bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Leadership and Conflict Management Style Are Associated with the Effectiveness of School Conflict Management in the Region of Epirus, NW Greece
Authors: Chandolia Elisavet , Anastasiou Sophia
Published: February 2020

There are few options available for school managers who wish to effectively tackle school conflicts. The aim of the present work was to assess the issue of school conflict, its sources, and the effectiveness of different conflict management styles in Secondary Education school units in Greece. Teachers (n = 128) from twelve randomly selected schools in the region of Epirus, NW Greece, participated in the present work. Teachers’ views on their school Principals’ leadership style as well as the sources, the type(s), and the severity of conflict in their school unit were surveyed. Conflict appeared to be a frequent issue in schools. Frequent sources of conflict included interpersonal and organizational parameters. School leaders exhibited a range of conflict management styles. Compromise and Collaborative styles were frequently observed, followed by Smoothing and Forcing. Avoidance was less frequently exhibited by school leaders. The transformational and transactional leadership styles exhibited were equally effective in successful conflict resolution, whereas a laissez-faire leadership style was not. The results indicate that leadership and conflict management style can be associated with the effectiveness of conflict management.
Dynamic Surface Backstepping Control for Voltage Source Converter-High Voltage Direct Current Transmission Grid Side Converter Systems
Authors: Hu Chengjiang , Ma Yumei , Yu Jinpeng , Zhao Lin
Published: February 2020

This paper studies the coordination control of active and reactive power of the voltage source converter-high voltage direct current transmission (VSC-HVDC) grid side converter. Firstly, the high-order VSC-HVDC converter system is decomposed into three subsystems by using the backstepping control method, and the control laws are designed for each subsystem to realize the control of VSC-HVDC converter systems. Secondly, the dynamic surface control method is used to deal with the problem of “explosion of complexity” in the traditional backstepping control method. Finally, the simulation results demonstrate that the VSC-HVDC converter systems can provide a certain capacity of reactive power compensation under the proposed method in this paper. In addition, the control method proposed in this paper does not require the information of the second derivative of active power and reactive power.
Reconfigurable Antennas: Switching Techniques—A Survey
Authors: Ojaroudi Parchin Naser , Jahanbakhsh Basherlou Haleh , Al-Yasir Yasir I. A. , M. Abdulkhaleq Ahmed , A. Abd-Alhameed Raed
Published: February 2020

Due to the fast development of wireless communication technology, reconfigurable antennas with multimode and cognitive radio operation in modern wireless applications with a high-data rate have drawn very close attention from researchers. Reconfigurable antennas can provide various functions in operating frequency, beam pattern, polarization, etc. The dynamic tuning can be achieved by manipulating a certain switching mechanism through controlling electronic, mechanical, physical or optical switches. Among them, electronic switches are the most popular in constituting reconfigurable antennas due to their efficiency, reliability and ease of integrating with microwave circuitry. In this paper, we review different implementation techniques for reconfigurable antennas. Different types of effective implementation techniques have been investigated to be used in various wireless communication systems such as satellite, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), mobile terminals and cognitive radio communications. Characteristics and fundamental properties of the reconfigurable antennas are investigated.
Computationally Efficient Soft Detection Schemes for Coded Massive MIMO Systems
Authors: Zhang Meixiang , Zhang Zhi , Chan Satya , Kim Sooyoung
Published: February 2020

This paper presents a computationally efficient soft detection scheme for massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. The proposed scheme adopts joint iterative detection and decoding (JIDD) methods for their capacity limiting performances. In addition, the minimum mean square error parallel interference cancellation (MMSE-PIC)-based detection scheme is used for soft information exchange. We propose a number of techniques to reduce the computational complexity, while keeping almost the same performance as the conventional ones. First, a technique is proposed to approximate the Gram matrix to a constant valued diagonal matrix. This proposal can lead to elimination of complex matrix inversion process and multiple layer dependent estimations, resulting in huge complexity reduction. Second, compact equations to estimate soft-symbol values for M-ary (quadrature amplitude modulation) QAM are derived. From the investigation example of 2 8 -QAM in this paper, this proposal showed more than two orders of less computations compared to the conventional scheme. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve approximating performance to the conventional method with a largely reduced computational complexity.
Fuzzy-Based Thermal Management Scheme for 3D Chip Multicores with Stacked Caches
Authors: Shen Lili , Wu Ning , Yan Gaizhen
Published: February 2020

By using through-silicon-vias (TSV), three dimension integration technology can stack large memory on the top of cores as a last-level on-chip cache (LLC) to reduce off-chip memory access and enhance system performance. However, the integration of more on-chip caches increases chip power density, which might lead to temperature-related issues in power consumption, reliability, cooling cost, and performance. An effective thermal management scheme is required to ensure the performance and reliability of the system. In this study, a fuzzy-based thermal management scheme (FBTM) is proposed that simultaneously considers cores and stacked caches. The proposed method combines a dynamic cache reconfiguration scheme with a fuzzy-based control policy in a temperature-aware manner. The dynamic cache reconfiguration scheme determines the size of the cache for the processor core according to the application that reaches a substantial amount of power consumption savings. The fuzzy-based control policy is used to change the frequency level of the processor core based on dynamic cache reconfiguration, a process which can further improve the system performance. Experiments show that, compared with other thermal management schemes, the proposed FBTM can achieve, on average, 3 degrees of reduction in temperature and a 41% reduction of leakage energy.
A Sparse Bayesian Learning-Based DOA Estimation Method With the Kalman Filter in MIMO Radar
Authors: Liu Song , Tang Lan , Bai Yechao , Zhang Xinggan
Published: February 2020

The direction of arrival (DOA) estimation problem as an essential problem in the radar system is important in radar applications. In this paper, considering a multiple-input and multiple-out (MIMO) radar system, the DOA estimation problem is investigated in the scenario with fast-moving targets. The system model is first formulated, and then by exploiting both the target sparsity in the spatial domain and the temporal correlation of the moving targets, a sparse Bayesian learning (SBL)-based DOA estimation method combined with the Kalman filter (KF) is proposed. Moreover, the performances of traditional sparse-based methods are limited by the off-grid issue, and Taylor-expansion off-grid methods also have high computational complexity and limited performance. The proposed method breaks through the off-grid limit by transforming the problem in the spatial domain to that in the time domain using the movement feature. Simulation results show that the proposed method outperforms the existing methods in the DOA estimation problem for the fast-moving targets.
CO2 Transfer Characteristics of Calcareous Humid Subtropical Forest Soils and Associated Contributions to Carbon Source and Sink in Guilin, Southwest China
Authors: Huang Fen , Cao Jianhua , Zhu Tongbin , Fan Mingzhu , Ren Mengmeng
Published: February 2020

In karst landscapes, soil CO2 is a key factor in weathering processes and carbon cycling, where its distribution and migration characteristics directly affect fluxes in carbon source–sink dynamics. We measured the CO2 emission and dissolution rates of carbonate tablets in calcareous soil developed from limestone and red soil developed from clastic rock, in karst and non-karst subtropical forests, in Guilin, southwest China between 2015 and 2018, to analyze their CO2 transfer characteristics and source–sink effects. The results showed similar average soil respiration rates between calcareous soil and red soil, with an average CO2 emission flux of 1305 and 1167 t C km−2 a−1, respectively. Carbonate tablet dissolution rates were bidirectional with increasing depth and were greater in red soil than calcareous soil, averaging 13.88 ± 5.42 and 7.20 ± 2.11 mg cm−2 a−1, respectively. CO2 concentration was bidirectional with increasing soil depth, reaching a maximum at the base of the soil–atmosphere interface (50–60 cm), and the bidirectional gradient was more distinctive in red soil. Change in the carbon isotope value of soil CO2 was also bidirectional in calcareous soils, for which the overall average was 0.87‰ heavier in calcareous than red soil. The carbon sink in calcareous soil in karst regions was estimated to be 11.97 times that of red soil in non-karst regions, whereas its role as a carbon source is just 1.12 times that of red soil, thus indicating the key role of karst soil in the reduction of atmospheric CO2.
A Progressive Hedging Approach to Solve Harvest Scheduling Problem under Climate Change
Authors: Garcia-Gonzalo Jordi , Pais Cristóbal , Bachmatiuk Joanna , Barreiro Susana , Weintraub Andres
Published: February 2020

Due to the long time horizon typically characterizing forest planning, uncertainty plays an important role when developing forest management plans. Especially important is the uncertainty related to recently human-induced global warming since it has a clear impact on forest capacity to contribute to biogenic and anthropogenic ecosystem services. If the forest manager ignores uncertainty, the resulting forest management plan may be sub-optimal, in the best case. This paper presents a methodology to incorporate uncertainty due to climate change into forest management planning. Specifically, this paper addresses the problem of harvest planning, i.e., defining which stands are to be cut in each planning period in order to maximize expected net revenues, considering several climate change scenarios. This study develops a solution approach for a planning problem for a eucalyptus forest with 1000 stands located in central Portugal where expected future conditions are anticipated by considering a set of climate scenarios. The model including all the constraints that link all the scenarios and spatial adjacency constraints leads to a very large problem that can only be solved by decomposing it into scenarios. For this purpose, we solve the problem using Progressive Hedging (PH) algorithm, which decomposes the problem into scenario sub-problems easier to solve. To analyze the performance of PH versus the use of the extensive form (EF), we solve several instances of the original problem using both approaches. Results show that PH outperforms the EF in both solving time and final optimality gap. In addition, the use of PH allows to solve the most difficult problems while the commercial solvers are not able to solve the EF. The approach presented allows the planner to develop more robust management plans that incorporate the uncertainty due to climate change in their plans.
Hierarchical Gated Recurrent Unit with Semantic Attention for Event Prediction
Authors: Su Zichun , Jiang Jialin
Published: February 2020

Event prediction plays an important role in financial risk assessment and disaster warning, which can help government decision-making and economic investment. Previous works are mainly based on time series for event prediction such as statistical language model and recurrent neural network, while ignoring the impact of prior knowledge on event prediction. This makes the direction of event prediction often biased or wrong. In this paper, we propose a hierarchical event prediction model based on time series and prior knowledge. To ensure the accuracy of the event prediction, the model obtains the time-based event information and prior knowledge of events by Gated Recurrent Unit and Associated Link Network respectively. The semantic selective attention mechanism is used to fuse the time-based event information and prior knowledge, and finally generate predicted events. Experimental results on Chinese News datasets demonstrate that our model significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art methods, and increases the accuracy by 2.8%.
2D Runout Modelling of Hillslope Debris Flows, Based on Well-Documented Events in Switzerland
Authors: Zimmermann Florian , McArdell Brian W. , Rickli Christian , Scheidl Christian
Published: February 2020

In mountain areas, mass movements, such as hillslope debris flows, pose a serious threat to people and infrastructure, although size and runout distances are often smaller than those of debris avalanches or in-channel-based processes like debris floods or debris flows. Hillslope debris-flow events can be regarded as a unique process that generally can be observed at steep slopes. The delimitation of endangered areas and the implementation of protective measures are therefore an important instrument within the framework of a risk analysis, especially in the densely populated area of the alpine region. Here, two-dimensional runout prediction methods are helpful tools in estimating possible travel lengths and affected areas. However, not many studies focus on 2D runout estimations specifically for hillslope debris-flow processes. Based on data from 19 well-documented hillslope debris-flow events in Switzerland, we performed a systematic evaluation of runout simulations conducted with the software Rapid Mass Movement Simulation: Debris Flow (RAMMS DF)—a program originally developed for runout estimation of debris flows and snow avalanches. RAMMS offers the possibility to use a conventional Voellmy-type shear stress approach to describe the flow resistance as well as to consider cohesive interaction as it occurs in the core of dense flows with low shear rates, like we also expect for hillslope debris-flow processes. The results of our study show a correlation between the back-calculated dry Coulomb friction parameters and the percentage of clay content of the mobilised soils. Considering cohesive interaction, the performance of all simulations was improved in terms of reducing the overestimation of the observed deposition areas. However, the results also indicate that the parameter which accounts for cohesive interaction can neither be related to soil physical properties nor to different saturation conditions.
Controls on Gas Domains and Production Behaviour in A High-Rank CSG Reservoir: Insights from Molecular and Isotopic Chemistry of Co-Produced Waters and Gases from the Bowen Basin, Australia
Authors: Hamilton Stephanie K. , Golding Suzanne D. , Esterle Joan S. , Baublys Kim A. , Ruyobya Brycson B.
Published: February 2020

This paper uses hydrochemical and multi-isotope analysis to investigate geological controls on coal seam gas (CSG) saturation domains and gas well production performance in a high-rank (vitrinite reflectance (Rv) > 1.1) CSG field in the north-western Bowen Basin, Australia. New hydrochemical and stable isotope data were combined with existing geochemical datasets to refine hypotheses on the distribution and origins of CSG in two highly compartmentalized Permian coal seams. Stable isotopic results suggest that geographic variations in gas content, saturation and production reflect the extent of secondary microbial gas generation and retention as a function of hydrodynamics. δ13C and δ2H data support a gas mixing hypothesis with δ13C-CH4 increasing from secondary biogenic values to thermogenic values at depth (δ13C −62.2‰ to −46.3‰), whereas correlated methane and carbon dioxide carbon isotope compositions, Δ13C(CO2–CH4) values and δ13CDIC/alkalinity trends are largely consistent with microbial CO2 reduction. In addition, below 200 m, the majority of δ13C-CO2 values are positive (δ13C: −1.2‰ to 7.1‰) and δ13CDIC shows an erratic increase with depth for both seams that is characteristic of evolution via microbial activity. The progression of carbon isotope values along the CO2 reduction fractionation line suggests progressive depletion of the CO2 reservoir with increasing depth. Faults clearly segment coal seams into areas having significantly different production, with results of geochemical analysis suggesting that pooling of biogenic gas and waters and enhanced methanogenesis occur north of a faulted hinge zone.
Evaluation of General Circulation Models over the Upper Ouémé River Basin in the Republic of Benin
Authors: Attogouinon André , Lawin Agnidé E. , Deliège Jean-François
Published: February 2020

This study assessed the performance of eight general circulation models (GCMs) implemented in the upper Ouémé River basin in Benin Republic (West Africa) during the Fifth Assessment Report on Climate Change. Historical rainfall simulations of the climate model of Rossby Regional Centre (RCA4) driven by eight Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) GCMs over a 55-year period (1951 to 2005) are evaluated using the observational data set. Apart from daily rainfall, other rainfall parameters calculated from observed and simulated rainfall were compared. U-test and other statistical criteria (R2, MBE, MAE, RMSE and standard of standard deviations) were used. According to the results, the simulations correctly reproduce the interannual variability of precipitation in the upper Ouémé River basin. However, the models tend to produce drizzle. Especially, the overestimation of April, May and November rains not only explains the overestimation of seasonal and annual cumulative rainfall but also the early onset of the rainy season and its late withdrawal. However, we noted that this overestimation magnitude varies from one model to another. As for extreme rainfall indices, the models reproduced them poorly. The CanESM2, CNRM-CM5 and EC-EARTH models perform well for daily rainfall. A trade-off is formulated to select the common MPI-ESM-LR, GFDL-ESM2M, NorESM1-M and CanESM2 models for different rainfall parameters for the reliable projection of rainfall in the area. However, the MPI-ESM-LR model is a valuable tool for studying future climate change.
Evaluation of Hydrological and Hydraulic Models Applied in Typical Mediterranean Ungauged Watersheds Using Post-Flash-Flood Measurements
Authors: Kastridis Aristeidis , Stathis Dimitrios
Published: February 2020

In this paper, three different flash floods episodes were analyzed, which occurred in October 2006, February 2010, and June 2018 in the Chalkidiki peninsula (North Greece). The Soil Conservation Service (SCS) model and a revised assessment of the CN parameter were applied to estimate the flood hydrographs, and Hydrologic Engineering Center’s-River Analysis System (HEC-RAS) software was used for the flood simulations. Initially, hydrological and hydraulic models were calibrated at Vatonias watershed (240.90 km2, North Greece), where three rain gauges and one water level station are located. Vatonias is located very close to the Stavros ungauged watersheds and presents similar geomorphology and land use conditions. The effectiveness and accuracy of the methodology were validated using post-flash-flood measurements. The root mean square error goodness of fit was used to compare the observed and simulated flood depths. Critical success index was calculated for the assessment of the accuracy of observed and modeled flooded areas. The results showed that the dense forest vegetation was not capable of preventing the flash flood generation or reducing the peak discharge, especially in small watersheds characterized by short concentration times. The main cause of flash flood generation was the human interference that influenced the hydraulic characteristics of streams and floodplains. The revised assessment of the CN parameter enhanced the estimation and spatial distribution of CN over the entire watershed. The results revealed that the proposed methodology could be a very useful tool to researchers and policy makers for flood risk assessment of higher accuracy and effectiveness in ungauged Mediterranean watersheds.
Unsupervised Anomaly Detection for Network Data Streams in Industrial Control Systems
Authors: Liu Limengwei , Hu Modi , Kang Chaoqun , Li Xiaoyong
Published: February 2020

The development and integration of information technology and industrial control networks have expanded the magnitude of new data; detecting anomalies or discovering other valid information from them is of vital importance to the stable operation of industrial control systems. This paper proposes an incremental unsupervised anomaly detection method that can quickly analyze and process large-scale real-time data. Our evaluation on the Secure Water Treatment dataset shows that the method is converging to its offline counterpart for infinitely growing data streams.
How Does the Male Penisfilum Enter the Female Copulatory Pore in Hangingflies?
Authors: Wei Zheng , Tong Xin , Hua Bao-Zhen
Published: February 2020

Hangingflies are characterized by the interesting nuptial feeding behavior and unusual belly-to-belly hanging mating position. However, the mating behavior and the copulatory mechanism remain poorly known for Bittacidae, especially how the elongated male penisfilum enters the copulatory pore of the female. In this study, the mating behavior and copulatory mechanism of Terrobittacus implicatus (Huang and Hua, 2006) were investigated to reveal the functional morphology of hangingfly genitalia. The results show that the male provides a prey as a nuptial gift to the female and twists his abdomen about 180° to form a belly-to-belly hanging mating position. During the penisfilum-entering process, the male epandrial lobes clamp the female subgenital plate with the aid of the female abdomen swelling. Then the male locates the female copulatory pore through his upper branch of the proctiger and inserts his penisfilum into the female spermathecal duct in cooperation with the short setae on the groove of the proctiger. The female subgenital plate where the epandrial lobes clamp is strongly sclerotized and melanized. The copulatory mechanism of Terrobittacus is briefly discussed.
Molecular Characterization and Expression Profiling of Nuclear Receptor Gene Families in Oriental Fruit Fly, Bactrocera Dorsalis (Hendel)
Authors: Yang Pei-Jin , Chen Er-Hu , Song Zhong-Hao , He Wang , Liu Shi-Huo , Dou Wei , Wang Jin-Jun
Published: February 2020

The oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis) is a pest that causes large economic losses in the fruit and vegetable industry, so its control is a major challenge. Nuclear receptors (NRs) are a superfamily of ligand-dependent transcription factors that directly combine with DNA to regulate the expression of downstream target genes. NRs are closely associated with multiple physiological processes such as metabolism, reproduction, and development. Through sequence searches and analysis, we identified 21 B. dorsalis NR genes, all of which contained at least one of the two characteristic binding domains. On the basis of the conserved sequences and phylogenetic relationships, we divided the 21 NR genes into seven subfamilies. All members of the NR0 subfamily and BdHR83, which belonged to the NR2E group, lacked ligand-binding domains. The BdDSF and BdHR51, which also belonged to the NR2Egroup, and BdE78 (which belonged to the NR1E group) all lacked DNA-binding domains. The BdDSF and BdHR83 sequences were incomplete, and were not successfully amplified. Development- and tissue-specific expression profiling demonstrated that the transcript levels of the 19 NR genes varied considerably among eggs, larva, pupae, and adults, as well as among larval and adult male and female tissues. Our results will contribute to a better understanding of NR evolution and expand our knowledge of B. dorsalis physiology.
New Tools for Conservation Biological Control: Testing Ant-Attracting Artificial Nectaries to Employ Ants as Plant Defenders
Authors: Schifani Enrico , Castracani Cristina , Giannetti Daniele , Spotti Fiorenza Augusta , Reggiani Roberto , Leonardi Stefano , Mori Alessandra , Grasso Donato Antonio
Published: February 2020

Knowledge of the role of ants in many agroecosystems is relatively scarce, and in temperate regions the possibility to exploit ants as biocontrol agents for crop protection is still largely unexplored. Drawing inspiration from mutualistic ant–plant relationships mediated by extrafloral nectaries (EFNs), we tested the use of artificial nectaries (ANs) in order to increase ant activity on pear trees and to evaluate the effects on the arthropods, plant health and fruit production. While EFNs secrete a complex solution mainly composed of sugars and amino acids, ANs were filled with water and sucrose only. The results suggest that ANs can be used as manipulative instruments to increase ant activity over long periods of time. High ant activity was significantly linked to lower incidence of the pathogen fungus Venturia pyrina (pear scab) on pear leaves, and of the presence of Cydia pomonella (codling moth) caterpillars on pear fruit production. These results further encourage exploring underrated possibilities in the development of new tools for conservation biological control (CBC).
Myristyltrimethylammonium Bromide (MYTAB) as a Cationic Surface Agent to Inhibit Streptococcus mutans Grown over Dental Resins: An In Vitro Study
Authors: Mena Silva Paola Andrea , Garcia Isadora Martini , Nunes Julia , Visioli Fernanda , Castelo Branco Leitune Vicente , Melo Mary Anne , Collares Fabrício Mezzomo
Published: February 2020

This in vitro study evaluated the effect of myristyltrimethylammonium bromide (MYTAB) on the physical, chemical, and biological properties of an experimental dental resin. The resin was formulated with dental dimetacrylate monomers and a photoinitiator/co-initiator system. MYTAB was added at 0.5 (G0.5%), 1 (G1%), and 2 (G2%) wt %, and one group remained without MYTAB and was used as the control (GCtrl). The resins were analyzed for the polymerization kinetics, degree of conversion, ultimate tensile strength (UTS), antibacterial activity against Streptococcus mutans, and cytotoxicity against human keratinocytes. Changes in the polymerization kinetics profiling were observed, and the degree of conversion ranged from 57.36% (±2.50%) for G2% to 61.88% (±1.91%) for G0.5%, without a statistically significant difference among groups (p > 0.05). The UTS values ranged from 32.85 (±6.08) MPa for G0.5% to 35.12 (±5.74) MPa for GCtrl (p > 0.05). MYTAB groups showed antibacterial activity against biofilm formation from 0.5 wt % (p < 0.05) and against planktonic bacteria from 1 wt % (p < 0.05). The higher the MYTAB concentration, the higher the cytotoxic effect, without differences between GCtrl e G0.5% (p > 0.05). In conclusion, the addition of 0.5 wt % of MYTAB did not alter the physical and chemical properties of the dental resin and provided antibacterial activity without cytotoxic effect.
Material Property-Manufacturing Process Optimization for Form 2 Vat-Photo Polymerization 3D Printers
Authors: Garcia Elisa Aznarte , Ayranci Cagri , Qureshi Ahmed Jawad
Published: February 2020

This study aims to assess the effect of printing parameters on the final tensile properties of 3D printed specimens printed through a popular vat-photopolymerization printer—‘Form 2’. Elastic modulus, ultimate tensile strength and strain at break are analyzed as a function of process parameters in order to provide an optimized print parameter configuration. Design of Experiments (DoE) using Taguchi’s techniques was used to print the test samples. Tensile tests were performed on the 3D printed specimens following the ISO-527 standard. The post-experiment analysis provide more insight on the effect of each studied factor on the elastic properties of these specimens. To complete this study, an analysis of the total manufacturing process time is presented with respect to the aforementioned elastic properties. The study shows that the parts are orthotropic and sensitive to layer height and post-curing. The orthotropic behaviour can be substantially reduced by appropriate post-curing process, resulting in high improvement of the elastic modulus and ultimate tensile strength. This paper is of special interest to researchers and users of desktop 3D printers who wish to improve the performance of their equipment, compare printing capabilities or assess the effect of different hardware on a single resin.
“Balancing Expectations with Actual Realities”: Conversations with Clinicians and Scientists in the First Year of a High-Risk Childhood Cancer Precision Medicine Trial
Authors: McGill Brittany C. , Wakefield Claire E. , Hetherington Kate , Munro Lachlan J. , Warby Meera , Lau Loretta , Tyrrell Vanessa , Ziegler David S. , O’Brien Tracey A. , Marshall Glenn M. , Malkin David , Hansford Jordan R. , Tucker Katherine M. , Vetsch Janine
Published: February 2020

Precision medicine is changing cancer care and placing new demands on oncology professionals. Precision medicine trials for high-risk childhood cancer exemplify these complexities. We assessed clinicians’ (n = 39) and scientists’ (n = 15) experiences in the first year of the PRecISion Medicine for Children with Cancer (PRISM) trial for children and adolescents with high-risk cancers, through an in-depth semi-structured interview. We thematically analysed participants’ responses regarding their professional challenges, and measured oncologists’ knowledge of genetics and confidence with somatic and germline molecular test results. Both groups described positive early experiences with PRISM but were cognisant of managing parents’ expectations. Key challenges for clinicians included understanding and communicating genomic results, balancing biopsy risks, and drug access. Most oncologists rated ‘good’ knowledge of genetics, but a minority were ‘very confident’ in interpreting (25%), explaining (34.4%) and making treatment recommendations (18.8%) based on somatic genetic test results. Challenges for scientists included greater emotional impact of their work and balancing translational outputs with academic productivity. Continued tracking of these challenges across the course of the trial, while assessing the perspectives of a wider range of stakeholders, is critical to drive the ongoing development of a workforce equipped to manage the demands of paediatric precision medicine.
Mapping and Analyzing the Park Cooling Effect on Urban Heat Island in an Expanding City: A Case Study in Zhengzhou City, China
Authors: Li Huawei , Wang Guifang , Tian Guohang , Jombach Sándor
Published: February 2020

The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect has been extensively studied as a global issue. The urbanization process has been proved to be the main reason for this phenomenon. Over the past 20 years, the built-up area of Zhengzhou city has grown five times larger, and the UHI effect has become increasingly pressing for the city’s inhabitants. Therefore, mitigating the UHI effect is an important research focus of the expanding capital city of the Henan province. In this study, the Landsat 8 image of July 2019 was selected from Landsat collection to obtain Land Surface Temperature (LST) by using Radiative Transfer Equation (RTE) method, and present land cover information by using spectral indices. Additionally, high-resolution Google Earth images were used to select 123 parks, grouped in five categories, to explore the impact factors on park cooling effect. Park Cooling Intensity (PCI) has been chosen as an indicator of the park cooling effect which will quantify its relation to park patch metrics. The results show that: (1) Among the five studied park types, the theme park category has the largest cooling effect while the linear park category has the lowest cooling effect; (2) The mean park LST and PCI of the samples are positively correlated with the Fractional Vegetation Cover (FVC) and with Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), but these are negatively correlated with the Normalized Difference Impervious Surface Index (NDISI). We can suppose that the increase of vegetation cover rate within water areas as well as the decrease of impervious surface in landscape planning and design will make future parks colder. (3) There is a correlation between the PCI and the park characteristics. The UHI effect could be mitigated by increasing of park size and reducing park fractal dimension (Frac_Dim) and perimeter-area ratio (Patario). (4) The PCI is influenced by the park itself and its surrounding area. These results will provide an important reference for future urban planning and urban park design to mitigate the urban heat island effect.
Third-Party Doctrine Principles and the Fourth Amendment: Challenges and Opportunities for First Responder Emergency Officials
Authors: Schmidt Klaus , Varner Katrin , Chenga Agrey
Published: February 2020

The unresolved issues between the Fourth Amendment and the third-party doctrine provide first responders with challenges in their approach to meet the needs of any emergency they may be called for. A first responder needs to provide help quickly, and often this does not leave much time to think about the legal implications of some of their actions. With the rise of the Internet, the challenges of terrorism, and WikiLeaks, first responders are no longer sheltered from the legal implications that the use of information from online and other secondary sources may have. Specifically, privacy concerns may be raised when first responders use social media either as a tool to gather information about evolving emergencies, or to engage in the process of monitoring those media to detect potential threats to the safety of the country and its citizens. This paper will address some challenges first responders face when considering the third-party doctrine principles and the Fourth Amendment in their rescue efforts. What are some liability and legal concerns in the context of what first responders encounter when responding to potential threats? The paper will also include a discussion of practical experiences with the Fourth Amendment and third-party doctrine principles and explore liability issues related to first responders’ use of information.
Triboemission of FINE and Ultrafine Aerosol Particles: A New Approach for Measurement and Accurate Quantification
Authors: Nevshupa Roman , Castellote Marta , Cornelio Jesus Antonio Carlos , Toro Alejandro
Published: February 2020

A dynamic model based on mass balance of fine aerosol particles was developed in order to tackle the problem of accurate quantification of mechanically stimulated particle emission (MSPE) from nanofunctionalized and solid lubricating materials. In contrast to the conventional approach, the model accounts for the effect of air turbulization caused by moving parts of the experimental tribological setup on the enhancement of particle deposition velocity. The increase of the velocity of the moving parts results in an increase of the deposition velocity that leads to a significant underestimation of experimentally measured particle emission rates. The developed model was experimentally verified using natural and artificial nanoparticle aerosols. Finally, the new methodology of particle emission rate quantification was employed for the analysis of fine particle emission produced when the solid lubricating materials were tested against a sliding steel surface. The developed method paves the way for defining a standard method of experimental assessment of nanoparticle triboemission enabling the experimental results obtained in various laboratories to be compared. It also bridges the gap between the phenomenological models and experimental measurements.
A Discussion on Random Meir-Keeler Contractions
Authors: Li Cheng-Yen , Karapınar Erdal , Chen Chi-Ming
Published: February 2020

The aim of this paper is to enrich random fixed point theory, which is one of the cornerstones of probabilistic functional analysis. In this paper, we introduce the notions of random, comparable MT- γ contraction and random, comparable Meir-Keeler contraction in the framework of complete random metric spaces. We investigate the existence of a random fixed point for these contractions. We express illustrative examples to support the presented results.
An Alternative Approach to Measure Co-Movement between Two Time Series
Authors: Ramos-Requena José Pedro , Trinidad-Segovia Juan Evangelista , Sánchez-Granero Miguel Ángel
Published: February 2020

The study of the dependences between different assets is a classic topic in financial literature. To understand how the movements of one asset affect to others is critical for derivatives pricing, portfolio management, risk control, or trading strategies. Over time, different methodologies were proposed by researchers. ARCH, GARCH or EGARCH models, among others, are very popular to model volatility autocorrelation. In this paper, a new simple method called HP is introduced to measure the co-movement between two time series. This method, based on the Hurst exponent of the product series, is designed to detect correlation, even if the relationship is weak, but it also works fine with cointegration as well as non linear correlations or more complex relationships given by a copula. This method and different variations thereaof are tested in statistical arbitrage. Results show that HP is able to detect the relationship between assets better than the traditional correlation method.
Mobile User Location Inference Attacks Fusing with Multiple Background Knowledge in Location-Based Social Networks
Authors: Pan Xiao , Chen Weizhang , Wu Lei
Published: February 2020

Location-based social networks have been widely used. However, due to the lack of effective and safe data management, a large number of privacy disclosures commonly occur. Thus, academia and industry have needed to focus more on location privacy protection. This paper proposes a novel location attack method using multiple background options to infer the hidden locations of mobile users. In order to estimate the possibility of a hidden position being visited by a user, two hidden location attack models are proposed, i.e., a Bayesian hidden location inference model and the multi-factor fusion based hidden location inference model. Multiple background factors, including the check-in sequences, temporal information, user social networks, personalized service preferences, point of interest (POI) popularities, etc., are considered in the two models. Moreover, a hidden location inference algorithm is provided as well. Finally, a series of experiments are conducted on two real check-in data examples to evaluate the accuracy of the model and verify the validity of the proposed algorithm. The experimental results show that multiple background knowledge fusion provides benefits for improving location inference precision.
Fuzzy Reduced Hypergroups
Authors: Kankaras Milica , Cristea Irina
Published: February 2020

The fuzzyfication of hypercompositional structures has developed in several directions. In this note we follow one direction and extend the classical concept of reducibility in hypergroups to the fuzzy case. In particular we define and study the fuzzy reduced hypergroups. New fundamental relations are defined on a crisp hypergroup endowed with a fuzzy set, that lead to the concept of fuzzy reduced hypergroup. This is a hypergroup in which the equivalence class of any element, with respect to a determined fuzzy set, is a singleton. The most well known fuzzy set considered on a hypergroup is the grade fuzzy set, used for the study of the fuzzy grade of a hypergroup. Based on this, in the second part of the paper, we study the fuzzy reducibility of some particular classes of crisp hypergroups with respect to the grade fuzzy set.
Certified Motorcycle Helmets: Computational Evaluation of the Efficacy of Standard Requirements with Finite Element Models
Authors: Fernandes Fábio A. O. , Alves de Sousa Ricardo J. , Ptak Mariusz , Wilhelm Johannes
Published: February 2020

Every year, thousands of people die in the European Union as a direct result of road accidents. Helmets are one of the most important types of personal safety gear. The ECE R22.05 standard, adopted in 2000, is responsible for the certification of motorcycle helmets in the European Union and in many other countries. Two decades later, it is still being used with the same requirements, without any update. The aim of this work is to evaluate the efficacy of a motorcycle helmet certified by such standard, using computational models as an assessment tool. First, a finite element model of a motorcycle helmet available on the market was developed and validated by simulating the same impacts required by the standard. Then, a finite element model of the human head is used as an injury prediction tool to assess its safety performance. Results indicate a significant risk of brain injury, which is in accordance with previous studies available in the literature. Therefore, this work underlines and emphasizes the need of improving the requirements of ECE R22.05.
Inter-and Intra-Examiner Reliability of Supraspinatus Muscle Tendon Palpation: A Cross-Sectional Study by Ultrasonography
Authors: Naranjo-Cinto Fermin , Falcon-Machado Giezi , Garrido-Marin Alejandro , Senin-Camargo Francisco Jose , Jacome-Pumar Maria Amalia , Fernandez-Matias Ruben , Pecos-Martin Daniel , Gallego-Izquierdo Tomas
Published: February 2020

Background and objectives: Palpation is an inherent and basic skill of health professionals—particularly manual therapists who base their diagnosis and treatment in a clinical environment. Many authors have previously described multiple palpation positions for supraspinatus muscle tendon (SMT); however, there are no current studies that evaluate palpation concordance reliability for the SMT in this particular position. This study aimed to investigate the intra- and inter-rater reliabilities of supraspinatus muscle tendon (SMT) palpation. Materials and Methods: Thirty-six healthy participants (14 females; aged 22–35 years) were recruited. Musculoskeletal ultrasound was used to measure the SMT localization after two physiotherapists performed the SMT palpation at two different times. The distance between the two marked points was used to analyze the analysis of true agreement between examiners. Finally, we analyzed if the demographic variables influenced the palpation procedure. Results: The intra-examiner reliability showed a high percentage of concordance for examiner 1 (E.1) (first palpation procedure (P.1) = 91.7%: second palpation procedure (P.2) = 95.8%) and examiner 2 (E.2) (P.1 = 91.6%; P.2 = 97.2%) and high percentage of inter-palpation agreement for E.1 (87.5%) and E.2 (88.9%). The inter-examiner reliability showed a high total concordance for the right shoulder (E.1 = 94.4%; E.2 = 95.8%) and left shoulder (E.1 = 93.05%; E.2 = 95.05%). The agreement (%) according to both examiners was 93.05% for the right shoulder and 94.4% for the left shoulder. The agreement between both examiners and the ultrasound (% of true agreement) was 92.9% for the right shoulder and 92.8% for the left shoulder. A statistically significant association (p = 0.02) was found for weight regarding concordance reliability; this was not seen for dominant arm, age, gender, body mass index, height, and tendon depth (p > 0.05). Conclusions: The SMT palpation technique showed a high level of concordance and reproducibility.
Oxidation and Corrosion Behavior of New Low-Cost Ti-7Fe-3Al and Ti-7Fe-5Cr Alloys from Titanium Hydride Powders
Authors: Reverte Eduardo , Tsipas Sophia A. , Gordo Elena
Published: February 2020

High production costs of Ti alloys usually hinders their use in industry sectors like the automotive and hence, low-cost titanium alloys could broaden titanium alloy usage. This work presents the study of three alloys— Ti-Fe, Ti-Fe-Al, and Ti-Fe-Cr—produced by powder metallurgy methods. The design of the compositions was aimed at reducing cost and enhance the oxidation and corrosion resistance while not decreasing the mechanical performance. The use of titanium hydride as raw material instead of Ti powder is highlighted as a key feature in the design and manufacturing procedure of the alloys. Introducing a dehydrogenation process during sintering favors the densification process while reducing the oxygen contamination and the production cost. There is a lack of studies focused on the implementation of affordable PM Ti alloys in high demanding environments. Therefore, a study of high temperature oxidation resistance and electrochemical behavior was performed.
Modelling the Elements Reaction–Diffusion Behavior on Interface of Ti/Al2O3 Composite Prepared by Hot Pressing Sintering
Authors: Shi Guopu , Zhang Liu , Wang Zhi
Published: February 2020

Element reaction–diffusion of Ti/Al2O3 composite which was fabricated at various sintering temperatures, holding times, and a sintering pressure of 30 MPa has been discussed in the present research. Results show that the thickness of the reaction layer of the Ti-Al2O3 interface was increased in exponential form in correspondence with the increase of the sintering temperature. Furthermore, according to analysis, the relationship between the thickness of the interface reaction layer, sintering temperature, and heat preservation time acquiring the kinetic equation of interfacial reaction of Ti/Al2O3 composite was d = 182.5exp(−6.6 × 104/RT)t0.48 by linear fitting.
Hot Extrusion Enhanced Homogenization of Microstructure in a Spray Deposition Aluminum Alloy
Authors: Sheng Xiaofei , Yang Yong , Yu Hongchun , Wu Wenke , Li Kai , Liu Yu , Zhao Yifan , He Guoai
Published: February 2020

Homogeneous heat treatment serves the significant roles in eliminating the segregation and tuning the microstructure of alloy ingot. It usually cost tremendous power and time to achieve a homogeneous microstructure for aluminum alloys. In this article, the hot extrusion was directly introduced on the spray deposited aluminum alloy 7055 ingot before performing heat treatment to explore the newly feasible homogeneous routine. Equiaxed grains without dendrites or PPB were obtained in our current parameters of spray deposition, which allowed the as-deposited alloy to be deformed without being subjected to pre-homogeneous heat treatment. Significant amount of stored energy was produced during hot extrusion at 420 °C with area reduction ratio of 6.25, which effectively promoted the homogeneity of microstructure and reduced significantly the heat treatment time. A newly feasible short routine, heat treatment at 450 °C /6 h + 470 °C/1 h following the hot extrusion, proved capable of obtaining a homogeneous microstructure for the spray deposited aluminum alloy 7055.