bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An Integrated Indicator to Analyze Sustainability in Specialized Dairy Farms in Antioquia—Colombia
Authors: Rios Gloria P. , Botero Sergio
Published: November 2020

An integrated sustainability indicator in specialized dairy index (IISLE) is proposed for the evaluation of these production systems in four dimensions (financial, technical, social, and environmental). This index was validated in a study carried out with information from 18 dairy farms in Antioquia, a Colombian milk production region. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method was applied to prioritize criteria and sub-criteria. According to the proposed dimensions, four criteria were established (financial (ISDF), technical (ISDT), social (ISDS), and environmental (ISDA)) and 30 sub-criteria were analyzed. A multiple correlation analysis was performed to determine the intensity of the relationship among these four criteria and the overall index. The methodology includes a cluster analysis for the calculated IISLE. R software was used in the analysis. The proposed indicator is a powerful and useful planning and control tool for the evaluation of sustainability levels in dairy farms and is highly influenced by financial and technical criteria.
Mechanism of the Rapid Shrinkage of Limboto Lake in Gorontalo, Indonesia
Authors: Kimijima Satomi , Sakakibara Masayuki , Amin Abd. Kadir Mubarak A , Nagai Masahiko , Indriati Arifin Yayu
Published: November 2020

This study explores the mechanisms behind the rapid shrinkage of Limboto Lake, Gorontalo, Indonesia, using remotely sensed imagery and river outcrop investigation data. The results show that more than 70% of the sedimentation resulting in shrinkage is contributed by riverbank erosion causing rivers to drain into the lake during the period 2003–2017. From geological investigation, it is found that the lowland area to the west of Limboto Lake comprises 1 m of flood sediments, followed by at least 5 m of fine-grained inner bay sediments. Severe riverbank erosion is also observed at many points. Hence, it is concluded that the shrinkage of Limboto Lake resulted from rapid-induced rapid erosion of inner bay sediments formed during plate collision which readily flowed into and were deposited in Limboto Lake; this created a delta, especially on the west side of the lake. Accelerated sedimentation caused by river erosion has led to rapid lake shrinkage. This phenomenon could be typical of the transformation of enclosed seas into lakes by the rapid uplifting movement of land in collision zones.
Drainage Ditch Berm Delineation Using Lidar Data: A Case Study of Waseca County, Minnesota
Authors: Graves Jonathan , Mohapatra Rama , Flatgard Nicholas
Published: November 2020

Within a drainage system, drainage ditches are designed to improve existing natural drainage. Although drainage ditches are mostly engineered, they can also be part of natural watercourses. For environmental sustainability, in many places there are guidelines to establish vegetative buffer strips along the boundary of drainage ditches. In this landscape planning study, a geospatial modeling framework was established to identify these drainage system landforms and the boundary that separates these landforms from their surrounding areas across Waseca County in south-central Minnesota. By employing almost 2000 GPS spot elevation measurements from five ditch systems and one-meter Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) derived digital elevation model (DEM) data, the drainage ditch berm polygons were delineated. Eight low light angle hillshade rasters at 45-degree azimuth intervals were used to construct the model. These hillshade rasters were combined to form a composite raster so that the effect of multiple azimuths can be captured during ditch berm delineation. The GPS points identified as the top of the berm were used to extract cell values from the combined hillshade. These cell values were modeled further using statistical distribution graphs. The statistical model derived +0.5 and +1 standard deviation values (cell values 812 and 827, respectively) of the combined hillshade raster were utilized to obtain complete berm polygons. In this semi-automated method, between 67.30% to 79.80% of ditch berm lengths were mapped with an average error that is less than the resolution of the DEM. Demarcation of these boundaries are important for local governments in Minnesota and throughout the world, as it could help guide land–water management and aid sustainable agriculture.
Understanding the Drivers of Wearable Health Monitoring Technology: An Extension of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology
Authors: Binyamin Sami S. , Hoque Md. Rakibul
Published: November 2020

The market for wearable health monitoring technology is promising globally and in Saudi Arabia particularly. The country has a very high prevalence of chronic diseases that can be managed using wearable health monitoring technology. However, wearable devices are not fully advantageous if people do not accept them. Due to the parsimony of studies on the acceptance of wearable health monitoring technology, understanding the key drivers of using wearable health monitoring technology remains uncertain. This cross-sectional study extends the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) to explain the variance in the adoption intention of wearable health monitoring technology. A total of 256 responses were analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling technique, in addition to the importance-performance map analysis. The results indicate that performance expectancy (PE), social influence (SI), facilitating conditions (FC), hedonic motivation (HM) and habit (HA) significantly impact users’ behavioral intention (BI) to adopt wearable health monitoring technology. The results also demonstrate that effort expectancy (EE), price value (PV), government health policy (GHP) and trust (TR) are not important. Based on the findings, this research presents a set of recommendations for decisions makers, managers and system developers in the healthcare sector to enhance the use and quality of wearable technology.
Students’ Social Construction of Knowledge through Cooperative Learning
Authors: Lenkauskaitė Jurgita , Colomer Jordi , Bubnys Remigijus
Published: November 2020

The objective of this manuscript is twofold: to critically analyze the principles of epistemic diversity and democracy and perform an analysis of the social construction of knowledge by university students through cooperative learning. The semi-structured interview methodology employed in the research revealed that the students provided a positive assessment of the possibilities of cooperation in heterogeneous teams: the array of experiences that were emerging in the process helped the students in the tertiary systems transcend the boundaries of their knowledge, share experiences, and construct new knowledge together. The research also highlighted students’ critical attitudes towards previous teamwork experiences, which relied more on an individualist than social approaches to knowledge. It also reflected on the causes and consequences of those experiences. Student interviews revealed a variety of difficulties the students were facing during team cooperation. The unconventional study process, centred on active and independent performance, social construction of knowledge, triggered confusion of the students’ roles, dissatisfaction with the unequal contributions by the team members to the common work, and the lack of teachers’ intervention. The findings established the basis for the design of the educational approaches for university students to socially construct knowledge through cooperation.
An Online Novel Two-Layered Photovoltaic Fault Monitoring Technique Based Upon the Thermal Signatures
Authors: Navid Qamar , Hassan Ahmed , Ahmad Fardoun Abbas , Ramzan Rashad
Published: November 2020

The share of photovoltaic (PV) power generation in the energy mix is increasing at a rapid pace with dramatically increasing capacity addition through utility-scale PV power plants globally. As PV plants are forecasted to be a major energy generator in the future, their reliable operation remains of primary concern due to a possibility of faults in a tremendously huge number of PV panels involved in power generation in larger plants. The precise detection of nature and the location of the faults along with a prompt remedial mechanism is deemed crucial for smoother power plant operation. The existing fault diagnostic methodologies based on thermal imaging of the panels as well as electrical parameters through inverter possess certain limitations. The current article deals with a novel fault diagnostic technique based on PV panel electrical parameters and junction temperatures that can precisely locate and categorize the faults. The proposed scheme has been tested on a 1.6 kW photovoltaic system for short circuit, open circuit, grounding, and partial shading faults. The proposed method showed improved accuracy compared to thermal imaging on panel scale fault detection, offering a possibility to adapt to the PV plant scale.
Energy and CO2 Reduction of Aluminum Powder Molds for Producing Free-Form Concrete Panels
Authors: Lee Donghoon , Kim Sunkuk
Published: November 2020

Free-form design may enhance the architectural value of buildings in terms of aesthetic and symbolic effects. However, it is difficult to reuse the mold of free-form concrete segments, so they are manufactured for single use. Manufacturing these molds is a time-consuming process that requires a lot of manpower. To solve these problems, there have been numerous studies on the use of phase change materials (PCMs) to make the molds. PCM molds represent a new technique of producing free-form panels using a computerized numeric control (CNC) machine that employs low-cost material to produce free-form concrete panels. However, PCM molds require a substantial amount of time and energy during fabrication because repeated heating and cooling cycles are required during panel production, and this process increases the CO2 emissions. Thus, the purposes of this study were to develop composite molds using aluminum powder to improve PCM mold performance and to conduct experiments to quantify the reduction of energy use and CO2 emissions. As a result of cooling experiments, it was found that the aluminum powder mold had an energy reduction effect of 14.3% against the PCM mold that had been produced only with paraffin wax, and CO2 reduction effect of more than 50% against the conventional mold.
Analyzing Coping Strategies and Adaptation after Resettlement—Case Study of Ekondo Kondo, Cameroon and Ekondo Kondo Model of Adaptation
Authors: Schopp Kerstin
Published: November 2020

This article centrally deals with the resettlement of the Cameroonian village Ekondo Kondo. In the following paper, I present resettlements as catastrophic events for the relocated populations. Research was conducted in the resettled Cameroonian village of Ekondo Kondo. The objectives of the research were to find out what kind of changes and challenges (positive and negative) people faced after relocation, whether these changes and challenges illustrated aspects of adaptation after resettlement which are lacking in the literature, and whether they could be included in the existing models of adaptation after resettlement to provide an enhanced framework for resettlement-linked projects. I demonstrate the consequences of the relocation for women and men. Whereas women developed coping strategies, adapted to the new village (site) 13 years after the relocation, and were able to emancipate themselves, men are still struggling with the relocation’s changes including threats to their former social role as hunters. These results support my argument that the existing adaptation models in the literature do not depict all key challenges the relocated populations have to go through. According to the fieldwork results, there are several adaptation processes in different key areas which do not follow one another or run homogenously but overlap and sometimes happen at the same time and on different levels. Additionally, there are significant gender specific differences which can be depicted in these key areas. Further predispositions of social groups, such as interests or experiences, can influence the processes of coping and adaptation as well. For this reason, I present and introduce the Ekondo Kondo Model of adaptation after relocation, which can be helpful both for difficult adaptation following disasters and adaptation processes when people develop fast coping strategies and get positive results.
Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Mediterranean Sea Bass and Sea Bream
Authors: Kallitsis Evangelos , Korre Anna , Mousamas Dimitris , Avramidis Pavlos
Published: November 2020

The aquaculture sector is the fastest growing food production industry, with sea bass and sea bream consisting important exporting goods in the Mediterranean region. This work presents results of a life cycle assessment of Mediterranean sea bass and sea bream, based on primary data collected from a Greek producer. The system boundary included fish feed production and the rearing operation, as well as the packaging and delivery processes, which were neglected in preceding literature studies. The life cycle inventory developed addressed previous data gaps in the production of Mediterranean aquaculture species. Comparison to preceding studies revealed differences on the production inventories and identified methodological choices leading to variability. Packaging and delivery processes were found to contribute approximately 40% towards the global warming score. The production of both sea bass and sea bream was shown to come with high eutrophication impacts occurring from the rearing stage. The feed production was identified as the most environmental impact intensive process throughout the life cycle. Sea bass came with lower environmental impacts per unit live mass, which was reversed when the species were compared on a protein basis. The replicable and transparent model presented here, contributes towards the more accurate quantification of the environmental impacts associated with Mediterranean aquaculture species and supports efforts aiming to promote environmental protection through dietary change.
Urban Sprawl, Socioeconomic Features, and Travel Patterns in Middle East Countries: A Case Study in Iran
Authors: Mehriar Melika , Masoumi Houshmand , Mohino Inmaculada
Published: November 2020

The present study aimed to investigate different socioeconomic factors as well as the perceptions and travel behaviors associated with urban sprawl in two cities of different sizes in Iran, as a developing country in the Middle East. Four Weighted Least Squares (WLS) regression models were developed for Hamedan and Nowshahr, as examples of large and small cities in Iran, respectively. The findings showed different correlations related to urban sprawl between Iranian cities and high-income countries in terms of socioeconomic and travel behavior determinants. Urban sprawl around home in Hamedan was positively correlated with the number of cars and driving licenses in households, the use of a private car for trips, and less use of public transport. Urban sprawl around homes in Nowshahr was related to an increased number of cars, the use of private cars for non-commuting trips, less sense of belonging to the neighborhood, and lower income. Additionally, urban sprawl around workplaces was correlated with main daily activity, number of non-commuting trips, mode of choice for non-commuting, and residential location choice in Hamedan a swell as monthly income, daily shopping area, frequency of public transport use, quality of recreational facilities, length of time for living in the current home, and commuting distance in Nowshahr.
Integrating Energy Saving Awareness into Student Engagement-Based Teaching and Learning Process
Authors: Iordache Platis Magdalena , Romanowicz Joanna
Published: November 2020

Higher education institutions have always focused on improving quality assurance; from regular student surveys, it can be noted that they repeatedly request more practical activities as part of their courses. The gap between some projects’ implementation and current requirements for teaching and learning highlighted the need for a proper balance between curricular and extracurricular activities. The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of integrating an energy saving awareness marketing campaign that was run on campus into the syllabus of a marketing class as an efficient way of changing behaviors from sporadic participation to active engagement. The methodology is based on a conceptual description of an awareness campaign within a Horizon 2020 project and literature review, as well as on a focus group and a quantitative analysis based on a questionnaire addressed to students in one of the universities involved as a project beneficiary. The main findings show that students are more likely to change their energy saving behaviors when they actively participate in designated activities, especially when these are incorporated into teaching and learning. Conclusions indicate that formal rules well explained as part of the students’ requirements are the key to a change in energy saving behavior.
Do Consumers Really Want to Reduce Plastic Usage? Exploring the Determinants of Plastic Avoidance in Food-Related Consumption Decisions
Authors: Cavaliere Alessia , Pigliafreddo Silvia , De Marchi Elisa , Banterle Alessandro
Published: November 2020

The mass production and use of plastics over the past decades is now posing a threat to the environment due to increasing pollution. The industrial transition towards more sustainable plastic alternatives has already started, but the process will require years to become truly feasible from an industrial and economic standpoint. In the meantime, a significant contribution to limit plastic-related environmental impact could arise from consumers’ daily consumption choices. This study aims at investigating the determinants of consumers’ decision to avoid purchasing single-use plastic eating utensils, food products with multiple plastic packaging, and plastic water bottles while grocery shopping. The results of the Structural Equation Model reveal that environment- and health-related concerns associated with plastics are key drivers of plastic avoidance. Instead, subjective knowledge and the importance attached to the commitment of third parties for tackling the plastic issue only indirectly affect consumer behaviors with regard to plastic avoidance.
Erratum: López-Ochoa, et al. Energy Renovation of Residential Buildings in Cold Mediterranean Zones Using Optimized Thermal Envelope Insulation Thicknesses: The Case of Spain. Sustainability 2020, 12, 2287
Authors: López-Ochoa Luis M. , Las-Heras-Casas Jesús , López-González Luis M. , García-Lozano César
Published: November 2020

The authors would like to make the following corrections about the published paper [...]
Assessing Landscape Fragmentation: A Composite Indicator
Authors: De Montis Andrea , Serra Vittorio , Ganciu Amedeo , Ledda Antonio
Published: November 2020

The assessment and management of landscape fragmentation (LF), i.e., the subdivision of the habitat into smaller and more isolated patches, can benefit from the adoption of a composite indicator explaining, in a unique measure, the various concerns involved. However, the use of composite indicators may be affected by lack of data, subjectivity in algorithm design, and oversimplification connected to reduction to just one index. In these cases, the findings obtained might not provide the researcher with reliable information. In this paper, we design and apply the Composite Indicator of Landscape Fragmentation (CILF), a metric resuming three indicators concerning the effect on LF of transport and mobility infrastructures, human settlements, and patch density per se. The application concerns the measurement of LF spatial pattern and dynamics from 2003 to 2008 of 51 landscape units in the island of Sardinia (Italy). We considered a complete spatial data set, chose the generalized geometric mean as aggregation algorithm, and verified its robustness via sensitivity analysis of the results. We found that, in 2003 and 2008, the CILF spatial pattern shows higher values in coastal areas and has varied randomly, i.e., without a consistent tendency to converge to, or diverge from, a mean value. Overall, we demonstrate that the CILF is a powerful instrument for monitoring LF in Sardinia and advocate that it can be further implemented, following the same methodological framework, by extending the pool of indicators considered and assessing a weighted version of the composite indicator.
SRide: An Online System for Multi-Hop Ridesharing
Authors: Shah Inayatullah , El Affendi Mohammed , Qureshi Basit
Published: November 2020

In the context of smart cities, ridesharing in urban areas is gaining researchers’ interest and is considered to be a sustainable transportation solution. In this paper, we present SRide (Shared Ride), a multi-hop ridesharing system as a mode of sustainable transportation. Multi-hop ridesharing is a type of ridesharing in which a rider travels in multiple hops to reach a destination, transferring from one driver to another between hops. The key problem in multi-hop ridesharing is to find an optimal itinerary or route plan for a rider from an origin to a destination in a dynamic, online setting. SRide adopts a novel approach to finding itineraries for riders suited to the online nature of the problem. The system represents ride offers as a time-dependent directed graph and finds itineraries dynamically by updating the graph incrementally and decrementally as ride offers are updated in the system. The system’s distinguishing feature is its incremental and decremental operation, which is enabled by employing dynamic single-source shortest-path algorithms. We conducted two extensive simulation studies to evaluate its performance. Metrics, including the matching rate, savings in total system-wide vehicle-miles, and total system-wide driving times were measured. In the first study, SRide’s dynamic update algorithms were compared with their non-dynamic versions. Results show that SRide’s algorithms run up to thirteen times faster than their non-dynamic versions. In the second study, we used data from the travel demand model for metropolitan Atlanta in the US state of Georgia, to assess the benefits of multi-hop ridesharing. Results show that matching rates increase up to 68%, saving in total system-wide vehicle-miles of up to 12%, and reduction in the total system-wide driving time of up to 12.86% is achieved.
Correction: Erdin, C. and Ozkaya, G. Turkey’s 2023 Energy Strategies and Investment Opportunities for Renewable Energy Sources: Site Selection Based on ELECTRE. Sustainability 2019, 11, 2136
Authors: Erdin Ceren , Ozkaya Gokhan
Published: November 2020

The authors would like to make the following corrections to the published paper [...]
Toward a Wong–Zakai Approximation for Big Order Generators
Authors: Léandre Rémi
Published: November 2020

We give a new approximation with respect of the traditional parametrix method of the solution of a parabolic equation whose generator is of big order and under the Hoermander form. This generalizes to a higher order generator the traditional approximation of Stratonovitch diffusion which put in relation random ordinary differential equation (the leading process is random and of finite energy. When a trajectory of it is chosen, the solution of the equation is defined) and stochastic differential equation (the leading process is random and only continuous and we cannot choose a path in the solution which is only almost surely defined). We consider simple operators where the computations can be fully performed. This approximation fits with the semi-group only and not for the full path measure in the case of a stochastic differential equation.
An Empirical Analysis of Test Input Generation Tools for Android Apps through a Sequence of Events
Authors: Yasin Husam N. , Hamid Siti Hafizah Ab , Yusof Raja Jamilah Raja , Hamzah Muzaffar
Published: November 2020

Graphical User Interface (GUI) testing of Android apps has gained considerable interest from the industries and research community due to its excellent capability to verify the operational requirements of GUI components. To date, most of the existing GUI testing tools for Android apps are capable of generating test inputs by using different approaches and improve the Android apps’ code coverage and fault detection performance. Many previous studies have evaluated the code coverage and crash detection performances of GUI testing tools in the literature. However, very few studies have investigated the effectiveness of the test input generation tools, especially in the events sequence length of the overall test coverage and crash detection. The event sequence length generally shows the number of steps required by the test input generation tools to detect a crash. It is critical to highlight its effectiveness due to its significant effects on time, testing effort, and computational cost. Thus, this study evaluated the effectiveness of six test input generation tools for Android apps that support the system events generation on 50 Android apps. The generation tools were evaluated and compared based on the activity coverage, method coverage, and capability in detecting crashes. Through a critical analysis of the results, this study identifies the diversity and similarity of test input generation tools for Android apps to provide a clear picture of the current state of the art. The results revealed that a long events sequence performed better than a shorter events sequence. However, a long events sequence led to a minor positive effect on the coverage and crash detection. Moreover, the study showed that the tools achieved less than 40% of the method coverage and 67% of the activity coverage.
Exploring Virulence Factors and Alternative Therapies against Staphylococcus aureus Pneumonia
Authors: Vlaeminck Jelle , Raafat Dina , Surmann Kristin , Timbermont Leen , Normann Nicole , Sellman Bret , van Wamel Willem J. B. , Malhotra-Kumar Surbhi
Published: November 2020

Pneumonia is an acute pulmonary infection associated with high mortality and an immense financial burden on healthcare systems. Staphylococcus aureus is an opportunistic pathogen capable of inducing S. aureus pneumonia (SAP), with some lineages also showing multidrug resistance. Given the high level of antibiotic resistance, much research has been focused on targeting S. aureus virulence factors, including toxins and biofilm-associated proteins, in an attempt to develop effective SAP therapeutics. Despite several promising leads, many hurdles still remain for S. aureus vaccine research. Here, we review the state-of-the-art SAP therapeutics, highlight their pitfalls, and discuss alternative approaches of potential significance and future perspectives.
Application of Viral Vectors for Vaccine Development with a Special Emphasis on COVID-19
Authors: Lundstrom Kenneth
Published: November 2020

Viral vectors can generate high levels of recombinant protein expression providing the basis for modern vaccine development. A large number of different viral vector expression systems have been utilized for targeting viral surface proteins and tumor-associated antigens. Immunization studies in preclinical animal models have evaluated the elicited humoral and cellular responses and the possible protection against challenges with lethal doses of infectious pathogens or tumor cells. Several vaccine candidates for both infectious diseases and various cancers have been subjected to a number of clinical trials. Human immunization trials have confirmed safe application of viral vectors, generation of neutralizing antibodies and protection against challenges with lethal doses. A special emphasis is placed on COVID-19 vaccines based on viral vectors. Likewise, the flexibility and advantages of applying viral particles, RNA replicons and DNA replicon vectors of self-replicating RNA viruses for vaccine development are presented.
A New Approach to Calculate the Water Exploitation Index (WEI+)
Authors: Casadei Stefano , Peppoloni Francesco , Pierleoni Arnaldo
Published: November 2020

The Water Exploitation Index (WEI), or withdrawal ratio, is an indicator of water scarcity, which has been updated into its WEI+ form by the Committee of Experts of the European Commission. In calculating the total abstraction of fresh water, this indicator also includes the possible return flow and management rules. The demand for freshwater and long-term freshwater resources are both necessary to calculate the WEI+. These values are not easy to assess at basin or sub-basin level and, for this reason, WEI values are generally calculated at the country level. This paper introduces a new approach to calculate the WEI+, with the purpose of extending its use to basin and sub-basin levels. The methodology is based on flow duration curve estimation, which evaluates freshwater resources, and a Web-GIS system that evaluates water abstractions distribution. This approach allows for the assessment of locally stressed areas in the hydrographic network and could provide a fundamental step toward more comprehensive regional water resources management plans. The new methodology is tested in some sub-basins of the Upper Tiber River Basin (Italy). These results contribute to the analysis of water withdrawals sustainability, based on the policy of the European Environment Agency, which is aimed toward the development of a proactive approach for reducing water stress.
Return Level Analysis of the Hanumante River Using Structured Expert Judgment: A Reconstruction of Historical Water Levels
Authors: Kindermann Paulina E. , Brouwer Wietske S. , van Hamel Amber , van Haren Mick , Verboeket Rik P. , Nane Gabriela F. , Lakhe Hanik , Prajapati Rajaram , Davids Jeffrey C.
Published: November 2020

Like other cities in the Kathmandu Valley, Bhaktapur faces rapid urbanisation and population growth. Rivers are negatively impacted by uncontrolled settlements in flood-prone areas, lowering permeability, decreasing channels widths, and waste blockage. All these issues, along with more extreme rain events during the monsoon due to climate change, have led to increased flooding in Bhaktapur, especially by the Hanumante River. For a better understanding of flood risk, the first step is a return level analysis. For this, historical data are essential. Unfortunately, historical records of water levels are non-existent for the Hanumante River. We measured water levels and discharge on a regular basis starting from the 2019 monsoon (i.e., June). To reconstruct the missing historical data needed for a return level analysis, this research introduces the Classical Model for Structured Expert Judgment (SEJ). By employing SEJ, we were able to reconstruct historical water level data. Expert assessments were validated using the limited data available. Based on the reconstructed data, it was possible to estimate the return periods of extreme water levels of the Hanumante River by fitting a Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) distribution. Using this distribution, we estimated that a water level of about 3.5 m has a return period of ten years. This research showed that, despite considerable uncertainty in the results, the SEJ method has potential for return level analyses.
Evaluation of TMPA Satellite Precipitation in Driving VIC Hydrological Model over the Upper Yangtze River Basin
Authors: Zhu Bin , Huang Yuhan , Zhang Zengxin , Kong Rui , Tian Jiaxi , Zhou Yichen , Chen Sheng , Duan Zheng
Published: November 2020

Although the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) has come to an end, the evaluation of TRMM satellite precipitation is still of great significance for the improvement of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM). In this paper, the hydrological utility of TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) 3B42 RTV7/V7 precipitation products was evaluated using the variable infiltration capacity (VIC) hydrological model in the upper Yangtze River basin. The main results show that (1) TMPA 3B42V7 had a reliable performance in precipitation estimation compared with the gauged precipitation on both spatial and temporal scales over the upper Yangtze River basin. Although TMPA 3B42V7 slightly underestimated precipitation, TMPA 3B42RTV7 significantly overestimated precipitation at daily and monthly time scales; (2) the simulated runoff by the VIC hydrological model showed a high correlation with the gauged runoff and lower bias at daily and monthly time scales. The Nash–Sutcliffe coefficient of efficiency (NSCE) value was as high as 0.85, the relative bias (RB) was −6.36% and the correlation coefficient (CC) was 0.93 at the daily scale; (3) the accuracy of the 3B42RTV7-driven runoff simulation had been greatly improved by using the hydrological calibration parameters obtained from 3B42RTV7 compared with that of gauged precipitation. A lower RB (14.38% vs. 66.58%) and a higher CC (0.87 vs. 0.85) and NSCE (0.71 vs. −0.92) can be found at daily time scales when we use satellite data instead of gauged precipitation data to calibrate the VIC model. However, the performance of the 3B42V7-driven runoff simulation did not improve in the same operation accordingly. The cause might be that the 3B42V7 satellite products have been adjusted by gauged precipitation. This study suggests that it might be better to calibrate the parameters using satellite data in hydrological simulations, especially for unadjusted satellite data. This study is not only helpful for understanding the assessment of multi-satellite precipitation products in large-scale and complex areas in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, but also can provide a reference for the hydrological utility of the satellite precipitation products in other river basins of the world.
Glacier Mapping Based on Random Forest Algorithm: A Case Study over the Eastern Pamir
Authors: Lu Yijie , Zhang Zhen , Huang Danni
Published: November 2020

Debris-covered glaciers are common features on the eastern Pamir and serve as important indicators of climate change promptly. However, mapping of debris-covered glaciers in alpine regions is still challenging due to many factors including the spectral similarity between debris and the adjacent bedrock, shadows cast from mountains and clouds, and seasonal snow cover. Considering that few studies have added movement velocity features when extracting glacier boundaries, we innovatively developed an automatic algorithm consisting of rule-based image segmentation and Random Forest to extract information about debris-covered glaciers with Landsat-8 OLI/TIRS data for spectral, texture and temperature features, multi-digital elevation models (DEMs) for elevation and topographic features, and the Inter-mission Time Series of Land Ice Velocity and Elevation (ITS_LIVE) for movement velocity features, and accuracy evaluation was performed to determine the optimal feature combination extraction of debris-covered glaciers. The study found that the overall accuracy of extracting debris-covered glaciers using combined movement velocity features is 97.60%, and the Kappa coefficient is 0.9624, which is better than the extraction results using other schemes. The high classification accuracy obtained using our method overcomes most of the above-mentioned challenges and can detect debris-covered glaciers, illustrating that this method can be executed efficiently, which will further help water resources management.
Georreferenciamento dos imóveis com foco positivo do mosquito Aedes aegypti no município de Sobral (CE)
Authors: Bastos Ismael Brioso , BEZERRA Ana Karoline Barros , DINIZ Jamylle Lucas , Vasconcelos Maristela Inês Osawa , Mont'Alverne Napoleão Albuquerque Izabelle , Ribeiro Marcos Aguiar
Published: November 2020

Este estudo tem como objetivo analisar a distribuição espacial dos imóveis com foco positivo do mosquito Aedes aegypti no território da Estratégia de Saúde da Família (ESF) do município de Sobral, no Ceará. Foi realizada abordagem quantitativa, epidemiológico-ecológica de referência temporal-transversal. O campo de investigação deste estudo correspondeu ao recorte de um território de Saúde da Família da sede do município de Sobral. A coleta de dados ocorreu mediante fontes documentais a partir dos registros de visitas domiciliares dos agentes de combate às endemias, que foram sistematizadas através de tabulações e mapeamento no software EpiInfo™. No período de julho de 2016, foram notificados 183 imóveis positivos para Aedes aegypti em um bairro que compõe a sede do município de Sobral. Foram detectados focos positivos em residências, terrenos baldios e outros tipos de imóveis distribuídos na área abrangente pelo território. Notou-se a que a predominância de focos do Aedes aegypti se deu nos imóveis de caráter residencial, sendo o maior percentual em tambor, balde, tanque, filtro, pote ou bacias. Verificou-se a necessidade de incorporar novas tecnologias para o monitoramento dos focos positivos a partir de técnicas de análise espacial de georreferenciamento, utilizando-se técnicas computacionais em conjunto, as quais manipulam as informações obtidas no território estudado, permitindo o diagnóstico da situação de saúde com a identificação e a priorização dos problemas de saúde das famílias residentes em sua área de abrangência e a resolubilidade da assistência prestada.
Pegadas do cinema de Olga Futemma
Authors: Holanda Karla
Published: November 2020

Olga Futemma dirigiu cerca de cinco curtas metragens, entre 1974 e 1989. Na ocasião desta entrevista, era diretora da Cinemateca Brasileira, instituição onde trabalhou desde 1984, sendo uma das principais agentes e testemunha de sua história. Aqui, ela fala de sua família para chegar aos seus filmes, deixando visíveis as pegadas, sobretudo da cultura japonesa – em especial, a okinawana -, que a influenciaram. Destacando a especificidade da região de Okinawa, de onde seus pais migraram para o Brasil, Olga revela o que isso significou para sua vida e, consequentemente, para sua obra. É possível perceber as razões de ter interrompido sua carreira de cineasta tão precocemente, quando revela que só foi cineasta de vez em quando, tendo que buscar funções mais rapidamente remuneradas para sustentar os filhos. Outro motivo foi ter se deparado com a urgência do trabalho que a Cinemateca demandou para sua geração, em especial, em relação à documentação e à catalogação do acervo. A cineasta fala das influências que recebeu, em especial de Paulo Emílio Salles Gomes, de quem foi aluna na USP, e do cineasta Yasujiro Ozu. A ideia é que a conversa forneça elementos para se acompanhar os caminhos que traçou até chegar aos seus filmes, dos quais fala sobre o processo de produção e criação.
O estilo telegráfico na escrita de sujeitos com Síndrome de Down
Authors: AMARAL RIBEIRO MARISTELA , SALATI ALMEIDA GHIRELLO-PIRES CARLA , GONÇALVES DA SILVA ELISÂNGELA
Published: November 2020

Este trabalho objetiva descrever a análise e intervenção na escrita telegráfica de dois jovens com síndrome de Down (SD) de Vitória da Conquista-BA. A pesquisa caracteriza-se como qualitativa longitudinal, apoia-se nos aportes teóricos da Neurolinguística Discursiva (ND) e da Teoria Histórico Cultural (THC). Como suporte teórico para elaboração das atividades específicas, utilizamos Câmara Jr. para tratar da noção de classes abertas e fechadas. Quanto à distinção entre preposições lexicais e preposições funcionais, tivemos como subsídio teórico Mioto; Figueiredo Silva; Lopes e Brito. Os dados apresentados demonstraram que os sujeitos com SD priorizavam algumas classes gramaticais em detrimento de outras para se expressarem, o que corrobora a ideia de que a interpretação da fala/escrita “telegráfica” é um processo intermediário e que essas situações são produtivas e não exclusivamente patológicas. Após a intervenção foram observados ganhos significativos em suas produções orais e escritas.
Abordando palavras-chaves e árvores sintáticas em textos de grego antigo: o caso de “Héracles”, de Eurípides
Authors: Ferreira dos Reis Michel
Published: November 2020

O presente artigo, resultante da pesquisa de mestrado, apresenta a extração automatizada de palavras-chaves da tragédia grega Héracles, de Eurípides, associada à anotação morfossintática em árvore (treebanking) com a finalidade de determinar temas e aspectos formais da obra. Dessa forma, primeiramente Héracles fora comparada estatisticamente com as outras dezoito obras de Eurípides, sem lematização. Posteriormente, foram selecionados trechos contendo as palavras-chaves com a finalidade de analisá-las morfossintaticamente em árvore. Desse modo, os resultados evidenciaram quatro temas centrais na tragédia como os personagens, os laços familiares, a caracterização de Héracles por meio de suas armas e trabalhos, e, por fim, sua loucura.
A percepção e a autopercepção de professores em formação inicial sobre o ensino e a aprendizagem da leitura
Authors: Mascarello Lidiomar José , De Souza Ana Cláudia
Published: November 2020

Esta pesquisa tem como objetivos reconhecer, compreender e discutir aspectos da percepção e da autopercepção em relação à formação inicial para a docência, no que diz respeito aos processos de ensino e de aprendizagem da leitura. Com base na literatura, considera-se que a autopercepção e a percepção da realidade podem interferir na forma de agir e na compreensão dos processos educacionais. Este é um estudo misto, bibliográfico e exploratório, do qual participaram 11 graduandos de curso de Letras-Português, que foram convidados a responder dois questionários. Os resultados indicam uma percepção positiva da realidade, mas não são generalizáveis, tendo em vista os múltiplos fatores que participam da formação profissional de professores
Influência do tônus muscular na função do membro superior de indivíduos hemiparéticos
Authors: Feijó Geisa Maiara da Silva , Volmir dos Santos Reni
Published: November 2020

Introdução. O Acidente Cerebral Vascular (AVC) é caracterizado por um distúrbio de rápido desenvolvimento, que resulta na restrição da irrigação sanguínea ao cérebro, o que pode levar a disfunções motoras, sensitivas e cognitivas. Por isso, membro superior de indivíduos hemiparéticos tem recebido atenção especial na sua reabilitação, visto que é fundamental para a independência funcional. Objetivo. Avaliar a função do membro superior acometido de indivíduos hemiparéticos. Método. Estudo transversal, realizado na Clínica-escola de Fisioterapia da Universidade Luterana do Brasil, Canoas-RS, com uma amostra de 30 indivíduos com diagnóstico de AVC. Inicialmente preencheram a ficha de identificação, e foram avaliados através da Escala de Tônus Muscular (Ashworth modificada), Escala de Movimentos da Mão, Dinamometria, Escala Motor Activity Log (MAL). Para a associação entre as variáveis, o teste da correlação linear de Spearman foi utilizado, com <0,05. Resultados. Predomínio do sexo masculino (63,3%), a média de idade foi de 56,3±13,76 anos e o tempo de acometimento foi de 49±63,3 meses. A correlação do tônus muscular foi significante com as escalas de movimento da mão (p=0,002), MAL quantitativo (qt) (p=0,006), MAL qualitativo (ql) (p=0,005) e com a força de preensão manual (p=0,047). Assim como na correlação de força de preensão manual e escala de movimento da mão com a MAL qt e MAL ql, todas com p<0,0001. Conclusão: O tônus muscular influenciou na funcionalidade da mão da amostra estudada, pois quanto mais próximo da eutonia, melhor a sua funcionalidade.
Turanici la Dunărea Inferioară – complexe cercetate recent în nordul Munteniei / Turanians at the Lower Danube – recently investigated contexts in the northern Wallachia
Authors: Frînculeasa Alin , Munteanu Roxana , Garvăn Daniel , Dinu Cătălin , Negrea Octav , Preda-Bălănică Bianca , Grigoraș Laurențiu , Simalcsik Angela , Bejenaru Luminiţa , Cristea-Stan Daniela , Constantin Florin , Petruneac Marta , Focşăneanu Marin , Sava Tiberiu , Dima Andreea , Sava Gabriela , Ilie Maria
Published: November 2020

The aim of this paper is to present a series of discoveries attributed to the Turkic nomadic populations (11th– 12th centuries), resulting from archaeological research conducted in 2018 and 2019 in several burial mounds placed in the localities of Târgșoru Nou and Inotești from Prahova County, as well as Lunca from Buzău county. It includes descriptions of the investigated archaeological features, the results of the anthropological and archaeozoological determinations as well as those of the physico-chemical investigations of some metal artefacts, and absolute chronology dates. Given that artefacts were part of the archaeological features investigated, we briefly present information regarding their analogies and occurrence. These discoveries highlight a time period which is otherwise scarcely known in this region and at the same time add weight to other materials already published during past years.
Colecciones de narrativa folklórica argentina y eslovena: una comparación
Authors: Palleiro María Inés
Published: November 2020

La Argentina y Eslovenia son jóvenes naciones cuyos archivos de narrativa folklórica tienen aspectos en común. En este artículo, se analizan algunos de estos aspectos, a partir de un recorrido diacrónico por colecciones de relatos de ambos países, cuyas modalidades de ordenamiento reflejan la incidencia de distintos paradigmas del Folklore, entendido como expresión estética de identidades sociales. El recorrido intenta destacar el valor de los archivos del Folklore para configurar memorias sociales, no solo mediante la preservación patrimonial del pasado, sino también por su actualización en el presente. La tradición custodiada en archivos es concebida como fuerza transformadora que resignifica identidades y sirve como instrumento de cambio social. Su sistematización y difusión, acompañada de una reflexión epistemológica sobre los paradigmas que los sustentan, estimula el diálogo entre culturas, indispensable para situar expresiones identitarias nacionales, como la argentina y la eslovena en un mapa global.
Elucidating the Mystery of Anthurium willdenowii var. pohlii (Araceae)
Authors: Valadares Rodrigo Theófilo , Sakuragui Cassia Mônica , Mayo Simon Joseph
Published: November 2020

The infraspecific taxon Anthurium willdenowii Kunth var. pohlii Engl. is elevated to the rank of species and is given the new name Anthurium maxakali Theófilo, Sakur. & Mayo. Comments about its taxonomy, ecology, and geographic distribution are discussed.
NHẬN THỨC CỦA GIẢNG VIÊN TIẾNG ANH VÀ ỨNG DỤNG THỰC TIỄN ĐỂ NÂNG CAO TÍNH TỰ CHỦ CỦA NGƯỜI HỌC
Authors: Tuấn Vũ Văn , Chi Hoàng Thị Kim
Published: November 2020

Tính tự chủ trong học tập đã được nghiên cứu nhiều ở các quốc gia khác trong những năm gần đây. Tuy vậy, sự cảm nhận và ứng dụng của giảng viên đối với tính tự chủ ở cấp độ đại học tại Việt Nam thì hầu như không được quan tâm và bị lãng quên. Nghiên cứu này được thực hiện với 385 giảng viên tiếng Anh về sự cảm nhận và ứng dụng trong việc thúc đẩy tính tự chủ của người học, nghiên cứu định lượng được thực hiện thông qua việc sử dụng kết hợp câu hỏi trích dẫn trong nghiên cứu của Borg và Al-Busaidi (2012) với các câu hỏi thiết kế của tác giả nghiên cứu. Kết quả chỉ ra rằng giảng viên có quan điểm cao về tính tự chủ, giảng viên cho rằng có tính khả thi và mong muốn cao về thúc đẩy tính tự chủ của người học trong việc học tiếng Anh. Hầu hết giảng viên đều đồng ý với những nhân tố hạn chế sự thúc đẩy tính tự chủ, và không có sự khác biệt quan điểm giữa giảng viên nam và nữ trong việc xác định tính tự chủ. Như vậy, giảng viên cần thiết phải thúc đẩy tính tự chủ trong việc dạy và học tiếng Anh thông qua một số đề xuất sư phạm đối với việc cải tổ phương pháp giảng dạy.