bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Synthesis and Evaluation of HSOD/PSF and SSOD/PSF Membranes for Removal of Phenol from Industrial Wastewater
Authors: Ngobeni Rivoningo , Sadare Olawumi , Daramola Michael O.
Published: April 2021

Phenol is regarded as a major pollutant, as the toxicity levels are in the range of 9–25 mg/L for aquatic life and humans. This study embedded silica sodalite (SSOD) and hydroxy sodalite (HSOD) nanoparticles into polysulfone (PSF) for enhancement of its physicochemical properties for treatment of phenol-containing wastewater. The pure polysulfone membranes and sodalite-infused membranes were synthesized via phase inversion. To check the surface morphology, surface hydrophilicity, surface functionality, surface roughness and measure the mechanical properties of the membranes, characterization techniques such as Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), contact angle measurements, Fourier Transform Infrared, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) nanotensile tests were used, respectively. The morphology of the composite membranes showed incorporation of the sodalite crystals decreased the membrane porosity. The results obtained showed the highest contact angle of 83.81° for pure PSF as compared to that of the composite membranes. The composite membranes with 10 wt.% HSOD/PSF and 10 wt.% SSOD/PSF showed mechanical enhancement as indicated by a 20.96% and 19.69% increase in ultimate tensile strength, respectively compared to pure PSF. The performance evaluation of the membranes was done using a dead-end filtration cell at varied feed pressure. Synthetic phenol-containing wastewater was prepared by dissolving one gram of phenol crystals in 1 L of deionized water and used in this study. Results showed higher flux for sodalite infused membranes than pure PSF for both pure and phenol-containing water. However, pure PSF showed the highest phenol rejection of 93.55% as compared to 63.65% and 64.75% achieved by 10 wt.% HSOD/PSF and 10 wt.% SSOD/PSF, respectively. The two sodalite infused membranes have shown enhanced mechanical properties and permeability during treatment of phenol in synthetic wastewater.
Cyclodextrin-Based Hybrid Polymeric Complex to Overcome Dual Drug Resistance Mechanisms for Cancer Therapy
Authors: Ke Lingjie , Li Zhiguo , Fan Xiaoshan , Loh Xian Jun , Cheng Hongwei , Wu Yun-long , Li Zibiao
Published: April 2021

Drug resistance always reduces the efficacy of chemotherapy, and the classical mechanisms of drug resistance include drug pump efflux and anti-apoptosis mediators-mediated non-pump resistance. In addition, the amphiphilic polymeric micelles with good biocompatibility and high stability have been proven to deliver the drug molecules inside the cavity into the cell membrane regardless of the efflux of the cell membrane pump. We designed a cyclodextrin (CD)-based polymeric complex to deliver chemotherapeutic doxorubicin (DOX) and Nur77ΔDBD gene for combating pumps and non-pump resistance simultaneously. The natural cavity structure of the polymeric complex, which was comprised with β-cyclodextrin-graft-(poly(ε-caprolactone)-adamantly (β-CD-PCL-AD) and β-cyclodextrin-graft-(poly(ε-caprolactone)-poly(2-(dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate) (β-CD-PCL-PDMAEMA), can achieve the efficient drug loading and delivery to overcome pump drug resistance. The excellent Nur77ΔDBD gene delivery can reverse Bcl-2 from the tumor protector to killer for inhibiting non-pump resistance. The presence of terminal adamantyl (AD) could insert into the cavity of β-CD-PCL-PDMAEMA via host-guest interaction, and the releasing rate of polymeric inclusion complex was higher than that of the individual β-CD-PCL-PDMAEMA. The polymeric inclusion complex can efficiently deliver the Nur77ΔDBD gene than polyethylenimine (PEI-25k), which is a golden standard for nonviral vector gene delivery. The higher transfection efficacy, rapid DOX cellular uptake, and significant synergetic tumor cell viability inhibition were achieved in a pump and non-pump drug resistance cell model. The combined strategy with dual drug resistance mechanisms holds great potential to combat drug-resistant cancer.
Fully Bio-Based Thermosetting Polyurethanes from Bio-Based Polyols and Isocyanates
Authors: Morales-Cerrada Roberto , Tavernier Romain , Caillol Sylvain
Published: April 2021

The trend towards the utilization of bioresources for the manufacturing of polymers has led industry players to bring to the market new monomers. In this work, we studied 3 polyisocyanates and 2 polyols with high renewable carbon contents, namely L-lysine ethyl ester diisocyanate (LDI), pentamethylene-diisocyanate (PDI) isocyanurate trimer, and hexamethylene-diisocyanate (HDI) allophanate as the isocyanates, as well as castor oil and polypropanediol as the polyols. These monomers are commercially available at a large scale and were used in direct formulations or used as prepolymers. Thermosetting polymers with Tg values ranging from −41 to +21 °C and thermal stabilities of up to 300 °C were obtained, and the polymerization was studied using NMR, DSC, and rheology. Cured materials were also characterized using FTIR, DMA, gel content, and swelling index determinations. These high bio-based content materials can successfully be obtained and could be used as alternatives to petro-based materials.
Analysis of Ionic Domains on a Proton Exchange Membrane Using a Numerical Approximation Model Based on Electrostatic Force Microscopy
Authors: Son Byungrak , Park JaeHyoung , Kwon Osung
Published: April 2021

Understanding the ionic channel network of proton exchange membranes that dictate fuel cell performance is crucial when developing proton exchange membrane fuel cells. However, it is difficult to characterize this network because of the complicated nanostructure and structure changes that depend on water uptake. Electrostatic force microscopy (EFM) can map surface charge distribution with nano-spatial resolution by measuring the electrostatic force between a vibrating conductive tip and a charged surface under an applied voltage. Herein, the ionic channel network of a proton exchange membrane is analyzed using EFM. A mathematical approximation model of the ionic channel network is derived from the principle of EFM. This model focusses on free charge movement on the membrane based on the force gradient variation between the tip and the membrane surface. To verify the numerical approximation model, the phase lag of dry and wet Nafion is measured with stepwise changes to the bias voltage. Based on the model, the variations in the ionic channel network of Nafion with different amounts of water uptake are analyzed numerically. The mean surface charge density of both membranes, which is related to the ionic channel network, is calculated using the model. The difference between the mean surface charge of the dry and wet membranes is consistent with the variation in their proton conductivity.
Review on the Accelerated and Low-Temperature Polymerization of Benzoxazine Resins: Addition Polymerizable Sustainable Polymers
Authors: Lochab Bimlesh , Monisha Monisha , Amarnath Nagarjuna , Sharma Pratibha , Mukherjee Sourav , Ishida Hatsuo
Published: April 2021

Due to their outstanding and versatile properties, polybenzoxazines have quickly occupied a great niche of applications. Developing the ability to polymerize benzoxazine resin at lower temperatures than the current capability is essential in taking advantage of these exceptional properties and remains to be most challenging subject in the field. The current review is classified into several parts to achieve this goal. In this review, fundamentals on the synthesis and evolution of structure, which led to classification of PBz in different generations, are discussed. Classifications of PBzs are defined depending on building block as well as how structure is evolved and property obtained. Progress on the utility of biobased feedstocks from various bio-/waste-mass is also discussed and compared, wherever possible. The second part of review discusses the probable polymerization mechanism proposed for the ring-opening reactions. This is complementary to the third section, where the effect of catalysts/initiators has on triggering polymerization at low temperature is discussed extensively. The role of additional functionalities in influencing the temperature of polymerization is also discussed. There has been a shift in paradigm beyond the lowering of ring-opening polymerization (ROP) temperature and other areas of interest, such as adaptation of molecular functionality with simultaneous improvement of properties.
Synthesis of Novel Benzoxazines Containing Sulfur and Their Application in Rubber Compounds
Authors: Trejo-Machin Acerina , Cosas Fernandes João Paulo , Puchot Laura , Balko Suzanne , Wirtz Marcel , Weydert Marc , Verge Pierre
Published: April 2021

This work reports the synthesis and successful use of novel benzoxazines as reinforcing resins in polyisoprene rubber compounds. For this purpose, three new dibenzoxazines containing one (4DTP-fa) or two heteroatoms of sulfur (3DPDS-fa and 4DPDS-fa) were synthesized following a Mannich condensation reaction. The structural features of each benzoxazine precursor were characterized by 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman. The new precursors showed well suited reactivity as characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and rheology and were incorporated in rubber compounds. After the mixing, the curing profiles, morphologies and mechanical properties of the materials were tested. These results show that the structural feature of each isomer was significantly affecting its behavior during the curing of the rubber compounds. Among the tested benzoxazines, 3DPDS-fa exhibited the best ability to reinforce the rubber compound even compared to common phenolic resin. These results prove the feasibility to reinforce rubber compounds with benzoxazine resins as a possible alternative to replace conventional phenolic resins. This paper provides the first guide to use benzoxazines as reinforcing resins for rubber applications, based on their curing kinetics.
Production of Phenyllactic Acid from Porphyra Residues by Lactic Acid Bacterial Fermentation
Authors: Huang Chung-Hsiung , Chen Wei-Chen , Gao Yu-Huei , Hsiao Hsin-I , Pan Chorng-Liang
Published: April 2021

The concept of algae biorefinery is attracting attention because of the abundant valuable compounds within algal biomass. Phenyllactic acid (PhLA), a broad-spectrum antimicrobial organic acid that can be produced by lactic acid bacteria (LAB), is considered a potential biopreservative. In this study, a cascading biorefinery approach was developed to harvest PhLA from Porphyra residues by LAB fermentation. LAB strains were cultivated in de Man, Rogosa and Sharpe (MRS) broth to screen their ability to produce PhLA. As the strains of Lactobacillus plantarum KP3 and L. plantarum KP4 produced higher concentrations of PhLA at 0.09 mg/mL, these two strains were employed for fermentation. After phycobiliprotein extraction, the Porphyra residues, ultrafiltration eluate, phenylalanine (Phe) and yeast extract with a volume of 20 mL were inoculated with LAB strain KP3 and fermented at 37 °C for 120 h. The PhLA content of the fermented broth was 1.86 mg. To optimize the biorefinery process, the ultrafiltration eluate was replaced by commercial cellulase. Up to 4.58 mg of PhLA, which was 2.5 times greater than that produced from KP3 cultured in MRS broth, could be harvested. Taken together, the findings provide an optimized process for LAB fermentation, which is shown to be a feasible algae biorefinery approach to obtaining PhLA from Porphyra residues.
Reconsidering the Equids from the Early Pleistocene Fauna of Apollonia 1 (Mygdonia Basin, Greece)
Authors: Gkeme Anastasia G. , Koufos George D. , Kostopoulos Dimitris S.
Published: April 2021

The remains of equids are abundant in the Early Pleistocene faunas of Greece. “Apollonia-1” is one of the richest localities from the latest Villafranchian, providing eight skulls, mandibular remains and plenty of postcranial material during several field campaigns. This study focuses mainly on the skulls, mandibular remains and metapodials from the old and new collection described in detail. The specimens are compared with equids from several Greek and European fossiliferous localities dating from the late Villafranchian to the middle Galerian. The systematic position of Equus apolloniensis is also discussed. Based on its basicranial proportions, E. apolloniensis is considered a true Equus. A second species has also been identified recently, here referred to as Equus sp.; it is poorly represented, and it is even larger and more robust than E. apolloniensis based on a single metacarpal and third phalanges. The presence of two equid species in Apollonia 1 validates its Epivillafranchian (=latest Villafranchian) age.
The Gender of God’s Gifts—Dividual Personhood, Spirits and the Statue of Mother Mary in a Sepik Society, Papua New Guinea
Authors: Falck Christiane
Published: April 2021

A Sepik myth tells of a time in which women were in charge of powerful spirits before jealous men reversed the gender roles by force. Today, the men of Timbunmeli (Nyaura, West Iatmul) have lost control over spirits who have started to act through female bodies. Christian charismatic rituals hint at mythical times, and remind villagers that women are the original custodians of spirits now understood as being spirits of God. While previously, male bodies represented spirits in shamanic rituals and through male ritual regalia, now women are the predominant recipients of God’s gifts. This paper analyzes the current religious practices as onto-praxis in relation to the local concept of personhood and the relational ontology informing the Nyaura’s lifeworld. Building on Strathern, Bird-David, and Gell’s theories about the personhood of humans and things from an anthropology of ontology perspective and adding a gender perspective to the discussion, this paper argues that dividuality put into practice has not only informed the way the Nyaura have made charismatic Christianity their own, but is also central for understanding current events impacting gender relations in which material objects representing spirits play a crucial role.
Catholicism and European Politics: Introducing Contemporary Dynamics
Authors: Driessen Michael Daniel
Published: April 2021

Recent research on political Catholicism in Europe has sought to theorize the ways in which Catholic politics, including Catholic political parties, political ideals, and political entrepreneurs, have survived and navigated in a post-secular political environment [...]
Challenges in Reconciling Satellite-Based and Locally Reported Estimates of Wetland Change: A Case of Topographically Constrained Wetlands on the Eastern Tibetan Plateau
Authors: Fang Jianing , Zaitchik Benjamin
Published: April 2021

The coupling of rapid warming and wetland degradation on the Tibetan Plateau has motivated studies of climate influence on wetland change in the region. These studies typically examine large, topographically homogeneous regions, whereas conservation efforts sometimes require fine-grained information in rugged terrain. This study addresses topographically constrained wetlands on the Eastern Tibetan, where herders report significant wetland degradation. We used Landsat images to examine changes in wetland areas and Sentinel-1 SAR images to investigate water level and vegetation structure. We also analyzed trends in precipitation, growing season length, and reference evapotranspiration in weather station records. Snow cover and the vegetation growing season were quantified using MODIS observations. We analyzed estimates of actual evapotranspiration using the Atmosphere-Land Exchange Inverse model (ALEXI) and the Simplified Surface Energy Balance model (SSEBop). Satellite-informed analyses failed to confirm herders’ accounts of reduced wetland function, as no coherent trends were found in wetland area, water content, or vegetation structure. An analysis of meteorological records did indicate a warming-induced increase in reference evapotranspiration, and both meteorological records and satellites suggest that the growing season had lengthened, potentially increasing water demand and driving wetland change. The discrepancies between the satellite data and local observations pointed to temporal, spatial, and epistemological gaps in combining scientific data with empirical evidence in understanding wetland change on the Tibetan Plateau.
Feature Selection Based on Principal Component Regression for Underwater Source Localization by Deep Learning
Authors: Zhu Xiaoyu , Dong Hefeng , Salvo Rossi Pierluigi , Landrø Martin
Published: April 2021

Underwater source localization is an important task, especially for real-time operation. Recently, machine learning methods have been combined with supervised learning schemes. This opens new possibilities for underwater source localization. However, in many real scenarios, the number of labeled datasets is insufficient for purely supervised learning, and the training time of a deep neural network can be huge. To mitigate the problem related to the low number of labeled datasets available, we propose a two-step framework for underwater source localization based on the semi-supervised learning scheme. The first step utilizes a convolutional autoencoder to extract the latent features from the whole available dataset. The second step performs source localization via an encoder multi-layer perceptron trained on a limited labeled portion of the dataset. To reduce the training time, an interpretable feature selection (FS) method based on principal component regression is proposed, which can extract important features for underwater source localization by only introducing the source location without other prior information. The proposed approach is validated on the public dataset SWellEx-96 Event S5. The results show that the framework has appealing accuracy and robustness on the unseen data, especially when the number of data used to train gradually decreases. After FS, not only the training stage has a 95% acceleration but the performance of the framework becomes more robust on the receiver-depth selection and more accurate when the number of labeled data used to train is extremely limited.
The InflateSAR Campaign: Testing SAR Vessel Detection Systems for Refugee Rubber Inflatables
Authors: Lanz Peter , Marino Armando , Brinkhoff Thomas , Köster Frank , Möller Matthias
Published: April 2021

Countless numbers of people lost their lives at Europe’s southern borders in recent years in the attempt to cross to Europe in small rubber inflatables. This work examines satellite-based approaches to build up future systems that can automatically detect those boats. We compare the performance of several automatic vessel detectors using real synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data from X-band and C-band sensors on TerraSAR-X and Sentinel-1. The data was collected in an experimental campaign where an empty boat lies on a lake’s surface to analyse the influence of main sensor parameters (incidence angle, polarization mode, spatial resolution) on the detectability of our inflatable. All detectors are implemented with a moving window and use local clutter statistics from the adjacent water surface. Among tested detectors are well-known intensity-based (CA-CFAR), sublook-based (sublook correlation) and polarimetric-based (PWF, PMF, PNF, entropy, symmetry and iDPolRAD) approaches. Additionally, we introduced a new version of the volume detecting iDPolRAD aimed at detecting surface anomalies and compare two approaches to combine the volume and the surface in one algorithm, producing two new highly performing detectors. The results are compared with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, enabling us to compare detectors independently of threshold selection.
Monitoring of Land Subsidence in the Po River Delta (Northern Italy) Using Geodetic Networks
Authors: Cenni Nicola , Fiaschi Simone , Fabris Massimo
Published: April 2021

The Po River Delta (PRD, Northern Italy) has been historically affected by land subsidence due to natural processes and human activities, with strong impacts on the stability of the natural ecosystems and significant socio-economic consequences. This paper is aimed to highlight the spatial and temporal evolution of the land subsidence in the PRD area analyzing the geodetic observations acquired in the last decade. The analysis performed using a moving window approach on Continuous Global Navigation Satellite System (CGNSS) time-series indicates that the velocities, in the order of 6 mm/year, are not affected by significant changes in the analyzed period. Furthermore, the use of non-permanent sites belonging to a new GNSS network (measured in 2016 and 2018) integrated with InSAR data (from 2014 to 2017) allowed us to improve the spatial coverage of data points in the PRD area. The results suggest that the land subsidence velocities in the easternmost part of the area of interest are characterized by values greater than the ones located in the western sectors. In particular, the sites located on the sandy beach ridge in the western sector of the study area are characterized by values greater than −5 mm/year, while rates of about −10 mm/year or lower have been observed at the eastern sites located in the Po river mouths. The morphological analysis indicates that the land subsidence observed in the PRD area is mainly due to the compaction of the shallow layers characterized by organic-rich clay and fresh-water peat.
Observing Water Surface Temperature from Two Different Airborne Platforms over Temporarily Flooded Wadden Areas at the Elbe Estuary—Methods for Corrections and Analysis
Authors: Fricke Katharina , Baschek Björn , Jenal Alexander , Kneer Caspar , Weber Immanuel , Bongartz Jens , Wyrwa Jens , Schöl Andreas
Published: April 2021

Over the Hahnöfer Nebenelbe, a part of the Elbe estuary near Hamburg, Germany, a combined aerial survey with an unmanned aerial system (UAV) and a gyrocopter was conducted to acquire information about the water surface temperatures. The water temperature in the estuary is important for biological processes and living conditions of riverine organisms. This study aimed to develop a workflow that allows for comparing and analysing surface temperatures acquired by two different remote sensing systems. The thermal infrared (TIR) datasets were compared with in situ measurements gathered during the data acquisition, where both TIR datasets showed a varying bias. Potential error sources regarding the absolute and relative accuracy were investigated and modelled based on the available measurements, including emissivity, atmosphere, skin effect at the water surface, camera flat field correction and calibration. The largest effects on the observed TIR water temperature had the camera calibration and the modelled atmospheric effects. After the correction steps, both datasets could be combined to create a multitemporal representation of the temperature pattern and profiles over the survey area’s wadden flats.
Remote Sensing of Savannas and Woodlands: Editorial
Authors: Hill Michael J.
Published: April 2021

Savannas and woodlands represent one of the most challenging targets for remote sensing [...]
An Interband Registration Method for Hyperspectral Images Based on Adaptive Iterative Clustering
Authors: Wu Shiyong , Zhong Ruofei , Li Qingyang , Qiao Ke , Zhu Qing
Published: April 2021

In the context of the problem of image blur and nonlinear reflectance difference between bands in the registration of hyperspectral images, the conventional method has a large registration error and is even unable to complete the registration. This paper proposes a robust and efficient registration algorithm based on iterative clustering for interband registration of hyperspectral images. The algorithm starts by extracting feature points using the scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) to achieve initial putative matching. Subsequently, feature matching is performed using four-dimensional descriptors based on the geometric, radiometric, and feature properties of the data. An efficient iterative clustering method is proposed to perform cluster analysis on the proposed descriptors and extract the correct matching points. In addition, we use an adaptive strategy to analyze the key parameters and extract values automatically during the iterative process. We designed four experiments to prove that our method solves the problem of blurred image registration and multi-modal registration of hyperspectral images. It has high robustness to multiple scenes, multiple satellites, and multiple transformations, and it is better than other similar feature matching algorithms.
Unsupervised Domain Adaption for High-Resolution Coastal Land Cover Mapping with Category-Space Constrained Adversarial Network
Authors: Chen Jifa , Zhai Guojun , Chen Gang , Fang Bo , Zhou Ping , Yu Nan
Published: April 2021

Coastal land cover mapping (CLCM) across image domains presents a fundamental and challenging segmentation task. Although adversaries-based domain adaptation methods have been proposed to address this issue, they always implement distribution alignment via a global discriminator while ignoring the data structure. Additionally, the low inter-class variances and intricate spatial details of coastal objects may entail poor presentation. Therefore, this paper proposes a category-space constrained adversarial method to execute category-level adaptive CLCM. Focusing on the underlying category information, we introduce a category-level adversarial framework to align semantic features. We summarize two diverse strategies to extract category-wise domain labels for source and target domains, where the latter is driven by self-supervised learning. Meanwhile, we generalize the lightweight adaptation module to multiple levels across a robust baseline, aiming to fine-tune the features at different spatial scales. Furthermore, the self-supervised learning approach is also leveraged as an improvement strategy to optimize the result within segmented training. We examine our method on two converse adaptation tasks and compare them with other state-of-the-art models. The overall visualization results and evaluation metrics demonstrate that the proposed method achieves excellent performance in the domain adaptation CLCM with high-resolution remotely sensed images.
Semantic Point Cloud Segmentation Using Fast Deep Neural Network and DCRF
Authors: Rao Yunbo , Zhang Menghan , Cheng Zhanglin , Xue Junmin , Pu Jiansu , Wang Zairong
Published: April 2021

Accurate segmentation of entity categories is the critical step for 3D scene understanding. This paper presents a fast deep neural network model with Dense Conditional Random Field (DCRF) as a post-processing method, which can perform accurate semantic segmentation for 3D point cloud scene. On this basis, a compact but flexible framework is introduced for performing segmentation to the semantics of point clouds concurrently, contribute to more precise segmentation. Moreover, based on semantics labels, a novel DCRF model is elaborated to refine the result of segmentation. Besides, without any sacrifice to accuracy, we apply optimization to the original data of the point cloud, allowing the network to handle fewer data. In the experiment, our proposed method is conducted comprehensively through four evaluation indicators, proving the superiority of our method.
Accessibility in Inclusive Tourism? Hotels Distributed through Online Channels
Authors: Martin-Fuentes Eva , Mostafa-Shaalan Sara , Mellinas Juan Pedro
Published: April 2021

There is a lack of comprehensive international studies on accommodations for people with disabilities; only small, local-level studies exist. This study aims to show the status of the tourist accommodation sector through the online distribution channel in terms of accessibility to offer more inclusive tourism. A descriptive analysis has been carried out with more than 31,000 hotels from the online travel agency Booking.com, in the 100 most touristic cities in the world. For the first time, an accurate picture of adaptation in the hotel sector for people with disabilities is presented. Results show that the adapted hotel infrastructures by countries are uneven. The main adaptations are those that help to avoid mobility barriers, and in contrast, hotels offer very few adaptations for sensory disabilities such as visual disabilities. Moreover, this study shows that, worldwide, countries with the highest income per capita, such as the United States of America, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Qatar or the United Arab Emirates, have the highest degree of hotel adaptation.
A Missed Opportunity for Men? Partnered and Employed Individuals’ Involvement with Housework during the COVID-19 Lockdown in the UK
Authors: Sönmez İbrahim
Published: April 2021

Given the outbreak of the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), pandemic during March 2020, lockdown measures taken by governments have forced many families, especially those who have children, to re-arrange domestic and market work division. In this study, I investigate the factors associated with partnered and employed individuals’ involvement with housework during the COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom. Drawing evidence from the first wave of the Covid-19 Survey from the Five National Longitudinal Studies dataset with using OLS regressions, this study found that daily working hours, socioeconomic status, and partner’s key worker status are important indicators of daily time spent on housework. Furthermore, interaction analysis showed that women living with a key worker partner not only did more housework than women whose partner was working in a regular job, but they also did more housework than men living with a key worker partner during the lockdown. Policy implications of regulating maximum daily working hours and key worker status are discussed in the context of re-arranging paid and unpaid work between couples during the first lockdown in the United Kingdom.
Green Entrepreneurial Orientation and Green Innovation in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)
Authors: Muangmee Chaiyawit , Dacko-Pikiewicz Zdzisława , Meekaewkunchorn Nusanee , Kassakorn Nuttapon , Khalid Bilal
Published: April 2021

Since environmental issues are becoming an integral part of business performances, policymakers and managers have started recognizing the importance of green innovation towards sustainable business performances. The role of the automotive parts industry is crucial in minimizing environmental degradation and promoting sustainable development. Yet few studies have focused on the connection between green entrepreneurial orientation and green innovation that may affect small and medium enterprise (SME) business performance. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the influence of green entrepreneurial orientation on green innovations, and its effects on sustainable business performances in the automotive parts industry in Thailand. The sample consists of 226 SMEs in the automotive parts industry in Thailand. The partial least square method (PLS-SEM) has been used for the analysis of data. The results of the study show that green innovations have the strongest influence on economic and environmental performances. This study contributes to resource-based view theory by incorporating green innovation as a strategic competency of SMEs’ performance. Further, green entrepreneurial orientation and green innovation can assist SME managers in understanding the factors leading to sustainable performance of businesses.
How Temporal Order of Inconsistent CSR Information Affects Consumer Perceptions?
Authors: Xu Juhua , Han Eun-Kyoung
Published: April 2021

What happens first between a corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication and a crisis can result in different levels of perceived cognitive dissonance and corporate hypocrisy depending on whether there is information inconsistency between the CSR communication and the crisis. This paper presents the findings from an experimental study and an online survey conducted and administered to investigate the contingency influence on consumer perceptions in response to inconsistent information. The results indicate that consumers experience greater cognitive dissonance and perceive more corporate hypocrisy when they are exposed, first, to a CSR initiative and then to a crisis, than when the order is reversed, provided that the CSR initiative and the crisis are congruent with the same social issue. However, there are no significant differences when the CSR initiative is incongruent with the crisis. Further, the findings of the study suggest that consumer cognitive dissonance not only directly influences the perceived corporate reputation, but also indirectly affects the perceived corporate reputation through a mediating effect of perceived corporate hypocrisy. The theoretical contribution of this study lies in providing a better understanding of consumer perceptions (including cognitive dissonance, perceived corporate hypocrisy and corporate reputation) in response to inconsistent CSR information. Meanwhile, the managerial contribution of this study stands by providing insights into the use of CSR communication strategies.
Size Effect of Shear Strength of Recycled Concrete Beam without Web Reinforcement: Testing and Explicit Finite Element Simulation
Authors: Wang Wei , Zeng Xin , Niyonzima Emery , Gao Yue-Qing , Yang Qiu-Wei , Chen Shao-Qing
Published: April 2021

Recycled concrete is a form of low-carbon concrete with great importance. The explicit finite element method is an economical and feasible method for analyzing static concrete structures, such as those made of recycled concrete. The shear strength of regular concrete beams has size effects. In this study, a group of physical tests on the size effect of the shear strength of recycled concrete beams without web reinforcement was carried out under the condition of a constant shear span ratio. The research results show that the shear strength of the test beam generally decreases with the increase in beam section height, and a regression formula of the shear strength was obtained, which can formulate this effect. The rationale and feasibility of the explicit finite element method solving the ultimate load of concrete structures (which can derive the shear strength) were briefly demonstrated, and an explicit finite element simulation of test beams was carried out. Results showed an obvious and phenomenologically regular size effect of the shear strength of recycled concrete beams without web reinforcement, which can be simulated by the explicit finite element method. This research aims to promote the study of low-carbon recycled concrete structures to a certain extent and encourage the application of economic explicit finite element methods for the static analysis of concrete structures.
Cultural Landmarks and Urban Landscapes in Three Contrasting Societies
Authors: Chen Jiquan , Park Hogeun , Fan Peilei , Tian Li , Ouyang Zutao , Lafortezza Raffaele
Published: April 2021

Cultural heritage sites and landscapes are intuitively connected in urban systems. Based on available databases of cultural landmarks, we selected three pairs of cities that are currently dominated by three contrasting religions (Catholic, Buddhist and emerging culture) to compare the long-term changes in cultural landmarks, to quantify their spatial distribution in the current landscape, and to examine the potential influences these landmarks have on landscapes. The landmark database and landscapes were constructed from archived maps, satellite imagery and the UNESCO heritage sites for Barcelona, Bari, Beijing, Vientiane, Shenzhen, and Ulaanbaatar. Roads in Asian cities are mostly constructed in alignment with the four cardinal directions, forming a checkerboard-type landscape, whereas Bari and Barcelona in Europe have examples of roads radiating from major cultural landmarks. We found clear differences in the number of landmarks and surrounding landscape in these cities, supporting our hypothesis that current urban landscapes have been influenced similarly by cultural landmarks, although substantial differences exist among cities. Negative relationships between the number of cultural landmarks and major cover types were found, except with agricultural lands. Clearly, cultural landmarks need to be treated as “natural features” and considered as reference points in urban planning. Major efforts are needed to construct a global database before an overarching conclusion can be made for global cities.
Academic Expatriation to Emerging Economies: A Career Perspective
Authors: El Baroudi Sabrine , Khapova Svetlana N.
Published: April 2021

Although the globalization of the academic labor market offers many advantages to academic institutions and their students, less is known about its (dis)advantages for academic expatriates’ careers. This paper seeks explanations of how academic expatriates aspire to invest in their careers in emerging economies by engaging both with the evidence of intelligent career theory, and with the literature on academic expatriation to emerging economies and on higher education. On the basis of these different streams of the literature, this paper identifies and outlines the institutional practices that could influence academic expatriates’ careers. This paper suggests that future research on academic expatriation to emerging economies can develop in at least three directions, namely, (a) the institutional practices at academic institutions in emerging economies, (b) the careers of academic expatriates, and (c) a reciprocal relationship between institutional practices and the individual careers of academic expatriates.
Removal of Selected Dyes on Activated Carbons
Authors: Okoniewska Ewa
Published: April 2021

Dyes are widely used in various industries such as those involving paper, food, plastics, and fibers. The produced wastewater has a specific character. Organic substances found in wastewater and when introduced into natural water bodies have a toxic effect on living organisms, causing increased chemical and biological oxygen demand. Some dyes, even in very low concentrations, cause intense colouring. To remove dyes from wastewater, methods such as flotation, oxidation, ozonation, filtration or coagulation with metal compounds are used. Unfortunately, when these methods are used, very large amounts of sludge are produced, which is another problem for the environment. Therefore, one of the methods that can effectively remove dyes from wastewater without creating large amounts of waste is activated carbon adsorption. Adsorption methods in the treatment of wastewater from the dye industry are of particular importance due to their high efficiency, ability to operate over a relatively wide range of concentrations, and availability. The most common adsorbent is activated carbon, which has a high adsorption capacity against many organic compounds. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of filtration rate and type of activated carbon on the removal efficiency of selected cationic (anilan yellow) and anionic (tartrazine) dyes from aqueous solutions.
Environmental Concern, Attitude and Intention in Understanding Student’s Anti-Littering Behavior Using Structural Equation Modeling
Authors: Ibrahim Hayati , Mariapan Manohar , Lin Evelyn Lim Ai , Bidin Sheena
Published: April 2021

Concerns about the environment began to rise as various issues such as littering increased. Littering is one of the problems involving the environment, and higher education campuses are also actively practising anti-littering to show their efforts. The aim of this study is to test the relationship between environmental concern, attitude and intention on anti-littering using Theory of Planned Behavior Extended Model. A total of 303 students of the Polytechnic Malaysia campus were respondents in this study and the data were analyzed by Structural Equation Modeling using SPSS Amos 24.0 Statistical Packages. Findings show that there is a direct and indirect effect between environmental concern and student’s anti-littering intention. The indirect result shows that attitude towards anti-littering behavior partially mediates the relationship between environmental concern and anti-littering intention. The implications of the research findings and suggestions for the future study are also included in the study.
What Have We Learned about the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Consumer Behavior?
Authors: Hesham Fazel , Riadh Harizi , Sihem Nasr Khouadja
Published: April 2021

Background: This study aims to examine how behavioral variables interact with and stimulate purchasing decisions and influence the process of purchasing healthy foods during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Principal component analysis was carried out on a sample of 100 consumers of healthy foods in Saudi Arabia, and this made it possible to adapt the items to the context of the study. Exploratory and confirmatory analysis with 360 people was carried out. Confirmatory factor analysis provided reliable and valid scales, and multivariate analysis using structural equations and binary logistic regressions made it possible to validate the hypotheses. Results: The intention to buy increased among consumers of healthy foods. Women were more anxious about the COVID-19 pandemic than men, and they took considerable precautions to avoid contamination. The fear of COVID-19 was also more intense among the elderly population than younger people. The respondents indicated reduced visits to shops, restaurants, and markets. Gender and age moderated the relationship between the fear of COVID-19 and purchasing intention. Consumption risk also negatively affected purchasing intention. However, buying experiences and intention to buy led to increased purchases of healthy foods compared to other goods.
Transforming Food Systems in Africa under Climate Change Pressure: Role of Climate-Smart Agriculture
Authors: Zougmoré Robert B. , Läderach Peter , Campbell Bruce M.
Published: April 2021

Low-income producers and consumers of food in Africa are more vulnerable to climate change, owing to their comparatively limited ability to invest in more adapted institutions and technologies under increasing climatic risks. Therefore, the way we manage our food systems needs to be urgently changed if the goal is to achieve food security and sustainable development more quickly. This review paper analyzes the nexus “climate-smart agriculture-food systems-sustainable development” in order to draw sound ways that could allow rapid transformation of food systems in the context of climate change pressure. We followed an integrative review approach based on selected concrete example-experiences from ground-implemented projects across Africa (Ghana, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, in West Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania in East Africa). Mostly composed of examples from the Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS) Research Program of the CGIAR (former Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) and its partners, these also included ground initiatives from non-CGIAR that could provide demonstrable conditions for a transformative agriculture and food systems. The lessons learnt from the ground implementation of climate-smart agriculture (CSA), in the African context, were instrumental to informing the actions areas of the food-system transformation framework suggested in this paper (reroute, de-risk, reduce, and realign). Selected CSA example-cases to inform these action areas included 24 initiatives across Africa, but with a focus on the following studies for an in-depth analysis: (1) the climate-smart village approach to generate knowledge on climate-smart agriculture (CSA) technologies and practices for their scaling, (2) the use of climate information services (CIS) to better manage climate variability and extremes, and (3) the science–policy interfacing to mainstream CSA into agricultural development policies and plans. The analysis of these examples showed that CSA can contribute driving a rapid change of food systems in Africa through: (1) the implementation of relevant climate-smart technologies and practices to reroute farming and rural livelihoods to new climate-resilient and low-emission trajectories; (2) the development and application of weather and climate information services (WCIS) that support de-risking of livelihoods, farms, and value chains in the face of increasing vagaries of weather and extreme events; (3) the use of climate-smart options that minimize waste of all the natural resources used for growing, processing, packaging, transporting, and marketing food, and therefore mitigating the carbon footprint attached to this food loss and waste; and (4) the realignment of policies and finance that facilitate action in the four proposed action areas through the identification of news ways to mobilize sustainable finance and create innovative financial mechanisms and delivery channels.
Complementarities between Operations and Occupational Health and Safety in Garments
Authors: Maalouf Miguel Malek , Hasle Peter , Vang Jan , Hamja Abu
Published: April 2021

There is an ongoing debate in the extant literature regarding whether the relationship between occupational health and safety (OHS) and operational practices is contradictory or complementary. However, previous research has focused on companies situated in developed and highly industrialized countries. We contribute to the debate by investigating the relationship between OHS and operational practices in 50 selected garment factories in the context of a developing country (Bangladesh). We investigated OHS and operational practices in a developing country because the institutional context and the industrial tradition are different from those in developed countries, and these factors are very likely to influence how companies invest in enhancing work conditions and improving operational practices. Indeed, the main contribution of this study is that, in contrast to findings from developed countries, our results indicate that both the maturity levels of OHS and operational practices and the complementarity between them depended on plant size. In particular, large plants had higher levels of maturity and were more likely to perform well in both OHS and operational practices than small and medium plants. Based on these findings, we emphasize that, to enhance work conditions and remain competitive, small and medium companies must embrace multi-stakeholder initiatives involving international buyers, local government, and international labor. Organizations can contribute to building the capabilities of suppliers and balance the pressure of cost reduction with investment in OHS improvement.
Long-Term Development of Urban Agriculture: Resilience and Sustainability of Farmers Facing the Covid-19 Pandemic in Japan
Authors: Yoshida Shingo , Yagi Hironori
Published: April 2021

The coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic has forced global food systems to face unprecedented uncertain shocks even in terms of human health. Urban agriculture is expected to be more resilient because of its short supply chain for urban people and diversified farming activities. However, the short-and long-term effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on urban farms remain unclear. This study aims to reveal the conditions for farm resilience to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and the relationship between short-term farm resilience and long-term farm development using data from a survey of 74 farms located in Tokyo. The results are as follows. First, more than half of the sample farms increased their farm sales during this period. This resilience can be called the “persistence” approach. Second, short-term farm resilience and other sustainable farm activities contributed to improving farmers’ intentions for long-term farm development and farmland preservation. Third, the most important resilience attributes were the direct marketing, entrepreneurship, and social networks of farmers. We discussed the necessity of building farmers’ transformative capabilities for a more resilient urban farming system. These results imply that support to enhance the short-term resilience of urban farms is worth more than the short-term profit of the farms.