bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Study on an Online Detection Method for Ground Water Quality and Instrument Design
Authors: Wu Xiushan , Tong Renyuan , Wang Yanjie , Mei Congli , Li Qing
Published: May 2019

The online measurement of ground water quality, as one important area of water resource protection, can provide real-time measured water quality parameters and send out warning information in a timely manner when the water resource is polluted. Based on ultraviolet (UV) spectrophotometry, a remote online measurement method is proposed and used to measure the ground water quality parameters chemical oxygen demand (COD), total organic carbon (TOC), nitrate nitrogen (NO3–N), and turbidity (TURB). The principle of UV spectrophotometry and the data processing method are discussed in detail, the correlated mathematical modeling of COD and TOC is given, and a confirmatory experiment is carried out. Turbidity-compensated mathematical modeling is proposed to improve the COD measurement accuracy and a confirmatory experiment is finished with turbidity that ranges from 0 to 100 NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Unit). The development of a measurement instrument to detect the ground water COD, TOC, NO3–N, and TURB is accomplished; the test experiments are completed according to the standard specification of China’s technical requirement for water quality online automatic monitoring of UV, and the absolute measuring errors of COD, TOC, and NO3–N are smaller than 5.0%, while that of TURB is smaller than 5.4%, which meets the requirements for the online measurement of ground water quality.
Large-Scale, Fine-Grained, Spatial, and Temporal Analysis, and Prediction of Mobile Phone Users’ Distributions Based upon a Convolution Long Short-Term Model
Authors: Zhang Guangyuan , Rui Xiaoping , Poslad Stefan , Song Xianfeng , Fan Yonglei , Ma Zixiang
Published: May 2019

Accurate and timely estimations of large-scale population distributions are a valuable input for social geography and economic research and for policy-making. The most popular large-scale method to calculate such estimations uses mobile phone data. We propose a novel method, firstly based upon using a kernel density estimation (KDE) to estimate dynamic mobile phone users’ distributions at a two-hourly scale temporal resolution. Secondly, a convolutional long short-term memory (ConvLSTM) model was used in our study to predict mobile phone users’ spatial and temporal distributions for the first time at such a fine-grained temporal resolution. The evaluation results show that the predicted people’s mobility derived from the mobile phone users’ density correlates much better with the actual density, both temporally and spatially, as compared to traditional methods such as time-series prediction, autoregressive moving average model (ARMA), and LSTM.
Joint Placement and Device Association of UAV Base Stations in IoT Networks
Authors: Ahmed Ashfaq , Awais Muhammad , Akram Tallha , Kulac Selman , Alhussein Musaed , Aurangzeb Khursheed
Published: May 2019

Drone base stations (DBSs) have received significant research interest in recent years. They provide a flexible and cost-effective solution to improve the coverage, connectivity, quality of service (QoS), and energy efficiency of large-area Internet of Things (IoT) networks. However, as DBSs are costly and power-limited devices, they require an efficient scheme for their deployment in practical networks. This work proposes a realistic mathematical model for the joint optimization problem of DBS placement and IoT users’ assignment in a massive IoT network scenario. The optimization goal is to maximize the connectivity of IoT users by utilizing the minimum number of DBS, while satisfying practical network constraints. Such an optimization problem is NP-hard, and the optimal solution has a complexity exponential to the number of DBSs and IoT users in the network. Furthermore, this work also proposes a linearization scheme and a low-complexity heuristic to solve the problem in polynomial time. The simulations are performed for a number of network scenarios, and demonstrate that the proposed heuristic is numerically accurate and performs close to the optimal solution.
Real-Time Multi-Scale Face Detector on Embedded Devices
Authors: Zhao Xu , Liang Xiaoqing , Zhao Chaoyang , Tang Ming , Wang Jinqiao
Published: May 2019

Face detection is the basic step in video face analysis and has been studied for many years. However, achieving real-time performance on computation-resource-limited embedded devices still remains an open challenge. To address this problem, in this paper we propose a face detector, EagleEye, which shows a good trade-off between high accuracy and fast speed on the popular embedded device with low computation power (e.g., the Raspberry Pi 3b+). The EagleEye is designed to have low floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) as well as enough capacity, and its accuracy is further improved without adding too much FLOPS. Specifically, we design five strategies for building efficient face detectors with a good balance of accuracy and running speed. The first two strategies help to build a detector with low computation complexity and enough capacity. We use convolution factorization to change traditional convolutions into more sparse depth-wise convolutions to save computation costs and we use successive downsampling convolutions at the beginning of the face detection network. The latter three strategies significantly improve the accuracy of the light-weight detector without adding too much computation costs. We design an efficient context module to utilize context information to benefit the face detection. We also adopt information preserving activation function to increase the network capacity. Finally, we use focal loss to further improve the accuracy by handling the class imbalance problem better. Experiments show that the EagleEye outperforms the other face detectors with the same order of computation costs, on both runtime efficiency and accuracy.
Performance Analysis of Ground Target Detection Utilizing Beidou Satellite Reflected Signals
Authors: Gao Chaoqun , Yang Dongkai , Hong Xuebao , Wang Bo , Zhang Bo
Published: May 2019

This paper presents a method of ground target detection using reflected signals of BeiDou satellites. The phase difference information, which is the output of the phase-lock loop (PLL) in the tracking process, is an important observation in this technique. The geometric relationships between the specular point of different BeiDou satellites and the target are established. In addition, the detection and false alarm probability are also analyzed. In order to verify the reliability of the method, an experiment in the suburb area of Beijing was completed. The target was placed in the coverage area of the left-handed circular polarization (LHCP) antenna for two time periods (10–20 s and 40–55 s). By observing the phase difference in BeiDou reflected signals in the presence of a target, it was found that the changing trend was in good agreement with the target placement time periods. In the second experiment, the target moved east and west at a speed of 0.5 m/s, and the range of motion was 6 m. During the acquisition of the BeiDou reflection signal, the target passed through the antenna 14 times. The performance of target detection with different parameters was observed by extracting in-phase (I) branch component data, phase difference information, and the carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) of five BeiDou reflected signals. The experimental results allowed three conclusions to be drawn as follows: (1) The target detection performance of the three parameters has a certain relationship with the altitude angle and the azimuth angle of the satellite; (2) target motion direction information can be reflected in the change of the satellite I branch component data; (3) The CNR information of different satellite reflected signals varies greatly when the target moves, which is quite different from that of the first experimental target when it is stationary. Thus, the feasibility of target detection using BeiDou reflection signal was demonstrated through these two experiments.
Research on the Effects of the High Temperature and Humidity Environment on Human Comfort in Coal Mine Emergency Refuge System
Authors: Li Jing , Yang Lei , Song Tianbao , Qi Ruikang
Published: May 2019

A high temperature and humidity environment can be easily formed in a confined refuge system, which has a significant effect on the safety of refugees. Human survival experiments in a closed simulation chamber were carried out under high temperature and humidity conditions (the temperature was above 27 °C and the relative humidity was above 70%). The asymmetrical five-grade scale method was used first, and human comfort voting data were collected from 35 groups under different temperature and humidity conditions. A non-linear trend of the effects of different temperature and humidity conditions on human comfort was obtained through analysis, and the boundary curves for different human comfort conditions in a closed refuge chamber were determined. At the same time, a function prediction model of the apparent temperature was established, which had instructive meaning for the study and design of the environment controls and life support system in a closed rescue space for different fields.
Gateway of Landfilled Plastic Waste Towards Circular Economy in Europe
Authors: Burlakovs Juris , Kriipsalu Mait , Porshnov Dmitry , Jani Yahya , Ozols Viesturs , Pehme Kaur-Mikk , Rudovica Vita , Grinfelde Inga , Pilecka Jovita , Vincevica-Gaile Zane , Turkadze Tsitsino , Hogland William , Klavins Maris
Published: May 2019

For decades, significant work has been conducted regarding plastic waste by dealing with rejected materials in waste masses through their accumulation, sorting and recycling. Important political and technical challenges are involved, especially with respect to landfilled waste. Plastic is popular and, notwithstanding decrease policies, it will remain a material widely used in most economic sectors. However, questions of plastic waste recycling in the contemporary world cannot be solved without knowing the material, which can be achieved by careful sampling, analysis and quantification. Plastic is heterogeneous, but usually all plastic waste is jointly handled for recycling and incineration. Separation before processing waste through the analytical approach must be applied. Modern landfill mining and site clean-up projects in contemporary waste management systems require comprehensive material studies ranging from the macro-characterization of waste masses to a more detailed analysis of hazardous constituents and properties from an energy calorific standpoint—where, among other methods, thermogravimetric research coupled with life cycle assessment (LCA) and economic assessment is highly welcomed.
Contrasting the Emergence of the Victims’ Movements in the United States and England and Wales
Authors: Manikis Marie
Published: May 2019

Over the years, the role of victims in the criminal process has considerably evolved in common law jurisdictions, particularly in the United States and England and Wales. These notable developments have varied greatly between these two jurisdictions. These differences are in great part attributed to the different forces and rationales behind the emergence of the early victims’ movements in these respective jurisdictions. Indeed, the movements in the United States and England and Wales adopted different philosophies, strategies, and members came from different backgrounds, which can account for the differences in policies. This article engages in a process of comparative distancing between the forces that drove the movements, as well as the context under which they operated in order to understand the different policies, legal responses and debates that relate to the role of victims of crime in the two selected jurisdictions.
A Distribution for Instantaneous Failures
Authors: Ramos Pedro L. , Louzada Francisco
Published: May 2019

A new one-parameter distribution is proposed in this paper. The new distribution allows for the occurrence of instantaneous failures (inliers) that are natural in many areas. Closed-form expressions are obtained for the moments, mean, variance, a coefficient of variation, skewness, kurtosis, and mean residual life. The relationship between the new distribution with the exponential and Lindley distributions is presented. The new distribution can be viewed as a combination of a reparametrized version of the Zakerzadeh and Dolati distribution with a particular case of the gamma model and the occurrence of zero value. The parameter estimation is discussed under the method of moments and the maximum likelihood estimation. A simulation study is performed to verify the efficiency of both estimation methods by computing the bias, mean squared errors, and coverage probabilities. The superiority of the proposed distribution and some of its concurrent distributions are tested by analyzing four real lifetime datasets.
Assessing Land Fragmentation in Planning Sustainable Urban Renewal
Authors: Kilić Jelena , Jajac Nikša , Rogulj Katarina , Mastelić-Ivić Siniša
Published: May 2019

Planning of sustainable urban renewal is one of the key issues for city development. Particular emphasis is placed on the problem of the sustainable urban renewal of areas that are made up of a large number of private cadastral parcels that cause ownership fragmentation. Urban renewal is most often carried out to realize a large project where it is necessary to determine the optimal way of its realization. This paper proposes a methodology for assessing the index of fragmentation for the purpose of sustainable urban renewal planning. The methods used to solve the task are Simple Additive Weighting method (SAW) for ranking alternative solutions (i.e., cadastral parcels, spatial elements and areas of future construction), and the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process method (FAHP) for defining the criteria weights. In the process of defining the index of fragmentation model as well as the weighting determination, a group of experts was involved. The proposed model was tested on the field of the construction of the University of Split campus, for which implementation was planned in several periods. The obtained results show that the proposed methodology can provide support in analyzing the spatial–functional capacities of the existing land, and for decision making in optimizing the realization of urban projects.
Import Liberalization of Intermediates and Environment: Empirical Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing
Authors: He Ling-Yun , Wang Liang
Published: May 2019

This paper investigates how the import liberalization of intermediates affects firm-level pollution emissions. We divide the impact of freer import of intermediates on pollution emissions into induced scale, composition and technique effects and then develop interaction terms to examine these effects. Relying on a panel of plant-level data from China manufacturing sector for the period 2001 to 2007, we find freer import of intermediate inputs is conducive to pollution reductions at the plant level, lowering pollution via induced technique and composition effects and, in turn, increasing emission through induced scale effect. In summary, import liberalization of intermediate inputs can contribute to the better environmental performance of China manufacturing sector.
The Formation and Effects of Exploitative Dynamic Capabilities and Explorative Dynamic Capabilities: An Empirical Study
Authors: Liu Lina , Yu Bo , Wu Weiwei
Published: May 2019

Although previous studies have explored the formation and effects of dynamic capabilities, much remains to be learned on this topic. There has been little research on the formation and effects of exploitative dynamic capabilities and explorative dynamic capabilities. This paper provides an explanation of how entrepreneurial leadership style and slack resources affect the formation of exploitive dynamic capabilities and explorative dynamic capabilities and evaluates the effects of exploitive dynamic capabilities and explorative dynamic capabilities on competitive advantage. Based on a sample of 382 Chinese firms, the empirical results show that a transactional leadership style and absorbed slack resources can encourage the formation of exploitative dynamic capabilities, and that a transformational leadership style and unabsorbed slack resources are conducive to the development of explorative dynamic capabilities. Furthermore, exploitative dynamic capabilities and explorative dynamic capabilities can reinforce and complement each other. Exploitative dynamic capabilities positively impact explorative dynamic capabilities, and explorative dynamic capabilities enhance exploitative dynamic capabilities. In particular, exploitative dynamic capabilities have an important effect on short-term financial performance, and explorative dynamic capabilities lead to a significant long-term competitive advantage. The results show that explorative dynamic capabilities surpass exploitative dynamic capabilities in terms of competitive advantage, even if both have a positive influence on competitive advantage. This study validates and develops the theory of dynamic capabilities.
Efficiency and Spatial Equity Impacts of High-Speed Rail on the Central Plains Economic Region of China
Authors: Wang Xiaomin , Zhang Wenxin
Published: May 2019

Efficiency impacts can be assessed based on improvements in accessibility promoted by the high-speed rail (HSR) project, focusing mainly on major urban areas. Spatial equity impacts originate from changes in the distribution of accessibility levels observed across such cities. This study uses the weighted average travel time and coefficient of variation to explore the impact of HSR on efficiency and spatial equity within the Central Plains Economic Region (CPER) and to build an “efficiency-equity” model to identify optimal upgrading of conventional rail (CR) lines to improve the accessibility of the CPER and mitigate regional disparities. The results indicate that since the operation of HSR, accessibility levels across the CPER have improved by roughly 24.56%, and the spatial distribution of gains has been uneven since the most significant improvements have occurred in HSR cities and large cities. Inequality in regional accessibility has increased by 28.12%, creating a more heterogeneous pattern of accessibility. With goals of “efficiency” and “equity”, an examination of the upgrading of CR as an approach shows that “Xinxiang-Jiaozuo” and “Xinxiang-Jiaozuo-Sanmenxia-Yuncheng” are the best upgraded lines for improving the efficiency of the CPER and limiting regional disparities. The results of this study serve as supportive information for the planning and construction of HSR lines and networks and for underdeveloped regional transport system policymaking.
Selection Criteria for Drought-Tolerant Bread Wheat Genotypes at Seedling Stage
Authors: Ahmed Hafiz , Sajjad Muhammad , Li Mingju , Azmat Muhammad , Rizwan Muhammad , Maqsood Rana , Khan Sultan
Published: May 2019

Diminishing water resources as a result of excessive use of water for irrigation and climate change posture a severe global threat to food security. Herein, an experiment was conducted to determine the selection criteria for drought-tolerant bread wheat genotypes at the seedling stage using morphological and photosynthetic pigmentation-related traits. A panel of 105 wheat landraces, historical Pakistani varieties, and advance breeding lines were evaluated under normal and drought stress using factorial completely randomized design. The root length, fresh weight, dry weight, cell membrane thermo-stability, and chlorophyll b were positively correlated among themselves under both normal and stress conditions. Hence, selection of any one of these traits enhances the performance of other traits. The shoot length was non-significant and negatively associated with all other studied characters except relative water content. The results suggested that selection for shoot length could not improve genetic gain for drought tolerance. Out of 10 principal components (PCs), the first three PCs were showed significant genetic variation under both conditions. The first three PCs showed 74.6% and 76% cumulative genetic variation under normal and drought conditions, respectively. Based on PCA, 10 drought-tolerant and five drought-susceptible genotypes were identified. Overall results suggested that selection for root length, fresh weight, dry weight, cell membrane thermo-stability, and chlorophyll b at the seedling stage would improve genetic gain for drought tolerance. The outperforming genotypes under drought stress conditions can be useful in future wheat breeding programs, and early selection for the traits recommended in this study will be effective for developing high-yielding and drought-tolerant wheat varieties.
Positioning Depression as a Critical Factor in Creating a Toxic Workplace Environment for Diminishing Worker Productivity
Authors: Rasool Samma Faiz , Maqbool Rashid , Samma Madeeha , Zhao Yan , Anjum Amna
Published: May 2019

This study determined how a toxic workplace environment can influence worker productivity, directly and indirectly, using work depression as a mediating variable. A toxic workplace environment with multiple dimensions (harassment, bullying, ostracism, and incivility) was used in this study. We used a questionnaire survey approach to evaluate the data. A total of 53 items were used in the questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale. The data were collected from 23 branches of five Chinese banks in the vicinity of Shanghai. The authors distributed 250 questionnaires among targeted employees (senior managers, middle managers, and administrative staff) and received 186 filled questionnaires, among which six were incomplete. Thus, the completed sample size of the research was 180, and the overall response rate was 72%. To estimate the proposed relationships in the research model, we used partial least-squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM 3.2). The outcomes of this study indicate that for direct and indirect relationships, a toxic workplace environment negatively influences worker productivity. Moreover, the outcomes of this study also show that work depression negatively impacts worker productivity. The study concludes with a discussion, limitations, and future research directions.
Residents’ Perception of Destination Quality: Key Factors for Sustainable Rural Development
Authors: Muresan Iulia C. , Harun Rezhen , Arion Felix H. , Oroian Camelia F. , Dumitras Diana E. , Mihai Valentin C. , Ilea Marioara , Chiciudean Daniel I. , Gliga Iulia D. , Chiciudean Gabriela O.
Published: May 2019

Tourism represents a viable alternative for economic activities in rural areas, and improves the living standards of the communities. The aim of the paper is to assess residents’ perceptions towards tourism destination quality in the North-West Development Region of Romania using the following items: natural attractions: cultural and social attractions; accommodation; food; availability of transportation to destination area; quality of information and communication; hospitality of host community; feeling of security and safety. A survey was conducted to collect the data and a total of 433 questionnaires were validated and analyzed. Descriptive and inferential statistics (Principal component analysis, ANOVA, Scheffe multiple range test) were used to analyze the data. Results show that there are statistically significant differences in residents’ perceptions between counties. Two of the components of destination quality (general infrastructure and tourism potential) are affected by the gender of residents, while the level of education has no significant effect. A weak and indirect correlation was found between the age of residents and their perception towards a quality destination. This study makes two contributions to the existing literature. First, a questionnaire was developed based on the QUALITEST tool adapted to the realities of the research area. Second, we analyzed the perception of residents towards a quality destination in relation to their socio-demographic characteristics and county of residence. Understanding the implications of tourism development from the residents’ point of view helps to increase knowledge about the factors affecting the long-term, sustainable success of tourism destinations.
Using Native Vegetation Screens to Lessen the Visual Impact of Rural Buildings in the Sierras de Béjar and Francia Biosphere Reserve: Case Studies and Public Survey
Authors: Garrido Velarde Jacinto , Montero Parejo María Jesús , Hernández Blanco Julio , García Moruno Lorenzo
Published: May 2019

Tree screens have a demonstrated role in lessening the visual impact of buildings nonintegrated aesthetically by means of filtering façades. This is particularly useful on village fringes and in areas bordering urban green spaces. However, the role of other vegetal structure such as climber species, and their optimal percentage for façade filtering, have not been measured yet. The main objectives of present study were: (1) To guess if climber species have a similar positive role to lessen the visual impact of a façade than tree species, and (2) to compare optimal percentage of coverage for both vegetal structures. To explore them, we designed three percentages of partial-concealment vegetation screens (0% none, 40–50% medium, 70–80% high), comprising tree or climber native species from a study area, in eight buildings from the same region. As a result, 24 final infographics were evaluated by two groups of interviewees: 27 local people and 39 non-local university students. Respondents had to assess the integration of the building in terms of visual preference using an ascending scale with 5 options from “Very poor” = 1 to “Very good” = 5. The results show a clear linear positive response of participants when increasing the percentage of coverage by both types of vegetal screens. However, positive significant valuation over 3 points on average was reached before in tree species screens (3.06, in 40–50% of façade coverage) than in climbing species screens (3.02 in 70–80% of façade coverage). Finally, there was a high consensus in responses when both groups polled were compared.
Inter-University Sustainability Benchmarking for Canadian Higher Education Institutions: Water, Energy, and Carbon Flows for Technical-Level Decision-Making
Authors: Alghamdi Abdulaziz , Haider Husnain , Hewage Kasun , Sadiq Rehan
Published: May 2019

The education sector is one of the major contributors to the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada, i.e., 16% of total emissions among 11 sectors. Canadian higher education institutions (HEIs) consume around 60% of the total energy fed to the educational sector. Existing tools holistically cover a wide array of functions to assess the sustainability of HEIs. The infrastructure (engineered) systems are the pivotal units responsible for the majority of energy and water consumption and may have been built, retrofitted, or replaced at different times using different materials and technologies. Consequently, infrastructures have varying efficiency, designs, building envelopes, and environmental impacts. For technical-level decision making for improving the engineered systems, HEIs need to be benchmarked on the basis of their water, energy, and carbon flows. A methodology is developed for sustainability assessment of 34 Canadian HEIs that are classified into small, medium, and large sizes based on their number of full-time equivalent students (FTE). Energy, water consumption, number of students, and floor area is measured in different units and are, thus, normalized. The study revealed that the energy source was the primary factor affecting the sustainability performance of an institution. The analysis also revealed that small-sized institutions outperformed medium-to-large-sized institutions.
Requirements, Principles, and Performance of Corporate Federalism: A Case of MNC-SME Alliance
Authors: Shin Matthew Minsuk , Lee Jiwon
Published: May 2019

This study aims to define and propose a corporate federalism model. In addition, it empirically examines the relationships between the requirements, principles, and performance of corporate federalism, as applied to a strategic alliance among a multinational corporation (MNC) and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The study uses survey questionnaires to gather information. The data were collected from associates of 171 SMEs in a strategic alliance with a designated MNC. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze data in order to explore proposed relationships. The findings of the study suggest that corporate federalism creates commitment toward the alliance among participants. Among the requirements of corporate federalism, interpersonal relationships represent the most significant factor for the successful practice of corporate federalism in the given sample. Based on the findings, theoretical and practical implications for implementing corporate federalism in strategic alliances are discussed.
Clustering-Based Modified Ant Colony Optimizer for Internet of Vehicles (CACOIOV)
Authors: Ebadinezhad Sahar , Dereboylu Ziya , Ever Enver
Published: May 2019

The Internet of Vehicles (IoV) has recently become an emerging promising field of research due to the increasing number of vehicles each day. IoV is vehicle communications, which is also a part of the Internet of Things (IoT). Continuous topological changes of vehicular communications are a significant issue in IoV that can affect the change in network scalability, and the shortest routing path. Therefore, organizing efficient and reliable intercommunication routes between vehicular nodes, based on conditions of traffic density is an increasingly challenging issue. For such issues, clustering is one of the solutions, among other routing protocols, such as geocast, topology, and position-based routing. This paper focuses mainly on the scalability and the stability of the topology of IoV. In this study, a novel intelligent system-based algorithm is proposed (CACOIOV), which stabilizes topology by using a metaheuristic clustering algorithm based on the enhancement of Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) in two distinct stages for packet route optimization. Another algorithm, called mobility Dynamic Aware Transmission Range on Local traffic Density (DA-TRLD), is employed together with CACOIOV for the adaptation of transmission range regarding of density in local traffic. The results presented through NS-2 simulations show that the new protocol is superior to both Ad hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing and (ACO) protocols based on evaluating routing performance in terms of throughput, packet delivery, and drop ratio, cluster numbers, and average end-to-end delay.
Thermodynamic Cycle Concepts for High-Efficiency Power Plants. Part B: Prosumer and Distributed Power Industry
Authors: Kosowski Krzysztof , Tucki Karol , Piwowarski Marian , Stępień Robert , Orynycz Olga , Włodarski Wojciech
Published: May 2019

An analysis was carried out for different thermodynamic cycles of power plants with air turbines. A new modification of a gas turbine cycle with the combustion chamber at the turbine outlet has been described in the paper. A special air by-pass system of the combustor was applied, and in this way, the efficiency of the turbine cycle was increased by a few points. The proposed cycle equipped with an effective heat exchanger could have an efficiency higher than a classical gas turbine cycle with a regenerator. Appropriate cycle and turbine calculations were performed for micro power plants with turbine output in the range of 10–50 kW. The best arrangements achieved very high values of overall cycle efficiency, 35%–39%. Such turbines could also work in cogeneration and trigeneration arrangements, using various fuels such as liquids, gaseous fuels, wastes, coal, or biogas. Innovative technology in connection with ecology and the failure-free operation of the power plant strongly suggests the application of such devices at relatively small generating units (e.g., “prosumers” such as home farms and individual enterprises), assuring their independence from the main energy providers. Such solutions are in agreement with the politics of sustainable development.
Potential Allelopathic Candidates for Land Use and Possible Sustainable Weed Management in South Asian Ecosystem
Authors: Begum Kohinoor , Shammi Mashura , Hasan Nazmul , Asaduzzaman Md. , Appiah Kwame Sarpong , FUJII Yoshiharu
Published: May 2019

Weed management is one of the significant challenges of field crops since weeds pose a remarkable threat to crop productivity in South Asian countries, including Bangladesh. Allelopathy, a phenomenon whereby secondary metabolites produced and released by one plant species influence the growth and development of other species can be exploited in sustainable management. The focus of this study was to evaluate potential allelopathic plant species which can be further explored as alternatives to synthetic herbicides or incorporated as part of integrated weed management in sustainable agriculture. Two hundred fifty-two plant samples from 70 families were collected from Bangladesh and evaluated with the sandwich bioassay. Thirty-one percent of the samples showed significant allelopathic potential on lettuce radicle elongation. Among the species that showed substantial inhibition, more than 7% of the samples showed higher inhibition (HI) and 25% showed moderate inhibition (MI) on lettuce radicle. Fruit pulps of Couroupita guianensis (95.4%), fruits of Phyllanthus emblica (95.4%), and Acacia concinna (95.4%) showed the highest inhibition on lettuce radicle elongation. In contrast, the leaf of Bombax insigne had growth promoting activity by stimulating radicle (23%) and hypocotyl (80%) elongation of lettuce seedlings. This result suggested that the species with significant plant growth inhibitory potential may play a vital role as an alternative to the increasing use of synthetic herbicides for sustainable weed management in agricultural land.
Assessment of Mechanical Property Variation of As-Processed Bast Fibers
Authors: Feigel Bryan , Robles Hanami , Nelson Jared W. , Whaley James M.S. , Bright Lydia J.
Published: May 2019

Hemp, flax, and kenaf are bast fibers with promising material characteristics to sustainably displace synthetic fibers used in composites; however, their use in composite applications is hindered by high material property variability. More widespread adoption and application, as well as improved quality methods, of fibers is contingent on the reduction of this variability. Efforts made herein to assess variability in as-processed fibers and methods were found to identify key sources of variability by investigating four areas: cross-sectional area approximation, physical defects, color and stem diameter, and fiber composition. Using fiber gage lengths closer to those found in composites, different geometric approximations of cross-sectional areas resulted in mean elliptical approximation showing the lowest variability across all fiber types. Next, by removing fibers exhibiting physical defects, maximum variation in tested flax fibers was reduced from 66% to 49% for ultimate tensile strength and 74% to 36% for elastic modulus. Additionally, fibers of darker color were found to have lower mechanical property variation than lighter or spotted fibers, and those coming from smaller stem diameters were found to be stronger than fibers from large stem diameters. Finally, contrary to previous findings with other lignocellulosics, clear trends between the lignin content in a fiber and its mechanical properties were not readily evident. Overall, these factors combined to significantly reduce mechanical property variation, while identifying the underlying contributing parameters.
Linking Sustainability-Oriented Marketing to Social Media and Web Atmospheric Cues
Authors: Khan Affan Ahmed , Wang Ming Zheng , Ehsan Sadaf , Nurunnabi Mohammad , Hashmi Maaida Hussain
Published: May 2019

Acknowledging the widespread use of social media and the exponential growth of digital technology, a number of reputable organizations and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have shifted their traditional marketing tools to approach new markets for the growth of their businesses. Such companies have introduced their business over social media in order to gain greater attention from the consumers. However, the major concern addressed regarding how products and services are promoted online is regarding sustainable marketing. It is explored that most of the consumers tend to view online businesses by visualizing essential factors that reflect sustainability and thus, SMEs have started to analyze specific web atmospheric cues, which contribute in developing social media according to consumer behavior and their perceptions. To assess the research area, the following study is performed to understand possible measures that are significant in bridging business and consumer needs. This research incorporates a quantitative research method for gathering specific data by using questionnaires. From the findings of the research, it is analyzed that consumers are likely to perceive and give attention to social media by analyzing specific cues, including visuals, ethics, information, social, and security. It is concluded that SMEs could foster their online businesses by adopting effective sustainable marketing strategies aligned according to specific web atmospheric cues.
Controlled Surface Wettability by Plasma Polymer Surface Modification
Authors: Iqbal Muzammil , Dinh Duy , Abbas Qasim , Imran Muhammad , Sattar Harse , Ul Ahmad Aqrab
Published: May 2019

Inspired by nature, tunable wettability has attracted a lot of attention in both academia and industry. Various methods of polymer surface tailoring have been studied to control the changes in wetting behavior. Polymers with a precisely controlled wetting behavior in a specific environment are blessed with a wealth of opportunities and potential applications exploitable in biomaterial engineering. Controlled wetting behavior can be obtained by combining surface chemistry and morphology. Plasma assisted polymer surface modification technique has played a significant part to control surface chemistry and morphology, thus improving the surface wetting properties of polymers in many applications. This review focuses on plasma polymerization and investigations regarding surface chemistry, surface wettability and coating kinetics, as well as coating stability. We begin with a brief overview of plasma polymerization; this includes growth mechanisms of plasma polymerization and influence of plasma parameters. Next, surface wettability and theoretical background structures and chemistry of superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic surfaces are discussed. In this review, a summary is made of recent work on tunable wettability by tailoring surface chemistry with physical appearance (i.e. substrate texture). The formation of smart polymer coatings, which adjust their surface wettability according to outside environment, including, pH, light, electric field and temperature, is also discussed. Finally, the applications of tunable wettability and pH responsiveness of polymer coatings in real life are addressed. This review should be of interest to plasma surface science communality particularly focused controlled wettability of smart polymer surfaces.
Effect of Quantum Gravity on the Stability of Black Holes
Authors: Ali Riasat , Bamba Kazuharu , Shah Syed Asif Ali
Published: May 2019

We investigate the massive vector field equation with the WKB approximation. The tunneling mechanism of charged bosons from the gauged super-gravity black hole is observed. It is shown that the appropriate radiation consistent with black holes can be obtained in general under the condition that back reaction of the emitted charged particle with self-gravitational interaction is neglected. The computed temperatures are dependant on the geometry of black hole and quantum gravity. We also explore the corrections to the charged bosons by analyzing tunneling probability, the emission radiation by taking quantum gravity into consideration and the conservation of charge and energy. Furthermore, we study the quantum gravity effect on radiation and discuss the instability and stability of black hole.
The Power Sums Involving Fibonacci Polynomials and Their Applications
Authors: Chen Li , Wang Xiao
Published: May 2019

The Girard and Waring formula and mathematical induction are used to study a problem involving the sums of powers of Fibonacci polynomials in this paper, and we give it interesting divisible properties. As an application of our result, we also prove a generalized conclusion proposed by R. S. Melham.
Nambu-Jona Lasinio and Nonlinear Sigma Models in Condensed Matter Systems
Authors: Yoshii Ryosuke , Nitta Muneto
Published: May 2019

We review various connections between condensed matter systems with the Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model and nonlinear sigma models. The field theoretical description of interacting systems offers a systematic framework to describe the dynamical generation of condensates. Recent findings of a duality between the Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model and nonlinear sigma models enables us to investigate various properties underlying both theories. In this review, we mainly focus on inhomogeneous condensations in static situations. The various methods developed in the Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model reveal the inhomogeneous phase structures and also yield new inhomogeneous solutions in nonlinear sigma models owing to the duality. The recent progress on interacting systems in finite systems is also reviewed.
Targeting Human Parainfluenza Virus Type-1 Haemagglutinin-Neuraminidase with Mechanism-Based Inhibitors
Authors: Eveno Tanguy , Dirr Larissa , El-Deeb Ibrahim M. , Guillon Patrice , von Itzstein Mark
Published: May 2019

Human parainfluenza virus (hPIV) infections are a major cause of respiratory tract illnesses in children, with currently no available vaccine or drug treatment. The surface glycoprotein haemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) of hPIV has a central role in the viral life cycle, including neuraminic acid-recognising receptor binding activity (early stage) and receptor-destroying activity (late stage), which makes it an ideal target for antiviral drug disovery. In this study, we showed that targeting the catalytic mechanism of hPIV-1 HN by a 2α,3β-difluoro derivative of the known hPIV-1 inhibitor, BCX 2798, produced more potent inhibition of the neuraminidase function which is reflected by a stronger inhibition of viral replication. The difluorosialic acid-based inhibitor efficiently blocked the neuraminidase activity of HN for a prolonged period of time relative to its unsaturated neuraminic acid (Neu2en) analogue, BCX 2798 and produced a more efficient inhibition of the HN neuraminidase activity as well as in vitro viral replication. This prolonged inhibition of the hPIV-1 HN protein suggests covalent binding of the inhibitor to a key catalytic amino acid, making this compound a new lead for a novel class of more potent hPIV-1 mechanism-based inhibitors.
Response Analysis of Multi-Layered Volcanic Aquifers in Jeju Island to the 2011 M9.0 Tohoku-Oki Earthquake
Authors: Won Byeongho , Hamm Se-Yeong , Kim Kue-Young , Ha Kyoochul , Shin Jehyun , Hwang Seho , Lee Soo-Hyoung
Published: May 2019

Seismic waves caused by earthquakes can lead to the movement of fresh groundwater and saltwater in coastal aquifers. The groundwater level, temperature, and electrical conductivity in coastal monitoring wells on the volcanic island of Jeju all responded to the 2011 M 9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake. As a result of the earthquake, groundwater temperature and electrical conductivity patterns demonstrated freshwater outflow and saltwater inflow through the monitoring wells in multi-layered coastal aquifers. The seismicity also affected the behavior of ocean tides occurring at depth along the multi-layered coastal aquifers. These observations prove that the use of multi-depth systems for monitoring groundwater level, temperature, and electrical conductivity are more effective than single monitoring systems for understanding the exact behavior of multi-layered aquifers as well as efficiently detecting earthquake-induced or anthropogenic impacts on aquifers in coastal, karstic, or volcanic areas.
A Preliminary Study on A Novel Water Treatment Pond Design Using Dredged Sediment, Shrub Willow and Recycling Hand Pumps for the Restoration of Water Pollution
Authors: Chen Yi , Bai Xueyuan , Yang Tao , Zou Lifang , Liu Zhisheng , Wang Zhongqiang , He Chunguang
Published: May 2019

The treatment of polluted water and sediment often costs too much and has little benefit. In this study, we proposed a novel design using dredged sediment, shrub willow (Salix spp.) and recirculating hand pumps for the restoration of polluted river water in Changchun city, China. Sediment was filled as a matrix for plant growth, shrub willow was transplanted for the absorption of nutrients, and ten hand-pumped water wells were built for recycling the polluted water. During the 5-month experimental period, the shrub willow growth and nutrient contents, sediment nutrient concentration and water quality were measured. The results showed that this pond system could effectively decrease the sediment pollutant levels, and its removal efficiencies of organic matter (OM), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) could respectively reach as high as 11%, 10% and 26%. The dissolved oxygen (DO) content increased by more than 90% in August, and the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total nitrogen (TN) content decreased by 44.93% and 19.82%, respectively. This means that the treatment pond could efficiently work toward the purification of polluted river water. The benefits and feasibility of this system application were also analyzed, and we found that it could be widely used for the treatment of polluted water and sediment in urban areas.
The Genetic/Evolutonary Basis of Prejudice and Hatred
Authors: Fishbein Harold D
Published: May 2019

I believe that prejudice underlies the development of hatred toward various outgroups. Hence, in order to understand the origins of hatred, it is essential to understand the origins of prejudice. Our genetic/evolutionary heritage provides the initial push toward prejudice. My essential argument is that three sets of genetic/evolutionary processes that lead to prejudice and discrimination evolved in hunter-gatherer tribes. They were appropriate and necessary for that subsistence mode, which characterizes 99% of human existence. These three sets of processes—inclusive fitness, authority-bearing systems, intergroup hostility— are put into motion in nonhunter-gatherer contexts because they have been incorporated into our epigenetic systems. A fourth set of processes, outgroup attractiveness, which is based on the necessity of gene flow, to some extent counteracts the above processes and may lead to the reduction of prejudice and discrimination.
A Content Analysis of Persuasion Techniques Used on White Supremacist Websites
Authors: Weatherby Georgie Ann , Scoggins Brian
Published: May 2019

The Internet has made it possible for people to access just about any information they could possibly want. Conversely, it has given organizations a vehicle through which they can get their message out to a large audience. Hate groups have found the Internet particularly appealing, because they are able to get their uncensored message out to an unlimited number of people (ADL 2005). This is an issue that is not likely to go away.
To Charge or not to Charge?-That is the question: The pursuit of Strategic Advantage in Prosecutional Decision-Making Surrounding Hate Crime
Authors: McPhail Beverly , Jenness Valerie
Published: May 2019

We asked prosecutors how they think about hate crimes and which factors do and do not influence their decision-making processes when deciding whether to charge a hate crime (add a hate crime enhancement). Our empirical findings along these line provide the first glimpse of the dynamics that underlie the prosecution of hate crime.