bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Daily Photovoltaic Power Generation Forecasting Model Based on Random Forest Algorithm for North China in Winter
Authors: Meng Ming , Song Chenge
Published: March 2020

North China is one of the country’s most important socio-economic centers, but its severe air pollution is a huge concern. In this region, precisely forecasting the daily photovoltaic power generation in winter is essential to improve equipment utilization rate and mitigate effects of power system on the environment. Considering the climatic characteristics of North China, the winter days are divided into three classifications. A forecasting model based on random forest algorithm is then designed for each classification. To evaluate its performance, the proposed model and three other methods are separately used to forecast the daily power generation at the Zhonghe PV station, which is located in the center of North China. Empirical results show that, because of its ability to reduce the risk of overfitting by balancing decision trees, the proposed model obtains mean absolute percentage errors as low as 2.83% and 3.89% for clear and cloudy days, respectively. For days in which weather conditions are unusual, forecasting errors are relatively large. On these days, enlarging training samples, performing subdivision, and imposing manual intervention can improve the forecasting precision. Generally, the proposed model is better than the other three methods for nearly all error evaluation indicators in each classification.
Microbial Indicators and Their Use for Monitoring Drinking Water Quality—A Review
Authors: Wen Xiaotong , Chen Feiyu , Lin Yixiang , Zhu Hui , Yuan Fang , Kuang Duyi , Jia Zhihui , Yuan Zhaokang
Published: March 2020

An increase in the incidence of water-borne human diseases, such as diarrhea and emesis, has occurred due to drinking polluted water. These water-borne diseases can lead to death, if correct treatment is not provided. Assuring that drinking water quality is safe has been a crucial challenge for public health. Water contamination with pathogenic microorganisms represents a seriously increased threat to human health. Currently, different microorganisms are being used as the primary indicator to assess water quality total coliform and Escherichia coli (E. coli) being the most common. However, increasing the occurrence of water-borne illness from sources deemed safe by the microbial standard criteria has raised the question—are these microbial indicators reliable and sensitive enough to ensure water quality? Currently, other microorganisms including bacteria, enteric virus, and protozoa are being tested and used in different countries as alternative indicators to monitor water quality. It is necessary to study the diverse water quality indicator systems used throughout the world and their efficacy with the present water quality. Although water quality standards suggest adding pathogenic microorganisms such as enteric virus as an indicator, China only uses pathogenic E. coli, protozoa. Pin-pointing the shortage of the current water quality indicator system in China is crucial in order to propose changes in future water quality indicator systems.
Perception of Natural Hazards in Rural Areas: A Case Study Examination of the Influence of Seasonal Weather
Authors: Rudge Ramos Ribeiro Rodrigo , Nascimento Sulaiman Samia , Bonatti Michelle , Sieber Stefan , Lana Marcos Alberto
Published: March 2020

A series of factors affect the social perception of hazards in a rural context. This article analyzes how weather conditions influence farmers’ perceptions of natural hazards. In order to understand the relationship between time of year/season and farmers’ concerns about hazards, this study was undertaken. The methodology was based on surveys done to obtain a base-collection of primary data, as well as a meteorological and production analysis using secondary data. A case study of small coffee farms was carried out in a Brazilian municipality with questionnaires applied during the dry season in 2016 and the rainy season in 2017. The results indicate that drought is the main hazard identified by farmers in both weather seasons. Although there were some changes in perceptions observed, the ranking order of the main hazards did not change over the dry and rainy weather seasons.
A Low-Rank Tensor Factorization Using Implicit Similarity in Trust Relationships
Authors: Ma Pei , Wang Liejun , Qin Jiwei
Published: March 2020

Low-rank tensor factorization can not only mine the implicit relationships between data but also fill in the missing data when working with complex data. Compared with the traditional collaborative filtering (CF) algorithm, the changes are essentially proposed, from traditional matrix analysis to three-dimensional spatial analysis. Based on low-rank tensor factorization, this paper proposes a recommendation model that comprehensively considers local information and global information, in other words, combining the similarity between trust users and low-rank tensor factorization. First, the similarity between trusted users is measured to capture local information between users by trusting similar preferences of users when selecting items. Then, the users’ similarity is integrated into the tensor, and the low-rank tensor factorization is used to better maintain and describe the internal structure of the data to obtain global information. Furthermore, based on the idea of the alternating least squares method, the conjugate gradient (CG) optimization algorithm for the model of this paper is designed. The local and global information is used to generate the optimal expected result in an iterative process. Finally, we conducted a large number of comparative experiments on the Ciao dataset and the FilmTrust dataset. Experimental results show that the algorithm has less precision loss under the data set with lower density. Thus, not only can a perfect compromise between accuracy and coverage be achieved, but also the computational complexity can be reduced to meet the need for real-time results.
A New Flexible Three-Parameter Model: Properties, Clayton Copula, and Modeling Real Data
Authors: A. Al-babtain Abdulhakim , Elbatal I. , M. Yousof Haitham
Published: March 2020

In this article, we introduced a new extension of the binomial-exponential 2 distribution. We discussed some of its structural mathematical properties. A simple type Copula-based construction is also presented to construct the bivariate- and multivariate-type distributions. We estimated the model parameters via the maximum likelihood method. Finally, we illustrated the importance of the new model by the study of two real data applications to show the flexibility and potentiality of the new model in modeling skewed and symmetric data sets.
Diversity Teams in Soccer League Competition Algorithm for Wireless Sensor Network Deployment Problem
Authors: Qiao Yu , Dao Thi-Kien , Pan Jeng-Shyang , Chu Shu-Chuan , Nguyen Trong-The
Published: March 2020

The drawback of several metaheuristic algorithms is the dropped local optimal trap in the solution to complicated problems. The diversity team is one of the promising ways to enhance the exploration of searching solutions in algorithm to avoid the local optimum trap. This paper proposes a diversity-team soccer league competition algorithm (DSLC) based on updating team member strategies for global optimization and its applied optimization of Wireless sensor network (WSN) deployment. The updating team consists of trading, drafting, and combining strategies. The trading strategy considers player transactions between groups after the ending season. The drafting strategy takes advantage of draft principles in real leagues to bring new players to the association. The combining strategy is a hybrid policy of trading and drafting one. Twenty-one benchmark functions of CEC2017 are used to test the performance of the proposed algorithm. The experimental results of the proposed algorithm compared with the other algorithms in the literature show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the competitors in terms of having an excellent ability to achieve global optimization. Moreover, the proposed DSLC algorithm is applied to solve the problem of WSN deployment and achieved excellent results.
Low-Light Image Enhancement Based on Deep Symmetric Encoder–Decoder Convolutional Networks
Authors: Li Qiming , Wu Haishen , Xu Lu , Wang Likai , Lv Yueqi , Kang Xinjie
Published: March 2020

A low-light image enhancement method based on a deep symmetric encoder–decoder convolutional network (LLED-Net) is proposed in the paper. In surveillance and tactical reconnaissance, collecting visual information from a dynamic environment and accurately processing that data is critical to making the right decisions and ensuring mission success. However, due to the cost and technical limitations of camera sensors, it is difficult to capture clear images or videos in low-light conditions. In this paper, a special encoder–decoder convolution network is designed to utilize multi-scale feature maps and join jump connections to avoid gradient disappearance. In order to preserve the image texture as much as possible, by using structural similarity (SSIM) loss to train the model on the data sets with different brightness level, the model can adaptively enhance low-light images in low-light environments. The results show that the proposed algorithm provides significant improvements in quantitative comparison with RED-Net and several other representative image enhancement algorithms.
A Unified Fuzzy-Based Symmetrical Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Method for Evaluating Sustainable-Security of Web Applications
Authors: Agrawal Alka , Alenezi Mamdouh , Kumar Rajeev , Khan Raees Ahmad
Published: March 2020

Although security is an integral aspect of any web application’s growth, sustainability is also a pivotal factor in maintaining the web application. It is clear that the software industry aims to develop different methods and initiatives for achieving high security while maintaining high sustainability. Unfortunately, web application protection is useless if the sustainability is low. Thus, the present day need calls for innovation in developing web applications that afford sustainable-security to the users. By improving sustainability along with web application protection, underlying security and sustainability attributes play a vital role in determining the symmetrical effect of the sustainability and security attribute to achieve the best outcome. Sustainability evaluation, therefore, uses security and sustainability qualities to achieve the desired sustainability security solutions. In this study, ten consecutive versions of two web applications were used to determine symmetrical sustainability. The authors used the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (Fuzzy-AHP) mechanism to determine sustainability goals and long-term impact. Furthermore, the effect of security on sustainability is assessed, and vice versa. The findings in the paper will prove to be valuable for improving sustainability of the web application.
Attention Mechanism Based Semi-Supervised Multi-Gain Image Fusion
Authors: Fang Ming , Liang Xu , Fu Feiran , Song Yansong , Shao Zhen
Published: March 2020

High-dynamic range imaging technology is an effective method to improve the limitations of a camera’s dynamic range. However, most current high-dynamic imaging technologies are based on image fusion of multiple frames with different exposure levels. Such methods are prone to various phenomena, for example motion artifacts, detail loss and edge effects. In this paper, we combine a dual-channel camera that can output two different gain images simultaneously, a semi-supervised network structure based on an attention mechanism to fuse multiple gain images is proposed. The proposed network structure comprises encoding, fusion and decoding modules. First, the U-Net structure is employed in the encoding module to extract important detailed information in the source image to the maximum extent. Simultaneously, the SENet attention mechanism is employed in the encoding module to assign different weights to different feature channels and emphasis important features. Then, a feature map extracted from the encoding module is input to the decoding module for reconstruction after fusing by the fusion module to obtain a fused image. Experimental results indicate that the fused images obtained by the proposed method demonstrate clear details and high contrast. Compared with other methods, the proposed method improves fused image quality relative to several indicators.
Fingerprints of the Cosmological Constant: Folds in the Profiles of the Axionic Dark Matter Distribution in a Dyon Exterior
Authors: Balakin Alexander , Groshev Dmitry
Published: March 2020

We consider the magnetic monopole in the axionic dark matter environment (axionic dyon) in the framework of the Reissner-Nordström-de Sitter model. Our aim is to study the distribution of the pseudoscalar (axion) and electric fields near the so-called folds, which are characterized by the profiles with the central minimum, the barrier on the left, and the maximum on the right of this minimum. The electric field in the fold-like zones is shown to change the sign twice, i.e., the electric structure of the near zone of the axionic dyon contains the domain similar to a double electric layer. We have shown that the described fold-like structures in the profile of the gravitational potential, and in the profiles of the electric and axion fields can exist, when the value of the dyon mass belongs to the interval enclosed between two critical masses, which depend on the cosmological constant.
Modeling Alcohol Concentration in Blood via a Fractional Context
Authors: Rosario Cayetano Omar , Fleitas Imbert Alberto , Gómez-Aguilar José Francisco , Sarmiento Galán Antonio Fernando
Published: March 2020

We use a conformable fractional derivative G T α through two kernels T ( t , α ) = e ( α − 1 ) t and T ( t , α ) = t 1 − α in order to model the alcohol concentration in blood; we also work with the conformable Gaussian differential equation (CGDE) of this model, to evaluate how the curve associated with such a system adjusts to the data corresponding to the blood alcohol concentration. As a practical application, using the symmetry of the solution associated with the CGDE, we show the advantage of our conformable approaches with respect to the usual ordinary derivative.
Gut Microbiome Toxicity: Connecting the Environment and Gut Microbiome-Associated Diseases
Authors: Tu Pengcheng , Chi Liang , Bodnar Wanda , Zhang Zhenfa , Gao Bei , Bian Xiaoming , Stewart Jill , Fry Rebecca , Lu Kun
Published: March 2020

The human gut microbiome can be easily disturbed upon exposure to a range of toxic environmental agents. Environmentally induced perturbation in the gut microbiome is strongly associated with human disease risk. Functional gut microbiome alterations that may adversely influence human health is an increasingly appreciated mechanism by which environmental chemicals exert their toxic effects. In this review, we define the functional damage driven by environmental exposure in the gut microbiome as gut microbiome toxicity. The establishment of gut microbiome toxicity links the toxic effects of various environmental agents and microbiota-associated diseases, calling for more comprehensive toxicity evaluation with extended consideration of gut microbiome toxicity.
Botulinum Toxin Therapy for Managing Sleep Bruxism: A Randomized and Placebo—Controlled Trial
Authors: Shim Young Joo , Lee Hee Jin , Park Keun Jeong , Kim Hyung Tack , Hong Il Hee , Kim Seong Taek
Published: March 2020

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of botulinum toxin type A (BoNT-A) for managing sleep bruxism (SB) in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Thirty SB subjects were randomly assigned into two groups evenly. The placebo group received saline injections into each masseter muscle, and the treatment group received BoNT-A injections into each masseter muscle. Audio–video–polysomnographic recordings in the sleep laboratory were made before, at four weeks after, and at 12 weeks after injection. Sleep and SB parameters were scored according to the diagnostic and coding manual of American Academy of Sleep Medicine. The change of sleep and SB parameters were investigated using repeated measures analysis of variance (RM-ANOVA). Twenty-three subjects completed the study (placebo group 10, treatment group 13). None of the SB episode variables showed a significant time and group interaction (p > 0.05) except for electromyography (EMG) variables. The peak amplitude of EMG bursts during SB showed a significant time and group interaction (p = 0.001). The injection decreased the peak amplitude of EMG bursts during SB only in the treatment group for 12 weeks (p < 0.0001). A single BoNT-A injection cannot reduce the genesis of SB. However, it can be an effective management option for SB by reducing the intensity of the masseter muscle.
Mycotoxin Exposure and Related Diseases
Authors: Assunção Ricardo , Viegas Susana
Published: March 2020

Mycotoxins are considered the most frequently occurring natural contaminants in the diet of humans and animals [...]
Allergy—A New Role for T Cell Superantigens of Staphylococcus aureus?
Authors: Abdurrahman Goran , Schmiedeke Frieder , Bachert Claus , Bröker Barbara M. , Holtfreter Silva
Published: March 2020

Staphylococcus aureus superantigens (SAgs) are among the most potent T cell mitogens known. They stimulate large fractions of T cells by cross-linking their T cell receptor with major histocompatibility complex class-II molecules on antigen presenting cells, resulting in T cell proliferation and massive cytokine release. To date, 26 different SAgs have been described in the species S. aureus; they comprise the toxic shock syndrome toxin (TSST-1), as well as 25 staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) or enterotoxin-like proteins (SEls). SAgs can cause staphylococcal food poisoning and toxic shock syndrome and contribute to the clinical symptoms of staphylococcal infection. In addition, there is growing evidence that SAgs are involved in allergic diseases. This review provides an overview on recent epidemiological data on the involvement of S. aureus SAgs and anti-SAg-IgE in allergy, demonstrating that being sensitized to SEs—in contrast to inhalant allergens—is associated with a severe disease course in patients with chronic airway inflammation. The mechanisms by which SAgs trigger or amplify allergic immune responses, however, are not yet fully understood. Here, we discuss known and hypothetical pathways by which SAgs can drive an atopic disease.
Baseline Levels of Influenza-Specific B Cells and T Cell Responses Modulate Human Immune Responses to Swine Variant Influenza A/H3N2 Vaccine
Authors: Lai Lilin , Rouphael Nadine , Xu Yongxian , Sherman Amy C. , Edupuganti Srilatha , Anderson Evan J. , Lankford-Turner Pamela , Wang Dongli , Keitel Wendy , McNeal Monica M. , Cross Kaitlyn , Hill Heather , Bellamy Abbie R. , Mulligan Mark J.
Published: March 2020

The cellular immune responses elicited by an investigational vaccine against an emergent variant of influenza (H3N2v) are not fully understood. Twenty-five subjects, enrolled in an investigational influenza A/H3N2v vaccine study, who received two doses of vaccine 21 days apart, were included in a sub-study of cellular immune responses. H3N2v-specific plasmablasts were determined by ELISpot 8 days after each vaccine dose and H3N2v specific CD4+ T cells were quantified by intracellular cytokine and CD154 (CD40 ligand) staining before vaccination, 8 and 21 days after each vaccine dose. Results: 95% (19/20) and 96% (24/25) subjects had pre-existing H3N2v specific memory B, and T cell responses, respectively. Plasmablast responses at Day 8 after the first vaccine administration were detected against contemporary H3N2 strains and correlated with hemagglutination inhibition HAI (IgG: p = 0.018; IgA: p < 0.001) and Neut (IgG: p = 0.038; IgA: p = 0.021) titers and with memory B cell frequency at baseline (IgA: r = 0.76, p < 0.001; IgG: r = 0.74, p = 0.0001). The CD4+ T cells at Days 8 and 21 expanded after prime vaccination and this expansion correlated strongly with early post-vaccination HAI and Neut titers (p ≤ 0.002). In an adult population, the rapid serological response observed after initial H3N2v vaccination correlates with post-vaccination plasmablasts and CD4+ T cell responses.
How Can Decision Support Tools Help Reduce Nitrate and Pesticide Pollution from Agriculture? A Literature Review and Practical Insights from the EU FAIRWAY Project
Authors: Nicholson Fiona , Krogshave Laursen Rikke , Cassidy Rachel , Farrow Luke , Tendler Linda , Williams John , Surdyk Nicolas , Velthof Gerard
Published: March 2020

The FAIRWAY project reviewed approaches for protecting drinking water from nitrate and pesticide pollution. A comprehensive assessment of decision support tools (DSTs) used by farmers, advisors, water managers and policy makers across the European Union as an aid to meeting CAP objectives and targets was undertaken, encompassing paper-based guidelines, farm-level and catchment level software, and complex research models. More than 150 DSTs were identified, with 36 ranked for further investigation based on how widely they were used and/or their potential relevance to the FAIRWAY case studies. Of those, most were farm management tools promoting smart nutrient/pesticide use, with only three explicitly considering the impact of mitigation methods on water quality. Following demonstration and evaluation, 12 DSTs were selected for practical testing at nine diverse case study sites, based on their pertinence to local challenges and scales of interest. Barriers to DST exchange between member states were identified and information was collected about user requirements and attitudes. Key obstacles to exchange include differences in legislation, advisory frameworks, country-specific data and calibration requirements, geo-climate and issues around language. Notably, DSTs from different countries using the same input data sometimes delivered very different results. Whilst many countries have developed DSTs to address similar problems, all case study participants were able to draw inspiration from elsewhere. The support and advice provided by skilled advisors was highly valued, empowering end users to most effectively use DST outputs.
Generating Regional Models for Estimating the Peak Flows and Environmental Flows Magnitude for the Bulgarian-Greek Rhodope Mountain Range Torrential Watersheds
Authors: Myronidis Dimitrios , Ivanova Ekaterina
Published: March 2020

The flood magnitudes with 25, 50, and 100 years return periods and the environmental flows (Qenv) are of outmost importance in the context of hydraulic and hydrologic design. In this study, 25 watershed characteristics were linked with the aforementioned recurrence intervals, peak discharge values, as well as Qenv for 15 pristine torrential watersheds with more than 10 years of streamflow records in the Rhodopi mountain range with a view to generating regional relationships for the assessment of discharge annual peaks and environmental flows regarding the ungauged torrential watersheds in the region. The Log-Pearson Type III probability distribution was fitted in the discharge annual peaks time series, so as to predict Q25, Q50, and Q100, whereas the Tennant method was utilised so as to estimate the environmental flows magnitude. Similarly, the Kolmogorov–Smirnov and the Anderson–Darling tests were performed to verify the distribution fitting. The Principal Components Analysis method reduced the explanatory variables number to 14, whilst the stepwise multiple regression analysis indicated that the exponential model is suitable for predicting the Q25, the power model best forecasted the Q50 and Q100, whereas the linear model is appropriate for Qenv prognosis. In addition, the reliability of the obtained regression models was evaluated by employing the R2, the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency, and the Index of Agreement Statistical Criteria, which were found to range from 0.91–0.96, 0.88–0.95 and 0.97–0.99, respectively, thereby denoting very strong and accurate forecasts by the generated equations. Thus, the developed equations could successfully predict the peak discharge values and environmental flows within the region’s ungauged watersheds with the drainage size not exceeding 330 km2.
Trends and Challenges in Irrigation Scheduling in the Semi-Arid Area of Spain
Authors: Fernández García Irene , Lecina Sergio , Ruiz-Sánchez M. Carmen , Vera Juan , Conejero Wenceslao , Conesa María R. , Domínguez Alfonso , Pardo José J. , Léllis Bruno C. , Montesinos Pilar
Published: March 2020

A growing international human population and rising living standards are increasing the demand for agricultural products. Under higher pressure over natural resources, environmental concerns are increasing as well, challenging current water use decision-making processes in irrigated agriculture. Higher agricultural productivity means water should be applied more efficiently, which requires instant information on weather, soil, and plant conditions throughout the growing season. An information-based irrigation scheduling application tightened to the spatiotemporal variability of the fields is critical for enhancing the current irrigation system and making better irrigation scheduling decisions. The aim of this study is to review current irrigation scheduling methodologies based on two case studies (woody and field crops) located in semi-arid areas of Southeast Spain. We realize that optimal irrigation programming requires consistent investment in equipment, expenditure on operation and maintenance, and qualified technical and maintenance services. These technological approaches will be worthwhile in farms with low water availability, high profitability, and significant technical-economic capacity.
Influence of Local Habitat and Climatic Factors on the Distribution of Fish Species in the Tonle Sap Lake
Authors: Chan Bunyeth , Brosse Sébastien , Hogan Zeb , Ngor Peng , Lek Sovan
Published: March 2020

Tonle Sap Lake (TSL) is a highly productive system and hosts a high fish diversity and is of paramount importance for sustaining protein supply for over 15 million Cambodians. Nevertheless, the ecology and factors influencing the spatial distribution of many fishes within the lake remain poorly understood. Using commercial fishing lot catch data from 1994/1995 to 1999/2000, fishing seasons and environmental data (land cover and bioclimatic variables), we describe spatial distribution of the eight most commercially important fish species, and investigate the effects of environmental factors on their distributions in the TSL. We found a strong variability in fish biomass across areas and between species. Specifically, Channa micropeltes was most abundant in the southern and northern sections of the TSL. Channa striata and Trichopodus microlepis were more common in the northern part of the TSL. Cyclocheilos enoplos, Barbonymus gonionotus, Pangasianodon hypophthalmus, and Gymnostomus spp. were abundant in the southern areas of the TSL while Phalacronotus spp. were abundant in few areas in both the north and the south. Flooded forest positively explained the variation in the biomass of P. hypophthalmus, C. striata, C. enopolos, and Phalacronotus spp. Likewise, the lake’s open water positively affects the biomass of P. hypophthalmus, C. enopolos, and Phalacronotus spp., while the agricultural field negatively impacts Gymnostomus spp. biomass distribution. We also found that some areas consistently hosted high fish biomass (e.g., lot 2, Kampong Thom; lot 6, Pursat; lot 2, Battambang, etc.). We, therefore, suggest that fisheries management and conservation planning focus on those areas, considering those areas significance as core fish habitat and important for catching fish.
THE APPLICATION OF ACR LUNG-RADS AND LUNG LOW DOSE COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY IN DIAGNOSIS AND FOLLOW UP LUNG NODULES: EARLY REPORT IN 6 CASES
Authors: Hoang Thi Ngoc Ha , Le Trong khoan
Published: March 2020

Background: The lung low dose computed tomography and ACR LungRADS was routinely apply in diagnosis and follow up lung nodules in Hue University Hospital. A pulmonary nodule is defined as a rounded or irregular opacity, well or poorly defined, measuring up to 3 cm in diameter. Early detection the malignancy of nodules has a significant role in decreasing the mortality, increasing the survival time and consider as early diagnosis lung cancer. Classification of American College of Radiology, LungRADS, is a newly application but showed many advantages in comparison with others classification such as increasing positive predict value (PPV), no result of false negative and cost effectiveness. These 6 case report in order to show an early evaluation of the application of ACR LungRADS in diagnosis and follow up lung nodules at Hue University Hospital.

Key words: LungRADS, screening lung nodule, low dose CT, lung cancer
Phenol removal from synthetic wastewater with powdered activated carbon: Isotherms, kinetics and thermodynamics
Authors: Adar Elanur , Atay İpek Nur , Büncü Kubilay , Bilgili Mehmet Sinan
Published: March 2020

Phenol is the 11th most toxic 126 chemical substance and causes cancer by accumulating in the food chain. Adsorption of phenol is an effective and also environmentally friendly method for its removal. In this study, phenol removal by using powdered activated carbon (PAC) was optimized and modeled for various isotherms at constant mixing rate (150 rpm) and sample volume (100 mL); adsorbent dose (0.01-2 g), contact time (1-180 min), and initial phenol concentration (50-1000 mg L-1). Moreover, adsorption studies were carried out at different temperatures for kinetic and thermodynamic calculations. In this study, optimum adsorbent dose and contact time of PAC were determined as 0.3 g 100 mL-1 (3 g L-1) and 10 minute, respectively. It can be concluded that it provides discharge standards for a wastewater containing 100 mg L-1 phenol. It was observed that the adsorption capacity decreased with increasing temperature and the adsorption process fits well with Langmuir isotherm. It has been concluded that the adsorption of phenol with PAC is an exothermic reaction. As a result of the kinetic studies, it was found to be suitable for the Pseudo Second Order (R2 0.9999-1.0000). ∆S, ∆H and ∆G were calculated as -0.02 J mol-1 K-1, -14.15 kJ mol-1 and between -8.16 and -7.76 kJ mol-1, respectively.
PENGARUH KARTU PINTAR BENCANA TERHADAP SIKAP KESIAPSIAGAAN BENCANA PADA ANAK SEKOLAH DI KOTA TANGERANG TAHUN 2018
Authors: Wasliyah Siti , Kusniawati Kusniawati
Published: March 2020

Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana (BNPB)  mencatat pada bulan Januari sampai Maret tahun 2017 telah terjadi 883 bencana di seluruh Indonesia. Banten merupakan daerah rawan bencana, dimana lebih dari 10 jenis bencana, rawan terjadi didaerah banten dan sekitarnya  Pada penilaian indeks risiko bencana daerah dua wilayah di Banten yang memiliki skor di atas 150 poin adalah Kabupaten Lebak dan Pandeglang.(BNPB, 2017). Pengembangan kartu pintar mengenai penanggulangan bencana akan mulai dilakukan pada penelitian ini, dengan harapan strategi peningkatan sikap dalam menghadapi bencana dapat menjangkau sampai anak sekolah. Penelitian ini adalah penelitian kuasi eksperimen dengan pendekatan pretest and postets group design,  bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi pengaruh penggunaan kartu bencana dalam meningkatkan sikap kesiapsiagaan bencana pada anak sekolah dasar. Penelitian dilakukan di Sekolah Dasar Negeri Taman Sukarya di Kota Tangerang pada bulan Juni - Nopember  2018 dengan populasi siswa SDN Taman Sukarya. Metode sampling yang digunakan adalah consecutive sampling berjumlah 50 orang untuk masing-masing kelompok intervensi dan kontrol. Rerata sikap pada kelompok yang menggunakan kartu (intervensi) adalah 36,28 dengan standar deviasi 4,36. Pada kelompok yang diberikan tidak diberikan intervensi didapat rata-rata sikap adalah 0,26 dengan standar deviasi 0,75. Hasil uji statsitik diadapatkan nilai P value 0,734 (P value < 0,05) maka dapat disimpulkan tidak ada perbedaan yang signifikan antara rata-rata sikap kelompok intervensi dan kelompok kontrol. Kartu bencana dapat digunakan sebagai wahana baca dan permainan yang mengandung informasi tentang bencana  walaupun tidak meningkatkan sikap kesiapsiagaan bencana pada anak sekolah dasar.
Best Value Approach in Public Procurement: Improving ‘Best’ through Enhanced Preparation Phase
Authors: Steller Frank
Published: March 2020

The Best Value Approach (BVA) offers an innovative method to get the most out of Supplier-Customer Relationships (SCRs). This paper argues that the preparation phase should be enhanced when applying BVA in the context of public procurement. Literature on SCRs learns how successful relationships are governed bilaterally during execution. This literature also describes which processes are taking place prior to contracting. Here, the concepts of this literature areapplied to analyses the specific public procurement context. The impact of this context is, that the tender process is governed unilaterally. Further, BVA - as applied in public procurement - is viewed through the lenses of the SCR literature. Although BVA partly leads to bilateral governance, the impact of the public procurement context remains. For practitioners wanting to improve BVA’s effect in public procurement, the paper offers an enhancement of the approach. For theory building, the analysis leads to a further differentiation of the concept of governance. For regulators, it offers something to consider: focus on principles or rules?
Correcting formatting flaws in EFL academic writing: A case study
Authors: White Richard , Guest Mike
Published: March 2020

While many university students show aptitude with regard to content and structure in academic writing in EFL classes, they often do not have a good grasp of basic formatting conventions for academic English. An introductory course in academic-level process writing for second-year medical students at the University of Miyazaki presented a clear example of this problem. Students displayed an ability to organize their thoughts and form a coherent thesis, but their physical products were so poorly formatted that they often posed a challenge to the reader. Subsequent research conducted by the teachers revealed that most students had never received any sort of instruction regarding the formatting of academic papers in English. It was also revealed that most students had no experience using common word-processing software (e.g., MS Word) for any sort of writing in English. In this short essay, we will discuss the problem in more detail, how the situation was resolved, and offer samples of the teaching materials that were used to address and resolve the problem.

日本の大学の英語教育におけるアカデミック・ライティングでは、多くの学生が内容と構造を理解しているようだが、実際には基本的な形式さえよく分かっていないことが多い。本論では、宮崎大学医学部2年生の初級レベルを例にとって、同様の問題を検証する。多くの学生は自分の考えを論理的にまとめる能力はあるが、全体的な構成があまりにも未熟なために読み手が困惑することが多々ある。その後のアクション・リサーチで、アカデミック・ライティングの形式に関して何の指導も受けていない学生が多いことが明らかになった。さらに、ほとんどの学生がワープロ機能ソフト（MicrosoftのWordなど）を使用して英文ライティングに臨んだ経験が皆無であることも判明した。本論では、上記の問題解決について議論を深め、改善策として授業で実際に使用した指導教材サンプルを提示する。
The use of peer-assisted learning for review presentations in heterogeneous classes
Authors: Nutt Julyan
Published: March 2020

Peer Assisted Learning benefits both higher and lower level students, either from the act of teaching, or by learning from more capable classmates. With this in mind the author devised a presentation task, for a heterogeneous (mixed ability) ESL class in Japan, to review units from the course textbook. Students were placed in groups consisting of two pairs, each pair with a high and low level student, and were asked to prepare presentations within a limited timeframe. The objective was to see whether students could cooperate, learn from each other, and complete the task while under time constraints. Aided by the use of L1 in the planning stages, one pair explained in English, key speaking/listening strategies from the textbook, the other illustrated them using dialog. In anonymous questionnaires, the class agreed that they had either helped or been helped by their peers and that the task had been beneficial to them.

ピアアシスト（生徒相互補助）学習は、教えるという行為や、より能力の高い仲間から学ぶことによって、高いレベルの学生にも低いレベルの学生にも有益である。これを踏まえて筆者は、能力の異なる学生からなる日本のESLクラスのために、テキストの単元を復習するためにプレゼンテーションを行うという課題を考案した。高いレベルの学生と低いレベルの学生で1組になり、2組で1グループを構成した。学生たちは限られた時間内にプレゼンテーションを準備することになった。目的は、学生たちが協力しあえるか、互いから学べるか、時間的に制約された中で作業をやり遂げられるかを見ることであった。立案段階ではL1（日本語）の使用に助けられ、グループ内の1組は、教科書の重要なスピーキング／リスニングのストラテジーを英語で説明し、もう1組は対話により説明した。 無記名アンケートで学生たちは、お互いに助けたり助けられたりして、この課題は自分にとって有益だったと回答した。
Adoption of the process–oriented writing approach in a Japanese high school classroom
Authors: Kurihara Noriko
Published: March 2020

The present study investigated whether peer and teacher feedback in the process-oriented approach would influence student writing development in an exam-oriented senior high school in Japan over one academic year. Pre- and post-essay tests were administered both to the experimental group and the control group to assess the development of students’ writing skills. Questionnaires and interviews were conducted at the end of each school term in order to examine student attitudes toward feedback. The results indicate that students improved significantly in the quality and fluency of their writing. Although the impact of teacher feedback was found to be stronger when the project started, student focus shifted from teacher feedback to peer feedback over the year. Students deepened interdependence among peers, increased self-correction, and assumed a sense of writer responsibility by the end of the project.

本論は、受験重視の日本の高校で、英語ライティング授業にプロセス・アプローチを導入し、１年間に及ぶ過程において、ピア（生徒間）及び教師によるフィードバックが生徒のライティング能力の向上に影響を与えるか否かを検証した。研究では生徒のラィティング能力の変化を測るために、被験者群と統制群による自由英作文の事前・事後テストを行った。また、生徒のフィードバックに対する意識の変化を調査するため、各学期の最後にアンケートとインタビューを実施した。自由英作文のテストでは、生徒のライティング能力の質と流暢さの向上において、被験者群と統制群 の間で有意差が確認された。また、フィードバックに対する生徒の意識では、当初は教師の影響が強かったが、次第に生徒間によるフィードバックに焦点が移行していった。研究の最後には、生徒間で相互の信頼と依存性が高まり、自己による誤り訂正が増え、生徒のなかに書き手としての責任感が生じてきた。
Teaching Spoken English at Junior High School: A Comparison of TPR and PPP
Authors: Jones Christian , Smith Karen , Lees Michelle , Donohue Natalie
Published: March 2020

This article reports on an experimental methods-comparison study, which was undertaken with beginner level junior high school students (aged 12 and 13) in Japan. The study aimed to investigate which type of teaching, Total Physical Response (TPR) or Present Practice Produce (PPP), was more effective in developing productive and receptive knowledge of a set of collocations. Results showed that both types of teaching had a significant impact upon the development of understanding and using the target language. However, there were no significant differences between the effectiveness of TPR and PPP, apart from a short-term benefit for PPP in terms of receptive knowledge. This shows that both types of teaching can have a positive impact upon learners of this age and level and that there is a need for further research to investigate the effectiveness of these communicative methodologies in this context.

本論は日本における初級レベルの中学生（12～13歳）を対象とした実験方法・比較研究を紹介したものである。本研究では、一連の連語の生産的・受容的知識を習得するために、Total Physical Response (TP－身体の動きを通して「聞くことの」の能力を発達させる方法)と、Present Practice Produce (PPP－教師が提示、学習者が練習・産出)のどちらの教授法がより効果的かを調査した。この2つの教授法は学習者の目標言語（英語）の理解や使用に重要な影響を与えるという結果がでた。しかし、受容知識におけるPPPの短期間の利点を除けば、両教授法に有意差はなかった。したがって、この2つの教授法はこの年齢と学習レベルの学習者には肯定的な効果をもたらすことを示しているので、これらのコミュニケーション教授法の効果を調査するさらなる研究が必要になるであろう。
Vocabulary Size Required for the TOEFL iBT Listening Section
Authors: Kaneko Masaya
Published: March 2020

The aim of the present study is to estimate the vocabulary size target for the Listening Section of the TOEFL Internet-based Test (iBT). The lexical frequency levels of the listening passages from 5 real past tests were determined with the use of Nation’s (2006) word-family lists. It was found that the first 3,000 word families plus proper nouns and marginal words yielded 95% coverage of the texts, and that it took the most frequent 6,000 word families to reach 98% coverage. Comparing the results of the present study with those reported in Kaneko’s (2014) study, the Listening Section of the TOEFL iBT appears to require only half as large vocabulary size as the Reading Section. Pedagogical and research implications are discussed in detail.

本論の目的は、TOEFL iBTリスニングセクションの目標語彙サイズを測定することである。5つのTOEFL iBT過去試験問題を対象に、Nation (2006)のワードファミリーリストを用いて語彙頻度レベルを決定した。固有名詞など理解に影響を与えない語を含めた場合、最も頻度の高い3千語で文中の単語の95％、6千語で98％をカバーした。また、Kaneko (2014)の研究結果と比較すると、TOEFL iBTリスニング問題に求められる語彙サイズは、リーディング問題に求められる語彙サイズの半分で十分であることが示唆される。教育上および研究上の含意についても詳細に論じる。
From Reading Books to Sharing Books: Going Beyond the Virtuous Circle of the Good Reader
Authors: Mizuno Kunitaro
Published: March 2020

The "virtuous circle of the good reader" (Nuttall, 2006, p.127) is considered the key to the success of extensive reading. Teachers make efforts to create the virtuous circle in the act of reading for each student. From the point of individual reading, this works well. From the point of designing a class where students learn collaboratively, the virtuous circle needs something extra. This paper would argue that from the perspective of self-determination theory, it is indispensable to incorporate dialogue with others into the virtuous circle. To implement the idea, the IRC (Interactive Reading Community) Project has been carried out. The results of student questionnaires are analyzed using reader-response theory to see the effect that "others" have. Also, from the perspective of "general education," how reading books in the IRC Project can foster learning culture (Dewey, 1989) is examined.

多読の授業を実践するうえで「読書の好循環 (Nuttall, 2005)」が鍵を握っていると考えられており、教師はそれを生み出すために様々な努力を重ねている。その好循環は、「個人」を単位とした読書活動の指針として有益である。しかし、授業を「他者との協同的な学びの実践」として捉えると、その好循環にプラスαが必要となる。本論は、その好循環に「他者との出会いと対話」が必要であることを、 Deci & Ryan (1996)の「自己決定理論」の観点から議論する。そして、「他者」のいる読書環境を教室とインターネット上に創出してきた IRC(Interactive Reading Community) Project を紹介する。その教育的効果をアンケート結果で示し、 2つの観点から考察する。1つは「読者反応理論」から、もう1つは「一般教育」の英語の授業において「教養 (Dewey, 1899)」を豊かにする観点から考察する。
Global Personnel Development through Study Abroad and Study + Work Abroad
Authors: Kirchhoff Cheryl
Published: March 2020

The definition of global human resources provides a useful way to evaluate study abroad options for university students. In this qualitative study, study abroad and study + work abroad students’ narratives were analyzed for growth in English language use, initiatives to take challenges and responsibility, and intercultural learning. Participants who studied and worked abroad described more growth in elements of global personnel development, particularly in taking the initiative to engage in a fruitful study abroad experience. This study suggests that study abroad experiences should include student-directed challenges outside the classroom to assist in developing graduates with global personnel characteristics.

グローバル人材の定義を用いれば、様々な大学の海外留学プログラムを評価することが可能となる。この質的研究では、外国で語学学習のみを経験した者と、就業経験を伴う語学留学経験者が書いた文章とを比較・分析した。グローバル人材の定義の3要素は、1）語学力およびコミュニケーション能力、2）主体性・チャレンジ精神・責任感、3）異文化学習である。語学と就業の両方を経験したグループの方が、3つの要素すべてにおいて、語学学習経験のみのグループに比べて高い度合の成長が見受けられた。本論は、グローバル人材の要素を兼ね備えた卒業生を生み出すためには、教室外の学生主体の活動を含む海外留学経験が必要であると提案する。
JALT2015 Conference Article: On Emotions in Foreign Language Learning and Use
Authors: Dewaele Jean-Marc
Published: March 2020

Emotions are at the heart of the foreign language learning process. Without emotion, boredom would reign and very little learning would take place. I report on some recent work that has investigated the role of emotion in the foreign language classroom, both positive (foreign language enjoyment) and negatives ones (foreign language anxiety). It seems that both learners and teachers play a crucial role in managing emotions in the classroom. I also report on the difficulties associated with the communication of emotions in a foreign language and on their relative absence in foreign language course books and during classes. This leaves learners ill-prepared to recognise and express emotions appropriately in a foreign language, which is an essential part of sociopragmatic competence.

外国語学習過程の中心には「感情」がある。感情がなければ飽きるのも早く、学びも限られてしまう。本論では、外国語の授業で感情が果たす肯定的な（例：外国語学習の楽しみ）および否定的な（例：外国語学習不安）役割について報告する。そして最近の研究を基に、いかに学習者と教員双方がクラスでの感情のコントロールに深くかかわっているかを考察する。また、外国語で感情を伝えることの難しさについても触れ、外国語の教科書や授業で感情表現が扱われることの少なさが、社会語用論的能力の主な要素である感情表現の理解不足につながっていることを指摘する。
Are “Dichotic” Deficits Uniquely Dichotic? Investigating Dichotic Performance with the Dichotic Digits Difference Test (DDdT) in a Large Clinical Population of Children Referred for an Auditory Processing Assessment
Authors: Cameron Sharon , Dillon Harvey
Published: March 2020

Background:Previous studies in a large population of typically developing (TD) children and a small clinical group showed high correlations between the dichotic and diotic conditions of the Dichotic Digits difference Test (DDdT), as well as between DDdT performance and measures
of memory and attention.Purpose:The purpose of the study was to investigate the performance on the DDdT in a large clinical sample.Research Design:Correlational analysis between the DDdT diotic condition and the dichotic free recall (FR) right-ear, left-ear, and total (ear-averaged)
conditions, as well as between DDdT and memory performance.Study Sample:One hundred one children (6 years 3 months to 15 years 0 month, mean 9 years 6 months) were referred for assessment to the Australian Hearing Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) service. Results were compared
with data from 112 TD children collected from previously published studies.Data Collection and Analysis:Z-scores were used to account for the effect of age on performance. Mean differences between clinical and TD children were investigated using analysis of variance (ANOVA). Pearson
product-moment correlations determined the strength of relationships between DDdT conditions and the number memory forward (NMF) and reversed (NMR) subtests of the Test of Auditory Processing Skills—Third Edition.Results:Performance by the clinical group on the DDdT dichotic FR
(RE, LE, and total) conditions was significantly correlated with the diotic condition (r = 0.7; 0.7, 0.8; p < 0.001). Significant correlations were found between the DDdT diotic and dichotic FR conditions and the NMF (r = 0.5‐0.6, p < 0.001) and NMR
(r = 0.2‐0.5, p < 0.025‐0.001). ANOVA revealed no significant difference between the TD and clinical groups (p = 1.0000) in respect to the advantage they got from dichotic listening (calculated as dichotic FR total minus diotic score). Multiple regression
revealed that diotic performance and short-term memory accounted for 68% of the variation in dichotic performance. Random measurement error accounted for a further 16%.Conclusions:Factors other than dichotic performance strongly impact a child’s ability to perform a dichotic digit
listening task. This result has widespread implications in respect to the interpretation of CAPD test results.
Dank, Projekte, Zahlen
Authors: Gysling Etzel
Published: March 2020

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