bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effect of Heating Conditions during Moulding on Residual Stress–Strain Behaviour of a Composite Panel
Authors: Kondratiev Andrii , Píštěk Václav , Vambol Oleksii , Kučera Pavel
Published: April 2022

Currently, we observe extensive use of products made of polymeric composite materials in various industries. These materials are being increasingly used to manufacture large-sized structural parts that bear significant loads. However, increase in the volume of composites used in critical structures is impeded by the instability of properties of the resulting products. In most cases, the reason for this is the residual thermal stress–strain behaviour of the composite structure. This paper deals with the development of a method to predict the residual stress–strain behaviour depending on the heating conditions and distribution of the temperature field over the thickness of the moulded composite package. The method establishes the relationship between moulding process parameters and the effect of the auxiliary and basic equipment on the distribution of the temperature field, stresses, and strains in the moulded product. It is shown that the rate of temperature change at the stage of heating has its effect on the amount of residual deformation of the structure. Experimental studies have been carried out to determine the influence of several factors (rates of heating and cooling) on the residual deflection of the composite panel. Experimental data proves that specimens moulded under conditions of an increased heating rate get a greater deflection than those moulded at a lower heating rate. The error of results during the full-scale experiment did not exceed 6.8%. Our results provide an opportunity to determine the residual thermal stress–strain behaviour of the moulded structure with the required degree of accuracy without a series of experiments. It allows us to significantly simplify the practical implementation of the developed method and avoid any additional production costs.
Electrospun Polymer Nanofibers with Antimicrobial Activity
Authors: Maliszewska Irena , Czapka Tomasz
Published: April 2022

Nowadays, nanofibers with antimicrobial activity are of great importance due to the widespread antibiotic resistance of many pathogens. Electrospinning is a versatile method of producing ultrathin fibers with desired properties, and this technique can be optimized by controlling parameters such as solution/melt viscosity, feeding rate, and electric field. High viscosity and slow feeding rate cause blockage of the spinneret, while low viscosity and high feeding rate result in fiber discontinuities or droplet formation. The electric field must be properly set because high field strength shortens the solidification time of the fluid streams, while low field strength is unable to form the Taylor cone. Environmental conditions, temperature, and humidity also affect electrospinning. In recent years, significant advances have been made in the development of electrospinning methods and the engineering of electrospun nanofibers for various applications. This review discusses the current research on the use of electrospinning to fabricate composite polymer fibers with antimicrobial properties by incorporating well-defined antimicrobial nanoparticles (silver, titanium dioxide, zinc dioxide, copper oxide, etc.), encapsulating classical therapeutic agents (antibiotics), plant-based bioactive agents (crude extracts, essential oils), and pure compounds (antimicrobial peptides, photosensitizers) in polymer nanofibers with controlled release and anti-degradation protection. The analyzed works prove that the electrospinning process is an effective strategy for the formation of antimicrobial fibers for the biomedicine, pharmacy, and food industry.
Mechanical Investigation on Fiber-Doped Cementitious Materials
Authors: Ji Yongcheng , Zou Yunfei , Wan Xucheng , Li Wei
Published: April 2022

Cementitious materials can be reinforced by adding different fibers. However, the effect of different fiber reinforcements on the mechanical properties of cement-based materials remains to be further studied. This paper studies the influencing factors of different fiber cement-based materials by combining experimental and theoretical methods. The tests used carbon fiber, glass fiber, and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber-reinforced cement-based materials. The addition ratios of fibers are 0%, 0.5%, and 1% by volume respectively. The compressive strength, bending strength, and drying shrinkage are studied for 3 to 28 d. The relationship between bending strength, compressive strength, dosage, and shrinkage is analyzed. The test results show that carbon fiber cement-based materials’ bending, and compressive strength increase the fastest, followed by glass and PVA fibers. The presented mathematical model accurately predicted the strength of the three fiber cement-based materials at different curing times. Compared to glass fiber and PVA fiber, carbon fiber shrinks less. It can be shown that the fiber significantly affects the early strength change of the fiber cement-based material by changing the shrinkage size of the fiber-cement-based material. The bending strength of carbon fiber, glass fiber, and PVA fiber increases with the increase of fiber volume fraction. On the other hand, the compressive strength increases and then decreases. Mechanical tests show that carbon fiber has the best reinforcement effect. The number of fibers, center spacing, and ultimate tensile length are all important factors that affect the strength of different fiber cement-based materials. Moreover, applied ABAQUS software established compression and bending finite element models of fiber-cement composites. It can predict the mechanical performance concerning fiber cement-based materials’ different types and volume fractions.
Additive Manufactured Poly(ε-caprolactone)-graphene Scaffolds: Lamellar Crystal Orientation, Mechanical Properties and Biological Performance
Authors: Biscaia Sara , Silva João C. , Moura Carla , Viana Tânia , Tojeira Ana , Mitchell Geoffrey R. , Pascoal-Faria Paula , Ferreira Frederico Castelo , Alves Nuno
Published: April 2022

Understanding the mechano–biological coupling mechanisms of biomaterials for tissue engineering is of major importance to assure proper scaffold performance in situ. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to establish correlations between biomaterials, their processing conditions, and their mechanical behaviour, as well as their biological performance. With this work, it was possible to infer a correlation between the addition of graphene nanoparticles (GPN) in a concentration of 0.25, 0.5, and 0.75% (w/w) (GPN0.25, GPN0.5, and GPN0.75, respectively) in three-dimensional poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL)-based scaffolds, the extrusion-based processing parameters, and the lamellar crystal orientation through small-angle X-ray scattering experiments of extruded samples of PCL and PCL/GPN. Results revealed a significant impact on the scaffold’s mechanical properties to a maximum of 0.5% of GPN content, with a significant improvement in the compressive modulus of 59 MPa to 93 MPa. In vitro cell culture experiments showed the scaffold’s ability to support the adhesion and proliferation of L929 fibroblasts (fold increase of 28, 22, 23, and 13 at day 13 (in relation to day 1) for PCL, GPN0.25, GPN0.5, and GPN0.75, respectively) and bone marrow mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (seven-fold increase for all sample groups at day 21 in relation to day 1). Moreover, the cells maintained high viability, regular morphology, and migration capacity in all the different experimental groups, assuring the potential of PCL/GPN scaffolds for tissue engineering (TE) applications.
Reactive Cellu-mers—A Novel Approach to Improved Cellulose/Polymer Composites
Authors: Getya Dariya , Gitsov Ivan
Published: April 2022

In this paper, we describe a novel method for preparation of polymer composites with homogeneous dispersion of natural fibers in the polymer matrix. In our approach, Williamson ether synthesis is used to chemically modify cellulose with polymerizable styrene moieties and transform it into a novel multifunctional cellu-mer that can be further crosslinked by copolymerization with styrene. Reactions with model compounds (cellobiose and cellotriose) successfully confirm the viability of the new strategy. The same approach is used to transform commercially available cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) of various sizes: Sigmacell and Technocell™ 40, 90 and 150. The styrene-functionalized cellulose oligomers and CNFs are then mixed with styrene and copolymerized in bulk at 65 °C with 2,2′-azobisisobutyronitrile as initiator. The resulting composites are in a form of semi-interpenetrating networks (s-IPN), where poly(styrene) chains are either crosslinked with the uniformly dispersed cellulosic component or entangled through the network. Non-crosslinked poly(styrene) (31–41 w%) is extracted with CHCl3 and analyzed by size-exclusion chromatography to estimate the extent of homopolymerization and reveal the mechanism of the whole process. Electron microscopy analyses of the networks show the lack of cellu-mer agglomeration throughout the polymer matrix. The homogeneous distribution of cellulose entities leads to improved thermal and mechanical properties of the poly(styrene) composites compared to the physical mixtures of the same components and linear poly(styrene) of similar molecular mass.
Self-Healable, Strong, and Tough Polyurethane Elastomer Enabled by Carbamate-Containing Chain Extenders Derived from Ethyl Carbonate
Authors: Yi Pengcheng , Chen Jingrong , Chang Junyao , Wang Junbo , Lei Ying , Jing Ruobing , Liu Xingjiang , Sun Ailing , Wei Liuhe , Li Yuhan
Published: April 2022

Commercial diol chain extenders generally could only form two urethane bonds, while abundant hydrogen bonds were required to construct self-healing thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers (TPU). Herein, two diol chain extenders bis(2-hydroxyethyl) (1,3-pheny-lene-bis-(methylene)) dicarbamate (BDM) and bis(2-hydroxyethyl) (methylenebis(cyclohexane-4,1-diy-l)) dicarbamate (BDH), containing two carbamate groups were successfully synthesized through the ring-opening reaction of ethylene carbonate (EC) with 1,3-benzenedimetha-namine (MX-DA) and 4, 4′-diaminodicyclohexylmethane (HMDA). The two chain extenders were applied to successfully achieve both high strength and high self-healing ability. The BDM-1.7 and BDH-1.7 elastomers had high comprehensive self-healing efficiency (100%, 95%) after heated treatment at 60 °C, and exhibited exceptional comprehensive mechanical performances in tensile strength (20.6 ± 1.3 MPa, 37.1 ± 1.7 MPa), toughness (83.5 ± 2.0 MJ/m3, 118.8 ± 5.1 MJ/m3), puncture resistance (196.0 mJ, 626.0 mJ), and adhesion (4.6 MPa, 4.8 MPa). The peculiar mechanical and self-healing properties of TPUs originated from the coexisting short and long hard segments, strain-induced crystallization (SIC). The two elastomers with excellent properties could be applied to engineering-grade fields such as commercial sealants, adhesives, and so on.
Original Basic Activation for Enhancing Silica Particle Reactivity: Characterization by Liquid Phase Silanization and Silica-Rubber Nanocomposite Properties
Authors: Moretto Enzo , Yan Chuanyu , Dieden Reiner , Steiner Pascal , Duez Benoît , Lenoble Damien , Thomann Jean-Sébastien
Published: April 2022

Silica fillers are used in various nanocomposites in combination with silanes as a reinforcing filler. In tire technology, silica is generally functionalized before (pre-treated) or during mixing (in-situ silanization or post-treated). In both cases, a soft base catalyst (e.g., triethylamine or diphenyl guanidine, DPG) is typically used to accelerate and increase the yield of the silane/silica coupling reaction. In this study, we investigated how pre-treatments of silica particles with either strong amine or hydride bases impact the silanization of silica prior to or during SBR mixing for silica-rubber nanocomposite fabrication. Our findings are supported by molecular characterization (solid state 29Si NMR, 1H NMR and TGA), and scanning electron microscopy. In addition, the impact of these silica pre-treatments on a nanocomposite’s mechanical properties was evaluated using dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA).
A Study on the Correlation between the Oxidation Degree of Oxidized Sodium Alginate on Its Degradability and Gelation
Authors: Wang Hongcai , Chen Xiuqiong , Wen Yanshi , Li Dongze , Sun Xiuying , Liu Zhaowen , Yan Huiqiong , Lin Qiang
Published: April 2022

Oxidized sodium alginate (OSA) is selected as an appropriate material to be extensively applied in regenerative medicine, 3D-printed/composite scaffolds, and tissue engineering for its excellent physicochemical properties and biodegradability. However, few literatures have systematically investigated the structure and properties of the resultant OSA and the effect of the oxidation degree (OD) of alginate on its biodegradability and gelation ability. Herein, we used NaIO4 as the oxidant to oxidize adjacent hydroxyl groups at the C-2 and C-3 positions on alginate uronic acid monomer to obtain OSA with various ODs. The structure and physicochemical properties of OSA were evaluated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). At the same time, gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and a rheometer were used to determine the hydrogel-forming ability and biodegradation performance of OSA. The results showed that the two adjacent hydroxyl groups of alginate uronic acid units were successfully oxidized to form the aldehyde groups; as the amount of NaIO4 increased, the OD of OSA gradually increased, the molecular weight decreased, the gelation ability continued to weaken, and degradation performance obviously rose. It is shown that OSA with various ODs could be prepared by regulating the molar ratio of NaIO4 and sodium alginate (SA), which could greatly broaden the application of OSA-based hydrogel in tissue engineering, controlled drug release, 3D printing, and the biomedical field.
Calibration of Hydrodynamic Models of Groundwater Flow in Aquifers Polluted by Liquid Radioactive Waste
Authors: Malkovsky Victor Ioannovich
Published: April 2022

Pollution of aquifers by liquid radioactive waste is especially hazardous due to high permeability of aquifer rocks. Pollution can take place as a result of deep injection disposal of liquid waste or due to its leakage from a surface reservoir. The ecological hazard depends on distribution of aquifer permeability, which can be highly heterogeneous. The only source of data for determination of such distribution is measurements in exploratory boreholes at the polluted site. A technique is proposed for determination of spatial distribution of aquifer transmissibility on the basis of hydrological measurements in a limited number of boreholes. The problem is reduced to a minimization problem which was solved numerically.
Removable Partial Denture Frameworks in the Age of Digital Dentistry: A Review of the Literature
Authors: Akl Mohammed A. , Stendahl Charles G.
Published: April 2022

Alloys of cobalt chromium have been used for decades to create frameworks for removable partial dentures. While cobalt chromium has multiple advantages, such as strength and light weight, the casting process is laborious and requires special care to ensure that human error is minimized. Furthermore, the display of metal clasps in these frameworks may be considered a limitation at times, especially with esthetically demanding patients. The introduction of digital technology to manufacturing in dentistry has brought forward new methods of fabricating cobalt chromium frameworks, some of which eliminate the casting process. Moreover, the development of high-performance polymers for use as removable partial denture frameworks brings multiple advantages, but raises concerns over design guidelines and principles. This review examines alternatives to conventionally cast frameworks so that clinicians may make evidence-based decisions when choosing framework materials and fabrication methods in the rapidly advancing world of digital dentistry.
Full Digital Model-Free Maxillary Prosthetic Rehabilitation by Means of One-Piece Implants: A Proof of Concept Clinical Report with Three-Years Follow Up
Authors: Beretta Mario , Manfredini Mattia , Poli Pier Paolo , Tansella Sebastian , Maiorana Carlo
Published: April 2022

Implant rehabilitation is a daily practice in dentistry, and patients often have heightened expectations regarding both the functional and the aesthetic outcome. Implant–abutment connection (IAC) is involved in the long-term aesthetic quality of the rehabilitation. The use of one-piece implants for fixing dentures may prevent the mechanical and biological implication of the implant–abutment interface, resulting in a better quality of hard and soft tissue maintenance. In this case report, we present a novel one-piece implant in a maxillary rehabilitation with a full model-free digital approach.
“Fight, Die, and If Required Kill”: Hindu Nationalism, Misinformation, and Islamophobia in India
Authors: Amarasingam Amarnath , Umar Sanober , Desai Shweta
Published: April 2022

This article provides a deep dive into several recent cases of majoritarian hate speech and violence perpetrated against Muslims in India. We first provide an introduction to Hindutva as a social movement in India, followed by an examination of three case studies in which Islamophobic hate speech circulated on social media, as well as several instances of anti-Muslim violence. These case studies—the Delhi riots, the Love Jihad conspiracy theory, and anti-Muslim disinformation related to the COVID pandemic—show that Hindu nationalism in India codes the Muslim minority in the country as particularly dangerous and untrustworthy.
Hyperspectral Anomaly Detection Using Deep Learning: A Review
Authors: Hu Xing , Xie Chun , Fan Zhe , Duan Qianqian , Zhang Dawei , Jiang Linhua , Wei Xian , Hong Danfeng , Li Guoqiang , Zeng Xinhua , Chen Wenming , Wu Dongfang , Chanussot Jocelyn
Published: April 2022

Hyperspectral image-anomaly detection (HSI-AD) has become one of the research hotspots in the field of remote sensing. Because HSI’s features of integrating image and spectrum provide a considerable data basis for abnormal object detection, HSI-AD has a huge application potential in HSI analysis. It is difficult to effectively extract a large number of nonlinear features contained in HSI data using traditional machine learning methods, and deep learning has incomparable advantages in the extraction of nonlinear features. Therefore, deep learning has been widely used in HSI-AD and has shown excellent performance. This review systematically summarizes the related reference of HSI-AD based on deep learning and classifies the corresponding methods into performance comparisons. Specifically, we first introduce the characteristics of HSI-AD and the challenges faced by traditional methods and introduce the advantages of deep learning in dealing with these problems. Then, we systematically review and classify the corresponding methods of HSI-AD. Finally, the performance of the HSI-AD method based on deep learning is compared on several mainstream data sets, and the existing challenges are summarized. The main purpose of this article is to give a more comprehensive overview of the HSI-AD method to provide a reference for future research work.
Land Use and Land Cover Mapping Using Sentinel-2, Landsat-8 Satellite Images, and Google Earth Engine: A Comparison of Two Composition Methods
Authors: Nasiri Vahid , Deljouei Azade , Moradi Fardin , Sadeghi Seyed Mohammad Moein , Borz Stelian Alexandru
Published: April 2022

Accurate and real-time land use/land cover (LULC) maps are important to provide precise information for dynamic monitoring, planning, and management of the Earth. With the advent of cloud computing platforms, time series feature extraction techniques, and machine learning classifiers, new opportunities are arising in more accurate and large-scale LULC mapping. In this study, we aimed at finding out how two composition methods and spectral–temporal metrics extracted from satellite time series can affect the ability of a machine learning classifier to produce accurate LULC maps. We used the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud computing platform to create cloud-free Sentinel-2 (S-2) and Landsat-8 (L-8) time series over the Tehran Province (Iran) as of 2020. Two composition methods, namely, seasonal composites and percentiles metrics, were used to define four datasets based on satellite time series, vegetation indices, and topographic layers. The random forest classifier was used in LULC classification and for identifying the most important variables. Accuracy assessment results showed that the S-2 outperformed the L-8 spectral–temporal metrics at the overall and class level. Moreover, the comparison of composition methods indicated that seasonal composites outperformed percentile metrics in both S-2 and L-8 time series. At the class level, the improved performance of seasonal composites was related to their ability to provide better information about the phenological variation of different LULC classes. Finally, we conclude that this methodology can produce LULC maps based on cloud computing GEE in an accurate and fast way and can be used in large-scale LULC mapping.
Synchronization of Monostatic Radar Using a Time-Delayed Chaos-Based FM Waveform
Authors: Abd Mariam H. , Al-Suhail Ghaida A. , Tahir Fadhil R. , Ali Ali Ahmed M. , Abbood Hamza A. , Dashtipour Kia , Jamal Sajjad Shaukat , Ahmad Jawad
Published: April 2022

There is no doubt that chaotic systems are still attractive issues in various radar applications and communication systems. In this paper, we present a new 0.3 GHz mono-static microwave chaotic radar. It includes a chaotic system based on a time-delay to generate and process frequency modulated (FM) waveforms. Such a radar is designed to extract high-resolution information from the targets. To generate a continuous FM signal, the chaotic signal is first modulated using the voltage control oscillator (VCO). Next, the correct value for the loop gain (G) is carefully set when utilizing the Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) at the receiver, so that the instantaneous frequency that reflects a chaotic state variable can be reliably recovered. In this system, the PLL synchronization and radar correlation are enough to recover the echo signal and detect the target. The finding indicates that the system can be implemented with no need to use the complete self-synchronization or complex projective synchronization schemes as compared to the existing chaotic radar systems. The simulation results show that the short-time cross-correlation of the transmitted and reconstructed waveforms is good and satisfactory to detect the target under various signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) levels and with less complexity in the design.
Merits and Limitations of Element Balances as a Forest Planning Tool for Harvest Intensities and Sustainable Nutrient Management—A Case Study from Germany
Authors: Ahrends Bernd , von Wilpert Klaus , Weis Wendelin , Vonderach Christian , Kändler Gerald , Zirlewagen Dietmar , Sucker Carina , Puhlmann Heike
Published: April 2022

Climate change and rising energy costs have led to increasing interest in the use of tree harvest residues as feedstock for bioenergy in recent years. With an increasing use of wood biomass and harvest residues, essential nutrient elements are removed from the forest ecosystems. Hence, nutrient sustainable management is mandatory for planning of intensive forest use. We used soil nutrient balances to identify regions in Germany where the output of base cations by leaching and biomass utilization was not balanced by the input via weathering and atmospheric deposition. The effects of conventional stem harvesting, stem harvesting without bark, and whole-tree harvesting on Ca, Mg and K balances were studied. The nutrient balances were calculated using regular forest monitoring data supplemented by additional data from scientific projects. Effective mitigation management strategies and options are discussed and calculations for the compensation of the potential depletion of nutrients in the soil are presented.
Evaluating Management Practices in Precision Agriculture for Maize Yield with Spatial Econometrics
Authors: Santos Nuno , Proença Isabel , Canavarro Mariana
Published: April 2022

Precision agriculture (PA) aims to provide data on soil, nutrient use, irrigation, and crops, to guide management strategic decisions towards an efficient use of inputs, increasing production and avoiding environmental problems due to excessive accumulation of fertilizers. In this paper, PA data from a large Portuguese farm producing maize were used to assess the effectiveness of agronomic management decisions concerning fertilizer and nutrient use, seed choice, and water content, in terms of crop productivity. The maize yield in 2017 and 2018 was modelled as a function of manageable inputs and unmanageable factors introduced as control variables. Panel spatial econometric methods were used for specification and estimation, to control for spatial dependence and spatial heterogeneity. The model proved to fit the data remarkably well and could be a good reference for specifying models to explain maize production; thus, helping researchers who need to deal with the huge amount of data that normally originates from PA. Additionally, it can be considered another tool for farm managers, helping in the design and evaluation of their agronomic management decisions.
Differential Impacts of Climatic and Land Use Changes on Habitat Suitability and Protected Area Adequacy across the Asian Elephant’s Range
Authors: Yang Wei , Ma Yuanxu , Jing Linhai , Wang Siyuan , Sun Zhongchang , Tang Yunwei , Li Hui
Published: April 2022

Climate change and human activities have caused dramatic impacts on biodiversity. Although a number of international agreements or initiatives have been launched to mitigate the biodiversity loss, the erosion of terrestrial biome habitats is inevitable. Consequently, the identification of potential suitable habitats under climate change and human disturbance has become an urgent task of biodiversity conservation. In this study, we used the maximum entropy model (MaxEnt) to identify the current and potential future habitats of Asian elephants in South and Southeast Asia. We performed analyses for future projections with 17 scenarios using the present results as baseline. To optimize the modelling results, we delineated the core habitats by using the Core Mapper Tool and compared them with existing protected areas (PAs) through gap analysis. The results showed that the current total area of core habitats is 491,455 km2 in size and will be reduced to 332,544 km2 by 2090 under SSP585 (the shared socioeconomic pathway). The projection analysis under differential scenarios suggested that most of the core habitats in the current protected areas would remain stable and suitable for elephants in the future. However, the remaining 75.17% of the core habitats lay outside the current PAs, and finally we mapped approximately 219,545 km2 of suitable habitats as priority protected areas in the future. Although our model did not perform well in some regions, our analyses and findings still could provide useful references to the planning of protected areas and conservation of Asian elephant.
Understanding Household Vulnerability and Relative Poverty in Forestry Transition: A Study on Forestry-Worker Families in China’s Greater Khingan Mountains State-Owned Forest Region
Authors: Chen Hao , Cao Juanjuan , Zhu Hongge , Wang Yufang
Published: April 2022

China’s logging ban policy has profoundly transformed the forestry industry, creating substantial impacts for forestry-worker households. Empirical evidence is needed to examine whether and how severe the transition policy produces vulnerability and relative poverty for the affected households. This paper samples forestry-worker households from the Greater Khingan Mountains state-owned forest region as the study subjects to evaluate their household vulnerabilities with the LVI approach proposed by IPCC. This study computes the relative poverty scores of the families and further identifies the relationships between the selected household’s socio-economic factors and the estimated vulnerability and poverty scores with OLS regression. This study derives a sleuth of valuable points. (1) The majority of the forestry-worker households have had to suffer downsized, vulnerable livelihoods with escalated relative poverty due to the policy’s impact. (2) Poverty closely connects with vulnerability, where the more impoverished the household, the more vulnerable it is. Poverty is, however, not the only factor affecting household vulnerability. Other factors, particularly of public and social-financial factors, are interconnected with poverty and, thus, compound the vulnerability issue. (3) Factors, e.g., family size, age and gender of household head, bank deposits, and life and job satisfaction, which are typically very beneficial for improving family vulnerability and poverty. (4) Regular financial assistance programs, particularly the commonly-trusted one-off household compensation program, might not provide solid support for addressing long-term household vulnerability and poverty. This study contributes to a broader understanding of household vulnerability and relative poverty for improved policy and program development addressing forestry workers and household vulnerabilities.
Benchmarking ISO Risk Management Systems to Assess Efficacy and Help Identify Hidden Organizational Risk
Authors: Björnsdottir Svana Helen , Jensson Pall , Thorsteinsson Saemundur E. , Dokas Ioannis M. , de Boer Robert J.
Published: April 2022

The overall aim of this article is to contribute to the further development of the area of benchmarking in risk management. The article introduces a two-step benchmarking model to assess the efficacy of ISO risk management systems. It furthermore aims at verifying its usefulness in terms of finding hidden risk issues and improvement opportunities. The existence of all key elements of an ISO 31000-based risk management system is examined at the beginning of this study. Then, the quality in terms of efficacy of important aspects of the risk management system is examined in more detail with special benchmarks. The application of the model to six ISO-certified organizations follows and reinforces the novelty of this study, which is to combine risk science knowledge with benchmarking theory in the application of ISO risk management standards in organizations. The results show that the benchmarking model developed in this study provides rigor when assessing and evaluating the efficacy of an ISO risk management system. By applying the model, risk issues and risk factors can be found that had not previously been identified. The findings are of importance for risk management, the benchmarking science, and for the development of ISO risk management standards.
Valorization of Residues from Energy Conversion of Biomass for Advanced and Sustainable Material Applications
Authors: Beidaghy Dizaji Hossein , Zeng Thomas , Lenz Volker , Enke Dirk
Published: April 2022

The reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by shifting towards renewable energy sources to control global warming is one of the main challenges of the 21st century [...]
Care and Social Sustainability in Early Childhood Education: Transnational Perspectives
Authors: Weldemariam Kassahun , Chan Angel , Engdahl Ingrid , Samuelsson Ingrid Pramling , Katiba Timothy Chepkwesi , Habte Tewodros , Muchanga Roland
Published: April 2022

This article explores how the notion of care is conceptualised and described in early childhood education policies across countries in the majority (Ethiopia, Kenya and Zambia) and minority (New Zealand and Sweden) world. A central focus is the relationship and balance between care and education. The authors examined whether there are trends and tendencies to strengthen or weaken the care/education component at the expense of the other. Grounded in local and national knowledge, the authors employed a cross-national collaborative inquiry approach and interrogated the notion of care while extrapolating its implications for the endeavour to design socially sustainable early childhood education. The results revealed that care has remained ingrained within policies in the minority world, while there is a tendency to view it as separate from education in the majority world. Although quantitative goals for early childhood education and care still dominate the majority world, the importance of care and sustainable development are present in all policy documents across the five nations. The authors concluded that strengthening these promising policy endeavours paves the way towards effective educare approaches, which lay the foundation for social sustainability in early childhood education.
Towards the Smart Circular Economy Paradigm: A Definition, Conceptualization, and Research Agenda
Authors: Bressanelli Gianmarco , Adrodegari Federico , Pigosso Daniela C. A. , Parida Vinit
Published: April 2022

The digital age we live in offers companies many opportunities to jointly advance sustainability and competitiveness. New digital technologies can, in fact, support the incorporation of circular economy principles into businesses, enabling new business models and facilitating the redesign of products and value chains. Despite this considerable potential, the convergence between the circular economy and these technologies is still underinvestigated. By reviewing the literature, this paper aims to provide a definition and a conceptual framework, which systematize the smart circular economy paradigm as an industrial system that uses digital technologies during the product life-cycle phases to implement circular strategies and practices aimed at value creation. Following this conceptualization, the classical, underlying circular economy principle, ‘waste equals food’, is reshaped into an equation more fitting for the digital age—that is to say, ‘waste + data = resource’. Lastly, this paper provides promising research directions to further develop this field. To advance knowledge on the smart circular economy paradigm, researchers and practitioners are advised to: (i) develop research from exploratory and descriptive to confirmatory and prescriptive purposes, relying on a wide spectrum of research methodologies; (ii) move the focus from single organizations to the entire ecosystem and value chain of stakeholders; (iii) combine different enabling digital technologies to leverage their synergistic potential; and (iv) assess the environmental impact of digital technologies to prevent potential rebound effects.
Sustainable Materials for the Thermal and Noise Insulation of Buildings: An Editorial
Authors: Buratti Cinzia , Merli Francesca
Published: April 2022

Climate change and global warming issues are becoming more and more important nowadays: the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide has been significantly increasing since the twentieth century, mainly due to energy use and anthropogenic activities [...]
Stochastic Second-Order Conic Programming for Optimal Sizing of Distributed Generator Units and Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
Authors: Woo Hyeon , Son Yongju , Cho Jintae , Choi Sungyun
Published: April 2022

The increased penetration of electric vehicles (EVs) and distributed generator (DG) units has led to uncertainty in distribution systems. These uncertainties—which have not been adequately considered in the literature—can entail risks in the optimal sizing of EV charging stations (EVCSs) and DG units in active distribution network planning. This paper proposes a method for obtaining the optimal sizing of DG units and EVCSs (considering uncertainty), to achieve exact power system analysis and ensure EV driver satisfaction. To model uncertainties in optimal sizing planning, this study first generates scenarios for each system asset using a probability distribution that considers the asset characteristics. In this step, the wind-turbine (WT), PV, and EVCS are modeled applying the Weibull, exponential, and kernel density estimation (KDE), and scenarios for each asset are generated using random sampling. Then, the k-means clustering is carried out for scenario reduction and the representative scenario abstract. The probability of occurrence for each representative scenario is assigned depending on the number of observations within each cluster. The representative scenarios for each asset are integrated into the scenario for all assets through the joint probability. The integrated scenarios are applied in the optimization problem for optimal sizing of the system asset framework. The optimal sizing of the system assets problem is proposed (to minimize the line loss and voltage deviation) and formulated via stochastic second-order conic programming, to reflect the uncertainty under an AC power flow; this is a convex problem that can be solved in polynomial time. The proposed method is tested on a modified IEEE 15 bus system, and the simulation is performed with various objective functions. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Gender and Age Influence in Pre-Competitive and Post-Competitive Anxiety in Young Tennis Players
Authors: Martínez-Gallego Rafael , Villafaina Santos , Crespo Miguel , Fuentes-García Juan Pedro
Published: April 2022

To study the influence of age and gender on pre-competitive and post-competitive anxiety and self-confidence in young tennis players. A total of 42 U’12 to U’18 category tennis players, 12 females and 30 males, participated in this cross-sectional study. The players had a mean age of 13.74 (2.07) years old and a national competitive experience of 4.00 (2.14) years. The pre-competitive anxiety of the participants was assessed using the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory–2R (CSAI-2R) and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-E) before and after an official tournament’s match. Results showed that younger players showed lower trait anxiety (r = 0.333; p < 0.05), lower pre-match state anxiety (r = 0.501; p < 0.01) and lower pre-match somatic anxiety (r = 0.313; p < 0.05). Furthermore, girls exhibited higher values of state anxiety (r = 0.445; p < 0.01) and somatic anxiety (r = 0.440; p < 0.01) than boys before the match. However, differences were not observed in the trait anxiety measured by STAI-E (r = 0.203; p = 0.213), cognitive anxiety (r = 0.140; p = 0.363), and self-confidence measured by the CSAI questionnaire (r = 0.150; p = 0.333), before the match. Therefore, coaches and sport psychologists should implement adequate on- and off-court individualized interventions to manage anxiety, specifically in girls and players over 14 years old. Although anxiety levels were similar to those before the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the influence of the pandemic on mental health, results might be taken with caution.
The Impact of Dynamic Accounting Information System on Organizational Resilience: The Mediating Role of Business Processes Capabilities
Authors: Al-Matari Ahmed Saleh , Amiruddin Rozita , Aziz Khairul Azman , Al-Sharafi Mohammed A.
Published: April 2022

For decades, one of the main concerns of both practitioners and academics has been the business value of dynamic accounting information systems (DAIS). A number of studies have demonstrated the positive effects of information systems capability on overall organizational performance, but our understanding of the business processes capabilities through which such gains are achieved remains limited due to a lack of focus on the turbulent business environment. As a result, the research on information systems continues to debate such a connection. The role of business process capabilities in modulating the link between dynamic AIS capability and organizational resilience was investigated in this study. Our results show that, while firm-wide dynamic AIS capability has characteristics of flexible AIS, complement BI system, and AIS-related human resource competency, the impact on organizational resilience is positively affected by mediation of business process capabilities based on 144 matched questionnaires selected from large companies from various sectors listed on the Bursa Malaysia. Our results also suggest that dynamic AIS capability has an impact on organizational resilience. According to the Resource-Based Theory (RBT) and dynamic capabilities view (DCV) viewpoints, there is a link between dynamic AIS and business process capacity to improve organizational resilience. The findings strongly support the claim that an organization’s dynamic AIS capabilities—both flexible AIS, complementary business intelligence (BI) system, and AIS-related human resource competency—can help an organization improve its resilience. This research’s practical and theoretical ramifications as well as its limitations are examined.
Ultimate Limit State Reliability-Based Optimization of MSE Wall Considering External Stability
Authors: Mahmood Zafar , Qureshi Mohsin Usman , Memon Zubair Ahmed , Imran Latif Qadir Bux alias
Published: April 2022

We present reliability-based optimization (RBO) of the Mechanically Stability Earth (MSE) walls, using constrained optimization, considering the external stability, under ultimate limit state conditions of sliding, eccentricity, and bearing capacity. The design is optimized for a target reliability index of 3 that corresponds to an approximate failure probability of 1 in 1000. Reliability index is calculated by the first-order reliability method (FORM). The MSE wall, founded on cohesionless soil, with horizontal backfill and uniform live traffic surcharge, is studied. The RBO results are reported for the height of MSE wall ranging from 1.5 m to 20 m. For target reliability index of 3, the optimized length to height ratio, Lopt/H, of the MSE wall is greater than 0.7 (the minimum length to height ratio requirement of AASHTO) for H≤4.5 m, and then it decreases below the minimum required value of 0.7 for H>4.5 m. The RBO approach presented in this study will help practitioners to achieve cost-effectiveness in design.
Permeable Pavements for Flood Control in Australia: Spatial Analysis of Pavement Design Considering Rainfall and Soil Data
Authors: Iqbal Asif , Rahman Md Mizanur , Beecham Simon
Published: April 2022

Permeable pavements allow rainfall and surface runoff to infiltrate through their surface, and this reduces urban flooding by increasing water management efficiency. The design of permeable pavements depends heavily on rainfall and soil conditions for a particular area. This study investigates the required base course thickness in different areas across Australia that can effectively reduce flood intensities. A detailed hydraulic analysis was conducted, considering the pavement materials, soil characteristics and rainfall intensities across Australia. The research also developed a relationship between base course thickness, rainfall intensity and soil classification, which can facilitate reasonable predictions of required design thickness for any location. The results showed a strong relationship between soil characteristics and pavement thickness, with clay soils requiring increased pavement thickness correlated with rainfall intensity. A spatial analysis was conducted, producing a tool for initial screening on the design requirements, before proceeding with a detailed design.
Análisis y prospectiva del Acuerdo de Asociación Unión Europea - Mercosur
Authors: Caetano Gerardo
Published: April 2022

Luego de una negociación que ya lleva más de dos décadas, el “acuerdo en principio” entre la Unión Europea y el Mercosur referido al pilar comercial, anunciado en junio de 2019, no ha terminado de confirmarse. Más aún, en el contexto actual, las perspectivas que se perfilan en ambos bloques, por diversos motivos que se analizan, no resultan auspiciosas. En ese marco, en el texto que sigue se analizan los siguientes puntos: i) a falta de un tratado específico en curso de aplicación, se informa sobre las negociaciones del pilar comercial, su estado actual, los contenidos del principio de acuerdo firmado en 2019, las posibilidades de cierre y ratificación por las dos partes y los principales impactos esperados; ii) las potenciales implicaciones de este acuerdo tanto para la Unión Europea como para el Mercosur, en especial en lo atinente a sus consecuencias previsibles en la autonomía estratégica de ambas regiones así como en el fortalecimiento del multilateralismo en la actualidad; y iii) los impactos previstos por la pandemia de la COVID-19 y la eventual contribución de este Acuerdo de Asociación en los nuevos escenarios. El texto se cierra con un breve balance general.
Intervención del Estado frente al derecho fundamental del acceso al agua potable
Authors: Pandal Campos Duval , Pandal Campos Edward Ronald
Published: April 2022

Ante la existencia de brechas de desigualdad y una ineficiente gobernanza del recurso hídrico a pesar del reconocimiento del acceso al agua como un derecho fundamental prescrito en la Constitución, muchos habitantes, principalmente la población rural, carecen o simplemente no cuentan con un abastecimiento adecuado de este recurso, que es esencial para una asegurar la calidad de vida y su desarrollo económico. El presente estudio tiene por objetivo analizar la intervención del Estado frente a los derechos fundamentales al agua potable. La metodología está compuesta por una revisión bibliográfica de artículos publicados sobre la temática de estudio. El análisis permite concluir que el Estado peruano articula la participación de los diferentes actores estratégicos habiendo generado la concientización, inclusión de las comunidades campesinas mediante la aplicación de políticas públicas basadas en las normas ambientales de manera igualitaria e integral y que para una administración garantista, eficiente y eficaz del recurso hídrico, es necesario que exista un punto de convergencia en las metas de los diferentes actores estratégicos y niveles de administración del agua potable para mejorar la accesibilidad.
Opportunity Development of Urban Tourism Without Gap
Authors: Purnomo Agustina
Published: April 2022

The development of urban tourism has an opportunity to eliminate the development gap in urban areas, but in contrary almost always giving close access for the substandard urban community. The substandard urban communities are represented by micro-scale tourism providers. This study examines the opportunities provided by the government on micro-scale tourism providers in Bogor City’s tourism development policies. The analysis of three space production activities was arranged by analyzing policy documents and observation. The study found tourism development policies are not sufficient in overcoming gaps in urban tourism development through opportunities given to micro-scale tourism providers. The study suggests tourism development policy has to insert the micro-scale tourism providers as the focus of city tourism development, provide legal access to the city center area, and include them in tourism propaganda.