bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effects of Phase Morphology on Mechanical Properties: Oriented/Unoriented PP Crystal Combination with Spherical/Microfibrillar PET Phase
Authors: Mi Dashan , Wang Yingxiong , Kuzmanovic Maja , Delva Laurens , Jiang Yixin , Cardon Ludwig , Zhang Jie , Ragaert Kim
Published: February 2019

In situ microfibrillation and multiflow vibrate injection molding (MFVIM) technologies were combined to control the phase morphology of blended polypropylene (PP) and poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), wherein PP is the majority phase. Four kinds of phase structures were formed using different processing methods. As the PET content changes, the best choice of phase structure also changes. When the PP matrix is unoriented, oriented microfibrillar PET can increase the mechanical properties at an appropriate PET content. However, if the PP matrix is an oriented structure (shish-kebab), only the use of unoriented spherical PET can significantly improve the impact strength. Besides this, the compatibilizer polyolefin grafted maleic anhydride (POE-g-MA) can cover the PET in either spherical or microfibrillar shape to form a core–shell structure, which tends to improve both the yield and impact strength. We focused on the influence of all composing aspects—fibrillation of the dispersed PET, PP matrix crystalline morphology, and compatibilized interface—on the mechanical properties of PP/PET blends as well as potential synergies between these components. Overall, we provided a theoretical basis for the mechanical recycling of immiscible blends.
Polymer Translocation Across a Corrugated Channel: Fick–Jacobs Approximation Extended Beyond the Mean First-Passage Time
Authors: Malgaretti Paolo , Oshanin Gleb
Published: February 2019

Polymer translocation across a corrugated channel is a paradigmatic stochastic process encountered in diverse systems. The instance of time when a polymer first arrives to some prescribed location defines an important characteristic time-scale for various phenomena, which are triggered or controlled by such an event. Here we discuss the translocation dynamics of a Gaussian polymer in a periodically-corrugated channel using an appropriately generalized Fick–Jacobs approach. Our main aim is to probe an effective broadness of the first-passage time distribution (FPTD), by determining the so-called coefficient of variation γ of the FPTD, defined as the ratio of the standard deviation versus the mean first-passage time (MFPT). We present a systematic analysis of γ as a function of a variety of system’s parameters. We show that γ never significantly drops below 1 and, in fact, can attain very large values, implying that the MFPT alone cannot characterize the first-passage statistics of the translocation process exhaustively well.
Fabrication of Phosphate-Imprinted PNIPAM/SiO2 Hybrid Particles and Their Phosphate Binding Property
Authors: Cao Zheng , Chen Yuyuan , Li Dan , Cheng Junfeng , Liu Chunlin
Published: February 2019

A SiO2 microsphere imprinted by phosphate ions was prepared with the use of phosphate ion as the template molecule and tetraethoxysilane as the precursor. Thereafter, the imprinted SiO2 microspheres were modified with 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate (TMSPMA@SiO2), followed by introducing the double bond. In the presence of TMSPMA@SiO2, using N-isopropylacrylamide as monomer, and potassium persulfate as initiator, polymer/inorganic hybrid particles (PNIPAM/SiO2) were prepared. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, nitrogen adsorption-desorption test, and transmission electron microscope were employed for the characterization of molecular imprinted SiO2 microspheres and PNIPAM/SiO2 hybrid particles. The effects of phosphate concentration, pH value, and adsorption temperature on the phosphate binding properties of PNIPAM/SiO2 hybrid particles were studied by UV-vis spectrophotometer. The experimental results shed light on the fact that the PNIPAM structure is beneficial for the improvement of the adsorption ability of phosphate-imprinted SiO2 microspheres. With the increase in the initial phosphate concentration, the adsorption capacity of hybrid particles to phosphate ions increased to 274 mg/g at pH = 7 and 15 °C. The acid condition and the temperature below the low critical solution temperature (LCST) of PNIPAM are favorable to the adsorption of phosphate ions by PNIPAM/SiO2 hybrid particles, and the maximum adsorption capacity can reach 287 mg/g (at pH = 5 and 15 °C). The phosphate imprinted polymer/inorganic hybrid material is expected to be put to use in the fields of phosphate ions adsorption, separation, and recovery.
Influence of Tert-Butylthiol and Tetrahydrofuran on the Holographic Characteristics of a Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal: A Research Line Toward a Specific Sensor for Natural Gas and Liquefied Petroleum Gas
Authors: Mora María P. , Ramírez Manuel G. , Brocal Francisco , Ortuño Manuel , Beléndez Augusto , Pascual Inmaculada
Published: February 2019

Tert-Butylthiol (TBT) and tetrahydrothiophene (THT) are odorant substances added to natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas to help their detection by the human smell. In this research, TBT and THT are incorporated into a holographic polymer-dispersed liquid crystal and their influence in the main holographic characteristics of the photopolymer are studied in order to open the way towards the design of a holographic sensor to detect natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas.
Green Polyurethanes from Renewable Isocyanates and Biobased White Dextrins
Authors: Konieczny Jakob , Loos Katja
Published: February 2019

Polyurethanes (PUs) are an important class of polymers due to their low density and thermal conductivity combined with their interesting mechanical properties—they are extensively used as thermal and sound insulators, as well as structural and comfort materials. Despite the broad range of applications, the production of PUs is still highly petroleum-dependent. The use of carbohydrates in PU synthesis has not yet been studied extensively, even though, as multihydroxyl compounds, they can easily serve as crosslinkers in PU synthesis. Partially or potentially biobased di-, tri- or poly-isocyanates can further be used to increase the renewable content of PUs. In our research, PU films could be easily produced using two bio-based isocyanates—ethyl ester L-lysine diisocyanate (LLDI] and ethyl ester l-lysine triisocyanate (LLTI)—, one commercial isocyanate—isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI), and a bio-based white dextrin (AVEDEX W80) as a crosslinker. The thermal and mechanical properties are evaluated and compared as well as the stability against solvents.
An Easy Route to Wettability Changes of Polyethylene Terephthalate–Silicon Oxide Substrate Films for High Barrier Applications, Surface-Modified with a Self-Assembled Monolayer of Fluoroalkylsilanes
Authors: Scarfato Paola , Schiavone Nicola , Rossi Gabriella , Incarnato Loredana
Published: February 2019

Inorganic–organic multilayer films consisting of polymers coated with thin inorganic oxidic layers (e.g., SiOx) ensure very high barrier performances against gas and vapor permeation, what makes them packaging materials suitable for sophisticated technical applications, including the encapsulation of photovoltaic devices or quantum dots, barrier films for optical displays, and transparent greenhouse screens. In these fields, surface coating or texturing of the multilayer protective films are effective technologies to improve their self-clean ability, thus reducing the required maintenance and ensuring longer durability and better performances. In this work, we used the self-assembled monolayer (SAM) technique to modify the surface and wetting properties of commercial polyethylene terephthalate-silicon oxide substrate (PET-SiOx) films developed for technical applications requiring a combined high barrier and transparency. The selected surface modifier was the 1H,1H,2H,2H-per-fluorodecyltrichlorosilane (FDTS). The reagent mixture composition was optimized for the lowest water and oil wettability, as well as the highest self-cleaning capacity and performance stability. In particular, for the used PET-SiOx film the best FDTS/film surface for both the lowest water and oil wettability was found to be equal to 26.5 mM/dm2, which changes the surface behavior from very hydrophilic (static water contact angle (CAw) = 21.5°) to hydrophobic (CAw = 101°), and gives a significant increment of the static oil contact angle (CAo) from 27° to 60°. Interestingly, the results demonstrated that the SAM reaction occurred also on the uncoated the PET side. After the SAM treatment, a small increase of the water vapor permeability is observed, probably due to a crack or defect onset of the SiOx coating of the SAM modified films. On this point, atomic force measurements demonstrated an increment of the SiOx coating layer roughness after the SAM treatment execution. Finally, the transparency changes of the SAM treated films, measured in the wavelength range 400–800 nm, were always small, so that the results were acceptable for the films’ use in applications where high transparency is required.
Rheological Characterization of Hydrogels from Alginate-Based Nanodispersion
Authors: Cuomo Francesca , Cofelice Martina , Lopez Francesco
Published: February 2019

The interest toward alginate and nanoemulsion-based hydrogels is driven by the wide potential of application. These systems have been noticed in several areas, ranging from pharmaceutical, medical, coating, and food industries. In this investigation, hydrogels prepared through in situ calcium ion release, starting from lemongrass essential oil nanodispersions stabilized in alginate aqueous suspensions in the presence of the nonionic surfactant Tween 80, were evaluated. The hydrogels prepared at different concentrations of oil, alginate, and calcium were characterized through rheological tests. Flow curves demonstrate that the hydrogels share shear thinning behavior. Oscillatory tests showed that the strength of the hydrogel network increases with the crosslinker increase, and decreases at low polymer concentrations. The hydrogels were thixotropic materials with a slow time of structural restoration after breakage. Finally, by analyzing the creep recovery data, the hydrogel responses were all fitted to the Burger model. Overall, it was demonstrated that the presence of essential oil in the proposed hydrogels does not affect the mechanical characteristics of the materials, which are mainly influenced by the concentration of polymer and calcium as a crosslinker.
Effect of Temperature and Microwave Power Levels on Microwave Drying Kinetics of Zhaotong Lignite
Authors: Zhao Pengfei , Liu Chenhui , Qu Wenwen , He Zhixiu , Gao Jiyun , Jia Lijuan , Ji Siping , Ruan Roger
Published: February 2019

Microwave drying is a promising and effective way to drying and upgrading lignite. The influence of temperature (100–140 °C) and microwave power levels (500–800 W) on thin-layer drying characteristics of Zhaotong lignite under microwave irradiation were investigated. Fourteen thin-layer drying models were used to analyze the microwave drying process while six thin-layer drying models were used to analyze the hot-air drying process. The microwave drying processes at all temperature (100–140 °C) or low microwave power levels (500–700 W) exhibited four periods: a warm-up period, a short constant period, the first and second falling rate period, while one falling rate period was found during hot-air drying. The effective diffusion coefficient of lignite were calculated and it increases with increasing temperature and microwave power levels. During microwave drying, the two-term exponential model is the most suitable model for all applied conditions, while the Modified Page model is the most suitable model to describe the hot-air drying experiments. The apparent activation energy were determined from Arrhenius equation and the values for the first and second falling rate period are 3.349 and 20.808 kJ·mol−1 at different temperatures, while they are 13.455 and 19.580 W·g−1 at different microwave power levels. This implies the apparent activation energy is higher during the second falling rate period, which suggest that the dewatering of absorbed water is more difficult than capillary water. The value of apparent activation energy in hot-air drying is between the first and second falling rate period of microwave drying. Results indicate that microwave drying is more suitable to dewatering free water and capillary water of lignite.
Incremental Parameter Estimation under Rank-Deficient Measurement Conditions
Authors: Villez Kris , Billeter Julien , Bonvin Dominique
Published: February 2019

The computation and modeling of extents has been proposed to handle the complexity of large-scale model identification tasks. Unfortunately, the existing extent-based framework only applies when certain conditions apply. Most typically, it is required that a unique value for each extent can be computed. This severely limits the applicability of this approach. In this work, we propose a novel procedure for parameter estimation inspired by the existing extent-based framework. A key difference with prior work is that the proposed procedure combines structural observability labeling, matrix factorization, and graph-based system partitioning to split the original model parameter estimation problem into parameter estimation problems with the least number of parameters. The value of the proposed method is demonstrated with an extensive simulation study and a study based on a historical data set collected to characterize the isomerization of α -pinene. Most importantly, the obtained results indicate that an important barrier to the application of extent-based frameworks for process modeling and monitoring tasks has been lifted.
Increasing Salt Rejection of Polybenzimidazole Nanofiltration Membranes via the Addition of Immobilized and Aligned Aquaporins
Authors: Wagh Priyesh , Zhang Xinyi , Blood Ryan , Kekenes-Huskey Peter M. , Rajapaksha Prasangi , Wei Yinan , Escobar Isabel C.
Published: February 2019

Aquaporins are water channel proteins in cell membrane, highly specific for water molecules while restricting the passage of contaminants and small molecules, such as urea and boric acid. Cysteine functional groups were installed on aquaporin Z for covalent attachment to the polymer membrane matrix so that the proteins could be immobilized to the membranes and aligned in the direction of the flow. Depth profiling using x-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS) analysis showed the presence of functional groups corresponding to aquaporin Z modified with cysteine (Aqp-SH). Aqp-SH modified membranes showed a higher salt rejection as compared to unmodified membranes. For 2 M NaCl and CaCl2 solutions, the rejection obtained from Aqp-SH membranes was 49.3 ± 7.5% and 59.1 ± 5.1%. On the other hand, the rejections obtained for 2 M NaCl and CaCl2 solutions from unmodified membranes were 0.8 ± 0.4% and 1.3 ± 0.2% respectively. Furthermore, Aqp-SH membranes did not show a significant decrease in salt rejection with increasing feed concentrations, as was observed with other membranes. Through simulation studies, it was determined that there was approximately 24% capping of membrane pores by dispersed aquaporins.
Energy-Efficient Train Driving Strategy with Considering the Steep Downhill Segment
Authors: Liu Wentao , Tang Tao , Su Shuai , Yin Jiateng , Cao Yuan , Wang Cheng
Published: February 2019

Implementation of energy-efficient train driving strategy is an effective method to save train traction energy consumption, which has attracted much attention from both researchers and practitioners in recent years. Reducing the unnecessary braking during the journey and increasing the coasting distance are efficient to save energy in urban rail transit systems. In the steep downhill segment, the train speed will continue to increase without applying traction due to the ramp force. A high initial speed before stepping into the steep downhill segment will bring partial braking to prevent trains from overspeeding. Optimization of the driving strategy of urban rail trains can avoid the partial braking such that the potential energy is efficiently used and the traction energy is reduced. This paper presents an energy-efficient driving strategy optimization model for the segment with the steep downhill slopes. A numerical method is proposed to calculate the corresponding energy-efficient driving strategy of trains. Specifically, the steep downhill segment in the line is identified firstly for a given line and the solution space with different scenarios is analyzed. With the given cruising speed, a primary driving strategy is obtained, based on which the local driving strategy in the steep slope segment is optimized by replacing the cruising regime with coasting regime. Then, the adaptive gradient descent method is adopted to solve the optimal cruising speed corresponding to the minimum traction energy consumption of the train. Some case studies were conducted and the effectiveness of the algorithm was verified by comparing the energy-saving performance with the classical energy-efficient driving strategy of “Maximum traction–Cruising–Coasting–Maximum braking”.
New Approaches in Modeling and Simulation of CO2 Absorption Reactor by Activated Potassium Carbonate Solution
Authors: Harja Maria , Ciobanu Gabriela , Juzsakova Tatjána , Cretescu Igor
Published: February 2019

The increase of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is in strong relation with the human-induced warming up due to industrial processes, transportation, etc. In order to reduce the CO2 content, end of pipe post-combustion methods can be used in addition to other methods and techniques. The CO2 capture by absorption in potassium carbonate–bicarbonate activated solutions remains a viable method. In this study, a mathematical model for a packed bed reactor has been developed and tested. The mathematical model is tested for an industrial reactor based on CO2 absorption in Carsol solutions. The proposed model was validated by resolving for CO2 and water content, carbonate–bicarbonate, concentrations etc. For each operational parameter the error was calculated. The error for CO2 concentration is up to 4%. The height of the packed reactor is calculated as function of CO2 concentration in the final gas phase. The validated model can also be used for absorbing other CO2 streams taking into account the fact that its efficiency was proved in industrial scale. Future reactors used for CO2 absorption should consist of two parts in order to use partially regenerated solutions in the first part, with significant energy savings in the operational costs.
Opening and Reusing Transparent Peer Reviews with Automatic Article Annotation
Authors: Sadeghi Afshin , Capadisli Sarven , Wilm Johannes , Lange Christoph , Mayr Philipp
Published: February 2019

An increasing number of scientific publications are created in open and transparent peer review models: a submission is published first, and then reviewers are invited, or a submission is reviewed in a closed environment but then these reviews are published with the final article, or combinations of these. Reasons for open peer review include giving better credit to reviewers, and enabling readers to better appraise the quality of a publication. In most cases, the full, unstructured text of an open review is published next to the full, unstructured text of the article reviewed. This approach prevents human readers from getting a quick impression of the quality of parts of an article, and it does not easily support secondary exploitation, e.g., for scientometrics on reviews. While document formats have been proposed for publishing structured articles including reviews, integrated tool support for entire open peer review workflows resulting in such documents is still scarce. We present AR-Annotator, the Automatic Article and Review Annotator which employs a semantic information model of an article and its reviews, using semantic markup and unique identifiers for all entities of interest. The fine-grained article structure is not only exposed to authors and reviewers but also preserved in the published version. We publish articles and their reviews in a Linked Data representation and thus maximise their reusability by third party applications. We demonstrate this reusability by running quality-related queries against the structured representation of articles and their reviews.
Benjamin’s Profane Uses of Theology: The Invisible Organon
Authors: Naishtat Francisco
Published: February 2019

Invisible, but suggestive and fruitful; deprived of any reference to doctrine or ultimate assertive foundations, but nevertheless used in Benjamin like written images, crystallized as “images of thought”; as doctrinally mute as it is heuristically audible, Benjamin’s use of theology reminds us of the ironical use that Jorge Luis Borges himself made of theology and metaphysics as part of his own poetic forms. As such, these images of thought are located both in the place of philosophical use and in the one of methodological cunning or Metis, across the various levels of the corpus: a metaphysics of experience, literary criticism, philosophy of language, theory of history and Marxism. Therefore, accepting that criticism (Kritik) is the visible organon and the object of Benjaminian philosophy, is not theology, then, its invisible organon? What seems to be particular to Benjamin, however, is the agonistic but nevertheless heuristic way in which he intends to use theology in order to upset, disarray, and deconstruct the established philosophy, and specially its dominant trends in the field of the theory of history: historicism, positivism, and the evolutionary Hegelian–Marxist philosophy of history. In this article we try to demonstrate how this theological perspective is applied to a Benjaminian grammar of time. We conclude agonistically, confronting the resulting Benjaminian notion of historical past against Heiddeger’s own vision of historical time.
Hasidic Myth-Activism: Martin Buber’s Theopolitical Revision of Volkish Nationalism
Authors: Hadad Yemima
Published: February 2019

Since the 1970s, Buber has often been suspected of being a Volkish thinker. This essay reconsiders the affinity of Buber’s late writings with Volkish ideology. It examines the allegations against Buber’s Volkish thought in light of his later biblical and Hasidic writings. By illuminating the ideological affinity between these two modes of thought, the essay explains how Buber aims to depart from the dangers of myth without rejecting myth as such. I argue that Buber’s relationship to myth can help us to explain his critique of nationalism. My basic argument is that in his struggle with hyper-nationalism, Buber follows the Baal Shem Tov and his struggle against Sabbateanism. Like the Besht, Buber does not reject myth, but seeks instead to repair it from within. Whereas hyper-nationalism uses myth to advance its political goals, Buber seeks to reposition ethics within a mythic framework. I view Buber’s exegesis and commentaries on biblical and Hasidic myths as myth-activism.
Sustainable Local Development: An Overview of the State of Knowledge
Authors: Milán-García Juan , Uribe-Toril Juan , Ruiz-Real José Luis , de Pablo Valenciano Jaime
Published: February 2019

Since the eighties, the concern for sustainability has been increasing from several dimensions and depending on different socio-economic, political, geographical and cultural factors. In the last few years, local development has incorporated the concept of sustainability, as part of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals strategy, highlighting the relevance of this process. The purpose of this research is to show the state of the art of this subject, for what a bibliometric analysis has been carried out based on the two most important online databases: Web of Science and Scopus. This article identifies the latest trends that characterize the concept of sustainable local development, where resilience is the new perspective to include in the variables that influence the development of territories. The results show a positive trend in this field of research, with both the number of articles published and citations increasing exponentially in the last ten years. In addition, the analysis of keywords has shown a tendency towards terms such as resilience, rural tourism or ecological agriculture. In essence, the concept has reached such a point that it is necessary to establish new mechanisms that soften and even negate the economic disruption caused by globalization.
Optical and Geometrical Properties of Cirrus Clouds over the Tibetan Plateau Measured by LiDAR and Radiosonde Sounding during the Summertime in 2014
Authors: Dai Guangyao , Wu Songhua , Song Xiaoquan , Liu Liping
Published: February 2019

Optical and geometrical characteristics of the cirrus clouds over Naqu (4508 m a.s.l., 31.48° N, 92.06° E), in the Tibetan Plateau were determined from LiDAR and radiosonde measurements performed during the third TIbetan Plateau EXperiment of atmospheric sciences (TIPEX III) campaign from July to August 2014. For the analysis of the temperature dependence, the simultaneous observations with LiDAR and radiosonde were conducted. Cirrus clouds were generally observed ranging from 5.2 km to 12 km above ground level (AGL) (i.e., 9.7 km to 16.5 km a.s.l.), with the midcloud temperatures ranging from −79.7 to −26.0 °C. The cloud thickness generally differed from 0.12 to 2.55 km with a mean thickness of 1.22 ± 0.70 km, and 85.7% of the measurement cases had thickness smaller than 1.5 km. The retrievals of linear particle depolarization ratio, extinction coefficient, and optical depth of cirrus clouds were provided. Moreover, the multiple scattering effect inside of cirrus clouds was corrected. The linear particle depolarization ratio of the cirrus clouds varied from 0.36 to 0.52, with a mean value of 0.44 ± 0.04. The optical depth of the cirrus clouds was between 0.01 and 3 following the scheme of Fernald-Klett method. Sub-visual, thin, and opaque cirrus clouds were observed at 4.76%, 61.90% and 33.34% of the measured cases, respectively. The temperature and thickness dependencies of the optical properties were studied in detail. A maximum cirrus thickness of around 2 km was found at temperatures between −60 and −50 °C. This study shows that the mean extinction coefficient of the cirrus clouds increases with the increase of temperature. Conversely, the measurements indicate that the linear particle depolarization ratio decreases with the increasing temperature. The relationships between the existence of cirrus clouds and the temperature anomaly (temperature difference from the mean value of the temperature during July and August 2014 over Naqu) and deep convective activity are also discussed. The formation of cirrus clouds is investigated and also its apparent relationship with the South Asia High Pressure, the dynamic processes of Rossby wave, and deep convective activity over the Tibetan Plateau. The outgoing longwave radiation of cirrus clouds is calculated with the Fu-Liou model and is shown to increases monotonously with the increase of optical depth.
Assessing the Uncertainties of Four Precipitation Products for Swat Modeling in Mekong River Basin
Authors: Tang Xiongpeng , Zhang Jianyun , Gao Chao , Ruben Gebdang Biangbalbe , Wang Guoqing
Published: February 2019

Using hydrological simulation to evaluate the accuracy of satellite-based and reanalysis precipitation products always suffer from a large uncertainty. This study evaluates four widely used global precipitation products with high spatial and temporal resolutions [i.e., AgMERRA (AgMIP modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications), MSWEP (Multi-Source Weighted-Ensemble Precipitation), PERSIANN-CDR (Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks-Climate Data Record), and TMPA (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission 3B42 Version7)] against gauge observations with six statistical metrics over Mekong River Basin (MRB). Furthermore, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), a widely used semi-distributed hydrological model, is calibrated using different precipitation inputs. Both model performance and uncertainties of parameters and prediction have been quantified. The following findings were obtained: (1) The MSWEP and TMPA precipitation products have good accuracy with higher CC, POD, and lower ME and RMSE, and the AgMERRA precipitation estimates perform better than PERSIANN-CDR in this rank; and (2) out of the six different climate regions of MRB, all six metrics are worse than that in the whole MRB. The AgMERRA can better reproduce the occurrence and contributions at different precipitation densities, and the MSWEP has the best performance in Cwb, Cwa, Aw, and Am regions that belong to the low latitudes. (3) Daily streamflow predictions obtained using MSWEP precipitation estimates are better than those simulated by other three products in term of both the model performance and parameter uncertainties; and (4) although MSWEP better captures the precipitation at different intensities in different climatic regions, the performance can still be improved, especially in the regions with higher altitude.
Autonomous Mobile Scanning Systems for the Digitization of Buildings: A Review
Authors: Adán Antonio , Quintana Blanca , Prieto Samuel A.
Published: February 2019

Mobile scanning systems are being used more and more frequently in industry, construction, and artificial intelligent applications. More particularly, autonomous scanning plays an essential role in the field of the automatic creation of 3D models of building. This paper presents a critical review of current autonomous scanning systems, discussing essential aspects that determine the efficiency and applicability of a scanning system in real environments. Some important issues, such as data redundancy, occlusion, initial assumptions, the complexity of the scanned scene, and autonomy, are analysed in the first part of the document, while the second part discusses other important aspects, such as pre-processing, time requirements, evaluation, and opening detection. A set of representative autonomous systems is then chosen for comparison, and the aforementioned characteristics are shown together in several illustrative tables. Principal gaps, limitations, and future developments are presented in the last section. The paper provides the reader with a general view of the world of autonomous scanning and emphasizes the difficulties and challenges that new autonomous platforms should tackle in the future.
Radar Scatter Decomposition to Differentiate between Running Ice Accumulations and Intact Ice Covers along Rivers
Authors: Lindenschmidt Karl–Erich , Li Zhaoqin
Published: February 2019

For ice-jam flood forecasting it is important to differentiate between intact ice covers and ice runs. Ice runs consist of long accumulations of rubble ice that stem from broken up ice covers or ice-jams that have released. A water wave generally travels ahead of the ice run at a faster celerity, arriving at the potentially high flood–risk area much sooner than the ice accumulation. Hence, a rapid detection of the ice run is necessary to lengthen response times for flood mitigation. Intact ice covers are stationary and hence are not an immediate threat to a downstream flood situation, allowing more time for flood preparedness. However, once ice accumulations are moving and potentially pose imminent impacts to flooding, flood response may have to switch from a mitigation to an evacuation mode of the flood management plan. Ice runs are generally observed, often by chance, through ground observations or airborne surveys. In this technical note, we introduce a novel method of differentiating ice runs from intact ice covers using imagery acquired from space-borne radar backscatter signals. The signals are decomposed into different scatter components—surface scattering, volume scattering and double-bounce—the ratios of one to another allow differentiation between intact and running ice. The method is demonstrated for the breakup season of spring 2018 along the Athabasca River, when an ice run shoved into an intact ice cover which led to some flooding in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada.
Modeling Polycentric Urbanization Using Multisource Big Geospatial Data
Authors: Xie Zhiwei , Ye Xinyue , Zheng Zihao , Li Dong , Sun Lishuang , Li Ruren , Benya Samuel
Published: February 2019

Understanding the dynamics of polycentric urbanization is important for urban studies and management. This paper proposes an analytical model that uses multisource big geospatial data to characterize such dynamics to facilitate policy making. There are four main steps: (1) main centers and subcenters are identified using spatial cluster analysis and geographically weighted regression (GWR) based on Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)/NPP and social media check-in data; (2) the built-up areas are extracted by using Defense Meteorological Satellite Program—Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) gradient images; (3) the economic corridors that connect the main center and subcenters are constructed using road network data from Open Street Map (OSM) with the least-cost distance method; and (4) the major urban development direction is identified by analyzing the changes in built-up areas within the economic corridors. The model is applied to three major cities in northeastern, central, and northwestern China (Shenyang, Wuhan, and Xi’an) from 1992 to 2012.
Large Scale Palm Tree Detection in High Resolution Satellite Images Using U-Net
Authors: Freudenberg Maximilian , Nölke Nils , Agostini Alejandro , Urban Kira , Wörgötter Florentin , Kleinn Christoph
Published: February 2019

Oil and coconut palm trees are important crops in many tropical countries, which are either planted as plantations or scattered in the landscape. Monitoring in terms of counting provides useful information for various stakeholders. Most of the existing monitoring methods are based on spectral profiles or simple neural networks and either fall short in terms of accuracy or speed. We use a neural network of the U-Net type in order to detect oil and coconut palms on very high resolution satellite images. The method is applied to two different study areas: (1) large monoculture oil palm plantations in Jambi, Indonesia, and (2) coconut palms in the Bengaluru Metropolitan Region in India. The results show that the proposed method reaches a performance comparable to state of the art approaches, while being about one order of magnitude faster. We reach a maximum throughput of 235 ha/s with a spatial image resolution of 40 cm. The proposed method proves to be reliable even under difficult conditions, such as shadows or urban areas, and can easily be transferred from one region to another. The method detected palms with accuracies between 89% and 92%.
Monitoring the Characteristics of the Bohai Sea Ice Using High-Resolution Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) Data
Authors: Yan Yu , Huang Kaiyue , Shao Dongdong , Xu Yingjun , Gu Wei
Published: February 2019

Satellite remote sensing data, such as moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometers (MODIS) and advanced very high-resolution radiometers (AVHRR), are being widely used to monitor sea ice conditions and their variability in the Bohai Sea, the southernmost frozen sea in the Northern Hemisphere. Monitoring the characteristics of the Bohai Sea ice can provide crucial information for ice disaster prevention for marine transportation, oil field operation, and regional climate change studies. Although these satellite data cover the study area with fairly high spatial resolution, their typically limited cloudless images pose serious restrictions for continuous observation of short-term dynamics, such as sub-seasonal changes. In this study, high spatiotemporal resolution (500 m and eight images per day) geostationary ocean color imager (GOCI) data with a high proportion of cloud-free images were used to monitor the characteristics of the Bohai Sea ice, including area and thickness. An object-based feature extraction method and an albedo-based thickness inversion model were used for estimating sea ice area and thickness, respectively. To demonstrate the efficacy of the new dataset, a total of 68 GOCI images were selected to analyze the evolution of sea ice area and thickness during the winter of 2012–2013 with severe sea ice conditions. The extracted sea ice area was validated using Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data with higher spatial resolution, and the estimated sea ice thickness was found to be consistent with in situ observation results. The entire sea ice freezing–melting processes, including the key events such as the day with the maximum ice area and the first and last days of the frozen season, were better resolved by the high temporal-resolution GOCI data compared with MODIS or AVHRR data. Both characteristics were found to be closely correlated with cumulative freezing/melting degree days. Our study demonstrates the applicability of the GOCI data as an improved dataset for studying the Bohai Sea ice, particularly for purposes that require high temporal resolution data, such as sea ice disaster monitoring.
Environment Control with Low-Cost Microcontrollers and Microprocessors: Application for Green Walls
Authors: Rivas-Sánchez Yair Andrey , Moreno-Pérez María Fátima , Roldán-Cañas José
Published: February 2019

Green wall irrigation procedures are a particularly important and hard task, given that the quality of the green wall depends on them. There is currently a wide variety of irrigation programmers available, with a range of functions and prices, thereby replacing manual activities and making it easier to maintain green walls. This paper proposes the use of low-cost automated irrigation programmers via a freeware called Arduino. The system is based on air and substrate measurements to ensure optimal plant growth and high water-use efficiency. At certain thresholds, the irrigation system is activated. This not only makes irrigation more convenient but also helps to reduce energy consumption, increases irrigation efficiency and saves time. The data is then sent via Transmission Control Protocol using Internet of Things technology, in this case ThingSpeak. The platform compiles the data and presents them in simple graphical format, thus enabling real-time monitoring from wherever there is Internet access. Together with Arduino, the project incorporates the Raspberry pi system that operates like a database via Hypertext Transfer Protocol Wi-Fi received by a Structured Query Language (MySQL) server using Hypertext Preprocessor. These data are used for the subsequent analysis of green wall performance.
Energy Justice and Canada’s National Energy Board: A Critical Analysis of the Line 9 Pipeline Decision
Authors: Hunsberger Carol , Awâsis Sâkihitowin
Published: February 2019

This paper investigates the values and priorities reflected in a Canadian pipeline review: The National Energy Board (NEB) decision on Line 9. Theories of energy justice guided analysis of evidence presented at NEB hearings, the NEB’s explanation of its decision, and a Supreme Court challenge. We find that several aspects of energy justice were weak in the NEB process. First, a project-specific scope obstructed the pursuit of equity within and between generations: the pipeline’s contributions to climate change, impacts of the oil sands, and cumulative encroachment on Indigenous lands were excluded from review. Second, the NEB created a hierarchy of knowledge: it considered evidence of potential spill impacts as hypothetical while accepting as fact the proponent’s claim that it could prevent and manage spills. Third, recognition of diversity remained elusive: Indigenous nations’ dissatisfaction with the process challenged the NEB’s interpretation of meaningful consultation and procedural fairness. To address the challenges of climate change and reconciliation between Indigenous and settler nations, it is crucial to identify which kinds of evidence decision-makers recognize as valid and which they exclude. Ideas from energy justice can help support actions to improve the public acceptability of energy decisions, as well as to foster greater Indigenous autonomy.
Ranking of Adaptive Reuse Strategies for Abandoned Industrial Heritage in Vulnerable Contexts: A Multiple Criteria Decision Aiding Approach
Authors: Bottero Marta , D’Alpaos Chiara , Oppio Alessandra
Published: February 2019

In recent years adaptive reuse has proven to be a promising strategy for preserving cultural heritage. When the adaptive reuse approach is used for cultural heritage, the expected outcome is not only the building protection, but the preservation of its historical and heritage significance, and the trade-off between the retention of symbolic values and the adaptation to new alternative (economically profitable) uses becomes of paramount importance. Decisions on the allocation of resources for cultural heritage preservation or development are based on a set of multiple, often conflicting, criteria, as well on the preferences of various, and not always consensual, stakeholders, who attribute different relative importance to market and non-market effects of adaptive reuse proposals. In this context, multiple criteria approaches provide a proper theoretical and methodological framework to address the complexity which characterizes adaptive reuse strategies of cultural heritage. This paper aims to contribute to this strand of literature by proposing a multicriteria decision aiding approach for ranking adaptive reuse strategies of cultural heritage. In detail, we present a novel application of the Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment of Evaluations (PROMETHEE) to support the design and implementation of adaptive reuse strategies of abandoned industrial heritage in vulnerable contexts, and evaluate relative tangible and intangible effects. Industrial sites are frequently left to deteriorate, as their preservation is not considered as important as other kinds of heritage structures. Nevertheless, they are characterized by special architectural and technical features as well as by huge spaces suitable to be redeveloped for new uses. The paper focuses on the potential reuse of nine different abandoned buildings located in an industrial valley in the North-West of Italy, with a strong presence of wool and silk factories starting from the 18th century.
A Tour-Based Mode Choice Model for Commuters in Indonesia
Authors: Bastarianto Faza Fawzan , Irawan Muhammad Zudhy , Choudhury Charisma , Palma David , Muthohar Imam
Published: February 2019

With the advent of activity-based modelling, transport planners’ focus has shifted from isolated trips to tours. Tours are series of interconnected trips that start and finish at home. There are different types of tours; we focus on two: hwh (start at home; go to work; and then go back home) and hw+wh (where + represents a non-work activity). Tour types introduce a new dimension to the traditional problem of travel mode choice, as the mode choice might be influenced by the type of tour. This study attempts to measure and compare the relationship between tour type and mode choice using three different modelling approaches: Multinomial Logit (MNL); Nested Logit (NL) and Cross-Nested Logit (CNL). We compare each approach using secondary data from a larger survey: 24-h daily activity patterns of 420 commuters between Bekasi and Jakarta; one of the busiest commuting routes in Indonesia. Among other results, we found that gender and income significantly influence commuter’s choice of mode and that reducing travel time and cost can increase the ridership of public transport. Furthermore, the NL and CNL models showed significant improvement over the simpler MNL when grouping the alternatives based on tour types. This points to a significant influence of the tour type on the mode choice. Policy recommendations to increase traveler’s wellbeing are also formulated.
Development of Fuzzy Time Series Model for Hotel Occupancy Forecasting
Authors: Aliyev Rashad , Salehi Sara , Aliyev Rafig
Published: February 2019

Receiving appropriate forecast accuracy is important in many countries’ economic activities, and developing effective and precise time series model is critical issue in tourism demand forecasting. In this paper, fuzzy rule-based system model for hotel occupancy forecasting is developed by analyzing 40 months’ time series data and applying fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm. Based on the values of root mean square error and mean absolute percentage error which are metrics for measuring forecast accuracy, it is defined that the model with 7 clusters and 4 inputs is the optimal forecasting model for hotel occupancy.
Effect of Growing Groundcover Plants in a Vineyard on Dissipation of Two Neonicotinoid Insecticides
Authors: Yen Jui-Hung , Liao Chien-Sen , Kuo Ya-Wen , Chen Wen-Ching , Huang Wan-Ting
Published: February 2019

This study investigated the difference in neonicotinoids dissipation in a grape vineyard by planting different groundcovers plants, including a control bare field (CF), Arachis pintoi Krap. and Greg. (peanut field (PF)) and Clinopodium brownei (Sw.) Kuntze (mint field (MF)). After one day of pesticide spraying, the highest dinotefuran residue concentration was in 0- to 15-cm soil in the CF (0.161 mg/kg), but 30- to 45-cm and 15- to 30-cm soil in the MF and PF, respectively (0.307 and 0.033 mg/kg). Also, after four days, the highest imidacloprid residue concentration was in 0- to 15-cm soil in the CF. Imidacloprid was not retained in the 30- to 45-cm soils in the PF, but in the MF, a 0.015- and 0.011-mg/kg residue was detected in 30- to 45-cm soil in the second and third soil samplings, indicating a different distribution with different groundcover plants. The dinotefuran absorption ability was greater with A. pintoi than C. brownei, and the imidacloprid absorption ability was greater with C. brownei. Our results suggest that groundcover plants affect the dissipation of neonicotinoids differently, while A. pintoi has a high metabolic rate toward the two neonicotinoids and can increase the soil organic matter content, which is a preferable choice for a groundcover.
Filmmaking and Crowdfunding: A Right Match?
Authors: Fanea-Ivanovici Mina
Published: February 2019

Broadly defined, culture is deemed the fourth pillar of sustainable development and increasing attention is currently being paid to how it can access all potential financial resources. In Europe, film production benefits from public financial support; however, film projects require large amounts of money to be completed and this support may prove insufficient in comparison with the actual need. This raises the question of identifying alternative financial resources that filmmakers could benefit from. Crowdfunding has recently emerged as a funding option for all the creative-cultural industries in general and for film production in particular. However, Romania’s capacity to use this alternative financial source is one of the lowest in Europe. In this context, the aim of the article is to study Romanian filmmakers’ attitudes towards crowdfunding and its perceived suitability for financing film projects. The research method consists in a survey based on self-administered questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with Romanian film producers. Although the largest majority of film producers have not used crowdfunding due to lack of awareness or scepticism, the paper discusses, based on experts’ opinion, how this method can become a viable source of finance for the film industry.