada por la asociación y las relaciones con las organizaciones españolas e internacionales hasta mediados de los años cincuenta. Las organizaciones socialistas precisaban un organismo con estos fines y este llegó a tener una cierta presencia y reconocimiento internacional con muy pocos recursos.
The Role of University Leadership in Advocating Social Justice in South African Higher Education
Authors: Jappie Naziema Begum
Published: September 2018

Higher education institutions in South Africa are undergoing remarkable changes. Traditionally, universities have been governed on a scholastic, academic, and research basis. This promoted an authoritarian and autonomous governance system, which clearly justified separate education under apartheid. The new democracy in South Africa vowed to change the system to ensure equity, diversity, and justice in education. Universities had to transform to benefit the underprivileged, disadvantaged, Black population of the country. This resulted in universities having to conduct their activities in a corporate style and, as such, required a commitment by all stakeholders to succeed. University leaderships are important role players who are pivotal in ensuring that social justice prevails. This chapter will investigate the role of leadership in shaping vision and mission in addition, ensuring policy implementation at the various higher education institutions.
Information Security Threats in Public and Private Organizations
Authors: Oncioiu Ionica , Petrescu Anca Gabriela
Published: September 2018

Along with the incontestable benefits for the modern society, the information and communication technology developments induce new vulnerabilities. Mobile computing devices, cloud computing, and privacy issues are just a few elements that should be taken into account when shaping the modern information security that is essential to our modern way of life. Since information security risks are rapidly evolving and taking new forms, the real benefits of information and communication technologies may be exploited only if trust is built on every layer of responsibility. This study explores of the present main information security threats faced by Romanian organizations, as well as of the attitude of Romanian organizations towards information security, as resulted from a research and detailed survey questionnaire performed by the authors. Following the results of this research, the authors propose a way to improve the security posture of Romanian organizations, as well as knowledge, capabilities, and decision making of business managers.
Pesticide and Human Health
Authors: Dixit Sonal , Srivastava Madhu Prakash , Sharma Yogesh Kumar
Published: September 2018

Pesticides are known to be one of the extremely useful and incredibly beneficial agents for preventing losses of crops as well as diseases in humans. They are used in a large number of conditions as in farms, orchards, gardens, parks, sports lawn, residences, industrial areas, shops, schools, hospitals, airports, railway lines, drains, on animals, and on people for control of diseases such as scabies and head lice. People are exposed to pesticides in their daily lives through multiple routes of exposure such as occupational or food, water, and air. Many pesticides can be used safely and effectively, but care must be taken while using them. Several pesticides are beneficial in agriculture for killing pests. Yet many times their injurious effects offset the positive ones. Uses of pesticides are apprehension for sustainability of environment and global stability. This chapter aims to discuss pesticides, their types, routes of their exposure, human health concerns related to them, methods to stop using them, and a future scenario of the world after eradicating pesticides.
Pesticides and Their Impact on Aquatic Microorganisms
Authors: Aziz Riyes Un , Sameena
Published: September 2018

Microorganisms are the most dominant natives of aquatic ecosystems, where they fulfill very specific roles in primary productivity, decomposition, and nutrient cycling. Microorganisms get naturally exposed to pesticides in aquatic environments by the direct and indirect supply. The microorganism can make use of components entering the environment as feeding substrate for building material or a source of energy thus affecting balance in the ecosystem. Natural population possesses a number of responses to these contaminants, and quickest reaction has been reported from the microorganisms. Pesticides may affect the population dynamics by controlling individual reproduction, survival, and by changing sex ratio. The following patterns are recognized as effects of pesticides at the ecosystem and community levels like an increase of species richness reduction of energy transfer efficiency from primary producers to top predators. Thus, the purpose of this chapter is to review the significance of pesticides and their effects on aquatic microorganism and to study their ecological significance.
Sustaining Tourists' Revisit Intention Through Talk-In-Interaction Model
Authors: Nugroho Raden Arief
Published: September 2018

Through conversation analysis theory, the author explores the possibility to develop Dieng tourism by investigating the role of conversation in sustaining tourists' revisit intention. To do so, the author conducted participant observation method in two homestays. To make a comprehensive analysis, the author made a detailed field note and followed the approved transcription protocols prior to writing a research report. The findings suggest that the hosts applied the culture they commonly practiced and believed in to people of different cultures. Therefore, it created communication breakdowns identified from the occurrence of unsuccessful turn-takings. Moreover, the study discovers that Zarndt's nationality-based cultural dimensions taxonomy is no longer relevant in tourism context because idiosyncrasy plays a bigger role in guest-host communication. Based on these findings, a newly proposed talk-in-interaction model accommodating a more balanced use of transactional and interpersonal motives is made for the improvement of homestay hosts' multicultural communication.
Community Development Through Promoting Ecotourism in Mangrove Areas of Bangladesh
Authors: Islam Md. Shafiqul
Published: September 2018

Ecotourism is the useful method of community engagement. All factors related to ecotourism support community livelihoods towards sustainability. The study was conducted with the view to know the possibility of community development through ecotourism in the mangrove areas of Bangladesh. The community participation in ecotourism was assessed significantly with the perception and common interest on natural heritage and environmental conservation and sustainability of the enterprise. The community can contribute and engage themselves by preparing and supplying local foods including organic production and wild foods (aquatic) that enhance the degree of ecotourism through community development. It was elicited that women can work in the prospective enterprise by adding new dimension of handicrafts business using local inputs and forest-based available raw materials. The host communities are the central notion of ecotourism for sustainable development in the study area.
Work-Based Learning in the United Kingdom
Authors: Talbot Jon
Published: September 2018

The term work-based learning has been widely used in higher education in the UK since the 1990s, and there is evidence of a spread in practice. However, it is not recognized as a subject by the UK Higher Education Statistics Authority so that the extent of practice is unknown. A small unpublished survey sheds some light on the varieties and extent of practice in England and Wales, identifying five different approaches. Different pedagogical practices can exist within single universities, and most of the chapter outlines how the University of Chester incorporates two practices. Its work-based learning (WBL) module is available for all full-time second-year undergraduates regardless of discipline. Its purpose is to enable all students of the university the opportunity to gain real-world workplace experience and sensitize them to the requirements of experiential and lifelong learning. By contrast the work-based and integrative studies (WBIS) is an example of a fully negotiated whole program designed to facilitate the development of practice for those already working.
Negotiating the Material Logics of Religious Learning
Authors: Holmqvist Morten
Published: September 2018

The chapter explores the material spaces and logics of religious learning processes. A discrepancy between religious educators and the 14-year- old confirmands was evident during a year of ethnographic fieldwork. A material semiotic approach provides important perspectives on the dynamics between material and human actors in religious learning context. The findings suggest that different notions of space with different logics of religious learning were established during the confirmation program. The spaces and logics were constituted by the interplay with material objects, pastors, catechists, and confirmands. The chapter points to how materiality is part of religious learning and how materiality can open up different ways of practicing and conceptualizing religion.
Using Crowd Sourcing to Analyze Consumers' Response to Privacy Policies of Online Social Network and Financial Institutions at Micro Level
Authors: Alduaij Shaikha , Chen Zhiyuan , Gangopadhyay Aryya
Published: September 2018

As it becomes easy and inexpensive to store huge amount of data, concerns about privacy are increasing as well. Although service providers have privacy policies, research shows that users rarely read privacy policies. As a result, there has been little work done on how consumers respond to individual segments of privacy policies, which is important for organizations when designing privacy policies. In this study, the authors break down privacy policies of two well-known social network companies (Facebook, Twitter) and financial institution (Bank of America) into simple segments. They then use crowd sourcing to analyze consumers' response to these policy segments. The authors ask questions on users' awareness, expectations, familiarity, and privacy concerns of these policy segments. The relationships between various factors such as demographic factors, data type, data flow and consumers' privacy concerns were also investigated. The authors conclude with guidelines and suggestions for improvement and ways to increase users' awareness of privacy policies.
A Novel Framework for Efficient Extraction of Meaningful Key Frames From Surveillance Video
Authors: Raikwar Suresh Chandra , Bhatnagar Charul , Jalal Anand Singh
Published: September 2018

The key frame extraction, aimed at reducing the amount of information from a surveillance video for analysis by human. The key frame is an important frame of a video to provide an overview of the video. Extraction of key frames from surveillance video is of great interest in effective monitoring and later analysis of video. The computational cost of the existing methods of key frame extraction is very high. The proposed method is a framework for Key frame extraction from a long surveillance video with significantly reduced computational cost. The proposed framework incorporates human intelligence in the process of key frame extraction. The results of proposed framework are compared with the results of IMARS (IBM multimedia analysis and retrieval system), results of the key frame extraction methods based on entropy difference method, spatial color distribution method and edge histogram descriptor method. The proposed framework has been objectively evaluated by fidelity. The experimental results demonstrate evidence of the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Survey on Privacy Preserving Association Rule Data Mining
Authors: Navale Geeta S. , Mali Suresh N.
Published: September 2018

The progress in the development of data mining techniques achieved in the recent years is gigantic. The collative data mining techniques makes the privacy preserving an important issue. The ultimate aim of the privacy preserving data mining is to extract relevant information from large amount of data base while protecting the sensitive information. The togetherness in the information retrieval with privacy and data quality is crucial. A detailed survey of the present methodologies for the association rule data mining and a review of the state of art method for privacy preserving association rule mining is presented in this paper. An analysis is provided based on the association rule mining algorithm techniques, objective measures, performance metrics and results achieved. The metrics and the short comings of the various existing technologies are also analysed. Finally, the authors present various research issues which can be useful for the researchers to accomplish further research on the privacy preserving association rule data mining.
A Comparative View of Censored and Uncensored Political Discussion
Authors: Ji Qihao
Published: September 2018

Through a content analysis on Chinese online dissidents' social media discourses, this study examines the impact of Internet censorship on Chinese dissidents' political discourse in two social media platforms: Weibo and Twitter. Data was collected during a time period when China's Internet censorship was tightened. Results revealed that Chinese online dissidents are more likely to post critical opinions and direct criticism towards the Chinese government on Twitter. In addition, dissidents on Twitter are more likely to engage in discussing with others, while Weibo dissidents tend to adopt linguistic skills more often to bypass censorship. No difference was found in terms of dissidents' civility and rationality across the two platforms. Implications and future research are discussed in detail.
Offensive Information Warfare Revisited
Authors: Rohn Eli , White Connie M. , Leshem Guy
Published: September 2018

Socio-technical forecasts that materialized are of particular interest, as they are based on basic principles that must hold true for a long time, and thus worthy of special attention. The exploitation of the Internet as a vehicle for psychological and physical battle has been anticipated ever since the Internet became a world-wide phenomenon. Its potential for abuse by terrorist groups motivated Valeri & Knights to compile a list of key predictions, without the benefit of the hindsight afforded by the post-millennial terrorist attacks on the USA & Europe, and before social media was conceived. This paper evaluates some of their predictions in light of the massive social media and network attacks that occurred in Israel and Syria. Additionally, the paper examines how attacked governments and nations respond. The authors find that some of the key predictions advanced by Valeri and Knights have proven accurate. Offensive information warfare attacks have and will continue to influence policies, budgets and civic voluntary participation to counter such attacks.
A Usability Evaluation of Facebook's Privacy Features Based on the Perspectives of Experts and Users
Authors: Mantau Márcio J. , Kimura Marcos H. , Gasparini Isabela , Berkenbrock Carla D. M. , Kemczinski Avanilde
Published: September 2018

The issue of privacy in social networks is a hot topic today, because of the growing amount of information shared among users, who are connected to social media every moment and by different devices and displays. This chapter presents a usability evaluation of the privacy features of Facebook's social network. The authors carry out an evaluation composed by three approaches, executed in three stages: first by the analysis and inspection of system's features related to privacy, available for both systems (Web-based systems and mobile-based systems, e.g. app). The second step is a heuristic evaluation led by three experts, and finally, the third step is a questionnaire with 605 users to compare the results between specialists and real users. This chapter aims to present the problems associated with these privacy settings, and it also wants to contribute for improving the user interaction with this social network.
Should We Publish That?
Authors: Falkenberg Loren , Osiyevskyy Oleksiy
Published: September 2018

As the responsibilities of modern business expand to multiple stakeholders, there is an increased need to understand how to manage conflicting normative expectations of different stakeholders. Corporate responsibilities to stakeholders are based on the need to minimize or correct harm from operations (respect negative injunctions) while contributing to the social welfare of communities the firm operates in (engage in positive duties). By comparing multiple decision scenarios in the traditional and online publishing industry, the chapter explores the tensions that arise between these imperatives. Based on these tensions, the chapter outlines a framework and a practical industry-independent heuristic decision making process, embracing normative expectations, the consequences to a company and to stakeholders, and potential mitigating actions. The proposed heuristic approach allows balancing the tensions among stakeholder expectations to ensure selection of the appropriate alternative. The discussion is finished by pointing out the usefulness and applicability of the proposed heuristics in other industries and settings of the contemporary business environment.
Models of Privacy and Security Issues on Mobile Applications
Authors: Zlatolas Lili Nemec , Welzer Tatjana , Heričko Marjan , Hölbl Marko
Published: September 2018

The development of smart phones and other smart devices has led to the development of mobile applications, which are in use frequently by the users. It is also anticipated that the number of mobile applications will grow rapidly in the next years. This topic has, therefore, been researched highly in the past years. Mobile applications gather user data and that is why privacy and security in mobile applications is a very important research topic. In this chapter we give an overview of the current research on privacy and security issues of mobile applications.