bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Localizing Indicators of SDG11 for an Integrated Assessment of Urban Sustainability—A Case Study of Hainan Province
Authors: Zhang Chi , Sun Zhongchang , Xing Qiang , Sun Jialong , Xia Tianyu , Yu Hao
Published: October 2021

Rapid urbanization has brought many problems, including housing shortages, traffic congestion, air pollution, and lack of public space. To solve these problems, the United Nations proposed “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, which contains 17 Sustainable Development Goals covering three dimensions: economy, society, and environment. Among them, Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG11), “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”, can be measured at the city level. So far SDG11 still lacks three-quarters of the data required to accurately assess progress towards the goal. In this paper, we localized the indicators of SDG11 and collected Earth observation data, statistical data, and monitoring data at the city and county levels to build a better urban sustainable development assessment framework. Overall, we found that Haikou and Sanya were close to achieving sustainable development goals, while other cities were still some distance away. In Hainan Province, there was a spatial distribution pattern of high development levels in the north and south, but low levels in the middle and west. Through the Moran’s I Index of Hainan Province, we found that the sustainable development of Hainan Province did not yet form part of integrated development planning. The sustainable development assessment framework and localization methods proposed in this paper at the city and county levels provide references for the sustainable development of Hainan. At the same time, it also provides a reference for the evaluation of county-level sustainable development goals in cities in China and even the world.
Study on Performance of Rooftop Solar Power Generation Combined with Battery Storage at Office Building in Northeast Region, Vietnam
Authors: Thanh Tung Nguyen , Minh Phap Vu , Duong Trung Kien , Anh Tuan Do
Published: October 2021

At present, renewable energy sources are considered to ensure energy security and combat climate change. Vietnam has a high potential for solar power development, especially in the central region and the southern region. However, the northeast region has the lowest solar radiation value, so it can cause difficulty for rooftop solar power investment. In this paper, the study results analyze the financial efficiency of the grid-tied rooftop solar power system with battery storage and compared it to the grid-tied rooftop solar power system without battery storage. The experimental data of a grid-tied solar power system with battery storage at an office building in the northeast region of Vietnam is collected to evaluate the system’s operation performance in real conditions. The study results present that the financial efficiency of rooftop grid-tied power project with and without storage is viable since the benefit-cost ratio (B–C) is larger than one, and internal rate of return (IRR) and net present value (NPV) are positive. However, the grid-tied rooftop solar power system with storage is not quite feasible in case of changing the electricity selling price and investment cost even though the grid-tied solar power system using the storage device can operate more flexibly. The payback period of the grid-tied solar power system with storage is 6.2 years longer and the total profit is nearly 1.9 times lower than the solar power system without battery storage due to the difference in the price of the inverters and the battery. In contrast, the grid-tied solar power system without battery storage shows better financial efficiency but strongly depends on the operation of the utility grid.
Assessment of Water Quality Target Attainment and Influencing Factors Using the Multivariate Log-Linear Model in the Nakdong River Basin, Republic of Korea
Authors: Kim Mi-Ah , Na Eunhye , Park Suyoung , Kang Taegu , Lee Soyoung
Published: October 2021

Because identifying the factors affecting water quality is challenging, water quality assessment of an individual component based on the arithmetic mean method cannot adequately support management policies. Therefore, in this study, we assessed the water quality target attainment at 24 sites in the Nakdong River Basin by applying multivariate log-linear models to identify factors influencing water quality, including flow and season. The temporal and seasonal water quality trend and flow were also analyzed using the calculated model coefficients. Specifically, weekly data on biological oxygen demand (BOD), total phosphorous (TP), and flow during 2013–2018 were used to investigate the 2018 water quality target attainment level for this river. The significance and suitability of the models were analyzed using the F-test, root mean squared error (RMSE), mean absolute percent error (MAPE), and adjusted R2 values. All 24 models applied in this study showed statistical significance and suitability for the prediction of BOD and TP concentrations. Moreover, flow was identified as the main factor affecting water quality and had a predominant effect on BOD and TP concentrations in tributaries and the main stream, respectively. Furthermore, among the 24 sites, BOD and TP targets were evidently attained at 18 and 17 sites, respectively.
Effects of Seasonal Temperature Variation on Slurry Temperature and Biogas Composition of a Commercial Fixed-Dome Anaerobic Digester Used in Bangladesh
Authors: Sabbir A. S. M. Younus Bhuiyan , Saha Chayan Kumer , Nandi Rajesh , Zaman Md. Forid Uz , Alam Md. Monjurul , Sarker Shiplu
Published: October 2021

Biogas is produced in Bangladesh mostly through fixed-dome anaerobic digesters, which usually operate without any temperature controller. An experiment was conducted to monitor the seasonal temperature variation inside a fixed-dome type digester and its effect on biogas composition. A commercial-scale digester with a working volume of 350 m3 was used for this study. Three k-type thermocouple sensors were used to monitor the ambient, biogas, and slurry temperatures in real-time. The results showed that the average ambient temperature in the autumn, late autumn, and winter was 29.05, 22.90, and 17.64 °C, respectively. The average slurry temperature in the autumn (30.38 °C) was higher than in the late autumn (29.36 °C) and in the winter (25.76 °C). The highest and lowest slurry temperatures were found to be 31.11 and 24.47 °C, respectively, which indicated that the digester worked within a wide temperature range, establishing both psychrophilic and mesophilic operational conditions. Higher methane concentrations were observed in the autumn than in the late autumn and winter. The CO2 and H2S concentrations were higher in the winter than those of in the autumn and late autumn. The electricity generation in the winter was 47.85% and 45.15% lower than in the autumn and late autumn, respectively.
Synergistic Air Pollutants and GHG Reduction Effect of Commercial Vehicle Electrification in Guangdong’s Public Service Sector
Authors: Liu Jianjun , Cui Jixian , Li Yixi , Luo Yinping , Zhu Qianru , Luo Yutao
Published: October 2021

This paper aims to analyze the associated environment and climate benefits of electrification by comparing the air pollutant and CO2 emissions from the fuel cycle of battery electric commercial vehicles (BECVs) and internal combustion engine commercial vehicles (ICECVs) through a case study in Guangzhou Province. Five types of vehicles (i.e., electric buses, coaches, light-duty trucks, dump trucks, and waste haulers) used in the public service sector were selected for analysis, taking into account six development scenarios based on the prevalent ownership trends of electric vehicles and the energy system optimization process. The results reveal that an increase in commercial vehicle electrification in the public service sector will cause reductions of 19.3 × 103 tons, 0.5 × 103 tons, 9.5 × 103 tons, and 8.5 × 106 tons for NOx, PM2.5, VOCs, and CO2, respectively, from the base 2030 case (CS_II, the electrification rates of buses, coaches, light-duty trucks, dump trucks, and waste haulers will reach 100%, 26.5%, 15.4%, 24.0%, and 33.1%, and their power needs will be met by 24% coal, 18.4% gas, and 13.2% renewable power), but with a slight increase in SO2 emissions. With the further penetration of BECVs into the market, the emission reduction benefits for NOx, PM2.5, VOCs, and CO2 could be even more remarkable. Moreover, the benefit obtained from the optimization of the share of renewable energy is more noticeable for CO2 reduction than for air pollutant reduction. Prioritizing the electrification of light-duty trucks after completing bus electrification could be a potential solution for achieving ozone pollution control and lowering carbon emissions in Guangdong. In addition, these results can provide scientific support for the formulation or adjustment of advanced pollution mitigation and peaking carbon policies in Guangdong, as well as other regions of China.
Reprogramming Modernist Heritage: Enhancing Social Wellbeing by Value-Based Programming Approach in Architectural Design
Authors: Ristić Trajković Jelena , Milovanović Aleksandra , Nikezić Ana
Published: October 2021

This paper is built on the assumption that architecture is the establishment of the relationship between past and future, built and unbuilt, within the inherited and natural context and in direct connection with the overall culture. Unlike a traditional approach to heritage generally limited to considering only the visible values of the place, this research stands on the belief that, in the context of heritage, the implementation and application of behavioral knowledge in architectural discourse contributes to the intensification and enhancement of these relations. In accordance with the need to re-examine existing and explore new forms of the relationship between future life of heritage and social wellbeing, the main goal of the research is to examine the possibility of improving this relationship through a value-based architectural programming methodological framework. This paper was conducted through: (1) theoretical framework that intertwines environment–behavior theories and architectural programming as the value-matrix methodology for the reuse of heritage; (2) exploring the established framework through design results gathered within the design-based studio on “heritage reprogramming” at the University of Belgrade—Faculty of Architecture with a particular focus on the modernist architectural heritage; and (3) discussing the overall principles through the multiscale and value-based approach. The evaluation of the results indicates the possibility of improving the social dimension of heritage protection and reuse, as well as the need to shift the focus from exclusively material and formal values of heritage to social and cultural aspects in accordance with the needs of contemporary society and culture. Results indicate that the multidimensional nature of architectural programming methodological approach in the context of modern heritage and, accordingly, the synergy of different programming values (environmental, human, social, systemic, temporal, economic, aesthetic) provides sustainable access to heritage and has the capacity to improve the social wellbeing of individual users but also of the wider community.
Analysing Challenges and Strategies in Land Productivity in Sikkim Himalaya, India
Authors: Mishra Prabuddh Kumar , Rai Aman , Abdelrahman Kamal , Rai Suresh Chand , Tiwari Anuj
Published: October 2021

Agriculture is the major source of livelihood in rural areas and is considered the backbone of the Indian economy. In Sikkim, agriculture is being practiced by 80% of the rural population, and having no other major livelihood options has created immense pressure on the farmers and agricultural land. Agriculture sector is under great stress as the farmers are being confronted by various challenges in Sikkim Himalaya in recent years, such as land degradation, climate change and socio-economic problems. Despite the number of indigenous agriculture management methods being practised in Sikkim Himalaya, the agricultural production system is weakening. In this context, this paper presents an analysis of challenges faced by indigenous communities, local farmers and potential sustainable strategies for their management in Rani Khola watershed of Sikkim Himalaya. Data and information were collected by field observation, questionnaire surveys of 300 households, key informant interviews and focus group discussions conducted during 2017–18. Data processing and analysis were carried out with a combination of techniques, such as the application of remote sensing (RS), geographic information system (GIS)-based data processing and descriptive statistics. Major challenges identified in the watershed are water scarcity (80%), climate change (88%), soil erosion and runoff (72%), higher investment cost (100%), lack of irrigation facilities (77%), fragmentation and size of landholdings (100), human–wildlife conflict (59%) and pests and disease (60%). Some possibilities and innovations that could address these problems are the use and retaining of various indigenous soil and water conservation (SWC) measures, diversified farming systems, community involvement in the government development process, better irrigation facilities, strengthening the local economy, coordinated planning between stakeholders and development of market feedback mechanism within the system.
Strengthening Accountability for Responsible Land Governance: Linking Governance of Tenure to Human Rights
Authors: Kramer Anna Katharina , Klümper Frederike , Müller Alexander , Thornberry Francesca
Published: October 2021

While there is no universal right to land enshrined in existing human rights treaties, access to land is intrinsically linked to the achievement of human rights. For example, the right to food, adequate housing, property and equality and non-discrimination are of special concern for smallholder farmers, pastoralists, women, and other marginalized groups. In this regard, the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the context of national food security (VGGT) is considered a milestone document. They link binding human rights frameworks with universally agreed principles of responsible land governance. However, the implementation of the Guidelines is impeded by their voluntary nature and the absence of clear monitoring and accountability structures. The objective of this paper is to make a case for adopting human rights-based monitoring approaches that strengthen the implementation of the VGGT and, ultimately, responsible land governance. This policy analytical paper draws from a literature review, an analysis of secondary data gathered from National Human Rights Institutions working on land rights, as well as findings from two pilot case studies. The cases illustrate the need for a human rights-based land governance monitoring approach, relevant for policy-makers as well as land rights practitioners. Furthermore, this paper shows that there is currently no systemic approach that monitors the implementation of the VGGT from a human rights perspective. Therefore, the paper suggests that a human rights-based monitoring approach centered around established human rights monitoring and reporting mechanisms can provide a new, and urgently needed, impetus for implementing the VGGT. Linking VGGT implementation to human rights obligations by states can strengthen efforts towards responsible land governance reforms and contributes to holding governments accountable to their commitments.
Knowledge Use in Education for Environmental Citizenship—Results of Four Case Studies in Europe (France, Hungary, Serbia, Turkey)
Authors: Kovách Imre , Megyesi Boldizsár Gergely , Barthes Angela , Oral Hasan Volkan , Smederevac-Lalic Marija
Published: October 2021

The aim of the paper is to contribute to the research on education for environmental citizenship in a comparative perspective. The central concept of education is the complex issue of knowledge. In the present paper, different knowledge forms, knowledge use, and types of knowledge production in environmental education are analysed for two EU countries, France and Hungary, together with two candidate countries, Serbia and Turkey. We review the most important theories and publications, the research questions and the methods considered to be examples for our present work. The second part of the paper presents the case studies according to the theoretical priorities. Evidence-based papers on cases in different European countries illustrating and discussing the evaluation of the types of knowledge used in environmental education and sustainability projects, as well as analysing the power-related components of knowledge use are reviewed. In the final part, case studies are compared and conclusions are drawn.
“These Are the Very Small Things That Lead Us to That Goal”: Youth Climate Strike Organizers Talk about Activism Empowering and Taxing Experiences
Authors: Budziszewska Magdalena , Głód Zuzanna
Published: October 2021

Climate change is one of the most pressing issues we face, and the Fridays for Future wave of protests is unique both in its youth character and global reach. However, still not enough is known about how young activists experience their involvement and how the experience of climate activism connects to their personal development and psychological well-being. To gain an enhanced understanding of this issue, we conducted a qualitative study based on eight in-depth interviews with individuals deeply involved in the Youth Climate Strike in Poland. We analyzed the interviews using a rigorous multi-stage thematic analysis. Results showed that the empowering aspects of activism were associated with a heightened sense of agency, a sense of belonging to a community, a sense of duty and ethical integrity, of finding one’s voice and learning new skills, and a sense of personal growth. Activists also indicated aggravating aspects of involvement, such as involving the struggle for balance between activism and other spheres of life, overwork, and conflicts within a peer group. In conclusion, in contrast to the pressing nature of the climate change conundrum, climate activism is often experienced by its young participants as a mostly empowering experience.
Carbon Farming: Prospects and Challenges
Authors: Sharma Meenakshi , Kaushal Rajesh , Kaushik Prashant , Ramakrishna Seeram
Published: October 2021

Carbon farming is a capable strategy for more sustainable production of food and other related products. It seeks to produce a diverse array of natural farming methods and marketable products simultaneously. According to the food and agriculture organization (FAO), agriculture, forestry, and other land-use practices account for 24% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and total global livestock emissions of 7.1 gigatons of CO2-equivalent per year, representing 14.5% of total anthropogenic GHG emissions. For example, an agroforestry system that deliberately integrates trees and crops with livestock in agricultural production could potentially increase carbon sequestration and decrease GHG emissions from terrestrial ecosystems, thus helping to mitigate global climatic change. Also, agroforestry is capable of generating huge amounts of bio-mass and is believed to be particularly suitable for replenishing soil organic carbon (SOC). SOC is a crucial indicator for soil fertility since the change in SOC can explain whether the land use pattern degrades or improves soil fertility. Moreover, SOC found in soil in the form of soil organic matter (SOM) helps to improve soil health either directly or indirectly. Thus, efforts should be made to convince farmers to increase their resource-use efficiency and soil conserving ability to get maximum benefits from agriculture. Therefore, this review aimed at clarification about carbon farming, modifications in carbon cycle and carbon sequestration during agricultural development, and benefits of agroforestry.
Metagenomic Analysis Reveals the Fate of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in a Full-Scale Wastewater Treatment Plant in Egypt
Authors: Ali Osama S. , Hozayen Walaa G. , Almutairi Abdulwahab S. , Edris Sherif A. , Abulfaraj Aala A. , Ouf Amged A. , Mahmoud Hamada M.
Published: October 2021

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are recognized as hotspots for the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARBs) in the environment. Our study utilized a high-throughput sequencing-based metagenomic analysis approach to compare the ARG abundance profiles of the raw sewage, treated effluent and activated sludge samples from a full-scale WWTP in Egypt. In addition, the difference in microbial community composition due to the treatment process was assessed. As a result, 578 ARG subtypes (resistance genes) belonging to 18 ARG types (antibiotic resistance classes) were identified. ARGs encoding for resistance against multidrug, aminoglycoside, bacitracin, beta-lactam, sulfonamide, and tetracycline antibiotics were the most abundant types. The total removal efficiency percentage of ARGs in the WWTP was found to be 98% however, the ARG persistence results indicated that around 68% of the ARGs in the influent could be found in the treated effluent. This finding suggests that the treated wastewater poses a potential risk for the ARG dissemination in bacterial communities of the receiving water bodies via horizontal gene transfer (HGT). The community composition at phylum level showed that Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Actinobacteria were the most abundant phyla in all datasets. Although the relative abundance of several pathogenic bacteria in the influent declined to less than 1% in the effluent, the taxonomic assignments at species level for the effluent and sludge metagenomes demonstrated that clinically important pathogens such as Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, and Aeromonas caviae were present. Overall, the results of this study would hopefully enhance our knowledge about the abundance profiles of ARGs and their fate in different wastewater treatment compartments that have never been examined before.
Exploring the Effects of Carpooling on Travelers’ Behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of Metropolitan City
Authors: Xu Anfeng , Chen Jiming , Liu Zihui
Published: October 2021

Transportation accounts for more than a quarter of the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change. Carpooling is a subset of the sharing economy, in which individuals share their vehicle with commuters to save travel expenses. In recent decades, carpooling has been promoted as a feasible alternative to car ownership with the potential to alleviate traffic congestion, parking demand, and environmental problems. Unstable economic conditions, cultural norms, and lack of infrastructure make cultural exchange activities and mobility habits different in developing nations to those in developed countries. The rapid evolution of sharing mobility has reshaped travelers’ behavior and created a dire need to determine the travel patterns of commuters living in megacities in developing countries. To obtain data, a web-based stated choice (SC) experiment was used in this study. It used mode-related variables, socioeconomic demographic variables, and a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) precautionary measure variable. Logit models, namely the mixed logit regression model (ML) and the multinomial logit regression model (MNL), were applied to analyze the available data. According to modeling and survey data, economic variables associated with modes of transport, such as trip time and trip cost, were determined to be significant. Additionally, the results revealed that commuters were more conscious of COVID-19 preventive measures, which was determined to be highly significant. The findings showed that the majority of residents in the COVID-19 pandemic continue to rely on automobiles and motorcycles. It is noteworthy that individuals with more than two members in their family and a travel distance of less than seven miles were more likely to prefer a carpooling service. This study’s findings will provide a basis for researchers to aid existing operators in the field of transportation, as well as offer guidelines for governments in developing countries to enhance the utility of transportation networks.
The Impact of Cascade Large Deep Reservoir on the Migration and Deposition of Cadmium in Lancang River
Authors: Cheng Yao , Chen Chenchen , Hu Mingming , Wang Yuchun
Published: October 2021

Metal pollution is a global environmental problem. In order to understand the effects of the cascade hydropower development on Cd in reservoir sediments, this study investigated the migration and deposition mechanisms of Cd in reservoir sediments by using the film diffusion gradient technique (DGT) for the cascade large deep reservoirs of the Lancang River (LCR), Nuozhadu (NZD) and Xiaowan (XW). The results show that: (1) Strong correlations amongst the deposition processes of Cd, Mn and S were found in the sediments of the NZD reservoir; weak correlations between the deposition processes of Cd and Mn were found in the sediments of the XW reservoir. (2) Part of labile Cd in the pore water of the NZD reservoir was supplemented by silt and sand, and another part was inherent in the pore water; most of labile Cd in the pore water of the XW reservoir was inherent in the pore water, and minimal replenishment of sediment was noted. (3) Mn is the main factor controlling the migration of Cd in the NZD reservoir. This paper provides an effective resource for understanding the migration and deposition of Cd in the sediments of large deep reservoirs along the LCR.
Technology Innovation, Economic Growth and Carbon Emissions in the Context of Carbon Neutrality: Evidence from BRICS
Authors: Zhang Huan
Published: October 2021

This study selects the panel data of five BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) from 1990 to 2019 to empirically explore the impact of technological innovation and economic growth on carbon emissions under the context of carbon neutrality. Granger causality test results signify that there exists a one-way causality from technology patent to carbon emission and from economic growth to carbon emission. We also constructed an improved Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) model. The regression results manifest that technology patents contribute to the realization of carbon emission reduction and carbon neutralization, while the economic growth of emerging economies represented by BRICS countries significantly improves carbon emissions, but every single BRICS country shows differentiated carbon emissions conditions with their economic development stages. The impact of the interaction term on carbon emissions for the five BRICS countries also presents country-specific heterogeneity. Moreover, the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) test results show that only Russia and South Africa have an inverted U-shaped curve relationship between economic growth and carbon emissions, whereas Brazil, India and China have a U-shaped curve relationship. There exists no EKC relationship when considering BRICS nations as a whole. Further robustness tests also verify that the conclusions obtained in this paper are consistent and stable. Finally, the paper puts forward relevant policy suggestions based on the research findings.
Using Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) and Financial Indicators to Measure Bank Cost Efficiency in Asia
Authors: Chang Hai-Yen , Liang Lien-Wen , Liu Yu-Luan
Published: October 2021

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices have been used as non-financial indicators to measure bank performance worldwide in the last decade. The United Nations (UN) has specified 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the implementation of these ESG concepts. However, it remains unclear whether the costs of ESG have exceeded the benefits. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of ESG on the cost efficiency of developed and developing Asian banks using a two-step approach comprising stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and stochastic metafrontier analysis (SMF). The data sample from 2015 to 2018 is separated into two groups: 60 Asian developed economies and 85 developing economies. The results show that banks in the developed Asian economies become more cost-efficient through environmentally friendly activities. The banks in the developing Asian economies increase their cost efficiency by socially responsible activities and improved governance. Moreover, banks in the developed Asian economies outperformed those in the developing Asian economies in terms of technology gap ratio (TGR) and metafrontier cost efficiency (MCE). The results of this study benefit not only investors and bank managers but also the entire banking sector and the world economy.
Sustainable Education with Local-Wisdom Based Natural Reagent for Green Chemical Analysis with a Smart Device: Experiences in Thailand
Authors: Kiwfo Kanokwan , Yeerum Chonnipa , Issarangkura Na Ayutthaya Piyanat , Kesonkan Kullapon , Suteerapataranon Siripat , Panitsupakamol Piyatida , Chinwong Dujrudee , Paengnakorn Pathinan , Chinwong Surarong , Kotchabhakdi Narong , Saenjum Chalermpong , Vongboot Monnapat , Grudpan Kate
Published: October 2021

To minimize chemical waste and protect the environment, our team has used green analysis with natural reagents. In this work, we designed a natural-reagent assay kit for iron determination and implemented it in chemistry education in Thailand. The iron assay method was adapted from Thai local wisdom of testing water quality using guava leaves. The guava leaf powder served as a natural reagent in the assay. The kit included equipment, standard and buffer solutions and a manual. A smart device with a built-in camera was used as a detector. Educators in six universities in Thailand implemented the kit in laboratories with modifications depending on their learning outcomes. The kit implementation was evaluated using a survey with questions in four aspects: usability, learning achievement, green chemistry and portability. The high average scores for all questions (> 4.00 of 5.00 points), with the average overall score of 4.53 ± 0.60, indicated satisfaction regarding in all aspects. Using a locally available bio-resource as a natural reagent for green analysis in chemistry education supported sustainable education in Thailand, in terms of quality education (SDG 4) and reduced inequalities (SDG 10) and environmental sustainability (SDG 6—Clean water and sanitation, 12—Responsible consumption and production and 14—Life be-low water).
An Exploratory Study of the Policies and Legislative Perspectives on the End-of-Life of Lithium-Ion Batteries from the Perspective of Producer Obligation
Authors: Giosuè Chiara , Marchese Daniele , Cavalletti Matteo , Isidori Robertino , Conti Massimo , Orcioni Simone , Ruello Maria Letizia , Stipa Pierluigi
Published: October 2021

European self-sufficiency in the battery sector is one of the major EU needs. The key lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) materials demand is expected to increase in the next decade as a consequence of the increment in the LIBs production and a massive amount of spent LIBs will flood global markets. Hence, these waste streams would be a potential source of secondary raw materials to be valorized, under the principle of circular economy. European governments first, and then companies in the battery sector second, are addressing many efforts in improving legislation on batteries and accumulators. This study explores the current legislative aspects, the main perspective from the producer’s point of view, and the possibility to guarantee a proper recycle of spent LIBs. A monitoring proposal by means of a survey has been carried out and the Italian context, which has been taken as an example of the European context, and it was used to evaluate the practical implication of the current legislation. The main result of the survey is that a specific identification as well as regulations for LIBs are needed. The benefit from a cradle-to-cradle circular economy is still far from the actual situation but several industrial examples and ongoing European projects show the importance and feasibility of the reuse (e.g., second life) and recycle of LIBs.
How Entrepreneurship Education and Social Capital Promote Nascent Entrepreneurial Behaviours: The Mediating Roles of Entrepreneurial Passion and Self-Efficacy
Authors: Cai Wenjun , Gu Jibao , Wu Jianlin
Published: October 2021

Entrepreneurship education and social capital have been addressed in entrepreneurship literature. However, the intervening mechanism under which these two factors influence nascent entrepreneurial behaviours remains underdeveloped. Using the data of 623 graduate students in China, this study investigates the influence of entrepreneurship education and social capital on nascent entrepreneurial behaviours, and examines the mediating roles of entrepreneurial passion and self-efficacy (ESE). The results indicate that entrepreneurship education and social capital promote nascent entrepreneurial behaviours through the intervening mechanisms of entrepreneurial passion and ESE. The results suggest that entrepreneurial behaviours must be developed through psychological mechanisms, including emotion and cognition. This study also provides practical implications regarding how to promote students’ entrepreneurship.
Life-Cycle Assessment of Fly Ash and Cenosphere-Based Geopolymer Material
Authors: Tang Weixin , Pignatta Gloria , Sepasgozar Samad M. E.
Published: October 2021

It was widely reported in the early 2000s that geopolymer technology exhibits superior mechanical properties and lower global warming potential (GWP) over the use of ordinary Portland cement (OPC). However, a major limitation observed in the sustainability evaluation is a lack of consideration of environmental impacts from the use of industrial waste. This observation led to the purpose of this study, which is to identify the key factors throughout geopolymer production that contribute to its sustainability performance. In this paper, two geopolymers made of fly ash (G-FA) and cenospheres (G-C) were examined by mechanical testing while their sustainability impacts on a cradle-to-grave approach were investigated. The industrial waste and transport modelling impacts were given special attention in the performed life-cycle assessment. After 28 days of curing, G-FA exhibited 64.56 MPa and 6.03 MPa of compressive strength and flexural strength, respectively. G-C, with ¾ of G-FA bulk density, achieved 19.09 MPa and 3.13 MPa, respectively, with no significant changes observed after 14 days of curing. By upscaling the inventories to 1 m3 of industrial production scale, geopolymers showed a GWP reduction up to 49.7% compared to OPC with natural aggregates and presented benefits on human health damage category by 23.7% (G-FA) to 41.6% (G-C). In conclusion, geopolymer mortars establish compressive strength and flexural strength that are adequate for construction applications and present sustainability benefits in GWP, which suggests them to be potential substitutions for OPC. However, the industrial waste treatment (i.e., preparation of fly ash) will deplete water bodies, and the sodium silicate induces significant environmental burdens during its manufacture, becoming the key factor to enhance the geopolymer’s sustainability.
Micromechanics-Based Prediction Models and Experimental Validation on Elastic Modulus of Recycled Aggregate Concrete
Authors: Yan Shirong , Wang Binglei , Sun Yu , Lyu Boning
Published: October 2021

Elastic modulus is one of the most important mechanical properties of concrete (including recycled aggregate concrete), and it has a notable guiding significance for engineering. There is a lack of micromechanical research on the elastic modulus of recycled aggregate concrete. This paper adopts four models based on micromechanics, including the Voigt model, Reuss model, Eshelby method, and Mori–Tanaka method, to predict the elastic modulus of recycled aggregate concrete. The optimal model is determined by comparing the results of the four models with the experimental data. On this basis, some previous prediction methods for the elastic modulus of concrete are employed to be compared with the most satisfactory models in this paper. Several experimental data from the open literature are also utilized to better illustrate the reliability of the prediction models. It is concluded that the Mori–Tanaka method unfailingly produces more accurate predictions compared to other models. It gives the best overall approximation for various data and has extensive effects in predicting the elastic modulus of RAC. This work may be helpful in promoting the development of micromechanics research in recycled aggregate concrete.
It Is Not Just in the Genes
Authors: Manns Martina
Published: October 2021

Asymmetries in the functional and structural organization of the nervous system are widespread in the animal kingdom and especially characterize the human brain. Although there is little doubt that asymmetries arise through genetic and nongenetic factors, an overarching model to explain the development of functional lateralization patterns is still lacking. Current genetic psychology collects data on genes relevant to brain lateralizations, while animal research provides information on the cellular mechanisms mediating the effects of not only genetic but also environmental factors. This review combines data from human and animal research (especially on birds) and outlines a multi-level model for asymmetry formation. The relative impact of genetic and nongenetic factors varies between different developmental phases and neuronal structures. The basic lateralized organization of a brain is already established through genetically controlled embryonic events. During ongoing development, hemispheric specialization increases for specific functions and subsystems interact to shape the final functional organization of a brain. In particular, these developmental steps are influenced by environmental experiences, which regulate the fine-tuning of neural networks via processes that are referred to as ontogenetic plasticity. The plastic potential of the nervous system could be decisive for the evolutionary success of lateralized brains.
A Single-Key Variant of LightMAC_Plus
Authors: Song Haitao
Published: October 2021

LightMAC_Plus proposed by Naito (ASIACRYPT 2017) is a blockcipher-based MAC that has beyond the birthday bound security without message length in the sense of PRF (Pseudo-Random Function) security. In this paper, we present a single-key variant of LightMAC_Plus that has beyond the birthday bound security in terms of PRF security. Compared with the previous construction LightMAC_Plus1k of Naito (CT-RSA 2018), our construction is simpler and of higher efficiency.
Fractional N-Laplacian Problems Defined on the One-Dimensional Subspace
Authors: Choi Q-Heung , Jung Tacksun
Published: October 2021

The research of the fractional Orlicz-Sobolev space and the fractional N-Laplacian operators will give the development of nonlinear elasticity theory, electro rheological fluids, non-Newtonian fluid theory in a porous medium as well as Probability and Analysis as they proved to be accurate models to describe different phenomena in Physics, Finance, Image processing and Ecology. We study the number of weak solutions for one-dimensional fractional N-Laplacian systems in the product of the fractional Orlicz-Sobolev spaces, where the corresponding functionals of one-dimensional fractional N-Laplacian systems are even and symmetric. We obtain two results for these problems. One result is that these problems have at least one nontrivial solution under some conditions. The other result is that these problems also have infinitely many weak solutions on the same conditions. We use the variational approach, critical point theory and homology theory on the product of the fractional Orlicz-Sobolev spaces.
Bi-SANet—Bilateral Network with Scale Attention for Retinal Vessel Segmentation
Authors: Jiang Yun , Yao Huixia , Ma Zeqi , Zhang Jingyao
Published: October 2021

The segmentation of retinal vessels is critical for the diagnosis of some fundus diseases. Retinal vessel segmentation requires abundant spatial information and receptive fields with different sizes while existing methods usually sacrifice spatial resolution to achieve real-time reasoning speed, resulting in inadequate vessel segmentation of low-contrast regions and weak anti-noise interference ability. The asymmetry of capillaries in fundus images also increases the difficulty of segmentation. In this paper, we proposed a two-branch network based on multi-scale attention to alleviate the above problem. First, a coarse network with multi-scale U-Net as the backbone is designed to capture more semantic information and to generate high-resolution features. A multi-scale attention module is used to obtain enough receptive fields. The other branch is a fine network, which uses the residual block of a small convolution kernel to make up for the deficiency of spatial information. Finally, we use the feature fusion module to aggregate the information of the coarse and fine networks. The experiments were performed on the DRIVE, CHASE, and STARE datasets. Respectively, the accuracy reached 96.93%, 97.58%, and 97.70%. The specificity reached 97.72%, 98.52%, and 98.94%. The F-measure reached 83.82%, 81.39%, and 84.36%. Experimental results show that compared with some state-of-art methods such as Sine-Net, SA-Net, our proposed method has better performance on three datasets.
Development and Investigation of Fully Ventilated Deep Subwavelength Absorbers
Authors: Wang Heng , Mao Qibo
Published: October 2021

A new type of deep subwavelength acoustic metamaterial (AMM) absorber with 100% ventilation is presented in this study. The proposed ventilation absorber consists of coiled-up half-wave resonators (HWRs) and quarter-wave resonators (QWRs). First, the sound absorption and sound transmission performances for absorbers were analyzed considering the thermal viscosity dissipation. Then, the prototype with ten HWRs and three QWRs composed of acrylic plates was manufactured based on the theoretical model. The acoustic performance of the absorber was tested in an air-filled acoustic impedance tube to determine the sound absorption and transmission loss performances. Good agreement was found between the measured and theoretically predicted results. The experimental results show that the proposed ventilation AMM absorber is able to achieve sound absorption in a range between 330 Hz and 460 Hz with a thickness of only 32 mm (about 3% of the wavelength in the air). Furthermore, the sound transmission loss can achieve 17 dB from 330 Hz to 460 Hz. The main advantage of the proposed absorber is that it can be completely ventilated in duct noise control.
Object–Part Registration–Fusion Net for Fine-Grained Image Classification
Authors: Lin Chih-Wei , Lin Mengxiang , Liu Jinfu
Published: October 2021

Classifying fine-grained categories (e.g., bird species, car, and aircraft types) is a crucial problem in image understanding and is difficult due to intra-class and inter-class variance. Most of the existing fine-grained approaches individually utilize various parts and local information of objects to improve the classification accuracy but neglect the mechanism of the feature fusion between the object (global) and object’s parts (local) to reinforce fine-grained features. In this paper, we present a novel framework, namely object–part registration–fusion Net (OR-Net), which considers the mechanism of registration and fusion between an object (global) and its parts’ (local) features for fine-grained classification. Our model learns the fine-grained features from the object of global and local regions and fuses these features with the registration mechanism to reinforce each region’s characteristics in the feature maps. Precisely, OR-Net consists of: (1) a multi-stream feature extraction net, which generates features with global and various local regions of objects; (2) a registration–fusion feature module calculates the dimension and location relationships between global (object) regions and local (parts) regions to generate the registration information and fuses the local features into the global features with registration information to generate the fine-grained feature. Experiments execute symmetric GPU devices with symmetric mini-batch to verify that OR-Net surpasses the state-of-the-art approaches on CUB-200-2011 (Birds), Stanford-Cars, and Stanford-Aircraft datasets.
Coefficient Estimates for a Subclass of Meromorphic Multivalent q-Close-to-Convex Functions
Authors: Shi Lei , Ahmad Bakhtiar , Khan Nazar , Khan Muhammad Ghaffar , Araci Serkan , Mashwani Wali Khan , Khan Bilal
Published: October 2021

By making use of the concept of basic (or q-) calculus, many subclasses of analytic and symmetric q-starlike functions have been defined and studied from different viewpoints and perspectives. In this article, we introduce a new class of meromorphic multivalent close-to-convex functions with the help of a q-differential operator. Furthermore, we investigate some useful properties such as sufficiency criteria, coefficient estimates, distortion theorem, growth theorem, radius of starlikeness, and radius of convexity for this new subclass.
Efficient Designs of Quantum Adder/Subtractor Using Universal Reversible Gate on IBM Q
Authors: Osman Mohamed , El-Wazan Khaled
Published: October 2021

Reversible arithmetic and logic unit (ALU) is a necessary part of quantum computing. In this work, we present improved designs of reversible half and full addition and subtraction circuits. The proposed designs are based on a universal one type gate (G gate library). The G gate library can generate all possible permutations of the symmetric group. The presented designs are multi-function circuits that are capable of performing additional logical operations. We achieve a reduction in the quantum cost, gate count, number of constant inputs, and delay with zero garbage, compared to relevant results obtained by others. The experimental results using IBM Quantum Experience (IBM Q) illustrate the success probability of the proposed designs.
Research on Fault Diagnosis of IPMSM for Electric Vehicles Based on Multi-Level Feature Fusion SPP Network
Authors: Liu Bohai , Wu Qinmu , Li Zhiyuan , Chen Xiangping
Published: October 2021

At this stage, the fault diagnosis of the embedded permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) mostly relies on the analysis of related signals when the motor is running. It requires designers to deeply understand the motor drive system and fault characteristic signals, which leads to a high threshold for fault diagnosis. This study proposes an IPMSM fault diagnosis method based on a multi-level feature fusion spatial pyramid pooling (SPP) network, which can directly diagnose motor faults through motor operating current data. This method uses the finite element software Altair Flux to build symmetrical normal motor and demagnetization faulty motor models, as well as an asymmetrical eccentric fault model; conduct a joint simulation with MATLAB-Simulink to obtain fault current data; convert the collected current data into grayscale images, using the data set expansion method to form training and test data sets; and improve the convolutional neural network (CNN) network structure, that is, adding jump connections after each pooling layer and adding a spatial pyramid pooling layer after the last pooling layer to form a new CNN structure. Experimental results show that the new CNN can extract different levels and different scales of motor fault features hidden in the image, and can effectively diagnose different types of IPMSM faults. Compared with the traditional CNN, the new CNN has a higher fault diagnosis accuracy, up to 98.16%, 2.3% higher.