bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Glucose-Lowering Effect of Foxtail Millet in Subjects with Impaired Glucose Tolerance: A Self-Controlled Clinical Trial
Authors: Ren Xin , Yin Ruiyang , Hou Dianzhi , Xue Yong , Zhang Min , Diao Xianmin , Zhang Yumei , Wu Jihong , Hu Jinrong , Hu Xiaosong , Shen Qun
Published: October 2018

Foxtail millet has relatively low starch digestibility and moderate glycemic index compared to other grains. Since there are still no clinical researches regarding its long-term effect on blood glucose, this self-controlled study was conducted to investigate the glucose-lowering effect of foxtail millet in free-living subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). Fifty g/day of foxtail millet was provided to enrolled subjects throughout 12 weeks and the related clinical parameters were investigated at week 0, 6 and 12, respectively. After 12 weeks of foxtail millet intervention, the mean fasting blood glucose of the subjects decreased from 5.7 ± 0.9 mmol/L to 5.3 ± 0.7 mmol/L (p < 0.001) and the mean 2 h-glucose decreased from 10.2 ± 2.6 mmol/L to 9.4 ± 2.3 mmol/L (p = 0.003). The intake of foxtail millet caused a significant increase of serum leptin (p = 0.012), decrease of insulin resistance (p = 0.007), and marginal reduction of inflammation. Furthermore, a sex-dependent difference in glucose-lowering effect of foxtail millet was observed in this study. Foxtail millet could improve the glycemic control in free-living subjects with IGT, suggesting that increasing the consumption of foxtail millet might be beneficial to individuals suffering from type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Dietary Interventions in Pollen-Related Food Allergy
Authors: Lyons Sarah A. , Dijk Anne M. van , Knulst André C. , Alquati Eleonora , Le Thuy-My , Os-Medendorp Harmieke van
Published: October 2018

In practice, it remains unclear what the best dietary approach is in subjects with pollen-related food allergy (PRFA). Our objective was to evaluate the effect of (1) dietary avoidance advice, (2) oral immunotherapy (OIT), (3) (heat) processing, and (4) consumption of hypoallergenic cultivars on frequency, severity, and eliciting dose of pollen-related food allergic reactions. A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane. All studies performing an in vivo investigation of one of the four interventions in adults with PRFA were included. Each study was assessed for quality and validity. Available data on frequency, severity, and eliciting dose of allergic reactions were extracted. Ten studies matched the eligibility criteria. No studies were retrieved on dietary avoidance advice. Two studies (N = 92) on apple OIT reported that tolerance was induced in 63% and 81% of subjects. Four studies (total N = 116) focused on heat processing. Heating was found to completely eradicate symptoms in 15–71% of hazelnut allergic and 46% of celery allergic individuals. Four studies (N = 60) comparing low to high allergenic apple cultivars revealed that Santana (and possibly Elise) apples seemed to cause milder reactions than Golden Delicious. In the awareness that overall level of evidence was low, we conclude that OIT, heat processing, and hypoallergenic cultivars may diminish or completely prevent allergic reactions in some but not all subjects with PRFA.
Novel Kinetic Models of Xylan Dissolution and Degradation during Ethanol Based Auto-Catalyzed Organosolv Pretreatment of Bamboo
Authors: Liu Jing , Gong Zhenggang , Yang Guangxu , Chen Lihui , Huang Liulian , Zhou Yonghui , Luo Xiaolin
Published: October 2018

Due to the invalidity of traditional models, pretreatment conditions dependent parameter of susceptible dissolution degree of xylan (dX) was introduced into the kinetic models. After the introduction of dX, the dissolution of xylan, and the formation of xylo-oligosaccharides and xylose during ethanol based auto-catalyzed organosolv (EACO) pretreatments of bamboo were well predicted by the pseudo first-order kinetic models (R2 > 97%). The parameter of dX was verified to be a variable dependent of EACO pretreatment conditions (such as solvent content in pretreatment liquor and pretreatment temperature). Based on the established kinetic models of xylan dissolution, the dissolution of glucan and the formation of degradation products (furfural and acetic acid) could also be empirically modeled (R2 > 97%). In addition, the relationship between xylan and lignin removal can provide guidance for alleviating the depositions of lignin or pseudo-lignin. The parameter of dX derived novel kinetic models can not only be used to reveal the multi-step reaction mechanisms of xylan, but also control the final removal of main components in bamboo during EACO pretreatments, indicating scientific and practical significance for governing the biorefinery of woody biomass.
Effects of Hydrothermal Pretreatment on the Structural Characteristics of Organosolv Lignin from Triarrhena lutarioriparia
Authors: Chen Tianying , Li Zhiwen , Zhang Xueming , Min Douyong , Wu Yuying , Wen Jialong , Yuan Tongqi
Published: October 2018

The effects of hydrothermal pretreatment (170–180 °C, 30–60 min) on the structural characteristics of enzymatic and extracted lignin from Triarrhena lutarioriparia (TL) during the integrated delignification process have been comprehensively investigated. Ion chromatography and NMR characterization showed that liquid products after mild hydrothermal process (170 °C, 30 min) were mainly composed of xylooligosaccharide (XOS) with different degrees of polymerization (DP ≥ 2). In addition, the structural changes of lignin during hydrothermal pretreatment and organic acid delignification process have been demonstrated by quantitative 2D heteronuclear single quantum coherence (2D-HSQC) and 31P-NMR techniques. Results showed that the structural changes of lignin (e.g., cleavage of β-O-4 linkages) induced by the hydrothermal pretreatment will facilitate the subsequent organic acid delignification process, and acetylated lignin could be obtained with a considerable yield, which can be used in lignin-based composite and candidate feedstock for catalytic upgrading of lignin. In short, the proposed process facilitates the producing of XOS and acetylated lignin for lignin valorization.
Hyperspectral Classification via Superpixel Kernel Learning-Based Low Rank Representation
Authors: Zhan Tianming , Sun Le , Xu Yang , Yang Guowei , Zhang Yan , Wu Zebin
Published: October 2018

High dimensional image classification is a fundamental technique for information retrieval from hyperspectral remote sensing data. However, data quality is readily affected by the atmosphere and noise in the imaging process, which makes it difficult to achieve good classification performance. In this paper, multiple kernel learning-based low rank representation at superpixel level (Sp_MKL_LRR) is proposed to improve the classification accuracy for hyperspectral images. Superpixels are generated first from the hyperspectral image to reduce noise effect and form homogeneous regions. An optimal superpixel kernel parameter is then selected by the kernel matrix using a multiple kernel learning framework. Finally, a kernel low rank representation is applied to classify the hyperspectral image. The proposed method offers two advantages. (1) The global correlation constraint is exploited by the low rank representation, while the local neighborhood information is extracted as the superpixel kernel adaptively learns the high-dimensional manifold features of the samples in each class; (2) It can meet the challenges of multiscale feature learning and adaptive parameter determination in the conventional kernel methods. Experimental results on several hyperspectral image datasets demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms several state-of-the-art classifiers tested in terms of overall accuracy, average accuracy, and kappa statistic.
Robust Correlation Tracking for UAV Videos via Feature Fusion and Saliency Proposals
Authors: Xue Xizhe , Li Ying , Dong Hao , Shen Qiang
Published: October 2018

Following the growing availability of low-cost, commercially available unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), more and more research efforts have been focusing on object tracking using videos recorded from UAVs. However, tracking from UAV videos poses many challenges due to platform motion, including background clutter, occlusion, and illumination variation. This paper tackles these challenges by proposing a correlation filter-based tracker with feature fusion and saliency proposals. First, we integrate multiple feature types such as dimensionality-reduced color name (CN) and histograms of oriented gradient (HOG) features to improve the performance of correlation filters for UAV videos. Yet, a fused feature acting as a multivector descriptor cannot be directly used in prior correlation filters. Therefore, a fused feature correlation filter is proposed that can directly convolve with a multivector descriptor, in order to obtain a single-channel response that indicates the location of an object. Furthermore, we introduce saliency proposals as re-detector to reduce background interference caused by occlusion or any distracter. Finally, an adaptive template-update strategy according to saliency information is utilized to alleviate possible model drifts. Systematic comparative evaluations performed on two popular UAV datasets show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Construction and Application of a Non-Enzyme Hydrogen Peroxide Electrochemical Sensor Based on Eucalyptus Porous Carbon
Authors: Wu Shuisheng , Tan Nianyuan , Lan Donghui , Au Chak-Tong , Yi Bing
Published: October 2018

Natural eucalyptus biomorphic porous carbon (EPC) materials with unidirectional ordered pores have been successfully prepared by carbonization in an inert atmosphere. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were employed to characterize the phase identification, microstructure and morphology analysis. The carbon materials were used to fabricate electrochemical sensors to detect hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) without any assistance of enzymes because of their satisfying electrocatalytic properties. It was immobilized on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) with chitosan (CHIT) to fabricate a new kind of electrochemical sensor, EPC/CHIT/GCE, which showed excellent electrocatalytic activity in the reduction of H2O2. Meanwhile, EPC could also promote electron transfer with the help of hydroquinone. The simple and low-cost electrochemical sensor exhibited high sensitivity, and good operational and long-term stability.
Fusion of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Panchromatic and Hyperspectral Images Combining Joint Skewness-Kurtosis Figures and a Non-Subsampled Contourlet Transform
Authors: Zhao Jinling , Zhou Chengquan , Huang Linsheng , Yang Xiaodong , Xu Bo , Liang Dong
Published: October 2018

To obtain fine and potential features, a highly informative fused image created by merging multiple images is usually required. In our study, a novel fusion algorithm called JSKF-NSCT is proposed for fusing panchromatic (PAN) and hyperspectral (HS) images by combining the joint skewness-kurtosis figure (JSKF) and the non-subsampled contourlet transform (NSCT). The JSKF model is used first to derive the three most sensitive bands from the original HS image according to the product of the skewness and the kurtosis coefficients of each band. Afterwards, an intensity-hue-saturation (IHS) transform is used to obtain the luminance component I of the produced false-colour image consisting of the above three bands. Then the NSCT method is used to decompose component I of the false-colour image and the PAN image. The weight-selection rule based on the regional energy is adopted to acquire the low-frequency coefficients and the correlation between the central pixel and its surrounding pixels is used to select the high-frequency coefficients. Finally, the fused image is obtained by applying an IHS inverse transform and an inverse NSCT transform. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) HS and PAN images under low- and high-vegetation coverage of wheat at the flag leaf stage (Stage I) and the grain filling stage (Stage II) are used as the sample data sources. The fusion results are comparatively validated using spatial (entropy, standard deviation, average gradient and mean) and spectral (normalised difference vegetation, NDVI, and leaf area index, LAI) assessments. Additional comparative studies using anomaly detection and pixel clustering also demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms other methods. They show that the algorithm reported herein can better preserve the original spatial and spectral characteristics of the two types of images to be fused and is more stable than IHS, principal components analysis (PCA), non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) and Gram-Schmidt (GS).
A Rule-Based Reasoner for Underwater Robots Using OWL and SWRL
Authors: Zhai Zhaoyu , Martínez Ortega José-Fernán , Lucas Martínez Néstor , Castillejo Pedro
Published: October 2018

Web Ontology Language (OWL) is designed to represent varied knowledge about things and the relationships of things. It is widely used to express complex models and address information heterogeneity of specific domains, such as underwater environments and robots. With the help of OWL, heterogeneous underwater robots are able to cooperate with each other by exchanging information with the same meaning and robot operators can organize the coordination easier. However, OWL has expressivity limitations on representing general rules, especially the statement “If … Then … Else …”. Fortunately, the Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL) has strong rule representation capabilities. In this paper, we propose a rule-based reasoner for inferring and providing query services based on OWL and SWRL. SWRL rules are directly inserted into the ontologies by several steps of model transformations instead of using a specific editor. In the verification experiments, the SWRL rules were successfully and efficiently inserted into the OWL-based ontologies, obtaining completely correct query results. This rule-based reasoner is a promising approach to increase the inference capability of ontology-based models and it achieves significant contributions when semantic queries are done.
A 1.15 μW 200 kS/s 10-b Monotonic SAR ADC Using Dual On-Chip Calibrations and Accuracy Enhancement Techniques
Authors: Lee Jae-Hun , Park Dasom , Cho Woojin , Phan Huu Nhan , Nguyen Cong Luong , Lee Jong-Wook
Published: October 2018

Herein, we present an energy efficient successive-approximation-register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) featuring on-chip dual calibration and various accuracy-enhancement techniques. The dual calibration technique is realized in an energy and area-efficient manner for comparator offset calibration (COC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) capacitor mismatch calibration. The calibration of common-mode (CM) dependent comparator offset is performed without using separate circuit blocks by reusing the DAC for generating calibration signals. The calibration of the DAC mismatch is efficiently performed by reusing the comparator for delay-based mismatch detection. For accuracy enhancement, we propose new circuit techniques for a comparator, a sampling switch, and a DAC capacitor. An improved dynamic latched comparator is proposed with kick-back suppression and CM dependent offset calibration. An accuracy-enhanced bootstrap sampling switch suppresses the leakage-induced error <180 μV and the sampling error <150 μV. The energy-efficient monotonic switching technique is effectively combined with thermometer coding, which reduces the settling error in the DAC. The ADC is realized using a 0.18 μm complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) process in an area of 0.28 mm2. At the sampling rate fS = 9 kS/s, the proposed ADC achieves a signal-to-noise and distortion ratio (SNDR) of 55.5 dB and a spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) of 70.6 dB. The proposed dual calibration technique improves the SFDR by 12.7 dB. Consuming 1.15 μW at fS = 200 kS/s, the ADC achieves an SNDR of 55.9 dB and an SFDR of 60.3 dB with a figure-of-merit of 11.4 fJ/conversion-step.
Identification of Noise Covariance Matrices to Improve Orientation Estimation by Kalman Filter
Authors: Nez Alexis , Fradet Laetitia , Marin Frédéric , Monnet Tony , Lacouture Patrick
Published: October 2018

Magneto-inertial measurement units (MIMUs) are a promising way to perform human motion analysis outside the laboratory. To do so, in the literature, orientation provided by an MIMU is used to deduce body segment orientation. This is generally achieved by means of a Kalman filter that fuses acceleration, angular velocity, and magnetic field measures. A critical point when implementing a Kalman filter is the initialization of the covariance matrices that characterize mismodelling and input error from noisy sensors. The present study proposes a methodology to identify the initial values of these covariance matrices that optimize orientation estimation in the context of human motion analysis. The approach used was to apply motion to the sensor manually, and to compare the orientation obtained via the Kalman filter to a measurement from an optoelectronic system acting as a reference. Testing different sets of values for each parameter of the covariance matrices, and comparing each MIMU measurement with the reference measurement, enabled identification of the most effective values. Moreover, with these optimized initial covariance matrices, the orientation estimation was greatly improved. The method, as presented here, provides a unique solution to the problem of identifying the optimal covariance matrices values for Kalman filtering. However, the methodology should be improved in order to reduce the duration of the whole process.
Design and Experimental Validation of a Multiple-Frequency Microwave Tomography System Employing the DBIM-TwIST Algorithm
Authors: Ahsan Syed , Guo Ziwen , Miao Zhenzhuang , Sotiriou Ioannis , Koutsoupidou Maria , Kallos Efthymios , Palikaras George , Kosmas Panagiotis
Published: October 2018

We present a first prototype of a wideband microwave tomography system with potential application to medical imaging. The system relies on a compact and robust printed monopole antenna which can operate in the 1.0–3.0 GHz range when fully immersed in commonly used coupling liquids, such as glycerine–water solutions. By simulating the proposed imaging setup in CST Microwave Studio, we study the signal transmission levels and array sensitivity for different target and coupling liquid media. We then present the experimental prototype design and data acquisition process, and show good agreement between experimentally measured data and results from the CST simulations. We assess imaging performance by applying our previously proposed two-dimensional (2-D) DBIM TwIST-algorithm to both simulated and experimental datasets, and demonstrate that the system can reconstruct simple cylindrical targets at multiple frequencies.
Product Design and Consumer Behaviour in a Circular Economy
Authors: Mugge Ruth
Published: October 2018

n/a
Study on Vulnerability and Coordination of Water-Energy-Food System in Northwest China
Authors: Chen Junfei , Yu Xiaoya , Qiu Lei , Deng Menghua , Dong Ran
Published: October 2018

Water, energy and food are the basic resources for human survival and development. The coordination development of water-energy-food (W-E-F) is of great significance to promote regional sustainable development. In this study, Northwest China (Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang) was selected as the research case, and an evaluation index system was constructed to assess the vulnerability and coordination of water-energy-food (W-E-F) system based on PSR model. Then, a coupled model based on cloud-matter element model and coordination degree model was proposed. The cloud-matter element model was adopted to evaluate the vulnerability level of W-E-F system. The coordination degree model was employed to calculate the coordination degrees of W-E-F system. The results showed that, from 2006 to 2015, the vulnerability levels of W-E-F system in Northwest China were mostly at Level 1. The coordination degrees of W-E-F system belonged to the transitional development level (II) in most years. The vulnerability and coordination problems of W-E-F system in Northwest China were severe. The comprehensive vulnerability index values of W-E-F system were generally on the rise, but far from reaching a good level. Moreover, the comprehensive vulnerability index values and coordination degrees of W-E-F system in Northwest China do not match well. Finally, the countermeasures and suggestions to improve the coordinated development of water resource, energy and food in Northwest China were put forward.
Inter-Firm Cooperation and Collaboration in Shipper—Shipping Company Relationships for Enhancing Sustainability
Authors: Kim Chang-Soo , Dinwoodie John , Seo Young-Joon
Published: October 2018

This paper aims to reveal the relationship between cooperation, trust, and sustainability, and to uncover whether cooperation, trust, and sustainability is nested within collaboration in shipper–shipping company relationships. Structural equation modeling identified that cooperation has a positive effect on trust, which partially mediates the impact of cooperation on sustainability. Sub-constructs of cooperation included transparency, fairness, and mutuality. Fairness is the prime antecedent of trust, and developing fairness can create more effective and high-quality relationships among firms. A fuller theoretical model reveals how inter-firm cooperation may progress to collaboration, and why transparency does not necessarily lead to trust.
Municipal Solid Waste Management from the Experience of São Leopoldo/Brazil and Zurich/Switzerland
Authors: Ghesla Pamela L. , Gomes Luciana P. , Caetano Marcelo O. , Miranda Luis A. S. , Dai-Prá Léa B.
Published: October 2018

The challenge of developing country governments in municipal solid waste management (MSWM) is complex, often ineffective, and does not meet the required technical sustainability, which involves environmental, social, and financial aspects. The purpose of this research is to analyze two distinct waste management systems, in São Leopoldo (Brazil) and in Zurich (Switzerland), to develop a tool called “waste stream mapping” and also to compare the cities systems. The results show positively that the two municipalities have selective waste collection, however in São Leopoldo it was found that less volume was reinserted in the production chain, which considerably increases the volume of waste sent to sanitary landfill, which is the main method of disposal in Brazil. On the other hand, the Zurich management model is more expensive, especially compared to incineration, but its billing and power trading system ends up involving more of the population and paying for the operations, as Zurich generates more income than expenses. This study shows that each stage of waste management has its peculiarity and everything should be planned. The tool adapted from Value Stream Mapping has shown that it is useful to have a broad vision about the municipal solid waste management to be implemented.
Citrus and Winery Wastes: Promising Dietary Supplements for Sustainable Ruminant Animal Nutrition, Health, Production, and Meat Quality
Authors: Tayengwa Tawanda , Mapiye Cletos
Published: October 2018

Citrus and grapes are the most widely grown fruits globally, with one-third of total production used for juice and wine making. The juice and winemaking processes generate large quantities of solid organic wastes including citrus pulp and grape pomace. These fruit wastes pose serious economic, environmental, and social challenges, especially in low-to-middle-income countries due to financial, technological, and infrastructural limitations. They are, however, rich in valuable compounds which can be utilized in the ruminant livestock industry as novel, economical, and natural sources of cellulose, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and phytochemicals, which have nutritional, anthelmintic, antioxidant, and antimicrobial properties. Despite citrus and grape fruit wastes having such potential, they remain underexploited by the livestock industry in low-to-middle-income countries owing to lack of finance, skills, technology, and infrastructure. Inclusion of these fruit wastes in ruminant diets could combine the desirable effects of enhancing animal nutrition, health, welfare, production, and meat quality attributes with the prevention of challenges associated with their disposal into the environment. The current review explores the valorization potential of citrus and winery wastes as dietary supplements to sustainably enhance ruminant animal nutrition, health, welfare, production, and meat quality.
A Review of Waste Management Decision Support Tools and Their Ability to Assess Circular Biowaste Management Systems
Authors: Blikra Vea Eldbjørg , Martinez-Sanchez Veronica , Thomsen Marianne
Published: October 2018

The circular economy concept offers a number of solutions to increasing amounts of biowaste and resource scarcity by valorising biowaste. However, it is necessary to consistently address the environmental benefits and impacts of circular biowaste management systems (CBWMS). Various decision support tools (DST) for environmental assessment of waste management systems (WMS) exist. This study provides a review of life cycle assessment based WMS-DSTs. Twenty-five WMS-DSTs were identified and analysed through a shortlisting procedure. Eight tools were shortlisted for the assessment of their applicability to deliver sustainability assessment of CBWMS. It was found that six tools model key properties that are necessary for assessing the environmental sustainability of CBWMSs, including waste-specific modelling of gaseous emissions, biogas generation or bioproduct composition. However, only two tools consider both waste-specific heavy metals content in bioproducts and the associated implications when applied on soil. Most of the shortlisted tools are flexible to simulate new technologies involved in CBWMS. Nevertheless, only two tools allow importing directly new background data, which is important when modelling substitution of new bioproducts developed in emerging biowaste refineries.
Optimal Replenishment for Perishable Products with Inventory-Dependent Demand and Backlogging under Continuous and Discrete Progressive Payments
Authors: He Longfei , Gao Han , Zhang Xiao , Wang Qinpeng , Hu Chenglin
Published: October 2018

Managing material and cash flows attracts concerns of physical and financial departments in most companies. We, therefore, focus on optimizing the replenishment policy for a channel with stock-dependent demand considering item deterioration and order backlogging under two financial schemes of progressive trade credit periods. We take both the continuous payment regime (CPR) and discrete payment regime (DPR) into account in the progressive trading process, which generates ten distinct scenarios. We show that the profit functions may not necessarily be concave and accordingly give a corresponding computing algorithm, which relaxes the convexity assumptions of objective functions in the existing literature and consequently enrich the research. We address the formulation characterization and the logic of pursuing global optimization from models arising in all settings. Computational studies and simulations are conducted to illustrate the effect of various parameters on the optimal replenishing policy and profit. Numerical experiments show that the CPR scheme is dominantly prior to DPR for long replenishment time intervals, whereas it is exactly the opposite for short time intervals. We also examine the impact of the shortage cost and deteriorating rate on optimum ordering policy and channel performance. Finally, future research directions are addressed in the end.
A Critical Review of Child-Friendly Environments, Focusing on Children’s Experiential Perspectives on the Physical World for Sustainability
Authors: Han Min Jee Nikki , Kim Mi Jeong
Published: October 2018

The concept of child-friendliness has appeared in numerous research studies concerning sustainability and the wellbeing of children. For this critical review of child-friendly environments (CFEs), an evaluation framework of CFEs has been developed, consisting of four principal experiential categories: sociality, wellness, development, and independence of children. Despite considerable research on CFEs since the middle of the twentieth century, there have been few evaluations of CFEs focusing on children’s experiences in relation to the physical environment. Through an exhaustive analysis of selected papers in this research, it was found that most papers have focused on the physical experiences of children, rarely mentioning the emotional experiences of children in relation to the physical environment. The environmental experiences of children are very critical for a balanced development in their emotional, physical, and intellectual comprehension. Therefore, research on CFEs should consider the balanced emotional, physical, and intellectual development of children. This research critically highlights the aspects of children’s experiences to be addressed in CFEs research, exploring valuable insights into the environmental cognition of children and their development. A better understanding of children and an interpretative analysis of their experiences will lead to adequately balanced CFEs, creating sustainable environments.
Acceptance Sampling Plans for Finite and Infinite Lot Size under Power Lindley Distribution
Authors: Shahbaz Saman Hanif , Khan Khushnoor , Shahbaz Muhammad Qaiser
Published: October 2018

In this paper, we have developed single and double acceptance sampling plans when the product life length follows the power Lindley distribution. The sampling plans have been developed by assuming infinite and finite lot sizes. We have obtained the operating characteristic curves for the resultant sampling plans. The sampling plans have been obtained for various values of the parameters. It has been found that for a finite lot size, the sampling plans provide smaller values of the parameters to achieve the specified acceptance probabilities.
Heat Induction by Viscous Dissipation Subjected to Symmetric and Asymmetric Boundary Conditions on a Small Oscillating Flow in a Microchannel
Authors: Tso Chih Ping , Hor Chee Hao , Chen Gooi Mee , Kok Chee Kuang
Published: October 2018

The heat induced by viscous dissipation in a microchannel fluid, due to a small oscillating motion of the lower plate, is investigated for the first time. The methodology is by applying the momentum and energy equations and solving them for three cases of standard thermal boundary conditions. The first two cases involve symmetric boundary conditions of constant surface temperature on both plates and both plates insulated, respectively. The third case has the asymmetric conditions that the lower plate is insulated while the upper plate is maintained at constant temperature. Results reveal that, although the fluid velocity is only depending on the oscillation rate of the plate, the temperature field for all three cases show that the induced heating is dependent on the oscillation rate of the plate, but strongly dependent on the parameters Brinkman number and Prandtl number. All three cases prove that the increasing oscillation rate or Brinkman number and decreasing Prandtl number, when it is less than unity, will significantly increase the temperature field. The present model is applied to the synovial fluid motion in artificial hip implant and results in heat induced by viscous dissipation for the second case shows remarkably close agreement with the experimental literature.
Visual Simulation of Detailed Turbulent Water by Preserving the Thin Sheets of Fluid
Authors: Kim Jong-Hyun , Kim Wook , Kim Young Bin , Lee Jung
Published: October 2018

When we perform particle-based water simulation, water particles are often increased dramatically because of particle splitting around breaking holes to maintain the thin fluid sheets. Because most of the existing approaches do not consider the volume of the water particles, the water particles must have a very low mass to satisfy the law of the conservation of mass. This phenomenon smears the motion of the water, which would otherwise result in splashing, thereby resulting in artifacts such as numerical dissipation. Thus, we propose a new fluid-implicit, particle-based framework for maintaining and representing the thin sheets and turbulent flows of water. After splitting the water particles, the proposed method uses the ghost density and ghost mass to redistribute the difference in mass based on the volume of the water particles. Next, small-scale turbulent flows are formed in local regions and transferred in a smooth manner to the global flow field. Our results show us the turbulence details as well as the thin sheets of water, thereby obtaining an aesthetically pleasing improvement compared with existing methods.
Solution of Fractional Differential Equation Systems and Computation of Matrix Mittag–Leffler Functions
Authors: Duan Junsheng , Chen Lian
Published: October 2018

In this paper, solutions for systems of linear fractional differential equations are considered. For the commensurate order case, solutions in terms of matrix Mittag–Leffler functions were derived by the Picard iterative process. For the incommensurate order case, the system was converted to a commensurate order case by newly introducing unknown functions. Computation of matrix Mittag–Leffler functions was considered using the methods of the Jordan canonical matrix and minimal polynomial or eigenpolynomial, respectively. Finally, numerical examples were solved using the proposed methods.
Cut-and-Project Schemes for Pisot Family Substitution Tilings
Authors: Lee Jeong-Yup , Akiyama Shigeki , Nagai Yasushi
Published: October 2018

We consider Pisot family substitution tilings in R d whose dynamical spectrum is pure point. There are two cut-and-project schemes (CPSs) which arise naturally: one from the Pisot family property and the other from the pure point spectrum. The first CPS has an internal space R m for some integer m ∈ N defined from the Pisot family property, and the second CPS has an internal space H that is an abstract space defined from the condition of the pure point spectrum. However, it is not known how these two CPSs are related. Here we provide a sufficient condition to make a connection between the two CPSs. For Pisot unimodular substitution tiling in R , the two CPSs turn out to be same due to the remark by Barge-Kwapisz.
Quantum Gravity at the Corner
Authors: Freidel Laurent , Perez Alejandro
Published: October 2018

We investigate the quantum geometry of a 2d surface S bounding the Cauchy slices of a 4d gravitational system. We investigate in detail for the first time the boundary symplectic current that naturally arises in the first-order formulation of general relativity in terms of the Ashtekar–Barbero connection. This current is proportional to the simplest quadratic form constructed out of the pull back to S of the triad field. We show that the would-be-gauge degrees of freedo arising from S U ( 2 ) gauge transformations plus diffeomorphisms tangent to the boundary are entirely described by the boundary 2-dimensional symplectic form, and give rise to a representation at each point of S of S L ( 2 , R ) × S U ( 2 ) . Independently of the connection with gravity, this system is very simple and rich at the quantum level, with possible connections with conformal field theory in 2d. A direct application of the quantum theory is modelling of the black horizons in quantum gravity.
Embedding Black Holes and Other Inhomogeneities in the Universe in Various Theories of Gravity: A Short Review
Authors: Faraoni Valerio
Published: October 2018

Classic black hole mechanics and thermodynamics are formulated for stationary black holes with event horizons. Alternative theories of gravity of interest for cosmology contain a built-in time-dependent cosmological “constant” and black holes are not stationary. Realistic black holes are anyway dynamical because they interact with astrophysical environments or, at a more fundamental level, because of backreaction by Hawking radiation. In these situations, the teleological concept of event horizon fails and apparent or trapping horizons are used instead. Even as toy models, black holes embedded in cosmological “backgrounds” and other inhomogeneous universes constitute an interesting class of solutions of various theories of gravity. We discuss the known phenomenology of apparent and trapping horizons in these geometries, focusing on spherically symmetric inhomogeneous universes.
Touristification, Sharing Economies and the New Geography of Urban Conflicts
Authors: Del Romero Renau Luis
Published: October 2018

The aim of this study was to address the highly controversial problem of the increasing touristification of urban centers, analyzing the case of Valencia. The paper begins with a theoretical reflection to disambiguate the term “sharing economy”, the emergence of all kinds of digital service platforms that are revolutionizing traditional economic sectors of services, such as transport, tourist accommodation, or personal services. The new geography of urban conflicts that has arisen in recent years in this city, largely as a consequence of the paradigm of the collaborative economy in the tourism sector, was analyzed. This situation contrasts sharply with the panorama of conflicts that existed before and during the international financial crisis. Finally, the main social, economic and environmental impacts of collaborative economies are discussed, from the approach of a new phase in neoliberal capitalism.
In Vitro Anthelminthic Efficacy of Hypoestes forskaolii (Vahl) R.Br (Acanthaceae) Extracts on Gastrointestinal Nematodes of Sheep
Authors: D’Ambola Massimiliano , Bosco Antonio , Ariano Andrea , Rinaldi Laura , Bader Ammar , Amadesi Alessandra , Cringoli Giuseppe , Severino Lorella
Published: October 2018

The anthelminthic efficacy of the crude extracts of Hypoestes forskaolii (Vahl) R.Br (Acanthaceae) against gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) in sheep was investigated using the in vitro egg hatch inhibition assay. Faecal samples were collected from sheep with naturally occurring infection of GIN (Trichostrongylus spp., Chabertia ovina, Cooperia spp., Haemonchus contortus and Teladorsagia spp.). Crude leaf extracts of H. forskaolii was obtained using increasing polarity solvents: n-hexane, chloroform, chloroform:methanol 9:1, methanol. Thiabendazole (0.2 µg/mL and 0.5 µg/mL) was used as a positive control and untreated GIN eggs in deionised water served as the negative control. All the extracts exhibited a weak ovicidal activity against GIN (less than 50% of egg hatch). Noteworthy, the n-hexane extract showed a percentage of inhibition of egg hatching greater than other extracts inhibiting the 30.8% at the concentration of 1 mg/mL showing a dose-dependent effect on nematode eggs hatching. Further studies are needed to investigate the effects of extracts used and to evaluate the ovicidal effects of other extracts of H. forskaolii.
Migration of Gyrotactic Micro-Organisms in Water
Authors: Chen Xiao , Wu Yihong , Zeng Li
Published: October 2018

Understanding the swimming characteristics of micro-organisms is significant for modelling the migration of motile cells and corresponding ecological risk assessments associated with harmful algae in oceans and estuaries. Presented in this paper is an experimental and numerical investigation of swimming characteristics of a typical gyrotactic micro-organism, Heterosigma akashiwo (H. akashiwo) in water, based on the technology of planar laser-induced fluorescence and the finite volume method. Two-dimensional swimming velocity of algal cells are obtained by analyzing cells’ trajectories in the vertical plane, and three-dimensional swimming velocity is reconstructed based on the assumption that cells’ swimming is isotropic in the horizontal plane. Four important parameters are given to reflect the swimming characteristics of gyrotactic cells in still water, including the mean swimming speed (Vs = 146 μm/s), the relative strength of reorientation by gravitational torque to rotational diffusion (λ = 1.96), the time scale of reorientation (B = 5.6 s), and rotational diffusivity (Dr = 0.046 rad2/s). A database of the ambient vorticity, mean swimming velocity and diffusivity tensor is established, by solving Fokker-Planck equation for the probability density function of cells’ swimming under the combined action of gravity, rotational diffusion, and the ambient vorticity. The mean swimming velocity and translational diffusion tensor of H. akashiwo are found to change with the horizontal and vertical vorticity. It is also shown that gyrotactic cells swim in a given direction for a weak horizontal vorticity, in contrast to cells’ tumbling and being trapped for a strong horizontal vorticity.
Evaluation of Decentralized, Closely-Spaced Precipitation Water and Treated Wastewater Infiltration
Authors: Händel Falk , Engelmann Christian , Klotzsch Stephan , Fichtner Thomas , Binder Martin , Graeber Peter-Wolfgang
Published: October 2018

Decentralized water management requires innovative technical solutions due to restricted operational and economic resources. In this study, a combined, decentralized infiltration system in the form of closely-spaced sub-systems for precipitation water and treated wastewater has been numerically analyzed. Flow and transport simulation shows that a closely-spaced system, by arranging the infiltration pipes closely in a longitudinal manner, is feasible under the consideration of German national guidelines for both infiltration methods. Precipitation events up to a recurrence interval of five years can be infiltrated alongside with treated wastewater of a one-family house without significant reduction of the wastewaters’ residence time. Scenario analyses highlight that harmless wastewater infiltration remains mainly undisturbed for a broad bandwidth of hydrological, subsurface, and technical conditions.
Popliteus muscle. An anatomical study
Authors: Quintero Ivan Dario
Published: October 2018

Background: The popliteus muscle fulfills a function of rotational stabilizer of the knee. Its particular shape and innervation pattern are the interest of anatomists and surgeons. The aim of this work was characterizing the anatomy and innervation of the popliteus muscle of knees from a sample of mestizo-raced population, predominant in Latin America.

 

Methods: This cross-sectional study was made in 23 knee segments 14 right knees and 9 left knees coming from 14 men and 9 women aged 67 ± 22 years.

 

Results: The popliteus muscle presented a scalene-like triangle shape and its medial base was covered by the superficial expansion of the semimembranosus tendon. The length of its base was 79,2±12,8 mm with a superior and inferior side that measured 58.0±7.4 mm and 101.7±11.7 mm respectively. The popliteus muscle innervation was supplied by the tibial nerve (TN) by the arising of two branches in 22 cases (95.7%). The first branch arose proximal to the inter articular line and presented a length of 91,1 mm. The second branch arose distally to the inter articular line with a length of 48.4±1.3mm. The third was observed in just one case (4.3%) Its length was 108±1.1mm and it arose distally to the inter articular line.

 

Conclusions: The morphological characteristics of the popliteus muscle and its innervation patterns found in our study differ from what was reported in previous studies. The presence of these findings can be considered during the planning of surgical procedures in the posterior aspect of the knee.
A MULTI-OPTIONAL HYBRID FUNCTIONS ENTROPY AS A TOOL FOR TRANSPORTATION MEANS REPAIR OPTIMAL PERIODICITY DETERMINATION
Authors: Goncharenko Andriy
Published: October 2018

The paper considers theoretical explanation and construction of some mathematical models of a transportation mean operational process in reference to maintenance optimal periodicity. The important finding is that the objectively existing engineering transportation means maintenance optimal periodicity is determined in the different from the probabilistic methods way. There is a scientifically proven explanation for the mentioned above periodicity optimization with the help of the specially introduced hybrid-optional effectiveness functions distribution. The developed doctrine uses the entropy paradigm conditional extremization approach. This contribution allows obtaining the wanted optimal periodicities sidestepping the related states probabilities determination and their further extremization. The essential breakthrough of the developed doctrine is that the optional objective effectiveness functions, in such a case, are the corresponding combinations of the intensities of the studied system’s possible transitions from state to state, which relates with the set of the considered operational options. Corresponding limit solutions for the zero-to-zero ratio indeterminate forms are analyzed. Theoretical speculations are illustrated with the example calculation experiments. The necessary diagrams are plotted.
Description of immature stages and natural history of Stigmella schinivora (Lepidoptera: Nepticulidae), a leaf-miner associated with the Brazilian peppertree
Authors: Pereira Cristiano Marcondes , Silva Denis Santos , Vargas Hector , Moreira Gilson
Published: October 2018

Stigmellaschinivoravan Nieukerken, 2016 was described from Cataratas de Iguazú, Misiones, Argentina, based on adults reared fromSchinusterebinthifoliusRaddi (Anacardiaceae) leaf mines. The aim of this study is to describe for the first time the external morphology of the immature stages ofS.schinivorawith the aid of light and scanning electron microscopy, based on mines collected on the same host plant, but in Laranjeiras do Sul, Paraná, Brazil. Data on natural history, including histology of the mines, are also provided. The larva passes through four instars, all endophytic, having chewing mouth parts and feeding on the palisade parenchyma. The first three instars are apodous and have a subcylindrical body, bearing only one pair of setae on the tenth abdominal segment; the fourth instar is eruciform, with well-developed ambulatory calli on thorax and abdomen and setae on all tagmata. A serpentine mine is constructed on the adaxial surface, progressively increasing in width during larval development. With the exception of the widened, terminal section, the mine is left filled with larval feces. The fully developed larva of last instar exits through a slit made at the distal end of the mine, building a silk cocoon on the leaf abaxial surface where pupation occurs. This is the first record ofS.schinivorafrom Brazil, which was only known from the type locality in Argentina.
CONSIDERAÇÕES METODOLÓGICAS ACERCA DA CONCEPÇÃO DE INSTITUIÇÃO E DE HISTÓRIA ECONÔMICA EM DOUGLASS NORTH
Authors: Cavalcante Carolina Miranda
Published: October 2018

O objetivo do artigo é a avaliação metodológica das contribuições de Douglass North no que concerne às instituições e à história econômica. A análise metodológica da proposta de North será realizada com recurso aos debates em Filosofia da Ciência, que se refletem não apenas nas discussões em metodologia econômica, mas também na construção teórica em Economia. Além disso, às já conhecidas correntes de pensamento em Filosofia da Ciência (positivismo lógico, Popper e teóricos do crescimento do conhecimento) incluo as contribuições do realismo crítico, tal qual expostas por Tony Lawson.