bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Compressive Behavior of Aluminum Microfibers Reinforced Semi-Rigid Polyurethane Foams
Authors: Linul Emanoil , Vălean Cristina , Linul Petrică-Andrei
Published: November 2018

Unreinforced and reinforced semi-rigid polyurethane (PU) foams were prepared and their compressive behavior was investigated. Aluminum microfibers (AMs) were added to the formulations to investigate their effect on mechanical properties and crush performances of closed-cell semi-rigid PU foams. Physical and mechanical properties of foams, including foam density, quasi-elastic gradient, compressive strength, densification strain, and energy absorption capability, were determined. The quasi-static compression tests were carried out at room temperature on cubic samples with a loading speed of 10 mm/min. Experimental results showed that the elastic properties and compressive strengths of reinforced semi-rigid PU foams were increased by addition of AMs into the foams. This increase in properties (61.81%-compressive strength and 71.29%-energy absorption) was obtained by adding up to 1.5% (of the foam liquid mass) aluminum microfibers. Above this upper limit of 1.5% AMs (e.g., 2% AMs), the compressive behavior changes and the energy absorption increases only by 12.68%; while the strength properties decreases by about 14.58% compared to unreinforced semi-rigid PU foam. The energy absorption performances of AMs reinforced semi-rigid PU foams were also found to be dependent on the percentage of microfiber in the same manner as the elastic and strength properties.
Block Copolymer of Flexible and Semi-Flexible Block Confined in Nanopost Array
Authors: Rišpanová Lucia , Benková Zuzana , Cifra Peter
Published: November 2018

Coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations of a diblock copolymer consisting of a flexible and semi-flexible block in a dense array of parallel nanoposts with a square lattice packing were performed. The mutual interactions between the two blocks of the confined diblock chain were investigated through a comparison of their size, structure, and penetration among nanoposts with the corresponding separate chains. The geometry of a nanopost array was varied at constant post separation or at constant width of the passage between nanoposts. The size of a single interstitial volume was comparable to or smaller than the size of the diblock chain. A comparison of the blocks with their separate analogous chains revealed that the mutual interactions between the blocks were shielded by the nanoposts and, thus, the blocks behaved independently. At constant passage width, competitive effects of the axial chain extension in interstitial volumes and the lateral chain expansion among interstitial volumes led to a nonmonotonic behavior of the axial span. The position of the maximum in the span plotted against the filling fraction for a diblock chain was dictated by the semi-flexible block. The semi-flexible block penetrates among the nanoposts more readily and the expansion of the whole diblock copolymer is governed by the semiflexible block. The main findings were explained using the free energy arguments when an interstitial volume was approximated by a channel geometry and a passage aperture by a slit geometry. Detail knowledge of controlled conformational behavior in a compartmentalized environment can contribute to new processes in the storage and retrieval of information.
Advances in Quaternary Studies: The Contribution of the Mammalian Fossil Record
Authors: Palombo Maria Rita
Published: November 2018

Explaining the multifaceted, dynamic interactions of the manifold factors that have modelled throughout the ages the evolutionary history of the biosphere is undoubtedly a fascinating and challenging task that has been intriguing palaeontologists, biologists and ecologists for decades, in a never-ending pursuit of the causal factors that controlled the evolutionary dynamics of the Earth’s ecosystems throughout deep and Quaternary time. [...]
“Tau-Omega”- and Two-Stream Emission Models Used for Passive L-Band Retrievals: Application to Close-Range Measurements over a Forest
Authors: Schwank Mike , Naderpour Reza , Mätzler Christian
Published: November 2018

Microwave Emission Models (EM) are used in retrieval algorithms to estimate geophysical state parameters such as soil Water Content ( W C ) and vegetation optical depth ( τ ), from brightness temperatures T B p , θ measured at nadir angles θ at Horizontal and Vertical polarizations p = { H , V } . An EM adequate for implementation in a retrieval algorithm must capture the responses of T B p , θ to the retrieval parameters, and the EM parameters must be experimentally accessible and representative of the measurement footprint. The objective of this study is to explore the benefits of the multiple-scattering Two-Stream (2S) EM over the “Tau-Omega” (TO) EM considered as the “reference” to retrieve W C and τ from L-band T B p , θ . For sparse and low-scattering vegetation T B , E M p , θ simulated with E M = { TO ,   2 S } converge. This is not the case for dense and strongly scattering vegetation. Two-Parameter (2P) retrievals 2 P R C = ( W C R C , τ R C ) are computed from elevation scans T B p , θ j = T B , TO p , θ j synthesized with TO EM and from T B p , θ j measured from a tower within a deciduous forest. Retrieval Configurations ( R C ) employ either E M = TO or E M = 2 S and assume fixed scattering albedos. W C R C achieved with the 2S RC is marginally lower ( ~ 1   m 3 m − 3 ) than if achieved with the “reference” TO RC, while τ R C is reduced considerably when using 2S EM instead of TO EM. Our study outlines a number of advantages of the 2S EM over the TO EM currently implemented in the operational SMOS and SMAP retrieval algorithms.
Quantification of Extent, Density, and Status of Aquatic Reed Beds Using Point Clouds Derived from UAV–RGB Imagery
Authors: Corti Meneses Nicolás , Brunner Florian , Baier Simon , Geist Juergen , Schneider Thomas
Published: November 2018

Quantification of reed coverage and vegetation status is fundamental for monitoring and developing lake conservation strategies. The applicability of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) three-dimensional data (point clouds) for status evaluation was investigated. This study focused on mapping extent, density, and vegetation status of aquatic reed beds. Point clouds were calculated with Structure from Motion (SfM) algorithms in aerial imagery recorded with Rotary Wing (RW) and Fixed Wing (FW) UAV. Extent was quantified by measuring the surface between frontline and shoreline. Density classification was based on point geometry (height and height variance) in point clouds. Spectral information per point was used for calculating a vegetation index and was used as indicator for vegetation vitality. Status was achieved by combining data on density, vitality, and frontline shape outputs. Field observations in areas of interest (AOI) and optical imagery were used for reference and validation purposes. A root mean square error (RMSE) of 1.58 m to 3.62 m for cross sections from field measurements and classification was achieved for extent map. The overall accuracy (OA) acquired for density classification was 88.6% (Kappa = 0.8). The OA for status classification of 83.3% (Kappa = 0.7) was reached by comparison with field measurements complemented by secondary Red, Green, Blue (RGB) data visual assessments. The research shows that complex transitional zones (water–vegetation–land) can be assessed and support the suitability of the applied method providing new strategies for monitoring aquatic reed bed using low-cost UAV imagery.
Earth-Observation-Based Estimation and Forecasting of Particulate Matter Impact on Solar Energy in Egypt
Authors: Kosmopoulos Panagiotis , Kazadzis Stelios , El-Askary Hesham , Taylor Michael , Gkikas Antonis , Proestakis Emmanouil , Kontoes Charalampos , El-Khayat Mohamed
Published: November 2018

This study estimates the impact of dust aerosols on surface solar radiation and solar energy in Egypt based on Earth Observation (EO) related techniques. For this purpose, we exploited the synergy of monthly mean and daily post processed satellite remote sensing observations from the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), radiative transfer model (RTM) simulations utilizing machine learning, in conjunction with 1-day forecasts from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS). As cloudy conditions in this region are rare, aerosols in particular dust, are the most common sources of solar irradiance attenuation, causing performance issues in the photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP) plant installations. The proposed EO-based methodology is based on the solar energy nowcasting system (SENSE) that quantifies the impact of aerosol and dust on solar energy potential by using the aerosol optical depth (AOD) in terms of climatological values and day-to-day monitoring and forecasting variability from MODIS and CAMS, respectively. The forecast accuracy was evaluated at various locations in Egypt with substantial PV and CSP capacity installed and found to be within 5–12% of that obtained from the satellite observations, highlighting the ability to use such modelling approaches for solar energy management and planning (M&P). Particulate matter resulted in attenuation by up to 64–107 kWh/m2 for global horizontal irradiance (GHI) and 192–329 kWh/m2 for direct normal irradiance (DNI) annually. This energy reduction is climatologically distributed between 0.7% and 12.9% in GHI and 2.9% to 41% in DNI with the maximum values observed in spring following the frequent dust activity of Khamaseen. Under extreme dust conditions the AOD is able to exceed 3.5 resulting in daily energy losses of more than 4 kWh/m2 for a 10 MW system. Such reductions are able to cause financial losses that exceed the daily revenue values. This work aims to show EO capabilities and techniques to be incorporated and utilized in solar energy studies and applications in sun-privileged locations with permanent aerosol sources such as Egypt.
Snow Cover Monitoring with Chinese Gaofen-4 PMS Imagery and the Restored Snow Index (RSI) Method: Case Studies
Authors: Zhang Tianyuan , Ren Huazhong , Qin Qiming , Sun Yuanheng
Published: November 2018

Snow cover is an essential climate variable of the Global Climate Observing System. Gaofen-4 (GF-4) is the first Chinese geostationary satellite to obtain optical imagery with high spatial and temporal resolution, which presents unique advantages in snow cover monitoring. However, the panchromatic and multispectral sensor (PMS) onboard GF-4 lacks the shortwave infrared (SWIR) band, which is crucial for snow cover detection. To reach the potential of GF-4 PMS in snow cover monitoring, this study developed a novel method termed the restored snow index (RSI). The SWIR reflectance of snow cover is restored firstly, and then the RSI is calculated with the restored reflectance. The distribution of snow cover can be mapped with a threshold, which should be adjusted according to actual situations. The RSI was validated using two pairs of GF-4 PMS and Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager images. The validation results show that the RSI can effectively map the distribution of snow cover in these cases, and all of the classification accuracies are above 95%. Signal saturation slightly affects PMS images, but cloud contamination is an important limiting factor. Therefore, we propose that the RSI is an efficient method for monitoring snow cover from GF-4 PMS imagery without requiring the SWIR reflectance.
Flood Mapping in a Complex Environment Using Bistatic TanDEM-X/TerraSAR-X InSAR Coherence
Authors: Chaabani Chayma , Chini Marco , Abdelfattah Riadh , Hostache Renaud , Chokmani Karem
Published: November 2018

In this paper, we assess the flood mapping capabilities of the X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery acquired by the bistatic pair TanDEM-X/TerraSAR-X (TDX/TSX). The main objective is to investigate the added value of the bistatic TDX/TSX Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) coherence in addition to the SAR backscatter in the context of inundation mapping. As a classifier, we consider a Random Forest (RF) classification scheme using TDX/TSX SAR intensities and their bistatic InSAR coherence to extract the flood extent map. To evaluate the classification results and as no “ground truth” was available at the SAR data acquisition time, we set up a LISFLOOD-FP hydraulic model for simulating the temporal evolution of the flood water. The flood map simulated by the model shows good performances with an Overall Accuracy (OA) of 97.92 % and a Critical Success Index (CSI) of 94 . 01 % . The SAR-derived flood map is then compared to the LISFLOOD-FP extent map simulated at the SAR data acquisition time. As a test case, we consider the flooding event of the Richelieu River that occurred in the Montérégie region of Quebec (Canada) from April to June 2011. Experimental results highlight the potential of the bistatic InSAR coherence for more accurate flood mapping in a complex landscape with urban and vegetation areas. The classification results of the SAR-derived flood map with respect to the LISFLOOD-FP flood map reach an OA of 78.65 % and a Precision of 82.08 % when integrating the bistatic InSAR coherence. These classification OA and Precision values are 69.63 % and 64.52 % , respectively, using only the TDX/TSX SAR intensity.
Location-Based Lattice Mobility Model for Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Al-Rahayfeh Amer , Razaque Abdul , Jararweh Yaser , Almiani Muder
Published: November 2018

Significant research has been conducted for maintaining a high standard of communication and good coverage in wireless sensor networks (WSNs), but extra power consumption and mobility issues are not yet fully resolved. This paper introduces a memory-less location mobility-aware Lattice Mobility Model (LMM) for WSNs. LMM is capable of concurrently determining the node and sink mobility. LMM has a lower pause time, fewer control packets, and less node dependency (e.g., the energy consumed by each node in each cycle that is independent of the data traffic). LMM accurately determines a node’s moving location, the distance from its previous location to its current location, and the distance from its existing location to its destination. Many existing mobility models only provide a model how nodes move (e.g., to mimic pedestrian behavior), but do not actually control the next position based on properties of the underlying network topology. To determine the strength of LMM, OMNet++ was used to generate the realistic scenario to safeguard the affected area. The operation in affected area comprises searching for, detecting, and saving survivors. Currently, this process involves a time-consuming, manual search of the disaster area. This contribution aims to identify an energy efficient mobility model for a walking pattern in this particular scenario. LMM outperforms other mobility models, including the geographic-based circular mobility model (CMM), the random waypoint mobility model (RWMM) and the wind mobility model (WMM), The simulation results also demonstrate that the LMM requires the least time to change the location, has a lower drop rate, and has more residual energy savings than do the WMM, RWMM, and CMM.
Sparse Ultrasound Imaging via Manifold Low-Rank Approximation and Non-Convex Greedy Pursuit
Authors: Rigo Passarin Thiago Alberto , Wüst Zibetti Marcelo Victor , Rodrigues Pipa Daniel
Published: November 2018

Model-based image reconstruction has improved contrast and spatial resolution in imaging applications such as magnetic resonance imaging and emission computed tomography. However, these methods have not succeeded in pulse-echo applications like ultrasound imaging due to the typical assumption of a finite grid of possible scatterer locations in a medium–an assumption that does not reflect the continuous nature of real world objects and creates a problem known as off-grid deviation. To cope with this problem, we present a method of dictionary expansion and constrained reconstruction that approximates the continuous manifold of all possible scatterer locations within a region of interest. The expanded dictionary is created using a highly coherent sampling of the region of interest, followed by a rank reduction procedure. We develop a greedy algorithm, based on the Orthogonal Matching Pursuit, that uses a correlation-based non-convex constraint set that allows for the division of the region of interest into cells of any size. To evaluate the performance of the method, we present results of two-dimensional ultrasound imaging with simulated data in a nondestructive testing application. Our method succeeds in the reconstructions of sparse images from noisy measurements, providing higher accuracy than previous approaches based on regular discrete models.
Spectroscopic Analysis of Melatonin in the Terahertz Frequency Range
Authors: Puc Uroš , Abina Andreja , Jeglič Anton , Zidanšek Aleksander , Kašalynas Irmantas , Venckevičius Rimvydas , Valušis Gintaras
Published: November 2018

There is a need for fast and reliable quality and authenticity control tools of pharmaceutical ingredients. Among others, hormone containing drugs and foods are subject to scrutiny. In this study, terahertz (THz) spectroscopy and THz imaging are applied for the first time to analyze melatonin and its pharmaceutical product Circadin. Melatonin is a hormone found naturally in the human body, which is responsible for the regulation of sleep-wake cycles. In the THz frequency region between 1.5 THz and 4.5 THz, characteristic melatonin spectral features at 3.21 THz, and a weaker one at 4.20 THz, are observed allowing for a quantitative analysis within the final products. Spectroscopic THz imaging of different concentrations of Circadin and melatonin as an active pharmaceutical ingredient in prepared pellets is also performed, which permits spatial recognition of these different substances. These results indicate that THz spectroscopy and imaging can be an indispensable tool, complementing Raman and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies, in order to provide quality control of dietary supplements and other pharmaceutical products.
Bandwidth Cost Minimization via User Association for Enterprise WLANs
Authors: Wan Xili , Guan Xinjie , Zhao Wentian , Bai Guangwei , Choi Baek-Young
Published: November 2018

Enterprise Wireless LANs (E-WLANs) such as airport WiFi, have become a convenient way for Internet access for mobile users. In an E-WLAN, access points (APs) are usually deployed with high-density around the infrastructure to provide sufficient coverage and for a better service, where a mobile user chooses one AP to associate with among multiple available APs in the vicinity. Many studies have been done on developing user association techniques to increase system performance, with various objectives including network throughput maximization, load balancing etc. Our work is unique in that we focused on bandwidth cost minimization via user association from the perspective of the E-WLAN operators. Specifically, by considering the bandwidth demands from mobile users, we modeled the joint user association and cost minimization problem in the heterogeneous E-WLAN with additional constraints from individual bandwidth demands as an optimization problem. To solve the optimization problem efficiently, we propose an approximation algorithm using relaxation and rounding techniques. We prove that the proposed algorithm has performance bound with a constant ratio to the optimization problem. Furthermore, our simulation results exhibit the superiority of our proposed algorithm over prior schemes.
Evaluation of Prestress Loss Distribution during Pre-Tensioning and Post-Tensioning Using Long-Gauge Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors
Authors: Shen Sheng , Wang Yao , Ma Sheng-Lan , Huang Di , Wu Zhi-Hong , Guo Xiao
Published: November 2018

Prestress loss evaluation in prestressed strands is essential for prestressed structures. However, the sensors installed outside the duct can only measure the total prestress loss. The sensors attached on strands inside the duct also have several problems, such as inadequate durability in an aggressive environment and vulnerability to damage during tensioning. This paper proposes a new installation method for long-gauge fiber Bragg grating (LFBG) sensors to prevent accidental damage. Then the itemized prestress losses were determined in each stage of the pre-tensioning and post-tensioning according to the LFBG measurements. We verified the applicability of the LFBG sensors for prestress monitoring and the accuracy of the proposed prestress loss calculation method during pre-tensioning and post-tensioning. In the pre-tensioning case, the calculated prestress losses had less deviation from the true losses than those obtained from foil-strain gauges, and the durability of the LFBG sensors was better than foil-strain gauges, whereas in post-tensioning case, the calculated prestress losses were close to those derived from theoretical predictions. Finally, we monitored prestress variation in the strand for 90 days. The itemized prestress losses at each stages of post-tensioning were obtained by the proposed calculation method to show the prospect of the LFBG sensors in practical evaluation.
PZT-Based Ultrasonic Guided Wave Frequency Dispersion Characteristics of Tubular Structures for Different Interfacial Boundaries
Authors: Yan Shi , Zhang Bowen , Song Gangbing , Lin Jiaoyun
Published: November 2018

For tubular structures, ultrasonic guided waves (UGWs) which are closely related to interfacial boundary conditions such as gas, liquid and solid materials, are usually used in damage detection. Due to the different phase materials inside tubes, the interfacial boundary (connection) conditions are variable, which has a great influence on the dispersion-related UGW propagation characteristics. However, most UGW-based damage detection methods only consider the pipeline structures as hollow tubes, ignoring the interfacial boundary condition influences on the UGW propagation. Based on the UGW theory, this paper aims to propose a novel method for describing the UGW propagation characteristics for different interfaces, and lay a foundation for the UGW-based tubular structure damage detection. Based on the Navier’s equation of motion and combined with interfacial boundary conditions and coordinate conditions, the dispersion equations for a hollow steel tube, a tube filled with liquid, and a concrete filled steel tube (CFST) were established, respectively. Under the given conditions of both materials and geometric parameters, the transcendental dispersion equations were established and solved by using a numerical method. The UGW propagation characteristics in different interfaces were classified and discussed, and the dispersion curves of both group and phase velocities are drawn. To validate the efficiency of theoretical and numerical results, three kinds of model tubular structure experiments filled in air (hollow), water and concrete, respectively, were performed based on lead zirconate titanate (PZT) transducer UGWs. The results showed that the UGWs propagation in different interfaces has the dispersion and multi-modes characters, which are not only related to the product of frequency and thickness, but also to the internal dielectric material parameters and interfacial boundary conditions.
Sensor Selection for Decentralized Large-Scale Multi-Target Tracking Network
Authors: Lian Feng , Hou Liming , Wei Bo , Han Chongzhao
Published: November 2018

A new optimization algorithm of sensor selection is proposed in this paper for decentralized large-scale multi-target tracking (MTT) network within a labeled random finite set (RFS) framework. The method is performed based on a marginalized δ-generalized labeled multi-Bernoulli RFS. The rule of weighted Kullback-Leibler average (KLA) is used to fuse local multi-target densities. A new metric, named as the label assignment (LA) metric, is proposed to measure the distance for two labeled sets. The lower bound of LA metric based mean square error between the labeled multi-target state set and its estimate is taken as the optimized objective function of sensor selection. The proposed bound is obtained by the information inequality to RFS measurement. Then, we present the sequential Monte Carlo and Gaussian mixture implementations for the bound. Another advantage of the bound is that it provides a basis for setting the weights of KLA. The coordinate descent method is proposed to compromise the computational cost of sensor selection and the accuracy of MTT. Simulations verify the effectiveness of our method under different signal-to- noise ratio scenarios.
Adaptable and Automated Small UAV Deployments via Virtualization
Authors: Nogales Borja , Sanchez-Aguero Victor , Vidal Ivan , Valera Francisco
Published: November 2018

In this paper, we present a practical solution to support the adaptable and automated deployment of applications of Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (SUAVs). Our solution is based on virtualization technologies, and considers SUAVs as programmable network platforms capable of executing virtual functions and services, which may be dynamically selected according to the requirements specified by the operator of the aerial vehicles. This way, SUAVs can be flexibly and rapidly adapted to different missions with heterogeneous objectives. The design of our solution is based on Network Function Virtualization (NFV) technologies, developed under the umbrella of the fifth generation of mobile networks (5G), as well as on existing Internet protocol standards, including flying ad hoc network routing protocols. We implemented a functional prototype of our solution using well-known open source technologies, and we demonstrated its practical feasibility with the execution of an IP telephony service. This service was implemented as a set of virtualized network functions, which were automatically deployed and interconnected over an infrastructure of SUAVs, being the telephony service tested with real voice-over-IP terminals.
Privileging the Privileged: The Effects of International University Rankings on a Chilean Fellowship Program for Graduate Studies Abroad
Authors: Perez Mejias Paulina , Chiappa Roxana , Guzmán-Valenzuela Carolina
Published: November 2018

In the last few decades, many developing countries have dramatically expanded the number of government-sponsored fellowships for graduate studies abroad to increase their participation in the knowledge economy. To award these grants, these programs have typically relied on international university rankings as their main selection criterion. Existing studies suggest these fellowships have been disproportionally awarded to applicants from privileged social backgrounds, thus intensifying existing national educational inequalities. However, this evidence is mostly anecdotal and descriptive in nature. In this article, we focus on a Chilean fellowship program, an iconic example of these policies. Using a causal path analysis mediation model and relying on social reproduction and stratification theories, we investigated whether the distribution of fellowships varied across applicants from different socioeconomic backgrounds and how university rankings affect applicants’ chances of obtaining the fellowship. Our findings revealed that, in a context of high social inequalities and a stratified education system, using international rankings as an awarding criterion reinforced the position of privilege of individuals who accrued educational advantages in high school, as well as the disadvantages of those less fortunate who faced fewer prior educational opportunities.
Why Do Sustainable Ventures Fail to Attract Management Talent?
Authors: Thompson Neil Aaron , Eijkemans Roosje
Published: November 2018

Entrepreneurship is widely recognized to play a crucial role in transitioning societies towards sustainability, yet sustainable ventures often have difficulty in attracting talented management employees that are necessary to scale their sustainable opportunities. This study examined 19 qualitative interviews with three interview groups (human resource managers of sustainable ventures, recently hired employees at sustainable ventures, and management professionals looking for employment opportunities) to explain the impediments of attracting management talent and what competitive advantages sustainable ventures may have in the labour market. We discuss how these findings have theoretical and practical implications for scholars and sustainable entrepreneurs by drawing out a number of ways that sustainable ventures may attract management professionals.
Drivers and Barriers to Clean Cooking: A Systematic Literature Review from a Consumer Behavior Perspective
Authors: Vigolo Vania , Sallaku Rezarta , Testa Federico
Published: November 2018

A lack of access to clean energy and use of traditional cooking systems have severe negative effects on health, especially among women and children, and on the environment. Despite increasing attention toward this topic, few studies have explored the factors influencing consumers’ adoption of improved cooking stoves (ICS). This systematic literature review (n = 81) aims to identify the main drivers and barriers to clean cooking from a consumer perspective. In addition, it aims to define how consumers perceive ICS with respect to traditional stoves. Thematic analysis revealed seven factors that may act as drivers or barriers to ICS adoption: economic factors; socio-demographics; fuel availability; attitude toward technology; awareness of the risks of traditional cookstoves and the benefits of ICS; location; and social and cultural influences. Perceptions focused on four topics: convenience and uses, aesthetics, health-related impacts, and environmental impacts. This review contributes to understanding of consumer behavior with regards to ICS. The findings suggest that availability and affordability of technology are not enough to enhance ICS adoption. Rather, policy makers and managers should approach customers with a less technical and a more personalized approach that takes due consideration of a local context and its social and cultural dynamics.
Collaboration Mechanisms of Taiwan Nonprofit Organizations in Disaster Relief Efforts: Drawing Lessons from the Wenchuan Earthquake and Typhoon Morakot
Authors: Wu Wei-Ning , Chang Ssu-Ming
Published: November 2018

Participation of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) is important in emergency management because NPOs often work in conjunction with governments to offer assistance and resources in the emergency management process. NPO participation in disaster relief efforts is a valuable experience for public officials and practitioners, but research investigating NPOs’ experiences in disaster relief efforts is limited. This study examines Taiwan’s NPO collaboration mechanisms during disaster relief efforts and specifically examines the lessons drawn from two major catastrophes by focusing on the opinions of NPO managers in the 88 Flooding Service Alliance who joined the disaster relief operation for the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake in China and 2009 Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan. The vital strategies and factors that contributed to successful NPO collaborations in disaster relief operations were determined through a survey on NPOs’ strategies for resource sharing and service integration and semi-structured interviews with 19 NPO managers. The findings indicate that NPO engagement in disaster services was crucial for the relief efforts of the two disaster events, and that long-term disaster service alliances are effective mechanisms for emergency collaboration in relief work.
Sequential Pattern Mining Algorithm Based on Text Data: Taking the Fault Text Records as an Example
Authors: Yuan Xinglong , Chang Wenbing , Zhou Shenghan , Cheng Yang
Published: November 2018

Sequential pattern mining (SPM) is an effective and important method for analyzing time series. This paper proposed a SPM algorithm to mine fault sequential patterns in text data. Because the structure of text data is poor and there are many different forms of text expression for the same concept, the traditional SPM algorithm cannot be directly applied to text data. The proposed algorithm is designed to solve this problem. First, this study measured the similarity of fault text data and classified similar faults into one class. Next, this paper proposed a new text similarity measurement model based on the word embedding distance. Compared with the classic text similarity measurement method, this model can achieve good results in short text classification. Then, on the basis of fault classification, this paper proposed the SPM algorithm with an event window, which is a time soft constraint for obtaining a certain number of sequential patterns according to needs. Finally, this study used the fault text records of a certain aircraft as experimental data for mining fault sequential patterns. Experiment showed that this algorithm can effectively mine sequential patterns in text data. The proposed algorithm can be widely applied to text time series data in many fields such as industry, business, finance and so on.
Flooding in Central Chile: Implications of Tides and Sea Level Increase in the 21st Century
Authors: Rojas Octavio , Mardones María , Martínez Carolina , Flores Luis , Sáez Katia , Araneda Alberto
Published: November 2018

Coastal floods have become a serious problem on a global scale, increasing in frequency or magnitude due to natural conditions, and exacerbated by socioeconomic factors. This investigation analyzes the role of tides and average sea levels on the development and intensity of flooding in the lower section of the Andalién River, located toward the southern extreme of the coast of central Chile and northeast of Concepción, the country’s second most populous city. Numerical simulation (1D) was used in five modeled scenarios to determine potential flooding areas, demonstrating the influence of tides in flooding processes as far away as 7.3 km from the river mouth, which is reinforced by the fact that 57% of flooding events occur during syzygies. Further, a climate change-induced sea level rise of 60 cm from current levels by the end of the 21st century would produce a 4% increase in flood-prone areas, with 17% of flooding affecting the current built-up area and 83% of floodplains and salt marshes. Efforts must be made to protect or conserve these latter areas in order to increase natural resilience, given the high costs of implementing structural measures to protect future residential areas.
Towards Sustainable Infrastructure Development: Drivers, Barriers, Strategies, and Coping Mechanisms
Authors: Munyasya Brenda Mutanu , Chileshe Nicholas
Published: November 2018

Despite the advent of the new Sustainable Development Goals, and noted benefits around the social, economic, and environmental aspects, the sustainable infrastructure development (SID) implementation process faces a number of challenges. Moreover, while there is a plethora of studies around sustainable infrastructure, there are limited studies undertaken on the influencing drivers and barriers particularly within the South Australian construction industry. This paper is aimed at filling that knowledge gap by identifying and ranking the drivers and barriers of SID implementation in South Australian construction organizations. A sequential mixed methods approach comprising questionnaires and interviews was conducted among construction professionals. The highly ranked drivers were identified as innovation, standardization of the word ‘sustainability’ (knowledge improvement), and close interaction of all involved stakeholders. “Lack of steering mechanism”, “multi-disciplinary nature of the word “sustainability”, and “lack of cooperation and networking” were the critical barriers. Suggested strategies and coping mechanisms for overcoming these barriers include instilling sustainability awareness, sustainability specifications, and governance frameworks. Strong and positive relationships were evident amongst all the drivers. This paper provides further insights into the knowledge and awareness of these drivers, which are cardinal to increased uptake of SID by the stakeholders, and barriers to overcome.
Youngsters’ Opinions and Attitudes toward the Use of Electric Bicycles in Israel
Authors: Elias Wafa , Gitelman Victoria
Published: November 2018

Throughout Israel, unlike other countries, a growing use of electric bicycle (EB) by youngsters (below 18) has been observed, accompanied by a drastic increase in the number of related injuries. This phenomenon is widely discussed by various authorities and media in Israel, whilst its characteristics are actually unknown. Existing literature on the use of EBs is limited. Thus, an opinion survey of young EB riders was conducted, with the aim of recording and analyzing the characteristics and general perception of teen EB users and to explore their behaviors. The results show that using EBs increases the frequency and the distance of teens’ daily commute. The use of EB improves mobility independence, allowing for less reliance on parents and a widening of potential destinations. In addition, the results indicate that a substantial percent of the teens are not familiar with the legal regulations concerning EBs having been involved in various dangerous behaviors. Though the overall preference is to use bicycle paths, the common acceptable alternative is pedestrian sidewalks. These results suggest that a combination of road safety education and training with an improvement of existing infrastructure are the best way to tackle this new and widespread phenomenon.
Study on Design Strategy for Sustainable Development of Chinese Solar Term Culture
Authors: Li Wen-Tao , Ho Ming-Chyuan , Yang Chun
Published: November 2018

The 24 solar terms that form the traditional lunisolar calendar were created by ancient Chinese people. Through a literature review and semistructured interviews, this study clarified 19 key items of the design strategies for the sustainable development of solar term culture, and conducted factor extraction through factor analysis using SPSS statistical software on four types of expert questionnaires, including production, government, learning, and research. Then, four target layers, including humanistic aesthetic value, social sustainable value, practical innovation value, and scientific development value, were formed, thereby establishing a solar term culture design strategy indicator model. Secondly, the detailed indicators of the design strategies for solar term culture were employed to verify and evaluate the existing three types of design products, namely, graphic visual design, handicraft design, and commodity packaging design to conduct an overall evaluation and design value judgment, as well as the sustainable development of solar term culture design. Finally, the target levels of the four major aspects of solar term culture design were compared using SWOT analysis, and then, this paper discussed the design strategies, improvement basis, and characteristic developments of three different design types of design products or commodities regarding their design and development, in order to improve and construct a sustainable nonmaterial solar term culture design model.
Raising the Curtain in People Management by Exploring How Sustainable HRM Translates to Practice: The Case of Lithuanian Organizations
Authors: Stankevičiūtė Živilė , Savanevičienė Asta
Published: November 2018

Arguing for the necessity to re-think human resource management (HRM), as human resources are becoming scarce, HRM practices themselves can be even harmful for employees, and the mainstream HRM is more interested not in the employee well-being, but in the search for the link between HRM and performance, the paper introduces sustainable HRM as an alternative approach to people management. Sustainable HRM is seen as a design option, which allows one to maintain, renew and restore human resources. Although previous works have broadened the understanding of the meaning given to sustainable HRM and its core characteristics, research into how sustainable HRM translates into practice is still lacking. Thus, the purpose of the paper is to reveal the practices through which 11 characteristics of sustainable HRM are expressed in real people management in organizations. In doing this, qualitative data were collected from Lithuanian organizations using semi-structured interviews with 19 human resource (HR) managers. The research indicated a variety of applied practices, which differ by maturity. Care of employees, profitability, external partnership, fairness and equality, and employee development were revealed as the characteristics of sustainable HRM most explicitly expressed through HRM practices. Nonetheless, the organizations need more heterogeneous HRM activities, which simultaneously consider the economy, environment, society, and human aspects.
Monitoring NDVI Inter-Annual Behavior in Mountain Areas of Mainland Spain (2001–2016)
Authors: Arrogante-Funes Patricia , Novillo Carlos J. , Romero-Calcerrada Raúl
Published: November 2018

Currently, there exists growing evidence that warming is amplified with elevation resulting in rapid changes in temperature, humidity and water in mountainous areas. The latter might result in considerable damage to forest and agricultural land cover, affecting all the ecosystem services and the socio-economic development that these mountain areas provide. The Mediterranean mountains, moreover, which host a high diversity of natural species, are more vulnerable to global change than other European ecosystems. The protected areas of the mountain ranges of peninsular Spain could help preserve natural resources and landscapes, as well as promote scientific research and the sustainable development of local populations. The temporal statistical trends (2001–2016) of the MODIS13Q1 Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) interannual dynamics are analyzed to explore whether the NDVI trends are found uniformly within the mountain ranges of mainland Spain (altitude > 1000 m), as well as in the protected or non-protected mountain areas. Second, to determine if there exists a statistical association between finding an NDVI trend and the specific mountain ranges, protected or unprotected areas are studied. Third, a possible association between cover types in pure pixels using CORINE (Co-ordination of Information on the Environment) land cover cartography is studied and land cover changes between 2000 and 2006 and between 2006 and 2012 are calculated for each mountainous area. Higher areas are observed to have more positive NDVI trends than negative in mountain areas located in mainland Spain during the 2001–2016 period. The growing of vegetation, therefore, was greater than its decrease in the study area. Moreover, differences in the size of the area between growth and depletion of vegetation patterns along the different mountains are found. Notably, more negatives than expected are found, and fewer positives are found than anticipated in the mountains, such as the Cordillera Cantábrica (C.Cant.) or Montes de Murcia y Alicante (M.M.A). Quite the reverse happened in Pirineos (Pir.) and Montes de Cádiz y Málaga (M.C.M.), among others. The statistical association between the trends found and the land cover types is also observed. The differences observed can be explained since the mountain ranges in this study are defined by climate, land cover, human usage and, to a small degree, by land cover changes, but further detailed research is needed to get in-depth detailed conclusions. Conversely, it is found that, in protected mountain areas, a lower NDVI pixels trend than expected (>20%) occurs, whereas it is less than anticipated in unprotected mountain areas. This could be caused by management and the land cover type.
Integrating Voluntary Sustainability Standards in Trade Policy: The Case of the European Union’s GSP Scheme
Authors: Marx Axel
Published: November 2018

Trade policy is increasingly being used as a policy instrument to pursue non-trade objectives such as environmental protection or the protection of labour rights. A key example is the European Union’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP). The current approach is being confronted with significant challenges. How these challenges can be addressed is currently subject to debate, and increased attention is turning to the role that private governance mechanisms can play in this context. This paper will look into the potential role that Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) can play. The paper will analyse and assess the complementarity between VSS and EU GSP, and it contributes to the literature on interactions between private and public policy-making for sustainability. The main research question focuses on what role VSS can play in the European Union’s GSP scheme. To answer the question, the paper develops two models by which VSS can be integrated in EU GSP (a mandatory and a voluntary approach). The study is based on interviews with key experts from different stakeholder groups and an analysis of the ITC standards map database. The paper shows that the integration of VSS in EU GSP, as outlined in the two models, is confronted with several challenges. These challenges are discussed, and alternatives are explored.
Empirical Research on EPR Practices Performance and Governance Mechanism from the Perspective of Green Supply Chain
Authors: Lu Xin , Xu Fangchao
Published: November 2018

The performance of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) plays a very important role in guiding enterprises’ choice of EPR practices. Meanwhile, suppliers’ behavior and green operations may influence manufacturers’ social image and operations. Thus, governance mechanisms for suppliers may impact the performance of EPR practices. Therefore, from the perspective of supply chain governance, this paper first studies the relationship of manufacturers’ EPR practices and operation performance and then introduces three types of supplier governance mechanisms (contract governance, relationship governance and equity governance) to explore the influences on manufacturers’ performance. Survey data collected from enterprises in the electronics industry in China show the relationship between manufacturers’ EPR practices and performance, as well as the effect of the three proposed governance mechanisms on the performance of EPR practices. The conclusions obtained in this study suggest that manufacturers’ EPR practices can significantly improve their environmental and market performances. At the same time, manufacturers can adjust their operation performance according to the choice of supplier governance mechanism, which is chosen based on the operation objectives of the enterprises. To be specific, if the enterprises want to obtain better environmental performance and improve their social image, they should choose a contract governance mechanism that explicitly stipulates the responsibility and obligation of the supplier. In addition, the three proposed governance mechanisms can improve the market performance of enterprises in EPR practices.
Modelling of Biofuel Potential as a Tool for Public Managers
Authors: Baťa Robert , Fuka Jan
Published: November 2018

Developing the efforts to implement sustainability policies in the energy field requires the most accurate information on the potential of available resources to properly implement concrete policies. Total net energy yields are interpreted in isolation, and studies providing information on yields of specific energy crops in net values are relatively rare. This article, therefore, provides a tool based on methodology combining Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) approaches and a model implemented in a stochastic Petri net environment to support managerial decision-making at a national and regional level. This tool allows for the comparison of net yields of more energy crops used in Central Europe. Additional crops can be added to the model. For the purpose of comparison, it is also possible to customize the model parameters for particular crops and the way they are cultivated. In comparison with oilseed rape, sugar beet, and wheat, the model shows best results in terms of net energy yields for sugar beet.