bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Emotional Intelligence, Knowledge Management Processes and Creative Performance: Modelling the Mediating Role of Self-Directed Learning in Higher Education
Authors: Shafait Zahid , Yuming Zhu , Meyer Natanya , Sroka Włodzimierz
Published: March 2021

Grounded on the Knowledge Based View (KBV), this study examines the effects of a knowledge management enabler (Emotional Intelligence) on knowledge management processes (KMPs) in research universities. It investigates the direct effect of KMPs on creative performance. This study further examines the mediating role of Self-directed Learning in a relationship between KMPs and creative performance. This study used a sample frame of 248 academic and administrative personnel from Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Pakistan. The relationships were tested through a partial least squares structural equation modelling method. The results reveal that Emotional Intelligence (EI) as an enabler has a positive and significant impact on KMPs. However, a direct relation between self-directed learning and creative performance is insignificant. Also, established associations were found to be positive and significant. This study’s findings validate the academic experience of EI and suggest how academics and administrators of HEIs can value KMPs and the self-directed learning that strengthens creative performance. With the increased importance of EI and KMPs in HEIs, there is a lack of studies investigating the relationship between EI, KMPs and creative performance. This study empirically examines the interface of EI, KMPs and creative performance in HEI’s and enriches the existing literature by exploring the mediating role of self-directed learning.
Evaluation of Intelligent Transport Systems Used in Urban Agglomerations and Intercity Roads by Professional Truck Drivers
Authors: Drop Natalia , Garlińska Daria
Published: March 2021

Using intelligent transport systems in cities is gaining popularity. The fundamental aim of their existence is to improve safety and traffic flow and prevent congestion in city centres. All people moving around the city, such as public transport passengers, as well as truck and emergency vehicle drivers and drivers of passenger vehicles, are users of intelligent transport systems. Research which was carried out for the article entirely concerns functioning and utility of intelligent transport systems from truck drivers’ experience. The main aim of the research was to evaluate services and tools within intelligent transport systems in European cities which are visited by Polish truck drivers. Our research indicates that most drivers (almost 98%) stated that they find intelligent transport systems useful and 92.5% of interviewed pointed that intelligent transport systems help with their everyday work duties. Of all the tools in the survey drivers agreed that variable content signs, accommodative traffic lights, and extra road illumination have most influence in road safety. Identifying the most useful and helpful tools of intelligent transport systems will allow to define their preferred development directions from truck drivers’ point of view.
Knowledge Management and the Political–Pedagogical Project in Brazilian Schools
Authors: Gonçalves Costa Andréia de Cássia , Strozzi Cristiane Resquiti Paulino , Forno Letícia Fleig Dal , Sartori Rejane , Godina Radu , Matos Florinda
Published: March 2021

Knowledge Management as a strategy to improve the quality of the institutional environment can be related to the coordination of activities that create, store and share knowledge. School Management has to deal with different tasks, such as planning, organization, leadership, guidance, monitoring and evaluation of all the processes necessary to ensure the promotion of students’ learning and training. In this context, the Political–Pedagogical Project assists School Management, since it is an important document for the school organization, containing the school’s identity as well as the plan to achieve the best teaching and learning process for the school community. In this sense, the objective of this research was to demonstrate how the Political–Pedagogical Project can promote Knowledge Management at the school level. The methodology used was exploratory and bibliographic research. The results obtained in this paper show that the Political–Pedagogical Project strengthens School Management when it is supported by Knowledge Management, considering that there is an improvement in the promotion of the quality of the organizational environment, as well as the elucidation of effective learning for teachers and students through democratic management.
Deploying Resilience Enablers to Mitigate Risks in Sustainable Fashion Supply Chains
Authors: Hsu Chih-Hung , Chang An-Yuan , Zhang Ting-Yi , Lin Wei-Da , Liu Wan-Ling
Published: March 2021

The complex structure of supply chains makes them vulnerable to risk, so enhancing their resilience is an important goal. In particular, fashion supply chain research has identified two important issues that need to be addressed: sustainability and risk. However, investigation of these issues is relatively sparse and has primarily been independent with little combinatory research. Therefore, it is crucial to develop a risk mitigation method that can maximize the resilience of sustainable supply chains for fashion companies. The objective of this study is to develop an integrated quality function deployment approach and to mitigate supply chain risk by deploying resilience capabilities and resilience-enhancing features, thus ultimately providing the fashion industry with a useful approach for the development of resilient, sustainable supply chains. Using a fashion company as an example, the practicability of the proposed approach is verified. To strengthen resilience and thus mitigate key risks, it is found that the most urgent tasks are to reallocate the company’s resources, to carry out the real-time monitoring of risk on the spot, to share the risk responsibility, and to establish an incentive system. When these features are strengthened, agility and adaptability can be improved, and finally, the risks of supplier delays, natural disasters, political instability, and problematic supplier materials with the greatest impact can be alleviated. This study provides a new strategy for the fashion industry for the implementation of resilient, sustainable supply chains to mitigate risks.
The Sustainability of Academic Air Mobility in Finnish Universities
Authors: Ahonen Veronica , Siljander Mika , Pellikka Petri , Johansson Tino , Rask Mikko
Published: March 2021

With the simultaneous rise of concern about the climate crisis and the growing internationalization of research institutions, academic mobility poses an “academic paradox”: knowledge of the environmental harm of aviation does not necessarily translate into action. Universities must make changes to their mobility habits if they wish to comply with governmental carbon neutrality targets and lead with example. This research looks at Finland’s 14 universities and identifies the patterns and trends of academic mobility from a series of reports provided by the universities and their travel agencies. Moreover, we mapped the travel destinations to understand the scope of Finnish academic travel. The data revealed that Finnish universities are in different states of sustainability: some acting as clear trendsetters and others lagging. The results show that although the universities are performing well in some areas, as in preferring European destinations over intercontinental ones, there are still areas of improvement related to stopover reduction, the number of 1- and 2-day trips, and alternative transport forms to aviation. There is also a need for the standardization of targets and emission calculators. These key development areas are posed as recommendations through which the universities could easily reduce the carbon footprint of their mobility.
Performance of Ionic Liquid-Water Mixtures in an Acetone Cooling Application
Authors: El-Sinawi Abdulaziz , Silaipillayarputhur Karthik , Al-Mughanam Tawfiq , Hardacre Christopher
Published: March 2021

In this work, the performance of selected ionic liquid-water mixtures was investigated for an acetone cooling application in a process plant using a double pipe heat exchanger. Cooling media such as river water and ionic liquid-water mixtures were compared, specifically water-saturated quaternary phosphonium-based carboxylate ionic liquids were considered in this work. Ionic liquids generally have high thermal stability, resist degradation, and provide higher temperatures at low vapor pressures and for these reasons, ionic liquids can be a good substitute for conventional heat transfer fluids. At each condition, the performance of the ionic liquid mixture was compared with that of water. For the designated cooling application, the performance of water was much better than the ionic liquid mixtures.
Prevention of Mountain Disasters and Maintenance of Residential Area through Real-Time Terrain Rendering
Authors: Sung Su-Kyung , Lee Eun-Seok , Shin Byeong-Seok
Published: March 2021

Climate change increases the frequency of localized heavy rains and typhoons. As a result, mountain disasters, such as landslides and earthworks, continue to occur, causing damage to roads and residential areas downstream. Moreover, large-scale civil engineering works, including dam construction, cause rapid changes in the terrain, which harm the stability of residential areas. Disasters, such as landslides and earthenware, occur extensively, and there are limitations in the field of investigation; thus, there are many studies being conducted to model terrain geometrically and to observe changes in terrain according to external factors. However, conventional topography methods are expressed in a way that can only be interpreted by people with specialized knowledge. Therefore, there is a lack of consideration for three-dimensional visualization that helps non-experts understand. We need a way to express changes in terrain in real time and to make it intuitive for non-experts to understand. In conventional height-based terrain modeling and simulation, there is a problem in which some of the sampled data are irregularly distorted and do not show the exact terrain shape. The proposed method utilizes a hierarchical vertex cohesion map to correct inaccurately modeled terrain caused by uniform height sampling, and to compensate for geometric errors using Hausdorff distances, while not considering only the elevation difference of the terrain. The mesh reconstruction, which triangulates the three-vertex placed at each location and makes it the smallest unit of 3D model data, can be done at high speed on graphics processing units (GPUs). Our experiments confirm that it is possible to express changes in terrain accurately and quickly compared with existing methods. These functions can improve the sustainability of residential spaces by predicting the damage caused by mountainous disasters or civil engineering works around the city and make it easy for non-experts to understand.
Financial Analysis for Improving River Water Quality through Introduction of Organic Agriculture
Authors: Zhu Xiaoling , Shin Hio-Jung
Published: March 2021

With scientific awareness of the main source of water pollution from conventional agriculture along the Dagu River Basin, Qingdao, China, this study aims to identify economic efficiency in introducing an environmentally friendly agricultural policy instrument. For more exact financial analysis, considered were benefits obtained by residents and farmers from water quality improvement and conversion cost from conventional to organic agriculture. A bivariate probit model was used to estimate the mean willingness to pay (WTP) for improving the water quality of the river and determinants affecting residents’ WTP were identified. Empirical results show that mean WTPs are CNY 5.71 (USD 0.83) and CNY 26.47 (USD 3.84) per month per household, respectively. The opportunity cost of volunteering activity hours is CNY 222.77 (USD 32.39) per month per household. Application to the residents of Qingdao would obtain aggregate total benefits from improving the river water quality of CNY 7.54 billion (USD 1.09 billion)- CNY 8.23 billion (USD 1.19 billion) per year. Farmers’ profit obtained by value transfer and price index adjustment is CNY 46.61 billion (USD 6.75 billion) from organic agriculture, which is more profitable. After the implementation of organic agriculture policy, therefore, the total benefits of farmers and residents are much higher than the total cost of conversion to organic agriculture. The study results could provide a preponderant economic indicator to policy decision makers for water quality improvement projects.
Reflecting the Sustainability Dimensions on the Residential Real Estate Prices
Authors: Mironiuc Marilena , Ionașcu Elena , Huian Maria Carmen , Țaran Alina
Published: March 2021

The paper analyzes the reaction of residential property prices to sustainability attributes and the extent to which they capitalize the effects of sustainability on real estate markets in EU-28 countries in the period 2000–2018. Given that the sustainable real estate market is mainly driven by demand, the sustainability attributes included in the study reflect both buyers’ expectations and their investment potential in sustainable residential properties, and developers’ efforts to become more “sustainable” through responsible property investment. In order to correspond to the current meaning of sustainable development, the variables capture the four dimensions that give content to the concept of the quadruple bottom line: economic, social, environmental and institutional. Using panel data and the two-stage least squares (2SLS) method, the research reveals a pronounced sensitivity of residential property prices to all sustainability dimensions in countries considered leaders in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), characterized by a strong institutional environment, and efficient and transparent real estate markets. In countries less committed to SGD implementation, weak governance and higher corruption negatively affect the transparency of real estate markets, and the dynamics of the price of residential transactions are determined only by the economic and social dimensions of sustainability.
Kahoot! as a Tool to Improve Student Academic Performance in Business Management Subjects
Authors: Martínez-Jiménez Rocío , Pedrosa-Ortega Cristina , Licerán-Gutiérrez Ana , Ruiz-Jiménez M. Carmen , García-Martí Elia
Published: March 2021

The new framework for learning requires the use of new technologies, such as m-learning or game-based learning programs. Gamification using this type of applications has been implemented in higher education contexts, enhancing students’ satisfaction, motivation, and class attendance. The present study refers to the introduction of new technologies and gamification through the use of the application Kahoot!, with the main objective being to analyze the relationship between the use of this gamification tool and the students’ learning results, which are measured by their academic marks. The results show a positive relationship between students’ results on the Kahoot! tests and the student’s final mark. Additionally, we demonstrate that students’ academic results improve when Kahoot! is used as an evaluation tool, taking into account improved student efficiency and a lower amount of failed grades.
Effects of Heat Stress on Growth, Physiology of Plants, Yield and Grain Quality of Different Spring Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Genotypes
Authors: Riaz Muhammad Waheed , Yang Liu , Yousaf Muhammad Irfan , Sami Abdul , Mei Xu Dong , Shah Liaqat , Rehman Shamsur , Xue Liu , Si Hongqi , Ma Chuanxi
Published: March 2021

Heat stress is one of the major threats to wheat production in many wheat-growing areas of the world as it causes severe yield loss at the reproductive stage. In the current study, 28 crosses were developed using 11 parental lines, including 7 female lines and 4 male testers following line × tester matting design in 2018–2019. Twenty-eight crosses along with their 11 parental lines were sown in a randomized complete block design in triplicate under optimal and heat stress conditions. Fifteen different morpho-physiological and grain quality parameters were recorded at different growth stages. Analysis of variance illustrated the presence of highly significant differences among wheat genotypes for all traits under both optimal and heat stress conditions. The results of combining ability unveiled the predominant role of non-additive gene action in the inheritance of almost all the studied traits under both conditions. Among parents, 3 parental lines WL-27, WT-39, and WL-57 showed good combining ability under both normal and heat stress conditions. Among crosses, WL-8 × WT-17, WL-37 × WT-17, WL-7 × WT-39, and WL-37 × WT-39 portrayed the highest specific combining ability effects for grain yield and its related traits under optimal as well as heat stress conditions. Biplot and cluster analysis confirmed the results of general and specific combining ability by showing that these wheat crosses belonged to a highly productive and heat tolerant cluster. Correlation analysis revealed a significantly positive correlation of grain yield with net photosynthetic rate, thousand-grain rate, and the number of grains per spike. The designated parental lines and their crosses were selected for future breeding programs in the development of heat resilient, climate-smart wheat genotypes.
Gaussian Kernel Methods for Seismic Fragility and Risk Assessment of Mid-Rise Buildings
Authors: Dhulipala Somayajulu L. N.
Published: March 2021

Seismic fragility functions can be evaluated using the cloud analysis method with linear regression which makes three fundamental assumptions about the relation between structural response and seismic intensity: log-linear median relationship, constant standard deviation, and Gaussian distributed errors. While cloud analysis with linear regression is a popular method, the degree to which these individual and compounded assumptions affect the fragility and the risk of mid-rise buildings needs to be systematically studied. This paper conducts such a study considering three building archetypes that make up a bulk of the building stock: RC moment frame, steel moment frame, and wood shear wall. Gaussian kernel methods are employed to capture the data-driven variations in the median structural response and standard deviation and the distributions of residuals with the intensity level. With reference to the Gaussian kernels approach, it is found that while the linear regression assumptions may not affect the fragility functions of lower damage states, this conclusion does not hold for the higher damage states (such as the Complete state). In addition, the effects of linear regression assumptions on the seismic risk are evaluated. For predicting the demand hazard, it is found that the linear regression assumptions can impact the computed risk for larger structural response values. However, for predicting the loss hazard with downtime as the decision variable, linear regression can be considered adequate for all practical purposes.
Erratum: Porter, B., et al. A Platform for AI-Enabled Real-Time Feedback to Promote Digital Collaboration. Sustainability 2020, 12, 10243
Authors: Porter Beth , Grippa Francesca
Published: March 2021

The authors would like to make the following corrections about the published paper [...]
Evaluating Library Service Quality of College Libraries: The Perspective of a Developing Country
Authors: Mahmood Khalid , Ahmad Shakil , Ur Rehman Shafiq , Ashiq Murtaza
Published: March 2021

This study was conducted to measure the quality of the college library services in the Punjab Province, Pakistan, using LibQUAL survey. Data were collected from 998 respondents consisting of the college faculty and the students. The study found that none of the service quality attributes and dimensions met the desired expectations of group users as well as individual users. Significant differences in library service quality based on users’ gender, type and academic discipline were identified. This study is helpful for the Punjab Higher Education Commission (HEC), the college administrations, the college librarians at the local level and the other developing countries as well. It will guide them in future planning, contribute toward improved resource allocation and enhance purposeful utilization of resources.
Landing the Climate SDG into South Africa’s Development Trajectory: Mitigation Policies, Strategies and Institutional Setup
Authors: Mthembu Dumisani , Nhamo Godwell
Published: March 2021

Landing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into national development policies and development trajectories remain one of the desired outcomes to 2030. This paper teases out how South Africa landed the climate action SDG into its development trajectory, with a focus on mitigation policies, strategies and institutional setup. The study uses an online survey, key informant interviews, as well as policy documents and critical discourse analysis. The study concludes that South Africa has landed SDG 13 into its policies designed to respond to climate mitigation. However, there were several inherent challenges in the policies and strategies resulting in implementation inefficiencies, including the fact that the policy on climate change is driven more by international pressures and expectations rather than domestic awareness and activism. There are also challenges with institutional capacity to implement the policies at sub-national levels. Furthermore, reliance on a few experts makes the system vulnerable and fragile. The study also found that not enough is being done to support sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12) as there are energy intensive industries failing to comply with mitigation policies in place. Hence the paper recommends the need to fix the disjuncture between the energy policy and climate mitigation.
A Comprehensive Model of the Relationship between Miners’ Work Commitment, Cultural Emotion and Unemployment Risk Perception
Authors: Li Yonghui , Yang Jiahui , Wu Meifen , Wang Jiaqi , Long Ruyin
Published: March 2021

The psychological health and work commitment of miners are prerequisites to ensuring their sustainable safety behavior, and it is also significant to the sustainable development of coal mines in China. In this context, we conducted a questionnaire survey among coal miners of state-owned coal enterprises to explore the relationships between cultural emotion, unemployment risk perception, Big Five personality traits, and work commitment. The results reveal that (1) cultural emotion and its three dimensions played a significant positive role in promoting work commitment. (2) Unemployment risk perception, policy unemployment risk perception, and individual differential unemployment risk perception had a negative moderating effect. (3) Moreover, work commitment was associated with differences in personality characteristics except for agreeableness. This research is of important theoretical value and practical significance, as it can guide Chinese coal miners to increase their work commitment and thereby improve safety in production.
Palestine Energy Policy for Photovoltaic Generation: Current Status and What Should Be Next?
Authors: Khatib Tamer , Bazyan Amin , Assi Hiba , Malhis Sura
Published: March 2021

Most of the consumed energy in Palestine comes from Israel. Meanwhile, the Israeli government controls the amount of electricity for Palestinians due to political reasons. This has led to many electricity shortages, prompting the Palestinians to invest in grid connected photovoltaic systems to mitigate electricity shortages. However, the lack of experience and loose energy policies have negatively affected the electricity distribution network in Palestine. Thus, this paper aims to discuss the current energy policy model for photovoltaic generation in Palestine and the challenges facing it. Moreover, 15 photovoltaic systems are selected in this research for technical and economical evaluation, to first show the typical performance of photovoltaic systems in Palestine, and second, to prove that there are failure cases in many systems due to a number of behavioral and structural barriers. Finally, the paper proposes a suggestion of unbundling transmission lines in the region to address the current critical status of photovoltaic investment in Palestine. As a result, the typical average yield factor of photovoltaic systems in Palestine is in the range of 1368–1816 kWh/kWp per year with a payback period of 5.5–7.4 years. However, the percentage of failure for the installed systems is found to be 47%. Meanwhile, the low awareness and lack of non-technical information are the main behavioral barriers, while grid infrastructure, lack of technical standards and staff training as well as loose and discouraging policies are the most dominant structural barriers.
Controlling Wolbachia Transmission and Invasion Dynamics among Aedes Aegypti Population via Impulsive Control Strategy
Authors: Dianavinnarasi Joseph , Raja Ramachandran , Alzabut Jehad , Niezabitowski Michał , Bagdasar Ovidiu
Published: March 2021

This work is devoted to analyzing an impulsive control synthesis to maintain the self-sustainability of Wolbachia among Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes. The present paper provides a fractional order Wolbachia invasive model. Through fixed point theory, this work derives the existence and uniqueness results for the proposed model. Also, we performed a global Mittag-Leffler stability analysis via Linear Matrix Inequality theory and Lyapunov theory. As a result of this controller synthesis, the sustainability of Wolbachia is preserved and non-Wolbachia mosquitoes are eradicated. Finally, a numerical simulation is established for the published data to analyze the nature of the proposed Wolbachia invasive model.
Leveraging Software-Defined Networking Approach for Future Information-Centric Networking Enhancement
Authors: Guesmi Tawfik , Kalghoum Anwar , Alshammari Badr M. , Alsaif Haitham , Alzamil Ahmed
Published: March 2021

Information-centric networking (ICN) has been developed as a potential candidate for future networks. In this model, users are provided with content rather than communication channels between the different hosts. The ICN network has several problems such as scalability issues and bandwidth consumption. However, software-defined networking (SDN) has been proposed to improve the networking architectures. The goal of our paper is to propose a new approach to named-data networking (NDN) based on the paradigm of SDN. Our work introduces various research studies carried out in the SDN and ICN contexts. We first present the SDN architecture. Then, we focus on work that combines ICN and SDN architectures. Finally, we show the effects of using the SDN architecture on the named-data network (NDN). Our experimental results show that the use of the SDN architecture has a positive effect on NDN network performance.
Financial Information Asymmetry: Using Deep Learning Algorithms to Predict Financial Distress
Authors: Jan Chyan-long
Published: March 2021

Because of the financial information asymmetry, the stakeholders usually do not know a company’s real financial condition until financial distress occurs. Financial distress not only influences a company’s operational sustainability and damages the rights and interests of its stakeholders, it may also harm the national economy and society; hence, it is very important to build high-accuracy financial distress prediction models. The purpose of this study is to build high-accuracy and effective financial distress prediction models by two representative deep learning algorithms: Deep neural networks (DNN) and convolutional neural networks (CNN). In addition, important variables are selected by the chi-squared automatic interaction detector (CHAID). In this study, the data of Taiwan’s listed and OTC sample companies are taken from the Taiwan Economic Journal (TEJ) database during the period from 2000 to 2019, including 86 companies in financial distress and 258 not in financial distress, for a total of 344 companies. According to the empirical results, with the important variables selected by CHAID and modeling by CNN, the CHAID-CNN model has the highest financial distress prediction accuracy rate of 94.23%, and the lowest type I error rate and type II error rate, which are 0.96% and 4.81%, respectively.
Cross-Sectional Associations of Smoking and E-cigarette Use with Self-Reported Diagnosed Hypertension: Findings from Wave 3 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study
Authors: Miller Connor R. , Shi Hangchuan , Li Dongmei , Goniewicz Maciej L.
Published: March 2021

Following their introduction a decade ago, electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have grown in popularity. Given their novelty, knowledge of the health consequences of e-cigarette use remains limited. Epidemiologic studies have not comprehensively explored associations between e-cigarette use and hypertension, a highly prevalent health condition and major contributor to cardiovascular disease burden. In this study, cross-sectional associations of cigarette smoking and e-cigarette use (vaping) with self-reported diagnosed hypertension were evaluated among 19,147 18–55 year old respondents in Wave 3 (2015–2016) of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study. Multivariable analyses first modeled smoking and vaping as separate 2-category variables, then as a 6-category composite variable accounting for former smoking. After adjusting for potential confounders, current vaping (aOR = 1.31; 95%CI: 1.05–1.63) and current smoking (aOR = 1.27; 95%CI: 1.10–1.47) were both associated with higher odds of hypertension. In analyses modeling smoking and vaping compositely, respondents who were concurrently smoking and vaping had the highest odds of hypertension (aOR = 1.77; 95%CI: 1.32–2.39 [referent: never smokers]). These results differ somewhat from prior epidemiologic studies of vaping and respiratory outcomes, which consistently report smaller point estimates for current vaping than for current smoking. Our findings reinforce the uncertainty surrounding long-term health consequences of vaping, as well as highlight important distinctions between respiratory and cardiovascular outcomes when considering the harm reduction potential of e-cigarettes.
Licensed and Recommended Inactivated Oral CholeraVaccines: From Development to Innovative Deployment
Authors: Deen Jacqueline , Clemens John D.
Published: March 2021

Cholera is a disease of poverty and occurs where there is a lack of access to clean water and adequate sanitation. Since improved water supply and sanitation infrastructure cannot be implemented immediately in many high-risk areas, vaccination against cholera is an important additional tool for prevention and control. We describe the development of licensed and recommended inactivated oral cholera vaccines (OCVs), including the results of safety, efficacy and effectiveness studies and the creation of the global OCV stockpile. Over the years, the public health strategy for oral cholera vaccination has broadened—from purely pre-emptive use to reactive deployment to help control outbreaks. Limited supplies of OCV doses continues to be an important problem. We discuss various innovative dosing and delivery approaches that have been assessed and implemented and evidence of herd protection conferred by OCVs. We expect that the demand for OCVs will continue to increase in the coming years across many countries.
Home Dispossession and Commercial Real Estate Dispossession in Tourist Conurbations. Analyzing the Reconfiguration of Displacement Dynamics in Los Cristianos/Las Américas (Tenerife)
Authors: Hof Dennis
Published: March 2021

Since the onset of the global financial crisis, urban dwellers face an increasing number of obstacles in establishing themselves on the housing market. Against this backdrop, this paper addresses the variegated dynamics of real estate dispossession in the tourist conurbation Los Cristianos/Las Américas on an intra-urban scale. First, I will present the spatio-temporal patterns of dispossession for the period 2001–2015 using the ATLANTE database (CGPJ). Specifically, I analyze mortgage foreclosures and tenant evictions, both for residential and commercial spaces. Second, I delve deeper into local experiences of dispossession of the resident population and their housing and income conditions by means of questionnaires that I conducted in 2018. The data shows that mortgage foreclosures and dispossessions of residential spaces predominate the initial years after the crisis, albeit with varied spatial incidence. However, the increase in tenant evictions from 2014 onwards points to a reconfiguration of displacement dynamics. Indeed, as stated by the interviewees, staggeringly high rent burdens have become the main driver for displacement from both living and working spaces in recent years. Given the ongoing global pandemic, further and more nuanced research is necessary to grasp how these prevailing housing insecurities are shaped during and beyond the coronavirus crisis.
Non-Metabolic Functions of PKM2 Contribute to Cervical Cancer Cell Proliferation Induced by the HPV16 E7 Oncoprotein
Authors: Lee Seoung-Ae , Ho Charles , Troxler Madison , Lin Chin-Yo , Chung Sang-Hyuk
Published: March 2021

Pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) mainly catalyzes glycolysis, but it also exerts non-glycolytic functions in several cancers. While it has been shown to interact with the human papillomavirus 16 (HPV16) E7 oncoprotein, the functional significance of PKM2 in HPV-associated cervical cancer has been elusive. Here, we show that HPV16 E7 increased the expression of PKM2 in cervical cancer cells. TCGA data analyses revealed a higher level of PKM2 in HPV+ than HPV− cervical cancers and a worse prognosis for patients with high PKM2 expression. Functionally, we demonstrate that shRNA-mediated PKM2 knockdown decreased the proliferation of HPV+ SiHa cervical cancer cells. PKM2 knockdown also inhibited the E7-induced proliferation of cervical cancer cells. ML265 activating the pyruvate kinase function of PKM2 inhibited cell cycle progression and colony formation. ML265 treatments decreased phosphorylation of PKM2 at the Y105 position that has been associated with non-glycolytic functions. On the contrary, HPV16 E7 increased the PKM2 phosphorylation. Our results indicate that E7 increases PKM2 expression and activates a non-glycolytic function of PKM2 to promote cervical cancer cell proliferation.
viromeBrowser: A Shiny App for Browsing Virome Sequencing Analysis Results
Authors: Nieuwenhuijse David F. , Oude Munnink Bas B. , Koopmans Marion P. G.
Published: March 2021

Experiments in which complex virome sequencing data is generated remain difficult to explore and unpack for scientists without a background in data science. The processing of raw sequencing data by high throughput sequencing workflows usually results in contigs in FASTA format coupled to an annotation file linking the contigs to a reference sequence or taxonomic identifier. The next step is to compare the virome of different samples based on the metadata of the experimental setup and extract sequences of interest that can be used in subsequent analyses. The viromeBrowser is an application written in the opensource R shiny framework that was developed in collaboration with end-users and is focused on three common data analysis steps. First, the application allows interactive filtering of annotations by default or custom quality thresholds. Next, multiple samples can be visualized to facilitate comparison of contig annotations based on sample specific metadata values. Last, the application makes it easy for users to extract sequences of interest in FASTA format. With the interactive features in the viromeBrowser we aim to enable scientists without a data science background to compare and extract annotation data and sequences from virome sequencing analysis results.
Single-Shot Vaccines against Bovine Respiratory Syncytial Virus (BRSV): Comparative Evaluation of Long-Term Protection after Immunization in the Presence of BRSV-Specific Maternal Antibodies
Authors: Valarcher Jean François , Hägglund Sara , Näslund Katarina , Jouneau Luc , Malmström Ester , Boulesteix Olivier , Pinard Anne , Leguéré Dany , Deslis Alain , Gauthier David , Dubuquoy Catherine , Pietralunga Vincent , Rémot Aude , Falk Alexander , Shevchenko Ganna , Bergström Lind Sara , Von Brömssen Claudia , Vargmar Karin , Zhang Baoshan , Kwong Peter D. , Rodriguez María Jose , Garcia Duran Marga , Schwartz-Cornil Isabelle , Taylor Geraldine , Riffault Sabine
Published: March 2021

The induction of long-lasting clinical and virological protection is needed for a successful vaccination program against the bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV). In this study, calves with BRSV-specific maternally derived antibodies were vaccinated once, either with (i) a BRSV pre-fusion protein (PreF) and MontanideTM ISA61 VG (ISA61, n = 6), (ii) BRSV lacking the SH gene (ΔSHrBRSV, n = 6), (iii) a commercial vaccine (CV, n = 6), or were injected with ISA61 alone (n = 6). All calves were challenged with BRSV 92 days later and were euthanized 13 days post-infection. Based on clinical, pathological, and proteomic data, all vaccines appeared safe. Compared to the controls, PreF induced the most significant clinical and virological protection post-challenge, followed by ΔSHrBRSV and CV, whereas the protection of PreF-vaccinated calves was correlated with BRSV-specific serum immunoglobulin (Ig)G antibody responses 84 days post-vaccination, and the IgG antibody titers of ΔSHrBRSV- and CV-vaccinated calves did not differ from the controls on this day. Nevertheless, strong anamnestic BRSV- and PreF-specific IgG responses occurred in calves vaccinated with either of the vaccines, following a BRSV challenge. In conclusion, PreF and ΔSHrBRSV are two efficient one-shot candidate vaccines. By inducing a protection for at least three months, they could potentially improve the control of BRSV in calves.
Stratigraphic Analysis of Firn Cores from an Antarctic Ice Shelf Firn Aquifer
Authors: MacDonell Shelley , Fernandoy Francisco , Villar Paula , Hammann Arno
Published: March 2021

In recent decades, several large ice shelves in the Antarctic Peninsula region have experienced significant ice loss, likely driven by a combination of oceanic, atmospheric and hydrological processes. All three areas need further research, however, in the case of the role of liquid water the first concern is to address the paucity of field measurements. Despite this shortage of field observations, several authors have proposed the existence of firn aquifers on Antarctic ice shelves, however little is known about their distribution, formation, extension and role in ice shelf mechanics. In this study we present the discovery of saturated firn at three drill sites on the Müller Ice Shelf (67°14′ S; 66°52′ W), which leads us to conclude that either a large contiguous or several disconnected smaller firn aquifers exist on this ice shelf. From the stratigraphic analysis of three short firn cores extracted during February 2019 we describe a new classification system to identify the structures and morphological signatures of refrozen meltwater, identify evidence of superficial meltwater percolation, and use this information to propose a conceptual model of firn aquifer development on the Müller Ice Shelf. The detailed stratigraphic analysis of the sampled cores will provide an invaluable baseline for modelling studies.
Developing Real-Time Nowcasting System for Regional Landslide Hazard Assessment under Extreme Rainfall Events
Authors: Deng Yuan-Chang , Hwang Jin-Hung , Lyu Yu-Da
Published: March 2021

In this research, a real-time nowcasting system for regional landslide-hazard assessment under extreme-rainfall conditions was established by integrating a real-time rainfall data retrieving system, a landslide-susceptibility analysis program (TRISHAL), and a real-time display system to show the stability of regional slopes in real time and provide an alert index under rainstorm conditions for disaster prevention and mitigation. The regional hydrogeological parameters were calibrated using a reverse-optimization analysis based on an RGA (Real-coded Genetic Algorithm) of the optimization techniques and an improved version of the TRIGRS (Transient Rainfall Infiltration and Grid-based Regional Slope-Stability) model. The 2009 landslide event in the Xiaolin area of Taiwan, associated with Typhoon Morakot, was used to test the real-time regional landslide-susceptibility system. The system-testing results showed that the system configuration was feasible for practical applications concerning disaster prevention and mitigation.
Means and Extremes: Evaluation of a CMIP6 Multi-Model Ensemble in Reproducing Historical Climate Characteristics across Alberta, Canada
Authors: Masud Badrul , Cui Quan , Ammar Mohamed E. , Bonsal Barrie R. , Islam Zahidul , Faramarzi Monireh
Published: March 2021

This study evaluates General Circulation Models (GCMs) participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) for their ability in simulating historical means and extremes of daily precipitation (P), and daily maximum (Tmax), and minimum temperature (Tmin). Models are evaluated against hybrid observations at 2255 sub-basins across Alberta, Canada using established statistical metrics for the 1983–2014 period. Three extreme indices including consecutive wet days (CWD), summer days (SD), and warm nights (WN) are defined based on the peak over the threshold approach and characterized by duration and frequency. The tail behaviour of extremes is evaluated using the Generalized Pareto Distribution. Regional evaluations are also conducted for four climate sub-regions across the study area. For both mean annual precipitation and mean annual daily temperature, most GCMs more accurately reproduce the observations in northern Alberta and follow a gradient toward the south having the poorest representation in the western mountainous area. Model simulations show statistically better performance in reproducing mean annual daily Tmax than Tmin, and in reproducing annual mean duration compared to the frequency of extreme indices across the province. The Kernel density curves of duration and frequency as simulated by GCMs show closer agreement to that of observations in the case of CWD. However, it is slightly (completely) overestimated (underestimated) by GCMs for warm nights (summer days). The tail behaviour of extremes indicates that GCMs may not incorporate some local processes such as the convective parameterization scheme in the simulation of daily precipitation. Model performances in each of the four sub-regions are quite similar to their performances at the provincial scale. Bias-corrected and downscaled GCM simulations using a hybrid approach show that the downscaled GCM simulations better represent the means and extremes of P characteristics compared to Tmax and Tmin. There is no clear indication of an improved tail behaviour of GPD based on downscaled simulations.
Nitrogen Leaching and Nitrogen Balance under Differing Nitrogen Fertilization for Sugarcane Cultivation on a Subtropical Island
Authors: Okamoto Ken , Goto Shinkichi , Anzai Toshihiko , Ando Shotaro
Published: March 2021

Fertilizer application during sugarcane cultivation is a main source of nitrogen (N) loads to groundwater on small islands in southwestern Japan. The aim of this study was to quantify the effect of reducing the N fertilizer application rate on sugarcane yield, N leaching, and N balance. We conducted a sugarcane cultivation experiment with drainage lysimeters and different N application rates in three cropping seasons (three years). N loads were reduced by reducing the first N application rate in all cropping seasons. The sugarcane yields of the treatment to which the first N application was halved (T2 = 195 kg ha−1 N) were slightly lower than those of the conventional application (T1 = 230 kg ha−1 N) in the first and third seasons (T1 = 91 or 93 tons ha−1, T2 = 89 or 87 tons ha−1). N uptake in T1 and T2 was almost the same in seasons 1 (186–188 kg ha−1) and 3 (147–151 kg ha−1). Based on the responses of sugarcane yield and N uptake to fertilizer reduction in two of the three years, T2 is considered to represent a feasible fertilization practice for farmers. The reduction of the first N fertilizer application reduced the underground amounts of N loads (0–19 kg ha−1). However, application of 0 N in the first fertilization would lead to a substantial reduction in yield in all seasons. Reducing the amount of N in the first application (i.e., replacing T1 with T2) improved N recovery by 9.7–11.9% and reduced N leaching by 13 kg ha−1. These results suggest that halving the amount of N used in the first application can improve N fertilizer use efficiency and reduce N loss to groundwater.
Restrictions of the right of free movement on the territory of the country during the state of emergency, caused by the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic
Authors: Nikolova Raina
Published: March 2021

The article analyzes the Bulgarian administrative legal framework on emergencies (state of emergency, crisis management and overcoming, emergency situation and emergency epidemic situation). It indicates the temporary restrictions of the right of free movement of the citizens provided in the legislation. The article discusses the competence of the central executive authorities, interdepartmental bodies and territorial authorities (regional governors and mayors) to deal with a pandemic. The article discusses also the legal basis and justifications for the introduction of the curfew by some of the regional governors and mayors during the state of emergency, caused by SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).
Overlay tool on therapeutic planning for anterior communicating artery aneurysms
Authors: Campostrini Pagiola Igor , Brasileiro de Aguiar Guilherme , Eli Frudit Michel , Carrete Júnior Henrique
Published: March 2021

Background. Anatomical variation in the anterior communicating artery complex is one of the challenging points when choosing between endovascular or surgical approach to treat aneurysms in this region. Besides, this is the most common location for aneurysms. Here we present our diagnostic angiography image protocol using the overlay tool to fully understand the anatomical variation of this region which assists in the best therapeutic planning of lesions in this location. Method. The authors performed a review of available data regarding overlay reconstruction tool. Search was conducted via Pubmed and Scielo databases with “overlay tool AND cerebral angiography” as keywords. Articles considered relevant were included in this review, especially those which focused on essential aspects of this specific vascular malformation. Conclusion. The overlay tool from the Allura Xper FD20 (Philips, Best, Netherlands) is an incredible way to better understand the anatomical variation of this region with the fusion of both A1 segments in the same image.