bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Spatiotemporal Variation in Particulate Organic Carbon Based on Long-Term MODIS Observations in Taihu Lake, China
Authors: Huang Changchun , Jiang Quanliang , Yao Ling , Li Yunmei , Yang Hao , Huang Tao , Zhang Mingli
Published: June 2017

In situ measured values of particulate organic carbon (POC) in Taihu Lake and remote sensing reflectance observed by three satellite courses from 2014 to 2015 were used to develop an near infrared-red (NIR-Red) empirical algorithm of POC for the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS-Aqua) satellite image. The performance of the POC algorithm is highly consistent with the in situ measured POC, with root mean square error percentage (RMSPs) of 38.9% and 31.5% for two independent validations, respectively. The MODIS-derived POC also shows an acceptable result, with RMSPs of 53.6% and 61.0% for two periods of match-up data. POC from 2005 to 2007 is much higher than it is from 2002 to 2004 and 2008 to 2013, due to a large area of algal bloom. Riverine flux is an important source of POC in Taihu Lake, especially in the lake’s bank and bays. The influence of a terrigenous source of POC can reach the center lake during periods of heavy precipitation. Sediment resuspension is also a source of POC in the lake due to the area’s high dynamic ratio (25.4) and wind speed. The source of POC in an inland shallow lake is particularly complex, and additional research on POC is needed to more clearly reveal its variation in inland water.
A New Approach to Performing Bundle Adjustment for Time Series UAV Images 3D Building Change Detection
Authors: Li Wenzhuo , Sun Kaimin , Li Deren , Bai Ting , Sui Haigang
Published: June 2017

Successful change detection in multi-temporal images relies on high spatial co-registration accuracy. However, co-registration accuracy alone cannot meet the needs of change detection when using several ground control points to separately geo-reference multi-temporal images from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This letter reports on a new approach to perform bundle adjustment—named united bundle adjustment (UBA)—to solve this co-registration problem for change detection in multi-temporal UAV images. In UBA, multi-temporal UAV images are matched with each other to construct a unified tie point net. One single bundle adjustment process is performed on the unified tie point net, placing every image into the same coordinate system and thus automatically accomplishing spatial co-registration. We then perform change detection using both orthophotos and three-dimensional height information derived from dense image matching techniques. Experimental results show that UBA co-registration accuracy is higher than the accuracy of commonly-used approaches for multi-temporal UAV images. Our proposed preprocessing method extends the capacities of consumer-level UAVs so they can eventually meet the growing need for automatic building change detection and dynamic monitoring using only RGB band images.
Fabrication of Circuits on Flexible Substrates Using Conductive SU-8 for Sensing Applications
Authors: Gerardo Carlos , Cretu Edmond , Rohling Robert
Published: June 2017

This article describes a new low-cost rapid microfabrication technology for high-density interconnects and passive devices on flexible substrates for sensing applications. Silver nanoparticles with an average size of 80 nm were used to create a conductive SU-8 mixture with a concentration of wt 25%. The patterned structures after hard baking have a sheet resistance of 11.17 Ω /□. This conductive SU-8 was used to pattern planar inductors, capacitors and interconnection lines on flexible Kapton film. The conductive SU-8 structures were used as a seed layer for a subsequent electroplating process to increase the conductivity of the devices. Examples of inductors, resistor-capacitor (RC) and inductor-capacitor (LC) circuits, interconnection lines and a near-field communication (NFC) antenna are presented as a demonstration. As an example of high-resolution miniaturization, we fabricated microinductors having line widths of 5 μ m. Mechanical bending tests were successful down to a 5 mm radius. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first report of conductive SU-8 used to fabricate such planar devices and the first on flexible substrates. This is a proof of concept that this fabrication approach can be used as an alternative for microfabrication of planar passive devices on flexible substrates.
A Source Anonymity-Based Lightweight Secure AODV Protocol for Fog-Based MANET
Authors: Fang Weidong , Zhang Wuxiong , Xiao Jinchao , Yang Yang , Chen Wei
Published: June 2017

Fog-based MANET (Mobile Ad hoc networks) is a novel paradigm of a mobile ad hoc network with the advantages of both mobility and fog computing. Meanwhile, as traditional routing protocol, ad hoc on-demand distance vector (AODV) routing protocol has been applied widely in fog-based MANET. Currently, how to improve the transmission performance and enhance security are the two major aspects in AODV’s research field. However, the researches on joint energy efficiency and security seem to be seldom considered. In this paper, we propose a source anonymity-based lightweight secure AODV (SAL-SAODV) routing protocol to meet the above requirements. In SAL-SAODV protocol, source anonymous and secure transmitting schemes are proposed and applied. The scheme involves the following three parts: the source anonymity algorithm is employed to achieve the source node, without being tracked and located; the improved secure scheme based on the polynomial of CRC-4 is applied to substitute the RSA digital signature of SAODV and guarantee the data integrity, in addition to reducing the computation and energy consumption; the random delayed transmitting scheme (RDTM) is implemented to separate the check code and transmitted data, and achieve tamper-proof results. The simulation results show that the comprehensive performance of the proposed SAL-SAODV is a trade-off of the transmission performance, energy efficiency, and security, and better than AODV and SAODV.
Coarse Alignment Technology on Moving base for SINS Based on the Improved Quaternion Filter Algorithm
Authors: Zhang Tao , Zhu Yongyun , Zhou Feng , Yan Yaxiong , Tong Jinwu
Published: June 2017

Initial alignment of the strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS) is intended to determine the initial attitude matrix in a short time with certain accuracy. The alignment accuracy of the quaternion filter algorithm is remarkable, but the convergence rate is slow. To solve this problem, this paper proposes an improved quaternion filter algorithm for faster initial alignment based on the error model of the quaternion filter algorithm. The improved quaternion filter algorithm constructs the K matrix based on the principle of optimal quaternion algorithm, and rebuilds the measurement model by containing acceleration and velocity errors to make the convergence rate faster. A doppler velocity log (DVL) provides the reference velocity for the improved quaternion filter alignment algorithm. In order to demonstrate the performance of the improved quaternion filter algorithm in the field, a turntable experiment and a vehicle test are carried out. The results of the experiments show that the convergence rate of the proposed improved quaternion filter is faster than that of the tradition quaternion filter algorithm. In addition, the improved quaternion filter algorithm also demonstrates advantages in terms of correctness, effectiveness, and practicability.
Cataract Surgery Performed by High Frequency LDV Z8 Femtosecond Laser: Safety, Efficacy, and Its Physical Properties
Authors: Pajic Bojan , Cvejic Zeljka , Pajic-Eggspuehler Brigitte
Published: June 2017

Background: The aim of our study was to investigate the safety and efficacy of the LDV Z8 femtosecond laser in cataract surgery compared to the conventional procedure. Methods: This prospective study was performed at the Swiss Eye Research Foundation, Eye Clinic ORASIS, Reinach, Switzerland. The study included 130 eyes from 130 patients: 68 treated with femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery (FLACS) using the FEMTO LDV Z8 and 62 treated with conventional phacoemulsification. Capsulotomy and lens fragmentation in the laser group were performed with the FEMTO LDV Z8 femtosecond laser system, which employs a new, low-energy, high repetition rate laser process for cataract surgery. In the conventional group, the capsulotomy was performed by a cystotome, and lens fragmentation was achieved by the stop-and-chop. Results: Ease of phacoemulsification (on a 4-point scale), the completeness of capsulotomy (on a 10-point scale), effective phacoemulsification time (seconds), uncorrected distance visual acuity (UCVA), best spectacle-corrected distance visual acuity (BSCVA), spherical equivalent (SE), and safety of the procedure were evaluated. The total follow-up time was three months. Conclusions: FLACS with the FEMTO LDV Z8 system was characterized by complete and reproducible capsulotomy and highly effective lens fragmentation. Postoperative visual outcomes were excellent, and the safety of the procedure was optimal.
The Role of Eccentric Strength in 180° Turns in Female Soccer Players
Authors: Jones Paul , Thomas Christopher , Dos’Santos Thomas , McMahon John , Graham-Smith Philip
Published: June 2017

Previous studies have reported an association between eccentric strength (ECC-STR) and change of direction (COD) ability. Little is known about how ECC-STR facilitates COD maneuvers. The aim of this study was to examine the role of ECC-STR during a 180° COD task in 18 female soccer players. Each player performed six trials of a 180° COD task whereby three-dimensional motion data from 10 Qualisys Pro-Reflex infrared cameras (240 Hz) and ground reaction forces (GRFs) from two AMTI force platforms (1200 Hz) were collected. Relative eccentric knee extensor (ECC-EXT) and flexor (ECC-FLEX) peak torque was collected from both limbs at 60°·s−1 using a Kin Com isokinetic dynamometer. Large correlations were revealed between COD performance (time to complete 5 m approach, 180° turn, 5 m return) and ECC-EXT (R = −0.674) and ECC-FLEX (R = −0.603). Moderate to large correlations were observed between approach velocity (AV) and COD performance (R = −0.484) and ECC-EXT (R = 0.724). Stronger participants (n = 9) recorded significantly (p < 0.05) faster AV (4.01 ± 0.18 vs. 3.74 ± 0.24 m·s−1, d = 1.27) and a greater reduction in velocity (−1.55 ± 0.17 vs. −1.37 ± 0.21 m·s−1, d = −0.94) during penultimate contact than weaker (n = 9) subjects. Greater ECC-STR is associated with faster COD performance in female soccer players, as stronger players are better able to decelerate during penultimate contact from faster approach velocities.
Sand and Dust Storms: Impact Mitigation
Authors: Middleton Nick , Kang Utchang
Published: June 2017

Sand and dust storms (SDS) play an integral role in the Earth system but they also present a range of hazards to the environmental and economic sustainability of human society. These hazards are of considerable importance for residents of dryland environments and also affect people beyond drylands because wind erosion can occur in most environments and desert dust events often involve long-range transport over great distances (>1000 km). This paper makes an assessment of the scale of SDS impacts by totalling the countries affected using an appraisal of peer-reviewed published sources, arriving at a conservative estimate that 77% of all parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) are affected directly by SDS issues. We then present a synthesis of the environmental management techniques designed to mitigate SDS hazards for disaster risk reduction and review policy measures, both historical and contemporary, for SDS impact mitigation. Although many SDS hazards are well-known, the processes involved and their impacts are not all equally well-understood. Policies designed to mitigate the impacts of wind erosion in agricultural areas have been developed in certain parts of the world but policies designed to mitigate the wider impacts of SDS, including many that are transboundary, are geographically patchy and have a much shorter history. Further development and wider implementation of such policies is advocated because of the recent marked increase in wind erosion and associated dust storms in several parts of the world.
Fostering Sustainable Travel Behavior: Role of Sustainability Labels and Goal-Directed Behavior Regarding Touristic Services
Authors: Penz Elfriede , Hofmann Eva , Hartl Barbara
Published: June 2017

Individuals around the globe engage in sustainable consumption in their everyday life, e.g., when it comes to individual transportation. Although tourism behavior contributes to global carbon emissions to a considerable extent, consumers’ awareness of sustainability in the tourism industry is still underresearched. Placing eco-labels next to tourist offers on websites might direct consumer’s perception towards more sustainable offers. By employing eye-tracking techniques and surveys, this research aimed at linking information about sustainable tourist offers, perception of eco-labels and subsequent perception and preferences of tourism services. In Study 1, eight existing hotel offers with sustainability certification (four different labels) were selected and their websites presented to 48 participants (four websites each), whose eye movements were tracked. After looking at each website, they rated the overall appearance of the website. Based on the results, in the second study, participants’ (n = 642) awareness of labels, their values and attitudes regarding sustainable behavior were found to influence their preference for certified tour operators. In addition, individuals’ ideas of their perfect holidays were captured to allow a better understanding of their motivation. This research proposes implementing appropriate sustainable labeling in the tourism industry to increase awareness about sustainability among travelers and subsequently increase sustainable travel behavior.
Investigating Impacts of Environmental Factors on the Cycling Behavior of Bicycle-Sharing Users
Authors: Sun Yeran , Mobasheri Amin , Hu Xuke , Wang Weikai
Published: June 2017

As it is widely accepted, cycling tends to produce health benefits and reduce air pollution. Policymakers encourage people to use bikes by improving cycling facilities as well as developing bicycle-sharing systems (BSS). It is increasingly interesting to investigate how environmental factors influence the cycling behavior of users of bicycle-sharing systems, as users of bicycle-sharing systems tend to be different from regular cyclists. Although earlier studies have examined effects of safety and convenience on the cycling behavior of regular riders, they rarely explored effects of safety and convenience on the cycling behavior of BSS riders. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to investigate how road safety, convenience, and public safety affect the cycling behavior of BSS riders by controlling for other environmental factors. Specifically, in this study, we investigated the impacts of environmental characteristics, including population density, employment density, land use mix, accessibility to point-of-interests (schools, shops, parks and gyms), road infrastructure, public transit accessibility, road safety, convenience, and public safety on the usage of BSS. Additionally, for a more accurate measure of public transit accessibility, road safety, convenience, and public safety, we used spatiotemporally varying measurements instead of spatially varying measurements, which have been widely used in earlier studies. We conducted an empirical investigation in Chicago with cycling data from a BSS called Divvy. In this study, we particularly attempted to answer the following questions: (1) how traffic accidents and congestion influence the usage of BSS; (2) how violent crime influences the usage of BSS; and (3) how public transit accessibility influences the usage of BSS. Moreover, we tried to offer implications for policies aiming to increase the usage of BSS or for the site selection of new docking stations. Empirical results demonstrate that density of bicycle lanes, public transit accessibility, and public safety influence the usage of BSS, which provides answers for our research questions. Empirical results also suggest policy implications that improving bicycle facilities and reducing the rate of violent crime rates tend to increase the usage of BSS. Moreover, some environmental factors could be considered in selecting a site for a new docking station.
High-Capacity Data-Hiding Scheme on Synthesized Pitches Using Amplitude Enhancement—A New Vision of Non-Blind Audio Steganography
Authors: Shiu Hung-Jr. , Lin Bor-Shing , Cheng Chia-Wei , Huang Chien-Hung , Lei Chin-Laung
Published: June 2017

This work proposes a new and non-blind steganographic scheme for synthesized pitches. Synthesized music is popularly used to demonstrate early versions of compositions conveniently and at low-cost. They can also be utilized to pass secrets or obtain digital rights. The method consists of two procedures, of which the first is the realistic simulation of synthesized pitches using a computer and the second is the hiding of secrets during the generated simulated pitches. The first part of this paper reviews attempts to discover the fundamental patterns of synthesized pitches and to develop a strategy for generating approximate pitches using a computer. The component frequencies are used to generate a pitch in which to hide secrets. Legal receivers receive the referenced composition and frequencies, enabling them to generate the synthesized pitches according to the main frequencies of the referenced composition. Finally, the generated and received pitches are compared to identify the secret bits. As more frequencies are used to hide secret bits, more secret bits can be embedded in the synthesized pitches. The use of more frequencies makes synthesized pitches more realistic compared to real ones. The performance of the proposed method is also compared with that of competing methods and under common attacks.
A preliminary investigation of the formation of constituent questions in Karata (Nakh-Daghestanian)
Authors: Pasquereau Jeremy , Khalidova Rashidat
Published: June 2017

This paper gives a first description of the formation of constituent questions in the understudied Karata language. It gives the first description of constituent questions in this language and argues that they exhibit the characteristics predicted of type 4 languages by Cable 2010's theory.
ALMA View of the Galactic Center Minispiral: Ionized Gas Flows around Sagittarius A∗
Authors: Tsuboi Masato , Kitamura Yoshimi , Uehara Kenta , Miyawaki Ryosuke , Tsutsumi Takahiro , Miyazaki Atsushi , Miyoshi Makoto
Published: June 2017

We have observed the “Galactic center minispiral (GCMS)” in the H42α recombination line as a part of the first large-scale mosaic observation in the Sagittarius A complex using Atacama Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). We revealed the kinematics of the ionized gas streamers of the GCMS. We found that the ionized gas streamers of the Northern Arm (NA) and Eastern Arm (EA) in their outer regions somewhat deviate from the Keplerian orbits that were derived previously from the trajectories in the inner regions. In addition, we found that the streamer corresponding to the Bar of the GCMS has a Keplerian orbit with an eccentricity of

, which is independent from the Keplerian orbits of the other streamers of the GCMS. We estimated the LTE electron temperature and electron density in the ionized gas streamers. We confirmed the previously claimed tendency that the electron temperatures increase toward Sgr A*. We found that the electron density in the NA and EA also increases with approaching Sgr A* without the lateral expansion of the gas streamers. This suggests that there is some external pressure around the GCMS. The ambient ionized gas may cause the confinement and/or the perturbation of the orbits. There is a good positional correlation between the protostar candidates detected by JVLA at 34 GHz and the ionized gas streamer, the Northeastern Arm, newly found by our H42α recombination line observation. This suggests that the candidates had formed in the streamer and they were brought to near Sgr A* as the streamer falls.
Gauging Metallicity of Diffuse Gas under an Uncertain Ionizing Radiation Field
Authors: Chen Hsiao-Wen , Johnson Sean D. , Zahedy Fakhri S. , Rauch Michael , Mulchaey John S.
Published: June 2017

Gas metallicity is a key quantity used to determine the physical conditions of gaseous clouds in a wide range of astronomical environments, including interstellar and intergalactic space. In particular, considerable effort in circumgalactic medium (CGM) studies focuses on metallicity measurements because gas metallicity serves as a critical discriminator for whether the observed heavy ions in the CGM originate in chemically enriched outflows or in more chemically pristine gas accreted from the intergalactic medium. However, because the gas is ionized, a necessary first step in determining CGM metallicity is to constrain the ionization state of the gas which, in addition to gas density, depends on the ultraviolet background radiation field (UVB). While it is generally acknowledged that both the intensity and spectral slope of the UVB are uncertain, the impact of an uncertain spectral slope has not been properly addressed in the literature. This Letter shows that adopting a different spectral slope can result in an order of magnitude difference in the inferred CGM metallicity. Specifically, a harder UVB spectrum leads to a higher estimated gas metallicity for a given set of observed ionic column densities. Therefore, such systematic uncertainties must be folded into the error budget for metallicity estimates of ionized gas. An initial study shows that empirical diagnostics are available for discriminating between hard and soft ionizing spectra. Applying these diagnostics helps reduce the systematic uncertainties in CGM metallicity estimates.
Indicators of Asthma Control in Asthmatic Patients: Are they related to Depression?
Authors: Merghani Tarig H. , Alawad Azza O.
Published: June 2017

BACKGROUND: Many patients with chronic illnesses suffer from depression. A poorly controlled asthma that presents with repeated attacks of breathlessness is a recognised risk factor for bipolar disorders. On the other hand, depression can aggravate asthma symptoms.AIM: The aim of this study is to determine the indicators of the asthma control test (ACT) among the asthmatic patients who attend the outpatient clinic for follow-up and to investigate the relation between these indicators and clinical depression, using a standardised depression scale.METHODS: A total of 38 adult asthmatic patients (29 women, age 17â€“85 years), with variable levels of control, were assessed using the ACT and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Data obtained were analysed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) version 20. The association of depression with the various indicators of asthma control was analysed with the Chi-Square test. Statistical significance was determined at p< 0.05.RESULTS: The uncontrolled asthma is associated with depression in 37% of all participants compared to 0% in the well-controlled group (p = 0.002). Depression is significantly related to asthma interference with daily activities (p = 0.003), breathlessness (p < 0.001), night symptoms (p = 0.036), use of bronchodilators (p = 0.007), and poor compliance with medical treatment (p = 0.003). The poor educational attainment and comorbidities have significant relations to both uncontrolled asthma and clinical depression (p < 0.05).CONCLUSION: All indicators of the poor asthma control are associated with clinical depression. A significant proportion of the uncontrolled asthma patients suffers from depression. The possibility of improving asthma control with a pharmacological treatment of depression has to be considered.
“Sou da fronteira”: narrativas orais e dinâmicas identitárias entre Argentina, Brasil e Uruguai
Authors: Hartmann Luciana
Published: June 2017

Este artigo apresenta a região fronteiriça de Brasil, Argentina e Uruguai através dos discursosdapopulaçãolocal, argumentando no sentido de que a circulação de narrativas orais se mostra como um dos principais elementos constituidores desta que se configura como uma “cultura da fronteira”. O texto está dividido em três partes que procuram cruzar teoria e etnografia. A primeira busca uma aproximação com o conceito de fronteira; a segunda expõe, através de um panorama “macro”, o perfil da zona pesquisada, com uma descrição dos principais pontos de convergência entre os três países; e a terceira demonstra, através de um panorama “micro”, calcado na etnografia, as relações pessoais – ou “intrafronteiriças” – de comércio, família, idioma, trabalho e lazer. A ideia que permeia o texto é a de que importam menos os limites e as identidades nacionais dos países em questão e mais os sujeitos e as dinâmicas identitárias que são articuladas enquanto eles transitam pelas fronteiras, carregando consigo experiências e narrativas.
Os fluidos limites do corpo. Reflexões sobre saúde indígena no leste de Roraima
Authors: Tempesta Giovana Acacia
Published: June 2017

O presente artigo focaliza as noções de pessoa, corpo, saúde e doença desenvolvidas pelos Wapichana e Macuxi no leste de Roraima. De acordo com esta cosmologia, a formação da pessoa é um processo continuado, simultâneo à constituição de laços sociais e ameaçado tanto por agências humanas quanto por agências não-humanas e extra-humanas, como os “bichos” e “kanaimés”, que causam doenças e malefícios aos homens. Os modos tradicionais de evitar e combater esses perigos são os resguardos e o xamanismo, os quais, no presente, experimentam uma convivência difícil com o sistema de saúde estatal, uma convivência que pode vir a se transformar em um diálogo intercultural, com o apoio dos antropólogos, desde que se respeite o projeto de autonomia dos povos indígenas.
Desenvolvimento, antropologia e “participação”. Uma proposta de reflexão crítica
Authors: Salviani Roberto
Published: June 2017

O artigo concentra-se nas representações da ‘alteridade cultural’ no âmbito de discursos, propostas e intervenções para o desenvolvimento das populações etnicamente diferenciadas que norteiam o atual ‘campo do desenvolvimento’, com particular atenção à atuação e ao papel do Banco Mundial. A análise tem como foco o uso de conceitos como ‘participação’, ‘empoderamento’, ‘comunidade’, ‘capital social’ e ‘indigenous knowledge’ nos documentos do Banco Mundial. Procura-se individualizar, deste modo, os mecanismos de construção da – e intervenção sobre a – realidade, com os quais operam o Banco e agências similares, para avançar hipóteses, e propostas metodológicas relativas às oportunidades que os processos de interação social, conseqüência de particulares formas de intervenção, oferecem à análise das relações sociais.
Campo estatal de administração de conflitos: múltiplas intensidades da justiça
Authors: Sinhoretto Jacqueline
Published: June 2017

O artigo propõe uma interpretação do funcionamento do campo estatal de administração de conflitos da perspectiva das disputas entre as corporações, os conhecimentos e as instituições que dele participam.A reflexão sobre o caso brasileiro propõe a coexistência de pelo menos quatro lógicas de administração de conflitos ou quatro intensidades de interação, às quais correspondem hierarquias de rituais de administrações de conflitos, pessoas, tipos de conflito e lugares. Por essa análise, os procedimentos judiciais ordinários, os juizados informalizados, as técnicas extra-judiciais e os procedimentos policiais formais e informais e, inclusive, os procedimentos ilegais coexistem e disputam a administração dos conflitos, num campo estatal que produz constantemente a desigualdade de tratamento.
Condomínios e Gated Communities: por uma antropologia das novas composições urbanas
Authors: Moura Cristina Patriota de
Published: June 2017

O presente artigo discute a utilização de termos como “gated communities” e“condomínios horizontais” para caracterizar configurações espaciais específicas que vêm surgindo em áreas metropolitanas em diversas áreas do globo. O objetivo é problematizar esses rótulos em termos dos processos de composição espacial e discursiva dessas realidades materiais e simbólicas. Propõe-se a utilização da noção de composição multiescalar para pensar possibilidades de comparação entre estes fenômenos singulares.A revisão bibliográfica se relaciona à pesquisa de campo feita em “condomínios” nas cidades de Goiânia e Brasília.
Smart Technologies for Emergency Response and Disaster Management
Authors: T Kavitha , S Saraswathi
Published: June 2017

Disasters are the convergence of hazards that strikes a vulnerable community which is insufficient to withstand with its adverse effects and impact. Completely avoiding natural or anthropogenic disaster is not possible but its impact can be minimized by generating timely warning. The real-time earth observation is very important for generating such early warning. The earth observation is improving through the advancement in remote sensing technologies. Sensing technology provides real time monitoring and risk assessment. It helps in fast communication of an event occurrence. Disaster detection in urban areas is greatly improved by using remote sensing techniques. This chapter discus various devices used for real time earth monitoring of disaster events like Flood, Tsunami, Tornadoes, Droughts, Extreme Temperatures, Avalanches and Landslide. These devices gather information by continuous monitoring in their deployed location. The sensor information thus gathered must be communicated and processed to extract the disaster information.
WiFi Fingerprint Localization for Emergency Response
Authors: Gu Yu , Peng Min , Ren Fuji , Li Jie
Published: June 2017

As a key enabler for diversified location-based services (LBSs) of pervasive computing, indoor WiFi fingerprint localization remains a hot topic for decades. For most of previous research, maintaining a stable Radio Frequency (RF) environment constitutes one implicit but basic assumption. However, there is little room for such assumption in real-world scenarios, especially for the emergency response. Therefore, we propose a novel solution (HED) for rapidly setting up an indoor localization system by harvesting from the bursting number of available wireless resources. Via extensive real-world experiments lasting for over 6 months, we show the superiority of our HED algorithm in terms of accuracy, complexity and stability over two state-of-the-art solutions that are also designed to resist the dynamics, i.e., FreeLoc and LCS (Longest Common Subsequences). Moreover, experimental results not only confirm the benefits brought by environmental dynamics, but also provide valuable investigations and hand-on experiences on the real-world localization system.
Processing Big Data for Emergency Management
Authors: Akerkar Rajendra
Published: June 2017

Emergencies are typically complex problems with serious consequences that must be solved in a limited amount of time to reduce any possible damage. Big data analysis leads to more assured decision making and better decisions can mean greater operational efficiencies, cost reductions and reduced risk. In this chapter, we discuss some issues on tackling emergency situation from the perspective of big data processing and management, including our approach for processing social media content. Communications during emergencies are so plentiful that it is necessary to sift through enormous data points to find information that is most useful during a given event. The chapter also presents our ongoing IT-system that processes and analyses social media data to transform the excessive volume of low information content into small volume but rich content that is useful to emergency personnel.
HIV Education for Learners in Zambian Catholic Schools
Authors: Chita Joseph
Published: June 2017

In this chapter, HIV and AIDS education for learners in Catholic schools was interrogated from a social justice perspective. The author advances the argument that the learners' right to access HIV and AIDS education in the school context was superficial in addressing the needs of learners. Hence, depriving them of the much needed knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for their survival in the context of HIV and AIDS. Therefore, this call for continued dialogue among different stakeholders in order to enable Catholic Schools play the ‘social vaccine' role in the face of HIV and AIDS.
Urban Arts Education Programming
Authors: Smart Vanessa
Published: June 2017

This chapter offers a practical analysis of urban arts education funding successes and failures while highlighting one urban district in North Carolina. It stresses the need to approach arts education funding with fervor and dedication to partnership and creative ways to find resources. Policy-makers, grant makers, philanthropists, and community supporters require evidence of successes in the arts in order to continue to sustain their desire to impart legislative and financial support the arts so desperately need. This district, the story it tells, and the literature supports the fact that policy-makers need to balance their view of the arts and how arts education can be appropriately supported and of benefit to students, schools, and communities.
Enhanced Student Engagement Through Active Learning and Emerging Technologies
Authors: Cardullo Victoria M. , Wilson Nance S. , Zygouris-Coe Vassiliki I.
Published: June 2017

Active learning and emerging technologies are enhancing student learning though an explicit intentional educational design such as Flipping the Classroom and Project Based Learning to empower students. In this chapter, the authors describe an active learning classroom and emerging technologies that support learning for the 21st century. Using vignettes, the authors model how the metacognitive teacher supports the use of emerging technologies for active learning using the Metacognitive Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Framework (M-TPACK) (Wilson, Zygouris-Coe, Cardullo, & Fong, 2013). Finally, the authors describe Blooms Taxonomy (Bloom et al., 1956) for active learning and make connections to emerging technologies and the level of integration using the SAMR Model: Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition (Puentedura, 2006).
The eAssessment of Key Competences and Their Relationship With Academic Performance
Authors: Martinez-Abad Fernando , Torrijos-Fincias Patricia , Rodríguez-Conde María José
Published: June 2017

Even though in the current information-rich environment information skills have become a key competence within school curricula, their transversal, sometimes marginal character is maintained in basic education. This research work intends to facilitate the teachers information-rich environment information skills have become a key competence within school curricula, their transversal, sometimence, understood mainly as the performance in language and mathematics. The sample of the study was composed of 258 secondary education students from Spain, who completed a validated questionnaire that evaluated information skills. The results show a significant positive relationship between information skills and academic performance. The authors conclude by discussing the importance of emphasizing the study of information skills as a factor associated with academic performance, aiming to foster their effective integration in formal teaching-learning processes.
Mobile Devices and Classroom Management
Authors: Fuentes David , An Heejung , Alon Sandra
Published: June 2017

In this account of a fifth grade classroom teacher embarking with her class into the world of mobile learning, three university researchers collaborated to describe her first year experience using iPads in a one-to-one setting. As Ms. G set out to effectively infuse mobile devices into her classroom pedagogy, the authors detail some of the key decisions that led to her successfully managing the iPads while seamlessly adjusting her classroom management strategies to meet the needs of her students and classroom routines. The exploratory case study findings offer practicing educators and teacher educators, alike, helpful suggestions for introducing mobile devices into their classroom and begin a dialogue about the various practices and classroom management implications for a variety of uses of mobile devices in K-6 settings.
A Panel Study on the Effects of Social Media Use and Internet Connectedness on Academic Performance and Social Support
Authors: Leung Louis
Published: June 2017

Using a longitudinal panel study approach, this research examined the effects of social media use and internet connectedness on academic performance and on perceived social support. Results showed that, after controlling demographics and overall grades at Time 1, individual-level change in overall grades over the year that followed was attributable to Facebook, blogs, and online game use but not to internet connectedness. Results suggest that heavy Facebook use has a positive effect on overall grades, while heavy use of blogs and online games leads to grade impairment. In the case of academic competence and perceived social support, individual-level change over the year that followed was only attributable to Facebook use. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.
Promoting Instructional Technology for Effective and Efficient Academic Performance in Nigerian Schools
Authors: Olusola Ogunlade B.
Published: June 2017

The concept of Instructional Technology (IT) has become recognized as a crucial element in the educational field. Instructional technologies are now supporting curricula that promote effectiveness and efficiency in academic performance of all levels of education in Nigerian schools. The objectives of bringing all the instructional tools together are to engage students and have the best potential that enhances learning outcomes. The concern of this chapter, therefore, is to address the agreeable definition of instructional technology, IT as educational problem solver focused on emerging technologies for teaching and learning. Areas of consideration are instructional technologies and its challenges, effective organization of instructional materials in schools, usefulness of local instructional packages, and obstacles in using instructional technology in Nigerian schools. The chapter concludes and recommends that schools should create enabling environments for the use of Instructional Technology (IT), which would enhance efficiency in teaching and learning.
Virtual Learning Communities
Authors: Bassani Patrícia Brandalise Scherer
Published: June 2017

This chapter presents a reflection on the use of social software tools to enhance the interaction between students, allowing the development of virtual learning communities in blended learning settings. The discussion about education in Web 2.0, learning through communities, personal learning environments, and social software tools are the basic concepts of this reflection. The results show the importance of five strategies to promote blended learning based on virtual learning communities. They are: the use of a pedagogical approach based on cooperation; the focus on the selection of learning spaces that promote the interaction between students; the mixing of oriented collaborative activities in the VLE and the promotion of the use of social software, articulating prescriptive learning systems and emergent learning networks; the use of Web 2.0 tools in a PLE perspective; and the use of folksonomies to follow up the contents students produce on the Web.
Utilizing Twitter and #Hashtags Toward Enhancing Student Learning in an Online Course Environment
Authors: Bledsoe T. Scott , Harmeyer Dave , Wu Shuang Frances
Published: June 2017

The authors offer an answer to the research question, To what extent and in what ways is Twitter helpful to student learning when group hashtags are created and used in collaborative educational environments? Sixty-two students in a spring 2012 graduate online Research Methodology course worked individually and in groups to create discussions on topics of interest through Twitter posts and student-created hashtags. Student participants answered nine qualitative and quantitative questions concerning the Twitter/hashtag exercise and used collaborative blog pages to reflect on their experiences. A grounded theory approach was applied to classify data generated from the nine questions and blog postings. An analysis of the study's data resulted in the discovery of the following four themes: access to information, communication, class engagement, and general feedback. Based on these themes, nine recommendations are offered for maximizing the use of Twitter in an online environment for increased student engagement and learning.
Social Presence and Student Engagement in Online Learning
Authors: Ngoyi Luka , Malapile L. J. Sandy
Published: June 2017

Effective online learning practices should incorporate an active social presence that provides space and technological support for students and instructors to engage in social activities, which are an integral part of the learning process. The focus of this chapter is the description of social presence, the forms in which it occurs, and how social presence enhances student engagement in the learning process, whether online or face-to-face. Based on various studies related to this topic, the authors argue that social presence has a significant impact on student engagement, especially in online classes. Finally, this chapter examines how social presence affects student engagement and offers various strategies for instructors to enhance social presence and student engagement in online learning.
United States and European Students' Social-Networking Site Activities and Academic Performance
Authors: Karpinski Aryn C. , Kirschner Paul A. , Shreffler Anthony V. , Albert Patricia A. , Tomko Carrie A.
Published: June 2017

Different cultures communicate differently. Research is beginning to examine the differences in culture related to social-networking site (SNS) use. Differences in specific SNS activities related to academic performance among United States (US; n = 446) and European (n = 394) university students were examined. Moderated Multiple Regressions indicated that using SNSs for “career” and “school” were positively predictive of Grade Point Average (GPA) for both US and European students. For US students, “staying in touch with online friends” was negatively predictive. Results highlight the positive and negative relationships between various SNS activities and GPA, but specifically the use of SNSs for academic versus socialization purposes cross-culturally.
Technology-Enabled Experiential Marketing
Authors: Haenel Thorben , Loibl Wilhelm , Wang Hui
Published: June 2017

In recent years, there has been an increased interest from both academia and practitioners in the topic of customer experience. Companies nowadays are transforming their attention and endeavour to focus on memorable or customer experiences rather than premium prices or superior quality of products and services. Importantly, the value generated by unique customer experiences has a significant impact upon business performance in terms of customer commitment and customer loyalty. Along with the rapid and continuous development of ICT, the travel experience is no longer limited to services encounters on-site but is extended and dynamically created in both physical and virtual experience spaces. With the continuous proliferation of smart technology, travel industry has seen a radical transformation from product and service orientation to a customer-experience driven approach.
Hybrid Intelligence for Smarter Networking Operations
Authors: Mokhtar Bassem Mahmoud , Eltoweissy Mohamed
Published: June 2017

The ever-growing and ever-evolved Internet targets supporting billions of networked entities to provide a wide variety of services and resources. Such complexity results in network-data from different sources with special characteristics, such as widely diverse users, multiple media, high-dimensionality and various dynamic concerns. With huge amounts of network-data with such characteristics, there are significant challenges to a) recognize emergent and anomalous behavior in network-traffic and b) make intelligent decisions for efficient network operations. Endowing the semantically-oblivious Internet with Intelligence would advance the Internet capability to learn traffic behavior and to predict future events. In this chapter, the authors discuss and evaluate the hybridization of monolithic intelligence techniques in order to achieve smarter and enhanced networking operations. Additionally, the authors provide systematic application-agnostic semantics management methodology with efficient processes for extracting and classifying high-level features and reasoning about rich semantics.
A Kinect-Based Assessment System for Smart Classroom
Authors: Kumara W. G. C. W. , Wattanachote Kanoksak , Battulga Batbaatar , Shih Timothy K. , Hwang Wu-Yuin
Published: June 2017

With the advancements of the human computer interaction field, nowadays it is possible for the users to use their body motions, such as swiping, pushing and moving, to interact with the content of computers or smart phones without traditional input devices like mouse and keyboard. With the introduction of gesture-based interface Kinect from Microsoft it creates promising opportunities for educators to offer students easier and intuitive ways to interact with the learning systems. The integration of Kinect based applications into classroom make students' learning experience very active and joyful. In this context, this paper proposes a system for assessment in a smart classroom environment. An interactive framework is designed using Microsoft Kinect sensor for virtual learning environment with new gesture-based questions supporting QTI-based assessment, and further a rich set of gesture commands are also introduced for practical usage in the classroom. Proposed system was experimented with teachers and students then collected feedback of the users using a usability questionnaire. The results show that the participants are satisfied with the system and it demonstrates that the proposed system is simple to use, provides better functionality and motivates student learning by assessment.
Visualising Data for Smart Cities
Authors: Batty Michael , Hudson-Smith Andrew , Hugel Stephan , Roumpani Flora
Published: June 2017

This chapter introduces a range of analytics being used to understand the smart city, which depends on data that can primarily be understood using new kinds of scientific visualisation. We focus on short term routine functions that take place in cities which are being rapidly automated through various kinds of sensors, embedded into the physical fabric of the city itself or being accessed from mobile devices. We first outline a concept of the smart city, arguing that there is a major distinction between the ways in which technologies are being used to look at the short and long terms structure of cities, and we then focus on the shorter term, first examining the immediate visualisation of data through dashboards, then examining data infrastructures such as map portals, and finally introducing new ways of visualising social media which enable us to elicit the power of the crowd in providing and supplying data. We conclude with a brief focus on how new urban analytics is emerging to make sense of these developments.