bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effects of Pyrolysis Temperature and Retention Time on Fuel Characteristics of Food Waste Feedstuff and Compost for Co-Firing in Coal Power Plants
Authors: Lee Ye-Eun , Shin Dong-Chul , Jeong Yoonah , Kim I-Tae , Yoo Yeong-Seok
Published: November 2019

Food waste is an underutilized organic resource given its abundance and high potential energy. The purpose of this study was to confirm the suitability of pyrolyzed food waste as a co-firing fuel by adjusting the pyrolysis temperature (300–500 °C) and retention time (15–60 min). Both high moisture (compost) and low moisture (feedstuff) food waste were examined. Increasing the temperature and retention time yielded more volatile H and O as well as C sequestration, resulting in reduced H/C and O/C ratios. Notably, the van Krevelen diagram increased in similarity to that of coal. Upon pyrolyzing food waste compost, more than half of the chloride was volatilized, the highest carbon content of the compost and feedstuff were 61.35% and 54.12%, respectively, after pyrolysis at 400 °C for 60 min; however, the calorific value of the pyrolyzed feedstuff was reduced owing to the high salt concentration. The pyrolyzed compost and feedstuff had high Ca contents, which contributed to an increased ash fusion temperature. Therefore, food waste byproducts are advantageous as co-firing fuels in terms of energy regeneration. Nevertheless, further research is required regarding the removal of salt and alkali earth metal ion materials.
Optimal Design of a Diesel-PV-Wind-Battery-Hydro Pumped POWER system with the Integration of ELECTRIC vehicles in a Colombian Community
Authors: Ruiz Semaria , Patiño Julian , Marquez-Ruiz Alejandro , Espinosa Jairo , Duque Eduardo , Ortiz Paola
Published: November 2019

This article proposes a novel design methodology for hybrid isolated microgrids, integrating electric vehicles (EV) as additional loads and also as additional storage systems in the microgrid design stage. The proposed method highlights the application of electric vehicles in rural environments. Two types of electric vehicles were considered: (1) EV that only operate in charging mode; and (2) EV that can interchange power with the microgrid (V2G). For both EV types, a dispatch strategy was developed to optimize the use of the system resources during the charging process. As an application example of the proposed design methodology, a hybrid microgrid was designed for the rural Colombian village of Unguía. The results show the advantages of the inclusion of EV as ancillary services providers for the system and also as public transportation agents.
Partial Discharge Analysis under High-Frequency, Fast-Rise Square Wave Voltages in Silicone Gel: A Modeling Approach
Authors: Borghei Moein , Ghassemi Mona
Published: November 2019

Wide bandgap (WBG) power modules able to tolerate high voltages and currents are the most promising solution to reduce the size and weight of the power management and conversion systems. These systems are envisioned to be widely used in the power grid and the next generation of more (and possibly all) electric aircraft, ships, and vehicles. However, accelerated aging of silicone gel when being exposed to high frequency, fast rise-time voltage pulses that can offset or even be an obstacle for using WBG-based systems. Silicone gel is used to insulate conductor parts in the module and encapsulate the module. It has less electrical insulation strength than the substrate and is susceptible to partial discharges (PDs). PDs often occur in the cavities located close to high electric field regions around the sharp edges of metallization in the gel. The vulnerability of silicone gel to PDs occurred in the cavities under repetitive pulses with a high slew rate investigated in this paper. The objective mentioned above is achieved by developing a Finite-Element Analysis (FEA) PD model for fast, repetitive voltage pulses. This work has been done for the first time to the best of our knowledge. By using the model, the influence of frequency and slew rate on the magnitude and rate of PD events is studied.
Epicardial Adipose Tissue: Clinical Biomarker of Cardio-Metabolic Risk
Authors: Villasante Fricke Alexandra C. , Iacobellis Gianluca
Published: November 2019

Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) is part of the visceral adipose tissue (VAT) that surrounds the heart and it is a quantifiable, modifiable, and multifaceted tissue that has both local and systemic effects. When EAT is enlarged, EAT contributes to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk and plays a role in the development of metabolic syndrome (MetS). In this review, we will discuss the role of EAT in various facets of MetS, including type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and insulin resistance. We examine the association between EAT and liver steatosis. We also address the correlations of EAT with HIV therapy and with psoriasis. We discuss racial differences in baseline EAT thickness. We conclude that EAT measurement serves as a powerful potential diagnostic tool in assessing cardiovascular and metabolic risk. Measurement of EAT is made less costly, more convenient, and yet accurate and reliable by transthoracic echocardiography. Furthermore, modification of EAT thickness has therapeutic implications for ASCVD, T2DM, and MetS.
A Benzothiazole-Based Fluorescent Probe for Ratiometric Detection of Al3+ and Its Application in Water Samples and Cell Imaging
Authors: Tian Zhen-Nan , Wu Ding-Qi , Sun Xue-Jiao , Liu Ting-Ting , Xing Zhi-Yong
Published: November 2019

An easily prepared benzothiazole-based probe (BHM) was prepared and characterized by general spectra, including 1H NMR, 13C NMR, HRMS, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Based on the synergistic mechanism of the inhabitation of intramolecular charge transfer (ICT), the BHM displayed high selectivity and sensitivity for Al3+ in DMF/H2O (v/v, 1/1) through an obvious blue-shift in the fluorescent spectrum and significant color change detected by the naked eye, respectively. The binding ratio of BHM with Al3+ was 1:1, as determined by the Job plot, and the binding details were investigated using FT-IR, 1H NMR titration, and ESI-MS analysis. Furthermore, the BHM was successfully applied in the detection of Al3+ in the Songhua River and on a test stripe. Fluorescence imaging experiments confirmed that the BHM could be used to monitor Al3+ in human stromal cells (HSC).
NLRP7 Is Involved in the Differentiation of the Decidual Macrophages
Authors: Tsai Pei-Yin , Chen Kuan-Ru , Li Yueh-Chun , Kuo Pao-Lin
Published: November 2019

Macrophage polarization, regulated appropriately, may play important roles in successful pregnancy. In the face of the vital roles of decidua macrophages in pregnancy, it is insufficient to recognize the trigger of macrophage differentiation and polarization. We aimed to explore the link between the NLRP7 gene and macrophage polarization in human deciduas. Here, we enrolled the endometrial tissues from eight pregnant women in the first trimester. We found that NLRP7 was abundant in endometrial tissues and that NLRP7 was expressed in decidual macrophages of the first-trimester pregnancy. NLRP7 was predominately expressed in the decidual M2 macrophages, as compared with the M1 macrophages. Furthermore, our results suggest that NLRP7 is associated with decidual macrophage differentiation. NLRP7 over-expression suppresses the expression of M1 markers and enhances the expression of the M2 markers. Considering that NLRP7 relates to decidualization and macrophage differentiation, we propose that NLRP7 is a primate-specific multitasking gene to maintain endometrial hemostasis and reproductive success. This finding may pave the way for therapies of pathological pregnancies.
Targeting the Oncogenic p53 Mutants in Colorectal Cancer and Other Solid Tumors
Authors: Li Hui , Zhang Jinglin , Tong Joanna Hung Man , Chan Anthony Wing Hung , Yu Jun , Kang Wei , To Ka Fai
Published: November 2019

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a kind of solid tumor and the third most common cancer type in the world. It is a heterogeneous disease characterized by genetic and epigenetic aberrations. The TP53 mutation is the key step driving the transition from adenoma to adenocarcinoma. The functional roles of TP53 mutation in tumor development have been comprehensively investigated. In CRC, TP53 mutation was associated with poor prognosis and chemoresistance. A gain of function (GOF) of p53 mutants promotes cell proliferation, migration and invasion through multiple mechanisms. Restoring wild type p53 function, depleting p53 mutants, or intervention by targeting the oncogenic downstreams provides potential therapeutic strategies. In this review, we comprehensively summarize the GOF of p53 mutants in CRC progression as well as in some other solid tumors, and discuss the current strategies targeting p53 mutants in malignancies.
Contribution of a Novel B3GLCT Variant to Peters Plus Syndrome Discovered by a Combination of Next-Generation Sequencing and Automated Text Mining
Authors: Totoń-Żurańska Justyna , Kapusta Przemysław , Rybak-Krzyszkowska Magda , Lorenc Katarzyna , Machlowska Julita , Skalniak Anna , Filipek Erita , Pawlik Dorota , Wołkow Paweł P.
Published: November 2019

Anterior segment dysgenesis (ASD) encompasses a spectrum of ocular disorders affecting the structures of the anterior eye chamber. Mutations in several genes, involved in eye development, are implicated in this disorder. ASD is often accompanied by diverse multisystemic symptoms and another genetic cause, such as variants in genes encoding collagen type IV. Thus, a wide spectrum of phenotypes and underlying genetic diversity make fast and proper diagnosis challenging. Here, we used AMELIE, an automatic text mining tool that enriches data with the most up-to-date information from literature, and wANNOVAR, which is based on well-documented databases and incorporates variant filtering strategy to identify genetic variants responsible for severely-manifested ASD in a newborn child. This strategy, applied to trio sequencing data in compliance with ACMG 2015 guidelines, helped us find two compound heterozygous variants of the B3GLCT gene, of which c.660+1G>A (rs80338851) was previously associated with the phenotype of Peters plus syndrome (PPS), while the second, NM_194318.3:c.755delC (p.T252fs), in exon 9 of the same gene was noted for the first time. PPS, a very rare subtype of ASD, is a glycosylation disorder, where the dysfunctional B3GLCT gene product, O-fucose-specific β-1,3-glucosyltransferase, is ineffective in providing a noncanonical quality control system for proper protein folding in cells. Our study expands the mutation spectrum of the B3GLCT gene related to PPS. We suggest that the implementation of automatic text mining tools in combination with careful variant filtering could help translate sequencing results into diagnosis, thus, considerably accelerating the diagnostic process and, thereby, improving patient management.
Eccentric Resistance Training in Youth: Perspectives for Long-Term Athletic Development
Authors: Drury Benjamin , Ratel Sébastien , Clark Cain C.T. , Fernandes John F.T. , Moran Jason , Behm David G
Published: November 2019

The purpose of this narrative review is to discuss the role of eccentric resistance training in youth and how this training modality can be utilized within long-term physical development. Current literature on responses to eccentric exercise in youth has demonstrated that potential concerns, such as fatigue and muscle damage, compared to adults are not supported. Considering the importance of resistance training for youth athletes and the benefits of eccentric training in enhancing strength, power, speed, and resistance to injury, its inclusion throughout youth may be warranted. In this review we provide a brief overview of the physiological responses to exercise in youth with specific reference to the different responses to eccentric resistance training between children, adolescents, and adults. Thereafter, we discuss the importance of ensuring that force absorption qualities are trained throughout youth and how these may be influenced by growth and maturation. In particular, we propose practical methods on how eccentric resistance training methods can be implemented in youth via the inclusion of efficient landing mechanics, eccentric hamstrings strengthening and flywheel inertia training. This article proposes that the use of eccentric resistance training in youth should be considered a necessity to help develop both physical qualities that underpin sporting performance, as well as reducing injury risk. However, as with any other training modality implemented within youth, careful consideration should be given in accordance with an individual’s maturity status, training history and technical competency as well as being underpinned by current long-term physical development guidelines.
Institutional Change on a Conservationist Frontier: Local Responses to a Grabbing Process in the Name of Environmental Protection
Authors: Alvarado Lisa
Published: November 2019

In a wave of global conservationism, Ecuador established two large protected areas in its Amazon region in 1979. One of these is the Reserva de Producción Faunística Cuyabeno (RPFC), located in the northeastern corner of the country. Given that this land was previously managed as commons by local indigenous groups, the establishment of protected areas has had numerous consequences for these people. The research conducted comprised three months’ fieldwork in three of the affected Siona communities, primarily through the use of participant observation. Based on the framework developed by Ensminger, this paper demonstrates how institutional change has occurred in the last few centuries with the arrival of various frontiers overriding the region. This has led to the almost total eradication of traditional institutions and the introduction of a new ideology, namely conservationism. In order to legitimize their existence in the Reserve, indigenous groups are compelled to argue in a conservationist discourse if they want to stay in their ancestral territory. The article discusses tourism as one key impact on the lives of the local Siona, alongside their response to the grabbing process, which takes the form of a re-creation of their identity, including institution shopping from below. This article contributes to the debate on commons grabbing from the perspective of local actors by arguing that institution shopping from below does not necessarily mean a loss of authenticity, considering different ontological perspectives in the process of identity construction.
Ribbon α-Conotoxin KTM Exhibits Potent Inhibition of Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors
Authors: Marquart Leanna A. , Turner Matthew W. , Warner Lisa R. , King Matthew D. , Groome James R. , McDougal Owen M.
Published: November 2019

KTM is a 16 amino acid peptide with the sequence WCCSYPGCYWSSSKWC. Here, we present the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) structure and bioactivity of this rationally designed α-conotoxin (α-CTx) that demonstrates potent inhibition of rat α3β2-nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (rα3β2-nAChRs). Two bioassays were used to test the efficacy of KTM. First, a qualitative PC12 cell-based assay confirmed that KTM acts as a nAChR antagonist. Second, bioactivity evaluation by two-electrode voltage clamp electrophysiology was used to measure the inhibition of rα3β2-nAChRs by KTM (IC50 = 0.19 ± 0.02 nM), and inhibition of the same nAChR isoform by α-CTx MII (IC50 = 0.35 ± 0.8 nM). The three-dimensional structure of KTM was determined by NMR spectroscopy, and the final set of 20 structures derived from 32 distance restraints, four dihedral angle constraints, and two disulfide bond constraints overlapped with a mean global backbone root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) of 1.7 ± 0.5 Å. The structure of KTM did not adopt the disulfide fold of α-CTx MII for which it was designed, but instead adopted a flexible ribbon backbone and disulfide connectivity of C2–C16 and C3–C8 with an estimated 12.5% α-helical content. In contrast, α-CTx MII, which has a native fold of C2–C8 and C3–C16, has an estimated 38.1% α-helical secondary structure. KTM is the first reported instance of a Framework I (CC-C-C) α-CTx with ribbon connectivity to display sub-nanomolar inhibitory potency of rα3β2-nAChR subtypes.
Void Filling of Digital Elevation Models with a Terrain Texture Learning Model Based on Generative Adversarial Networks
Authors: Qiu Zhonghang , Yue Linwei , Liu Xiuguo
Published: November 2019

Digital elevation models (DEMs) are an important information source for spatial modeling. However, data voids, which commonly exist in regions with rugged topography, result in incomplete DEM products, and thus significantly degrade DEM data quality. Interpolation methods are commonly used to fill voids of small sizes. For large-scale voids, multi-source fusion is an effective solution. Nevertheless, high-quality auxiliary source information is always difficult to retrieve in rugged mountainous areas. Thus, the void filling task is still a challenge. In this paper, we proposed a method based on a deep convolutional generative adversarial network (DCGAN) to address the problem of DEM void filling. A terrain texture generation model (TTGM) was constructed based on the DCGAN framework. Elevation, terrain slope, and relief degree composed the samples in the training set to better depict the terrain textural features of the DEM data. Moreover, the resize-convolution was utilized to replace the traditional deconvolution process to overcome the staircase in the generated data. The TTGM was trained on non-void SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) 1-arc-second data patches in mountainous regions collected across the globe. Then, information neighboring the voids was involved in order to infer the latent encoding for the missing areas approximated to the distribution of training data. This was implemented with a loss function composed of pixel-wise, contextual, and perceptual constraints during the reconstruction process. The most appropriate fill surface generated by the TTGM was then employed to fill the voids, and Poisson blending was performed as a postprocessing step. Two models with different input sizes (64 × 64 and 128 × 128 pixels) were trained, so the proposed method can efficiently adapt to different sizes of voids. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method can obtain results with good visual perception and reconstruction accuracy, and is superior to classical interpolation methods.
Step by Step Towards Effective Human Activity Recognition: A Balance between Energy Consumption and Latency in Health and Wellbeing Applications
Authors: Cero Dinarević Enida , Baraković Husić Jasmina , Baraković Sabina
Published: November 2019

Human activity recognition (HAR) is a classification process that is used for recognizing human motions. A comprehensive review of currently considered approaches in each stage of HAR, as well as the influence of each HAR stage on energy consumption and latency is presented in this paper. It highlights various methods for the optimization of energy consumption and latency in each stage of HAR that has been used in literature and was analyzed in order to provide direction for the implementation of HAR in health and wellbeing applications. This paper analyses if and how each stage of the HAR process affects energy consumption and latency. It shows that data collection and filtering and data segmentation and classification stand out as key stages in achieving a balance between energy consumption and latency. Since latency is only critical for real-time HAR applications, the energy consumption of sensors and devices stands out as a key challenge for HAR implementation in health and wellbeing applications. Most of the approaches in overcoming challenges related to HAR implementation take place in the data collection, filtering and classification stages, while the data segmentation stage needs further exploration. Finally, this paper recommends a balance between energy consumption and latency for HAR in health and wellbeing applications, which takes into account the context and health of the target population.
Recent Advances on Diatom-Based Biosensors
Authors: Rea Ilaria , De Stefano Luca
Published: November 2019

Porous materials showing some useful transducing features, i.e., any changes in their physical or chemical properties as a consequence of molecular interaction, are very attractive in the realization of sensors and biosensors. Diatom frustules have been gaining support for biosensors since they are made of nanostructured amorphous silica, but do not require any nano-fabrication step; their surface can be easily functionalized and customized for specific application; diatom frustules are photoluminescent, and they can be found in almost every pond of water on the Earth, thus assuring large and low-cost availability. In this review, the most recent advances in diatom-based biosensors are reported, and a perspective view on future developments is given.
Gas Detection Using Portable Deep-UV Absorption Spectrophotometry: A Review
Authors: Khan Sulaiman , Newport David , Le Calvé Stéphane
Published: November 2019

Several gas molecules of environmental and domestic significance exhibit a strong deep-UV absorption. Therefore, a sensitive and a selective gas detector based on this unique molecular property (i.e., absorption at a specific wavelength) can be developed using deep-UV absorption spectrophotometry. UV absorption spectrometry provides a highly sensitive, reliable, self-referenced, and selective approach for gas sensing. This review article addresses the recent progress in the application of deep-UV absorption for gas sensing owing to its inherent features and tremendous potentials. Applications, advancements, and challenges related to UV emission sources, gas cells, and UV photodetectors are assessed and compared. We present the relevant theoretical aspects and challenges associated with the development of portable sensitive spectrophotometer. Finally, the applications of UV absorption spectrometry for ozone, NO2, SO2, and aromatic organic compounds during the last decades are discussed and compared. A portable UV absorption spectrophotometer can be developed by using LEDs, hollow core waveguides (HCW), and UV photodetectors (i.e., photodiodes). LED provides a portable UV emission source with low power input, low-intensity drifts, low cost, and ease of alignment. It is a quasi-chromatic UV source and covers the absorption band of molecules without optical filters for absorbance measurement of a target analyte. HCWs can be applied as a miniature gas cell for guiding UV radiation for measurement of low gas concentrations. Photodiodes, on the other hand, offer a portable UV photodetector with excellent spectral selectivity with visible rejection, minimal dark current, linearity, and resistance against UV-aging.
Vehicular Traffic Congestion Classification by Visual Features and Deep Learning Approaches: A Comparison
Authors: Impedovo Donato , Balducci Fabrizio , Dentamaro Vincenzo , Pirlo Giuseppe
Published: November 2019

Automatic traffic flow classification is useful to reveal road congestions and accidents. Nowadays, roads and highways are equipped with a huge amount of surveillance cameras, which can be used for real-time vehicle identification, and thus providing traffic flow estimation. This research provides a comparative analysis of state-of-the-art object detectors, visual features, and classification models useful to implement traffic state estimations. More specifically, three different object detectors are compared to identify vehicles. Four machine learning techniques are successively employed to explore five visual features for classification aims. These classic machine learning approaches are compared with the deep learning techniques. This research demonstrates that, when methods and resources are properly implemented and tested, results are very encouraging for both methods, but the deep learning method is the most accurately performing one reaching an accuracy of 99.9% for binary traffic state classification and 98.6% for multiclass classification.
Validation of a Low-Cost Electromyography (EMG) System via a Commercial and Accurate EMG Device: Pilot Study
Authors: Fuentes del Toro Sergio , Wei Yuyang , Olmeda Ester , Ren Lei , Guowu Wei , Díaz Vicente
Published: November 2019

Electromyography (EMG) devices are well-suited for measuring the behaviour of muscles during an exercise or a task, and are widely used in many different research areas. Their disadvantage is that commercial systems are expensive. We designed a low-cost EMG system with enough accuracy and reliability to be used in a wide range of possible ways. The present article focuses on the validation of the low-cost system we designed, which is compared with a commercially available, accurate device. The evaluation was done by means of a set of experiments, in which volunteers performed isometric and dynamic exercises while EMG signals from the rectus femoris muscle were registered by both the proposed low-cost system and a commercial system simultaneously. Analysis and assessment of three indicators to estimate the similarity between both signals were developed. These indicated a very good result, with spearman’s correlation averaging above 0.60, the energy ratio close to the 80% and the linear correlation coefficient approximating 100%. The agreement between both systems (custom and commercial) is excellent, although there are also some limitations, such as the delay of the signal (<1 s) and noise due to the hardware and assembly in the proposed system.
Novel Platform for Droplet Detection and Size Measurement Using Microstrip Transmission Lines
Authors: de Novais Schianti Juliana , L.C. Serrano Ariana , Orquiza de Carvalho Daniel , A. Penchel Rafael , Mota Pinheiro Julio , Gongora-Rubio Mario R. , Pamplona Rehder Gustavo
Published: November 2019

We propose a novel platform for detecting as well as measuring the size of individual droplets in microfluidic channels using microstrip transmission lines. The most outstanding feature of our platform is that, as opposed to previous related works, its design allows for the droplet to flow in a microfluidic channel fabricated between the top strip and the ground plane of a microstrip transmission line. This provides enhanced interaction of the electromagnetic field with the detected droplets. The proposed design allows us to measure droplet size directly from the phase of the microwave signal, without the need for a resonator. The platform is based on low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC), which makes it more compatible with Radiofrequency (RF) and microwave technology than platforms used in previous works. With this platform, we are able to measure droplets as small as 150 µm in radius. It is worth pointing out that our device could also be used for detection, counting and measurement of other microscopic objects.
Off-Axis Cavity-Enhanced Absorption Spectroscopy of 14NH3 in Air Using a Gain-Switched Frequency Comb at 1.514 μm
Authors: Chandran Satheesh , Ruth Albert A. , Martin Eamonn P. , Alexander Justin K. , Peters Frank H. , Anandarajah Prince M.
Published: November 2019

A custom-designed gain-switched frequency comb (GSFC) source was passively coupled to a medium finesse (F ≈ 522) cavity in off-axis configuration for the detection of ammonia (14NH3) in static dry air. The absorption of ammonia was detected in the near infrared spectral region between 6604 and 6607 cm−1 using a Fourier transform detection scheme. More than 30 lines of the GSFC output (free spectral range 2.5 GHz) overlapped with the strongest ro-vibrational ammonia absorption features in that spectral region. With the cavity in off-axis configuration, an NH3 detection limit of ∼3.7 ppmv in 20 s was accomplished in a laboratory environment. The experimental performance of the prototype spectrometer was characterized; advantages, drawbacks and the potential for future applications are discussed.
The Impact of Different Kernel Functions on the Performance of Scintillation Detection Based on Support Vector Machines
Authors: Savas Caner , Dovis Fabio
Published: November 2019

Scintillation caused by the electron density irregularities in the ionospheric plasma leads to rapid fluctuations in the amplitude and phase of the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) signals. Ionospheric scintillation severely degrades the performance of the GNSS receiver in the signal acquisition, tracking, and positioning. By utilizing the GNSS signals, detecting and monitoring the scintillation effects to decrease the effect of the disturbing signals have gained importance, and machine learning-based algorithms have been started to be applied for the detection. In this paper, the performance of Support Vector Machines (SVM) for scintillation detection is discussed. The effect of the different kernel functions, namely, linear, Gaussian, and polynomial, on the performance of the SVM algorithm is analyzed. Performance is statistically assessed in terms of probabilities of detection and false alarm of the scintillation event. Real GNSS signals that are affected by significant phase and amplitude scintillation effect, collected at the South African Antarctic research base SANAE IV and Hanoi, Vietnam have been used in this study. This paper questions how to select a suitable kernel function by analyzing the data preparation, cross-validation, and experimental test stages of the SVM-based process for scintillation detection. It has been observed that the overall accuracy of fine Gaussian SVM outperforms the linear, which has the lowest complexity and running time. Moreover, the third-order polynomial kernel provides improved performance compared to linear, coarse, and medium Gaussian kernel SVMs, but it comes with a cost of increased complexity and running time.
Simultaneous Temperature and Strain Measurements Using Polarization-Maintaining Few-Mode Bragg Gratings
Authors: Wang Chongxi , Huang Zhanhua , Li Guifang , Zhang Shan , Zhao Jian , Zhao Ningbo , Cai Huaiyu , Zhang Yinxin
Published: November 2019

Simultaneous measurement of temperature and strain was demonstrated using a polarization-maintaining few-mode Bragg grating (PM-FMF-FBG) based on the wavelength and phase modulation of the even L P 11 mode. The wavelength shift sensitivity and the interrogated phase sensitivity of the temperature and strain were measured to be 10 pm·°C−1 and 0.73 pm·με−1 and −3.2 × 10−2 rad·°C−1 and 4 × 10−4 rad·με−1, respectively, with a discrimination efficiency of 98%. The polarization interference led to selective polarization excitation of the reflection spectra, and the calculated phase sensitivity agreed with the experimental results.
Axially-Anisotropic Hierarchical Grating 2D Guided-Mode Resonance Strain-Sensor
Authors: Babu Sachin , Lee Jeong-Bong
Published: November 2019

Guided-mode resonance strain sensors are planar binary gratings that have fixed resonance positions and quality factors decided by material properties and grating parameters. If one is restricted by material choices, the quality factor can only be improved by adjusting the grating parameters. We report a new method to improve quality factor by applying a slotting design rule to a grating design. We investigate this design rule by first providing a theoretical analysis on how it works and then applying it to a previously studied 2D solid-disc guided-mode resonance grating strain sensor design to create a new slotted-disc guided-mode resonance grating design. We then use finite element analysis to obtain reflection spectrum results that show the new design produces resonances with at least a 6-fold increase in quality factor over the original design and more axially-symmetric sensitivities. Lastly, we discuss the applicability of the slotting design rule to binary gratings in general as a means of improving grating performance while retaining both material and resonance position choices.
Rigorous Calibration of UAV-Based LiDAR Systems with Refinement of the Boresight Angles Using a Point-to-Plane Approach
Authors: de Oliveira Junior Elizeu Martins , dos Santos Daniel Rodrigues
Published: November 2019

Advances in micro-electro-mechanical navigation systems and lightweight LIDAR (light detection and ranging) sensors onboard unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide the feasibility of deriving point clouds with very high and homogeneous point density. However, the deformations caused by numerous sources of errors should be carefully treated. This work presents a rigorous calibration of UAV-based LiDAR systems with refinement of the boresight angles using a point-to-plane approach. Our method is divided into a calibration and a parameter mounting refinement part. It starts with the estimation of the calibration parameters and then refines the boresight angles. The novel contribution of the paper is two-fold. First, we estimate the calibration parameters conditioning the centroid of a plane segmented to lie on its corresponding segmented plane without an additional surveying campaign. Second, we refine the boresight angles using a new point-to-plane model. The proposed method is evaluated by analyzing the accuracy assessment of the adjusted point cloud to point/planar features before and after the proposed method. Compared with the state-of-the-art method, our proposed method achieves better positional accuracy.
Vessel Detection and Tracking Method Based on Video Surveillance
Authors: Wawrzyniak Natalia , Hyla Tomasz , Popik Adrian
Published: November 2019

Ship detection and tracking is a basic task in any vessel traffic monitored area, whether marine or inland. It has a major impact on navigational safety and thus different systems and technologies are used to determine the best possible methods of detecting and identifying sailing units. Video monitoring is present in almost all of them, but it is usually operated manually and is used as a backup system. This is because of the difficulties in implementing an efficient and universal automatic detection method that would work in quickly alternating environmental conditions for all kind of sailing units—from kayaks to seagoing merchant vessels. This paper presents a method that allows the detection and tracking of ships using the video streams of existing monitoring systems for ports and rivers. The method and the results of experiments on three sets of data using cameras with different characteristics, settings, and scene locations are presented. The experiments were carried out in variable light and weather conditions, and a wide range of unit types were used as detection objectives. The results confirm the usability of the proposed solution; however, some minor issues were encountered in the presence of ships wakes or highly unfavourable weather conditions.
Multiple-Antenna Emitters Identification Based on a Memoryless Power Amplifier Model
Authors: Lu Jun , Xu Xiaodong
Published: November 2019

Power amplifier (PA) nonlinearity is typically unique at the radio frequency (RF) front-end for particular emitters. It can play a crucial role in the application of specific emitter identification (SEI). In this paper, under the Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) multipath communication scenario, two data-aided approaches are proposed to identify multi-antenna emitters using PA nonlinearity. Built upon a memoryless polynomial model, the first approach formulates a linear least square (LLS) problem and presents the closed-form solution of nonlinear coefficients in a MIMO system by means of singular value decomposition (SVD) operation. Another alternative approach estimates nonlinear coefficients of each individual PA through nonlinear least square (NLS) solved by the regularized Gauss–Newton iterative scheme. Moreover, there are some practical discussions of our proposed approaches about the mismatch of the order of PA model and the rank-deficient condition. Finally, the average misclassification rate is derived based on the minimum error probability (MEP) criterion, and the proposed approaches are validated to be effective through extensively numerical simulations.
Crowdsourcing as a Tool for Urban Emergency Management: Lessons from the Literature and Typology
Authors: Chaves Ramon , Schneider Daniel , Correia António , Motta Claudia L. R. , Borges Marcos R. S.
Published: November 2019

Recently, citizen involvement has been increasingly used in urban disaster prevention and management, taking advantage of new ubiquitous and collaborative technologies. This scenario has created a unique opportunity to leverage the work of crowds of volunteers. As a result, crowdsourcing approaches for disaster prevention and management have been proposed and evaluated. However, the articulation of citizens, tasks, and outcomes as a continuous flow of knowledge generation reveals a complex ecosystem that requires coordination efforts to manage interdependencies in crowd work. To tackle this challenging problem, this paper extends to the context of urban emergency management the results of a previous study that investigates how crowd work is managed in crowdsourcing platforms applied to urban planning. The goal is to understand how crowdsourcing techniques and quality control dimensions used in urban planning could be used to support urban emergency management, especially in the context of mining-related dam outages. Through a systematic literature review, our study makes a comparison between crowdsourcing tools designed for urban planning and urban emergency management and proposes a five-dimension typology of quality in crowdsourcing, which can be leveraged for optimizing urban planning and emergency management processes.
Access Control Based on Ciphertext Attribute Authentication and Threshold Policy for the Internet of Things
Authors: Zhang Qikun , Li Yongjiao , Li Zhigang , Yuan Junling , Gan Yong , Luo Xiangyang
Published: November 2019

The development of the Internet of Things has led to great development of data sharing and data interaction, which has made security and privacy more and more a concern for users. How to ensure the safe sharing of data, avoid the leakage of sensitive information, and protect the privacy of users is a serious challenge. Access control is an important issue to ensure the trust of the Internet of Things. This paper proposes an access control scheme based on ciphertext attribute authentication and threshold policy, which uses the identity authentication of hidden attributes and divides the user’s permission grade by setting the threshold function with the user’s attributes. Users obtain different permission grades according to attribute authentication and access data of different sensitivity grades to achieve fine-grained, flexible and secure access to data in the cloud server while protecting personal privacy issues. In addition, when the resource is acquired, the identity and permission joint authentication method is adopted to avoid the collusion attack of the illegal member, which makes the resource access control more secure.
A Survey of Teleceptive Sensing for Wearable Assistive Robotic Devices
Authors: Krausz Nili E. , Hargrove Levi J.
Published: November 2019

Teleception is defined as sensing that occurs remotely, with no physical contact with the object being sensed. To emulate innate control systems of the human body, a control system for a semi- or fully autonomous assistive device not only requires feedforward models of desired movement, but also the environmental or contextual awareness that could be provided by teleception. Several recent publications present teleception modalities integrated into control systems and provide preliminary results, for example, for performing hand grasp prediction or endpoint control of an arm assistive device; and gait segmentation, forward prediction of desired locomotion mode, and activity-specific control of a prosthetic leg or exoskeleton. Collectively, several different approaches to incorporating teleception have been used, including sensor fusion, geometric segmentation, and machine learning. In this paper, we summarize the recent and ongoing published work in this promising new area of research.
Engineering Design of an Active–Passive Combined Thermal Control Technology for an Aerial Optoelectronic Platform
Authors: Cheng Zhifeng , Sun Lu , Liu Fuhe , Liu Xiaofeng , Li Lei , Li Quanchao , Hu Richa
Published: November 2019

In order to ensure the imaging performance of the aerial optoelectronic platform system in low temperature environment, an active-passive combined thermal control technology was studied. A thermal control finite element model of the aerial optoelectronic platform was established. Additionally, thermal control simulation analysis and experiments under extreme conditions were carried out respectively. The simulation and experimental results showed that the temperature level of the primary mirror is improved above 25 °C by the proposed thermal control technology effectively, meanwhile the temperature gradient of the primary and secondary mirrors are less than 5 °C. The successful implementation of this active-passive combined thermal control technology provides a technical support for the precision thermal control of aerial optoelectronic platforms.
Nonclassical Systemics of Quasicoherence: From Formal Properties to Representations of Generative Mechanisms. A Conceptual Introduction to a Paradigm-Shift
Authors: Minati Gianfranco
Published: November 2019

In this article, we consider how formal models and properties of emergence, e.g., long-range correlations, power laws, and self-similarity are usually platonically considered to represent the essence of the phenomenon, more specifically, their acquired properties, e.g., coherence, and not their generative mechanisms. Properties are assumed to explain, rather than represent, real processes of emergence. Conversely, real phenomenological processes are intended to be approximations or degenerations of their essence. By contrast, here, we consider the essence as a simplification of the phenomenological complexity. It is assumed to be acceptable that such simplification neglects several aspects (e.g., incompleteness, inhomogeneities, instabilities, irregularities, and variations) of real phenomena in return for analytical tractability. Within this context, such a trade-off is a kind of reductionism when dealing with complex phenomena. Methodologically, we propose a paradigmatic change for systems science equivalent to the one that occurred in Physics from object to field, namely, a change from interactional entities to domains intended as extensions of fields, or multiple fields, as it were. The reason to introduce such a paradigm shift is to make nonidealist approaches suitable for dealing with more realistic quasicoherence, when the coherence does not consistently apply to all the composing entities, but rather, different forms of coherence apply. As a typical general interdisciplinary case, we focus on so-called collective behaviors. The goal of this paper is to introduce the concepts of domain and selection mechanisms which are suitable to represent the generative mechanisms of quasicoherence of collective behavior. Domains are established by self-tracking entities such as financial or are effectively GPS-detectable. Such domains allow the profiling of collective behavior. Selection mechanisms are based on learning techniques or cognitive approaches for social systems.
Processing Technology of Ketupat
Authors: Rahmadi Isnaini
Published: November 2019

Indonesia has a typical rice processing method as part of the nation’s culture, namely ketupat. Ketupat is typical food made of rice wrapped in diamond shaped-woven coconut leaves and boiled in water. This article reviewed the variety of processing ketupat as well as changes in ketupat during storage of ketupat according to the results of research and related references. Traditionally, ketupat is cooked in boiling water for 5 hours. This is considered inefficient in terms of cooking fuel and time required for cooking. The efforts of modifying ketupat cooking method have been done to shorten processing time, such as cooking ketupat in pressure cooker for 30 minutes. The development of ready-to-cook ketupat or quick-cooking product in attractive package becomes a promising opportunity. Quick-cooking ketupat was made by immersing ketupat in salt, steaming, freezing and drying. The package of quick-cooking ketupat was designed using HDPE plastics made square shape that requires boiling period for 30 minutes. Ingredients and the amount of rice, the size of coconut leaves, immersion process and cooking technic affected the texture of ketupat produced. Ketupat is normally stored for 2 days in room temperature and 4-7 day if it is refrigerated. Spoilage of ketupat is due to microbiological and physical changes during storage. Starch retrogradation and increase in RS III may occur when ketupat is stored at low temperature.
Os medicamentos infantis podem causar erosão na superfície de dentes decíduos? Revisão sistemática da literatura
Authors: De Oliveira Aline Maria , Lopes Alana Gail , Magalhães Tais Chaves , Carlo Hugo Lemes , De Carvalho Carlo Fabíola Galbiatti
Published: November 2019

Introdução: A erosão dentária é caracterizada por uma perda progressiva e irreversível dos tecidos dentários mineralizados que ocorre sem envolvimento bacteriano. Acredita-se que o uso frequente de medicamentos líquidos orais, em crianças, possa desenvolver erosão dentária visto que esses medicamentos apresentam, em sua maioria, pH ácido, que pode atuar como fator predisponente ao desenvolvimento da erosão dentária. Objetivo: O presente estudo avaliou os efeitos do uso de medicamentos líquidos orais na estrutura de dentes decíduos por meio de revisão sistemática da literatura. Material e Métodos: Foi realizada pesquisa de artigos científicos, em março de 2018, nas bases de dados PubMed e Web of Science utilizando descritores específicos para a pesquisa, de modo a avaliar, descritivamente, a seguinte pergunta “Os medicamentos infantis de uso contínuo podem causar erosão na superfície de dentes decíduos?” Foram encontrados 278 artigos na base de dados Pubmed e 41 na base Web of Science, dos quais 18 artigos eram coincidentes, assim 301 títulos e resumos foram lidos e analisados. Destes, 293 foram excluídos de modo que 8 artigos foram selecionados para análise crítica. Resultados: Os medicamentos líquidos de uso contínuo, geralmente utilizados para o tratamento de condições crônicas em crianças, promovem efeito erosivo sobre a estrutura dentária, principalmente quando relacionado ao pH e acidez titulável dos medicamentos, por avaliação de estudos conduzidos “in vitro”. Conclusão: Torna-se necessária a realização de estudos clínicos para avaliação mais adequada do efeito erosivo de medicamentos infantis na superfície de dentes decíduos.