bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Removal of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) from Municipal Waste Water with Integrated Membrane Systems, MBR-RO/NF
Authors: Wang Yonggang , Wang Xu , Li Mingwei , Dong Jing , Sun Changhong , Chen Guanyi
Published: February 2018

This study focuses on the application of combining membrane bioreactor (MBR) treatment with reverse osmosis (RO) or nanofiltration (NF) membrane treatment for removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in municipal wastewater. Twenty-seven PPCPs were measured in real influent with lowest average concentration being trimethoprim (7.12 ng/L) and the highest being caffeine (18.4 ng/L). The results suggest that the MBR system effectively removes the PPCPs with an efficiency of between 41.08% and 95.41%, and that the integrated membrane systems, MBR-RO/NF, can achieve even higher removal rates of above 95% for most of them. The results also suggest that, due to the differences in removal mechanisms of NF/RO membrane, differences of removal rates exist. In this study, the combination of MBR-NF resulted in the removal of 13 compounds to below detection limits and MBR-RO achieved even better results with removal of 20 compounds to below detection limits.
A Case Study of the Forced Invariance Approach for Soil Salinity Estimation in Vegetation-Covered Terrain Using Airborne Hyperspectral Imagery
Authors: Liu Lanfa , Ji Min , Buchroithner Manfred
Published: February 2018

Soil spectroscopy is a promising technique for soil analysis, and has been successfully utilized in the laboratory. When it comes to space, the presence of vegetation significantly affects the performance of imaging spectroscopy or hyperspectral imaging on the retrieval of topsoil properties. The Forced Invariance Approach has been proven able to effectively suppress the vegetation contribution to the mixed image pixel. It takes advantage of scene statistics and requires no specific a priori knowledge of the referenced spectra. However, the approach is still mainly limited to lithological mapping. In this case study, the objective was to test the performance of the Forced Invariance Approach to improve the estimation accuracy of soil salinity for an agricultural area located in the semi-arid region of Northwest China using airborne hyperspectral data. The ground truth data was obtained from an eco-hydrological wireless sensing network. The relationship between Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and soil salinity is discussed. The results demonstrate that the Forced Invariance Approach is able to improve the retrieval accuracy of soil salinity at a depth of 10 cm, as indicated by a higher value for the coefficient of determination (R2). Consequently, the vegetation suppression method has the potential to improve quantitative estimation of soil properties with multivariate statistical methods.
A Spatial Information System (SIS) for the Architectural and Cultural Heritage of Sardinia (Italy)
Authors: Vacca Giuseppina , Fiorino Donatella , Pili Davide
Published: February 2018

The paper presents a spatial information system (SIS) developed in the research project, “Tecniche murarie tradizionali: conoscenza per la conservazione ed il miglioramento prestazionale” (Traditional building techniques: from knowledge to conservation and performance improvement), with the aim of archiving and managing the data derived from the project. The research project has the purpose of studying the building techniques of the 13th–18th centuries in the Sardinia region (Italy) for their knowledge, conservation, and promotion. The research is founded on a multidisciplinary approach involving several specialists integrating their expertise and providing their input to the knowledge of the dimensional, technical constructive, mensiochronological, materials, physical-mechanical, and energy performance features. This multidisciplinary approach is used to define the peculiarities and behavior of the examined structures, including their performance levels, and then direct the interventions toward innovative, mindful, and ethically correct solutions. The management of the huge amount of data produced during the research required the building of a SIS composed of a geodatabase connected to a GIS and a WebGIS through a Web Map Service (WMS). The entire infrastructure is developed and implemented using open source software components, and will make the research data available to the scientific and professional communities, both for further development and for technical uses. As of today, we surveyed and archived more than 500 buildings belonging to the Sardinia region architectural heritage, and classified them into four main macro categories: defensive architectures, religious architectures, residential architectures, and industrial architectures.
The Application of the Analytic Hierarchy Process and a New Correlation Algorithm to Urban Construction and Supervision Using Multi-Source Government Data in Tianjin
Authors: Wang Shaoyi , Sheng Zhongjie , Xi Yuliang , Ma Xiangyuan , Zhang Huihui , Kang Mengjun , Ren Fu , Du Qingyun , Hu Ke , Han Zhenbiao
Published: February 2018

As the era of big data approaches, big data has attracted increasing amounts of attention from researchers. Various types of studies have been conducted and these studies have focused particularly on the management, organization, and correlation of data and calculations using data. Most studies involving big data address applications in scientific, commercial, and ecological fields. However, the application of big data to government management is also needed. This paper examines the application of multi-source government data to urban construction and supervision in Tianjin, China. The analytic hierarchy process and a new approach called the correlation degree algorithm are introduced to calculate the degree of correlation between different approval items in one construction project and between different construction projects. The results show that more than 75% of the construction projects and their approval items are highly correlated. The results of this study suggest that most of the examined construction projects are well supervised, have relatively high probabilities of satisfying the relevant legal requirements, and observe their initial planning schemes.
Scandoside Exerts Anti-Inflammatory Effect Via Suppressing NF-κB and MAPK Signaling Pathways in LPS-Induced RAW 264.7 Macrophages
Authors: He Jingyu , Li Jiafeng , Liu Han , Yang Zichao , Zhou Fenghua , Wei Ting , Dong Yaqian , Xue Hongjiao , Tang Lan , Liu Menghua
Published: February 2018

The iridoids of Hedyotis diffusa Willd play an important role in the anti-inflammatory process, but the specific iridoid with anti-inflammatory effect and its mechanism has not be thoroughly studied. An iridoid compound named scandoside (SCA) was isolated from H. diffusa and its anti-inflammatory effect was investigated in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages. Its anti-inflammatory mechanism was confirmed by in intro experiments and molecular docking analyses. As results, SCA significantly decreased the productions of nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) and inhibited the levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), TNF-α and IL-6 messenger RNA (mRNA) expression in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages. SCA treatment suppressed the phosphorylation of inhibitor of nuclear transcription factor kappa-B alpaha (IκB-α), p38, extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK). The docking data suggested that SCA had great binding abilities to COX-2, iNOS and IκB. Taken together, the results indicated that the anti-inflammatory effect of SCA is due to inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokines and mediators via suppressing the nuclear transcription factor kappa-B (NF-κB) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways, which provided useful information for its application and development.
BC-Box Motif-Mediated Neuronal Differentiation of Somatic Stem Cells
Authors: Kanno Hiroshi , Xu Yuqun , Miyakawa Taykua , Kubo Atsuhiko , Higashida Tetsuhiro , Kobayashi Nahoko , Yoshida Tetsuhiko , Tanokura Masaru
Published: February 2018

Von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor protein (pVHL) functions to induce neuronal differentiation of neural stem/progenitor cells (NSCs) and skin-derived precursors (SKPs). Here we identified a neuronal differentiation domain (NDD) in pVHL. Neuronal differentiation of SKPs was induced by intracellular delivery of a peptide composed of the amino-acid sequences encoded by the NDD. Neuronal differentiation mediated by the NDD was caused by the binding between it and elongin C followed by Janus kinase-2 (JAK2) ubiquitination of JAK2 and inhibition of the JAK2/the signal transducer and activator of transcription-3(STAT)3 pathway. The NDD in pVHL contained the BC-box motif ((A,P,S,T)LXXX (A,C) XXX(A,I,L,V)) corresponding to the binding site of elongin C. Therefore, we proposed that other BC-box proteins might also contain an NDD; and subsequently also identified in them an NDD containing the amino-acid sequence encoded by the BC-box motif in BC-box proteins. Furthermore, we showed that different NDD peptide-delivered cells differentiated into different kinds of neuron-like cells. That is, dopaminergic neuron-like cells, cholinergic neuron-like cells, GABAnergic neuron-like cells or rhodopsin-positive neuron-like cells were induced by different NDD peptides. These novel findings might contribute to the development of a new method for promoting neuronal differentiation and shed further light on the mechanism of neuronal differentiation of somatic stem cells.
Reconsidering Sheltered Workshops in Light of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006)
Authors: May-Simera Charlotte
Published: February 2018

Sheltered work and related practices remain a prevalent service for people with intellectual disabilities. However, as a result of being placed in these, participants overwhelmingly remain segregated and excluded from their wider communities. This paper explores whether, with the advent of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, we can at least begin to assess the equality implications of such placements and argue that the experience of segregation itself represents numerous rights violations and discrimination. Having considered traditional equality mechanisms and their bearing on people with intellectual disabilities, this discussion explores how far the Convention’s re-envisioning of the basic principles of equality can perhaps provide a more promising outlook and ideological stance. Indeed, during the Convention’s inception, the negotiations circled around the conflicting opinions as to the purpose, usefulness, and future of sheltered work, revealing the existing tensions between protection and autonomy, shrouding all disability policy discussions. As a result, the question of sheltered work is not explicitly addressed in the treaty and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities have been unable to definitively declare that the practice of sheltered work constitutes an act of discrimination. However, the Committee does as times demand that sheltered workshops be phased out where it is obvious that the practice of sheltered work is directly linked to the exploitation of workers. Moreover, certain provisions in the Convention might help in determining wrongful discrimination in some, if limited, instances.
Alkaline Metal Reagent-Assisted Synthesis of Monodisperse Iron Oxide Nanostructures
Authors: Lee Kwan , Lee Sangyeob , Oh Min , Ahn Byungmin
Published: February 2018

The solvothermal decomposition of iron complexes using the heat-up process enables monodisperse Fe3O4 nanoparticle synthesis. Here, we demonstrate that the high reduction potential capability of alkaline metal reagents in the reductive environment allows for pure magnetite phase formation at 200 °C, which is lower than that of typical synthetic method and offers highly crystalline superparamagnetic and ferrimagnetic nanostructures with the ability to control uniformity including spherical and cubic morphology with narrow size distributions. Our method involved reduction of the acetylacetonate and acetate anions to aldehyde and alcohol as an oxygen resource for iron oxide nucleation in an inert condition. For confirming the developed pure surface phase of alkaline metal reagent-assisted magnetite nanoparticle, the magnetic field-dependent shifting of blocking temperature was investigated. The degree of the exchange interaction between core spins and disordered surface spins is attributed to the ratio of core spins and disordered surface spins. The decrease in disordered surface spins deviation due to an enhanced pure phase of magnetite nanoparticles exhibited the negligible shift of the blocking temperature under differently applied external field, and it demonstrated that alkaline metal reagent-induced reductive conditions enable less formation of both disordered surface spins and biphasic nanostructures.
Recent Advances in Detecting Mitochondrial DNA Heteroplasmic Variations
Authors: Duan Mengqin , Tu Jing , Lu Zuhong
Published: February 2018

The co-existence of wild-type and mutated mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) molecules termed heteroplasmy becomes a research hot point of mitochondria. In this review, we listed several methods of mtDNA heteroplasmy research, including the enrichment of mtDNA and the way of calling heteroplasmic variations. At the present, while calling the novel ultra-low level heteroplasmy, high-throughput sequencing method is dominant while the detection limit of recorded mutations is accurate to 0.01% using the other quantitative approaches. In the future, the studies of mtDNA heteroplasmy may pay more attention to the single-cell level and focus on the linkage of mutations.
The Prebiotic Inulin Aggravates Accelerated Atherosclerosis in Hypercholesterolemic APOE*3-Leiden Mice
Authors: Hoving Lisa , De Vries Margreet , De Jong Rob , Katiraei Saeed , Pronk Amanda , Quax Paul , Van Harmelen Vanessa , Willems van Dijk Ko
Published: February 2018

The prebiotic inulin has proven effective at lowering inflammation and plasma lipid levels. As atherosclerosis is provoked by both inflammation and hyperlipidemia, we aimed to determine the effect of inulin supplementation on atherosclerosis development in hypercholesterolemic APOE*3-Leiden (E3L) mice. Male E3L mice were fed a high-cholesterol (1%) diet, supplemented with or without 10% inulin for 5 weeks. At week 3, a non-constrictive cuff was placed around the right femoral artery to induce accelerated atherosclerosis. At week 5, vascular pathology was determined by lesion thickness, vascular remodeling, and lesion composition. Throughout the study, plasma lipids were measured and in week 5, blood monocyte subtypes were determined using flow cytometry analysis. In contrast to our hypothesis, inulin exacerbated atherosclerosis development, characterized by increased lesion formation and outward vascular remodeling. The lesions showed increased number of macrophages, smooth muscle cells, and collagen content. No effects on blood monocyte composition were found. Inulin significantly increased plasma total cholesterol levels and total cholesterol exposure. In conclusion, inulin aggravated accelerated atherosclerosis development in hypercholesterolemic E3L mice, accompanied by adverse lesion composition and outward remodeling. This process was not accompanied by differences in blood monocyte composition, suggesting that the aggravated atherosclerosis development was driven by increased plasma cholesterol.
The Role of the Japanese Traditional Diet in Healthy and Sustainable Dietary Patterns around the World
Authors: Gabriel Ana , Ninomiya Kumiko , Uneyama Hisayuki
Published: February 2018

As incomes steadily increase globally, traditional diets have been displaced by diets that are usually animal-based with a high content of “empty calories” or refined sugars, refined fats, and alcohol. Dietary transition coupled with the expansion of urbanization and lower physical activity have been linked to the global growth in the prevalence of obesity, overweight and life style-related non-communicable diseases. The challenge is in how to reverse the trend of high consumption of less healthy food by more healthful and more environmentally sustainable diets. The increasing recognition that each individual has specific needs depending on age, metabolic condition, and genetic profile adds complexity to general nutritional considerations. If we were to promote the consumption of low-energy and low salt but nutritious diets, taste becomes a relevant food quality. The Japanese traditional diet (Washoku), which is characterized by high consumption of fish and soybean products and low consumption of animal fat and meat, relies on the effective use of umami taste to enhance palatability. There may be a link between Washoku and the longevity of the people in Japan. Thus Washoku and umami may be valuable tools to support healthy eating.
Proteins as Nano-Carriers for Bioactive Compounds. The Case of 7S and 11S Soy Globulins and Folic Acid Complexation
Authors: Ochnio María Emilia , Martínez Jimena H. , Allievi Mariana C. , Palavecino Marcos , Martínez Karina D. , Pérez Oscar E.
Published: February 2018

Isolated 7S and 11S globulins obtained from defeated soy flour were complexated with folic acid (FA) in order to generate nano-carriers for this important vitamin in human nutrition. Fluorescence spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering were applied to follow the nano-complexes formation and for their characterization. Fluorescence experimental data were modeled by the Stern-Volmer and a modified double logarithm approach. The results obtained confirmed static quenching. The number of binding sites on the protein molecule was ~1. The values obtained for the binding constants suggest a high affinity between proteins and FA. Particle size distribution allowed to study the protein aggregation phenomenon induced by FA bound to the native proteins. Z-average manifested a clear trend to protein aggregation. 11S-FA nano-complexes resulted in more polydispersity. ζ-potential of FA nano-complexes did not show a remarkable change after FA complexation. The biological activity of nano-complexes loaded with FA was explored in terms of their capacity to enhance the biomass formation of Lactobacillus casei BL23. The results concerning to nano-complexes inclusion in culture media showed higher bacterial growth. Such a result was attributed to the entry of the acid by the specific receptors concomitantly by the peptide receptors. These findings have technological impact for the use of globulins-FA based nano-complexes in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and food industries.
Quilting the Sermon: Homiletical Insights from Harriet Powers
Authors: McCray Donyelle
Published: February 2018

Sermons come in a variety of forms. For Harriet Powers, an African American artist and former slave who lived from 1837–1910, sermons took the form of quilts. Unlike most quilts crafted during her lifetime, Powers’ quilts told biblical stories, recounted legends, and carried messages of divine judgement and hope. This article offers a brief account of her life, a description of her quilts, and a reflection on her spirituality. Rather than approaching her quilts solely as folk art, this essay places them in the African American preaching tradition.
An Optimal Tropospheric Tomography Method Based on the Multi-GNSS Observations
Authors: Zhao Qingzhi , Yao Yibin , Cao Xinyun , Zhou Feng , Xia Pengfei
Published: February 2018

Aside from the well-known applications (positioning, navigation and timing) brought by Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), reconstruction of tropospheric atmosphere distribution information using tomography technique based on the multi-GNSS observations has been developed as a research point in the fields of GNSS Meteorology. In this paper, an optimal tropospheric tomography method using observations from multi-GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) is proposed, which considers the reasonable weightings of observation equations derived from multi-GNSS as well as the various constraints. Comparing to the equal weighting strategy of multi-GNSS observations for the previously multi-GNSS tomography studies, the proposed method in this paper has the ability to tune the weightings for a different type of equations. Experiments show that the proposed method can improve the internal/external accuracy of GNSS tomography modeling with the GNSS precise point positioning (PPP)-estimated slant wet delay as reference when compared to the conventional method. In addition, the data derived from radiosonde is used as an external testing, and the result also expresses the superiority of the proposed method when compared to the conventional method.
Distributed Algorithm for Voronoi Partition of Wireless Sensor Networks with a Limited Sensing Range
Authors: He Chenlong , Feng Zuren , Ren Zhigang
Published: February 2018

For Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), the Voronoi partition of a region is a challenging problem owing to the limited sensing ability of each sensor and the distributed organization of the network. In this paper, an algorithm is proposed for each sensor having a limited sensing range to compute its limited Voronoi cell autonomously, so that the limited Voronoi partition of the entire WSN is generated in a distributed manner. Inspired by Graham’s Scan (GS) algorithm used to compute the convex hull of a point set, the limited Voronoi cell of each sensor is obtained by sequentially scanning two consecutive bisectors between the sensor and its neighbors. The proposed algorithm called the Boundary Scan (BS) algorithm has a lower computational complexity than the existing Range-Constrained Voronoi Cell (RCVC) algorithm and reaches the lower bound of the computational complexity of the algorithms used to solve the problem of this kind. Moreover, it also improves the time efficiency of a key step in the Adjust-Sensing-Radius (ASR) algorithm used to compute the exact Voronoi cell. Extensive numerical simulations are performed to demonstrate the correctness and effectiveness of the BS algorithm. The distributed realization of the BS combined with a localization algorithm in WSNs is used to justify the WSN nature of the proposed algorithm.
Self-Test Procedures for Gas Sensors Embedded in Microreactor Systems
Authors: Helwig Andreas , Hackner Angelika , Müller Gerhard , Zappa Dario , Sberveglieri Giorgio
Published: February 2018

Metal oxide (MOX) gas sensors sensitively respond to a wide variety of combustible, explosive and poisonous gases. However, due to the lack of a built-in self-test capability, MOX gas sensors have not yet been able to penetrate safety-critical applications. In the present work we report on gas sensing experiments performed on MOX gas sensors embedded in ceramic micro-reaction chambers. With the help of an external micro-pump, such systems can be operated in a periodic manner alternating between flow and no-flow conditions, thus allowing repetitive measurements of the sensor resistances under clean air, R 0 , and under gas exposure, R g a s , to be obtained, even under field conditions. With these pairs of resistance values, eventual drifts in the sensor baseline resistance can be detected and drift-corrected values of the relative resistance response R e s p = ( R 0 − R g a s ) / R 0 can be determined. Residual poisoning-induced changes in the relative resistance response can be detected by reference to humidity measurements taken with room-temperature-operated capacitive humidity sensors which are insensitive to the poisoning processes operative on heated MOX gas sensors.
A Review of Microfiber-Based Temperature Sensors
Authors: Talataisong Wanvisa , Ismaeel Rand , Brambilla Gilberto
Published: February 2018

Optical microfiber-based temperature sensors have been proposed for many applications in a variety of industrial uses, including biomedical, geological, automotive, and defense applications. This increasing demand for these micrometric devices is attributed to their large dynamic range, high sensitivity, fast-response, compactness and robustness. Additionally, they can perform in-situ measurements remotely and in harsh environments. This paper presents an overview of optical microfibers, with a focus on their applications in temperature sensing. This review broadly divides microfiber-based temperature sensors into two categories: resonant and non-resonant microfiber sensors. While the former includes microfiber loop, knot and coil resonators, the latter comprises sensors based on functionally coated/doped microfibers, microfiber couplers, optical gratings and interferometers. In the conclusions, a summary of reported performances is presented.
Nanomaterial-Based Sensing and Biosensing of Phenolic Compounds and Related Antioxidant Capacity in Food
Authors: Della Pelle Flavio , Compagnone Dario
Published: February 2018

Polyphenolic compounds (PCs) have received exceptional attention at the end of the past millennium and as much at the beginning of the new one. Undoubtedly, these compounds in foodstuffs provide added value for their well-known health benefits, for their technological role and also marketing. Many efforts have been made to provide simple, effective and user friendly analytical methods for the determination and antioxidant capacity (AOC) evaluation of food polyphenols. In a parallel track, over the last twenty years, nanomaterials (NMs) have made their entry in the analytical chemistry domain; NMs have, in fact, opened new paths for the development of analytical methods with the common aim to improve analytical performance and sustainability, becoming new tools in quality assurance of food and beverages. The aim of this review is to provide information on the most recent developments of new NMs-based tools and strategies for total polyphenols (TP) determination and AOC evaluation in food. In this review optical, electrochemical and bioelectrochemical approaches have been reviewed. The use of nanoparticles, quantum dots, carbon nanomaterials and hybrid materials for the detection of polyphenols is the main subject of the works reported. However, particular attention has been paid to the success of the application in real samples, in addition to the NMs. In particular, the discussion has been focused on methods/devices presenting, in the opinion of the authors, clear advancement in the fields, in terms of simplicity, rapidity and usability. This review aims to demonstrate how the NM-based approaches represent valid alternatives to classical methods for polyphenols analysis, and are mature to be integrated for the rapid quality assessment of food quality in lab or directly in the field.
Flexible Piezoelectric Sensor-Based Gait Recognition
Authors: Cha Youngsu , Kim Hojoon , Kim Doik
Published: February 2018

Most motion recognition research has required tight-fitting suits for precise sensing. However, tight-suit systems have difficulty adapting to real applications, because people normally wear loose clothes. In this paper, we propose a gait recognition system with flexible piezoelectric sensors in loose clothing. The gait recognition system does not directly sense lower-body angles. It does, however, detect the transition between standing and walking. Specifically, we use the signals from the flexible sensors attached to the knee and hip parts on loose pants. We detect the periodic motion component using the discrete time Fourier series from the signal during walking. We adapt the gait detection method to a real-time patient motion and posture monitoring system. In the monitoring system, the gait recognition operates well. Finally, we test the gait recognition system with 10 subjects, for which the proposed system successfully detects walking with a success rate over 93 %.
Altered Bacterial Communities in Long-Term No-Till Soils Associated with Stratification of Soluble Aluminum and Soil pH
Authors: Lewis Ricky , Barth Victoria , Coffey Todd , McFarland Carol , Huggins David , Sullivan Tarah
Published: February 2018

Soil acidification is a global issue that often results in increased aluminum (Al) toxicity. While no-till (NT) management has many benefits regarding sustainability, a discrete zone of acidification often occurs when ammoniacal fertilizers are banded below the seed. The full agroecological consequences of NT stratification and impacts on bacterial communities are largely unknown. Using next-generation sequencing (NGS) and Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt), we characterized the influence of liming amendment and soil stratification on bacterial community composition and predicted function in 2-cm depth increments. Soil depth, pH, DTPA extractable aluminum (DTPA-Al), and KCl extractable Al (KCl-Al) were all significantly correlated with bacterial community structure and function. In soils with the lowest pH and greatest extractable Al, bacterial community was distinct, with highest relative abundance of the Koribacteraceae family, an indicator of soil degradation. Additionally, aspects of bacterial metabolism and nutrient turnover were impacted in the lowest pH zones, including secondary metabolite, carbohydrate, and energy metabolism. These results suggest that soil stratification (Al and pH) in NT systems has direct impacts on microbial community structure and function, potentially influencing ecosystem services at a highly resolved spatial scale within surface depths relevant to seed germination and emergence.
Measuring and Explaining Airport Efficiency and Sustainability: Evidence from Italy
Authors: Carlucci Fabio , Cirà Andrea , Coccorese Paolo
Published: February 2018

From an environmental point of view, it is widely recognized in economic literature that an efficient management of regional airports produces positive effects both for congestion reduction in the larger airports and for better use of existing infrastructures. Regional airports generally suffer from economic vulnerabilities because of scarcity of traffic volume; besides, their small catchment areas often determine low cash flow levels. As a result, significant problems of economic sustainability arise. In this context, airport infrastructure providers have the incentive to hide failures in their strategic decisions, justifying the low share of cost recovery through market characteristics. By means of the DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) method this paper analyses overall technical, pure technical, and scale efficiency of 34 Italian airports in the period 2006–2016 in order to investigate how a number of factors impact on the efficiency and economic sustainability of regional airports. Our findings reveal that airport size, presence of low-cost carriers and cargo traffic have a significant influence on the technical and scale efficiency of Italian airports. In other words, air transport privatization and deregulation can positively affect regional airport efficiency and sustainability. This is to say that the market mechanism is a useful tool in achieving regional airport sustainability even if the empirical analysis of the effects of privatization and deregulation is recommended for evaluating such political programs.
A Simple Mechanism Based on Amino Acid Substitutions is not a Critical Determinant of High Mortality of Japanese Encephalitis Virus Infection in Mice
Authors: Takamatsu Yuki , Uchida Leo , Raekiansyah Muhareva , Luz Mark , Morita Kouichi , Hayasaka Daisuke
Published: February 2018

For the development of effective treatment strategies for Japanese encephalitis (JE), it is important to identify the viral factors causing severe disease during JE virus (JEV) infection. In this study, we assessed whether amino acid substitutions are critical factors for higher mortality of JaTH160 compared with JaOArS982 in mice using the technique of infectious cDNA clones. We raised the possibility that two amino acids of C124 and NS3482 of JaTH160 may contribute to increased mortality in mice. However, simultaneous substitutions of these amino acids did not significantly increase the virulence of JaOArS982, suggesting that high mortality due to JaTH160 viral infection cannot be simply attributed to the specific amino acids. Multiple and complex, but not simple, mechanisms may induce the high mortality of JaTH160 infection in mice.
Environmental Variability and Macrophyte Assemblages in Coastal Lagoon Types of Western Greece (Mediterranean Sea)
Authors: Christia Chrysoula , Giordani Gianmarco , Papastergiadou Eva
Published: February 2018

Coastal lagoon types of Western Greece were allocated to a spectrum of meso to polyhaline chocked lagoons; poly to euhaline restricted lagoons; and euhaline restricted lagoons along the Ionian Sea coast. This diversity comprises wide ranges of physical, chemical and environmental parameters in a seasonal and annual scale, which explains the variability in the distribution of benthic macrophytes. Four different macrophyte assemblages were distinguished, characterized by annual or perennial species. Extensive statistical analysis showed that salinity and nitrate concentrations had a great impact on the composition and distribution of macrophyte assemblages into lagoon types that also changed their abundance on a seasonal and annual scale. During the monitoring period, an important salinity shift in a chocked lagoon might cause the gradual loss of Zostera noltii and its replacement by Ruppia cirrhosa. Restricted lagoons were characterized by higher species diversity, while the other three identified macrophyte assemblages were dominated by the angiosperms Ruppia cirrhosa and Cymodocea nodosa. This integrated study of coastal lagoons is likely to be broadly applicable, since it was based on important parameters affecting such ecosystems, and the provided links between macrophyte assemblages and abiotic factors are of critical importance to improve management and environmental policies.
The Independence of Neutral and Ionized Gas Outflows in Low-z Galaxies
Authors: Bae Hyun-Jin , Woo Jong-Hak
Published: February 2018

Using a large sample of emission line galaxies selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we investigate the kinematics of the neutral gas in the interstellar medium (ISM) based on the Na i
λλ5890,5896 (Na D) doublet absorption line. By removing the Na D contribution from stellar atmospheres, we isolate the line profile of the Na D excess, which represents the neutral gas in the ISM. The kinematics traced by the Na D excess show high velocity and velocity dispersion for a fraction of galaxies, indicating the presence of neutral gas outflows. We find that the kinematics measured from the Na D excess are similar between AGNs and star-forming galaxies. Moreover, by comparing the kinematics traced by the Na D excess and those by the [O iii] λ5007 line taken from Woo et al., which traces ionized outflows driven by AGNs, we find no correlation between them. These results demonstrate that the neutral gas in the ISM traced by the Na D excess and the ionized gas traced by [O iii] are kinematically independent, and AGNs have no impact on the neutral gas outflows. In contrast to [O iii], we find that the measured line-of-sight velocity shift and velocity dispersion of the Na D excess increase for more face-on galaxies due to the projection effect, supporting that Na D outflows are radially driven (i.e., perpendicular to the major axis of galaxies), presumably due to star formation.
Modal Noise Mitigation through Fiber Agitation for Fiber-fed Radial Velocity Spectrographs
Authors: Petersburg Ryan R. , McCracken Tyler M. , Eggerman Dominic , Jurgenson Colby A. , Sawyer David , Szymkowiak Andrew E. , Fischer Debra A.
Published: February 2018

Optical fiber modal noise is a limiting factor for high precision spectroscopy signal-to-noise in the near-infrared and visible. Unabated, especially when using highly coherent light sources for wavelength calibration, modal noise can induce radial velocity (RV) errors that hinder the discovery of low-mass (and potentially Earth-like) planets. Previous research in this field has found sufficient modal noise mitigation through the use of an integrating sphere, but this requires extremely bright light sources, a luxury not necessarily afforded by the next generation of high-resolution optical spectrographs. Otherwise, mechanical agitation, which “mixes” the fiber’s modal patterns and allows the noise to be averaged over minutes-long exposures, provides some noise reduction but the exact mechanism behind improvement in signal-to-noise and RV drift has not been fully explored or optimized by the community. Therefore, we have filled out the parameter space of modal noise agitation techniques in order to better understand agitation’s contribution to mitigating modal noise and to discover a better method for agitating fibers. We find that modal noise is best suppressed by the quasi-chaotic motion of two high-amplitude agitators oscillating with varying phase for fibers with large core diameters and low azimuthal symmetry. This work has subsequently influenced the design of a fiber agitator, to be installed with the EXtreme PREcision Spectrograph, that we estimate will reduce modal-noise-induced RV error to less than 3.2 cm s−1.
Study of the Transition from MRI to Magnetic Turbulence via Parasitic Instability by a High-order MHD Simulation Code
Authors: Hirai Kenichiro , Katoh Yuto , Terada Naoki , Kawai Soshi
Published: February 2018

Magnetic turbulence in accretion disks under ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) conditions is expected to be driven by the magneto-rotational instability (MRI) followed by secondary parasitic instabilities. We develop a three-dimensional ideal MHD code that can accurately resolve turbulent structures, and carry out simulations with a net vertical magnetic field in a local shearing box disk model to investigate the role of parasitic instabilities in the formation process of magnetic turbulence. Our simulations reveal that a highly anisotropic Kelvin–Helmholtz (K–H) mode parasitic instability evolves just before the first peak in turbulent stress and then breaks large-scale shear flows created by MRI. The wavenumber of the enhanced parasitic instability is larger than the theoretical estimate, because the shear flow layers sometimes become thinner than those assumed in the linear analysis. We also find that interaction between antiparallel vortices caused by the K–H mode parasitic instability induces small-scale waves that break the shear flows. On the other hand, at repeated peaks in the nonlinear phase, anisotropic wavenumber spectra are observed only in the small wavenumber region and isotropic waves dominate at large wavenumbers unlike for the first peak. Restructured channel flows due to MRI at the peaks in nonlinear phase seem to be collapsed by the advection of small-scale shear structures into the restructured flow and resultant mixing.
“Super-deblended” Dust Emission in Galaxies. I. The GOODS-North Catalog and the Cosmic Star Formation Rate Density out to Redshift 6
Authors: Liu Daizhong , Daddi Emanuele , Dickinson Mark , Owen Frazer , Pannella Maurilio , Sargent Mark , Béthermin Matthieu , Magdis Georgios , Gao Yu , Shu Xinwen , Wang Tao , Jin Shuowen , Inami Hanae
Published: February 2018

We present a new technique to measure multi-wavelength “super-deblended” photometry from highly confused images, which we apply to Herschel and ground-based far-infrared (FIR) and (sub-)millimeter (mm) data in the northern field of the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey. There are two key novelties. First, starting with a large database of deep Spitzer 24 μm and VLA 20 cm detections that are used to define prior positions for fitting the FIR/submm data, we perform an active selection of useful priors independently at each frequency band, moving from less to more confused bands. Exploiting knowledge of redshift and all available photometry, we identify hopelessly faint priors that we remove from the fitting pool. This approach significantly reduces blending degeneracies and allows reliable photometry to be obtained for galaxies in FIR+mm bands. Second, we obtain well-behaved, nearly Gaussian flux density uncertainties, individually tailored to all fitted priors for each band. This is done by exploiting extensive simulations that allow us to calibrate the conversion of formal fitting uncertainties to realistic uncertainties, depending on directly measurable quantities. We achieve deeper detection limits with high fidelity measurements and uncertainties at FIR+mm bands. As an illustration of the utility of these measurements, we identify 70 galaxies with

and reliable FIR+mm detections. We present new constraints on the cosmic star formation rate density at

, finding a significant contribution from

dusty galaxies that are missed by optical-to-near-infrared color selection. Photometric measurements for 3306 priors, including more than 1000 FIR+mm detections, are released publicly with our catalog.
Impact of Neutrino Opacities on Core-collapse Supernova Simulations
Authors: Kotake Kei , Takiwaki Tomoya , Fischer Tobias , Nakamura Ko , Martínez-Pinedo Gabriel
Published: February 2018

The accurate description of neutrino opacities is central to both the core-collapse supernova (CCSN) phenomenon and the validity of the explosion mechanism itself. In this work, we study in a systematic fashion the role of a variety of well-selected neutrino opacities in CCSN simulations where the multi-energy, three-flavor neutrino transport is solved using the isotropic diffusion source approximation (IDSA) scheme. To verify our code, we first present results from one-dimensional (1D) simulations following the core collapse, bounce, and ∼250 ms postbounce of a

star using a standard set of neutrino opacities by Bruenn. A detailed comparison with published results supports the reliability of our three-flavor IDSA scheme using the standard opacity set. We then investigate in 1D simulations how individual opacity updates lead to differences with the baseline run with the standard opacity set. Through detailed comparisons with previous work, we check the validity of our implementation of each update in a step-by-step manner. Individual neutrino opacities with the largest impact on the overall evolution in 1D simulations are selected for systematic comparisons in our two-dimensional (2D) simulations. Special attention is given to the criterion of explodability in the 2D models. We discuss the implications of these results as well as its limitations and the requirements for future, more elaborate CCSN modeling.
Morphology and Kinematics of Filaments in the Serpens and Perseus Molecular Clouds
Authors: Dhabal Arnab , Mundy Lee G. , Rizzo Maxime J. , Storm Shaye , Teuben Peter
Published: February 2018

We present H13CO+ (J = 1–0) and HNC (J = 1–0) maps of regions in Serpens South, Serpens Main, and NGC 1333 containing filaments. We also observe the Serpens regions using H13CN (J = 1–0). These dense gas tracer molecular line observations carried out with CARMA have an angular resolution of ∼7″, a spectral resolution of ∼0.16 km s−1, and a sensitivity of 50–100 mJy beam−1. Although the large-scale structure compares well with the Herschel dust continuum maps, we resolve finer structure within the filaments identified by Herschel. The H13CO+ emission distribution agrees with the existing CARMA N2H+ (J = 1–0) maps, so they trace the same morphology and kinematics of the filaments. The H13CO+ maps additionally reveal that many regions have multiple structures partially overlapping in the line of sight. In two regions, the velocity differences are as high as 1.4 km s−1. We identify eight filamentary structures having typical widths of 0.03–0.08 pc in these tracers. At least 50% of the filamentary structures have distinct velocity gradients perpendicular to their major axis, with average values in the range of 4–10 km s−1 pc−1. These findings are in support of the theoretical models of filament formation by 2D inflow in the shock layer created by colliding turbulent cells. We also find evidence of velocity gradients along the length of two filamentary structures; the gradients suggest that these filaments are inflowing toward the cloud core.
MPI-AMRVAC 2.0 for Solar and Astrophysical Applications
Authors: Xia C. , Teunissen J. , Mellah I. El , Chané E. , Keppens R.
Published: February 2018

We report on the development of MPI-AMRVAC version 2.0, which is an open-source framework for parallel, grid-adaptive simulations of hydrodynamic and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) astrophysical applications. The framework now supports radial grid stretching in combination with adaptive mesh refinement (AMR). The advantages of this combined approach are demonstrated with one-dimensional, two-dimensional, and three-dimensional examples of spherically symmetric Bondi accretion, steady planar Bondi–Hoyle–Lyttleton flows, and wind accretion in supergiant X-ray binaries. Another improvement is support for the generic splitting of any background magnetic field. We present several tests relevant for solar physics applications to demonstrate the advantages of field splitting on accuracy and robustness in extremely low-plasma β environments: a static magnetic flux rope, a magnetic null-point, and magnetic reconnection in a current sheet with either uniform or anomalous resistivity. Our implementation for treating anisotropic thermal conduction in multi-dimensional MHD applications is also described, which generalizes the original slope-limited symmetric scheme from two to three dimensions. We perform ring diffusion tests that demonstrate its accuracy and robustness, and show that it prevents the unphysical thermal flux present in traditional schemes. The improved parallel scaling of the code is demonstrated with three-dimensional AMR simulations of solar coronal rain, which show satisfactory strong scaling up to 2000 cores. Other framework improvements are also reported: the modernization and reorganization into a library, the handling of automatic regression tests, the use of inline/online Doxygen documentation, and a new future-proof data format for input/output.
Characterizing Accreting Double White Dwarf Binaries with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna and Gaia
Authors: Breivik Katelyn , Kremer Kyle , Bueno Michael , Larson Shane L. , Coughlin Scott , Kalogera Vassiliki
Published: February 2018

We demonstrate a method to fully characterize mass-transferring double white dwarf (DWD) systems with a helium-rich (He) white dwarf (WD) donor based on the mass–radius (M–R) relationship for He WDs. Using a simulated Galactic population of DWDs, we show that donor and accretor masses can be inferred for up to ∼60 systems observed by both Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and Gaia. Half of these systems will have mass constraints

and

. We also show how the orbital frequency evolution due to astrophysical processes and gravitational radiation can be decoupled from the total orbital frequency evolution for up to ∼50 of these systems.
Parallel Scatter Search Approach for the MinMax Regret Location Problem
Authors: Ibri Sarah , Cherabrab Mohammed EL Amin , Abdoune Nasreddine
Published: February 2018

In this paper we propose an efficient solving method based on a parallel scatter search algorithm that accelerates the search time to solve the minmax regret location problem. The algorithm was applied in the context of emergency management to locate emergency vehicles stations. A discrete event simulator was used to test the quality of the obtained solutions on the operational level. We compared the performance of the algorithm to an existing two stages method, and experiments show the efficiency of the proposed method in terms of quality of solution as well as the gain in computation time that could be obtained by parallelizing the proposed algorithm.