bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Linking Nevada to Doughnut Economics
Authors: Acosta Fortino
Published: November 2022

Doughnut economics (DE) is an economic model that expresses the social and ecological dimensions of nexus designed by Dr. Kate Raworth in 2012. The concept, which is based on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), intends to rethink our economy for the twenty-first century to meet social demands within a safe environmental ceiling. The DE model’s parameters are achieved only through interconnections, but these links are not well-defined for integrated strategic decision-making. A deeper description of Nevada illustrates the relevance of a cross-disciplinary decision-making tool that could identify interconnectivity among diverse but essential sustainability indicators. The state surpasses the planet’s water demand boundaries, greenhouse gases emitted by nonrenewable energy sources, and chemical pollution; meanwhile, the state is falling short in food security, housing, gender equality, social equity, political voice, safety, and justice. The research brings a circular economic model to an American state-level context and introduces the model to dynamic thinking.
How Are Medium-Sized Cities Implementing Their Smart City Governance? Experiences from the Emilia-Romagna Region
Authors: Caselli Barbara , Pellicelli Gloria , Rossetti Silvia , Zazzi Michele
Published: November 2022

Within the smart city debate, this paper aims to reflect on whether and how medium-sized Italian cities are organizing their smart transition technically as well as administratively. The smart city concept was developed in the 1990s when major European cities began a smart transition through widespread urban regeneration projects and the introduction of advanced technologies applied not only to the physical city but also to governance, policymaking, and communication, involving multiple sectors of city administrations. In the last decade, medium-sized cities have also started this transition process, although with lower emphasis than metropolitan cities. In most medium-sized Italian cities, this transition, in accordance with national and regional guidelines, has sometimes led to competencies reorganization within local governments. Within this framework, the paper examines the tools with which medium-sized Italian cities’ administrations address the smart transformation in their territories, comparing a sample of 10 cities in Emilia-Romagna and considering policymaking, governance structure, past and current projects, and communication transparency. The expected result is therefore a systematic review of experiences to reconstruct a complex picture of the political and administrative choices that have led to the implementation or setting in motion of smart transformation processes to draw some useful lessons.
Enhancing Firm Value through the Lens of ESG Materiality: Evidence from the Banking Sector in OECD Countries
Authors: Aras Guler , Hacioglu Kazak Evrim
Published: November 2022

Momentous developments in the regulatory environment, increasing investor demand, and growing awareness of climate change and societal issues are leading banks to adopt a comprehensive approach beyond the traditional financial lens. Assessing performance towards sustainability issues, including environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG), and its’ relevance in firm value in the banking sector offers a field of continuous interest for researchers. This paper investigates the role of ESG materiality in firm value, based on a sample of banks operating in OECD countries, for the period 2016–2020. Adopting the materiality classification for the banking sector provided by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), the study consists of a multi-layer methodology. In the first stage, a dynamic technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) and entropy methods are utilized to calculate ESG score based on ESG materiality for 1115 bank-year observations while in the second stage, value relevance analyses are applied in order to reveal whether ESG materiality affects firm value. The results depict that ESG performance based on ESG materiality has a positive influence on the firm value for both models, price-to-book value ratio (PBV), and Tobin’s Q (TQ). Moreover, collected from the Refinitiv database, ESG combined has a low impact on PBR whereas there is no significant effect on TQ. The implication is that the firm value is influenced by the materiality-adjusted ESG performance than by the extended ESG spectrum.
Feasibility Study on Concrete Made with Substitution of Quarry Dust: A Review
Authors: AL-Kharabsheh Buthainah Nawaf , Moafak Arbili Mohamed , Majdi Ali , Ahmad Jawad , Deifalla Ahmed Farouk , Hakamy A. , Majed Alqawasmeh Hasan
Published: November 2022

Concrete mechanical properties could be improved through adding different materials at the mixing stage. Quarry dust (QD) is the waste produced by manufactured sand machines and comprise approximately 30–40% of the total quantity of QD generated. When it dries, it transforms into a fine dust that poses a tremendous hazard to the environment by contaminating the soil and water and seriously endangering human health. QD utilization in concrete is one of the best options. Though a lot of scholars focus on imitation of QD in concrete, knowledge is scattered, and a detailed review is required. This review collects the information regarding QD-based concrete, including fresh properties, strength, durability, and microstructure analysis. The results indicate that QD is suitable for concrete to a certain extent, but higher percentages adversely affect properties of concrete due to absence of fluidity. The review also indicates that up to 40–50% substitution of QD as a fine aggregate can be utilized in concrete with no harmful effects on strength and durability. Furthermore, although QD possesses cementitious properties and can be used as cement substitute to some extent, less research has explored this area.
Customer and Tax Avoidance: How Does Customer Geographic Proximity Affect a Supplier’s Tax Avoidance?
Authors: Huang Feng , Gao Jie
Published: November 2022

This paper examines the effect of customer geographic proximity on supplier tax avoidance. Based on 5135 Chinese firm–year observations from 2009 to 2020, we find a positive association between customer geographic distance and supplier tax avoidance. Moreover, this association is robust after studying endogeneity concerns. We further find that information asymmetry and detection risk are underlying mechanisms. We also find that this positive relation is more pronounced in suppliers with high financial risk, competitive industrial sectors, and weak marketization environments. Overall, our findings suggest that customer geographic localities within a country are an important factor affecting a supplier’s motivation for tax avoidance. Our research sheds light on how the change in a supplier’s information environment caused by differences in customer geographic proximity impacts its tax strategy.
Green Supply Chain Operations Decision and Government Subsidy Strategies under R & D Failure Risk
Authors: Wang Wenli , Zhang Ruizhen
Published: November 2022

The behavior of enterprises upgrading green technology presents a certain risk of failure. In this paper, the probability of R & D failure that is not considered in most articles is introduced into the model, and the supply chain composed of green product manufacturers and retailers is considered. The optimal operation decision of the green supply chain under the two modes of government subsidizing manufacturers’ R & D costs and subsidizing green product production costs is analyzed. Under the same subsidy expenditure, this study examines which subsidy method can maximize social welfare. The results show that, when the production cost of green products developed by manufacturers is high, if the government budget is low, the production cost of green products shall be subsidized; if the government budget is high, the manufacturer’s R & D cost should be judged. If the R & D cost is high, the production cost of green products should be subsidized to encourage retailers to order more green products. However, if the R & D cost is low, the R & D cost of green products should be subsidized to encourage manufacturers to invest the most in R & D. When the production cost of green products developed by manufacturers is low, the production cost of green products should be subsidized no matter the R & D cost of manufacturers. Additionally the conclusion has been verified by the actual case.
Blockchain-Based Solutions Supporting Reliable Healthcare for Fog Computing and Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) Integration
Authors: Alam Shadab , Shuaib Mohammed , Ahmad Sadaf , Jayakody Dushantha Nalin K. , Muthanna Ammar , Bharany Salil , Elgendy Ibrahim A.
Published: November 2022

The Internet of Things (IoT) has radically transformed how patient information and healthcare monitoring are monitored and recorded and has revolutionized the area by ensuring regular 24 × 7 tracking without costly and restricted human resources and with a low mistake probability. The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is a subsection of the Internet of things (IoT) that uses medical equipment as things or nodes to enable cost-effective and efficient patient monitoring and recording. The IoMT can cope with a wide range of problems, including observing patients in hospitals, monitoring patients in their homes, and assisting consulting physicians and nurses in monitoring health conditions at regular intervals and issuing warning signals if emergency care is necessary. EEG signals, electrocardiograms (ECGs), blood sugar levels, blood pressure levels, and other conditions can be examined. In crucial situations, quick and real-time analysis is essential, and failure to provide careful attention can be fatal. A cloud-based IoT platform cannot handle these latency-sensitive conditions. Fog computing (FC) is a novel paradigm for assigning, processing, and storing resources to IoT devices with limited resources. Where substantial processing power or storage is required, all nodes in a fog computing scheme can delegate their jobs to local fog nodes rather than forwarding them to the cloud module at a greater distance. Identifying potential security risks and putting in place adequate security measures are critical. This work aims to examine a blockchain (BC) as a potential tool for mitigating the impact of these difficulties in conjunction with fog computing. This research shows that blockchain can overcome fog computing’s privacy and security concerns. It also discusses blockchain’s issues and limitations from the perspective of fog computing (FC) and the IoMT.
Forex Investment Optimization Using Instantaneous Stochastic Gradient Ascent—Formulation of an Adaptive Machine Learning Approach
Authors: Murtza Iqbal , Saadia Ayesha , Basri Rabia , Imran Azhar , Almuhaimeed Abdullah , Alzahrani Abdulkareem
Published: November 2022

In the current complex financial world, paper currencies are vulnerable and unsustainable due to many factors such as current account deficit, gold reserves, dollar reserves, political stability, security, the presence of war in the region, etc. The vulnerabilities not limited to the above, result in fluctuation and instability in the currency values. Considering the devaluation of some Asian countries such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Türkiye, and Ukraine, there is a current tendency of some countries to look beyond the SWIFT system. It is not feasible to have reserves in only one currency, and thus, forex markets are likely to have significant growth in their volumes. In this research, we consider this challenge to work on having sustainable forex reserves in multiple world currencies. This research is aimed to overcome their vulnerabilities and, instead, exploit their volatile nature to attain sustainability in forex reserves. In this regard, we work to formulate this problem and propose a forex investment strategy inspired by gradient ascent optimization, a robust iterative optimization algorithm. The dynamic nature of the forex market led us to the formulation and development of the instantaneous stochastic gradient ascent method. Contrary to the conventional gradient ascent optimization, which considers the whole population or its sample, the proposed instantaneous stochastic gradient ascent (ISGA) optimization considers only the next time instance to update the investment strategy. We employed the proposed forex investment strategy on forex data containing one-year multiple currencies’ values, and the results are quite profitable as compared to the conventional investment strategies.
Hydrodynamics of the Instream Flow Environment of a Gravel-Bed River
Authors: Woś Agnieszka , Książek Leszek
Published: November 2022

This work was aimed at comparing the instream flow environment of four basic hydromorphological units of a mountain gravel-bed river: pools, runs, riffles and rapids. A survey was performed during the average flow stage on the Skawa River in southern Poland. In the 3.5 km long reach, 31 physical habitats were surveyed: eight pools, eight runs, nine riffles and seven rapids. Using Micro ADV Sontek equipment, instantaneous velocity time series components were measured at eight locations in three positions—z/h = 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6—in each unit. Turbulence descriptors—the mean components of velocity, turbulence intensities calculated as the root mean square of velocity component time series, turbulent kinetic energy TKE, Reynolds shear stresses and standard hydraulic attribute, i.e., Froude number—were estimated. Although there was a wide dispersion of the turbulence variable distributions, a standard tendency of decreased mean velocity and increased turbulence towards the bottom was observed. Most turbulence parameters—streamwise velocity, turbulence intensities, TKE and streamwise-vertical Reynolds shear stresses—reveal differences of instream flow environment between the pools, runs and riffles. In addition, the mean turbulence intensities suggested a 1:2:3:3 proportion of turbulence intensity in pools, runs, riffles and rapids, respectively. Riffles and rapids, in general, have similar turbulence values, whereas rapids are deeper and visually more energetic.
What Shapes Pro-Environmental Attitudes and Intention for Sustainable Fashion Consumption during a Stressful Time Event?
Authors: Penz Elfriede , Drewes Katrin Lara
Published: November 2022

The fashion industry is one of the biggest polluting industries globally. It negatively affects the environment throughout all stages of the product life cycle because it requires large amounts of water for production, long supply chains and utilizes unsustainable materials. At the demand side, consumers’ awareness regarding sustainability has grown and they increasingly question the consumption of fast fashion. This study aimed at investigating whether and how stressful events, such as the current health crisis, influence sustainable fashion consumption intention. In particular, it analyzed the impact of pro-environmental attitudes and susceptibility to social influence on consumers’ intentions to engage in sustainable fashion consumption. To account for the impact of the recent stressful event, i.e., the COVID-19 pandemic, and following attachment theory, it was tested whether and how the perceived stress due to crisis determines consumers’ pro-environmental attitudes and susceptibility to social influence. A quantitative survey, with 576 young respondents, during the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2021, was used to test the hypotheses. The findings showed that perceived stress due to crisis impacts their susceptibility to peer’s influence, providing evidence for attachment theory. In addition, one stress factor, i.e., perceived self-efficacy with regard to COVID-19, increased pro-environmental attitudes and, in turn, sustainable fashion consumption intention. From a managerial perspective, the research helps to understand how individuals’ consumption behaviors may change during a crisis and how to serve best their needs.
Heterocysts of Rivularia Type for Interpreting a Palaeoenvironmental Context of the Late Quaternary in Northern Italy
Authors: Clò Eleonora , Florenzano Assunta
Published: November 2022

This paper presents new results on a quali-quantitative analysis of the heterocysts of the Rivularia type as a key bioindicator informative on local eutrophic conditions. The Rivularia type is usually reported in palynological analyses due to the thick, multilayered envelope that ensures the preservation of heterocysts in sediments. Samples come from two continuous terrestrial cores (N-S3: 77 samples, C-S1: 20 samples) drilled in the area surrounding the Bronze Age site of the Terramara S. Rosa di Poviglio (Po Plain; N Italy) and spanning at least over the last 15 ka years. Concentrations and percentages of the Rivularia type, combined with pollen curves of wet environments, describe local variability and rapid changes in ecological conditions over the millennia of deposition. Given the abundance and diversity of heterocysts of the Rivularia type in the studied samples, this paper attempts to group these cells based on morphology (ellipsoidal or elongated) and the state of preservation of the sheaths (presence or absence). Actually, it is difficult to confirm a relationship between heterocyst morphologies and the presence of different cyanobacteria species. Increasingly accurate identification of heterocysts from biostratigraphical archives may improve the data available on these bioindicators for achieving more detailed decoding of wetland (and terrestrial) transformations. Since the Bronze Age and at the most recent levels, the Rivularia type may be a good indicator of the local presence of agriculture and livestock, which lead to trophic and water changes in the soil.
Morphological Change and Internal Growth Factors of Firms in the Korean Pharmaceutical Industry in Recent Decades
Authors: Um Seung In , Kim Changone , Ha Taejin , Kim Jinju , Lee Heesang
Published: November 2022

The pharmaceutical industry is a regulatory-based high-tech industry that requires long-term R&D investments from product development to market entry. This study investigates how pharmaceutical firms in Korea have grown their production size, changed their morphological structure, and identified the internal factors for sustainable growth in recent decades. First, with time series production data of pharmaceutical firms collected based on the production records of finished drugs, we studied the morphological change of the firms to adapt to environmental change by using general morphological analysis. Second, the pharmaceutical firms were divided into above-average growth firms and non-above-average growth firms, high growth firms, and non-high growth firms, using the decision tree technique to analyze and visualize the determining factors of sustainable growth firms. The general morphological analysis result showed that during the past two decades, in response to undergoing policy and environmental changes, the types of products by pharmaceutical firms have significantly changed from over-the-counter to ethical drugs and have shifted from generic drugs to more R&D-intensive ones. Furthermore, the decision tree technique identified the internal factors of growth and non-growth firms for sustainable growth during the past three decades. The decision tree analysis showed the determining factors for above-average and high-growth firms, such as the firm’s size, age, R&D investment, the over-the-counter drug to ethical drug production ratio, and the choice between chemical and bio drugs. The research findings imply that pharmaceutical firms must combine their strategy-side internal factors with the organization-side internal factors to achieve above-average or high-growth firms over the long term. Some detailed business and policy implications and future research topics are also presented.
CFD-Based J-Shaped Blade Design Improvement for Vertical Axis Wind Turbines
Authors: García Auyanet Antonio , Santoso Rangga E. , Mohan Hrishikesh , Rathore Sanvay S. , Chakraborty Debapriya , Verdin Patrick G.
Published: November 2022

The need for an increase in energy harvesting has led to novel ideas and designs to extract more power from wind. One innovative solution is through the use of J-shaped blades for Darrieus vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs), which is based on the removal of a portion of a conventional blade, either on the pressure or suction side. Although improvements in the self-starting capabilities of VAWTs have been reported when using such blades, the literature only studied hollow blades, showing a hair-like structure. This work numerically investigates six different J-shaped designs. A turbine comprising NACA0015-based blades forms the base case and is used to evaluate the 2D numerical models. Results show that blades with an external cut systematically outperform those designed with an internal cut. In addition, all proposed cut-based designs are shown to improve the starting torque of the turbine, reaching a 135% increase compared to the base model.
A Stakeholder-Specific View on Impact Sourcing—Systematic Literature Review and Recommendations for Future Research
Authors: Nguyen Thuy , Beimborn Daniel
Published: November 2022

Impact Sourcing is the outsourcing of activities to disadvantaged social groups in order to help them become participants of the globalized digital world and thus benefit from higher incomes and wealth creation. Firms started using this approach in the early 2010s to contribute to their Corporate Social Responsibility goals. Empirical, mainly qualitative, research in the form of case studies has documented the achieved advantages and challenges faced. Our paper provides a systematic literature review of these studies. It consolidates the extant research findings along five involved stakeholder groups—impact sourcing providers, involved employees, their social communities, the outsourcing clients, and the government—and identifies avenues for future research.
A Proposal for a Novel Formulation Based on the Hyperbolic Cattaneo’s Equation to Describe the Mechano-Transduction Process Occurring in Bone Remodeling
Authors: Scerrato Daria , Giorgio Ivan , Bersani Alberto Maria , Andreucci Daniele
Published: November 2022

In this paper, we propose a model for the mechanical stimulus involved in the process of bone remodeling together with its evolution over time. Accumulated evidence suggests that bone remodeling could be interpreted as a feedback control process in which the mechanical state of the bone tissue is monitored, then appropriate signals are derived from the daily mechanical usage of the bone, these signals are transmitted into the surrounding region, and then they are detected by other agents whose purpose is to adapt the bone mass to the mechanical requirements of the environment. Therefore, we employ the diffusion equation for mass transport which is improved with Cattaneo’s correction to model the stimulus. This last improvement considers the effects of relaxation and non-locality, which we believe play essential roles in signaling messengers transport phenomena and are essential to match the evidence that suggests time-dependent excitations provide a more significant response at specific frequencies. To illustrate this particular behavior, numerical simulations have been performed in a 2D framework. The results fit the central aspect addressed, related to the dependency of the time of the adaptive process of bone, suggesting that our model is promising and deserves further investigation, both theoretical and experimental.
Terracini Loci of Segre Varieties
Authors: Ballico Edoardo
Published: November 2022

Fix a format (n1+1)×⋯×(nk+1), k>1, for real or complex tensors and the associated multiprojective space Y. Let V be the vector space of all tensors of the prescribed format. Let S(Y,x) denote the set of all subsets of Y with cardinality x. Elements of S(Y,x) are associated to rank 1 decompositions of tensors T∈V. We study the dimension δ(2S,Y) of the kernel at S of the differential of the associated algebraic map S(Y,x)→PV. The set T1(Y,x) of all S∈S(Y,x) such that δ(2S,Y)>0 is the largest and less interesting x-Terracini locus for tensors T∈V. Moreover, we consider the one (minimally Terracini) such that δ(2A,Y)=0 for all A⊈S. We define and study two different types of subsets of T1(Y,x) (primitive Terracini and solution sets). A previous work (Ballico, Bernardi, and Santarsiero) provided a complete classification for the cases x=2,3. We consider the case x=4 and several extremal cases for arbitrary x.
MoO3 Interlayer Modification on the Electronic Structure of Co/BP Interface
Authors: Liu Baoxing , Xie Haipeng , Zhao Yuan , Niu Dongmei , Gao Yongli
Published: November 2022

The modification by molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) buffer layer on the electronic structure between Co and black phosphorus (BP) was investigated with ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS) and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). It was found that the MoO3 buffer layer could effectively prevent the destruction of the outermost BP lattice during the Co deposition, with the symmetry of the lattice remaining maintained. There is a noticeable interfacial charge transfer in addition to the chemical reaction between Co and MoO3. The growth pattern of Co deposited onto the MoO3/BP film is the island growth mode. The observations reveal the significance of a MoO3 buffer layer on the electronic structure between Co and black phosphorus and provide help for the design of high-performance Co/BP-based spintronic devices.
Dynamic Load Identification for Structures with Unknown Parameters
Authors: Tang Hongzhi , Jiang Jinhui , Mohamed M. Shadi , Zhang Fang , Wang Xu
Published: November 2022

The inverse problem and the direct problem are symmetrical to each other. As a mathematical method for inverse problems, dynamic load identification is applicable to the situation when the load acting on the structure is difficult to measure directly. In addition, in most practical fields, the exact value of the structural parameters cannot be obtained precisely, which makes the inverse problem beyond the capabilities of traditional dynamic load identification methods. Hence, in this work, we propose a dynamic load identification algorithm based on the extended Kalman filter (EKF) for a structure with unknown parameters. The algorithm is discussed under different conditions where the unknown parameters are either the stiffness or the mass of the structure. Such a case has not been considered in other literature yet. In order to verify the advantages of the proposed method, the recursive least square method was also used to compare the results. A 5-Dof symmetric system with unknown coefficients was selected for numerical simulation examples, and the influence of noise on the algorithm was also considered in the simulation. The results show that the proposed algorithm is effective for structures with unknown mass and stiffness coefficients. Compared with the recursive least square method, the method proposed in this paper has the higher accuracy and a wider application scope.
Unravelling Bile Viromes of Free-Range Laying Chickens Clinically Diagnosed with Spotty Liver Disease: Emergence of Many Novel Chaphamaparvoviruses into Multiple Lineages
Authors: Sarker Subir , Talukder Saranika , Anwar Arif , Van Thi Thu Hao , Petrovski Steve
Published: November 2022

Spotty liver disease (SLD) causes substantial egg production losses and chicken mortality; therefore, it is a disease that concerns Australian egg farmers. Over the last few decades, much research has been conducted to determine the etiologic agents of SLD and to develop potential therapeutics; however, SLD still remains a major issue for the chicken industries globally and remained without the elucidation of potentially multiple pathogens involved. To help fill this gap, this study was aimed at understanding the viral diversity of bile samples from which the SLD-causing bacterium, Campylobacter hepaticus, has been isolated and characterised. The collected samples were processed and sequenced using high-throughput next-generation sequencing. Remarkably, this study found 15 galliform chaphamaparvoviruses (GaChPVs), of which 14 are novel under the genus Chaphamaparvovirus. Among them, nine were complete genomes that showed between 41.7% and 78.3% genome-wide pairwise similarities to one another. Subsequent phylogenetic analysis using the NS1 gene exhibited a multiple incursion of chaphamaparvovirus lineages, including a novel lineage of unknown ancestral history in free-range laying chickens in Australia. This is the first evidence of circulating many parvoviruses in chickens in Australia, which has increased our knowledge of the pathogen diversity that may have an association with SLD in chickens.
Revisiting Soil Water Potential: Towards a Better Understanding of Soil and Plant Interactions
Authors: Ma Yuanyuan , Liu Hu , Yu Yang , Guo Li , Zhao Wenzhi , Yetemen Omer
Published: November 2022

Soil water potential (SWP) is vital for controlling the various biological and non-biological processes occurring through and across the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum (SPAC). Although the dynamics and mechanisms of SWP have been investigated for several decades, they are not as widely explored in ecohydrology research as soil moisture, due at least partly to the limitation of field observation methods. This limitation restricts the understanding of the responses of plant physiology and ecological processes to the SWP gradient and the ecohydrological functions of SWP dynamics in different contexts. Hence, in this work, we first briefly revisit the origin and development of the concept of SWP and then analyze the comprehensive factors that influence SWP and the improvement of SWP observation techniques at field scales, as well as strategies for developing new sensors for soil water status. We also propose views of focusing on the response characteristics of plant lateral roots, rather than taproots, to SWP dynamics, and using hormone signaling research to evaluate plant response signals to water stress. We end by providing potential challenges and insights that remain in related research, such as the limitations of the SWP evaluation methods and the future development direction of SWP data collection, management, and analysis. We also emphasize directions for the application of SWP in controlling plant pathogens and promoting the efficiency of resource acquisition by plants. In short, these reflections revisit the unique role of SWP in eco-hydrological processes, provide an update on the development of SWP research, and support the assessment of plant drought vulnerability under current and future climatic conditions.
Fertilizer 15N Fates of the Coastal Saline Soil-Wheat Systems with Different Salinization Degrees in the Yellow River Delta
Authors: Zhu Kongming , Song Fupeng , Duan Fujian , Zhuge Yuping , Chen Weifeng , Yang Quangang , Guo Xinsong , Hong Pizheng , Wan Li , Lin Qun
Published: November 2022

In order to clarify the fates of fertilizer N in coastal saline soil-wheat systems with different salinization degrees, this study was conducted to determine the 15N uptake rates in various parts of wheat plant at maturity stage and the residual 15N in three different saline soils and the 15N loss of soil-wheat systems by using the 15N-labeled urea N tracing method in the Yellow River Delta. The results showed that: (1) The increase of soil salinity from 0.2% to 1% promoted the wheat plant to absorb N from soil and not from fertilizer and significantly inhibited the dry matter mass accumulation and 15N uptakes of each wheat parts and whole plant, but especially increased the total N concentration of wheat roots, stems, leaves, and grains. The aggravation of soil salinity significantly enhanced the distribution ratios of 15N uptakes and Ndffs in the wheat roots, stems, and leaves to depress the salt stress. (2) The 15N residues were mainly concentrated in the 0~20 cm saline soil layer and decreased as the soil profile deepened from 0 to 100 cm; the 15N residues decreased in the 0~40 cm soil profile layer and accumulated in the 40~100 cm with the increase of soil salinization degrees significantly. (3) The fates of 15N applied to the coastal saline soil-wheat system were wheat uptakes 1.53~13.96%, soil residues 10.05~48.69%, losses 37.35~88.42%, with the lowest 15N uptake and utilization in the three saline soils, the highest residual rate in lightly saline soils, and the highest loss in moderately and heavily saline soils. The increase of soil salinity inhibits wheat uptakes and soil residues and intensifies the losses from fertilizer 15N. Therefore, the fate of fertilizer N losses significantly increased as the degree of soil salinity increased. The conventional N management that was extremely inefficient for more N loss should be optimized to enhance the N efficiency and wheat yield of the coastal saline soil-wheat system in the Yellow River Delta.
Overweight increases COVID-19 morbidity and mortality
Authors:   High Technology Park, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, Krivosheev V. V. , Stolyarov A. I. ,   High Technology Park, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, Nikitina L. Yu. ,   National Medical Research Center, specializing in pulmonology, Moscow, Russia
Published: November 2022

Currently, the COVID-19 pandemic is characterized by a significant decrease in mortality, however, the scale of infection of the population with SARS-CoV-2 is many times higher than the results of previous waves, so scientific research related to understanding the fundamental principles of the processes of origin and development of COVID-19 is extremely relevant today and will remain relevant for a long time to come. The scientific community is actively discussing the paradoxical effect of an avalanche-like morbidity and mortality of the population in most countries that are at a high level of socio-economic development, one of the reasons for which may be the prevalence of overweight people. The authors carried out a correlation analysis of the relationships between the prevalence of overweight (OW) in men and women in 173 countries of the world, incidence and mortality, the value of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of the state, and the human development index (HDI). A review of the state of the problem and our statistical calculations clearly indicate that the prevalence of overweight is accompanied by an increase in the incidence and mortality of the population from COVID-19. The level of incidence and mortality of the population is associated with an exponential relationship with the prevalence of overweight both among the male and female population of the state. The prevalence of overweight has a slightly stronger effect on the increase in morbidity compared to the increase in mortality. The degree of association between incidence/mortality and the prevalence of overweight among men/women in 2021 is lower than in 2020, but the difference is not significant. This suggests that large-scale vaccination of the population in countries with high GDP per capita and high HDI only marginally reduced the impact of OW prevalence on COVID-19 incidence and mortality. The prevalence of overweight in the population is directly proportional to GDP per capita and, to a greater extent, to the HDI. This, in the opinion of the authors, is one of the main reasons for the significantly higher incidence and mortality in countries with a high level of socioeconomic development/
Aplicação do cálculo de ordem arbitrária à epidemiologia
Authors:   , Monteiro Noemi Zeraick
Published: November 2022

O Cálculo de ordem arbitrária, conhecido como Cálculo Fracionário, possui aplicações em inúmeras áreas, como engenharia, física e biologia. Ao contrário do Cálculo de ordem inteira, que é local, os operadores que estudamos no Cálculo de ordem não inteira são não locais. Assim, incluem a possibilidade de considerar a memória do fenômeno estudado, isto é, a dependência de estágios anteriores. Porém, sua imensa aplicabilidade coexiste com a dificuldade de uma teoria unificada e coerente. Neste trabalho, estudamos aplicações do Cálculo de ordem arbitrária a modelos tipo SIR. Procuramos estabelecer algumas bases, tanto de Cálculo Fracionário quanto do modelo SIR tal qual foi originalmente construído e, assim, discutimos as principais dificuldades na utilização de um modelo SIR de ordem arbitrária. Também revisamos a construção de um modelo não usual, onde as derivadas de ordem arbitrária surgem de maneira epidemiologicamente significativa a partir da dependência do tempo desde a infecção na infectividade e na remoção, aliada à utilização das funções de Mittag-Leffler. Em ambos os casos, estudamos pontos de equilíbrio, positividade e outras questões de relevância, como o significado dos parâmetros. Alguns desses estudos foram realizados de maneira original. Os modelos apresentados foram também analisados de forma numérica, através de implementação no MATLAB. Finalmente, propomos extensões do modelo construído, no que diz respeito à possibilidade de representação de ondas: infectividade oscilatória, compartimento de quarentena e dinâmica da imitação (comportamento humano). As extensões foram propostas de forma que o significado da construção fosse mantido, sendo também analisadas numericamente e comparadas, ainda, a alguns dados reais da pandemia de COVID-19.
A autonomia reprodutiva no contexto do direito humano à procriação: aspectos fáticos e normativos da gestação por substituição no Brasil
Authors:   , Mello Breno Cesar de Souza
Published: November 2022

A presente investigação visa fazer um recorte na Técnica de Reprodução Assistida (TRA) conhecida como Gestação por Substituição – procedimento que utiliza o ventre de uma mulher, para gestar a criança e efetivar o projeto parental de outra pessoa. De modo a evidenciar as suas controvérsias, principalmente, no que tange aos aspectos atinentes à maternidade, à autonomia sobre o próprio corpo, sobre o público alvo beneficiado pela permissibilidade de uso da técnica, almeja-se responder à seguinte pergunta norteadora: ante a ausência de uma legislação específica, qual a melhor forma de regulamentar a gestação por substituição no Brasil? Embora a investigação não tenha um marco teórico específico, partese da perspectiva trabalhada por Stefano Rodotà de que a lógica de proteção e tutela da dignidade humana deve estar ancorada na passagem do “sujeito à pessoa”, mediante a ruptura da ideia de tutela ao sujeito de direito abstrato, descontextualizado da sua realidade social, cultural, econômica e política. Diante dos desdobramentos multidisciplinares envolvendo o tema, o caminho metodológico escolhido foi o estudo exploratório, mediante o uso preponderante da análise bibliográfica qualitativa. Seguindo a lógica dedutiva, buscou-se compreender a influência do biopoder nos contornos traçados sobre o corpo feminino, para que fosse possível contextualizar a insurgência das TRA’s e sua implicação nos novos núcleos familiares, no processo de desbiologização das relações parentais e, assim, entender o direito humano à procriação. Após essa etapa preliminar, foi feito um estudo com o direito comparado, com os projetos de lei e com as normas deontológicas brasileiras criadas pelo CFM. Observou-se que as imprecisões na tutela desse ato da vida vêm abrindo margem para consolidação de uma agenda conservadora e, de certo modo, punitivista, ora criminalizando a prática, ora beneficiando somente o modelo familiar heterossexual. As principais conclusões foram: i) a técnica deve ser acessível a todos os arranjos familiares; ii) diante da autonomia sobre o próprio corpo, deve ser garantido à gestante substituta a possibilidade de criar contratos onerosos; iii) o projeto parental deve prevalecer, caso ocorra algum conflito de maternidade.
Avaliação das atividades antioxidante e anti-inflamatória do extrato metanólico das partes aéreas de Mitracarpus frigidus e de seu fitocomplexo supramolecular com β-ciclodextrina
Authors:   , Ferreira Thayná Gomes
Published: November 2022

Mitracarpus frigidus é uma espécie vegetal nativa na américa do sul, que tem demonstrado potencial para diversas atividades biológicas, como anti-inflamatória, antioxidante, antimicrobiana, leishmanicida e antitumoral. Essas atividades têm sido correlacionadas a seus metabólitos secundários, tais como alcalóides, terpenos e compostos fenólicos. No entanto, a instabilidade e baixa solubilidade de compostos naturais reduzem sua biodisponibilidade, interferindo na eficácia da terapia. Com o intuito de melhorar a estabilidade e biodisponibilidade dos componentes ativos do extrato metanólico de Mitracarpus frigidus (MFM), foi desenvolvido um fitocomplexo supramolecular com β-ciclodextrina (βCD), pelo método de coprecipitação. Através de docking molecular, foi possível prever uma maior afinidade dos compostos de interesse com a βCD. As caracterizações do extrato e fitocomplexo por microscopia eletrônica de varredura (MEV), espectroscopia de Infravermelho (IV), espalhamento de luz dinâmico (DLS), potencial zeta (PZ), condutividade e análises térmicas (análise térmica diferencial DTA e análise termogravimétrica TGA), demonstraram a efetividade da complexação e sugeriram maior estabilidade do fitocomplexo em relação ao extrato puro. A atividade antioxidante foi avaliada pelos ensaios de redução do radical DPPH, inibição do sistema βcaroteno/ácido linoleico, e formação de MDA, em que o fitocomplexo apresentou maior potencial antioxidante, comparado ao extrato puro. A atividade anti-inflamatória In vitro foi avaliada por meio da redução da produção de óxido nítrico (NO) e por redução de atividade das metaloproteinases MMP2 e MMP9, em linhagem celular J774A.1, neste caso, o fitocomplexo obteve novamente, melhores resultados que o extrato puro, sugerindo potencial emprego para formulações anti-inflamatórias. Ambas as amostras não apresentaram toxicidade para a linhagem celular testada (J774A.1).
A sistematização da assistência de enfermagem para o cuidado no cotidiano dos Centros de Atenção Psicossocial
Authors:   , Tormen Darla
Published: November 2022

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Educação permanente em saúde e Gestão do conhecimento: um estudo de (in)compatibilidades
Authors:   , Ribeiro Daniele Knopp
Published: November 2022

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Incorporação de extrato de folhas de café (Coffea arabica L.) em filmes de quitosana: caracterização físico-química e avaliação das atividades antimicrobiana e cicatrizante in vitro
Authors:   , Silva Allana Carvalho
Published: November 2022

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IoT-InterArch: uma arquitetura para apoiar a interoperabilidade em ecossistemas de IoT
Authors:   , Muniz Matheus Henrique da Silva
Published: November 2022

A Internet das Coisas (IoT) pode ser considerada como a internet do futuro e a crescente utilização e produção de dispositivos inteligentes, provenientes de diversos fabricantes geram barreiras na comunicação para a IoT. Na literatura, vários trabalhos foram realizados para mitigar o problema de interoperabilidade, em um contexto geral e na IoT. No entanto, o foco da maioria destes trabalhos se encontra no nível sintático e semântico. Um mapeamento sistemático foi realizado no contexto desta pesquisa e foi observado que poucos são os trabalhos que focam no nível pragmático em IoT. O objetivo deste trabalho é propor uma arquitetura, denominada IoT-InterArch, para apoiar a interoperabilidade em ecossistemas de IoT levando em consideração as limitações da IoT (processamento, memória e largura de banda). Para a avaliação da arquitetura proposta, um estudo de caso foi realizado utilizando como contexto uma estufa inteligente. Foram criados cinco cenários de avaliação que tem por objetivo avaliar os atributos de qualidade de software (escalabilidade, extensibilidade e flexibilidade) a partir da adição de novos fluxos. A execução da avaliação demonstrou evidências que comprovam que a arquitetura proposta apoia a interoperabilidade em ecossistemas de IoT levando em consideração as limitações da IoT.
Taxonomy, molecular phylogeny and macroevolutionary aspects of sessilid ciliates (Peritrichia: Sessilida), with emphasis on the Epistylididae family
Authors:   , Souza Pedro Mendes de
Published: November 2022

Sessilida (Ciliophora, Peritrichia), one of the most diverse and widely distributed orders within the ciliated microeukaryotes, is composed of about 600 species divided into 14 families and over 100 genera. Members of this order exhibit different ways of life and can be found all over the world, in different environments. Sessilids have been investigated since the beginning of studies with ciliated microeukaryotes, but many doubts still exist regarding their morphology, ecology and evolution. Aiming to generate more information to try to solve the doubts that exist for the sesilid individuals, mainly the representatives of the Epistylididae family, we carried out an extensive review on two genera of this family, Apiosoma and Rhabdostyla, and also investigated the existence of a phylogenetic signal for the type of environment. and the influence of this ecological feature on evolution and diversity for the entire Peritrichia class using the 18S-rDNA marker. As a result of the reviews, we systematically and comparatively compiled morphological information for 62 species of the genus Apiosoma and 45 species of the genus Rhabdostyla, and other related genera. In addition, we found a phylogenetic signal for the environment within Sessilida and, through an ancestral state reconstruction analysis, we found results that suggest that individuals of this subclass originated in freshwater environments and only more recently colonized the other environments where they are currently located.
O efeito da pressão de homogeneização na distribuição do tamanho de partículas durante a produção de leite em pó
Authors:   , Zacaron Thiago Medeiros
Published: November 2022

O mercado de nutracêuticos vêm crescendo mundialmente devido à demanda da sociedade em consumir produtos que além de nutrir, entreguem benefícios para o organismo. A natureza é repleta de seres vivos que servem como fonte de moléculas benéficas para o ser humano, sendo as plantas e as algas as principais fontes. Estes compostos são, principalmente, metabólitos secundários e são produzidos como forma de protegerem os seus produtores de alterações externas no ambiente, como predadores e temperatura. Estes compostos possuem instabilidade frente às intemperes do ambiente, como oxigênio, luz e calor e podem apresentar gosto desagradável para o consumidor. Com o intuito de resolver estes problemas, sistemas de encapsulamento são utilizados. Este é montado a partir de macromoléculas anfifílicas que possuem sítios de interação com o composto a ser protegido, englobando-o internamente na sua estrutura e formando uma barreira externa de proteção. Esta é chamada de matriz e a parte interna é o cerne ou núcleo da estrutura. As proteínas lácteas são macromoléculas que podem ser utilizadas no encapsulamento de metabólitos secundários. Além da estrutura da macromolécula, o processo tecnológico utilizado é um importante fator para montar o sistema encapsulante. Diversas técnicas são utilizadas, dentre elas o spray drying e a homogeneização são processos importantes na construção da estrutura protetora. O aumento na pressão de homogeneização gera partículas na região micrométrica, as quais podem ser utilizadas como sistemas encapsulantes das biomoléculas ativas. No presente trabalho, a alteração das pressões de homogeneização de dois ciclos 15/5 MPa e 75/5 MPa geraram leites fluidos homogeneizados com 90% das partículas com tamanho inferior a 1,48 ± 0,54 e 0,64 ± 0,21, respectivamente. Esta diminuição também foi observada no leite em pó produzido a partir do leite fluido homogeneizado, gerando 90% partículas com tamanhos inferiores a 2,58 ± 1,96 e 1,00 ± 0,21 para as pressões de homogeneização 15/5 MPa e 75/5 MPa, demonstrando que estas operações unitárias podem ser utilizadas como ferramenta de encapsulação das biomoléculas ativas na produção de nutracêuticos.