bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Empirical Analysis of University–Industry Collaboration in Postgraduate Education: A Case Study of Chinese Universities of Applied Sciences
Authors: Zhang Ye , Chen Xinrong
Published: April 2023

The training of professional degree postgraduates in universities of applied sciences is essential in meeting the needs of industry and society. However, there are challenges, such as structural unemployment and poor quality of application-oriented higher education, which can be addressed through university–industry collaboration. This study investigates the perceptions of professional degree postgraduates towards university–industry collaboration and identifies the areas of dissatisfaction. The findings show that postgraduates have a high degree of recognition of university–industry collaboration, but the main dissatisfaction lies in the alignment between enterprise practice and professional learning. To enhance the quality of training, universities should prioritize practice-oriented approaches that emphasize engineering practice throughout the entire training process, optimize the university–industry collaboration mechanism, and strengthen the construction of “double supervisor” faculties. These strategies can comprehensively enhance the training quality of professional degree postgraduates in universities of applied sciences, and ultimately improve their employability and contribution to society.
A Study on Behavioral Intentions in the Field of Eco-Friendly Drone Food Delivery Services: Focusing on Demographic Characteristics and Past Experiences
Authors: Hwang Jinsoo , Joo Kyuhyeon , Moon Joonho
Published: April 2023

Drones operate on electric batteries and not on gasoline, so the eco-friendly role of drones has recently attracted a lot of attention. Thus, this study was designed in order to investigate differences in behavioral intentions, such as intention to use, word-of-mouth, and willingness to pay more, according to demographic characteristics and past experiences in the field of eco-friendly drone food delivery services. Data were collected from 422 potential consumers of eco-friendly drone food delivery services in South Korea. The data analysis results indicated that females are more willing to pay extra than males are, respondents who were in their 50s had higher word-of-mouth intention than other generations, marital status showed significant differences in willingness to pay more and intentions to use, and there was a difference in willingness to pay more and word-of-mouth with regards to monthly income. In addition, respondents who had previously heard of drone food delivery services had higher averages with willingness to pay more and intentions to use as opposed to respondents who had not heard of them, and respondents who had experience controlling drones were willing to pay additional fees when they used eco-friendly drone food delivery services. The results of this study would be a great assistance for executives who will operate eco-friendly drone food delivery services.
Effects of Exiguobacterium sp. DYS212, a Saline-Alkaline-Tolerant P-Solubilizing Bacterium, on Suaeda salsa Germination and Growth
Authors: Sun Xiaodan , Men Xiaoting , Huang Wenhao , Yi Shijie , Wang Wei , Zheng Fengrong , Zhang Zhaohui , Wang Zongling
Published: April 2023

Soil nutrient availability under saline-alkali stress limits plant primary productivity. P-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) improve inorganic P dissolution and promote plant growth. However, the application studies of saline-alkaline-tolerant PSB are still scarce. We isolated one PSB strain from bird droppings in saline-alkali regions and identified its growth characteristics and resistance to salt and alkali. A potting experiment with PSB addition was performed to analyze the effect of this strain on the germination and growth of Suaeda salsa. The PSB were identified as Exiguobacterium sp. DYS212 strain, and it utilized glucose, ammonium sulfate, and yeast extract powder well. The strain is halophilic, has the ability to dissolve inorganic P, and improved P-solubilization under 1–5.5% salinity (available P > 200 mg L−1), reached a maximum at 2.5% NaCl concentration yielding 410.73 mg L−1 of available P. The PSB promoted seed germination, especially under high alkaline stress, wherein the growth promoting rate increased to 5.26%. The PSB improved the growth of S. salsa, in terms of plant height, stem diameter, and biomass (up to 2.5 times), under saline and alkaline conditions. This study highlights the potential of Exiguobacterium sp. isolates as biofertilizers, and provides reference for environment sustainability of saline-alkali region.
Runoff, Sediment Loss and the Attenuating Effectiveness of Vegetation Parameters in the Rainforest Zone of Southeastern Nigeria
Authors: Abua Moses Adah , Iwara Anthony Inah , Eneyo Violet Bassey , Akpan Nsikan Anthony , Ajake Anim Obongha , Alarifi Saad S. , Gómez-Ortiz David , Eldosouky Ahmed M.
Published: April 2023

The research was conducted to assess the pace of sediment loss in deserted 3-, 5- and 10-year-fallow traditional farmlands, as well as cultivated farmlands, in a remote forested zone in southern Nigeria. During the 2012 rainy and cropping season, field measurements of sediment and runoff caused by rainfall were carried out. Pearson’s correlation revealed that crown cover positively and significantly correlated with runoff on the cultivated farmland (r = 0.652, p < 0.01). The results showed that the vegetation characteristics assessed on the different fallows explained 73.1%, 89.9%, 53.7% and 86.7% of the runoff variations. In addition, Pearson’s correlation demonstrated that girth explained sediment loss on the 5-year fallow (r = 0.807, p < 0.01), while a strong positive and significant association existed between sediment loss and crown cover on the farmland plot (r = 0.835, p < 0.01). The vegetation components were mutually responsible for 48.4%, 84.3%, 95.1% and 85.9% of the changes in sediment enrichment on the 5-year-, 10-year-, 3-year-fallow and cultivated farmland, respectively. The study found that mature/older fallows had a more substantial attenuating impact on soil erosion control than younger fallows.
Analyzing Sustainability Awareness and Professional Ethics of Civil Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Students
Authors: Mares-Nasarre Patricia , Martínez-Ibáñez Víctor , Sanz-Benlloch Amalia
Published: April 2023

Teaching sustainability and ethics to engineering students is a challenging but necessary task that has been increasingly investigated during the last few years. In this research, a systematic method to identify the level of awareness in students about sustainability and ethics is developed. Here, it is applied to students studying the Civil Engineering bachelor’s degree at the School of Civil Engineering of Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), though this method is potentially applicable to equivalent ABET and EUR-ACE accredited bachelor’s degrees. A survey was performed, and data was analyzed using Analytical hierarchical process technique; this technique determines the relative importance of each criterion, as well as the consistency of the emitted judgements, in an objective manner. These results allowed to discover that students do not have a robust opinion related to sustainability and ethics, except those students with previous experience in the construction sector. Environmental and social dimensions of sustainability and ethics were identified as the main focuses to emphasize in the civil engineering curriculum. Finally, actions to boot these principles are also proposed; potential courses where sustainability and ethics concepts could be explicitly included were selected and the inclusion of an environmental budget in the bachelor thesis was recommended, among others suggestions.
Research on the Impact of Digital Transformation on the Product R&D Performance of Automobile Enterprises from the Perspective of the Innovation Ecosystem
Authors: Men Feng , Dong Fangqi , Liu Yiying , Yang Hongxiong
Published: April 2023

In order to explore the effect and path of digital transformation on the product R&D performance of automobile enterprises, an empirical study was conducted based on data from 240 questionnaire surveys of automobile enterprises, and the influencing mechanism of digital transformation on the product R&D performance of automobile enterprises is discussed. The results show that digital transformation can positively affect the product R&D performance of automobile enterprises; digital technology innovation capability plays an intermediary role between digital transformation and product R&D performance; innovation ecological resources and the innovation ecological environment can significantly regulate the positive relationship between digital transformation and digital technology innovation capability and also regulate the mediating effect of digital technology innovation capability. In order to effectively promote automobile enterprises to improve product research and development performance through digital transformation, the government should ensure that enterprises have the ability and confidence to carry out transformation through policy support and system reform. Relevant associations from the automobile industry should cooperate with the government and ensure that enterprises can continue to carry out product research and development. Automobile enterprises should rationally use resources and the environment to carry out digital transformation, enhance digital technology innovation ability, and improve product research and development performance.
Impact of Innovation-Oriented Human Resource on Small and Medium Enterprises’ Performance
Authors: Aslam Mahvish , Shafi Imran , Ahmed Jamil , de Marin Mirtha Silvana Garat , Flores Emmanuel Soriano , Gutiérrez Marco Antonio Rojo , Ashraf Imran
Published: April 2023

This research paper aims to examine the impact of innovative HRM practices, including employee participation, performance appraisal, reward and compensation, recruitment and selection, and redeployment–retraining on firm performance. For this purpose, four different models are utilized to examine the impact of innovative HRM department practices on the performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in a country. The dependent variable, firm performance, is proxified by different variables such as labor productivity, product innovation, process innovation, and marketing innovation. For empirical analysis, primary data are collected using a questionnaire. Estimation is conducted using ordinary least squares (OLS) and logit regression techniques. The estimated results indicate that most innovative HRM practices have a statistically significant impact on firm performance in terms of labor productivity, product, process, and marketing innovations. These results imply that SMEs in a country may observe the benefits of devoting greater attention to innovative HRM practices to achieve their future growth potential.
Urban Scale Monitoring Approach for the Assessment of Rising Damp Effects in Venice
Authors: Falchi Laura , Corradini Martina , Balliana Eleonora , Zendri Elisabetta
Published: April 2023

In coastal areas, the rising damp of salty water is a well-known degradation factor of historical masonries, leading to visible features such as crusts, masonry erosion, and plaster loss. Venetian masonries are strongly affected by decay caused by rising damp exacerbated by direct contact with salty water. Recurrent flooding due to high tides and an increase in the frequency of flooding events, also related to climate change, raises concern about the impacts. Although several studies have been carried out on probable future scenarios, a valuation of the decay risk due to rising damp at the urban level still needs to be implemented. This paper proposes a non-invasive and economically sustainable approach for evaluating rising damp effects at an urban scale. The approach includes a collection of archive images of masonries affected by rising damp dating back to the 1990s; a visual survey of the actual conservation state of masonries; a classification based on significant descriptors; and a discussion on exposure conditions and conservation states. The descriptors chosen are rising damp levels, biological growth, plaster loss, efflorescence, and brick erosion. The evaluation was implemented in a georeferenced system suitable for future comparisons, thus providing a management tool for the city’s preservation.
Why Corporate Sustainability Is Not Yet Measured
Authors: Pazienza Mariapia , de Jong Martin , Schoenmaker Dirk
Published: April 2023

Measuring Corporate Sustainability (CS) has been identified as an important enabler for integrating sustainability into corporate practices. Different methodologies and frameworks for measuring CS have been developed in the literature with limited success, as reflected by the lack of application in the real world. Among practitioners, the effort has been on developing frameworks that provide useful indicators of the different items that need to be considered for integrating sustainability. Notwithstanding the increasing attention and progress on the subject, a cohesive and applicable measure of CS across firms, industries and geographies is still missing. This paper provides an examination of the different methodologies for measuring CS, with an analysis of their merits and limitations, as well as guidance for future research focus. The findings show a failure to coherently link the mathematical measurement and data aggregation methodologies to a well-constructed concept where the linkage between the defining features and causal relations are appropriately identified. The proposed models and mathematical techniques are not able to inform on the extent to which a corporation acts sustainably because sustainability is not being measured in its highest extension, making the results narrow, non-referential and non-comparable. Furthermore, there is confusion between developing the indicators of CS, providing their measurement and enabling their integration.
Identification of Natural Nearly or Nanoscale Particles in Bituminous Coal: An Important Form of Elements in Coal
Authors: Zhang Peng , Lu Jing , Zuo Lei , Wang Yaqin , Liu Rui , Tao Dongping , Chen Zhaoying , Tao Gang , Wang Kun
Published: April 2023

Nanoparticles are ubiquitous in nature and are also found in raw coal, which plays an irreplaceable role in the global economy. In this study, raw coal samples were obtained from Gaojiapu Coal Mine in Shanxi Province, China. The elementary composition of nanoparticles was determined using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The structural and chemical characteristics of nanoparticles were analyzed using transmission electron microscopy. Results revealed that there were multiple types of nanoparticles in the raw coal, such as S-, Ca-, Ba-, Ni-, Cr-, Si-, Sr-, and V-bearing nanoparticles. These nanoparticles exhibited various sizes and complex, irregular shapes. Our findings revealed that elemental nanoparticles occur in raw coal. These nanoparticles include celestite and barite nanoparticles. In addition, nanoparticles with Ni, Cr, and V in composition are also included in raw coal. These nanoparticles, which contain heavy metal elements, have great potential to harm the human body. Meanwhile, compared with the characteristics of nanoparticles produced by coal combustion, the nanoparticles in raw coal may be an important potential source of the nanoparticles produced by coal combustion.
Waste as Resource for Pakistan: An Innovative Business Model of Regenerative Circular Economy to Integrate Municipal Solid Waste Management Sector
Authors: Iqbal Asif , Yasar Abdullah , Tabinda Amtul Bari , Haider Rafia , Sultan Imran Ali , Kedwii Aman Anwer , Chaudhary Muhammad Murtaza , Sheikh Muhammad Minhaj , Nizami Abdul-Sattar
Published: April 2023

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is a global concern, especially in low–middle-income countries such as Pakistan, which require the redressal of MSW treatment issues to attain sustainability in the waste sector. The prosperity of municipal solid waste (MSW) collectors, i.e., the sanitary workers, is critical in the waste management hierarchy. Hence, the health, safety, social welfare, economic conditions and overall wellbeing of this tier need to be focused on more. Safeguarding the interests of the sanitary workers will support the MSW management sector in sustainability, which will help to generate revenue and minimize climatic impacts. An innovative MSW business model with waste ownership and technological intervention has excellent potential to support the sector towards a circular economy in Pakistan, the fifth most populous country in the world, generating about 100,000 metric tons of MSW per day. The proposed recycling business model will ensure a daily material recovery of 26,070 tons with 4721 tons of compost manufacturing in the country, which ultimately helps towards achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and meeting the targets of nationally determined contributors (NDCs) by 2030. In addition, the sector’s economic potential can contribute 5.5% to the total annual budget and possibly pay 1.4% of the gross domestic product (GDP) per annum to service national foreign debt, thus helping maintain the debt threshold value with an opportunity to accelerate the economic growth of Pakistan.
Status of Lighting Technology Application in Indonesia
Authors: Khayam Umar , Zaeni Arpan , Banjar-Nahor Kevin Marojahan , Hamdani Deny , Sinisuka Ngapuli Irmea , Dupuis Pascal , Zissis Georges , Canale Laurent
Published: April 2023

In 2019, Indonesia’s electricity consumption exceeded 278 TWH, or about 1.08 MWh/capita. This value shows a considerable increase in electricity consumption which has doubled in just a decade. Previous studies have shown that the proportion of electricity consumption used for lighting needs is correlated to the country’s GDP. This is generally around 20 to 50% of electricity production but can go up to 86% in the case of Tanzania. Indonesia is the 4th country in the world in terms of population and its lighting market as well as its lighting-related energy consumption has a strong impact on several levels: societal, environmental but also economic and energy. Having a knowledge of the lamps used by the Indonesian people is therefore particularly interesting and important, in particular in the context which presents a great societal diversity but also in a context of energy saving. Indonesia is an archipelagic country made up of 5 large islands and over 17,000 small islands with widely varying levels of population density. This island geography leads Indonesia to face challenges in the distribution and production of electrical energy, which affects the use of lamps in various types of regions. The overview of this study was done by collecting data from various sources, especially BPS (Biro Pusat Statistik/Statistic Center Bureau of Indonesia), CLASP (an NGO for clean energy), the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of Indonesia (ESDM), PLN (Indonesian Electrical Company), etc. The data obtained from these sources provides several descriptions of general lighting conditions in Indonesia viewed from several angles, such as growth of lamp market, use of lamp types, percentage of use of lamps with energy saving (ESL), etc. Considering that Indonesia has various regional characteristics, in this study, the survey of a total of 394 respondents was conducted on the use of lamps by creating regional categories based on electrical conditions, power consumption, and electricity per capita, among others. The categories of areas observed fall into 5 types based on their population and geography: large cities, small towns, rural/village areas, islands and remote areas. The results of compiling data from these various sources show that the types of lamps used by Indonesians follow the lighting trend in the world. The use of LED lamps has a utilization percentage of around 52%, much higher than other types of lamps such as CFL, fluorescent or incandescent. Based on the survey conducted, it is known that the widely used LED power is between 1 and 10 watts with a usage time of 8 to 12 h per day. In the next few years, it is estimated that the use of LEDs in Indonesia will increase as the government has prepared various regulations and policies related to energy saving, one of which relates to lighting.
A Short-Term Prediction Model of Wind Power with Outliers: An Integration of Long Short-Term Memory, Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition, and Sample Entropy
Authors: Du Yuanzhuo , Zhang Kun , Shao Qianzhi , Chen Zhe
Published: April 2023

Wind power generation is a type of renewable energy that has the advantages of being pollution-free and having a wide distribution. Due to the non-stationary characteristics of wind power caused by atmospheric chaos and the existence of outliers, the prediction effect of wind power needs to be improved. Therefore, this study proposes a novel hybrid prediction method that includes data correlation analyses, power decomposition and reconstruction, and novel prediction models. The Pearson correlation coefficient is used in the model to analyze the effects between meteorological information and power. Furthermore, the power is decomposed into different sub-models by ensemble empirical mode decomposition. Sample entropy extracts the correlations among the different sub-models. Meanwhile, a long short-term memory model with an asymmetric error loss function is constructed considering outliers in the power data. Wind power is obtained by stacking the predicted values of subsequences. In the analysis, compared with other methods, the proposed method shows good performance in all cases.
Public Transport Usage and Perceived Service Quality in a Large Metropolitan Area: The Case of Porto
Authors: Rocha Hudyeron , Filgueiras Manuel , Tavares José Pedro , Ferreira Sara
Published: April 2023

Using public transport as an alternative to private motorized vehicles (PMVs) is becoming increasingly popular in many cities worldwide. To understand what incentives and enhancements are necessary to attract and retain more passengers, a comprehensive understanding of the quality of public transport services is essential. This study aims to broaden the existing literature on the knowledge of public transport services in a large, heterogeneous metropolitan area. A cross-examination between a binary and an ordinal logit model is proposed, using data from a mobility survey in the Porto Metropolitan Area (PMA) in Portugal. The results show that households use PMVs mainly for speed (58.8%), comfort (49.3%), and lack of public transport to the destination (35.7%). Households using public transport cite not driving/owning a PMV (52.6%), lack of alternative transport modes (49.1%), and service cost (38.2%) as primary reasons. The perceived service quality (PSQ) within the PMA exhibits variance on multiple levels, depending on the characteristics of the household and the municipality’s location. This study provides policymakers of different cities in the PMA with insight into what incentives would most effectively increase the PSQ and, in turn, attract more passengers. This insight would be valuable in developing strategies to improve public transport usage and reduce PMV usage in the PMA. Adopting these strategies will contribute to reducing environmental impact and reducing traffic congestion.
Analysis and Optimization of an Expansion Energy-Absorbing Anti-Crawler for Rail Vehicles
Authors: Zhao Zelong , Xu Ping
Published: April 2023

This paper describes the crashworthiness optimization of an intumescent energy-absorbing anti-crawler, which was applied to anti-crawling devices for rail vehicles. The energy absorption characteristics of the expansion-type energy-absorbing anti-crawler were studied experimentally, a finite element model (FEM) was established, and the finite element simulation results were verified with the experimental results. In this paper, the response of the expansion structure was predicted using a validated finite element model. Then, the effects of the variables (expansion tube thickness (T), friction coefficient (μ), and slope angle of conical mandrel (α)) on the response were sampled using the design-of-experiments (DOE) method, including a full factorial design and a central composite. Based on these samples, an alternative model was developed using the moving least-squares method (MLSM). Using the results from the full factorial design for main effects analysis, T was found to have the most significant effect on the average force (Favg), while α had the greatest effect on the specific energy absorption (SEA). The Favg, fracture strain, thickness, taper, and friction coefficient of the structure were used as constraints, and the multiobjective genetic algorithm (MOGA) method was used for parameter optimization to obtain a higher SEA. Finally, the best parameters (T = 5.76 mm, μ = 0.178, α = 25°) with an SEA value of 36.52 kJ/kg were obtained. The SEA value was increased by 31.70% compared to the initial results.
Corrosion Inhibitor Distribution and Injection Cycle Prediction in a High Water-Cut Oil Well: A Numerical Simulation Study
Authors: Li Wangdong , Jing Jiaqiang , Sun Jie , Zhang Feng , Huang Wanni , Guo Yuying
Published: April 2023

The wellbore downhole strings corrosion has attracted extensive interest as most of the oilfields in China enter the high water-cut period. Injection of corrosion inhibitors, one of the most effective corrosion protection methods, is employed to mitigate the wellbore corrosion. Nevertheless, its wider application suffers from insufficient knowledge regarding the distribution of corrosion inhibitors inside the tubing, particularly with different inhibitor injection cycles. Thus, in this study, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method was first attempted to investigate the hydrodynamics in a tubing and the interactions between the corrosion inhibitor and produced fluid with high water-cut. Key factors including the time, wellbore heights, injection rates, oil phase velocities and corrosion inhibitor viscosities were discussed in detail as regards how they affect the corrosion inhibitor distribution inside the tubing. Feasible formulas were established for predicting the volume fraction of the corrosion inhibitor at different wellbore heights, which showed good agreement with the simulation results. It is noted that the determination of the corrosion inhibitor injection rate depends on both the film quality of the corrosion inhibitor and the stability of the annular flow. Based on the interphase diffusion effect, a new method for determining the intermittent injection cycle of corrosion inhibitor was proposed to maintain the integrity of corrosion inhibitor film at the tubing inner wall.
A Numerical Method for Conformal Mapping of Closed Box Girder Bridges and Its Application
Authors: Wu Lianhuo , Zhou Zelin , Zhang Jinxiang , Zhang Mingjin
Published: April 2023

Conformal mapping has achieved many successes in engineering. It can help to solve some complex fluid flow problems. This study proposed a numerical method for conformal mapping of closed box girder bridges and applied it to flutter performance prediction, which is crucial for ensuring the safety and sustainability of bridge structures. The characteristics of conformal mapping coefficients for the closed box were investigated. Thereafter, a numerical method through searching the conformal mapping coefficients was presented. The results show that the proposed numerical method has a smaller error in the existing research. The conformal mapping of six practical bridges agrees well with the closed box girder shapes, indicating the validity of the proposed method. The flutter prediction results by the proposed method are consistent with the wind tunnel test. The conformal mapping and flutter calculations took no more than ten seconds, showing high computing efficiency. This method is easier to understand and implement without complex mathematical derivation, which is helpful for the extensive application of conformal mapping in bridge engineering.
High-Tech Industrial Agglomeration, Government Intervention and Regional Energy Efficiency: Based on the Perspective of the Spatial Spillover Effect and Panel Threshold Effect
Authors: Chen Yuxi , Zhang Mengting , Wang Chencheng , Lin Xin , Zhang Zhijie
Published: April 2023

Improving energy efficiency is an important breakthrough to effectively solve the contradiction between economic development and environmental protection. Using a fixed-effect model, spatial Durbin model and panel threshold model, this paper takes panel data of 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions (except Tibet) in mainland China from 2007 to 2019 as samples to demonstrate the impact of high-tech industry agglomeration and government intervention on regional energy efficiency and the mechanism among the three. The results show that high-tech industry agglomeration has a significant positive impact on regional energy efficiency, and government intervention has a significant inhibitory effect on regional energy efficiency. When the three factors act together, government intervention has a distorting effect on the impact of high-tech industry agglomeration on energy efficiency. Both high-tech industrial agglomeration and energy efficiency have spatial spillover effects. The impact of high-tech industry agglomeration on energy efficiency has significant spatial heterogeneity. Based on the above analysis and conclusion, practical policy suggestions are put forward to achieve the goal of improving energy efficiency and effectively solving the contradiction between economic development and environmental protection.
Study on Early Identification of Landslide Perilous Rocks Based on Multi-Dynamics Parameters
Authors: Jia Yanchang , Li Zhanhui , Jiang Tong , Li Yan , Wang Shaokai , Song Guihao
Published: April 2023

The dynamics parameters cause sudden change during the damage of the structural plane of landslide perilous rocks, and these can be easily accessed. Therefore the changes in dynamics parameters can effectively achieve early identification, stability evaluation, and monitoring and pre-alarming of the perilous rocks. Seven kinds of dynamic indexes, such as pulse indicator, margin index, the center of gravity frequency, root mean square frequency, impact energy, relative energy of the first frequency band, and damping ratio, are introduced and the early identification of landslide perilous rock is achieved based on the support vector machines (SVM) model, improved by particle swarm optimization algorithm. A laser vibrometer collected seven dynamic indexes of two rock masses on the reservoir bank slope in Baihebao Reservoir, China. Based on the particle group optimization algorithm optimization support vector (PSO–SVM) perilous rocks recognition model, and seven dynamic indicators, the stability of two rock masses was recognized with high efficiency and accuracy. The identification results were consistent with the landslide perilous rock identification results based on natural vibration frequency, and the results verify the accuracy of the PSO–SVM perilous rocks identification model. The results show that the sensitivity order of each identification index is: root mean square frequency > margin index > relative energy of the first frequency band > center of gravity frequency > impact energy > pulse indicator > damping ratio. The accuracy of the multi-dynamics parameters landslide perilous rock mass identification model can be improved by selecting appropriate dynamic indexes with good sensitivity. The research results have high theoretical significance and application value for early identification of landslide perilous rocks, stability evaluation, and safety monitoring, and early warning.
Emergency Planning and Disaster Recovery Management Model in Hospitality—Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle Approach
Authors: Rajić Milena Nebojša , Maksimović Rado M. , Milosavljević Pedja
Published: April 2023

This study aims to present the impact of disasters, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, on the possibility of recovering from and mitigating such impacts. The paper proposes a new emergency planning and disaster recovery management model (EPDRM) which links the ISO 31000:2018 (Risk Management) requirements with the process approach. The model was validated through its application to ISO-certified and ISO-non-certified hotels. The analysis was performed by using an online questionnaire based on the ISO 31000:2018 requirements, where given questions were grouped into 14 categories and presented according to the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle. The proposed methodology has not been used by other researchers for similar problems. Current results are especially important, because they were collected after the lockdown that had a significant impact on hospitality and tourism in the world. This paper discusses the effect of hotel properties (such as size, certification, and categorization) on the implementation level of the emergency planning and disaster recovery management model. This survey was conducted in 109 hotels in Serbia. The results show that the average level of application was 35.80%. The survey also points to the development possibilities of alternative tourisms in response to COVID-19, and whether the hotel facilities were suitable for such changes in times of increased uncertainty. The results represent the basis of scientific data for improving the national policy, especially during the recovery from a disaster such as COVID-19, as well as emergency planning activities during the pandemic. The study limitations can be identified in the small research sample and insufficient cooperation of contacted hotels as well as the willingness of hotels’ managements to participate in the study. The hotels’ managers should be aware of the implementation of emergency planning measures, and without their willingness, this cannot be achieved at any level.
Estimation of the Evacuation Time According to Different Flood Depths
Authors: Suwanno Piyapong , Yaibok Chaiwat , Tsumita Noriyasu , Fukuda Atsushi , Theerathitichaipa Kestsirin , Seefong Manlika , Jomnonkwao Sajjakaj , Kasemsri Rattanaporn
Published: April 2023

This study focused on pre-flood measures to estimate evacuation times impacted by flood depths and identify alternate routes to reduce loss of life and manage evacuation measures during flood disasters. Evacuation measures, including traffic characteristics, were reviewed according to different flood depths. Several scenarios were constructed for different flooding situations and traffic volumes. Evacuation times in the study area were evaluated and compared for all scenarios with reference to dry conditions. Results of network performance indicators compared to the dry situation showed that average speed dropped to 2 km/h, VHT rose above 200%, and VKT rose above 30%. Cumulative evacuee arrival percentage increased when flood levels were higher than 5 cm. Flood levels of 10–15, 15–20, 20–25, and 25–30 cm represented percentages of remaining evacuees at 9%, 19%, 49%, and 83%, respectively. Time taken to evacuate increased according to flood level. For flood depths of 5–30 cm, travel time increased by 40, 90, 260, and 670 min, respectively, suggesting the need for early evacuation before the flood situation becomes serious.
Does Environmental Regulation Have an Employment Dividend? Evidence from China
Authors: Wu Chao , Hua Yu
Published: April 2023

Environmental regulations not only benefit environmental improvement but may also have a potential employment dividend, which is important for sustainable economic development. Based on the provincial panel data of China from 1997 to 2019, the spatial Dubin model is used to analyze the spatial spillover effects of environmental regulation on employment. From the findings, there is a significant spatial agglomeration characteristic in the employment scale. The environmental regulation positively influences the local employment scale, while there is a negative spatial effect on employment in neighboring regions. With regards to the regional heterogeneity analysis, environmental regulation has a spatial negative correlation with employment in coastal areas and less polluted areas. Additionally, in inland areas and less polluted areas, environmental regulation has a significant positive impact on the employment scale. Meanwhile, market-based environmental regulation has the potential to expand the employment scale in local and neighboring areas, while command-and-control environmental regulation impacts negatively on employment in neighboring areas. This study found that environmental regulation has an employment dividend. These findings reveal the spatial dependence between environmental regulation and employment, which will help policy makers consider the environmental and employment effects of environmental regulation more comprehensively. Therefore, the government should formulate targeted policies under regional differences to promote high-quality employment and construct a multiple governance environmental regulatory system.
Experimental Study on the Adhesive Fuel Features of Inclined Wall-Impinging Spray at Various Injection Pressure Levels in a Cross-Flow Field
Authors: Zhang Gengxin , Shi Penghua , Dong Panpan , Zhang Fangyu , Zhang Yifei , Luo Hongliang
Published: April 2023

The wall-impingement phenomenon significantly impacts mixture formation, combustible performance, and pollutant release in DISI engines. However, there is insufficient knowledge regarding the behavior of fuel adhesion. Thus, here, we examine adhesive fuel features at various injection pressure levels (5 and 10 MPa) in a cross-flow field (0 to 50 m/s). The RIM optical method was employed to track the expansion and distribution of fuel adhesion. As a result, adhesive fuel features such as area, mass, thickness, and lifetime were assessed. Postprocessing image analysis reveals that fuel adhesion was consistently thinner at the edge region. With increased injection pressure, the cross flow led to a rise in the fuel-adhesion area and mass; however, small changes in pressure did not affect adhesive thickness. Adhesive thickness significantly decreased in the cross flow, indicating enhanced evaporation potential. Furthermore, lifetime prediction was conducted to quantitatively evaluate the impact of cross flow and injection pressure upon fuel adhesion, which could be calculated by examining the decreasing trend in adhesive area. Results show that the lifetime was dramatically reduced with higher cross-flow velocity, and slightly decreased with lower injection pressure. Under injection pressure of 10 MPa, the adhesive lifetime in the cross-flow field of 50 m/s was reduced by 77.5% compared with the static flow field (0 m/s). The experimental results provide corresponding guidance for low-carbon fuel utilization and emission reduction in DISI engines.
Design and Analysis of Input Capacitor in DC–DC Boost Converter for Photovoltaic-Based Systems
Authors: Hayat Aamir , Sibtain Daud , Murtaza Ali F. , Shahzad Sulman , Jajja Muhammad Sheheryar , Kilic Heybet
Published: April 2023

Photovoltaic (P.V.) systems have become an emerging field for power generation by using renewable energy (RE) sources to overcome the usage of conventional combustible fuels and the massive release of dangerous gases. The efficient operation of the PV system is vital to extracting the maximum power from the PV source. For this, a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm works with a DC–DC converter to extract maximum power from the P.V. system. Two main issues may arise with the involvement of a converter: (1) to locate M.P.P and (2) the performance of the PV model in varying weather conditions. Therefore, designing any converter gain has the utmost significance; thus, the proposed work is on non-isolated boost converters. To calculate the values of specific parameters such as input capacitor, output capacitor, and inductor, the averaging state-space modeling typically uses governing equations. In this research, the formula of the input capacitor is derived through the average state-space modeling of the boost converter, which signifies the relation between input and output capacitors. From the results, it has been proven that the input capacitor efficiently performs when the input capacitor is half of the output capacitor. At an irradiance level of 1000 W/m2, the system shows stable behavior with a fast convergence speed of 0.00745 s until the irradiance falls to a value of 400 W/m2. The system is less stable during the morning and the evening when irradiance falls are very low.
Carbon Emission Efficiency, Technological Progress, and Fishery Scale Expansion: Evidence from Marine Fishery in China
Authors: Li Guangliang , Tan Chunlan , Zhang Weikun , Zheng Wolin , Liu Yong
Published: April 2023

China’s technical progress on emissions and vast ocean area make the study for CO2 emission reduction suitable in a marine fishery. This study uses the slack variables of SBM and the Malmquist index to analyze the CO2 emission efficiency of Trawler, Seine net, Drift net, Fixed net, and Angling, along with their efficiency values, distinguishing the impact of technological progress, scale expansion, and technological efficiency. Results show that the CO2 emission efficiency of the Angling and Seine industry is high with the development potential of the low-carbon fishery. Moreover, China’s technological progress is increasing, but the technical efficiency of CO2 emission reduction is declining. Lack of pure technical efficiency is the primary constraint of low-carbon capture fishery, making changes in efficiency show a downward trend. These results expand the research depth of the efficiency impact of technological progress and reveal that technological progress keeps increasing, but the CO2 emission reduction efficiency is decreasing. This indicates that emission reduction requires both technological growth and the technology’s capacity to reduce CO2 emissions efficiently.
Use of Agro-Industrial Waste for Biosurfactant Production: A Comparative Study of Hemicellulosic Liquors from Corncobs and Sunflower Stalks
Authors: Santos Brenda Lohanny Passos , Jesus Meirielly Santos , Mata Fernando , Prado Aline Alves Oliveira Santos , Vieira Isabela Maria Monteiro , Ramos Larissa Castor , López Jorge A. , Vaz-Velho Manuela , Ruzene Denise Santos , Silva Daniel Pereira
Published: April 2023

Biosurfactants have attracted considerable attention because of their lower toxicity, biocompatibility, and effectiveness over chemical surfactants. The use of renewable sources and the concept of sustainable production for such biomolecules supports the increased demand for eco-friendly products. Herein, the present study investigated corncobs (CC) and sunflower stalks (SS) as substitutes for conventional substrates in submerged fermentation with B. subtilis. The agro-industrial residues were submitted to an alkaline pretreatment to obtain hydrolysates rich in hemicelluloses, whose concentrations were determined at 48.8% and 65.7% for corncob and sunflower stalk liquors, respectively. The influence of different concentrations of glucose (0, 2.5, and 5%) and liquor (0, 20%, and 40%) were evaluated according to cell concentration, surface tension reduction rate (STRR), and emulsification index (EI24). Biosurfactants obtained with the hemicellulose liquor of sunflower stalk showed the highest cell concentration (4.57 g/L) and STRR (58.07%), whereas the maximum values of EI24 (56.90% in hexane, 65.63% in toluene, and 64.86% in kerosene) were achieved by using corncob liquor. All top results were observed at 2.5% glucose, 20% liquor (CC or SS), and 1% mineral salts. Notably, excess glucose or liquor (CC or SS) negatively affected cell growth and biosurfactant performance. The results indicated the potential of corncobs and sunflower stalks as low-cost substrates to produce a high added-value biosurfactant with promising tensoative and emulsifying properties.
The Technological Innovation Efficiency of China’s Renewable Energy Enterprises: An Estimation Based on a Three-Stage DEA Model
Authors: Chen Yuanyuan , Song JungHyun
Published: April 2023

The advantages of clean, ecologically friendly, and renewable energy have drawn considerable attention from all nations in the world. The growth of the renewable energy industry has frequently been elevated to the status of national policy. By evaluating the technical innovation effectiveness of China’s renewable energy sector, the energy crisis may be alleviated, and the innovation potential of renewable energy can be boosted. At present, the research content of domestic renewable energy enterprises mainly adopts DEA and Cobb–Douglas production functions. Moreover, there is limited literature on the factors impacting efficiency, and most research results center on efficiency assessment. This study employs a three-step DEA method to determine the technological innovation efficiency for China’s A-share renewable energy firms from 2016 to 2020. To investigate the factors influencing technological innovation’s effectiveness, the panel Tobit model is then developed. In light of the empirical data, the main conclusions of this paper are as follows: First, despite a slow but steady improvement, Chinese renewable energy companies still need to increase their technological innovation efficiency. Pure technical efficiency is the main factor contributing to low innovation efficiency. Second, environmental laws such as reliance on global commerce, industrial structure, and local science and technology affect the innovation effectiveness of listed renewable energy enterprises. After excluding environmental factors, the comprehensive technical efficiency of listed renewable energy companies has decreased. Finally, the innovation and technological efficiency of renewable energy firms are positively impacted by government subsidies, top operational revenue, and enterprise scale.
Resolvability in Subdivision Graph of Circulant Graphs
Authors: Bokhary Syed Ahtsham Ul Haq , Wahid Khola , Ali Usman , Hilali Shreefa O. , Alhagyan Mohammed , Gargouri Ameni
Published: April 2023

Circulant networks are a very important and widely studied class of graphs due to their interesting and diverse applications in networking, facility location problems, and their symmetric properties. The structure of the graph ensures that it is symmetric about any line that cuts the graph into two equal parts. Due to this symmetric behavior, the resolvability of these graph becomes interning. Subdividing an edge means inserting a new vertex on the edge that divides it into two edges. The subdivision graph G is a graph formed by a series of edge subdivisions. In a graph, a resolving set is a set that uniquely identifies each vertex of the graph by its distance from the other vertices. A metric basis is a resolving set of minimum cardinality, and the number of elements in the metric basis is referred to as the metric dimension. This paper determines the minimum resolving set for the graphs Hl[1,k] constructed from the circulant graph Cl[1,k] by subdividing its edges. We also proved that, for k=2,3, this graph class has a constant metric dimension.