bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Obliquely Sputtered Cu Underlayers with Different Thicknesses on the Magnetic Properties of 50 nm Ni80Fe20 Thin Films
Authors: Li Xiaoyu , Jiang Yunshi , Yan Huan , Li Tianming , Zhang Lu , Zhang Zhihong , Guan Xian , Chen Min , Wang Jiaoyin , Pu Yihan , Peng Genzhai , Wang Mengjia
Published: October 2022

The magnetic properties of 50 nm Ni80Fe20 deposited on Cu underlayers with different thicknesses by obliquely sputtering were studied. It was found that the in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy (IPUMA) of the Ni80Fe20 film can be induced by the obliquely sputtered Cu underlayer deposited under the NiFe layer. The IPUMA field of NiFe film varies between 20 Oe and 40 Oe when the thickness of Cu underlayer varies from 5 nm to 50 nm. The permeability spectrum results show that the damping factor increases with increasing Cu underlayer thickness. This indicates that changing the thickness of the Cu underlayer of obliquely sputtering is an effective method to adjust the damping factor in the dynamic magnetization process of Ni80Fe20 thin films.
Clinical Evaluation of Short Tuberosity Implants among Type 2 Diabetic and Non-Diabetic Patients: A 5 Year Follow-Up
Authors: Tulbah Huda I. , Alsahhaf Abdulaziz , AlRumaih Hamad S. , Vohra Fahim , Abduljabbar Tariq
Published: October 2022

Aim: To assess clinical and radiographic parameters including bleeding on probing (BoP); probing depth (PD), plaque index (PI) and crestal bone loss (CBL) around short tuberosity implants (STI) supporting fixed partial dentures in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and non-diabetics. Material and Methods: Participants with T2DM and without T2DM with at least one STI (6 mm) posteriorly restored with a fixed partial denture splinting premolar implant were included. A questionnaire collected demographic details including gender, age, duration of diabetes, habits of brushing, the total number of dental implants and location, implant loading after placement, restoration type, and family history of DM. Clinical and radiographic assessment of peri-implant parameters, i.e., bleeding on probing (BoP), probing depth (PD), plaque index (PI), and crestal bone loss (CBL) was performed. The restorative success of STI was determined by no sensation of the foreign body, lack of pain and dysesthesia, lack of infection, no radiolucency around the implant, and no mobility. The Kruskal–Wallis test was used for statistical analysis. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Twenty-five T2DM (19 males and 6 females) and 25 non-diabetic (18 males and 7 females) participants were included. The number of STIs in T2DM was 41, whereas in non-diabetic it was 38. At 1 year follow-up, mean PI% in T2DM participants was 18.9% (19.2–21.4%) and in non-diabetics it was 17.6% (16.3–18.5%). The mean PD was recorded in diabetics (1.3 ± 5.0 mm) and non-diabetics (1.1 ± 3.2 mm). The BoP value in diabetics was 44.9% (39.8–46.4%) and 28.2% in non-diabetics (17.2–24.6%). At 5 years of follow-up, the mean PI% range in T2DM participants was 26.18% (25.4–29.1%) and 24.42% in non-diabetic (20.1–25.5%). The mean PD in millimeters around STI in T2DM was observed to be 2.3 ± 4.8 mm and 1.4 ± 3.4 mm in non-diabetics. In addition, BoP in diabetic participants was 39.54% (27.7–42.1%) and 24.42% in non-diabetics (20.1–25.5%). A total of six STIs failed, i.e., two in the non-diabetic and four in the T2DM group. Conclusions: Patients with T2DM have poor periodontal (BoP, PD, CBL) and restorative peri-implant parameters around STIs when compared to healthy (non-diabetic) participants at five years of follow-up. For long-term stability, glycemic control is pivotal along with following good plaque control.
Computed Tomography Does Not Improve Intra- and Interobserver Agreement of Hertel Radiographic Prognostic Criteria
Authors: Tullio Paulo Ottoni di , Giordano Vincenzo , Belangero William Dias , Pires Robinson Esteves , de Souza Felipe Serrão , Labronici Pedro José , Zamboni Caio , Malzac Felipe , Belangero Paulo Santoro , Ikemoto Roberto Yukio , Rowinski Sergio , Koch Hilton Augusto
Published: October 2022

Background and Objectives: Proximal humerus fractures are the second most frequent site of avascular necrosis (AVN), occurring in up to 16% of cases. The Hertel criteria have been used as a reference for the prediction of humerus head ischemia. However, these are based solely on the use of radiographs, which can make interpretation extremely difficult due to several reasons, such as the overlapping fragments, severity of the injury, and noncompliant acute pain patients. The objectives of the study were to evaluate the role of computed tomography (CT) in the interpretation of the Hertel criteria and to evaluate the intra- and interobserver agreement of orthopedic surgeons, comparing their area of expertise. Materials and Methods: The radiographs and CT scans of 20 skeletally mature patients who had fractures of the proximal humerus were converted to jpeg and mov, respectively. All images were evaluated by eight orthopedic surgeons (four trauma surgeons and four shoulder surgeons) in two different occasions. The intra- and interobserver agreement was assessed by using the Kappa coefficient. The level of significance was 5%. Results: There was a weak-to-moderate intraobserver agreement (κ < 0.59) for all examiners. Only the medial metaphyseal hinge greater than 2 mm was identified by 87.5% of evaluators both in the radiographic and CT examinations in the two rounds of the study (p < 0.05). There was no significant interobserver agreement (κ < 0.19), as it occurred only in some moments of the second round of evaluation. Conclusions: The prognostic criteria for humeral head ischemia evaluated in this study showed weak intra- and interobserver agreement in both the radiographic and tomographic evaluation. CT did not help surgeons in the primary interpretation of Hertel prognostic criteria used in this study when compared to the radiographic examination.
Uteroplacental Insufficiency Causes Microbiota Disruption and Lung Development Impairment in Growth-Restricted Newborn Rats
Authors: Yang Yu-Chen S. H. , Chou Hsiu-Chu , Liu Yun-Ru , Chen Chung-Ming
Published: October 2022

Preclinical studies have demonstrated that intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) is associated with reduced lung development during the neonatal period and infancy. Uteroplacental insufficiency (UPI), affecting approximately 10% of human pregnancies, is the most common cause of IUGR. This study investigated the effects of UPI on lung development and the intestinal microbiota and correlations in newborn rats with IUGR, using bilateral uterine artery ligation to induce UPI. Maternal fecal samples were collected on postnatal day 0. On postnatal days 0 and 7, lung and intestinal microbiota samples were collected from the left lung and the lower gastrointestinal tract. The right lung was harvested for histological assessment and Western blot analysis. Results showed that UPI through bilateral uterine artery ligation did not alter the maternal gut microbiota. IUGR impaired lung development and angiogenesis in newborn rats. Moreover, on postnatal day 0, the presence of Acinetobacter and Delftia in the lungs and Acinetobacter and Nevskia in the gastrointestinal tract was negatively correlated with lung development. Bacteroides in the lungs and Rodentibacter and Romboutsia in the gastrointestinal tract were negatively correlated with lung development on day 7. UPI may have regulated lung development and angiogenesis through the modulation of the newborn rats’ intestinal and lung microbiota.
Development, Relative Validity, and Reproducibility of a Short Food Frequency Questionnaire for the Japanese
Authors: Nanri Akiko , Fujiwara Aya , Miyake Haruka , Kashino Ikuko , Mizoue Tetsuya
Published: October 2022

We have developed a short food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for use in assessing diet quality for Japan, with special reference to the prevention of non-communicable diseases. Here, we assessed the ranking performance of this FFQ and its reproducibility. We developed a 28-item (21 food groups and 7 beverage) FFQ with consideration to both Japanese dietary culture and evidence of disease prevention. Twenty-four university faculty members participated in the validation study. They completed 3-day photographic food record and answered the FFQ on the next day of the last food record (time 1) and a week later (time 2). We calculated Spearman correlation coefficients between intakes of food groups from photographic food records and the consumption frequency from the FFQs (ranking ability) and between the consumption frequency of food groups from the FFQs (time 1 and time 2) (reproducibility). Spearman correlation coefficients between the food records and FFQ (time 1) ranged from −0.12 to 0.86 (median 0.51). These values were comparable to those in comparison with FFQ (time 2). After energy adjustment of intakes from the food records, the corresponding values were somewhat weakened for many food groups. The correlation coefficients between two FFQs ranged from 0.14 to 0.96 (median 0.79). The short FFQ showed acceptable reproducibility and ability to rank the consumption of most food groups.
Strategies for Improving Peptide Stability and Delivery
Authors: Al Musaimi Othman , Lombardi Lucia , Williams Daryl R. , Albericio Fernando
Published: October 2022

Peptides play an important role in many fields, including immunology, medical diagnostics, and drug discovery, due to their high specificity and positive safety profile. However, for their delivery as active pharmaceutical ingredients, delivery vectors, or diagnostic imaging molecules, they suffer from two serious shortcomings: their poor metabolic stability and short half-life. Major research efforts are being invested to tackle those drawbacks, where structural modifications and novel delivery tactics have been developed to boost their ability to reach their targets as fully functional species. The benefit of selected technologies for enhancing the resistance of peptides against enzymatic degradation pathways and maximizing their therapeutic impact are also reviewed. Special note of cell-penetrating peptides as delivery vectors, as well as stapled modified peptides, which have demonstrated superior stability from their parent peptides, are reported.
An Envelope Travel-Time Objective Function for Reducing Source–Velocity Trade-Offs in Wave-Equation Tomography
Authors: Pan Wenyong , Ma Ning , Wang Yanfei
Published: October 2022

In conventional cross-correlation (CC)-based wave-equation travel-time tomography, wrong source wavelets can result in inaccurate velocity inversion results, which is known as the source–velocity trade-off. In this study, an envelope travel-time objective function is developed for wave-equation tomography to alleviate the non-uniqueness and uncertainty due to wrong source wavelets. The envelope of a seismic signal helps reduce the waveform fluctuations/distortions caused by variations of the source time function. We show that for two seismic signals generated with different source wavelets, the travel-time shift calculated by cross-correlation of their envelopes is more accurate compared to that obtained by directly cross-correlating their waveforms. Then, the CC-based envelope travel-time (ET) objective function is introduced for wave-equation tomography. A new adjoint source has also been derived to calculate the sensitivity kernels. In the numerical inversion experiments, a synthetic example with cross-well survey is first given to show that compared to the traditional CC travel-time objective function, the ET objective function is relatively insensitive to source wavelet variations and can reconstruct the elastic velocity structures more reliably. Finally, the effectiveness and advantages of our method are verified by inversion of early arrivals in a practical seismic survey for recovering near-surface velocity structures.
Prosumers—A New Mindset for Citizens in Smart Cities
Authors: Şanta Ana-Maria Iulia
Published: October 2022

Developing smart cities as a practical component of sustainability is an initiative being promoted worldwide at the international level. The European Union has a strong focus on creating awareness regarding the necessity of new consumption models in energy, considering the current energy crisis and increasing inflation. The aim of the present paper is to assess the paradigm shift from consumers to prosumers in smart cities of the European Union in the international context of promoting sustainability and finding solutions to the current energy crisis. New solutions have to be found and implemented in order to ensure citizens in the European Union have better living conditions under these given circumstances. Developing smart cities in the countries of the European Union is a response to this international context and a solution for better life quality for citizens. Smart cities are not just high-tech cities, but are sustainable cities putting the consumer first. Consumer living in smart cities has new functions in this sustainable environment: they will develop from consumer to prosumer. This paradigm shift brings new consumption models to be implemented in smart cities, centered on the prosumer. The proactive role of the prosumer will change their mindset. This is the research hypothesis of the present paper: smart cities will help consumers to become prosumers and a new mindset will be created for citizens living in smart cities. This development will have a social impact beyond academia and will shape society in a new way. Qualitative comparative analysis is used as a research method in the present article. A case study is presented to support the research hypothesis. The novelty and originality of the present research is the citizen-oriented approach of developing smart cities, considering the perception and the new roles or functions of the citizen living in a smart city regarding these new sustainable cities. Smart cities are analyzed as social hubs offering improved life quality and a sustainable life perspective, beyond the technical or technological components which are usually debated related to smart cities. The resumption theory explains the paradigm shift from consumer to prosumer and the related development of a new mindset for citizens of smart cities in the European Union. Economic, environmental and social incentives trigger a change of mindset from consumers to prosumers in EU smart cities, which is validated in the present paper.
Facial Feature Study of Cartoon and Real People with the Aid of Artificial Intelligence
Authors: Liu Kun , Chang Kang-Ming , Liu Ying-Ju
Published: October 2022

There is an impression that there are many facial differences between different American animated characters. Japanese animated characters, on the other hand, tend to be typecast, with large eyes, sharp chins, and angular faces. In essence, the subject matter of animation is primarily based on the culture of the people who make it, and the designers of the characters also have their own sense of national belonging; therefore, is it possible that the characters in animation are designed with more reference to their own people? In this study, the facial features of characters are extracted from the data of animation with high awards, box office, and ratings in America and Japan. R-language analysis of four sets of facial features data, comparing American and Japanese animated characters, was conducted using: U.S. and Japanese live action; American animated characters with American live action; and Japanese animated characters with Japanese live action. Results revealed that 23 of the 42 observations for the American animated character sample and the American live action sample were ≤0.05. Among them, 15 reference values were ≤0.001. In the group of Japanese animated characters, compared to Japanese live action, only 12 of the 42 observations were ≤0.05. Among them, seven reference values ≤ 0.001. These data prove that the design of faces of American and Japanese animated characters are exaggerated and, based on proportions of their own faces, American animators prefer to design a diverse cast of characters, which is perhaps related to the diverse ethnic structure of the United States. It is true that Japanese animated characters mostly have a single face design, and although this face has Western characteristics, it retains more of its own Japanese characteristics. However, the ‘formulaic’ style of Japanese animated characters can easily lead to aesthetic fatigue, and without continued innovation in storytelling, the character-based Japanese animation industry may be in decline.
Experimental and Numerical Study of Flexural Stiffness Performance of Ultra-Thin, Prefabricated, and Laminated Slab Base Slabs
Authors: Chen Yihu , Chen Yiyan , Lu Dan , Zhang Min , Lu Pengyuan , Chen Jingyi
Published: October 2022

To study the effects of different parameters on the short-term stiffness and cracking load of precast laminated base slabs, static loading experiments were conducted on five base slabs to obtain their damage patterns, stiffness changes, and deflection. The parametric research on the base slab’s short-term stiffness and cracking load was followed by changing the parameters, such as the truss height, truss spacing, and base slab thickness, using finite element refinement modeling based on test cases. The results show: (1) the ductility, short-term stiffness, and cracking load of the base slab can be significantly improved by reducing the truss spacing, and its short-term stiffness and cracking load with the 300 mm truss spacing are relatively improved by comparing to the 60 mm one; (2) increasing the height of truss improves the short-term stiffness, cracking load, and ductility of base slab; however, the improvements decrease with the increase of truss height. With consideration of the cost and construction requirements, the proper truss spacing is provided.
A Contribution to Social Acceptance of PV in an Oil-Rich Country: Reflections on Governmental Organisations in Iran
Authors: Aghlimoghadam Leila , Salehi Sadegh , Dienel Hans-Liudger
Published: October 2022

To examine the social acceptance of renewable energy infrastructures regarding their position in the success of energy transition, attitudes towards these technologies have been increasingly recognised to play an important role. Notably, most of empirical literature has focused on the global northern countries, with bottom-up transition governance structure. In this paper, we study attitudes towards photovoltaics in Iran, as a fossil fuel-rich country of the global south, with a top-down energy transition structure and committed to UNFCCC. We focused on governmental organisations as a key stakeholder group regarding their role in winning public acceptance. Aiming at finding determinants of attitudes towards PV, we conducted 15 qualitative interviews in 10 governmental organisations in Golestan, Guilan and Tehran. Taking an inductive approach to the data, we considered the acceptance and attitude theories as sensitising concepts to investigate common and specific issues in terms of social acceptance in Iran. We find accessing electricity and diversifying electricity resources via PV as the key technical drivers, and the upstream policies as the key political drivers towards PV adoption. Though the weak policies (design and implementation), privileging economic and technical obstacles, do hinder the PV adoption and shape negative attitudes toward it. We realise that the previous literature overlooked the fossil fuel-rich countries and their energy transition governance structure. Our findings imply that better-designed upstream policies with a more enabling policy framework are needed to motivate actions on the governmental organisation level.
Analytical Methods for Physicochemical Characterization and Toxicity Assessment of Atmospheric Particulate Matter: A Review
Authors: Agibayeva Akmaral , Guney Mert , Karaca Ferhat , Kumisbek Aiganym , Kim Jong Ryeol , Avcu Egemen
Published: October 2022

Particle-bound pollutants are a critical risk factor for human respiratory/cardiovascular conditions. A comprehensive analysis of the physicochemical characteristics of PM is often challenging since it requires combining different practical methods with a good understanding the of characterization outputs. The present review aims to (1) provide a comprehensive assessment of the underlying mechanisms of PM cytotoxicity and the related biological response; (2) evaluate the selected methods for PM characterization in terms of outputs, technical aspects, challenges, and sample preparation; (3) present effective means of studying PM physicochemical toxicity and composition; and (4) provide recommendations for enhancing the human health risk assessment. The cellular response to potentially toxic elements in PM is complex to understand as exposure includes systemic inflammation, increased ROS accumulation, and oxidative stress. A comprehensive toxicity assessment requires blending morphological features and chemical composition data. For the morphological/chemical characterization, we recommend first using SEM-EDS as a practical method for the single-particle analysis. Then, the bulk chemistry of PM can be further studied using either a dry analysis (e.g., XRF) or wet analysis techniques (e.g., ICP and IC). Finally, when used on a need basis, the reviewed complementary laboratory methods may further add valuable information to the characterization. The accuracy of the human health risk assessment may be improved using bioaccessible/soluble fractions of the contaminants instead of the total contaminant concentration. Having an integrated understanding of the covered analytical methods along with the health risk assessment guidelines would contribute to research on atmospheric chemistry, molecular biology, and public health while helping researchers better characterize human exposure to PM and the associated adverse health effects.
Foreign Direct Investment and Carbon Emission Efficiency: The Role of Direct and Indirect Channels
Authors: Wang Qizhen , Zhang Qian
Published: October 2022

A large number of foreign direct investment inflows not only promote China’s economic development but also bring environmental pollution problems., Improving carbon emission efficiency and cutting carbon emissions while maintaining China’s attractiveness to foreign investment has become a topic of concern in China. Firstly, this paper measures the carbon emission efficiency of different provinces in China with the super efficiency DEA model and studies the temporal and spatial characteristics of carbon emission efficiency. Secondly, the impact of FDI on carbon emission efficiency is investigated. FDI negatively affects carbon emissions but positively affects carbon emission efficiency. In addition, the interaction term of FDI and each channel negatively affects carbon emission efficiency, indicating that each channel has a negative impact on the relationship between FDI and carbon emission efficiency. Thirdly, the results of the sub-sample analysis show that the impact of FDI on carbon emission efficiency has the feature of regional heterogeneity. Based on the results, policy implications regarding the improvement of carbon emission efficiency are proposed.
The Environmental Effect of Industrial Transfer in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region
Authors: Xiao Shien , Feng Langang , Shang Shu
Published: October 2022

The environmental pollution in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region is of serious concern, and the environmental impact of dispersing Beijing’s non-capital functions and promoting industrial transfer in an orderly manner cannot be ignored. Based on the spatial panel model, the environmental impact effect of industrial transfer on pollutants was analyzed using the panel data of 13 regions in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Province from 2004 to 2018, and the total effect EKC curve was decomposed into direct and indirect effect EKC curves. The results showed the following: (1) The total effect of industrial transfer had a restraining effect on the emission intensity of three types of industrial pollutants. The direct and indirect effects of industrial transfer can significantly inhibit the emission intensity of industrial wastewater, whereas only the indirect effect of industrial transfer can reduce the emission intensity of industrial SO2 and SO2 in the region. (2) The EKC of the indirect and total effects of industrial SO2, wastewater, and dust was an inverted u-shape, and the EKC of the direct effect of industrial wastewater was a positive u-shape. Except for industrial dust, industrial SO2 and wastewater have exceeded the inflection point. With the development of per capita GDP, the emission intensity of industrial pollutants is showing a downward trend. Therefore, the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region should gradually transfer pollution-intensive industries, jointly protect the environment, prevent and control pollution, adjust the industrial structure, optimize the industrial layout, promote the development of a circular economy, and promote high-quality development.
Characterizing the Long-Term Landscape Dynamics of a Typical Cloudy Mountainous Area in Northwest Yunnan, China
Authors: Chen Youjun , Hu Xiaokang , Zhang Yanjie , Feng Jianmeng
Published: October 2022

Detailed knowledge of landscape dynamics is crucial for many applications, from resource management to ecosystem service assessments. However, identifying the spatial distribution of the landscape using optical remote sensing techniques is difficult in mountainous areas, primarily due to cloud cover and topographic relief. Our study uses stable classification samples from mountainous areas to investigate an integrated approach that addresses large volumes of cloud-cover data (with associated data gaps) and extracts landscape time series (LTS) with a high time–frequency resolution. We applied this approach to map LTS in a typical cloudy mountainous area (Erhai watershed in northwestern Yunnan, China) using dense Landsat stacks, and then we also used the classified results to investigate the spatial–temporal landscape changes in the study area at biennial intervals. The overall accuracy of the landscape classification ranged from 81.75% to 88.18%. The results showed highly dynamic processes in the landscape throughout the study period. Forest was the main land cover type, covering approximately 39.19% to 41.68% of the total study area. Alpine meadow showed fluctuating trends, with a net loss of 11.22% and an annual reduction rate of −0.4%. Shrub cover increased by 1.26%, and water bodies showed a small decrease in area, resulting in an overall net change of −0.03%. Built-up land and farmland areas continued to expand, and their annual growth rates were 1.52% and 1.06%, respectively. Bare land showed the highest loss, with a net change of 228.97 km2. In the Erhai watershed, all the landscape classes changed or transitioned into other classes, and a substantial decrease in bare land occurred. The biennial LTS maps allow us to fully understand the spatially and temporally complex change processes occurring in landscape classes; these changes would not be observable at coarse temporal intervals (e.g., 5–10 years). Our study highlights the importance of increasing the temporal resolution in landscape change studies to support sustainable land resource management strategies and integrate landscape planning for environmental conservation.
The Effect of Sodium and Magnesium Sulfate on Physico-Mechanical and Microstructural Properties of Kaolin and Ceramic Powder-Based Geopolymer Mortar
Authors: Kaya Mehmet , Köksal Fuat , Nodehi Mehrab , Bayram Muhammed , Gencel Osman , Ozbakkaloglu Togay
Published: October 2022

Recent trends in reducing the ecological footprint of the construction industry have increased the attention surrounding the use of alternative binding systems. Among the most promising are geopolymer binders, which were found to have the capability to substantially reduce the environmental impact of Portland cement use. However, even the use of this alternative binding system is known to be heavily dependent on the use of industrial byproducts, such as precursors and an alkaline source, produced through an energy intensive process. To address this and provide a greener route for this binding system, this study adopts the use of natural kaolin and raw ceramic powder as the main precursors. The activation process is performed by using solid potassium hydroxide in conjunction with sodium and magnesium sulfate, which are naturally available, to produce geopolymers. To assess the resulting geopolymer samples, 28 mixes are produced and a series of physico-mechanical and microstructural analyses is conducted. The results show that the use of ceramic powder can improve the physico-mechanical properties by reducing porosity. This, however, requires a relatively higher alkalinity for activation and strength development. These findings are further confirmed with the XRD and FTIR results. Nonetheless, the use of ceramic powder with sodium and magnesium sulfate is found to result in a more coherent and homogenous microstructure, compared to the geopolymers produced with potassium hydroxide and kaolin. The findings of this study point to the suitability of using sodium and magnesium sulfate for the cleaner production of kaolin and ceramic powder-based geopolymers.
How Environmental Regulation Affects Industrial Green Total Factor Productivity in China: The Role of Internal and External Channels
Authors: Yan Guihuan , Jiang Liming , Xu Chongqing
Published: October 2022

Many nations have enacted diverse environmental control regulations to address environmental and climate concerns. Analyzing how environmental regulation affects industrial green total factor productivity can aid in creating appropriate environmental regulation laws and realizing peaceful coexistence between man and nature. Based on the panel data of various provinces in China from 2011 to 2019, this paper used the data envelopment analysis method to measure the industrial green total factor productivity and then used the system generalized method of moments model to empirically study the differential effect of heterogeneous environmental regulation on China’s industrial green total factor productivity. In addition, this paper also conducted a test of internal and external mechanisms. The statistics show that environmental regulation can boost the growth of industrial green total factor productivity and pass the robustness test. Innovation ability is the external mechanism variable of environmental regulation acting on industrial green total factor productivity. Regulation can improve industrial productivity and significantly suppress industrial pollution emissions, but market-based environmental regulations do not have an effective impact on carbon emissions. Environmental regulations in economically developed regions can promote the growth of industrial green total factor productivity, but for financially backward areas, market-based environmental regulation inhibits the promotion of industrial green total factor productivity, while command-and-control environmental regulation is not helpful for industrial green total factor productivity.
Reducing the Operating Energy of Buildings in Arid Climates through an Adaptive Approach
Authors: Albatayneh Aiman , Assaf Mohammed N. , Albadaineh Renad , Juaidi Adel , Abdallah Ramez , Zabalo Alberto , Manzano-Agugliaro Francisco
Published: October 2022

Due to its excessive energy consumption, the building sector contributes significantly to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The type of thermal comfort models used to maintain the comfort of occupants has a direct influence on forecasting heating and cooling demands and plays a critical role in reducing actual energy usage in the buildings. In this research, a typical residential building was simulated to compare the heating and cooling loads in four different Jordanian climates when using an adaptive thermal model versus the constant setting of temperature limits for air-conditioning systems (19–24 °C). The air-conditioning system with constant temperature settings worked to sustain thermal comfort inside the building, resulting in a significantly increased cooling and heating load. By contrast, significant energy savings were achieved using the temperature limits of an adaptive thermal model. These energy savings equated to 1533, 6276, 3951, and 3353 kWh, which represented 29.3%, 80.5%, 48.5%, and 67.5% of the total energy used for heating and cooling for zones one, two, three, and four, respectively.
Types of Rural Residents in Central Poland in Terms of Their Local Participation: The Perspectives of the Local Authorities and the Inhabitants
Authors: Marks-Krzyszkowska Małgorzata , Dzwonkowska-Godula Krystyna , Miklaszewska Anna
Published: October 2022

This article analyzes the public participation of rural inhabitants in Poland. It aims to identify the types of rural residents in terms of their local participation. In our research, we adopted the triangulation approach involving using two types of data, qualitative and quantitative, from the research including two types of respondents: mayors of rural communes and inhabitants. On this basis, two typologies of rural inhabitants were created, which were then confronted. First, the local authorities’ views on residents’ engagement in public affairs are presented. Free-form interviews with six mayors of selected rural municipalities of the Łódzkie Region in central Poland were conducted. Based on their observations, the typology of rural inhabitants includes two variables, namely, engagement (activity versus passivity) and motivations for an activity, or a lack of it. Second, we analyzed data from a survey conducted among inhabitants of the same rural municipalities concerning their forms of local participation, their interest in public affairs, their satisfaction with different dimensions of local life and local policy, as well as their trust in the local authorities and sense of impact on local policies and management. The distinguished types of rural inhabitants based on these data differ in their levels of public engagement (very active vs. totally inactive) and preferred forms of activity (individual vs. collective and public vs. social). In the comparison of the results of both studies, we confirmed some of the mayors’ observations concerning the most common type of resident, which is alienated people who are not interested in any public activity. The group of fully active residents, who could be partners in local governance for the local authorities, is very small. On the basis of the interviews with mayors, one can suppose that the situation can be used by local authorities as a justification for not involving residents in local public management.
Urban Resilience: A Study of Leftover Spaces and Play in Dense City Fabric
Authors: Covatta Alice , Ikalović Vedrana
Published: October 2022

Cities worldwide are urgently moving towards a more resilient and sustainable future. On this quest, national, regional, and local governments apply a combination of socio-spatial tools that regenerate and transform the city’s leftover spaces. There is an abundance of community gardens, cultural centers, and large-scale urban developments that, through programmed activities, reactivate underused spaces. The bearers of this process are professionals and individuals who have become aware of their actions in the contemporary urban landscape. This paper highlights possible design strategies that domesticate leftover spaces of diverse scales by injecting creative and playful programs, using Tokyo as a paradigmatic case study. More so than other global metropolises, the city represents a living laboratory for experimentation due to its compactness and the variety of urban patterns. Its leftover spaces demonstrate how play positively affects everyday life in public spaces, and how it enables extraordinary uses. A combination of ethnographic observations and spatial analysis is applied as a trans-disciplinary method. This approach allows an understanding of how people use playfulness to transform, appropriate, and utilize leftover spaces, which serves as guidance for urban planners and designers.
Optimization of Port Layout to Determine Greenhouse Gas Emission Gaps
Authors: Durán Claudia , Derpich Ivan , Carrasco Raúl
Published: October 2022

Ports are of great strategic importance for a country. Nowadays, compliance with environmental requirements is required, forcing the migration towards clean energies. Therefore, it is necessary for emerging ports, as those in developed countries, to incorporate in their policies the use of electric power in the machinery that moves containers in the terminals. To learn how the problem is addressed in other countries, an extensive bibliographic review is presented. Then, the energy policies and criteria of a group of ports in an emerging country and a European port are studied. Subsequently, in order to determine the gaps between the ports investigated, the layout of the cargo yard of each of the terminals is optimized; the emissions of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and other Greenhouse Gases (GHG) gases are calculated; and finally, the decrease in emissions when switching from diesel to electricity is estimated. The strategic and operational gaps related to energy management between the emerging and developed countries are discussed. It is concluded that research is needed to investigate how these initiatives impact the city and improve other sustainable aspects.
Seafood Sustainability Supply Chain Trends and Challenges in Japan: Marine Stewardship Council Fisheries and Chain of Custody Certificates
Authors: Iue Minako , Makino Mitsutaku , Asari Misuzu
Published: October 2022

In Japan, fisheries’ product has decreased since the 1980s, and the government amended the fisheries law in 2020 to shift to managed fisheries. However, awareness of seafood sustainability is still low. This study identifies the reason for the low awareness and states the necessary actions to increase sustainable seafood consumption. The proactive stakeholders in seafood supply were surveyed to determine the current status of sustainable seafood sales. Marine Stewardship Council-certified fishers and MSC’s Chain-of-Custody certification holders answered the questionnaires. Fishers showed a positive attitude, citing proactive sales channel expansions and contributions to sustainability. Distributors were primarily passive, mainly because they obtained the certification at the request of their clients, and about half of them did not disseminate information between consumers and suppliers. Both fishers and distributors expect the government to promote campaigns and education. The stages of the awareness of producers, intermediary trade, and retailers are different and did not align. Therefore, if the supply chain stakeholders proactively educate themselves, choose sustainable products from the fishers, and pass the sustainability information to the consumers, sustainable seafood consumption would progress.
Green Technology of Foreign Direct Investment on Public Health: Evidence from China
Authors: Liu Zhizhong , Liu Guangyue , Han Xu , Chen Yingna
Published: October 2022

Nowadays, public health issues are increasingly in the spotlight, and the role played by foreign direct investment (FDI) cannot be ignored, especially in developing countries. Scholars have discussed the influencing mechanism of FDI on public health from both positive and negative aspects, but there is little literature focused on the impact of FDI’s green technology spillovers. This paper explores the impact of spontaneous green technology progress induced by FDI, i.e., FDI’s green technology spillover effect, on the public health status of China. It constructs a theoretical model based on the cost discovery theory and uses the Global Malmquist–Luenberger Method to calculate the green technology spillover index; then, it empirically researches the impact of this spillover effect on public health based on the Grossman health product function, using Chinese provincial data from 2007 to 2019. After a series of robustness tests, this paper also discusses the regional heterogeneity and the influencing mechanism. The main conclusions are as follows: Firstly, there is a significant negative correlation between FDI’s green technology spillover and infant mortality, indicating that the spillover effect significantly promotes China’s public health. Secondly, the results of regional heterogeneity show that the spillover effect of green technology presents a decreasing trend from east to west regions. The threshold effect test results also show that, when the level of economic development is extremely low or exceeds a specific threshold, FDI’s green technology spillover will have a positive impact on public health. Finally, FDI’s green technology spillover improves public health by controlling environmental pollution and optimizing industrial activities, but it does not worsen public health by increasing income inequality. The conclusions of this paper provide empirical support and policy suggestions for rationally and effectively utilizing FDI to promote China’s public health in the future.
Synthesis of a Novel Adsorbing Agent by Coupling Chitosan, β-Cyclodextrin, and Cerium Dioxide: Evaluation of Hexavalent Chromium Removal Efficacy from Aqueous Solutions
Authors: Kekes Tryfon , Giannou Virginia , Tzia Constantina , Kolliopoulos Georgios
Published: October 2022

The present study aimed at synthesizing a novel adsorbing agent by coupling chitosan, β-cyclodextrin, and cerium dioxide (Chit/β-CyD/Ce). Its efficiency towards the removal of hexavalent chromium from aqueous solutions was studied and compared to an adsorbent comprising of only chitosan and cerium dioxide. Batch water purification experiments in varying experimental conditions (initial adsorbent concentration 5–100 mg/L, adsorbate concentration 0.1–2 g/L, pH 2–11, and temperature 15–50 °C) were carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of both adsorbents. In all the experimental cases, the Chit/β-CyD/Ce adsorbent exhibited the higher efficacy. The optimum operating conditions were found to be at an initial adsorbent concentration of 2 g/L, pH = 3, and temperature of 50 °C, with the Chit/β-CyD/Ce adsorbent being able to fully remove Cr(VI) from solutions with up to 50 mg/L Cr(VI) at these conditions. The adsorption of hexavalent chromium onto both adsorbents occurs in a multilayer pattern of a heterogeneous surface following the Freundlich isotherm model. Furthermore, the adsorption process was exothermic and obeyed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, thus indicating the occurrence of chemisorption. Finally, FTIR, XRD, and SEM analyses were performed to characterize the synthesized adsorbents and verify the adsorption process.
The Effect of Recycled Sand on the Tensile Properties of Engineered Cementitious Composites
Authors: Dong Zhifu , Tan Yan , Jian Xiangru , Yu Jiangtao , Yu Kequan
Published: October 2022

This research aims to investigate the feasibility of replacing natural sand (NS) with recycled sand (RS) to enhance the mechanical property of engineered cementitious composites (ECC). For a comparative study, ECCs incorporating natural sands (NS) and recycled sands with different sieve sizes were taken as experimental subjects. The results demonstrated that RS-ECC possessed better tensile properties featuring saturated cracks and superior strain-hardening behavior than that of NS-ECC. The highest tensile strain capacity of RS-ECC was up to 7%. Meanwhile, the compressive and flexural strengths of RS-ECC were over 50 and 20 MPa. The pseudo-strain-hardening (PSH) index of the RS-ECC-20 grid and RS-ECC-12 grid were 141 and 201, which increased by 46% and 70% than that of NS-ECC. Furthermore, the thicker weak ITZ and comparatively aggregate/ITZ ratio were found in the RE-ECC by a microstructure test, which revealed and explained the mechanism for the lower matrix fracture toughness of RS-ECC.
Artificial Intelligence-Based Diabetes Diagnosis with Belief Functions Theory
Authors: Ellouze Ameni , Kahouli Omar , Ksantini Mohamed , Alsaif Haitham , Aloui Ali , Kahouli Bassem
Published: October 2022

We compared various machine learning (ML) methods, such as the K-nearest neighbor (KNN), support vector machine (SVM), and decision tree and deep learning (DL) methods, like the recurrent neural network, convolutional neural network, long short-term memory (LSTM), and gated recurrent unit (GRU), to determine the ones with the highest precision. These algorithms learn from data and are subject to different imprecisions and uncertainties. The uncertainty arises from the bad reading of data and/or inaccurate sensor acquisition. We studied how these methods may be combined in a fusion classifier to improve their performance. The Dempster–Shafer method, which uses the formalism of belief functions characterized by asymmetry to model nonprecise and uncertain data, is used for classifier fusion. Diagnosis in the medical field is an important step for the early detection of diseases. In this study, the fusion classifiers were used to diagnose diabetes with the required accuracy. The results demonstrated that the fusion classifiers outperformed the individual classifiers as well as those obtained in the literature. The combined LSTM and GRU fusion classifiers achieved the highest accuracy rate of 98%.
FPGA Hardware Realization of Membrane Calculation Optimization Algorithm with Great Parallelism
Authors: Song Qi , Huang Yourui , Lai Wenhao , Xu Jiachang , Xu Shanyong , Han Tao , Rong Xue
Published: October 2022

Aiming to investigate the disadvantage of the optimization algorithm of membrane computing (a P system) in which it is difficult to take advantage of parallelism in MATLAB, leading to a slow optimization speed, a digital-specific hardware solution (field-programmable gate array, FPGA) is proposed to design and implement the single-cell-membrane algorithm (SCA). Because the SCA achieves extensive global searches by the symmetric processing of the solution set, with independent and symmetrically distributed submembrane structures, the FPGA-hardware-based design of the SCA system includes a control module, an HSP module, an initial value module, a fitness module, a random number module, and multiple submembrane modules with symmetrical structures. This research utilizes the inherent parallel characteristics of the FPGA to achieve parallel computations of multiple submembrane modules with a symmetric structure inside the SCA, and it achieves a high degree of parallelism of rules inside the modules by using a non-blocking allocation. This study uses the benchmark Sphere function to verify the performance of the FPGA-designed SCA system. The experimental results show that, when the FPGA platform and the MATLAB platform obtain a similar calculation accuracy, the average time-consuming of the FPGA is 0.00041 s, and the average time-consuming of MATLAB is 0.0122 s, and the calculation speed is improved by nearly 40 times. This study uses the FPGA design to implement the SCA, and it verifies the advantages of the membrane-computing maximum-parallelism theory and distributed structures in computing speed. The realization platform of membrane computing is expanded, which provides a theoretical basis for further development of the distributed computing model of population cells.