bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The reaction of cucumber to the introduction of ionic liquids into the soil
Authors: Biczak Robert , Pawłowska Barbara , Podsiadło Cezary , Śnioszek Martyna , Telesiński Arkadiusz 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThis paper presents the influence of two bromides, tetrabutylammonium and tetrabutylphosphonium, on the growth and development of cucumber seedlings. The tests were performed at two dates, i.e. 10 and 20 days, after the introduction of increasing amounts of ionic liquids (ILs) into the soil. The applied ILs showed phytotoxicity dependent mainly on the concentration of the substance, which is proved by the inhibition of the length of aboveground parts and their roots and the yield of cucumber fresh mass, from which EC50 values were calculated. The phytotoxicity symptoms were the result of oxidative stress, one of the manifestations of which was a decrease in assimilative pigments, linearly correlated with an increase in bromide concentration in the medium. The stress is also proven by the large increase in hydrogen peroxide, malondialdehyde and free proline in cucumber leaves. The reaction of this plant to oxidative stress was an increase in the activity of antioxidative enzymes such as catalase and peroxidase. As a result of statistical analysis, it was proved that all changes of biomarkers of phytotoxicity of examined ILs and oxidative stress indicators in cucumber seedlings depended more on the applied concentration of these salts than on the date of the study.
The Influence of Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy on Body Composition and Fat Distribution in Obese Caucasian Men and Women
Authors: Tałałaj Marek , Bogołowska-Stieblich Agata , Wąsowski Michał , Binda Artur , Jaworski Paweł , Wrzosek Małgorzata , Tarnowski Wiesław 
Published: June 2020

Abstract
Background
The aim of the study was to assess changes in body composition in patients subjected to laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG).

Methods
Changes in body composition following LSG were determined in a group of 155 patients with obesity (117 women and 38 men), with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Whole body fat mass (FM) and lean body mass (LBM) were determined, and abdominal fat mass (AbdF) was assessed within the region extending from the top of the pubic bone up to the line between 12th thoracic and 1st lumbar vertebras.

Results
Over the period of 12 months following LSG, body mass index decreased by 28.2 ± 9.0% (p < 0.001). The reduction of body weight by 35.4 ± 12.6 kg (p < 0.001) was the result of a decrease in FM by 23.9 ± 8.9 kg (p < 0.001) and LBM by 10.5 ± 3.8 kg (p < 0.001). AbdF decreased from 13.2 ± 3.1 to 8.2 ± 2.7 kg (p < 0.001), but abdominal fat to total fat mass ratio increased from 24.9 ± 4.7 to 28.0 ± 5.8% (p < 0.001). The loss of AbdF was more pronounced in men than in women. The rate of FM loss was attenuated with patients’ age.

Conclusions
Over the period of 12 months following LSG, the reduction of FM was more than twice as much as decrease of LBM. The loss of AbdF was slower than a loss of peripheral subcutaneous fat.
Analytic Eigenbranches in the Semi-classical Limit
Authors: Haller Stefan 
Published: June 2020

AbstractWe consider a one parameter family of Laplacians on a closed manifold and study the semi-classical limit of its analytically parametrized eigenvalues. Our results establish a vector valued analogue of a theorem for scalar Schrödinger operators on Euclidean space by Luc Hillairet which applies to geometric operators like Witten’s Laplacian on differential forms.
Brand experience manual: bridging the gap between brand strategy and customer experience
Authors: Motta-Filho Mauricy A. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThe importance of customer experiences in developing strong brands is broadly acknowledged in the Branding literature. Yet, the divide between the functions managing the brand and those responsible for devising the interactions through which customers experience the brand persists. This paper aims to bridge the gap between Brand Strategy and Customer Experience by introducing the concept of the Brand Experience Manual. Throughpractice-based design research, this paper describes the development of a Brand Experience Manual over four iteration cycles. Throughout this process, this paper explores ways of conveying the experience proposition made by the brand, developing a framework for defining and a tool for communicating the Brand Experience Proposition to the teams responsible for the New Service Development. Additionally, this paper offers a theoretical basis for the advancement of acustomer experience-centric approach to Branding.
Danaher’s Ethical Behaviourism: An Adequate Guide to Assessing the Moral Status of a Robot?
Authors: Smids Jilles 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThis paper critically assesses John Danaher’s ‘ethical behaviourism’, a theory on how the moral status of robots should be determined. The basic idea of this theory is that a robot’s moral status is determined decisively on the basis of its observable behaviour. If it behaves sufficiently similar to some entity that has moral status, such as a human or an animal, then we should ascribe the same moral status to the robot as we do to this human or animal. The paper argues against ethical behaviourism by making four main points. First, it is argued that the strongest version of ethical behaviourism understands the theory as relying on inferences to the best explanation when inferring moral status. Second, as a consequence, ethical behaviourism cannot stick with merely looking at the robot’s behaviour, while remaining neutral with regard to the difficult question of which property grounds moral status. Third, not only behavioural evidence ought to play a role in inferring a robot’s moral status, but knowledge of the design process of the robot and of its designer’s intention ought to be taken into account as well. Fourth, knowledge of a robot’s ontology and how that relates to human biology often is epistemically relevant for inferring moral status as well. The paper closes with some concluding observations.
Investigating the use of an ensemble of evolutionary algorithms for letter identification in tremulous medieval handwriting
Authors: da Silva Ronnypetson Souza , Da Costa-Abreu Márjory , Smith Stephen 
Published: June 2020

AbstractEnsemble classifiers are known for performing good generalization from simpler and less accurate classifiers. Ensembles have the ability to use the variety in classification patterns of the smaller classifiers in order to make better predictions. However, to create an ensemble it is necessary to determine how the component classifiers should be combined to generate the final predictions. One way to do this is to search different combinations of classifiers with evolutionary algorithms, which are largely employed when the objective is to find a structure that serves for some purpose. In this work, an investigation is carried about the use of ensembles obtained via evolutionary algorithm for identifying individual letters in tremulous medieval writing and to differentiate between scribes. The aim of this research is to use this process as the first step towards classifying the tremor type with more accuracy. The ensembles are obtained through evolutionary search of trees that aggregate the output of base classifiers, which are neural networks trained prior to the ensemble search. The misclassification patterns of the base classifiers are analysed in order to determine how much better an ensemble of those classifiers can be than its components. The best ensembles have their misclassification patterns compared to those of their component classifiers. The results obtained suggest interesting methods for letter (up to 96% accuracy) and user classification (up to 88% accuracy) in an offline scenario.
Marital goals: Circular value-based model and measurement
Authors: Czyżkowska Anna , Cieciuch Jan 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThe aim of the research presented in this article was to develop a comprehensive model and measurement of marital goals. The aim of Study 1 was to validate the initial model of marital goals according to Schwartz’s model of values (defined as general transsituational goals). The sample consisted of 684 participants (50% female), all of whom were either married or cohabiting couples aged between 25 and 60 years (M = 37.2;SD = 5.3). The obtained results led to a modification of our initial theoretical model. In the final version of the model, we distinguished eight types of marital goals located in a circular way around two basic dimensions that were similar but not identical to those of Schwartz’s model: (1) oneself versus other focus and (2) relationship commitment versus avoidance. We validated the model in Study 2 in another sample of 1268 participants (50% female) with married couples aged between 18 and 86 years (M = 47.2;SD = 16.1). The measurement model was confirmed through a confirmatory factor analysis; the circular structure was confirmed through multidimensional scaling; the validity of the distinguished goals was confirmed through correlational analyses with value priorities, and marital satisfaction.
Occupying the Fringes: The Struggles of Women in Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Rural Ghana—Evidence from the Prestea–Huni Valley Municipality
Authors: Arthur-Holmes Francis , Abrefa Busia Kwaku 
Published: June 2020

AbstractAcross many mineral-rich developing countries, artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) has been noted as a crucial socio-economic activity for most rural people. Over the past 2 decades, there has been growing participation of women in the ASM sector with extant studies examining why women participate in ASM, the roles they play and how their involvement enhances their socio-economic development. However, the socio-structural dynamics and gendered relations within ASM are poorly understood and underexplored despite the increasing participation of women in the sector. Based on field observations and interviews involving 49 women miners in the Prestea–Huni Valley Municipality of Ghana, this paper discusses the on-site challenges of women in ASM through multiple standpoint and African feminism theoretical perspectives. It also examines how understanding the struggles of women can reduce their work-related risks and promote gender-sensitive policies for rural women’s empowerment in ASM. The study finds that the struggles of working women in ASM involve cultural marginalisation and gendered work patterns, poor working environment, poor work support services for women with children, lack of legal and economic rights, and inter-ethnic discrimination by employers. We argue that policymakers, relevant stakeholders, and the government through the district assemblies should collaborate with small-scale mining employers to enhance gender-sensitive on-site regulatory policies, ensure safe working environments for workers, and provide locally appropriate work support services for women in ASM. We further argue that, government and regulatory institutions need to promote gender mainstreaming for ‘inclusion of women’ in the management structure at mine sites and also the extraction and processing stages of ASM.
Gender and Trait Preferences for Banana Cultivation and Use in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Literature Review1
Authors: Marimo Pricilla , Caron Cynthia , Van den Bergh Inge , Crichton Rhiannon , Weltzien Eva , Ortiz Rodomiro , Tumuhimbise Robooni 
Published: June 2020

Gender and Trait Preferences for Banana Cultivation and Use in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Literature ReviewUnderstanding trait preferences of different actors in the banana value chain may facilitate the selection and adoption of new cultivars. We systematically reviewed the scholarly and gray literature on banana trait preferences, with specific attention to studies that document gender-differentiated traits. Of 44 publications reviewed, only four reported gender-specific trait preferences, indicating a significant gap in the literature. The review found that banana farmers, irrespective of gender, value similar characteristics that are related to production constraints, income enhancement, consumption, and cultural or ritual uses. Farmers (as producers, processors, and consumers) often prefer traditional cultivars because of their superior consumption attributes, even if new cultivars have better agronomic and host plant resistance characteristics. Potential differences between trait preferences of farmers and other actors in the value chain should be accounted for to enhance marketing potential. Gender-specific research along the banana value chain and engaging users at the initial stages of breeding can ensure that new cultivars are acceptable to users and may improve adoption. Interdisciplinary teamwork is essential for an efficient and effective breeding program.
Enabling radiation tolerant heterogeneous GPU-based onboard data processing in space
Authors: Bruhn Fredrik C. , Tsog Nandinbaatar , Kunkel Fabian , Flordal Oskar , Troxel Ian 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThe last decade has seen a dramatic increase in small satellite missions for commercial, public, and government intelligence applications. Given the rapid commercialization of constellation-driven services in Earth Observation, situational domain awareness, communications including machine-to-machine interface, exploration etc., small satellites represent an enabling technology for a large growth market generating truly Big Data. Examples of modern sensors that can generate very large amounts of data are optical sensing, hyperspectral, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), and Infrared imaging. Traditional handling and downloading of Big Data from space requires a large onboard mass storage and high bandwidth downlink with a trend towards optical links. Many missions and applications can benefit significantly from onboard cloud computing similarly to Earth-based cloud services. Hence, enabling space systems to provide near real-time data and enable low latency distribution of critical and time sensitive information to users. In addition, the downlink capability can be more effectively utilized by applying more onboard processing to reduce the data and create high value information products. This paper discusses current implementations and roadmap for leveraging high performance computing tools and methods on small satellites with radiation tolerant hardware. This includes runtime analysis with benchmarks of convolutional neural networks and matrix multiplications using industry standard tools (e.g., TensorFlow and PlaidML). In addition, a ½ CubeSat volume unit (0.5U) (10 × 10 × 5 cm3) cloud computing solution, called SpaceCloud™ iX5100 based on AMD 28 nm APU technology is presented as an example of heterogeneous computer solution. An evaluation of the AMD 14 nm Ryzen APU is presented as a candidate for future advanced onboard processing for space vehicles.
Space weather climate impacts on railway infrastructure
Authors: Thaduri Adithya , Galar Diego , Kumar Uday 
Published: June 2020

AbstractSpace weather is a phenomenon in which radioactivity and atomic particles is caused by emission from the Sun and stars. It is one of the extreme climate events that could potentially has short-term and long-term impacts on infrastructure. The effects of this phenomenon are a multi-fold process that include electronic system, equipment and component failures, short-term and long-term hazards and consequences to astronauts and aircraft crews, electrostatic charge variation of satellites, disruptions in telecommunications systems, navigational systems, power transmission failures and disturbances to the rail traffic and power grids. The critical infrastructures are becoming interdependent to each other and these infrastructures are vulnerable if one of them is affected due to space weather. Railway infrastructure could be affected by the extreme space weather events and long-term evolution due to direct and indirect effects on system components, such as track circuits, electronic components in-built in signalling systems or indirectly via interdependencies on power, communications, etc. While several space weather-related studies focus on power grids, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and aviation sectors, a little attention has focused towards probability of railway infrastructure disruptions. Nevertheless, disruptions due to space weather on signalling and train control systems has documented but other systems that railway infrastructure dependent upon are not very well studied. Due to the advancements in digitalization, cloud storage, Internet of Things (IoT), etc., that are embedded with electronic equipment are also possible to prone to these effects and it is even become more susceptible to the extreme space weather events. This paper gives a review of space weather effects on railways and other transportation systems and provide some of the mitigation measures to the infrastructure and societal point of view.
The Value of Crop Production and Pollination Services in the Eastern Amazon
Authors: Borges R C , Brito R M , Imperatriz-Fonseca V L , Giannini T C 
Published: June 2020

AbstractNature safeguards living organisms and the ecosystem functions and services delivered by them. Animal pollination is an important Ecosystem Service since it plays a key role for achieving the sustainable development goals by safeguarding worldwide food production. Thus, conservation of pollination services is a major priority for guaranteeing global food security in the long term. Here we evaluate the crop pollination services in Pará state (Eastern Amazon, Brazil) focusing on two questions: (1) What is the economic value of crop production and pollination service in Pará? (2) Which municipalities are most dependent on pollination services considering local economies? We found 36 crops produced in the state; 20 (55%) crops are dependent on animal pollinators. In 2016, crop production value (CPV) for Pará state was US$ 2.95 billion and total pollination service value (PSV) was US$ 983.2 million, corresponding to 33% of CPV in Pará. Highest PSV value crops were açaí palm (US$635.6 million), cocoa (US$187.6 million), soybean (US$98.4 million), and watermelon (US$26.1 million), accounting for 96% of Pará’s PSV. Two municipalities (Medicilândia and Igarapé Miri) presented more than 50% of their GDP based on pollination services. In general, we found low crop diversity in the municipalities of Pará, suggesting an economic rural vulnerability for the state, mainly supported by the high productions of soy and açaí. Pollinator conservation and ecological intensified farming practices are urgent for supporting sustainable development for the state.
Water Splitting: From Electrode to Green Energy System
Authors: Li Xiao , Zhao Lili , Yu Jiayuan , Liu Xiaoyan , Zhang Xiaoli , Liu Hong , Zhou Weijia 
Published: June 2020

AbstractHydrogen (H2) production is a latent feasibility of renewable clean energy. The industrial H2 production is obtained from reforming of natural gas, which consumes a large amount of nonrenewable energy and simultaneously produces greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Electrochemical water splitting is a promising approach for the H2 production, which is sustainable and pollution-free. Therefore, developing efficient and economic technologies for electrochemical water splitting has been an important goal for researchers around the world. The utilization of green energy systems to reduce overall energy consumption is more important for H2 production. Harvesting and converting energy from the environment by different green energy systems for water splitting can efficiently decrease the external power consumption. A variety of green energy systems for efficient producing H2, such as two-electrode electrolysis of water, water splitting driven by photoelectrode devices, solar cells, thermoelectric devices, triboelectric nanogenerator, pyroelectric device or electrochemical water–gas shift device, have been developed recently. In this review, some notable progress made in the different green energy cells for water splitting is discussed in detail. We hoped this review can guide people to pay more attention to the development of green energy system to generate pollution-free H2 energy, which will realize the whole process of H2 production with low cost, pollution-free and energy sustainability conversion.
The Market for Reviews: Strategic Behavior of Online Product Reviewers with Monetary Incentives
Authors: Dorner Verena , Giamattei Marcus , Greiff Matthias 
Published: June 2020

AbstractCustomer reviews reduce search cost and uncertainty about a product’s quality. Hence, the quantity and quality of reviews has positive impacts on purchase intentions, sales, and customer satisfaction. In order to increase review quality, retailers and online platforms employ different monetary incentives. We experimentally compare two different incentive schemes: an incentive scheme in which reviewers receive a flat salary, which is independent of review quality, and a tournament incentive scheme in which the reviewer who wrote the most helpful review receives a bonus payment. Helpfulness ratings are assigned by the other reviewers. In our experiment, adverse consequences arise under the tournament incentive scheme. Strategic considerations give rise to strategic downvoting, so that reviewers assign low helpfulness ratings to others’ reviews in order to maximize their expected payoffs. Review writing behavior remains unaffected: the tournament incentive scheme does not affect review quality. However, it does destroy the signaling power of helpfulness ratings.
Distributed computation and control of robot motion dynamics on FPGAs
Authors: Bargsten Vinzenz , de Gea Fernández José 
Published: June 2020

AbstractDriven by advances in miniaturized electronics, many robotic systems today consist of modular hardware components. This leads to numerous computing units that are distributed within such systems. In order to make better use of such hardware structures from a computational point of view, the implementation of classical control approaches should be reconsidered. Following this idea, a method for distributed computation of motion dynamics of robotic systems using Field Programmable Gate Arrays is discussed. In this approach, local low-level actuator controllers are regarded as interconnected nodes, which are aware of their actuated degree of freedom and the resulting motion of the attached rigid body link element. A modified recursive Newton–Euler algorithm is computed by these nodes, where each node only exchanges data with the neighboring nodes. In the computations, a linear dependency on the dynamic parameters is kept in order to simplify the direct use of dynamic parameters estimated from experimental data. Implementation details and experimental results using a robotic manipulator arm are presented. The experiments show that the method allows compliant motion control. Payloads and external forces acting on a link are considered in the distributed computation of the model by informing the node controlling the respective link of the additional forces.