bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Proposed Methodology to Analyze Plant Growth and Movement from Phenomics Data
Authors: Díaz-Galián María Victoria , Perez-Sanz Fernando , Sanchez-Pagán Jose David , Weiss Julia , Egea-Cortines Marcos , Navarro Pedro J.
Published: November 2019

Image analysis of developmental processes in plants reveals both growth and organ movement. This study proposes a methodology to study growth and movement. It includes the standard acquisition of internal and external reference points and coordinates, coordinates transformation, curve fitting and the corresponding statistical analysis. Several species with different growth habits were used including Antirrhinum majus, A. linkianum, Petunia x hybrida and Fragaria x ananassa. Complex growth patterns, including gated growth, could be identified using a generalized additive model. Movement, and in some cases, growth, could not be adjusted to curves due to drastic changes in position. The area under the curve was useful in order to identify the initial stage of growth of an organ, and its growth rate. Organs displayed either continuous movements during the day with gated day/night periods of maxima, or sharp changes in position coinciding with day/night shifts. The movement was dependent on light in petunia and independent in F. ananassa. Petunia showed organ movement in both growing and fully-grown organs, while A. majus and F. ananassa showed both leaf and flower movement patterns linked to growth. The results indicate that different mathematical fits may help quantify growth rate, growth duration and gating. While organ movement may complicate image and data analysis, it may be a surrogate method to determine organ growth potential.
Retrieval of Global Orbit Drift Corrected Land Surface Temperature from Long-term AVHRR Data
Authors: Liu Xiangyang , Tang Bo-Hui , Yan Guangjian , Li Zhao-Liang , Liang Shunlin
Published: November 2019

Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) sensors provide a valuable data source for generating long-term global land surface temperature (LST). However, changes in the observation time that are caused by satellite orbit drift restrict their wide application. Here, a generalized split-window (GSW) algorithm was implemented to retrieve the LST from the time series AVHRR data. Afterwards, a novel orbit drift correction (ODC) algorithm, which was based on the diurnal temperature cycle (DTC) model and Bayesian optimization algorithm, was also proposed for normalizing the estimated LST to the same local time. This ODC algorithm is pixel-based and it only needs one observation every day. The resulting LSTs from the six-year National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-14 satellite data were validated while using Surface Radiation Budget Network (SURFRAD) in-situ measurements. The average accuracies for LST retrieval varied from −0.4 K to 2.0 K over six stations and they also depended on the viewing zenith angle and season. The simulated data illustrate that the proposed ODC method can improve the LST estimate at a similar magnitude to the accuracy of the LST retrieval, i.e., the root-mean-square errors (RMSEs) of the corrected LSTs were 1.3 K, 2.2 K, and 3.1 K for the LST with a retrieval RMSE of 1 K, 2 K, and 3 K, respectively. This method was less sensitive to the fractional vegetation cover (FVC), including the FVC retrieval error, size, and degree of change within a neighboring area, which suggested that it could be easily updated by applying other LST expression models. In addition, ground validation also showed an encouraging correction effect. The RMSE variations of LST estimation that were introduced by ODC were within ±0.5 K, and the correlation coefficients between the corrected LST errors and original LST errors could approach 0.91.
The Temporal Dynamics of Slums Employing a CNN-Based Change Detection Approach
Authors: Liu Ruoyun , Kuffer Monika , Persello Claudio
Published: November 2019

Along with rapid urbanization, the growth and persistence of slums is a global challenge. While remote sensing imagery is increasingly used for producing slum maps, only a few studies have analyzed their temporal dynamics. This study explores the potential of fully convolutional networks (FCNs) to analyze the temporal dynamics of small clusters of temporary slums using very high resolution (VHR) imagery in Bangalore, India. The study develops two approaches based on FCNs. The first approach uses a post-classification change detection, and the second trains FCNs to directly classify the dynamics of slums. For both approaches, the performances of 3 × 3 kernels and 5 × 5 kernels of the networks were compared. While classification results of individual years exhibit a relatively high F1-score (3 × 3 kernel) of 88.4% on average, the change accuracies are lower. The post-classification results obtained an F1-score of 53.8% and the change-detection networks obtained an F1-score of 53.7%. According to the trajectory error matrix (TEM), the post-classification results scored higher for the overall accuracy but lower for the accuracy difference of change trajectories than the change-detection networks. Although the two methods did not have significant differences in terms of accuracy, the change-detection network was less noisy. Within our study area, the areas of slums show a small overall decrease; the annual growth of slums (between 2012 and 2016) was 7173 m2, in contrast to an annual decline of 8390 m2. However, these numbers hid the spatial dynamics, which were much larger. Interestingly, areas where slums disappeared commonly changed into green areas, not into built-up areas. The proposed change-detection network provides a robust map of the locations of changes with lower confidence about the exact boundaries. This shows the potential of FCNs for detecting the dynamics of slums in VHR imagery.
A New Typhoon-Monitoring Method Using Precipitation Water Vapor
Authors: Zhao Qingzhi , Ma Xiongwei , Yao Wanqiang , Yao Yibin
Published: November 2019

Some seasonal natural floods can be attributed to typhoons that bring a large amount of atmospheric water vapor, and variations in atmospheric water vapor can be reflected in the precipitable water vapor (PWV). Therefore, monitoring typhoons based on the anomalous variations of the PWV is the focus of this paper. The anomalous variations of ERA5(fifth-generation reanalysis dataset of the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasting)-derived PWV with other atmospheric parameters related to typhoons, such as precipitation, pressure, and wind, were first analyzed during typhoon periods. After that, a typhoon-monitoring method with and without considering the typhoon’s acceleration was proposed according to the time of the maximum value of the PWV during the typhoon period in this paper. Corresponding experiments based on the measured and simulated data were performed to evaluate the proposed method. The experimental measurement of Typhoon Hato revealed that the velocity of the typhoon’s movement estimated by the proposed method was close to the observed value, and the maximum difference between the estimated and observed values was less than 3 km/h. A simulated experiment was also carried out in which the acceleration of the typhoon’s movement was also considered. The simulated results verified the reliability and feasibility of the proposed method. The estimated velocity and acceleration of the typhoon’s movement were almost equal to the true values under the cases of using different numbers of stations and selecting various typhoon locations. Such results obtained above indicate that the method proposed in this paper has a significant potential application value for typhoon monitoring.
An Optical Fiber Chemical Sensor for the Detection of Copper(II) in Drinking Water
Authors: Pesavento Maria , Profumo Antonella , Merli Daniele , Cucca Lucia , Zeni Luigi , Cennamo Nunzio
Published: November 2019

Highly sensitive plasmonic optical fiber platforms combined with receptors have been recently used to obtain selective sensors. A low-cost configuration can be obtained exploiting a D-shaped plastic optical fiber covered with a multilayer sensing surface. The multilayer consists of a gold film, functionalized with a specific receptor, where the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) occurs. The signal is produced by the refractive index variation occurring as a consequence of the receptor-to analyte binding. In this work, a selective sensor for copper(II) detection in drinking water, exploiting a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of d,l-penicillamine as the sensing layer, has been developed and tested. Different concentrations of copper(II) in NaCl 0.1 M solutions at different pH values and in a real matrix (drinking water) have been considered. The results show that the sensor is able to sense copper(II) at concentrations ranging from 4 × 10−6 M to 2 × 10−4 M. The use of this optical chemical sensor is a very attractive perspective for fast, in situ and low-cost detection of Cu(II) in drinking water for human health concerns. Furthermore, the possibility of remote control is feasible as well, because optical fibers are employed.
Maize Crop Coefficient Estimated from UAV-Measured Multispectral Vegetation Indices
Authors: Zhang Yu , Han Wenting , Niu Xiaotao , Li Guang
Published: November 2019

The rapid, accurate, and real-time estimation of crop coefficients at the farm scale is one of the key prerequisites in precision agricultural water management. This study aimed to map the maize crop coefficient (Kc) with improved accuracy under different levels of deficit irrigation. The proposed method for estimating the Kc is based on multispectral images of high spatial resolution taken using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The analysis was performed on five experimental plots using Kc values measured from the daily soil water balance in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China. To accurately estimate the Kc, the fraction of vegetation cover (fc) derived from the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was used to compare with field measurements, and the stress coefficients (Ks) calculated from two vegetation index (VI) regression models were compared. The results showed that the NDVI values under different levels of deficit irrigation had no significant difference in the reproductive stage but changed significantly in the maturation stage, with a decrease of 0.09 with 72% water applied difference. The fc calculated from the NDVI had a high correlation with field measurement data, with a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.93. The ratios of transformed chlorophyll absorption in reflectance index (TCARI) to renormalized difference vegetation index (RDVI) and TCARI to soil-adjusted vegetation index (SAVI) were used, respectively, to establish two types of Ks regression models to retrieve Kc. Compared to the TCARI/SAVI model, the TCARI/RDVI model under different levels of deficit irrigation had better correlation with Kc, with R2 and root-mean-square error (RMSE) values ranging from 0.68 to 0.80 and from 0.140 to 0.232, respectively. Compared to Kc calculated from on-site measurements, the Kc values retrieved from the VI regression models established in this study had greater ability to assess the field variability of soil and crops. Overall, use of the UAV-measured multispectral vegetation index approach could improve water management at the farm scale.
Stacked Transistor Bias Circuit of Class-B Amplifier for Portable Ultrasound Systems
Authors: Choi Hojong
Published: November 2019

The performance of portable ultrasound systems is affected by the excessive heat generated by amplifiers, thereby reducing the sensitivity and resolution of the transducer devices used in ultrasound systems. Therefore, the amplifier needs to generate low amounts of heat to stabilize portable ultrasound systems. To properly control the amplifier, the related bias circuit must provide proper DC bias voltages for long time periods in ultrasound systems. To this end, a stacked transistor bias circuit was proposed to achieve a relatively constant amplifier performance irrespective of temperature variance without any cooling systems as the portable ultrasound system structure is limited. To prove the proposed concept, the performance of the gain and DC current consumption at different experimental times was measured and compared to a developed class-B amplifier with different bias circuits. The amplifier with the stacked transistor bias circuit outperformed with regard to the gain and DC current variance versus time (−0.72 dB and 0.065 A, respectively) compared to the amplifier with a typical resistor divider bias circuit (−5.27 dB and 0.237 A, respectively) after a certain time (5 min). Consequently, the proposed stacked transistor bias circuit is a useful electronic device for portable ultrasound systems with limited structure sizes because of its relatively low gain and DC current variance with respect to time.
Quantum Multi-User Broadcast Protocol for the “Platform as a Service” Model
Authors: Shi Peng , Li Nachuan , Wang Shumei , Liu Zhi , Ren Mengran , Ma Hongyang
Published: November 2019

Quantum Cloud Computing is the technology which has the capability to shape the future of computing. In “Platform as a Service (PaaS)” type of cloud computing, the development environment is delivered as a service. In this paper, a multi-user broadcast protocol in network is developed with the mode of one master and N slaves together with a sequence of single photons. It can be applied to a multi-node network, in which a single photon sequence can be sent to all the slave nodes simultaneously. In broadcast communication networks, these single photons encode classical information directly through noisy quantum communication channels. The results show that this protocol can realize the secret key generation and sharing of multiple nodes. The protocol we propose is also proved to be unconditionally secure in theory, which indicates its feasibility in theoretical application.
Calibration of the Pulse Signal Decay Effect of Full-Waveform Hyperspectral LiDAR
Authors: Zhang Changsai , Gao Shuai , Niu Zheng , Pei Jie , Bi Kaiyi , Sun Gang
Published: November 2019

Full-waveform hyperspectral LiDAR (FWHSL) is able to obtain spectral and spatial information by utilizing a single instrument, and it has become more and more commonly used in vertical distribution studies of structural and biochemical characteristics of vegetation. However, the pulse-echo arrival times of multiple spectral channels of the FWHSL are not consistent and this causes range ambiguity in spectral channels. In this paper, the pulse signal decay effect on range measurements was studied by measuring the varying trends of pulse signal decay between spectral channels with different material properties. The experiments were repeated at different distances. All of the spectral channels were compared for different materials. The results suggest that the channels in the red edge spectral region of vegetation have good stability and accuracy for range measurements of varied distance and materials properties. Finally, based on the geometric invariability in a specific red edge channel, a practical calibration approach for the pulse signal decay effect is also presented. The validation tests showed it could improve the pulse signal decay effect of full-waveform hyperspectral LiDAR.
The Effect of Light Source Line Width on the Spectrum Resolution of Dual-Frequency Coherent Detection Signals
Authors: Ren Jianying , Sun Huayan , Zhang Laixian , Zhao Yanzhong
Published: November 2019

In this paper, the power spectrum resolution problem of dual-frequency coherent mixing signals is analyzed when the Doppler frequency difference is small. The power spectrum function formula of the four optical coherent mixing signals is obtained using statistical theory and the Wiener–Khinchin theorem. The influence of delay time and light source line width on the power spectrum of dual-frequency coherent signals is analyzed using this formula. The results show that delay time only affects the peak of the power spectrum of the coherent signal. An increase in the line width of the light source broadens the signal power spectrum and reduces the peak value. The necessary condition for distinguishing the Doppler frequency difference is that the theoretical Doppler frequency difference is greater than 1/5 times the line width of the light source.
Data Uploading Strategy for Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Huang Xiangdang , Sun Shijie , Yang Qiuling
Published: November 2019

Underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) have become a popular research topic due to the challenges of underwater communication. The existing mechanisms for collecting data from UWSNs focus on reducing the data redundancy and communication energy consumption, while ignoring the problem of energy-saving transmission after compression. In order to improve the efficiency of data collection, we propose a data uploading decision-making strategy based on the high similarity of the collected data and the energy consumption of the high similarity data compression. This decision-making strategy efficiently optimizes the energy consumption of the networks. By analyzing the data similarity, the quality of network communication, and uploading energy consumption, the decision-making strategy provides an energy-efficient data upload strategy for underwater nodes, which reduces the energy consumption in various network settings. The simulation results show that compared with several existing data compression and uploading methods, the proposed data upload methods has better energy saving effect in different network scenarios.
Effects of pH on High-Performance ZnO Resistive Humidity Sensors Using One-Step Synthesis
Authors: Yu Shuguo , Zhang Hongyan , Zhang Jun , Li Zhijun
Published: November 2019

In this paper, we prepared a high-performance zinc oxide (ZnO) humidity sensor in an alkaline environment using one-step hydrothermal method. Experiments showed that the pH value of the precursor solution affects the performance of ZnO humidity sensors. There are abundant hydroxyl group and oxygen vacancies on the surface of ZnO with a precursor pH value of 10. Abundant hydroxyl groups on the surface of ZnO can adsorb a large number of water molecules and rich oxygen vacancies can accelerate the decomposition of water molecules, thus increasing the number of conductive ions (H3O+) and further improving the performance of the sensor. So, such a ZnO humidity sensor exhibited high sensitivity (14,415), good linearity, small hysteresis (0.9%), fast response/recovery time (31/15 s) in the range from 11% to 95% relative humidity (RH). Moreover, the ZnO-2 humidity sensor has good repeatability and can be effectively used for a long time. This study provides a new idea for the development of low-cost, high-performance and reusable ZnO resistive humidity sensors.
Underwater Image Transmission Using Spatial Modulation Unequal Error Protection for Internet of Underwater Things
Authors: Esmaiel Hamada , Qasem Zeyad A. H. , Sun Haixin , Wang Junfeng , Rehman Junejo Naveed Ur
Published: November 2019

A spatial modulation (SM) scheme has been developed as a hopeful candidate for spectral and energy-efficient wireless communication systems, as it provides a great judgment for the system performance, data transmission rate, receiver complexity, and energy/spectrum efficiency. In SM, the data is conveyed by both habitual M-ary signal constellations and the transmit antennas indices. Therefore, the system data rate improvement due to the side information bits transmitted, encapsulated in indices of the transmit antennas, improves the SM transmission efficiency compared to the different MIMO players. The information bits transmitted over the antenna index and data symbol constellation using M-ary signal performance have different levels of bit error rate (BER) performance. This paper proposes unequal error protection (UEP) scheme for image transmission over the Internet of Underwater Things (IoUTs) using SM. The Set Partitioning in Hierarchical Trees (SPIHT) coders encode the underwater image and classify the encoded bits in two categories: critical and uncritical bits. The critical bits are transmitted over the SM index bits and have a low BER while the uncritical bits are transmitted over high order M-ary signal constellation to resolve the underwater acoustic channel bandwidth limitation problem. The proposed SM-UEP technique has been developed carefully with enough justification and evaluation over the measured underwater acoustic channel and the simulated channel. The simulation results show that the proposed SM-UEP can increase the average peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) of the reconstructed received image considerably, and significantly.
Laboratory Calibration and Field Validation of Soil Water Content and Salinity Measurements Using the 5TE Sensor
Authors: Zemni Nessrine , Bouksila Fethi , Persson Magnus , Slama Fairouz , Berndtsson Ronny , Bouhlila Rachida
Published: November 2019

Capacitance sensors are widely used in agriculture for irrigation and soil management purposes. However, their use under saline conditions is a major challenge, especially for sensors operating with low frequency. Their dielectric readings are often biased by high soil electrical conductivity. New calculation approaches for soil water content (θ) and pore water electrical conductivity (ECp), in which apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa) is included, have been suggested in recent research. However, these methods have neither been tested with low-cost capacitance probes such as the 5TE (70 MHz, Decagon Devices, Pullman, WA, USA) nor for field conditions. Thus, it is important to determine the performance of these approaches and to test the application range using the 5TE sensor for irrigated soils. For this purpose, sandy soil was collected from the Jemna oasis in southern Tunisia and four 5TE sensors were installed in the field at four soil depths. Measurements of apparent dielectric permittivity (Ka), ECa, and soil temperature were taken under different electrical conductivity of soil moisture solutions. Results show that, under field conditions, 5TE accuracy for θ estimation increased when considering the ECa effect. Field calibrated models gave better θ estimation (root mean square error (RMSE) = 0.03 m3 m−3) as compared to laboratory experiments (RMSE = 0.06 m3 m−3). For ECp prediction, two corrections of the Hilhorst model were investigated. The first approach, which considers the ECa effect on K’ reading, failed to improve the Hilhorst model for ECp > 3 dS m−1 for both laboratory and field conditions. However, the second approach, which considers the effect of ECa on the soil parameter K0, increased the performance of the Hilhorst model and gave accurate measurements of ECp using the 5TE sensor for irrigated soil.
Optimized CapsNet for Traffic Jam Speed Prediction Using Mobile Sensor Data under Urban Swarming Transportation
Authors: Tampubolon Hendrik , Yang Chao-Lung , Chan Arnold Samuel , Sutrisno Hendri , Hua Kai-Lung
Published: November 2019

Urban swarming transportation (UST) is a type of road transportation where multiple types of vehicles such as cars, buses, trucks, motorcycles, and bicycles, as well as pedestrians are allowed and mixed together on the roads. Predicting the traffic jam speed under UST is very different and difficult from the single road network traffic prediction which has been commonly studied in the intelligent traffic system (ITS) research. In this research, the road network wide (RNW) traffic prediction which predicts traffic jam speeds of multiple roads at once by utilizing citizens’ mobile GPS sensor records is proposed to better predict traffic jam under UST. In order to conduct the RNW traffic prediction, a specific data preprocessing is needed to convert traffic data into an image representing spatial-temporal relationships among RNW. In addition, a revised capsule network (CapsNet), named OCapsNet, which utilizes nonlinearity functions in the first two convolution layers and the modified dynamic routing to optimize the performance of CapsNet, is proposed. The experiments were conducted using real-world urban road traffic data of Jakarta to evaluate the performance. The results show that OCapsNet has better performance than Convolution Neural Network (CNN) and original CapsNet with better accuracy and precision.
The Trailer as Erotic Capital. Gendered Performances—Research and Participant Roles during Festival Fieldwork
Authors: Trysnes Irene
Published: November 2019

This article examines different roles and field relations of the researcher in studies of young people at Christian festivals. The main questions are how the researcher gains access to the “flirtation field,” which flirting roles the youth participants engage in, and how the researcher copes with flirtation in the field. The article’s theoretical approach draws on feminist methodology on how positions, roles, and relations are negotiated in fieldwork, and discusses the notion of erotic capital. Christian festivals in Norway attract among 100,000 people every year. One of the main activities that was brought to my attention by a car trailer was the importance of flirting between the young boys and girls at these festivals. At the Christian festivals, flirting takes place within a heterosexual framework. In order to be part of this game, the girls are supposed to be feminine and available. The boy’s role is to be active and take initiative. Both sexes work hard to become participants in this game of winning attention that represents two different worlds for boys and girls, and in which there are both male and female losers. The rules of the game seem doubly strict for the girls since they are expected to administer both their own and the boys’ lust.
Motorway Route Planning with Regarding the Adverse Effects on Agricultural Production Space
Authors: Dudzińska Małgorzata , Bacior Stanisław , Prus Barbara
Published: November 2019

Designing and implementing investment projects are activities that have a direct impact on the natural environment and pose a threat to sustainable development of rural areas. The issue of agricultural production space protection during the implementation of linear projects in Poland is often only mentioned at the design stage as the final element. The aim of the study is to propose a tool to enable an assessment and modelling of a motorway design variant in order to minimise the impact on the agricultural production space. Four indicators introduced in the modelling procedure include the loss of agricultural land, a decrease of land productivity in the vicinity of an investment project, changes in the spatial structure of areas divided by the investment, and difficulties resulting from the accessibility of areas. The superiority of the proposed method over consolidations implemented in the vicinity of a motorway is due to the introduction into projects not only of elements organising the space but also attributes that prevent the reduction of the production capabilities of the land located in the vicinity of the motorway (Module I) and, secondly, the elements decreasing the re-organisation of the space (Module II).
Transformation of Corn Stalk Residue to Humus-Like Substances during Solid-State Fermentation
Authors: Yang Yinan , Wang Lili , Zhang Yifeng , Li Libo , Shi Xuyang , Liu Xintong , Ren Xiaodong , Dou Sen
Published: November 2019

Lignocellulase production from straw fermentation has been widely investigated but the research has neglected to quantify fermentation-derived residue transformation to the humus-like substance (HULIS). To investigate the conversion efficacy of corn stalk residue to HULIS, the amount of HULIS associated with chemical composition and structural changes of humic acid-like substances (HAL) was investigated in a 30 L solid-state fermentation tank during a short period of eight days. The results show that the highest decomposition rate of corn stalk and the highest activity of cellulase, xylanase, and β-glucosidase appeared at the fourth day. At the end of fermenting process, the amount of humic acid-like substances (HAL) and the percentage of HAL in humus acid (PQ value) increased 17.5% and 8.9%, respectively, indicating Trichoderma reesei facilitates the transformation of corn stalk residue to HAL. Fatty acids decreased while aromatic carbon and carboxyl content significantly increased during the ongoing fermentation, which had a positive impact on the HAL thermal stability. The FTIR spectral and thermal analysis revealed an improvement in HAL degrees of condensation, oxidation, and aromatization. The present study suggests that the residue of corn stalks fermented with T. reesei might be a good fertilizer to improve soil characteristics.
Amelioration of Composts for Greenhouse Vegetable Plants Using Pasteurised Agaricus Mushroom Substrate
Authors: Stoknes Ketil , Wojciechowska Ewelina , Jasinska Agnieszka , Noble Ralph
Published: November 2019

When using food and green waste composts as peat-free plant growing media, there is a challenge that nutrient immobilisation and high pH and salts content limit plant growth. The present study explored the use of spent mushroom compost (SMC) of Agaricus subrufescens in a sustainable plant growing system where only vermicompost from digested food waste and composted green wastes were used, even for the seedling stage. However, negative effects of high compost inclusion were offset by adding SMC. Significantly higher plant yield was obtained in several of the SMC amended treatments in four out of five lettuce experiments and in one tomato experiment. In addition, an experiment with cucumbers showed that nutrients were not available to the plant when the mushroom mycelium was actively growing, but became available if the mushroom mycelium had been inactivated first by pasteurisation. A significant effect from SMC was not observed under full fertigation. This study demonstrated that the addition of pasteurised Agaricus mycelium colonised compost can successfully offset negative effects from high pH and EC as well as limited nutrient supply (and nitrogen immobilisation) in peat-free, compost-based growing media.
Influence of Solar Reflectance and Renewable Energies on Residential Heating and Cooling Demand in Sustainable Architecture: A Case Study in Different Climate Zones in Spain Considering Their Urban Contexts
Authors: Fernandez-Antolin Maria-Mar , del-Río José-Manuel , Gonzalez-Lezcano Roberto-Alonso
Published: November 2019

In this research work, energy simulation was used as a forecasting tool in architectural design. It includes the study of a multi-family residential building in five different climate zones of Spain, i.e., A4 (very hot climate zones), B4 (hot climate zones), C4 (moderate climate zones), D3 (cold climate zones), and E1 (very cold climate zones). The authors accomplished a sensitivity analysis in order to identify the influence of passive strategies (i.e., with regard to solar reflectance) and renewable energy (i.e., with regard to aerothermal energy) on indoor temperatures and energy demands. The increment in indoor temperatures depends on the neighboring buildings so that effect of urban contexts as a source of protection against sunlight is also considered. The increment in the albedo (i.e., the solar reflectance) of the façade during the winter period produces little differences in indoor operative temperatures. On the contrary, during the summer period, it produces large temperature differences. Therefore, it is shown that colors significantly reduce temperatures from 1.24 to 3.04 °C, which means considerable annual energy savings. This research demonstrates that solar reflectance can reduce the air indoor operative temperature down to 4.16 °C during the month of May in the coldest climate zones. As a result of the simulations, it is noted that the coldest climate zones are influenced to a greater extent by the inclusion of their urban contexts in the simulations. However, the heating demand, without considering it, becomes lower. Therefore, ignoring the urban context produces important errors in the heating analysis (12.2% in the coldest climate zones) and also in the cooling analysis (39% in the hottest climate zones). Finally, the use of renewable energy in the configuration of a model with a high urban canyon (Hc), as well as with an east–west building orientation and a low albedo produces a difference of around 76% in the cooling costs within the hottest climate zones and around 73% in the heating costs within the coldest climate zones. The results of this study can be applied as a guideline in early architectural design.
Spatial Access to Medical Services in the Underdeveloped Region of Northwestern China: A Case Study in Lanzhou City
Authors: Xu Wantong , Zhang Fuguang , Zeng Biao , Yang Taibao , Wang Hui
Published: November 2019

Research on the spatial access to medical services has become a hot topic in recent years. The representative provincial capital in the underdeveloped region of northwestern China, Lanzhou, was selected for the research area. In this paper, methods such as the two-step floating catchment area and ArcGIS network analysis are used to analyze the geographic spatial accessibility of medical services and differences of spatial access between urban and rural areas in Lanzhou city. The results show that 1. Areas in General and below grade of accessibility account for most of Lanzhou city. Therefore, the spatial accessibility of whole Lanzhou city is comparatively unsatisfactory. It shows a tendency of the north region to be worse than south region, and areas in parts of the main districts, parts of HG, and other tiny minority show Great grade of accessibility, and most of other areas distribute in poorer grade of accessibility, especially the surrounding mountainous region. 2. There are obvious differences in accessibility between urban and rural regions, mainly reflected in that residents and areas are basically districted in the Great and Good grade in the urban region, while almost 75% of the population and 35% of the areas are distributed in the Great and Good grade, and nearly 25% of the residents and 65% of the areas are still in the unsatisfactory accessibility grade in the rural region. According to the results, the researchers put forward corresponding suggestions to improve the current situation, which are roughly as follows: The construction of hospitals and primary health care should be strengthened in the rural region, especially the construction of township health centers and health stations. High-class hospitals are needed in Honggu district, Yongdeng county, Yuzhong county, and Gaolan county, while the medical capacity and facility grade of existing hospitals should be improved to satisfy the demand of local residents. Meanwhile, rural areas should strengthen the construction of road networks.
Soil as a Basis to Create Enabling Conditions for Transitions Towards Sustainable Land Management as a Key to Achieve the SDGs by 2030
Authors: Visser Saskia , Keesstra Saskia , Maas Gilbert , de Cleen Margot , Molenaar Co
Published: November 2019

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be grouped into three domains, the environmental domain, the social domain and the economic domain. These different layers influence each other; hence sustainable progress in the economic layer cannot be achieved without good progress in the two other layers. To achieve the SDGs, transitions in the current system are needed and actions should be taken that support transitions and contribute to short term needs and long term (global) goals. Therefore, it is necessary to have knowledge of transitions and understand the different phases of transition. In this paper we discuss the key role of the soil-water system in these transitions and the achievement of the SDGs by 2030. The increasing pressure on land calls for multi-use of land and for the restoration of degraded land. Healthy soils and healthy land are the basic conditions for the successful implementation and realization of the SDGs. To enable a sustainable management of the soil and water system a transition approach is a prerequisite. In the X-curve used to describe transitions, soil and land stakeholders are given a framework, which provides perspective for action, specifically for science and governance stakeholders in each phase of the transition. This framework can provide the required intensive guidance to (1) analyze the impact of provided incentives, (2) identify new reference points in the transition and (3) stimulate transition catalysts, and (iv) innovate by testing cutting edge policy instruments in close cooperation with society. The key to make the necessary transitions and realize the SDGs by 2030 lies in the intensive guidance to combining initiatives, steering knowledge flows and continuously assessing the stage of the transition, in order to plan specific steps needed to progress in the transition framework. Both scientist and policy makers have an important role in this guidance.
Assessing the Environmental Benefits of Dry Port Usage: A Case of Inland Container Transport in Turkey
Authors: Kurtulus Ercan , Cetin Ismail Bilge
Published: November 2019

Inland transportation of maritime freight conducted by trucks creates extensive emissions. These emissions can be mitigated by using intermodal-rail transport through dry ports. In that regard, this study evaluated the environmental benefits of dry port usage by using discrete event simulation modelling. The results show that the current level of dry port-based intermodal transportation decreases greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 5.79% compared to transportation of all containers on the road. Evaluating the impact of the electrified railway line on the GHG emissions revealed unexpected results; the electrification of the railway line would decrease GHG emissions only by 0.06%. The improvements in empty container movement and scheduling slightly reduced GHG emissions by 0.69% and 0.63% respectively, however, highest GHG emissions reduction resulted from modal shift by 6.56%. This study extended the previous literature by assessing not only the environmental benefits of dry port usage but also its effects on train capacity usage, while taking the empty container movement into account.
Earth System Law for the Anthropocene
Authors: Kotzé Louis J.
Published: November 2019

Law has failed to address the ever-deepening socio-ecological crisis of the Anthropocene. In the light of, and as a response to, law’s failures in this respect, this paper argues in support of developing a new legal paradigm for the Anthropocene epoch called Earth system law. It does so first by briefly describing the Anthropocene trope and the extent and dimensions of its socio-ecological crisis. The paper then specifically focuses on international environmental law as an example of how and why law has become incapable of, and inappropriate for, addressing this crisis, and for being unable to respond to the Anthropocene’s regulatory demands. By drawing on three Earth system-related regulatory implications of the Anthropocene trope (i.e., inclusivity, interdependencies and complexity), the final part of the paper makes out a case in support of reforming law and creating a new Earth system oriented legal paradigm that is fit for purpose in the Anthropocene epoch.
Bluetongue Virus Nonstructural Protein 3 Orchestrates Virus Maturation and Drives Non-Lytic Egress via Two Polybasic Motifs
Authors: Labadie Thomas , Jegouic Sophie , Roy Polly
Published: November 2019

Bluetongue virus (BTV) is an arthropod-borne virus that infects domestic and wild ruminants. The virion is a non-enveloped double-layered particle with an outer capsid that encloses a core containing the segmented double-stranded RNA genome. Although BTV is canonically released by cell lysis, it also exits non-lytically. In infected cells, the BTV nonstructural glycoprotein 3 (NS3) is found to be associated with host membranes and traffics from the endoplasmic reticulum through the Golgi apparatus to the plasma membrane. This suggests a role for NS3 in BTV particle maturation and non-lytic egress. However, the mechanism by which NS3 coordinates these events has not yet been elucidated. Here, we identified two polybasic motifs (PMB1/PMB2), consistent with the membrane binding. Using site-directed mutagenesis, confocal and electron microscopy, and flow cytometry, we demonstrated that PBM1 and PBM2 mutant viruses retained NS3 either in the Golgi apparatus or in the endoplasmic reticulum, suggesting a distinct role for each motif. Mutation of PBM2 motif decreased NS3 export to the cell surface and virus production. However, both mutant viruses produced predominantly inner core particles that remained close to their site of assembly. Together, our data demonstrates that correct trafficking of the NS3 protein is required for virus maturation and release.
Transcriptional Profiles of Murine Bone Marrow-Derived Dendritic Cells in Response to Peste des Petits Ruminants Virus
Authors: Li Lingxia , Wu Jinyan , Liu Dan , Du Guoyu , Liu Yongsheng , Shang Youjun , Liu Xiangtao
Published: November 2019

Background: Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) is the causative agent of PPR, which can cause an acute, highly contagious and fatal disease of sheep and goats, resulting in significant economic losses for commercial animal husbandry due to its high mortality and morbidity. As professional antigen-presenting cells, dendritic cells (DCs) play a unique role in innate immunity. This study aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the transcriptional response of bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs) stimulated with PPRV. Results: Transcriptional profiling was performed using RNA sequencing. Herein, we reported that compared to untreatedBMDCs, 4492 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified following PPRV stimulation, out of these DEGs 2311 were upregulated and 2181 were downregulated, respectively. A total of three gene ontology (GO) term clusters of biological process, cell component and molecular function were significantly enriched in 963 GO terms in the PPRV-stimulated BMDCs. These GO clusters were related to inflammatory response, cell division and vacuole, anchoring junction, positive regulation of cellular component and nucleoside binding. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways of DEGs were enriched in a chemokine signaling pathway, protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum, cell cycle and mTOR signaling pathway. Additionally, identified DEGs of BMDCs were further validated by qRT-PCR and the results were in accordance with the change of the genes. This study suggested the effects of PPRV stimulation on the maturation and function of BMDCs. Conclusion: We found that the dramatic BMDCs transcriptome changes triggered were predominantly related to an inflammatory response and chemokine signaling pathway.
Scaling up Photoelectrocatalytic Reactors: A TiO2 Nanotube-Coated Disc Compound Reactor Effectively Degrades Acetaminophen
Authors: Montenegro-Ayo Renato , Morales-Gomero Juan Carlos , Alarcon Hugo , Cotillas Salvador , Westerhoff Paul , Garcia-Segura Sergi
Published: November 2019

Multiple discs coated with hierarchically-organized TiO2 anatase nanotubes served as photoelectrodes in a novel annular photoelectrocatalytic reactor. Electrochemical characterization showed light irradiation enhanced the current response due to photogeneration of charge carriers. The pharmaceutical acetaminophen was used as a representative water micropollutant. The photoelectrocatalysis pseudo-first-order rate constant for acetaminophen was seven orders of magnitude greater than electrocatalytic treatment. Compared against photocatalysis alone, our photoelectrocatalytic reactor at <8 V reduced by two fold, the electric energy per order (EEO; kWh m−3 order−1 for 90% pollutant degradation). Applying a cell potential higher than 8 V detrimentally increased EEO. Acetaminophen was degraded across a range of initial concentrations, but absorbance at higher concentration diminished photon transport, resulting in higher EEO. Extended photoelectrocatalytic reactor operation degraded acetaminophen, which was accompanied by 53% mineralization based upon total organic carbon measurements. This proof of concept for our photoelectrocatalytic reactor demonstrated a strategy to increase photo-active surface area in annular reactors.
Salt Tolerance and Desalination Abilities of Nine Common Green Microalgae Isolates
Authors: Figler Aida , B-Béres Viktória , Dobronoki Dalma , Márton Kamilla , Nagy Sándor Alex , Bácsi István
Published: November 2019

In recent years, decline of freshwater resources has been recognized as one of the main environmental problems on global level. In addition to the increasing extent of primary salinization due to climate change, secondary salinization caused by human interventions is also a significantly increasing problem, therefore, the development of various chemical-free, biological desalination and removal procedures will become increasingly important. In the present study, the salinity tolerance, salinity, and nutrient reducing ability of nine common freshwater microalgae species from the genera Chlorella, Chlorococcum, Desmodesmus, Scenedesmus, and Monoraphidium were investigated. Our results proved that the studied green microalgae species are halotolerant ones, which are able to proliferate in environments with high salt concentrations. Furthermore, most of the species were able to reduce conductivity and remove significant amounts of chloride (up to 39%) and nutrients (more than 90% nitrate). The results proved that nitrate removal of the studied species was not influenced by salt concentration, only indirectly via growth inhibition. However, the results also highlighted that N:P ratio of the medium has primarily importance in satisfactory phosphorous removal. It can be concluded that assemblages of the studied microalgae species could be able to adapt to changing conditions even of salt-rich wastewaters and improve water quality during bioremediation processes.
A New Technical Concept for Water Management and Possible Uses in Future Water Systems
Authors: Storli Pål-Tore , Lundström T. Staffan
Published: November 2019

A new degree of freedom in water management is presented here. This is obtained by displacing water, and in this paper is conceptually explained by two methods: using an excavated cavern as a container for compressed air to displace water, and using inflatable balloons. The concepts might have a large impact on a variety of water management applications, ranging from mitigating discharge fluctuation in rivers to flood control, energy storage applications and disease-reduction measures. Currently at a low technological readiness level, the concepts require further research and development, but the authors see no technical challenges related to these concepts. The reader is encouraged to use the ideas within this paper to find new applications and to continue the out-of-the-box thinking initiated by the ideas presented in this paper.
Táin Bó Cúailnge and the dynamics of the matter of Ulster
Authors: Edel Doris
Published: November 2019

Táin Bó Cúailnge et la dynamique de la matière d’Ulster.

Depuis l’édition monumentale de la Táin Bó Cúailnge par Ernst Windisch en 1905, on a lancé un certain nombre de théories pour expliquer comment cette épopée, capitale dans la littérature irlandaise, est arrivée à l’existence, et néanmoins les celtisants n’ont pas réellement saisi et dominé (les différentes versions de) l’œuvre elle-même. Si importants que soient le débat opposant l’oral et le littéraire, et des questions comme la représentation (Weltbild) de l’Irlande médiévale ou le fonctionnement de la littérature irlandaise ancienne dans son contexte européen, ces problèmes ne doivent pas servir d’excuse pour ne pas examiner attentivement les textes eux-mêmes. L’auteur répond aux deux questions suivantes : (1) Qu’est ce que la structure (Bauplan ) de la version ancienne de la Táin nous apprend sur la genèse (Entstehungsgeschichte ) de l’œuvre ? ; (2) quel était le rapport entre la Táin et la «matière d’Ulster» dans son intégralité ?