bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Individual Tree Detection in a Eucalyptus Plantation Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-LiDAR
Authors: Picos Juan , Bastos Guillermo , Míguez Daniel , Alonso Laura , Armesto Julia
Published: March 2020

The present study addresses the tree counting of a Eucalyptus plantation, the most widely planted hardwood in the world. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) light detection and ranging (LiDAR) was used for the estimation of Eucalyptus trees. LiDAR-based estimation of Eucalyptus is a challenge due to the irregular shape and multiple trunks. To overcome this difficulty, the layer of the point cloud containing the stems was automatically classified and extracted according to the height thresholds, and those points were horizontally projected. Two different procedures were applied on these points. One is based on creating a buffer around each single point and combining the overlapping resulting polygons. The other one consists of a two-dimensional raster calculated from a kernel density estimation with an axis-aligned bivariate quartic kernel. Results were assessed against the manual interpretation of the LiDAR point cloud. Both methods yielded a detection rate (DR) of 103.7% and 113.6%, respectively. Results of the application of the local maxima filter to the canopy height model (CHM) intensely depends on the algorithm and the CHM pixel size. Additionally, the height of each tree was calculated from the CHM. Estimates of tree height produced from the CHM was sensitive to spatial resolution. A resolution of 2.0 m produced a R2 and a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.99 m and 0.34 m, respectively. A finer resolution of 0.5 m produced a more accurate height estimation, with a R2 and a RMSE of 0.99 and 0.44 m, respectively. The quality of the results is a step toward precision forestry in eucalypt plantations.
Combining InfraRed Thermography and UAV Digital Photogrammetry for the Protection and Conservation of Rupestrian Cultural Heritage Sites in Georgia: A Methodological Application
Authors: Frodella William , Elashvili Mikheil , Spizzichino Daniele , Gigli Giovanni , Adikashvili Luka , Vacheishvili Nikoloz , Kirkitadze Giorgi , Nadaraia Akaki , Margottini Claudio , Casagli Nicola
Published: March 2020

The rock-cut city of Vardzia is an example of the extraordinary rupestrian cultural heritage of Georgia. The site, Byzantine in age, was carved in the steep tuff slopes of the Erusheti mountains, and due to its peculiar geological characteristics, it is particularly vulnerable to weathering and degradation, as well as frequent instability phenomena. These problems determine serious constraints on the future conservation of the site, as well as the safety of the visitors. This paper focuses on the implementation of a site-specific methodology, based on the integration of advanced remote sensing techniques, such as InfraRed Thermography (IRT) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-based Digital Photogrammetry (DP), with traditional field surveys and laboratory analyses, with the aim of mapping the potential criticality of the rupestrian complex on a slope scale. The adopted methodology proved to be a useful tool for the detection of areas of weathering and degradation on the tuff cliffs, such as moisture and seepage sectors related to the ephemeral drainage network of the slope. These insights provided valuable support for the design and implementation of sustainable mitigation works, to be profitably used in the management plan of the site of Vardzia, and can be used for the protection and conservation of rupestrian cultural heritage sites characterized by similar geological contexts.
Phenosafranin-Based Colorimetric-Sensing Platform for Nitrite Detection Enabled by Griess Assay
Authors: Hou Jingzhou , Wu Huixiang , Shen Xin , Zhang Chao , Hou Changjun , He Qiang , Huo Danqun
Published: March 2020

A facile and effective colorimetric-sensing platform based on the diazotization of phenosafranin for the detection of NO 2 − under acidic conditions using the Griess assay is presented. Diazotization of commercial phenosafranin produces a color change from purplish to blue, which enables colorimetric quantitative detection of NO 2 − . Optimal detection conditions were obtained at a phenosafranin concentration of 0.25 mM, HCl concentration of 0.4 M, and reaction time of 20 min. Under the optimized detection conditions, an excellent linearity range from 0 to 20 μM was obtained with a detection limit of 0.22 μM. Favorable reproducibility and selectivity of the colorimetric sensing platform toward NO 2 − were also verified. In addition, testing spiked ham sausage, bacon, and sprouts samples demonstrated its excellent practicability. The presented colorimetric sensing platform is a promising candidate for the detection of NO 2 − in real applications.
Analytical Approach to Study Sensing Properties of Graphene Based Gas Sensor
Authors: Hosseingholipourasl Ali , Hafizah Syed Ariffin Sharifah , Al-Otaibi Yasser D. , Akbari Elnaz , Hamid Fatimah. KH. , Koloor S. S. R. , Petrů Michal
Published: March 2020

Over the past years, carbon-based materials and especially graphene, have always been known as one of the most famous and popular materials for sensing applications. Graphene poses outstanding electrical and physical properties that make it favorable to be used as a transducer in the gas sensors structure. Graphene experiences remarkable changes in its physical and electrical properties when exposed to various gas molecules. Therefore, in this study, a set of new analytical models are developed to investigate energy band structure, the density of states (DOS), the velocity of charged carriers and I-V characteristics of the graphene after molecular (CO, NO2, H2O) adsorption. The results show that gas adsorption modulates the energy band structure of the graphene that leads to the variation of the energy bandgap, thus the DOS changes. Consequently, graphene converts to semiconducting material, which affects the graphene conductivity and together with the DOS variation, modulate velocity and I-V characteristics of the graphene. These parameters are important factors that can be implemented as sensing parameters and can be used to analyze and develop new sensors based on graphene material.
Elliptic Curve Cryptography for Wireless Sensor Networks Using the Number Theoretic Transform
Authors: Gulen Utku , Baktir Selcuk
Published: March 2020

We implement elliptic curve cryptography on the MSP430 which is a commonly used microcontroller in wireless sensor network nodes. We use the number theoretic transform to perform finite field multiplication and squaring as required in elliptic curve scalar point multiplication. We take advantage of the fast Fourier transform for the first time in the literature to speed up the number theoretic transform for an efficient realization of elliptic curve cryptography. Our implementation achieves elliptic curve scalar point multiplication in only 0.65 s and 1.31 s for multiplication of fixed and random points, respectively, and has similar or better timing performance compared to previous works in the literature.
A Novel Change Detection Method Based on Statistical Distribution Characteristics Using Multi-Temporal PolSAR Data
Authors: Zhao Jinqi , Chang Yonglei , Yang Jie , Niu Yufen , Lu Zhong , Li Pingxiang
Published: March 2020

Unsupervised change detection approaches, which are relatively straightforward and easy to implement and interpret, and which require no human intervention, are widely used in change detection. Polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR), which has an all-weather response capability with increased polarimetric information, is a key tool for change detection. However, for PolSAR data, inadequate evaluation of the difference image (DI) map makes the threshold-based algorithms incompatible with the true distribution model, which causes the change detection results to be ineffective and inaccurate. In this paper, to solve these problems, we focus on the generation of the DI map and the selection of the optimal threshold. An omnibus test statistic is used to generate the DI map from multi-temporal PolSAR images, and an improved Kittler and Illingworth algorithm based on either Weibull or gamma distribution is used to obtain the optimal threshold for generating the change detection map. Multi-temporal PolSAR data obtained by the Radarsat-2 sensor over Wuhan in China are used to verify the efficiency of the proposed method. The experimental results using our approach obtained the best performance in East Lake and Yanxi Lake regions with false alarm rates of 1.59% and 1.80%, total errors of 2.73% and 4.33%, overall accuracy of 97.27% and 95.67%, and Kappa coefficients of 0.6486 and 0.6275, respectively. Our results demonstrated that the proposed method is more suitable than the other compared methods for multi-temporal PolSAR data, and it can obtain both effective and accurate results.
A Lamping U-Shaped Fiber Biosensor Detector for MicroRNA
Authors: Wen Hsin-Yi , Huang Chun-Wei , Li Yu-Le , Chen Jing-Luen , Yeh Yao-Tsung , Chiang Chia-Chin
Published: March 2020

This study presents a U-shaped optical fiber developed for a facile application of microRNA detection. It is fabricated by the lamping process and packaged in a quartz tube to eliminate human negligence. In addition, silanization and electrostatic self-assembly are employed to bind gold nanoparticles and miRNA-133a probe onto the silicon dioxide of the fiber surface. For Mahlavu of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), detection is determined by the wavelength shift and transmission loss of a U-shaped optical fiber biosensor. The spectral sensitivity of wavelength and their coefficient of determination are found at −218.319 nm/ ng/mL and 0.839, respectively. Concurrently, the sensitivity of transmission loss and their coefficient of determination are found at 162.394 dB/ ng/mL and 0.984, respectively. A method for estimating the limit of detection of Mahlavu is at 0.0133 ng/mL. The results show that the proposed U-shaped biosensor is highly specific to miRNA-133a and possesses good sensitivity to variations in specimen concentration. As such, it could be of substantial value in microRNA detection.
SD-VIS: A Fast and Accurate Semi-Direct Monocular Visual-Inertial Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM)
Authors: Liu Quanpan , Wang Zhengjie , Wang Huan
Published: March 2020

In practical applications, how to achieve a perfect balance between high accuracy and computational efficiency can be the main challenge for simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). To solve this challenge, we propose SD-VIS, a novel fast and accurate semi-direct visual-inertial SLAM framework, which can estimate camera motion and structure of surrounding sparse scenes. In the initialization procedure, we align the pre-integrated IMU measurements and visual images and calibrate out the metric scale, initial velocity, gravity vector, and gyroscope bias by using multiple view geometry (MVG) theory based on the feature-based method. At the front-end, keyframes are tracked by feature-based method and used for back-end optimization and loop closure detection, while non-keyframes are utilized for fast-tracking by direct method. This strategy makes the system not only have the better real-time performance of direct method, but also have high accuracy and loop closing detection ability based on feature-based method. At the back-end, we propose a sliding window-based tightly-coupled optimization framework, which can get more accurate state estimation by minimizing the visual and IMU measurement errors. In order to limit the computational complexity, we adopt the marginalization strategy to fix the number of keyframes in the sliding window. Experimental evaluation on EuRoC dataset demonstrates the feasibility and superior real-time performance of SD-VIS. Compared with state-of-the-art SLAM systems, we can achieve a better balance between accuracy and speed.
Flow Field Perception of a Moving Carrier Based on an Artificial Lateral Line System
Authors: Liu Guijie , Hao Huanhuan , Yang Tingting , Liu Shuikuan , Wang Mengmeng , Incecik Atilla , Li Zhixiong
Published: March 2020

At present, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) cannot perceive local environments in complex marine environments, where fish can obtain hydrodynamic information about the surrounding environment through a lateral line. Inspired by this biological function, an artificial lateral line system (ALLS) was built on a moving bionic carrier using the pressure sensor in this paper. When the carrier operated with different speeds in the flow field, the pressure distribution characteristics surrounding the carrier were analyzed by numerical simulation, where the effect of the flow angle between the fluid velocity direction and the carrier navigation direction was considered. The flume experiment was carried out in accordance with the simulation conditions, and the analysis results of the experiment were consistent with those in the simulation. The relationship between pressure and fluid velocity was established by a fitting method. Subsequently, the pressure difference method was investigated to establish a relationship model between the pressure difference on both sides of the carrier and the flow angle. Finally, a back propagation neural network model was used to predict the fluid velocity, flow angle, and carrier speed successfully in the unknown fluid environment. The local fluid environment perception by moving carrier carrying ALLS was studied which may promote the engineering application of the artificial lateral line in the local perception, positioning, and navigation on AUVs.
Multiuser Chirp Spread Spectrum Transmission in an Underwater Acoustic Channel Applied to an AUV Fleet
Authors: Bernard Christophe , Bouvet Pierre-Jean , Pottier Antony , Forjonel Philippe
Published: March 2020

The objective of this paper is to provide a multiuser transmission technique for underwater acoustic communication in the framework of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) fleet. By using a variant of a Hyperbolically Frequency-Modulated (HFM) signal, we describe a new family of transmission techniques called MultiUser Chirp Spread Spectrum (MU-CSS), which allows a very simple matched-filter-based decoding. These techniques are expected to provide good resilience against multiuser interference while keeping good robustness to Underwater Acoustic (UWA) channel impairments like Doppler shift. Their implementation for the UWA scenario is described, and the performance results over a simulated shallow-water UWA channel are analyzed and compared against conventional Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and Time-Division Multiple Access (TDMA) transmission. Finally, the feasibility and robustness of the proposed methods are verified over the underWater AcousTic channEl Replay benchMARK (Watermark), fed by several channel responses from sounding experiments performed in a lake.
Using Class-Specific Feature Selection for Cancer Detection with Gene Expression Profile Data of Platelets
Authors: Yuan Lei-ming , Sun Yiye , Huang Guangzao
Published: March 2020

A novel multi-classification method, which integrates the elastic net and probabilistic support vector machine, was proposed to solve this problem in cancer detection with gene expression profile data of platelets, whose problems mainly are a kind of multi-class classification problem with high dimension, small samples, and collinear data. The strategy of one-against-all (OVA) was employed to decompose the multi-classification problem into a series of binary classification problems. The elastic net was used to select class-specific features for the binary classification problems, and the probabilistic support vector machine was used to make the outputs of the binary classifiers with class-specific features comparable. Simulation data and gene expression profile data were intended to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. Results indicate that the proposed method can automatically select class-specific features and obtain better performance of classification than that of the conventional multi-class classification methods, which are mainly based on global feature selection methods. This study indicates the proposed method is suitable for general multi-classification problems featured with high-dimension, small samples, and collinear data.
On Some Test Statistics for Testing the Regression Coefficients in Presence of Multicollinearity: A Simulation Study
Authors: Perez-Melo Sergio , Kibria B. M. Golam
Published: March 2020

Ridge regression is a popular method to solve the multicollinearity problem for both linear and non-linear regression models. This paper studied forty different ridge regression t-type tests of the individual coefficients of a linear regression model. A simulation study was conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed tests with respect to their empirical sizes and powers under different settings. Our simulation results demonstrated that many of the proposed tests have type I error rates close to the 5% nominal level and, among those, all tests except one have considerable gain in powers over the standard ordinary least squares (OLS) t-type test. It was observed from our simulation results that seven tests based on some ridge estimators performed better than the rest in terms of achieving higher power gains while maintaining a 5% nominal size.
I Am a Leader, I Am a Mother, I Can Do This! The Moderated Mediation of Psychological Capital, Work–Family Conflict, and Having Children on Well-Being of Women Leaders
Authors: Machín-Rincón Laritza , Cifre Eva , Domínguez-Castillo Pilar , Segovia-Pérez Mónica
Published: March 2020

Gender equality is one of the Sustainable Development Goals. Management is one of the jobs that more clearly needs a gender perspective. Women leaders have found a way around the labyrinth to get to the top, which might have developed their personal resources such as psychological capital. Women leaders experience an inter-role conflict when work and family demands are mutually incompatible, affecting negatively their well-being. This study aims to analyze the mediation role that work–family and family–work conflict plays between psychological capital and well-being (engagement and burnout) when moderated by the number of children. In total, 202 Spanish women leaders participated in the study. Results of the mediated moderation model using Model 14 of the macro PROCESS for SPSS software show that psychological capital buffers the negative effects that experiencing work–family conflict has on well-being when having children. The well-being of women leaders is not affected when dealing with family interfering work conflict and having children. As such, women leaders who have children rely on their psychological capital to successfully manage the family demands affecting their work and to reduce the negative effect of work–family conflict on their well-being. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed from the psychology of a sustainability perspective.
The Effect of Structured Feedback on Performance: the Role of Attitude and Perceived Usefulness
Authors: Cheah Sarah , Li Shiyu
Published: March 2020

In higher education, university students need to be equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills for their future workplace. Companies provide opportunities for students to participate as trainee consultants in innovation-related projects as a form of experiential learning. We designed a quasi-experimental study to investigate how supervisors’ structured feedback can influence students’ learning and project performance. We recruited 28 business school final year undergraduates who formed teams of four students either by themselves or with the help of the school. We randomly assigned three teams with 12 students to the treatment group and four teams of 16 students to the control group. In the treatment group, company supervisors were asked to provide structured written feedback for the treatment group using structured feedback forms, which focus students’ attention on task level, process level, and self-regulation level at three project milestone stages. In the control group, students received feedback from company supervisors without any feedback form. At the end of this project, a survey was conducted to measure students’ attitudes toward feedback in supporting learning and their perceived usefulness of company supervisors’ feedback. The results show that company supervisors’ structured feedback positively affected students’ overall project performance in presentation and report, and students’ positive attitudes toward feedback and perceived usefulness of company supervisor’s structured feedback are positively related to students’ report performance.
Psychometric Properties, Measurement Invariance, and Construct Validity of the Italian Version of the Brand Hate Short Scale (BHS)
Authors: Platania Silvia , Morando Martina , Santisi Giuseppe
Published: March 2020

Brand hate can be defined as the consumer’s dissatisfaction with the product or service performance. The consumer’s hatred of the brand is related to the desire for revenge and avoidance. This kind of emotion does not remain only a desire; it is often transformed into real actions that lead to consumer behavior. Although the analysis of the literature provides useful insights and interesting suggestions about the phenomenon of brand hate, to date, very few studies and scales that are capable of measuring this phenomenon have been developed, especially in the Italian context. The present work investigated the psychometric properties of an Italian adaptation of the BHSs (N = 422) with the aim of verifying the same factor structure found in the original German version. Results confirmed a one-factor structure (first order, 6 items). Moreover, the scale was found to be invariant across gender. This suggests that companies must first have adequate systems and mechanisms in place to understand the reasons that drive consumers to hate the brand and implement recovery strategies to address this hatred. The achievement of sustainability or failure to do so can add to or detract from a brand’s value in the marketplace.
Facilitating the Participation of Children with Disabilities in Early Childhood Development Centres in Malawi: Developing a Sustainable Staff Training Programme
Authors: Soni Anita , Lynch Paul , McLinden Mike , Mbukwa-Ngwira Jenipher , Mankhwazi Mika , Jolley Emma , Virendrakumar Bhavisha , Bedford Juliet , Gercama Ingrid
Published: March 2020

This article explores the development of a sustainable training programme supporting the inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood, education and care (ECEC) centres in Malawi. This programme is based on a review of literature of curriculum, pedagogy and teaching approaches in ECEC in sub-Saharan Africa, alongside a review of national policy documents. The training was designed to enable staff to value the inclusion of children with disabilities in ECEC centres, as well as suggesting practical ways to do so. We set out our response to the gap in training of ECEC staff through the development of a supplementary integrated training programme, which, whilst respectful of the curriculum, policy and practice of Malawi, challenged staff to consider ways of including children with disabilities (CWD) and their families. We suggest this is a pragmatic and sustainable model that could be applied to training in other ECEC settings across the region in sub-Saharan Africa. It concludes with guiding principles for training those working in ECEC with young children with disabilities in low-income countries.
Effect of Street Canyon Shape and Tree Layout on Pollutant Diffusion under Real Tree Model
Authors: Wang Le , Su Junwei , Gu Zhaolin , Shui Qingxiang
Published: March 2020

Trees have a significant impact on the airflow and pollutant diffusion in the street canyon and are directly related to the comfort and health of residents. In this paper, OpenFOAM is used for simulating the airflow and pollutant diffusion in the street canyon at different height–width ratios and tree layouts. Different from the drag source model in the previous numerical simulation, this study focuses on the characterization of the blocking effect of tree branches on airflow by using more precise and real tree models. It is found that the airflow is blocked by the tree branches in the canopy, resulting in slower airflow and varying velocity direction; the air flows in the pore area between trees more easily, and the vortex centers are different in cases where the street canyon shape and tree layout are different. Low-velocity airflow distributes around and between two tree canopies, especially under the influence of two trees with different spacing. At the height of the pedestrian, the tree branches change the vortex structure of airflow, and thereby high pollutant concentration distribution on both sides of the bottom of the leeward side of the street canyon changes constantly. In the street canyon, the small change in tree spacing has a very limited influence on the pollutant concentration. The street canyon has the lowest average pollutant concentration at the largest y-axis direction spacing between two trees.
Modeling the Socioeconomic Metabolism of End-of-Life Tires Using Structural Equations: A Brazilian Case Study
Authors: Bittencourt Euclides Santos , Fontes Cristiano Hora de Oliveira , Rodriguez Jorge Laureano Moya , Filho Salvador Ávila , Ferreira Adonias Magdiel Silva
Published: March 2020

Socioeconomic metabolism (SEM) is the exchange of materials and energy between society and the environment involving the social, economic and environmental sectors. In this paper, a boundary was defined between the economic (consumption) and environmental (waste recovery) limits in a city of 300,000 inhabitants in relation to the circulation (generation, reuse and disposal) of end-of-life tires (ELTs). The objective was to elaborate a theoretical structural model to evaluate the socioeconomic metabolism of waste (SEMw) by means of technical constructs (direct material flows (DMF), reverse material flows (RMF), socioeconomic environment (SEF) and sociodemographic factors (SDF)). Structural Equation Modeling (SEMm) was performed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (SmartPLS) software. The results obtained from the hypotheses show the causal relationships between the technical and social constructs and suggest guidelines for supporting the planning and management of urban solid waste in the collection and final disposal of ELTs. The processed information also contributes to the analysis of the city’s socioeconomic scenarios in relation to the disposal of ELTs. One of the hypotheses tested (RMF have a direct effect on SEMw) shows the importance of managing ELTs through the correct final disposal of waste and recycling. SEMw was evaluated from the perception of the local society and it is concluded that it is possible to plan public policies to avoid the formation of waste inventory in the city.
Environmentally Responsible Behavior and Sustainability Policy Adoption in Green Public Procurement
Authors: Lăzăroiu George , Ionescu Luminița , Uță Cristian , Hurloiu Iulian , Andronie Mihai , Dijmărescu Irina
Published: March 2020

Research has identified that there is a paucity of reviews covering green public procurement (GPP) in terms of environmentally responsible behavior and sustainability policy adoption. Using, comprehensively, the most recent (2017–2020) and relevant (Web of Science- and Scopus-indexed) empirical sources, our paper fills the gap in the literature by focusing on the main developing streams of research, that is: How GPP drives the circular economy; GPP of construction and building materials; environmental and supply chain management measures in GPP; the procurement of sustainable innovation; environmental policy objectives of GPP as regards energy, pollution, carbon footprint, and climate change; GPP as an environmental policy mechanism for production and use of sustainable goods and services; and GPP as an integral component of sustainable development and performance. Further investigations can explore hot topics related to the role of GPP in the automated algorithmic decision-making processes taking place in data-driven smart sustainable cities because the harnessing, among other things, of sensing and computing technologies, network connectivity systems, and the Cognitive Internet of Things will fulfill the incessant exigencies of public administration.
Pathways between Ability Emotional Intelligence and Subjective Well-Being: Bridging Links through Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies
Authors: Extremera Natalio , Sánchez-Álvarez Nicolás , Rey Lourdes
Published: March 2020

Based on a primary prevention perspective, the main purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between ability emotional intelligence, cognitive emotion regulation strategies, and well-being indicators (e.g., psychological well-being and satisfaction with life), controlling for sociodemographic variables and personality traits in our analyses. Three hundred and seventy-eight college students (123 males; 252 females; 3 unreported) participated voluntarily in this study. We predicted that ability emotional intelligence would be significantly and positively correlated with well-being outcomes, and that cognitive emotion regulation strategies would mediate the associations between ability emotional intelligence and well-being, controlling for sociodemographic and personality traits. Structural equation modelling estimated by bootstrap method indicated that two adaptive cognitive coping strategies were found to act as partial mediators between ability emotional intelligence and well-being indicators. Our findings provide preliminary support for theoretical work linking ability emotional intelligence, cognitive emotion regulation strategies, and well-being outcomes, and contribute to the understanding of how ability emotional intelligence is related to subjective well-being via specific cognitive emotion regulation strategies in college students.
Gender Diversity in Spanish Banks: Trickle-Down and Productivity Effects
Authors: Delgado-Piña María Isabel , Rodríguez-Ruiz Óscar , Rodríguez-Duarte Antonio , Sastre-Castillo Miguel Ángel
Published: March 2020

The study of the gender composition of top management and its impact for organizations has received increasing attention during recent decades. Despite this, findings have been conflicting and few consistent conclusions have been reached. This paper uses panel data methods to study how the presence of women at the board of governance impacts gender diversity at different organizational levels in the Spanish banking sector. In addition, we explore the influence of female representation on employee productivity. Our findings show that the presence of one or two women at the board of directors benefits the advancement of women to managerial positions. We also identify a positive significant relationship between gender diversity at different organizational strata and productivity. The main conclusion of this research is that female representation at the board has relevant implications in terms of women being promoted and organizational outcomes. This contribution is relevant for both scholars and practitioners, as it explores the business case for gender diversity going beyond the upper echelons of organizations.
Human Activities Inducing High CH4 Diffusive Fluxes in an Agricultural River Catchment in Subtropical China
Authors: Wu Hongbao , Zhao Qiang , Gao Qingzhu , Li Yu’e , Wan Yunfan , Li Yong , Tian Di , Liao Yulin , Fan Meirong , Ganjurjav Hasbagan , Hu Guozheng , Wang Bin , Chen Xuan , Qin Xiaobo
Published: March 2020

Methane (CH4) is one of the key greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere with current concentration of 1859 ppb in 2017 due to climate change and anthropogenic activities. Rivers are of increasing concern due to sources of atmospheric CH4. However, knowledge and data limitations exist for field studies of subtropical agricultural river catchments, particularly in southern China. The headspace balance method and the diffusion model method were employed to assess spatiotemporal variations of CH4 diffusive fluxes from April 2015 to January 2016 in four order reaches (S1, S2, S3, and S4) of the Tuojia River, Hunan, China. Results indicated that both the dissolved concentrations and diffusive fluxes of CH4 showed obvious spatiotemporal variations. The observed mean concentration and diffusive flux of CH4 were 0.40 ± 0.02 μmol L−1 and 41.19 ± 2.50 µg m−2 h−1, respectively, showing the river to be a strong source of atmospheric CH4. The CH4 diffusive fluxes during the rice-growing seasons were significantly greater than the winter fallow season (an increase of 80.26%). The spatial distribution of CH4 diffusive fluxes increased gradually from (17.58 ± 1.42) to (55.56 ± 4.32) µg m−2 h−1 due to the organic and nutrient loading into the river waterbodies, with the maximum value at location S2 and the minimum value at location S1. Correlation analysis showed that the CH4 diffusive fluxes exhibited a positive relationship with the dissolved organic carbon (DOC), salinity, and water temperature (WT), while a negative correlation occurred between CH4 diffusive fluxes and the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration, as well as the pH value. Our findings highlighted that a good understanding of exogenous nutrient loading in agricultural catchments will clarify the influence of human activities on river water quality and then constrain the global CH4 budget.
An Exploratory Study of Users’ Preference for Different Planting Combinations along Rural Greenways
Authors: Fumagalli Natalia , Maccarini Matteo , Rovelli Roberto , Berto Rita , Senes Giulio
Published: March 2020

The literature highlights the importance of vegetation to enhance the ecological and visual qualities of streets and paths; however, when studies specifically focus on rural greenways they do not consider users’ assessments of the planting design. This exploratory study aims to contribute to this issue. It is hypothesized that planting combinations characterized by greater variety and aesthetic flow may be more preferred and restorative. To this end, four virtual scenarios simulating bikers moving along a greenway at 25 km/h were created to find out the following: first, what kind of planting combination is the most preferred, and second, which planting combination is perceived as the most restorative by bicycle riders. To assess the experience, subjects were administered a questionnaire made up of: (i) the Perceived Restorativeness Scale-11 with additional items to assess compatibility, familiarity, and preference; (ii) a list of physical and aesthetic attributes; and (iii) information on bicycle use. The results show that participants’ preferences were affected by the perception of the scenario’s restorative value, which was not given exclusively by the degree of naturalness, but by the opportunity the greenway offered to engage in social/physical activities. This study shows that preference and restorativeness are not a “simple” matter of quantity of vegetation, but of quality instead, i.e., planting variety. Designers have to consider that the restorative value of greenways is related to the opportunities they offer to engage in physical/social activities.
Presumed Effects of “Fake News” on the Global Warming Discussion in a Cross-Cultural Context
Authors: Hong Seong Choul
Published: March 2020

“Fake news” on global warming is widely disseminated via social and partisan media. Scientists worry about its effect, because fake news may hurt public support and change policy on climate change. The current study tested the roles of cultural constructs (individualism, collectivism, and uncertainty-avoidance) in predicting the presumed effect of fake news on global warming. Based on 770 answers in four countries, the study found that individualism and collectivism influenced the presumed media effect on others and the third-person effect (self-other disparity of media effect). Moreover, the presumed media effect contributed to both preventive actions such as support for regulation on fake news and corrective actions such as a willingness to donate money. Likewise, the study found that collectivism positively predicted a willingness to donate money, while uncertainty-avoidance predicted support for regulation.
Response of Bacterial Community Structure to Different Biochar Addition Dosages in Karst Yellow Soil Planted with Ryegrass and Daylily
Authors: Luo Songping , He Binghui , Song Dandan , Li Tianyang , Wu Yaopeng , Yang Lei
Published: March 2020

Biochar has been widely used to ameliorate soil quality and increase crop productivity through enhancement of nutrient availability and microbial community. The Karst yellow soil in China is characterized by severe soil degradation owing to intensive nutrient leaching. However, the biochar addition effects on the changes of Karst yellow soil are unclear, and the adequate number of biochar dosages to explain optimum of plant growth in this soil area remains poorly understood. In this study, pot experiments were conducted to examine the effects of biochar addition (1%, 3%, 5%, 7%, and 9% by weight; 0% as a control) on bacterial abundance and community structure via high-throughput sequencing coupled with bioinformatics methods applied to Karst yellow soil with planting ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) and daylily (Hemerocallis fulva). After adding biochar for 188 days, significantly increased pH, soil organic matter, total nutrient contents, and bacterial abundance, but decreased available nitrogen, were observed. Changed bacterial community structures were found in biochar treatments compared with those without biochar. In both soils of planted ryegrass and daylily, the optimum soil bacterial abundance was found in 7% biochar dosage, but the lowest values were in the controls (0%). Taxonomic analysis identified that Micrococcaceae (24.53%), Oxalobacteraceae (11.87%), and Nocardioidaceae (7.89%) were the dominant family in the soil of ryegrass growth, and Micrococcaceae (16.20%), Xanthomonadaceae (6.94%), and Nocardioidaceae (6.41%) were the dominant family in soil of daylily growth. Canonical correspondence analysis showed that the alterations of soil bacterial abundance and community were highly interrelated with soil chemical properties. The results provided a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying the plant-soil microbe interactions and their responses to biochar dosages in low fertility soil regions.
Development and Prospect of Food Security Cooperation in the BRICS Countries
Authors: Ren Yufeng , Li Zhemin , Wang Yuting , Zhang Tianyu
Published: March 2020

In recent years, the international status of agriculture in the BRICS countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa—has been continuously improved. In 2018, the gross agricultural production of the BRICS countries accounted for more than 50% of the world’s total. Further strengthening the developing cooperation of the BRICS countries is of great significance for ensuring global food security. Based on the data from FAOSTAT and UN Comtrade Database, this study builds a food self-sufficiency rate and food security cooperation potential index to quantitatively analyze the food security status, cooperation effectiveness, and future trends of the BRICS countries. The study finds that the overall food security of the BRICS countries is generally showing a trend of volatility and growth, with high rates for cereals and relatively low rates for fresh products. In the future, BRICS food security cooperation should be based on their own resource endowment and socioeconomic characteristics. The BRICS countries need to constantly improve the awareness of joint cooperation and action in the future, focusing on scientific and technological cooperation, information sharing, complementary advantages in trade, and improving the global competitiveness of products. With the help of agricultural science and technology, Brazil is growing as a strong export country of food products. Russia needs to increase the introduction of agricultural science and technology and foreign capital to give full play to its resource advantages. India can improve its food self-sufficiency faster by the construction of a BRICS Agricultural Research Platform. China makes full use of BRICS resources, actively promotes agricultural enterprises to go global, and constantly optimizes the food supply structure. South Africa maintains the advantages of fruit and vegetable industry and increases the introduction and promotion of agricultural science and technology to improve the domestic food production capacity.
Management Accounting Systems, Top Management Teams, and Sustainable Knowledge Acquisition: Effects on Performance
Authors: Ugalde Vásquez Andrés F. , Naranjo-Gil David
Published: March 2020

Organizations are increasingly aware of the importance of managing the acquisition processes of new and sustainable knowledge, which allows them to increase performance. These knowledge-acquisition processes require top management teams to focus on the external environment to search for sustainable opportunities and initiatives. This spurs top teams to make strategic decisions that require more comprehensive managerial information, which is provided by management accounting systems. Our research analyzes how top management team composition facilitates the acquisition of new knowledge. Our management accounting paper also analyzes the mediating effect of the interactive use of management accounting systems (MASs) and their impact on sustainable firm performance. A survey was conducted among the main manufacturer firms in the Republic of Ecuador. Results were analyzed by using the partial least squares methodology, and they showed a positive effect for the interactive use of management accounting systems on sustainable knowledge-acquisition processes. Results also showed that knowledge acquisition increased firm performance through an interactive use of MASs.
Optimization Design of X-ray Conveyer Belt Length for Subway Security Check Systems in Beijing, China
Authors: Wei Zhonghua , Chu Sinan , Huang Zhengde , Qiu Shi , Zhao Qixuan
Published: March 2020

The frequent terrorist attacks in subways has dramatically increased the necessity and importance of security check systems (SCSs). The implementation of a SCS in China has successfully eliminated lots of potential safety hazards. However, the excessive waiting time due to the SCS is also an issue. SCS efficiency is greatly affected by the length of the conveyer belt of the X-ray machine (CBXM). A scheme for optimizing the CBXM length to accommodate different passenger flows is proposed in this paper. A modeling framework is developed for associating the CBXM length with the queuing waiting time based on a M/M/1/N queuing model. The optimal scheme of CBXM length calculated from the model demonstrates that the passenger queuing time is saved by 15.7%, 16.0%, and 23.3% with the passenger arrival rate of 4000, 5000, and 6000, respectively, greatly reducing queuing crowdedness. The scheme can be used to select X-ray machines for subway stations by their passenger arrival rates. In addition, the findings of this paper could be a crucial supplement and perfect the design code of subway SCSs.
Examining Luxury Restaurant Dining Experience towards Sustainable Reputation of the Michelin Restaurant Guide
Authors: Kiatkawsin Kiattipoom , Sutherland Ian
Published: March 2020

The study aims to investigate the formation of customer loyalty among luxury restaurant patrons in Korea. Moreover, the study investigated how the restaurants’ performance could contribute to the trust and sustainability of the Michelin restaurant guide’s reputation. The study identified meal experience, brand credibility, and brand love to influence customers’ revisit intention and willingness to pay a premium. The study surveyed 400 luxury restaurant patrons in Korea. The Michelin restaurant guide was used to classify fine dining restaurants. Measurement items from previously validated studies were adopted. The results of the study showed the meal experience scale satisfactorily measures service performance and leads to the formation of brand credibility. Subsequently, brand prestige and brand love significantly predicted customers’ loyalty intentions. Additionally, brand credibility helps form the trust of the Michelin guide and eventually predicts the long-term reputation of the guide.
Access to ICT in Poland and the Co-Creation of Urban Space in the Process of Modern Social Participation in a Smart City—A Case Study
Authors: Szarek-Iwaniuk Patrycja , Senetra Adam
Published: March 2020

A smart city is one of the latest concepts in the development of modern cities. It has evolved from the foregoing smart cities 1.0 and 2.0 to the smart city 3.0, where members of the local community play the main role as not only the recipients of the introduced changes and modern technology, but also as the creators of urban space. One of the goals of a smart city 3.0 is to promote sustainable urban development by improving the quality of life, enhancing social participation, and involving local community members in planning and decision-making processes. This study set out to determine the role and significance of e-participation methods in the smart city concept. The results of questionnaires exploring the importance of e-participation in urban development are presented. The paper also discusses changes in the availability of information and communication technologies (ICT) in Poland. The secondary goal was to present the geo-questionnaire and Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) as modern research tools. Internet tools based on geoinformation systems have considerable potential for mobilizing social participation in spatial planning (Public Participation GIS). The present study postulates the need for modern social participation methods in shaping urban space and promoting the sustainable development of cities. The study highlights the main challenges in the research process. The cooperation between the authorities and the citizens contributes to the development of a civil society, informed decision-making, social involvement in public life, and more effective governance at the local, regional, and national level. Measures that foster cooperation between the authorities and local communities, the use of information and communication technologies (ICT), and growing social awareness and social participation in managing development are the components of a modern smart city and the building blocks of an e-society. The study also revealed positive changes in access to ICT and their contribution to bridging the digital divide in Poland. Higher levels of social awareness regarding participation and e-participation promote the growth of smart cities.
Mapping Cultural Ecosystem Services Enables Better Informed Nature Protection and Landscape Management
Authors: Vrbičanová Gréta , Kaisová Dominika , Močko Matej , Petrovič František , Mederly Peter
Published: March 2020

Cultural ecosystem services (CES) have specific richness and diversity provision patterns related to particular landscape features and land cover forms. Studies of their spatial distribution, however, are quite rare in the Slovak Republic and surrounding countries. This paper links land cover information based on an ecosystem services (ES) matrix, field survey data and GIS method to assess CES supply in two selected Slovak regions. Our main focus is on the ecologically more valuable ‘hot-spots’ where socio-cultural values accumulate. We determined their spatial distribution, and our comparison with lower cultural value areas confirmed that mountainous landscapes have the highest capacity to provide CES. This especially applies to the landscapes under National Park protection. While Slovak forests, rocks and water areas also form essential ecosystems for overall CES provision, the lowest overall capacity is in areas with residential buildings, construction, industrial and other artificial habitats. Finally, a comparison of our results with the National Ecosystem Assessment indicates that our detailed CES assessment will be more effective in supporting future participatory planning and management processes.