bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ultrasonic Bonding of Multi-Layered Foil Using a Cylindrical Surface Tool
Authors: Arimoto Keisuke , Sasaki Tomohiro , Doi Yuhei , Kim Taewon
Published: April 2019

A cylindrical tool was applied for ultrasonic bonding of multi-layered copper foil and a copper sheet to prevent damage to the foil during bonding. The strength of the joints bonded with the cylindrical tool was comparable to that of the joints bonded with a conventional knurled tool. The effect of the cylindrical surface tool on bondability was investigated thorough relative motion behaviors between the tool surface and the bonding materials, as well as on bond microstructure evolution. The relative motion was visualized with in-situ observation using a high-speed camera and digital image correlation. At shorter bonding times, relative motions occurred at the bonding interfaces of the foil and the copper sheet. Thereafter, the relative motion between the tool and the bonding material became predominant owing to bond formation at the bonding interface, resulting in a macroscopic plastic flow in the bonded region. This relative motion damaged the foil in knurled tool bonding, and the cylindrical tool achieved bonding without any damage.
Advanced Strategies for Food-Grade Protein Production: A New E. coli/Lactic Acid Bacteria Shuttle Vector for Improved Cloning and Food-Grade Expression
Authors: Tagliavia Marcello , Nicosia Aldo
Published: April 2019

Food-grade production of recombinant proteins in Gram-positive bacteria, especially in LAB (i.e., Lactococcus, Lactobacillus, and Streptococcus), is of great interest in the areas of recombinant enzyme production, industrial food fermentation, gene and metabolic engineering, as well as antigen delivery for oral vaccination. Food-grade expression relies on hosts generally considered as safe organisms and on clone selection not dependent on antibiotic markers, which limit the overall DNA manipulation workflow, as it can be carried out only in the expression host and not in E. coli. Moreover, many commercial expression vectors lack useful elements for protein purification. We constructed a “shuttle” vector containing a removable selective marker, which allows feasible cloning steps in E. coli and subsequent protein expression in LAB. In fact, the cassette can be easily excised from the selected recombinant plasmid, and the resulting marker-free vector transformed into the final LAB host. Further useful elements, as improved MCS, 6xHis-Tag, and thrombin cleavage site sequences were introduced. The resulting vector allows easy cloning in E. coli, can be quickly converted in a food-grade expression vector and harbors additional elements for improved recombinant protein purification. Overall, such features make the new vector an improved tool for food-grade expression.
Tannic Acid-Mediated Aggregate Stabilization of Poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone)-b-poly(oligo (ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate) Double Hydrophilic Block Copolymers
Authors: Al Nakeeb Noah , Nischang Ivo , Schmidt Bernhard V.K.J.
Published: April 2019

The self-assembly of block copolymers in aqueous solution is an important field in modern polymer science that has been extended to double hydrophilic block copolymers (DHBC) in recent years. In here, a significant improvement of the self-assembly process of DHBC in aqueous solution by utilizing a linear-brush macromolecular architecture is presented. The improved self-assembly behavior of poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone)-b-poly(oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate) (PVP-b-P(OEGMA)) and its concentration dependency is investigated via dynamic light scattering (DLS) (apparent hydrodynamic radii ≈ 100–120 nm). Moreover, the DHBC assemblies can be non-covalently crosslinked with tannic acid via hydrogen bonding, which leads to the formation of small aggregates as well (apparent hydrodynamic radius ≈ 15 nm). Non-covalent crosslinking improves the self-assembly and stabilizes the aggregates upon dilution, reducing the concentration dependency of aggregate self-assembly. Additionally, the non-covalent aggregates can be disassembled in basic media. The presence of aggregates was studied via cryogenic scanning electron microscopy (cryo-SEM) and DLS before and after non-covalent crosslinking. Furthermore, analytical ultracentrifugation of the formed aggregate structures was performed, clearly showing the existence of polymer assemblies, particularly after non-covalent crosslinking. In summary, we report on the completely hydrophilic self-assembled structures in solution formed from fully biocompatible building entities in water.
1H-NMR Metabolite Fingerprinting Analysis Reveals a Disease Biomarker and a Field Treatment Response in Xylella fastidiosa subsp. pauca-Infected Olive Trees
Authors: Girelli Chiara Roberta , Angilè Federica , Del Coco Laura , Migoni Danilo , Zampella Luigi , Marcelletti Simone , Cristella Nicola , Marangi Paolo , Scortichini Marco , Fanizzi Francesco Paolo
Published: April 2019

Xylella fastidiosa subsp. pauca is a xylem-limited bacterial phytopathogen currently found associated on many hectares with the “olive quick decline syndrome” in the Apulia region (Southern Italy), and the cultivars Ogliarola salentina and Cellina di Nardò result in being particularly sensitive to the disease. In order to find compounds showing the capability of reducing the population cell density of the pathogen within the leaves, we tested, in some olive orchards naturally-infected by the bacterium, a zinc-copper-citric acid biocomplex, namely Dentamet®, by spraying it to the crown, once per month, during spring and summer. The occurrence of the pathogen in the four olive orchards chosen for the trial was molecularly assessed. A 1H NMR metabolomic approach, in conjunction with a multivariate statistical analysis, was applied to investigate the metabolic pattern of both infected and treated adult olive cultivars, Ogliarola salentina and Cellina di Nardò trees, in two sampling periods, performed during the first year of the trial. For both cultivars and sampling periods, the orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) gave good models of separation according to the treatment application. In both cultivars, some metabolites such as quinic acid, the aldehydic form of oleoeuropein, ligstroside and phenolic compounds, were consistently found as discriminative for the untreated olive trees in comparison with the Dentamet®-treated trees. Quinic acid, a precursor of lignin, was confirmed as a disease biomarker for the olive trees infected by X. fastidiosa subsp. pauca. When treated with Dentamet®, the two cultivars showed a distinct response. A consistent increase in malic acid was observed for the Ogliarola salentina trees, whereas in the Cellina di Nardò trees the treatments attenuate the metabolic response to the infection. To note that in Cellina di Nardò trees at the first sampling, an increase in γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) was observed. This study highlights how the infection incited by X. fastidiosa subsp. pauca strongly modifies the overall metabolism of olive trees, and how a zinc-copper-citric acid biocomplex can induce an early re-programming of the metabolic pathways in the infected trees.
Synthesis and Characterization of Natural Extracted Precursor Date Palm Fibre-Based Activated Carbon for Aluminum Removal by RSM Optimization
Authors: O. Basheer Alfarooq , M. Hanafiah Marlia , Abdulhakim Alsaadi Mohammed , Al-Douri Y. , Malek M.A. , Mohammed Aljumaily Mustafa , Saadi Fiyadh Seef
Published: April 2019

The Powder-Activated Carbon (PAC) under optimum conditions from a new low-cost precursor Date Palm Fibre (DPF) biomass through a carbonization followed by KOH activation has been synthesized by response surface methodology (RSM) combined with central composite design (CCD). The special effects of activation temperature, time, and impregnation ratio on bio-PAC Aluminum (Al3+) removal and uptake capacity were examined. The optimum conditions for synthesized bio-PAC were found to be 99.4% and 9.94 mg·g−1 for Al3+ removal and uptake capacity, respectively at activation temperature 650 °C, activation time 1h and impregnation ratio 1. The optimum bio-PAC was characterized and analyzed using FESEM, FTIR, XRD, TGA, BET, and Zeta potential. RSM-CCD experimental design was used to optimize removal and uptake capacity of Al3+ on bio-PAC. Optimum conditions were found to be at bio-PAC dose of 5 mg with pH 9.48 and contact time of 117 min. Furthermore, at optimized conditions of Al3+ removal, kinetic, and isotherm models were investigated. The results reveal the feasibility of DPF biomass to be used as a potential and cost-effective precursor for synthesized bio-PAC for Al3+ removal.
Change Detection of Optical Remote Sensing Image Disturbed by Thin Cloud Using Wavelet Coefficient Substitution Algorithm
Authors: Yang Xiaoqian , Jia Zhenhong , Yang Jie , Kasabov Nikola
Published: April 2019

The detection of changes in optical remote sensing images under the interference of thin clouds is studied for the first time in this paper. First, the optical remote sensing image is subjected to thin cloud removal processing, and then the processed remote sensing image is subjected to image change detection. Based on the analysis of the characteristics of thin cloud images, a method for removing thin clouds based on wavelet coefficient substitution is proposed in this paper. Based on the change in the wavelet coefficient, the high- and low-frequency parts of the remote sensing image are replaced separately, and the low-frequency clouds are suppressed while maintaining the high-frequency detail of the image, which achieves good results. Then, an unsupervised change detection algorithm based on a combined difference graph and fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm (FCM) clustering is applied. First, the image is transformed into a logarithmic domain, and the image is denoised using Frost filtering. Then, the mean ratio method and the difference method are used to obtain two graph difference maps, and the combined difference graph method is used to obtain the final difference image. The experimental results show that the algorithm can effectively solve the problem of image change detection under thin cloud interference.
Optimal Path Planning for Selective Waste Collection in Smart Cities
Authors: Bueno-Delgado María-Victoria , Romero-Gázquez José-Luis , Jiménez Pilar , Pavón-Mariño Pablo
Published: April 2019

Waste collection is one of the targets of smart cities. It is a daily task in urban areas and it entails the planning of waste truck routes, taking into account environmental, economic and social factors. In this work, an optimal path planning algorithm has been developed together with a practical software platform for smart and sustainable cities that enables computing the optimal waste collection routes, minimizing the impact, both environmental (CO2 emissions and acoustic damage) and socioeconomic (number of trucks to be used and fuel consumption). The algorithm is executed in Net2Plan, an open-source planning tool, typically used for modeling and planning communication networks. Net2Plan facilitates the introduction of the city layout input information to the algorithm, automatically importing it from geographical information system (GIS) databases using the so-called Net2Plan-GIS library, which can also include positions of smart bins. The algorithm, Net2Plan tool and its extension are open-source, available in a public repository. A practical case in the city of Cartagena (Spain) is presented, where the optimal path planning for plastic waste collection is addressed. This work contributes to the urban mobility plans of smart cities and could be extended to other smart cities scenarios with requests of optimal path planning.
Visual IoT Security: Data Hiding in AMBTC Images Using Block-Wise Embedding Strategy
Authors: Lin Yu-Hsiu , Hsia Chih-Hsien , Chen Bo-Yan , Chen Yung-Yao
Published: April 2019

This study investigates combining the property of human vision system and a 2-phase data hiding strategy to improve the visual quality of data-embedded compressed images. The visual Internet of Things (IoT) is indispensable in smart cities, where different sources of visual data are collected for more efficient management. With the transmission through the public network, security issue becomes critical. Moreover, for the sake of increasing transmission efficiency, image compression is widely used. In order to respond to both needs, we present a novel data hiding scheme for image compression with Absolute Moment Block Truncation Coding (AMBTC). Embedding secure data in digital images has broad security uses, e.g., image authentication, prevention of forgery attacks, and intellectual property protection. The proposed method embeds data into an AMBTC block by two phases. In the intra-block embedding phase, a hidden function is proposed, where the five AMBTC parameters are extracted and manipulated to embed the secret data. In the inter-block embedding phase, the relevance of high mean and low mean values between adjacent blocks are exploited to embed additional secret data in a reversible way. Between these two embedding phases, a halftoning scheme called direct binary search is integrated to efficiently improve the image quality without changing the fixed parameters. The modulo operator is used for data extraction. The advantages of this study contain two aspects. First, data hiding is an essential area of research for increasing the IoT security. Second, hiding in compressed images instead of original images can improve the network transmission efficiency. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method.
Crack Detection of FRP-Reinforced Concrete Beam Using Embedded Piezoceramic Smart Aggregates
Authors: Jiang Tianyong , Hong Yue , Zheng Junbo , Wang Lei , Gu Haichang
Published: April 2019

In this paper, the authors present a stress wave-based active sensing method to detect the crack in FRP-reinforced concrete beams. The embedded smart aggregates (SAs), which utilize Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) as transducers, are employed in this research to generate and sense the stress wave. Three specimens are involved in the experimental program and each is made of concrete, longitudinal distributed reinforcement, steel stirrups, main bar (FRP bar or steel bar), and four SAs. A pair of SAs installed on the lower part of the main bar and the other pair of SAs mounted on the upper part of main bar are utilized to monitor the crack occurrence and development in the three test specimens. The signals received by the SA sensors are analyzed in both time domain and frequency domain. The wavelet packet energy is used to extract damage features. The applied load–vertical displacement curves of mid-span in the specimen are obtained. Experimental results show the test specimens experience crushing failure when the concrete compression exceeds its compressive strength. Increasing the contact area between FRP bar and concrete can effectively improve the cracking load of the FRP-reinforced concrete beam and reduce the cracking speed and depth of FRP-reinforced concrete beam; on the other hand, increasing the elastic modulus of the main bar can slow down the crack development of concrete on the upper side of the main bar and decrease the displacement of reinforced concrete beam during the loading test process. The research results show that the developed piezoceramic-based active sensing method, though low-cost, can monitor the crack-induced damage and estimate the process of damage degree in real-time, and has potentials to provide an early warning of crack occurrence and development for FRP-reinforced concrete beams.
Rapid Determination of Chlorogenic Acid, Luteoloside and 3,5-O-dicaffeoylquinic Acid in Chrysanthemum Using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy
Authors: Xia Zhengyan , Sun Yiming , Cai Chengyong , He Yong , Nie Pengcheng
Published: April 2019

The feasibility of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) to detect chlorogenic acid, luteoloside and 3,5-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid in Chrysanthemum was investigated. An NIR spectroradiometer was applied for data acquisition. The reference values of chlorogenic acid, luteoloside, and 3,5-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid of the samples were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and were used for model calibration. The results of six preprocessing methods were compared. To reduce input variables and collinearity problems, three methods for variable selection were compared, including successive projections algorithm (SPA), genetic algorithm-partial least squares regression (GA-PLS), and competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS). The selected variables were employed as the inputs of partial least square (PLS), back propagation-artificial neural networks (BP-ANN), and extreme learning machine (ELM) models. The best performance was achieved by BP-ANN models based on variables selected by CARS for all three chemical constituents. The values of rp2 (correlation coefficient of prediction) were 0.924, 0.927, 0.933, the values of RMSEP were 0.033, 0.018, 0.064 and the values of RPD were 3.667, 3.667, 2.891 for chlorogenic acid, luteoloside, and 3,5-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid, respectively. The results indicated that NIR spectroscopy combined with variables selection and multivariate calibration methods could be considered as a useful tool for rapid determination of chlorogenic acid, luteoloside, and 3,5-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid in Chrysanthemum.
CC-DTW: An Accurate Indoor Fingerprinting Localization Using Calibrated Channel State Information and Modified Dynamic Time Warping
Authors: Deng Zhongliang , Fu Xiao , Cheng Qianqian , Shi Lingjie , Liu Wen
Published: April 2019

Indoor wireless local area network (WLAN) based positioning technologies have boomed recently because of the huge demands of indoor location-based services (ILBS) and the wide deployment of commercial Wi-Fi devices. Channel state information (CSI) extracted from Wi-Fi signals could be calibrated and utilized as a fine-grained positioning feature for indoor fingerprinting localization. One of the main factors that would restrict the positioning accuracy of fingerprinting systems is the spatial resolution of fingerprints (SRF). This paper mainly focuses on the improvement of SRF for indoor CSI-based positioning and a calibrated CSI feature (CCF) with high SRF is established based on the preprocess of both measured amplitude and phase. In addition, a similarity calculation metric for the proposed CCF is designed based on modified dynamic time warping (MDTW). An indoor fingerprinting method based on CCF and MDTW, named CC-DTW, is then proposed to improve the positioning accuracy in indoors. Experiments are conducted in two indoor office testbeds, and the performances of the proposed CC-DTW, one time-reversal (TR) based approach and one Euclidean distance (ED) based approach are evaluated and discussed. The results show that the SRF of CC-DTW outperforms the TR-based one and the ED-based one in both two testbeds in terms of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve metric, and the area under curve (AUC) metric.
Research on GA-SVM Based Head-Motion Classification via Mechanomyography Feature Analysis
Authors: Zhang Yue , Yu Jing , Xia Chunming , Yang Ke , Cao Heng , Wu Qing
Published: April 2019

This study investigated classification of six types of head motions using mechanomyography (MMG) signals. An unequal segmenting algorithm was adopted to segment the MMG signals generated by head motions. Three types of features (time domain, time-frequency domain and nonlinear dynamics) were extracted to construct five feature sets as candidate datasets for classification analysis. Genetic algorithm optimized support vector machine (GA-SVM) was used to classify the MMG signals. Three different kernel functions, different combinations of feature sets, different number of signal channels and training samples were selected for comparative analysis to evaluate the classification accuracy. Experimental results showed that the classifier had the best overall classification accuracy when using the radial basis function (RBF). Any combination of three different types of feature sets guaranteed an average accuracy of over 80%. In the case of the best combination (feature set 2 + 3 + 5), the classification accuracy was up to 88.2%. Using four channels to acquire MMG signal and no less than 60 training samples can assure a satisfactory classification accuracy.
Integrated Airborne LiDAR Data and Imagery for Suburban Land Cover Classification Using Machine Learning Methods
Authors: Mo You , Zhong Ruofei , Sun Haili , Wu Qiong , Du Liming , Geng Yuxin , Cao Shisong
Published: April 2019

It is valuable to study the land use/land cover (LULC) classification for suburbs. The fusion of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data and aerial imagery is often regarded as an effective method for the LULC classification; however, more in-depth analysis would be required to explore effective information for enhancing the suburban LULC classification. In this study, first, both aerial imageries and point clouds were simultaneously collected. Then, LiDAR-derived models, i.e., normalized digital surface model (nDSM) and surface intensity model (IM), were generated from the elevation and intensity of point clouds. Further, considering the surface characteristics of ground objects in suburb, we proposed a new LiDAR-derived model, namely surface roughness model (RM), to reveal the degree of surface fluctuations. Additionally, various combinations of aerial imageries and the LiDAR-derived data were used to analyze the effects of multi-variable fusion under different scenarios and optimize the multi-variable integration for suburban LULC classification. The mean decrease impurity method was used to identify the importance of variables; three machine learning classifiers, i.e., random forest (RF), k-nearest neighbor (KNN) and artificial neural network (ANN) were adopted in various scenarios. The results were as follows. The fusion of aerial imagery and all the LiDAR-derived models, i.e., nDSM, RM and IM, with RF classifier performs best in the suburban LULC classification (overall accuracy = 84.75%, kappa coefficient = 0.80). Variable importance analysis shows that nDSM has the highest variable importance proportion (VIP) value, followed by RM, IM, and spectral information, indicating the feasibility of this proposed LiDAR-derived model-RM. This research presents effective methods relating to the application of aerial imagery and LiDAR-derived model for the complex suburban surface scenarios.
Performance Criteria for the Identification of Inertial Sensor Error Models
Authors: Stepanov Oleg , Motorin Andrei
Published: April 2019

This paper considers performance criteria for the identification of sensor error models and the procedure for their calculation. These criteria are used to investigate the efficiency of the identification problem solution, depending on the initial data, and to carry out a comparative analysis of various suboptimal algorithms. The calculation procedure is based on an algorithm that solves the joint problem of hypothesis recognition and parameter estimation within the Bayesian approach. A performance analysis of the models traditionally used to describe errors of inertial sensors is given to illustrate the application of the procedure for the calculation of performance criteria.
Performance Evaluation of Low-Cost Seismic Sensors for Dense Earthquake Early Warning: 2018–2019 Field Testing in Southwest China
Authors: Fu Jihua , Li Zhitao , Meng Hao , Wang Jianjun , Shan Xinjian
Published: April 2019

Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) was proved to be a potential means of disaster reduction. Unfortunately, the performance of the EEW system is largely determined by the density of EEW network. How to reduce the cost of sensors has become an urgent problem for building a dense EEW. A low-cost seismic sensor integrated with a Class C MEMS accelerometer was proposed in this paper. Based on minimal structure design, the sensor’s reliability was enhanced, while the costs were cut down as well. To fully reveal the performance, ten of the seismic sensors were installed and tested in Sichuan Province, southwest of China from May 2018 to February 2019. The seismic records obtained by the MNSMSs were compared with those by the traditional strong motion seismographs. The records obtained by the MNSMSs have good consistency with the data obtained by the Etnas. The MNSMSs can obtain clear seismic phases that are enough to trigger earthquake detections for EEW. By noise analysis, different channels of the same sensor and different sensors have good consistency. The tested dynamic range (over 87 dB) and useful resolution (over 14.5 bits) are completely in conformity with the designed parameters. Through real field testing, small earthquakes (M 3.1–3.6) can be detected by all three components E-W, N-S, and U-D within 50 km. In all, the low-cost seismic sensor proposed as a high-performance Class C MEMS sensor can meet the needs of dense EEW in terms of noise, dynamic range, useful resolution, reliability, and detecting capabilities.
Information Fusion for Industrial Mobile Platform Safety via Track-Before-Detect Labeled Multi-Bernoulli Filter
Authors: Rathnayake Tharindu , Tennakoon Ruwan , Khodadadian Gostar Amirali , Bab-Hadiashar Alireza , Hoseinnezhad Reza
Published: April 2019

This paper presents a novel Track-Before-Detect (TBD) Labeled Multi-Bernoulli (LMB) filter tailored for industrial mobile platform safety applications. At the core of the developed solution is two techniques for fusion of color and edge information in visual tracking. We derive an application specific separable likelihood function that captures the geometric shape of the human targets wearing safety vests. We use a novel geometric shape likelihood along with a color likelihood to devise two Bayesian updates steps which fuse shape and color related information. One approach is sequential and the other is based on weighted Kullback–Leibler average (KLA). Experimental results show that the KLA based fusion variant of the proposed algorithm outperforms both the sequential update based variant and a state-of-art method in terms of the performance metrics commonly used in computer vision literature.
Analysis of the Psychometric Properties of the Motivation and Strategies of Learning Questionnaire—Short Form (MSLQ-SF) in Spanish Higher Education Students
Authors: Zurita Ortega Felix , Martinez Martinez Asuncion , Chacon Cuberos Ramon , Ubago Jiménez Jose Luis
Published: April 2019

Background and methods: The aim of this research was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Motivation and Learning Strategies Questionnaire-Short Form (MSLQ-SF), using exploratory techniques with university students. The sample was formed by 597 participants aged between 19 and 28 years old (M = 23.04; SD = 3.71), with 156 (26.1%) being male and 441 (73.9%) being female. The exploratory factor analysis was conducted using the FACTOR program. Results: The results indicate that the questionnaire provides high reliability indexes to α = 0.70 for all included dimensions. The factor describing intrinsic orientation towards goal setting was removed following exploratory analysis, while other factors adjusted satisfactorily. All factors were correlated directly and positively (p < 0.01). Conclusions: It can be concluded that the MSLQ-SF fulfils the validity and reliability specifications for use with university students of social sciences and health sciences.
Effects of a Single Ingestion of Trehalose during Prolonged Exercise
Authors: Wadazumi Tsuyoshi , Watanabe Kanji , Watanabe Hitoshi , Yokoyama Hisayo , Hongu Nobuko , Arai Norie
Published: April 2019

Trehalose (TRE), a disaccharide, is absorbed slowly and gradually increases the blood glucose (GLU) level along with reducing insulin secretion. The aim of this study was twofold. First, we examined exercise performance following ingestions of either GLU, TRE, or water (WAT). The second purpose was to investigate the effects of TRE energy metabolism during prolonged exercise. We examined exercise performance using the Wingate test, with 30-min constant load exercise at 40% VO2peak after exercising for 60 min at 40% VO2peak, by using an electromagnetic brake-type bicycle ergometer (Part 1). The power values, blood glucose and lactate, and respiratory exchange ratio (RER) were measured. In addition, we investigated the energy metabolism after a single ingestion of TRE, by measuring the RER and estimating the lipid oxidation for 60 min at 40% VO2peak (Part 2). Healthy college male students performed three trials—(1) placebo (WAT), (2) GLU, and (3) TRE. Repeated two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for a comparison of the data among the three trial groups. A multiple comparison test was performed using post hoc Bonferroni correction. The TRE ingestion significantly increased the average and maximum power values (p < 0.01). The TRE ingestion showed significantly higher lipid utilization than the GLU lipid oxidation values the in TRE, 12.5 ± 6.1 g/h; GLU, 9.3 ± 4.7 g/h; and WAT, 15.0 ± 4.4 g/h; (p < 0.01). In conclusion, we provide novel data that a single TRE ingestion was effective in improving prolonged exercise performance by effective use of glucose and lipids.
“Omerta” in Organized Sport: Bullying and Harassment as Determinants of Threats of Social Sustainability at the Individual Level
Authors: Vveinhardt Jolita , Fominiene Vilija Bite , Andriukaitiene Regina
Published: April 2019

The interpretation of the evolutionary theory prevailing in sport, based on the approach that the strongest survive, varies with the rules inherent in the criminal world, forbidding to “take out” negative information about interrelationships, in this case, outside the team or group. Such traditionally established culture puts pressure on athletes to suffer from bullying and follow the “silence law”. In the long run, this turns into a precondition for unsafe environment for athletes, which, due to negative consequences for the individual, can be identified as threats to social sustainability at the individual level. Such a situation is also indirectly approved by the heads and coaches of organizations. The latter, who lack competencies to resolve conflict situations, are left to solve arising problems on their own and do not receive any support from the management of organizations. Therefore, the aim of this research is to reveal the factors determining the specificity, emergence, and development of bullying and harassment in sport as threats to social sustainability at the individual level. The research was conducted using a semi-structured interview method with eight coaches representing team, individual, and duel sport branches. Inductive content analysis served as the basis for the data analysis. Research results disclosed factors determining the specificity of emergence of bullying and harassment in sport and hindering the entrenchment of social sustainability in sport at the individual level. The results revealed the euphemisms distinguished by coaches, which, in sport, have a positive connotation, such as “combativeness” and “sports anger” instead of the term “aggression”. It was identified that coaches named aggressors as “harder players”, “confident players”, “active persons”, “players-torpedoes”, “emotional players”, and “competitive players”. Sports competition is justified in various forms. The emergence of bullying and harassment is grounded on “mastery differences”, it is stated that abusive actions are experienced by “physically weak” players, while physical actions used by athletes are called “mischief”; verbal actions are “raillery”. In addition, inadequate preparation of Lithuanian coaches to respond to bullying and harassment in their trained teams or groups on time and appropriately was identified. It turned out that sports organizations are not particularly interested in organizing trainings for prevention of destructive interrelations and intervention. Such kind of in-service training is left to the coach’s initiative.
Energy Consumption at Size Reduction of Lignocellulose Biomass for Bioenergy
Authors: Moiceanu Georgiana , Paraschiv Gigel , Voicu Gheorghe , Dinca Mirela , Negoita Olivia , Chitoiu Mihai , Tudor Paula
Published: April 2019

In order to obtain bioenergy (biogas, biofuel) or pellets, different types of lignocellulosic biomass are subjected to a mechanical pretreatment, first by size reduction, then by separating, and ultimately by fracturing or bio-refining. Biomass processing mainly refers to a grinding process that occurs until reaching certain limits. The size reduction process, such as grinding, is an operation that is executed with different levels of energy consumption, considering biomass mechanical characteristics and the necessary grinding level. This paper, illustrates a comparative analysis of experimental results obtained by grinding multiple types of vegetal biomass (Miscanthus, corn stalks, alfalfa, willow) used in the process of bio-refining and bio-fracturing. Experiments were realized using both a laboratory knife mill Grindomix GM200 (Retsch GmbH, Haan, Germany), and a 22 kW articulated hammer mill, using different grinding system speeds and different hammer mill sieves. Results have shown that biomass mechanical pre-processing grinding leads to supplementary costs in the overall process through bio-refining or bio-fracturing in order to obtain bio-products or bio-energy. So, specific energy consumption for grinding using a hammer mill can reach 50–65 kJ/kg for harvested Miscanthus biomass, and 35–50 kJ/kg for dried energetic willow, using a 10 mm orifice sieve, values which increase processing costs.
Experimental Research on Heat Transfer and Strength Analysis of Backfill with Ice Grains in Deep Mines
Authors: Zhang Xiaoyan , Jia Yuhang , Wang Mei , Liu Lang
Published: April 2019

In deep mines, two urgent problems are a high temperature thermal environment and solid waste. Filling the goaf with slurry mixed with ice grains is an effective way to solve these two problems simultaneously. The thermal property and mechanical property of the ice-added backfill have a great influence on the cooling effect in the deep mine. In this study, an experimental facility for measuring the temperature distribution of ice-added backfill slurry was established, and the temperature of backfill slurry with different proportions was measured. Then, the thermal properties of temperature distribution and cooling capacity and the mechanical property of uniaxial compressive strength of the backfill specimens were analyzed, and the results indicated the following: firstly, the cooling capacity of ice-added backfill specimens is negatively related with the slurry concentration C and is positively related with the ice-water ratio Ω; secondly, the strength of backfill specimens is affected by the slurry concentration C and ice-water ratio Ω by a contrary law compared to the cooling capacity; thirdly, ice-added backfill slurry with an ice-water ratio Ω of 1:1 has the best mechanical property after solidification. The effects of the slurry concentration and ice-water ratio on the thermal and mechanical properties were analyzed, and the results indicated that the optimum proportion of ice-added backfill slurry is a slurry concentration of 74% and an ice-water ratio of 1:1 in the present research range. This study is significant for the deep mine cooling method with ice-added backfill.
Regional Anti-Corruption and CSR Disclosure in a Transition Economy: The Contingent Effects of Ownership and Political Connection
Authors: Xu Shiwei , Qiao Mingzhe , Che Bin , Tong Peng
Published: April 2019

Based on the empirical data of China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share market, this paper examined the impact of regional anti-corruption intensity on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure. The results indicate that (1) regional anti-corruption intensity has a significant positive effect on firms’ CSR disclosure; (2) through the grouping test based on the ownership of firms, it was found that the positive effect of anti-corruption intensity on CSR disclosure in the sample of non-state-owned enterprises was more significant and positive than that of state-owned enterprises (SOEs); and (3) through the grouping test of whether or not the enterprises had political connections, the positive effect of regional anti-corruption intensity on CSR disclosure was stronger and more significant in firms with political connections (relative to those with no or weak political connections). This paper sheds light on the research into anti-corruption policies by linking government macro policy and enterprises’ micro social economic behaviors, and it provides empirical evidence for this linkage. This paper also contributes to organizational legitimacy theory and CSR theory by probing the impact of anti-corruption policies on firms’ CSR disclosure. At the same time, the effects of two contingency factors (ownership and political connection) also provide some practical implications to the relevant government departments by: (1) speeding up the market-oriented reform of state-owned enterprises including clarifying the boundaries of authority and responsibility between SOEs and the government, and conducting the de-administration of managers of SOEs; and (2) encouraging firms to focus on market competition and be more socially responsible, instead of speculating with political rents.
Commonality in Liquidity Indices: The Emerging European Stock Markets
Authors: Będowska-Sójka Barbara , Echaust Krzysztof
Published: April 2019

The aim of the paper is to examine commonality in liquidity indices across emerging European stock markets. Five markets are included in the study: Hungarian, Czech, Polish, Russian and Turkish, in the period from 2008 to 2017. We propose liquidity indices that are based on low-frequency liquidity proxies and capture both the dynamics coming from volume and price changes. We find strong commonality of the liquidity indices across all examined markets which is robust to the choice of liquidity proxy. The dependence between indices enhances in times of crisis and large market declines, and weakens when markets become stable. We also examine the interdependency between liquidity and volatility estimates and find that liquidity on the European emerging markets is related to CBOE Volatility Index (VIX). Liquidity in the whole region decreases when VIX increases, and vice versa. The liquidity indices based on the extreme market movements show that there are no differences in commonality in time of extreme negative and positive returns.
Nuclear Physics at the Energy Frontier: Recent Heavy Ion Results from the Perspective of the Electron Ion Collider
Authors: Morreale Astrid
Published: April 2019

Quarks and gluons are the fundamental constituents of nucleons. Their interactions rather than their mass are responsible for 99 % of the mass of all visible matter in the universe. Measuring the fundamental properties of matter has had a large impact on our understanding of the nucleon structure and it has given us decades of research and technological innovation. Despite the large number of discoveries made, many fundamental questions remain open and in need of a new and more precise generation of measurements. The future Electron Ion Collider (EIC) will be a machine dedicated to hadron structure research. It will study the content of protons and neutrons in a largely unexplored regime in which gluons are expected to dominate and eventually saturate. While the EIC will be the machine of choice to quantify this regime, recent surprising results from the heavy ion community have begun to exhibit similar signatures as those expected from a regime dominated by gluons. Many of the heavy ion results that will be discussed in this document highlight the kinematic limitations of hadron–hadron and hadron–nucleus collisions. The reliability of using as a reference proton–proton (pp) and proton–ion (pA) collisions to quantify and disentangle vacuum and Cold Nuclear Matter (CNM) effects from those proceeding from a Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP) may be under question. A selection of relevant pp and pA results which highlight the need of an EIC will be presented.
Accelerometer Based Method for Tire Load and Slip Angle Estimation
Authors: Singh Kanwar Bharat , Taheri Saied
Published: April 2019

Tire mounted sensors are emerging as a promising technology, capable of providing information about important tire states. This paper presents a survey of the state-of-the-art in the field of smart tire technology, with a special focus on the different signal processing techniques proposed by researchers to estimate the tire load and slip angle using tire mounted accelerometers. Next, details about the research activities undertaken as part of this study to develop a smart tire are presented. Finally, novel algorithms for estimating the tire load and slip angle are presented. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.
Quelques aspects remarquables de la météorite achondritique de Malvern (Afrique du Sud)
Authors: Jérôme Dominique Yves , Christophe Michel-Lévy Mireille
Published: April 2019

The chemical analyses of major elements suggest that this achondrite belongs to the howardites.

However in addition to interesting lithic fragments, the presence of glasses in numerous debris up to several millimeters and in spherules around 50 µm in diameter has been found in the course of a preliminary mineralogical study. By these charactetistics the Malvern meteorite resembles lunar breccias more than howardites.
La permingeatite Cu2Sb Se4, un nouveau minéral du groupe de la luzonite
Authors: Johan Zdenek , Picot Paul , Pierrot Roland , Kvacek Milan
Published: April 2019

La permingeatite, Cu₃SbSe₄, un nouveau séléniure du groupe de la luzonite et de la germanite a été trouvé à Predborice, Bohême, Tchécoslovaquie. Quadratique, D¹¹/2d — I[-4]2 m, a = 5,63, c = 11,23 Å, c/a = 1,994, Z = 2, dₓ = 5,82.

Les raies les plus intenses du diagramme de poudre sont les suivantes : 3,251 (10) ; 1,986 (9) ; 1,697 (8) ; 1,290 (6) ; 1,148 (7) Å. Analyse chimique (microsonde électronique) : Cu — 30,7 ; Sb — 17,4 ; As — 1,5 ; Se — 50,4 ; total 100,0. En section polie, elle est brun rose clair, fortement anisotrope. Macles en lamelles monosynthétiques. Microdureté (Vickers) 234 kg/mm². Pouvoir réflecteur : 28,8-30,4 (420 nm) ; 27.9-27,9 (500 nm) ; 25,4-25,2 (600 nm) ; 23,8-25,4 (640 nm). Trouvée dans un filon de calcite avec berzelianite, hakite, eskebornite, umangite, clausthalite, ferroselite, klockmannite, or natif, pechblende, hématite, goethite, chalcopyrite, pyrite et d'autres minéraux non encore identifiés. Dédiée à François Permingeat.
Étude des substitutions Al-Fe dans des roches latéritiques
Authors: Janot Christian , Gibert Huguette , Gramont Xavier de , Blais Régine
Published: April 2019

The mineralogical structure of lateritic materials has been studied by X-ray diffraction, thermal analysis and, on the other hand, by Mössbauer effect.

The writers were able by comparing the results obtained by these different techniques, to prove the existence of mixed aluminium-iron oxides and hydroxides frequently extremely divided.

A relationship was noted between the presence of these compounds and the insolubility of a part of the alumina contained in these lateritic rocks when using the Bayer process.

The non extracted alumina would be either substituted for iron in crystallized oxides and hydroxides like aluminous goethite, aluminous haematite and ferruginous corundum or in the form of corundum.
Simulation des équilibres de phases dans le système CO2-N2. Application aux inclusions fluides
Authors: Darimont Anne , Heyen Georges
Published: April 2019

The P-V-T-X conditions of the phase equilibria in the CO2-N2 system are predicted by an equation of state below 20 °C and 90 bars. Using this data, the v-Z and d-Z diagrams have been constructed for the interpretation in terms of composition and density of the microthermometric parameters measured on CO2-N2 fluid inclusions.
Composition des minéraux et évolution des phases fluides : le cas des filons polymétalliques d'Aïn Barbar (Algérie)
Authors: Marignac Christian
Published: April 2019

Les filons d'Ain Barbar résultent du fonctionnement d'un système géothermique d'âge langhien. Ils montrent une succession de stades et d'épisodes de minéralisation rythmés par les fracturations : stade précoce à chlorite-épidote ; stade principal à sulfures (épisodes à sphalérite, de silicification, à chalcopyrite 1 et 2) ; stades tardifs à carbonates-pyrite, quartz-arsénopyrite, etc. L'étude des inclusions fluides indique une évolution à basse pression (130 à 80 bars), avec des températures comprises entre 320 °C (dépôt de la chalcopyrite) et 180 °C (fin des stades tardifs).

Les variations de la composition des phases minérales enregistrent celles de nombreux paramètres caractéristiques des phases fluides à différentes échelles d'espace et de temps :

— à long terme, les chlorites montrent la décroissance de la température (variations des teneurs en AlIV et en lacunes) et une diminution du pH (augmentation de XFe) ; sphalérites et arsénopyrites indiquent des changements de fS2 correspondant à une transition entre des fluides en équilibre avec la pyrrhotite et des fluides en équilibre avec la pyrite. Il s'agit là de l'évolution générale du système géothermique.

— des phénomènes oxydants transitoires sont attestés par la minéralogie (paragenèses à hématite ou à magnétite) et par l'apparition d'épidotes ferrifères (Xps = 0,33) ; ils reflètent probablement l'existence de phénomènes d'ébullition dans les réservoirs profonds.

— à court terme, la zonation des épidotes, des chlorites, des arsénopyrites, et des adulaires, montre l'existence de fluctuations parfois importantes de paramètres comme la température (sur 10° à 20 °C), le pH, fS2 (sur 1 à 2 unités log) ou fO2 (sur 2 à 3 unités log), et qui prennent souvent la forme d'oscillations ; ces phénomènes traduisent la micro-évolution des remplissages filoniens, marquée par des alternances d'ouverture avec influx de fluide "frais" portant l'empreinte de la zone source ; et de colmatage avec stagnation des fluides et rééquilibrage avec l'encaissant.
Second-Line Systemic Therapies for Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma: A Population-Based Cohort Analysis
Authors: Tsang E.S. , Forbes C. , Chi K. N. , Eigl B. J. , Parimi Sunil
Published: April 2019

Introduction: Patients with urothelial carcinoma (uc) have a poor prognosis after progression on first-line cisplatinbased chemotherapy. Real-world data about second-line cytotoxic therapies are limited. We sought to characterize patients with metastatic uc who receive more than 1 line of systemic therapy and to describe their treatments and outcomes. Methods: Using BC Cancer’s pharmacy database, we identified patients with documented metastatic uc who had received more than 1 line of systemic therapy. A retrospective chart review was then performed to collect clinicopathologic, treatment, and outcomes data. Results: The 51 included patients, of whom 42 were men (82%), had a median age of 65 years (range: 38–81 years). Sites of metastasis included lymph nodes (n = 30), bone (n = 7), lung (n = 9), and peritoneum (n = 2). Second-line chemotherapy regimens included gemcitabine–cisplatin [gc (n = 14)], paclitaxel (n = 24), docetaxel (n = 12), and an oral topoisomerase i inhibitor (n = 1). Median time to progression (ttp) and overall survival (os) were 2.0 and 6.83 months respectively. Compared with patients who received a different agent, patients who had experienced a prior response to first-line gc and who were re-challenged with second-line gc had a better median ttp (11.0 months vs. 6.0 months, p = 0.02) and survived longer (4.0 months vs. 1.0 months, p = 0.02). No differences in os between non-gc regimens were evident. Conclusions: In patients with metastatic uc, overall outcomes remain poor, but compared with patients receiving other agents, the subgroup of patients re-challenged with second-line gc demonstrated improved ttp. Conventional chemotherapy regimens provide only modest benefits in the second-line setting and have largely been replaced with immunotherapy.