bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Preparation and Application of Bismuth/MXene Nano-Composite as Electrochemical Sensor for Heavy Metal Ions Detection
Authors: He Ying , Ma Li , Zhou Liya , Liu Guanhua , Jiang Yanjun , Gao Jing
Published: May 2020

A nano-form composite of MXenes (Ti3C2Tx, Tx = -O, -OH, -F) was synthesized through depositing bismuth-nanoparticle (BiNPs) onto Ti3C2Tx sheets. Because of the preventive effect of the two-dimensional layered structure of Ti3C2Tx, the nanoparticles of Bi were uniform and well attached on the Ti3C2Tx. The obtained BiNPs/Ti3C2Tx nano-composite was applied for sensors construction of electrochemical detecting of Pb2+ and Cd2+ heavy metal ions. The produced BiNPs@Ti3C2Tx-based sensor showed high effective surface area and excellent conductivity. Also, the BiNPs were efficient for anodic-stripping voltammetric to detect heavy metal ions. After conditions optimization, the BiNPs@Ti3C2Tx nano-sensor could detect Pb2+ and Cd2+ simultaneously and the detection limits were 10.8 nM for Pb2+ and 12.4 nM for Cd2+. The BiNPs@Ti3C2Tx was promising for detecting heavy metal ions due to their high surface area, fast electron-transfer ability, environmental friendliness, and facial preparation.
Highly Efficient Mesoporous Core-Shell Structured Ag@SiO2 Nanosphere as an Environmentally Friendly Catalyst for Hydrogenation of Nitrobenzene
Authors: Zhao Bonan , Dong Zhipeng , Wang Qiyan , Xu Yisong , Zhang Nanxia , Liu Weixing , Lou Fangning , Wang Yue
Published: May 2020

The size-uniformed mesoporous Ag@SiO2 nanospheres’ catalysts were prepared in one-pot step via reducing AgNO3 by different types of aldehyde, which could control the size of Ag@SiO2 NPs and exhibit excellent catalytic activity for the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene. The results showed that the Ag core size, monitored by different aldehydes with different reducing abilities, together with the ideal monodisperse core-shell mesoporous structure, was quite important to affect its superior catalytic performances. Moreover, the stability of Ag fixed in the core during reaction for 6 h under 2.0 MPa, 140 °C made this type of Ag@SiO2 catalyst separable and environmentally friendly compared with those conventional homogeneous catalysts and metal NPs catalysts. The best catalyst with smaller Ag cores was prepared by strong reducing agents such as CH2O. The conversion of nitrobenzene can reach 99.9%, the selectivity was 100% and the catalyst maintained its activity after several cycles, and thus, it is a useful novel candidate for the production of aniline.
Genetic Diversity and Sequence Polymorphism of Two Genes Encoding Theileria parva Antigens Recognized by CD8+ T Cells among Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Cattle in Malawi
Authors: Chatanga Elisha , Hayashida Kyoko , Muleya Walter , Kusakisako Kodai , Moustafa Mohamed Abdallah Mohamed , Salim Bashir , Katakura Ken , Sugimoto Chihiro , Nonaka Nariaki , Nakao Ryo
Published: May 2020

East Coast fever (ECF) is an acute fatal tick-borne disease of cattle caused by Theileria parva. It causes major losses in exotic and crossbreed cattle, but this could be prevented by a vaccine of T. parva if the vaccine is selected properly based on information from molecular epidemiology studies. The Muguga cocktail (MC) vaccine (Muguga, Kiambu 5 and Serengeti-transformed strains) has been used on exotic and crossbreed cattle. A total of 254 T. parva samples from vaccinated and unvaccinated cattle were used to understand the genetic diversity of T. parva in Malawi using partial sequences of the Tp1 and Tp2 genes encoding T. parva CD8+ antigens, known to be immunodominant and current candidate antigens for a subunit vaccine. Single nucleotide polymorphisms were observed at 14 positions (3.65%) in Tp1 and 156 positions (33.12%) in Tp2, plus short deletions in Tp1, resulting in 6 and 10 amino acid variants in the Tp1 and Tp2 genes, respectively. Most sequences were either identical or similar to T. parva Muguga and Kiambu 5 strains. This may suggest the possible expansion of vaccine components into unvaccinated cattle, or that a very similar genotype already existed in Malawi. This study provides information that support the use of MC to control ECF in Malawi.
Epidemiologic Survey on Toxoplasma gondii and Trichinella pseudospiralis Infection in Corvids from Central Italy
Authors: Mancianti Francesca , Terracciano Giuliana , Sorichetti Camilla , Vecchio Giuseppe , Scarselli Daniele , Perrucci Stefania
Published: May 2020

Free-ranging corvids—678 magpies (Pica pica) and 120 hooded crows (Corvus cornix) from nine protected areas of the Pisa province (central Italy)—were examined for Toxoplasma gondii and Trichinella pseudospiralis. The intracardiac blood clots from 651 magpies and 120 hooded crows were serologically examined for T. gondii. The DNA extracted from the hearts of seropositive birds was then used to perform a nested PCR for the amplification of the T. gondii B1 gene and for genotyping for SAG genetic markers. Breast muscle samples from 678 magpies and 91 hooded crows were tested by an artificial digestion method for Trichinella. Data were statistically analyzed. Forty-five (5.8%—41 magpies and four hooded crows) out of the 771 examined animals scored seropositive for T. gondii, with titers ranging from 1:25 to 1:100. T. gondii DNA was detected in 15 of the 45 positive birds and T. gondii genotypes II and III were identified. No positivity for T. pseudospiralis was found. No significant differences between the two species of corvids and among the different areas of origin were observed for seropositivity to T. gondii. This is the first extensive study on both T. gondii and T. pseudospiralis in magpies and hooded crows, as well as the first detection of T. gondii SAG genotypes in magpies.
Focus of Ongoing Onchocerciasis Transmission Close to Bangui, Central African Republic
Authors: de Smet Eric , Metanmo Salvatore , Mbelesso Pascal , Kemata Benoit , Siewe Fodjo Joseph N. , Boumédiène Farid , Ekwoge Hilda T. , Yangatimbi Emmanuel , Ajzenberg Daniel , Badibanga Orphee , Preux Pierre-Marie , Colebunders Robert
Published: May 2020

Recently, there were anecdotal reports of a high number of persons with epilepsy, including children with nodding seizures in the Landja Mboko area located about 9 km from the capital city Bangui, Central African Republic. We suspected the area to be endemic for onchocerciasis, and that the alleged increase in the number of epilepsy cases was due to ongoing Onchocerca volvulus transmission. However, ivermectin mass drug distribution (MDA) had never been implemented in the area. Therefore we performed an Ov16 antibody prevalence study among children, aged 6–9 years, using the biplex rapid diagnostic test (SD Bioline Oncho/LF biplex IgG4 RDT). The overall Ov16 seroprevalence was 8.9%, and that of lymphatic filariasis (LF) was 1.9%. Ov16 seropositivity was highest in Kodjo (20.0%), a village close to rapids on the river. Our study shows that there is ongoing O. volvulus transmission in the Landja Mboko area. We recommend that the extent of this onchocerciasis focus should be mapped, and the introduction of ivermectin MDA should be considered in these communities.
Vaccine-Mediated Mechanisms Controlling Francisella tularensis SCHU S4 Growth in a Rat Co-Culture System
Authors: Lindgren Helena , Eneslätt Kjell , Golovliov Igor , Gelhaus Carl , Rydén Patrik , Wu Terry , Sjöstedt Anders
Published: May 2020

Francisella tularensis causes the severe disease tularemia. In the present study, the aim was to identify correlates of protection in the rat co-culture model by investigating the immune responses using two vaccine candidates conferring distinct degrees of protection in rat and mouse models. The immune responses were characterized by use of splenocytes from naïve or Live vaccine strain- (LVS) or ∆clpB/∆wbtC-immunized Fischer 344 rats as effectors and bone marrow-derived macrophages infected with the highly virulent strain SCHU S4. A complex immune response was elicited, resulting in cytokine secretion, nitric oxide production, and efficient control of the intracellular bacterial growth. Addition of LVS-immune splenocytes elicited a significantly better control of bacterial growth than ∆clpB/∆wbtC splenocytes. This mirrored the efficacy of the vaccine candidates in the rat model. Lower levels of IFN-γ, TNF, fractalkine, IL-2, and nitrite were present in the co-cultures with ∆clpB/∆wbtC splenocytes than in those with splenocytes from LVS-immunized rats. Nitric oxide was found to be a correlate of protection, since the levels inversely correlated to the degree of protection and inhibition of nitric oxide production completely reversed the growth inhibition of SCHU S4. Overall, the results demonstrate that the co-culture assay with rat-derived cells is a suitable model to identify correlates of protection against highly virulent strains of F. tularensis
Tripartite Interactions among Ixodiphagus hookeri, Ixodes ricinus and Deer: Differential Interference with Transmission Cycles of Tick-Borne Pathogens
Authors: Krawczyk Aleksandra I. , Bakker Julian W. , Koenraadt Constantianus J. M. , Fonville Manoj , Takumi Katsuhisa , Sprong Hein , Demir Samiye
Published: May 2020

For the development of sustainable control of tick-borne diseases, insight is needed in biological factors that affect tick populations. Here, the ecological interactions among Ixodiphagus hookeri, Ixodes ricinus, and two vertebrate species groups were investigated in relation to their effects on tick-borne disease risk. In 1129 questing ticks, I. hookeri DNA was detected more often in I. ricinus nymphs (4.4%) than in larvae (0.5%) and not in adults. Therefore, we determined the infestation rate of I. hookeri in nymphs from 19 forest sites, where vertebrate, tick, and tick-borne pathogen communities had been previously quantified. We found higher than expected co-occurrence rates of I. hookeri with deer-associated Anaplasma phagocytophilum, and lower than expected rates with rodent-associated Borrelia afzelii and Neoehrlichia mikurensis. The prevalence of I. hookeri in nymphs varied between 0% and 16% and was positively correlated with the encounter probability of ungulates and the densities of all life stages of I. ricinus. Lastly, we investigated the emergence of I. hookeri from artificially fed, field-collected nymphs. Adult wasps emerged from seven of the 172 fed nymphs. From these observations, we inferred that I. hookeri is parasitizing I. ricinus larvae that are feeding on deer, rather than on rodents or in the vegetation. Since I. hookeri populations depend on deer abundance, the main propagation host of I. ricinus, these wasps have no apparent effect on tick populations. The presence of I. hookeri may directly interfere with the transmission cycle of A. phagocytophilum, but not with that of B. afzelii or N. mikurensis.
A Retrospective Assessment of Temperature Trends in Northern Europe Reveals a Deep Impact on the Life Cycle of Ixodes ricinus (Acari: Ixodidae)
Authors: Estrada-Peña Agustin , Fernández-Ruiz Natalia
Published: May 2020

This study modelled the changes in the development processes of the health-threatening tick Ixodes ricinus in Northern Europe as driven by the trends of temperature (1950–2018). We used the ECA&D dataset to calculate the annual accumulated temperature to obtain the development rates of the oviposition, incubation, larva–nymph, and nymph–adult molts. Annual values were used to ascertain the trend in development rates of each stage. The ecological classification of Northern Europe (LANMAP2) was used to summarize results. The temperature in 1950–2018 clearly increased in the target territory. The development rates of every tested life cycle process were faster along the time series. Faster oviposition and incubation rates resulted in central Sweden, Baltic countries, and parts of Finland. Faster molting rates were observed in the same territories and in large areas of Western Norway. The trend of temperature in the period 1950–2018 shows a consistent inflection point around 1990, demonstrating that the increased annual accumulated temperature has a deeper impact on the life cycle of I. ricinus since approximately 1990. Faster development rates could be part of the processes driving the reported spread of the tick in the target area and should be considered as a serious threat to human health.
A Cross-Sectional Study of Seroprevalence of Strongyloidiasis in Pregnant Women (Peruvian Amazon Basin)
Authors: Ortiz-Martínez Sonia , Ramos-Rincón José-Manuel , Vásquez-Chasnamote María-Esteyner , Alarcón-Baldeón Jhonatan , Parraguez-de-la-Cruz Jorge , Gamboa-Paredes Olga-Nohelia , Schillyk-Guerra Patricia , Espinoza-Venegas Luis-Alfredo , Pinedo-Cancino Viviana-Vanessa , Perez-Tanoira Ramón , Górgolas-Hernández-Mora Miguel , Casapía-Morales Martin ,   Spanish-Peruvian Chagas, HTLV and Strongyloides Network
Published: May 2020

Strongyloidiasis is a soil-transmitted helminthiasis with a high global prevalence. Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of Strongyloides stercoralis infection and assess strongyloidiasis serology as a screening technique in the Peruvian Amazon. Material and Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of strongyloidiasis in 300 pregnant women in Iquitos (Peru) from 1 May 2019 to 15 June 2019. Women were tested using serology (Strongyloides IgG IVD-ELISA kit) as an index test and the modified Baermann technique and/or charcoal fecal culture as the parasitological reference standard. Results: The reference tests showed S. stercoralis in the stool of 30 women (prevalence: 10%; 95% confidence interval [CI] 7.1% to 13.9%), while 101 women tested positive on the blood test (prevalence: 33.7%; 95% CI 28.6% to 39.4%). Fourteen of the 15 women (93.3%) with positive results according to the modified Baermann technique, and 14 of the 23 women (56.5%) with positive charcoal cultures also had positive serological results. Serology showed a sensitivity of 63.3% and a negative predictive value of 94.4%. Conclusion: In Iquitos, pregnant women have a high prevalence of S stercoralis. S. stercoralis ELISA could be an excellent tool for population-based screening, as it has a high negative predictive value that can help to rule out the presence of active infection.
What Else Is New?: Toward a Postcolonial Christian Theology for the Anthropocene
Authors: Handley George B.
Published: May 2020

Although there are many reasons for Christian skepticism regarding climate change, one reason is theological in nature, and therefore, requires a theological solution. This essay explains the theological grounds for climate change denial and for a compromised understanding of the power and creativity of human agency. Drawing inspiration from the ecotheological implications of postcolonial poetics, it seeks to offer revised conceptions of the atonement and the fall and of what it means to read both scripture and nature. The aim is to offer a more resilient Christian theology that can inspire agential creativity in the age of the Anthropocene.
Integrated Landscape Change Analysis of Protected Areas and their Surrounding Landscapes: Application in the Brazilian Cerrado
Authors: Bellón Beatriz , Blanco Julien , De Vos Alta , de O. Roque Fabio , Pays Olivier , Renaud Pierre-Cyril
Published: May 2020

Remote sensing tools have been long used to monitor landscape dynamics inside and around protected areas. Hereto, scientists have largely relied on land use and land cover (LULC) data to derive indicators for monitoring these dynamics, but these metrics do not capture changes in the state of vegetation surfaces that may compromise the ecological integrity of conservation areas’ landscapes. Here, we introduce a methodology that combines LULC change estimates with three Normalized Difference Vegetation Index-based proxy indicators of vegetation productivity, phenology, and structural change. We illustrate the utility of this methodology through a regional and local analysis of the landscape dynamics in the Cerrado Biome in Brazil in 2001 and 2016. Despite relatively little natural vegetation loss inside core protected areas and their legal buffer zones, the different indicators revealed significant LULC conversions from natural vegetation to farming land, general productivity loss, homogenization of natural forests, significant agricultural expansion, and a general increase in productivity. These results suggest an overall degradation of habitats and intensification of land use in the studied conservation area network, highlighting serious conservation inefficiencies in this region and stressing the importance of integrated landscape change analyses to provide complementary indicators of ecologically-relevant dynamics in these key conservation areas.
Developing a Proximal Active Canopy Sensor-based Precision Nitrogen Management Strategy for High-Yielding Rice
Authors: Lu Junjun , Miao Yuxin , Shi Wei , Li Jingxin , Hu Xiaoyi , Chen Zhichao , Wang Xinbing , Kusnierek Krzysztof
Published: May 2020

RapidSCAN is a portable active canopy sensor with red, red-edge, and near infrared spectral bands. The objective of this study is to develop and evaluate a RapidSCAN sensor-based precision nitrogen (N) management (PNM) strategy for high-yielding rice in Northeast China. Six rice N rate experiments were conducted from 2014 to 2016 at Jiansanjiang Experiment Station of China Agricultural University in Northeast China. The results indicated that the sensor performed well for estimating rice yield potential (YP0) and yield response to additional N application (RIHarvest) at the stem elongation stage using normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) (R2 = 0.60–0.77 and relative error (REr) = 6.2–8.0%) and at the heading stage using normalized difference red edge (NDRE) (R2 = 0.70–0.82 and REr = 7.3–8.7%). A new RapidSCAN sensor-based PNM strategy was developed that would make N recommendations at both stem elongation and heading growth stages, in contrast to previously developed strategy making N recommendation only at the stem elongation stage. This new PNM strategy could save 24% N fertilizers, and increase N use efficiencies by 29–35% as compared to Farmer N Management, without significantly affecting the rice grain yield and economic returns. Compared with regional optimum N management, the new PNM strategy increased 4% grain yield, 3–10% N use efficiencies and 148 $ ha−1 economic returns across years and varieties. It is concluded that the new RapidSCAN sensor-based PNM strategy with two in-season N recommendations using NDVI and NDRE is suitable for guiding in-season N management in high-yield rice management systems. Future studies are needed to evaluate this RapidSCAN sensor-based PNM strategy under diverse on-farm conditions, as well as to integrate it into high-yield rice management systems for food security and sustainable development.
Crop Mapping Using Random Forest and Particle Swarm Optimization based on Multi-Temporal Sentinel-2
Authors: Akbari Elahe , Darvishi Boloorani Ali , Neysani Samany Najmeh , Hamzeh Saeid , Soufizadeh Saeid , Pignatti Stefano
Published: May 2020

Timely and accurate information on crop mapping and monitoring is necessary for agricultural resources management. Accordingly, the applicability of the proposed classification-feature selection ensemble procedure with different feature sets for crop mapping is investigated. Here, we produced various feature sets including spectral bands, spectral indices, variation of spectral index, texture, and combinations of features to map different types of crops. By using various feature sets and the random forest (RF) classifier, the crop maps were created. In aiming to determine the most relevant and distinctive features, the particle swarm optimization (PSO) and RF-variable importance measure feature selection methods were examined. The classification-feature selection ensemble procedure was adapted to combine the outputs of different feature sets from the better feature selection method using majority votes. Multi-temporal Sentinel-2 data has been used in Ghale-Nou county of Tehran, Iran. The performance of RF was efficient in crop mapping especially by spectral bands and texture in combination with other feature sets. Our results showed that the PSO-based feature selection leads to a more accurate classification than the RF-variable importance measure, in almost all feature sets for all crop types. The RF classifier-PSO ensemble procedure for crop mapping outperformed the RF classifier in each feature set with regard to the class-wise and overall accuracies (OA) (of about 2.7–7.4% increases in OA and 0.48–3.68% (silage maize), 0–1.61% (rice), 2.82–15.43% (alfalfa), and 10.96–41.13% (vegetables) improvement in F-scores for all feature sets). The proposed method could mainly be useful to differentiate between heterogeneous crop fields (e.g., vegetables in this study) due to their more obtained omission/commission errors reduction.
Integration of Constructive Solid Geometry and Boundary Representation (CSG-BRep) for 3D Modeling of Underground Cable Wells from Point Clouds
Authors: Huang Ming , Wu Xueyu , Liu Xianglei , Meng Tianhang , Zhu Peiyuan
Published: May 2020

The preference of three-dimensional representation of underground cable wells from two-dimensional symbols is a developing trend, and three-dimensional (3D) point cloud data is widely used due to its high precision. In this study, we utilize the characteristics of 3D terrestrial lidar point cloud data to build a CSG-BRep 3D model of underground cable wells, whose spatial topological relationship is fully considered. In order to simplify the modeling process, first, point cloud simplification is performed; then, the point cloud main axis is extracted by OBB bounding box, and lastly the point cloud orientation correction is realized by quaternion rotation. Furthermore, employing the adaptive method, the top point cloud is extracted, and it is projected for boundary extraction. Thereupon, utilizing the boundary information, we design the 3D cable well model. Finally, the cable well component model is generated by scanning the original point cloud. The experiments demonstrate that, along with the algorithm being fast, the proposed model is effective at displaying the 3D information of the actual cable wells and meets the current production demands.
Near Real-Time Irrigation Detection at Plot Scale Using Sentinel-1 Data
Authors: Bazzi Hassan , Baghdadi Nicolas , Fayad Ibrahim , Zribi Mehrez , Belhouchette Hatem , Demarez Valérie
Published: May 2020

In the context of monitoring and assessment of water consumption in the agricultural sector, the objective of this study is to build an operational approach capable of detecting irrigation events at plot scale in a near real-time scenario using Sentinel-1 (S1) data. The proposed approach is a decision tree-based method relying on the change detection in the S1 backscattering coefficients at plot scale. First, the behavior of the S1 backscattering coefficients following irrigation events has been analyzed at plot scale over three study sites located in Montpellier (southeast France), Tarbes (southwest France), and Catalonia (northeast Spain). To eliminate the uncertainty between rainfall and irrigation, the S1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) signal and the soil moisture estimations at grid scale (10 km × 10 km) have been used. Then, a tree-like approach has been constructed to detect irrigation events at each S1 date considering additional filters to reduce ambiguities due to vegetation development linked to the growth cycle of different crops types as well as the soil surface roughness. To enhance the detection of irrigation events, a filter using the normalized differential vegetation index (NDVI) obtained from Sentinel-2 optical images has been proposed. Over the three study sites, the proposed method was applied on all possible S1 acquisitions in ascending and descending modes. The results show that 84.8% of the irrigation events occurring over agricultural plots in Montpellier have been correctly detected using the proposed method. Over the Catalonian site, the use of the ascending and descending SAR acquisition modes shows that 90.2% of the non-irrigated plots encountered no detected irrigation events whereas 72.4% of the irrigated plots had one and more detected irrigation events. Results over Catalonia also show that the proposed method allows the discrimination between irrigated and non-irrigated plots with an overall accuracy of 85.9%. In Tarbes, the analysis shows that irrigation events could still be detected even in the presence of abundant rainfall events during the summer season where two and more irrigation events have been detected for 90% of the irrigated plots. The novelty of the proposed method resides in building an effective unsupervised tool for near real-time detection of irrigation events at plot scale independent of the studied geographical context.
Hybrid Coils-Based Wireless Power Transfer for Intelligent Sensors
Authors: Mahmood Mustafa F. , Mohammed Saleem Lateef , Gharghan Sadik Kamel , Al-Naji Ali , Chahl Javaan
Published: May 2020

Most wearable intelligent biomedical sensors are battery-powered. The batteries are large and relatively heavy, adding to the volume of wearable sensors, especially when implanted. In addition, the batteries have limited capacity, requiring periodic charging, as well as a limited life, requiring potentially invasive replacement. This paper aims to design and implement a prototype energy harvesting technique based on wireless power transfer/magnetic resonator coupling (WPT/MRC) to overcome the battery power problem by supplying adequate power for a heart rate sensor. We optimized transfer power and efficiency at different distances between transmitter and receiver coils. The proposed MRC consists of three units: power, measurement, and monitoring. The power unit included transmitter and receiver coils. The measurement unit consisted of an Arduino Nano microcontroller, a heart rate sensor, and used the nRF24L01 wireless protocol. The experimental monitoring unit was supported by a laptop to monitor the heart rate measurement in real-time. Three coil topologies: spiral–spiral, spider–spider, and spiral–spider were implemented for testing. These topologies were examined to explore which would be the best for the application by providing the highest transfer power and efficiency. The spiral–spider topology achieved the highest transfer power and efficiency with 10 W at 87%, respectively over a 5 cm air gap between transmitter and receiver coils when a 200 Ω resistive load was considered. Whereas, the spider–spider topology accomplished 7 W and 93% transfer power and efficiency at the same airgap and resistive load. The proposed topologies were superior to previous studies in terms of transfer power, efficiency and distance.
Long Exposure Short Pulse Synchronous Phase Lock Method for Capturing High Dynamic Surface Shape
Authors: Han Weiqiang , Gao Xiaodong , Fan Zhenjie , Bai Le , Liu Bo
Published: May 2020

In infrared weak target detection systems, high-frequency vibrating mirrors (VMs) are a core component. The dynamic surface shape of the VM has a direct impact on imaging quality and the optical modulation effect, so its measurement is necessary but also very difficult. Measurement of the dynamic surface shape of VMs requires a transiently acquired image series, but traditional methods cannot perform this task, as, when the VM is vibrating at a frequency of 3033 Hz, using high-speed cameras to acquire the images would result in frame rates exceeding 1.34 MFPS, which is currently technically impossible. In this paper, we propose the long exposure short pulse synchronous phase lock (LSPL) method, which can capture the dynamic surface shape using a camera working at 10 FPS. In addition, our proposed approach uses a single laser pulse and can achieve the dynamic surface shape measurement on a single frame image.
A Multi-Sensor Tight Fusion Method Designed for Vehicle Navigation
Authors: Lai Qifeng , Yuan Hong , Wei Dongyan , Wang Ningbo , Li Zishen , Ji Xinchun
Published: May 2020

Using the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), it is difficult to provide continuous and reliable position service for vehicle navigation in complex urban environments, due to the natural vulnerability of the GNSS signal. With the rapid development of the sensor technology and the reduction in their costs, the positioning performance of GNSS is expected to be significantly improved by fusing multi-sensors. In order to improve the continuity and reliability of the vehicle navigation system, we proposed a multi-sensor tight fusion (MTF) method by combining the inertial navigation system (INS), odometer, and barometric altimeter with the GNSS technique. Different fusion strategies were presented in the open-sky, insufficient satellite, and satellite outage environments to check the performance improvement of the proposed method. The simulation and real-device tests demonstrate that in the open-sky context, the error of sensors can be estimated correctly. This is useful for sensor noise compensation and position accuracy improvement, when GNSS is unavailable. In the insufficient satellite context (6 min), with the help of the barometric altimeter and a clock model, the accuracy of the method can be close to that in the open-sky context. In the satellite outage context, the error divergence of the MTF is obviously slower than the traditional GNSS/INS tightly coupled integration, as seen by odometer and barometric altimeter assisting.
Compact and Low-Profile UWB Antenna Based on Graphene-Assembled Films for Wearable Applications
Authors: Fang Ran , Song Rongguo , Zhao Xin , Wang Zhe , Qian Wei , He Daping
Published: May 2020

In this article, a graphene-assembled film (GAF)-based compact and low-profile ultra-wide bandwidth (UWB) antenna is presented and tested for wearable applications. The highly conductive GAFs (~106 S/m) together with the flexible ceramic substrate ensure the flexibility and robustness of the antenna, which are two main challenges in designing wearable antennas. Two H-shaped slots are introduced on a coplanar-waveguide (CPW) feeding structure to adjust the current distribution and thus improve the antenna bandwidth. The compact GAF antenna with dimensions of 32 × 52 × 0.28 mm3 provides an impedance bandwidth of 60% (4.3–8.0 GHz) in simulation. The UWB characteristics are further confirmed by on-body measurements and show a bending insensitive bandwidth of ~67% (4.1–8.0 GHz), with the maximum gain at 7.45 GHz being 3.9 dBi and 4.1 dBi in its flat state and bent state, respectively. Our results suggest that the proposed antenna functions properly in close proximity to a human body and can sustain repetitive bending, which make it well suited for applications in wearable devices.
The Use of Ensemble Models for Multiple Class and Binary Class Classification for Improving Intrusion Detection Systems
Authors: Iwendi Celestine , Khan Suleman , Anajemba Joseph Henry , Mittal Mohit , Alenezi Mamdouh , Alazab Mamoun
Published: May 2020

The pursuit to spot abnormal behaviors in and out of a network system is what led to a system known as intrusion detection systems for soft computing besides many researchers have applied machine learning around this area. Obviously, a single classifier alone in the classifications seems impossible to control network intruders. This limitation is what led us to perform dimensionality reduction by means of correlation-based feature selection approach (CFS approach) in addition to a refined ensemble model. The paper aims to improve the Intrusion Detection System (IDS) by proposing a CFS + Ensemble Classifiers (Bagging and Adaboost) which has high accuracy, high packet detection rate, and low false alarm rate. Machine Learning Ensemble Models with base classifiers (J48, Random Forest, and Reptree) were built. Binary classification, as well as Multiclass classification for KDD99 and NSLKDD datasets, was done while all the attacks were named as an anomaly and normal traffic. Class labels consisted of five major attacks, namely Denial of Service (DoS), Probe, User-to-Root (U2R), Root to Local attacks (R2L), and Normal class attacks. Results from the experiment showed that our proposed model produces 0 false alarm rate (FAR) and 99.90% detection rate (DR) for the KDD99 dataset, and 0.5% FAR and 98.60% DR for NSLKDD dataset when working with 6 and 13 selected features.
Dynamically Reconfigurable Data Readout of Pixel Detectors for Automatic Synchronization with Data Acquisition Systems
Authors: Fahim Farah , Bianconi Simone , Rabinowitz Jacob , Joshi Siddhartha , Mohseni Hooman
Published: May 2020

Reconfigurable detectors with dynamically selectable sensing and readout modes are highly desirable for implementing edge computing as well as enabling advanced imaging techniques such as foveation. The concept of a camera system capable of simultaneous passive imaging and dynamic ranging in different regions of the detector is presented. Such an adaptive-autonomous detector with both spatial and temporal control requires programmable window of exposure (time frames), ability to switch between readout modes such as full-frame imaging and zero-suppressed data, modification of the number of pixel data bits and independent programmability for distinct detector regions. In this work, a method is presented for seamlessly changing time frames and readout modes without data corruption while still ensuring that the data acquisition system (DAQ) does not need to stop and resynchronize at each change of setting, thus avoiding significant dead time. Data throughput is maximized by using a minimum unique data format, rather than lengthy frame headers, to differentiate between consecutive frames. A data control and transmitter (DCT) synchronizes data transfer from the pixel to the periphery, reconfigures the data to transmit it serially off-chip, while providing optimized decision support based on a DAQ definable mode. Measurements on a test structure demonstrate that the DCT can operate at 1 GHz in a 65 nm LP CMOS process.
Raspberry, Rape, Thyme, Sunflower and Mint Honeys Authentication Using Voltammetric Tongue
Authors: Pauliuc Daniela , Dranca Florina , Oroian Mircea
Published: May 2020

The aim of this study was to authenticate five types of Romanian honey (raspberry, rape, thyme, sunflower and mint) using a voltammetric tongue (VE tongue) technique. For the electronic tongue system, six electrodes (silver, gold, platinum, glass, zinc oxide and titanium dioxide) were used. The results of the melissopalynological analysis were supplemented by the data obtained with the electronic voltammetric tongue system. The results were interpreted by means of principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). In this way, the usefulness of the working electrodes was compared for determining the botanical origin of the honey samples. The electrodes of titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, and silver were more useful, as the results obtained with these electrodes showed that it was achieved a better classification of honey according to its botanical origin. The comparison of the results of the electronic voltammetric tongue technique with those obtained by melissopalynological analysis showed that the technique was able to accurately classify 92.7% of the original grouped cases. The similarity of results confirmed the ability of the electronic voltammetric tongue technique to perform a rapid characterization of honey samples, which complements its advantages of being an easy-to-use and cheap method of analysis.
Adaptive 3D Model-Based Facial Expression Synthesis and Pose Frontalization
Authors: Hong Yu-Jin , Choi Sung Eun , Nam Gi Pyo , Choi Heeseung , Cho Junghyun , Kim Ig-Jae
Published: May 2020

Facial expressions are one of the important non-verbal ways used to understand human emotions during communication. Thus, acquiring and reproducing facial expressions is helpful in analyzing human emotional states. However, owing to complex and subtle facial muscle movements, facial expression modeling from images with face poses is difficult to achieve. To handle this issue, we present a method for acquiring facial expressions from a non-frontal single photograph using a 3D-aided approach. In addition, we propose a contour-fitting method that improves the modeling accuracy by automatically rearranging 3D contour landmarks corresponding to fixed 2D image landmarks. The acquired facial expression input can be parametrically manipulated to create various facial expressions through a blendshape or expression transfer based on the FACS (Facial Action Coding System). To achieve a realistic facial expression synthesis, we propose an exemplar-texture wrinkle synthesis method that extracts and synthesizes appropriate expression wrinkles according to the target expression. To do so, we constructed a wrinkle table of various facial expressions from 400 people. As one of the applications, we proved that the expression-pose synthesis method is suitable for expression-invariant face recognition through a quantitative evaluation, and showed the effectiveness based on a qualitative evaluation. We expect our system to be a benefit to various fields such as face recognition, HCI, and data augmentation for deep learning.
Blockchain-Based Healthcare Workflow for Tele-Medical Laboratory in Federated Hospital IoT Clouds
Authors: Celesti Antonio , Ruggeri Armando , Fazio Maria , Galletta Antonino , Villari Massimo , Romano Agata
Published: May 2020

In a pandemic situation such as that we are living at the time of writing of this paper due to the Covid-19 virus, the need of tele-healthcare service becomes dramatically fundamental to reduce the movement of patients, thence reducing the risk of infection. Leveraging the recent Cloud computing and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, this paper aims at proposing a tele-medical laboratory service where clinical exams are performed on patients directly in a hospital by technicians through IoT medical devices and results are automatically sent via the hospital Cloud to doctors of federated hospitals for validation and/or consultation. In particular, we discuss a distributed scenario where nurses, technicians and medical doctors belonging to different hospitals cooperate through their federated hospital Clouds to form a virtual health team able to carry out a healthcare workflow in secure fashion leveraging the intrinsic security features of the Blockchain technology. In particular, both public and hybrid Blockchain scenarios are discussed and assessed using the Ethereum platform.
A SVM and SLIC Based Detection Method for Paddy Field Boundary Line
Authors: Li Yanming , Hong Zijia , Cai Daoqing , Huang Yixiang , Gong Liang , Liu Chengliang
Published: May 2020

Visual based route and boundary detection is a key technology in agricultural automatic navigation systems. The variable illumination and lack of training samples has a bad effect on visual route detection in unstructured farmland environments. In order to improve the robustness of the boundary detection under different illumination conditions, an image segmentation algorithm based on support vector machine was proposed. A superpixel segmentation algorithm was adopted to solve the lack of training samples for a support vector machine. A sufficient number of superpixel samples were selected for extraction of color and texture features, thus a 19-dimensional feature vector was formed. Then, the support vector machine model was trained and used to identify the paddy ridge field in the new picture. The recognition F1 score can reach 90.7%. Finally, Hough transform detection was used to extract the boundary of the ridge field. The total running time of the proposed algorithm is within 0.8 s and can meet the real-time requirements of agricultural machinery.
DLT Based Authentication Framework for Industrial IoT Devices
Authors: Lupascu Cristian , Lupascu Alexandru , Bica Ion
Published: May 2020

The latest technological progress in the industrial sector has led to a paradigm shift in manufacturing efficiency and operational cost reduction. More often than not, this cost reduction comes at the price of dismissing information security, especially when multiple stakeholders are involved and the complexity increases. As a further matter, most of the legacy systems and smart factoring processes lack a security by design approach, making them highly vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Taking into consideration the aforementioned issues, we propose an architectural framework for Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) that provides authentication and guaranteed integrity. Our proposal properly addresses the security by design principle while combining some of the emerging technologies like Secure Multi-Party Computation (SMPC) for grounded policy rules and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) for an immutable and transparent registry.
An Approach towards Increasing Prediction Accuracy for the Recovery of Missing IoT Data based on the GRNN-SGTM Ensemble
Authors: Tkachenko Roman , Izonin Ivan , Kryvinska Natalia , Dronyuk Ivanna , Zub Khrystyna
Published: May 2020

The purpose of this paper is to improve the accuracy of solving prediction tasks of the missing IoT data recovery. To achieve this, the authors have developed a new ensemble of neural network tools. It consists of two successive General Regression Neural Network (GRNN) networks and one neural-like structure of the Successive Geometric Transformation Model (SGTM). The principle of ensemble topology construction on two successively connected general regression neural networks, supplemented with an SGTM neural-like structure, is mathematically substantiated, which improves the accuracy of prediction results. The effectiveness of the method is based on the replacement of the summation of the results of the two GRNNs with a weighted summation, which improves the accuracy of the ensemble operation in general. A detailed algorithmic implementation of the ensemble method as well as a flowchart of its operation is presented. The parameters of the ensemble operation are determined by optimization using the brute-force method. Based on the developed ensemble method, the solution of the task of completing the partially missing values in the real monitoring dataset of the air environment collected by the IoT device is presented. By comparing the performance of the developed ensemble with the existing methods, the highest accuracy of its performance (by the parameters of Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) accuracy) among the most similar in this class has been proved.
The Joint Effect of International and Domestic-Level State Capacity on Civil War Risk
Authors: Bakaki Zorzeta
Published: May 2020

This article examines the role of international and domestic-level factors for strengthening states’ capacity. State failure enhances insecurity, since there is not sufficient agency or institutions to provide adequate security guarantees and to put into operation established rules. When the government is unable to address grievances stemming from such insecurity, armed conflict becomes more likely. Links with external institutions and domestic-level capacity that increases prosperity prevent insurgencies and promote stability, however. To this end, this research develops a new theory linking state capacity and the international and domestic-level factors to internal conflict. Empirically, this study examines the risk of civil conflict onset, focusing on the combined effect of international (political globalisation) and domestic-level (GDP per capita) state capacity as the main driving force. The results show that the joint effect of these factors has a negative impact on civil war risk, which is significantly and substantially important.
Investigating the Imagination of Possible and ‘Like-to-Avoid’ Selves among Higher Education Students from Different Socioeconomic Backgrounds at a Selective English University
Authors: Barg Katherin , Benham-Clarke Simon , Mountford-Zimdars Anna
Published: May 2020

Access to and participation in higher education (HE) remains unequal, with social background continuing to influence decisions and experiences. In this paper, we undertake a proof-of-concept design to apply the theory of ‘possible selves’, as adapted by Harrison and published in Social Sciences (2018), to university students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. In 2019, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 first-year students, from different socioeconomic backgrounds, currently studying at a selective English university. We applied a deductive analysis based on Harrison’s adaptation of the ‘possible selves’ model originally put forward by Markus and Nurius in the 1980s. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds had a clear drive to ‘avoid’ future selves that would emerge without HE. Across all socioeconomic groups, we found a strong sense of agency, and a strong personal belief in success. Overall, our study shows that the model of possible selves is useful for understanding personalised and individualised student experiences, and the interrelation between social structure (socioeconomic condition) and agency. The model also offers a new way for practitioners to plan interventions for enhancing equity in HE access and participation.
Exploring the Contribution of Grassroots Innovations to Justice: Using the Capability Approach to Normatively Address Bottom-Up Sustainable Transitions Practices
Authors: Belda-Miquel Sergio , Pellicer-Sifres Victoria , Boni Alejandra
Published: May 2020

There is growing interest in the potential of grassroots innovations for the transition towards more just and sustainable societies. Nevertheless, there is lack of clear normative discussion regarding these processes. The paper strives to propose and test a framework that enables an analysis of how and in which sense specific grassroots innovation processes may be contributing to the construction of more just societies. To this end, we connect elements of the multi-level perspective on sociotechnical transitions (frequently used in the analysis of grassroots innovations) with elements of the capability approach, which offers a multi-dimensional perspective to justice. The framework is used to address two purposively selected empirical cases in two key sectors in Spain: an energy cooperative and a food purchasing group. We draw on the information of 25 individual interviews with members of these two cases, on observation, and on secondary sources. Information was processed by means of a qualitative content analysis. We draw on predefined categories from the framework, which was refined during the analysis. The paper illustrates that grassroots innovations may be contributing to justice in several aspects: they expand capabilities in different dimensions, improve public reasoning processes, and create better structural conditions for human flourishing. Nevertheless, these processes are not free of tensions and contradictions.