bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
F-DCS: FMI-Based Distributed CPS Simulation Framework with a Redundancy Reduction Algorithm
Authors: Hong Seokjoon , Lim Ducsun , Joe Inwhee , Kim WonTae
Published: January 2020

A cyber physical system (CPS) is a distributed control system in which the cyber part and physical part are tightly interconnected. A representative CPS is an electric vehicle (EV) composed of a complex system and information and communication technology (ICT), preliminary verified through simulations for performance prediction and a quantitative analysis is essential because an EV comprises a complex CPS. This paper proposes an FMI-based distributed CPS simulation framework (F-DCS) adopting a redundancy reduction algorithm (RRA) for the validation of EV simulation. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm was enhanced to ensure an efficient simulation time and accuracy by predicting and reducing repetition patterns involved during the simulation progress through advances in the distributed CPS simulation. The proposed RRA improves the simulation speed and efficiency by avoiding the repeated portions of a given driving cycle while still maintaining accuracy. To evaluate the performance of the proposed F-DCS, an EV model was simulated by adopting the RRA. The results confirm that the F-DCS with RRA efficiently reduced the simulation time (over 30%) while maintaining a conventional accuracy. Furthermore, the proposed F-DCS was applied to the RRA, which provided results reflecting real-time sensor information.
Ship Type Classification by Convolutional Neural Networks with Auditory-Like Mechanisms
Authors: Shen Sheng , Yang Honghui , Yao Xiaohui , Li Junhao , Xu Guanghui , Sheng Meiping
Published: January 2020

Ship type classification with radiated noise helps monitor the noise of shipping around the hydrophone deployment site. This paper introduces a convolutional neural network with several auditory-like mechanisms for ship type classification. The proposed model mainly includes a cochlea model and an auditory center model. In cochlea model, acoustic signal decomposition at basement membrane is implemented by time convolutional layer with auditory filters and dilated convolutions. The transformation of neural patterns at hair cells is modeled by a time frequency conversion layer to extract auditory features. In the auditory center model, auditory features are first selectively emphasized in a supervised manner. Then, spectro-temporal patterns are extracted by deep architecture with multistage auditory mechanisms. The whole model is optimized with an objective function of ship type classification to form the plasticity of the auditory system. The contributions compared with an auditory inspired convolutional neural network include the improvements in dilated convolutions, deep architecture and target layer. The proposed model can extract auditory features from a raw hydrophone signal and identify types of ships under different working conditions. The model achieved a classification accuracy of 87.2% on four ship types and ocean background noise.
Efficient Methods of Utilizing Multi-SBAS Corrections in Multi-GNSS Positioning
Authors: Park Kwi Woo , Park Jong-Il , Park Chansik
Published: January 2020

Various combining methods have been proposed to utilize multi-satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) correction to provide accurate position in the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver. However, the proposed methods have not been objectively compared and analyzed, making it difficult to know which ones are effective for multi-GNSS positioning. This paper presents efficient methods of combining multi-SBAS corrections in multi-GNSS positioning by comparing three methods: correction domain integration, measurement domain integration, and position domain integration. The performance of the three methods were analyzed through a covariance analysis that was expanded to multi-GNSS and multi-SBAS. Then, the results were verified by experiments using real measurements and corrections. Furthermore, implementation issues, such as computational complexity, availability, and flexibility, are analyzed. As a result, three methods had the same precision, but different complexity, availability, and flexibility. These results will be important guidelines to design, implement, and analyze navigation systems based on multi-GNSS with multi-SBAS corrections.
Near-Infrared Transmittance Spectral Imaging for Nondestructive Measurement of Internal Disorder in Korean Ginseng
Authors: Kandpal Lalit Mohan , Lee Jayoung , Bae Hyungjin , Kim Moon S. , Baek Insuck , Cho Byoung-Kwan
Published: January 2020

The grading of ginseng (Panax ginseng) including the evaluation of internal quality attributes is essential in the ginseng industry for quality control. Assessment for inner whitening, a major internal disorder, must be conducted when identifying high quality ginseng. Conventional methods for detecting inner whitening in ginseng root samples use manual inspection, which is time-consuming and inaccurate. This study develops an internal quality measurement technique using near-infrared transmittance spectral imaging to evaluate inner whitening in ginseng samples. Principle component analysis (PCA) was used on ginseng hypercube data to evaluate the developed technique. The transmittance spectra and spectral images of ginseng samples exhibiting inner whitening showed weak intensity characteristics compared to normal ginseng in the region of 900–1050 nm and 1150–1400 nm respectively, owing to the presence of whitish internal tissues that have higher optical density. On the basis of the multivariate analysis method, even a simple waveband ratio image has the great potential to quickly detect inner whitening in ginseng samples, since these ratio images show a significant difference between whitened and non-whitened regions. Therefore, it is possible to develop an efficient and rapid spectral imaging system for the real-time detection of inner whitening in ginseng using minimal spectral wavebands. This novel strategy for the rapid, cost-effective, non-destructive detection of ginseng’s inner quality can be a key component for the automation of ginseng grading.
EGNOS 1046 Maritime Service Assessment
Authors: Ibáñez Segura Deimos , Rovira Garcia Adrià , Alonso María Teresa , Sanz Jaume , Juan José Miguel , González Casado Guillermo , López Martínez Manuel
Published: January 2020

The present contribution evaluates how the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS) meets the International Maritime Organization (IMO) requirements established in its Resolution A.1046 for navigation in harbor entrances, harbor approaches, and coastal waters: 99.8% of signal availability, 99.8% of service availability, 99.97% of service continuity and 10 m of horizontal accuracy. The data campaign comprises two years of data, from 1 May 2016 to 30 April 2018 (i.e., 730 days), involving 108 permanent stations located within 20 km of the coast or in islands across the EGNOS coverage area, EGNOS corrections, and cleansed GPS broadcast navigation data files. We used the GNSS Laboratory Tool Suite (gLAB) to compute the reference coordinates of the stations, the EGNOS solution, as well as the EGNOS service maps. Our results show a signal availability of 99.999%, a horizontal accuracy of 0.91 m at the 95th percentile, and the regions where the IMO requirements on service availability and service continuity are met. In light of the results presented in the paper, the authors suggest the revision of the assumptions made in the EGNOS Maritime Service against those made in EGNOS for civil aviation; in particular, the use of the EGNOS Message Type 10.
The Effects of Chest Wall Loading on Perceptions of Fatigue, Exercise Performance, Pulmonary Function, and Muscle Perfusion
Authors: Giuriato Gaia , Gundersen Anders , Verma Sarina , Pelletier Ethan , Bakewell Brock , Ives Stephen J.
Published: January 2020

Background: Load carriage (LC), which directly affects the chest wall and locomotor muscles, has been suggested to alter the ventilatory and circulatory responses to exercise, leading to increased respiratory muscle work and fatigue. However, studies exploring the impact of LC on locomotion increased internal work, complicating their interpretation. To overcome this issue, we sought to determine the effect of chest wall loading with restriction (CWL + R) on cycling performance, cardiopulmonary responses, microvascular responsiveness, and perceptions of fatigue. Methods: In a randomized crossover design, 23 young healthy males (22 ± 4 years) completed a 5 km cycling time trial (TT) in loaded (CWL + R; tightened vest with 10% body weight) and unloaded conditions. After baseline pulmonary function testing (PFT; forced expiratory volume in 1 s, FEV1; forced vital capacity, FVC), cardiopulmonary indices (HR, heart rate; O2 uptake, VO2; ventilation, VE; tidal volume, VT; and breathing frequency, Bf), rating of perceived exertion (RPE), lactate (BLa), and microvascular responses (oxy-, deoxy-, total hemoglobin; and tissue saturation; StO2) of the vastus lateralis using near infrared spectroscopy were collected during the TT; and PFT was repeated post-exercise. Results: Pre-exercise, CWL + R reduced (p < 0.05) FVC (5.6 ± 0.8 versus 5.5 ± 0.7 L), FEV1 (4.8 ± 0.7 versus 4.7 ± 0.6 L), and FEV1/FVC (0.9 ± 0.1 versus 0.8 ± 0.1). CWL + R modified power output (PO) over time (interaction, p = 0.02), although the 5 km time (461 ± 24 versus 470 ± 27 s), VT (3.0 ± 0.3 versus 2.8 ± 0.8 L), Bf, VE, HR, VO2, microvascular and perceptual (visual analog scale, or VAS, and RPE) responses were unchanged (p > 0.05). CWL + R increased (p < 0.05) the average BLa (7.6 ± 2.6 versus 8.6 ± 3 mmol/L). Conclusions: Modest CWL + R negatively affects pre-exercise pulmonary function, modifies cycling power output over time, and increases lactate production during a 5 km cycling trial, although the cardiorespiratory, microvascular, and perceptual responses were unaffected.
Layout Planning of Highway Transportation Environment Monitoring Network: The Case of Xinjiang, China
Authors: Zhang Na , Zhao Xianghui , Liu Tao , Lei Ming , Wang Cui , Wang Yikun
Published: January 2020

Environmental monitoring is an important tool for environmental protection supervision and management. Environmental monitoring can help us effectively understand and master the degree of environmental pollution, and provide data support for putting forward environmental protection measures. Scientific layout and reasonable level of environmental monitoring network design is an essential cornerstone for environmental monitoring, and a significant measure to promote the industry and green sustainable development. This paper systematically analyzed its requirements of monitoring stations in the highway traffic environment monitoring network. First of all, the paper analyzed the influencing factors of regional monitoring stations in the Xinjiang transportation environment monitoring network by referring to the idea of planning the distribution points of the national transportation environment monitoring network, and determines the weight of them by using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), which lays a foundation for the subsequent selection and determination of environmental monitoring stations. Secondly, the advantage order of ecological monitoring objects’ importance degree was synthetically sorted by the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method. Finally, the ranking results of the environmental monitoring objects were integrated to determine the number of traffic environmental monitoring stations that need to be built, and the layout of the highway traffic environment monitoring network in Xinjiang was proposed.
How Natural Resource-Based Industry Affect Sustainable Development? An Evolutionary Study of China
Authors: Fu Liping , Jiang Xiaodi , He Lanping
Published: January 2020

The effects of natural resources on regional sustainable development is widely discussed by scholars and policymakers. However, most of the researchers concentrated on economic growth and technical development; evidence of how natural resources affect the soft environment is relatively lacking. Different from the neo-classical economics perspective of resource allocation, we used the evolutionary economics scope of factor creation and historical evolution to explore the effect on China’s regional entrepreneurship laid by the natural resource distribution on the early stage of China. The resource curse is explained from the aspect of regional entrepreneurship development in China. Based on the provincial panel data from China, in China’s industrial statistical yearbook and China’s statistical yearbook, we applied PLS-SEM (Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Model) to explore the path from natural resources to regional entrepreneurship. We also examined the mediating effect at the organizational scale, industry structure, the degree of regional openness, and the quality of human capital in the path between natural resource and entrepreneurship. The result shows that natural resources in the early-stage has negative effects on the growth of the entrepreneurship. Besides, industry structure and organizational scale are significant in terms of mediation effect in the path of the resource curse. An in-depth analysis is provided, and implications are discussed based on the results with the aim of revealing the mechanism and path-dependence of China’s regional development. The implications of this research include the suggestion of adapt the industry structure and motivate start-ups.
Developing a Landscape Sustainability Assessment Model Using an Analytic Hierarchy Process in Korea
Authors: Lee Hyung-Sook , Park Eun-Yeong
Published: January 2020

With the increasing interest in integrative sustainable development, there has been a strong need for a landscape sustainability assessment tool independent from the existing green building rating system. This study aimed to establish an assessment model to objectively evaluate landscape sustainability using an analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Through an extensive literature review and expert survey, an initial list of assessment items was derived and used to set up an AHP model. An AHP survey with landscape architects and architects/engineers was then conducted to determine the importance of the assessment factors. In addition, the model was applied to three projects that were previously certified by a green building rating system in Korea. The AHP results showed that “site context” ranked as the most important factor of landscape sustainability followed by “soil and vegetation,” “maintenance,” “water,” “health and wellbeing,” and “materials.” Among the 20 assessment factors, “monitoring plan” was evaluated as the most important index, followed by “protection of cultural heritage” and “long-term management plan.” Landscape architects evaluated “soil and vegetation” as the most important in the assessment, while the engineers/architects group rated “site context” as the most important. When tested by applying them to the previously certified projects, the developed factors provided more objective and detailed information on landscape sustainability.
Assessment of Urban Heat Risk in Mountain Environments: A Case Study of Chongqing Metropolitan Area, China
Authors: Chen Dechao , Xu Xinliang , Sun Zongyao , Liu Luo , Qiao Zhi , Huang Tai
Published: January 2020

For urban climatic environments, the urban heat island (UHI) effect resulting from land use and land cover change (LUCC) caused by human activities is rapidly becoming one of the most notable characteristics of urban climate change due to urban expansion. UHI effects have become a significant barrier to the process of urbanization and sustainable development of the urban ecological environment. Predicting the spatial and temporal patterns of the urban heat environment from the spatial relationship between land use and land surface temperature (LST) is key to predicting urban heat environment risk. This study established an Urban Heat Environment Risk Model (UHERM) as follows. First, the urban LST was normalized and classified during three different periods. Second, a Markov model was constructed based on spatio-temporal change in the urban heat environment between the initial year (2005) and middle year (2010), and then a cellular automata (CA) model was used to reveal spatial relationships between the urban heat environments of the two periods and land use in the initial year. The spatio-temporal pattern in a future year (2015) was predicted and the accuracy of the simulation was verified. Finally, the spatio-temporal pattern of urban heat environment risk was quantitatively forecasted based on the decision rule for the urban heat environment risk considering both the present and future status of the spatial characteristics of the urban heat environment. The MODIS LST product and LUCC dataset retrieved from remote sensing images were used to verify the accuracy of UHERM and to forecast the spatio-temporal pattern of urban heat environment risk during the period of 2015–2020. The results showed that the risk of urban heat environment is increasing in the Chongqing metropolitan area. This method for quantitatively evaluating the spatio-temporal pattern of urban heat environment risk could guide sustainable growth and provide effective theoretical and technical support for the regulation of urban spatial structure to minimize urban heat environment risk.
Risk Prediction of Sinkhole Occurrence for Different Subsurface Soil Profiles due to Leakage from Underground Sewer and Water Pipelines
Authors: Ali Haibat , Choi Jae-ho
Published: January 2020

A sinkhole is a ground surface depression that may occur with or without any indications on the surface and often pose danger to both properties and people. Leakage from underground pipe mains in urban areas may cause sudden ground subsidence or sinkholes. For a long time, researchers have been working on the hazard and risk assessment of sinkhole formation, especially natural sinkholes. However, much less work has been done on risk prediction and the mechanism of manmade sinkholes. In this study, different versions of small-scale sinkhole physical models were used in experiments to monitor ground surface settlement or collapse due to leakage from an underground pipeline. The factors under consideration were the type of subsurface soil profile, type of water flow, and leakage position in the pipeline. The ultimate goal was to use this information to predict the risk of sinkhole occurrence due to leakage from sewer or water pipelines under different subsurface soil conditions. The experimental results and statistical analysis showed that the subsurface soil strata conditions dominated the mechanism of sinkhole occurrence, although other factors also have contributed to the settlement. Then, this analysis was used to predict the sinkhole risk level under different conditions. The development of a reliable sinkhole risk prediction system can potentially minimize the risk to human lives and infrastructure. These findings can be applied to the development of a sinkhole risk index (SRI) that considers various other factors influencing sinkhole occurrence.
Understanding Daily Mobility Strategies through Ethnographic, Time Use, and Social Network Lenses
Authors: Jiron Paola , Carrasco Juan Antonio
Published: January 2020

The development of sustainable transport and mobility systems for the future will not only need more efficient, less contaminating, and technologically enhanced systems, information, and infrastructures; it will also require a transition to new forms of living and modification of contemporary forms of mobility and immobility. This challenge will undoubtedly require an understanding of past and present modes of living in order to disentangle the complexity of contemporary life and pinpoint the implications of new forms of sustainable mobility. Given that new systems, information, materialities, and infrastructures affect people differently, it is vital that preparations be made for the potentially uneven implications of introducing new mobility assemblages, particularly for countries in the global South where sustainability in transport and mobility systems are crucial to overcoming persistent inequalities. An important step in this direction is to understand the current mobility strategies that people employ on a daily basis. This paper addresses these mobility strategies through the lenses of ethnography, time use, and social networks. It does so by identifying new dimensions revealed by the different methods which together present the true diversity of mobility strategies. A case study based on research carried out in Concepción, Chile, illustrates how these tools are combined to reveal the complex decision-making involved in contemporary everyday life. The paper recognizes limitations in terms of data gathering tools, timings, epistemologies, languages, and forms of representation of our work, and challenging proposals for future research are put forward.
Estimation of the Value of Ecosystem Carbon Sequestration Services under Different Scenarios in the Central China (the Qinling-Daba Mountain Area)
Authors: Yu Yuyang , Li Jing , Zhou Zixiang , Zeng Li , Zhang Cheng
Published: January 2020

The Qinling-Daba Mountain area is a transitional zone between north and south China and not much is known about its carbon storage, particularly its pool of soil organic carbon (SOC). Given this shortcoming, more reliable information regarding its SOC is needed. In light of this, we quantified above and below-ground carbon sinks using both the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford approach (CASA) model and an improved carbon cycle process model. We also assessed the net present value (NPV) for carbon budgets under different carbon price and discount rate scenarios using the NPV model. Our results indicated that the net primary productivity (NPP) was lower in places with low density forests that were situated at high elevation. The spatial distribution of carbon storage depended on NPP production and litter decompositon, which reflected specific vegetation as well as temperature and moisture gradients. The lowest amounts of carbon storage were in the center of the Qinling Mountains and also partly in the Daba area, which is a location associated with sparse grassland. Contrastingly, the broad-leaved forested area showed the highest amount of carbon storage. NPV was positively correlated with discount rate and carbon prices, thus resulting in the highest values in the forests and grassland. The net present value of total soil carbon sequestration in the six scenarios in 2015 was 3.555 b yuan, 3.621 b yuan, 5.421 b yuan, 5.579 b yuan, 7.530 b yuan, 7.929 b yuan; The net present value of total soil carbon sequestration in 6 scenarios in 2017 is 2.816 b yuan, 2.845 b yuan, 4.361 b yuan, 4.468 b yuan, 6.144 b yuan, 6.338 b yuan (billion = 109; b; RMB is the legal currency of the China, and its unit is yuan, 1 euro = 7.7949 yuan, and 1 pound = 9.2590 yuan). Levying a carbon tax would be a notable option for decision makers as they develop carbon emission reduction policies. Given this, incorporating discount rates and carbon pricing would allow for more realistic value estimations of soil organic carbon. This approach would also provide a theoretical basis and underscore the practical significance for the government to set a reasonable carbon price.
Environmental Assessment of Electrochemical Energy Storage Device Manufacturing to Identify Drivers for Attaining Goals of Sustainable Materials 4.0
Authors: Díaz-Ramírez Maryori , Ferreira Víctor , García-Armingol Tatiana , López-Sabirón Ana , Ferreira Germán
Published: January 2020

Electricity from the combination of photovoltaic panels and wind turbines exhibits potential benefits towards the sustainable cities transition. Nevertheless, the highly fluctuating and intermittent character limits an extended applicability in the energy market. Particularly, batteries represent a challenging approach to overcome the existing constraints and to achieve sustainable urban energy development. On the basis of the market roll-out and level of technological maturity, five commercially available battery technologies are assessed in this work, namely, lead–acid, lithium manganese oxide, nickel–cadmium, nickel–metal hydride, and vanadium redox flow. When considering sustainable development, environmental assessments provide valuable information. In this vein, an environmental analysis of the technologies is conducted using a life cycle assessment methodology from a cradle-to-gate perspective. A comparison of the environmental burden of battery components identified vanadium redox flow battery as the lowest environmental damage battery. In terms of components, electrodes; the electrolyte; and the set of pumps, motors, racks, and bolts exhibited the greatest environmental impact related to manufacturing. In terms of materials, copper, steel, sulphuric acid, and vanadium were identified as the main contributors to the midpoint impact categories. The results have highlighted that challenging materials 4.0 are still needed in battery manufacturing to provide sustainable technology designs required to the future urban planning based on circular economy demands.
Assessment of the Development of Time-Sharing Electric Vehicles in Shanghai and Subsidy Implications: A System Dynamics Approach
Authors: Zhou Biyi , Hu Hao , Dai Lei
Published: January 2020

CO2 emissions reduction has long been discussed, since the problem is one of the most urgent issues we human beings are faced with in the 21st century. Time-sharing electric vehicles (TSEVs), combining the benefits of cleaner energy and more sufficient utilization, are considered a sustainable future transportation tool, with increasing support from governments around the world. Although numerous studies have been carried out in this domain, few have studied the development process, considering the inverse interrelations, including the policy implementation effects and user choice, in a dynamic way. This research fills the previous academic gap and presents a system dynamics (SD) model incorporating scenario analysis to simulate the effect of introducing time-sharing electric vehicles in changing the user quantities in transportation tools, including public and private sectors, under different levels of government subsidies, thus providing policy implications and ex-ante assessment for the subsidies. The results suggest that it is not the greater the subsidy, the better the effect. Considering that one of the purposes of introducing TSEVs is to reduce private vehicles, there is a threshold for user transfer. It is actually under low subsidy that private internal combustion engine vehicle (ICV) users are most attracted to the TSEVs compared to the medium and high ones. The gap between the simulation results and common sense reminds us that ex-ante assessment and overall planning in the process of industry development are necessary.
Urban Vibrancy: An Emerging Factor that Spatially Influences the Real Estate Market
Authors: Barreca Alice , Curto Rocco , Rolando Diana
Published: January 2020

Urban vibrancy is defined and measured differently in the literature. Originally, it was described as the number of people in and around streets or neighborhoods. Now, it is commonly associated with activity intensity, the diversity of land-use configurations, and the accessibility of a place. The aim of this paper is to study urban vibrancy, its relationship with neighborhood services, and the real estate market. Firstly, it is used a set of neighborhood service variables, and a Principal Component Analysis is performed in order to create a Neighborhood Services Index (NeSI) that is able to identify the most and least vibrant urban areas of a city. Secondly, the influence of urban vibrancy on the listing prices of existing housing is analyzed by performing spatial analyses. To achieve this, the presence of spatial autocorrelation is investigated and spatial clusters are identified. Therefore, spatial autoregressive models are applied to manage spatial effects and to identify the variables that significantly influence the process of housing price determination. The results confirm that housing prices are spatially autocorrelated and highlight that housing prices and NeSI are statistically associated with each other. The identification of the urban areas characterized by different levels of vibrancy and housing prices can effectively support the revision of the urban development plan and its regulatory act, as well as strategic urban policies and actions. Such data analyses support a deep knowledge of the current status quo, which is necessary to drive important changes to develop more efficient, sustainable, and competitive cities.
Sustainability and Urban Metabolism
Authors: Palme Massimo , Salvati Agnese
Published: January 2020

The concept of urban metabolism was introduced by Wolman in 1965 [...]
Coupling Coordination Evaluation between Population and Land Urbanization in Ha-Chang Urban Agglomeration
Authors: Han Huilian , Li Hui
Published: January 2020

As the major form of urbanization, urban agglomeration integrates urban resources, adjusts industrial structure, narrows the gap between urban and rural areas, enhances urban function, strengthens urban competitiveness, and promotes the strategy of regional sustainable development. Based on the panel data of 10 cities in Ha-Chang urban agglomeration from 2000 to 2014, this paper establishes an evaluation index-system of population and land urbanization quality level, and analyzes the coordination degree, spatial heterogeneity, and spatiotemporal evolution of urbanization, through using the methods of range standardization, entropy weight model, and coupling coordination models. Results show that the quality of population and land urbanization was increasing gradually during the study period. However, the coordination degree between population and land urbanization rate is decreasing. The comprehensive level of population and land urbanization increasing yearly, from low-level coupling coordination reverse to high-level coupling stage. The quality differences between the population and land urbanization of the ten cities of the Ha-Chang urban agglomeration are significant. The radiation function of large-sized cities and the regulation of medium-sized cities are not strong, and the coordination degree of small-sized cities is low. In view of the coordinated status of the Ha-Chang urban agglomeration, differently size cities should propose corresponding urbanization development strategies to enhance the main function of the urban agglomeration.
Irrigation-Yield Production Functions and Irrigation Water Use Efficiency Response of Drought-Tolerant and Non-Drought-Tolerant Maize Hybrids under Different Irrigation Levels, Population Densities, and Environments
Authors: Irmak Suat , Mohammed Ali T. , Kranz William , Yonts C.D. , van Donk Simon
Published: January 2020

Irrigation-yield production functions (IYPFs), irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE), and grain production per unit of applied irrigation of non-drought-tolerant (NDT) and drought-tolerant (DT) maize (Zea mays L.) hybrids were quantified in four locations with different climates in Nebraska [Concord (sub-humid), Clay Center (transition zone between sub-humid and semi-arid); North Platte (semi-arid); and, Scottsbluff (semi-arid)] during three growing seasons (2010, 2011, and 2012) at three irrigation levels (fully-irrigated treatment (FIT), early cut-off (ECOT), and rainfed (RFT)) under two plant population densities (PPDs) (low-PPD; 59,300 plants ha−1; and, high-PPD, 84,000 plants ha−1). Overall, DT hybrids’ performance was superior to NDT hybrid at RFT, ECT, and FIT conditions, as confirmed by the yield response, IYPF and IWUE when all locations, years, and PPDs were averaged. The yield response to water was greater with the high-PPD than the low-PPD in most cases. The magnitude of the highest yields for DT hybrids ranged from 7.3 (low-PPD) to 8.5% (high-PPD) under RFT, 3.7 (low-PPD) to 9.6% (high-PPD) under ECOT, and 3.9% (high-PPD) under FIT higher than NDT hybrid. Relatively, DT hybrids can resist drought-stress conditions longer than NDT hybrid with fewer penalties in yield reduction and maintain comparable or even higher yield production at non-stress-water conditions.
Sustainability as an Economic Issue: A BioPhysical Economic Perspective
Authors: Klitgaard Kent
Published: January 2020

This essay focuses upon how questions of sustainability are integrated into the teaching of introductory economics. While economics is insufficient by itself to understand the efforts we must take in order to live within nature’s limits, an understanding of economic theory is a vital part of a larger interdisciplinary whole. Yet sustainability is not well integrated into economic theory, especially mainstream, neoclassical, economics. Allocative efficiency and the rate of economic growth are the fundamental metrics while sustainability questions such as the stability of earth systems and the quality of energy resources are relegated to secondary status, if addressed at all. However, in order to address questions such as the earth’s continuing ability to support life, economists need to consider a variety of theoretical perspectives. In the late 1970s, Robert Carson published Economic Issues Today. It presents various economic topics from liberal, radical, and conservative viewpoints, and looking at crucial issues such as sustainability from various ideological perspectives could be an important teaching tool in this era of polarization. This article contends that environmental concerns today are no longer simply microeconomic but biophysical. Biophysical economics sees a sustainable economic theory as one that is grounded in the unity of social and natural sciences. The economy is embedded in a finite and non-growing biophysical system and is subject to its laws and its limits. The accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and the decline in the quality of energy resources limit further economic growth. So does the internal structure of capital accumulation. A system in overshoot cannot grow its way into sustainability, but a non-growing capitalist economy is mired in stagnation. We must develop new economic theories in order to achieve a sustainable future. Valuable insights can be found in behavioral economics, heterodox political economy, and natural science. Questions drawn from behavioral economics concerning how people think in difficult situations should be of great interest to sustainability educators.
Simulation of the Effect of Climate Variability on Reclamation Success of Brine-Affected Soil in Semi-Arid Environments
Authors: Shaygan Mandana , Baumgartl Thomas
Published: January 2020

Soils in arid and semi-arid environments are threatened by salinization. A cost-effective and efficient way to reclaim saline land is through leaching. This will be most effective in situations where direct human impact is the cause for salinity, e.g., in environments affected by industrial use or land rehabilitation following mining. Irrigation, which is the most common means of achieving salt leaching, is not feasible for the reclamation of mine sites’ salt-affected soils located in remote areas, and thus, land reclamation largely relies on natural climatic conditions. This study was conducted to assess the effect of different climatic conditions of semi-arid environments on spatio-temporal salt leaching from brine-affected soil, and investigate the efficacy of the reduction of soil bulk density as a reclamation technique for saline land experiencing water scarcity. Three regions (represented by the Australian cities of Roma, Mount Isa, and Quilpie) representing semi-arid environments of Australia were selected, and their climatic scenarios (23 years) were applied to a validated HYDRUS-1D model. A brine-affected soil typical to Queensland, Australia, was chosen for this study. The investigations established that a greater number of individual high rainfall events resulted in a greater reduction of salinity in Roma (96%) and Mount Isa (93.31%) compared with Quilpie (58.75%), in which the soil salinity approached a level (<2 dS m−1) that was suitable for sustaining plant growth. Soil salinity reduced to 8 dS m−1 under the climatic conditions of the Quilpie region. This study also demonstrated that the success of salt leaching from a brine-affected soil is a consequence of a sensitive response to the depth of individual rainfall events rather than rainfall distribution and the total amount of rainfall, and is controlled by the physical properties of the soil. Where climatic conditions cannot solely assist with salt leaching, reclamation may be successful by reducing soil bulk density.
Relationship between Entrepreneurial Team Characteristics and Venture Performance in China: From the Aspects of Cognition and Behaviors
Authors: Pei Xue-Liang , Wu Tung-Ju , Guo Jia-Ning , Hu Jia-Qi
Published: January 2020

Entrepreneurial and innovative activities are becoming a global economic and social phenomenon, especially in emerging economies. This study focuses on a typical emerging economy, China, and its entrepreneurial and innovative activities. On the basis of current research, the literature review and the chain of “cognition–behavior–outcome” are used for constructing the theoretical model for the relationship among entrepreneurial team cognition characteristics, behavior characteristics, and venture performance. A total of 101 valid copies of questionnaire are collected from entrepreneurial team members, as the research objects, and the structural equation modeling (SEM) method is applied to test the theoretical hypotheses. The research results reveal (1) significant effects of entrepreneurial team cognition characteristics and behavior characteristics on venture performance and (2) partial mediating effects of entrepreneurial team behavior characteristics on the relationship between cognition characteristics and venture performance. The research results are the expansion of research on entrepreneurial teams as well as the important reference for entrepreneurial team management and behavioral practice.
Impression Management in Graphical Representation of Economic, Social, and Environmental Issues: An Empirical Study
Authors: Cüre Tuvana , Esen Emel , Çalışkan Arzu Özsözgün
Published: January 2020

Due to the increasing sustainability concerns among society and investors, companies share information demonstrating their social and environmental impacts to make an impression in corporate reports. Thus, impression management is used to influence company stakeholders’ perception of their performance through graphs. Graphs presented in corporate reports are powerful impression management tools which communicate performance-related messages to the stakeholders. The purpose of this study is to examine the use of graphs to apply various impression management tactics in economic, social, and environmental disclosures of corporate reports. In this research, the use of graphs as an impression management tool has been determined through the corporate reports of 49 companies selected in the BIST (Borsa Istanbul) Sustainability Index of 2018 and 2019, Turkey. In total, 502 graphs in the reports of the selected companies were examined by descriptive analysis and the findings were statistically tested. According to the results, it was found that companies use both presentational enhancement and obfuscation as impression management tactics in corporate reports. This study helps to fill the research gap in the absence of an empirical study conducted in an emerging economy, Turkey. Additionally, it is the first study that focuses on graphs with impression management tactics that has ever been conducted in Turkey.
The Impact of Urban Form and Spatial Structure on per Capita Carbon Footprint in U.S. Larger Metropolitan Areas
Authors: Muñiz Ivan , Dominguez Andrés
Published: January 2020

Different studies have estimated cities’ contribution to total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at between forty and seventy percent. According to the so-called Compact City Approach, high density and centrality should lead to low GHG. This study compares the effect of the urban density and spatial structure (monocentrism, polycentrism, and dispersion) of the main U.S. cities on their greenhouse gas emissions from mobility and housing. The estimated models include control variables in order to improve the statistical adjustment, these variables are grouped into three categories: basic controls as temperature and Gross Domestic Product (GDP); historical-demographic controls since 1900; and geographic-urban planning controls. The results detect an environmentally positive effect, albeit a moderate one, associated with monocentric and polycentric spatial structures as compared to dispersed structures. Within the tradition of urban planning, these results can be used as an argument to stop the dispersed decentralization of cities. However, the efficacy of some policies encouraging density should be accompanied by specific policies which increase the energy efficiency of housing and promote the use of public transport.
Climate: An R Package to Access Free In-Situ Meteorological and Hydrological Datasets For Environmental Assessment
Authors: Czernecki Bartosz , Głogowski Arkadiusz , Nowosad Jakub
Published: January 2020

Freely available and reliable meteorological datasets are highly demanded in many scientific and business applications. However, the structure of publicly available databases is often difficult to follow, especially for users who only deal with this kind of dataset on occasion. The “climate” R package aims to fill this gap with an easy-to-use interface for downloading global meteorological data in a fast and consistent way. The package provides access to different sources of in-situ meteorological data, including the Ogimet website, atmospheric vertical sounding gathered at the University of Wyoming’s webpage, and hydrological and meteorological measurements collected by the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management—National Research Institute (i.e., Polish Met Office). This article also provides a quick overview of the key functionalities available within the climate R package, and gives examples of an efficient and tidy workflow of meteorological data within the R based environment. The automation procedures included in the packages allow one to download data in a user-defined time resolution (from hourly to annual), for a user-defined time span, and for a specified group of stations or countries. The package also contains metadata, including a list of available stations, their geospatial information, and measurement descriptions with their units. Finally, the obtained datasets can be processed in R or exported to external tools (e.g., spreadsheets or GIS software).
Type II Power Topp-Leone Generated Family of Distributions with Statistical Inference and Applications
Authors: Bantan Rashad A. R. , Jamal Farrukh , Chesneau Christophe , Elgarhy Mohammed
Published: January 2020

In this paper, we present and study a new family of continuous distributions, called the type II power Topp-Leone-G family. It provides a natural extension of the so-called type II Topp-Leone-G family, thanks to the use of an additional shape parameter. We determine the main properties of the new family, showing how they depend on the involving parameters. The following points are investigated: shapes and asymptotes of some important functions, quantile function, some mixture representations, moments and derivations, stochastic ordering, reliability and order statistics. Then, a special model of the family based on the inverse exponential distribution is introduced. It is of particular interest because the related probability functions are tractable and possess various kinds of asymmetric shapes. Specially, reverse J, left skewed, near symmetrical and right skewed shapes are observed for the corresponding probability density function. The estimation of the model parameters is performed by the use of three different methods. A complete simulation study is proposed to illustrate their numerical efficiency. The considered model is also applied to analyze two different kinds of data sets. We show that it outperforms other well-known models defined with the same baseline distribution, proving its high level of adaptability in the context of data analysis.
A Class of Critical Magnetic Fractional Kirchhoff Problems
Authors: Zuo Jiabin , An Tianqing , Ye Guoju
Published: January 2020

In this paper, we deal with the existence and asymptotic behavior of solutions for a fractional Kirchhoff type problem involving the electromagnetic fields and critical nonlinearity by using the classical critical point theorem. Meanwhile, an example is given to illustrate the application of the main result.
Models for Tree Taper Form: The Gompertz and Vasicek Diffusion Processes Framework
Authors: Narmontas Martynas , Rupšys Petras , Petrauskas Edmundas
Published: January 2020

In this work, we employ stochastic differential equations (SDEs) to model tree stem taper. SDE stem taper models have some theoretical advantages over the commonly employed regression-based stem taper modeling techniques, as SDE models have both simple analytic forms and a high level of accuracy. We perform fixed- and mixed-effect parameters estimation for the stem taper models by developing an approximated maximum likelihood procedure and using a data set of longitudinal measurements from 319 mountain pine trees. The symmetric Vasicek- and asymmetric Gompertz-type diffusion processes used adequately describe stem taper evolution. The proposed SDE stem taper models are compared to four regression stem taper equations and four volume equations. Overall, the best goodness-of-fit statistics are produced by the mixed-effect parameters SDEs stem taper models. All results are obtained in the Maple computer algebra system.
On Generalized Hardy–Rogers Type α-Admissible Mappings in Cone b-Metric Spaces over Banach Algebras
Authors: Shatanawi Wasfi , D. Mitrović Zoran , Hussain Nawab , Radenović Stojan
Published: January 2020

We introduce the notion of α -admissibility of mappings on cone b-metric spaces using Banach algebra with coefficient s, and establish a result of the Hardy-Rogers theorem in these spaces. Furthermore, using symmetry, we derive many recent results as corollaries. As an application we prove certain fixed point results in partially ordered cone b-metric space using Banach algebra. Also, we use our results to derive and prove some real world problems to show the usability of our obtained results. Moreover, it is worth noticing that fixed point theorems for monotone operators in partially ordered metric spaces are widely investigated and have found various applications in differential, integral and matrix equations.
RDF 1.1: Knowledge Representation and Data Integration Language for the Web
Authors: Tomaszuk Dominik , Hyland-Wood David
Published: January 2020

Resource Description Framework (RDF) can seen as a solution in today’s landscape of knowledge representation research. An RDF language has symmetrical features because subjects and objects in triples can be interchangeably used. Moreover, the regularity and symmetry of the RDF language allow knowledge representation that is easily processed by machines, and because its structure is similar to natural languages, it is reasonably readable for people. RDF provides some useful features for generalized knowledge representation. Its distributed nature, due to its identifier grounding in IRIs, naturally scales to the size of the Web. However, its use is often hidden from view and is, therefore, one of the less well-known of the knowledge representation frameworks. Therefore, we summarise RDF v1.0 and v1.1 to broaden its audience within the knowledge representation community. This article reviews current approaches, tools, and applications for mapping from relational databases to RDF and from XML to RDF. We discuss RDF serializations, including formats with support for multiple graphs and we analyze RDF compression proposals. Finally, we present a summarized formal definition of RDF 1.1 that provides additional insights into the modeling of reification, blank nodes, and entailments.