bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
WEDDING GIFT EXCHANGE AMONG THE PEOPLES OF DAGESTAN: TRADITIONS AND INNOVATIONS
Authors: Amirkhanova Aida K. , Bayramkulova Aminat A.
Published: January 2020

The purpose of this article is to show the state of modern exchange relations in the wedding ceremonies of the peoples of Dagestan and to trace the variants of their transformation at different stages of the wedding. Ceremonies of wedding gift exchange of Dagestanis today have similar features with traditional customs and ceremonies. However, over time, under the influence of ethno-cultural and other processes, modern exchange relations within wedding customs have undergone certain transformations, adapting to the modern way of life of the people. It is known that exchange relations are the most archaic tradition of social life of any nation, originating in ancient times. It is believed that the traditions of gift exchange were created to preserve existing or create new kinship and social relations within or between communities. However, in recent years, its main functions are increasingly becoming a thirst for profit, i.e., gift exchange acquires utilitarian functions. Many of the symbolic wedding gifts of the past have now been replaced by money, and their value is increasing every year. Since the post-Soviet period, the expressed interest and return of the peoples of Dagestan to their traditional customs and rituals (including wedding) can be traced. However, the moral and ethical side of these customs remained in the past. To solve these problems and facilitate the wedding (reduce costs) and all its stages, it is necessary to introduce into modern rites of wedding gift exchange reasonable ethical standards to regulate these rituals. It is necessary to rethink the current traditional customs of gift exchange, bringing material and moral damage to the family, to choose and preserve the most important of them, corresponding to the modern way of life of Dagestanis, discarding unnecessary and irrelevant rituals.
Fostering teachers
Authors: Baily Supriya , Holmarsdottir Halla B
Published: January 2020

Fostering international mindedness in teachers through their preparation and continuing education leads to innovations in teacher education related to exchange programs (Cushner, 2012) and curricular adoptions and adaptations (Tudball, 2012). This in turn supports the development of both teacher educators and teachers as change agents. Yet, without investments of resources to prioritize such work in teacher preparation and professional development programs, there is little impetus to create systemic change to support how teachers
Bridges to bilingualism: Teachers
Authors: Milian Madeline , Walker Dana
Published: January 2020

The Peace Accords of 1996 aimed to bring significant changes for Indigenous people of Guatemala by promoting new educational opportunities centering on the recognition that culture and language are critical components of education. Bilingual intercultural programs have been created and attention to the detrimental effects of language loss and cultural identity have gained attention as Guatemala portrays itself to the rest of the world as a proud multiethnic and multilingual nation. As teachers are essential in the implementation of educational programs, this study explores the perspectives of 13 Indigenous bilingual teachers from multiple communities and their role in implementing programs that promote bilingualism, biliteracy, and intercultural education in their respective communities. Teachers proudly accepted the responsibility of bridging school and home languages and recognized that educational progress had taken place, but expressed the need for continued improvements, as there are still many unmet goals both at the national and individual community levels.
Language-in-education policies and Indigenous language revitalization efforts in Canada: Considerations for non-dominant language education in the Global South
Authors: McIvor Onowa , Ball Jessica
Published: January 2020

Indigenous languages are struggling for breath in the Global North. In Canada, Indigenous language medium schools and early childhood programs remain independent and marginalized. Despite government commitments, there is little support for Indigenous language-in-education policy and initiatives. This article describes an inaugural, country-wide, federally-funded, Indigenous-led language revitalization research project, entitled NE?OL?EW? (one mind-one people). The project brings together nine Indigenous partners to build a country-wide network and momentum to pressure multi-levels of government to honour agreements enshrining the right of children to learn their Indigenous language. The project is documenting approaches to create new Indigenous language speakers, focusing on adult language learners able to keep the language vibrant and teach their language to children. The article reflects upon how this Northern emphasis on Indigenous language revitalization and country-wide networking initiative is relevant to mother tongue-based education and policy examples in the Global South. The article underscores the need for both community level initiatives (top-down) and government level policy and funding (bottom up) to support child and adult Indigenous language learning.
Evaluación del desempeño ambiental del hotel ''Sierra Mar-Los Galeones'', con un enfoque multidimensional
Authors: Peláez Rodríguez Taylen , Basulto Guilarte Misleidis
Published: January 2020

En el hotel ''Sierra Mar-Los Galeones'' se realizó una investigación, con el objetivo de diseñar un procedimiento de evaluación de su desempeño ambiental, con enfoque multidimensional. Los métodos empleados fueron: análisis-síntesis e histórico-lógico. Los datos obtenidos a partir de la aplicación de las encuestas se procesaron con el uso del paquete estadístico SPSS. También se utilizó el software Decisión para seleccionar y validar el criterio de los expertos, así como el MICMAC para determinar las variables claves. La investigación contribuyó a la medición del desempeño ambiental del hotel ''Sierra Mar-Los Galeones'', e identificó las variables económicas, sociales y ambientales significativas que influyen en el mismo. Además, permitió validar el procedimiento diseñado.
Atractividad - Competitividad de destino turístico. Evaluación de Holguín para el mercado estadounidense
Authors: Medina Labrada Justa Ramona , Pérez Ricardo Elizabeth del Carmen , Riquenes Gainza Milagros de las Mercedes
Published: January 2020

El restablecimiento de las relaciones diplomáticas entre Cuba y Estados Unidos en 2015 provocó un crecimiento importante del flujo de visitantes estadounidenses a Cuba. A pesar de las restricciones legales que en la actualidad desestimulan dichos flujos, se consideró conveniente evaluar la atractividad - competitividad del destino turístico Holguín para distintos segmentos de clientes estadounidenses. Para desarrollar el estudio se propuso un procedimiento, que considera las mejores experiencias precedentes y que combina el análisis de la atractividad y la competitividad. Como resultado de la aplicación del procedimiento se determinaron los aspectos favorables y desfavorables que presenta el destino Holguín con relación a la atractividad turística para cada segmento estudiado; así como la posición competitiva que ocupa Holguín para los segmentos de yatistas, cruceristas y los que acceden por vía aérea. Se realizaron recomendaciones para favorecer la gestión efectiva del destino Holguín para dicho mercado
Prevalence of NCD Risk Factors Among the Adult Family Members of Students of School (Phase – A)
Authors: Mondal Ratindra Nath , Das Anupom , Islam Md Foyzul , Podder Priyanka , Pramanik Soma , Rani Moni
Published: January 2020

Background: Like other developing countries, in our country major causes of mortality is shifted from communicable to non-communicable diseases. NCD already disproportionately affect low and middle income countries, where nearly three quarters of NCD deaths (28 million) occur annually. Management of the existing NCD and upcoming NCD will be a great challenge for the developing countries like us. Therefore a strategy of prevention of NCD is very important.

Materials and methods: This was a community based prospective interventional study, carried out in Mornea high school and Alef Uddin Sarker high school of Rangpur sadar. In the first phase, from each school 100 students from different classes were selected randomly. Then adult family members of these students were surveyed to see the prevalence of NCD risk factors. In second phase (ongoing) school health education will be given in Mornea high school (randomly chosen) monthly basis for 12 months and the students will share these with their family members. On the other hand the other school’s students will not provide any health education. One of the guardian from each family will chosen for confirmation of the sharing of information of school health education acquired by students over phone after each class. After one year prevalence of NCD risk factors will be surveyed again to know whether there are any significant differences of outcome of school health education.

Results: In this study we have been able to study of 356 adult people of both sexes. From the Mornea high school 197 (55.3%) and Alef Uddin Sarker high school 159 (44.7%). Mean age of the study population was 47.33 years and female was more than male 66.3%. Awareness of NCD was found in only 10.4% of the study population. Overall 96.63% had NCD risk factors, 30.90% had two risk factors and 50.26% had 3 or more risk factors. Overall prevalence of smoking was 36.8%, among them 20.5% were current smoker. 33.1% of the study population used to take smokeless tobacco. Among the survey population only 14.3% used to take vegetables 7 days/week. 32.6% (116) people were physically inactive and 6.7% (24) had sedentary lifestyle. Only 5.3% of the people were obese and 66.57% had central obesity. Prevalence of hypertension and diabetes among the study population was 28.9% and 4.77% respectively. Among the known hypertensive 72.7% (16) used to take antihypertensive drug regularly and blood pressure was controlled in only 27.3%. Among the known diabetic mean duration were 4.12 years and 62.5% (5) of the patients used to take the antidiabetic drug regularly.

Conclusions: In our study, awareness of NCD is very low but high prevalence of NCD risk factors, which are modifiable. So, an appropriate intervention is needed to modify the risk factors and thus prevention of NCDs.

J MEDICINE JAN 2020; 21 (1) : 8-13
Role of Vitamin D in Breast Cancer Prevention and Therapy: Recent Findings
Authors: Benarba Bachir , Gouri Adel
Published: January 2020

Vitamin D, a fat-soluble vitamin, is produced in the skin exposed to the sunlight or provided by dietary intake. In addition to its role in the regulation of calcium and phosphorus metabolism, vitamin D has been correlated with several ailments such as depression, osteoporosis and cancer. Since vitamin D deficiency has been demonstrated to be linked to higher breast cancer risk, importance has been given to study its possible use in the prevention or even treatment of breast cancer. Herein, we review recent publications studying the vitamin D effects and breast cancer. Role of vitamin D as a preventive agent, its involvement in therapies and the effects of vitamin D supplementation are discussed. Accumulative findings support that vitamin D supplementation might reduce breast cancer risk, enhance effectiveness of chemotherapeutics and improve cancer survival.

J MEDICINE JAN 2020; 21 (1) : 46-50
Changing trend of antibiotic susceptibility pattern of Enteric Fever: What is Next?
Authors: Ahasan HAM Nazmul , Hossain Homayra Tahseen , Reza Ishrat Binte
Published: January 2020

Enteric fever continues to be a major global public health problem, predominantly in the developing countries, including Bangladesh. Mortality rates due to enteric fever can be reduced from 30% to <1% by providing effective antimicrobial therapy which is facing challenges due to emerging antimicrobial resistance. The changing trend of antibiotic susceptibility pattern of Enteric fever from pre-antibiotic era through susceptible antibiotics, then multidrug resistance (MDREF) followed by re-emergence of sensitivity to some older resistant antibiotics pose therapeutic challenges for the physicians. The purpose of this review article is to compare the antibiogram of Salmonella isolates of different recent studies and analyzing the changing trend of antibiotic resistance pattern for further successful management. This may also enable planning of antibiotic recycling wherever feasible.

J MEDICINE JAN 2020; 21 (1) : 51-54
SIMULASI PERAMBATAN GELOMBANG ELEKTROMAGNETIK PADA KRISTAL FOTONIK 2D MENGGUNAKAN METODE FINITE DIFFERENCE FREQUENCY DOMAIN
Authors: Suherman Adly Maulana , Negara Teguh Puja , Hardhienata Hendradi , Alatas Husin
Published: January 2020

Numerical simulations on two-dimensional photonic crystals with defects were analyzed using the Finite Difference Frequency Domain (FDFD). This approach consists of Maxwell's formulation that uses Central Finite Difference to place fields and materials at discrete points of the Yee grid, so that the matrix wave equation is obtained in the form of column vectors. Absorbent boundary conditions use Perfectly Matched Layer (PML) with fictitious magnetic conductivity to shed incoming waves at the edge of the domain calculation. Photonic crystals can be assumed to be a periodic lattice of dielectric material that produces the phenomenon of photonic band gap (PBG). The results of FDFD simulations are compared with the literature with a difference of 0.056. This small difference value means that this method is good enough to analyze PBG phenomena. For point defects and the accumulation of electromagnetic waves, linear defects are investigated and analyzed with spectral responses. Insertion of defects in photonic crystals will produce a photonic pass band (PPB). The simulation results show that PPB depends on the angle of arrival vector, material permittivity, and width of the defect structure.
MODEL ROBOT TROLI OBJECT FOLLOWER MENGGUNAKAN PIXY CMUCAM5 BERBASIS ARDUINO UNO 328P
Authors: Herman Hadian Adam , Chairunnas Andi
Published: January 2020

Object Follower Robot is a robot that can follow the object's motion where the object will walk will be followed. The control system uses a motor driver and two dynamos to run the robot based on the color of the object detected by the Pixy CMUCAM5 camera so that it can walk following the object. This system depends on hardware and software. The hardware uses the Arduino Uno 328P as the microcontroller, the ultrasonic sensor as a distance detector, the Pixy CMUCAM5 camera as the color detector of the object, and the HX711 weight sensor as a weighing counter for shopping. As well as software using color filtering to read colors rather than objects, the results issued from color filtering are what make the conversion as a robot control system. The results of the test are to identify how the robot can follow the object, how far the robot can follow the object, and how long the robot is able to walk if the robot is turned on continuously. So it can be seen the extent to which the ability of the robot can be used
Медицинская антропология в жанре учебного пособия
Authors: Булдакова Юлия
Published: January 2020

В предлагаемом вниманию читателей тексте рассматривается первое и пока единственное столь обширное российское учебное пособие по медицинской антропологии, предназначенное для студентов гуманитарных и медицинских вузов, преподавателей, а также научных работников разных уровней. В 2019 году термину «медицинская антропология» исполняется 60 лет. В тексте затронуто освещение автором пособия периода становления медицинской антропологии и формирования отношения к этому научному направлению за рубежом и в России, обсуждается авторская концепция возможности повышения информированности общества о медицинской антропологии, организации полноценного преподавания медицинской антропологии, а также перспективы профессиональной реализации специалистов – медицинских антропологов в России, где структурные условия значительно отличаются от западных, а потребность в специалистах объективно возрастает с каждым годом.
A Grey-Box Ensemble Model Exploiting Black-Box Accuracy and White-Box Intrinsic Interpretability
Authors: Pintelas Emmanuel , Livieris Ioannis E. , Pintelas Panagiotis
Published: January 2020

Machine learning has emerged as a key factor in many technological and scientific advances and applications. Much research has been devoted to developing high performance machine learning models, which are able to make very accurate predictions and decisions on a wide range of applications. Nevertheless, we still seek to understand and explain how these models work and make decisions. Explainability and interpretability in machine learning is a significant issue, since in most of real-world problems it is considered essential to understand and explain the model’s prediction mechanism in order to trust it and make decisions on critical issues. In this study, we developed a Grey-Box model based on semi-supervised methodology utilizing a self-training framework. The main objective of this work is the development of a both interpretable and accurate machine learning model, although this is a complex and challenging task. The proposed model was evaluated on a variety of real world datasets from the crucial application domains of education, finance and medicine. Our results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed model performing comparable to a Black-Box and considerably outperforming single White-Box models, while at the same time remains as interpretable as a White-Box model.
Top Position Sensitive Ordinal Relation Preserving Bitwise Weight for Image Retrieval
Authors: Wang Zhen , Sun Fuzhen , Zhang Longbo , Wang Lei , Liu Pingping
Published: January 2020

In recent years, binary coding methods have become increasingly popular for tasks of searching approximate nearest neighbors (ANNs). High-dimensional data can be quantized into binary codes to give an efficient similarity approximation via a Hamming distance. However, most of existing schemes consider the importance of each binary bit as the same and treat training samples at different positions equally, which causes many data pairs to share the same Hamming distance and a larger retrieval loss at the top position. To handle these problems, we propose a novel method dubbed by the top-position-sensitive ordinal-relation-preserving bitwise weight (TORBW) method. The core idea is to penalize data points without preserving an ordinal relation at the top position of a ranking list more than those at the bottom and assign different weight values to their binary bits according to the distribution of query data. Specifically, we design an iterative optimization mechanism to simultaneously learn binary codes and bitwise weights, which makes their learning processes related to each other. When the iterative procedure converges, the binary codes and bitwise weights are effectively adapted to each other. To reduce the training complexity, we relax the discrete constraints of both the binary codes and the indicator function. Furthermore, we pretrain a tensor ordinal graph to decrease the time consumption of computing a relative similarity relationship among data points. Experimental results on three large-scale ANN search benchmark datasets, i.e., SIFT1M, GIST1M, and Cifar10, show that the proposed TORBW method can achieve superior performance over state-of-the-art approaches.
Variation in Milk Composition and Fatty Acid Profile during the Lactation of Araucana Creole Ewes in a Pasture-Based System
Authors: Inostroza Karla , Bravo Silvana , Larama Giovanni , Saenz Camila , Sepúlveda Néstor
Published: January 2020

Araucana creole sheep are a local animal genetic resource adapted to environmental conditions in rural production systems in southern Chile. The aim of the present study was to analyze the milk yield and composition of Araucana creole ewe’s milk from ewes maintained in a traditional grazing system of natural pastures. Twenty healthy single-bearing Araucana creole ewes were selected immediately after lambing (body condition score (BCS) of 2.8 ± 0.2, ewe weight (EW) of 62 ± 3.5 kg, and age of 3.8 ± 0.7 years). BCS, EW, and lamb weights were determined. Milk samples were obtained using the oxytocin technique at 10 days postpartum and then twice a month during the lactation stage (90 days). Protein, fat, lactose, total solids (TS), solid non-fat (SNF), urea contents, and fatty acid (FA) composition were analyzed. The Araucana ewe’s milk yield was lower than that of other dairy sheep but was higher than that of meat breeds. The milk fat had a higher content of oleic acid in the early lactation period, which decreased slowly according to the progress of lactation. The increase in oleic acid improved the milk health indexes during this period and thus provided a healthier milk product for human consumption than later in lactation. During lactation, higher conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) levels were obtained only at day 60. Our research suggests that Araucana creole sheep can provide high-quality milk during early lactation, which is rich in oleic acid and represents an alternative for the production of dairy products, improving the profitability of the productive systems of small-holder farmers in Chile.
The Anti-Proliferative and Anti-Invasive Effect of Leaf Extracts of Blueberry Plants Treated with Methyl Jasmonate on Human Gastric Cancer In Vitro Is Related to Their Antioxidant Properties
Authors: Ribera-Fonseca Alejandra , Jiménez Danae , Leal Pamela , Riquelme Ismael , Roa Juan Carlos , Alberdi Miren , Peek Richard M. , Reyes-Díaz Marjorie
Published: January 2020

Gastric cancer is the third main cause of cancerous tumors in humans in Chile. It is well-accepted that a diet rich in antioxidant plants could help in fighting cancer. Blueberry is a fruit crop with a high content of antioxidants. Methyl jasmonate (MeJA) is a phytohormone involved in plant defenses under stress conditions. The exogenous application of MeJA can improve the antioxidant properties in plants. We studied in vitro and in vivo anticancer action on human gastric cancer (cell line AGS) and the antioxidant properties of extracts from blueberry plants untreated and treated with MeJA. The results demonstrated that leaf extracts displayed a higher inhibition of cancer cell viability as well as greater antioxidant properties compared to fruit extracts. Besides, MeJA applications to plants improved the antioxidant properties of leaf extracts (mainly anthocyanins), increasing their inhibition levels on cell viability and migration. It is noteworthy that leaf extract from MeJA-treated plants significantly decreased cancer cell migration and expression of gastric cancer-related proteins, mainly related to the mitogen-activating protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. Interestingly, in all cases the anticancer and antioxidant properties of leaf extracts were strongly related. Despite highlighted outcomes, in vivo results did not indicate significant differences in Helicobacter pylori colonization nor inflammation levels in Mongolian gerbils unfed and fed with blueberry leaf extract. Our findings demonstrated that MeJA increased antioxidant compounds, mainly anthocyanins, and decreased the viability and migration capacity of AGS cells. In addition, leaf extracts from MeJA-treated plants were also able to decrease the expression of gastric cancer-related proteins. Our outcomes also revealed that the anthocyanin-rich fraction of blueberry leaf extracts showed higher in vitro antiproliferative and anti-invasive effects than the crude leaf extracts. However, it is still uncertain whether the leaf extracts rich in anthocyanins of blueberry plants are capable of exerting a chemopreventive or chemoprotective effect against gastric cancer on an in vivo model.
Polyester-Based Dendrimer Nanoparticles Combined with Etoposide Have an Improved Cytotoxic and Pro-Oxidant Effect on Human Neuroblastoma Cells
Authors: Alfei Silvana , Marengo Barbara , Domenicotti Cinzia
Published: January 2020

Etoposide (ETO) is a cytotoxic drug that exerts its effect by increasing reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Although ETO is widely used, fast metabolism, poor solubility, systemic toxicity, and multi-drug resistance induction all limit its administration dosage and its therapeutic efficiency. In order to address these issues, a biodegradable dendrimer was prepared for entrapping and protecting ETO and for enhancing its solubility and effectiveness. The achieved dendrimer complex with ETO (CPX 5) showed the typical properties of a well-functioning delivery system, i.e., nanospherical morphology (70 nm), optimal Z-potential (−45 mV), good drug loading (37%), very satisfying entrapment efficiency (53%), and a remarkably improved solubility in biocompatible solvents. In regards to its cytotoxic activity, CPX 5 was tested on neuroblastoma (NB) cells with very promising results. In fact, the dendrimer scaffold and ETO are able to exert per se a cytotoxic and pro-oxidant activity on human NB cells. When CPX 5 is combined with ETO, it shows a synergistic action, slowly releasing the drug over time and significantly improving and protracting bioactivity. On the basis of these findings, the prepared ETO reservoir represents a novel biodegradable and promising device for the delivery of ETO into NB cells.
Towards Adaptive Multipath Managing: A Lightweight Path Management Mechanism to Aid Multihomed Mobile Computing Devices
Authors: Cao Yuanlong , Collotta Mario , Xu Siyi , Huang Longjun , Tao Xueqiang , Zhou Zhichao
Published: January 2020

With the large scale deployment of multihomed mobile computing devices in today’s Internet, the Multipath TCP (MPTCP) is being considered as a preferred data transmission technology in the future Internet due to its promising features of bandwidth aggregation and multipath transmission. However, MPTCP is more likely to be vulnerable to the transmission quality differences of multiple paths, which cause a “hot-potato” out-of-order arrival of packets at the receiver side, and in the absence of a related approach to fix this issue, serious application level performance degradations will occur. In this paper, we proposes MPTCP-LM 3 , a Lightweight path Management Mechanism to aid Multihomed MPTCP based mobile computing devices towards efficient multipath data transmission. The goals of MPTCP-LM 3 are: (i) to offer MPTCP a promising path management mechanism, (ii) to reduce out-of-order data reception and protect against receiver buffer blocking, and (iii) to increase the throughput of mobile computing devices in a multihomed wireless environment. Simulations show that MPTCP-LM 3 outperforms the current MPTCP schemes in terms of performance and quality of service.
Editorial for Special Issue “IberSPEECH2018: Speech and Language Technologies for Iberian Languages”
Authors: Alías Francesc , Bonafonte Antonio , Teixeira António
Published: January 2020

The main goal of this Special Issue is to present the latest advances in research and novel applications of speech and language technologies based on the works presented at the IberSPEECH edition held in Barcelona in 2018, paying special attention to those focused on Iberian languages. IberSPEECH is the international conference of the Special Interest Group on Iberian Languages (SIG-IL) of the International Speech Communication Association (ISCA) and of the Spanish Thematic Network on Speech Technologies (Red Temática en Tecnologías del Habla, or RTTH for short). Several researchers were invited to extend their contributions presented at IberSPEECH2018 due to their interest and quality. As a result, this Special Issue is composed of 13 papers that cover different topics of investigation related to perception, speech analysis and enhancement, speaker verification and identification, speech production and synthesis, natural language processing, together with several applications and evaluation challenges.
Efficient Shape Estimation of Transparent Microdefects with Manifold Learning and Regression on a Set of Saturated Images
Authors: Deng Yuanlong , Pan Xizhou , Zhong Xiaopin
Published: January 2020

In the industry of polymer film products such as polarizers, measuring the three-dimensional (3D) contour of the transparent microdefects, the most common defects, can crucially affect what further treatment should be taken. In this paper, we propose an efficient method for estimating the 3D shape of defects based on regression by converting the problem of direct measurement into an estimation problem using two-dimensional imaging. The basic idea involves acquiring structured-light saturated imaging data on transparent microdefects; integrating confocal microscopy measurement data to create a labeled data set, on which dimensionality reduction is performed; using support vector regression on a low-dimensional small-set space to establish the relationship between the saturated image and defects’ 3D attributes; and predicting the shape of new defect samples by applying the learned relationship to their saturated images. In the discriminant subspace, the manifold of saturated images can clearly show the changing attributes of defects’ 3D shape, such as depth and width. The experimental results show that the mean relative error (MRE) of the defect depth is 3.64% and the MRE of the defect width is 1.96%. The estimation time consumed in the Matlab platform is less than 0.01 s. Compared with precision measuring instruments such as confocal microscopes, our estimation method greatly improves the efficiency of quality control and meets the accuracy requirement of automated defect identification. It is therefore suitable for complete inspection of products.
A Novel Intelligent Method for Bearing Fault Diagnosis Based on EEMD Permutation Entropy and GG Clustering
Authors: Hou Jingbao , Wu Yunxin , Gong Hai , Ahmad A. S. , Liu Lei
Published: January 2020

For a rolling bearing fault that has nonlinearity and nonstationary characteristics, it is difficult to identify the fault category. A rolling bearing clustering fault diagnosis method based on ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD), permutation entropy (PE), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and the Gath–Geva (GG) clustering algorithm is proposed. Firstly, we decompose the vibration signal using EEMD, and several inherent modal components are obtained. Then, the permutation entropy values of each modal component are calculated to get the entropy feature vector, and the entropy feature vector is reduced by the LDA method to be used as the input of the clustering algorithm. The data experiments show that the proposed fault diagnosis method can obtain satisfactory clustering indicators. It implies that compared with other mode combination methods, the fault identification method proposed in this study has the advantage of better intra-class compactness of clustering results.
Active Vibration Suppression of Stiffened Composite Panels with Piezoelectric Materials under Blast Loads
Authors: Lee Chang-Yull , Jung Jin-Young , Jeong Se-Min
Published: January 2020

Transient responses of stiffened panels with piezoelectric sensors and actuators are studied under normal blast loads. The air vehicles could be exposed to blast pulses generated by an explosion or shock-wave disturbances. Thus, active vibration suppression of the vehicles is important under blast loadings. The structural model is designed as a laminated composite panel with lead zirconate titanate (PZT) piezoceramic layers embedded on both top and bottom surfaces. A uniformly distributed blast load is assumed over the whole of the panel surface. The first-order shear deformation theory of plate is adopted, and the extended Hamilton’s principle is applied to derive the equations of motions. The numerical model is verified by the comparison with previous data. Using linear quadratic regulator (LQR) control algorithm, vibration characteristics and dynamic responses are compared. As piezoelectric patches are attached on the whole of the surface, the effect of the stiffener’s location is studied. Furthermore, the influences of the patch’s positions are also investigated through subjection to the blast wave. From various results, in order to get the best control performances, the research aims to find the optimum position of sensor and actuator pairs that is most effective under blast load environments.
Special Issue: Nanocomposite Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications
Authors: Matsumura Kazuaki
Published: January 2020

A hydrogel consists of a three-dimensional network of polymer chains, with water as a solvent in the system [...]
Heterogeneous Defect Prediction Based on Transfer Learning to Handle Extreme Imbalance
Authors: Jiang Kaiyuan , Zhang Yutong , Wu Haibin , Wang Aili , Iwahori Yuji
Published: January 2020

Software systems are now ubiquitous and are used every day for automation purposes in personal and enterprise applications; they are also essential to many safety-critical and mission-critical systems, e.g., air traffic control systems, autonomous cars, and Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. With the availability of massive storage capabilities, high speed Internet, and the advent of Internet of Things devices, modern software systems are growing in both size and complexity. Maintaining a high quality of such complex systems while manually keeping the error rate at a minimum is a challenge. This paper proposed a heterogeneous defect prediction method considering class extreme imbalance problem in real software datasets. In the first stage, Sampling with the Majority method (SWIM) based on Mahalanobis Distance is used to balance the dataset to reduce the influence of minority samples in defect data. Due to the negative impact of uncorrelated features on the classification algorithm, the second stage uses ensemble learning and joint similarity measurement to select the most relevant and representative features between the source project and the target project. The third phase realizes the transfer learning from the source project to the target project in the Grassmann manifold space. Our experiments, conducted using nine projects of three public domain software defect libraries and compared with four existing advanced methods to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method in this paper. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method is more accurate in terms of Area under curve (AUC).
Performance Analysis of Maximal Risk Evaluation Formulas for Spectrum-Based Fault Localization
Authors: Wu Tingting , Dong Yunwei , Lau Man Fai , Ng Sebastian , Chen Tsong Yueh , Jiang Mingyue
Published: January 2020

The effectiveness analysis of risk evaluation formulas has become a significant research area in spectrum-based fault localization (SBFL). The risk evaluation formula is designed and widely used to evaluate the likelihood of a program spectrum to be faulty. There are numerous empirical and theoretical studies to investigate and compare the performance between sixty risk evaluation formulas. According to previous research, these sixty risk evaluation formulas together form a partially ordered set. Among them, nine formulas are maximal. These nine formulas can further be grouped into five maximal risk evaluation formula groups so that formulas in the same group have the same performance. Moreover, previous research showed that we cannot theoretically compare formulas across these five maximal formula groups. However, experimental data “suggests” that a maximal formula in one group could outperform another one (from a different group) more frequently, though not always. This inspired us to further investigate the performance between any two maximal formulas in different maximal formula groups. Our approach involves two major steps. First, we propose a new condition to compare between two different maximal formulas. Based on this new condition, we present five different scenarios under which a formula performs better than another. This is different from the condition suggested by the previous theoretical study. We performed an empirical study to compare different maximal formulas using our condition. Our results showed that among two maximal risk evaluation formulas, it is feasible to identify one that can outperform the others more frequently.
Study on Water Saving Potential and Net Profit of Zea mays L.: The Role of Surface Mulching with Micro-Spray Irrigation
Authors: He Zhaoquan , Shang Xue , Zhang Tonghui
Published: January 2020

Water shortage threatens agricultural sustainability in Horqin Sandy Land, northeast China. To explore the effects of various surface mulching patterns with micro-spray irrigation on the yield, water consumption (ETc), and water-saving potential of maize (Zea mays L.), we used three treatments: straw mulching (JG), organic fertilizer mulching (NF), and no mulching (WG; control). In each treatment, plants were supplied with 500 mm of total water (irrigation plus precipitation) during the entire growing season and were irrigated with the amount of total water supply minus precipitation. Yield and water use efficiency (WUE) showed a significant negative correlation with water saving potential per unit yield (Py) and water saving potential per unit area (Sp), which were also consistent with their relationships in the function model. Meanwhile, a remarkably positive correlation occurred between yield, WUE, and net economic profit, respectively. The JG treatment, which was mainly affected by light and temperature production potential (Yc), grain yield, and ETc, showed the lowest Py (0.16 m3 kg−1) and Sp (2572.31 m3 hm−2), and the maximum increase in yield, WUE, and net economic profit, extending to 16,178.40 kg hm−2, 3.25 kg m−3, 17,610.09 yuan hm−2, respectively, which were significantly higher than those in NF and WG, (p <0.05). Thus, straw mulching with micro-spray irrigation was the best treatment for maximizing yield and WUE. Organic manure mulching and no mulching need further investigation, as these showed high Py and Sp, which were together responsible for lower WUE.
Kinetics and Optimization by Response Surface Methodology of Aerobic Bioremediation. Geoelectrical Parameter Monitoring
Authors: Raffa Carla Maria , Chiampo Fulvia , Godio Alberto , Vergnano Andrea , Bosco Francesca , Ruffino Barbara
Published: January 2020

This study aimed to investigate the kinetics of an aerobic bioremediation process of diesel oil removal by indigenous microorganisms, and to define the optimal operative conditions by means of response surface methodology. This was carried out by setting up a series of microcosms (200 g of soil), polluted with the same diesel oil concentration (70 g·kg−1 of soil), but with different water contents (u%) and carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratios. The process was monitored by: (1) residual diesel oil concentration, to measure the removal efficiency, and (2) fluorescein production, to check the microbial activity. These two parameters were the objective variables used for the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and response surface methodology (RSM). The results allowed the interactions between u% and C/N to be defined and the optimal range to be adopted for each. The process kinetics was modeled with first- and second-order reaction rates; slightly better results were achieved for the second-order model in terms of parameter variability. Biological processes like degradation may have effects on dielectric properties of soil; an open-ended coaxial cable was used to measure the dielectric permittivity of microcosm matrices at the start and after 130 days of bioremediation. The evolution of the real and the imaginary components of dielectric permittivity provided results that supported the evidence of a biodegradation process in progress.
A Time Correlation Based Clustering Method for a Design of a Transformable Product
Authors: Zhang Jinpu , Cao Guozhong , Peng Qingjin , Tan Runhua , Zhang Huangao , Liu Wei
Published: January 2020

A single-function product cannot meet various needs of different users when the product user or use environment changes. A transformable product with multiple functions can meet different needs of users. It is critical to determine product functions that a transformable product should have in the product design. However, it is a challenge to decide required functional components of a transformable product in the design process. A clustering method is proposed in this paper using undirected graphs for segmentations of needs in the time dimension. A need-based function model is built to form product function chains based on cost of the function transition distance between different function chains. Undirected graphs of the function chains are constructed according to the similarity of product functions. The interrelated subgraphs are then used to form multiple functions of a transformable product based on segmentations. A wheelchair is developed as an example to verify the proposed method. The method improves the design process of transformable products accurately and effectively.
Structural Colors Based on Amorphous Arrays Comprised Solely of Silica Particles
Authors: Choi Dae-San , Choi Ju-Hwan , Lee Chang-Yull
Published: January 2020

In this study, structural colors were fabricated by producing an amorphous array with atypical silica particles. The colors were controlled by an array of silica particles with different sizes. In previous research, the process required inducement of the amorphous array, which was complex. Meanwhile, in this paper, we proposed a simple one-step process. First, spherical silica nanoparticles were synthesized using the sol-gel process of the Stöber method. Atypical silica particles that induced an amorphous array were produced by adding a small amount of phenol-formaldehyde resin. Subsequently, the colloidal silica was converted to a powder using a convection oven. The characteristics of the synthesized silica particles were confirmed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). All the synthesized silica powders obtained structural colors. Finally, the silica powders were dispersed in deionized (DI) water and coated on a glass slide. We confirmed that the silica particles showed different structural colors depending on the size of the particles. We also found that the color was highly independent of the viewing angle.
Remote Sensing of Atmospheric Methane with IR OPO Lidar System
Authors: Yakovlev Semyon , Sadovnikov Sergey , Kharchenko Olga , Kravtsova Natalya
Published: January 2020

A differential absorption lidar (DIAL) system designed on the basis of optical parametric oscillators (OPO) with nonlinear KTiOAsO4 (KTA) and KTiOPO4 (KTP) crystals is described. The crystals allow laser radiation tuning in the infrared region (IR) wavelength region. The measurements in the 3.30–3.50 μm spectral range, which includes a strong absorption band of methane, are carried out. Lidar backscattered signals in the spectral band 3.30–3.50 μm has been measured and analyzed along the horizontal path in the atmosphere. Based on the experimental results, CH4 concentrations ~2.085 ppm along a 800 m surface path are retrieved in the spectral range under study with a spatial resolution of 100 m.
Projection of Net Primary Productivity under Global Warming Scenarios of 1.5 °C and 2.0 °C in Northern China Sandy Areas
Authors: Ma Xiaofei , Huo Tianci , Zhao Chengyi , Yan Wei , Zhang Xun
Published: January 2020

Empirical evidence suggests that variations in climate affect the net primary productivity (NPP) across sandy areas over time. However, little is known about the relative impacts of climate change on NPP with global warming of 1.5 and 2.0 °C (GW_1.5 °C_2.0 °C) relative to pre-industrial levels. Here, we used a new set of climate simulations from four Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISI-MIP 2b) datasets, modified the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford approach (CASA) model and assessed the spatio-temporal variation in NPP in sandy areas of northern China (SAONC). Compared with the reference period (RP, 1986–2005), the NPP variation under four emission scenarios showed clear rising trends and increased most significantly under RCP8.5 with an annual average increase of 2.34 g C/m2. The estimated annual NPP under global warming of 1.5 °C (GW_1.5 °C) increased by 14.17, 10.72, 8.57, and 26.68% in different emission scenarios, and under global warming of 2.0 °C (GW_2.0 °C) it increased by 20.87, 24.01, 29.31, and 39.94%, respectively. In terms of seasonal change, the NPP value under the four emission scenarios changed most significantly in the summer relative to RP, exhibiting a growth of 16.48%. Temperature changes (p > 0.614) had a greater impact on NPP growth than precipitation (p > 0.017), but solar radiation showed a certain negative impact in the middle- and low-latitude regions. NPP showed an increasing trend that changed from the southeast to the central and western regions at GW_1.5 to GW_2.0 °C. NPP was consistent with the spatial change in climate factors and had a promoting role in high latitudes in SAONC, but it was characterized by a certain inhibitory effect at middle and low latitudes in SAONC. The uncertainty of NPP under the four models ranged from 16.29 to 26.52%. Our findings suggest that the impact of GW_1.5 °C is relatively high compared with the current conditions, whereas GW_2.0 °C implies significantly lower projected NPP growth in all areas.
Distinct Peculiarities of In Planta Synthesis of Isoprenoid and Aromatic Cytokinins
Authors: Oslovsky Vladimir , Savelieva Ekaterina , Drenichev Mikhail , Romanov Georgy , Mikhailov Sergey
Published: January 2020

The biosynthesis of aromatic cytokinins in planta, unlike isoprenoid cytokinins, is still unknown. To compare the final steps of biosynthesis pathways of aromatic and isoprenoid cytokinins, we synthesized a series of nucleoside derivatives of natural cytokinins starting from acyl-protected ribofuranosyl-, 2′-deoxyribofuranosyl- and 5′-deoxyribofuranosyladenine derivatives using stereoselective alkylation with further deblocking. Their cytokinin activity was determined in two bioassays based on model plants Arabidopsis thaliana and Amaranthus caudatus. Unlike active cytokinins-bases, cytokinin nucleosides lack the hormonal activity until the ribose moiety is removed. According to our experiments, ribo-, 2′-deoxyribo- and 5′-deoxyribo-derivatives of isoprenoid cytokinin N6-isopentenyladenine turned in planta into active cytokinins with clear hormonal activity. As for aromatic cytokinins, both 2′-deoxyribo- and 5′-deoxyribo-derivatives did not exhibit analogous activity in Arabidopsis. The 5′-deoxyribo-derivatives cannot be phosphorylated enzymatically in vivo; therefore, they cannot be “activated” by the direct LOG-mediated cleavage, largely occurring with cytokinin ribonucleotides in plant cells. The contrasting effects exerted by deoxyribonucleosides of isoprenoid (true hormonal activity) and aromatic (almost no activity) cytokinins indicates a significant difference in the biosynthesis of these compounds.