bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Performance, Accuracy and Generalization Capability of RFID Tags’ Constellation for Indoor Localization
Authors: Hatem Elias , Abou-Chakra Sara , Colin Elizabeth , Laheurte Jean-Marc , El-Hassan Bachar
Published: July 2020

Indoor localization has recently witnessed an increase in interest due to its wide range of potential services. Further, the location information is very important in many applications, such as the Internet of Things, logistics, library management and so on. Hence, different technologies and techniques have been proposed in the literature for indoor localization systems. Most of these systems present the disadvantages of a poor performance, low accuracy and high cost. However, thanks to its low cost, high accuracy and non-line-of-sight detection, radio frequency identification (RFID)-based localization has increasingly become the most used technology for indoor localization. In this paper, we propose an innovative approach based on the multiple input single output (MISO) protocol to improve the accuracy of a low-cost RFID localization system. Whereas most traditional systems use a single tag for localization, the proposed architecture encourages the use of a group of RFID tags named as a constellation. According to experimental results and based on the signals’ diversity, the location accuracy is improved to get an estimated position error of 81 cm at the cumulative distribution function of 90%.
A Microfluidic Paper-Based Analytical Device for Type-II Pyrethroid Targets in an Environmental Water Sample
Authors: Pengpumkiat Sumate , Nammoonnoy Jintana , Wongsakoonkan Watcharaporn , Konthonbut Pajaree , Kongtip Pornpimol
Published: July 2020

A detection method for type-II pyrethroids in an environmental water sample using a microfluidic paper-based analytical device (µPAD) is reported here. The detection approach is based on the formation of cyanide from the hydrolysis of type-II pyrethroids and the colorimetric detection of cyanide on a layer-based µPAD. Parafilm and inexpensive laminating pouches were used to create a hydrophobic barrier for the assay on the µPAD. This detection approach was selective to type-II pyrethroids in water for which an environmental water sample was tested. The calibration curves for cypermethrin, deltamethrin, cyhalothrin, and fenvalerate ranged from 2 to 40 µg/mL without sample preconcentration. The lower concentrations of type-II pyrethroids can be assessed by including a preconcentration step prior to the detection on a µPAD. This detection system provides an alternative platform for fast, semiquantitative testing for pesticide contamination in environmental surface water by allowing for portability, low reagent/sample consumption, and low-cost testing.
Scalable and High-Throughput Top-Down Manufacturing of Optical Metasurfaces
Authors: Lee Taejun , Lee Chihun , Oh Dong Kyo , Badloe Trevon , Ok Jong G. , Rho Junsuk
Published: July 2020

Metasurfaces have shown promising potential to miniaturize existing bulk optical components thanks to their extraordinary optical properties and ultra-thin, small, and lightweight footprints. However, the absence of proper manufacturing methods has been one of the main obstacles preventing the practical application of metasurfaces and commercialization. Although a variety of fabrication techniques have been used to produce optical metasurfaces, there are still no universal scalable and high-throughput manufacturing methods that meet the criteria for large-scale metasurfaces for device/product-level applications. The fundamentals and recent progress of the large area and high-throughput manufacturing methods are discussed with practical device applications. We systematically classify various top-down scalable patterning techniques for optical metasurfaces: firstly, optical and printing methods are categorized and then their conventional and unconventional (emerging/new) techniques are discussed in detail, respectively. In the end of each section, we also introduce the recent developments of metasurfaces realized by the corresponding fabrication methods.
A Study of the Protocols for Action on Sexual Harassment in Public Universities—Proposals for Improvement
Authors: Rodriguez-Rodriguez Ignacio , Heras-González Purificación
Published: July 2020

Sexual harassment and harassment on the grounds of sex are social problems that still need to be solved in 2020. Universities are not immune to these issues and they generally determine a set of measures to be implemented, sometimes in the form of a protocol of action, in order to address the problem. After a review of the literature, this work will describe the development of these protocols in Spanish public universities, offering a compilation of the implemented means and procedures, but also others still to be added, creating a diagnosis of the position of Spanish universities, and suggestions about how to manage sexual harassment and harassment on the grounds of sex in a higher education environment.
Greenery System for Cooling Down Outdoor Spaces: Results of an Experimental Study
Authors: Chàfer Marta , Pisello Anna Laura , Piselli Cristina , Cabeza Luisa F.
Published: July 2020

Urban green infrastructure (UGI) and nature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly recognized as strategies to address urban sustainability challenges. These solutions are attracting key scientific and marketing attention thanks to their capability to improve indoor and outdoor thermal comfort and environmental quality of spaces. In urban areas, where most of the population worldwide lives, indoor-outdoor environmental quality is compromised by local and temporary overheating phenomena, air pollution concentration, and impervious surfaces minimizing urban space resilience to climate change related hazards. In this view, the proposed study concerns the analysis of a greenery system for enhancing outdoor thermal conditions and local warming mitigation for pedestrians for the continental Mediterranean climate. The system has the purpose of designing an outdoor “alive” shading system to be applied in open public spaces, with producing physical and societal benefits. The experimental results showed that the implementation of the greenery, characterized by lower surface temperatures and evapotranspiration compared to a simple pergola system, allows the reduction of outdoor air temperature under the shading system and, thus, higher relative humidity in summer. Specifically, the hygrothermal cooling and the additional shading thanks to the presence of greenery provide local air temperature reduction up to 5 °C at pedestrian level.
Recycling of Basic Oxygen Furnace Slag as a Raw Material for Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Production
Authors: Chen Ying-Liang , Lin Chun-Ta
Published: July 2020

The purpose of this study was to recycle basic oxygen furnace (BOF) slag in the production of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC), and to examine the influence on the properties of AAC products. The magnetic substances in the BOF slag accounted for about 15 wt.% and the magnetic proportion increased as the particle size decreased. The nonmagnetic portion of the BOF slag was acquired by a magnetic separation process and its major constituents were Ca (~42 wt.% as CaO) and Si (~35 wt.% as SiO2), which are the essential elements of AAC. When using the BOF slag for AAC production, the bulk density and compressive strength of the specimens decreased as the amount of slag increased. The results of the performance analysis revealed that at appropriate water–solids ratios, using 15 wt.% or less of the BOF slag was beneficial to the properties of the AAC products. In general, it should be feasible to recycle the BOF slag in the production of AAC. However, the foreign elements introduced by the BOF slag can alter the formation and structure of hydrates, including tobermorite, and thus affect the properties of the AAC product, a potential issue that needs to be addressed.
Effects of Landscape Changes on Soil Erosion in the Built Environment: Application of Geospatial-Based RUSLE Technique
Authors: Aslam Bilal , Maqsoom Ahsen , Shahzaib  , Kazmi Zaheer Abbas , Sodangi Mahmoud , Anwar Fahad , Bakri Muhammad Hassan , Faisal Tufail Rana , Farooq Danish
Published: July 2020

The world’s ecosystem is severely affected by the increase in the rate of soil erosion and sediment transport in the built environment and agricultural lands. Land use land cover changes (LULCC) are considered as the most significant cause of sediment transport. This study aims to estimate the effect of LULCC on soil erosion potential in the past 20 years (2000–2020) by using Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model based on Geographic Information System (GIS). Different factors were analyzed to study the effect of each factor including R factor, K factor, LS factor, and land cover factor on the erosion process. Maps generated in the study show the changes in the severity of soil loss in the Chitral district of Pakistan. It was found out that 4% of the area was under very high erosion risk in the year 2000 which increased to 8% in the year 2020. An increase in agricultural land (4%) was observed in the last 20 years which shows that human activities largely affected the study area. The outcomes of this study will help the stakeholders and regulatory decision makers to control deforestation and take other necessary actions to minimize the rate of soil erosion. Such an efficient planning will also be helpful to reduce the sedimentation in the reservoir of hydraulic dam(s) constructed on Chitral river, which drains through this watershed.
Construction of Cooling Corridors with Multiscenarios on Urban Scale: A Case Study of Shenzhen
Authors: Wu Jiansheng , Li Si , Shen Nan , Zhao Yuhao , Cui Hongyi
Published: July 2020

Under the background of rapid urbanization, the urban heat island (UHI) effect is becoming increasingly significant. It is very important for the sustainable development of cities to carry out quantitative research on the mitigation of the UHI effect at an urban scale. Taking Shenzhen as an example, this paper puts forward a method for building a cooling corridor for the city with multiscenarios based on the theory of ecological security pattern (ESP), which can realize quantitative planning of the spatial layout of urban green infrastructure (UGI) to alleviate the UHI effect. In this study, cooling sources are identified from the three dimensions of habitat quality, landscape connectivity, and the capacity to provide cooling ecosystem services. The cooling corridors that are superior at cooling, isolation, and ventilation are selected and optimized. The results show that the identified ecological cooling source area accounts for 33.18% of the total area of Shenzhen, and more than 85% of the area falls within the scope of the basic ecological control line of Shenzhen. There are 48 cooling corridors with a total length of 289.17 km in the cooling priority scenario, which mostly pass through the high-temperature and subhigh-temperature areas of each administrative region and city, providing a good cooling effect but poor feasibility. There are 48 corridors with a total length of 326.66 km in the isolation priority scenario, which mostly pass through the administrative region boundary and have a weak connection with the urban heat island, avoiding the built-up areas with strong human activities. As consequence, cooling is relatively achievable, but its effect is not ideal. There are 47 corridors with a total length of 368.06 km in the ventilation priority scenario, including many urban main roads and river systems that fully utilize the area’s strong natural wind conditions and realize various functions; however, the cooling effect is suboptimal. Corridors with great potential in cooling, isolation, ventilation, and noise reduction were determined after comprehensive optimization.
CO2 and Cost Optimization of Reinforced Concrete Cantilever Soldier Piles: A Parametric Study with Harmony Search Algorithm
Authors: Arama Zülal Akbay , Kayabekir Aylin Ece , Bekdaş Gebrail , Geem Zong Woo
Published: July 2020

This paper presents the parametric modelling process of cantilever soldier pile walls based on CO2 and cost optimization with the Harmony Search Algorithm. The study attempted to fulfil the geotechnical and structural design requirements and sustainable usage necessities simultaneously. The variants of the optimum design process are selected as the cross-sectional characteristics of cantilever soldier piles such as the length and diameter of the pile, and the other design variables are the reinforcement detailing of the pile such as the diameter and the number of reinforcement bars. Besides the volume of the concrete, the unit prices of both reinforcement and concrete are evaluated as another part of the variants. The shear and flexural strength necessities, minimum cross section of the reinforcing bars and factor of safety values are identified as the constraints of the optimization. Different objective functions are defined to provide the minimum cost, the minimum CO2 emission and the integrated multi-objective evaluation of cost and CO2. In addition, the type of steel and concrete reinforcement on the optimum CO2 emission is investigated with the use of different material emission values that are selected from current literature studies. Consequently, the results of the optimization analyses are interrogated to investigate if the attainment of both minimum CO2 and cost balance can be achieved.
Framework for Selecting Manufacturing Simulation Software in Industry 4.0 Environment
Authors: Cafasso Davide , Calabrese Cosimo , Casella Giorgia , Bottani Eleonora , Murino Teresa
Published: July 2020

Even though the use of simulation software packages is widespread in industrial and manufacturing companies, the criteria and methods proposed in the scientific literature to evaluate them do not adequately help companies in identifying a package able to enhance the efficiency of their production system. Hence, the main objective of this paper is to develop a framework to guide companies in choosing the most suitable manufacturing simulation software package. The evaluation framework developed in this study is based on two different multi-criteria methods: analytic hierarchy process (AHP) integrated with benefits, opportunities, costs, risks (BOCR) analysis and the best-worst method (BWM). The framework was developed on the basis of the suggestions from the literature and from a panel of experts, both from academia and industry, trying to capture all the facets of the software selection problem. For testing purposes, the proposed approach was applied to a mid-sized enterprise located in the south of Italy, which was facing the problem of buying an effective simulation software for Participatory Design. From a practical perspective, the application showed that the framework is effective in identifying the most suitable simulation software package according to the needs of the company. From a theoretical point of view, the multi-criteria methods suggested in the framework have never been applied to the problem of selecting simulation software; their usage in this context could bring some advantages compared to other decision-making tools.
Sustainable Location Selection for Investing in Public–Private Partnership Infrastructure Projects: From a Developing Country’s Perspective
Authors: Kim Soo-Yong , Thuc Le Dinh
Published: July 2020

Location selection is one of the most important aspects of feasibility studies in all types of businesses and construction fields. However, poor project location selection is one of the leading causes of project failure, adversely affecting the cost, schedule, and other benefits of investors. This paper proposes an evaluation framework for selecting a sustainable location for investing in public–private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects in Vietnam. Nine success criteria are identified via a literature review and expert judgments. Then, the fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method is applied to compute the success index and rank three alternatives: Southern (A1), Northern (A2), and Mekong Delta (A3) regions. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to examine the certainty and effectiveness of the model. The result indicates that alternative A1 is the best location for investing in the PPP form with a closeness coefficient (CCi) value of 0.555 and a sensitivity ratio of 11/13. This finding obtained using the proposed framework may be a helpful reference for practitioners and investors in selecting a sustainable location for PPP investment in Vietnam as well as other developing countries.
Illegal Use of Loading Bays and Its Impact on the Use of Public Space
Authors: Ezquerro Sara , Moura José Luis , Alonso Borja
Published: July 2020

Loading bays are public spaces reserved for the operation of freight vehicles, and it is well known that there are significant problems concerning their use due to non-compliance with existing regulations. Unlawful use of loading bays leads to double parking, or to parking on the pavement or in restricted areas. This article has two objectives: Firstly, the study and analysis of the use of loading bays (type of demand, parking duration, illegal use, etc.), as well as their use according to their morphology. Secondly, the quantitative assessment of the influence of illegal use with regard to the efficient use of public urban space. Illegal use is quantitatively assessed by calculating the number of loading bays that are used inappropriately and the surface area (m2) of public space used incorrectly. In the analysis carried out in the city of Santander (Spain), it can be observed that the urban morphology of loading zones influences their use: The greater the capacity of the loading zone, the less efficient is its use. Moreover, it is observed that the degree of illegal use within loading zones is very high and that illegally excessive parking durations have a greater impact on the use of the ground space than vehicle type.
Urban Resilience Assessment: Mapping Knowledge Structure and Trends
Authors: Sharifi Ayyoob
Published: July 2020

The literature on urban resilience assessment has grown rapidly over the past two decades. This paper aims to provide a better understanding of the state of knowledge on urban resilience assessment through mapping the knowledge domain and highlighting emerging trends during different periods. The objects of study were 420 papers published in the Web of Science from 1998 to 2020. Science mapping was done using VOSviewer and CiteSpace, two widely known software tools for bibliometrics analysis and scientometric visualization. The results show that research published on urban resilience assessment was very limited and fragmented until 2009, and the focus has mainly been on risk mitigation and vulnerability assessment. The intellectual base grew between 2010 and 2014, when a paradigm shift from approaches based on robustness and reliability toward more adaptation-oriented approaches occurred. Finally, the annual publication trends have grown rapidly over the past five years and there has been more emphasis on climate change adaptation and flood resilience. Overall, in terms of dimensional focus, more attention has been paid to infrastructural, institutional, and environmental aspects at the expense of social and economic dimensions. In addition to information on thematic focus and evolution, this paper also provides other bibliometrics information on the influential authors, institutions, journals, and publications that lay the foundation of the field and can be used by various interested groups as points of reference to gain better knowledge about the structure and thematic evolution of urban resilience assessment. The paper concludes by highlighting gaps and making some recommendations for future improvement of the field. Major gaps are related to assessing resilience against socio-economic and health risks (e.g., economic recession and pandemics such as COVID-19).
Influence of COVID-19 Spread on Water Drinking Demand: The Case of Puglia Region (Southern Italy)
Authors: Balacco Gabriella , Totaro Vincenzo , Iacobellis Vito , Manni Alessandro , Spagnoletta Mauro , Piccinni Alberto Ferruccio
Published: July 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the lives of millions of people, radically changing their habits in just a few days. In many countries, containment measures prescribed by national governments restricted the movements of entire communities, with the impossibility of attending schools, universities, workplaces, and no longer allowing for traveling or leading a normal social life. People were then compelled to revise their habits and lifestyles. In such a situation, the availability of drinking water plays a crucial role in ensuring adequate health conditions for people and tackling the spread of the pandemic. Lifestyle of the population, climate, water scarcity and water price are influent factors on water drinking demand and its daily pattern. To analyze the effect of restriction measures on water demand, the instantaneous flow data of five Apulian towns (Italy) during the lockdown have been analyzed highlighting the important role of users’ habits and the not negligible effect of commuters on the water demand pattern besides daily volume requested.
Sustainable Disclosure Policies and Sustainable Performance of European Listed Companies
Authors: D’Apice Vincenzo , Ferri Giovanni , Lipari Francesca
Published: July 2020

Sustainable disclosure has become common for companies to publicly signal their responsible behavior. Our research idea is twofold. First—irrespective of its content—better quality sustainable disclosure should identify more sustainability compliant companies. Second, we propose that those companies should have a more stable—and thus more sustainable—performance. Focusing on the top-capitalized companies of the EU-28 stock exchanges, we assess how GRI sustainable-reporting quality associates with stock-price volatility and distance-to-default. Our results, which resist various robustness checks, confirm that better quality sustainable disclosure couples with more sustainable performance. Thus, pro-disclosure policies could enhance long-term value creation.
Techno-Economic and Partial Environmental Analysis of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCU/S): Case Study from Proposed Waste-Fed District-Heating Incinerator in Sweden
Authors: Mikhelkis Lena , Govindarajan Venkatesh
Published: July 2020

Sweden aspires to become totally carbon dioxide-neutral by 2045. Indisputably, what is needed is not just a reduction in the emissions of CO2 (greenhouse gases in general) from the technosphere, but also a manipulated diversion of CO2 from the atmosphere to ‘traps’ in the lithosphere, technosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. The case study in this paper focused on Stockholm Exergi’s proposed waste-to-energy incineration plant in Lövsta, which is keen on incorporating carbon capture and storage (CCS), but is also interested in understanding the potential of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCU/S) in helping it to achieve ‘carbon-dioxide-negativity’. Waste-to-energy incineration plants (in cases where the petro-plastics in the waste mix can be substantially reduced) are a key component of a circular bio-economy, though the circularity here pertains to recovering energy from materials which may or may not be recyclable. CCS (storage in the North Sea) was compared with CCU/S (CO2 sintered into high-quality building blocks made of recycled slag from the steel sector) from techno-economic and environmental perspectives. The comparative analysis shows, inter alia, that a hybridized approach—a combination of CCS and CCU/S—is worth investing in. CCU/S, at the time of writing, is simply a pilot project in Belgium, a possible creatively-destructive technology which may or may not usurp prominence from CCS. The authors believe that political will and support with incentives, subsidies, and tax rebates are indispensable to motivate investments in such ground-breaking technologies and moving away from the easier route of paying carbon taxes or purchasing emission rights.
The Dynamical Decision Model of Intersection Congestion Based on Risk Identification
Authors: Sun Xu , Lin Kun , Jiao Pengpeng , Lu Huapu
Published: July 2020

The paper focuses on the problem of traffic congestion at intersection based on the mechanism of risk identification. The main goal of this study is to explore a new methodology for identifying and predicting the intersection congestion. Considering all the factors influencing the traffic status of intersection congestion, an integrated evaluation index system is constructed. Then, a detailed dynamic decision model is proposed for identifying the risk degree of the traffic congestion and predicting its influence on future traffic flow, which combines the traffic flow intrinsic properties with the basic model of the Risking Dynamic Multi-Attribute Decision-Making theory. A case study based on a real-world road network in Baoji, China, is implemented to test the efficiency and applicability of the proposed modeling. The evaluation result is in accord with the actual condition and shows that the approach proposed can determine the likelihood and risk degree of the traffic congestion occurring in the intersection, which can be used as a tool to help transport managers make some traffic control measures in advance.
Bioresource Utilization of Djulis (Chenopodium formosanum) Biomass as Natural Antioxidants
Authors: Li Po-Hsien , Chan Yung-Jia , Lu Wen-Chien , Huang Da-Wei , Chang Ting-Chieh , Chang Wen-Hong , Nie Xiao-Bao , Jiang Chang-Xing , Zhang Xiao-Lei
Published: July 2020

Djulis (Chenopodium formosanum) is a yearly, fast-growing, under-utilized pseudo-cereal with a high proportion of biomass content. We used the hulls, which are usually removed from djulis as crop residue, to evaluate the free-radical scavenging and antioxidant capacity of djulis. We studied the antioxidant capacity of ethanol- and water-extracted hulls and roots by using various in vitro methods. Ascorbic acid was the reference sample. The extract samples were used at 200, 400, 600, 800, and 1000 µg/mL. Total sugar content, total phenolic content, and total flavonoid content were assessed. Antioxidant activity was assessed by using the Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity, ferric reducing antioxidant power, cupric ion reducing antioxidant capacity, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity, and N, N-dimethyl-ρ-phenylenediamine. Ethanol- and water-extracted red djulis hulls showed high amounts of total sugar, total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, and antioxidant capacity. Moreover, ethanol- and water-extracted red djulis roots showed moderate antioxidant capacity. However, ethanol- and water-extracted yellow djulis hulls showed limited antioxidant activities. Utilization of the biomass of djulis hulls and roots as natural antioxidant resources may be environmentally friendly and foreseeable.
Revisiting Chemically Enhanced Primary Treatment of Wastewater: A Review
Authors: Shewa Wudneh Ayele , Dagnew Martha
Published: July 2020

Chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT) is a process that uses coagulant and/or flocculant chemicals to remove suspended solids, organic carbon, and nutrients from wastewater. Although it is not a new technology, it has received much attention in recent years due to its increased treatment capacity and related benefits compared to the conventional primary treatment process. CEPT involves both physical and chemical processes. Alum and iron salts are the commonly used coagulants in CEPT. Several types of anionic, cationic, and uncharged polymers are used as flocculants, where poly aluminum chloride (PACL) and polyacrylamide (PAM) are the widely used ones. Some of the coagulants and flocculants used may have inhibitory and/or toxicity effects on downstream treatment and recovery processes. There has been an increasing amount of work on the treatment of wastewaters from various sources using CEPT. These wastewaters can range from municipal/domestic wastewater, combined sewer overflow, landfill leachate, cattle manure digestate to wastewaters from textile industry, pulp and paper mill, slaughterhouse, milk processing plant, tannery and others. In recent cases, CEPT is employed to enhance carbon redirection for recovery and substantially reduce the organic load to secondary treatment processes. CEPTs can remove between 43.1–95.6% of COD, 70.0–99.5% suspended solids, and 40.0–99.3% of phosphate depending on the characteristics of wastewater treated and type of coagulants and/or flocculants used. This article reviews the application, chemicals used so far, removal efficiencies, challenges, and environmental impacts of CEPT.
A Review of Electricity Demand Forecasting in Low and Middle Income Countries: The Demand Determinants and Horizons
Authors: Mir Aneeque A. , Alghassab Mohammed , Ullah Kafait , Khan Zafar A. , Lu Yuehong , Imran Muhammad
Published: July 2020

With the globally increasing electricity demand, its related uncertainties are on the rise as well. Therefore, a deeper insight of load forecasting techniques for projecting future electricity demands becomes imperative for business entities and policy makers. The electricity demand is governed by a set of different variables or “electricity demand determinants”. These demand determinants depend on forecasting horizons (long term, medium term, and short term), the load aggregation level, climate, and socio-economic activities. In this paper, a review of different electricity demand forecasting methodologies is provided in the context of a group of low and middle income countries. The article presents a comprehensive literature review by tabulating the different demand determinants used in different countries and forecasting the trends and techniques used in these countries. A comparative review of these forecasting methodologies over different time horizons reveals that the time series modeling approach has been extensively used while forecasting for long and medium terms. For short term forecasts, artificial intelligence-based techniques remain prevalent in the literature. Furthermore, a comparative analysis of the demand determinants in these countries indicates a frequent use of determinants like the population, GDP, weather, and load data over different time horizons. Following the analysis, potential research gaps are identified, and recommendations are provided, accordingly.
Unveiling Cacao Agroforestry Sustainability through the Socio-Ecological Systems Diagnostic Framework: The Case of Four Amazonian Rural Communities in Ecuador
Authors: Castañeda-Ccori Jilmar , Bilhaut Anne-Gaël , Mazé Armelle , Fernández-Manjarrés Juan
Published: July 2020

Cacao cultivation is rapidly increasing in Latin America under the influence of public policies and external markets. In Ecuador, the cultivated surface of high quality cacao trees has doubled in the last 50 years, creating great expectations in neighboring countries. Here, we investigated the social-ecological sustainability of cacao-based agroforestry systems in four rural Amazonian highlands communities in eastern Ecuador, close to the region where cacao was once domesticated. Kichwa- and Shuar-speaking groups were interviewed by adapting Ostrom’s institutional diagnostic framework for social-ecological systems. Through a set of specifically created indicator variables, we identified key interactions and outcomes to understand the fragility and the sustainability of those communities. The studied communities were fairly young, with land rights secured less than 30 years ago in most cases. Per-family surfaces were very restricted (typically one hectare) and plots were divided between cash producing crops and their own home food. The small production per household goes through a precarious commercialization by both intermediaries and cooperatives, making the cacao bean production merely sufficient for pocket money. Ties with specialist producers in one community close to the capital has promoted the use of native cacao lines. Elsewhere, improved varieties of high productivity are planted along native trees being commercialized indistinctly. The continuity of these communities currently depend on a reorganization of their demography with parts of the population working elsewhere, as cacao bean production alone will continue to be insufficient, and will compete with their food self-sufficiency.
New Trends and Patterns in Sustainable Consumption: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda
Authors: Sesini Giulia , Castiglioni Cinzia , Lozza Edoardo
Published: July 2020

The challenge of sustainable development and consumption is to meet current wants without impoverishing future generations and the planet in the long term. Therefore, new patterns of sustainable practices are increasingly promoted. The purpose of the present study is to realize a systematic review aimed to analyze the contents and features of articles dealing with new trends in consumers’ sustainable consumption. One hundred and four papers published in the last five years were retrieved and analyzed through a lexicographical analysis using the software T-LAB. The results show that, even if most of the current studies focus almost exclusively on the environmental impact of sustainability, the social perspective is also recently taking hold. Evidence suggests prevailing attention towards consumers’ appeal and consumption of eco-friendly food products, together with a growing interest in the last years in consumers’ practices in other key sectors, such as tourism, commerce, and clothing. Future research should spotlight the less explored frameworks, looking at the economic and social sides of sustainability in a variety of contextual settings. At the same time, consumer-focused research should not forget to look at consumers’ sustainable behavior as a whole and its impacts from the perspective of planet, people, and profit.
Classification of Inter-Urban Highway Drivers’ Resting Behavior for Advanced Driver-Assistance System Technologies using Vehicle Trajectory Data from Car Navigation Systems
Authors: Choi Jaeheon , Lee Kyuil , Kim Hyunmyung , An Sunghi , Nam Daisik
Published: July 2020

Fatigue-related crashes, which are mainly caused by drowsy or distracted driving, account for a significant portion of fatal accidents on highways. Smart vehicle technologies can address this issue of road safety to improve the sustainability of transportation systems. Advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) can aid drowsy drivers by recommending and guiding them to rest locations. Past research shows a significant correlation between driving distance and driver fatigue, which has been actively studied in the analysis of resting behavior. Previous research efforts have mainly relied on survey methods at specific locations, such as rest areas or toll booths. However, such traditional methods, like field surveys, are expensive and often produce biased results, based on sample location and time. This research develops methods to better estimate travel resting behavior by utilizing a large-scale dataset obtained from car navigation systems, which contain 591,103 vehicle trajectories collected over a period of four months in 2014. We propose an algorithm to statistically categorize drivers according to driving distances and their number of rests. The main algorithm combines a statistical hypothesis test and a random sampling method based on the renowned Monte-Carlo simulation technique. We were able to verify that cumulative travel distance shares a significant relationship with one’s resting decisions. Furthermore, this research identifies the resting behavior pattern of drivers based upon their travel distances. Our methodology can be used by sustainable traffic safety operators to their driver guiding strategies criterion using their own data. Not only will our methodology be able to aid sustainable traffic safety operators in constructing their driver guidance strategies criterion using their own data, but it could also be implemented in actual car navigation systems as a mid-term solution. We expect that ADAS combined with the proposed algorithm will contribute to improving traffic safety and to assisting the sustainability of road systems.
Integrated Environmental Effect Assessment on Large Coal-Electricity Production Base and Sustainability Strategy: A Case in Xilin Gol, China
Authors: Wang Chenxing , Yan Yan , Li Jiaxun , Quan Yuan , Li Shanlin , Wu Gang
Published: July 2020

Coal-electricity production base (CEPB) is an integrated plant comprising of coal mining, power conversation and chemical treatment in a particular area. As a representative of the national energy structure’s adjustment and development, a CEPB could support the West-to-East Gas Transmission Project and manage electric networks. However, the national large-scale CEPBs are always distributed in arid and semi-arid regions in the north of China, which has already led to ecological and environmental problems to local areas. This paper aims at making a comprehensive assessment on CEPBs by building an assessment index system and an assessment model of the environmental effects of the large CEPB in Xilin Gol, China. The results showed that the integrated assessment result is 0.64, which reflects that the exploitation and construction of CEPBs have not severely damaged the ecological environment of Xilin Gol yet, but the water environment has been seriously disturbed and the damage to the atmosphere, soil and ecological system, as well as other potential ecological harm, cannot be ignored. Towards future sustainability, this paper provides five sustainable strategies which are established on a comprehensive framework, establishing monitoring mechanisms of the environmental impact process, devising metrics of sustainability and keeping regular assessment using fine management to continuously decrease the pollutants in production processes and meet goals of regional sustainable development.
Can the Tragedy of the Commons be Avoided in Common-Pool Forage Resource Systems? An Application to Small-Holder Herding in the Semi-Arid Grazing Lands of Nigeria
Authors: Aderinto Rhoda F. , Ortega-S. J. Alfonso , Anoruo Ambrose O. , Machen Richard , Turner Benjamin L.
Published: July 2020

There exist common-pool resource systems where it is difficult to prevent prospective beneficiaries from receiving profits from the use or harvest of shared resources, and they are often subject to continual utilization, leading to resource degradation and economic erosion (a behavior known as the ‘tragedy of the commons’). Nigerian nomadic grazing systems currently undergoing the tragedy of the commons pose a great challenge to agrarian communities, herders and political stability throughout the country due to violent conflicts and property destruction as herders migrate in search of forage resources for livestock. We modeled these dynamics in order to better understand the Nigerian grazing lands, with the objective of identifying potential leverage points capable of reversing overgrazing-induced forage degradation, in order to ensure a sustainable livestock production sector. Model what-if experiments (crop restrictions, crop marketing and increased labor costs) were run, resulting in partial solutions that were effective only in the short-term or limited in geographic-scope. A sustainable solution should include a combination of strategies, as the impact of one strategy alone cannot effectively resolve these Nigerian grazing issues (e.g., collaboration between farmers, herdsmen and government stakeholders to increase market integration via crop market expansion while simultaneously providing forage regeneration time for grazing lands). The resulting model could be used by Nigerian policy-makers to evaluate the long-term effects of decisions which were previously unexplored.
Unconventional Methods of Preserving Meat Products and Their Impact on Health and the Environment
Authors: Rudy Mariusz , Kucharyk Sylwia , Duma-Kocan Paulina , Stanisławczyk Renata , Gil Marian
Published: July 2020

A dual objective of food storage is to retain nutritional value and safe consumption over time. As supply chains have globalized, food protection and preservation methods have advanced. However, increasing demands to cater for larger volumes and for more effective food storage call for new technologies. This paper examines promising meat preservation methods, including high pressure process, ultrasounds, pulsating electric and magnetic field, pulsed light and cold plasma. These methods not only make it possible to obtain meat and meat products with a longer shelf life, safer for health and without preservatives, but also are more environment-friendly in comparison with traditional methods. With the use of alternative methods, it is possible to obtain meat products that are microbiologically safer, whilst also high quality and free from chemical additives. Moreover, these new technologies are also more ecological, do not require large quantities of energy or water, and generate less waste.
Strategic Aspects of Asset Management: An Overview of Current Research
Authors: Gavrikova Elizaveta , Volkova Irina , Burda Yegor
Published: July 2020

Major shifts in the competitive environment encouraged a recent growth in the number of academic articles devoted to strategic aspects of asset management. Organizations start to recognize that a strategic approach to asset management becomes a source of sustainable competitive advantages and long-term survival in the turbulent environment. However, existing studies are largely case-specific in interpreting strategy and draw on various theoretical grounds and approaches. This leads to little theoretical and methodological consistency in understanding current findings and how to design future studies. The key goal of this paper is to systematically review the existing research through the analysis of over 700 articles devoted to asset management with a focus on strategic aspects. Our key contributions are positioning strategic asset management within the vast field of asset management research, describing the nature of strategic asset management research, and confirming that asset management strategies align with different levels of organizational strategy. We visualize the existing research field, and indicate gaps and underdeveloped areas of research. We also shortly outline future research directions based on our findings, thus encouraging a more coherent development of research on strategic asset management.
Fuzzy Random Chance-Constrained Programming Model for the Vehicle Routing Problem of Hazardous Materials Transportation
Authors: Zhao Liying , Cao Ningbo
Published: July 2020

As an indispensable necessity in daily routine of citizens, hazardous materials (Hazmat) not only plays an increasingly important role, but also brings a series of transportation uncertainty phenomena, the most prominent of which is a safety problem. When it attempts to find the best vehicle route scheme that can possess the lowest risk attribute in a fuzzy random environment for a single warehouse, the influence of cost should also be taken into account. In this study, a new mathematical theory was conducted in the modeling process. To take a full consideration of uncertainty, vehicle travel distance and population density along the road segment were assumed to be fuzzy variables. Meanwhile, accident probability and vehicle speed were set to be stochastic. Furthermore, based on the assumptions, authors established three chance constrained programming models according to the uncertain theory. Model I was used to seek the achievement of minimum risk of the vehicle route scheme, using traditional risk model; the goal of Model II was to obtain the lowest total cost, including the green cost, and the main purpose of Model III was to establish a balance between cost and risk. To settle the above models, a hybrid intelligent algorithm was designed, which was a combination of genetic algorithm and fuzzy random simulation algorithm, which simultaneously proved its convergence. At last, two experiments were designed to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed models and algorithms.
e-HUNSR: An Efficient Algorithm for Mining High Utility Negative Sequential Rules
Authors: Zhang Mengjiao , Xu Tiantian , Li Zhao , Han Xiqing , Dong Xiangjun
Published: July 2020

As an important technology in computer science, data mining aims to mine hidden, previously unknown, and potentially valuable patterns from databases.High utility negative sequential rule (HUNSR) mining can provide more comprehensive decision-making information than high utility sequential rule (HUSR) mining by taking non-occurring events into account. HUNSR mining is much more difficult than HUSR mining because of two key intrinsic complexities. One is how to define the HUNSR mining problem and the other is how to calculate the antecedent’s local utility value in a HUNSR, a key issue in calculating the utility-confidence of the HUNSR. To address the intrinsic complexities, we propose a comprehensive algorithm called e-HUNSR and the contributions are as follows. (1) We formalize the problem of HUNSR mining by proposing a series of concepts. (2) We propose a novel data structure to store the related information of HUNSR candidate (HUNSRC) and a method to efficiently calculate the local utility value and utility of HUNSRC’s antecedent. (3) We propose an efficient method to generate HUNSRC based on high utility negative sequential pattern (HUNSP) and a pruning strategy to prune meaningless HUNSRC. To the best of our knowledge, e-HUNSR is the first algorithm to efficiently mine HUNSR. The experimental results on two real-life and 12 synthetic datasets show that e-HUNSR is very efficient.
Nature-Identical Compounds and Organic Acids Reduce E. coli K88 Growth and Virulence Gene Expression In Vitro
Authors: Bonetti Andrea , Tugnoli Benedetta , Rossi Barbara , Giovagnoni Giulia , Piva Andrea , Grilli Ester
Published: July 2020

Post-weaning diarrhoea (PWD) is one of the long-standing challenges in pig husbandry. Due to the risks of resistance caused by antibiotics (AB) misuse, conventional treatments against Escherichia coli K88 (E. coli K88), the PWD etiological agent, urgently need to be replaced. Organic acids (OA) and nature-identical compounds (NIC) are currently finding a central role in infection management thanks to their recognized antimicrobial activity. This study investigated the susceptibility of an E. coli K88 field strain to a wide panel of AB, NIC, and OA. Secondly, we evaluated the ability of sub-lethal doses of the most active compounds to modulate the expression of E. coli K88 virulence genes. Results showed that the bacterial strain was resistant to many of the tested antibiotics, but an antimicrobial action was registered for selected NIC and OA. The quantitative PCR analysis revealed that thymol, carvacrol, eugenol, and benzoic acid were able to downregulate (p < 0.05) the expression of bacterial genes related to motility, adhesion to enterocytes, heat-labile (LT) and heat-stable (ST) toxin secretion, quorum sensing, and biofilm formation. Therefore, this study demonstrated that selected OA and NIC not only control E. coli K88 growth but also modulate the expression of many virulence genes at sub-lethal doses, thus offering new insights on their mechanism of action and suggesting a powerful tool to manage PWD.