bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Identifying Key Issues of Education for Sustainable Development
Authors: Glavič Peter
Published: August 2020

This paper elaborates and presents key issues established for a course on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). ESD is supported by the United Nations (UN) organization and its agency, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Quality education is also one of the seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The evolution of sustainable development and ESD is overviewed first in order to define the most important content of ESD in future teaching. Because of the fast development of humankind in all the SD pillars (economic, social and environmental), the climate crises as well as the new technologies and knowledge emerging, education leaders and teachers are lacking modern and effective content for ESD. Therefore, twelve key issues of ESD are identified and elaborated in the present article. The issues are organized into four groups (approach, contents, teaching, and organization) with three items each. The approach is including ESD scope, policy, and cooperation, the contents part deals with the three ESD pillars — environmental, social and economic; the third group, teaching, regards ESD methodologies, transformative teaching and learning, and capacity building; the organization group presents ESD metrics, documents, and institutions. The twelve issues have been synthesized after reviewing the available literature, enhanced by the participation in several international projects on education. In addition, they were further elaborated from feedback obtained from three international conferences focused on education for sustainable development, social responsibility, and sustainable consumption and production. The key goals suggested by the audience of the international conference in Vienna were holistic education, stakeholders’ awareness, participation and cooperation, and building capacity of stakeholders, while the challenge was found to be the timely evolution of human society towards the deep transformation. This paper is an informed perspective proposing content for an Education for Sustainable Development course.
The Ecological Risk Assessment and the Chemical Speciation of Heavy Metals in Ash after the Incineration of Municipal Sewage Sludge
Authors: Latosińska Jolanta , Czapik Przemysław
Published: August 2020

Popular incineration of sewage sludge results in the increase in heavy metals content in ash. The knowledge of the total content of heavy metals in sewage sludge ash does not demonstrate a potential hazard. The toxicity of heavy metals in great measure depends on the form of their occurrence. The prevailing norms do not require the ecological risk assessment of the environmental burden with heavy metals for the choice of the method of the utilization of sewage sludge ash. The paper presents the research results on the mobility of heavy metals in sewage sludge ash after its incineration. The geo-accumulation index (IGAI), the potential ecological risk index (PERI) and the risk assessment code (RAC) were used for the evaluation of the potential soil contamination with heavy metals. The authors also suggested a new formula, which took into consideration more factors influencing the risk of the contamination of a water-soil environment with heavy metals—the water and soil environment risk index (WSERI). The calculated indices for sewage sludge ash indicate the risk of soil contamination with heavy metals.
Consumers’ Behavior in Selective Waste Collection: A Case Study Regarding the Determinants from Romania
Authors: Jigani Adina-Iuliana , Delcea Camelia , Ioanăș Corina
Published: August 2020

The increase in consumerism due to population growth, excessive advertising and the constant encouragement of buying behavior by advertising media and opinion formers comes with side effects for the environment and public health if it is not properly supported by a sustainable selective waste collection process. In this context, the paper aims at determining the impact of different elements on people’s intention to participate in selective waste collection and on their behavior related to the collection process. Based on the literature, a series of variables were considered and a questionnaire was created in order to extract people’s opinions related to the selective waste collection process. As discrepancies in findings might appear due to culture in various countries, the analysis has been conducted with reference to Romania’s case. The waste collection situation in Romania is similar in some ways to other countries in the world, with some differences related to a small recycling rate compared to other countries in the European Union. In this context, it is important to identify the determinants of the consumers’ behavior in selective waste collection and to act based on these findings. Creating better policies that can support the selective waste collection process will have results in increasing the waste collection rate, offering a clear and safer environment to all the citizens.
Seismic Fragility Assessment of Columns in a Piloti-Type Building Retrofitted with Additional Shear Walls
Authors: Dang-Vu Hoang , Shin Jiuk , Lee Kihak
Published: August 2020

This study evaluated the influence of additional shear walls, constructed on the first floor, as strengthening methods for a piloti-type building subjected to earthquake loadings. Piloti-type buildings are commonly designed as urban structures in many cities of South Korea. The existence of just columns on the first floor of the building is a feature that is advantageous from an architectural viewpoint, and yet has potential structural disadvantages. Such columns usually exhibit shear–axial failure, due to inherent vertical and horizontal irregularities and insufficient seismic reinforcements. Among several retrofitting methods, including additional braces, carbon fiber reinforced polymers, dampers, and so forth, this research considered reinforced concrete shear walls to improve the seismic responses of piloti buildings. A parametric analysis of the location of the retrofitted shear walls in a typical piloti building was implemented using the Zeus-NL program. Nonlinear time history analysis and incremental dynamic analysis were performed to comparatively evaluate the structure’s seismic responses and fragility curves before and after retrofit.
Regional Patterns and Hierarchical Tendencies: Analysis of the Network Connectivity of 63 Service-Oriented Tourist Cities in China
Authors: Tang Hongjiu
Published: August 2020

Previous studies of service-oriented tourist city networks have often focused on the analysis of the geographical distributions and service roles of important cities instead of the connections and hierarchical tendencies between different types of cities within a whole region. The current study uses big data approaches for the regional connections of 38 tourism organizations, including famous hotels, air passenger transport services, and tourism service agencies, across 63 of the most important tourist cities in China. Fuzzy c-means clustering analysis is used to define eight city arena clusters. According to the distributions of connectivity between the 63 cities, these eight clusters play different functional service roles in the urban tourism network in four hierarchies. With their “center–edge” memberships, these arena clusters are formed by the interweaved process of regional and hierarchical tourism service connections. The results here include analysis of the various service-oriented tourist cities in China and point out the geographical “gap” faced by networks. Service-oriented tourist cities need to find their hierarchies and positioning in the network, scientifically speaking, to avoid blind development and to support sustainable regional tourism development in urban areas.
Hybrid Stochastic-Grey Model to Forecast the Behavior of Metal Price in the Mining Industry
Authors: Gligorić Zoran , Gligorić Miloš , Halilović Dževdet , Beljić Čedomir , Urošević Katarina
Published: August 2020

Accurate metal price forecasting is the precondition for optimal and sustainable mine production planning. This paper combined two methods for time series analysis. The developed model represents the combination of the Grey System Theory and a Stochastic differential equation. More precisely, we added stochastic term to the first-order whitenization differential equation. Solution of this equation represents the time response function which is capable of creating artificial evolving paths of the metal price. The simulation process resulted in a distribution and adequate expected value at every single point. Further, model efficiency was increased by adding residuals modeled by the Singular Spectrum Analysis method. The model was tested on the monthly lead metal price series. Mean absolute percentage error is 4.37% and the model can be classified as a high-performance model.
A Prognostic View on the Ideological Determinants of Violence in the Radical Ecological Movement
Authors: Posłuszna Elżbieta
Published: August 2020

Ecologically motivated violence that manifests itself in the animal-rights and environmental forms is not a declining phenomenon. The fluctuating increase of the number of ecologically motivated crimes during the last 50 years, the multiplicity of the methods used (arson, food poisoning in supermarkets, destruction of equipment, attacks with the use of incentivized devices) should make us look at eco-extremism as a dynamic and difficult to grasp phenomenon. The paper is of both explanatory and prognostic nature; its goal is to present the genesis and essence of ecological radicalism, as well as to formulate the predictions for the future. In these forecasts, I wish to depart from the frequent, albeit somewhat simplistic, argument that, since the environmental extremist groups have not yet resorted to direct violence (targeting humans), and the animal-rights groups have reached for it very rarely, this state of affairs will continue in the future. This claim does not necessarily have to be true. I argue that some aspects of ideology can induce, in certain circumstances (a growing ecological catastrophe, further departure from the anthropocentric perspective), a change of the potential of radicalism within the environmental and animal-rights movements. In the case of animal-rights groups, the principle of not causing harm to people may be openly rejected, and in the case of environmental groups, the actions aimed at the annihilation of the whole human species may be undertaken.
Impact of an 11-Week Strength and Conditioning Program on Firefighter Trainee Fitness
Authors: Stone Brandon L. , Alvar Brent A. , Orr Robin M. , Lockie Robert G. , Johnson Quincy R. , Goatcher Jonathan , Dawes J. Jay
Published: August 2020

Physical fitness is an important aspect of physical health and wellbeing. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of 11-weeks of formal strength and conditioning training conducted during fire academy training on the physical fitness characteristics of firefighter trainees. Archived physical fitness data for 23 male fire academy trainees (age: 27.6 ± 4.3 y; height: 178.5 ± 6.9 cm; body mass [BM]: 83.9 ± 1.8 kg; BM index [BMI]: 26.8 ± 2.8 kg/m2) were analyzed for this study. These data included vertical jump height, maximum pull-up repetitions, hand grip strength, lower-body strength (3RM Hexbar) and aerobic fitness. Trainees performed three sessions per week (two resistance training sessions and one aerobic conditioning session) in addition to fire academy training. A repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant (p < 0.05) pre-post decreases in BM and BMI and significant increases in upper- and lower-body strength, and aerobic fitness. Strength and conditioning programs are beneficial for improving firefighter trainees’ physical fitness even when run concurrently with fire academy training and with limited space and equipment. This increased fitness may aid in mitigating known occupational injury risks to this population and improve task performance.
Confirmatory and Exploratory Analysis of the Questionnaire to Evaluate the Disposition towards Organizational Change (CEDCO)
Authors: García-Rubiano Mónica , Forero-Aponte Carlos , Mañas-Rodríguez Miguel Á. , Díaz-Fúnez Pedro A. , Trigueros Rubén , Aguilar-Parra José M.
Published: August 2020

This article shows the results of two processes that corresponded to exploratory and confirmatory analyses of the Questionnaire to Evaluate the Disposition towards Organizational Change (CEDCO). The overall sample consisted of 1554 people. The first process considered 489 participants, and provided evidence of the multidimensionality of the test on three levels. The second process involved a sample of 1065 people, and provided evidence for appropriate fit values for the model that were consistent with the initial proposal for the test on three levels of evaluation: individual, group, and organizational. The results suggest the need to evaluate the practice using other mathematical models to address the biases that exist in some item distributions.
Home-Delivery-Oriented Agri-Food Supply Chain Alliance: Framework, Management Strategies, and Cooperation Stability Control
Authors: Han Chunyang , Pervez Amjad , Wu Jingqiong , Shen Xiaojing , Zhang Dezhi
Published: August 2020

The high cost of operation and severe competition in the agri-food e-commerce market make it hard for the small and medium agri-food enterprises (A-SMEs) to operate cost-efficiently and in a sustainable manner. This paper seeks to organize A-SMEs to develop a cooperative organization via collaborative strategies and alliance structures, named as the home-delivery-oriented agri-food supply chain (HASC) alliance, to form a substantive relationship to gain a stable foothold in the emerging e-commerce market. A theoretical framework of the HASC alliance is built with its organizational structure and schematics of the process of implementation strategies that cover the aspects of last-mile chain extension, food transportation, and production/distribution control. Furthermore, a three-step analytical method is proposed to analyze the performance of the alliance with the aim to provide appropriate strategies to hedge against the potential risks of cooperation instability. A hypothetical case is conducted, and the results show that: (1) the performance of the hypothetical HASC alliance with time shows significant variation in the beginning, but it gains stability with the application of stability control strategies; (2) the cooperation stability of HASC alliance is very sensitive to the performance of the strategies that control the customer and environment variations; (3) the factors of trust and market fluctuation have higher effects on membership and environmental stability, respectively; (4) the minimum and maximum cost ranges of control strategies at which the alliance can maintain its stability and performance are 5% and 29%, respectively, of the total operation cost.
The Pavilions at the Alhambra’s Court of the Lions: Graphic Analysis of Muqarnas
Authors: Gámiz-Gordo Antonio , Ferrer-Pérez-Blanco Ignacio , Reinoso-Gordo Juan Francisco
Published: August 2020

This research documents and graphically analyzes the pavilions muqarnas at the Court of the Lions in the Alhambra in Granada, a World Heritage Site. In order to cast some light on the understanding and preservation of these 14th century architectural elements, after a brief report of historical data on catastrophes and restorations, a novel methodology for the case study based on three complementary graphic analyses is presented here: First, there is a review of outstanding images ranging from the 17th to the 20th centuries; subsequently, new CAD (computer-aided design) drawings from pavilions muqarnas testing the theoretic principles from their geometric grouping are accomplished for the first time; and finally, a 3D laser scanner is used to understand the precise present-day state from the point cloud obtained. Comparing drawings allows us to assess the muqarnas relevance while proving, for the first time, that the muqarnas of both pavilions have distinct configurations and different amounts of pieces. Besides, this process reveals geometric deformations existing in the original Nasrid muqarnas compositions, identifying small pieces hitherto unknown, plus additional deformations resulting from adjustments after important threats that both pavilions and their muqarnas overcame for centuries, despite their fragile construction.
Land Tenure Insecurity Constrains Cropping System Investment in the Jordan Valley of the West Bank
Authors: Caulfield Mark E. , Hammond James , Fonte Steven J. , van Wijk Mark
Published: August 2020

The annual income of small-scale farmers in the Jordan Valley, West Bank, Palestine remains persistently low compared to other sectors. The objective of this study was therefore to explore some of the main barriers to reducing poverty and increasing farm income in the region. A “Rural Household Multi-Indicator Survey” (RHoMIS) was conducted with 248 farmers in the three governorates of the Jordan Valley. The results of the survey were verified in a series of stakeholder interviews and participatory workshops where farmers and stakeholders provided detailed insight with regard to the relationships between land tenure status, farm management, and poverty. The analyses of the data revealed that differences in cropping system were significantly associated with land tenure status, such that rented land displayed a greater proportion of open field cropping, while owned land and sharecropping tenure status displayed greater proportions of production systems that require greater initial investment (i.e., perennial and greenhouse). Moreover, as confirmed by a structural equation model and the interviews and workshops these associations led to significant differences in farm income and progress out of poverty index scores. However, while sharecropping farms enjoyed the benefits of being able to invest in longer-term, more profitable farming strategies, questions were raised regarding the sustainability of these farms as well as the vulnerability of the farming households that manage the land. We concluded that small-scale agricultural development in the Jordan Valley relies on farming households achieving more secure land tenure and that rural development agencies should prioritise farming households that rent land and practice open field cropping systems within their projects and programmes.
Reuse of Vernacular Architecture in Minor Alpine Settlements: A Multi-Attribute Model for Sustainability Appraisal
Authors: Stival Carlo Antonio , Berto Raul , Morano Pierluigi , Rosato Paolo
Published: August 2020

In the marginal areas of the Alps, there is a huge built heritage expressed by local communities, resulting in an architectural model that is sustainable in terms of its material use, resource exploitation, and landscape coherence. Although buildings in these small settlements have been largely protected from transformation, currently this heritage is largely underused. Thus, it is desirable to consider reuse and enhancement actions that can combine both economic viability and the protection of historic, cultural and architectural values. This paper presents a multi-attribute model for the evaluation of sustainability in reuse projects concerning traditional buildings in the Italian Alpine settlements. For the appraisal of sustainability, the model uses relevant parameters aggregated into three macro-indicators. The model was calibrated by an expert panel and tested on reuse projects in Sauris, in north-eastern Italy, where residential building type is characterized by specific techniques that are expressions of community traditions. The main results show that the attributes aggregation function is predominantly andness in all nodes. A short range in sustainability assessment is a predictable result, as the buildings used for the model’s application give a common judgment in some attributes. Finally, activities for widespread hospitality generate a greater expected return compared to commercial services.
A Complementary Approach to Traditional Energy Balances for Assessing Energy Efficiency Measures in Final Uses: The Case of Space Heating and Cooling in Argentina
Authors: Stagnitta Roque G , Rocco Matteo V , Colombo Emanuela
Published: August 2020

Energy balances have been historically conceived based on a supply-side perspective, providing neither detailed information about energy conversion into useful services nor the effects that may be induced by the application of policies in other sectors to energy consumption. This article proposes an approach to a thorough assessment of the impact of efficiency policies on final energy uses, focusing on residential space heating and cooling, and capable of: (1) quantifying final useful services provided and (2) accounting for the global impact of efficiency policies on final energy use, taking advantage of Input–Output analysis. This approach is applied in five cities of Argentina. Firstly, the quantity of energy service provided (i.e., level of thermal comfort) for each city is evaluated and compared with the defined target. It is found out that heating comfort is guaranteed approximately as established, whereas in the cooling case the provision is twice the established level. Secondly, primary energy consumption of heating and cooling services is evaluated before and after different efficiency improvement policies. The results show that the major primary energy saving (52%) is obtained from the upgrading appliances scenario and reflect the importance of accounting for embodied energy in goods and services involved in interventions.
Evaluation of Household Food Waste Generation in Hanoi and Policy Implications towards SDGs Target 12.3
Authors: Liu Chen , Nguyen Trung Thang
Published: August 2020

The issue of food waste, especially in developing economies, is a puzzle. Hanoi was selected as a case study to examine the current situation of food waste generated by consumers through daily habits/practices and to evaluate options for preventing and reducing food waste at the policy level through a literature/policy review and interview-style survey. An analysis of responses found that the self-reported food waste generation rate in Hanoi averaged 1192 g/day/household in urban areas and 1694 g/day/household in rural areas; cooking waste generated during meal processing/preparation accounts for more than 70% of the total; less than 20% of respondents separated out kitchen waste for reuse/recycling before disposal; expiration dates and deteriorating quality were cited as primary reasons for food waste at home in contrast with larger portions and over-ordering outside the home; leftover food is used indirectly as animal feed in urban areas and directly in rural areas; and most respondents indicate a willingness to reduce, reuse, and recycle food waste. To achieve SDG target 12.3, policymakers and practitioners must develop comprehensive food waste policies and actions targeting the entire supply chain, implement practical food waste management systems, and promote sufficiency strategies for saving food, reducing food waste, and maintaining health and well-being.
A Stochastic Modelling Framework for Single Cell Migration: Coupling Contractility and Focal Adhesions
Authors: Uatay Aydar
Published: August 2020

The interaction of the actin cytoskeleton with cell–substrate adhesions is necessary for cell migration. While the trajectories of motile cells have a stochastic character, investigations of cell motility mechanisms rarely elaborate on the origins of the observed randomness. Here, guided by a few fundamental attributes of cell motility, I construct a minimal stochastic cell migration model from ground-up. The resulting model couples a deterministic actomyosin contractility mechanism with stochastic cell–substrate adhesion kinetics, and yields a well-defined piecewise deterministic process. Numerical simulations reproduce several experimentally observed results, including anomalous diffusion, tactic migration and contact guidance. This work provides a basis for the development of cell–cell collision and population migration models.
Optimized Design for NB-LDPC-Coded High-Order CPM: Power and Iterative Efficiencies
Authors: Xue Rui , Wang Tong , Sun Yanbo , Tang Huaiyu
Published: August 2020

In this paper, a non-binary low-density parity-check (NB-LDPC) coded high-order continuous phase modulation (CPM) system is designed and optimized to improve power and iterative efficiencies. Firstly, the minimum squared normalized Euclidean distance and the 99% double-sided power bandwidth are introduced to design a competitive CPM, improving its power efficiency under a given code rate and spectral efficiency. Secondly, a three-step method based on extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) and entropy theory is used to design NB-LDPC codes, which reduces the convergence threshold approximately 0.42 and 0.58 dB compared with the candidate schemes. Thirdly, an extrinsic information operation is proposed to address the positive feedback issue in iterative detection and decoding and the value of bit error rate (BER) can approximately be reduced by 5×10−3. Finally, iteration optimization employing the EXIT chart and mutual information between demodulation and decoding is performed to achieve a suitable tradeoff for the communication reliability and iterative decoding delay. Simulation results show that the resulting scheme provides an approximately 3.95 dB coding gain compared to the uncoded CPM and achieves approximately 0.5 and 0.7 dB advantages compared with the candidate schemes. The resulting NB-LDPC-coded high-order CPM for a given code rate and spectral efficiency converges earlier into a turbo cliff region compared with other competitors and significantly improves power and iterative efficiencies.
Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus Contributes to Enhanced Pepino Mosaic Virus Titers in Tomato Plants
Authors: Klap Chen , Luria Neta , Smith Elisheva , Hadad Lior , Bakelman Elena , Sela Noa , Belausov Eduard , Lachman Oded , Leibman Diana , Dombrovsky Aviv
Published: August 2020

The tobamovirus tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV), a major threat to tomato production worldwide, has recently been documented in mixed infections with the potexvirus pepino mosaic virus (PepMV) CH2 strain in traded tomatoes in Israel. A study of greenhouse tomato plants in Israel revealed severe new viral disease symptoms including open unripe fruits and yellow patched leaves. PepMV was only detected in mixed infections with ToBRFV in all 104 tested sites, using serological and molecular analyses. Six PepMV isolates were identified, all had predicted amino acids characteristic of CH2 mild strains excluding an isoleucine at amino acid position 995 of the replicase. High-throughput sequencing of viral RNA extracted from four selected symptomatic plants showed solely the ToBRFV and PepMV, with total aligned read ratios of 40.61% and 11.73%, respectively, indicating prevalence of the viruses. Analyses of interactions between the co-infecting viruses by sequential and mixed viral inoculations of tomato plants, at various temperatures, showed a prominent increase in PepMV titers in ToBRFV pre-inoculated plants and in mixed-infected plants at 18–25 °C, compared to PepMV-single inoculations, as analyzed by Western blot and quantitative RT-PCR tests. These results suggest that Israeli mild PepMV isolate infections, preceded by ToBRFV, could induce symptoms characteristic of PepMV aggressive strains.
Global River Monitoring Using Semantic Fusion Networks
Authors: Wei Zhihao , Jia Kebin , Jia Xiaowei , Khandelwal Ankush , Kumar Vipin
Published: August 2020

Global river monitoring is an important mission within the remote sensing society. One of the main challenges faced by this mission is generating an accurate water mask from remote sensing images (RSI) of rivers (RSIR), especially on a global scale with various river features. Aiming at better water area classification using semantic information, this paper presents a segmentation method for global river monitoring based on semantic clustering and semantic fusion. Firstly, an encoder–decoder network (AEN)-based architecture is proposed to obtain the semantic features from RSIR. Secondly, a clustering-based semantic fusion method is proposed to divide semantic features of RSIR into groups and train convolutional neural networks (CNN) models corresponding to each group using data augmentation and semi-supervised learning. Thirdly, a semantic distance-based segmentation fusion method is proposed for fusing the CNN models result into final segmentation mask. We built a global river dataset that contains multiple river segments from each continent of the world based on Sentinel-2 satellite imagery. The result shows that the F1-score of the proposed segmentation method is 93.32%, which outperforms several state-of-the-art algorithms, and demonstrates that grouping semantic information helps better segment the RSIR in global scale.
Integrating Reservoir Operations and Flood Modeling with HEC-RAS 2D
Authors: Garcia Matthew , Juan Andrew , Bedient Philip
Published: August 2020

Current free to use models developed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) perform unique functions (e.g., hydrology, hydraulics, reservoir operations, and flood impact analysis) that are widely used in numerous studies and applications. These models are commonly set up in a framework that is limited to point source connections, which is problematic in regions with flat topography and complex hydrodynamics. The separate models need to be integrally linked and jointly considered for accurate risk communication and decision-making, especially during major storm events. Recently, Hurricane Harvey (2017) exposed the shortcomings of the existing framework in West Harris County, TX, where an insufficient understanding of potential flood risk and impacts contributed to the extensive flood damages sustained in the region. This work illustrates the possibility of using a single hydraulic model, HEC-RAS 2D, to perform all hydrologic, hydraulic, and reservoir operations modeling necessary for accurate flood impact assessments. Implications of this study include a simplification of the entire flood impact analysis, which could help future flood risk communication and emergency planning.
Effects of Cyanobacteria on Phosphorus Cycling and Other Aquatic Organisms in Simulated Eutrophic Ecosystems
Authors: Gu Peng , Li Qi , Zhang Hao , Luo Xin , Zhang Weizhen , Zheng Zheng , Luo Xingzhang
Published: August 2020

Cyanobacterial blooms caused by eutrophication in Lake Taihu have led to ecological threats to freshwater ecosystems. A pilot scale experiment was implemented to investigate the relationship between cyanobacteria and other aquatic plants and animals in simulated eutrophic ecosystems under different phosphorus (P) regimes. The results of this study showed that cyanobacteria had two characteristics favorable for bloom formation in eutrophic ecosystems. One is the nutrient absorption. The presence of alkaline phosphatase was beneficial for algal cells in nutrition absorption under low P concentration. Cyanobacteria exhibited a stronger ability to absorb and store P compared to Vallisneria natans, which contributed to the fast growth of algal cells between 0.2 and 0.5 mg·L−1 of P (p < 0.05). However, P loads affected only the maximum biomass, but not the growth phases. The growth cycle of cyanobacteria remained unchanged and was not related to P concentration. P cycling indicated that 43.05–69.90% of the total P existed in the form of sediment, and P content of cyanobacteria showed the highest increase among the organisms. The other is the release of microcystin. Toxic microcystin-LR was released into the water, causing indirectly the growth inhibition of Carassius auratus and Bellamya quadrata and the reduction of microbial diversity. These findings are of importance in exploring the mechanism of cyanobacterial bloom formation and the nutrient management of eutrophic lakes.
Hydrochemical and Stable Isotope Characteristics of Lake Water and Groundwater in the Beiluhe Basin, Qinghai–Tibet Plateau
Authors: Li Jinlong , Wang Wei , Wang Dahao , Li Jiaqi , Dong Jie
Published: August 2020

Thermokarst lakes are a ubiquitous landscape feature that impact the thermal state, hydrological process, ecological environment, and engineering stability of the permafrost. This study established the hydrochemistry and stable isotope (δ18O and δD) variations of lake water and groundwater in a typical basin located in the central Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) of China. The results showed that most water samples could be classified as slightly alkaline, with high levels of salinity and hardness, while the dominant water types were HCO3-CO3 and Cl types. Natural hydrochemical processes, such as mineral dissolution, cation exchange, and groundwater evaporation, had strong impacts on the groundwater chemistry in this region. Dissolution of halite and carbonate minerals causes the major reactions controlling water chemistry in this basin. Additionally, the calculation of the saturation index (SI) values suggested that aragonite, calcite, and dolomite are saturated, while halite is not. Based on the analysis of the stable isotope characteristics, atmospheric precipitation, groundwater, and meltwater from the permafrost are the major sources of thermokarst lakes. Moreover, the evaporation-to-inflow ratio (E/I) indicated that all of the lakes continuously expanded and rapidly developed. Overall, groundwater is an crucial source of lake recharge and its hydrochemical characteristics also have a certain impact on lake water quality.
Response of Soil Water Dynamics to Rainfall on A Collapsing Gully Slope: Based on Continuous Multi-Depth Measurements
Authors: Jiang Zhi-Yun , Wang Xue-Dan , Zhang Si-Yi , He Bin , Zhao Xiao-Li , Kong Fan-Ling , Feng Dan , Zeng Yu-Chao
Published: August 2020

Soil water conditions play an important role in the formation of a collapsing gully, but we are still at the early stages of understanding how the soil water changes on the slope after different rainfall events due to a lack of high-frequency continuous field observations. This study aimed to reveal the response of soil water dynamics to rainfall events for different slope aspects and positions based on continuous multi-depth observations of soil water on a typical collapsing gully slope from 2017 to 2019 in Wuhua County, Guangdong Province, China. The vegetation characteristics and soil properties were investigated, and the storage of soil water was also calculated. The results showed that the dynamics and storage of soil water varied with the slope aspect, slope position and vegetation cover. The response time of the soil water to intensive rainfall events on the sunny slope was shorter than that on the shady slope, while soil water storage in the sunny slope was significantly lower than in the shady slope (p < 0.01). For the different slope positions, the soil water response time to the intensive rainfall events on the upper slope was shorter than that in the middle slope, while the soil water storage in the middle slope was significantly higher than on the upper slope. This was mainly due to the redistribution runoff from the upper slope to middle slope, delaying the process by which rainwater infiltrated into the soil layers. Moreover, vegetation significantly allayed the response of soil water dynamics to an intensive rainfall event but increased the storage of soil water, owing to the protection of soil surface from rain and conservation of high soil clay content. The bare area in the middle position of the sunny slope was speculated to be the potential source of the collapsing gully because it lacked the cover of vegetation. Our findings highlight the importance of soil water dynamics on the formation of a collapsing gully and provided valuable insights for the optimization of soil conservation and management practices for collapsing erosion.
Microclimate Characteristics and Evapotranspiration Estimates of Cucumber Plants in a Newly Developed Sunken Solar Greenhouse
Authors: Liu Haijun , Yin Congyan , Hu Xiaodong , Tanny Josef , Tang Xiaopei
Published: August 2020

In north China, vegetables are always cultivated in conventional solar greenhouses (SG), however, these structures cannot be used during most of the winter due to extremely low temperatures. In this study, a new type of a solar greenhouse named sunken solar greenhouse (SSG), where the inside soil surface is lowered 1–2 m below outside and the back wall is 5–8 m width at the bottom and 1.5–2 m on top, was investigated. Inside climatic variables were recorded and compared with those outside during seven cucumber cultivation seasons. Crop evapotranspiration (ETc) was estimated using the Penman–Monteith method. Results show that inside solar radiation was reduced by approximately 40%, however days with a daily maximum inside temperature higher than 20 °C accounted for 80–90% of the days during the winter, which greatly enhanced cucumber fruit production compared to common SGs. The reference crop evapotranspiration (ETo) inside the SSG was reduced by 27% compared to outside. The estimated ETc was generally lower than 4 mm day−1, which resulted in a basal crop coefficient of 0.83. In conclusion, the SSG is environmental-friendly, preferable for winter vegetable cultivation in north China, and can be useful for other regions of the world with cold winter conditions.
Seasonal and Interannual Trends of Oceanographic Parameters over 40 Years in the Northern Adriatic Sea in Relation to Nutrient Loadings Using the EMODnet Chemistry Data Portal
Authors: Grilli Federica , Accoroni Stefano , Acri Francesco , Bernardi Aubry Fabrizio , Bergami Caterina , Cabrini Marina , Campanelli Alessandra , Giani Michele , Guicciardi Stefano , Marini Mauro , Neri Francesca , Penna Antonella , Penna Pierluigi , Pugnetti Alessandra , Ravaioli Mariangela , Riminucci Francesco , Ricci Fabio , Totti Cecilia , Viaroli Pierluigi , Cozzi Stefano
Published: August 2020

Long-term data series (1971–2015) of physical and biogeochemical parameters were analyzed in order to assess trends and variability of oceanographic conditions in the northern Adriatic Sea (NAS), a mid-latitude shallow continental shelf strongly impacted by river discharges, human activities and climate changes. Interpolation maps and statistical models were applied to investigate seasonal and spatial variability, as well as decadal trends of temperature, salinity, chlorophyll-a and nutrients. This analysis shows that sea surface temperature increased by +0.36% year−1 over four decades. Annual mean flow of the Po River markedly changed due to the occurrence of periods of persistent drought, whereas the frequency of flow rates higher than 3000 m3 s−1 decreased between 2006 and 2015. Moreover, we observed a long-term decrease in surface phosphate concentrations in Po River water (−1.34% year−1) and in seawater (in summer −2.56% year−1) coupled, however, to a significant increase in nitrate concentration in seawater (+3.80% year−1) in almost all seasons. These changes indicate that the nutrient concentrations in the NAS have been largely modulated, in the last forty years, by the evolution of environmental management practices and of the runoff. This implies that further alteration of the marine environment must be expected as a consequence of the climate changes.
Протиправність як ознака порушення присяги
Authors: Кравчук О.
Published: August 2020

У статті досліджено протиправність як ознаку порушення присяги. Наголошено, що якщо дотримання службово-трудової дисципліни досягається методами заохочення, переконання, виховання, а за потреби – методами примусу, які полягають у застосуванні до її порушників заходів дисциплінарного і громадського впливу, то забезпечити дотримання присяги можна тільки негативним і суворим методом – звільнення зі служби, без права обіймати в майбутньому визначені категорії посад. Зазначено, що завдання державної служби, які корелюються зі змістом Присяги державного службовця, полягають насамперед у належному забезпеченні державно-управлінських відносин, яким властивий свідомо вольовий характер. Зміст Присяги державного службовця, який закріплює обов’язок службовця вірно служити Українському народові, тим самим вказує на загальний обов’язок органів державної служби, місцевого самоврядування та інших органів державної влади служити народу, як прояв публічного адміністрування.
Services Provided by Public Authorities: Features of Legal Regulation in Ukraine and the European Union
Authors: Klymenko Ihor Volodymyrovych , Shvets Dmytro Volodymyrovych , Tsyhanov Oleh , Mohilevska Liudmyla Hennadiivna
Published: August 2020

The aim of the article is to determine: 1) the essence and content of services provided by public authorities in the European Union and Ukraine; 2) features of legal regulation of public service activities in these countries. To achieve this aim, general scientific and special methods of cognition were used, namely: dialectical, logical-semantic, comparative-legal, methods of analysis and synthesis.
The article states that shortcomings in the field of public service have been inherited since Soviet times. The relevance of the European Union experience, where the defining feature of the development of legislation is its focus on ensuring the rights and legitimate interests of individuals in relations with public authority and its bodies, is emphasized. It is noted, that, unlike Ukraine, the European administrative-legal doctrine does not single out a separate legal institution of administrative services, and the category “service” regarding public sector is used in a broader and more flexible sense.
It has been established that in the EU the issue of population services is regulated by both primary and secondary legislation. It was found that the legal regulation of public service activities in the EU is characterized by following features: the absence of a codified legal act that would regulate public services of non-economic interest; the impact of judicial practice on legal regulation of relations between public administration bodies and citizens; considerable attention is paid to improving the quality of public services and citizen participation in government decision-making.
According to the results of the study, the priorities for the development of the administrative services system in Ukraine include the adoption of the Law (or Code) on administrative procedure and legislation on fees for administrative services (administrative fee).
Resurrection of the Genus Heptapleurum for the Asian Clade of Species Previously Included in Schefflera (Araliaceae)
Authors: Lowry II Porter P. , Plunkett Gregory M.
Published: August 2020

The polyphyly of the pantropical genus Schefflera J. R. Forst. & G. Forst. (Araliaceae) is now well established, and consequently the genus has had to be restricted to its type (S. digitata J. R. Forst. & G. Forst.) and seven closely related Pacific Island species. Taxonomic transfers of the members of four other, unrelated clades have mostly been completed, including those from Africa and Madagascar, the Neotropics, and Oceania. Here we treat the final and largest group, from Asia, reinstating the genus Heptapleurum Gaertn. for the 317 species that belong to the Asian clade of Schefflera. This synopsis provides 256 new combinations for 246 species and 10 varieties, along with one replacement name, and types are designated for five generic and infrageneric names. With the completion of these transfers, Heptapleurum is now the largest genus in Araliaceae.
Rancang Bangun Tsunami Pods Sebagai Tempat Evakuasi Sementara (TES) Untuk Mewujudkan Wilayah Tangguh Bencana
Authors: Rifqi Mirza Ghulam , Amin M. Shofi’ul , Sandi Enes Ariyanto
Published: August 2020

Indonesia merupakan negara kepulauan yang berada pada pertemuan 3 lempeng besar dunia, yaitu lempeng indo-australia, lempeng eurasia dan lempeng pasifik. Selain pergerakan lempeng bumi, aktivitas gunung berapi juga menjadi penyebab bencana gempa bumi. Hal-hal tersebut menjadikan sebagian wilayah Indonesia sebagai wilayah rawan gempa dan tsunami. Dalam kejadian tsunami, jatuhnya korban dikarenakan terlambat menyelamatkan diri yang disebabkan terlambatnya early warning yang diinformasikan pihak terkait dan ketersediaan infrastruktur Tempat Evakuasi Sementara (TES) yang minim.

Rancang bangun dimulai dari penentuan desain dan bentuk awal tsunami pods. Rancangan bentuk awal pods adalah persegi panjang dengan akses masuk diletakkan di atap pods. Selanjutnya adalah dengan melakukan penentuan material yang digunakan sebagai rangka utama dan penutup atau dinding tsunami pods. Evaluasi kekuatan struktur dari kombinasi material dan kombinasi beban dilakukan dengan menganalisis pembebanan dan struktur serta pemodelan konstruksi tsunami pods menggunakan software bantu.

Berdasarkan hasil analisis struktur, konstruksi struktur tsunami pods dimodelkan dengan menggunakan material struktur menggunakan baja WF 250.125.6.9 sebagai rangka utama dan baja UNP 100.50.5 sebagai bracing dan pelat baja corrugated SS 400 t.6 mm untuk dinding dan atap, tebal 12 mm untuk deck lantai. Hasil analisis menyatakan, rangka dan pelat yang digunakan mampu menahan beban rencana dan desain pods mampu menampung 24 orang.
Psicopedagogía y TIC en período de COVID-19. Una reflexión para el aprendizaje significativo
Authors: Quevedo-Álava Romina Adelina , Corrales-Moreno Luz Adriana , Palma-Delgado Gema Monserrate , Mendoza-Suárez Gladis Mercedes
Published: August 2020

El actual papel de trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar la psicopedagogía y las TIC en período de COVID-19 con la finalidad de generar una reflexión para el aprendizaje significativo de los estudiantes del sistema educativo ecuatoriano. Se empleó la descripción documental y análisis de contenido. La psicopedagogía y la educación en general, a la luz de la revisión documental realizada, se encuentra frente al reto de responder efectivamente a las necesidades pedagógicas creadas por la pandemia de COVID-19, esto implica que en proporción al abordaje tradicional efectuado en la modalidad presencial, se ubica en una encrucijada sobre su eficacia, por lo que se concibe el inicio de un ciclo de investigación para conocer y adecuar lo educativo a nuevos estilos de aprendizaje, en una etapa social basada en la incertidumbre, resquebrajándose el paradigma educativo de la certeza.
El sistema financiero en Ecuador: Herramientas innovadoras y nuevos modelos de negocio
Authors: Ordóñez-Granda Eliana Michelle , Narváez-Zurita Cecilia Ivonne , Erazo-Álvarez Juan Carlos
Published: August 2020

El sistema financiero representa uno de los pilares fundamentales de la economía del país, razón por la cual se buscó profundizar en el comportamiento de las entidades bancarias más importantes de la ciudad de Cuenca con el objetivo de diseñar estrategias financieras, tecnológicas y contables como mecanismo de generación de valor y rendimientos financieros. La presente investigación se desarrolló empleando un diseño transaccional descriptivo no experimental. Los hallazgos expresan que entre las instituciones financieras existe preocupación por el óptimo desempeño y la eficiencia en sus gestiones administrativas. De forma concluyente, las estrategias innovadoras y la inclusión de modelos de negocios no sólo permiten atender las demandas del mercado financiero actual, sino que se ajusta a las flexibilizaciones de la dinámica económica que atiende a la realidad en que se desarrolla el sistema financiero y que le permite enfrentar cambios, crisis emergentes como la pandemia por coronavirus (COVID-19).