bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Data Driven Detection of Different Dissolved Oxygen Sensor Faults for Improving Operation of the WWTP Control System
Authors: Luca Alexandra-Veronica , Simon-Várhelyi Melinda , Mihály Norbert-Botond , Cristea Vasile-Mircea
Published: September 2021

Sensor faults frequently occur in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) operation, leading to incomplete monitoring or poor control of the plant. Reliable operation of the WWTP considerably depends on the aeration control system, which is essentially assisted by the dissolved oxygen (DO) sensor. Results on the detection of different DO sensor faults, such as bias, drift, wrong gain, loss of accuracy, fixed value, or complete failure, were investigated based on Principal Components Analysis (PCA). The PCA was considered together with two statistical approaches, i.e., the Hotelling’s T2 and the Squared Prediction Error (SPE). Data used in the study were generated using the previously calibrated first-principle Activated Sludge Model no.1 for the Anaerobic-Anoxic-Oxic (A2O) reactors configuration. The equation-based model was complemented with control loops for DO concentration control in the aerobic reactor and nitrates concentration control in the anoxic reactor. The PCA data-driven model was successfully used for the detection of the six investigated DO sensor faults. The statistical detection approaches were compared in terms of promptness, effectiveness, and accuracy. The obtained results revealed the way faults originating from DO sensor malfunction can be detected and the efficiency of the detection approaches for the automatically controlled WWTP.
Alginate Nanohydrogels as a Biocompatible Platform for the Controlled Release of a Hydrophilic Herbicide
Authors: Artusio Fiora , Casà Dario , Granetto Monica , Tosco Tiziana , Pisano Roberto
Published: September 2021

The large-scale application of volatile and highly water-soluble pesticides to guarantee crop production can often have negative impacts on the environment. The main loss pathways are vapor drift, direct volatilization, or leaching of the active substances. Consequently, the pesticide can either accumulate and/or undergo physicochemical transformations in the soil. In this scenario, we synthesized alginate nanoparticles using an inverse miniemulsion template in sunflower oil and successfully used them to encapsulate a hydrophilic herbicide, i.e., dicamba. The formulation and process conditions were adjusted to obtain a unimodal size distribution of nanohydrogels of about 20 nm. The loading of the nanoparticles with dicamba did not affect the nanohydrogel size nor the particle stability. The release of dicamba from the nanohydrogels was also tested: the alginate nanoparticles promoted the sustained and prolonged release of dicamba over ten days, demonstrating the potential of our preparation method to be employed for field application. The encapsulation of hydrophilic compounds inside our alginate nanoparticles could enable a more efficient use of pesticides, minimizing losses and thus environmental spreading. The use of biocompatible materials (alginate, sunflower oil) also guarantees the absence of toxic additives in the formulation.
Optimization of the Manufacturing Process by Molding Cobalt-Chrome Alloys in Assembled Dental Frameworks
Authors: Uriciuc Willi Andrei , Boșca Adina Bianca , Babtan Anida Maria , Feurden Claudia Nicoleta , Ionel Anca , Vermeșan Horațiu , Popa Cătălin Ovidiu , Ilea Aranka
Published: September 2021

In oral rehabilitation, the treatment of partial edentulism (PEd) is performed by removable partial dentures (RPD) or assembled prosthetic works (APW) composed of several components, fixed to the prosthetic field (Pa) and a removable one (Pb), in order to facilitate the daily hygiene but also the damping of the occlusal forces applied in mastication. Cobalt-Chromium alloys are materials used to manufacture modern prosthetic assembles. In order for this study to be relevant, it was necessary to standardize the design of the framework (Pa) in terms of shape and volume so that the experiment could be reproducible for the five Co-Cr alloys: 0-A (Co-Cr-Mo), 5-A and 10-A (Co-Cr-Mo-W), 15-A and 16.4-A (Co-Cr-W-Fe) and for the three fabrication methods of dental assembled prosthetic frameworks: refractory duplicate method (RD) resulting removable framework (Pb), direct construction method (DC) resulting removable framework (Pb-) and casting over metal method (CoM) resulting removable framework (Pb+). The time allocated to the adaptation process (AP), mechanical processing and sandblasting, in order to assemble the two components was between 43–70 min, even though the assembly between the Pa-framework and the complementary framework (Pb+) was not necessary, CoM-method hs been provide the elimination of AP step. By applying the arithmetic simple rule of three, the percentages for each of the three methods used were calculated, the values of the difference were obtained. The CoM method improves the joining precision between the components of the removable assembly of prosthetic frameworks by 91.7% compared to the RD method and by 80.62% compared to the DC method. According to the efficiency of the methods used in the precision of joining between frameworks components, their order is: casting over metal, direct construction and refractory duplicate method.
Life Scripts, Counter Scripts and Online Videos: The Struggle of Religious-Nationalist Community Epistemic Authorities against Military Service for Women
Authors: Lebel Udi , Masad Dana
Published: September 2021

Life Scripts and Counter Scripts are used to illustrate the struggle by Israel’s Nationalist-Ultra-Orthodox Rabbinical authorities within the Zionist-religious community against military service for women. Following years in which the army had been out of bounds for the normative life scripts of the community’s women, the enlistment of women was relatively legitimized and normalized (although still far from becoming mainstream). These women identified an epistemic community that enabled them to establish life scripts offering community logics by which military service is perceived as empowering and offering positive capital and meaning. Conversely, leaders of conservative organizations within the Zionist-religious community, identifying the enlistment of women as a threat to the essentially religious-chauvinistic community order, embarked upon an internal campaign aimed at preventing it. This campaign can be seen as an attempt to establish a ‘counter script’ to the women’s enlistment script. It does not attempt to convince based on religious logics but by refuting beliefs formed as part of the script the women imagined would become their reality after they enlist. The paper analyzes a specific discourse arena taking part in the campaign—that of online videos distributed on YouTube and social media, aiming to influence attitudes. We conclude that, despite attempts to establish counter-scripts, by definition, these initiatives consist of an admission of weakness by the religious-rabbinical authority, as its very need to distribute these videos points to a double-bind and an ‘own-goal’ of sorts for the conservative authorities within religious-nationalist society.
Oil Spill Identification from SAR Images for Low Power Embedded Systems Using CNN
Authors: Diana Lorenzo , Xu Jia , Fanucci Luca
Published: September 2021

Oil spills represent one of the major threats to marine ecosystems. Satellite synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) sensors have been widely used to identify oil spills due to their ability to provide high resolution images during day and night under all weather conditions. In recent years, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, especially convolutional neural networks (CNNs), have led to many important improvements in performing this task. However, most of the previous solutions to this problem have focused on obtaining the best performance under the assumption that there are no constraints on the amount of hardware resources being used. For this reason, the amounts of hardware resources such as memory and power consumption required by previous solutions make them unsuitable for remote embedded systems such as nano and micro-satellites, which usually have very limited hardware capability and very strict limits on power consumption. In this paper, we present a CNN architecture for semantically segmenting SAR images into multiple classes. The proposed CNN is specifically designed to run on remote embedded systems, which have very limited hardware capability and strict limits on power consumption. Even if the performance in terms of results accuracy does not represent a step forward compared with previous solutions, the presented CNN has the important advantage of being able to run on remote embedded systems with limited hardware resources while achieving good performance. The presented CNN is compatible with dedicated hardware accelerators available on the market due to its low memory footprint and small size. It also provides many additional very significant advantages, such as having shorter inference times, requiring shorter training times, and avoiding transmission of irrelevant data. Our goal is to allow embedded low power remote devices such as satellite systems for remote sensing to be able to directly run CNNs on board, so that the amount of data that needs to be transmitted to ground and processed on ground can be substantially reduced, which will be greatly beneficial in significantly reducing the amount of time needed for identification of oil spills from SAR images.
Spatiotemporal Changes and Driving Factors of Cultivated Soil Organic Carbon in Northern China’s Typical Agro-Pastoral Ecotone in the Last 30 Years
Authors: Wang Liping , Wang Xiang , Wang Dianyao , Qi Beisong , Zheng Shufeng , Liu Huanjun , Luo Chong , Li Houxuan , Meng Linghua , Meng Xiangtian , Wang Yihao
Published: September 2021

In order to explore the spatiotemporal changes and driving factors of soil organic carbon (SOC) in the agro-pastoral ecotone of northern China, we took Aohan banner, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as the study area, used the random forest (RF) method to predict the SOC from 1989 to 2018, and the geographic detector method (GDM) was applied to analyze quantitatively the natural and anthropogenic factors that are affecting Aohan banner. The results indicated that: (1) After adding the terrain factors, the R2 and residual predictive deviation (RPD) of the RF model increased by 1.178 and 0.39%, with root mean square errors (RMSEs) of 1.42 g/kg and 1.05 g/kg, respectively; (2) The spatial distribution of SOC was higher in the south and lower in the north; the negative growth of SOC accounted for 55.923% of the total area, showing a trend of degradation; (3) Precipitation was the main driving factor of SOC spatial variation in the typical agro-pastoral ecotone of northern China, which was also affected by temperature, elevation, soil type and soil texture (p < 0.01). (4). Anthropogenic factors (carbon input and gross domestic product (GDP)) had a greater impact on SOC than did climate factors (temperature and precipitation), making anthropogenic factors the dominant factors affecting SOC temporal variation (p < 0.01). The results of this work constitute a basis for a regional assessment of the temporal evolution of organic carbon in the soil surface, which is a key tool for monitoring the sustainable development of agropastoral ecotones.
High-Resolution Ocean Currents from Sea Surface Temperature Observations: The Catalan Sea (Western Mediterranean)
Authors: Isern-Fontanet Jordi , García-Ladona Emilio , González-Haro Cristina , Turiel Antonio , Rosell-Fieschi Miquel , Company Joan B. , Padial Antonio
Published: September 2021

Current observations of ocean currents are mainly based on altimetric measurements of Sea Surface Heights (SSH), however the characteristics of the present-day constellation of altimeters are only capable to retrieve surface currents at scales larger than 50–70 km. By contrast, infrared and visible radiometers reach spatial resolutions thirty times higher than altimeters under cloud-free conditions. During the last years, it has been shown how the Surface Quasi-Geostrophic (SQG) approximation is able to reconstruct surface currents from measured Sea Surface Temperature (SST), but it has not been yet used to retrieve velocities at scales shorter than those provided by altimeters. In this study, the velocity field of ocean structures with characteristic lengths between 10 and 20 km has been derived from infrared SST using the SQG approach and compared to the velocities derived from the trajectories of Lagrangian drifters. Results show that the SQG approach is able to reconstruct the direction of the velocity field with observed RMS errors between 8 and 15 degrees and linear correlations between 0.85 and 0.99. The reconstruction of the modulus of the velocity is more problematic due to two limitations of the SQG approach: the need to calibrate the level of energy and the ageostrophic contributions. If drifter trajectories are used to calibrate velocities and the analysis is restricted to small Rossby numbers, the RMS error in the range of 10 to 16 cm/s and linear correlations can be as high as 0.97.
LiDAR Data Enrichment by Fusing Spatial and Temporal Adjacent Frames
Authors: Fu Hao , Xue Hanzhang , Hu Xiaochang , Liu Bokai
Published: September 2021

In autonomous driving scenarios, the point cloud generated by LiDAR is usually considered as an accurate but sparse representation. In order to enrich the LiDAR point cloud, this paper proposes a new technique that combines spatial adjacent frames and temporal adjacent frames. To eliminate the “ghost” artifacts caused by moving objects, a moving point identification algorithm is introduced that employs the comparison between range images. Experiments are performed on the publicly available Semantic KITTI dataset. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms most of the previous approaches. Compared with these previous works, the proposed method is the only method that can run in real-time for online usage.
The Role of Community in Black Identity Development and Occupational Choice
Authors: Stanford Nyla , Carlock Shelby , Jia Fanli
Published: September 2021

Black Americans have historically been excluded from societal associations and faced wavering instability in their households, forcing them to work together for their individual and collective well-being. In past research, more than half of Black American students enrolled in school opted to pursue social or educational careers. Findings suggest that Black Americans’ occupational development is influenced by their family and community ties. In this conceptual paper, the foundation of the development of identity in African American culture is presented, as it relates to occupational decision-making. First, we discuss the influences of general identity development on occupational decision-making. Second, we argue that Black cultural identity is multidimensional, with strong community and family factors that play a special role in occupational choice. Third, we suggest future research paradigms to link racial identity, culture, and occupational choice among Black American students. By exploring the fundamental beliefs of Black cultural identity, and how they buffer against each other, Black American students will be better able to make occupational decisions.
Predictability of Stock Price Fluctuations Based on Business Relationships: A Comparison of Normal and the COVID-19 Pandemic Periods in Japan
Authors: Sakamoto Shoma , Sengoku Shintaro
Published: September 2021

The stock prices of a company are significantly influenced by changes of its business relationships. However, the effectiveness of stock price prediction based on such inter-firm business relationships has been partially confirmed in limited region and/or timeframe cases. In particular, it has not been verified under highly volatile market conditions such as those caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. To address these issues, we analyzed the impact of supplier–customer relationships on stock prices in the case of the Japanese stock market using The Fama-French three-factor model and publicly available information of business relationships. The subjects were classified into two conditions—normal and COVID-19—and the stock price predictability associated with changes of stock prices of related companies for both short and long holding periods. As a result, the significance of stock price predictability was confirmed on a daily and monthly basis in the given region. In addition, specific factors including a volatile event caused by a customer company, a stock price downturn, and the company size of a customer particularly improved stock price predictability in the pandemic.
Current Management Condition and Waste Composition Characteristics of Construction and Demolition Waste Landfills in Hanoi of Vietnam
Authors: Nguyen Hoang Giang , Nguyen Dung Tien , Nghiem Ha Tan , Tran Viet Cuong , Kato Akira , Matsuno Akihiro , Isobe Yugo , Kawasaki Mikio , Kawamoto Ken
Published: September 2021

This study collected basic information and conducted waste composition surveys to identify the present management condition of construction and demolition waste (CDW) landfills in Hanoi of Vietnam and to characterize waste composition and grain size distribution of CDW dumped at landfills. Basic information on seven CDW landfills under operation or closed/abandoned was collected, and the waste composition and the grain size distributions of dumped CDW at two landfills were investigated. Results showed that only one landfill site is currently under operation in Hanoi. Sanitary conditions of investigated landfills were relatively good without dumping of hazardous waste. Illegal dumping of domestic waste from residents, however, could be observed more or less at all sites due to an unclear boundary between dumping and surrounding areas. To improve current management of CDW landfills, a suitable recording system of accepted/dumped CDW and technical support for site managers are required as well as the implementation plan for developing and renovating landfills. Based on the results of the waste composition survey, the major components of dumped CDW were “Concrete”, “Clay bricks”, and “Soil-like”, and the sum of these materials reached >80% of the total. Grain size distributions of “Concrete” ranged from 10–600 mm and of “Clay bricks” ranged from 10–300 mm. Technical recommendations to examine a potential availability of dumped “Concrete” and “Clay bricks” as a base material in road construction are summarized from the viewpoints of segregation from “Soil-like” and impurities, grading of “Concrete” and “Clay bricks”, mechanical properties and environmental safety, and economic feasibility. The findings in this study raise challenges and perspectives to establish sound CDW management and to promote sustainable development of CDW recycling in Vietnam.
A Cause and Effect Model for Digital Sustainable Supply Chain Competitiveness under Uncertainties: Enhancing Digital Platform
Authors: Tseng Ming-Lang , Bui Tat-Dat , Lim Ming K. , Lewi Stephen
Published: September 2021

This study provides insights into digitalization in sustainable supply chain management by establishing a structural set of attributes with causal interrelationships among them, as well as by reporting empirical findings on successful criteria for footwear supply chain practices in Indonesia. Sustainable supply chain management and digitalization are mutual benefits. However, there are unclear cause and effect interrelationships. This study aims to critically pinpoint digitalization to approach sustainability and is designed to help firms achieve supply chain competitiveness. The fuzzy Delphi method and fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory are utilized, due to the fuzziness associated with human decision making and the complexity and uncertainty in the supply chain. Five aspects and seventeen criteria are validated. The findings indicate that four aspects, including digital platform effectiveness, digital communication belonging to the supply chain digitalization perspective, labour conditions, and manufacturing processes, are important to sustainable supply chain management. The top causal criteria, including logistics integration, logistics optimization, delivery speed, proactive action, and real-time inventory, are considered to assist firms in implementing better practices.
Improving Production Efficiency with a Digital Twin Based on Anomaly Detection
Authors: Trauer Jakob , Pfingstl Simon , Finsterer Markus , Zimmermann Markus
Published: September 2021

Industry 4.0, cyber-physical systems, and digital twins are generating ever more data. This opens new opportunities for companies, as they can monitor development and production processes, improve their products, and offer additional services. However, companies are often overwhelmed by Big Data, as they cannot handle its volume, velocity, and variety. Additionally, they mostly do not follow a strategy in the collection and usage of data, which leads to unexploited business potentials. This paper presents the implementation of a Digital Twin module in an industrial case study, applying a concept for guiding companies on their way from data to value. A standardized use case template and a procedure model support the companies in (1) formulating a value proposition, (2) analyzing the current process, and (3) conceptualizing a target process. The presented use case entails an anomaly detection algorithm based on Gaussian processes to detect defective products in real-time for the extrusion process of aluminum profiles. The module was initially tested in a relevant environment; however, full implementation is still missing. Therefore, technology readiness level 6 (TRL6) was reached. Furthermore, the effect of the target process on production efficiency is evaluated, leading to significant cost reduction, energy savings, and quality improvements.
Financially Distressed Firms: Environmental, Social, and Governance Reporting in Indonesia
Authors: Harymawan Iman , Putra Fajar Kristanto Gautama , Fianto Bayu Arie , Wan Ismail Wan Adibah
Published: September 2021

This study examines the relationship between financial distress and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure. We hypothesize that financially distressed firms are tempted to enhance ESG disclosure as it provides higher performance in terms of financial and market perspectives. ESG disclosure needs substantial resources, which financially distressed firms may not be able to provide. In Indonesian settings, we find that financially distressed firms have lower ESG disclosure quality than non-distressed firms. Our results are robust due to lagged variable, Heckman’s two stages, and coarsened exact matching regression showing consistent results. Furthermore, our results are consistent with three years of rolling windows of financial distress and all sections of ESG reporting, except the general information section. This study extends the scope of prior studies by focusing on firms’ eagerness to provide higher quality ESG disclosure, particularly distressed firms.
The Drivers of the Sustainability of Spanish Wineries: Resources and Capabilities
Authors: García-Cortijo María Carmen , Ferrer Juan R. , Castillo-Valero Juan Sebastián , Pinilla Vicente
Published: September 2021

This article aims to determine which of a firm’s resources are drivers of its decisions on sustainability policies. For this purpose, it analyses four of the resources that the literature has linked with sustainability: (1) marketing resources, (2) technological resources, (3) innovation resources and (4) financial resources. The study focuses on Spain, which has the largest surface area under vine in the world. The database for the empirical analysis was drawn up from a survey among wineries carried out during 2020 and 2021. A total of 411 observations were valid. From the quantitative analysis, based on Box–Cox models, it can be concluded that adopting sustainability policies requires placing stress on innovation and on the capacity for communicating such innovations so that consumers perceive them as a change for the better; having greater technological or financial resources seems to be insufficient and of little importance. The results indicate that promoting funding and resource availability as basic tools should be reviewed in sustainability policies for wine firms.
A Two-Stage Optimal Dispatching Model for Micro Energy Grid Considering the Dual Goals of Economy and Environmental Protection under CVaR
Authors: Dong Jun , Zhang Yaoyu , Wang Yuanyuan , Liu Yao
Published: September 2021

With the development of distributed renewable energy, a micro-energy grid (MEG) is an important way to solve the problem of energy supply in the future. A two-stage optimal scheduling model considering economy and environmental protection is proposed to solve the problem of optimal scheduling of micro-energy grid with high proportion of renewable energy system (RES) and multiple energy storage systems (ESS), in which the risk is measured by conditional value-at-risk (CVaR). The results show that (a) this model can realize the optimal power of various energy equipment, promote the consumption of renewable energy, and the optimal operating cost of the system is 34873 USD. (b) The dispatch of generating units is different under different risk coefficients λ, which leads to different dispatch cost and risk cost, and the two costs cannot be optimal at the same time. The risk coefficient λ shall be determined according to the degree of risk preference of the decision-maker. (c) The proposed optimal model could balance economic objectives and environmental objectives, and rationally control its pollutant emission level while pursuing the minimum operation costs. Therefore, the proposed model can not only reduce the operation cost based on the consideration of system carbon emissions but also provide decision-makers with decision-making support by measuring the risk.
Distributed Ledger for Cybersecurity: Issues and Challenges in Railways
Authors: Patwardhan Amit , Thaduri Adithya , Karim Ramin
Published: September 2021

The railway is a complex technical system of systems in a multi-stakeholder environment. The implementation of digital technologies is essential for achieving operational excellence and addressing stakeholders’ needs and requirements in relation to the railways. Digitalization is highly dependent on an appropriate digital infrastructure provided through proper information logistics, whereas cybersecurity is critical for the overall security and safety of the railway systems. However, it is important to understand the various issues and challenges presented by governance, business, and technical requirements. Hence, this paper is the first link in the chain to explore, understand, and address such requirements. The purpose of this paper is to identify aspects of distributed ledgers and to provide a taxonomy of issues and challenges to develop a secure and resilient data sharing framework for railway stakeholders.
Individual and Economic Characteristics as Determinants of Brazilian Runners’ Motivation
Authors: Thuany Mabliny , Malchrowicz-Mośko Ewa , Waśkiewicz Zbigniew , Gomes Thayse Natacha
Published: September 2021

Due to differences in runners’ profiles, which can be related to sociodemographic characteristics, motivations for running can vary. This study aimed to identify Brazilian runners’ motivations for their practice, and the factors associated among runners who point to look for performance improvement as their main motivation. The sample comprised 1097 non-professional road runners. The questionnaire “Profile characterization and associated factors for runner’s performance” was used. The results showed that the oldest athletes and those with the highest income levels presented lower likelihood of reporting performance improvement as their main motivation for taking part in running. In terms of income level, results showed that as this increased, there was a lower chance of getting involved in practice with a focus on incremental improvements in performance. Differences between sexes were also observed, with men more likely to indicate performance improvement as their motivation for running. In Brazil, most runners reported “health” as their main motivation for running. Women, older runners, and those with higher income levels were less likely to point to performance improvements as their main motivation for taking up running.
Dynamic Role and Importance of Multi-Kingdom Communities in Mediterranean Wood-Pastures
Authors: Topalidou Eleni , Solomou Alexandra D. , Santos Susana S. , Krystallidou Evdokia , Kakara Styliani , Mantzanas Konstantinos
Published: September 2021

Wood-pastures are among the most valuable types of farmland for ecosystem services, including biodiversity, landscape, soil protection, water management and cultural values. This paper reviews the scientific literature regarding the dynamic role and importance of plant, fungal and ruminant communities in Mediterranean wood-pastures and assesses the favorable and unfavorable aspects of their occurrence through grazing management. The grasslands of the Mediterranean region play an important role both in forage material production and the conservation of biodiversity in plant communities and at the landscape level. These two management purposes are not conflicting but complementary when the management is based upon the knowledge of the effect of grazing on the ecology of these ecosystems. Conclusively, vascular plant, fungal and ruminant communities have a strong influence on ecosystem structure and functioning and they play a key role in many ecological services. Hence, integrated studies which combine multi-level ecological research are essential in order to identify regional and/or national needs in terms of biodiversity, genetic resources, sustainable rural development and conservation policies.
Inclusion of Education for Sustainable Development in Environmental Engineering. A Systematic Review
Authors: Acosta Castellanos Pedro Mauricio , Queiruga-Dios Araceli , Álvarez Lina González
Published: September 2021

Sustainable development (SD) is a global commitment, in the economic, social, and environmental terms of the 21st century. The SD integrates conventional development models that seek economic growth and human development, within the framework of respect and sustainable use of natural resources. This challenge must involve all levels of society. Higher education is not an exception, since universities must strive for knowledge, research, and innovation to promote SD. To achieve this, education for sustainable development (ESD) has been especially promoted by the United Nations. ESD is an indirect measurement instrument for the inclusion of SD in higher education curricula. Environmental engineering is one of the areas of most recent creation and expansion of engineering, this undergraduate program seeks to solve the environmental problems generated by the economic development of human beings, applying the theory, techniques, and technologies of engineering. With this systematic literature review (SLR), we were able to answer different research questions posed towards the most relevant competencies, techniques, and tools for the inclusion of ESD in the environmental engineering curriculum. This SLR was developed by searching the Science Direct, Scopus, and ERIC databases. We were able to identify success stories for the inclusion of ESD and some gaps in promoting ESD within undergraduate programs in environmental engineering. Likewise, we find the most applied activities, tools, and competencies within this engineering field that are part of ESD and promote SD from the curriculum.
Development of a Smart Manufacturing Execution System Architecture for SMEs: A Czech Case Study
Authors: Pfeifer Marcel Rolf
Published: September 2021

This study investigates the application of a smart manufacturing execution system (SMES) based on the current controlling structure in a medium-sized company in the Czech Republic. Based on existing approaches on the architecture of SMESs, this paper develops a sample architecture grounded in the current controlling structure of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). While only a few papers on approaches to the given topic exist, this approach makes use of operative production controlling data and uses a standardisation module to provide standardised data. The sample architecture was validated with a case study on a Czech SME. This case study was conducted on two different entities of one production company suggesting differences in the entities due to the nature of production. The research showed that simple tasks with intelligent welding equipment allow for a working SMES architecture, while complex assembly works with a high extent of human labour, and a high number of components still remain an obstacle. This research contributes to gathering more understanding of SMES architectures in SMEs by making use of a standardisation module.
Effects of Different Irrigation Management Practices on Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.)
Authors: Crosby Trevor W. , Wang Yi
Published: September 2021

Decisions in irrigation management can greatly impact the overall sustainability of potato production. A field study was conducted in 2018 and 2019 to evaluate the impacts of different irrigation regimes on yield and quality of three russet potato varieties. For Russet Burbank, fry quality at harvest and at 4 and 8 months after harvest was assessed. During early growth stages, the standard practice of irrigating to maintain 60–80% soil moisture was employed. The irrigation treatments were applied during the late tuber bulking and maturation growth stages, and consisted of irrigation at 125%, 100%, 75%, and 50% of daily evapotranspiration (ET). We found that 125%ET provided no increase in total yield and marketable yield compared to other treatments in 2018, and it produced similar marketable yield to 100%ET in 2019. Total yield, but not marketable yield, of 125%ET and 100%ET was significantly higher than the number under 50%ET in 2019. In both years, increasing irrigation rate led to a decrease in irrigation efficiency and water-use efficiency. Irrigation rate had no significant effects on tuber quality at harvest and during storage. This study indicated that over-irrigation at 125%ET was not beneficial to profitable potato production in the Upper Midwest of the US, and deficit irrigation at 75%ET during late tuber bulking and tuber maturation could potentially result in more sustainable water use while not jeopardizing tuber growth. The results support the possibility of adopting late-season deficit irrigation for growing potatoes in the region, though more years of research would allow for a better understanding of the impacts of this practice.
Pseudo Almost Automorphic Solutions for Stochastic Differential Equations Driven by Lévy Noise and Its Optimal Control
Authors: Tang Chao , Hou Rong
Published: September 2021

As we know, the periodic functions are symmetric within a cycle time, and it is meaningful to generalize the periodicity into more general cases, such as almost periodicity or almost automorphy. In this work, we introduce the concept of Poisson Sγ2-pseudo almost automorphy (or Poisson generalized Stepanov-like pseudo almost automorphy) for stochastic processes, which are almost-symmetric within a suitable period, and establish some useful properties of such stochastic processes, including the composition theorems. In addition, we apply a Krasnoselskii–Schaefer type fixed point theorem to obtain the existence of pseudo almost automorphic solutions in distribution for some semilinear stochastic differential equations driven by Lévy noise under Sγ2-pseudo almost automorphic coefficients. In addition, then we establish optimal control results on the bounded interval. Finally, an example is provided to illustrate the theoretical results obtained in this paper.
New Features in Crystal Orientation and Phase Mapping for Transmission Electron Microscopy
Authors: Rauch Edgar , Harrison Patrick , Zhou Xuyang , Herbig Michael , Ludwig Wolfgang , Véron Muriel
Published: September 2021

ACOM/TEM is an automated electron diffraction pattern indexing tool that enables the structure, phase and crystallographic orientation of materials to be routinely determined. The software package, which is part of ACOM/TEM, has substantially evolved over the last fifteen years and has pioneered numerous additional functions with the constant objective of improving its capabilities to make the tremendous amount of information contained in the diffraction patterns easily available to the user. Initially devoted to the analysis of local crystallographic texture, and as an alternative to both X-ray pole figure measurement and EBSD accessories for scanning electron microscopes, it has rapidly proven itself effective to distinguish multiple different phases contained within a given sample, including amorphous phases. Different strategies were developed to bypass the inherent limitations of transmission electron diffraction patterns, such as 180° ambiguities or the complexity of patterns produced from overlapping grains. Post processing algorithms have also been developed to improve the angular resolution and to increase the computing rate. The present paper aims to review some of these facilities. On-going works on 3D reconstruction are also introduced.
Mass and Rate of Hierarchical Black Hole Mergers in Young, Globular and Nuclear Star Clusters
Authors: Mapelli Michela , Santoliquido Filippo , Bouffanais Yann , Arca Sedda Manuel , Artale Maria Celeste , Ballone Alessandro
Published: September 2021

Hierarchical mergers are one of the distinctive signatures of binary black hole (BBH) formation through dynamical evolution. Here, we present a fast semi-analytic approach to simulate hierarchical mergers in nuclear star clusters (NSCs), globular clusters (GCs) and young star clusters (YSCs). Hierarchical mergers are more common in NSCs than they are in both GCs and YSCs because of the different escape velocity. The mass distribution of hierarchical BBHs strongly depends on the properties of first-generation BBHs, such as their progenitor’s metallicity. In our fiducial model, we form black holes (BHs) with masses up to ∼103 M⊙ in NSCs and up to ∼102 M⊙ in both GCs and YSCs. When escape velocities in excess of 100 km s−1 are considered, BHs with mass >103 M⊙ are allowed to form in NSCs. Hierarchical mergers lead to the formation of BHs in the pair instability mass gap and intermediate-mass BHs, but only in metal-poor environments. The local BBH merger rate in our models ranges from ∼10 to ∼60 Gpc−3 yr−1; hierarchical BBHs in NSCs account for ∼10−2–0.2 Gpc−3 yr−1, with a strong upper limit of ∼10 Gpc−3 yr−1. When comparing our models with the second gravitational-wave transient catalog, we find that multiple formation channels are favored to reproduce the observed BBH population.
Adsorption Characteristics of Banana Peel in the Removal of Dyes from Textile Effluent
Authors: Akter Maimuna , Rahman Fahim Bin Abdur , Abedin M. Zainal , Kabir S M Fijul
Published: September 2021

Disposal of reactive dye contaminants in surface waters causes serious health risks to the aquatic living bodies and populations adjacent to the polluted water sources. This study investigated the applicability of banana peels to remediate water contamination with reactive dyes used in the textile industry. A set of batch experiments was conducted using a standard dye solution to determine optimum adsorption parameters, and these parameters were used for the removal of dyes from actual wastewater. Fitting experimental data into the isotherm and kinetic models suggested monolayer dye adsorption with chemisorption rate-limiting step. The maximum adsorption found from modeling results was 28.8 mg/g. Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectra revealed the existence of hydroxyl, amine and carboxylic groups, contributing to high adsorption of dye molecules onto the adsorbent surface. About 93% of the dyes from the standard solution were removed at optimum conditions (pH—7.0, initial dye concentration—100 mg/L, contact time—60 min, and adsorbent dose—0.5 g) while this value was 84.2% for industrial textile wastewater. This difference was mainly attributed to the composition difference between the solutions. However, the removal efficiency for actual wastewater is still significant, indicating the high potentiality of banana peel removing dyes from textile effluent. Furthermore, desorption studies showed about 95% of banana peel can be recovered with simple acid-base treatment.
Blood Toxic Elements and Effects on Plasma Vitamins and Carotenoids in Two Wild Bird Species: Turdus merula and Columba livia
Authors: Sánchez-Virosta Pablo , Zamora-Marín José , León-Ortega Mario , Jiménez Pedro , Rivas Silvia , Sánchez-Morales Lidia , Camarero Pablo , Mateo Rafael , Zumbado Manuel , Luzardo Octavio , Eeva Tapio , García-Fernández Antonio , Espín Silvia
Published: September 2021

Birds have historically suffered adverse effects by toxic elements, such as As, Pb, Hg, and Cd. However, reports on exposure to a wide range of elements, including rare earth elements and other minor elements of emerging concern, and the potential consequences for wildlife are still scarce. This study evaluates blood concentrations of 50 elements and their related effects on lutein and vitamin levels in the Eurasian blackbird (Turdus merula) and wild rock pigeon (Columba livia), inhabiting different scenarios of contaminant exposure. Blood concentrations of As, Cd, and Pb (and Mn in T. merula) were increased in both species captured in the mining area, compared to the control site. T. merula also showed increased As, Cd, and Pb concentrations in blood in the agricultural–urban area, as compared to the control area, together with the highest Hg levels, which could be related to agricultural practices and industrial activities. Decreases of 33 and 38% in the plasma retinol levels in T. merula inhabiting the mining and the agricultural–urban areas, respectively, as compared to the control site, were associated with increased Pb, As, and Cd exposure. This could be due to a metal-driven suppressive effect in retinol metabolism and/or its over-use for coping with metal-related oxidative stress.
AGB Stars and Their Circumstellar Envelopes: An Operative Approach to Computing Their Atmospheres
Authors: Crivellari Lucio , Cristallo Sergio , Piersanti Luciano
Published: September 2021

The study of AGB stars necessarily covers a wide range of topics, from the primary astronomical observations to their interpretation in terms of fundamental physics. All that requires proper ad hoc methodologies, among which numerical modeling of the outer layers of AGB stars plays a paramount role. In this paper, we present an iterative sequential procedure, operative and physically sound, tailored to compute extended stellar atmospheres. It will constitute the backbone of the in fieri TEIDE package to be implemented into our VULCAN code. Such an improvement will allow us to compute more realistic models of the extended atmospheres of AGB stars taking into account important physical aspects that are neglected in the actual version of VULCAN.
Factors Determining Transmission of Persistent Viruses by Bemisia tabaci and Emergence of New Virus–Vector Relationships
Authors: Ghosh Saptarshi , Ghanim Murad
Published: September 2021

Many plant viruses depend on insect vectors for their transmission and dissemination. The whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is one of the most important virus vectors, transmitting more than four hundred virus species, the majority belonging to begomoviruses (Geminiviridae), with their ssDNA genomes. Begomoviruses are transmitted by B. tabaci in a persistent, circulative manner, during which the virus breaches barriers in the digestive, hemolymph, and salivary systems, and interacts with insect proteins along the transmission pathway. These interactions and the tissue tropism in the vector body determine the efficiency and specificity of the transmission. This review describes the mechanisms involved in circulative begomovirus transmission by B. tabaci, focusing on the most studied virus in this regard, namely the tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) and its closely related isolates. Additionally, the review aims at drawing attention to the recent knowhow of unorthodox virus—B. tabaci interactions. The recent knowledge of whitefly-mediated transmission of two recombinant poleroviruses (Luteoviridae), a virus group with an ssRNA genome and known to be strictly transmitted with aphids, is discussed with its broader context in the emergence of new whitefly-driven virus diseases.
Special Issue “Immune Ontogeny and Vaccination in Early Life: How the Non-Human Primate Model Can Help Expand the Current Knowledge in Pediatric Immunology and Infectious Diseases Research”
Authors: Seddiki Nabila , Le Grand Roger
Published: September 2021

The development of the immune system requires a number of changes that occur during the first months of life [...]
Erosion Resistance Performance of Surface-Reinforced Levees Using Novel Biopolymers Investigated via Real-Scale Overtopping Experiments
Authors: Kang Woochul , Ko Dongwoo , Kang Joongu
Published: September 2021

This study evaluates a novel biopolymer-based material reinforcement method. A real-scale experiment minimizing flood disasters and economic losses incurred by the collapse of river levees due to overtopping was conducted. At the Andong River Experiment Center, lateral overflow was reproduced to induce levee collapse using sand, reinforced novel materials, and vegetation levees represented as cases 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The flow in the upstream and downstream areas was measured, and fluctuations in the lateral overflow discharge were calculated using an acoustic Doppler current profiler. To quantitatively verify the performance of this method, the collapse delay effect based on the surface loss rate of the levee slope was analyzed using image pixel analysis and three-dimensional point cloud modeling. Comparing the collapse delay effect of the new-material levee with that of the non-reinforced levees, we found a time delay of approximately 2.7–7 times from the occurrence of overtopping via the lateral flow to the end of the test. These results indicate that we can secure time for emergency repairs and operations by reinforcing the levee surface using the material proposed in this study. These research findings are expected to provide the basis for the proper design and construction of river levees.
Clarification of Biologically Treated Wastewater in a Clarifier with Suspended Sludge Layer
Authors: Kolpakova Valentina , Ospanov Kairat , Kuldeyev Erzhan , Andraka Dariusz
Published: September 2021

The article presents the results of an experimental study on the clarification of biologically treated wastewater in a clarifier with a suspended sludge layer. The pilot plant was receiving effluent from trickling filters treating municipal wastewater. An experimental clarifier worked under steady-state conditions considering the influent characteristics and variable operating parameters in terms of flow velocities and height of the suspended layer. From the experimental dependences between different technological parameters it was found that the optimum range of the upward flow velocities providing a dynamic equilibrium of the suspended layer was 0.6–1.4 mm/s. Upward flow velocities below 0.5 mm/s can lead to sludge compaction at the bottom of the unit, while values greater than 1.8 mm/s may cause sludge washout. It was also found that higher suspended layer height values favor higher efficiency of the clarifier and can achieve suspended solids in the discharge of less than 5.0 mg/L; this height should be greater than 0.6 m Technological efficiency of the experimental clarifier was significantly higher than the conventional unit and was comparable with tertiary treatment technologies.