bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A New Strategy for Extracting ENSO Related Signals in the Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere from GNSS RO Specific Humidity Observations
Authors: Chen Zhiping , Li Jiancheng , Luo Jia , Cao Xinyun
Published: March 2018

El Niño-Southern Oscillation related signals (ENSORS) in the troposphere and lower stratosphere (TLS) are the prominent source of inter-annual variability in the weather and climate system of the Earth, and are especially important for monitoring El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). In order to reduce the influence of quasi-biennial oscillations and other unknown signals compared with the traditional empirical orthogonal functions (EOF) method, a new processing strategy involving fusion of a low-pass filter with an optimal filtering frequency (hereafter called the optimal low-pass filter) and EOF is proposed in this paper for the extraction of ENSORS in the TLS. Using this strategy, ENSORS in the TLS over different areas were extracted effectively from the specific humidity profiles provided by the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) of the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC) mission from June 2006 to June 2014. The spatial and temporal responses of the extracted ENSORS to ENSO at different altitudes in the TLS were analyzed. The results show that the most suitable areas for extracting ENSORS are over the areas of G25 (−25°S–25°N, 180°W–180°E) −G65(−65°S–65°N, 180°W–180°E) in the upper troposphere (250–200 hpa) which show a lag time of 3 months relative to the Oceanic Niño index (ONI). In the troposphere, ENSO manifests as a major inter-annual variation. The ENSORS extracted from the N3.4 (−5°S to 5°N, 120°W to 170°W) area are responsible for 83.59% of the variability of the total specific humidity anomaly (TSHA) at an altitude of 250 hpa. Over all other defined areas which contain the N3.4 areas, ENSORS also explain the major variability in TSHA. In the lower stratosphere, the extracted ENSORS present an unstable pattern at different altitudes because of the weak ENSO effect. Moreover, the spatial and temporal responses of ENSORS and ONI to ENSO across the globe are in good agreement. Over the areas with strong correlation between ENSORS and ONI, the larger the correlation coefficient is, the shorter the lag time between them. Furthermore, the ENSORS from zonal-mean specific humidity monthly anomalies at different altitudes can clearly present the vertical structure of ENSO in the troposphere. This study provides a new approach for monitoring ENSO events.
Comparison of Tagging Technologies for Safeguards of Copper Canisters for Nuclear Spent Fuel
Authors: Clementi Chiara , Littmann François , Capineri Lorenzo
Published: March 2018

Several countries are planning to store nuclear spent fuel in long term geological repositories, preserved by copper canisters with an iron insert. This new approach involves many challenging problems and one is to satisfy safeguards requirements: the Continuity of Knowledge (CoK) of the fuel must be kept from the encapsulation plant up to the final repository. To date, no measurement system has been suggested for a unique identification and authentication. Following the list of the most important safeguards, safety and security requirements for copper canisters identification and authentication, a review of conventional tagging technologies and measurement systems for nuclear items is reported in this paper. The aim of this study is to verify to what extent each technology could be potentially used for keeping the CoK of copper canisters. Several tagging methods are briefly described and compared, discussing advantages and disadvantages.
Resonance-Based Time-Frequency Manifold for Feature Extraction of Ship-Radiated Noise
Authors: Yan Jiaquan , Sun Haixin , Chen Hailan , Junejo Naveed , Cheng En
Published: March 2018

In this paper, a novel time-frequency signature using resonance-based sparse signal decomposition (RSSD), phase space reconstruction (PSR), time-frequency distribution (TFD) and manifold learning is proposed for feature extraction of ship-radiated noise, which is called resonance-based time-frequency manifold (RTFM). This is suitable for analyzing signals with oscillatory, non-stationary and non-linear characteristics in a situation of serious noise pollution. Unlike the traditional methods which are sensitive to noise and just consider one side of oscillatory, non-stationary and non-linear characteristics, the proposed RTFM can provide the intact feature signature of all these characteristics in the form of a time-frequency signature by the following steps: first, RSSD is employed on the raw signal to extract the high-oscillatory component and abandon the low-oscillatory component. Second, PSR is performed on the high-oscillatory component to map the one-dimensional signal to the high-dimensional phase space. Third, TFD is employed to reveal non-stationary information in the phase space. Finally, manifold learning is applied to the TFDs to fetch the intrinsic non-linear manifold. A proportional addition of the top two RTFMs is adopted to produce the improved RTFM signature. All of the case studies are validated on real audio recordings of ship-radiated noise. Case studies of ship-radiated noise on different datasets and various degrees of noise pollution manifest the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method.
Visual Odometry and Place Recognition Fusion for Vehicle Position Tracking in Urban Environments
Authors: Ouerghi Safa , Boutteau Rémi , Savatier Xavier , Tlili Fethi
Published: March 2018

In this paper, we address the problem of vehicle localization in urban environments. We rely on visual odometry, calculating the incremental motion, to track the position of the vehicle and on place recognition to correct the accumulated drift of visual odometry, whenever a location is recognized. The algorithm used as a place recognition module is SeqSLAM, addressing challenging environments and achieving quite remarkable results. Specifically, we perform the long-term navigation of a vehicle based on the fusion of visual odometry and SeqSLAM. The template library for this latter is created online using navigation information from the visual odometry module. That is, when a location is recognized, the corresponding information is used as an observation of the filter. The fusion is done using the EKF and the UKF, the well-known nonlinear state estimation methods, to assess the superior alternative. The algorithm is evaluated using the KITTI dataset and the results show the reduction of the navigation errors by loop-closure detection. The overall position error of visual odometery with SeqSLAM is 0.22% of the trajectory, which is much smaller than the navigation errors of visual odometery alone 0.45%. In addition, despite the superiority of the UKF in a variety of estimation problems, our results indicate that the UKF performs as efficiently as the EKF at the expense of an additional computational overhead. This leads to the conclusion that the EKF is a better choice for fusing visual odometry and SeqSlam in a long-term navigation context.
Real-Time Tau Protein Detection by Sandwich-Based Piezoelectric Biosensing: Exploring Tubulin as a Mass Enhancer
Authors: Li Dujuan , Scarano Simona , Lisi Samuele , Palladino Pasquale , Minunni Maria
Published: March 2018

Human tau protein is one of the most advanced and accepted biomarkers for AD and tauopathies diagnosis in general. In this work, a quartz crystal balance (QCM) immunosensor was developed for the detection of human tau protein in buffer and artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF), through both direct and sandwich assays. Starting from a conventional immuno-based sandwich strategy, two monoclonal antibodies recognizing different epitopes of tau protein were used, achieving a detection limit for the direct assay in nanomolar range both in HBES-EP and aCSF. Afterward, for exploring alternative specific receptors as secondary recognition elements for tau protein biosensing, we tested tubulin and compared its behavior to a conventional secondary antibody in the sandwich assay. Tau–tubulin binding has shown an extended working range coupled to a signal improvement in comparison with the conventional secondary antibody-based approach, showing a dose–response trend at lower tau concentration than is usually investigated and closer to the physiological levels in the reference matrix for protein tau biomarker. Our results open up new and encouraging perspectives for the use of tubulin as an alternative receptor for tau protein with interesting features due to the possibility of taking advantage of its polymerization and reversible binding to this key hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.
Research on the Spatial Differentiation and Driving Factors of Tourism Enterprises’ Efficiency: Chinese Scenic Spots, Travel Agencies, and Hotels
Authors: Xia Bing , Dong Suocheng , Ba Duoxun , Li Yu , Li Fujia , Liu Haimeng , Li Zehong , Zhao Minyan
Published: March 2018

Tourism is an important sustainable industry in the economy that optimizes the industrial structure. Thus, as a core part of this market, tourism enterprises perform a key role in the effective operation of this industry. This paper applies data envelopment analysis (DEA) and Malmquist index (MI) models to calculate the efficiency of Chinese tourism enterprises between 2005 and 2014. Results showed that: (1) The efficiency and the total factor productivity change index (TFPC) of tourism enterprises remained low, and both have decreased. (2) The efficiency of regional tourism enterprises across China cloud be characterized as high in the east region, low in the central region, and high in both northeast and western regions. (3) The efficiency levels of the cities of Beijing and Shanghai were ahead of the country over the period of this study, while Chongqing, Tibet, Qinghai, and Ningxia all possess a number of obvious advantages in the western region. (4) Centers of overall tourism enterprise efficiency mainly moved in a southeast-to-northwest direction over the period of this research. (5) The spatial autocorrelation of tourism enterprise efficiencies is also assessed in this study, and the results show that the comprehensive efficiency (CE) of tourism enterprises in southeastern coastal regions of China tended to a certain spatial agglomeration effect, while the correlation between the central region and northern China was not significant. (6) The Geodetector model is applied to analyze the key factors driving the spatial differentiation of tourism enterprise efficiencies, and the results show that the degree of opening to the outside world, potential human capital, and traffic conditions were the most important factors driving spatial differentiation in the efficiency of tourism enterprises.
Addressing the Passenger Transport and Accessibility Enablers for Sustainable Development
Authors: Sakib Nazmus , Appiotti Federica , Magni Filippo , Maragno Denis , Innocenti Alberto , Gissi Elena , Musco Francesco
Published: March 2018

Sustainable Development (SD) is a fundamental objective in the European Union (EU) and transport is considered one of the key challenges necessary to achieve it. Although transport is mostly contested from the environmental dimension, an investigation of peer-reviewed literature along with EU policy documents suggests that the transport and accessibility (T&A) criteria of infrastructure, accessibility distance, and multimodality can positively contribute to SD. However, despite this synergetic relation between T&A and SD, a practical analysis of such enablers is unknown at the regional European level. Therefore, this study investigates the Mediterranean as a study area by analyzing 79 identified passenger ports as passenger transport land-sea interaction points. Based on open access data, port infrastructure and ship accessibility, hinterland accessibility, and multimodality are evaluated as the passenger T&A enablers for SD. Comparative geo-spatial analyses are also carried out among the passenger ports’ levels of enablers by using the data normalization method. These data driven comprehensive analytical results can bring added value to SD policy and planning initiatives in the Mediterranean. This study may also contribute to the development of relevant passenger port performance indicators for boosting port or regional competition and attractiveness towards SD.
Protocol to Manage Heritage-Building Interventions Using Heritage Building Information Modelling (HBIM)
Authors: Jordan-Palomar Isabel , Tzortzopoulos Patricia , García-Valldecabres Jorge , Pellicer Eugenio
Published: March 2018

The workflow in historic architecture projects presents problems related to the lack of clarity of processes, dispersion of information and the use of outdated tools. Different heritage organisations have showed interest in innovative methods to resolve those problems and improve cultural tourism for sustainable economic development. Building Information Modelling (BIM) has emerged as a suitable computerised system for improving heritage management. Its application to historic buildings is named Historic BIM (HBIM). HBIM literature highlights the need for further research in terms of the overall processes of heritage projects, its practical implementation and a need for better cultural documentation. This work uses Design Science Research to develop a protocol to improve the workflow in heritage interdisciplinary projects. Research techniques used include documentary analysis, semi-structured interviews and focus groups. HBIM is proposed as a virtual model that will hold heritage data and will articulate processes. As a result, a simple and visual HBIM protocol was developed and applied in a real case study. The protocol was named BIMlegacy and it is divided into eight phases: building registration, determine intervention options, develop design for intervention, planning the physical intervention, physical intervention, handover, maintenance and culture dissemination. It contemplates all the stakeholders involved.
Uncovering the Topic Landscape of Product-Service System Research: from Sustainability to Value Creation
Authors: Lee Hakyeon , Seo Hanbin , Geum Youngjung
Published: March 2018

As the product-service system (PSS) is considered a promising business model that can create more value for customers, PSS research has enjoyed remarkable growth in its volume and coverage over the last decade. This study aims to delineate the thematic landscape of PSS research by identifying latent topics from a large amount of scholarly data. Ten topics of PSS research are identified by applying the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model to 1229 PSS publications published between 2000 and 2016. The ten PSS topics are briefly reviewed to provide an overview of what has previously been studied in PSS research. We also investigate which topics rise or fall in popularity by identifying hot and cold topics of PSS research. It is observed that the focus of discussions on the benefits of PSS has shifted from sustainability to value creation. Also, increasing attention has been paid to more practical topics such as PSS implementation. The areas of subspecialty of the top ten PSS journals are also examined to explore the interdisciplinary nature of PSS research and thematic differences across disciplines. The findings of this study can provide rich implications for both academia and practice in the field of PSS.
Towards More Effective Water Quality Governance: A Review of Social-Economic, Legal and Ecological Perspectives and Their Interactions
Authors: Wuijts Susanne , Driessen Peter , Van Rijswick Helena
Published: March 2018

In this article, social-economic, legal and ecological perspectives on effectiveness of water quality governance and their interactions have been studied. Worldwide, authorities are facing the challenge of restoring and preserving aquatic ecosystems in accordance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 6). Over the last few decades, governance approaches have often been used to realise these ambitions. To date, scholars have identified that it is difficult to relate governance approaches to water quality improvement and have offered several different explanations for this. Combined with a targeted conceptualisation of the perspectives and their interactions, the systematic literature review demonstrates the gap that exists in the current understanding of these interactions and what their effects are on water quality improvement, especially in regard to the identification of ecological issues and their boundary conditions for the legal framework and the development of measures and follow-up. The review also reveals that the scientific debate is focused on the planning rather than implementation phase. A step forward can be made by supplementing existing analytical frameworks by the interactions between the different perspectives, especially those related to problem definition and the development and realisation of measures.
Efficiency, Conflicting Goals and Trade-Offs: A Nonparametric Analysis of the Water and Wastewater Service Industry in Italy
Authors: Lo Storto Corrado
Published: March 2018

This paper presents a benchmarking study of the water and wastewater industry in Italy. A three-stage modeling approach was implemented to measure the efficiency of 53 utility operators. This approach is based on the implementation of network and conventional data envelopment analysis (DEA) to model the production process of the water service utility operators. In comparison to the conventional black-box or one-stage production model generally adopted in previous studies, the proposed approach provides information relative to the different efficiency components of the stages and blocks of the water service production process and its overall efficiency. Further, by shifting the efficiency analysis to a two-dimensional performance space, i.e., resource and market-efficiency, it offers a more comprehensive view of the water service industry and allows accounting for different business goals at the same time and for an investigation of industry trade-offs. Results show that the operators’ efficiencies in the Italian water service industry are generally variable and low. There are no water service utilities which are 100% efficient from the resource-efficiency perspective, and the maximum efficiency score is 0.545. Efficiency measurements suggest that there is a general orientation of the Italian water industry to not invest in upgrading and improving the infrastructure assets, and achieving an acceptable efficiency in the operations is critical to delivering water services to market in an efficient way. Only one utility operator is 100% efficient from the market-efficiency perspective. The low tariffs adopted by the water service operators do not allow the gaining of satisfactory service remuneration and the achievement of long-term business sustainability. The joint analysis of the resource and market efficiency scores indicates that there is a trade-off between the corresponding business goals.
An Integrated Approach to a Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) Indicator for the Food Production–Consumption Chain
Authors: Erisman Jan , Leach Allison , Bleeker Albert , Atwell Brooke , Cattaneo Lia , Galloway James
Published: March 2018

Reducing nitrogen pollution across the food chain requires the use of clear and comprehensive indicators to track and manage losses. The challenge is to derive an easy-to-use robust nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) indicator for entire food systems to help support policy development, monitor progress and inform consumers. Based on a comparison of four approaches to NUE (life cycle analysis, nitrogen footprint, nitrogen budget, and environmental impact assessment), we propose an indicator for broader application at the national scale: The whole food chain (NUEFC), which is defined as the ratio of the protein (expressed as nitrogen) available for human consumption to the (newly fixed and imported) nitrogen input to the food system. The NUEFC was calculated for a set of European countries between 1980 and 2011. A large variation in NUEFC was observed within countries in Europe, ranging from 10% in Ireland to 40% in Italy in 2008. The NUEFC can be used to identify factors that influence it (e.g., the share of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in new nitrogen, the imported and exported products and the consumption), which can be used to propose potential improvements on the national scale.
House Prices, Mortgage Rate, and Policy: Megadata Analysis in Taipei
Authors: Yu Chien-Ming , Chen Pei-Fen
Published: March 2018

There are intensive concerns about the causes of rising housing prices in Taipei. The aims of this study are twofold. The first addresses the issue of whether the low-interest-rate policy is adversely driving housing prices in the metropolitan area of Taipei. The second is to investigate if two important housing policies, luxury tax and actual price registration, help to depress the rising residential house prices. With the mega tick data of Taipei city for more than 80,000 residential house transaction records, we examined the factors influencing the actual house prices spanning the period from June 2008 through May 2014. We applied the least squares regression and the quantile regression in the model estimations for housing valuation. In addition, the megadata set is organized in time series and cross-section structures for five subdistricts and the whole Taipei city as well. The empirical results show that low mortgage rates have been the most significant factor for soaring housing prices in Taipei for the past decade. We estimate that a 1% increase in mortgage rates reduces housing prices from 5% to 17%. The actual price registration policy contributes to the decrease in housing prices by 4% to 29%. Housing policy implications are made based on our empirical findings.
Palmprint and Palmvein Recognition Based on DCNN and A New Large-Scale Contactless Palmvein Dataset
Authors: Zhang Lin , Cheng Zaixi , Shen Ying , Wang Dongqing
Published: March 2018

Among the members of biometric identifiers, the palmprint and the palmvein have received significant attention due to their stability, uniqueness, and non-intrusiveness. In this paper, we investigate the problem of palmprint/palmvein recognition and propose a Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN) based scheme, namely P a l m R CNN (short for palmprint/palmvein recognition using CNNs). The effectiveness and efficiency of P a l m R CNN have been verified through extensive experiments conducted on benchmark datasets. In addition, though substantial effort has been devoted to palmvein recognition, it is still quite difficult for the researchers to know the potential discriminating capability of the contactless palmvein. One of the root reasons is that a large-scale and publicly available dataset comprising high-quality, contactless palmvein images is still lacking. To this end, a user-friendly acquisition device for collecting high quality contactless palmvein images is at first designed and developed in this work. Then, a large-scale palmvein image dataset is established, comprising 12,000 images acquired from 600 different palms in two separate collection sessions. The collected dataset now is publicly available.
The Host Factor Early Growth Response Gene (EGR-1) Regulates Vaccinia virus Infectivity during Infection of Starved Mouse Cells
Authors: De Oliveira Leonardo , Brasil Bruno , Unger Bethany , Trindade Giliane , Abrahão Jonatas , Kroon Erna , Traktman Paula , Bonjardim Cláudio
Published: March 2018

Evolution has equipped poxvirus genomes with the coding capacity for several virus-host interaction products which interfere with host cell gene expression and protein function, creating an adequate intracellular environment for a productive infection. We show here that Vaccinia virus (VACV) induces the expression of the cellular transcription factor EGR-1 (early growth response-1) in Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts (MEFs) through the MEK (mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/ERK)/ERK (extracellular signal-regulated kinases) pathway, from 3 to 12 h post infection (h.p.i.). By using starved egr-1 knockout (egr-1−/−) MEFs, we demonstrate that VACV replication is reduced by ~1 log in this cell line. Although western blotting and electron microscopy analyses revealed no difference in VACV gene expression or morphogenesis, the specific infectivity of VACV propagated in egr-1−/− MEFs was lower than virus propagated in wild type (WT) cells. This lower infectivity was due to decreased VACV DNA replication during the next cycle of infection. Taken together, these results revealed that EGR-1 appears to facilitate VACV replication in starved fibroblasts by affecting viral particles infectivity.
Assessing Impacts of Climate Change and Sea-Level Rise on Seawater Intrusion in a Coastal Aquifer
Authors: Chun Jong , Lim Changmook , Kim Daeha , Kim Jin
Published: March 2018

The objectives of this study were to assess the climate change impacts on sea-level rise (SLR) and freshwater recharge rates and to investigate these SLR and freshwater recharge rates on seawater intrusion in coastal groundwater systems through the Saturated-Unsaturated Transport (SUTRA) model. The Gunsan tide gauge station data were used to project SLR based on polynomial regressions. Freshwater recharge rates were assumed as 10% of the projected annual precipitation under climate change. The Byeonsan2 groundwater monitoring well for seawater intrusion was selected for the study. A total of 15 scenarios, including the baseline period (2005–2015), were made based on SLR projections and estimated freshwater recharge rates. The changes in salinity relative to the baseline at the monitoring well for each scenario were investigated through the SUTRA model. From the scenario of 0.57 m SLR with a freshwater recharge rate of 0.0058 kg s−1, the largest salinity increase (40.3%) was simulated. We concluded that this study may provide a better understanding of the climate change impacts on seawater intrusion by considering both SLR and freshwater recharge rates.
Women of the Kokoda: From Poverty to Empowerment in Sustainable Tourism Development
Authors: Foley Carmel , Grabowski Simone , Small Jennie , Wearing Stephen
Published: March 2018

The purpose of this article is to explore the power dynamics negotiated by women in local communities in Papua New Guinea (PNG) as they stake a claim in the development of sustainable tourism that is emerging along the Kokoda Track. The traditional understanding of power dynamics has
been the "power as domination" perception, which attributes authority to dominant actors who exercise control over others. To comprehend the women's role in the development of ecotrekking along the Kokoda Track, we offer an alternative understanding of power struggle by invoking Foucault's
notions of power and Gidden's structuration perspective. By applying these two philosophies, we illustrate how strategies of dominance, negotiation, and resistance are interwoven into day-to-day social interactions between women, men, tourism operators, and local communities. The particular
focus of this article is on microbusiness projects along the track, a strategy pursued by the Kokoda Development Program. Women in the communities were generally happy to be supported to establish their own tourism businesses. This is particularly significant as women have traditionally had
fewer opportunities than men to make money from trekkers: the main income from tourists into the villages has been through portering services, a predominately male activity. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of this analysis for the empowerment of women in rural and
remote communities through sustainable tourism development.
A CELLULAR AUTOMATA MODEL FOR MONITORING AND SIMULATING URBAN LAND USE/COVER CHANGES TOWARD SUSTAINABILITY
Authors: KHATIBI Ali , POUREBRAHIM Sharareh , DANEHKAR Afshin
Published: March 2018

This study presents an integrated model based on cellular automata for assessing and simulating land use/cover changes and their impact on the environment. Satellite images from Landsat TM and ETM + sensors from the time period of 1985 to 2014 were applied. Seven static and five dynamic variables were applied. These included elevation, slope, aspect, soil salinity, soil texture, distance from rivers, and roads, and distance from the five classes of land use. The model was validated by a fuzzy reciprocal similarity method. The results showed that this model is suitable for simulating changes in periods of less than 15 years and patches with areas greater than 25 hectares. The model was run for 15 years, beginning with the year 2014. The results for the study area predict that settlement areas will expand; agricultural land, rangeland and barren areas will decline; and forests will remain unchanged until 2029.
SOIL HEAVY METAL CONTAMINATION IN RURAL LAND CONSOLIDATION AREAS IN THE YANGTZE RIVER DELTA, CHINA
Authors: ZENG Jingjing , ZHOU Shenglu , LV Ligang , SU Quanlong , WANG Jing
Published: March 2018

Due to the rapid urbanization of the Yangtze River Delta in China, large numbers of formerly rural residents have migrated to the cities. To adjust the structure of rural land use, the government has performed extensive land consolidation. Previous studies indicated that the land consolidation has affected farmland quality to some extent. However, the effect of the land consolidation on farmland heavy metal concentrations has rarely been reported. In this study, the Jintan District was used as an example, and 40 sampling sites of various consolidation types in 4 representative areas of rural land consolidation were selected. Soil samples were collected from these sites, and the heavy metal concentrations were analyzed. We used multivariate methods of correlation analysis and principal component analysis to study the conditions and sources of the heavy metal contamination in the soil. The results indicate that the mean concentrations of Cd, Hg, Ni, Cu, and Zn in the soil all exceeded the background values. The mean concentration of Cd was 0.409 mg/kg, and the enrichment factor (EF) was 4.54, making Cd the most prevalent heavy metal soil contaminant in the study area. The enrichment of soil heavy metals varied among the various representative areas. Suburban areas surrounding the central cities were mainly enriched in Hg, with an EF of 6.20. The comprehensive development zone displayed enrichment in Cd, with an EF of 7.79. The heavy metal concentrations in the soil also differed depending on the type of land consolidation. The reclaimed soil of rural settlements contained high levels of Cd and Zn, with EFs of 7.25 and 2.52, respectively, which were related to the land use before the land consolidation. The soil heavy metals of the study area were affected by both human activity and natural background contamination.
Jupiter Analogs Orbit Stars with an Average Metallicity Close to That of the Sun
Authors: Buchhave Lars A. , Bitsch Bertram , Johansen Anders , Latham David W. , Bizzarro Martin , Bieryla Allyson , Kipping David M.
Published: March 2018

Jupiter played an important role in determining the structure and configuration of the Solar System. Whereas hot-Jupiter type exoplanets preferentially form around metal-rich stars, the conditions required for the formation of planets with masses, orbits, and eccentricities comparable to Jupiter (Jupiter analogs) are unknown. Using spectroscopic metallicities, we show that stars hosting Jupiter analogs have an average metallicity close to solar, in contrast to their hot-Jupiter and eccentric cool-Jupiter counterparts, which orbit stars with super-solar metallicities. Furthermore, the eccentricities of Jupiter analogs increase with host-star metallicity, suggesting that planet–planet scatterings producing highly eccentric cool Jupiters could be more common in metal-rich environments. To investigate a possible explanation for these metallicity trends, we compare the observations to numerical simulations, which indicate that metal-rich stars typically form multiple Jupiters, leading to planet–planet interactions and, hence, a prevalence of either eccentric cool Jupiters or hot Jupiters with circularized orbits. Although the samples are small and exhibit variations in their metallicities, suggesting that numerous processes other than metallicity affect the formation of planetary systems, the data in hand suggests that Jupiter analogs and terrestrial-sized planets form around stars with average metallicities close to solar, whereas high-metallicity systems preferentially host eccentric cool Jupiter or hot Jupiters, indicating that higher metallicity systems may not be favorable for the formation of planetary systems akin to the Solar System.
Transition Dipole Moments and Transition Probabilities of the CN Radical
Authors: Yin Yuan , Shi Deheng , Sun Jinfeng , Zhu Zunlue
Published: March 2018

This paper studies the transition probabilities of electric dipole transitions between 10 low-lying states of the CN radical. These states are X2Σ+, A2Π, B2Σ+, a4Σ+, b4Π, 14Σ−, 24Π, 14Δ, 16Σ+, and 16Π. The potential energy curves are calculated using the CASSCF method, which is followed by the icMRCI approach with the Davidson correction. The transition dipole moments between different states are calculated. To improve the accuracy of potential energy curves, core–valence correlation and scalar relativistic corrections, as well as the extrapolation of potential energies to the complete basis set limit are included. The Franck–Condon factors and Einstein coefficients of emissions are calculated. The radiative lifetimes are determined for the vibrational levels of the A2Π, B2Σ+, b4Π, 14Σ−, 24Π, 14Δ, and 16Π states. According to the transition probabilities and radiative lifetimes, some guidelines for detecting these states spectroscopically are proposed. The spin–orbit coupling effect on the spectroscopic and vibrational properties is evaluated. The splitting energy in the A2Π state is determined to be 50.99 cm−1, which compares well with the experimental ones. The potential energy curves, transition dipole moments, spectroscopic parameters, and transition probabilities reported in this paper can be considered to be very reliable. The results obtained here can be used as guidelines for detecting these transitions, in particular those that have not been measured in previous experiments or have not been observed in the Sun, comets, stellar atmospheres, dark interstellar clouds, and diffuse interstellar clouds.
Annotated catalog and bibliography of the cyclocephaline scarab beetles (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Dynastinae, Cyclocephalini)
Authors: Moore Matthew R. , Cave Ronald D. , Branham Marc A.
Published: March 2018

Cyclocephaline scarab beetles represent the second largest tribe of the subfamily Dynastinae, and the group includes the most speciose genus of dynastines, Cyclocephala. The period following publication of Sebő Endrődi’s The Dynastinae of the World has seen a huge increase in research interest on cyclocephalines, and much of this research has not been synthesized. The objective of this catalog and bibliography is to compile an exhaustive list of taxa in Cyclocephalini. This paper provides an updated foundation for understanding the taxonomy and classification of 14 genera and over 500 species in the tribe. It discusses the history of cataloging dynastine species, clarifies issues surrounding the neotype designations in Endrődi’s revision of Cyclocephalini, synthesizes all published distribution data for cyclocephaline species, and increases accessibility to the voluminous literature on the group by providing an easily searchable bibliography for each species. We propose the nomen novum Cyclocephalarogerpauli, new replacement name, for C.nigra Dechambre.
Metrics derived from fish assemblages as indicators of environmental degradation in Cerrado streams
Authors: Ávila Milton P. , Carvalho Rafaela Neves , Casatti Lilian , Simião-Ferreira Juliana , de Morais Lorrane Faria , Teresa Fabrício B.
Published: March 2018

The development of effective monitoring tools depends on finding sensitive metrics that are capable of detecting the most important environmental impacts at a given region. We assessed if metrics derived from stream fish assemblages reflect physical habitat degradation and changes in land cover. We sampled the ichthyofauna and environmental characteristics of 16 stream sites of first and second order in the Upper Tocantins River basin. The streams were classified according to their environmental characteristics into reference (n = 5), intermediate (n = 4), and impacted (n = 7). A total of 4,079 individuals in five orders, 12 families, and 30 species were collected. Of the 20 metrics tested, eight were non-collinear and were tested for their performance in discriminating among groups of streams. Three metrics were sensitive to the gradient of degradation: Berger-Parker dominance index, percentage of characiform fish, and percentage of rheophilic individuals. Some commonly used metrics did not reflect the disturbances and many others were redundant with those that did. These results indicate that the metrics derived from fish assemblages may be informative for identifying the conservation status of streams, with the potential to be used in biomonitoring.
Thermal tolerance of the zoea I stage of four Neotropical crab species (Crustacea: Decapoda)
Authors: Rebolledo Adriana P. , Collin Rachel
Published: March 2018

. Although larval stages are often considered particularly vulnerable to stressors, for many marine invertebrates studies of thermal tolerance have focused on adults. Here we determined the upper thermal limit (LT50) of the zoea I of four Caribbean crab species (Macrocoelomatrispinosum, Aratuspisonii, Armasesricordi, and Minucarapax) and compared their thermal tolerance over time and among species. The zoea from the subtidal species M.trispinosum and tree climbing mangrove species A.pisonii had a lower thermal tolerance, 35 and 38.5 °C respectively, than did the semiterrestrial A.ricordi and M.rapax. In all four species tested, the estimates of thermal tolerance depend on the duration of exposure to elevated temperatures. Longer exposures to thermal stress produce lower estimates of LT50, which decreased by ~1 °C from a two- to a six-hour exposure. Crab embryos develop on the abdomen of the mother until the larvae are ready to hatch. Therefore, the thermal tolerances of the embryos which need to coincide with the environmental conditions experienced by the adult stage, may carry over into the early zoea stage. Our results suggest that semiterrestrial species, in which embryos may need to withstand higher temperatures than embryos of subtidal species also produce larvae with higher thermal tolerances. Over the short term, the larvae of these tropical crab species can withstand significantly higher temperatures than those experienced in their marine habitat. Longer term rearing studies are necessary to determine the temperature at which chronic exposure has a negative impact on embryonic and larval survival.
Le gaullo-mitterrandisme, un concept toujours pertinent
Authors: Boniface Pascal
Published: March 2018

Deux articles récents, écrits par des spécialistes reconnus, sont revenus sur le concept de « gaullo-mitterrandisme » afin d’en interroger la pertinence ou en souligner l’obsolescence. Michel Duclos a publié, en août 2017, un article intitulé « Gaullo-Mitterrandisme contre néo-conservateurs à la française – un vrai-faux débat ? ». Justin Vaïsse a consacré, en novembre de la même année, une contribution stimulante au concept, sous le titre « Le passé d’un oxymore ». Ces articles soulèvent de nombreux points qui ne sont pas de simples querelles doctrinales pour férus de théorie, mais des débats concernant les choix concrets de politique étrangère que doit faire la France au sein d’un monde en profonde mutation.
La culture de l’influence : histoire d’un soft power français à réinventer
Authors: Turbet Delof Yohann
Published: March 2018

Au sein de la récemment théorisée « diplomatie globale », l’économique est au centre du jeu et le culturel n’est l’objet ni de débats ni de visibilité réelle, alors qu’il constitue l’une des particularités insoupçonnées de la France et probablement l’un de ses atouts majeurs dans la mondialisation. Derrière les termes de « coopération culturelle » et de « francophonie » se cachent en effet un dispositif unique et une présence généralisée dont aucun autre pays ne dispose. Les récentes interpellations contre la gouvernance de l’Alliance française viennent quelque peu bouleverser une histoire séculaire faite de visions ambitieuses autant que d’empilements empiriques et d’arrangements pragmatiques. Elles ont néanmoins le mérite de rappeler combien la France rayonne encore dans le monde grâce à son réseau culturel. S’il constitue un atout incomparable pour les relations internationales, son essoufflement, depuis longtemps constaté et fruit des strates successives d’une histoire complexe, pousse à en écrire une nouvelle page.
Risks, Security, and Privacy for HIV/AIDS Data
Authors: Ansari Md Tarique Jamal , Pandey Dhirendra
Published: March 2018

Big data has the potential to transform healthcare systems for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS by providing analytic tools that are capable of handling huge and different types of data at very fast speeds. Big data's transformative potential is also introverted by privacy and security requirements for HIV/AIDS patients' sensitive data that restrict health information exchange. Electronic health records provide the opportunity for HIV/AIDS patients to receive improved coordinated care from healthcare providers and easier access to their health information. This chapter discusses the various legal frameworks governing health information, dispels misconceptions about privacy regulations, and highlights how these legal frameworks provide privacy, confidentiality, and security to this sensitive information, and shows how EHRs can maximize the utility of big data to improve HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.
Prevalence in MSM Is Enhanced by Role Versatility
Authors: Cortés Andrés J.
Published: March 2018

In the community of men who have sex with men (MSM) the prevalence of the HIV-1 infection is still high. Promiscuity and condom fatigue are making unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) more common and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) presumably harder to track. Yet, MSM communities are peculiar in the sense that men can adopt fixed (insertive or receptive) or versatile (both practices) roles. Some old theoretical work predicted that the transmission of HIV-1 would be enhanced in MSM populations engaged more in role versatility than in role segregation, in which fixed roles are predominantly adopted. These predictions were based on the assumption that the probability of acquisition from unprotected insertive anal (UIA) sex was neglectable, which is an inappropriate assumption. This chapter shows that the increase of the HIV-1 prevalence among MSM due to role versatility holds under a stronger assumption of bidirectional virus transmission.
Dissection of HIV-1 Protease Subtype B Inhibitors Resistance Through Molecular Modeling Approaches
Authors: Unissa Ameeruddin Nusrath , Hanna Luke Elizabeth
Published: March 2018

Protease (PR) is an important enzyme required for the posttranslational processing of the viral gene products of type-1 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1). Protease inhibitors (PI) act as competitive inhibitors that bind to the active site of PR. The I84V mutation contributes resistance to multiple PIs, and structurally, this mutation affects both sides of the enzyme active site. In order to get insights about this major resistance site to PR inhibitors using in silico approaches, in this chapter, the wild-type (WT) and mutant (MT) I84V of PR were modeled and docked with all PR inhibitors: Atazanavir, Darunavir, Indinavir, Lopinavir, Nelfinavir, Saquinavir, and Tipranavir. Docking results revealed that in comparison to the WT, the binding score was higher for the MT-I84V. Thus, it can be suggested that the high affinity towards inhibitors in the MT could be due to the presence of energetically favorable interactions, which may lead to tight binding of inhibitors with the MT protein, leading to the development of PR resistance against PIs in HIV-1 eventually.
HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorder
Authors: Elrashedy Ahmed Abd Elkader
Published: March 2018

In the last two decades, several advancement studies have increased the care of HIV-infected individuals. Specifically, the development for preparation of combination antiretroviral therapy has resulted in a dramatic decline in the rate of deaths from AIDS. The term “HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder” (HAND) has been used to distinguish the spectrum of neurocognitive dysfunction associated with HIV infection. HIV can pass to the CNS during the early stages of infection and last in the CNS. CNS inflammation and infection lead to the development of HAND. The brain can serve as a sanctuary for ongoing HIV replication, even when the systemic viral suppression has been achieved. HAND can remain in patients treated with combination antiretroviral therapy, and its effect on survival, quality of life, and everyday functioning make it a significant unresolved problem. This chapter discusses details of the computational modeling studies on mechanisms and structures of human dopamine transporter (hDAT) and its interaction with HIV-1 trans activator of transcription (Tat).
Global Warming and Climate Change
Authors: Kasemsap Kijpokin
Published: March 2018

This chapter indicates the advanced issues of global warming, the significant aspects of climate change, climate change and crop production, climate change and risk issues, and the public perceptions of climate change. Global warming and climate change are the important environmental concerns that have a major impact on various environmental perspectives. The effects and impacts of global warming are climate change, sea level change, water balance, and human health. The problems of global warming and climate change can be controlled by minimizing the emission of greenhouse gases into the environment through conducting laws, reducing thermal power generating stations, planting trees, and sharing vehicles. Global warming and climate change must be recognized by local governments and environment-related international organizations in order to find the effective approaches to reducing their impacts in environmental settings.
Pollution Exposure to Humans and Its Assessment
Authors: Jat Rajmal , Sahu Veerendra , Gurjar Bhola Ram
Published: March 2018

Exposure analysis is the receptor-oriented approach of the pollution-level measurement. In this chapter, a detailed discussion is provided of the fundamentals of exposure analysis, methods of measurement, basics of models used for the prediction of pollution concentration indoors and outdoors, and a brief discussion about the health impact of selected pollutants. A detail of fundamental of indoor air quality (IAQ) models like mass balance and CFD models is discussed. Also, basic structures of community multiscale air quality model (CMAQ) and AIRMOD ambient air dispersion models are described. It is observed that measurement of pollution exposure by direct method requires more time and effort as compared with the integrated exposure and stationary measurement. AIRMODE is steady state model and based upon the Gaussian dispersion model. CMAQ is capable of simulating the pollution level for the range of geographic scale for multiple pollutants.