bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
In Vitro and In Vivo Characterization of Selected Fluorine-18 Labeled Radioligands for PET Imaging of the Dopamine D3 Receptor
Authors: Nebel Natascha , Maschauer Simone , Kuwert Torsten , Hocke Carsten , Prante Olaf
Published: August 2016

Cerebral dopamine D3 receptors seem to play a key role in the control of drug-seeking behavior. The imaging of their regional density with positron emission tomography (PET) could thus help in the exploration of the molecular basis of drug addiction. A fluorine-18 labeled D3 subtype selective radioligand would be beneficial for this purpose; however, as yet, there is no such tracer available. The three candidates [18F]1, [18F]2a and [18F]2b were chosen for in vitro and in vivo characterization as radioligands suitable for selective PET imaging of the D3 receptor. Their evaluation included the analysis of radiometabolites and the assessment of non-specific binding by in vitro rat brain autoradiography. While [18F]1 and [18F]2a revealed high non-specific uptake in in vitro rat brain autoradiography, the D3 receptor density was successfully determined on rat brain sections (n = 4) with the candidate [18F]2b offering a Bmax of 20.38 ± 2.67 pmol/g for the islands of Calleja, 19.54 ± 1.85 pmol/g for the nucleus accumbens and 16.58 ± 1.63 pmol/g for the caudate putamen. In PET imaging studies, the carboxamide 1 revealed low signal/background ratios in the rat brain and relatively low uptake in the pituitary gland, while the azocarboxamides [18F]2a and [18F]2b showed binding that was blockable by the D3 receptor ligand BP897 in the ventricular system and the pituitary gland in PET imaging studies in living rats.
Panax Notoginseng Saponins as a Novel Nature Stabilizer for Poorly Soluble Drug Nanocrystals: A Case Study with Baicalein
Authors: Xie Yuanbiao , Ma Yueqin , Xu Junnan , Liu Yang , Yue Pengfei , Zheng Qin , Hu Pengyi , Yang Ming
Published: August 2016

This study is aimed at seeking a nature saponin-based stabilizer for drug nanosuspensions. A poorly soluble drug (baicalein, BCL) was used as a model drug. BCL nanosuspensions with particle size of 156 nm were prepared by means of homogenization and converted into BCL nanocrystals (BCL-NC) stabilized with panax notoginseng saponins (PNS). It was found that PNS was able to prevent the aggregation of BCL-NS during storage and improve the redispersibility of BCL-NC after freeze-drying and spray-drying, compared with polymer stabilizer PVPK30. The freeze-dried and spray-dried BCL-NC with PNS exhibited excellent performance as evidenced by scanning_electron_microscope (SEM) analysis. It was the reason that PNS possessed the interfacial property (41.69 ± 0.32 mN/m) and electrostatic effect (−40.1 ± 1.6 mV), which could easily adsorb onto the surface of hydrophobic BCL nanocrystals and prevent from its aggregation. It is concluded that PNS can be used as an effective nature stabilizer for production of drug nanocrystals.
Chemical Composition, Antioxidant, and Antibacterial Activity of Wood Vinegar from Litchi chinensis
Authors: Yang Jyh-Ferng , Yang Cheng-Hong , Liang Ming-Tsai , Gao Zi-Jie , Wu Yuh-Wern , Chuang Li-Yeh
Published: August 2016

The antioxidant and antibacterial activities of wood vinegar from Litchi chinensis, and its components have been studied. The chemical compositions of wood vinegar were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A total of 17 chemical compounds were identified, representing 83.96% of the compositions in the wood vinegar. Three major components, included 2,6-dimethoxyphenol (syringol, 29.54%), 2-methoxyphenol (guaiacol, 12.36%), and 3,5-dimethoxy-4-hydroxytoluene (11.07%), were found in the wood vinegar. Antioxidant activities of the acids were investigated from the aspects of 1,1-Diphyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radicals scavenging capacity, superoxide anion radical scavenging capacity, and reducing power. The pyroligneous acid exhibited high antioxidant activity which was comparable to the reference standards (vitamin C and butylated hydroxyl toluene) at the same dose with IC50 values of 36.5 ppm calculated by the DPPH radical scavenging assay, 38.38 g Trolox equivalent/100 g DW by the trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) assay, and 67.9 by the reducing power analysis. Antibacterial activity was evaluated using the disc diffusion and microdilution methods against a group of clinically antibiotic resistant isolates. The major components exhibited broad spectrum inhibition against all the bacterial strains with a range of disc inhibition zoon between 15–19 mm. The minimum inhibition concentration and minimum bactericide concentration against the test strains was ranging in 0.95–3.80 μL/100 μL and 1.90–3.80 μL/100 μL, respectively. Most of the antibiotic resistant strains were more susceptible to the wood vinegar than the non-antibiotic resistant strain except the strain of ornithine resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Based on the chemical profile, it was considered that the strongest antioxidant and antibacterial activity of Litchi chinensis wood vinegar was due to its highly phenolic compositions. This study revealed that the Litchi chinensis wood vinegar is valuable to develop as alternative food antioxidant and antibiotics.
Mexicanolide-Type Limonoids from the Roots of Trichilia sinensis
Authors: Liu Shou-Bai , Mei Wen-Li , Chen Hui-Qin , Guo Zhi-Kai , Dai Hao-Fu , Wang Zhu-Nian
Published: August 2016

Four new mexicanolide-type limonoids 1–4, along with two known limonoids 5–6, were isolated from the ethanolic extracts of roots of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Trichilia sinensis. Their structures were unambiguously determined by analysis of spectroscopic data, including 1D and 2D NMR as well as MS, and by comparison with literature data. In addition, the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory activity of compounds 1–6 was evaluated by the Ellman method. All these compounds showed weak AChE inhibitory activity, with the inhibition percentages ranging from 18.5% to 27.8%.
Passerini Reactions on Biocatalytically Derived Chiral Azetidines
Authors: Moni Lisa , Banfi Luca , Basso Andrea , Bozzano Andrea , Spallarossa Martina , Wessjohann Ludger , Riva Renata
Published: August 2016

The purpose of this study was to explore a series of Passerini reactions on a biocatalytically derived enantiopure azetidine-2-carboxyaldehyde in order to obtain, in a diastereoselective manner, polyfunctionalised derivatives having the potential to be cyclized to chiral bridged bicyclic nitrogen heterocycles. While diastereoselectivity was poor under classical Passerini conditions, a significant increase of diastereoselectivity (up to 76:24) was gained by the use of zinc bromide as promoter. The methodology has a broad scope and yields are always good.
Development and Validation of a Kit to Measure Drink Antioxidant Capacity Using a Novel Colorimeter
Authors: Priftis Alexandros , Stagos Dimitrios , Tzioumakis Nikolaos , Konstantinopoulos Konstantinos , Patouna Anastasia , Papadopoulos Georgios , Tsatsakis Aristides , Kouretas Dimitrios
Published: August 2016

Measuring the antioxidant capacity of foods is essential, as a means of quality control to ensure that the final product reaching the consumer will be of high standards. Despite the already existing assays with which the antioxidant activity is estimated, new, faster and low cost methods are always sought. Therefore, we have developed a novel colorimeter and combined it with a slightly modified DPPH assay, thus creating a kit that can assess the antioxidant capacity of liquids (e.g., different types of coffee, beer, wine, juices) in a quite fast and low cost manner. The accuracy of the colorimeter was ensured by comparing it to a fully validated Hitachi U-1900 spectrophotometer, and a coefficient was calculated to eliminate the observed differences. In addition, a new, user friendly software was developed, in order to render the procedure as easy as possible, while allowing a central monitoring of the obtained results. Overall, a novel kit was developed, with which the antioxidant activity of liquids can be measured, firstly to ensure their quality and secondly to assess the amount of antioxidants consumed with the respective food.
Facile Access to Stable Silylium Ions Stabilized by N-Heterocyclic Imines
Authors: Ochiai Tatsumi , Szilvási Tibor , Inoue Shigeyoshi
Published: August 2016

Novel silylium ions with N-heterocyclic imines were successfully synthesized. The reaction of trimethylsilyl imidazolin-2-imine Me3SiNIPr (NIPr = bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-imidazolin-2-imino) with B(C6F5)3 leads to dimeric imino-substituted silylium ions through a methyl group abstraction on the silicon atom. Meanwhile, the intermolecular imino-coordinated silylium ion is formed by using the less sterically crowded imine Me3SiNItBu (NItBu = bis(tert-butyl)-imidazolin-2-imino). Furthermore, the treatment of dimethylchlorosilane Me2(Cl)SiNIPr with AgOTf affords the contact ion pair Me2(OTf)SiNIPr by substitution of the chloride. A novel complex with the formula [Me2(DMAP)SiNIPr][OTf] was prepared by coordination with 4-dimethylamino-pyridine (DMAP). In the solid state, the DMAP adduct [Me2(DMAP)SiNIPr][OTf] contains a distinct [Me2(DMAP)SiNIPr]+ moiety.
Development of a Novel Food Waste Collection Kiosk and Waste-to-Energy Business Model
Authors: Franchetti Matthew
Published: August 2016

The U.S. generates more than 37 million metric tons of food waste each year, and over 95% of it is disposed of at U.S. landfills. This paper describes the development of a novel food waste collection kiosk and business model called “Greenbox” that will collect and store food waste from households and restaurants with incentives for user participation to spur food waste-to-energy production in a local community. Greenbox offers a low-cost collection point to divert food waste from landfills, reduce greenhouse gases from decomposition, and aid in generating cleaner energy. A functional prototype was successfully developed by a team of engineering students and a business model was created as part of a senior design capstone course. Each Greenbox unit has the potential to reduce 275 metric tons of food waste per year, remove 1320 kg of greenhouse gases, and create 470,000 liters of methane gas while providing a payback period of 4.2 years and a rate of return of 14.9%.
Implementation and Analysis of a Wireless Sensor Network-Based Pet Location Monitoring System for Domestic Scenarios
Authors: Aguirre Erik , Lopez-Iturri Peio , Azpilicueta Leyre , Astrain José , Villadangos Jesús , Santesteban Daniel , Falcone Francisco
Published: August 2016

The flexibility of new age wireless networks and the variety of sensors to measure a high number of variables, lead to new scenarios where anything can be monitored by small electronic devices, thereby implementing Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). Thanks to ZigBee, RFID or WiFi networks the precise location of humans or animals as well as some biological parameters can be known in real-time. However, since wireless sensors must be attached to biological tissues and they are highly dispersive, propagation of electromagnetic waves must be studied to deploy an efficient and well-working network. The main goal of this work is to study the influence of wireless channel limitations in the operation of a specific pet monitoring system, validated at physical channel as well as at functional level. In this sense, radio wave propagation produced by ZigBee devices operating at the ISM 2.4 GHz band is studied through an in-house developed 3D Ray Launching simulation tool, in order to analyze coverage/capacity relations for the optimal system selection as well as deployment strategy in terms of number of transceivers and location. Furthermore, a simplified dog model is developed for simulation code, considering not only its morphology but also its dielectric properties. Relevant wireless channel information such as power distribution, power delay profile and delay spread graphs are obtained providing an extensive wireless channel analysis. A functional dog monitoring system is presented, operating over the implemented ZigBee network and providing real time information to Android based devices. The proposed system can be scaled in order to consider different types of domestic pets as well as new user based functionalities.
On Reliable and Efficient Data Gathering Based Routing in Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Liaqat Tayyaba , Akbar Mariam , Javaid Nadeem , Qasim Umar , Khan Zahoor , Javaid Qaisar , Alghamdi Turki , Niaz Iftikhar
Published: August 2016

This paper presents cooperative routing scheme to improve data reliability. The proposed protocol achieves its objective, however, at the cost of surplus energy consumption. Thus sink mobility is introduced to minimize the energy consumption cost of nodes as it directly collects data from the network nodes at minimized communication distance. We also present delay and energy optimized versions of our proposed RE-AEDG to further enhance its performance. Simulation results prove the effectiveness of our proposed RE-AEDG in terms of the selected performance matrics.
Create Guidelines for Characterization of Venom Peptides
Authors: Herzig Volker
Published: August 2016

In the course of my duties as a curator for the ArachnoServer database [1,2], I recently came across the article published by Binda et al. in Toxins [3].[...]
Reply to the Letter “Create Guidelines for Characterization of Venom Peptides” from Dr. Volker Herzig
Authors: Gomez Marcus
Published: August 2016

Regarding our paper “PhTx3-4, a Spider Toxin Calcium Channel Blocker, Reduces NMDA-Induced Injury of the Retina”, published in Toxins 2016, 8, doi:10.3390/toxins8030070 [1].[...]
Symplectic Structure of Intrinsic Time Gravity
Authors: Ita Eyo , Kubeka Amos
Published: August 2016

The Poisson structure of intrinsic time gravity is analysed. With the starting point comprising a unimodular three-metric with traceless momentum, a trace-induced anomaly results upon quantization. This leads to a revision of the choice of momentum variable to the (mixed index) traceless momentric. This latter choice unitarily implements the fundamental commutation relations, which now take on the form of an affine algebra with SU(3) Lie algebra amongst the momentric variables. The resulting relations unitarily implement tracelessness upon quantization. The associated Poisson brackets and Hamiltonian dynamics are studied.
Pathogen and Host Response Dynamics in a Mouse Model of Borrelia hermsii Relapsing Fever
Authors: Crowder Christopher , Ghalyanchi Langeroudi Arash , Shojaee Estabragh Azadeh , Lewis Eric , Marcsisin Renee , Barbour Alan
Published: August 2016

Most Borrelia species that cause tick-borne relapsing fever utilize rodents as their natural reservoirs, and for decades laboratory-bred rodents have served as informative experimental models for the disease. However, while there has much progress in understanding the pathogenetic mechanisms, including antigenic variation, of the pathogen, the host side of the equation has been neglected. Using different approaches, we studied, in immunocompetent inbred mice, the dynamics of infection with and host responses to North American relapsing fever agent B. hermsii. The spirochete’s generation time in blood of infected mice was between 4–5 h and, after a delay, was matched in rate by the increase of specific agglutinating antibodies in response to the infection. After initiating serotype cells were cleared by antibodies, the surviving spirochetes were a different serotype and, as a population, grew more slowly. The retardation was attributable to the host response and not an inherently slower growth rate. The innate responses at infection peak and immediate aftermath were characterized by elevations of both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Immunodeficient mice had higher spirochete burdens and severe anemia, which was accounted for by aggregation of erythrocytes by spirochetes and their partially reversible sequestration in greatly enlarged spleens and elsewhere.
ACETYLENE ON TITAN’S SURFACE
Authors: Singh S. , McCord T. B. , Combe J-Ph. , Rodriguez S. , Cornet T. , Mouélic S. Le , Clark R. N. , Maltagliati L. , Chevrier V. F.
Published: August 2016

Titan’s atmosphere is opaque in the near-infrared due to gaseous absorptions, mainly by methane, and scattering by aerosols, except in a few “transparency windows.” Thus, the composition of Titan’s surface remains difficult to access from space and is still poorly constrained. Photochemical models suggest that most of the organic compounds formed in the atmosphere are heavy enough to condense and build up at the surface in liquid and solid states over geological timescales. Acetylene (C2H2) net production in the atmosphere is predicted to be larger than any other compound and C2H2 has been speculated to exist on the surface of Titan. C2H2 was detected as a trace gas sublimated/evaporated from the surface using the Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer after the landing of the Huygens probe. Here we show evidence of C2H2 on the surface of Titan by detecting absorption bands at 1.55 and 4.93 μm using the Cassini Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer at three different equatorial areas—Tui Regio, eastern Shangri La, and Fensal–Aztlan/Quivira. We found that C2H2 is preferentially detected in low-albedo areas, such as sand dunes and near the Huygens landing site. The specific location of the C2H2 detections suggests that C2H2 is mobilized by surface processes, such as surface weathering by liquids through dissolution/evaporation processes.
A MICROFILAMENT-ERUPTION MECHANISM FOR SOLAR SPICULES
Authors: Sterling Alphonse C. , Moore Ronald L.
Published: August 2016

Recent investigations indicate that solar coronal jets result from eruptions of small-scale chromospheric filaments, called minifilaments; that is, the jets are produced by scaled-down versions of typical-sized filament eruptions. We consider whether solar spicules might in turn be scaled-down versions of coronal jets, being driven by eruptions of microfilaments. Assuming a microfilament's size is about a spicule's width (∼300 km), the estimated occurrence number plotted against the estimated size of erupting filaments, minifilaments, and microfilaments approximately follows a power-law distribution (based on counts of coronal mass ejections, coronal jets, and spicules), suggesting that many or most spicules could result from microfilament eruptions. Observed spicule-base Ca ii brightenings plausibly result from such microfilament eruptions. By analogy with coronal jets, microfilament eruptions might produce spicules with many of their observed characteristics, including smooth rise profiles, twisting motions, and EUV counterparts. The postulated microfilament eruptions are presumably eruptions of twisted-core micro-magnetic bipoles that are ∼1.″0 wide. These explosive bipoles might be built and destabilized by merging and cancelation of approximately a few to 100 G magnetic-flux elements of size

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. If, however, spicules are relatively more numerous than indicated by our extrapolated distribution, then only a fraction of spicules might result from this proposed mechanism.
Les défis énergétiques pour un développement durable : comment éviter l’effondrement ?
Authors: Giraud Gaël
Published: August 2016

L’énergie contribue de manière bien plus significative à la croissance économique que ne le reconnaissent la plupart des approches conventionnelles en macro-économie. Cet enjeu est d’autant plus crucial que plusieurs « signaux (plus ou moins) faibles » indiquent que le temps est compté, dans un certain nombre de pays du Sud, pour sortir de la pauvreté et se préparer à affronter les dégâts induits à la fois par la déplétion des ressources naturelles et le dérèglement climatique. À moins d’une bifurcation profonde vers des économies de type circulaire, la perspective d’un effondrement des sociétés du Sud et d’une paupérisation durable de celles du Nord n’est plus à exclure.
Energie et développement dans les pays émergents
Authors: Reilly John
Published: August 2016

L’énergie est un volet important de l’économie et un facteur de production fondamental. En général, sa consommation augmente en lien avec la croissance des activités économiques. L’expérience montre une relation plus étroite entre ces deux aspects (élasticité E/PIB supérieure) dans les économies émergentes qui n’ont pas encore dépassé le stade du développement à forte intensité énergétique. Bien que les sources d’énergies fossiles traditionnelles restent le moyen le moins coûteux de fournir l’essentiel des services énergétiques, elles posent des difficultés pour l’environnement. Gérer la hausse de la consommation d’énergie et ses répercussions sur l’environnement est un enjeu majeur de la « croissance verte ». Nous nous appuyons sur des exemples d’interactions dans le développement énergétique en Chine pour éclairer ces liens.
Théories implicites et excès de confiance : une expérience de terrain
Authors: Koebel Bertrand , Schmitt André , Spaeter Sandrine
Published: August 2016

La manière dont les individus considèrent leur intelligence est importante dans leur motivation et leur réussite (Carol Dweck), et elle influence également leur capacité d’auto-évaluation. Dans cet article, nous cherchons à tester l’impact des théories implicites sur l’excès de confiance. L’expérience conduite avec de jeunes cadres vietnamiens inscrits à un programme MBA en cours du soir nous permet de contrôler les principales variables démographiques et professionnelles. Le résultat principal de notre étude est que les théories implicites combinées au revenu ont un impact significatif sur l’excès de confiance. Les sujets de l’étude affichent aussi un excès de confiance absolu qui est significatif. Toutefois, il ne dépend pas du genre. Nous étudions également les relations entre théories implicites et prise de risque.
Systèmes électoraux « complexes », coordination pré-électorale complexe. Une comparaison France-Italie
Authors: Di Virgilio Aldo , Dolez Bernard , Laurent Annie
Published: August 2016

Les études menées sur la coordination pré-électorale dans les systèmes électoraux « complexes » (le scrutin à deux tours, les systèmes mixtes, ceux avec bonus majoritaire etc.) restent toujours rares, alors que plus en plus de pays ont adopté des formules électorales composites. La comparaison de la coordination pré-électorale en France et en Italie vise à combler ce gap. Elle met en lumière tout à la fois les contraintes que les règles électorales complexes exercent sur les partis mais aussi la façon dont ils en jouent, autrement dit comment ils ajustent leur comportement en se coordonnant, selon des modalités variables. Mais se coordonner ou se concurrencer n’est pas le seul fruit des règles électorales. D’autres facteurs institutionnels, conjoncturels ou relevant de l’histoire politique peuvent aussi favoriser ou freiner tant la construction de coalitions pré-électorales, que leurs formes et leurs périmètres.
Research on Data Fusion Technology Based on Compressed Sensing
Authors: Tian Xianghong
Published: August 2016

First introduce a traditional compressed sensing data fusion technique, and aiming at the shortcoming of traditional method, a compressed sensing data fusion technology based on temporal-spatial correlation is put forward. Then modeling on the proposed data fusion technique, improve the CS reconstruction algorithm and present the iterative threshold reconstruction algorithm based on temporal-spatial correlation. With the synthetic signals as the research objects, experiments show the effectiveness of the algorithm, further proving that it has obvious improvement for the proposed data fusion technology to reduce the network load and save the network energy.
Development of Remote Access and Control Features for Digital Signal Processing Laboratory Experimentations
Authors: P. Arun Kumar N. , A.P Jagadeesh Chandra
Published: August 2016

Remote instrumentation and collaborative learning methods have enhanced the experimental learning aspects of engineering education. Automation is changing the nature of these laboratories and remote access techniques are providing access to server machine from anywhere in the world through internet. This provides an opportunity to develop the remote instrumentation laboratories using which students can perform their lab experiments remotely all over the day and thereby increasing the productivity of the lab setups and measuring instruments. This paper presents the detailed architecture and the implementation details of remote DSP lab instrumentation. LabVIEW user interface is developed to control all the test instruments and their related hardware interfaces. Radmin tool is used as remote access tool to integrate multiple clients to server machine through wired/wireless internet access. Hardware interface is designed and developed to route data and control signals from data acquisition card to the respective hardware and to control the test instruments.
An Alert Fusion Method Based on Grey Relation and Attribute Similarity Correlation
Authors: Liang Wei , Chen Zuo , Wen Ya , Xiao Weidong
Published: August 2016

Various security devices which produce a large volume of logs and alerts have been used widely. It is such a troublesome and time-consuming task for network managers to analyze and deal with the information. This paper presented an improved alerts aggregation method based on grey correlation and attribute similarity method. We used grey correlation to ascertain the importance of alert attributes in network security, and considered it as the weight of attributes. Then we combined with the attribute similarity method and calculated the overall feature similarity in order to complete alert aggregation. Experiments results showed that this method had a strict mathematical theory basis and a higher practical value, which can effectively reduce raw alerts and reduce redundancy for alert data fusion.
A five-step assessment of river ecosystem services to inform conflictive water-flows management – the Ter River case
Authors: Jordà-Capdevila Dídac , Rodríguez-Labajos Beatriz , Bardina Mònica
Published: August 2016

De nombreux travaux ont été publiés au sujet des conflits liés à la gestion des cours d’eau. Cependant, ils ont été peu analysés à la lumière de la relation entre l'appropriation du débit liée et les services écosystémiques (SE). Une telle analyse, réalisée en y intégrant les points de vue et intérêts des parties prenantes, est l'objectif de la recherche présentée dans cet article. Tel qu'observé dans d'autres contextes méditerranéens, une diversité de prélèvements d'eau de la rivière Ter (NE Catalogne, Espagne) - par exemple pour l'hydroélectricité et l'approvisionnement en eau d'autres bassins versants - affecte négativement le débit le long du cours de la rivière. Cette situation a déclenché des conflits locaux et régionaux, devenant un enjeu principal pour la gestion des eaux dans le secteur hydrographique de la rivière TER. Notre approche d'évaluation dans le cadre de cette recherche comporte cinq étapes pour l'étude de la production de SE liés à la fois aux débits détournés et aux débits courants dans le bassin de la rivière Ter. Les étapes sont: (1) l'identification, (2) la caractérisation, (3) la localisation, (4) la quantification et (5) l'évaluation. Un aspect clé de la méthodologie est la participation des parties prenantes, incluant les informateurs-clés et les organisations qui défendent l'écosystème de la rivière et s'oppose aux prélèvements, détournements. La recherche effectuée pendant trois ans sur le terrain (2011-2014) inclut un grand nombre d'entretiens, l'organisation de plusieurs ateliers et deux enquêtes. Les résultats indiquent plusieurs types d'avantages pour la gestion des cours d’eau. Des divergences apparaissent concernant l'utilisation du droit de l’eau, la perspective sauvage contre la perspective récréative, et en raison de l'asymétrie de l'information. De la même manière, des tensions se produisent là où les zones de consommation de SE se chevauchent et les compromis entre SE surgissent. En conclusion, trois façons d’adapter la gestion conflictuelle des cours d’eau d'un point de vue des services écosystémiques sont proposées: (1) la reconnaissance des divers avantages générés par les cours d’eau, (2) l'analyse des modifications hydrologiques qui affectent la production de SE à travers l'espace et (3) l'identification des compromis entre SE.
Corporate Social Responsibility and Foreign Direct Investment
Authors: Ojo Marianne
Published: August 2016

As well as highlighting how corporations and multinational enterprises can be effectively engaged in entrepreneurship and innovation, as a means of fulfilling corporate social responsibility goals and objectives, this chapter aims to propose means whereby auditors could fulfil corporate governance roles more effectively. Having drawn vital lessons from past corporate collapses and the devastating of these in terms of unemployment - particularly for uninsured wider stakeholders, a vital goal of an enterprise should also namely, embrace that of facilitating initiatives aimed at job creation – through entrepreneurship programs which should also have a role in determining how directors and executives are remunerated – in addition to corporate governance measures which are currently in place. By way of reference to corporate collapses which have severely and adversely impacted the lives of many “uninsured” stakeholders, particularly in developed countries, the chapter also aims to address how the fulfilment of obligations and commitments to such stakeholders, can be secured.
Foreign Direct Investment as a Tool for Poverty Alleviation
Authors: Rossi James , Dupont Genevieve
Published: August 2016

It has been argued that “Absolute poverty can be alleviated if at least two conditions are met. First, economic growth must occur—or mean income must rise—on a sustained basis. Second, economic growth must be neutral with respect to income distribution or reduce income inequality.” By way of reference to current and previous literature on economic development, this chapter aims to investigate the relationship between poverty, economic growth, and income distribution, as a means of mitigating gaps in the literature on the topic, as well as contributing to the literature of Foreign Direct Investment as a tool for poverty alleviation.
Parliamentary Sovereignty, the Rule of Law, and the Separation of Powers
Authors: Ojo Marianne
Published: August 2016

This chapter is aimed at highlighting how common law has evolved over the centuries, namely through the flexibility accorded to judicial precedents, as well as through the evolutionary nature evidenced in the processes and rules applied in statutory interpretation. In addition to illustrating how informational asymmetries can be mitigated through de centralization, facilitated with courts employing the use of non-legal agents such as expert witnesses - as evidenced in the Daubert case, Pepper v Hart also illustrates how common law has evolved through the scope and permissibility of aids to statutory interpretation. Whilst financial markets and changes in the environment impact legislators, and whilst it is widely accepted that legislation constitutes the supreme form of law, the necessity for judges to introduce a certain level of flexibility will also contribute towards ensuring that legitimate expectations of involved parties are achieved - particularly where the construction of the words within a statute gives rise to considerable ambiguity. By way of reference to landmark rulings in the United States, cases such as Daubert and The Estate of Edgar A. Berg v. Commissioner, this paper also aims to illustrate the vital role increasingly assumed by non-legal actors, and why this approach should constitute a trend to be adopted in European common and civil law jurisdictions. This being the case given the failures and flaws of references to Parliamentary material and whether these should be permitted as an aid to the construction of legislation which is ambiguous or obscure, as illustrated in the case of Pepper v Hart.
Development Administration in Contemporary Africa
Authors: Afolayan Gbenga Emmanuel , Ogunsanwo Olusegun Abayomi
Published: August 2016

This chapter explores the definitional and conceptual issues in the academic field of development administration and highlights the views about Western models within the grain of African traditional society. It identifies a major set of socio-cultural and economic parameters that strongly characterise or otherwise influence development administration in contemporary Africa. It finds that, in general, Western-oriented approaches remain incongruent with African traditional conventions. The chapter concludes that if a growing emphasis on the socio-cultural components within development administration discourse is a direct response to historical and environmental situations in contemporary Africa, then it is an essential consideration that must shape the field.
The Role of Indigenous Knowledge System in African Development
Authors: Akinwale Akeem Ayofe
Published: August 2016

This paper examines the relevance of Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS) for African development, using qualitative data. The findings revealed that wholesale adoption of foreign ideas has rendered Africans subservient in the world, despite their rich cultural heritage. This situation promotes substitution of IKS, the foundation of African progress, thereby creating more problems for Africans. Yet, IKS still provides succour for the majority of Africans. The emerging culture of individuality and nuclear family is not realistic in Africa where social structures largely reflect kinship solidarity and communalism sustained by social capital, which has become widely recognised. It is therefore suggested that Africans should revise their local circumstances to prevent further plunder of Africa. Also, there is urgent need for adaptation of African IKS to modern reality because the conditions that sustained it have been modified. Rather than focus on wholesale adoption of western remedies, Africans need to explore their IKS to promote common understanding in the context of contemporary globalisation. Africans at home and those in the Diaspora should utilise their abundant natural resources and human capital to repair the dented image of Africa. An upgraded version of African IKS can drive and sustain this mission.
Assessing the Interactions between Native American Tribes and the U.S. Government in Homeland Security and Emergency Management Policy
Authors: Anderson Leigh R.
Published: August 2016

The working relationships between Native American tribes, the states, and the federal government have been strained for centuries. These intergovernmental interactions have led to a fragmented system whose attempt to deliver public service is consistently met with opposition. One area where this has become increasingly evident is within homeland security and emergency management policy. This study used a cross sectional survey to gather information about the beliefs tribes held about the various aspects of their working relationships with states and the federal government within the context of homeland security and emergency management. Analysis of the data revealed that the majority of the intergovernmental relationships that existed between tribes and the U.S. government did not possess the characteristics of an effective working relationship. Evidence also suggests that the intergovernmental relationships were actually having a negative impact on the U.S. government's goal to achieve a unified system of homeland security and emergency management on American soil.
Biometric Spoofing and Anti-Spoofing
Authors: Akhtar Zahid
Published: August 2016

The demand for reliable and robust person recognition systems has expanded due to intense security requirements in today's highly intertwined network society. The advantages of biometrics over traditional security systems have triggered large-scale deployment of biometrics as an authentic technique to determine the identity of an individual. The prime objective of such methods is to assure that the systems are only accessed by genuine users. Since, biometric traits are overt, leading thus to a threat of them being captured, copied, and forged. Numerous techniques have been developed over the years for biometric spoofing and anti-spoofing. The goal of this chapter is to provide a comprehensive overview on works in the field of spoofing and anti-spoofing with special attention to three mainly accepted biometric traits (i.e., fingerprint, face and iris) and multimodal biometric systems. We also present the key challenges, major issues and point out some of the salient and useful research directions.
On Using Gait Biometrics for Re-Identification in Automated Visual Surveillance
Authors: Bouchrika Imed
Published: August 2016

As surveillance becomes ubiquitous in such modern society due to the immense increase of crimes and the rise of terrorism activities, various government and military funded projects are devoted to research institutions to work on improving surveillance technology for the safety of their citizens. Because of the rapid growth of security cameras and impossibility of manpower to supervise them, the integration of biometric technologies into surveillance systems would be a critical factor for the automation of identity tracking over distributed cameras with disjoint views i.e. Re-Identification. The interest of using gait biometrics to re-identify people over networks of cameras emerges from the fact that the gait pattern can be captured and perceived at a distance as well as its non-invasive and less-intrusive nature.
Exploring Secure Computing for the Internet of Things, Internet of Everything, Web of Things, and Hyperconnectivity
Authors: Dawson Maurice
Published: August 2016

Secure computing is essential as environments continue to become intertwined and hyperconnected. As the Internet of Things (IoT), Web of Things (WoT), and the Internet of Everything (IoE) dominate the landscape of technological platforms, protection these complicated networks is important. The everyday person who wishes to have more devices that allow the ability to be connected needs to be aware of what threats they could be potentially exposing themselves to. Additionally, for the unknowing consumer of everyday products needs to be aware of what it means to have sensors, Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID), Bluetooth, and WiFi enabled products. This submission explores how Availability, Integrity, and Confidentiality (AIC) can be applied to IoT, WoT, and IoE with consideration for the application of these architectures in the defense sector.
Enhancing Cyber Security for Financial Industry through Compliance and Regulatory Standards
Authors: Mohammed Derek , Omar Marwan , Nguyen Van
Published: August 2016

This paper investigates laws and regulations within the financial industry that are applicable to cybersecurity. It analyzes both compliance and regulatory issues across the financial sector at the federal and state levels. Additionally; the paper highlights the importance of adhering to, and implementing industry-based regulations to improve the protection of financial digital assets against cyber-attacks. It also reviews similarities and differences among compliance environments created by financial regulations. Identification, interpretation and application of federal and state government regulations, directives and acts as they apply to the security of digital systems in the financial sector is another objective of this research study. Finally, this paper contrasts the values and issues created by increasing compliance requirements.
Cyber Threats in Civil Aviation
Authors: Nobles Calvin
Published: August 2016

Civil aviation faces increased cybersecurity threats due to hyperconnectivity and the lack of standardized frameworks and cybersecurity defenses. Educating the civil aviation workforce is one method to enhance cyber defense against cyber-attacks. Educating the workforce will lead to initiatives and strategies to combat cyber-attacks. Private and public entities need to remain aggressive in developing cyber defense strategies to keep pace with the increasing vulnerabilities of hyperconnectivity. Areas that require immediate attention to safeguard against cybersecurity threats in civil aviation are: 1) Eliminating supply risks, 2) Upgrading legacy systems, 3) Mitigating technological aftereffects, 4) Increasing cybersecurity awareness, 5) Developing cybersecurity workforce, 6) Managing hyperconnectivity, and 7) Leveraging international entities. To safeguard civil aviation infrastructure from cybersecurity threats require assertive, coordinated, and effective strategies and capabilities to defend the network.
Biometrics and Data Protection
Authors: Andrade Francisco Pacheco , Moreira Teresa Coelho
Published: August 2016

The special nature of the characteristics used in biometric systems can present privacy challenges that might not arise with traditional identification methods, such as paper documents, because these data are derived from an individual's physical or behavioural features on the basis of a specific procedure, which is partly automated and yields a (reference) template. On account of their nature, these data require special precautions and the respect of the principles related with privacy and data protection.
Biomedical Image Processing and Analysis
Authors: Majumder Swanirbhar , Majumder Smita
Published: August 2016

Since 1960's digital image processing has been a popular field of research and applications. Among the various applications like physics, security, photonics, biomedical, astronomy, remote sensing, ecological, environmental, etc.; biomedical is one of the many important areas people are focusing on. So for the intelligent analysis of multimedia information like biomedical image has is the thrust area of this chapter. This chapter therefore would aid both biomedical engineers and non-technical people using the tools to get an overview. This chapter mainly concentrates on bio-medical imaging. The medical testing abbreviations and terms like X-ray, MRI, SPECT, PET, Ultrasonography, CFI, optical and IR Imaging SEM, TEM, etc. are discussed here. They mainly concentrate on images of internal structure of living organisms which are not accessible by standard imaging techniques. Moreover, this helps non-technically oriented people to get an overview of the bio-medical aspects.
Learning Algorithms for Anomaly Detection from Images
Authors: Ahmed Tarem , Pathan Al-Sakib Khan , Ahmed Supriyo Shafkat
Published: August 2016

Visual surveillance networks are installed in many sensitive places in the present world. Human security officers are required to continuously stare at large numbers of monitors simultaneously, and for lengths of time at a stretch. Constant alert vigilance for hours on end is difficult to maintain for human beings. It is thus important to remove the onus of detecting unwanted activity from the human security officer to an automated system. While many researchers have proposed solutions to this problem in the recent past, significant gaps remain in existing knowledge. Most existing algorithms involve high complexities. No quantitative performance analysis is provided by most researchers. Most commercial systems require expensive equipment. This work proposes algorithms where the complexities are independent of time, making the algorithms naturally suited to online use. In addition, the proposed methods have been shown to work with the simplest surveillance systems that may already be publicly deployed. Furthermore, direct quantitative performance comparisons are provided.
A Computational Model for Texture Analysis in Images with Fractional Differential Filter for Texture Detection
Authors: Hemalatha S. , Anouncia S. Margret
Published: August 2016

This paper is dedicated to the modelling of textured images influenced by fractional derivatives for texture detection. As most of the images contain textures, texture analysis becomes the most important for image understanding and it is a key solution for many computer vision applications. Hence, texture must be suitably detected and represented. Nevertheless, existing texture detection algorithms consider texture as a unique feature from edges. The proposed model explores a novel way of developing texture detection algorithm by mimicking edge detection algorithms. The method assumes that texture feature is analogous to edges and thus, the time complexity is reduced significantly. The model proposed in this work is based on Gaussian kernel smoothing, Fractional partial derivatives and a statistical approach. It is justified to be robust to noisy images and possesses statistical interpretation. The model is validated by the classification experiments on different types of textured images from Brodatz album. It achieves higher classification accuracy than the existing methods.
Cellular Automata Algorithms for Digital Image Processing
Authors: Anghelescu Petre
Published: August 2016

In this paper are presented solutions to develop algorithms for digital image processing focusing particularly on edge detection. Edge detection is one of the most important phases used in computer vision and image processing applications and also in human image understanding. In this chapter, implementation of classical edge detection algorithms it is presented and also implementation of algorithms based on the theory of Cellular Automata (CA). This work is totally related to the idea of understanding the impact of the inherently local information processing of CA on their ability to perform a managed computation at the global level. If a suitable encoding of a digital image is used, in some cases, it is possible to achieve better results in comparison with the solutions obtained by means of conventional approaches. The software application which is able to process images in order to detect edges using both conventional algorithms and CA based ones is written in C# programming language and experimental results are presented for images with different sizes and backgrounds.
A Novel Fuzzy Logic Classifier for Classification and Quality Measurement of Apple Fruit
Authors: Kamila Narendra Kumar , Mallick Pradeep Kumar
Published: August 2016

Fruit and vegetables market is getting highly selective and requiring their suppliers to distribute the fruits of high standards of quality and good appearance. So the growing need to supply quality fruits within a short period of time has given rise to development of Automated Grading of fresh market fruits. The objective of this chapter is to classify apples into three grades based on its attributes such as color, size and weight. Initially apple image database is created. Next each image is analyzed using image processing software where images are first preprocessed and useful features like color and size are extracted from the images. Fuzzy logic is used for classification. Color, size features are represented as a fuzzy variables which are used for classification. The apples of different classes are graded into three grades viz. Grade1, Grade2 and Grade3 on the basis of combination of parameters mentioned above.