bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Cognitive Emotional Behavioral and Physical Effects of Cartoons on Children
Authors: Şahin Muzaffer
Published: June 2018

Pepe, which is a cartoon watched in Turkey between the ages of 2 and 7, is analyzed in this study. The 26 observers have observed how this cartoon influences the children who watch it regularly. Moreover, a researcher has evaluated the messages given by the cartoon, watching 40 episodes. The influence of the messages of the cartoon Pepe on the children between the ages of 2 and 7 are evaluated in the light of the data attained from the theories in the field of learning and development: Albert Bandura's theory, Piaget's theory, Skinner's theory. In accordance with those evaluations, it is determined that the cartoon Pepe contains cognitively, emotionally, and behaviorally positive and negative messages for the age group of 2-7. It is seen that this cartoon involves positive messages in many episodes not only for children but also for the adults who are in charge of rearing children. It is considered appropriate that parents watch the 30-minute episodes that bear positive messages, together with their children twice a day, and they give explanations when children need them.
Developments in the Application of the General Systems Theory in Medium-Sized Enterprises
Authors: Vemić Milan Branko , Molnar Robert M.
Published: June 2018

This chapter examines the use of laws, methods, and techniques of the systems theory in manufacturing medium-sized enterprises in Serbia. The specific context is looking at the use of this theory in a complex way by relating medium-sized enterprises to both small and large business entities in order to significantly contribute to economic development through dynamic business operations and strategic orientation of all businesses. The chapter consists of three parts. The first one presents the opportunities for application of the systems theory in manufacturing medium-sized enterprises, elaborates linkages for increasing competitiveness of medium-sized enterprises, significance of alliances, networking, and clustering. The second section contains the methodology and results of the empirical study. Analyzed and compared are companies of various sizes in terms of mutual cooperation, growth, and role of founders. Following the above described content, the chapter discussion proceeds with future research directions and a conclusion.
Resource Optimization for Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Residential Project Development
Authors: Heimonen Klaus-Erik , Takala Josu A.
Published: June 2018

In today's highly competitive and fast paced world, it is important for a company to have a balanced strategy which is unified and precisely executed to gain a sustainable competitive advantage in order to outperform its rivals. The freedom of action of a company is limited to satisfying the needs of those entities outside the firm that give the resources it requires in order to survive and to be successful. The purpose of this research is to define and assess the resource optimization for sustainable competitive advantages and the direction of development, and potential improvements in a case company's Southern Finland residential project development division. The analysis of operational competitiveness focuses on detecting the right operational strategy and resource allocation by exploiting seven different kinds of methods and tools. The current operational model and resource allocation supports the operative strategy well in the case company and those resources which seem to be not optimally positioned are heading in the right direction.
Followership and Leadership in Medium-Sized Enterprises in the Republic of Bulgaria
Authors: Yordanova Silvena Dencheva
Published: June 2018

Good leaders need followers. Without great followers, leaders would become schizophrenics sitting in their offices talking to themselves. Can a person be defined as good leader if he does not have any people to believe in him, to follow his example, to trust him? Followership is a process when the person has the capacity and willingness to follow the leader when having some target. In other words, being a good follower means having the skills, the abilities, and the desire to follow the leader in achieving the goals. The chapter aims to define what is followership, how it is related to leadership, especially in business organizations such as medium-sized enterprises. Thus, followership can be perceived as a mutual process in which the leaders and followers interact, help each other to reach the aims on individual and organizational level. The importance of followership to the leader will be analyzed followed by author's recommendations for the future and a conclusion.
Recent Neuro-Fuzzy Approaches for Feature Selection and Classification
Authors: Singh Heisnam Rohen , Biswas Saroj Kr , Bordoloi Monali
Published: June 2018

Classification is the task of assigning objects to one of several predefined categories. However, developing a classification system is mostly hampered by the size of data. With the increase in the dimension of data, the chance of irrelevant, redundant, and noisy features or attributes also increases. Feature selection acts as a catalyst in reducing computation time and dimensionality, enhancing prediction performance or accuracy, and curtailing irrelevant or redundant data. The neuro-fuzzy approach is used for feature selection and classification with better insight by representing knowledge in symbolic forms. The neuro-fuzzy approach combines the merits of neural network and fuzzy logic to solve many complex machine learning problems. The objective of this article is to provide a generic introduction and a recent survey to neuro-fuzzy approaches for feature selection and classification in a wide area of machine learning problems. Some of the existing neuro-fuzzy models are also applied to standard datasets to demonstrate their applicability and performance.
Hybrid Honey Bees Meta-Heuristic for Benchmark Data Classification
Authors: Shah Habib , Tairan Nasser , Ghazali Rozaida , Yeniay Ozgur , Mashwani Wali Khan
Published: June 2018

Some bio-inspired methods are cuckoo search, fish schooling, artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithms. Sometimes, these algorithms cannot reach to global optima due to randomization and poor exploration and exploitation process. Here, the global artificial bee colony and Levenberq-Marquardt hybrid called GABC-LM algorithm is proposed. The proposed GABC-LM will use neural network for obtaining the accurate parameters, weights, and bias values for benchmark dataset classification. The performance of GABC-LM is benchmarked against NNs training with the typical LM, PSO, ABC, and GABC methods. The experimental result shows that the proposed GABC-LM performs better than that standard BP, ABC, PSO, and GABC for the classification task.
Guided Search-Based Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm for Grid Workflow Scheduling
Authors: Garg Ritu
Published: June 2018

The computational grid provides the global computing infrastructure for users to access the services over a network. However, grid service providers charge users for the services based on their usage and QoS level specified. Therefore, in order to optimize the grid workflow execution, a robust multi-objective scheduling algorithm is needed considering economic cost along with execution performance. Generally, in multi-objective problems, simulations rely on running large number of evaluations to obtain the accurate results. However, algorithms that consider the preferences of decision maker, convergence to optimal tradeoff solutions is faster. Thus, in this chapter, the author proposed the preference-based guided search mechanism into MOEAs. To obtain solutions near the pre-specified regions of interest, the author has considered two MOEAs, namely R-NSGA-II and R-ε-MOEA. Further, to improve the diversity of solutions, a modified form called M-R-NSGA-II is used. Finally, the experimental settings and performance metrics are presented for the evaluation of the algorithms.
An Optimal Configuration of Sensitive Parameters of PSO Applied to Textual Clustering
Authors: Hamou Reda Mohamed , Amine Abdelmalek , Boudia Mohamed Amine , Lokbani Ahmed Chaouki
Published: June 2018

The clustering aims to minimize intra-class distance in the cluster and maximize extra-classes distances between clusters. The text clustering is a very hard task; it is solved generally by metaheuristic. The current literature offers two major metaheuristic approaches: neighborhood metaheuristics and population metaheuristics. In this chapter, the authors seek to find the optimal configuration of sensitive parameters of the PSO algorithm applied to textual clustering. The study will go through in dissociable steps, namely the representation and indexing textual documents, clustering by biomimetic approach, optimized by PSO, the study of parameter sensitivity of the optimization technique, and improvement of clustering. The authors will test several parameters and keep the best configurations that return the best results of clustering. They will use the most widely used evaluation measures like index of Davies and Bouldin (internal) and two external: the F-measure and entropy, which are based on recall and precision.
Bi-Objective Supply Chain Optimization With Supplier Selection
Authors: Gandhi Kanika , Jha P. C.
Published: June 2018

Supplier selection is one of the most important decisions within SCM since suppliers have emerged as value adding partners in industrial relationship. In the current study, supplier selection on the basis of information pertaining to quality and delivery time is explained. The cost aspects are taken care while coordinating procurement and distribution in the echelons. The deteriorating nature of the product creates imprecision in demand and fuzziness in different stages of the coordination. A fuzzy bi-objective mixed integer non-linear model is developed, where the first objective minimizes the combined cost of holding, processing, and transportation in all the echelons and the second objective maximizes combination of lot acceptance percentage and on-time delivery percentage. The solution process converts the model into crisp form and solves using a fuzzy goal programming technique.
Linking the Elements of Learning, Assessment, and Play Experience in a Validation Framework
Authors: Tan Chin Ike
Published: June 2018

Educational games are often described as a balancing act between the entertainment aspects of video games—be it the engagement, motivational, or immersive advantages of it—and the serious subject matter of teaching, learning, and assessment. Thus the key challenge of game-based learning is how the merging of these two aspects could assist in the knowledge retention and application of the subject matters within the real-world environment, especially in the realm of education. The chapter proposes a validation framework that can link elements of learning and assessment in a subject matter to play experience in educational games before those games are developed. The framework will allow game designers and developers to understand the cognitive processes of learning, not only in designing effective educational games, but also to comprehend the intricacies and connections between learning and principles of game design. This in turn enables game researchers to develop effective educational games which are pedagogically and ludologically sound.
A Coaching Framework for Meta-Games
Authors: Tan Wee Hoe
Published: June 2018

Since mid-2000s, online coaching games emerged as meta-games which support players who need professional training for knowledge and skills in playing specific games. This chapter presents a case study of a coaching game for first-person shooters (FPS) involving a collaboration between a game-based learning researcher, a professional FPS coach, and a team of game developers. The focus of this study is how the collaborative team balanced the seriousness of a coaching needs and the fun of game playing systematically. The object of this study was to propose a coaching framework for designing and developing meta-games for use in mastering various genres. To achieve this objective, the researcher discussed with professors in sport science, interviewed with professional gamers, conducted multiple brainstorming sessions with game developers, and analyzed design documents of published FPS titles. The proposed coaching game framework—when used appropriately—can be a guide for coaching in different game genres.
The Nazi Phantom
Authors: Arieli Dana
Published: June 2018

This chapter seeks to examine the ways in which German cities have confronted their past through the study of heritage of Nazi architecture and design since 1945. The author has chosen to use the camera as her study tool through which she is studying Nazi architecture and design today and see them as a reflection of the German Erinnerungskultur (Memory-Culture). In the last decade, the author has travelled all over Germany following the relics of the Nazi era. These photographed journeys have resulted in more than 10,000 frames so far and is still ongoing. The radical changes in German cities after the Allied bombing left fragile urban spaces, and given the circumstances, city authorities, architects, and urban planners wanted to delay the discussion of the Nazi phantoms left behind as long as possible. After reunification, some German cities adopted the solutions discussed in this chapter, which can often be described as a complicated situation. German cities are trying to do the impossible: combining ancient legacies, buildings designed during the Third Reich and left untouched for decades, and modern and postmodern construction. The resulting mixture has a complexity not found anywhere else.
The Ongoing Major Distortion of the Holocaust
Authors: Gerstenfeld Manfred
Published: June 2018

This chapter analyzes mainly recent developments of the various types of distortions of the Holocaust. The analysis follows the main categories of the author's earlier book, The Abuse of the Holocaust Memory: Distortions and Responses (2009). These are justification of the Holocaust or promoting a new one, Holocaust denial or its minimization, deflection or whitewashing of guilt, Holocaust de-Judaization in part through its universalization, Holocaust equivalence, Holocaust inversion, Holocaust trivialization, and obliterating Holocaust memory. The abuse keeps increasing at a rather fast rate and has permeated several quarters of mainstream society. It is feared that manipulation of the truth may become a substantial part of the debate on the Holocaust. This will be even more possible when all surviving Holocaust victims are very old. It is difficult to see how in a more and more chaotic world this trend could be halted. It is recommended that Holocaust memorial institutions start to systematically and professionally monitor abuse in their respective countries and categorize them.
Self-Criticism and Confronting Anti-Semitism
Authors: Cohen Ronen A.
Published: June 2018

Much has been said and written about anti-Semitism in the Islamic and Arab world, concerning its roots and its significance in political life all over the Arab world and beyond. However, within the volume of religious and secular ideas of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial in the Arab and Islamic world, we can find few voices that express views that contrast the deep-rooted conventional hatred toward Jews. These voices present a tolerant and inclusive approach that opposes both religious and secular anti-Semitism. This study focuses on anti-Semitism in the Islamic world, presenting rather the other voices in the Arab world, those that oppose anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.
A Novel Authorization Scheme for Multimedia Social Networks Under Cloud Storage Method by Using MA-CP-ABE
Authors: Li Cheng , Zhang Zhiyong , Zhang Lanfang
Published: June 2018

This article finds that with the development of network technology and the change of a users' social habits, the existing multimedia social network, whether it is one-to-one authorization or one-to-many authorization, are having difficulty meeting the needs of users and cloud storage service. In order to solve this problem, this article proposes a new authorization scheme of multimedia community, based on attribute encryption. Use MA-CP-ABE solution to enhance system service efficiency. This program contributes to two aspects: (1) combining user trust with attribute-based authorizations, and (2) enhancing the flexibility and security of the solution. The scheme has been applied in the prototype system and achieved good results. Results prove that the program has good application value for cloud storage technology, IoT and many other fields.
Performance Evaluation of Unstructured PBRA for Bigdata with Cassandra and MongoDB in Cloud
Authors: Gupta Sangeeta
Published: June 2018

In this article, performance evaluation of web collection data in data stores, such as NoSQL-Cassandra and MongoDB is presented, yielding scalability of applications. In addition to scalability, security of NoSQL databases remains highly unproved. It is noteworthy that existing works in the area of cloud with NoSQL focus on either scalability or security but not both aspects. Also, security, if provided, is at minor interface levels. In this article, the PBRA system is designed to deal with highly unstructured big data emerging from the twitter social networking service, which is new of its kind to strengthen the bigdata security. PBRA is Passphrase Based REST API model where the REST API methods are integrated with the user generated passphrase in addition to the private key for a set of records of user desirable number before storing into the Cassandra and MongoDB databases. Results are presented to illustrate the same for nearly 1 million records and the efficiency of Cassandra over MongoDB is observed. It is observed from the results that though the time taken to load and retrieve bulk data records is higher than dealing with cipher text, Cassandra performs better than MongoDB with the proposed security model.
Hybrid Unsupervised Modeling of Air Pollution Impact to Cardiovascular and Respiratory Diseases
Authors: Iliadis Lazaros , Anezakis Vardis-Dimitris , Demertzis Konstantinos , Mallinis Georgios
Published: June 2018

During the last few decades, climate change has increased air pollutant concentrations with a direct and serious effect on population health in urban areas. This research introduces a hybrid computational intelligence approach, employing unsupervised machine learning (UML), in an effort to model the impact of extreme air pollutants on cardiovascular and respiratory diseases of citizens. The system is entitled Air Pollution Climate Change Cardiovascular and Respiratory (APCCCR) and it combines the fuzzy chi square test (FUCS) with the UML self organizing maps algorithm. A major innovation of the system is the determination of the direct impact of air pollution (or of the indirect impact of climate change) to the health of the people, in a comprehensive manner with the use of fuzzy linguistics. The system has been applied and tested thoroughly with spatiotemporal data for the Thessaloniki urban area for the period 2004-2013.
A Method of Subtopic Classification of Search Engine Suggests by Integrating a Topic Model and Word Embeddings
Authors: Nie Tian , Ding Yi , Zhao Chen , Lin Youchao , Utsuro Takehito
Published: June 2018

The background of this article is the issue of how to overview the knowledge of a given query keyword. Especially, the authors focus on concerns of those who search for web pages with a given query keyword. The Web search information needs of a given query keyword is collected through search engine suggests. Given a query keyword, the authors collect up to around 1,000 suggests, while many of them are redundant. They classify redundant search engine suggests based on a topic model. However, one limitation of the topic model based classification of search engine suggests is that the granularity of the topics, i.e., the clusters of search engine suggests, is too coarse. In order to overcome the problem of the coarse-grained classification of search engine suggests, this article further applies the word embedding technique to the webpages used during the training of the topic model, in addition to the text data of the whole Japanese version of Wikipedia. Then, the authors examine the word embedding based similarity between search engines suggests and further classify search engine suggests within a single topic into finer-grained subtopics based on the similarity of word embeddings. Evaluation results prove that the proposed approach performs well in the task of subtopic classification of search engine suggests.
Security Testing Framework for Web Applications
Authors: Alrawais Layla Mohammed , Alenezi Mamdouh , Akour Mohammad
Published: June 2018

The growth of web-based applications has increased tremendously from last two decades. While these applications bring huge benefits to society, yet they suffer from various security threats. Although there exist various techniques to ensure the security of web applications, still a large number of applications suffer from a wide variety of attacks and result in financial loses. In this article, a security-testing framework for web applications is proposed with an argument that security of an application should be tested at every stage of software development life cycle (SDLC). Security testing is initiated from the requirement engineering phase using a keyword-analysis phase. The output of the first phase serves as input to the next phase. Different case study applications indicate that the framework assists in early detection of security threats and applying appropriate security measures. The results obtained from the implementation of the proposed framework demonstrated a high detection ratio with a less false-positive rate.
Improved SfM-Based Indoor Localization with Occlusion Removal
Authors: Li Yushi , Baciu George , Han Yu , Li Chenhui
Published: June 2018

This article describes a novel 3D image-based indoor localization system integrated with an improved SfM (structure from motion) approach and an obstacle removal component. In contrast with existing state-of-the-art localization techniques focusing on static outdoor or indoor environments, the adverse effects, generated by moving obstacles in busy indoor spaces, are considered in this work. In particular, the problem of occlusion removal is converted into a separation problem of moving foreground and static background. A low-rank and sparse matrix decomposition approach is used to solve this problem efficiently. Moreover, a SfM with RT (re-triangulation) is adopted in order to handle the drifting problem of incremental SfM method in indoor scene reconstruction. To evaluate the performance of the system, three data sets and the corresponding query sets are established to simulate different states of the indoor environment. Quantitative experimental results demonstrate that both query registration rate and localization accuracy increase significantly after integrating the authors' improvements.
Algoma no. 6 battery research program 2. properties of industrial and pilot-scale oven coke
Authors: Gransden J F , Price J T
Published: June 2018

Cokes made from fourteen coal blends in an industrial oven battery were sampled at the coke wharf. Tests performed on the coke at the Algoma Steel Corp. and at CANMET are in excellent agreement. The crushing and handling of the wharf coke before its use in the
blast-furnace decreases its size, increases its strength but does not change its ASTM hardness factor. The fourteen blends were carbonized in three pilot-scale ovens at three different coal bulk densities. The ASTM stability factors of pilot oven coke were mostly lower but related to the factors for
individual coke. The Ottawa 460-mm width oven operated at low bulk density produced the best linear correlation with both the industrial wharf coke and blast furnace coke. Only poor correlations exist between the ASTM hardness factors of pilot and industrial coke and no correlations exist between
their apparent densities. It is concluded that pilot ovens are useful for estimating coke strengths but that differences in other coke properties suggest that the industrial coking process is not well simulated in pilot ovens.
Toward Point-of-Care Drug Quality Assurance in Developing Countries: Comparison of Liquid Chromatography and Infrared Spectroscopy Quantitation of a Small-Scale Random Sample of Amoxicillin
Authors: Alotaibi Norah , Overton Sean , Curtis Sharon , Nickerson Jason W. , Attaran Amir , Gilmer Sheldon , Mayer Paul M.
Published: June 2018

Substandard antibiotics are thought to be a major threat to public health in developing countries and a cause of antimicrobial resistance. However, assessing quality outside of a laboratory setting, using simple equipment, is challenging. The aim of this study was to validate the use of a portable Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer for the identification of substandard antibiotics. Results are presented for amoxicillin packages from Haiti, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Papua New Guinea, and Ethiopia collected over the course of 6 months in 2017, including two field trips with the FT-IR to Ghana and Sierra Leone. Canadian samples were used as a control. Regarding drug quality, of 290 individual capsules of amoxicillin analyzed, 13 were found to be substandard with total active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) lying outside the acceptable range of 90–110%. Of these 13, four were below 80% API. The FT-IR reliably identified these outliers and was found to yield results in good agreement with the established pharmacopeia liquid chromatography protocol. We conclude that the portable FT-IR may be suitable to intercept substandard antibiotics in developing countries where more sophisticated techniques are not readily available.
An Evolving Choice in a Diverse Water Market: A Quality Comparison of Sachet Water with Community and Household Water Sources in Ghana
Authors: Guzmán Danice , Stoler Justin
Published: June 2018

Packaged water, particularly bagged sachet water, has become an important drinking water source in West Africa as local governments struggle to provide safe drinking water supplies. In Ghana, sachet water has become an important primary water source in urban centers, and a growing literature has explored various dimensions of this industry, including product quality. There is very little data on sachet water quality outside of large urban centers, where smaller markets often mean less producer competition and less government regulation. This study analyzes the microbiological quality of sachet water alongside samples of other common water sources at point-of-collection (POC) and point-of-use (POU) in 42 rural, peri-urban, and small-town Ghanaian communities using the IDEXX Colilert® 18 (Westbrook, ME). Levels of coliform bacteria and Escherichia coli detected in sachet water samples were statistically and significantly lower than levels detected in all other water sources at POU, including public taps and standpipes, and statistically similar or significantly lower at POC. In diverse waterscapes where households regularly patch together their water supply from different sources, sachet water appears to be an evolving alternative for safe drinking water despite many caveats, including higher unit costs and limited opportunities to recycle the plastic packaging.
Retinal Parameters as Compared with Head Circumference, Height, Weight, and Body Mass Index in Children in Kenya and Bhutan
Authors: Grundy Sara J. , Tshering Lhab , Wanjala Stanley W. , Diamond Megan B. , Audi Martin S. , Prasad Sashank , Shinohara Russell T. , Rogo Debora , Wangmo Dechen , Wangdi Ugyen , Aarayang Abi , Tshering Thukten , Burke Thomas F. , Mateen Farrah J.
Published: June 2018

The retina shares embryological derivation with the brain and may provide a new measurement of overall growth status, especially useful in resource-limited settings. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) provides detailed quantification of retinal structures. We enrolled community-dwelling children ages 3–11 years old in Siaya, Kenya and Thimphu, Bhutan in 2016. We measured head circumference (age < 5 years only), height, and weight, and standardized these by age and gender. Research staff performed OCT (iScan; Optovue, Inc., Fremont, CA), measuring the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and macular ganglion cell complex (GCC) thicknesses. A neuro-ophthalmologist performed quality control for centration, motion artifact, and algorithm-derived quality scores. Generalized estimating equations were used to determine the relationship between anthropometric and retinal measurements. Two hundred and fifty-eight children (139 females, average age 6.4 years) successfully completed at least one retinal scan, totaling 1,048 scans. Nine hundred and twenty-two scans (88.0%) were deemed usable. Fifty-three of the 258 children (20.5%) were able to complete all six scans. Kenyan children had a thinner average GCC (P < 0.001) than Bhutanese children after adjustment for age and gender, but not RNFL (P = 0.70). In models adjusting for age, gender, and study location, none of standardized height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) were statistically significantly associated with RNFL or GCC. We determined that OCT is feasible in some children in resource-limited settings, particularly those > 4 years old, using the iScan device. We found no evidence for GCC or RNFL as a proxy for height-, weight-, or BMI-for-age. The variation in mean GCC thickness in Asian versus African children warrants further investigation.
Utilization and Clinical Value of Diagnostic Modalities for Tuberculosis in a High HIV Prevalence Setting
Authors: Gati Stephanie , Chetty Rhoda , Wilson Douglas , Achkar Jacqueline M.
Published: June 2018

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is a major risk factor for the development of active tuberculosis (TB), one of the deadliest infectious diseases globally. The high mortality associated with the disease can be reduced by early diagnosis and prompt antituberculous treatment initiation. Facilities in TB-endemic regions are increasing the use of nucleic acid amplification (e.g., GeneXpert), which provides rapid results but may have suboptimal sensitivity in HIV-associated TB. Our objective was to evaluate the current practices for TB diagnosis at Edendale Hospital, a large regional hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa—a TB-endemic region with high HIV prevalence. In this cross-sectional study, all adult inpatients newly started on TB treatment at Edendale were identified over a 6-week period. Demographics, clinical information, diagnostic test results, and outcomes were documented. Pulmonary TB (PTB), extrapulmonary TB (EXTB), and PTB + EXTB were defined as disease evidence in the lungs, other organs, or both, respectively. Ninety-four cases were identified, of which 83% were HIV-associated. Only 30% of all TB patients were microbiologically confirmed, consisting of 7/16 (44%) HIV-uninfected and 21/78 (27%) HIV-infected TB patients. Smear microscopy and mycobacterial culture were seldom ordered. Ultrasound was performed in about one-third of suspected EXTB cases and was valuable in identifying abdominal TB. In this clinical setting with a high incidence of HIV-associated TB, TB diagnosis was more commonly based on clinical assessment and imaging results than on mycobacterial gold standard test confirmation.
Genetic Characterization of the Patois Serogroup (Genus Orthobunyavirus; Family Peribunyaviridae) and Evidence That Estero Real Virus is a Member of the Genus Orthonairovirus
Authors: Aguilar Patricia V. , Marciel de Souza William , Silvas Jesus A. , Wood Thomas , Widen Steven , Fumagalli Marcílio Jorge , Nunes Márcio Roberto Teixeira
Published: June 2018

Estero Real virus (ERV) was isolated in 1980 from Ornithodoros tadaridae ticks collected in El Estero Real, Sancti Spiritus, Cuba. Antigenic characterization of the isolate based on serological methods found a relationship with Abras and Zegla viruses and, consequently, the virus was classified taxonomically within the Patois serogroup. Given the fact that genetic characterization of Patois serogroup viruses has not yet been reported and that ERV is the only virus within the Patois serogroup isolated from ticks, we recently conducted nearly complete genome sequencing in an attempt to gain further insight into the genetic relationship of ERV with other Patois serogroup viruses and members of Peribunyaviridae family (Bunyavirales order). With the exception of ERV, our sequencing and phylogenetic studies revealed the close relationship of the Patois serogroup viruses to each other, forming a clear divergent clade from other members of the Orthobunyavirus genus (Peribunyaviridae family). Notably, our analysis also revealed that ERV forms a monophyletic clade that is closely related to species of the Orthonairovirus genus (Nairoviridae family) in all the genome segments. In light of these findings, we believe that the taxonomic classification of ERV should be revised.
A new global anthropogenic SO2 emission inventory for the last decade: A mosaic of satellite-derived and bottom-up emissions
Authors: Liu Fei , Choi Sungyeon , Li Can , Fioletov Vitali E. , McLinden Chris A. , Joiner Joanna , Krotkov Nickolay A. , Bian Huisheng , Janssens-Maenhout Greet , Darmenov Anton S. , da Silva Arlindo M.
Published: June 2018

Abstract. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) measurements from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) satellite sensor have been used to detect emissions from large point sources. Emissions from over 400 sources have been quantified individually based on OMI observations, accounting for about a half of total reported anthropogenic SO2 emissions. Here we report a newly developed emission inventory, OMI-HTAP, by combining these OMI-based emission estimates and the conventional bottom-up inventory, HTAP, for smaller sources that OMI is not able to detect. OMI-HTAP includes emissions from OMI-detected sources that are not captured in previous leading bottom-up inventories, enabling more accurate emission estimates for regions with such missing sources. OMI-HTAP SO2 emissions estimates for Persian Gulf, Mexico, and Russia are 59 %, 65 %, and 56 % higher than HTAP estimates, respectively, in year 2010. We have evaluated the OMI-HTAP inventory by performing simulations with the Goddard Earth Observing System version 5 (GEOS-5) model. The GEOS-5 simulated SO2 concentrations driven by both HTAP and OMI-HTAP were compared against in situ measurements. We focus the validation on year 2010 for which HTAP is most valid and a relatively large number of in situ measurements are available. Results show that the OMI-HTAP inventory improves the model agreement with observations, in particular over the US, with the normalized mean bias decreasing from 0.41 (HTAP) to −0.03 (OMI-HTAP) for year 2010. Additionally, our approach offers the possibility of rapid updates to emissions from large point sources that can be detected by satellites. Simulations with the OMI-HTAP inventory capture the worldwide major trends of large anthropogenic SO2 emissions that are observed with OMI. For example, correlation coefficients of the observed and modelled surface SO2 in 2014 increase from 0.16 (HTAP) to 0.59 (OMI-HTAP) and the normalized mean bias dropped from 0.29 (HTAP) to 0.05 (OMI-HTAP), when we updated 2010 HTAP emissions with 2014 OMI-HTAP emissions in the model. Our methodology applied to OMI-HTAP can also be used to merge improved satellite-derived estimates with other multi-year bottom-up inventories, which may further improve the accuracy of the emission trends.
The impacts of regional shipping emissions on the chemical characteristics of coastal submicron aerosols near Houston, TX
Authors: Schulze Benjamin C. , Wallace Henry W. , Bui Alexander T. , Flynn James H. , Erickson Matt H. , Alvarez Sergio , Dai Qili , Usenko Sascha , Sheesley Rebecca J. , Griffin Robert J.
Published: June 2018

Abstract. The air quality of the Texas Gulf Coast region historically has been influenced heavily by regional shipping emissions. However, the effects of the recently established North American Emissions Control Area on aerosol concentrations and properties in this region are presently unknown. In order to better understand the current sources and processing mechanisms influencing coastal aerosol near Houston, a high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) was deployed for three weeks at a coastal location during May–June 2016. Total mass loadings of organic and inorganic non-refractory aerosol components during onshore flow periods were similar to those published before establishment of the regulations. Based on estimated methanesulfonic acid (MSA) mass loadings and published biogenic MSA to non-sea-salt-sulfate (nss-SO4) ratios, an average of over 75 % of the observed nss-SO4 was from anthropogenic sources, predominantly shipping emissions. Mass spectral analysis indicated that for periods with similar backward-trajectory-averaged meteorological conditions, air masses influenced by shipping emissions had an increased mass fraction of ions related to carboxylic acids and larger oxygen-to-carbon ratios than those that avoided shipping lanes, suggesting that shipping emissions increase marine organic aerosol (OA) oxidation state. Amine fragment mass loadings were correlated positively with anthropogenic nss-SO4 during onshore flow, implying anthropogenic-biogenic interaction in marine OA production. Model calculations also suggest that advection of shipping-derived aerosol may enhance inland aqueous-phase secondary OA production. These results emphasize the continuing role of shipping emissions on aerosol properties over the Gulf of Mexico and suggest that further regulation of shipping fuel sulfur content will reduce coastal submicron aerosol mass loadings near Houston.
A full-mission data set of H2O and HDO columns from SCIAMACHY 2.3 µm reflectance measurements
Authors: Schneider Andreas , Borsdorff Tobias , aan de Brugh Joost , Hu Haili , Landgraf Jochen
Published: June 2018

Abstract. A new data set of vertical column densities of the water vapour isotopologues H2O and HDO from the SCanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY (SCIAMACHY) instrument for the whole of the mission period from January 2003 to April 2012 is presented. The data are retrieved from reflectance measurements in the spectral range 2339 to 2383 nm with the Shortwave Infrared CO Retrieval (SICOR) algorithm, ignoring atmospheric light scattering in the measurement simulation. The retrievals are validated with ground-based Fourier transform infrared measurements obtained within the Multi-platform remote Sensing of Isotopologues for investigating the Cycle of Atmospheric water (MUSICA) project. A good agreement for low-altitude stations is found with an average bias of −3.6×1021 for H2O and −1.0×1018 molec cm−2 for HDO. The a posteriori computed δD shows an average bias of −8 ‰, even though polar stations have a larger negative bias. The latter is due to the large amount of sensor noise in SCIAMACHY in combination with low albedo and high solar zenith angles. To demonstrate the benefit of accounting for light scattering in the retrieval, the quality of the data product fitting effective cloud parameters simultaneously with trace gas columns is evaluated in a dedicated case study for measurements round high-altitude stations. Due to a large altitude difference between the satellite ground pixel and the mountain station, clear-sky scenes yield a large bias, resulting in a δD bias of 125 ‰. When selecting scenes with optically thick clouds within 1000 m above or below the station altitude, the bias in a posteriori δD is reduced from 125 to 44 ‰. The insights from the present study will also benefit the analysis of the data from the new Sentinel-5 Precursor mission.
A high-level cloud detection method utilizing the GOSAT TANSO–FTS water vapor saturated band
Authors: Eguchi Nawo , Yoshida Yukio
Published: June 2018

Abstract. A detection method for high-level cloud, such as ice clouds, is developed using the water vapor saturated channels of the solar reflected spectrum observed by the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) Thermal And Near-infrared Sensor for carbon Observation Fourier Transform Spectrometer (TANSO–FTS). The clouds detected by this method are relatively optically thin (0.01 or less) and located at high altitude. Approximately 85 % of the results from this method for clouds with cloud-top altitude above 5 km agree with Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) cloud classification. GOSAT has been observing since April 2009 with a 3-day cycle, providing a spectral data record that exceeds 8 years. Cloud information derived from GOSAT TANSO-FTS spectra could be powerful data for understanding the variability in cirrus cloud on temporal scales from synoptic to interannual.
O gênero Ornithocephalus Hook. (Orchidaceae: Oncidiinae) nos estados do Paraná e Santa Catarina
Authors: Estevinho Tairine Freisleben , Brito A. L. V. Toscano de , Smidt Eric de Camargo
Published: June 2018

O gênero Ornithocephalus Hook. (Orchidaceae: Oncidiinae) nos estados do Paraná e Santa Catarina 
Orchidaceae de um fragmento campestre em Ponta Grossa, Paraná, Brasil
Authors: Engels Mathias Eric , Smidt Eric de Camargo
Published: June 2018

Orchidaceae de um fragmento campestre em Ponta Grossa,  Paraná, Brasil 
Guilda de visitantes de nectários extraflorais de Ipomoea carnea subsp. fistulosa Convolvulaceae) em uma área de semiárido antropizado da Bahia, Brasil
Authors: Paz & colaboradores Joicelene Regina Lima da
Published: June 2018

Guilda de visitantes de nectários  extraflorais de Ipomoea carnea subsp. fistulosa Convolvulaceae) em uma área de semiárido antropizado da Bahia, Brasil
Três novos registros de samambaias (Blechnaceae e Pteridaceae) para a região Centro Oeste do Brasil
Authors: Engels & colaboradores Mathias Erich
Published: June 2018

Três novos registros de samambaias (Blechnaceae e Pteridaceae) para a região Centro Oeste do Brasil
EFEITO DO ENRIQUECIMENTO AMBIENTAL INANIMADO SOBRE O COMPORTAMENTO DE CÃES DE CANIL EM ENSAIO METABÓLICO
Authors: Comin Juliana , Da Silva Juliana Regina , Risolia Larissa Wunsche , De Oliveira Simone Gisele , Félix Ananda Portella , Maiorka Alex
Published: June 2018

Este estudo teve como objetivo de avaliar o efeito do enriquecimento ambiental inanimado sobre o comportamento de cães de canil alojados em gaiolas de metabolismo. O experimento foi composto por dois períodos de avaliação de 48 horas cada, com observações em intervalos de 10 minutos. Os métodos de enriquecimento testados foram a inclusão de uma bolinha de plástico presa na parte superior da gaiola e o estímulo sonoro por meio de música ambiental no local onde das gaiolas. Foram utilizados oito cães da raça Beagle adultos, sendo quatro machos e quatro fêmeas. O delineamento foi inteiramente casualizado, com oito repetições no teste com música e quatro repetições no teste com a bolinha. No teste com a inclusão da bolinha, os animais não diferiram seu comportamento quanto ao tempo em ócio em pé, ócio sentado, ócio deitado, dormindo e comendo. Porém observou-se que os animais mantidos em gaiola com brinquedo passaram mais tempo se higienizando, que pode significar estado de relaxamento, conforto e cuidado normal com a pelagem. No período com música os animais passaram a maior parte do tempo dormindo e em ócio. As frequências das variáveis comportamentais foram testadas a 5% e 1% de probabilidade.
Diagnóstico diferencial de lesões fibróticas em fígados bovinos condenados por fasciolose em matadouro frigorífico
Authors: MÜLLER LAILA MACHADO , NUNES LOUISIANE CARVALHO , FREIRE MARTINS ISABELLA VILHENA
Published: June 2018

A fasciolose bovina apresenta alta prevalência na região sul do Espírito Santo e uma das principais características deste processo é a fibrose hepática. Em matadouros frigoríficos é comum a condenação de fígados que apresentam fibrose por fasciolose, mesmo na ausência do parasito. Objetivou-se com este estudo realizar o diagnóstico diferencial de lesões fibróticas em fígados bovinos condenados por esta enfermidade. Foram avaliados macro e microscopicamente fígados bovinos condenados por fasciolose no Sul do Estado do Espírito Santo e consideradas as variáveis: infiltrado inflamatório, fibrose, metaplasia mucoide e macrófagos espumosos nas regiões periportais. Utilizou-se estatística descritiva e teste de Qui-quadrado seguido do teste V de Cramer a 5% de probabilidade. No total, 28 fígados foram analisados e revelaram fibrose periportal e infiltrado inflamatório linfocítico predominantemente discretos. Também se verificou inflamação eosinofílica, predominantemente intensa. Os macrófagos espumosos foram observados em 25% dos casos e a metaplasia mucoide em 39,28%. Houve associação significativa entre fibrose e infiltrado inflamatório linfocítico e vice-versa, entre fibrose e macrófagos espumosos e vice-versa e entre metaplasia e infiltrado inflamatório eosinofílico. Conclui-se com este estudo que a fibrose e o infiltrado inflamatório são as alterações mais frequentes em fígados condenados por fasciolose. Contudo, a fibrose hepática também está associada à presença de macrófagos espumosos, que pode ser decorrente de outras enfermidades. Assim, a fibrose, isoladamente, não deveria ser utilizada como um critério para condenação por fasciolose. Por outro lado, a metaplasia mucoide é uma alteração frequente em animais com esta doença e poderia ser considerada como um critério de julgamento pela histopatologia.
PLAQUETOMETRIA EM CÃES COM NEOPLASIA
Authors: Von Krüger Amaral Daniele , Drulla Brandão Ana Pérola , Maffezzolli Gabriela , Vogel Seixas Sandra , Silva de Sousa Renato , Locatelli Dittrich Rosangela
Published: June 2018

Na avaliação das plaquetas em cães utilizam-se metodologias estabelecidas e importantes na conduta terapêutica dos animais. Esta proposta objetivou correlacionar os índices plaquetários de cães com neoplasia com os índices de cães saudáveis. Neste estudo também foram comparadas a contagem de plaquetas por dois métodos (automatizado e estimativa em lâmina). Foram utilizadas 64 amostras de sangue de cão (Grupo 1 com 49 animais com neoplasia e o Grupo 2 com 15 animais saudáveis). Os parâmetros estabelecidos foram: contagem total de plaquetas (PLT), Volume Plaquetário Médio (VPM), amplitude de variação plaquetária (PDW) e plaquetócrito (PCT). Os resultados foram comparados entre cães com ou sem neoplasia e também com o tipo de neoplasia (benigna, maligna e mista). Confeccionou-se uma extensão sanguínea para contagem manual de plaquetas. Análises descritivas foram realizadas com distribuição de frequências, médias e desvios-padrão. A correlação entre a contagem de plaquetas automática e manual apresentou um coeficiente de correlação forte positiva (R = 0,834, P<0,001). A média do parâmetro PCT no Grupo 1 foi superior ao do Grupo 2 (P=0,032). Na avaliação de correlação entre os parâmetros plaquetários foi encontrada uma correlação positiva muito forte entre PLT e PCT (R = 0,984 P<0,05) e uma correlação positiva moderada entre VPM e PCT (R = 0,800 P<0,05). A contagem de plaquetas automatizada apresentou boa correlação com a estimativa de plaquetas em lâmina. O valor de plaquetócrito foi maior e estatisticamente significativo em animais com neoplasia. Os parâmetros de concentração de plaquetas e plaquetócrito podem ser interpretados associados por possuírem uma boa correlação, assim como o volume plaquetário médio com o plaquetócrito.