bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Relevance and Insights on 1,4-Naphthoquinones as Antimicrobial and Antitumoral Molecules: A Systematic Review
Authors: Navarro-Tovar Gabriela , Vega-Rodríguez Sarai , Leyva Elisa , Loredo-Carrillo Silvia , de Loera Denisse , López-López Lluvia Itzel
Published: March 2023

Natural product derivatives are essential in searching for compounds with important chemical, biological, and medical applications. Naphthoquinones are secondary metabolites found in plants and are used in traditional medicine to treat diverse human diseases. Considering this, the synthesis of naphthoquinone derivatives has been explored to contain compounds with potential biological activity. It has been reported that the chemical modification of naphthoquinones improves their pharmacological properties by introducing amines, amino acids, furan, pyran, pyrazole, triazole, indole, among other chemical groups. In this systematic review, we summarized the preparation of nitrogen naphthoquinones derivatives and discussed their biological effect associated with redox properties and other mechanisms. Preclinical evaluation of antibacterial and/or antitumoral naphthoquinones derivatives is included because cancer is a worldwide health problem, and there is a lack of effective drugs against multidrug-resistant bacteria. The information presented herein indicates that naphthoquinone derivatives could be considered for further studies to provide drugs efficient in treating cancer and multidrug-resistant bacteria.
Biomarker Quantification, Spectroscopic, and Molecular Docking Studies of the Active Compounds Isolated from the Edible Plant Sisymbrium irio L.
Authors: Al-Massarani Shaza M. , Aldurayhim Latifah S. , Alotaibi Ibtisam A. , Abdelmageed Mostafa W. M. , Rehman Md Tabish , Basudan Omer A. , Abdel-Kader Maged S. , Alajmi Mohamed F. , Abdel Bar Fatma M. , Alam Perwez , Al Tamimi Maram M. , El Gamal Ali A.
Published: March 2023

Phytochemical investigation of the ethanolic extract of the aerial parts of Sisymbrium irio L. led to the isolation of four unsaturated fatty acids (1–4), including a new one (4), and four indole alkaloids (5–8). The structures of the isolated compounds were characterized with the help of spectroscopic techniques such as 1D, 2D NMR, and mass spectroscopy, and by correlation with the known compounds. In terms of their notable structural diversity, a molecular docking approach with the AutoDock 4.2 program was used to analyze the interactions of the identified fatty acids with PPAR-γ and the indole alkaloids with 5-HT1A and 5-HT2A, subtypes of serotonin receptors, respectively. Compared to the antidiabetic drug rivoglitazone, compound 3 acted as a potential PPAR-γ agonist with a binding energy of −7.4 kcal mol−1. Moreover, compound 8 displayed the strongest affinity, with binding energies of −6.9 kcal/mol to 5HT1A and −8.1 kcal/mol to 5HT2A, using serotonin and the antipsychotic drug risperidone as positive controls, respectively. The results of docked conformations represent an interesting target for developing novel antidiabetic and antipsychotic drugs and warrant further evaluation of these ligands in vitro and in vivo. On the other hand, an HPTLC method was developed to quantify α-linolenic acid in the hexane fraction of the ethanol extract of S. irio. The regression equation/correlation coefficient (r2) for linolenic acid was Y = 6.49X + 2310.8/0.9971 in the linearity range of 100–1200 ng/band. The content of α-linolenic acid in S. irio aerial parts was found to be 28.67 μg/mg of dried extract.
Gut-Derived Metabolite, Trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) in Cardio-Metabolic Diseases: Detection, Mechanism, and Potential Therapeutics
Authors: Shanmugham Meyammai , Bellanger Sophie , Leo Chen Huei
Published: March 2023

Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) is a biologically active gut microbiome-derived dietary metabolite. Recent studies have shown that high circulating plasma TMAO levels are closely associated with diseases such as atherosclerosis and hypertension, and metabolic disorders such as diabetes and hyperlipidemia, contributing to endothelial dysfunction. There is a growing interest to understand the mechanisms underlying TMAO-induced endothelial dysfunction in cardio-metabolic diseases. Endothelial dysfunction mediated by TMAO is mainly driven by inflammation and oxidative stress, which includes: (1) activation of foam cells; (2) upregulation of cytokines and adhesion molecules; (3) increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS); (4) platelet hyperreactivity; and (5) reduced vascular tone. In this review, we summarize the potential roles of TMAO in inducing endothelial dysfunction and the mechanisms leading to the pathogenesis and progression of associated disease conditions. We also discuss the potential therapeutic strategies for the treatment of TMAO-induced endothelial dysfunction in cardio-metabolic diseases.
Global Inequality and the Fracture of (Proactive) Solidarity
Authors: Bertomeu Maria Julia
Published: March 2023

In this paper, I wish to examine what is meant by this new concept of “international solidarity”. The study will be presented in a number of sections, beginning with a general introduction that sets out the problem and emphasizes the importance of the document produced by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. I will then detail certain general characteristics of the normative concept of solidarity and clarify a number of methodological assumptions and historical data. Thirdly, I will forward an in-depth discussion on the analysis of and debate around the concept of solidarity in its bioethical context, both prior to and during the pandemic. Finally, I will attempt to analyze what I call the ‘rhetoric of solidarity’, as set forth by international organizations and political leaders of the Global North during the pandemic, understanding it as aid in the face of the morally objectionable global inequality and injustice caused by a number of factors, the principal one being the current system of patents imposed by the WTO and the conversion of vaccines into commodities and even ‘positional goods’.
Can the Perception Data of Autonomous Vehicles Be Used to Replace Mobile Mapping Surveys?—A Case Study Surveying Roadside City Trees
Authors: Hyyppä Eric , Manninen Petri , Maanpää Jyri , Taher Josef , Litkey Paula , Hyyti Heikki , Kukko Antero , Kaartinen Harri , Ahokas Eero , Yu Xiaowei , Muhojoki Jesse , Lehtomäki Matti , Virtanen Juho-Pekka , Hyyppä Juha
Published: March 2023

The continuous flow of autonomous vehicle-based data could revolutionize current map updating procedures and allow completely new types of mapping applications. Therefore, in this article, we demonstrate the feasibility of using perception data of autonomous vehicles to replace traditionally conducted mobile mapping surveys with a case study focusing on updating a register of roadside city trees. In our experiment, we drove along a 1.3-km-long road in Helsinki to collect laser scanner data using our autonomous car platform ARVO, which is based on a Ford Mondeo hybrid passenger vehicle equipped with a Velodyne VLS-128 Alpha Prime scanner and other high-grade sensors for autonomous perception. For comparison, laser scanner data from the same region were also collected with a specially-planned high-grade mobile mapping laser scanning system. Based on our results, the diameter at breast height, one of the key parameters of city tree registers, could be estimated with a lower root-mean-square error from the perception data of the autonomous car than from the specially-planned mobile laser scanning survey, provided that time-based filtering was included in the post-processing of the autonomous perception data to mitigate distortions in the obtained point cloud. Therefore, appropriately performed post-processing of the autonomous perception data can be regarded as a viable option for keeping maps updated in road environments. However, point cloud-processing algorithms may need to be adapted for the post-processing of autonomous perception data due to the differences in the sensors and their arrangements compared to designated mobile mapping systems. We also emphasize that time-based filtering may be required in the post-processing of autonomous perception data due to point cloud distortions around objects seen at multiple times. This highlights the importance of saving the time stamp for each data point in the autonomous perception data or saving the temporal order of the data points.
Geolocation Accuracy Validation of High-Resolution SAR Satellite Images Based on the Xianning Validation Field
Authors: Jiang Boyang , Dong Xiaohuan , Deng Mingjun , Wan Fangqi , Wang Taoyang , Li Xin , Zhang Guo , Cheng Qian , Lv Shuying
Published: March 2023

The geolocation accuracy of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images is crucial for their application in various industries. Five high-resolution SAR satellites, namely ALOS, TerraSAR-X, Cosmo-SkyMed, RadarSat-2, and Chinese YG-3, provide a vast amount of image data for research purposes, although their geometric accuracies differ despite similar resolutions. To evaluate and compare the geometric accuracy of these satellites under the same ground control reference, a validation field was established in Xianning, China. The rational function model (RFM) was used to analyze the geometric performance of the five satellites based on the Xianning validation field. The study showed that each image could achieve sub-pixel positioning accuracy in range and azimuth direction when four ground control points (GCPs) were placed in the corners, resulting in a root mean square error (RMSE) of 1.5 pixels. The study also highlighted the effectiveness of an automated GCP-matching approach to mitigate manual identification of points in SAR images, and results demonstrate that the five SAR satellite images can all achieve sub-pixel positioning accuracy in range and azimuth direction when four GCPs are used. Overall, the verification results provide a reference for SAR satellite systems’ designs, calibrations, and various remote sensing activities.
Local and Global Spectral Features for Hyperspectral Image Classification
Authors: Xu Zeyu , Su Cheng , Wang Shirou , Zhang Xiaocan
Published: March 2023

Hyperspectral images (HSI) contain powerful spectral characterization capabilities and are widely used especially for classification applications. However, the rich spectrum contained in HSI also increases the difficulty of extracting useful information, which makes the feature extraction method significant as it enables effective expression and utilization of the spectrum. Traditional HSI feature extraction methods design spectral features manually, which is likely to be limited by the complex spectral information within HSI. Recently, data-driven methods, especially the use of convolutional neural networks (CNNs), have shown great improvements in performance when processing image data owing to their powerful automatic feature learning and extraction abilities and are also widely used for HSI feature extraction and classification. The CNN extracts features based on the convolution operation. Nevertheless, the local perception of the convolution operation makes CNN focus on the local spectral features (LSF) and weakens the description of features between long-distance spectral ranges, which will be referred to as global spectral features (GSF) in this study. LSF and GSF describe the spectral features from two different perspectives and are both essential for determining the spectrum. Thus, in this study, a local-global spectral feature (LGSF) extraction and optimization method is proposed to jointly consider the LSF and GSF for HSI classification. To increase the relationship between spectra and the possibility to obtain features with more forms, we first transformed the 1D spectral vector into a 2D spectral image. Based on the spectral image, the local spectral feature extraction module (LSFEM) and the global spectral feature extraction module (GSFEM) are proposed to automatically extract the LGSF. The loss function for spectral feature optimization is proposed to optimize the LGSF and obtain improved class separability inspired by contrastive learning. We further enhanced the LGSF by introducing spatial relation and designed a CNN constructed using dilated convolution for classification. The proposed method was evaluated on four widely used HSI datasets, and the results highlighted its comprehensive utilization of spectral information as well as its effectiveness in HSI classification.
Research on the Total Channel Capacities Pertaining to Two Coverage Layouts for Three-Dimensional, UAV-Assisted Ad Hoc Networks
Authors: Yan Xiao , Zhu Shenglong , Wang Qian , Wu Hsiao-Chun
Published: March 2023

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) employed as airborne base stations (BSs) are considered the essential components in future sixth-generation wireless networks due to their mobility and line-of-sight communication links. For a UAV-assisted ad hoc network, its total channel capacity is greatly influenced by the deployment of UAV-BSs and the corresponding coverage layouts, where square and hexagonal cells are partitioned to divide the zones individual UAVs should serve. In this paper, the total channel capacities of these two kinds of coverage layouts are evaluated using our proposed novel computationally efficient channel capacity estimation scheme. The mean distance (MD) between a UAV-BS in the network and its served users as well as the MD from these users to the neighboring UAV-BSs are incorporated into the estimation of the achievable total channel capacity. We can significantly reduce the computational complexity by using a new polygon division strategy. The simulation results demonstrate that the square cell coverage layout can always lead to a superior channel capacity (with an average increase of 7.67% to be precise) to the hexagonal cell coverage layout for UAV-assisted ad hoc networks.
Deconvolved Fractional Fourier Domain Beamforming for Linear Frequency Modulation Signals
Authors: Liu Zhuoran , Tao Quan , Sun Wanzhong , Fu Xiaomei
Published: March 2023

To estimate the direction of arrival (DOA) of a linear frequency modulation (LFM) signal in a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) hydroacoustic environment by a small aperture array, a novel deconvolved beamforming method based on fractional Fourier domain delay-and-sum beamforming (FrFB) was proposed. Fractional Fourier transform (FrFT) was used to convert the received signal into the fractional Fourier domain, and delay-and-sum beamforming was subsequently performed. Noise resistance was acquired by focusing the energy of the LFM signal distributed in the time–frequency domain. Then, according to the convolution structure of the FrFB complex output, the influence of the fractional Fourier domain complex beam pattern was removed by deconvolution, and the target spatial distribution was restored. Therefore, an improved spatial resolution of DOA estimation was obtained without increasing the array aperture. The simulation and experimental results show that, with a small aperture array at low SNR, the proposed method possesses higher spatial resolution than FrFB and frequency-domain deconvolved conventional beamforming.
A Lightweight Remote Sensing Payload for Wildfire Detection and Fire Radiative Power Measurements
Authors: Thornberry Troy D. , Gao Ru-Shan , Ciciora Steven J. , Watts Laurel A. , McLaughlin Richard J. , Leonardi Angelina , Rosenlof Karen H. , Argrow Brian M. , Elston Jack S. , Stachura Maciej , Fromm Joshua , Brewer W. Alan , Schroeder Paul , Zucker Michael
Published: March 2023

Small uncrewed aerial systems (sUASs) have the potential to serve as ideal platforms for high spatial and temporal resolution wildfire measurements to complement aircraft and satellite observations, but typically have very limited payload capacity. Recognizing the need for improved data from wildfire management and smoke forecasting communities and the potential advantages of sUAS platforms, the Nighttime Fire Observations eXperiment (NightFOX) project was funded by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to develop a suite of miniaturized, relatively low-cost scientific instruments for wildfire-related measurements that would satisfy the size, weight and power constraints of a sUAS payload. Here we report on a remote sensing system developed under the NightFOX project that consists of three optical instruments with five individual sensors for wildfire mapping and fire radiative power measurement and a GPS-aided inertial navigation system module for aircraft position and attitude determination. The first instrument consists of two scanning telescopes with infrared (IR) channels using narrow wavelength bands near 1.6 and 4 µm to make fire radiative power measurements with a blackbody equivalent temperature range of 320–1500 °C. The second instrument is a broadband shortwave (0.95–1.7 µm) IR imager for high spatial resolution fire mapping. Both instruments are custom built. The third instrument is a commercial off-the-shelf visible/thermal IR dual camera. The entire system weighs about 1500 g and consumes approximately 15 W of power. The system has been successfully operated for fire observations using a Black Swift Technologies S2 small, fixed-wing UAS for flights over a prescribed grassland burn in Colorado and onboard an NOAA Twin Otter crewed aircraft over several western US wildfires during the 2019 Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality (FIREX-AQ) field mission.
ICEP: An Instrumented Cycling Ergometer Platform for the Assessment of Advanced FES Strategies
Authors: Kajganic Petar , Bergeron Vance , Metani Amine
Published: March 2023

Background: Functional electrical stimulation (FES) cycling has seen an upsurge in interest over the last decade. The present study describes the novel instrumented cycling ergometer platform designed to assess the efficiency of electrical stimulation strategies. The capabilities of the platform are showcased in an example determining the adequate stimulation patterns for reproducing a cycling movement of the paralyzed legs of a spinal cord injury (SCI) subject. Methods: Two procedures have been followed to determine the stimulation patterns: (1) using the EMG recordings of the able-bodied subject; (2) using the recordings of the forces produced by the SCI subject’s stimulated muscles. Results: the stimulation pattern derived from the SCI subject’s force output was found to produce 14% more power than the EMG-derived stimulation pattern. Conclusions: the cycling platform proved useful for determining and assessing stimulation patterns, and it can be used to further investigate advanced stimulation strategies.
Molecularly Imprinted Nanoparticle Ensembles for Rapidly Identifying S. epidermidis
Authors: Hlaoperm Chularat , Sudjarwo Wisnu Arfian A. , Ehrenbrandtner Jakob , Kiss Endre , Del Favero Giorgia , Choowongkomon Kiattawee , Rattanasrisomporn Jatuporn , Lieberzeit Peter A.
Published: March 2023

Staphylococcus epidermidis (S. epidermidis) belongs to methicillin-resistant bacteria strains that cause severe disease in humans. Herein, molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) nanoparticles resulting from solid-phase synthesis on entire cells were employed as a sensing material to identify the species. MIP nanoparticles revealed spherical shapes with diameters of approximately 70 nm to 200 nm in scanning electron microscopy (SEM), which atomic force microscopy (AFM) confirmed. The interaction between nanoparticles and bacteria was assessed using height image analysis in AFM. Selective binding between MIP nanoparticles and S. epidermidis leads to uneven surfaces on bacteria. The surface roughness of S. epidermidis cells was increased to approximately 6.3 ± 1.2 nm after binding to MIP nanoparticles from around 1 nm in the case of native cells. This binding behavior is selective: when exposing Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis to the same MIP nanoparticle solutions, one cannot observe binding. Fluorescence microscopy confirms both sensitivity and selectivity. Hence, the developed MIP nanoparticles are a promising approach to identify (pathogenic) bacteria species.
Best Practices for Training in Sustainable Greenhouse Horticulture
Authors: De Witte Ralph , Janssen Dirk , Sayadi Gmada Samir , García-García Carmen
Published: March 2023

Consumer demands and current legislation require intensive greenhouse horticulture to be sustainable. This poses the challenge of how to teach the concept of sustainable horticulture to all professionals involved in farming. The province of Almeria, in the south-east of Spain, is one of the major horticulture greenhouse areas in Europe, and an expert panel of relevant stakeholders was invited to look into the best pedagogical practices and methods to transfer technology and knowledge, with the goal of improving the sustainability of greenhouse horticulture. A combination of an online questionnaire, a Delphi method, and desk research was, therefore, used as the strategy to collect the data and implement the research design during 2021. On-farm/business demonstrations, virtual education, and classroom education were common pedagogical methods used. On-farm/business demonstrations, participatory education, and co-learning were identified as the best pedagogical methods to use in sustainable agriculture/horticulture training. The expert panel also concluded that participatory education and co-learning should be further explored whereas virtual and classroom education should play a less dominant role in the training activities. This knowledge can help training organizations and designers to avoid common mistakes, tailor their training activities, and be mindful of common barriers and (mis)conceptions.
Geoheritage and Geoconservation: Some Remarks and Considerations
Authors: Pescatore Eva , Bentivenga Mario , Giano Salvatore Ivo
Published: March 2023

Topics related to geoheritage research, protection, and conservation, as well as the enhancement and dissemination of geoheritage knowledge, have experienced an important increase in interest regarding the perspectives of both research and management policies. In geoheritage and geodiversity management, geoconservation is a term that encompasses a series of actions dedicated to conservation, research on and the protection of geoheritage, and the enhancement as well as dissemination of knowledge in this area. Geoconservation is a kind of container, with several compartments dedicated to different aspects that identify geoheritage and geodiversity, including scientific, technical, administrative, didactical, and political aspects. These aspects are necessarily different according to (i) objects directly or indirectly involved in geoconservation actions; (ii) the area of application (protected and unprotected natural areas; emerged, submerged, or mixed areas; and urban, urbanized, and/or anthropized areas); (iii) final goals; and (iv) the final end users. This paper presents a schematization of geoconservation concepts and applications as expressed in the literature and as a result of personal experience in addressing issues related to geoheritage management.
Thermal Comfort Analysis Using System Dynamics Modeling—A Sustainable Scenario Proposition for Low-Income Housing in Brazil
Authors: Liaw Cylon , da Silva Vitória Elisa , Maduro Rebecca , Megrè Milena , de Souza Inácio Gonçalves Julio Cesar , Santos Edmilson Moutinho dos , Mouette Dominique
Published: March 2023

As a riveting example of social housing in Brazil, the Minha Casa Minha Vida program was set in 2009 to diminish the 6-million-home housing deficit by offering affordable dwellings for low-income families. However, recurrent thermal discomfort complaints occur among dwellers, especially in the Baltimore Residential sample in Uberlândia City. To avoid negative effects of energy poverty, such as family budget constraints from the purchase of electric appliances and extra costs from power consumption, a simulation based on system dynamics modeling shows a natural ventilation strategy with a mixed combination of sustainable and energy-efficient materials (tilting window with up to 100% opening, green tempered glass, and expanded polystyrene wall) to observe the internal room temperature variation over time. With a 50% window opening ratio combined with a 3 mm regular glass window and a 12.5 cm rectangular 8-hole brick wall, this scenario presents the highest internal room temperature value held during the entire period. From the worst to the best-case scenario, a substantial reduction in the peak temperature was observed from window size variation, demonstrating that natural ventilation and constructive elements of low complexity and wide availability in the market contribute to the thermal comfort of residential rooms.
Multi-Level Governance and Emergency Management: Building a Priority Assessment Matrix in the Pandemic Outbreak
Authors: de Sá Freire Patricia , Kempner-Moreira Fernanda , Margherita Alessandro
Published: March 2023

The execution of effective responses during a large-scale emergency requires gathering appropriate information and implementing priority assessment processes. In particular, the design of comprehensive and multi-dimensional evaluation methods is crucial, especially in countries characterized by the presence of multiple levels of authority and regional governance. In this article, we illustrate the development of a structured method that was used to support emergency decisions during the COVID-19 emergency in Brazil. We applied a design science roadmap in order to produce an artifact development process, based on extensive expert involvement and multiple sources, to identify the core requirements and information needs at healthcare management and governance levels. This study provides an assessment matrix and measurement scale based on twenty indicators and five key criteria (i.e., gravity, urgency, trend, amplitude, and impact). The study provides an evidence-based method for assessing the emergency status of, and defining recommendations for, operators and policymakers. This method can be adopted for other emergency management scenarios and contexts in order to support the analysis and implementation of responses; this has a specific relevance for multi-level governance contexts.
Opportunities and Barriers to Monitoring and Evaluating Management Effectiveness in Protected Areas within the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region, South Africa
Authors: Wilson Georgina V. E. , Anthony Brandon P.
Published: March 2023

Protected areas (PAs) that are not effectively managed will not contribute meaningfully to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework Target 3, which aims to ensure that a minimum of 30 per cent of terrestrial, inland water, coastal and marine areas are effectively conserved and managed. Our study examined the monitoring and evaluation of protected area management effectiveness (PAME) as part of an adaptive management process in the Kruger to Canyons (K2C) Biosphere Region in South Africa. Our mixed methods approach, using online questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups, revealed that most PA managers in the network were familiar with the concept of adaptive management. The most widely used PAME evaluation tool used in the region was the Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT). Some PAs did not use a formal tool but gathered scientific data using methods such as game counts and vegetation surveys to judge management effectiveness. Additionally, several managers that did not use a formal tool mentioned that they were constrained by time, staff capacity or budget. The introduction of a simpler tool for managers that are time- or resource-constrained or who are working in a newly declared or in-process PA may improve PAME evaluation within the network. We suggest that there is a need for improved communication, co-learning, and information sharing regarding PAME evaluation tools.
Applications of Reciprocal Teaching in Flipped Classroom to Facilitate High Level of Cognition for Sustainable Learning Practices
Authors: Hwang Wu-Yuin , Wu Tsu-Hsien , Shadiev Rustam
Published: March 2023

In traditional engineering education, students usually have little training on project implementation. Therefore, students have few chances to cultivate and develop their high-level cognitive abilities for the sake of achieving sustainable learning practices. We carried out two consecutive studies to overcome this issue. In both studies, we incorporated a flipped classroom approach into the project-based engineering education curriculum. Twelve junior graduate students majoring in electrical engineering participated in Study 1, and ten junior graduate students participated in Study 2. They all took the Signal Processing of Power Quality Disturbances class and practiced their skills in a computer lab, using LabView software. After we found from the results of Study 1 that the learning activities placed a heavier load on students and their advanced cognitive skills were not developed well, the reciprocal teaching method was introduced to students in Study 2. We assumed that the reciprocal teaching method could improve these outcomes, as well as achieve sustainable learning practices. The results demonstrated that students’ load in Study 2 was reduced, and their high-level cognitive skills improved compared to those in Study 1. Based on these results, we conclude that the reciprocal teaching method can be incorporated into the flipped classroom during project-based engineering education, as it helps prevent students from becoming overloaded, facilitates cognitive abilities from basic to high, and ensures sustainable learning practices.
The Effect of Open Innovation on Manufacturing Firms’ Performance in China: The Moderating Role of Social Capital
Authors: Zhu Honghui , Lee Jinmeng , Yin Xiaojun , Du Meiling
Published: March 2023

Open innovation (OI) has great significance in innovation management. OI builds a bridge between firms and other organizations, which can help firms to quickly integrate into value chain innovation and discover the value stored in external resources, and thus can improve the performance of firms. The Chinese economy is accelerating its high-quality development. In this process, the importance of social capital is emphasized. However, less evidence is provided to discuss whether and how social capital from the resource perspective affects OI and firm performance. Therefore, we constructed a moderating model to deeply examine the mechanisms of the two models of the effects of inbound OI and outbound OI on firm performance and the impact of multidimensional social capital within it from the resource perspective. Our sample comprises 6899 observations of 1850 A-share listed manufacturing firms in China from 2016 to 2020. Considering the lag of resources into firm profitability, we decided to lag the firm performance by one year behind other indicators, so the sample data cover the period of 2016–2021. Then, we used Excel 2019 to complete the calculations of indicators and used multiple regression analysis of STATA17 to test the hypotheses. It is found that inbound and outbound OI have an inverted U-shaped relationship with firm performance. Institutional and technological social capital positively moderates the relationship between inbound and outbound OI and firm performance. Compared with the other two types of social capital, market social capital is the most widely owned among the sample firms, but its moderating effect is insignificant. The findings enrich and expand theoretical research on OI and firm performance and guide firms to implement OI, promoting their sustainable development.
Effects of the Fundamental Concepts of Computational Thinking on Students’ Anxiety and Motivation toward K-12 English Writing
Authors: Peng Hsi-Hung , Murti Astrid Tiara , Silitonga Lusia Maryani , Wu Ting-Ting
Published: March 2023

Computational thinking (CT) skills are now a key part of everyday life and work, and CT has been incorporated into K-12 curricula worldwide. Combining the fundamental concepts of CT with English writing constitutes an innovative and sustainable learning strategy. However, few academic studies have examined the incorporation of CT into English writing. English writing frequently generates excessive stress and anxiety among students, yet motivation can mitigate the negative effect of anxiety. This study investigated the effects of the fundamental concepts of CT on reducing writing anxiety and increasing motivation toward English writing. A quasi-experimental design was applied, and data were collected from experimental and control groups through writing anxiety and motivation questionnaires. The results indicated that the fundamental concepts of CT exerted a more significant influence on the dimensions of writing anxiety and motivation than did a conventional learning method. In conclusion, the fundamental concepts of CT promoted organized and structured English writing, increased students’ writing motivation, and reduced their writing anxiety.
Prioritization of Waste-to-Energy Technologies Associated with the Utilization of Food Waste
Authors: Torres-Lozada Patricia , Manyoma-Velásquez Pablo , Gaviria-Cuevas Jenny Fabiana
Published: March 2023

Taking advantage of the growing production of organic waste for its conversion to waste-to-energy (WtE) also contributes to mitigating the problems associated with its final disposal, which is a global trend of increasing application. This work presents an innovative approach for the identification and prioritization of WtE alternatives available from the use of food waste (FW) present in the municipal solid waste (MSW) of a Colombian municipality with source separation and selective collection: (i) a systematic literature review, which allows one to identify WtE alternatives; (ii) the prospective MIC-MAC method (Matrice d’Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliqués à un Classement) allowed the selection of criteria and sub criteria; (iii) the analytical hierarchical process (AHP) and the technique of order of preference by similarity to the ideal solution (TOPSIS), allowed a ranking of selected alternatives considering the technical, environmental, and social aspects. The WtE technologies identified were anaerobic digestion, gasification, incineration, biogas recovery from landfills, and pyrolysis; this last was excluded due to its greater application potential with substrates such as plastic waste. The six sub-criteria identified and prioritized were social acceptability (36%), greenhouse gas emissions mitigated (16.17%), MSW reduction (15.83%), energy production (13.80%), technological maturity (12.95%), and electrical energy conversion efficiency (5.25%), with the decreasing order of preferences of anaerobic digestion (78.2%), gasification (47.5%), incineration (27.4%), and biogas recovery from landfills (6.6%); the latter was the least desirable alternative (lower social acceptance and CO2 tons mitigated in relation to the other options). The innovative nature of this study is the identification and consideration of the comprehensive management of this type of waste of a large number of criteria (120 environmental, 52 social, and 59 technical) and the validation of the results through a sensitivity analysis, which allowed us to confirm for this study, that anaerobic digestion is the most favorable technology for the treatment and energy use of FW.
Parental Involvement and Student Engagement: A Review of the Literature
Authors: Yang Dong , Chen Peng , Wang Kai , Li Zhuoran , Zhang Chen , Huang Ronghuai
Published: March 2023

Although parental involvement is among the most crucial aspects of social support for students’ school engagement and achievement, current review work on the relationship between parental involvement and student engagement is largely missing. Therefore, we conducted a systematic literature review on such topics from the perspectives of landscapes, methodology characteristics (e.g., conceptualisation and measurement), and study patterns from 2000–2022. Following PRISMA guidelines, 33 articles involving 47,307 students and 3391 parents were reviewed. The results yielded several interesting facts. First, studies on this topic were primarily conducted in the United States during the first decade, but publications increased during emergency remote teaching (ERT) and China produced most of the publications. Studies were primarily cross-sectional (72.7%) and used secondary school Caucasian or Asian samples. In addition, although studies varied greatly on the conceptualisation and measurement of parental involvement and student engagement, they seem to embrace the idea of measuring parental involvement via school and home subtypes (85%) and student engagement via ABC dimensions (i.e., affective, behavioural, and cognitive; 57.4%). Moreover, in terms of patterns, studies often (82%) investigated its relations with student engagement or how it mediated the connections between parental involvement and learning achievement (e.g., success at school, dropout). They, however, often failed to provide concrete/practical parental involvement strategies. This pattern of results indicated an urgent need for more studies on specific parental involvement practices that could promote student engagement from multiple stakeholders. Limitations and suggestions for future studies were provided accordingly.
Examining the Effect of Privatization on Renewable Energy Consumption in the Digital Economy under Economic Patriotism: A Nonlinear Perspective
Authors: Kang Jianjun , Huang Delin
Published: March 2023

This study is an effort to investigate the asymmetric effects of privatization and the digital economy on renewable energy consumption. The nonlinear quantile autoregressive distributed lag (QARDL) technique is used to estimate short and long-run analysis. Findings of the nonlinear QARDL model posit that the long-run positive shock in privatization promotes renewable energy consumption by increasing renewable energy consumption, while the long-run negative shock in privatization demotes renewable energy consumption by reducing renewable energy consumption. In the short run, the positive shock of privatization does not significantly impact renewable energy consumption, while the negative shock of privatization reduces renewable energy consumption. Moreover, information and communications technology (ICT), economic development, and financial development increase renewable energy consumption in the long run; however, in the short-run only financial development helps increase renewable energy consumption. The Wald test confirms the asymmetric impact of privatization on renewable energy consumption only in the long run. Based on these results, policymakers should thus take into account both positive and negative shocks in privatization when developing policies to encourage pro-environmental behavior.
A Techno-Economic Assessment of a Second-Life Battery and Photovoltaics Hybrid Power Source for Sustainable Electric Vehicle Home Charging
Authors: Wangsupphaphol Aree , Chaitusaney Surachai , Salem Mohamed
Published: March 2023

This study discusses the use of a retired battery from an electric vehicle for stationary energy storage electric vehicle charging in a residential household. This research provides a novel in-depth examination of the processes that may be necessary to investigate the life loss of a battery, whether new or used. The main contribution is to promote the feasibility of the application from both a technical and economic point of view. The semi-empirical models are then utilized to analyze the life fading that is used in economic studies. In terms of lower initial investment costs for the battery and solar photovoltaics, the numerical calculation demonstrates that the used second-life battery with a DOD of 85% has more advantages over a new battery in the same condition. Additionally, compared to a new battery, a second-life battery gradually loses life and benefits from recycling after a projected 10-year lifespan. These results support the feasibility of the project. A discussion of project hurdles is included in which the hybrid converter modification may be achieved. Policymakers are encouraged to keep this valuable scheme in mind for the sake of margin profit and environmental preservation.
Spatio-Temporal Wind Speed Prediction Based on Improved Residual Shrinkage Network
Authors: Liang Xinhao , Hu Feihu , Li Xin , Zhang Lin , Cao Hui , Li Haiming
Published: March 2023

Considering the massive influx of new energy into the power system, accurate wind speed prediction is of great importance to its stability. Due to the influence of sensor accuracy and harsh natural environments, there is inevitable noise interference in original wind speed data, which adversely affects the accuracy of wind speed prediction. There are some problems associated with traditional signal processing methods when dealing with noise such as signal loss. We propose the use of a deep residual shrinkage unit based on soft activation (SDRSU) in order to reduce noise interference and ensure the integrity of original wind speed data. A deep network is constructed by stacking multiple SDRSUs to extract useful features from noisy data. Considering the spatio-temporal coupling relationship between wind turbines in a wind farm, a ST-SDRSN (soft-activation based deep spatio-temporal residual shrinkage network) will be used to model the wind speed series neighboring time property and daily periodic property. An accurate wind speed prediction can be achieved by extracting the spatial correlations between the turbines at each turbine along the time axis. We designed four depth models under the same spatio-temporal architecture to verify the advantages of the soft-activation block and the proposed ST-SDRSN model. Two datasets provided by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) were used for our experiments. Based on different kinds of evaluation criteria in different datasets, ST-SDRSN was shown to improve prediction accuracy by 15.87%.
Research on the Inheritance Path and the Branding Inheritance Model of Traditional Crafts
Authors: Zhong Yiming , Tang Shukun , Lan Mei
Published: March 2023

The inheritance of traditional crafts has contemporary value in the economy and socio-culture and, hence, the development of human civilization. China is well known for its traditional crafts and is the main subject of international traditional craft research; the Chinese government is the first leading force in traditional craft inheritance. This paper employs the grounded theory to analyze the content of 79 national policies on traditional crafts in China from 1960 to February 2022, and induces, compares, refines, and formulates an inheritance path for traditional crafts under the guidance of current public cultural policies in China. The path clarifies the Chinese government’s overall structure for traditional craft inheritance and can also serve as a reference for the international community in revitalizing traditional crafts and maintaining cultural continuity. The path contains five models, among which, the branding inheritance model is key to the revitalization of traditional crafts, yet in both theory and practice, there is a lack of implementation plans. This paper reviews branding theories, sorts out the four attributes of brand “Identification, Communication, Value, and Culture”, and then analyses the advantages of the branding inheritance model for traditional craft inheritance in four dimensions—recognition, identification, acquisition, and survival. Subsequently, this study selects the classical brand model focusing on each of the four attributes, explores the path to constructing the four attributes of traditional craft brands with a distinct operational logic, integrates the results of constructing the four attributes, forms a three-stage model of traditional craft branding inheritance, and analyzes the logical relationships of the components in the model. The model is a concrete implementation plan of the traditional craft branding inheritance, which aims to help public institutions formulate policies and guide practices in traditional craft inheritance, by providing a scientific strategic framework with a high degree of universality.
Metabolic Consequences of the Water We Drink: A Study Based on Field Evidence and Animal Model Experimentation
Authors: Wolfart Janaína Caroline , Theodoro João Lucas , Silva Fernanda Coleraus , de Oliveira Cíntia Mara Ribas , Ferreira Nuno G. C. , Bittencourt Guimarães Ana Tereza
Published: March 2023

The effect of the chronic consumption of water contaminated with residual concentrations of DDT’s metabolites (DDD—dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane and DDE—dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene) found in the environment were evaluated on the biometric, hematological and antioxidant system parameters of the hepatic, muscular, renal and nervous tissues of Wistar rats. The results showed that the studied concentrations (0.002 mg.L−1 of DDD plus 0.005 mg.L−1 of DDE) could not cause significant changes in the hematological parameters. However, the tissues showed significant alteration in the activity of the antioxidant system represented by the increase in the activity of the enzymes gluthathione S-transferases in the liver, superoxide dismutase in the kidney, gluthathione peroxidase in the brain, and several changes in enzymatic activity in muscle (SOD, GPx and LPO). The enzymes alanine aminotransaminase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransaminase (AST) were also evaluated for the amino acids’ metabolism in the liver, with ALT showing a significant increase in the exposed animals. In the integrative analysis of biomarkers (Permanova and PCOA), the studied concentrations showed possible metabolic changes and damage to cellular structures evidenced by increased oxidative stress and body weight gain among the treated animals. This study highlights the need for further studies on the impact of banned pesticides still present in soils that may induce adverse effects in organisms that may prevail in future generations and the environment.
Estimation of the Peak over Threshold-Based Design Rainfall and Its Spatial Variability in the Upper Vistula River Basin, Poland
Authors: Kołodziejczyk Katarzyna , Rutkowska Agnieszka
Published: March 2023

The proper assessment of design rainfalls with long return periods is very important because they are inputs for many flood studies. In this paper, estimations are performed on daily design rainfall totals from 16 meteorological stations located in the area of the Upper Vistula River Basin (UVB), Poland. The study material consists of a historical series of daily rainfall totals from the period of 1960–2021. The peak over threshold (POT) method is used, and the rainfall depth over threshold is assumed to follow the generalized Pareto distribution (GPD) with parameters estimated from Hill statistics. Alternatively, the competitive method based on annual maxima (AM) is applied. The theoretical distribution of AM is assumed to follow a theoretical distribution function selected by using the Akaike information criterion (AIC) from a family of seven candidate distributions, the parameters of which are estimated by using the maximum likelihood method. The two methods are compared by using the root mean square error (RMSE) and the mean deviation error (MDE) criteria. It is found that the POT-based method with GPD and Hill estimators outperform the AM-based method when considering the highest rainfall events. The confidence intervals of the design rainfalls, derived by using the Monte Carlo simulation method, reflects their large spatial diversity across the UVB. It is shown that the station’s altitude strongly correlates with the threshold, variance, and design rainfall depth of the GPD. This proves the advantage of the GPD with Hill estimates, namely that it can accurately reflect the spatial properties of rainfall and its variability in the UVB. Results can be applied in water-management applications related to floods.
Application of Biochar, Adsorbent and Nanomaterials in Wastewater Treatment
Authors: Sun Yongchang , Wang Tingting
Published: March 2023

With rapid industrial and economic development, the problem of water pollution poses a great threat to the environment and human health [...]