bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Multi-Use of the Sea as a Sustainable Development Instrument in Five EU Sea Basins
Authors: Przedrzymirska Joanna , Zaucha Jacek , Calado Helena , Lukic Ivana , Bocci Martina , Ramieri Emiliano , Varona Mario , Barbanti Andrea , Depellegrin Daniel , de Sousa Vergílio Marta , Schultz-Zehden Angela , Onyango Vincent , Papaioannou Eva , Buck Bela , Krause Gesche , Schupp Maximilian , Läkamp Rianne , Szefler Kazimierz , Michałek Monika , Maniopoulou Mairi , Vassilopoulou Vassiliki , Kyriazi Zacharoula , Gawlikowska-Hueckel Krystyna , Szultka Stanisław , Orobello Christian , Gee Kira , Buchanan Bruce , Lazić Marija
Published: July 2021

This paper examines the concept of maritime multi-use as a territorial/SPATIAL governance instrument for the enhancement of sustainable development in five EU sea basins. Multi-use (MU) is expected to enhance the productivity of blue economy sectors, as well as deliver additional socio-economic benefits related to the environmental and social dimensions of sustainable development. The paper provides a definition of maritime multi-use and identifies the multi-uses with the highest potential in EU sea basins. In each sea basin, multi-use plays a different role as concerns sustainable development. For the Eastern Baltic Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, the MU focus should remain on the environmental pillar of sustainable development. In the North Sea, North Atlantic and Western Baltic Sea, addressing social sustainability seems a key precondition for success of MU in enhancement of sustainable spatial development at sea. Moreover, it has been suggested to introduce MU key global strategies such as SDGs or Macroregional strategies and action plans and to supplement maritime spatial planning with sectoral incentives and educational efforts as key vehicles supporting MU. The paper concludes by identifying aspects which, in order to inform maritime spatial planning and maritime governance regarding a more conscious application of the aforementioned concept, require further investigation. Key tasks are related to: more profound evaluation of performance of policies supporting MUs, researching the impact of MU on societal goals and on the MU costs and benefits, including external ones, and finally identifying the impact of MU on the development of various sectors and regions on land.
Unveiling Island Tourism in Cape Verde through Online Reviews
Authors: Oliveira Cristina , Rita Paulo , Moro Sérgio
Published: July 2021

This paper is focused on research addressing a large quantity of data extracted from online reviews written by tourists visiting islands. These were extracted from TripAdvisor regarding island tourist destinations since there is a gap in the scientific literature using this approach on island tourism. The Islands of the Sun, Boa Vista and Sal, of Cape Verde, a Small Island Developing State (SIDS), were the targets of this investigation. After applying text mining to a large dataset, results are discussed, including from the perspectives of hotels, restaurants, and tourist attractions. For example, the beach is the main tourist attraction in both islands, but whereas in Boa Vista, tours on quad bikes constitute a major tourist activity, its equivalent in Sal is actually diving. The location of hotels near the beach is a big plus for tourists who also emphasize their human interaction with staff members in both hotels and restaurants.
Cost of Extending the Farm Accountancy Data Network to the Farm Sustainability Data Network: Empirical Evidence
Authors: Vrolijk Hans , Poppe Krijn
Published: July 2021

The European Green Deal, its Farm to Fork strategy and Biodiversity strategy will set the scene for the future revisions of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The CAP will address an increasing set of objectives, including contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris climate agreement. To enable evidence-based policy making and monitoring, the Farm to Fork strategy proposes to extend the current monitoring system to include a broader range of sustainability issues. The current monitoring system called Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) has a strong focus on financial and economic data. The FADN is an instrument for monitoring and evaluation of the EU Common Agricultural Policy and collects bookkeeping results from 80,000 farms. The extension to a Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN) should include a broader set of indicators on the sustainability performance of farms. This paper estimates the costs of collecting this broader set of sustainability indicators in the FSDN based on the experiences of a pilot in 9 member states and a survey among all member states. The results show that collecting the sustainability data from all farms included in FADN would increase the costs by about 40%. The results show large differences between countries depending on the current costs of data collection and the expected additional work to include sustainability indicators. Given the pressing need for these data, a scenario was developed where sustainability data are collected from a subsample of 15,000 farms. This can be achieved within current budget limits if the current FADN sample would be reduced from 85,000 to 75,000 farms. The discussion section addresses some concerns raised on the extension of FADN to FSDN such as: willingness of farmers, administrative burden, economic background of FADN and the quality of the data.
Land and Sea Coordination: Revisiting Integrated Coastal Management in the Context of Community Interests
Authors: Yuan Wei , Chang Yen-Chiang
Published: July 2021

At present, the ecological environment and resources of the global coastal zones are facing great pressures. Climate change leads to sea level rise, environmental change, stressful population increases and changes in demographics, all of which affect existing coastal management systems. Therefore, all coastal countries begin to increasingly attach importance to the integrated management of coastal zones. How to better adapt to current changes in global coastal zones is a question that every coastal country should think about. From sea- and land-partitioned management to land and sea coordination and from simple coastal management to the integration of the ecological environment and society, integrated management has been planned from many perspectives and levels. It plays a role in promoting the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind.
Soil Nutrient Supply in Cultivated Bush Bean–Potato Intercropping Grown in Subarctic Soil Managed with Agroforestry
Authors: Karagatzides Jim D. , Wilton Meaghan J. , Tsuji Leonard J. S.
Published: July 2021

To address food insecurity in northern Canada, some isolated communities started gardening initiatives to reduce dependencies on expensive foods flown in to communities. From 2012–2014, soils in northern Ontario James Bay lowlands were cultivated with bush beans and potatoes, grown in sole and intercropping configurations, in an open field and an agroforestry system enclosed by willow trees. The objective of this study was to compare the supply rates of 15 plant-available nutrients in these soils using in situ ion exchange membranes. After three years of cultivation, the agroforestry site had significantly greater supply of PO4, Ca, and Zn and these nutrients had positive correlations with yield. By contrast, the open site had significantly greater supply of Mg, SO4, and B; these nutrients, and Al, had negative correlations with yield. Whilst there were no differences between sole and intercropping configurations, significantly greater supply of NO3, Ca, Cu, Fe, and Zn occurred early in the growing season, compared to significantly greater supply of K, SO4, B, and Al later in the season. Significantly greater yields have been harvested in the agroforestry site and it is suspected that the presence of a willow shelterbelt improves the microclimate and plant-available PO4, Ca, and Zn.
New Life for Disused Religious Heritage: A Sustainable Approach
Authors: Lo Faro Alessandro , Miceli Alessia
Published: July 2021

The sustainable reuse of the built heritage is one of the main challenges of our time. Religious heritage, in particular, requires strong survey strategies and analyses in order to achieve consistent approaches for the conservation and transmission of its value, both material and immaterial. The exploitation of the latter is underpinned by knowledge analyses, prior to the conservation actions, with a focus not only on the techniques of material restoration but also on the values that it represents for the territory and local communities. With this aim, three case studies in Southern Italy are here presented, that offer a good example of how ecclesiastical heritage, although vast and diffuse, is still an undervalued asset. By combining accurate knowledge and historical research in comparison with the residual performance of the buildings, the results aim to demonstrate how integrated knowledge strategies can pursue more conscious choices of new possible uses for abandoned religious heritage, resulting in preserve their memory and add value in terms of social sustainability.
The Effect of Government Subsidy Policy for Foreign Capital R&D from the Perspective of Global Supply Chains: An Empirical Analysis with Time Lag and Propensity Score Matching
Authors: Li Haigang , Ru Shaofeng , Shi Victor , Zhang Peng , Pu Ganlin
Published: July 2021

(1) Background: with the emergence and continuous development of more multinational corporations, capital and resources flow rapidly in the form of global supply chains around the world. Furthermore, government subsidies for R&D are one of the key factors that affect foreign-funded R&D activities and their innovation output and performance in global supply chains. (2) Methods: in this paper, firstly, based on two sets of time series and dynamic panel data, we propose a distribution time lag model to test the effect of R&D subsidy policies from the macro perspective. Secondly, we employ the propensity score matching method to test the micro effect of R&D subsidy policies. (3) Results: our empirical results show that there are significant differences in the impacts of R&D subsidy policies on foreign capital funded innovation and domestic innovation. The main effect of government subsidy on foreign capital R&D is to improve the innovation output. However, regarding domestic R&D, it is to promote innovation performance. (4) Conclusions: Government subsidy is the main cause of the individual differences among the foreign funded R&D institutions in terms of innovation output and innovation performance. From the perspective of global supply chains, our analysis and results provide managerial and policy insights on subsidizing foreign investment in R&D in China.
Sustained Use of Virtual Meeting Platforms for Classes in the Post-Coronavirus Era: The Mediating Effects of Technology Readiness and Social Presence
Authors: Yi Yumi , Moon Rosemary Hyejin
Published: July 2021

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, educational institutions were forced to turn to online classes that are either recorded or taught live on virtual meeting platforms. Students could, therefore, attend classes from virtually any location using their mobile devices and Internet access. Despite the prolonged pandemic, little attention has been paid to whether offering courses on a virtual meeting platform is sustainable. This study, therefore, explores the antecedents of students’ intentions regarding the sustained use of virtual meeting platforms for academic courses. We investigated the relationship between technology readiness (TR) and perceived social presence (SP) within a virtual communication setting with course satisfaction and sustained use intention. Data were collected via a survey from 525 college students in South Korea who had attended classes using a virtual meeting platform. Serial mediation analysis revealed a pathway in which SP and course satisfaction in series fully mediate the positive relationship between technology readiness and sustainability. This study discusses the implications in relation to the sustainability of virtual technology-based courses as a replacement of live classroom-based courses from a user perspective. Further research is needed to understand users’ negative experiences of attending courses on virtual meeting platforms.
Historical Ecology: A Robust Bridge between Archaeology and Ecology
Authors: Crumley Carole L.
Published: July 2021

How can the disintegration of ecosystems, the foundation of life on Earth, be halted and these critical systems be rehabilitated? For scholars, the action list is long: increase the pool of expertise by engaging all relevant knowledge communities, collect rapidly disappearing data, analyze with both familiar and new methods, and apply the results of actionable science to policy and practice. This enormously complex and urgent activity requires an integrated research framework with the flexibility to accommodate the global diversity of places, peoples, and processes and to examine future options. Based on evidence of environmental change and human activity, the framework termed historical ecology assembles tools to construct an evidence-validated, open-ended narrative of the evolution and transformation of specific ecosystems and landscapes. Welcoming knowledge from scholars and communities of both heritage and practice, this comprehensive and systemic understanding offers insights, models, and ideas for the durable future of contemporary landscapes. The article evaluates how practitioners could adjust aspects of practice and improve access to policy makers, and the discussion applies to regions and localities everywhere.
Autochthonous Natural Starter Cultures: A Chance to Preserve Biodiversity and Quality of Pecorino Romano PDO Cheese
Authors: Chessa Luigi , Paba Antonio , Daga Elisabetta , Dupré Ilaria , Piga Carlo , Di Salvo Riccardo , Mura Martino , Addis Margherita , Comunian Roberta
Published: July 2021

During Pecorino Romano PDO cheese production, scotta (residual whey from ricotta cheese manufacturing) or siero (whey) can be integrated with autochthonous starters, natural and composed of an indefinite number of species and strains, or commercial selected starters to obtain scotta/siero-innesto. In this study, three biodiverse autochthonous natural starter cultures (SR30, SR56, and SR63) belonging to the Agris Sardegna BNSS microbial collection, composed of different strains belonging to the species Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, Enterococcus faecium, and Limosilactobacillus reuteri were lyophilized and combined into two starter mixes (A and B). The scotta/siero-innesto and the Pecorino Romano obtained using natural starters were compared with those obtained using commercial selected starters during three seasons of the cheesemaking campaign. Different pH and microbial compositions for the scotta/siero-innesto obtained using natural or commercial starters were found, attributable to their different biodiversity. The six-month-ripened cheese microbiota was influenced mostly by the season of cheesemaking, whereas physico-chemical and sensory analyses did not highlight differences among the products obtained. In general, no effect attributable to the type of scotta/siero-innesto used was observed, allowing the conclusion that natural starter cultures can be used also in industrial-scale production, ensuring high stability in the technological performances and preserving the microbial, chemical, and sensory characteristics of Pecorino Romano PDO cheese.
Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Retail Structure in Barcelona: From Tourism-Phobia to the Desertification of City Center
Authors: Frago Lluís
Published: July 2021

COVID-19 has meant major transformations for commercial fabric. These transformations have been motivated by the collapse of consumer mobility at multiple scales. We analyzed the impact of the collapse of global tourist flows on the commercial fabric of Barcelona city center, a city that has been a global reference in over-tourism and tourism-phobia. Fieldwork in the main commercial areas before and after the pandemic and complementary semi-structured interviews with the main agents involved highlight the relationship between global tourist flows and commercial fabric. The paper shows how the end of global tourism has meant an important commercial desertification. The end of the integration of the city center into global consumer flows has implications for urban theory. It means a downscaling of the city center and the questioning of traditional center-periphery dynamics. It has been shown that the tourist specialization of commerce has important effects on the real estate market and makes it particularly vulnerable. However, the touristic specialization of commercial activities as a strategy of resilience has also been presented. This adaptation faces the generalized commercial desertification that drives the growing concentration of consumption around the online channel.
Evaluating an Educational Intervention Designed to Foster Environmental Citizenship among Undergraduate University Students
Authors: Telešienė Audronė , Boeve-de Pauw Jelle , Goldman Daphne , Hansmann Ralph
Published: July 2021

Taking its primary interest in active environmental citizenship, this paper aims at evaluating a case of an educational intervention designed to foster environmental citizenship among undergraduate students at a technological university. The study employs a survey methodology implementing a recently validated environmental citizenship questionnaire. A randomized pre-group –post-group quasi-experimental survey design explores students’ environmental citizenship attributes before and after the intervention course, ‘Sustainable Development’, in comparison to students who participated in a general elective course, ‘Media Philosophy’. The results show that the participation in the intervention course induced positive change in students’ environmental citizenship in comparison to the control group. Additional analysis indicates that environmental citizenship is significantly related to environmental attitudes, nature experiences during childhood and adolescence, and gender. The article provides a timely contribution shedding light on how specific pedagogical approaches in higher education can foster environmental citizenship.
A Synthetic Indicator for Sustainability Standards of Water Resources in Agriculture
Authors: Picone Carmelo , Henke Roberto , Ruberto Myriam , Calligaris Emilio , Zucaro Raffaella
Published: July 2021

The aim of this work is to evaluate the sustainability of water management for agriculture in a specific territory through the creation of a synthetic index resulting from the aggregation of multiple indices (environmental, economic, and social). The resulting synthetic index can be used to set sustainability standards and to guide the choices mandated by the Common Agricultural Policy 2023–2027. In this work we intend to show how the Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) method facilitates a complex process such as establishing a degree of sustainability in a certain area and, therefore, provides support to national or regional policies and communities. The integration of MCDA and GIS increases the efficiency of the support activity. A case study is presented evaluating the level of sustainability in the Irrigation and Reclamation Consortium of Piacenza and Emilia Centrale, in the Emilia Romagna region.
Harvesting Crowdsourcing Platforms’ Traffic in Favour of Air Forwarders’ Brand Name and Sustainability
Authors: Sakas Damianos P. , Giannakopoulos Nikolaos Th.
Published: July 2021

In the modern digitalised era, the total number of businesses and organisations utilising crowdsourcing services has risen, leading to an increase of their website traffic. In this way, there is plenty of space for marketers and strategists to capitalise big data from both their own and the crowdsourcer’s websites. This can lead to a comprehension of factors affecting their brand name, sustainability (gross profit) and consequently visitor influence. The first of the three staged contexts, based on web data, includes the retrieval of web data analytics and metrics from five air forwarding and five crowdsourcing websites in 210 observation days. At stage two, we deployed a diagnostic-exploratory model, through Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping (FCM), and in the last stage, an Agent-Based Model is deployed for data prediction and simulation. We concluded that crowdsourcing referral traffic increases air forwarders’ top 3 keywords volume, and decreases social traffic and total keywords volume, which then boosts their global web rank and gross profit. The exact opposite results occur with crowdsourcing search traffic. To sum up, the contribution of this paper is to offer realistic and well-informed insights to marketers about SEO and SEM strategies for brand name and profit enhancement, based on harvesting crowdsourcing platform traffic.
Artificial Neural Networks to Forecast Failures in Water Supply Pipes
Authors: Robles-Velasco Alicia , Ramos-Salgado Cristóbal , Muñuzuri Jesús , Cortés Pablo
Published: July 2021

The water supply networks of many countries are experiencing a drastic increase in the number of pipe failures. To reverse this tendency, it is essential to optimise the replacement plans of pipes. For this reason, companies demand pioneering techniques to predict which pipes are more prone to fail. In this study, an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is designed to classify pipes according to their predisposition to fail based on physical and operational input variables. In addition, the usefulness and effectiveness of two sampling methods, under-sampling and over-sampling, are analysed. The implementation of the model is done using the open-source software Weka, which is specialised in machine-learning algorithms. The system is tested with a database from a real water network in Spain, obtaining high-accurate results. It is verified that the balance of the training set is imperative to increase the predictions’ accurateness. Furthermore, under-sampling prioritises true positive rates, whereas over-sampling makes the system learn to predict failures and non-failures with the same precision.
Transition to a Sustainable Bioeconomy
Authors: Hinderer Sebastian , Brändle Leif , Kuckertz Andreas
Published: July 2021

Exceeding planetary boundaries, and especially climate change, requires economies worldwide to decarbonize and to incorporate principles of sustainable development. Transforming a traditional economy into a sustainable bioeconomy by replacing fossil resources through renewable biogenic resources offers a solution to this end. However, seemingly opposing transition perspectives (i.e., technology-based vs. socio-ecological) lead to fragmented efforts, and the exact form of the transition pathway to the goal of a bioeconomy remains unclear. We examine the issue by involving an international expert sample in a Delphi survey and subsequent cross-impact analysis. Based on the experts’ views, we present a list of events necessary to achieve the transformation ranked by the experts to reflect their urgency. The cross-impact analysis facilitates combining the eight most urgent events to create an integrated model of the transition to a sustainable bioeconomy. Our findings suggest that, rather than bioeconomy strategies, investment in the relevant sectors currently constitutes the main bottleneck hindering such a transition.
The Effects of Legal Origin and Corporate Governance on Financial Firms’ Sustainability Performance
Authors: Castillo-Merino David , Rodríguez-Pérez Gonzalo
Published: July 2021

This paper examines the determinants of sustainability performance in the financial industry at the firm, country and legal origin levels. Through the analysis of the ESG score in a sample of 64 countries with 982 financial firms during the period between 2002 and 2018, we find that legal origin is a significant explanatory variable. In particular, our findings indicate that companies based in civil-law countries show higher values of ESG performance than their counterparts in common-law countries, suggesting the prevalence of the stakeholder theory in explaining the willingness of financial firms to engage in sustainability practices. Moreover, and following the assumptions of the “good governance” view, we also assess the joint the effect of corporate governance and legal origin ESG scores, finding that corporate governance structures emerge as a substitution mechanism of sustainability enhancement for financial firms based in common-law countries.
Stated Preferences for Plant-Based and Cultured Meat: A Choice Experiment Study of Spanish Consumers
Authors: Escribano Alfredo J. , Peña Maria Belen , Díaz-Caro Carlos , Elghannam Ahmed , Crespo-Cebada Eva , Mesías Francisco J.
Published: July 2021

Meat production and consumption have been claimed to have negative impacts on the environment, and even on the consumer’s health. In this sense, alternative sources of protein, mainly meat substitutes and cultured meat, have emerged due to those perceived negative effects. Our paper carries out a choice experiment to analyze the preferences of 444 Spanish consumers and their willingness to pay for plant-based and cultured meats, as compared to conventional meat. Spain was considered of interest for this study due to its significant gastronomic culture, with high-quality meat products that make a great contribution to the economy, meaning that this could be a suitable and also challenging market in which to test alternative sources of protein. The findings show that consumers’ motivations and their interactions with these products are complex. Additionally, a cluster analysis allowed us to identify three types of consumers in terms of preference for these products: price-sensitive millennials, conscious/concerned consumers, and indifferent consumers. Only one group showed some level of acceptance of these alternative products meats.
The Effect of Fertilizer Subsidies on Investment in Soil and Water Conservation and Productivity among Ghanaian Farmers Using Mechanized Irrigation
Authors: Vondolia Godwin Kofi , Eggert Håkan , Stage Jesper
Published: July 2021

The fertilizer subsidies reintroduced in various sub-Saharan African countries from 2007 aim to increase agricultural production and assist in the development of fertilizer markets. The present study evaluates the impact of a fertilizer subsidy program among farmers in Ghana who employ highly mechanized irrigation systems. The results indicate that farmers who received fertilizer under the subsidy program used 45% more fertilizer. However, they did not use more weedicide and were likely to reduce investment in soil and water conservation. Thus, the income gains resulting from the subsidy programs were not invested in such non-targeted inputs. Moreover, the program beneficiaries’ reduced investment in soil and water conservation may explain the finding that the subsidy did not improve their productivity. Thus, since fertilizer subsidy programs alone may not improve productivity, it may be necessary to target spending explicitly on complementary inputs such as investing in soil and water conservation.
Superhydrophobicity and Durability in Recyclable Polymers Coating
Authors: Cirisano Francesca , Ferrari Michele
Published: July 2021

Highly hydrophobic and superhydrophobic materials obtained from recycled polymers represent an interesting challenge to recycle and reuse advanced performance materials after their first life. In this article, we present a simple and low-cost method to fabricate a superhydrophobic surface by employing polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) powder in polystyrene (PS) dispersion. With respect to the literature, the superhydrophobic surface (SHS) was prepared by utilizing a spray- coating technique at room temperature, a glass substrate without any further modification or thermal treatment, and which can be applied onto a large area and on to any type of material with some degree of fine control over the wettability properties. The prepared surface showed superhydrophobic behavior with a water contact angle (CA) of 170°; furthermore, the coating was characterized with different techniques, such as a 3D confocal profilometer, to measure the average roughness of the coating, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to characterize the surface morphology. In addition, the durability of SH coating was investigated by a long-water impact test (raining test), thermal treatment at high temperature, an abrasion test, and in acidic and alkaline environments. The present study may suggest an easy and scalable method to produce SHS PS/PTFE films that may find implementation in various fields.
Reduction in Insect Attachment Caused by Different Nanomaterials Used as Particle Films (Kaolin, Zeolite, Calcium Carbonate)
Authors: Salerno Gianandrea , Rebora Manuela , Piersanti Silvana , Saitta Valerio , Kovalev Alexander , Gorb Elena , Gorb Stanislav
Published: July 2021

In the present investigation, we compared the reduction in attachment ability of the southern green stinkbug Nezara viridula (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) to glass induced by three different nanoparticle (kaolin, zeolite, and calcium carbonate) films. Using traction force experiments, behavioral experiments, and scanning electron microscopy observations, we analyzed the insect attachment ability and linear speed on untreated and treated glass with the three particle films. The three nanomaterials strongly reduced insect attachment ability mainly owing to contamination of attachment pads. The ability to reduce insect attachment was different for the three tested particle films: kaolin and zeolite induced a significantly higher reduction in N. viridula safety factor than calcium carbonate. The coating of the surface was more uniform and compact in kaolin and zeolite compared to calcium carbonate particle film. Moreover, kaolin and zeolite particles can more readily adhere to N. viridula attachment devices, whereas calcium carbonate particles appeared less adherent to the cuticular surface compared to the two aluminosilicate (kaolin and zeolite) particles. Only the application of kaolin reduced insect linear speed during locomotion. Nanoparticle films have a great potential to reduce insect attachment ability and represent a good alternative to the use of insecticides for the control of pentatomid bugs and other pest insects.
Addition of Activated Carbon into a Cattle Diet to Mitigate GHG Emissions and Improve Production
Authors: Al-Azzawi Mohammed , Bowtell Les , Hancock Kerry , Preston Sarah
Published: July 2021

Globally, the most problematic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of ruminant livestock is methane (CH4), with a global warming potential 25 times that of carbon dioxide. This work considers the emissions and production effects of powdered activated carbon (PAC) at 0.5% by dry matter (DM) on methanogenic rumen flora as the major source of dairy cattle enteric methane emissions. In total, 180 dairy cattle located in Brymaroo, Queensland (QLD), Australia, were studied in a three-cycle repeated measures ANOVA format with a 4 week primary interval. Emissions eructated during milking and in faecal deposits were measured, and in addition, 16S rRNA gene sequencing was performed to determine the collective populations of prokaryotic bacteria and archaea as well methanogenic communities for each treatment. Moreover, 0.5% PAC addition reduced CH4 emissions by 30–40% and CO2 emissions by 10%, while improving daily milk production by 3.43%, milk protein by 2.63% and milk fat by 6.32%, on average for the herd (p < 0.001 in all cases). rRNA gene sequencing showed populations of methanogenic flora decreased by 30% on average with a corresponding increase in the nonmethanogenic species. We strongly advocate further on-farm trials with the dietary addition of PAC in ruminant diets to mitigate emissions while maintaining or improving productivity.
Study of the Relationships between Multi-Hole, Multi-Disc Mill Performance Parameters and Comminution Indicators
Authors: Kruszelnicka Weronika , Hlosta Jakub , Diviš Jan , Gierz Łukasz
Published: July 2021

The knowledge of a grinder structure, its performance parameters and characteristics of biomaterials breakage are crucial for this research whose aim is to determine the dependencies between performance parameters and comminution indicators. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationships between multi-disc mill performance parameters such as discs angular speed, batch dosing speed and comminution characteristics: power consumption, specific energy consumption, throughput and size reduction ratio. To achieve these goals, an experiment was conducted on a five-disc mill with a special monitoring system. The research program was established, with disc angular speed at different configurations and different batch dosing speeds. The results show that power consumption, specific energy consumption and size reduction ratio depend on the total increase in angular speed of discs SΔω in such a way that an increase in SΔω causes an increase in the abovementioned comminution indicators. In turn, an increase in batch dosing speed W causes an increase in throughput. The fitting curves of comminution indicators in dependence of selected performance parameters are also presented in this study.
3D Printing for Medical Applications: Current State of the Art and Perspectives during the COVID-19 Crisis
Authors: Hagen Andrew , Chisling Megan , House Kevin , Katz Tal , Abelseth Laila , Fraser Ian , Bradley Stephen , Kirsch Rebecca , Morris Jacob , Giles Joshua W. , Willerth Stephanie M.
Published: July 2021

The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has affected over one hundred million people worldwide and has resulted in over two million deaths. In addition to the toll that coronavirus takes on the health of humans infected with the virus and the potential long term effects of infection, the repercussions of the pandemic on the economy as well as on the healthcare system have been enormous. The global supply of equipment necessary for dealing with the pandemic experienced extreme stress as healthcare systems around the world attempted to acquire personal protective equipment for their workers and medical devices for treating COVID-19. This review describes how 3D printing is currently being used in life saving surgeries such as heart and lung surgery and how 3D printing can address some of the worldwide shortage of personal protective equipment, by examining recent trends of the use of 3D printing and how these technologies can be applied during and after the pandemic. We review the use of 3D printed models for treating the long term effects of COVID-19. We then focus on methods for generating face shields and different types of respirators. We conclude with areas for future investigation and application of 3D printing technology.
Associated Charmonium-Bottomonium Production in a Single Boson e+e− Annihilation
Authors: Belov Ilia , Berezhnoy Alexander , Leshchenko Evgeny
Published: July 2021

The production cross sections of J/ψηb, Yηc pairs in a single boson e+e− annihilation have been studied in a wide range of energies, which will be achieved at future e+e− colliders. The main color singlet contributions to the production processes are taken into account, including the one loop QCD contribution.
Speech Enhancement for Hearing Impaired Based on Bandpass Filters and a Compound Deep Denoising Autoencoder
Authors: AL-Taai Raghad Yaseen Lazim , Wu Xiaojun
Published: July 2021

Deep neural networks have been applied for speech enhancements efficiently. However, for large variations of speech patterns and noisy environments, an individual neural network with a fixed number of hidden layers causes strong interference, which can lead to a slow learning process, poor generalisation in an unknown signal-to-noise ratio in new inputs, and some residual noise in the enhanced output. In this paper, we present a new approach for the hearing impaired based on combining two stages: (1) a set of bandpass filters that split up the signal into eight separate bands each performing a frequency analysis of the speech signal; (2) multiple deep denoising autoencoder networks, with each working for a small specific enhancement task and learning to handle a subset of the whole training set. To evaluate the performance of the approach, the hearing-aid speech perception index, the hearing aid sound quality index, and the perceptual evaluation of speech quality were used. Improvements in speech quality and intelligibility were evaluated using seven subjects of sensorineural hearing loss audiogram. We compared the performance of the proposed approach with individual denoising autoencoder networks with three and five hidden layers. The experimental results showed that the proposed approach yielded higher quality and was more intelligible compared with three and five layers.
Task Decomposition Based on Cloud Manufacturing Platform
Authors: Hu Yanjuan , Zhang Ziyu , Wang Jinwu , Wang Zhanli , Liu Hongliang
Published: July 2021

As a new service-oriented manufacturing paradigm, cloud manufacturing (CMfg) realizes the optimal allocation of resources in the product manufacturing process through the network. Task decomposition is a key problem of the CMfg system for resource scheduling. A high-quality task decomposition method can shorten product development time, reduce costs for resource service providers, and provide technical support for the application of CMfg. However, a cloud manufacturing system has to manage the allocation the correct amount of manufacturing resources, complex production processes, and highly dynamic production environments. At the same time, the tasks issued by service demanders are usually asymmetric and tightly coupled. We solve the complex task decomposition problem by using the traditional methods, that are hard to complete in CMfg. To overcome the shortcomings of CMfg, this paper proposed a task decomposition method based on the cloud platform. For achieving modular production, this approach creatively divides the product production process into four stages: design, manufacturing, transportation, and maintenance. Then a hybrid method, which combines with depth-first search algorithm, fast modular optimization algorithm, and artificial bee colony algorithm, is introduced. The method can obtain a multi-stage task optimization decomposition plan in CMfg. Simulation results demonstrate the proposed method can achieve complex task optimization decomposition in a CMfg environment.
Applications of a Multiplier Transformation and Ruscheweyh Derivative for Obtaining New Strong Differential Subordinations
Authors: Lupaş Alina Alb
Published: July 2021

Here, we study strong differential subordinations for the extended new operator IRλ,lm defined by the Hadamard product of the extended multiplier transformation Im,λ,l and the extended Ruscheweyh derivative Rm, on the class of normalized analytic functions Anζ∗={f∈H(U×U¯),f(z,ζ)=z+an+1ζzn+1+⋯,z∈U,ζ∈U¯}, by IRλ,lm:Anζ∗→Anζ∗, IRλ,lmfz,ζ=Im,λ,l∗Rmfz,ζ.
Evaluation of Shear Stress Transport, Large Eddy Simulation and Detached Eddy Simulation for the Flow around a Statically Loaded Tire
Authors: Zhou Haichao , Li Huiyun , Chen Qingyun , Zhang Lingxin
Published: July 2021

To select a more suitable turbulence model to study tire aerodynamics, the characteristics of a deformed profile of a 185/65 R14 passenger tire were reproduced using 3D printing technology. Based on the distance from automobile chassis to the ground, a partially loaded tire model with a height of 150 mm was selected in this paper, and the surface pressure coefficient of the tire model was determined using a wind tunnel test. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was established according to the tire wind tunnel test. The surface pressure coefficient results of three turbulence models, shear stress transport (SST) k-ω, large eddy simulation (LES), and detached eddy simulation (DES) were obtained. Compared with the wind tunnel test results, the mean relative errors of the surface pressure coefficients predicted using SST, LES, and DES in the longitudinal section were 22.4%, 20.9%, and 14.8%, respectively. The LES and DES can capture details of the unsteady flow field that were not predicted by SST. By synthetically analyzing the results of the surface pressure coefficient and flow fields, the DES model is more advantageous than the other two models in predicting the flow characteristics around a statically loaded tire. This study can help designers in the tire industry to apply these cost-effective tools for minimizing the aerodynamic drag of a new tire design.
Hotspot Temperature Prediction of Dry-Type Transformers Based on Particle Filter Optimization with Support Vector Regression
Authors: Sun Yuanyuan , Xu Gongde , Li Na , Li Kejun , Liang Yongliang , Zhong Hui , Zhang Lina , Liu Ping
Published: July 2021

Both poor cooling methods and complex heat dissipation lead to prominent asymmetry in transformer temperature distribution. Both the operating life and load capacity of a power transformer are closely related to the winding hotspot temperature. Realizing accurate prediction of the hotspot temperature of transformer windings is the key to effectively preventing thermal faults in transformers, thus ensuring the reliable operation of transformers and accurately predicting transformer operating lifetimes. In this paper, a hot spot temperature prediction method is proposed based on the transformer operating parameters through the particle filter optimization support vector regression model. Based on the monitored transformer temperature, load rate, transformer cooling type, and ambient temperature, the hotspot temperature of a dry-type transformer can be predicted by a support vector regression method. The hyperparameters of the support vector regression are dynamically optimized here according to the particle filter to improve the optimization accuracy. The validity and accuracy of the proposed method are verified by comparing the proposed method with a traditional support vector regression method based on the real operating data of a 35 kV dry-type transformer.
On a Functional Integral Equation
Authors: Marian Daniela , Ciplea Sorina Anamaria , Lungu Nicolaie
Published: July 2021

In this paper, we establish some results for a Volterra–Hammerstein integral equation with modified arguments: existence and uniqueness, integral inequalities, monotony and Ulam-Hyers-Rassias stability. We emphasize that many problems from the domain of symmetry are modeled by differential and integral equations and those are approached in the stability point of view. In the literature, Fredholm, Volterra and Hammerstein integrals equations with symmetric kernels are studied. Our results can be applied as particular cases to these equations.
Poisson–Lie Groups and Gauge Theory
Authors: Meusburger Catherine
Published: July 2021

We review Poisson–Lie groups and their applications in gauge theory and integrable systems from a mathematical physics perspective. We also comment on recent results and developments and their applications. In particular, we discuss the role of quasitriangular Poisson–Lie groups and dynamical r-matrices in the description of moduli spaces of flat connections and the Chern–Simons gauge theory.
Numerical Solution of Two-Dimensional Fredholm–Volterra Integral Equations of the Second Kind
Authors: Micula Sanda
Published: July 2021

The paper presents an iterative numerical method for approximating solutions of two-dimensional Fredholm–Volterra integral equations of the second kind. As these equations arise in many applications, there is a constant need for accurate, but fast and simple to use numerical approximations to their solutions. The method proposed here uses successive approximations of the Mann type and a suitable cubature formula. Mann’s procedure is known to converge faster than the classical Picard iteration given by the contraction principle, thus yielding a better numerical method. The existence and uniqueness of the solution is derived under certain conditions. The convergence of the method is proved, and error estimates for the approximations obtained are given. At the end, several numerical examples are analyzed, showing the applicability of the proposed method and good approximation results. In the last section, concluding remarks and future research ideas are discussed.
Mycotoxin Profile and Phylogeny of Pathogenic Alternaria Species Isolated from Symptomatic Tomato Plants in Lebanon
Authors: Habib Wassim , Masiello Mario , El Ghorayeb Romy , Gerges Elvis , Susca Antonia , Meca Giuseppe , Quiles Juan M. , Logrieco Antonio F. , Moretti Antonio
Published: July 2021

The tomato is one of the most consumed agri-food products in Lebanon. Several fungal pathogens, including Alternaria species, can infect tomato plants during the whole growing cycle. Alternaria infections cause severe production and economic losses in field and during storage. In addition, Alternaria species represent a serious toxicological risk since they are able to produce a wide range of mycotoxins, associated with different toxic activities on human and animal health. Several Alternaria species were detected on tomatoes, among which the most important are A. solani, A. alternata, and A. arborescens. A set of 49 Alternaria strains isolated from leaves and stems of diseased tomato plants were characterised by using a polyphasic approach. All strains were included in the recently defined phylogenetic Alternaria section and grouped in three well-separated sub-clades, namely A. alternata (24 out of 49), A. arborescens (12 out of 49), and A. mali morpho-species (12 out of 49). One strain showed high genetic similarity with an A.limoniasperae reference strain. Chemical analyses showed that most of the Alternaria strains, cultured on rice, were able to produce alternariol (AOH), alternariol methyl ether (AME), altenuene (ALT) and tenuazonic acid (TA), with values up to 5634, 16,006, 5156, and 4507 mg kg−1, respectively. In addition, 66% of the strains were able to co-produce simultaneously the four mycotoxins investigated. The pathogenicity test carried out on 10 Alternaria strains, representative of phylogenetic sub-clades, revealed that they were all pathogenic on tomato fruits. No significant difference among strains was observed, although A. alternata and A. arborescens strains were slightly more aggressive than A. mali morpho-species strains. This paper reports new insights on mycotoxin profiles, genetic variability, and pathogenicity of Alternaria species on tomatoes.