bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Higher Seed Rates Enlarge the Effects of Wide-Belt Sowing on Root Length Density, Thereby Improving Nitrogen Uptake and Use Efficiencies in Winter Wheat
Authors: Wang Yuechao , Li Wen , Deng Yaoyao , Xue Jianfu , Gao Zhiqiang
Published: September 2024

The optimized sowing method and appropriate seed rate can improve wheat N use efficiency. However, the interactive effect of the sowing method and seed rate on N use efficiency, particularly N uptake and root length density, are unclear. A field experiment was conducted for two growing seasons in southern Shanxi province, China, using a split-plot design with the sowing method as the main plot (wide-belt sowing, WBS, and conventional narrow-drill sowing, NDS) and seed rate as the sub-plot (100–700 m−2). Our results showed that WBS had a significant and positive effect on N use efficiency (yield per unit of available N from the fertilizer and soil, by 4.7–15.4%), and the relatively higher seed rates (>300 or 400 m−2) enlarged the effects. The N use efficiency increases under WBS were mainly attributed to the increases in N uptake before anthesis, resulting from the promoted nodal roots per plant and per unit area, and root length density in the top layer(s). WBS promoted N translocation and the N harvest index, resulting in equivalent grain protein concentration and processing quality compared to NDS. Thus, adopting higher seed rates (>300 m−2) combined with WBS is recommended for achieving greater N efficiencies while maintaining the grain protein concentration and processing quality of winter wheat.
The Fabaceae in Northeastern Mexico (Subfamilies Caesalpinioideae (Excluding Tribe Mimoseae), Cercidoideae, and Detarioideae)
Authors: Estrada-Castillón Eduardo , Villarreal-Quintanilla José Ángel , Cuéllar-Rodríguez Gerardo , Torres-Colín Leticia , Encina-Domínguez Juan Antonio , Sánchez-Salas Jaime , Muro-Pérez Gisela , González-Cuéllar Diego Axayácatl , Galván-García Oralia Magaly , Rubio-Pequeño Luis Gerardo , Mora-Olivo Arturo
Published: September 2024

As part of the Fabaceae project of northeastern Mexico and based on field work, collection of botanical samples over the past 37 years, and reviewing botanical materials in national and international herbaria, the diversity of legumes of the subfamilies Caesalpinioideae (excluding tribe Mimoseae), Cercidoideae, and Detarioideae in northeastern Mexico has been recorded. New nomenclatural changes in tribes and genera of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae found in the new scientific bibliography are included. The subfamily Caesalpinioideae (excluding the tribe Mimoseae) includes five tribes: tribe Caesalpinieae, with eight genera (Caesalpinia, Coulteria, Denisophytum, Erythrostemon, Guilandina, Hoffmannseggia, Haematoxylum, and Pomaria) and 21 species; tribe Cassieae with three genera (Cassia, Chamaecrita, and Senna) and 28 species; tribe Ceratonieae with one genus (Ceratonia) and 1 species; tribe Gleditsieae with one genus (Gleditsia) and 1 species. The subfamily Cercidoideae includes two genera (Bauhinia and Cercis) and eight species, and the subfamily Detarioideae includes only one genus and one species (Tamarindus indicus). The total flora of these three subfamilies comprises 18 genera and 63 species, including 56 native species and 7 exotic ones: Bauhinia variegata, Cassia fistula, Ceratonia siliqua, Delonix regia, Erythrostemon gilliesii, Senna alata, and Tamarindus indicus. Endemism includes a total of 22 species and nine infraspecific categories.
Beyond the Scent: New Evidence about Micromorphological, Phytochemical and Biological Features of Plumeria rubra ‘Tonda Palermitana’ (Apocynaceae)
Authors: Malaspina Paola , Ingegneri Mariarosaria , Betuzzi Federica , Di Gristina Emilio , Cornara Laura , Trombetta Domenico , Smeriglio Antonella
Published: September 2024

Plumeria rubra L. is an ornamental Caribbean plant widely known for its ethnobotanical uses and pharmacological activities. The ‘Tonda Palermitana’ cultivar, on which no data are to date available, is commonly cultivated in Sicily. The aim of our study was to characterize the micro-morphological features of leaves and flowers of this cultivar by light and Scanning Electron Microscopy and to investigate the phytochemical profile and the biological properties of their food-grade extracts (LE and FE, respectively) by LC-DAD-ESI-MS analysis and different in vitro assays. Numerous branched laticifers were observed, and their secretion contained alkaloids and lipophilic compounds as confirmed by histological analyses. Phytochemical analyses showed the presence of alkaloids (9%), terpenoids (13%) and fatty acids (6%), together with a very abundant presence of iridoids (28%) and polyphenols (39%). The most notable biological activity of both extracts appears to be the antioxidant one, showing half-inhibitory concentrations (IC50) about 5 times lower than those detected in anti-inflammatory assays (383.74 ± 5.65 and 232.05 ± 2.87 vs. 1981.23 ± 12.82 and 1215.13 ± 10.15, for FE and LE, respectively), with LE showing the best, and statistically significant (p < 0.001), biological activity. These results allow us to speculate promising nutraceutical and cosmeceutical applications for this old Sicilian cultivar.
A QbD-Navigated Approach to the Development and Evaluation of Etodolac–Phospholipid Complex Containing Polymeric Films for Improved Anti-Inflammatory Effect
Authors: Singh Jangjeet Karan , Kaur Simran , Chandrasekaran Balakumar , Kaur Gurpreet , Saini Balraj , Kaur Rajwinder , Silakari Pragati , Kaur Narinderpal , Bassi Pallavi
Published: September 2024

The current study focuses on development of phospholipid complex-loaded films of etodolac for enhanced transdermal permeation and anti-inflammatory effect. An etodolac–phospholipid complex was developed using the solvent evaporation method and was characterized by DSC, XRD, FTIR, and 1H-NMR studies. The formation of the complex led to conversion of a crystalline drug to an amorphous form. A stoichiometric ratio of 1:1 (drug–phospholipid) was selected as the optimized ratio. Further, the developed complex was incorporated into films and systematic optimization using a central composite design was carried out using a response surface methodological approach. The desirable design space based on minimum contact angle and maximum tensile strength was selected, while the water vapour transmission rate and swelling index were set within limits. The results for swelling index, contact angle, tensile strength, and water vapour transmission rate were 60.14 ± 1.01%, 31.6 ± 0.03, 2.44 ± 0.39 kg/cm2, and 15.38 g/hm2, respectively. These values exhibited a good correlation with the model-predicted values. The optimized formulation exhibited improved diffusion and permeation across skin. In vivo studies revealed enhanced anti-inflammatory potential of the developed films in comparison to the un-complexed drug. Hence, the study demonstrated that etodolac–phospholipid complex-loaded films improve the transdermal permeation and provided enhanced anti-inflammatory effect.
Effect of Vibration Pretreatment–Microwave Curing Process Parameters on the Mechanical Performance of Resin-Based Composites
Authors: Zhang Dechao , Zhan Lihua , Ma Bolin , Guo Jinzhan , Jin Wentao , Hu Xin , Yao Shunming , Dai Guangming
Published: September 2024

The vibration pretreatment–microwave curing process can achieve high-quality molding under low-pressure conditions and is widely used in the curing of resin-based composites. This study investigated the effects of the vibration pretreatment process parameters on the void content and the fiber weight fraction of T700/TRE231; specifically, their influence on the interlaminar shear strength and impact strength of the composite. Initially, an orthogonal experimental design was employed with interlaminar shear strength as the optimization target, where vibration acceleration was determined as the primary factor and dwell time as the secondary factor. Concurrently, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was performed based on process parameters that corresponded to the extremum of interlaminar shear strength, revealing a 2.17% difference in fiber weight fraction among specimens with varying parameters, indicating a minimal effect of fiber weight fraction on mechanical properties. Optical digital microscope (ODM) analysis identified interlaminar large-size voids in specimens treated with vibration energy of 5 g and 15 g, while specimens subjected to a vibration energy of 10 g exhibited numerous small-sized voids within layers, suggesting that vibration acceleration influences void escape pathways. Finally, impact testing revealed the effect of the vibration pretreatment process parameters on the impact strength, implying a positive correlation between interlaminar shear strength and impact strength.
Recent Developments in Application of Nanofibers
Authors: Patnaik Asis
Published: September 2024

Technological advancements in nanofibers and production technologies have led to nanofibers being applied in various applications. Nanofibers are produced by a variety of techniques such as electrospinning, drawing, self-assembly, phase separation, and others. Electrospinning is widely used due to its versatility and scalability. Nanofiber production by other techniques is still limited to the laboratory scale, hence the dominance of electrospinning. The versatility of nanofibers has seen them being used in various applications such as health, protection, clothing, filtration, packaging, and electronics. Their large surface area, small diameters, and porous structures make them good materials in these diverse fields. Nanofibers are incorporated with nanoparticles to enhance stability. In biomedical applications, nanofibers are used in drug delivery systems, wound healing, and tissue engineering because of their biocompatibility and biodegradability. In fields like protection, clothing, and packaging, nanofibers are used due to their large surface area, porosity, and flexibility. These properties also make nanofibers highly effective in filtration, where their small size and large surface area allow them to efficiently remove a significant number of contaminants. Additionally, nanofibers are utilized in the production of flexible electronics, enhancing comfort in wearable devices. Biopolymers are being adopted to address the environmental and health concerns of traditional nanofiber materials. Biopolymers are biodegradable and biocompatible; however, their stability can be affected by production and environmental conditions. This work highlights the applications of nanofibers, especially the environmentally friendly nanofiber applications in health, packaging, water treatment, protection, electronics, clothing, and technical textiles.
Compact Microwave Continuous-Flow Heater
Authors: Wu Jueliang , Ma Yuehao , Yin Shumeng , Yin Changbao , Yin Ke , Yang Yang , Zhu Huacheng
Published: September 2024

Microwave continuous-flow heating has been proven to reduce the time of chemical reaction, increase the conversion rate, and improve product purity effectively. However, there are still problems such as relatively low heating efficiency, unideal heating homogeneity, and poor compactness, which brings further drawbacks like difficulty in fabrication and integration. In this study, a compact microwave continuous-flow heater based on six fractal antennas is proposed to address the problems above. First, a multi-physics simulation model is built, while heating efficiency and the volumetric coefficient of variance (COV) are improved through adjusting the geometric structure of this heater and the phase assignment of each radiator. Second, an experiment is conducted to verify the simulation model, which is consistent with the simulation. Third, a method of fast varying phases to achieve greater heating efficiency and heating homogeneity is adopted. The results show that the single-phase radiator improved efficiency by 31.1%, and COV was significantly optimized, reaching 64%. Furthermore, 0–100% ethanol–water solutions are processed by the heater, demonstrating its strong adaptability of vastly changing relative permittivity of liquid load. Moreover, an advance of this microwave continuous-flow heater is observed, compared with conventional multi-mode resonant cavity. Last, the performance of this microwave continuous-flow heater as the chemical reactor for biodiesel production is simulated. This design enables massive chemical production in fields like food industry and biodiesel production, with enhanced compactness, heating efficiency, and heating homogeneity.
Research on the Influence of a Magnesium-Based Carbon Dioxide Battery System on CO2 Storage Performance
Authors: Yang Haoran , Wei Mian , Wang Baodong , Wang Leqi , Chen Qiuyan , Su Chang , Feng Yongcheng , Wang Xing , Li Ke
Published: September 2024

At present, the energy consumption and carbon emissions of maritime transportation have raised concerns about environmental issues. A potential way to reduce carbon emissions from vessels is the use of chemical-based carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. However, this technology faces challenges such as high energy consumption, large space occupation, and high processing costs. Therefore, the development of a technology with low energy consumption and compact CO2 storage is crucial to promote the advancement of CCS technology. This paper introduces a magnesium CO2 battery system that converts CO2 into new energy, in the form of hydrogen, while storing CO2. By preparing highly efficient catalytic electrodes and testing the electrolyte and CO2 flow rate on the battery performance, the optimal process parameters were determined to be Pd/CeO2-oct for the electrodes, a 0.5 mol/L NaOH solution for the electrolyte, and a CO2 flow rate of 1 L/h. The battery system demonstrated high cycling stability and conversion efficiency at a current density of 8 mA·cm−2, with a stable cycling time of 600 min (20 cycles), a cathode hydrogen production of 10.135 mL, and a Faraday efficiency of 97.03%.
Corrosion Failure Mechanism of 2507 Duplex Stainless Steel Circulation Pump Impeller
Authors: Wang Weihua , Hou Chengbao , Li Jiaxing , Shi Mingxiao , Chen Jiugong , Qian Gong
Published: September 2024

The circulation pump in a distillation column is a core device in a material circulation system, and its stable operation is crucial for the production process. The impeller of the circulation pump is prone to failure due to long-term contact with corrosive media, and subjected to a large amount of material erosion, which severely challenges the safety control of the distillation reaction system. Focusing on the corrosion failure phenomenon of circulation pump impellers, the failure mechanism was studied by means of macroscopic inspection, chemical composition analysis, metallographic examination, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). Results indicated that the corrosion of circulation pump impellers was the result of the combined effects of surface wear, cavitation, and halogen element corrosion. The medium in contact with the impeller contained chloride ions, fluoride ions, and solid particles. During circulation pump operation, a low-pressure zone formed at the inlet, generating numerous water vapor bubbles. These bubbles burst in the high-pressure zone, creating highly localized impact forces. Combined with the abrasive action of solid particles on the impeller surface, this led to the destruction of the passivation film and the formation of numerous small pits. These corrosion pits and the surrounding environment formed micro-galvanic corrosion cells with small anodes and large cathodes. Under the accelerated corrosion caused by fluoride and chloride ions, the corrosion process towards the inner wall of the impeller intensified, ultimately leading to impeller failure. This study clarified the corrosion failure mechanism and its root causes in the 2507 duplex stainless steel circulation pump impeller and proposes corresponding improvement recommendations, providing a scientific basis for preventing similar issues from occurring in the future.
A Comprehensive Review of the Multifaceted Characterisation Approaches of Dental Ceramics
Authors: Al-Johani Hanan , Haider Julfikar , Satterthwaite Julian , Borba Marcia , Silikas Nick
Published: September 2024

Ceramic dental restorative materials have growing popularity, albeit their brittle and stochastic nature are acknowledged shortcomings that impact the prosthesis lifespan. The mechanical performance of ceramics is dominated by the constitutional microstructural and fracture toughness mechanisms, as well as externally applied triggers. Thus, there is ongoing expanding research in the sphere of ceramic material engineering and thermal refinement, addressing concerns regarding toughness, machinability, reliability, stainability, and biodegradation. While the current trend in dental ceramic manufacturing has transitioned from micrometric crystalline sizes to submicrometric and nanometric ranges, there is an unclear understanding of the microstructural implications on ceramic behaviour. Therefore, this review covers the comprehensive characterisation approaches commonly employed in the scientific literature to describe the multifaceted performance aspects as well as clinical-related prerequisites of dental ceramics. Moreover, updated standardised testing parameters and performance thresholds pertaining to ceramic mannerisms are described in an attempt to translate their clinical applicability.
Multi-Robot Collaborative Mapping with Integrated Point-Line Features for Visual SLAM
Authors: Xia Yu , Wu Xiao , Ma Tao , Zhu Liucun , Cheng Jingdi , Zhu Junwu
Published: September 2024

Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) enables mobile robots to autonomously perform localization and mapping tasks in unknown environments. Despite significant progress achieved by visual SLAM systems in ideal conditions, relying solely on a single robot and point features for mapping in large-scale indoor environments with weak-texture structures can affect mapping efficiency and accuracy. Therefore, this paper proposes a multi-robot collaborative mapping method based on point-line fusion to address this issue. This method is designed for indoor environments with weak-texture structures for localization and mapping. The feature-extraction algorithm, which combines point and line features, supplements the existing environment point feature-extraction method by introducing a line feature-extraction step. This integration ensures the accuracy of visual odometry estimation in scenes with pronounced weak-texture structure features. For relatively large indoor scenes, a scene-recognition-based map-fusion method is proposed in this paper to enhance mapping efficiency. This method relies on visual bag of words to determine overlapping areas in the scene, while also proposing a keyframe-extraction method based on photogrammetry to improve the algorithm’s robustness. By combining the Perspective-3-Point (P3P) algorithm and Bundle Adjustment (BA) algorithm, the relative pose-transformation relationships of multi-robots in overlapping scenes are resolved, and map fusion is performed based on these relative pose relationships. We evaluated our algorithm on public datasets and a mobile robot platform. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm exhibits higher robustness and mapping accuracy. It shows significant effectiveness in handling mapping in scenarios with weak texture and structure, as well as in small-scale map fusion.
A Machine-Learning-Based Method for Identifying the Failure Risk State of Fissured Sandstone under Water–Rock Interaction
Authors: Qu Jinbo , Song Cheng , Bai Jinwen , Feng Guorui , Shi Xudong , Ma Junbiao
Published: September 2024

The mechanical properties of fissured sandstone will deteriorate under water–rock interaction. It is crucial to extract the precursor information of fissured sandstone instability under water–rock interaction. The potential of each acoustic emission (AE) parameter as a precursor for instability in the failure process of fissured sandstone was investigated in this study. An experimental dataset comprising 586 acoustic emission experiments was established, and subsequent classification training and testing were conducted using three machine learning (ML) models: AdaBoost, MLP, and Random Forest (RF). The primary parameters for identifying the instability risk state of fissured sandstone include acoustic emission ringing count, energy (mV·ms), centroid frequency, peak frequency, Rise Angle (RA), Average Frequency (AF), b value, and the natural/saturated state of fissured sandstone: state. To enhance data utilization, a 10-fold cross-validation method was employed during the model training process. The machine learning models were developed and designed to identify the instability risk of fissured sandstone under the natural and saturated states. The results demonstrated that the established RF model was capable of identifying fissured sandstone instability risks with an accuracy of 97.87%. Feature importance analysis revealed that state and b value exerted the most significant influence on identification results. The Spearman correlation coefficient was utilized to assess the correlation between input features. This study can provide technical support to identify the risk of instability of fissured sandstones under both natural and saturated water conditions. Based on the models developed in this study, it is possible to implement an early warning method for instability in fissured sandstone that meets realistic working conditions. Compared with the traditional empirical and formulaic methods, the machine learning method can more quickly process huge amounts of AE data and accurately identify the damage state of fissured sandstone.
A High-Resolution Discrete-Time Second-Order ΣΔ ADC with Improved Tolerance to KT/C Noise Using Low Oversampling Ratio
Authors: An Kyung-Chan , Narasimman Neelakantan , Kim Tony Tae-Hyoung
Published: September 2024

This work presents a novel ΣΔ analog-to-digital converter (ADC) architecture for a high-resolution sensor interface. The concept is to reduce the effect of kT/C noise generated by the loop filter by placing the gain stage in front of the loop filter. The proposed architecture effectively reduces the kT/C noise power from the loop filter by as much as the squared gain of the added gain stage. The gain stage greatly relaxes the loop filter’s sampling capacitor requirements. The target resolution is 20 bit. The sampling frequency is 512 kHz, and the oversampling ratio (OSR) is only 256 for a target resolution. Therefore, the proposed ΔΣ ADC structure allows for high-resolution ADC design in an environment with a limited OSR. The proposed ADC designed in 65 nm CMOS technology operates at supply voltages of 1.2 V and achieves a peak signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and Schreier Figure of Merit (FoMs) of 117.7 dB and 180.4 dB, respectively.
Shuffle Attention-Based Pavement-Sealed Crack Distress Detection
Authors: Yuan Bo , Sun Zhaoyun , Pei Lili , Li Wei , Zhao Kaiyue
Published: September 2024

To enhance the detection of pavement-sealed cracks and ensure the long-term stability of pavement performance, a novel approach called the shuffle attention-based pavement-sealed crack detection is proposed. This method consists of three essential components: the feature extraction network, the detection head, and the Wise Intersection over Union loss function. Within both the feature extraction network and the detection head, the shuffle attention module is integrated to capture the high-dimensional semantic information of pavement-sealed cracks by combining spatial and channel attention in parallel. The two-way detection head with multi-scale feature fusion efficiently combines contextual information for pavement-sealed crack detection. Additionally, the Wise Intersection over Union loss function dynamically adjusts the gradient gain, enhancing the accuracy of bounding box fitting and coverage area. Experimental results highlight the superiority of our proposed method, with higher mAP@0.5 (98.02%), Recall (0.9768), and F1-score (0.9680) values compared to the one-stage state-of-the-art methods, showcasing improvements of 0.81%, 1.8%, and 2.79%, respectively.
Unveiling Players’ Perceptions of Mother- and Father-Initiated Motivational Climates and Fear of Failure in Youth Male Team Sports
Authors: Coutinho Patrícia , Bessa Cristiana , Dias Cláudia , Mesquita Isabel , Fonseca António M.
Published: September 2024

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived mother- and father-initiated motivational climates and players’ fear of failure in youth male team sports. A sample of 336 youth male players from five team sports (basketball, football, handball, volleyball, and water polo) completed the Parent-Initiated Motivational Climate Questionnaire-2 and the Performance Failure Appraisal Inventory. The results showed that perceived mother- and father-initiated motivational climates were related to fear of failure predispositions. While a mastery orientation (perceived learning-enjoyment climate) had a low association with fear of failure, an ego orientation (perceived worry-conducive and success-without-effort climates) was highly related to fear of failure. Father-initiated climates had stronger associations with fear of failure than mother-initiated ones, revealing that mothers and fathers may have different influences when considering the developmental origins of fear of failure. The relationships between mother- and father-initiated motivational climates and fear of failure varied according to the type of sport, with basketball, football, and volleyball presenting stronger associations. The dimensions “Fear of important others losing interest” and “Fear of upsetting important others” presented the highest explained variance in all sports when predicted by the father-initiated motivational climate. The findings can inform important evidence-based guidelines and recommendations for parents, coaches, and organizations, enabling them to create supportive environments that aid athletes in developing the necessary psychological skills for long-term success and well-being.
Economic Sustainable Development through Digital Skills Acquisition: The Role of Human Resource Leadership
Authors: Zervas Ioannis , Stiakakis Emmanouil
Published: September 2024

In the rapidly evolving digital environment, organizations face increasing pressure to adapt to technological advancements while ensuring long-term sustainability. This study was motivated by the critical need to understand how human resource (HR) leadership can effectively foster digital skills development to drive economic sustainable development. Recognizing that digital competencies are now essential for organizational resilience and competitiveness, this research explores the interplay between HR leadership, digital skills acquisition, and economic sustainable development. This study employed the SERVQUAL tool to assess gaps between employee expectations and perceptions across key demographic variables, including age, education level, and employment status. Data collected from 476 participants across several European Union countries underscore the significant influence of demographic factors on these perceptions. The findings reveal a high alignment between employee expectations and perceptions, reflecting the importance of HR leadership in bridging the digital skills gap. Moreover, this study highlights the necessity of integrating HR leadership practices to ensure that digital transformation contributes not only to immediate organizational goals but also to long-term economic sustainable development. This research provides valuable insights into the role of HR leadership in navigating the challenges of the digital era, ultimately offering a framework for fostering a skilled, adaptable, and sustainably oriented workforce.
Competitive Advantages of Sustainable Startups: Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Directions
Authors: Martins de Souza Adriano , Puglieri Fabio Neves , de Francisco Antonio Carlos
Published: September 2024

Growing awareness of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues drives a significant transformation in the global business environment, making sustainability an urgent necessity and a source of competitive advantage. However, despite advances in research, there are still significant gaps in how these practices can confer competitive advantages to startups. We seek to fill this gap by conducting a systematic literature review on the competitive advantages of sustainable startups. We used the PRISMA 2020 protocol to conduct a comprehensive search in the Scopus and Web of Science databases, which led to the inclusion of 44 articles in the final review. The results indicate that sustainable startups align economic and environmental benefits, promote continuous innovation, attract investment, mitigate regulatory risks, and adapt quickly to market changes. The analysis reveals that adopting advanced technologies and circularity strategies is critical to operational efficiency and regulatory compliance. In addition, this study has mapped gaps in the literature, identifying key areas for future research into the competitive advantages of sustainable startups.
Women in Parliaments and Environmentally Friendly Fiscal Policies: A Global Analysis
Authors: Kandemir Aysen Simsek , Lone Ramshah Rashid , Simsek Rasim
Published: September 2024

This study explores the intricate interplay between female representation in national parliaments and government fiscal policies, with a specific focus on fossil fuel subsidies, environmental taxes, and expenditure, in the context of climate change mitigation. Using a sample of 160 countries over the period from 1997 to 2022, this empirical analysis demonstrates the positive relationship between the presence of female parliamentarians and environmentally friendly fiscal measures. While women in the parliaments reduce the amount of the subsidies granted to fossil fuels, they levy environmental taxes and increase environmental spending. The findings illustrate the pivotal role of female parliamentarians in advocating for environmental legislation and transcending political ideologies and national boundaries. Addressing potential concerns of endogeneity by employing additional control variables, omitted variables, and instrumental variable analyses, this study emphasises the robustness of the results. Notably, this study finds that a critical mass of at least 30% female representation in parliaments enhances the efficacy of environmental policy outcomes. This research highlights the multifaceted impact of gender diversity on fiscal policies related to environmental protection, offering valuable insights for policymakers and organisations committed to sustainability and gender equality.
A Study on the Impact of Street Environment on Elderly Leisure Path Preferences Based on the Stated Preference Method (SP Method)
Authors: Li Jiawei , Zhang Jun
Published: September 2024

Evaluation of a recreational walking environment for the elderly is an essential method for planning intervention in constructing a walking environment. The Stated Preference method, discrete choice model, Spearman correlation analysis, and logistic regression model are used to build the evaluation index system of the leisure walking environment for the elderly and obtain its corresponding weight value. The study also explored the differences in preferences for recreational trails among older adults with different personal characteristics. It found that the Stated Preference method is a well-established method for evaluating the quality of recreational walking environments for older adults. Older walkers have shown a heightened sensitivity to certain factors, such as the degree of street shading, effective sidewalk width, street leveling, traffic volume, street interface openness, percentage of green interface, service facility density, and commercial storefront density. Understanding these sensitivities can help us design more empathetic and age-friendly walking environments. Among them, older adults with poorer health preferred street environment factors with less traffic, higher street leveling, and better service facilities. Quantitatively evaluating the recreational walking environment for the elderly provides a new way of thinking from a behavioral perspective to enhance its sustainability and age-friendliness.
Green Mind and Mental Health among Chinese College Students: A Chain Mediating Model of Eco-Generativity
Authors: Wang Haoran
Published: September 2024

Education can be considered a key element in reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through ecological and social generativity specifically among young generations. This study explores the intricate relationships between ecological generativity, social generativity, environmental identity, agency, and their collective impact on the mental health of Chinese college students. Employing a cross-sectional design, the research enlisted a cohort of 2439 undergraduate students, aged between 18 and 23 years, from various universities in China. Utilizing validated instruments such as the Ecological Generativity Scale, Social Generativity Scale, revised Environmental Identity Scale (IED-R), and the Agency/Pathways dimension of the Eco-Generativity Scale-Short Form, alongside the Positive Mental Health Scale for mental health assessment, this study conducted correlational and mediational analyses to test four hypotheses. The results robustly supported the first hypothesis, establishing ecological generativity as a significant predictor of mental health, underscoring the vital role of environmental stewardship in enhancing personal well-being. Further analysis confirmed the positive relationships between ecological generativity and both social generativity and environmental identity (Hypothesis 2), illustrating how engagement in ecological preservation efforts fosters social cohesion and a deep-seated environmental connectedness. The verification of Hypothesis 3 highlighted the contributory roles of ecological generativity, social generativity, and environmental identity in empowering students with a sense of agency. Additionally, the complex interplay among these constructs, as detailed in the examination of Hypothesis 4, revealed a multifaceted mechanism through which they collectively influence mental health, with agency serving as a pivotal mediator. The study concludes by emphasizing the importance of integrating environmental consciousness into educational paradigms to promote ecological generativity, foster environmental identity, and empower students with a sense of agency. It recommends the development of interventions and educational programs aimed at enhancing mental well-being among college students, thereby contributing to a more sustainable and socially responsible future. This research not only adds to the growing body of literature on ecological generativity and mental health but also proposes practical implications for educational policy and practice.
Exploring Differences in Green Innovation among Countries with Individualistic and Collectivist Cultural Orientations
Authors: Sova Alona , Rožman Maja , Korez Vide Romana
Published: September 2024

In this paper, we explore the extent to which individualistic and collectivist national cultural orientations are essential for green innovation. In this context, we also examine the extent of green innovation in countries at different levels of socioeconomic development. All data were collected for the latest available year (2020). This research was carried out on a sample of 60 selected countries, using parametric tests to identify statistically significant differences between variables and descriptive statistics to examine statistically significant differences in-depth. The results show that, on average, countries with prevailing individualistic cultural orientations and high levels of socioeconomic development perform better in green innovation than countries with prevailing collectivist cultural orientations. On average, countries with a prevailing individualistic cultural orientation scored moderate on green innovation, while countries with a prevailing collectivist orientation scored low. However, the level of socioeconomic development, including designing and implementing green policies, was recognized as essential to green innovation in both national cultures with prevailing individualistic orientations and national cultures with prevailing collectivist orientations.
Exploring the Influence of Pulsed Electric Field and Temperature on Key Physical Attributes in Sustainable Hot-Air-Dried Apple Tissue
Authors: Ciurzyńska Agnieszka , Rybak Katarzyna , Witrowa-Rajchert Dorota , Nowacka Małgorzata
Published: September 2024

The study aimed to determine the optimal parameters of the pulsed electric field as pre-treatment, and air temperature, in order to determine the sustainable production of dried apples with beneficial selected physical properties. A combination of PEF with energies of 1, 3.5, and 6 kJ/kg with hot-air drying at 60, 70, and 80 °C was used. The highest dry matter content was observed in tissue treated with PEF with an energy of 6 kJ/kg, and dried at a temperature of 80 °C. Both the drying and pre-treatment parameters influenced the change in the color of the dried material and the loss of dry matter during rehydration, but did not cause significant changes in the rehydration capacity and thermogravimetric properties (TGA). The novelty of investigations indicates that PEF treatment is capable of altering the quality of dried products. Nevertheless, the selection of particular drying temperatures has a more significant influence on the ultimate product quality. Therefore, choosing specific parameters for the treatment and drying process should be guided by the desired properties of the final product. PEF treatment is one of the most promising pre-treatments used before drying, and examining the possibility of its application to apples, which are one of the most frequently preserved fruits, will make an important contribution to the study of this field of science.
Sustainable Protection Strategies for Traditional Villages Based on a Socio-Ecological Systems Spatial Pattern Evaluation: A Case Study from Jinjiang River Basin in China
Authors: Jiang Xue , Man Shuhan , Zhu Xianglong , Zhao Hongyu , Yan Tianjiao
Published: September 2024

Traditional villages have reached milestones in developing a living culture, politics, economy, and society, among other aspects, while acting as important carriers of agricultural culture formed by long-term interactions between humans and nature. Unfortunately, traditional villages could disappear with the advent of urbanization. Therefore, this study enhances the accuracy of traditional village classification protection work by examining traditional villages in the Jinjiang River Basin in Quanzhou, China. A spatial pattern is extracted for the socio-ecological systems (SES) prototype of traditional villages, and an SES classification protection system is constructed based on a prototype analysis. Given the evaluation results, a K-means cluster analysis is applied to establish the SES sustainability levels for six types of traditional villages. After adjusting the types according to the principles of sustainability, equilibrium, and individual cases, six SES system types are identified: SES decay and shrinkage (Type 1), SES fusion and development (Type 2), SES ecological decline (Type 3), SES social decline (Type 4), SES ecological conservation (Type 5), and SES extensive development (Type 6). This system provides a quantitative analysis method to classify and protect concentrated and contiguous traditional villages. It also helps facilitate a better understanding of local rural society, economy, and culture, especially a deeper understanding of the interactions between humans and the rural environment.
Enzymatic Deracemization of Fluorinated Arylcarboxylic Acids: Chiral Enzymatic Analysis and Absolute Stereochemistry Using Chiral HPLC
Authors: Kolodiazhnyi Oleg I. , Kolodiazhna Anastasiia O. , Faiziiev Oleh , Gurova Yuliia
Published: September 2024

The hydrolase-catalyzed kinetic resolution of fluorinated racemates of 3-arylcarboxylic acids is described. Hydrolysis of ethyl esters of fluorinated acids by esterases and hydrolases in all cases resulted in the formation of hydrolyzed (S)-carboxylic acids and unreacted (R)-esters in high yields and high enantiomeric purity. The influence of separation conditions on the efficiency and enantioselectivity of biocatalytic conversion was also studied. The reactions were carried out under normal conditions (stirring with a magnetic stirrer at room temperature) and microwave irradiation in the presence of hydrolases. Amano PS showed excellent selectivity and good yields in the hydrolysis of fluorinated aromatic compounds. The absolute configuration of the resulting compounds was based on biokinetic studies and the use of chiral HPLC. A molecular modeling of the kinetic resolution of carboxylic acid esters was carried out.
Predictor Laplace Fractional Power Series Method for Finding Multiple Solutions of Fractional Boundary Value Problems
Authors: Alomari Abedel-Karrem , Salameh Wael Mahmoud Mohammad , Alaroud Mohammad , Tahat Nedal
Published: September 2024

This research focuses on finding multiple solutions (MSs) to nonlinear fractional boundary value problems (BVPs) through a new development, namely the predictor Laplace fractional power series method. This method predicts the missing initial values by applying boundary or force conditions. This research provides a set of theorems necessary for deriving the recurrence relations to find the series terms. Several examples demonstrate the efficacy, convergence, and accuracy of the algorithm. Under Caputo’s definition of the fractional derivative with symmetric order, the obtained results are visualized numerically and graphically. The behavior of the generated solutions indicates that altering the fractional derivative parameters within their domain symmetrically changes these solutions, ultimately aligning them with the standard derivative. The results are compared with the homotopy analysis method and are presented in various figures and tables.
A Collaborative Federated Learning Framework for Lung and Colon Cancer Classifications
Authors: Hossain Md. Munawar , Islam Md. Robiul , Ahamed Md. Faysal , Ahsan Mominul , Haider Julfikar
Published: September 2024

Lung and colon cancers are common types of cancer with significant fatality rates. Early identification considerably improves the odds of survival for those suffering from these diseases. Histopathological image analysis is crucial for detecting cancer by identifying morphological anomalies in tissue samples. Regulations such as the HIPAA and GDPR impose considerable restrictions on the sharing of sensitive patient data, mostly because of privacy concerns. Federated learning (FL) is a promising technique that allows the training of strong models while maintaining data privacy. The use of a federated learning strategy has been suggested in this study to address privacy concerns in cancer categorization. To classify histopathological images of lung and colon cancers, this methodology uses local models with an Inception-V3 backbone. The global model is then updated on the basis of the local weights. The images were obtained from the LC25000 dataset, which consists of five separate classes. Separate analyses were performed for lung cancer, colon cancer, and their combined classification. The implemented model successfully classified lung cancer images into three separate classes with a classification accuracy of 99.867%. The classification of colon cancer images was achieved with 100% accuracy. More significantly, for the lung and colon cancers combined, the accuracy reached an impressive 99.720%. Compared with other current approaches, the proposed framework showed an improved performance. A heatmap, visual saliency map, and GradCAM were generated to pinpoint the crucial areas in the histopathology pictures of the test set where the models focused in particular during cancer class predictions. This approach demonstrates the potential of federated learning to enhance collaborative efforts in automated disease diagnosis through medical image analysis while ensuring patient data privacy.
Empowering a Broadband Communications Course with a Unified Module on 5G and Fixed 5G Networks
Authors: Uzunidis Dimitris , Pagiatakis Gerasimos , Moscholios Ioannis , Logothetis Michael
Published: September 2024

Telecommunications profoundly impacts all major aspects of our everyday life. As a consequence, student instruction typically includes a series of specialized courses, each addressing a distinct telecommunication area, separating wireless from fixed (optical) communications. This creates the problem of knowledge fragmentation, hindering the student’s perception of the topic since, at the service level, the applications and services offered to the users seem “virtually” independent from the underlying infrastructure. In this paper, to address this problem, we designed, analyzed, and implemented a 6 h course module on the five generations of wireless and fixed networks, which was presented as an integral part of the undergraduate course “Broadband Communications”, which was offered at the Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, School of Pedagogical and Technological Education (ASPETE), Athens, Greece. The main targets of this module are the following. Firstly, it aims to familiarize students with the fixed generations taxonomy, defined by the ETSI Industry Specification Group (ISG) F5G. This taxonomy serves as a foundation for understanding the evolution of telecommunications technologies. Secondly, the module seeks to integrate the acquired knowledge of the students in their previous telecommunication-related courses. During their curriculum, this knowledge was divided into two separate parts: wireless and fixed (optical). By coupling these two areas, students can develop a deeper understanding of the field. Lastly, the module aims to explore cutting-edge technologies and advancements in the telecommunications industry. In this way, it prepares students to enter the professional world during the fifth-generation era. Additionally, it provides them with valuable insights into the ongoing research and development in the field of 6G. Overall, this module serves as a comprehensive platform for students to enhance their understanding of telecommunications, from the foundational concepts to the latest advancements. To evaluate the impact of this module, the students were asked to fill out a questionnaire that included seven questions upon module completion. This questionnaire was completed successfully by 32 students in the previous academic year and by 16 students in this academic year. Moreover, a 20-question multiple choice quiz was offered to the students, allowing us to probe more into the typical errors and misconceptions about the topic.