bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Editorial for the Special Issue “Remote Sensing of Flow Velocity, Channel Bathymetry, and River Discharge”
Authors: Legleiter Carl J. , Pavelsky Tamlin , Durand Michael , Allen George H. , Tarpanelli Angelica , Frasson Renato , Guneralp Inci , Woodget Amy
Published: July 2020

River discharge is a fundamental hydrologic quantity that summarizes how a watershed transforms the input of precipitation into output as channelized streamflow [...]
A New GNSS-Derived Water Vapor Tomography Method Based on Optimized Voxel for Large GNSS Network
Authors: Yao Yibin , Liu Chen , Xu Chaoqian
Published: July 2020

The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) tomographic technique can be used for remote sensing of the three-dimensional water vapor (WV) distribution in the troposphere, which has attracted considerable interest. However, a significant problem in this technique is the excessive reliance on constraints (particularly in large GNSS networks). In this paper, we propose an improved tomographic method based on optimized voxel, which only considers the voxels passed by GNSS rays. The proposed method can completely prevent the tomographic algorithm interference of constraints that originated from empirical functions. Experiments in Nanjing in the periods of day-of-year (DOY) 182–184, 2019, and 244–246, 2019, show that the mean absolute error (MAE) and root mean square error (RMSE) of the WV density profile obtained using the proposed method are 0.9 and 1.3 g/m3, while those obtained using the conventional method are 1.3 and 1.8 g/m3, respectively, with respect to the radiosonde (RS) method. The numerical results show that the proposed method is reliable and has a superior accuracy to that of the conventional method.
Structure from Motion of Multi-Angle RPAS Imagery Complements Larger-Scale Airborne Lidar Data for Cost-Effective Snow Monitoring in Mountain Forests
Authors: Broxton Patrick D. , van Leeuwen Willem J. D.
Published: July 2020

Snowmelt from mountain forests is critically important for water resources and hydropower generation. More than 75% of surface water supply originates as snowmelt in mountainous regions, such as the western U.S. Remote sensing has the potential to measure snowpack in these areas accurately. In this research, we combine light detection and ranging (lidar) from crewed aircraft (currently, the most reliable way of measuring snow depth in mountain forests) and structure from motion (SfM) remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) for cost-effective multi-temporal monitoring of snowpack in mountain forests. In sparsely forested areas, both technologies give similar snow depth maps, with a comparable agreement with ground-based snow depth observations (RMSE ~10 cm). In densely forested areas, airborne lidar is better able to represent snow depth than RPAS-SfM (RMSE ~10 cm vs ~10–20 cm). In addition, we find the relationship between RPAS-SfM and previous lidar snow depth data can be used to estimate snow depth conditions outside of relatively small RPAS-SfM monitoring plots, with RMSE’s between these observed and estimated snow depths on the order of 10–15 cm for the larger lidar coverages. This suggests that when a single airborne lidar snow survey exists, RPAS-SfM may provide useful multi-temporal snow monitoring that can estimate basin-scale snowpack, at a much lower cost than multiple airborne lidar surveys. Doing so requires a pre-existing mid-winter or peak-snowpack airborne lidar snow survey, and subsequent well-designed paired SfM and field snow surveys that accurately capture substantial snow depth variability.
Water Balance Analysis Based on a Quantitative Evapotranspiration Inversion in the Nukus Irrigation Area, Lower Amu River Basin
Authors: Liu Zhibin , Huang Yue , Liu Tie , Li Junli , Xing Wei , Akmalov Shamshodbek , Peng Jiabin , Pan Xiaohui , Guo Chenyu , Duan Yongchao
Published: July 2020

Human activities are mainly responsible for the Aral Sea crisis, and excessive farmland expansion and unreasonable irrigation regimes are the main manifestations. The conflicting needs of agricultural water consumption and ecological water demand of the Aral Sea are increasingly prominent. However, the quantitative relationship among the water balance elements in the oasis located in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya River Basin and their impact on the retreat of the Aral Sea remain unclear. Therefore, this study focused on the water consumption of the Nukus irrigation area in the delta of the Amu Darya River and analyzed the water balance variations and their impacts on the Aral Sea. The surface energy balance algorithm for land (SEBAL) was employed to retrieve daily and seasonal evapotranspiration (ET) levels from 1992 to 2018, and a water balance equation was established based on the results of a remote sensing evapotranspiration inversion. The results indicated that the actual evapotranspiration (ETa) simulated by the SEBAL model matched the crop evapotranspiration (ETc) calculated by the Penman–Monteith method well, and the correlation coefficients between the two ETa sources were greater than 0.8. The total ETa levels in the growing seasons decreased from 1992 to 2005 and increased from 2005 to 2015, which is consistent with the changes in the cultivated land area and inflows from the Amu Darya River. In 2000, 2005 and 2010, the groundwater recharge volumes into the Aral Sea during the growing season were 6.74×109 m3, 1.56×109 m3 and 8.40×109 m3; respectively; in the dry year of 2012, regional ET exceeded the river inflow, and 2.36×109 m3 of groundwater was extracted to supplement the shortage of irrigation water. There is a significant two-year lag correlation between the groundwater level and the area of the southern Aral Sea. This study can provide useful information for water resources management in the Aral Sea region.
PercepPan: Towards Unsupervised Pan-Sharpening Based on Perceptual Loss
Authors: Zhou Changsheng , Zhang Jiangshe , Liu Junmin , Zhang Chunxia , Fei Rongrong , Xu Shuang
Published: July 2020

In the literature of pan-sharpening based on neural networks, high resolution multispectral images as ground-truth labels generally are unavailable. To tackle the issue, a common method is to degrade original images into a lower resolution space for supervised training under the Wald’s protocol. In this paper, we propose an unsupervised pan-sharpening framework, referred to as “perceptual pan-sharpening”. This novel method is based on auto-encoder and perceptual loss, and it does not need the degradation step for training. For performance boosting, we also suggest a novel training paradigm, called “first supervised pre-training and then unsupervised fine-tuning”, to train the unsupervised framework. Experiments on the QuickBird dataset show that the framework with different generator architectures could get comparable results with the traditional supervised counterpart, and the novel training paradigm performs better than random initialization. When generalizing to the IKONOS dataset, the unsupervised framework could still get competitive results over the supervised ones.
The Urban–Rural Heterogeneity of Air Pollution in 35 Metropolitan Regions across China
Authors: Han Wenchao , Li Zhanqing , Guo Jianping , Su Tianning , Chen Tianmeng , Wei Jing , Cribb Maureen
Published: July 2020

Urbanization and air pollution are major anthropogenic impacts on Earth’s environment, weather, and climate. Each has been studied extensively, but their interactions have not. Urbanization leads to a dramatic variation in the spatial distribution of air pollution (fine particles) by altering surface properties and boundary-layer micrometeorology, but it remains unclear, especially between the centers and suburbs of metropolitan regions. Here, we investigated the spatial variation, or inhomogeneity, of air quality in urban and rural areas of 35 major metropolitan regions across China using four different long-term observational datasets from both ground-based and space-borne observations during the period 2001–2015. In general, air pollution in summer in urban areas is more serious than in rural areas. However, it is more homogeneously polluted, and also more severely polluted in winter than that in summer. Four factors are found to play roles in the spatial inhomogeneity of air pollution between urban and rural areas and their seasonal differences: (1) the urban–rural difference in emissions in summer is slightly larger than in winter; (2) urban structures have a more obvious association with the spatial distribution of aerosols in summer; (3) the wind speed, topography, and different reductions in the planetary boundary layer height from clean to polluted conditions have different effects on the density of pollutants in different seasons; and (4) relative humidity can play an important role in affecting the spatial inhomogeneity of air pollution despite the large uncertainties.
Fault Diagnosis of Rotary Machines Using Deep Convolutional Neural Network with Wide Three Axis Vibration Signal Input
Authors: Kolar Davor , Lisjak Dragutin , Pająk Michał , Pavković Danijel
Published: July 2020

Fault diagnosis is considered as an essential task in rotary machinery as possibility of an early detection and diagnosis of the faulty condition can save both time and money. This work presents developed and novel technique for deep-learning-based data-driven fault diagnosis for rotary machinery. The proposed technique input raw three axes accelerometer signal as high definition 1D image into deep learning layers which automatically extract signal features, enabling high classification accuracy. Unlike the researches carried out by other researchers, accelerometer data matrix with dimensions 6400 × 1 × 3 is used as input for convolutional neural network training. Since convolutional neural networks can recognize patterns across input matrix, it is expected that wide input matrix containing vibration data should yield good classification performance. Using convolutional neural networks (CNN) trained model, classification in one of the four classes can be performed. Additionally, number of kernels of CNN is optimized using grid search, as preliminary studies show that alternating number of kernels impacts classification results. This study accomplished the effective classification of different rotary machinery states using convolutional artificial neural network for classification of raw three axis accelerometer signal input.
High-Efficiency Microsatellite-Using Super-Resolution Algorithm Based on the Multi-Modality Super-CMOS Sensor
Authors: Zhang Ke , Yang Cankun , Li Xiaojuan , Zhou Chunping , Zhong Ruofei
Published: July 2020

To realize the application of super-resolution technology from theory to practice, and to improve microsatellite spatial resolution, we propose a special super-resolution algorithm based on the multi-modality super-CMOS sensor which can adapt to the limited operation capacity of microsatellite computers. First, we designed an oblique sampling mode with the sensor rotated at an angle of 26.56 ∘ ( arctan 1 2 ) to obtain high overlap ratio images with sub-pixel displacement. Secondly, the proposed super-resolution algorithm was applied to reconstruct the final high-resolution image. Because the satellite equipped with this sensor is scheduled to be launched this year, we also designed the simulation mode of conventional sampling and the oblique sampling of the sensor to obtain the comparison and experimental data. Lastly, we evaluated the super-resolution quality of images, the effectiveness, the practicality, and the efficiency of the algorithm. The results of the experiments showed that the satellite-using super-resolution algorithm combined with multi-modality super-CMOS sensor oblique-mode sampling can increase the spatial resolution of an image by about 2 times. The algorithm is simple and highly efficient, and can realize the super-resolution reconstruction of two remote-sensing images within 0.713 s, which has good performance on the microsatellite.
Estimation of Stresses in Concrete by Using Coda Wave Interferometry to Establish an Acoustoelastic Modulus Database
Authors: Zhan Hanyu , Jiang Hanwan , Zhuang Chenxu , Zhang Jinquan , Jiang Ruinian
Published: July 2020

This article presents an experimental study of estimating stresses in concrete by applications of coda wave interferometry to establish an acoustoelastic modulus database. Under well-controlled laboratory conditions, uniaxial load cycles were performed on three groups of 15 × 15 × 35-cm concrete prisms, with ultrasonic signals being collected continuously. Then, the coda wave interferometry technique, together with acoustoelastic and Kaiser theories, are utilized to analyze the stress-velocity relations for the distinct ranges before and after historical maximum loads, forming an acoustoelastic modulus database. When applied to different concrete samples, their stresses are estimated with a high degree of accuracy. This study could be used to promote the development of novel nondestructive techniques that aid in structural stress monitoring.
Environmental Risk Assessment in Agriculture: The Example of Pistacia vera L. Cultivation in Greece
Authors: Bartzas Georgios , Komnitsas Konstantinos
Published: July 2020

In this study, an integrated environmental risk assessment (ERA) study involving frequent monitoring of both water and soil parameters (24 on total), was carried out to assess and compare the environmental risk quality of three pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) fields (two in Aegina island and one in Kilkis) based upon risk categories identified and assessed in terms of quality and quantity. In this context, vertical profiles and risk matrices were created for a 60-month period for the most important soil and water parameters i.e., soil pH, soil organic matter, soil salinity, heavy metals, and irrigation water quality. According to the obtained results, the two pistachio fields in Aegina exhibited reduced overall risk values, i.e., 17% and 27%, respectively after the adoption of sustainable cultivation practices, thus reflecting a transition from “medium to high risk” to “low to medium risk” environmental quality. On the other hand, overall risk values for the pistachio field in Kilkis were reduced by 34% and were lower compared to the ones obtained for the pistachio fields in Aegina. The better environmental profile identified for the entire period in Kilkis ranging from “medium risk” to “low risk” was the result of lower inherent risk associated with irrigation water quality and soil salinity. The proposed methodology can be easily applied in other agricultural areas and for similar cultivations in Greece and other Mediterranean countries.
Islamic Finance and Halal Tourism: An Unexplored Bridge for Smart Specialization
Authors: Martín Juan Carlos , Orden-Cruz Carmen , Zergane Slimane
Published: July 2020

Since the 1960s, Halal industry and Islamic Finance have grown in parallel without implementing adequate synergies. Halal tourism is a fast-growing sector of Halal industry, and the connection with Islamic Finance has hardly been researched. The aim of this paper is to analyse whether Islamic Finance can play an active role in developing Halal Tourism. This topic has not been empirically researched in the literature. The methodology is based on a fuzzy hybrid multi-criteria method that satisfactorily handles the imprecise nature associated with the information provided by Likert scales. Our results show how culture has a direct moderating effect on the degree of agreement that respondents have over the active role that IF can play, finding that English respondents agree more than Spanish and Arabs respondents. Similarly, our results also show that the knowledge of the Halal concept makes respondents agree more with the active role of Islamic finance. This study provides insights to the main stakeholders, and it can be strategically used to foster adequate synergy between Islamic Finance and the development of Halal tourist products as a way to specialize in a more sustainable tourism.
Assessment of Outdoor Air Temperature with Different Shaded Area within an Urban University Campus in Hot-Humid Climate
Authors: Zaki Sheikh Ahmad , Syahidah Siti Wan , Shahidan Mohd Fairuz , Ahmad Mardiana Idayu , Yakub Fitri , Hassan Mohamad Zaki , Md Daud Mohd Yusof
Published: July 2020

This study investigated the variation of outdoor air temperature in the shaded area covered by buildings in an urban university campus in Malaysia. In-situ field measurements were conducted to measure the distribution of outdoor air temperature at eight different locations for seven days. Meanwhile, the building-induced shadows were generated using the AutoCAD Revit software to investigate the air temperature change. The study used four urban morphological parameters namely building to greenery ratio, sky view factor (SVF), and height-to-street width (H/W) ratio. The relationship between building-induced shadow and outdoor air temperature (Tout) obtained from the in-situ measurement was investigated. The results showed that the building-induced shadows could lower air temperature. It can be noted that a high ratio of building to greenery resulted in a higher air temperature. In contrast, the area with a low SVF value due to the combination of prolonged shading by buildings and trees had a lower air temperature. Thus, the area with a high building ratio, low greenery ratio, higher SVF value, and low H/W ratio potentially has a higher outdoor air temperature. Conclusively, combination of building shading created by appropriate ratio of building morphology and sufficient greenery able to improve the microclimate of a campus area.
What Impact Does Corporate Governance Have on Corporate Environmental Performances? An Empirical Study of Italian Listed Firms
Authors: Rubino Franco , Napoli Francesco
Published: July 2020

In this paper, we first build a multi-theoretical framework through which we hypothesise that the governance mechanisms of a board of directors, on the one hand, and the ownership structures of family and nonfamily firms, on the other, can have an impact on corporate environmental performances. We then test this hypothesis against a sample of 83 Italian listed firms, noting the characteristics of their governance and ownership structures over the five years from 2013 to 2017. We also take note of data from the firms’ Sustainability Reports on emissions of greenhouse gases over the 2014–2018 five-year period. The results we obtain support the prediction, made in line with the Agency-Theory perspective, that there is a positive relationship between board independence and the adoption of environmentally responsible practices. Only partial support emerges for the hypotheses, made in line with the Resource Dependence Theory, according to which better corporate environmental performances can be obtained by increasing the resource provision of board members. In particular, we discover a positive effect of a large-size board on corporate environmental performances, but no significant effect arising from the presence of interlocked board members. Finally, our study provides support for the theoretically-based hypothesis according to which the non-economic utility (socioemotional wealth) of family ownership makes family firms likely to have better environmental performances than non-family firms.
Vulnerability Assessments of Urban Rail Transit Networks Based on Redundant Recovery
Authors: Zhang Jianhua , Wang Ziqi , Wang Shuliang , Luan Shengyang , Shao Wenchao
Published: July 2020

Urban rail transit has received much attention in the last two decades, and a significant number of cities have established urban rail transit networks (URTNs). Although URTNs have brought enormous convenience to the daily life of citizens, system failures still frequently occur, therefore the vulnerability of URTNs must be a concern. In this paper, we propose a novel measurement called the node strength parameter to assess the importance of nodes and present a redundant recovery scheme to imitate the system recovery of URTNs subjected to failures. Employing three malicious attacks and taking the Nanjing subway network as the case study, we investigated the network vulnerability under scenarios of different simulated attacks. The results illustrate that passenger in-flow shows the negligible impact on the vulnerability of the node, while out-flow plays a considerable role in the largest strength node-based attack. Further, we find that vulnerability will decrease as passenger out-flow increases, and the vulnerability characteristics are the same with the increase in the construction cost of URTNs. Considering different attack scenarios, the results indicate that the highest betweenness node-based attack will cause the most damage to the system, and increasing the construction cost can improve the robustness of URTNs.
Focused Coordination Models towards Sustainability in Higher Education. Case of Quevedo State Technical University (Ecuador)
Authors: Checa Cristina , De-Pablos-Heredero Carmen , Torres Yenny Guiselli , Montes-Botella José Luis , Barba Cecilio , García Antón
Published: July 2020

This research studied the relationship between coordination models (CM) focused on sustainability and satisfaction, as a competitive advantage, which increases sustainability at the Quevedo State Technical University (UTEQ) in Ecuador. A survey in situ on a random sample of 3200 students was done in 2019. By using multivariate methods, an organizational typology was built. Next, CM were related to the level of student satisfaction by general linear model (GLM). Twenty-three organizational variables were grouped into six components that explained 66.23% of the variance. A typology with three groups was built: Cluster 1 with a moderate CM level (44.57% of the sample), Cluster 2 with a low level of CM (38.18%), and Cluster 3 with a high level of CM (15.25%). By GLM, a positive relation between typology and students’ levels of satisfaction was found. Therefore, an increase of CM turned into a major satisfaction level at UTEQ. We suggest, as a priority, to improve communication amongst students and administrative staff. Communication should be frequent, accurate, on time, and oriented to solve problems. It would also be positive to increase the CM amongst students and representatives in solving communication problems, sharing knowledge, goals, and mutual respect.
Self-Organised Approach to Designing Building Thermal Insulation
Authors: Bharadwaj Purvesh , Jankovic Ljubomir
Published: July 2020

Traditionally, the uniform application of thermal insulation is practised within the built environment sector to achieve desired building regulation standards for energy efficiency. However, that approach does not follow the building heat loss field, and it is therefore poorly matched to the actual heat loss from the building, thus achieving sub-optimum energy performance. This research aims to visualise building heat loss field in three dimensions and to create self-organised thermal insulation patterns that are proportional in thickness to the intensity of heat loss. This is achieved using a 3D agent-based model, in which each agent that represents a miniature object of thermal insulation moves up the gradient of the heat loss representation and competes for its position with the neighbouring thermal insulation components, depending upon the gradient intensity. This creates a self-organised thermal insulation pattern through the competition between the thermal insulation components and through overcrowding in the areas with higher heat loss intensity. This helps to visualise the heat loss field and create a representation of thermal insulation that is ideally matched to it. The result is assessed for its energy performance using a conventional energy performance analysis. That analysis shows that this approach leads to reductions in energy consumption and carbon emissions in comparison with the conventional approach that uses the same amount of thermal insulation material. The overall result increases our understanding of 3D heat loss and introduces a new approach for designing building thermal insulation.
Variety, Smart Specialization and Tourism Competitiveness
Authors: Romão João
Published: July 2020

This work analyzes how regional tourism dynamics (demand, supply and specialization) and innovation performance may influence tourism competitiveness. The novelty and originality of the analysis is the inclusion of aspects related to the sectorial priority options defined within smart specialization strategies in European regions as potential explanatory factors. By using a panel data model and focusing on regions where tourism is one of the priority sectors for Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS3, 2014–2020), the results reveal positive impacts of tourism demand, supply and specialization on the value added produced by tourism activities. Moreover, immaterial aspects related to the qualification of the regional labor force and innovation dynamics (investment in research in development) also exert a positive impact on tourism competitiveness. The novel results obtained regarding the impacts of smart specialization strategies show a high potential of the tourism sector to benefit from geographical, cultural and institutional forms of proximity. The results also suggest that knowledge externalities arising from interactions with both related or unrelated sectors—by exploiting interactions and connectivity with sectors with both low and high cognitive distances—may emerge.
Are Non-Perennial Rivers Considered as Valuable and Worthy of Conservation as Perennial Rivers?
Authors: Rodríguez-Lozano Pablo , Woelfle-Erskine Cleo , Bogan Michael T. , Carlson Stephanie M.
Published: July 2020

Non-perennial rivers, watercourses that cease to flow at some point in time and space, are widespread globally but often lack effective protections. Although it is thought that these ecosystems are undervalued by society, empirical studies exploring people’s perceptions of non-perennial rivers are uncommon. We carried out an image-based survey at three U.S. universities to measure students’ perception of riverscapes according to seven characteristics: aesthetics, naturalness, habitat for biodiversity, habitat for fish, need of human intervention, importance for human well-being, and conservation value. Our results showed that non-perennial rivers are generally considered less valuable and worthy of conservation than their perennial counterparts. Furthermore, several factors influenced peoples’ perception of non-perennial rivers, including where they live, their educational history, how often they visit rivers, their leisure activities, and whether they live close to a river. Our findings suggested the need to improve people’s perceptions of non-perennial rivers as a step toward increased protection for these ecosystems. This current challenge demands combined actions by researchers from diverse disciplines and professionals working from different perspectives, including policymakers and educators.
Granulated Blast-Furnace Slag and Coal Fly Ash Ternary Portland Cements Optimization
Authors: Rivera Rosa Abnelia , Sanjuán Miguel Ángel , Martín Domingo Alfonso
Published: July 2020

Granulated blast-furnace slag (GBFS) and coal fly ash (CFA) are two well-known constituents in Portland cements. Ternary Portland cements (GBFS-CFA-K) provide environmental advantages by reducing Portland cement clinker (K) production and, therefore, promote lower CO2 emissions. Nevertheless, both of them cause a delay in the compressive strength gain. Given that, the early compressive strength for both constituents is low, but they improve the compressive strength at medium and later ages as consequence of the pozzolanic reaction. In this paper, a full factorial design with two levels was developed for the mortar compressive strength estimation at 2, 7 and 28 days. Mortar prisms made with 25% and 40% of granulated blast-furnace slag (GBFS) and/or coal fly ash (CFA) were tested. The effects of the interaction between GBFS and CFA on the compressive strength development of ternary Portland cement mortars were reported. Results show that the contribution of both cement constituents to the ternary mortar mix reduces the compressive strength for all the tested ages. Nevertheless, the finer the GBFS, the better ternary cement performance was achieved, showing that the synergistic effect is more effective when the finer GBFS is used, probably due to a more adequate particle size distribution. Finally, a relationship between compressive strength, fineness, GBFS content and CFA content was found for each age.
Decision-Making Tool for Enhancing the Sustainable Management of Cultural Institutions: Season Content Programming at Palau De La Música Catalana
Authors: Casanovas-Rubio Maria del Mar , Christen Carolina , Valarezo Luz María , Bofill Jaume , Filimon Nela , Armengou Jaume
Published: July 2020

There has been an increasing relevance of the cultural sector in the economic and social development of different countries. However, this sector continues without much input from multi-criteria decision-making (MDCM) techniques and sustainability analysis, which are widely used in other sectors. This paper proposes an MCDM model to assess the sustainability of a musical institution’s program. To define the parameters of the proposed model, qualitative interviews with relevant representatives of Catalan cultural institutions and highly recognized professionals in the sector were performed. The content of the 2015–2016 season of the ‘Palau de la Música Catalana’, a relevant Catalan musical institution located in Barcelona, was used as a case study to empirically test the method. The method allows the calculation of a season value index (SVI), which serves to make more sustainable decisions on musical season programs according to the established criteria. The sensitivity analysis carried out for different scenarios shows the robustness of the method. The research suggests that more complex decision settings, such as MCDM methods that are widely used in other sectors, can be easily applied to the sustainable management of any type of cultural institution. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this method was never applied to a cultural institution and with real data.
A Framework of Action for Implementation of Industry 4.0. an Empirically Based Research
Authors: Pollak Artur , Hilarowicz Agata , Walczak Maciej , Gąsiorek Damian
Published: July 2020

Background: In the face of changes taking place as a result of the increasing digitization, automation, and robotization of life and the economy, questions regarding the essence of the functioning of modern enterprises and about the emerging new pattern of operation seem to be more and more relevant. Aim of the article: The article focuses on the issues connected with implementation of Industry 4.0 in enterprises, the difficulties involved, and the limitations and challenges that management is facing in the process. Materials and Method: The advantage of the study is its empirical nature. The participants were 39 Industry 4.0 experts from various Polish companies that have participated. At the same time, the aim has been to synthesize theory and practice and to draw attention to potential changes in the area of improvement of the economic results of enterprises that may result from Industry 4.0. Results: The research identified limitations and challenges enterprises may face in connection with the implementation and subsequent stages of development of Industry 4.0 from the practical point of view. Conclusions: Industry 4.0 is an innovative approach to generating a new quality of production. It requires, however, careful and thorough observation of the process already at the preparation stage.
Coastal Erosion and the Promontory Fort: Appearance and Use during Late Iron Age and Early Medieval County Waterford, Ireland
Authors: Pollard Edward , Corns Anthony , Henry Sandra , Shaw Robert
Published: July 2020

Promontory forts are an understudied but distinctive maritime archaeological feature from the Iron Age to the early medieval period from northern Spain to Scotland. Their coastal location renders them susceptible to erosion and loss to history, a situation exacerbated by increased storm frequency and sea level rise. Reconstruction of their original form is important to determine their role in the society of the time. This paper concentrates on a particularly notable group of promontory forts along the Copper Coast of Co. Waterford, where traces of up to 32 remain today within a 24 km stretch of coastline. The methodology has involved using oral tradition, historical records and field survey. This has been enhanced by aerial survey using drones and light aircraft. This paper models the data to estimate areas eroded and show how forts were once significantly larger and dominated coastal resources with an economy of farming, fishing, mining and trading. This paper calculates a likely erosion rate of 4–5 cm/yr and anticipates the last remains to be lost in 350 years, perhaps sooner with climate change.
Romania’s South-Muntenia Region, towards Sustainable Regional Development. Implications for Regional Development Strategies
Authors: Davidescu Adriana AnaMaria , Apostu Simona Andreea , Pantilie Andra Madalina , Amzuica Bogdan Florian
Published: July 2020

Currently, at the end of the programming period 2014–2020 and in the view of the new programming exercise, 2021–2027, knowing where South-Muntenia is positioned on the path to sustainable regional development and how the main determinants can be integrated in regional development policies in order to continuously support the development of the Romanian regions becomes even more important. In this context, the paper aims to evaluate the progress made by the South-Muntenia region towards sustainable regional development for the period 2010–2017 highlighting the main implications for regional development strategies and revealing local initiatives promoting broader sustainable regional development. Thus, more in depth, the paper aims to identify the main determinants of sustainable regional development at the level of South-Muntenia counties using multiple principal component analysis (MPCA), to build an advancement sustainable development index based on panel data for the period 2010–2017 and to reveal the main sustainable development poles at the county level for the year 2017 using hierarchical clustering technique. The empirical results revealed the importance of business environment, public services infrastructure, education, and social protection as main determinants of South-Muntenia sustainable regional development. The advancement composite index pointed out that South-Muntenia recorded a slow but continuous advancement in terms of sustainable regional development, almost doubling its performance in these seven years. At the county level, if Prahova, Argeș, and Dâmbovița exhibited a so-called stagnation, Ialomița and Teleorman were still behind, registering an advancement over the period but remained only halfway on the path to sustainable development, while Calarasi and Giurgiu tried to recover the huge gap, registering very low rates of sustainable development index. On the path to regional economic development, the relevance of two main sustainable regional development drivers can be highlighted—a better allocation for active measures with the reduction of unemployment as a target together with a better infrastructure of public services. National, regional, and local administrations play an important role in promoting sustainability in the economic, social, and environmental activities, in a coherent manner. Regardless of the level at which development policies are designed, local, county, or regional, they must take into account and monitor the sustainable development determinants if the ultimate goal is the overall regional development of South-Muntenia.
Systemic Analysis of the Contributions of Co-Located Industrial Symbiosis to Achieve Sustainable Development in an Industrial Park in Northern Spain
Authors: Ruiz-Puente Carmen , Jato-Espino Daniel
Published: July 2020

Resource efficiency is a strategy with great potential to make progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), since it can contribute to meeting a variety of economic, environmental and social targets. In this context, this investigation developed a systemic analysis of co-located Industrial Symbiosis (IS) synergies in an industrial park formed of four companies. To this end, public data showing that the main activity in this park concerned materials, water and steam flows were supported with short visits to the companies for verification purposes. Then, the effects of nine exchange and twelve share synergies were analysed at different scales according to their impacts on sustainable development. The changes caused by these synergies in the flows in the industrial park enabled saving more than 10 k tonnes of raw materials and waste disposal and almost 10 Mm3 of raw water per year, as well as six auxiliary service systems. In the end, these figures might be translated into more than 200 kt CO2 eq. and EUR 6M saved per year, which in turn corresponds to 0.05% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the region in which the park is located. In terms of sustainable development, these modifications were translated into contributions to nine SDGs and 14 of their specific targets, proving the domino effect associated with the application of IS policies by governments and public entities.
Synthesis of Industrially Useful Phenolic Compounds Esters by Means of Biocatalysts Obtained Along with Waste Fish Oil Utilization
Authors: Zieniuk Bartłomiej , Wołoszynowska Małgorzata , Białecka-Florjańczyk Ewa , Fabiszewska Agata
Published: July 2020

The purpose of the study was to utilize the waste fish oil after fish smoking process in Y. lipolytica yeast batch cultures in order to assess its valorization to whole-cell biocatalysts with lipolytic properties. Almost 90% of the waste carbon source in medium was used and batch cultures of Y. lipolytica W29 were characterized with biomass yield of 18.59 g/dm3 and lipolytic activity of 53.41 U/g. The yeast biomass was used as a whole-cell biocatalyst in the synthesis of esters of selected phenolic compounds (acetates of 2-phenylethanol, tyrosol (2-(4-hydroxyphenyl) ethanol) and 3-phenyl-1-propanol, and ethyl esters of phenylacetic, 4-hydroxyphenylacetic, 3-phenylpropanoic, and 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl) propanoic acids). Y. lipolytica biomass was able to catalyze esterification of 3-phenylpropanoic acid (conversion of 95% after 24 h), but conversion of other acids to their esters was very weak, and in the case of transesterification of aromatic alcohols with vinyl acetate, conversions were 27%–63% after 24 h. Synthesized esters were tested prior potential activities as food additives. Esters of hydroxylated phenolic compounds showed activity of 2.5 mg/mL against Klebsiella pneumoniae and Citrobacter freundii, exhibited similar antioxidant properties to their precursors, and were better soluble in lipids, which increases the possibility of their use in the food industry.
A Review of Dry Sanitation Systems
Authors: Aburto-Medina Arturo , Shahsavari Esmaeil , Khudur Leadin S. , Brown Sandy , Ball Andrew S.
Published: July 2020

Dry sanitation systems (waterless or composting toilets) have been used since the 1970s. Their use has received acceptance in rural regions of Europe and the United States. Some of the advantages of dry sanitation systems include their waterless nature, their low energy requirement and the creation of fertilizer as an added value product. Moreover, the use of such a system is a sustainable sanitation approach that may reduce the burden on infrastructure and provide sanitation to the 2.5 billion people worldwide who do not currently have access to it. The critical factors when choosing a dry sanitation system and their optimum parameters include aeration, moisture content (50%–60%), temperature (40–65 °C), carbon to nitrogen ratio (25–35), pH (5.5–8.0) and porosity (35%–50%). The temperature–time criterion approach is the most common method used to evaluate the stability and safety of the compost as a fertilizer. The risks of handling the waste after 12 months of composting have been calculated as low. Here, we have reviewed and assessed the features of dry sanitation systems currently available, focusing on those designed for and operated in remote areas such as national parks and tourist destinations and, more importantly, in rural areas in developing countries or refugee shelters where water/sanitation may be scarce.
Scale Development and Validation for Psychological Reactance to Health Promotion Messages
Authors: Kim Hyo Jung , Lee Hyunmin , Hong Hyehyun
Published: July 2020

According to the psychological reactance theory, psychological reactance is strongly associated with many adverse outcomes of health promotion messages. This is particularly pertinent when health messages are targeting young adults, as they resist freedom-threatening messages compared to other age groups. However, previous reactance measures either relied on the open-ended thought-listing procedure, or incorporated both antecedents as well as consequences of reactance and state reactance. This study aimed to develop and validate a comprehensive scale to measure the state of psychological reactance specifically toward health promotion messages. To this end, this study was situated in the context of an anti-binge drinking intervention targeting college students. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 203 Singaporean undergraduate students. The dataset was analyzed by exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and item analysis. The final 27 items were loaded on eight factors (anger, exaggeration, design derogation, authoritative tone, ineffectiveness, know-it-all attitude, jadedness, and source motive) that accounted for 78.53% of the variance. Each factor showed satisfactory reliability and validity (discriminant, convergent, and predictive). This study specified cognitive reactions by multiple dimensions and examined how they are intertwined with the affective dimension, which is represented by anger. The scale proposed herein will help researchers and practitioners develop sustainable health interventions.
Comparison of Distribution and Density of Nemopilema nomurai by Water Columns Using Echo Counting and Echo Integration Methods
Authors: Kim Kyoung Yeon , Lim Weol Ae , Chae Jinho , Sung Gunhee , Oh Wooseok , Lee Kyounghoon
Published: July 2020

In this study, the distribution of Nemopilema nomurai in the waters of Mijo-myeon, Namhae and Gijang-gun, Busan was analyzed; furthermore, echo counting and echo integration methods were used to compare the distribution density. The acoustic system used in the study was a split beam scientific echosounder operating at 38 and 120 kHz (EK-60, Simrad, Norway). Echo counting and echo integration methods were used to determine the density of N. nomurai distributed in the survey areas. The distribution of N. nomurai by water columns, estimated using an echo counting method, was concentrated at approximately 10 m deep in the waters of Mijo, Namhae and 10–50 m deep in the waters of Gijang, Busan; moreover, the distributed depth varied by the surveyed date and time. It was shown that analyzing the acoustic scattering strength of jellyfish obtained from the echo counting method would be more effective for distributional survey of N. nomurai with two frequency system.
Sustainable Design of Diverging Diamond Interchange: Development of Warrants for Improving Operational Performance
Authors: Almoshaogeh Meshal , Abou-Senna Hatem , Radwan Essam , Haider Husnain
Published: July 2020

Conventional diamond interchanges are facing ever-growing challenges related to traffic operations and safety risks due to increasing traffic volumes and worsening congestions. The agencies are well aware of the high socioeconomic (e.g., user delay cost, fuel cost, and high accident rates) and environmental losses (traffic emissions due to vehicles queuing) associated with the conventional interchange design. This paper provides insight into the different factors that affect the sustainability performance (operational and safety) of a conventional interchange through its redesign into the Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) with the increased left-turn demand. It also assesses the need to redesign an interchange to improve the efficiency. Two interchanges that have DDI designs were selected for investigations, and the required data were collected from the relevant agency. The average delay and the capacity were used as the Measures of Effectiveness (MOEs) for data analysis. Numerous factors, that affected these MOEs, were used to design an experiment. This experiment included different levels of volumes, geometric designs, and signal plans. The micro-simulation software (VISSIM 8.0) was employed to calibrate and validate the existing conditions through several steps, including signal optimization and driving behavior parameter optimization. The analysis of the results detected the key thresholds of switching from the conventional design to the innovative design under 90 different scenarios. Finally, the sustainability evaluation of DDI and Conventional Design Interchange was conducted based on their operation and safety performance comparison. The results and findings of this research will act as a guideline for decision-makers regarding when they should consider switching from the conventional interchange design to an innovative design.
Does the Admixture of Forage Herbs Affect the Yield Performance, Yield Stability and Forage Quality of a Grass Clover Ley?
Authors: Lorenz Heike , Reinsch Thorsten , Kluß Christof , Taube Friedhelm , Loges Ralf
Published: July 2020

It is unclear whether the use of multi-species swards is a suitable measure for climate change adaptation by achieving high and stable dry matter (DM) production and good forage quality in grazing systems. The objective of the study is to evaluate whether a complex rather than a simple grass clover mixture enhances performance under nitrogen (N)-deficient conditions due to greater diversity in plant functional traits. During a four-year field experiment, a three-species and a seven-species grass clover mixture were compared under one cutting-for-conservation and two simulated grazing (defoliation every three or four weeks) treatments. The results revealed a similarity in the DM yields of both seed mixtures, indicating that in the given conditions the species in the simple mixture already offered crucial yield-determining functional traits. Different growth patterns, however, led to higher intra-annual yield stability in the complex mixture. In the cutting-for-conservation system, DM yields were higher, but this came at the expense of reduced metabolisable energy and crude protein contents and lower inter-annual yield stability. We conclude that higher seeding costs for multi-species mixtures are compensated by greater yield stability while offering the potential for additional eco-system services like enhanced carbon sequestration and diverse food for pollinators.
The Origin of Matter at the Base of Relativistic Jets in Active Galactic Nuclei
Authors: Romero Gustavo , Gutiérrez Eduardo
Published: July 2020

The generation of relativistic jets in active sources such as blazars is a complex problem with many aspects, most of them still not fully understood. Relativistic jets are likely produced by the accretion of matter and magnetic fields onto spinning black holes. Ergospheric dragging effects launch a Poynting-dominated outflow in the polar directions of these systems. Observations with very high resolution of the jet in the nearby radio galaxy M87 and evidence of extremely fast variability in the non-thermal radiation of several other objects indicate that charged particles produce synchrotron emission and gamma rays very close to the base of the jet. How these particles are injected into the magnetically shielded outflow is a mystery. Here we explore the effects of various processes in the hot accretion inflow close to the black hole that might result in the copious production of neutral particles which, through annihilation and decay in the jet’s funnel, might load the outflow with mass and charged particles on scales of a few Schwarzschild radii.