bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Business groups and their internal capital markets: the foreign and Russian experience
Authors: Korotkova Yana
Published: January 2022

Modern business groups have a powerful impact on the economic development of both developed and developing countries making it relevant to study the economic foundations of the success of these institutional structures. The article provides a systematization of international and national experience in the functioning of internal capital markets of business groups that can become one of most important strategic advantages of business groups by providing member companies with “exclusive” opportunities for efficient redistribution of intragroup funds. The methodological base of the study incorporates methods of systematization as well as statistical and comparative analysis. The study shows that business groups make a significant contribution to industrial production and, representing a large part of corporate sector (in terms of number of participants, industry coverage, size of assets, profits and market capitalization), play a significant role in the economic development of various countries. Internal capital markets of business groups are used to mitigate financing constraints and rescue weak member-companies, thus, help maintain and further strengthen the positions of integrated structures. Drawing on a wide range of empirical studies, the article highlights key effects of the redistribution of group financial resources in the context of three fundamental motives of controlling owners. The study demonstrates that under the current economic conditions Russian companies affiliated with business groups are imposed with more prerequisites to use internal capital markets to overcome external financing deficit. Estimated amounts of funds involved in financial transactions with related parties confirm the thesis on the growing role of Russian business groups’ internal capital markets in corporate financing activities. Results and conclusions of this paper can be applied in practice by consultants and financial managers seeking to improve the funding of companies affiliated with both Russian and foreign business groups.
Indicators of endothelial function and systemic immune inflammatory response in patients with chronic heart failure and coexisting primary hypothyroidism
Authors: Mykula Yuliia Ihorivna , Kupnovytska Iryna Hryhorivna , Danulyk Oksana Ihorivna
Published: January 2022

Chronic heart failure is one of the leading causes of death globally, affecting 1.5 to 2% of the total world population and 2.9 to 3.9% of the total Western European population. Chronic heart failure often progresses rapidly in coexistence with endocrine pathology, namely hypothyroidism, that results in a more rapid development and further progression of endothelial dysfunction and the development of a systemic inflammatory response. The aim of our research was to study the levels of endothelin-1, C-reactive protein, tumor necrosis factor α and their correlation with the levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone, thyroxine in patients with chronic heart failure and coexisting hypothyroidism. There were examined 38 patients with chronic heart failure and coexisting hypothyroidism and 42 patients with chronic heart failure without hypothyroidism. The serum levels of endothelin-1, C-reactive protein, tumor necrosis factor α were determined by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, while the levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone and thyroxine were determined by the electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. In patients with chronic heart failure and coexisting hypothyroidism, the levels of endothelin-1, C-reactive protein, and tumor necrosis factor α were 2.9, 1.5 and 2.27 times higher than those in patients without hypothyroidism. In Group I, there was a moderate positive correlation between the serum levels of endothelin-1 and thyroid-stimulating hormone and a weak negative correlation between the levels of thyroxine and endothelin-1. In Group II, there was a weak correlation between the levels of endothelin-1 and thyroid-stimulating hormone and no correlation between the levels of thyroxine and endothelin-1. In Group I, there was a strong positive correlation between C-reactive protein and thyroid-stimulating hormone levels as well; in Group II, no similar correlation was found. In Group I, there was found a moderate negative correlation between tumor necrosis factor α and thyroxine levels. According to our results, there was a close correlation between the markers of endothelial dysfunction, immune inflammatory response, and single markers of hypothyroidism.
What has become of our cenosis? For a renewed cenology
Authors: Vincent Benoît
Published: January 2022

An opinion paper that tries to show that the concept of cenosis has been withheld over time, seeks to understand the reason why, and aims to rehabilitate it. Different definitions of biological and ecological communities types are then proposed. Finally, the paper presents some possible paths for a renewed science of cenosis (or cenology, or biocenotics).
New national and regional Annex I Habitat records: from #26 to #36
Authors: Rivieccio Giovanni , Aleffi Michele , Angiolini Claudia , Bagella Simonetta , Bazan Giuseppe , Bonini Federica , Caria Maria Carmela , Casavecchia Simona , Castello Miris , Dagnino Davide , de Francesco Maria Carla , Farris Emanuele , Fanfarillo Emanuele , Fiaschi Tiberio , Forte Luigi , Gianguzzi Lorenzo , Landucci Flavia , Maneli Fabio , Mantino Francesca , Mariotti Mauro , Pirone Gianfranco , Poldini Livio , Poponessi Silvia , Praleskouskaya Safiya , Stanisci Angela , Tomaselli Valeria , Tozzi Francesco Pio , Turcato Claudia , Venanzoni Roberto , Gigante Daniela
Published: January 2022

New Italian data on the distribution of the Annex I Habitats 1510*, 2130*, 2250*, 3180*, 3260, 5230*, 6410, 7140, 7220*, 9320 are reported in this contribution. Specifically, 14 new occurrences in Natura 2000 sites are presented and 20 new cells are added in the EEA 10 km × 10 km reference grid. The new data refer to the Italian administrative regions of Abruzzo, Apulia, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Liguria, Marche, Molise, Sardinia, Sicily, Tuscany and Umbria.
A basic introduction to single particles cryo-electron microscopy
Authors: Raimondi Vittoria , Grinzato Alessandro
Published: January 2022

In the last years, cryogenic-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) underwent the most impressive improvement compared to other techniques used in structural biology, such as X-ray crystallography and NMR. Electron microscopy was invented nearly one century ago but, up to the beginning of the last decades, the 3D maps produced through this technique were poorly detailed, justifying the term “blobbology” to appeal to cryo-EM. Recently, thanks to a new generation of microscopes and detectors, more efficient algorithms, and easier access to computational power, single particles cryo-EM can routinely produce 3D structures at resolutions comparable to those obtained with X-ray crystallography. However, unlike X-ray crystallography, which needs crystallized proteins, cryo-EM exploits purified samples in solution, allowing the study of proteins and protein complexes that are hard or even impossible to crystallize. For these reasons, single-particle cryo-EM is often the first choice of structural biologists today. Nevertheless, before starting a cryo-EM experiment, many drawbacks and limitations must be considered. Moreover, in practice, the process between the purified sample and the final structure could be trickier than initially expected. Based on these observations, this review aims to offer an overview of the principal technical aspects and setups to be considered while planning and performing a cryo-EM experiment.
Analysis of Brinkman-Forchheimer extended Darcy's model in a fluid saturated anisotropic porous channel
Authors: Karmakar Timir , Alam Meraj , Raja Sekhar G. P.
Published: January 2022

We present asymptotic analysis of Couette flow through a channel packed with porous medium. We assume that the porous medium is anisotropic and the permeability varies along all the directions so that it appears as a positive semidefinite matrix in the momentum equation. We developed existence and uniqueness results corresponding to the anisotropic Brinkman-Forchheimer extended Darcy's equation in case of fully developed flow using the Browder-Minty theorem. Complemented with the existence and uniqueness analysis, we present an asymptotic solution by taking Darcy number as the perturbed parameter. For a high Darcy number, the corresponding problem is dealt with regular perturbation expansion. For low Darcy number, the problem of interest is a singular perturbation. We use matched asymptotic expansion to treat this case. More generally, we obtained an approximate solution for the nonlinear problem, which is uniformly valid irrespective of the porous medium parameter values. The analysis presented serves a dual purpose by providing the existence and uniqueness of the anisotropic nonlinear Brinkman-Forchheimer extended Darcy's equation and provide an approximate solution that shows good agreement with the numerical solution.
Global generalized solutions of a haptotaxis model describing cancer cells invasion and metastatic spread
Authors: Liu Meng , Li Yuxiang
Published: January 2022

In this paper, we consider the following haptotaxis model describing cancer cells invasion and metastatic spread

   \begin{document}$\begin{array}{*{20}{c}}{\left\{ {\begin{array}{*{20}{l}}{{u_t} = \Delta u - \chi \nabla \cdot (u\nabla w),}&{x \in \Omega ,\;t > 0,}\\{{v_t} = {d_v}\Delta v - \xi \nabla \cdot (v\nabla w),}&{x \in \Omega ,\;t > 0,}\\{{m_t} = {d_m}\Delta m + u - m,}&{x \in \Omega ,\;t > 0,}\\{{w_t} = - \left( {{\gamma _1}u + m} \right)w,}&{x \in \Omega ,\;t > 0,}\end{array}} \right.}&{(0.1)}\end{array}$ \end{document}

where \begin{document}$ \Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^3 $\end{document} is a bounded domain with smooth boundary and the parameters \begin{document}$ \chi, \xi, d_{v}, d_{m},\gamma_{1}>0 $\end{document}. Under homogeneous boundary conditions of Neumann type for \begin{document}$ u $\end{document}, \begin{document}$ v $\end{document}, \begin{document}$ m $\end{document} and \begin{document}$ w $\end{document}, it is proved that, for suitable smooth initial data \begin{document}$ (u_0, v_0, m_0, w_0) $\end{document}, the corresponding Neumann initial-boundary value problem possesses a global generalized solution.
Long-time dynamics of an epidemic model with nonlocal diffusion and free boundaries
Authors: Chang Ting-Ying , Du Yihong
Published: January 2022

In this paper, we consider a reaction-diffusion epidemic model with nonlocal diffusion and free boundaries, which generalises the free-boundary epidemic model by Zhao et al. [1] by including spatial mobility of the infective host population. We obtain a rather complete description of the long-time dynamics of the model. For the reproduction number $ R_0 $ arising from the corresponding ODE model, we establish its relationship to the spreading-vanishing dichotomy via an associated eigenvalue problem. If $ R_0 \le 1 $, we prove that the epidemic vanishes eventually. On the other hand, if $ R_0 > 1 $, we show that either spreading or vanishing may occur depending on its initial size. In the case of spreading, we make use of recent general results by Du and Ni [2] to show that finite speed or accelerated spreading occurs depending on whether a threshold condition is satisfied by the kernel functions in the nonlocal diffusion operators. In particular, the rate of accelerated spreading is determined for a general class of kernel functions. Our results indicate that, with all other factors fixed, the chance of successful spreading of the disease is increased when the mobility of the infective host is decreased, reaching a maximum when such mobility is 0 (which is the situation considered by Zhao et al. [1]).
Bio-inspired negotiation approach for smart-grid colocation datacenter operation
Authors: Iturriaga Santiago ,   Department of Computer Science, Universidad de la República, Julio Herrera y Reissig 565, Montevideo, Uruguay, Muraña Jonathan , Nesmachnow Sergio
Published: January 2022

Demand response programs allow consumers to participate in the operation of a smart electric grid by reducing or shifting their energy consumption, helping to match energy consumption with power supply. This article presents a bio-inspired approach for addressing the problem of colocation datacenters participating in demand response programs in a smart grid. The proposed approach allows the datacenter to negotiate with its tenants by offering monetary rewards in order to meet a demand response event on short notice. The objective of the underlying optimization problem is twofold. The goal of the datacenter is to minimize its offered rewards while the goal of the tenants is to maximize their profit. A two-level hierarchy is proposed for modeling the problem. The upper-level hierarchy models the datacenter planning problem, and the lower-level hierarchy models the task scheduling problem of the tenants. To address these problems, two bio-inspired algorithms are designed and compared for the datacenter planning problem, and an efficient greedy scheduling heuristic is proposed for task scheduling problem of the tenants. Results show the proposed approach reports average improvements between $ 72.9\% $ and $ 82.2\% $ when compared to the business as usual approach.
INFLUENCE OF THE THERMAL AND LIGHTING PERFORMANCE IN CLASSROOMS ON THE COGNITIVE PRODUCTIVITY OF STUDENTS IN COLOMBIA
Authors: Arango-Díaz Lucas , Flórez Olga Lucía Montoya , Gaviria Laura Rendón , Vega Luz Magnolia Tilano , Rueda Carla Maria Zapata
Published: January 2022

This paper examines the influence of the thermal and lighting performance in classrooms on the cognitive productivity of students attending public schools in the principal three cities of Colombia: Bogota, Medellin and Cali. The methodology used involves the application of cognitive performance tests and thermal and visual perception surveys, along with measurements of climatic parameters in 34 classrooms of 14 schools in 2017 and 2018. The results were analyzed using transversal correlational regressions. Among the conclusions, this study found that the operative temperature turned out to be the most conclusive variable explaining cognitive performance relationships.
GLOBAL POLICIES ON GREEN BUILDING CONSTRUCTION FROM 1990 TO 2019
Authors: Adel Tahereh Khademi , Pirooznezhad Leyla , Ravanshadnia Mehdi , Tajaddini Abbas
Published: January 2022

Green Building Construction (GBC) is considered as an advancement towards sustainable development and providing a balance among health, economics, and social problems. Many countries have adopted various policies for GBC according to their conditions and regulations, including incentives and deterring programs. This study reviews a scientometric analysis of some published articles on the policies, incentives, and barriers to GBC from 1990 to 2019. The required data has been collected from the Web of Science (WoS) database, and then analyzed using Histcite, CiteSpace, and VOSviewer software. To accomplish this study, many items have been identified and ranked such as top journals, keyword co-occurrence networks, cluster analysis, the strongest citation burst, co-citation articles, most citations per year, and countries’ contribution to publishing, for the last three decades. Examining the trend of changes in publication of the related papers and interpretations of the analyses can be used for future research in each of the components, in addition to the creation of a knowledge-based view of past studies.
EDUCATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS OF A VIRTUAL DESIGN STUDIO ON ZERO-ENERGY BUILDING DESIGNS: THE CASE OF THE U.S. SOLAR DECATHLON DESIGN CHALLENGE
Authors: Lee Jeehwan , Lee Myoungju
Published: January 2022

Ongoing global architectural agendas span climate change, energy, a carbon-neutral society, human comfort, COVID-19, social justice, and sustainability. An architecture studio allows architecture students to learn how to solve complicated environmental issues through integrated thinking and a design process. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon Design Challenge enables them to broaden their analytic perspectives on numerous subjects and strengthen their integrated thinking of environmental impacts, resilience, sustainability, and well-being. However, the unprecedented impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic transformed the physical studio-based design education system into an online-based learning environment. Mandatory social distancing by the global COVID-19 pandemic restricted interactive discussions and face-to-face collaborations for the integrated zero-energy building design process, which requires features of architecture, engineering, market analysis, durability and resilience, embodied environmental quality, integrated performance, occupant experience, comfort and environmental quality, energy performance, and presentation.

This study emphasizes the educational effectiveness of virtual design studios as a part of the discourse on architectural pedagogy of zero-energy building (ZEB) design through integrated designs, technological theories, and analytic skills. The survey results of ten contests show educational achievement with over 90% of the highest positive tendency in the categories of embodied environmental quality and comfort and environmental quality, whereas the positive tendency of educational achievement in the categories of integrated performance, energy performance, and presentation were lower than 70%. The reason for the low percentage of simulation utilization and integrated performance was the lack of a proper understanding of and experience with ZEB simulations and evaluations for undergraduate students. Although VDS is not an ideal pedagogical system for the iterative design critique process, it can support the learning of the value of architectural education, including integrative design thinking, problem-solving skills, numerical simulation techniques, and communicable identities through online discussions and feedback during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Oscillations and potentials of mesons and baryons
Authors: Arneth Borros
Published: January 2022

In the following, the oscillations and potentials of mesons and baryons are examined and analyzed in detail. The oscillations result from a simple formula that describes the resonance energy at which the corresponding particle can absorb energy and thus appear. The potentials describe
three mechanisms that describe the fine splitting of the masses of the elementary particles. These potentials can be read off and derived from the experimentally determined masses of the elementary particles as coefficients. The three mechanisms are internal mass charge binding energy, external
mass charge binding energy, and Coulomb interaction.
On the missed opportunities of classical physics
Authors: Radzhabov Toir Makhsudovich
Published: January 2022

This study considers a variant of the realization of Dirac’s ideas regarding the limited number of Faraday force lines and allowance for the finite size of microparticles in physical theory. It is shown that within the framework of the classical approach, consideration of the
limited number of Faraday force lines opens additional possibilities for describing and characterizing the physical field and associated phenomena. Specifically, it is shown that it becomes possible to obtain in a facile manner an expression for describing the discrete radiation of an atom,
which agrees well with the empirical Balmer relation. An assumption is made about the possibility of the material existence of Faraday force lines as structural elements of the physical field. It is suggested that the natural fields of physical bodies can be considered as a set of materially
existing lines of force, i.e., as a luminiferous ether.
Energy breakeven in thermonuclear fusion. An advanced concept for efficient energy input with positive implications for energy saving and the geoscience of climate change
Authors: Peretti Michel de , Olson Arne P. , Panarella Emilio
Published: January 2022

The motivation of the present study is energy generation with thermonuclear fusion. Specifically, it is the attainment of breakeven conditions with a fusionable plasma whereby the output fusion energy is at least equal to the energy expended in creating the plasma and bringing it to
fusionable conditions. This objective has eluded the physics community for the past seven decades. It is here suggested that perhaps the reason is that ever-bigger fusion machines are built, which unfortunately have brought results not in line with the expectations, in terms of desired fusion
output. The opposite view is taken here, where attention is paid to the energy input, with the objective of minimizing the energy losses. One of the most important losses is a consequence of the limited thermodynamic efficiency of conventional engines that convert heat to work, thus generating
the electricity involved in the energy input. This preliminary study shows that the efficiency can be improved if a novel thermodynamic cycle is used with heat recovery and recirculation. No attention is paid in the present study to the applicability of the novel cycle to a working engine
but only to its feasibility. After the delineation of the concept, we use a simulation program to confirm that such approach is promising, and the objective of improving the thermodynamic efficiency of conventional heat-engines by at least 10% is realistic. Finally, the economic benefits are
quantified of such substantial efficiency improvement on a world-wide scale. Mitigation of the damage to our environment due to the reduced heat rejection is also quantified.
Electronic Customer Relationship Management (E-CRM) and Customer Loyalty
Authors: Kumar Pushpender , Mokha Anupreet Kaur
Published: January 2022

This study examined the impact of E-CRM on customer loyalty with the mediating effect of customer satisfaction in the banking industry. Customer satisfaction is important for loyalty because when the customers are satisfied with the services offered by their service providers, the relationship gets stronger which further leads to positive word-of-mouth. The data was collected using purposive sampling from 836 banks’ customers who were using E-CRM services and the data was analyzed using structural equation model (SEM) through AMOS. The results revealed that E-CRM and customer satisfaction had a significant positive impact on customer loyalty and also customer satisfaction partially mediated the relationship between E-CRM and customer loyalty. This study would offer useful acumen to both academicians and marketers and would help the bank managers to improve the quality of the services provided to their customers.
Case Study Application of Business Intelligence in Digital Advertising
Authors: Mehanović Dželila , Durmić Nermina
Published: January 2022

This paper demonstrates the application of business intelligence in decision-making in digital advertising through a case study. Data used for analysis was collected during a test phase of an advertising platform. The study analyzes multiple types of traffic, related to countries, browsers, household incomes, and days of a week. Beside tabular reports, the paper presents how to visualize those results using Python libraries to make them more visually appealing. Furthermore, logistic regression was used to build models to detect relationships between the number of impressions and clicks. Finally, the authors propose multiple combinations of data that could be used to create different reports that lead to smarter decision-making and cost-effectiveness.
An Impact Analysis of Marpol Annex 1, Legislative Developments on Oil Spills From Tankers
Authors: Ranasinghe P. , Abenarayana K. , Karunagaran N.
Published: January 2022

Gradual growing trend of marine transportation of oil inevitably results in accidental oil spills. The safety and preventive measures introduced internationally and nationally resulted in the reduction in the number of spills and amount of accidental releases to the sea in the past decades. However, recent incidents show that marine oil spills are unpredictable events that may cause significant damage to the environment, flora- fauna and coastal communities. The statistics of ITOPF- International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation and UNCTD- United Nations Conference on Trade and Development reports shows the percentage of tanker incidents which has occurred per year. Above databases are used for various studies in Shipping and found consistent and cross checked and continually updated. This paper analyzes the implementation of maritime environmental legislative Marpol regulation Annex 1 and impact on oil spills by tankers. The paper will focus on Marine oil spills worldwide over a 50 year period from 1970 to 2020 and discuss the relationship between Marpol Annex 1 versus Tanker oil spills.
Cadastral Survey Plans Management System: A Deliberative Report on Possibility of Utilizing Innovative Technologies on Managing Cadastral Survey Plans and Mapping in Sri Lanka
Authors: Mendis L. N. J. , Gunasekara S.
Published: January 2022

This report discusses the review of the Cadastral Survey Plans Management System in the context of the research project that is aimed at improving the management and security of the system. The research efforts of the project are aimed at facilitating the Cadastral Survey Plans Management System by justifying the possibility of utilizing innovative technologies on managing cadastral survey plans and mapping in Sri Lanka. In order to overcome and avoid complexity of problems and issues, various techniques and tools will be used. While the research section of the project is bounded with the human interaction of the society, building a mutual relationship with the employees of the Survey Department and the clients will be one of the primary focus of the proposed project and it will lead to understand the structural aspects of the department as well. Thus, the project was focussed on decision procedures, data security and information sharing. When considering the data security and information sharing in the software artefact, responsibilities will be divided according to the decision procedures of the organization or department. The goal of implementing Cadastral Survey Plans Management System is to induce the manpower and paperwork into minimum level and empower the security of the department.
Development of Herbal Green Tea Bags with Osbeckia octandra L.(DC.) (Heen bovitiya) and Evaluation of the Effect of InfusionTime and Temperature on Extracted Phytochemicals
Authors: Silva P. D. S. A. , Hettihewa S. K. , Hettihewa L. M.
Published: January 2022

Herbal tea or a tisane is a mixture of dried plant parts used for medicinal purposes. Present study was aimed to develop herbal green tea bags with Osbeckia octandra (Heen bovitiya) leaves predominantly and evaluate the effect of infusion time and temperature on their total phenolic (TP), total flavonoid (TF) contents and in vitro antioxidant activity. Six different tea bags (T1 to T6) were prepared by incorporating dried O. octandra (leaves), Camellia sinensis (leaves), Zingiber officinale (rhizomes), Vanilla planifolia (pods) and Allium sativum (bulbs) in different proportions. Each herbal tea bag was infused at a constant infusion temperature of 100 ⁰C for 3, 5 and 7 minutes and for a constant infusion time of 7 minutes at different temperatures; 100, 90 and 80 ⁰C. TP, TF contents, in vitro radical scavenging activity and ferric reducing antioxidant power of all tea extracts were determined by spectroscopic analysis. Data were analyzed with one sample t-test. All infusions were rich in phytochemicals; phenols, flavonoids, tannins, terpenes, triterpenoids, phytosterols, saponins, alkaloids, amino acids and carbohydrates. TP, TF contents and in vitro antioxidant activity of the formulated tea bags were significantly higher after the addition of O. octandra leaves and the values were different at different infusion conditions (p<0.05). At constant infusion time of 7 minutes, TP, TF contents and antioxidant activity of O. octandra incorporated green tea bags were higher when infused at 80 ⁰C compared to 90 ⁰C and 100 ⁰C. At constant infusion temperature of 100 ⁰C, the values were higher for the formulated green tea bags when infused for 7 minutes compared to 3 and 5 minutes. Hence, it was concluded that the formulated tea bags with O. octandra leaves were rich with antioxidants and that they should be brewed for a long time period (7 minutes) at a low temperature (80 ⁰C).
Empirical Study Assessing the Factors that Influence Consumer Purchase Intentions for Eco-friendly Vehicles in the Colombo District of Sri Lanka
Authors: Ranatunga D. , Gunawardan A.
Published: January 2022

This study explores the factors influencing consumer purchase intentions for eco-friendly vehicles in the Colombo district of Sri Lanka. The conceptual framework was structured primarily based on the Theory of Planned Behavior and 28 potential influential factors were explored in this study. This study mainly focuses on determining the influence of attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, personal moral norms and also demographics of the consumers in purchasing eco-friendly vehicles. 262 responses were taken by using snowball sampling by distribution of the questionnaire survey and 210 useable responses were considered in the research. The author has found that personal moral norm and supplementary factors influence the intention to adopt eco-friendly vehicles while attitudinal, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms have become insignificant.
Identify the CLIA’s Effort Towards to Mitigate the Environment Impact by Cruise Tourism Industry
Authors: Nirmani H. , Dharmaratne D. , Siriwardena S.
Published: January 2022

Cruise tourism is the fastest growing industry in the leisure travel market, and annually nearly 30 million passengers engage in cruising. Thereby it encounters for massive negative impact on the marine environment. The cruise industry is under the leadership of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) which has over 95 % global capacity under the membership. CLIA establishes policies and procedures to undertake by its members to ensure the sustainability of the industry. The primary objective of the study is to explore the negative environmental impact caused by cruise shipping industry and the secondary objective is to recognize the contribution of CLIA towards mitigating the negative environmental impact. The study is conducted using an exploratory approach and the data is drawn from the official website of CLIA and other websites and publications regarding cruise tourism, waste management and environmental impacts. Cruise industry policies and environmental stewardship reports of CLIA are used to manifest the negative environmental impact caused by the cruise ships and implement policies and procedures to mitigate them using high end technology, driving towards sustainability. The study provides an understanding on how the implied mechanisms of CLIA is driving the cruise industry towards sustainability.
Identity Investigation System with Suspect Predication
Authors: Appuhamy H. A. R. , De Silva R. , Dhammearatchi D.
Published: January 2022

Crime is one of the major problems encountered in any society. Thus, there is an important need for security agents and agencies to battle and eradicate crime. Sri Lankan police is responsible for investigating and detecting criminals of any crime committed within the country. Crime is an act usually deemed socially harmful, specifically defined, prohibited and punishable under criminal law. Crime rates are rapidly increasing and changing. Crime prediction is very important in any country. In Sri Lanka, crime detection among people is very crucial to Department of police office. The purpose of Identity investigation system with suspect prediction that tracks the investigation status of criminal cases with logs and also predicts primary suspects. This project is mainly based on Android Studio and WEKA tool. This project has main two parts. In system has suspect prediction part. In this system it uses data mining techniques for prediction process. For that purpose, mainly system uses WEKA Tool. Identity investigation process is second main part of this project. It is doing by using SQL functions. It uses Short Message Service (SMS) and other functions for data security. Basically, mobile application development doing by Android Studio.
LinkGenn - SEO and SEM Explorer with Free and Paid Optimum Solutions
Authors: Fernando N. , Gunasekara S. , De Silva R.
Published: January 2022

Nowadays with the development of digital platforms digital marketing have been most important thing that every business needs to focus on. This study discusses the review of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) explorer with free and paid optimum solution tool which is aimed to give a better understanding about digital marketing, SEO site performance which is a must to know before going forward with digital marketing plans. Lack of knowledge in digital marketing has effect small scale to large scale business owners. This tool helps to identify their website performance speed and SEO in understandable way which suggests free and paid optimum solutions. The main purpose of this study is to get more business to LinkGenn by giving better understanding to the customer to identify websites performance problems and suggest free and paid solutions to fix it from their side or with Linkgenn, the entire project develop according to waterfall method. The finding of the study indicated how website performance affecting on digital marketing campaigns, and it uses new developed Linkgenn metrics to give ranking scores and solutions based on website results, with the pandemic lot of businesses have changed their traditional marketing pattern with digital so this would be an important tool for every business to archive their sales goals with remarkable KPIs.
Smart, Embedded & Effective Solution for Conventional, Small-Scale Poultry Farming System
Authors: Kashmira D. P. H. , De Silva T. , Pollwaththage N.
Published: January 2022

In Sri Lanka, most poultry industries are still managing poultry houses using conventional methods. Thus, the manpower utilization is drastically increased due to this issue, hence, utilized manpower and efficiency is very limited. However, the consumer demand towards the poultry outcome is enhancing day-by-day. Therefore, farmers are looking for advanced technologies to maximize efficiency, productivity, and profitability while reducing the operating costs. Thus, the project is focused on developing a smart and embedded poultry farming system to monitor and control small-scale farming conditions. The integrations of the sensor network and GSM/ GPRS network is implemented to control and remotely monitor environmental parameters (temperature, humidity, and light intensity), watering system, and an egg incubator. If there are undesired variations in the above factors, the system will automatically initiate necessary actions to prevent the bad effect. Also, a warning message is sent through the GSM module to the registered mobile number. Thus, the farmer is able to notify internal changes as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the farmer is able to monitor the status via web applications and mobile applications, and owner can update threshold levels through the mobile application. The automated incubator with an egg moving mechanism is effective for small-scale farmers who are incubating a low quantity of eggs. Thus, the system will help for enhancing animal welfare, food safety, efficiency, hatchability, productivity, and profitability while reducing labor utilization and operating costs.
Lead and Cadmium Tolerance and Accumulation of Proanthocyanidin-Deficient mutants of the Fern Athyrium yokoscense
Authors: Kamachi Hiroyuki , Morishita Kazunori , Hatta Manami , Okamoto Ayaka , Fujii Kazuma , Imai Naoki , Sakatoku Akihiro , Ohta Tamihisa , Aoki Mana , Hiyama Sakurako
Published: January 2022

The fern Athyrium yokoscense often flourishes around mine sites in Japan and can tolerate and accumulate heavy metals such as lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd). In this work, we examined whether proanthocyanidins, also called condensed tannins, were involved in the mechanisms of Pb and Cd tolerance and accumulation of A. yokoscense because proanthocyanidins are known to alleviate metal stress in several plant species and are present at high levels in A. yokoscense. For this purpose, we used mutant gametophytes deficient in proanthocyanidins, in which the relative proanthocyanidin contents were 20% of those of the wild-type gametophytes. Although the proanthocyanidin contents of the mutant were quite low, the growth of the mutant was very similar to that of the wild-type gametophytes even in the presence of 80 mg/kg Pb or 48 mg/kg Cd. Under the same conditions, the mutant gametophytes also accumulated Pb and Cd as much as the wild-type gametophytes did. These results indicate that the proanthocyanidins in A. yokoscense are not important for the Pb and Cd tolerance and accumulation properties.
Effect of exchange rate volatility on Rwandan coffee price and export volumes
Authors: Kabayiza A. , Muhire R. , Nsabimana S. , Kabarungi M. , Ningabire Y.B. , Niyitanga F.
Published: January 2022

The main strategy of Rwanda for having a steady growth in coffee export value and revenues was increased sales of speciality coffee. However, global coffee prices are often volatile and Rwanda has little control over the fluctuating global prices. This paper analysed the effect of exchange rate volatility on the price and exports of Rwanda coffee. In order to respond to this question, the monthly time series data on bilateral Rwanda coffee exports and real effective exchange rates from January 2001 to December 2016 were analysed. The cointegration methods and error correction model using the autoregressive distributed lag procedure andGlosten, Jagannathan, and Runkle-Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (GJR-GARCH) model were used to analyse the data. The findings showed that the exchange rate volatility resulted in an increase in Rwandan coffee export price in the long run by 1.5% and a decrease in the short run by 0.2%. The findings also showed that the exchange rate volatility affected coffee export volumes in the long run and the short run by 44.4% and 3.8%, respectively. The real income in importing countries increased coffee prices in the long run by 3.0% and coffee export volumes in the long run and the short run by 26.9% and 38.5%, respectively. A review of monetary policy to address the issue of volatility and hedging system adoption in the Rwanda coffee sector should be done in order to stabilize the exchange rate and to consequently avoid its bad effects on coffee price and export volumes.
Determinants of resource use efficiencies among lowland rice farmers of Enugu State, Nigeria
Authors: Okoh T.C. , Opata P.I. , Umaru I.I.
Published: January 2022

The gap in supply and demand of rice could be due to observable differentials in the allocative efficiency of the rice farmers in Nigeria. Therefore, the study focused on the determinants of resource-use efficiencies and profitability of lowland rice farmers of Enugu State, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was used to collect cross-sectional data from 300 smallholder rice farmers across the six agricultural zones of the State. The gross margin (GM) analysis was used to estimate the profitability while the marginal value productmarginal factor cost (MVP-MFC) was used to evaluate the efficiency of rice farming. The Stochastic Frontier Cost Function was also used to estimate the determinants of resource use efficiency among lowland rice farmers in Enugu state. The results from the GM showed that rice production is profitable with an average rate of returns on investment (ROI) of 2.80. The MVP-MFC analysis showed that all the input factors hypothesized were over-utilised indicating the existence of large-scale resource-use inefficiency among lowland rice farmers of the state. Education and age were the only socio-economic variables that affected the allocative efficiency of the rice farmers. The study recommends a farm-level policy directed towards the encouragement of younger adults since they are more likely to adopt innovation and boost efficiency and investment in extension education for advisory services to facilitate resource-use efficiencies.
Enumeration of carbon and nitrogen contents of water-stable aggregates in layers of topsoils from cultivated and adjacent bush-fallow loamy soils
Authors: Okebalama C.B. , Igwe C.A. , Onunwa A.O.
Published: January 2022

Soil organic carbon (SOC) and total soil nitrogen (TSN) dynamics have both pedological and agronomic basis. Knowledge of their retention within aggregate hierarchies of varying soil textures as influenced by land use change is limited. The capacity of loam (L), clay loam (CL), sandy loam (SL) and sandy clay loam (SCL) soils to retain SOC and TSN in water-stable aggregate (WSA) at 10-cm intervals of 0-30 cm topsoil depths under cultivated and bushfallow/ uncultivated systems was investigated. The soils showed high dispersion ratio and great variations in aggregate silt and clay indices (CL > L > SCL > SL) under both land uses. Across soil depths, the uncultivated CL, SL and SCL soils had moderate to high > 2.00 mm WSA whose reduction due to cultivation impact was more pronounced in SL than in CL soil. Across soil depths and land uses, SOC content seemed higher in the macro- (> 0.50 mm) than in the micro- (< 0.50 mm) aggregates of all the soils while the reverse marked aggregate TSN content in almost all the soils. Cultivation mostly reduced macro-aggregate-associated SOC and TSN in L > CL > SL and in L > SL > CL > SCL soils, respectively. However, cultivation showed no reduction influence on micro-aggregate-associated SOC of all the soils. Cultivation-related reduction in micro-aggregate-associated TSN was more pronounced in the generally more ‘clayey’ CL and SCL than the L and SL soils. So, the potential of bush-fallowing to enhance micro-aggregateassociated TSN storage and stabilization against adverse influence of cultivation depends on soil texture.
Morphological characterization and response of red flower rag leaf (Crassocephalum crepidioides Benth S. Moore) to organic and inorganic fertilizers and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus
Authors: Olawuyi O.J. , Ezeanya C.U. , Orkpeh U.
Published: January 2022

Red flower rag leaf (Crassocephalum crepidioides) is one of the underutilized vegetables consumed globally. Pot trials were conducted to characterize 15 morphologically distinct accessions of C. crepidioides and assess the effects of treatment combinations of eggshell, NPK 15:15:15, poultry manure and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus(Glomus mosseae) as soil amendments on growth and yield-related characters of C. crepidioides. Thereafter, 48 seedlings of the best performing accession were transplanted into perforated polythene bags filled with 7 kg of heat-sterilized soil. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design with three replicates. Treatment combinations were incorporated into in the polythene bags 1 week after transplanting, while control plants received no amendments. The results showed that accession NH/GKB-15 had the highest plant height (29.83 cm), stem length (27.67 cm), number of leaves (15) and length of internode at node 3 (1.13 cm) and node 4 (1.17 cm). The growth and yield characters of this best performing accession (NH/GKB-15) in response to soil amendments showed that poultry manure produced the tallest plants (55.17 cm), longest and widest stems (48.35 and 0.66 cm), longest and widest leaves (16.39 and 6.26 cm, respectively), and higher number of inflorescence (2.13). With NPK 15:15:15 the seedlings did not survive. Poultry manure should therefore be utilized for better plant nutrition and faster growth of C. crepidioides seedlings as well as for safer consumption of the leafy vegetable.
Analysis of intronless genes involved in oscillation and differentiation
Authors: Osemwenkhae P.O. , Aguebor-Ogie N.B.
Published: January 2022

The genomes of higher eukaryotes are replete with intron-containing genes. Transcription of these genes produces precursor mRNAs containing intervening sequences, which are subsequently removed and the exons spliced together to form the mature mRNA. However, a small proportion of eukaryotic protein-coding genes are intronless and therefore bypass post-transcriptional splicing events. Although a large proportion of intronless genes are known to code for certain types of proteins, their specific role in the genome of higher organism is perplexing. This research set out to elucidate the functions of intronless genes in humans by studying their involvement in the expression pattern of oscillatory gene that occurs in the pre-somitic mesoderm of developing embryo. Twenty-seven (27) human homologs of mouse oscillatory genes were analysed to determine the number of exons present in them using various bioinformatics databases. The result obtained identified two intronless genes –NRARP and ID1 – which are associated with the Notch signalling pathway of the segmentation clock. This represented 7.4% of the total oscillatory genes analysed. No intronless gene was found in the Wnt and FGF signalling pathways – two other pathways famous for oscillatory gene expression. The proteins encoded by the intronless genes are involved in several important biological processes including angiogenesis, cell cycle control and in the regulation of cellular senescence. Although oscillatory genes had fewer numbers of introns compared to the non-oscillatory genes, the intronless genes were not implicated in the regulation of the precise timing events of the segmentation clock. This result may also point to the fact that the rapid expression rate of the oscillatory genes in the PSM may favour the reduced intron length of the oscillatory genes.
Evaluation of in-Vitro antioxidant and antidiarrheal activities of Peperomia Pellucida methanol extracts on Albino mice
Authors: Uwaya O.D. , Omozuwa P.O. , Inegbedion R.E.
Published: January 2022

Peperomia pellucida also known as shiny bush is a common plant wildly distributed in the tropical regions of the world including Nigeria. In ethnomedicine, it is used to treat hemorrhages, fevers, lower cholesterol levels and serves as a cough suppressant, emollient, and diuretic. This study evaluated the in vitro and antidiarrhea activities of Peperomia pellucida. For the in vitro antioxidant assay the following methods were used: 2-diphenyl-2-pierylhydrazylhydrate (DPPH) scavenging activity, Superoxide scavenging activity, Hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity, Lipid Peroxidation Assay, Total Antioxidant Capacity, 2,2’-Azinobis (3-Ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic Acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging activity and Hydroxyl radical scavenging activity. Antidiarrheal activities were studied using Castor Oil-Induced and Intestinal Transit in Mice models. Methanol and aqueous plant extract of Peperomia pellucida at various concentration demonstrated impressive in vitro antioxidant scavenging activities. The onset of diarrheal (**P<0.01) and the % of charcoal travel (*P<0.05) in the mice was reduced at 200 mg/kg compared to the control. Conclusively, this study showed that the aqueous and methanol extract of Peperomia pellucida has in vitro free radical scavenging activities. The plant demonstrated antidiarrheal activities.