bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
From Daʿwah to Shahādah: A Move beyond Vatican II and the Common Word
Authors: Abdelnour Mohammed Gamal
Published: April 2024

The Second Vatican Council and the Common Word document constitute turning points in the history of Christian–Muslim Relations. Nostra Aetate and Lumen Gentium appealed to a shared Abrahamic heritage between Christianity and Islam, and the Common Word appealed to a God-based theology, as opposed to the long-standing Prophet-based theology. Authorities in both traditions did so in the search for a shared theological foundation. While the article recognizes the vitality of the two steps, it equally recognizes that there is still much that can be done to advance Christian–Muslim relations. In this context, this article aims to achieve three primary goals: first, to demonstrate the successes of the two initiatives; second, to critically engage with them by examining their limitations; and third, to suggest “practical theology” as a medium through which the aspirations of Vatican II and the Common Word can reach a greater audience. In doing so, it proposes the concept of shahādah “bearing witness”, as opposed to the Islamic concept of daʿwah “making invitation” and the Christian concepts of preaching and messianism.
Pulmonologist-Performed Ultrasound-Guided Fine-Needle Aspiration of Lung Lesions
Authors: Kwok Chin-Tong , Yeung Yiu-Cheong , Chan Yu-Hong , Ho Man-Ying
Published: April 2024

Background and objective: Lung cancer is increasingly common, and accurate diagnosis is important for personalized treatment. Ultrasound-guided percutaneous fine-needle aspiration (FNA) is a useful method to obtain a specimen for a histological diagnosis of peripheral lung lesions. The aim of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy and complication rate of the procedure performed by pulmonologists. The result is compared with that of ultrasound-guided core needle biopsy performed by radiologists. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated the diagnostic accuracy and complication rates of pulmonologist-performed ultrasound-guided FNAs of lung lesions in the period of 1 August 2019 to 30 June 2021 (pulmonologist group) and radiologist-performed ultrasound-guided core needle biopsies (CNBs) of lung lesions in the period of 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2014 (radiologist group). A logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent influence factors associated with diagnostic accuracy in the pulmonologist group and in the combination of both groups. Results: In a 23-month period, pulmonologists in a tertiary center performed 113 episodes of ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration for peripheral lung lesions. The diagnostic accuracy and complication rates were 80.4% and 5.3%, respectively, compared to 86.8% and 7.4% in a historical cohort consisting of 68 episodes of ultrasound-guided core needle biopsies performed by radiologists in the same hospital. Lung lesions located in the upper lobe were predictive of successful diagnoses. Conclusions: An ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration by a pulmonologist is an easily accessible and reliable method to obtain specimens for histological diagnoses.
Earth Rotation Parameters Derived from BDS-3 New Signals B1C/B2a Dual-Frequency Combination Observations
Authors: Fang Zhenlong , Xu Tianhe , Nie Wenfeng , Yang Yuguo , Li Min
Published: April 2024

The Earth rotation parameters (ERP) play a crucial role in defining the global reference frame and the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) is one of the important tools used to obtain ERP, including polar motion (PM), its rates, and length of day (LOD). The latest IGS Repro3 ERP products, which provided the IGS contribution to the latest ITRF2020, were generated without consideration of the Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) observations. The global BDS, namely the BDS-3 constellation, has been completely constructed from July 2020 and the observing stations are evenly distributed globally now. Two couple dual-frequency combinations, including the B1I/B3I and B1C/B2a combinations, are commonly used for BDS-3 ionosphere-free combination usage. With the goal of identifying the optimal dual-frequency combination for BDS-3 ERP estimates for the future ITRF definition with a consideration of BDS-3, this research evaluated the performance of ERP estimation using B1I/B3I and B1C/B2a combinations. Firstly, we conducted a comparison of the ambiguity resolutions. The mean percentage of successfully resolved ambiguities for the BDS-3 B1C/B2a combination is 86.5%, surpassing that of B1I/B3I. The GNSS satellite orbits and ERP were estimated simultaneously, thus the accuracy of orbits could also reflect the performance of the ERP estimates. Subsequently, we validated the orbits of 22 BDS-3 Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites using Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR), and the root mean square error (RMS) of the SLR residuals for the 3-day arc orbit with B1C/B2a signals was 5.72 cm, indicating superior accuracy compared with the B1I/B3I combination. Finally, we compared the performance of ERP estimation, considering both internal and external accuracy. For the internal accuracy, B1C/B2a-based solutions demonstrated a reduction in mean formal errors of approximately 17% for PM, 22% for LOD, and 21% for PM rates compared with B1I/B3I-based solutions. In terms of external accuracy, we compared BDS-3-derived ERP estimates with the IERS 20C04 products. The B1C/B2a combination exhibited a slightly better standard deviation performance and a significant reduction in mean bias by 56%, 54%, 39%, 64%, and 23% for X, Y polar motion, X, Y polar motion rates, and LOD, respectively, compared with B1I/B3I solutions. In conclusion, the results highlight the excellent signal quality for BDS-3 B1C/B2a and its superiority in ERP estimation when compared with the B1I/B3I combination.
Real-Time LEO Satellite Clocks Based on Near-Real-Time Clock Determination with Ultra-Short-Term Prediction
Authors: Wu Meifang , Wang Kan , Wang Jinqian , Liu Jiawei , Chen Beixi , Xie Wei , Zhang Zhe , Yang Xuhai
Published: April 2024

The utilization of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites is anticipated to augment various aspects of traditional GNSS-based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) services. While the LEO satellite orbital products can nowadays be produced with rather high accuracy in real-time of a few centimeters, the precision of the LEO satellite clock products that can be achieved in real-time is less studied. The latter, however, plays an essential role in the LEO-augmented positioning and timing performances. In real-time, the users eventually use the predicted LEO satellite clocks, with their precision determined by both the near-real-time clock precision and the prediction time needed to match the time window for real-time applications, i.e., the precision loss during the prediction phase. In this study, a real-time LEO satellite clock determination method, consisting of near-real-time clock determination with ultra-short-term clock prediction is proposed and implemented. The principles and strategies of this method are discussed in detail. The proposed method utilized Kalman-filter-based processing, but supports restarts at pre-defined times, thus hampering continuous bias propagation and accumulation from ancient epochs. Based on the method, using Sentinel-3B GNSS observations and the real-time GNSS products from the National Center for Space Studies (CNES) in France, the near-real-time LEO satellite clocks can reach a precision of 0.2 to 0.3 ns, and the precision loss during the prediction phase is within 0.07 ns for a prediction time window from 30 to 90 s. This results in a total error budget in the real-time LEO satellite clocks of about 0.3 ns.
Impact of the Russia–Ukraine Conflict on Global Marine Network Based on Massive Vessel Trajectories
Authors: Cong Lin , Zhang Hengcai , Wang Peixiao , Chu Chen , Wang Jinzi
Published: April 2024

Maritime transportation plays a vital role in global trade, and studying the resilience of the global maritime network is crucial for ensuring its sustainable development. Currently, the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has garnered significant global attention. However, there is a lack of specific research on the impact of the conflict on maritime shipping, particularly the resilience of the global maritime network. This paper proposes a resilience assessment framework under the influence of significant events by combining complex network metrics and network performance indicators from the resilience triangle model. It quantitatively evaluates the resilience changes in the global maritime network before and after the outbreak of the Russia–Ukraine conflict. The experiment utilizes real automatic identification system (AIS) maritime trajectory data to quantify and visualize the changes in global maritime traffic during a 20-day period before and after the conflict, constructing the global maritime network for resilience calculations. The research findings indicate the following changes occurred after the Russia–Ukraine conflict. Firstly, the global maritime industry experienced overall growth, with increased ship transportation between ports. Transportation in certain regions was negatively affected, with a significant decrease in ship activities in the Black Sea and Adriatic Sea areas. The positions of Russia and Ukraine in the world maritime industry noticeably declined. Secondly, the network connectivity, network size, and network density of the global maritime network significantly increased, indicating an enhanced network resilience. According to our quantitative results, from a topological perspective, we observed the following changes: network connectivity increased by 27.2%, network scale increased by 36.6%, network density increased by 32.4%, and network resilience increased by 18.6%. Thirdly, the global maritime network is characterized by a high degree of heterogeneity, and the impact of conflicts on the heterogeneity of the shipping network is not significant. Finally, the network exhibited a slower performance decline under random attacks, while deliberate attacks led to a sharp decline. Due to the adaptive nature of the maritime network, the resilience of the network improves in terms of its topology following the outbreak of conflicts. After conflict incidents, the rate of performance decline during simulated attacks is lower compared to the pre-conflict period.
Attention-Enhanced Dual-Branch Residual Network with Adaptive L-Softmax Loss for Specific Emitter Identification under Low-Signal-to-Noise Ratio Conditions
Authors: Jing Zehuan , Li Peng , Wu Bin , Yan Erxing , Chen Yingchao , Gao Youbing
Published: April 2024

To address the issue associated with poor accuracy rates for specific emitter identification (SEI) under low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions, where the single-dimension radar signal characteristics are severely affected by noise, we propose an attention-enhanced dual-branch residual network structure based on the adaptive large-margin Softmax (ALS). Initially, we designed a dual-branch network structure to extract features from one-dimensional intermediate frequency data and two-dimensional time–frequency images, respectively. By assigning different attention weights according to their importance, these features are fused into an enhanced joint feature for further training. This approach enables the model to extract distinctive features across multiple dimensions and achieve good recognition performance even when the signal is affected by noise. In addition, we have introduced L-Softmax to replace the original Softmax and propose the ALS. This approach adaptively calculates the classification margin decision parameter based on the angle between samples and the classification boundary and adjusts the margin values of the sample classification boundaries; it reduces the intra-class distance for the same class while increasing the inter-class distance between different classes without the need for cumbersome experiments to determine the optimal value of decision parameters. Our experimental findings revealed that, in comparison to alternative methods, our proposed approach markedly enhances the model’s capability to extract features from signals and classify them in low-SNR environments, thereby effectively diminishing the influence of noise. Notably, it achieves the highest recognition rate across a range of low-SNR conditions, registering an average increase in recognition rate of 4.8%.
Impact of Pseudo-Stochastic Pulse and Phase Center Variation on Precision Orbit Determination of Haiyang-2A from Experimental HY2 Receiver GPS Data
Authors: Wang Youyuan , Guo Jinyun , Ya Shaoshuai , Jia Yongjun , Guo Hengyang , Chang Xiaotao , Liu Xin
Published: April 2024

Haiyang-2A (HY-2A) is the first marine dynamic environment satellite established by China, which has made significant contributions to the marine scientific research field. It carries the satellite-based GPS receiver named HY2, which was independently developed by China. It is an experimental satellite-borne GPS receiver for low earth orbit satellites, and during its operational period in orbit, the satellite-borne GPS data are not made accessible to the public. Therefore, this paper assesses the quality of HY-2A satellite-borne GPS data based on indicators such as satellite visibility, multipath effect, and ionospheric delay. The results indicate that the data acquired by the HY2 receiver are of high quality. The precise orbit determination (POD) uses the reduced-dynamic (RD) method. The adjustment effects of the pseudo-stochastic pulse time interval and a priori sigma on POD are analyzed, and the antenna phase center variation (PCV) is estimated using the direct method and residual method. Furthermore, this paper investigates the impact of PCV models with different resolutions (10° × 10° and 5° × 5°) on satellite orbit determination. To evaluate the orbit precision, three methods are used for validation, including carrier phase residual analysis, external precise science orbit (PSO) validation, and SLR three-dimensional (3D) validation, respectively. The results indicate that the highest orbit precision is achieved when the pseudo-stochastic pulse time interval is configured to 15 min, with the a priori sigma of 1 × 10−8 m/s2. The orbit carrier phase residuals reach the millimeter level. The 10° × 10°PCV model was estimated using the direct method and residual method, respectively; the root mean square of the external orbit validation for both methods show a millimeter-level improvement. The results obtained from the direct method and residual method are comparable. The resolution is increased from 10° to 5°, and the improvement in orbital precision is relatively small. The results obtained from the SLR 3D validation are consistent with those from the external PSO validation. The experimental results contribute valuable information for the POD of the HY2 series satellites.
Experimental Evaluation of the Motion-Induced Effects for Turbulent Fluctuations Measurement on Floating Lidar Systems
Authors: Thiébaut Maxime , Thebault Nicolas , Le Boulluec Marc , Damblans Guillaume , Maisondieu Christophe , Benzo Cristina , Guinot Florent
Published: April 2024

This study examines how motion influences turbulent velocity fluctuations utilizing measurements obtained from a wind lidar profiler. Onshore tests were performed using a WindCube v2.1 lidar, which was mobile and mounted on a hexapod to simulate buoy motion. Additionally, a fixed WindCube v2.1 lidar was used as a reference during these tests. To assess the motion-induced effects on velocity fluctuations measured by floating lidar systems, the root-mean-square error (RMSE) of velocity fluctuations obtained from the fixed and mobile lidars was calculated. A comprehensive wind dataset spanning 22.5 h was analyzed, with a focus on regular motions involving single-axis rotations and combinations of rotations around multiple axes. The investigation of single-axis rotations revealed that the primary influencing factor on the results was the alignment between the tilt direction of the mobile lidar and the wind direction. The highest RMSE values occurred when the tilt of the mobile lidar leans in the wind direction, resulting in pitch motion, whereas the lowest RMSE values were observed when the tilt of the mobile lidar leans perpendicular to the wind direction, resulting in roll motion. Moreover, the addition of motion around extra axes of rotation was found to increase RMSE.
Synergistic Applications of Graphene-Based Materials and Deep Eutectic Solvents in Sustainable Sensing: A Comprehensive Review
Authors: Svigelj Rossella , Toniolo Rosanna , Bertoni Cristina , Fraleoni-Morgera Alessandro
Published: April 2024

The recently explored synergistic combination of graphene-based materials and deep eutectic solvents (DESs) is opening novel and effective avenues for developing sensing devices with optimized features. In more detail, remarkable potential in terms of simplicity, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness of this combination have been demonstrated for sensors, resulting in the creation of hybrid devices with enhanced signal-to-noise ratios, linearities, and selectivity. Therefore, this review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the currently available scientific literature discussing investigations and applications of sensors that integrate graphene-based materials and deep eutectic solvents, with an outlook for the most promising developments of this approach.
A Framework for Real-Time Gestural Recognition and Augmented Reality for Industrial Applications
Authors: Torres Winnie , Santos Lilian , Melo Gustavo , Oliveira Andressa , Nascimento Pedro , Carvalho Geovane , Neves Tácito , Martins Allan , Araújo Ícaro
Published: April 2024

In recent decades, technological advancements have transformed the industry, highlighting the efficiency of automation and safety. The integration of augmented reality (AR) and gesture recognition has emerged as an innovative approach to create interactive environments for industrial equipment. Gesture recognition enhances AR applications by allowing intuitive interactions. This study presents a web-based architecture for the integration of AR and gesture recognition, designed to interact with industrial equipment. Emphasizing hardware-agnostic compatibility, the proposed structure offers an intuitive interaction with equipment control systems through natural gestures. Experimental validation, conducted using Google Glass, demonstrated the practical viability and potential of this approach in industrial operations. The development focused on optimizing the system’s software and implementing techniques such as normalization, clamping, conversion, and filtering to achieve accurate and reliable gesture recognition under different usage conditions. The proposed approach promotes safer and more efficient industrial operations, contributing to research in AR and gesture recognition. Future work will include improving the gesture recognition accuracy, exploring alternative gestures, and expanding the platform integration to improve the user experience.
Laser Triangulation Sensors Performance in Scanning Different Materials and Finishes
Authors: Meana Victor , Zapico Pablo , Cuesta Eduardo , Giganto Sara , Martinez-Pellitero Susana
Published: April 2024

The variety of equipment implementing laser triangulation technology for 3D scanning makes it difficult to analyse their performance, comparability, and traceability. In this study, three laser triangulation sensors arranged in different configurations are analysed using high precision spheres made of different materials and surface finishes. Three types of reference parameters were used: diameter, form error, and standard deviation of the point cloud. The experimentation was based on studying the quality of the point clouds generated by the three sensors, which enabled us to find and quantify an edge effect in the horizon of the scanned surface. A procedure to reach the optimal filtering conditions was proposed, and a chart of recommended usage of each sphere (material and finish) was created for the different types of sensors. This filter enables removal of both spurious points and those few points that spoil the form error, greatly improving the quality of the measurement.
The Analytical Validity of Stride Detection and Gait Parameters Reconstruction Using the Ankle-Mounted Inertial Measurement Unit Syde®
Authors: Michaud Mona , Guérin Alexandre , Dejean de La Bâtie Marguerite , Bancel Léopold , Oudre Laurent , Tricot Alexis
Published: April 2024

The increasing use of inertial measurement units (IMU) in biomedical sciences brings new possibilities for clinical research. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the accuracy of the IMU-based wearable Syde® device, which allows day-long and remote continuous gait recording in comparison to a reference motion capture system. Twelve healthy subjects (age: 23.17 ± 2.04, height: 174.17 ± 6.46 cm) participated in a controlled environment data collection and performed a series of gait tasks with both systems attached to each ankle. A total of 2820 strides were analyzed. The results show a median absolute stride length error of 1.86 cm between the IMU-based wearable device reconstruction and the motion capture ground truth, with the 75th percentile at 3.24 cm. The median absolute stride horizontal velocity error was 1.56 cm/s, with the 75th percentile at 2.63 cm/s. With a measurement error to the reference system of less than 3 cm, we conclude that there is a valid physical recovery of stride length and horizontal velocity from data collected with the IMU-based wearable Syde® device.
Tensor-Free Holographic Metasurface Leaky-Wave Multi-Beam Antennas with Tailorable Gain and Polarization
Authors: Weng Chuan-Kuei , Tsai Yu-Zhan , Vilenskiy Artem , Ng Mou Kehn Malcolm
Published: April 2024

Recently, the community has seen a rise in interest and development regarding holographic antennas. The planar hologram is made of subwavelength metal patches printed on a grounded dielectric board, constituting flat metasurfaces. When a known reference wave is launched, the hologram produces a pencil beam towards a prescribed direction. Most earlier works on such antennas have considered only a single beam. For the few later ones that studied multiple beams, they were achieved either by having each beam taken care of by a distinct frequency or by partitioning the hologram, thereby depriving each beam of the directivity it could have had it not shared the holographic aperture with other beams. There have been recent studies related to the use of tensor surface impedance concepts for the synthesis of holograms which have attained control over the polarizations and intensities of the beams. However, this approach is complicated, tedious, and time-consuming. In this paper, we present a method for designing a planar holographic leaky-wave multi-beam metasurface antenna, of which each simultaneous beam radiating at the same frequency towards any designated direction has a tailorable amplitude, phase, and polarization, all without hologram partitioning. Most importantly, this antenna is exempted from the need for the cumbersome technique of tensor impedance. Such features of beam configurability are useful in selective multiple-target applications that require differential gain and polarization control among the various beams. Only a single source is needed, which is another benefit. In addition, effective methods to mitigate sidelobes are also proposed here. Designs by simulations according to the method are herein validated with measurements performed on fabricated prototypes.
FNeXter: A Multi-Scale Feature Fusion Network Based on ConvNeXt and Transformer for Retinal OCT Fluid Segmentation
Authors: Niu Zhiyuan , Deng Zhuo , Gao Weihao , Bai Shurui , Gong Zheng , Chen Chucheng , Rong Fuju , Li Fang , Ma Lan
Published: April 2024

The accurate segmentation and quantification of retinal fluid in Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) images are crucial for the diagnosis and treatment of ophthalmic diseases such as age-related macular degeneration. However, the accurate segmentation of retinal fluid is challenging due to significant variations in the size, position, and shape of fluid, as well as their complex, curved boundaries. To address these challenges, we propose a novel multi-scale feature fusion attention network (FNeXter), based on ConvNeXt and Transformer, for OCT fluid segmentation. In FNeXter, we introduce a novel global multi-scale hybrid encoder module that integrates ConvNeXt, Transformer, and region-aware spatial attention. This module can capture long-range dependencies and non-local similarities while also focusing on local features. Moreover, this module possesses the spatial region-aware capabilities, enabling it to adaptively focus on the lesions regions. Additionally, we propose a novel self-adaptive multi-scale feature fusion attention module to enhance the skip connections between the encoder and the decoder. The inclusion of this module elevates the model’s capacity to learn global features and multi-scale contextual information effectively. Finally, we conduct comprehensive experiments to evaluate the performance of the proposed FNeXter. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed approach outperforms other state-of-the-art methods in the task of fluid segmentation.
SALOS—A UWB Single-Anchor Indoor Localization System Based on a Statistical Multipath Propagation Model
Authors: Schmidt Sven Ole , Cimdins Marco , John Fabian , Hellbrück Horst
Published: April 2024

Among other methods, UWB-based multi-anchor localization systems have been established for industrial indoor localization systems. However, multi-anchor systems have high costs and installation effort. By exploiting the multipath propagation of the UWB signal, the infrastructure and thus the costs of conventional systems can be reduced. Our UWB Single-Anchor Localization System (SALOS) successfully pursues this approach. The idea is to create a localization system with sophisticated signal modeling. Therefore, measured reference, like fingerprinting or training, is not required for position estimation. Although SALOS has already been implemented and tested successfully in an outdoor scenario with multipath propagation, it has not yet been evaluated in an indoor environment with challenging and hardly predictable multipath propagation. For this purpose, we have developed new algorithms for the existing hardware, mainly a three-dimensional statistical multipath propagation model for arbitrary spatial geometries. The signal propagation between the anchor and predefined candidate points for the tag position is modeled in path length and complex-valued receive amplitudes. For position estimation, these modeled signals are combined to multiple sets and compared to UWB measurements via a similarity metric. Finally, a majority decision of multiple position estimates is performed. For evaluation, we implement our localization system in a modular fashion and install the system in a building. For a fixed grid of 20 positions, the localization is evaluated in terms of position accuracy. The system results in correct position estimations for more than 73% of the measurements.
Fractions of Organic Matter and Soil Carbon Balance in Different Phases of an Agroforestry System in the Cerrado: A Ten-Year Field Assessment
Authors: Santos Juscelina Arcanjo dos , Santos Anselmo de Deus dos , Costa Camila Rodrigues , Araujo Alyson Silva de , Leite Gilberto Gonçalves , Coser Thais Rodrigues , Figueiredo Cícero Célio de
Published: April 2024

Integrated production systems composed of trees, crops and pastures have shown good results in improving soil quality and the capacity to store carbon in the soil, being efficient in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Despite this, changes in carbon stocks and soil organic matter fractions in the initial stages of implementing an agroforestry system remain unclear. This study evaluated the carbon balance and the dynamics of soil organic matter fractions in an agroforestry system conducted over a decade. Total carbon, labile carbon, carbon from particulate organic matter, organic carbon associated with minerals and inert carbon were determined at depths 0–10 cm, 10–20 cm and 20–40 cm. Soil carbon stocks were also estimated for the 0–40 cm depth. Total carbon increased in the agroforestry system compared with a low-productivity pasture. The total carbon stock in the last growing season (68.57 Mg ha−1) was close to the original soil stocks under native Cerrado vegetation (76.5 Mg ha−1). After 10 years, there was a positive balance in the soil carbon stock of both the total carbon and the soil organic matter fractions. The successional agroforestry system is a good alternative to increasing soil total carbon stocks and labile and non-labile fractions of soil organic matter.
Price Dynamics in South African Agriculture: A Study of Cross-Commodity Spillovers between Grain and Livestock Markets
Authors: Monteiro Markus Arlindo , Jammer Brent Damian
Published: April 2024

In South Africa, the agricultural sector is a crucial pillar of the economy, with the livestock and grain industries playing significant roles in ensuring food security, fostering economic growth, and providing employment opportunities, particularly in rural areas. This research addresses the relatively unexplored relationship between the livestock and grain industries in South Africa. This study employs a comprehensive approach using a VAR/VECM framework alongside VECM Granger causality tests, Toda Yamamoto causality tests, impulse response functions, and variance decomposition analysis. The main findings of this study demonstrate a long-run relationship among the study variables, with consistently low error correction terms indicating slow short-term adjustments. Significant long-run relationships were observed between grain feed prices and livestock prices, where yellow maize and soybean prices affect live weaner prices, while beef carcass prices influence yellow maize prices. Overall, the results highlight the pivotal role that yellow maize plays as a link between the South African livestock and grain markets. The study concluded that policy formulation for the South African agricultural sector must consider the interconnected nature of the grain and livestock markets to achieve sustainable and effective outcomes.
Biodegradability and Water Absorption of Macadamia Nutshell Powder-Reinforced Poly(lactic Acid) Biocomposites
Authors: Dong Chensong , Davies Ian J. , Fornari Junior Celso Carlino Maria
Published: April 2024

This study investigates the biodegradability and water absorption properties of Macadamia nutshell powder and poly(lactic acid) (PLA) biocomposites using a Design of Experiments (DOE) approach. The influences of processing methods, the Macadamia nutshell powder’s weight content, and the powder’s condition are studied. A biodegradability test is performed in accordance with the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D5338-11 by burying the test specimens in wet garden soil at a controlled temperature of 50 °C and 100% humidity. The specimens obtained by counter-rotating processing exhibit varying weight loss patterns with an increasing powder weight content, while the specimens obtained by co-rotating processing demonstrate consistent behaviour. This study highlights the complex nature of PLA biodegradation, which is affected by diverse factors such as test conditions and environments, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of the sustainability implications. A water absorption test is carried out in accordance with ASTM D570-98. It is shown that the water absorption characteristics are predominantly determined by the hydrophilic nature of Macadamia nutshells, with an increased powder weight content leading to higher absorption. Pure PLA, due to its hydrophobic nature, exhibits minimal water absorption. By unravelling the complexities of PLA biodegradation and water absorption in Macadamia nutshell and PLA biocomposites, this study not only advances the understanding of materials’ behaviour but also underscores the potential sustainability implications of utilizing natural resources in composite materials. This research contributes valuable insights to the broader discourse on environmentally friendly materials and their role in promoting sustainable practices.
Increasing Safety: A Survey of Open Greenspace Usage during and after the Pandemic in Belgrade, Serbia
Authors: Golubović Matić Darinka , Marić Jelena , Matić Jovanka Lili , Gajić Ranka , Mitrović Biserka , Krčadinac Olja
Published: April 2024

COVID-19 has severely affected almost every aspect of our everyday lives, especially the use of open greenspace (OGS) in urban settings, which has proven to have a significant role in increasing overall public health and well-being. Hence, the restricted usage of these spaces should be reconsidered. This research aims to analyze the sensitive nature of OGS usage (1) during the pandemic from the perspective of users’ perceived safety and (2) after the pandemic to assess the possible long-term effects. Additionally, this research proposed that location-tracking mobile applications could lead to an increased frequency of OGS visits. The methodology contains detailed background research and two surveys. One survey was conducted during the pandemic in 2020 (sample size n = 412) and was repeated post-pandemic in 2024 (sample n = 451). The 2020 questionnaire A includes questions about the duration, frequency, and activities of OGS usage while focusing on the perceived safety and possibilities of monitoring OGS visits using mobile apps. The 2024 survey represents the continuation of the 2020 survey, focusing on the post-pandemic state of OGS. The statistical analysis is separated into a descriptive data analysis, various χ2 independence tests and a machine learning safety prediction. The results indicate how COVID-19 could affect OGS usage and how app-related physical safety enhancements during the pandemic cannot be statistically distinguished from those in the post-pandemic period. Although the interest in location-tracking mobile applications has statistically decreased in 2024, the majority of the total 863 participants stated that applications could increase their feeling of perceived safety. The added value of this research is that it considers age and gender roles in analyzing OGS usage in the context of a pandemic.
A Study on the Mechanical Properties and Hydration Process of Slag Cemented Ultrafine Tailings Paste Backfill
Authors: Li Hui , Wan Xiaomei , Jin Zuquan , Cui Yunzheng , Chen Ya
Published: April 2024

Paste backfill prepared with ultrafine tailings often faces difficulties in meeting engineering requirements. To address the challenge of using ultrafine tailings, this work utilized a slag cemented ultrafine tailings paste backfill (SCUPB) composed of slag, Portland cement, and desulfurized gypsum as the cementitious materials, with a binder–tailing ratio of 1:4 and a solid mass concentration of 60%. The fluidity and compressive strength of the SCUPB were tested at 3 days, 7 days, and 28 days, while the microstructure and hydration process of the SCUPB were studied by scanning electron microscopy and isothermal calorimetry. The results reveal that the fluidity of the SCUPB decreases with the increase in the slag content and increases with the decrease in the c/g ratio. SCUPB attains the highest early compressive strength with a slag content of 70% and a c/g ratio of 3:2 (with the cement content at 18% and the desulfurized gypsum content at 12%). In this slag–gypsum–cement system, the combined activation of the slag by the cement and desulfurized gypsum exhibits a higher early compressive strength. This work utilized ultrafine tailings to prepare paste backfill that meets the engineering requirements, achieving the effective utilization of ultrafine tailings in mine backfilling projects.
Research Hotspots, Research Frontiers, and Management Significance: A Bibliometric Analysis and Review of Global Food Waste of Students Research Based on CiteSpace
Authors: Zhang Weihua , Jian Jie
Published: April 2024

Reducing food waste in the student population is important for promoting sustainable economic, social, and ecological development. In this paper, with the help of CiteSpace software (versions 6.1.R6 and 6.2.R4), we visually analyze the literature related to the food waste of students in the WoS core collection database. It is found that (1) scholars are paying increasing attention to the field of student food waste research, with the United States being the country with the largest total amount of research in this field, the greatest academic influence, and the most frequent cooperation with other countries. (2) Research in this field can be broadly divided into three phases: the starting period (2000–2010), the exploration period (2011–2015), and the development period (2016–2023). The research on student food waste involves multiple fields of knowledge, such as statistics, behavior, psychology, management, nutrition, etc. It is divided into three research hotspots, namely student food waste quantity measurement, student food waste influencing factors, and student food waste behavioral interventions, as well as three cutting-edge themes, namely student food waste in developing countries, student food waste and dietary intake and nutritional health, and student food waste from the perspective of behavioral science. (3) Scholars from different countries/regions have different research focuses. Research in the United States focuses on the development of student food waste interventions and the investigation of students’ and teachers’ knowledge, attitudes, and barriers to intervention in student populations; European scholars focus on researching this area from a behavioral perspective; developing countries in Asia focus on quantifying the level of food waste among college students and exploring the impact of demographic factors on student food waste; and developed countries in Asia focus on surveys of teachers, dietitians, and other parties to explore the impact of food education on food waste and propose food education interventions based on the recommendations of various parties. Based on the above findings, future research directions are proposed to provide references for subsequent research on food waste among students.
Performance Indicators for Assessing Environmental Management Plan Implementation in Water Projects
Authors: Farouk Abdelrahman M. , Radzi Afiqah R. , Romali Noor Suraya , Farouk Mohamed , Elgamal Mohamed , Hassan Raouf , Omer Mazen M. , Rahman Rahimi A.
Published: April 2024

This research aims to examine the performance indicators that are crucial for assessing the implementation of environmental management plans (EMPs) in water projects. To achieve this aim, a questionnaire survey, integrating a systematic literature review (SLR), was used to identify the initial performance indicators. Subsequently, ten interviews with environmental professionals were carried out to uncover additional indicators not identified by the SLR. Following the survey design and pilot study of the survey, the data collection resulted in 112 valid responses from environmental professionals engaged in water projects in Saudi Arabia. The data analysis encompassed reliability tests, mean ranking, normalized mean analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The normalized mean analysis highlighted 13 critical parameters among 39 for further investigation. The EFA disclosed three underlying constructs: environmental impact indicators, operational and safety indicators, waste management, and public safety indicators. PLS-SEM was used to validate the relationship between these indicators and the successful implementation of EMPs. The results indicate that all three underlying constructs positively influence the effective execution of such plans. This is the first study to model the relationships of the performance indicators in water projects. The study’s findings underscore the importance of developing precise performance indicators tailored to diverse construction projects that are mainly focused on water facility construction. The identified performance indicators offer significant insights for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers and provide a solid foundation for the advancement of knowledge in the field of environmental management.
Enhanced Scenedesmus obliquus Cultivation in Plastic-Type Flat Panel Photobioreactor for Biodiesel Production
Authors: Abdel-Baset Amira , Matter Ibrahim A. , Ali Mohamed A.
Published: April 2024

A plastic-type flat panel photobioreactor (PTFPP) prototype was designed for microalgae cultivation as biodiesel feedstock. The growth, biomass, and lipid production of the oleaginous microalga Scenedesmus obliquus were optimized through the enhanced design and cultivation conditions in the PTFPP. The optimization conditions include cultivation of the microalga in a flat panel photobioreactor manufactured from a 10 µm-thick plastic sheet with dimensions of 40 cm in width and 60 cm in height. The width of the designed plastic bags was adjusted by “4 ports” of circular adhesion points which make the volumetric cultural capacity 5 L. Cultivation of the microalga was optimized through the replacement of the sodium nitrate of the BBM medium with urea as a nitrogen source. Cultivation bags were subjected to continuous illumination with 3000 lux white, fluorescent lamps and aerated with 1.5 L air/min (equal to 0.3 VVM). Biomass production from the designed PTFPP reached 3 g/L with around 40% lipid content (on a dry weight basis). Based on a GC-MS analysis of the produced fatty acid methyl ester (biodiesel) from S. obliquus, the percentage of C16 and C18 fatty acids reached more than 90% of the defined fatty acids. Out of this percentage, 66.6% were unsaturated fatty acids. The produced fatty acid profile of the S. obliquus biomass cultivated in the designed PTFPP prototype could be considered a suitable feedstock for biodiesel production.
Simulation and Forecasting Study on the Influential Factors of PM2.5 Related to Energy Consumption in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region
Authors: Li Dongxue , Shi Ying , Sun Yingshan , Xing Yingzhe , Zhang Rui , Xue Jingxin
Published: April 2024

It is still necessary to regularly investigate the breakdown of socio-economic elements as a starting point for analyzing the effects of diverse human production activities on PM2.5 intensity from industrial and regional viewpoints. In this paper, the emission factor model was adopted to measure PM2.5 emissions in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region at the regional and industrial levels. The logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) decomposition model was employed to analyze the factors affecting PM2.5 emissions related to energy consumption in the BTH region at the regional and sectoral levels. Building on this foundation, a system dynamics (SD) model was established to make a prediction regarding PM2.5 pollution in the BTH region in 2025. This study found that secondary industry was a major source of PM2.5 emissions in the BTH region. Coal remained the main form of energy consumption in the BTH region. Secondly, the effect size of the factors affecting PM2.5 intensity ranked in the order of energy intensity, energy structure, and industrial structure. Thirdly, in 2025, PM2.5 emissions in the BTH region will decline appreciably, but there is still a certain gap in terms of meeting the targets of “the 14th Five-Year Plan” between the three provinces and cities. These results indicate that the BTH region should achieve the effective management of PM2.5 pollution at the source through the following initiatives: it is necessary to carry out the continuous adjustment of energy structures to gradually increase the proportion of clean energy; we must steadily promote the decline in energy intensity reduction, and gradually strengthen scientific and technological innovation; and we must continue to promote the optimization of the industrial structure and increase the proportion of tertiary industry every year.
Can Sustainability and Biodiversity Conservation Save Native Goat Breeds? The Situation in Campania Region (Southern Italy) between History and Regional Policy Interventions
Authors: Cerrato Michele , Pergola Maria , Ruggiero Gianni
Published: April 2024

The Campania region has a genetic heritage, both vegetal and animal, of great scientific interest, but many genetic resources risk extinction or abandonment. Thus, from a sustainability perspective, their conservation is very important and represents an imperative to allow future generations to satisfy their needs just as we are doing today. The aims of the present paper were to describe the current consistency and importance of goat farming in Italy and in the Campania region and to study its trend from 1861 to understand whether the policies for the sector implemented over time have been sufficient to conserve goat biodiversity. To these ends, the latest available data of the national livestock register of the Italian Ministry of Health, those of the different available Italian agricultural censuses, and historical–cultural documents published over time for the livestock sector were acquired and consulted to describe the goat sector and reconstruct its temporal trend. The results showed that in Italy there are just over 1,000,000 goats (the same consistency as 60 years ago), 50% of which are distributed in the southern regions, and 50,616 farms with goats, 43% of which are extensive. In this contest, the Campania region represents approximately 5% of the national goat population. The continuous decrease in the size of the national and regional goat heritage since the 1920s is the result of the agricultural policy instruments implemented for the livestock sector over time, which have effectively excluded the goat sector. Two small increases in the number of caprines were registered: the first in 1980s, when the Italian scientific community realized that the native goat genetic types, its milk and its organoleptic and dietary qualities could constitute a wealth of endogenous resources that needed to be valorized; the second, in the last decade, due to the actions of sustainability and biodiversity conservation implemented at the national and regional level. At the same time, today the goat sector continues to have a marginal role in the national and regional agricultural economy, and the survival of native goat farming is essentially ensured by sustainable rural communities conceived as the custodians of biodiversity.
Towards Carbon Neutrality in Agglomeration: Impact of Eco-Industry Development on Urban Carbon Emission Efficiency
Authors: Wen Huwei , Wang Runnan , Liu Yuhan
Published: April 2024

Ecological industrial parks (EIPs) play a pivotal role as primary drivers of China’s industrial green transformation, facilitating the enhancement of urban carbon emission efficiency (UCEE) and the realization of green sustainable development. This study empirically investigates the effects of EIP policies on UCEE through quasi-natural experiments, utilizing data from 282 prefecture-level cities in China spanning from 2006 to 2021. Employing a multi-period difference-in-difference (DID) method, the findings are as follows: (1) The implementation of EIP policies leads to a 2.5% average increase in UCEE. (2) Event analysis reveals certain lagging characteristics in the promoting effect of EIP policies on the carbon emission efficiency of pilot cities. (3) EIP construction primarily enhances UCEE by reinforcing agglomeration effects and elevating innovation ability. (4) The promoting effect of EIP construction is more pronounced in the eastern and central regions, as well as in non-resource-based cities within different regions. Drawing from the empirical results, this study provides pertinent recommendations for EIP construction, offering theoretical guidance to policymakers and managers in crafting sustainable development strategies.