bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Application of Breakthrough Pressure in the Evaluation of the Sealing Ability of Cement–Casing Interface and Cement Matrix in Underground Gas-Storage Wells
Authors: Yang Yan , Li Lukuan , Yu Wenyan , Zhou Yan , Zhu Kuanliang , Yuan Bin
Published: March 2022

This paper proposes an evaluation system for the sealing ability of cement–casing interface and cement matrix, which was developed based on a permeability testing device and a model that predicts the breakthrough pressure of cement sheath matrix and interfacial transition zone (ITZ). It was found that the breakthrough pressure of ITZ was much smaller than that of cement matrix. Moreover, compared with water-based drilling fluid, oil-based one led to lower breakthrough pressure of ITZ even after the flushing treatment. Meanwhile, latex, resin and elastic materials enabled a substantial rise in the breakthrough pressure of cement matrix. However, compared with the latex, resin and elastic cement, the expansive cement had higher breakthrough pressure of ITZ, indicating an improvement on the interface sealing ability. Additionally, a small enlargement rate of the hole diameter and long effective bond were able to prevent gas storage wells from leakage.
Natality and Relational Transcendence in Humanist Chaplaincy
Authors: Wojtkowiak Joanna , Schuhmann Carmen
Published: March 2022

Every life has a beginning and an end. Natality and mortality are both profound existential fundaments of life that may lead us to question meaning in life as well as to find meaning. In spiritual care, the focus is often on mortality as a source of existential suffering, and on ways to deal with such suffering according to worldview traditions. In humanist traditions, mortality is not only seen as an existential threat but also as an existential given that people need to embrace to find meaning in life. Natality has received much less attention, both in spiritual care and in humanist thought. In this article, we build on philosophical ideas of Arendt and Butler to explore the significance of natality for a humanist perspective on meaning in life and spiritual care. We argue that taking natality into account results in a relational understanding of humanist spiritual care in which the notion of “relational transcendence” is a central element. Natality also means that we can initiate, create, and act in the world, which highlights the political dimension of humanist spiritual care. We reflect on the implications of natality and relational transcendence for humanist spirituality and chaplaincy and formulate some concrete building blocks for working from this perspective.
Evaluating Groundwater Storage Change and Recharge Using GRACE Data: A Case Study of Aquifers in Niger, West Africa
Authors: Barbosa Sergio A. , Pulla Sarva T. , Williams Gustavious P. , Jones Norman L. , Mamane Bako , Sanchez Jorge L.
Published: March 2022

Accurately assessing groundwater storage changes in Niger is critical for long-term water resource management but is difficult due to sparse field data. We present a study of groundwater storage changes and recharge in Southern Niger, computed using data from NASA Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission. We compute a groundwater storage anomaly estimate by subtracting the surface water anomaly provided by the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) model from the GRACE total water storage anomaly. We use a statistical model to fill gaps in the GRACE data. We analyze the time period from 2002 to 2021, which corresponds to the life span of the GRACE mission, and show that there is little change in groundwater storage from 2002–2010, but a steep rise in storage from 2010–2021, which can partially be explained by a period of increased precipitation. We use the Water Table Fluctuation method to estimate recharge rates over this period and compare these values with previous estimates. We show that for the time range analyzed, groundwater resources in Niger are not being overutilized and could be further developed for beneficial use. Our estimated recharge rates compare favorably to previous estimates and provide managers with the data required to understand how much additional water could be extracted in a sustainable manner.
Comparison of the Potential Impact to the Prediction of Typhoons of Various Microwave Sounders Onboard a Geostationary Satellite
Authors: Chen Ke , Wu Guangwei
Published: March 2022

A microwave radiometer onboard a geostationary satellite can provide for the continuous atmospheric sounding of rapidly evolving convective events even in the presence of clouds, which has aroused great research interest in recent decades. To approach the problem of high-spatial resolution and large-size antennas, three promising geostationary microwave (GEO-MW) solutions—geostationary microwave radiometer (GMR) with a 5 m real aperture antenna, geostationary synthetic thinned aperture radiometer (GeoSTAR) with a Y-shaped synthetic aperture array, and geostationary interferometric microwave sounder (GIMS) with a rotating circular synthetic aperture array—have been proposed. To compare the potential impact of assimilating the three GEO-MW sounders to typhoon prediction, observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs) with the simulated 50–60 GHz observing brightness temperature data were conducted using the mesoscale numerical model Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) and WRF Date Assimilation-Four dimensional variational (WRFDA-4Dvar) assimilation system for Typhoons Hagibis and Bualoi which occurred in 2019. The results show that the assimilation of the three GEO-MW instruments with 4 channels of data at 50–60 GHz could lead to general positive impacts in this study. Compared with the control experiment, for the two cases of Bualoi and Hagibis, GMR improves the average 72 h typhoon track forecast accuracy by 24% and 43%, GeoSTAR by 33% and 50%, and GIMS by 10% and 29%, respectively. Overall, the three GEO-MW instruments show considerable promise in atmospheric sounding and data assimilation. The difference among these positive impacts seems to depend on the observation error of the three potential instruments. GeoSTAR is slightly better than the other two GEO-MW sounders, which may be because it has the smallest observation error of the 4 assimilation channels. Generally, this study illustrates that the performance of these three GEO-MW sounders is potentially adequate to support assimilation into numerical weather prediction models for typhoon prediction.
Arbitrarily Oriented Dense Object Detection Based on Center Point Network in Remote Sensing Images
Authors: Wang Peng , Niu Yanxiong , Wang Jing , Ma Fu , Zhang Chunxi
Published: March 2022

Arbitrarily oriented object detection has recently attracted increasing attention for its wide applications in remote sensing. However, it is still a challenge for detection algorithms because of complex scenes, small size, rotation, densely parked. And angle discontinuity at the boundary is an important factor restricting model performance. In this paper, we propose an anchor-free approach for the high-precision detection of rotated objects. Firstly, our model achieves the classification and localization of an object by detecting its center point. Secondly, we convert the regression task of angle into a classification task and utilize the periodicity and symmetry of the transformation function to eliminate the disturbance of angle discontinuity. Thirdly, the dynamic gradient adjustment method is applied to suppress the negative effects of sample imbalance on the classification task. In addition, we proposed a union loss function to achieve accurate and stable regression of the rotated bounding box. We perform a series of ablation experiments to validate the effectiveness of the improvements. The experimental results obtained on several publicly available remote sensing datasets show that the proposed method has a higher detection accuracy, and it can be applied to efficiently identify rotated objects in remote sensing images.
Identifying the Potential Dam Sites to Avert the Risk of Catastrophic Floods in the Jhelum Basin, Kashmir, NW Himalaya, India
Authors: Rather Muzamil Ahmad , Meraj Gowhar , Farooq Majid , Shiekh Bashir Ahmad , Kumar Pankaj , Kanga Shruti , Singh Suraj Kumar , Sahu Netrananda , Tiwari Surya Prakash
Published: March 2022

In September 2014, Kashmir witnessed a catastrophic flood resulting in a significant loss of lives and property. Such massive losses could have been avoided if any structural support such as dams were constructed in the Jhelum basin, which has a history of devastating floods. The GIS-based multicriteria analysis (MCA) model provided three suitability zones for dam locations. The final suitable dam sites were identified within the highest suitability zone based on topography (cross-sections), stream order, high suitable zone, minimum dam site interval, distance from roads, and protected area distance to the dam site. It was discovered that 10.98% of the total 4347.74 km2 area evaluated falls in the high suitability zone, 28.88% of the area falls in the medium suitability zone, and 60.14% of the area falls in the low suitability zone. Within the study area, four viable reservoir sites with a holding capacity of 4,489,367.55 m3 were revealed.
Evaluating the Feasibility of a Low-Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Sensor for Manure Nutrient Prediction
Authors: Feng Xiaoyu , Larson Rebecca A. , Digman Matthew F.
Published: March 2022

Livestock manure is typically applied to fertilize crops, however the accurate determination of manure nutrient composition through a reliable method is important to optimize manure application rates that maximize crop yields and prevent environmental contamination. Existing laboratory methods can be time consuming, expensive, and generally the results are not provided prior to manure application. In this study, the evaluation of a low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) sensor designated for manure nutrient prediction was assessed. Twenty dairy manure samples were analyzed for total solid (TS), total nitrogen (TN), ammoniacal nitrogen (NH4-N), and total phosphorus (TP) in a certified laboratory and in parallel using the NMR analyzer. The linear regression of NMR prediction versus lab measurements for TS had an R2 value of 0.86 for samples with TS < 8%, and values of 0.94 and 0.98 for TN and NH4-N, respectively, indicating good correlations between NMR prediction and lab measurements. The TP prediction of NMR for all samples agreed with the lab analysis with R2 greater than 0.87. The intra- and inter-sample variations of TP measured by NMR were significantly larger than other parameters suggesting less robustness in TP prediction. The results of this study indicate low-field NMR is a rapid method that has a potential to be utilized as an alternative to laboratory analysis of manure nutrients, however, further investigation is needed before wide application for on farm analysis.
Speech Enhancement by Multiple Propagation through the Same Neural Network
Authors: Grzywalski Tomasz , Drgas Szymon
Published: March 2022

Monaural speech enhancement aims to remove background noise from an audio recording containing speech in order to improve its clarity and intelligibility. Currently, the most successful solutions for speech enhancement use deep neural networks. In a typical setting, such neural networks process the noisy input signal once and produces a single enhanced signal. However, it was recently shown that a U-Net-based network can be trained in such a way that allows it to process the same input signal multiple times in order to enhance the speech even further. Unfortunately, this was tested only for two-iteration enhancement. In the current research, we extend previous efforts and demonstrate how the multi-forward-pass speech enhancement can be successfully applied to other architectures, namely the ResBLSTM and Transformer-Net. Moreover, we test the three architectures with up to five iterations, thus identifying the method’s limit in terms of performance gain. In our experiments, we used the audio samples from the WSJ0, Noisex-92, and DCASE datasets and measured speech enhancement quality using SI-SDR, STOI, and PESQ. The results show that performing speech enhancement up to five times still brings improvements to speech intelligibility, but the gain becomes smaller with each iteration. Nevertheless, performing five iterations instead of two gives additional a 0.6 dB SI-SDR and four-percentage-point STOI gain. However, these increments are not equal between different architectures, and the U-Net and Transformer-Net benefit more from multi-forward pass compared to ResBLSTM.
ARACAM: A RGB-D Multi-View Photogrammetry System for Lower Limb 3D Reconstruction Applications
Authors: Barreto Marco A. , Perez-Gonzalez Jorge , Herr Hugh M. , Huegel Joel C.
Published: March 2022

In the world, there is a growing need for lower limb prostheses due to a rising number of amputations caused primarily, by diabetic foot. Researchers enable functional and comfortable prostheses through prosthetic design by integrating new technologies applied to the traditional handcrafted method for prosthesis fabrication that is still current. That is why computer vision shows to be a promising tool for the integration of 3D reconstruction that may be useful for prosthetic design. This work has the objective to design, prototype, and test a functional system to scan plaster cast molds, which may serve as a platform for future technologies for lower limb reconstruction applications. The image capture system comprises 5 stereoscopic color and depth cameras, each with 4 DOF mountings on an enveloping frame, as well as algorithms for calibration, segmentation, registration, and surface reconstruction. The segmentation metrics of dice coefficient and Hausdorff distance (HD) show strong visual similarity with an average similarity of 87% and average error of 6.40 mm, respectively. Moving forward, the system was tested on a known 3D printed model obtained from a computer tomography scan to which comparison results via HD show an average error of ≤1.93 mm thereby making the system competitive against the systems reviewed from the state-of-the-art.
Phonomyography on Perioperative Neuromuscular Monitoring: An Overview
Authors: Dong Yanjie , Li Qian
Published: March 2022

Complications related to neuromuscular blockade (NMB) could occur during anesthesia induction, maintenance, and emergency. It is recommended that neuromuscular monitoring techniques be utilized perioperatively to avoid adverse outcomes. However, current neuromuscular monitoring methods possess different shortcomings. They are cumbersome to use, susceptible to disturbances, and have limited alternative monitoring sites. Phonomyography (PMG) monitoring based on the acoustic signals yielded by skeletal muscle contraction is emerging as an interesting and innovative method. This technique is characterized by its convenience, stable signal quality, and multimuscle recording ability and shows great potential in the application field. This review summarizes the progression of PMG on perioperative neuromuscular monitoring chronologically and presents the merits, demerits, and challenges of PMG-based equipment, aiming at underscoring the potential of PMG-based apparatuses for neuromuscular monitoring.
Blockchain-Based Security Mechanisms for IoMT Edge Networks in IoMT-Based Healthcare Monitoring Systems
Authors: Pelekoudas-Oikonomou Filippos , Zachos Georgios , Papaioannou Maria , de Ree Marcus , Ribeiro José C. , Mantas Georgios , Rodriguez Jonathan
Published: March 2022

Despite the significant benefits that the rise of Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) can bring into citizens’ quality of life by enabling IoMT-based healthcare monitoring systems, there is an urgent need for novel security mechanisms to address the pressing security challenges of IoMT edge networks in an effective and efficient manner before they gain the trust of all involved stakeholders and reach their full potential in the market of next generation IoMT-based healthcare monitoring systems. In this context, blockchain technology has been foreseen by the industry and research community as a disruptive technology that can be integrated into novel security solutions for IoMT edge networks, as it can play a significant role in securing IoMT devices and resisting unauthorized access during data transmission (i.e., tamper-proof transmission of medical data). However, despite the fact that several blockchain-based security mechanisms have already been proposed in the literature for different types of IoT edge networks, there is a lack of blockchain-based security mechanisms for IoMT edge networks, and thus more effort is required to be put on the design and development of security mechanisms relying on blockchain technology for such networks. Towards this direction, the first step is the comprehensive understanding of the following two types of blockchain-based security mechanisms: (a) the very few existing ones specifically designed for IoMT edge networks, and (b) those designed for other types of IoT networks but could be possibly adopted in IoMT edge networks due to similar capabilities and technical characteristics. Therefore, in this paper, we review the state-of-the-art of the above two types of blockchain-based security mechanisms in order to provide a foundation for organizing research efforts towards the design and development of reliable blockchain-based countermeasures, addressing the pressing security challenges of IoMT edge networks in an effective and efficient manner.
Improving Experiences of the Menopause for Women in Zimbabwe and South Africa: Co-Producing an Information Resource
Authors: Drew Sarah , Khutsoane Keabetswe , Buwu Nyasha , Gregson Celia L. , Micklesfield Lisa K. , Ferrand Rashida A. , Gooberman-Hill Rachael
Published: March 2022

Women in sub-Saharan Africa report multiple impacts of menopause on daily life and have requested further information to support themselves. This study co-produced contextually relevant resources—booklets and poster—about menopause with women in Zimbabwe and South Africa. The study was conducted in four stages: interviews with women about the menopause; the development of prototype information resources; workshops with women to discuss country-specific resources; and the refinement of resources. During the interviews, women explained that they had not received or accessed much information about the menopause and thought the physical and psychological issues associated with the menopause had to be “endured”. Prototype information resources comprised booklets and a poster with contextually relevant images and information. Workshop participants suggested several changes, including the addition of more diverse images and further information about treatments. The resources were refined, translated into several African languages, and endorsed by the Ministry of Health in Zimbabwe and the South African Menopause Society in South Africa. Women will be able to access resources through healthcare clinics, community groups and churches. Working with women and other stakeholders enabled a development that was cognisant of experiences and needs. Work is now needed to improve access to treatments and support for menopause to reduce health inequities.
Achieving Optimal Value of Solar: A Municipal Utility Rate Analysis
Authors: Saarloos Benjamin A. , Quinn Jason C.
Published: March 2022

Wind and solar renewable energy in the United States is projected to triple by 2050 to nearly 30% of total electric energy generation. The upper Midwest region (Iowa, Minnesota, and North and South Dakota in particular) is considered wind energy country and not historically known for solar energy development. In this work, Value of Solar (VOS) is developed as a photovoltaic (PV) optimization measure and analysis tool using a northwest Iowa municipality as a representative case study. By applying a top-down load duration curve system analysis, VOS is used to optimize PV orientation and compare electric rate structures for increasing levels of total PV energy contribution. VOS of a fixed south-southwest orientation exceeds the levelized annual costs of installation with a larger net benefit than a one-axis-tracking solar system. Production-data modeled VOS is up to 12% higher than Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) predictions, indicating significant correlation between PV generation and peak municipal demand. Compared to alternative time-of-use rates, a demand/energy rate structure better matches VOS economic value and optimal orientation. This VOS methodology is an easy-to-use yet meaningful tool for municipalities and smaller utilities to evaluate strategic installation of and investment in PV for their local community.
Enhancing Transient Response and Voltage Stability of Renewable Integrated Microgrids
Authors: Elkhidir Luay , Khan Khalid , Al-Muhaini Mohammad , Khalid Muhammad
Published: March 2022

Integration of renewable generation coupled with an energy storage system (ESS) in a power system increases the complexity of networks’ stability analysis and control. Therefore, an accurate stability assessment of power networks is expected to become a big challenge in the future. In this work, an effective approach to prevent power outage by controlling the source voltage of the power network is formulated to mitigate the effects of grid faults. Small signal stability studies are conducted on a renewable integrated IEEE 9 bus system as a case study with optimized size and allocation of ESS for reducing output power variability of renewables. An assessment is performed to study the effects of load-sharing devices on parallel generators under 6-cycle three-phase fault disturbances. The damping of the power network is increased at nominal and light loading conditions with 6-cycle three-phase fault disturbances through coordinated power system stabilizer (PSS) and static VAR compensator (SVC) at bus 9. The developed framework is extensively analyzed in steady-state conditions using a load flow program. Based on the results obtained, the proposed coordinated PSS-SVC device proves to possess comparatively better performance in terms of enhancing most of the system response rate under various load conditions with overall improved stability.
Cloud Computing, Big Data, and Blockchain Technology Adoption in ERP Implementation Methodology
Authors: Morawiec Patryk , Sołtysik-Piorunkiewicz Anna
Published: March 2022

The aim of the paper is to present the new factors of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning system) implementation related to the usage of cloud-based and blockchain information technology and to discover potential possibilities of using cloud computing, big data, and blockchain technologies in the methodology of ERP implementation. The article covers the characteristics of the current implementation methodologies and also discusses how these technologies can be adopted in the implementation process. During the study, a literature review was carried out and survey-based interviews with project managers were performed. Previous studies examined in the literature review have some limitations. Most of them are focused on ERP performance in the cloud or measure success factors of ERP implementation. A research gap exists regarding the impact of technologies in the implementation process and the results of this process. The research shed some light on cloud computing and blockchain in ERP implementation. The conclusions are as follows: (1) Some methods of sustainable methods of ERP implementation with the use of cloud technologies, blockchain, and big data have been examined in research studies, but there is still a lack of publications with in-depth analyses of the impact of blockchain on ERP implementation success. (2) The practitioners recommended the new technologies based on cloud computing and big data in the process of ERP implementation, and more knowledge about blockchain would have a positive impact on the success of sustainable ERP implementation as well as on the willingness to adopt the new technologies.
Spatial Dependencies and the Relationship between Subjective Perception and Objective Environmental Risks in Lithuania
Authors: Balžekienė Aistė , Telešienė Audronė , Morkevičius Vaidas
Published: March 2022

The effects of objective environmental indicators on subjective risk perceptions are under-researched and bring new frontiers to environmental risk perception research. The aim of this article is to analyze the spatial distribution of environmental risks in Lithuania, to identify social-psychological factors that determine variances of risk perception, and to contrast perception data with objective environmental data. This article is based on the representative national survey of 2007 respondents conducted from September to October of 2020 in Lithuania, and on the objective indicators of flood risk, air quality, water pollution, and forest fires. Analytical methods used in this article include spatial autocorrelation as well as spatial and linear regressions. Spatial analysis of objective environmental risk indicators reveal that the five biggest cities in Lithuania experience higher levels of environmental risks. Flood risk perceptions are spatially related to objective flood risks, and the relation is not significant for other types of risks. Place of residence, gender, education, and income are significant factors explaining risk perceptions. Place of residence is negatively moderating the effect of objective environmental risks on perceptions, as people in the biggest cities underestimate risks, especially from air pollution.
Exploring Categories of Self-Development of Novice Physical Education Teachers through Teacher Learning Community Activities
Authors: Kwon Minjung , Choi Yoonso
Published: March 2022

This study aims to discuss sustainable re-education of physical education teachers by deriving the types of self-development through novice physical education teachers’ experiences of teacher learning community activities. A qualitative research method was used with six physical education teachers from six middle schools located in the Seoul metropolitan area (Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon) in Korea, from which the following types of self-development were obtained: The first category of self-development is “to copy.” They accept everything as new and follow along. The second category is “to critique.” They compare, analyze and criticize each other’s classes with their community members. The third category is “to share.” They proactively share their ideas to transform “what is mine” into “what is ours.” The fourth category is “to create.” They build a new community that is suitable for them and create a process of giving and receiving help. In conclusion, we emphasized that teacher community learning activities of novice physical education teachers in Korea can provide an environment for the re-education of teachers that supports not only continuous self-development but also continuous professional development. As a follow-up study, we suggest a longitudinal study that will enable the understanding of physical education teachers’ continuous teacher learning community activities based on their stage of career growth as teachers. It will include a study on the continuity of re-education of physical education teachers according to the size of a teacher learning community or the relationships between members.
Prickly Pear (Opuntia spp.) as an Invasive Species and a Potential Fodder Resource for Ruminant Animals
Authors: Sipango Nkosomzi , Ravhuhali Khuliso Emmanuel , Sebola Nthabiseng Amenda , Hawu Onke , Mabelebele Monnye , Mokoboki Hilda Kwena , Moyo Bethwell
Published: March 2022

Worldwide, the invasiveness of Opuntia spp. and its impact on various ecosystem services has been recognised especially in semi-arid areas where rainfall is erratic. The semi-arid environments are the habitats of plants which have adapted to be able to grow in severe hot and dry regions. Opuntia spp. normally thrives in conditions of high temperatures, low rainfall, saline soils and it can also adapt and survive in severely degraded soils which have a limited nutrients supply. Its positive impact includes its recognised value as livestock fodder. Opuntia’s adaptability to harsh conditions, high dry matter yield, palatability and significant levels of energy, as well as its availability at a low cost during the dry season, decreases the use of expensive supplements and conventional diets in many areas. There is a need to understand the importance of this invasive Opuntia species when incorporated in animal diets. As a part of its control measures, the use of livestock in controlling the spread of Opuntia may assist in reducing its abundance and invasiveness while at the same time providing a consistent supply of forage during the dry season. Information on its nutritive value, incorporating the species in animal diets and the means to control it must be well understood to recognise the species’ contribution to an ecosystem.
Service Failure Risk Assessment and Service Improvement of Self-Service Electric Vehicle
Authors: Zhang Dianfeng , Li Yanlai , Li Yiqun , Shen Zifan
Published: March 2022

Electric vehicle sharing is necessary for achieving carbon neutrality. The self-service electric vehicle mode offers unique advantages in terms of freedom of movement and privacy protection. Meanwhile, this mode requires a high-quality service guarantee because of the separation of management and use. The purpose of this study is to propose a framework for the risk control and service optimization of self-service electric vehicles, which includes service life cycle analysis, risk assessment by using a newly integrated fuzzy failure mode and effect analysis, and a consumer satisfaction survey based on the Kano model. Sixteen services were extracted through the service life cycle analysis and online review study, and their corresponding service failures were then ranked through risk assessment. The risk assessment showed that the reliability of vehicle-related services has the greatest impact on safety, followed by financial-related and driving-safety-related services. A Kano model-based survey showed that all kinds of service failures brought significant customer non-satisfaction, while different service improvements brought differentiated satisfaction. To deeply improve service satisfaction, a Risk-Satisfaction analysis was conducted, indicating that services with high risk and high satisfaction deserve further investment.
Analysis of OpenStreetMap Data Quality for Selected Counties in Poland in Terms of Sustainable Development
Authors: Borkowska Sylwia , Pokonieczny Krzysztof
Published: March 2022

One potential source of geospatial open data for monitoring sustainable development goals (SDG) indicators is OpenStreetMap (OSM). The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the spatial data quality elements of OSM against the national official data—the database of topographic objects at a scale of 1:10,000. Such spatial data quality elements as location accuracy, data completeness and attribute compatibility were analysed. In the conducted OpenStreetMap tests, basic land-cover classes such as roads, railroads, river network, buildings, surface waters and forests were analysed. The test area of the study consisted of five counties in Poland, which differ in terms of location, relief, surface area and degree of urbanization. The best results of the quality of OSM spatial data were obtained for highly urbanized areas with developed infrastructure and a high degree of affluence. The highest degree of completeness of OSM linear and area objects in the studied counties was acquired in Piaseczyński County (82%). The lowest degree of completeness of the line and area objects of OSM in the studied counties was obtained in the Ostrowski County (51%). The calculated correlation coefficient between the quality of OSM data and the income per capita in the county was 0.96. The study complements the previous research results in the field of quantitative analysis of the quality of OSM data, and the obtained results confirm their dependence on the geometric type of the analysed objects and characteristics of test areas, i.e., in this case counties in Poland. The obtained results of OSM data quality analysis indicate that OSM data may provide strong support for other spatial data, including official and state data. OSM stores significant amounts of geospatial data with relatively high data quality that can be a valuable source for monitoring some SDG indicators.
Influence of Different Types of Wastes on Mechanical and Durability Properties of Interlocking Concrete Block Paving (ICBP): A Review
Authors: Bilir Turhan , Aygun Beyza Fahriye , Shi Jinyan , Gencel Osman , Ozbakkaloglu Togay
Published: March 2022

This paper examines the compressive, flexural and tensile strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity, unit weight, water absorption, freeze-thawing, thermal and abrasion resistance, and microstructural properties of Interlocking Concrete Block Paving (ICBP) containing major industrial and agricultural wastes along with an assessment of their environmental effects, with a specific focus on recent work. The color, shape, and patterns of the blocks, their advantages, and their relationship with sustainability are discussed in this study. In addition, a limited number of studies that investigated the use of other byproducts are presented. Based on a review of the existing studies in the literature, recommendations are made for future studies. It has been determined that up to 30% inclusion of waste evaluated in ICBP provides optimal performance in terms of the evaluated properties. Moreover, as ICBP provides opportunities for low-energy concrete block production, the environmental burden and total cost of concrete and concrete block pavements can be reduced. Considering these benefits, studies performed on this subject seem promising. However, one of the missing points in ICBP is that the surface layer is not homogeneous due to the presence of various material types due to the coating design and analysis method. Therefore, modified slab analysis, layered elastic analysis, and finite element analysis can be used to analyze ICBP in detail.
Developing a Green Governance Framework for the Performance Enhancement of the Oil and Gas Industry
Authors: Shah Syed Quaid Ali , Lai Fong-Woon , Shad Muhammad Kashif , Jan Ahmad Ali
Published: March 2022

Green governance is an emerging concept that has received considerable attention from academics and industry over the last decade. Nevertheless, limited evidence is available on how green governance can affect the overall performance of firms. Accordingly, the study develops a green governance framework and establishes its relationship with the firm performance measured through shareholder value-added. While developing a new framework, this study integrated enterprise risk management, sustainability indicators, and green board committees to provide a holistic view of green governance. A contentious examination of the extant literature indicates the efficacy of these factors in mitigating economic, social, environmental, and governance risks. Firms, coping with these risks through the execution of a green governance framework, ensure shareholders’ interest by enhancing their financial returns and stakeholders through promoting sustainability. The study provides theoretical and practical insights to the policymakers, regulators, and practitioners of the oil and gas industry in promoting sustainable and cleaner operations by executing a green governance framework. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to propose an integrated green governance framework for the performance enhancement of oil and gas companies.
Financial Shocks, Financial Stress and Financial Resilience of Australian Households during COVID-19
Authors: Sun Lan , Small Garrick , Huang Yueh-Hsia , Ger Tyng-Bin
Published: March 2022

The purpose of this article is to provide a review of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Australian household finances and understand how the pandemic has had significant repercussions for household finances and behaviours toward saving and spending goals. Based on a national survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in December 2020, we report that financial shocks continued to hit low-income households and one-parent families with dependent children the hardest. The lowest-income households had to forfeit a week’s worth of income on a less expensive shock but three times their weekly income to absorb a more expensive shock. The low-income households and one parent family with dependent children did well in following a budget, however, they were in a weak position when considering the ability to save regularly. The overall households also had a low rate of seeking financial information, counselling or advice from a professional. These findings will have implications for the policymakers and advisors who assist households in sustaining their finances and well-being.
Sharing the Burdens of Climate Mitigation and Adaptation: Incorporating Fairness Perspectives into Policy Optimization Models
Authors: Żebrowski Piotr , Dieckmann Ulf , Brännström Åke , Franklin Oskar , Rovenskaya Elena
Published: March 2022

Mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change can be addressed only through the collective action of multiple agents. The engagement of involved agents critically depends on their perception that the burdens and benefits of collective action are distributed fairly. Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs), which inform climate policies, focus on the minimization of costs and the maximization of overall utility, but they rarely pay sufficient attention to how costs and benefits are distributed among agents. Consequently, some agents may perceive the resultant model-based policy recommendations as unfair. In this paper, we propose how to adjust the objectives optimized within IAMs so as to derive policy recommendations that can plausibly be presented to agents as fair. We review approaches to aggregating the utilities of multiple agents into fairness-relevant social rankings of outcomes, analyze features of these rankings, and associate with them collections of properties that a model’s objective function must have to operationalize each of these rankings within the model. Moreover, for each considered ranking, we propose a selection of specific objective functions that can conveniently be used for generating this ranking in a model. Maximizing these objective functions within existing IAMs allows exploring and identifying climate polices to which multiple agents may be willing to commit.
Waste to Energy in Developing Countries—A Rapid Review: Opportunities, Challenges, and Policies in Selected Countries of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia towards Sustainability
Authors: Khan Imran , Chowdhury Shahariar , Techato Kuaanan
Published: March 2022

Daily per capita waste generation will increase by 40% and 19%, for developing and developed countries by 2050, respectively. The World Bank estimates that total waste generation is going to triple in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and double in South Asia (SA) by 2050. This article conducts a rapid review and aims to demonstrate the current waste management scenario and the potential of waste to energy generation in the developing world, focusing on SSA and SA. Although many review articles related to waste to energy (WtE) in developing countries are available in the literature, a rapid review particularly focusing on countries in SSA and SA is rarely seen. An analysis of different WtE generation technologies, and current waste management practices in developing countries in SSA and SA are also presented. The analysis shows that about three-fourths of waste is openly dumped in developing countries of SSA and SA. In terms of waste composition, on average, about 48.70% and 51.16% of waste generated in developing economies of SSA and SA are organic. Opportunities to convert this waste into energy for developing countries are highlighted, with a case study of Bangladesh, a country in SA. Major challenges regarding the waste to energy (WtE) projects in the developing world are found to be the composition of waste, absence of waste separation scheme at source, ineffective waste collection method, lack of suitable WtE generation technology in place, lack of financial support and policies related to a WtE project, and absence of coordination between different governmental institutions.
Livestock Innovations, Social Norms, and Women’s Empowerment in the Global South
Authors: Galiè Alessandra , Najjar Dina , Petesch Patti , Badstue Lone , Farnworth Cathy Rozel
Published: March 2022

Livestock have strong empowerment potential, particularly for women. They offer millions of women in the Global South the opportunity to provide protein-rich foods for home consumption and sale. Livestock provide women with income and opportunities to expand their livelihood portfolios and can strengthen women’s decision-making power. Fully realizing livestock’s empowerment potential for women is necessary for sustainable livestock development. It requires, though, that gender-equitable dynamics and norms are supported in rural communities. We draw on 73 village cases from 13 countries to explore women’s experiences with livestock-based livelihoods and technological innovations. Our analysis follows a gender empowerment framework comprised of four interdependent domains—recognition of women as livestock keepers, access to resources, access to opportunities, and decision making as a cross-cutting domain—which must come together if women are to become empowered through livestock. We find improved livestock breeds and associated innovations, such as fodder choppers or training, to provide significant benefits to women who can access these. This, nonetheless, has accentuated women’s double burdens. Another challenge is that even as women may be recognized in their community as livestock keepers, this recognition is much less common among external institutions. We present a case where this institutional recognition is forthcoming and illuminate the synergetic and empowering pathways unleashed by this as well as the barriers that remain.
CO2 Emissions Induced by Vehicles Cruising for Empty Parking Spaces in an Open Parking Lot
Authors: Paidi Vijay , Håkansson Johan , Fleyeh Hasan , Nyberg Roger G.
Published: March 2022

Parking lots are places of high air pollution as numerous vehicles cruise to find vacant parking places. Open parking lots receive high vehicle traffic, and when limited empty spaces are available it leads to problems, such as congestion, pollution, and driver frustration. Due to lack of return on investment, open parking lots are little studied, and there is a research gap in understanding the magnitude of CO2 emissions and cruising observed at open parking lots. Thus, this paper aims to estimate CO2 emissions and cruising distances observed at an open parking lot. A thermal camera was utilized to collect videos during peak and non-peak hours. The resulting videos were utilized to collect cruising trajectories of drivers searching for empty parking spaces. These trajectories were analyzed to identify optimal and non-optimal cruising, time to park, and walking distances of drivers. A new CO2 model was proposed to estimate emissions in smaller geographical regions, such as open parking lots. The majority of drivers tend to choose parking spaces near a shopping center, and they prefer to cruise non-optimal distances to find an empty parking space near the shopping center. The observed mean non-optimal cruising distance is 2.7 times higher than the mean optimal cruising distance. Excess CO2 emissions and non-optimal cruising were mainly observed during visitor peak hours when there were limited or no empty parking spaces. During visitor peak hours, several vehicles could not find an empty parking space in the region of interest, which also leads to excess cruising.
Financial Anxiety among International Students in Higher Education: A Comparative Analysis between International Students in the United States of America and China
Authors: Larbi Frank Okai , Ma Zaoming , Fang Zheng , Virlanuta Florina Oana , Bărbuță-Mișu Nicoleta , Deniz Görkem
Published: March 2022

Financial anxiety is one of the most stress-causing factors, destabilizing students’ academic activities and performance. This study investigated whether there was any financial anxiety in international students in higher education institutions by comparing students in the USA and mainland China. The study employed a random-effect ordered probit model that utilised a sample size of 3953 international students during the academic years 2017–2019. The findings showed a significantly low rate of financial anxiety among international students in the United States, while international students in China experienced a highly significant financial anxiety as far as academic life was concerned. Additionally, a robustness check using marginal effects in probit showed a positive life satisfaction towards financial behaviour after the study period in the USA, while a negative life satisfaction towards financial behaviour existed in mainland China. Nevertheless, the study put forward vital recommendations to help address this phenomenon and strengthen the relationship between international students and administrators of higher education institutions in both countries.
Carbon Fibers Waste Recovery via Pyro-Gasification: Semi-Industrial Pilot Plant Testing and LCA
Authors: Ciacci Luca , Zattini Giorgio , Tosi Cristian , Berti Beatrice , Passarini Fabrizio , Giorgini Loris
Published: March 2022

Carbon-fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRPs) are increasingly used in a variety of applications demanding a unique combination of mechanical properties and lightweight characteristics such as automotive and aerospace, wind turbines, and sport and leisure equipment. This growing use, however, has not yet been accompanied by the setting of an adequate recycling industry, with landfilling still being the main management route for related waste and end-of-life products. Considering the fossil-based nature of carbon fibers, the development of recovery and recycling technologies is hence prioritized to address the environmental sustainability challenges in a bid to approach mitigating the climate emergency and achieving circularity in materials’ life cycles. To this aim, we scaled up and tested a novel semi-industrial pilot plant to pyrolysis and subsequent oxidation of uncured prepreg offcuts and cured waste of CFRPs manufacturing. The environmental performance of the process proposed has been evaluated by means of a life cycle assessment to estimate the associated carbon footprint and cumulative energy demand according to three scenarios. The scale-up of the process has been performed by investigating the influence of the main parameters to improve the quality of the recovered fibers and the setting of preferable operating conditions. The pyro-gasification process attested to a reduction of 40 kgCO2eq per kg of recycled CFs, compared to virgin CFs. If the pyro-gasification process was implemented in the current manufacturing of CFRPs, the estimated reduction of the carbon footprint, depending on the composite breakdown, would result in 12% and 15%. This reduction may theoretically increase up to 59–73% when cutting and trimming waste-optimized remanufacturing is combined with circular economy strategies based on the ideal recycling of CFRPs at end-of-life.