bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Lipid Nanoparticles and Their Hydrogel Composites for Drug Delivery: A Review
Authors: Desfrançois Claire , Auzély Rachel , Texier Isabelle
Published: November 2018

Several drug delivery systems already exist for the encapsulation and subsequent release of lipophilic drugs that are well described in the scientific literature. Among these, lipid nanoparticles (LNP) have specifically come up for dermal, transdermal, mucosal, intramuscular and ocular drug administration routes in the last twenty years. However, for some of them (especially dermal, transdermal, mucosal), the LNP aqueous dispersions display unsuitable rheological properties. They therefore need to be processed as semi-solid formulations such as LNP-hydrogel composites to turn into versatile drug delivery systems able to provide precise spatial and temporal control of active ingredient release. In the present review, recent developments in the formulation of lipid nanoparticle-hydrogel composites are highlighted, including examples of successful encapsulation and release of lipophilic drugs through the skin, the eyes and by intramuscular injections. In relation to lipid nanoparticles, a specific emphasis has been put on the LNP key properties and how they influence their inclusion in the hydrogel. Polymer matrices include synthetic polymers such as poly(acrylic acid)-based materials, environment responsive (especially thermo-sensitive) polymers, and innovative polysaccharide-based hydrogels. The composite materials constitute smart, tunable drug delivery systems with a wide range of features, suitable for dermal, transdermal, and intramuscular controlled drug release.
Preparation and Characterization of Low-Molecular-Weight Natural Rubber Latex via Photodegradation Catalyzed by Nano TiO2
Authors: Ibrahim Suhawati , Othman Nadras , Sreekantan Srimala , Tan Kim Song , Mohd Nor Zairossani , Ismail Hanafi
Published: November 2018

Natural rubber is one of the most important renewable biopolymers used in many applications due to its special properties that cannot be easily mimicked by synthetic polymers. To sustain the existence of natural rubber in industries, modifications have been made to its chemical structure from time to time in order to obtain new properties and to enable it to be employed in new applications. The chemical structure of natural rubber can be modified by exposure to ultraviolet light to reduce its molecular weight. Under controlled conditions, the natural rubber chains will be broken by photodegradation to yield low-molecular-weight natural rubber. The aim of this work was to obtain what is known as liquid natural rubber via photodegradation, with titanium dioxide nanocrystals as the catalyst. Titanium dioxide, which was firstly synthesized using the sol–gel method, was confirmed to be in the form of an anatase, with a size of about 10 nm. In this work, the photodegradation was carried out in latex state and yielded low-molecular-weight natural rubber latex of less than 10,000 g/mol. The presence of hydroxyl and carbonyl groups on the liquid natural rubber (LNR) chains was observed, resulting from the breaking of the chains. Scanning electron microscopy of the NR latex particles showed that titanium dioxide nanocrystals were embedded on the latex surface, but then detached during the degradation reaction.
Semi-Automated Classification of Lake Ice Cover Using Dual Polarization RADARSAT-2 Imagery
Authors: Wang Junqian , Duguay Claude R. , Clausi David A. , Pinard Véronique , Howell Stephen E. L.
Published: November 2018

Lake ice is a significant component of the cryosphere due to its large spatial coverage in high-latitude regions during the winter months. The Laurentian Great Lakes are the world’s largest supply of freshwater and their ice cover has a major impact on regional weather and climate, ship navigation, and public safety. Ice experts at the Canadian Ice Service (CIS) have been manually producing operational Great Lakes image analysis charts based on visual interpretation of the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. In that regard, we have investigated the performance of the semi-automated segmentation algorithm “glocal” Iterative Region Growing with Semantics (IRGS) for lake ice classification using dual polarized RADARSAT-2 imagery acquired over Lake Erie. Analysis of various case studies indicated that the “glocal” IRGS algorithm could provide a reliable ice-water classification using dual polarized images with a high overall accuracy of 90.4%. However, lake ice types that are based on stage of development were not effectively identified due to the ambiguous relation between backscatter and ice types. The slight improvement of using dual-pol as opposed to single-pol images for ice-water discrimination was also demonstrated.
Application of an Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter to Analyse the Performance of the Hydraulic Agitation System of an Agricultural Sprayer
Authors: García-Ramos F. Javier , Badules Jorge , Boné Antonio , Gil Emilio , Aguirre A. Javier , Vidal Mariano
Published: November 2018

An acoustic Doppler velocimeter (ADV) was used to analyse the impact of an agricultural sprayer’s agitation system settings on fluid velocities inside the tank. A 3000 L capacity sprayer equipped with a 4-nozzle hydraulic agitation system was used. ADV measurements were carried at 32 points inside the tank under the following settings: circuit pressures of 8, 10, or 12 bar; water level in the tank of 1000, 2000, or 3000 L; 2 or 4 active nozzles. An agitation test with a concentration of 0.4% copper oxychloride was employed to analyse the concentration of active matter as a function of tank fill level and number of active nozzles. All parameters significantly affected the fluid velocity, which increased with increasing pressure, but decreased with increasing water level in the tank and an increased number of active nozzles. Concentration tests showed greater active matter concentrations when higher velocities were recorded by the ADV. The ADV was shown to be a useful tool for the rapid assessment of fluid velocities; in the future, it could be used to validate the design of agitation systems, and to estimate their capacity to ensure an adequate level of active matter concentration in the fluid.
Support Vector Machine Regression for Calibration Transfer between Electronic Noses Dedicated to Air Pollution Monitoring
Authors: Laref Rachid , Losson Etienne , Sava Alexandre , Siadat Maryam
Published: November 2018

Recently, the emergence of low-cost sensors have allowed electronic noses to be considered for densifying the actual air pollution monitoring networks in urban areas. Electronic noses are affected by changes in environmental conditions and sensor drifts over time. Therefore, they need to be calibrated periodically and also individually because the characteristics of identical sensors are slightly different. For these reasons, the calibration process has become very expensive and time consuming. To cope with these drawbacks, calibration transfer between systems constitutes a satisfactory alternative. Among them, direct standardization shows good efficiency for calibration transfer. In this paper, we propose to improve this method by using kernel SPXY (sample set partitioning based on joint x-y distances) for data selection and support vector machine regression to match between electronic noses. The calibration transfer approach introduced in this paper was tested using two identical electronic noses dedicated to monitoring nitrogen dioxide. Experimental results show that our method gave the highest efficiency compared to classical direct standardization.
On-Demand LoRa: Asynchronous TDMA for Energy Efficient and Low Latency Communication in IoT
Authors: Piyare Rajeev , Murphy Amy L. , Magno Michele , Benini Luca
Published: November 2018

Energy efficiency is crucial in the design of battery-powered end devices, such as smart sensors for the Internet of Things applications. Wireless communication between these distributed smart devices consumes significant energy, and even more when data need to reach several kilometers in distance. Low-power and long-range communication technologies such as LoRaWAN are becoming popular in IoT applications. However, LoRaWAN has drawbacks in terms of (i) data latency; (ii) limited control over the end devices by the gateway; and (iii) high rate of packet collisions in a dense network. To overcome these drawbacks, we present an energy-efficient network architecture and a high-efficiency on-demand time-division multiple access (TDMA) communication protocol for IoT improving both the energy efficiency and the latency of standard LoRa networks. We combine the capabilities of short-range wake-up radios to achieve ultra-low power states and asynchronous communication together with the long-range connectivity of LoRa. The proposed approach still works with the standard LoRa protocol, but improves performance with an on-demand TDMA. Thanks to the proposed network and protocol, we achieve a packet delivery ratio of 100% by eliminating the possibility of packet collisions. The network also achieves a round-trip latency on the order of milliseconds with sensing devices dissipating less than 46 mJ when active and 1.83 μ W during periods of inactivity and can last up to three years on a 1200-mAh lithium polymer battery.
Aerosol Jet Printed 3D Electrochemical Sensors for Protein Detection
Authors: Cantù Edoardo , Tonello Sarah , Abate Giulia , Uberti Daniela , Sardini Emilio , Serpelloni Mauro
Published: November 2018

The use of electrochemical sensors for the analysis of biological samples is nowadays widespread and highly demanded from diagnostic and pharmaceutical research, but the reliability and repeatability still remain debated issues. In the expanding field of printed electronics, Aerosol Jet Printing (AJP) appears promising to bring an improvement in resolution, miniaturization, and flexibility. In this paper, the use of AJP is proposed to design and fabricate customized electrochemical sensors in term of geometry, materials and 3D liquid sample confinement, reducing variability in the functionalization process. After an analysis of geometrical, electrical and surface features, the optimal layout has been selected. An electrochemical test has been then performed quantifying Interleukin-8, selected as reference protein, by means of Anodic Stripping Voltammetry. AJP sensors have been compared with standard screen-printed electrodes in terms of current density and relative standard deviation. Results from AJP sensors with Ag-based Anodic Stripping Voltammetry confirmed nanostructures capability to reduce the limit of detection (from 2.1 to 0.3 ng/mL). Furthermore, AJP appeared to bring an improvement in term of relative standard deviation from 50 to 10%, if compared to screen-printed sensors. This is promising to improve reliability and repeatability of measurement techniques integrable in several biotechnological applications.
GROF: Indoor Localization Using a Multiple-Bandwidth General Regression Neural Network and Outlier Filter
Authors: Chen Zhang , Wang Jinlong
Published: November 2018

In recent years, a variety of methods have been developed for indoor localization utilizing fingerprints of received signal strength (RSS) that are location dependent. Nevertheless, the RSS is sensitive to environmental variations, in that the resulting fluctuation severely degrades the localization accuracy. Furthermore, the fingerprints survey course is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Therefore, the lightweight fingerprint-based indoor positioning approach is preferred for practical applications. In this paper, a novel multiple-bandwidth generalized regression neural network (GRNN) with the outlier filter indoor positioning approach (GROF) is proposed. The GROF method is based on the GRNN, for which we adopt a new kind of multiple-bandwidth kernel architecture to achieve a more flexible regression performance than that of the traditional GRNN. In addition, an outlier filtering scheme adopting the k-nearest neighbor (KNN) method is embedded into the localization module so as to improve the localization robustness against environmental changes. We discuss the multiple-bandwidth spread value training process and the outlier filtering algorithm, and demonstrate the feasibility and performance of GROF through experiment data, using a Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) platform. The experimental results indicate that the GROF method outperforms the positioning methods, based on the standard GRNN, KNN, or backpropagation neural network (BPNN), both in localization accuracy and robustness, without the extra training sample requirement.
A Novel Recovery Method of Soft X-ray Spectrum Unfolding Based on Compressive Sensing
Authors: Xia Nan , Huang Yunbao , Li Haiyan , Li Pu , Wang Kefeng , Wang Feng
Published: November 2018

In the experiment of inertial confinement fusion, soft X-ray spectrum unfolding can provide important information to optimize the design of the laser and target. As the laser beams increase, there are limited locations for installing detection channels to obtain measurements, and the soft X-ray spectrum can be difficult to recover. In this paper, a novel recovery method of soft X-ray spectrum unfolding based on compressive sensing is proposed, in which (1) the spectrum recovery is formulated as a problem of accurate signal recovery from very few measurements (i.e., compressive sensing), and (2) the proper basis atoms are selected adaptively over a Legendre orthogonal basis dictionary with a large size and Lasso regression in the sense of ℓ1 norm, which enables the spectrum to be accurately recovered with little measured data from the limited detection channels. Finally, the presented approach is validated with experimental data. The results show that it can still achieve comparable accuracy from only 8 spectrometer detection channels as it has previously done from 14 detection channels. This means that the presented approach is capable of recovering spectrum from the data of limited detection channels, and it can be used to save more space for other detectors.
A Robust Deep Learning Approach for Position-Independent Smartphone-Based Human Activity Recognition
Authors: Almaslukh Bandar , Artoli Abdel Monim , Al-Muhtadi Jalal
Published: November 2018

Recently, modern smartphones equipped with a variety of embedded-sensors, such as accelerometers and gyroscopes, have been used as an alternative platform for human activity recognition (HAR), since they are cost-effective, unobtrusive and they facilitate real-time applications. However, the majority of the related works have proposed a position-dependent HAR, i.e., the target subject has to fix the smartphone in a pre-defined position. Few studies have tackled the problem of position-independent HAR. They have tackled the problem either using handcrafted features that are less influenced by the position of the smartphone or by building a position-aware HAR. The performance of these studies still needs more improvement to produce a reliable smartphone-based HAR. Thus, in this paper, we propose a deep convolution neural network model that provides a robust position-independent HAR system. We build and evaluate the performance of the proposed model using the RealWorld HAR public dataset. We find that our deep learning proposed model increases the overall performance compared to the state-of-the-art traditional machine learning method from 84% to 88% for position-independent HAR. In addition, the position detection performance of our model improves superiorly from 89% to 98%. Finally, the recognition time of the proposed model is evaluated in order to validate the applicability of the model for real-time applications.
Experimental Determination of TDR Calibration Relationship for Pyroclastic Ashes of Campania (Italy)
Authors: Capparelli Giovanna , Spolverino Gennaro , Greco Roberto
Published: November 2018

Time domain reflectometry (TDR) is one of the most widely used techniques for indirect determination of soil volumetric water content (θ). TDR measures the relative dielectric constant (εr) which, in a three-phase system like the soil, depends on water, air, and solid matrix dielectric constants. Since dielectric constant of water is much larger than the other two, εr of bulk soil mainly depends on water content. In many cases, the application of TDR requires a specific calibration of the relationship θ(εr) to get quantitatively accurate estimates of soil water content. In fact, the relationship θ(εr) is influenced by various soil properties, such as clay content, organic matter content, bulk density, and aggregation. Numerous studies have shown that pyroclastic soils often exhibit a peculiar dielectric behavior. In Campania (Southern Italy) wide mountainous areas are covered by layered pyroclastic deposits of ashes (loamy sands) and pumices (sandy gravels), often involved in the triggering of landslides induced by rainwater infiltration. Reliable field measurements of water content of such soils are therefore important for the assessment of landslide risk. Hence, in this paper, the θ(εr) relationship has been experimentally determined on samples of typical pyroclastic soil of Campania, collected around Sarno, reconstituted with different porosities. The aim of the study is to identify specific calibration relationships for such soils based not only on empirical approaches. In this respect, a three-phase dielectric mixing model with a variable exponent is introduced, and the variable value of the exponent is related to the different dielectric properties of bond and free water within the soil pores.
SHVC Tile-Based 360-Degree Video Streaming for Mobile VR: PC Offloading Over mmWave
Authors: Nguyen Dien Van , Le Tuan Thanh , Lee Sangsoon , Ryu Eun-Seok
Published: November 2018

360-degree video streaming for high-quality virtual reality (VR) is challenging for current wireless systems because of the huge bandwidth it requires. However, millimeter wave (mmWave) communications in the 60 GHz band has gained considerable interest from the industry and academia because it promises gigabit wireless connectivity in the huge unlicensed bandwidth (i.e., up to 7 GHz). This massive unlicensed bandwidth offers great potential for addressing the demand for 360-degree video streaming. This paper investigates the problem of 360-degree video streaming for mobile VR using the SHVC, the scalable of High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard and PC offloading over 60 GHz networks. We present a conceptual architecture based on advanced tiled-SHVC and mmWave communications. This architecture comprises two main parts. (1) Tile-based SHVC for 360-degree video streaming and optimizing parallel decoding. (2) Personal Computer (PC) offloading mechanism for transmitting uncompressed video (viewport only). The experimental results show that our tiled extractor method reduces the bandwidth required for 360-degree video streaming by more than 47% and the tile partitioning mechanism was improved by up to 25% in terms of the decoding time. The PC offloading mechanism was also successful in offloading 360-degree decoded (or viewport only) video to mobile devices using mmWave communication and the proposed transmission schemes.
Assessing the Effect of ADS-B Message Drop-Out in Detect and Avoid of Unmanned Aircraft System Using Monte Carlo Simulation
Authors: Tabassum Asma , Semke William
Published: November 2018

This work analyzes the severity and risk associated with automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) message drop-out in detect and avoid (DAA) function of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). Performance assessment of the universal access transceiver (UAT) ADS-B message implies that, in some cases, ADS-B fails to update within a specified update interval, which is referred to as ‘drop-out’ in this work. ADS-B is a fundamental surveillance sensor for both class 1 and class 2 DAA systems. Message loss or drop-out has been found as one of the common limitations of the ADS-B system. The key feature of this study is incorporating the update rate of real ADS-B data transmitted from the manned aircraft. The data were received from the Grand Forks International Airport, North Dakota. Monte Carlo method has been adopted to resolve encounter scenarios in the presence of drop-out. The change in the alert triggered by the UAS DAA in the presence of ADS-B drop-out has been investigated. Furthermore, the risk matrices are created to quantify the associated risk with drop-out affected alerts. Simulation results depict that both the duration of drop-out and DAA look-ahead time affect the alert-triggering function of UAS. With a small look-ahead window and longer duration of drop-out, the number of warning alerts increases. Also, alerts are affected more during an overtaking encounter than that of a head-to-head encounter. A system-level analysis is also carried out to recognize the potential reasons behind the ADS-B drop-out.
Traffic Safety at Median Ditches: Steel vs. Concrete Barrier Performance Comparison Using Computer Simulation
Authors: Yücel Ayhan Öner , Atahan Ali Osman , Arslan Turan , Sevim Umur Korkut
Published: November 2018

In Turkey, concrete V-shaped ditches are formed at the median section of divided highways to provide drainage. Recent accidents show that these ditches actually present safety risks to vehicles entering the medians. Vehicles either cross over the ditch, roll over, or become trapped in the ditch, depending upon the mass, size, speed, and angle of the entering vehicle. To overcome this safety risk and reduce the severity of these accidents, longitudinal barriers are installed along these ditches. Currently, in Turkey, steel barriers are extensively used to improve traffic safety at median ditches. In this paper, the crash performances of steel and concrete barriers used at medians with ditches are compared. A model of a standard steel EDSP-1.33 barrier and a model of a newly developed concrete C470 barrier were constructed, and impact simulations were performed for when they are installed at a ditch slope break point. A nonlinear finite element program, LS-DYNA, was used for the analysis. A 13,000 kg bus model was used to impact both barriers in accordance with European standard requirements for crash tests. Simulation results show that when the steel EDSP-1.33 barrier is used, the bus has the potential for excessive penetration of the ditch, with significant barrier deformation. Moreover, the barrier damage is extensive, resulting in increased maintenance costs. On the other hand, the concrete C470 barrier successfully contains and redirects the 13,000 kg bus impact, with minimal barrier deformation and safety risk. Even though the concrete barrier slides toward the inside of the ditch, the bus does not enter the ditch area and exits the barrier in a stable manner. Therefore, to increase traffic safety at ditches located at the median section of divided highways in Turkey, utilization of the newly developed concrete barrier C470 is recommended.
Postseismic Restoration of the Ecological Environment in the Wenchuan Region Using Satellite Data
Authors: Huang Zhibin , Xu Min , Chen Wei , Lin Xiaojuan , Cao Chunxiang , Singh Ramesh P.
Published: November 2018

Using Landsat remote-sensing data combined with geological information extracted from ALOS and Sentinel-1A radar data, the ecological environment was evaluated in the years 2007, 2008, 2013, and 2017 through gray correlation analysis on the basis of the construction of the pressure-state-response model. The main objective of this research was to assess the ecological environment changes in Wenchuan County before and after the earthquake, and to provide reference for future social development and policy implementation. The grading map of the ecological environment was obtained for every year, and the ecological restoration status of Wenchuan County after the earthquake was evaluated. The results showed that the maximum area cover at a “safe” ecological level was over 46.4% in 2007. After the 2008 earthquake, the proportion of “unsafe” and “very unsafe” ecological levels was 40.0%, especially around the Lancang River and the western mountain area in Wenchuan County. After five years of restoration, ecological conditions were improved, up to 48.0% in the region. The areas at “critically safe” and above recovered to 85.5% in 2017 within nine years after the deadly Wenchuan earthquake of May 12, 2008. In this paper, we discuss the results of detailed analysis of ecological improvements and correlation with the degrees of pressure, state, and response layers of the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) model.
Corporate Hypocrisy: Role of Non-Profit Corporate Foundations in Earnings Management of For-Profit Founder Firms
Authors: Xu Liping , Zhang Shuxia , Liu Ning , Chen Li
Published: November 2018

The purpose of this study is to examine whether for-profit firms make opportunistic use of their corporate foundations to pursue self-serving earnings objectives in China. Using data on corporate foundations and a sample of firms listed on the A-share market from 2010 to 2016, we first use the propensity score matching method to explore the effect of corporate foundations on earnings management of their founder firms. We find that the overall discretionary accruals of firms with corporate foundations are significantly higher than for those without corporate foundations. Given the ownership property with Chinese characteristics, we further find that the significant difference is driven by privately-owned firms. Then we develop a model of discretionary donation expenditures to measure the magnitude of earnings management associated with corporate foundations. We observe that firms with small profits and consecutive earnings increase record income-increasing discretionary donation expenditures. While firms that record income-decreasing discretionary donation expenditures create earnings reserves that they can use in subsequent periods to report consecutive earnings increases. The results demonstrate that the visibly ethical behavior of establishing corporate foundations does not necessarily represent the consistent embodiment of corporate social responsibility (CSR), but can be regarded as corporate hypocrisy with self-interest embedded in benevolence.
Evaluation of the Grey Water Footprint Comparing the Indirect Effects of Different Agricultural Practices
Authors: Borsato Eros , Galindo Alejandro , Tarolli Paolo , Sartori Luigi , Marinello Francesco
Published: November 2018

Increasing global food demand and economic growth result in increasing competition over scarce freshwater resources, worsened by climate change and pollution. The agricultural sector has the largest share in the water footprint of humanity. While most studies focus on estimating water footprints (WFs) of crops through modeling, there are only few experimental field studies. The current work aims to understand the effect of supposedly better agricultural practices, particularly precision agriculture (variable rate application of fertilizers and pesticides) and conservation agriculture (minimum, strip, or no-tillage), on water deterioration and water pollution. We analyzed the results from an experimental field study in the northeast of Italy, in which four different crops are grown across three years of crops rotation. We compared minimum, strip, and no-tillage systems undergoing variable to uniform rate application. Grey WFs are assessed based on a field dataset using yield maps data, soil texture, and crop operations field. Leaching and associated grey WFs are assessed based on application rates and various environmental factors. Yields are measured in the field and recorded in a precision map. The results illustrate how precision agriculture combined with soil conservation tillage systems can reduce the grey water footprint by the 10%. We assessed the grey Water Footprint for all the field operation processes during the three-year crop rotation.
An Investigation of the Effects of Infographics and Green Messages on the Environmental Attitudes of Taiwanese Online Shoppers
Authors: Tu Jui-Che , Tu Ya-Wen , Wang Tai-Ran
Published: November 2018

The rapid growth of e-commerce in Taiwan has increased the use of postal packaging; this contributes to the destruction of our environment, because it cannot be re-used, and may contain toxic substances. To address this understudied issue, we examined the effects of attaching green messages about environmental attitudes in the form of infographics on postal packaging. To improve our understanding of consumer preferences with respect to green messages, first, a questionnaire survey of online shoppers was conducted. Based on a statistical analysis of the results, it was found that green messages require excellent infographics in order to deliver environmental knowledge. Graphical information was considered superior to text-only information in the presentation of green messages and the visualization of green information by online shoppers. This result indicates that infographics have emerged as a better visual approach to deliver green messages. We hope that these findings will serve as a reference in the design of environmentally-friendly postal packaging.
Quantitative Measurement of the Sustainable Water Resource Development System in China Inspired by Dissipative Structure Theory
Authors: Liang Xuedong , Zhang Ruyun , Liu Canmian , Liu Haiyue
Published: November 2018

In an attempt to ensure sustainable water resource development, this paper constructs a comprehensive scientific index evaluation system focused on the macro socio-economic-ecological environment. Inspired by the theory of dissipative structure, the sustainable development system of water resources is regarded as a complex and huge dissipative system. In order to effectively measure the coordinated development status and orderly evolution trend of the system, this paper uses the information entropy method to construct the measurement model of the water resources system and analyze its internal entropy flow changes. The empirical analysis of the water resources in China from 2007 to 2016 found that coordinated water resource subsystem development could achieve sustainable development, and that over the examined period, the sustainable water resource development system in China became more orderly and coordinated; therefore, the sustainable development aim is gradually being achieved.
Social Valuation of Genebank Activities: Assessing Public Demand for Genetic Resource Conservation in the Czech Republic
Authors: Tyack Nicholas , Ščasný Milan
Published: November 2018

The use of diverse genetic resources to breed improved crop varieties has been a key driver of agricultural productivity improvements in the past century. At the same time, the adoption of modern varieties has contributed to substantial loss of traditional varieties. In this analysis, we estimate the social value provided by several proposed crop diversity conservation programs to be carried out by the Czech genebank system. We use a double-bounded dichotomous choice model to estimate the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for conserving additional crop varieties in the genebank for ten years using data collected through an online contingent valuation survey administered to a sample representative of the general Czech population (1037 respondents) and a smaller sub-sample representative of the agricultural region of South Moravia (500 respondents). Mean WTP was found to be about $9 for both the Czech and S. Moravian sub-samples, corresponding to country-wide benefits of ~$68 million. These benefits increase by 6–7% for every ten varieties conserved, implying total welfare benefits of ~$84 million for a program conserving the maximum number of 35 additional crop varieties offered in the experiment. The study illustrates an empirical approach of potential value for policymakers responsible for determining funding levels for genetic resource conservation.
“When We Stand up, They Have to Negotiate with Us”: Power Relations in and between an Agroindustrial and an Indigenous Food System in Bolivia
Authors: Jacobi Johanna , Llanque Aymara
Published: November 2018

Our global food system is characterized by an increasing concentration and imbalance of power, with trade-offs between hunger, inequality, unsustainable production and consumption, and profit. A systematic analysis of power imbalances in food systems is required if we are to meet the 2030 Agenda vision of promoting sustainable production and consumption patterns and ending hunger and poverty. Such an analysis, with a view to a transformation to more sustainable and just food systems, requires tools to be developed and tested in real-life case studies of food systems. To better understand the structures and mechanisms around power in food systems, this study applies a political ecology lens. We adapted the “power cube” analysis framework that was proposed by the Institute of Development Studies for the analysis of spaces, forms, and levels of power. We apply the analysis of these three dimensions of power to two food systems in the tropical lowlands of Bolivia: one agroindustrial and one indigenous. After identifying food system actors, the food system spaces in which they interact, and what forms of power they use at what levels, we discuss some implications for an emerging scientific culture of power analyses in critical sustainability assessments. Mechanisms of hidden power undermine visible legislative power in both case studies, but in our example of an indigenous food system of the Guaraní people, visible power stays with a local community through their legally recognized and communally owned and governed territory, with important implications for the realization of the right to food.
Consumer Preferences and Welfare Evaluation under Current Food Inspection Measures in China: Evidence from Real Experiment Choice of Rice Labels
Authors: Nie Wenjing , Abler David , Zhu Liqun , Li Taiping , Lin Guanghua
Published: November 2018

Frequent food quality and safety issues result in various food inspection measures in China, while some are not widely acknowledged by the public and are less efficient. Consumer demand is significant for priority setting in food policy. This study investigates Chinese consumers’ heterogeneous preferences for selected food inspection measures and estimates welfare effects based on willingness-to-pay (WTP) calculation. Rice consumption data from a 2018 nationwide consumer survey designed using the real choice experiment is analyzed by the random parameters logit and the latent class model. The findings reveal that consumers place a high value on government certification, and brand is valuable especially when public management is perceived as weak. However, the insufficient market demand for third-party certification may increase transaction costs due to overlapping functions and consumers’ distrust. Moreover, there should be a need to broaden consumers’ understanding of traceability and grading systems. This study emphasizes the necessity of direct governmental involvement and the existence of unnecessary policy cost.
The Effectiveness of Internal Control and Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Chinese Capital Market
Authors: Li Xiao , Zheng Chunmei , Liu Gang , Sial Muhammad Safdar
Published: November 2018

From the perspective of the effectiveness of internal control, according to the Stakeholder Theory, Principal-Agent Theory and Reputation Theory, this paper analyzes comparatively the influences of internal control on the assumption of corporate social responsibility (SCPS) from the accrual basis, and the fulfillment of corporate social responsibility (CSRF) from the cash flow system respectively. Using a sample of 1767 firms listed in China between 2011 and 2016, we find that effective internal control has significantly promoted enterprises to assume social responsibilities. Meanwhile, effective internal control substantially improves the fulfillment of corporate social responsibility. This study overcomes the current situation that the two concepts of assumption and fulfillment of corporate social responsibility have not been distinguished in previous literature. We suggest that, in the economic transition period, the positive role of internal control in corporate governance should be promoted to protect the legitimate rights and interests of stakeholders; the adverse impact of the principal-agent relationship between shareholders and management on corporate governance should be avoided, building high-quality internal control; enterprises achieve steady and sustainable development process by the positive reputation value and robust external monitoring mechanism. This research is of practical importance to strengthen the subsequent construction of the internal control system and the long-term practice of corporate social responsibility.
A Cloud-Based Digital Farm Management System for Vegetable Production Process Management and Quality Traceability
Authors: Yang Feng , Wang Kaiyi , Han Yanyun , Qiao Zhong
Published: November 2018

Farm Management Information Systems (FMISs) are being expanded to improve operation efficiency, reduce inputs, and ensure compliance with standards and regulations. However, this goal is difficult to attain in the vegetable sector, where data acquisition is time-consuming and data at different stages is fragmented by the potential diversity of crops and multiple batches cultivated at any given farm. This applies, in particular, to farms in China, which have small areas and low degrees of mechanization. This study presents an integrated approach to track and trace production efficiently through our Digital Farm Management System (DFMS), which adopts the cloud framework and utilizes Quick Response (QR) codes and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. Specifically, a data acquisition system is proposed that runs on a smartphone for the efficient gathering of planting information in the field. Moreover, DFMS generates statistics and analyses of planting areas, costs, and yields. DFMS meets the FMIS requirements and provides the accurate tracking and tracing of the production for each batch in an efficient manner. The system has been applied in a large-scale vegetable production enterprise, consisting of 12 farms distributed throughout China. This application shows that DFMS is a highly efficient solution for precise vegetable farm management.
Sehgal Type Contractions on b-Metric Space
Authors: Alqahtani Badr , Fulga Andreea , Karapınar Erdal
Published: November 2018

In this paper, we analyze two discontinuous self-mappings that satisfy Sehgal-type inequalities in the setup of complete b-metric space. The main results of the paper cover and extend a few existing results in the corresponding literature. Furthermore, we give some illustrative examples to verify the effectiveness and strength of our derived results. Thereafter, as an application, we consider the obtained result to aggregate the existence and uniqueness of the solution for nonlinear Fredholm integral equations.
Convergence Analysis of an Inexact Three-Operator Splitting Algorithm
Authors: Zong Chunxiang , Tang Yuchao , Cho Yeol Je
Published: November 2018

The three-operator splitting algorithm is a new splitting algorithm for finding monotone inclusion problems of the sum of three maximally monotone operators, where one is cocoercive. As the resolvent operator is not available in a closed form in the original three-operator splitting algorithm, in this paper, we introduce an inexact three-operator splitting algorithm to solve this type of monotone inclusion problem. The theoretical convergence properties of the proposed iterative algorithm are studied in general Hilbert spaces under mild conditions on the iterative parameters. As a corollary, we obtain general convergence results of the inexact forward-backward splitting algorithm and the inexact Douglas-Rachford splitting algorithm, which extend the existing results in the literature.
Bochner-Like Transform and Stepanov Almost Periodicity on Time Scales with Applications
Authors: Tang Chao-Hong , Li Hong-Xu
Published: November 2018

By using Bochner transform, Stepanov almost periodic functions inherit some basic properties directly from almost periodic functions. Recently, this old work was extended to time scales. However, we show that Bochner transform is not valid on time scales. Then we present a revised version, called Bochner-like transform, for time scales, and prove that a function is Stepanov almost periodic if and only if its Bochner-like transform is almost periodic on time scales. Some basic properties including the composition theorem of Stepanov almost periodic functions are obtained by applying Bochner-like transform. Our results correct the recent results where Bochner transform is used on time scales. As an application, we give some results on dynamic equations with Stepanov almost periodic terms.
Image Enhancement for Inspection of Cable Images Based on Retinex Theory and Fuzzy Enhancement Method in Wavelet Domain
Authors: Ye Xuhui , Wu Gongping , Huang Le , Fan Fei , Zhang Yongxiang
Published: November 2018

Inspection images of power transmission line provide vision interaction for the operator and the environmental perception for the cable inspection robot (CIR). However, inspection images are always contaminated by severe outdoor working conditions such as uneven illumination, low contrast, and speckle noise. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel method based on Retinex and fuzzy enhancement to improve the image quality of the inspection images. A modified multi-scale Retinex (MSR) is proposed to compensate the uneven illumination by processing the low frequency components after wavelet decomposition. Besides, a fuzzy enhancement method is proposed to perfect the edge information and improve contrast by processing the high frequency components. A noise reduction procedure based on soft threshold is used to avoid the noise amplification. Experiments on the self-built standard test dataset show that the algorithm can improve the image quality by 3–4 times. Compared with several other methods, the experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can obtain better enhancement performance with more homogeneous illumination and higher contrast. Further research will focus on improving the real-time performance and parameter adaptation of the algorithm.
Effect of Cobalt Catalyst Confinement in Carbon Nanotubes Support on Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis Performance
Authors: Akbarzadeh Omid , Mohd Zabidi Noor Asmawati , Abdul Wahab Yasmin , Hamizi Nor Aliya , Chowdhury Zaira Zaman , Merican Aljunid Merican Zulkifli , Ab Rahman Marlinda , Akhter Shamima , Rasouli Elisa , Johan Mohd Rafie
Published: November 2018

Pre-treating the multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) support by refluxing in 35 vol% nitric acid followed by heating at the temperature of 600 to 900 °C resulted in the formation of defects on the CNTs. Increasing the temperature of the pre-treatment of the CNTs from 600 °C to 900 °C, enhanced the fraction of cobalt-oxide nanoparticles encapsulated in the channels of CNTs from 31% to 70%. The performance of Co/CNTs in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) was evaluated in a fixed-bed micro-reactor at a temperature of 240 °C and a pressure of 2.0 MPa. The highest CO conversion obtained over Co/CNTs.A.900 was 59% and it dropped by ~3% after 130 h of time-on-stream. However, maximum CO conversion using Co/CNTs.A.600 catalysts was 28% and it decreased rapidly by about 54% after 130 h of time-on-stream. These findings show that the combined acid and thermal pre-treatment of CNTs support at 900 °C has improved the stability and activity of the Co/CNTs catalyst in FTS.
First Report on the Occurrence of Tetrodotoxins in Bivalve Mollusks in The Netherlands
Authors: Gerssen Arjen , Bovee Toine , Klijnstra Mirjam , Poelman Marnix , Portier Liza , Hoogenboom Ron
Published: November 2018

Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is traditionally associated with seafood from tropical regions, but recently TTX was detected in bivalve mollusks in more temperate European waters. In The Netherlands it was therefore decided to monitor TTX in shellfish harvested from Dutch production areas. All shellfish production areas were monitored in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Samples were analyzed using liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). In total 1063 samples were investigated, and the highest concentrations were observed in 2016, i.e., 253 µg TTX/kg in oysters and 101 µg TTX/kg in mussels. No TTX analogues, with the exception of 4-epi-TTX in one single sample, were found and contaminated samples also showed positive results in the neuro-2a bioassay. The occurrence of TTX seems to be consistent over the last three years with the highest concentrations observed annually in late June. The causative organism and the reasons why specific Dutch production areas are affected while others are not, are still unclear. Initially in The Netherlands an action limit of 20 µg TTX/kg was used to ensure the safety of consumers (2016), but recently The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) established an acute reference dose, and based on a high portion size of consuming 400 g mussels, this dose was translated into a safe concentration of 44 µg TTX per kg for shellfish. This concentration is now used as an action limit and TTX is formally included in the Dutch shellfish monitoring program.
Trend Analysis of Climatic and Hydrological Variables in the Awash River Basin, Ethiopia
Authors: Gedefaw Mohammed , Wang Hao , Yan Denghua , Song Xinshan , Yan Dengming , Dong Guaqiang , Wang Jianwei , Girma Abel , Ali Babar Aijaz , Batsuren Dorjsuren , Abiyu Asaminew , Qin Tianling
Published: November 2018

The Awash river basin has been the most extensively developed and used river basin in Ethiopia since modern agriculture was introduced. This paper investigated the annual precipitation, temperature, and river discharge variability using the innovative trend analysis method (ITAM), Mann–Kendall (MK) test, and Sen’s slope estimator test. The results showed that the trend of annual precipitation was significantly increasing in Fitche (Z = 0.82) and Gewane (Z = 0.80), whereas the trend in Bui (Z = 69) was slightly decreasing and the trend in Sekoru (Z = 0.45) was sharply decreasing. As far as temperature trends were concerned, a statistically significant increasing trend was observed in Fitche (Z = 3.77), Bui (Z = 4.84), and Gewane (Z = 5.59). However, the trend in Sekoru (Z = 1.37) was decreasing with statistical significance. The discharge in the study basin showed a decreasing trend during the study period. Generally, the increasing and decreasing levels of precipitation, temperature, and discharge across the stations in this study indicate the change in trends. The results of this study could help researchers, policymakers, and water resources managers to understand the variability of precipitation, temperature, and river discharge over the study basin.