bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Flatwise to Upright Build Orientations under Three-Point Bending Test of Nylon 12 (PA12) Additively Manufactured by SLS
Authors: Baba Marius Nicolae
Published: March 2022

This paper describes in detail a series of static tests conducted in a three-point bend configuration on three build orientations (i.e., 0°, 45°, and 90°) of additively manufactured Nylon 12 (PA12) specimens produced with a powder refresh ratio of 50%, using a benchtop industrial SLS platform, Formlabs Fuse 1. The bending strength and flexural elasticity moduli are determined following ISO 173 specifications and by employing a more complex equation that considers the influence of large deflections as per ISO 14125 indications. Statistical variability of experimental data is considered and compared to the results from the literature. Through a fractographic SEM study, the damage morphologies of tested specimens are analyzed and associated with the recorded load-deflection curves for an accurate perception of build orientation-dependent anisotropy in bending properties of AM PA12 SLS specimens. A surprising result of this investigation is that the specimens built with 45° orientation showed superior modulus elasticity in flexure but a low bending strength compared to flatwise oriented specimens. In addition, a Weibull reliability quantification of bending strength is adapted to pinpoint the effects of internal 3D printing flaws (contained within a characteristic highly-stressed volume of material) over the failure probability of the three build orientations in question.
Behavior of Top-Blown Jet under a New Cyclone Oxygen Lance during BOF Steelmaking Process
Authors: Li Jun , Ma Zheng , Chen Chaoyun , Zhang Jieyu , Wang Bo
Published: March 2022

An oxygen lance is the operation unit that generates supersonic oxygen jets, controls their behavior, and acts as a vital role in the steelmaking process. It is thought that airflow similar to a tornado may suppress upward splashing because of part of the jet pressure shifting from the axis of the oxygen lance to the tangential direction. Therefore, a new oxygen lance is designed to form a tornado jet, and the numerical simulation consequences are verified by the physical model. The structure of the new oxygen lance is optimized by numerical simulation results, and the comparison of simulation results before and after optimization is analyzed. On this basis, the effect of the cyclone oxygen lance on the upward splashing behavior, penetrating depth, turbulent kinetic energy, turbulent dissipation rate, and rotation of molten bath is investigated. The conclusions present that, compared with the conventional oxygen lance, the upward splashing with the cyclone oxygen lance decreases, and the penetrating depth and reaction area increase. In other words, for obtaining the same penetrating depth, the cyclone lance height can be higher than that of a conventional oxygen lance, which leads to a better protective effect on the refractories of the oxygen lance. Moreover, the average value of the turbulent kinetic energy of the cyclone nozzle is larger than that of the traditional Laval nozzle at the interface between oxygen and slag, which improves the effect of steelmaking.
Crisis, Liturgy, and Communal Identity: The Celebration of the Hispano-Mozarabic Rite in Toledo, Spain as a Case Study
Authors: Chase Nathan P.
Published: March 2022

The Hispano-Mozarabic Rite is a helpful case study for liturgists interested in the construction of community identity across time and in light of various types of crises. From the 6th century to today, a number of internal and external crises—political and ecclesial—have shaped the Rite and have threatened its continued existence. From the Arab invasions in 711 CE, the Rite has been key to the preservation of the Mozarab community, the group of Christians who remained in Muslim-ruled Spain and continued to celebrate the Rite. The Rite is key to their self-understanding and preservation. At the same time, the Rite has been coopted throughout its history for burgeoning Spanish nationalist visions. It has also challenged the centralized ecclesiology of the Roman Catholic Church. In order to shed light on the relationship between crisis and communal identity in this tradition, this article will begin with a historical study of the Rite. The second half of this article will look at the modern celebration of the Rite in Toledo through the use of participant observation. This will reveal the way several communities (the Mozarabs and Spaniards) have used the Rite to navigate various crises throughout history.
Approximation of Zero-Inflated Poisson Credibility Premium via Variational Bayes Approach
Authors: Kim Minwoo , Jeong Himchan , Dey Dipak
Published: March 2022

While both zero-inflation and the unobserved heterogeneity in risks are prevalent issues in modeling insurance claim counts, determination of Bayesian credibility premium of the claim counts with these features are often demanding due to high computational costs associated with a use of MCMC. This article explores a way to approximate credibility premium for claims frequency that follows a zero-inflated Poisson distribution via variational Bayes approach. Unlike many existing industry benchmarks, the proposed method enables insurance companies to capture both zero-inflation and unobserved heterogeneity of policyholders simultaneously with modest computation costs. A simulation study and an empirical analysis using the LGPIF dataset were conducted and it turned out that the proposed method outperforms many industry benchmarks in terms of prediction performances and computation time. Such results support the applicability of the proposed method in the posterior ratemaking practices.
Integration of Sentinel-3 and MODIS Vegetation Indices with ERA-5 Agro-Meteorological Indicators for Operational Crop Yield Forecasting
Authors: Bojanowski Jędrzej S. , Sikora Sylwia , Musiał Jan P. , Woźniak Edyta , Dąbrowska-Zielińska Katarzyna , Slesiński Przemysław , Milewski Tomasz , Łączyński Artur
Published: March 2022

Timely crop yield forecasts at a national level are substantial to support food policies, to assess agricultural production, and to subsidize regions affected by food shortage. This study presents an operational crop yield forecasting system for Poland that employs freely available satellite and agro-meteorological products provided by the Copernicus programme. The crop yield predictors consist of: (1) Vegetation condition indicators provided daily by Sentinel-3 OLCI (optical) and SLSTR (thermal) imagery, (2) a backward extension of Sentinel-3 data (before 2018) derived from cross-calibrated MODIS data, and (3) air temperature, total precipitation, surface radiation, and soil moisture derived from ERA-5 climate reanalysis generated by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. The crop yield forecasting algorithm is based on thermal time (growing degree days derived from ERA-5 data) to better follow the crop development stage. The recursive feature elimination is used to derive an optimal set of predictors for each administrative unit, which are ultimately employed by the Extreme Gradient Boosting regressor to forecast yields using official yield statistics as a reference. According to intensive leave-one-year-out cross validation for the 2000–2019 period, the relative RMSE for voivodships (NUTS-2) are: 8% for winter wheat, and 13% for winter rapeseed and maize. Respectively, for municipalities (LAU) it equals 14% for winter wheat, 19% for winter rapeseed, and 27% for maize. The system is designed to be easily applicable in other regions and to be easily adaptable to cloud computing environments such as Data and Information Access Services (DIAS) or Amazon AWS, where data sets from the Copernicus programme are directly accessible.
From Regression Based on Dynamic Filter Network to Pansharpening by Pixel-Dependent Spatial-Detail Injection
Authors: Liu Xuan , Tang Ping , Jin Xing , Zhang Zheng
Published: March 2022

Compared with hardware upgrading, pansharpening is a low-cost way to acquire high-quality images, which usually combines multispectral images (MS) in low spatial resolution with panchromatic images (PAN) in high spatial resolution. This paper proposes a pixel-dependent spatial-detail injection network (PDSDNet). Based on a dynamic filter network, PDSDNet constructs nonlinear mapping of the simulated panchromatic band from low-resolution multispectral bands through filtering convolution regression. PDSDNet reduces the possibility of spectral distortion and enriches spatial details by improving the similarity between the simulated panchromatic band and the real panchromatic band. Moreover, PDSDNet assumes that if an ideal multispectral image that has the same resolution with the panchromatic image exists, each band of it should have the same spatial details as in the panchromatic image. Thus, the details we fill into each multispectral band are the same and they can be extracted effectively in one pass. Experimental results demonstrate that PDSDNet can generate high-quality fusion images with multispectral images and panchromatic images. Compared with BDSD, MTF-GLP-HPM-PP, and PanNet, which are widely applied on IKONOS, QuickBird, and WorldView-3 datasets, pansharpened images of the proposed method have rich spatial details and present superior visual effects without noticeable spectral and spatial distortion.
Remote Sensing Image Denoising Based on Deep and Shallow Feature Fusion and Attention Mechanism
Authors: Han Lintao , Zhao Yuchen , Lv Hengyi , Zhang Yisa , Liu Hailong , Bi Guoling
Published: March 2022

Optical remote sensing images are widely used in the fields of feature recognition, scene semantic segmentation, and others. However, the quality of remote sensing images is degraded due to the influence of various noises, which seriously affects the practical use of remote sensing images. As remote sensing images have more complex texture features than ordinary images, this will lead to the previous denoising algorithm failing to achieve the desired result. Therefore, we propose a novel remote sensing image denoising network (RSIDNet) based on a deep learning approach, which mainly consists of a multi-scale feature extraction module (MFE), multiple local skip-connected enhanced attention blocks (ECA), a global feature fusion block (GFF), and a noisy image reconstruction block (NR). The combination of these modules greatly improves the model’s use of the extracted features and increases the model’s denoising capability. Extensive experiments on synthetic Gaussian noise datasets and real noise datasets have shown that RSIDNet achieves satisfactory results. RSIDNet can improve the loss of detail information in denoised images in traditional denoising methods, retaining more of the higher-frequency components, which can have performance improvements for subsequent image processing.
Retrieval of Crop Variables from Proximal Multispectral UAV Image Data Using PROSAIL in Maize Canopy
Authors: Chakhvashvili Erekle , Siegmann Bastian , Muller Onno , Verrelst Jochem , Bendig Juliane , Kraska Thorsten , Rascher Uwe
Published: March 2022

Mapping crop variables at different growth stages is crucial to inform farmers and plant breeders about the crop status. For mapping purposes, inversion of canopy radiative transfer models (RTMs) is a viable alternative to parametric and non-parametric regression models, which often lack transferability in time and space. Due to the physical nature of RTMs, inversion outputs can be delivered in sound physical units that reflect the underlying processes in the canopy. In this study, we explored the capabilities of the coupled leaf–canopy RTM PROSAIL applied to high-spatial-resolution (0.015 m) multispectral unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) data to retrieve the leaf chlorophyll content (LCC), leaf area index (LAI) and canopy chlorophyll content (CCC) of sweet and silage maize throughout one growing season. Two different retrieval methods were tested: (i) applying the RTM inversion scheme to mean reflectance data derived from single breeding plots (mean reflectance approach) and (ii) applying the same inversion scheme to an orthomosaic to separately retrieve the target variables for each pixel of the breeding plots (pixel-based approach). For LCC retrieval, soil and shaded pixels were removed by applying simple vegetation index thresholding. Retrieval of LCC from UAV data yielded promising results compared to ground measurements (sweet maize RMSE = 4.92 µg/m2, silage maize RMSE = 3.74 µg/m2) when using the mean reflectance approach. LAI retrieval was more challenging due to the blending of sunlit and shaded pixels present in the UAV data, but worked well at the early developmental stages (sweet maize RMSE = 0.70 m2/m2, silage RMSE = 0.61 m2/m2 across all dates). CCC retrieval significantly benefited from the pixel-based approach compared to the mean reflectance approach (RMSEs decreased from 45.6 to 33.1 µg/m2). We argue that high-resolution UAV imagery is well suited for LCC retrieval, as shadows and background soil can be precisely removed, leaving only green plant pixels for the analysis. As for retrieving LAI, it proved to be challenging for two distinct varieties of maize that were characterized by contrasting canopy geometry.
Near-Infrared Hyperspectral Imaging Pipelines for Pasture Seed Quality Evaluation: An Overview
Authors: Reddy Priyanka , Guthridge Kathryn M. , Panozzo Joe , Ludlow Emma J. , Spangenberg German C. , Rochfort Simone J.
Published: March 2022

Near-infrared (800–2500 nm; NIR) spectroscopy coupled to hyperspectral imaging (NIR-HSI) has greatly enhanced its capability and thus widened its application and use across various industries. This non-destructive technique that is sensitive to both physical and chemical attributes of virtually any material can be used for both qualitative and quantitative analyses. This review describes the advancement of NIR to NIR-HSI in agricultural applications with a focus on seed quality features for agronomically important seeds. NIR-HSI seed phenotyping, describing sample sizes used for building high-accuracy calibration and prediction models for full or selected wavelengths of the NIR region, is explored. The molecular interpretation of absorbance bands in the NIR region is difficult; hence, this review offers important NIR absorbance band assignments that have been reported in literature. Opportunities for NIR-HSI seed phenotyping in forage grass seed are described and a step-by-step data-acquisition and analysis pipeline for the determination of seed quality in perennial ryegrass seeds is also presented.
Preprocessing Methods for Ambulatory HRV Analysis Based on HRV Distribution, Variability and Characteristics (DVC)
Authors: Benchekroun Mouna , Chevallier Baptiste , Istrate Dan , Zalc Vincent , Lenne Dominique
Published: March 2022

Thanks to wearable devices joint with AI algorithms, it is possible to record and analyse physiological parameters such as heart rate variability (HRV) in ambulatory environments. The main downside to such setups is the bad quality of recorded data due to movement, noises, and data losses. These errors may considerably alter HRV analysis and should therefore be addressed beforehand, especially if used for medical diagnosis. One widely used method to handle such problems is interpolation, but this approach does not preserve the time dependence of the signal. In this study, we propose a new method for HRV processing including filtering and iterative data imputation using a Gaussian distribution. The particularity of the method is that many physiological aspects are taken into consideration, such as HRV distribution, RR variability, and normal boundaries, as well as time series characteristics. We study the effect of this method on classification using a random forest classifier (RF) and compare it to other data imputation methods including linear, shape-preserving piecewise cubic Hermite (pchip), and spline interpolation in a case study on stress. Features from reconstructed HRV signals of 67 healthy subjects using all four methods were analysed and separately classified by a random forest algorithm to detect stress against relaxation. The proposed method reached a stable F1 score of 61% even with a high percentage of missing data, whereas other interpolation methods reached approximately 54% F1 score for a low percentage of missing data, and the performance drops to about 44% when the percentage is increased. This suggests that our method gives better results for stress classification, especially on signals with a high percentage of missing data.
Detection of DIAG and LINE Patterns in PassPoints Graphical Passwords Based on the Maximum Angles of Their Delaunay Triangles
Authors: Suárez-Plasencia Lisset , Herrera-Macías Joaquín Alberto , Legón-Pérez Carlos Miguel , Sosa-Gómez Guillermo , Rojas Omar
Published: March 2022

An alternative authentication method to traditional alphanumeric passwords is graphical password authentication, also known as graphical authentication, for which one of the most valuable cued-recall techniques is PassPoints. This technique stands out for its security and usability. However, it can be violated if the user follows a predefined pattern when selecting the five points in an image as their passwords, such as the DIAG and LINE patterns. Dictionary attacks can be built using these two patterns to compromise graphical passwords. So far, no reports have been found in the state of the art about any test capable of detecting graphical passwords with DIAG or LINE patterns in PassPoints. Studies carried out in other scenarios have shown the effectiveness of the characteristics of Delaunay triangulations in extracting information about the dependence between the points. In this work, graphical passwords formed by five randomly selected points on an image are compared with passwords whose points contain patterns of the DIAG or LINE type. The comparison is based on building for each password its Delaunay triangulation and calculating the mean value of the maximum angles of the triangles obtained; such a mean value is denoted by amadt. It is experimentally shown that in passwords containing DIAG and LINE patterns, the value of amadt is higher than the one obtained in passwords formed by random dots. From this result, it is proposed to use this amadt value as a statistic to build a test of means. This result constitutes the work’s main contribution: The proposal of a spatial randomness test to detect weak graphic passwords that contain DIAG and LINE type patterns. The importance and novelty of this result become evident when two aspects are taken into account: First, these weak passwords can be exploited by attackers to improve the effectiveness of their attacks; second, there are no prior criteria to detect this type of weak password. The practical application of said test contributes to increasing PassPoints security without substantially affecting its efficiency.
A Study on the Applicability of Thermodynamic Sensors in Fermentation Processes in Selected Foods
Authors: Adamek Martin , Matyas Jiri , Adamkova Anna , Mlcek Jiri , Buran Martin , Cernekova Martina , Sevcikova Veronika , Zvonkova Magdalena , Slobodian Petr , Olejnik Robert
Published: March 2022

This study focuses on the use of thermodynamic sensors (TDS) in baking, brewing, and yogurt production at home. Using thermodynamic sensors, a change in the temperature flow between the two sensor elements during fermentation was observed for the final mixture (complete recipe for pizza dough production), showing the possibility of distinguishing some phases of the fermentation process. Even during the fermentation process in the preparation of wort and yogurt with non-traditional additives, the sensors were able to indicate significant parts of the process, including the end of the process. The research article also mentions as a new idea the use of trivial regulation at home in food production to determine the course of the fermentation process. The results presented in this article show the possibility of using TDS for more accurate characterization and adjustment of the production process of selected foods in the basic phase, which will be further applicable in the food industry, with the potential to reduce the cost of food production processes that involve a fermentation process.
Making Progress Monitoring Easier and More Motivating: Developing a Client Data Collection App Incorporating User-Centered Design and Behavioral Economics Insights
Authors: Nuske Heather J. , Buck Jacqueline E. , Ramesh Brinda , Becker-Haimes Emily M. , Zentgraf Kelly , Mandell David S.
Published: March 2022

Data collection is an important component of evidence-based behavioral interventions for children with autism, but many one-to-one aides (i.e., behavioral support staff) do not systemically collect quantitative data that are necessary for best-practice client progress monitoring. Data collection of clients’ behaviors often involves labor-intensive pen-and-paper practices. In addition, the solitary nature of one-to-one work limits opportunities for timely supervisor feedback, potentially reducing motivation to collect data. We incorporated principles from behavioral economics and user-centered design to develop a phone-based application, Footsteps, to address these challenges. We interviewed nine one-to-one aides working with children with autism and seven supervisors to ask for their app development ideas. We then developed the Footsteps app prototype and tested the prototype with 10 one-to-one aides and supervisors through three testing cycles. At each cycle, one-to-one aides rated app usability. Participants provided 76 discrete suggestions for improvement, including 29 new app features (e.g., behavior timer), 20 feature modifications (e.g., numeric type-in option for behavior frequency), four flow modifications (e.g., deleting a redundant form), and 23 out-of-scope suggestions. Of the participants that tested the app, 90% rated usability as good or excellent. Results support continuing to develop Footsteps and testing its impact in a clinical trial.
The Views of Stakeholders on Mandatory or Voluntary Use of a Simplified Standard on Non-Financial Information for SMEs in the European Union
Authors: Santos Paula Gomes dos , Albuquerque Fábio , Rodrigues Maria Albertina Barreiro , Morais Ana Isabel
Published: March 2022

This paper investigates the variables that may explain the views of stakeholders regarding the need for a simplified non-financial reporting (NFR) standard for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the European Union (EU) and whether this standard should be mandatory or voluntary. This paper uses, as a source, 588 answers provided by different groups of stakeholders within the process of public consultation conducted by the EU, from February to June 2020, concerning possible revisions to the provisions of the Directive on NFR. The findings showed that the most consensual attribute that probably explains the views of stakeholders on this matter is the importance attributed by them to the concepts of comparability, reliability, and relevance. From the stakeholders’ perspective, this topic may also be explained by the users’ needs. Notwithstanding, its importance may differ, depending on the type of user. These findings are relevant within the process of developing an NFR model applicable to SMEs based on a mandatory standard, providing evidence that regulators and standard-setters should consider the qualitative characteristics of non-financial information as well as the needs of various stakeholders within this process.
Perceived Authenticity and Experience Quality in Intangible Cultural Heritage Tourism: The Case of Kunqu Opera in China
Authors: Lu Wenwen , Su Yongjun , Su Sitan , Zhao Jie , Zhang Li
Published: March 2022

In the era of the experience economy, intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is now much a richer in terms of authenticity, which largely enriches the tourist experience. This study aims to apply authenticity theory to the field of intangible cultural heritage tourism (ICHT) and to analyze the relationship between the dual dimensions of tourists’ perceived authenticity (constructivism and existentialism) and experience quality and satisfaction. A total of 302 valid questionnaires were collected and analyzed using structural equation modeling through a survey of Kunqu Opera, a World ICH in China. The results of this study confirm that the dual dimensions of authenticity (constructive and existential) have significantly different effects on experience quality and satisfaction. Furthermore, with regard to the mediating effect of experience quality, experience quality plays a partially mediating role between existential authenticity and satisfaction. However, constructive authenticity is a positive influence on satisfaction through existential authenticity and experience quality. This article is concluded with a discussion on the theoretical and managerial implications.
Paradigm Shift of Scale in Landscape Architecture—Towards a Planetary Observation
Authors: Nickayin Samaneh Sadat
Published: March 2022

In the era of globalisation, when the whole planet is urbanised and planners debate “planetary urbanization”, economists discuss “global cities”, ecologists describe the planet’s biodiversity hotspot connections, and climate change warns of a “global” crisis, it might be necessary to shift the paradigm of the landscape planning scale from local and regional scale to an adequate scale of challenges—planetary scale. The era of holistic approaches necessitates a review in local landscape planning in line with global drivers, and that is why most schools of thought have moved towards “planetary visions” to resolve the global challenges. In prospect for the planet’s future, with the bourgeoning of the next billion people, under the pressure of climate change and implosion/explosion of planetary urbanisation, shortage of land is one of the hot topics, as well as humanity’s attempt to manage the planet as a “whole” system to guarantee the economic resources and protect the biodiversity. Concerning some global landscape connectivity projects, the paper focuses on the importance of “planetary scale” to guarantee the proper understanding of relationships between landscape design, urbanization and ecological advocacy.
Mediation and Online Learning: Systematic Literature Mapping (2015–2020)
Authors: Riofrío-Calderón Gioconda , Ramírez-Montoya María-Soledad
Published: March 2022

Mediation is a crucial element in the learning process, especially in a virtual environment, whether it corresponds to formal, non-formal, or informal education. This paper aims to expose the research on mediation and learning in virtual environments published between 2015 and 2020. A total of 299 articles were identified that address the topic of mediation and learning in virtual environments from different fields and approaches. The results that respond to the research questions are presented. The study was carried out with the Web of Science (WOS) and Scopus databases, and inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied to obtain the articles under study. The Systematic Literature Mapping (SLM) method was used to answer questions raised for analysis. Information was extracted from the articles regarding the method used, the most cited articles, geographical distribution of the authors by country, the journals and impact factor, type of mediation, and finally, the trends and spaces where mediation takes place. The results show studies tending toward technological mediation and factors such as interaction, collaboration, communication, and discussion, among others. The practical implications are oriented to show the mediating factor from the pedagogical and technological perspectives and its contribution to achieve meaningful learning.
Insight on Fruit Fly IPM Technology Uptake and Barriers to Scaling in Africa
Authors: Niassy Saliou , Murithii Beatrice , Omuse Evanson R. , Kimathi Emily , Tonnang Henri , Ndlela Shepard , Mohamed Samira , Ekesi Sunday
Published: March 2022

Tephritid fruit flies are considered one of the world’s most notorious pests of horticultural crops, causing extensive direct and indirect damage. Over the past two decades, a comprehensive, integrated pest management (IPM) package for the management of a plethora of fruit fly pests, including Bactrocera dorsalis, B. latifrons, B. zonata, Ceratitis cosyra, C. rosa, C. fasciventris, C. quilici, C. capitata, Dacus spp. and Zeugodacus cucurbitae, has been developed, disseminated and promoted among horticultural growers in Africa. To estimate the numbers of beneficiaries reached by the fruit fly IPM technology and the barriers to technology uptake, we interviewed 290 experts in 30 African countries covering five regions of the continent, and the responses collected were represented as follows: Southern Africa (39.1%), Eastern Africa (31.6%), Western Africa (18.0%), Central Africa (9.0%) and Northern Africa (2.0%). Our results revealed that the use of fruit fly IPM technologies varied across the regions, with Eastern Africa and Western Africa the leading regions, with the highest IPM technology penetration. Field sanitation remains the most common practice for managing fruit flies, followed by protein bait spray, use of biopesticides, male annihilation technique and parasitoid releases. According to the survey, over 101 million people have benefited from the fruit fly IPM interventions in the countries surveyed representing only 19.1% of the estimated beneficiaries. The region that benefitted the most was Eastern Africa (50.2 million), followed by Central and Western Africa (11.7 to 17.7 million), and Southern and Northern Africa had the fewest beneficiaries (10.4 to 11.0 million). The limitations to the IPM technologies uptake varied among the regions, but the common ones include a lack of awareness of the IPM technologies, a lack of access to the IPM products, insufficient training, a low involvement of private sectors and a lack of policies for the regulation of IPM technologies. Although significant strides have been made in promoting the fruit fly IPM technologies over the past two decades, our study reveals that the demand surpasses the current supply. Our study recommends a comprehensive strategy for the dissemination and promotion of the technologies through a multi-institutional alliance that enhances public and private partnerships, digital platforms and youth engagement to consolidate previous gains at the regional and continental levels.
Entice to Trap: Enhanced Protection against a Rate-Aware Intelligent Jammer in Cognitive Radio Networks
Authors: Ibrahim Khalid , Alnajim Abdullah M. , Naveed Malik Aqdas , Waseem Athar , Alyahya Saleh , Islam Muhammad , Khan Sheroz
Published: March 2022

Anti-jamming in cognitive radio networks (CRN) is mainly accomplished using machine learning techniques in the domains of frequency, coding, power and rate. Jamming is a major threat to CRN because it can cause severe performance damage such as network isolation, network application interruption and even physical damage to infrastructure simple radio devices. With the improvement in communication technologies, the capabilities of adversaries are also increased. The intelligent jammer knows the rate at which users transmit data, which is based on the attractiveness factor of each user. The higher the data rate for a secondary user, the more attractive it is to the rate-aware jammer. In this paper, we present a dummy user in the network as a honeypot of the jammer to get the jammer’s attention. A new anti-jamming deceiving theoretical method based on rate modifications is introduced to increase the bandwidth efficiency of the entire cognitive radio-based communication system. We employ a defensive anti-jamming deception mechanism of the Pseudo Secondary User (PSU) to as an entice to trap the attacker by providing thus enhanced protection for the rest of the network from the impact of the attacker. Our analytical simulation results show a significant improvement in performance using the proposed solution. The utility of the proposed intelligent anti-jamming algorithm lies in its applications to support the secondary wireless sensor nodes.
Towards Sustainable Project Management: Evaluation of Relationship-Specific Risks and Risk Determinants Threatening to Achieve the Intended Benefit of Interorganizational Cooperation in Engineering Projects
Authors: Krechowicz Maria
Published: March 2022

Nowadays, we can observe a growing number of investment projects in the construction industry and environmental engineering, as well as a growing interest in socially responsible projects aiming to contribute to sustainable development. Interorganizational cooperation in engineering projects is associated with many opportunities and risks that continue to be a challenge for today’s world. The aim of this work is to identify and assess relationship-specific risks and risk determinants threatening to achieve the intended benefit of interorganizational cooperation and to develop assumptions for the risk management model in such projects. It will support sustainable project management in interorganizational engineering projects and increase their sustainability. In this work, 18 risks and 28 risk determinants were identified. Risks’ frequency of occurrence, consequences, possibility of detection and Risk Priority Numbers as well as the significance of risk determinants were assessed based on the data gathered from 12,352 interorganizational projects from 100 Polish companies. It was found that self-interest orientation, hiding internal problems and/or problems related to the joint venture, unfavourable and imprecise contract, and lack of a good project coordinator pose the highest risk in interorganizational engineering projects. The study revealed that the highest Risk Priority Numbers in interorganizational projects were generally obtained for construction projects, lower for socially responsible projects taken by engineering companies, and the lowest for environmental engineering projects.
The Influence of Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Ethics on Brand Fidelity: The Importance of Brand Love and Brand Attitude
Authors: Quezado Tarcia Camily Cavalcante , Fortes Nuno , Cavalcante William Quezado Figueiredo
Published: March 2022

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business ethics are perceived as distinct constructs by the consumer, although research from this perspective is scarce. Thus, the objective of this study is to investigate the impact of CSR and business ethics on brand fidelity. A theoretical review of CSR, business ethics, brand attitude, brand love, and brand fidelity was undertaken. From these constructs, a theoretical model was proposed, conducting an empirical study with a sample of 559 North American respondents. Through the statistical treatment of data with PLS-SEM, it was demonstrated that business ethics and CSR exert an indirect positive effect on brand fidelity, with relationships mediated by brand love. In turn, brand attitude exerts an indirect effect on brand fidelity, through the mediation of brand love. Based on the results, this study contributes to the approach of CSR and business ethics as distinct constructs and to the consolidation of the brand fidelity construct and its relationships. For management, this study helps organizations to perceive CSR and business ethics as important allies in a brand’s strategy. We conclude that although CSR remains important, customers value business ethics as a critical factor in their perceptions of the brand, contributing more strongly to brand fidelity.
Transportation Planning, Mobility Habits and Sustainable Development in the Era of COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Cartenì Armando , Henke Ilaria
Published: March 2022

Starting from December 2019, the world has faced an unprecedented health crisis caused by the new coronavirus (COVID-19) due to SARS-CoV-2 [...]
Screening of Cooling Technologies in Europe: Alternatives to Vapour Compression and Possible Market Developments
Authors: Pezzutto Simon , Quaglini Giulio , Riviere Philippe , Kranzl Lukas , Novelli Antonio , Zambito Andrea , Wilczynski Eric
Published: March 2022

The aim of this study is to investigate, review, and assess the recent advances of alternative cooling technologies using traditional vapor compression (VC) systems as a baseline. Around 99% of the final energy consumption used for cooling in the current European market (European Union plus the United Kingdom (EU27 + UK) is supplied by VC technologies. In comparison, the remaining 1% is produced by thermally driven heat pumps (TDHPs). This study focuses on providing a complete taxonomy of cooling technologies. While the EU heating sector is broadly explored in scientific literature, a significant lack of data and information is present in the cooling sector. This study highlights technologies that can potentially compete and eventually replace VC systems within the decade (2030). Among others, the most promising of these are membrane heat pump, transcritical cycle, Reverse Brayton (Bell Coleman cycle), and absorption cooling. However, the latter mentioned technologies still need further research and development (R&D) to become fully competitive with VC technologies. Notably, there are no alternative cooling technologies characterized by higher efficiency and less cost than VC technologies in the EU market.
Not Only Trees Matter—Traffic-Related PM Accumulation by Vegetation of Urban Forests
Authors: Popek Robert , Fornal-Pieniak Beata , Chyliński Filip , Pawełkowicz Magdalena , Bobrowicz Jan , Chrzanowska Dominika , Piechota Natalia , Przybysz Arkadiusz
Published: March 2022

In terms of the process of air purification, a lot of attention has been devoted to trees and shrubs. Little attention has been paid to herbaceous vegetation from the lower forest layers. Urban forests are often located on the outskirts of cities and surround exit roads where there is heavy traffic, generating particulate matter (PM) pollution. The aim of this study was to investigate the spread of PM from the road traffic in the air and to investigate how individual layers of urban forests accumulate PM. We conducted comparative analyses of PM accumulation on plants in five zones away from the road, into the forest, in the air, and in four vegetation layers: mosses, herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees. The results show that all forest layers accumulate PM. We show that PM is very efficiently accumulated by herbaceous plants growing along roadsides, and that the PM that was not deposited on herbaceous plants was accumulated by trees and shrubs. With increasing distance from the road into the forest, the PM content on herbaceous plants decreased and the accumulation on trees and shrubs increased. We estimated that PM concentration in the air dropped significantly in the front line of the trees, but it was still detectable up to 50 m into the forest. The results presented herein show that meadow vegetation and urban forests play a very important role in air purification. Our results provide a better understanding of the complexity of urban forest interactions and provide the basis for better planning of urban greenery.
Safety First? Lessons from the Hapcheon Dam Flood in 2020
Authors: Lee Taesam , Seong Kiyoung , Lee Seung Oh , Yoo Hyung Ju
Published: March 2022

Floods change the living environment and threaten public health, while dam construction has often been made to protect and mitigate floods. Meanwhile, an exceptionally high outflow, five times higher than the maximum historical outflow, was discharged on 8 August 2020 from the Hapcheon Dam (HCD), which is located at the middle of the Hwang River, South Korea. As a result, the 2020 flood event occurred in the downstream area, flooding the villages located downstream of the HCD, and damaging agricultural and residential areas. The current study investigates the cause of the flood and how the outflow affected the downstream area. The investigation showed that the Hwang River and the streams connected to the Hwang River experienced piping and overflow in several levees downstream. The frequency analysis of the rainfall upstream and the inflow to the HCD illustrated that the rainfall return periods are only 5–30 years for different durations. The return period of inflow to the HCD was only approximately five years. Sustaining a high-water level before the flooding season for future environmental use caused an exceptionally high outflow. Lowering the water level might have prevented damage to the downstream area. The 2020 flood event provided an imperative lesson to water managers and policymakers, demonstrating that the HCD and downstream safety must be prioritized over water conservation for environmental use.
Environmental and Socioeconomic Impacts of Shrimp Farming in the Philippines: A Critical Analysis Using PRISMA
Authors: Macusi Edison D. , Estor Darshel Ester P. , Borazon Elaine Q. , Clapano Misael B. , Santos Mudjekeewis D.
Published: March 2022

Shrimp aquaculture is under pressure to increase its production to meet the growing demand for food from a growing population. In the Philippines, aquaculture has experienced the shift from milkfish to prawn, with its attractive marketable price. This intensification has led to negative and positive impacts, which have raised a range of environmental and socioeconomic problems. This paper reviews the environmental and socioeconomic challenges that the shrimp aquaculture industry faces using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method. We examine the gaps and the changes that are required to revitalize the industry. We examine and assess the impacts of shrimp culture on the environment, e.g., shrimp farm management, marine pollution, disease outbreaks, and the social, economic, and climate change impacts. The presence of viral diseases, such as White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV), Monodon Baculovirus (MBV), Infectious Hypodermal and Hematopoietic Necrosis Virus (IHHNV), Hepatopancreatic Parvovirus (HPV), and Yellow Head Virus (YHV), have caused approximate losses in the industry of 40,080 mt in 1997, and 51,000 mt in 2014. Recommended strategies and policy changes are considered for the improvement of shrimp aquaculture, including disease management, the adoption of good aquaculture practices, proper environmental monitoring, sustainable practices at the farm level, and priorities for cooperation among the concerned government agencies and local governments, as well as the involvement of state universities and colleges, for better management practices.
The Ultimate Safe System: Redefining the Safe System Approach for Road Safety
Authors: Job R. F. Soames , Truong Jessica , Sakashita Chika
Published: March 2022

The Safe System approach to road safety has been adopted in many countries, but it has been adopted pervasively to a substantially constrained extent. This paper argues that effective adoption is hampered by two weaknesses in strategies for the implementation of Safe System: (1) interpretations of the shared responsibility principle and (2) Safe System adoption presented as simply requiring the use of multiple pillars of action. The typical description of shared responsibility includes responsibility by road users to obey the rules. This absolves accountability for road safety by the system owners and operators, facilitating victim blaming and reliance on road users who are acknowledged to be fallible. Thus, the system cannot be fully safe, and the vision of zero road trauma cannot be achieved. The extent to which road users are responsible for road safety via their actions is precisely the extent to which those responsible for the system have failed to deliver a safe road system. The assessment of road safety plans as Safe System because it includes multiple pillars of action fails to distinguish a system approach from a Safe System approach. Through these inclusions and interpretations, road safety advocates inadvertently obviate the responsibility of system owners and operators to provide a safe road system and prevent the achievement of zero road trauma, which nonetheless remains the vision described in Safe System strategies and plans. The Ultimate Safe System approach is proposed with a definition that genuinely drives the delivery of a truly Safe System and thus zero road trauma. Practical implications are considered.
Images to Evoke Decision-Making: Building Compelling Representations for Stakeholder-Driven Futures
Authors: Cronan Daniel , Trammell E. Jamie , Kliskey Andrew (Anaru)
Published: March 2022

Contemporary landscape planning challenges require an increasingly diverse ensemble of voices, including regional stakeholders, physical scientists, social scientists, and technical experts, to provide insight into a landscape’s past trends, current uses, and desired future. To impactfully integrate these disparate components, stakeholder-driven research must include clear lines of communication, share data transparently, and slowly develop trust. Alternative future scenario representations aim to generate conversations through discourse, evoke scenario-based stakeholder input, and ensure stakeholder-based revisions to research models. The current literature lacks a metric for gauging effectiveness and a framework for optimal evaluation for future scenario representations. We have developed and applied a metric for a ranked set of compelling scenario representations using stakeholder input from an active research project. Researchers surveyed stakeholders through a case study in Idaho’s Magic Valley to gauge the effectiveness of each representational approach. To improve future stakeholder-driven geodesign projects and gaps in the research literature, this project provides a ranking of graphic strategies based on the stakeholder survey. Additionally, we provide examples and evaluate graphic representation strategies that can stimulate meaningful conversations, create common understandings, and translate research processes and findings to a variety of audiences. The results of this study intend to provide landscape architects, landscape planners, and geodesign specialists with a framework for evaluating compelling future scenario representations for a stakeholder group.
Coping Strategies for Stress Used by People Working in Managerial Positions in Schools and Educational Establishments during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Kostorz Karolina , Polechoński Jacek , Zwierzchowska Anna
Published: March 2022

Although the ability to deal with stress is one of the key competences of people working in managerial positions in schools and educational establishments, principals in this area are very poorly diagnosed. The aim of this study was to consider the coping strategies used by headmasters and deputy headmasters of schools and educational establishments during the COVID-19 pandemic. For this purpose, Mini-COPE was used. The respondents (N = 159) obtained a higher mean for “active coping”, “planning”, “positive reframing”, “acceptance”, “use of instrumental support”, “venting”, and “problem-focused strategies” than the normative value. Compared to deputy headmasters, headmasters obtained higher mean results for “planning” and “religion”, and lower results for “behavioral disengagement”. Respondents with longer job seniority in a managerial position, obtained a higher mean for “use of instrumental support” and lower for “religion”. Compared to respondents employed in private schools, people in the public education sector are more likely to use “behavioral disengagement” and less their “sense of humor”. The respondents working in primary schools scored higher on average for “use of instrumental support” and “problem-focused strategies”. It would be advisable to compare the results with the teachers and the persons holding managerial positions in institutions and organizations not related to education.