bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Horizontally Distributed Inference of Deep Neural Networks for AI-Enabled IoT
Authors: Rodriguez-Conde Ivan , Campos Celso , Fdez-Riverola Florentino
Published: February 2023

Motivated by the pervasiveness of artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) in the current “smart everything” scenario, this article provides a comprehensive overview of the most recent research at the intersection of both domains, focusing on the design and development of specific mechanisms for enabling a collaborative inference across edge devices towards the in situ execution of highly complex state-of-the-art deep neural networks (DNNs), despite the resource-constrained nature of such infrastructures. In particular, the review discusses the most salient approaches conceived along those lines, elaborating on the specificities of the partitioning schemes and the parallelism paradigms explored, providing an organized and schematic discussion of the underlying workflows and associated communication patterns, as well as the architectural aspects of the DNNs that have driven the design of such techniques, while also highlighting both the primary challenges encountered at the design and operational levels and the specific adjustments or enhancements explored in response to them.
At the Origins of Migration Choices: A Survey of Students at Two South European Universities
Authors: Addeo Felice , Blanco-Gregory Rocío , Maddaloni Domenico , Moffa Grazia
Published: February 2023

Migration research has long highlighted the role of factors influencing migration flows at the structural level. Recent literature has shifted researchers’ attention to the individual drivers influencing the definition of migration strategies and, before that, the individual propensity for mobility. In this paper, we present the results of a multiple regression model applied to data collected by means of an online survey of students at the universities of Salerno (Italy) and Extremadura (Spain). The model highlights the low prominence achieved by factors such as gender and parental cultural capital on this propensity. A more important role is played by the personal experience of living abroad, a proactive attitude toward the future, and the propensity to seek professional self-fulfillment even at the price of sacrificing one’s territorial affiliation.
Differences in Peak Knee Flexor Force between Eccentric-Only and Combined Eccentric-Concentric Nordic Hamstring Exercise
Authors: Augustsson Jesper , Andersson Håkan
Published: February 2023

In many sports, the hamstring strain injury is a common injury. There is evidence that the Nordic hamstring exercise (NHE), a knee flexor exercise, can reduce hamstring injury risk in athletes. In research on hamstring injury prevention, eccentric-only NHE is typically performed, whereas in sports, it is relatively common for athletes to perform NHE eccentrically-concentrically. Further, NHE strength is generally assessed by measuring knee flexor force through an ankle brace, attached atop of a load cell. An alternative method might be to assess knee flexor force about the knee joint using a force plate. The aim of the study was to investigate differences in peak knee flexor force between eccentric-only and combined eccentric-concentric NHE. The purpose was also to determine the correlation between hamstring force measured at the ankle using a load cell (current gold standard) and force assessed about the knee joint using a force plate during NHE. Fifteen junior and senior elite soccer and track and field athletes (3 women and 12 men aged 17–27 years) performed eccentric NHE (ENHE) in which they leaned forward as far as possible until breakpoint and eccentric-concentric NHE (ECNHE) where they returned to the starting position. A linear encoder measured the position at which peak force occurred during the NHEs. Force assessed at the ankle differed significantly (678 vs. 600 N, p < 0.05), whereas force about the knee joint did not (640 vs. 607 N, p > 0.05) between ENHE and ECNHE (12 and 5% difference, respectively). The forward distance achieved by the participants in cm at breakpoint for ENHE was 37% higher than at the coupling phase for ECNHE (74 vs. 54 cm, p < 0.001). Very strong significant (p < 0.01) correlations were noted between peak force assessed at the ankle and about the knee joint for ENHE and ECNHE, r = 0.96 and r = 0.99, respectively. Our results suggest that ECNHE, where peak knee flexor force was reached with 37% less forward movement, may complement ENHE, i.e., during hamstring injury rehabilitation, where a position of great knee extension may not be well tolerated by the athlete. Further, assessing knee flexor force about the knee joint using a force plate may provide an alternative to measuring force at the ankle using a load cell when testing NHE strength.
Corporate Financialization, ESG Performance and Sustainability Development: Evidence from Chinese-Listed Companies
Authors: Yang Fang , Li Xu
Published: February 2023

With changing times as countries pursue sustainable development, traditional profit-driven strategic decisions are no longer sustainable. A well-planned financial investment may improve a business’s capital flow efficiency, but when short-term wealth overrides long-term value, the financialization of companies will inevitably impede their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. This study examined how company financialization was related to its ESG performance by China Listed Companies between 2010 and 2019. According to empirical tests using data from the China Stock Market & Accounting Research database and the Wind Financial Terminal, corporate financialization negatively affects ESG performance. After a series of robustness tests, such as endogenous analysis, the conclusion still holds. Furthermore, financialization dampens ESG performance more in the private sector and in companies with high technology dependence. Mechanistic analysis shows that corporate financialization not only creates long-term value risks through crowding out real capital and appropriation of green resources but also undermines company ESG performance through a lack of balanced development to achieve objectives and capabilities. Lastly, using the green patent data provided by the Chinese Research Data Services Platform database, it is found that improved green technology innovation can mitigate the damage of corporate financialization on ESG performance, and this mitigation is more pronounced in regions with better green development. This study adds to the empirical evidence on the theoretical and controversial role of corporate financialization. It helps to warn of its short-sighted effects on sustainable development and provides implications through the positive effects of green technology innovations.
Exploring the Potential of Co-Application of Sewage Sludge, Chinese Medicinal Herbal Residues and Biochar in Minimizing Human Exposure to Antibiotics Contamination in Edible Crops
Authors: Pan Min , Zhang Hao , Luo Li-Wen , Yau Pui-Ching
Published: February 2023

Agricultural practices such as wastewater irrigation and manure application may contaminate soils with antibiotics and, consequently, lead to human health risk. The co-application of three waste-derived materials, sewage sludge (SL), Chinese medicinal herbal residues (CMHR) and biochar (BC), as a soil amendment was proposed recently for minimizing the antibiotic amount in crop tissues. The fate of six antibiotics—amoxicillin, tetracycline, sulfamethazine, norfloxacin, erythromycin and chloramphenicol—were investigated in a greenhouse soil-plant system with a fruit crop species: tomato. The pots were mixed with 5%, 10% or 20% SL-BC and SL-CMHR-BC and irrigated with wastewater with 3 μg/L or 30 μg/L antibiotics. The pot containing 20% SL-CMHR-BC captured the lowest antibiotic concentration in soils and tomato tissues. Norfloxacin was the most abundant antibiotic in the fruits, followed by tetracycline. The pot containing 20% SL-CMHR-BC significantly lowered the bioconcentration factor of the fruit, while its effects on the translocation factor were more varied. Current and some previous data were used to assess the human health risk of consuming carrot, lettuce and tomato. The estimated daily intake suggested a negligible risk to human health in general compared with the acceptable daily intake, except for CAP. A concentration of 20% SL-CMHR-BC helps minimize the human exposure risk to antibiotics contamination in edible crops.
The Effect of Social Network on Controlled-Release Fertilizer Use: Evidence from Rice Large-Scale Farmers in Jiangsu Province, China
Authors: Ma Ruoxi , Yang Shangguang
Published: February 2023

The reduction and efficiency of fertilizer use has been a recent focus of governments and scholars. As a new agricultural technology, controlled-release fertilizer can not only increase yield and save labor, but also improve efficiency and reduce the use of fertilizer, thus promoting sustainable agricultural development. Drawing on a sample of 231 farmers of Jiangsu Province, China, this paper applies a probit model to assess the adoption behavior of controlled-release fertilizer by large-scale households in terms of three dimensions of social network, i.e., communication intensity, trust level, and network size, specifically exploring how science popularization influences their adoption intention, and comparing the heterogeneity of impact that social network has on the adoption intention of farmers when the information is obtained adequately or not. The empirical results demonstrate that: (1) At the early stage of technology diffusion, the size of social network has a positive effect on farmers’ cognition of controlled-release fertilizer, and the communication intensity with neighboring farmers has a positive effect on the adoption behavior of controlled-release fertilizer; (2) Farmers’ adoption intention of controlled-release fertilizer is significantly influenced by their original knowledge of new technology and science popularization; (3) When the information is sufficient, the social network of large-scale households has no significant effect on their willingness to adopt. Therefore, in promoting controlled-release fertilizer, the government should highlight the synergistic effect of farmers’ cognition and science popularization activities, fully consider the characteristics of farmers’ social network, facilitate the infrastructure of rural informatization, and regulate the agricultural promotion networks so that farmers can obtain sufficient and effective information.
Can the Reform of the Transfer Tax System Affect Corporate Green Innovation—Evidence from China’s “BT to VAT” Reform
Authors: Qin Jie , Yang Kaili , Ding Xuhui
Published: February 2023

Taxation has long been an important tool for dealing with externalities, and studying whether tax policies can be linked to today’s green development trend can help macroeconomic decisions influence the green transformation of enterprises. The article uses the business tax to VAT reform (BT to VAT), the largest turnover tax reform in recent years that took place in China from 2012 to 2016, as an example. The policy effect model was constructed using the difference in difference method to explore the driving effect of the tax reform and related variables on corporate green innovation. The results show that the policy effect of tax reform can effectively promote an enterprise’s green innovation behavior, with the promotion effect on invention-based green patents being significantly higher than that on utility-based green patents; there is a certain time lag in the promotion of green innovation by the policy effect of tax reform, with a significant effect starting from the third year of the policy. The green innovation behavior of enterprises is influenced by the characteristics of enterprises, with a significant positive correlation with enterprise size and operating capacity. Green innovation behavior is influenced by the characteristics of enterprises and has a significant positive correlation with the size and operating capacity of enterprises. The implementation of the policy of ‘reducing taxes and fees’ is conducive to green innovation, and an effective tax reform should be formulated gradually in response to the national conditions and market situation; on the basis of quality assurance, unnecessary steps in the process of green patent application and approval should be reduced to improve the efficiency of green innovation; effective social supervision or the appropriate realization of corporate equity can be adopted to promote green innovation. Corporate equity to promote corporate green innovation.
Does Air Pollution Influence the Settlement Intention of the Floating Population in China? Individual Heterogeneity and City Characteristics
Authors: Wang Xinxian , He Jun , Liao Tim Futing , Gu Gaoxiang
Published: February 2023

Serious air pollution has caused widespread concern in Chinese society in recent years. China’s floating population plays an important role in China’s economic development, and the determinants of the floating population’s settlement intentions have attracted increasing attention. Using the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey Data (CMDS) and the satellite grid data of global PM2.5 concentration as well as city-level data, this study investigated the influences of air quality on migrants’ settlement intention, in particular, individual heterogeneity and city characteristics. Using an instrumental variable to correct for endogeneity, we found that air pollution has a significant negative effect on the settlement intentions of China’s floating population. Migrants who were older, better educated and with poorer health are more sensitive to air pollution with regard to settlement intention. Meanwhile, settlement intentions are also influenced by individual adaptability: Respondents with better air quality in their hometown are more sensitive to air pollution. Poor air pollution has not weakened the attractiveness of Tier-1 cities to the floating population, nor has the administrative level of a city.
The Effect of Economic, Financial and Political Stabilities on the Banking Sector: Cases of Six Balkan Countries
Authors: Kirikkaleli Dervis , Kayar Emine Ünar
Published: February 2023

Today, banks, which act as financial intermediaries, ensure the growth of the economy. Banks, being a channel in monetary policies and monetary issues, are effective institutions in ensuring sustainable macroeconomic stability. In addition, banks are one of the institutions that are exposed to the most financial risk by nature. This article explores the long-term effects of economic, financial and political stabilities on the banking sector. This research covers the 21-year period between 1996–2017. The aim of this study is to examine the effects of economic, financial and political stabilities, which are the components of country risk, on the banking sector in selected Balkan countries and using the panel data analysis technique, which is one of the econometric analysis methods. Panel cross-sectional dependence, unit root tests, cointegration and causality tests were applied according to country risk indicators for the six selected Balkan countries. The selected Balkan countries have paid attention to their development in the country’s economies and their involvement in global trade and to adopt the modern banking system. In addition, six Balkan countries have been selected as examples in the study due to their close relations with Turkey in the socio-cultural and economic fields. The results of the panel tests indicated the of unit root tests as well as the existence of cointegration. The p values obtained as a result of cointegration analysis are less than 0.005, indicating the existence of cointegration. It has been concluded that there is a cointegration relationship in all three hypotheses, which have the effects of economic, financial and political stabilities on the banking sector. According to the Granger causality test results, there is a bidirectional causality relationship between the banking variable and the economic stabilities variable. Having long-term and causal relationships between selected Balkan economies requires financial and economic stability to be supported simultaneously. In short, it has been determined that economic, financial and political stabilities have a relationship with sustainable banking in the long term.
An Insight into the Application of Gradations of Circularity in the Food Packaging Industry: A Systematic Literature Review and a Multiple Case Study
Authors: Tanveer Umair , Ishaq Shamaila , Oqueli Tifany
Published: February 2023

Given its unsustainable growth, the food packaging industry (FPI) has become a priority industry in the circular economy. Given the academic significance attributed to the gradations of circularity in maximising resource efficiency in the food packaging industry, this paper aims to identify the current state of the application of those gradations of circularity in the FPI by finding the least and most commonly used circular strategies in the FPI. Moreover, it aims to identify the drivers of and barriers to the implementation of the gradations of circularity and the levers for overcoming such barriers through SLR using multiple case studies, namely five small-medium enterprises (SMEs) in the FPI that each represent one of the five least implemented circular strategies. The research identified that the efforts of the FPI toward adopting circular strategies were not aligned with the gradations of circularity. Based on the research findings, a lever–barrier matrix is proposed as a toolkit for SMEs planning a transition toward the circular economy or are in the transition phase.
Analysing the Social Acceptance of Bio-Based Products Made from Recycled Absorbent Hygiene Products in Europe
Authors: Laborda Elena , Del-Busto Felipe , Bartolomé Carmen , Fernández Víctor
Published: February 2023

The acceptance of bio-based products by consumers is one of the fundamental pillars to achieve the integration of a circular economy model in society. This article analyses the results obtained in a large-scale survey on the social acceptance of bio-based products, especially those obtained from Absorbent Hygiene Products, where a statistical analysis of the data collected is performed to establish rules of thumb and conclusions on the factors considered most significant for consumers in their purchasing decisions. The study was carried out in four European countries, and the sample population covered different age ranges, genders and economic statuses. The main findings are that the most critical factors relate to price, quality and ease of use, but other factors, such as environmental benefits, composition and origin of materials, also affect bio-based products. In addition, this study concludes that most people do not understand some important aspects related to bio-based products, and product information and communication channels need to be improved. Therefore, purchasing strategies for bio-based products should focus on addressing these shortcomings, making the decision to buy bio-based products a quick and easy action.
Sustainability of Inclusive Education in Schools and Higher Education: Teachers and Students with Special Educational Needs
Authors: Shutaleva Anna , Martyushev Nikita , Nikonova Zhanna , Savchenko Irina , Kukartsev Vladislav , Tynchenko Vadim , Tynchenko Yadviga
Published: February 2023

One of the significant factors in the sustainability of education is the development of inclusive education. An inclusive educational space implies openness and accessibility of education for students, regardless of their educational needs. Inclusive education also means a partnership between students and teachers. A teacher is a living person whose socio-emotional skills and professional abilities are the basis for the sustainability of education and student development. This article is devoted to studying teachers’ competence and psychological readiness at schools and higher educational institutions to work with students with special educational needs. This article includes the results of a sociological study conducted in September 2022 and is devoted to the readiness of schoolteachers and university professors for inclusive education (N = 125). The general statistical calculation was carried out based on information processing using the Vortex program version 10.0. Universities and schools are located in large administrative centers of Russian regions with a population of about a million. The relevance of this study is due to the relationship of sustainability with the ideas of inclusive education, manifested in its goal of achieving students’ educational levels established by the state and the humanistic concept of equality of opportunity in the process of professional implementation and self-determination of the individual.
Causes of Higher Ecological Footprint in Pakistan: Does Energy Consumption Contribute? Evidence from the Non-Linear ARDL Model
Authors: Asghar Nabila , Amjad Muhammad Asif , Rehman Hafeez ur , Munir Mubbasher , Alhajj Reda
Published: February 2023

The impact of human activities on environmental degradation has been increasing over time, and ecological footprint measures the impact of human activities on the environment. An increase in ecological footprint has created alarming situations around the globe. This study explores the causes of Pakistan’s high ecological footprint (EFP). The asymmetric analysis of fossil fuels and renewable energy consumption on EFP has been carried out from 1990 to 2020. The results obtained from the NARDL approach revealed that the positive shocks of fossil fuel consumption increase EFP, but its negative shocks decline EFP. Meanwhile, both positive and negative shocks of renewable energy consumption decline EFP in Pakistan. This study suggests that renewable energy consumption can play a significant role in reducing the EFP in Pakistan.
The Effect of Muscles Fatigue on the Knee’s Kinetics and Kinematics Characteristics
Authors: Liu Zhiyong , Yang Chen , Yu Jiabin , Zhao Xiaoguang , Wu Jinan , Zhang Yu , Li Jianshe , Gu Yaodong
Published: February 2023

Badminton is very popular on college campuses. In badminton, the anterior cruciate ligament of the players has a higher risk of injury. There are many studies investigating the impact of fatigue on the injury of professional athletes, but few studies focused on college students. We hypothesized that the knee joint would experience greater ground reaction forces, valgus moments, and flexion moments of lunge contact in amateur after fatigue than those indicators before fatigue. Ten male badminton amateurs were enrolled in this study. They performed a lunge to hit the shuttlecock at the designated position and then quickly returned to the starting position before and after fatigue. Fatigue was induced by repeated isokinetic flexion/extension of the knee. Lower body kinematics and ground reaction force (GRF) were collected and further used to calculate the lower body joint moments from initial contact to maximum knee flexion. Compared to the pre-fatigue condition, the peak flexion moment (p = 0.012) and peak abduction moment of knee joint (p = 0.01), and maximum horizontal ground reaction force (p = 0.027) increased significantly at the initial contact (p = 0.01). After muscle fatigue, the knee buckling moment and valgus moment increased significantly at initial contact, and the horizontal backward maximum GRF also increased significantly. These changes might increase the injury risk of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). The fatigue of the muscles around the knee joint did not change the maximum GRF in the vertical direction at the moment of contact. Combined with the results of our study, badminton coaches and teachers should increase the training of lower extremity muscle strength and endurance in our daily class and training, and also should pay special attention to the coordinated development of muscles.
Research on Assessing Driving Ability of Older Drivers Based on Cognitive Tests: A Case Study of Beijing, China
Authors: Gong Jianguo , Guo Xiucheng , Qi Cong , Pan Lingfeng , Liu Xiaochen
Published: February 2023

Research on cognitive tests for older drivers will contribute to accurately identifying unsafe drivers and decreasing the risk that older drivers pose to themselves and other roadway users. This study aims to design and evaluate a comprehensive cognitive test, including memory, reaction and judgment ability tests. A total of 72 drivers from Beijing, China, were recruited in 2020 to participate in these cognitive tests to obtain detailed test information on the recorded response time and accuracy. A one-way ANOVA test was proposed to examine the significance among different age and crash record groups. The comprehensive cognitive test was proved effective in judging the at-risk older drivers, where 96.7% of the safe young group and 100% of the safe older group passed the test, and 89.5% of the at-risk older group failed the test. The study clarified the efficiency and accuracy of each question as well as the whole test. It also confirmed that driving ability decreased with the increase in age. According to the obtained comprehensive cognitive test, it provided a scientific method basis for standardizing the management of the older drivers with a license, so as to guide the older drivers to understand traffic elements and rules.
Local Feature Search Network for Building and Water Segmentation of Remote Sensing Image
Authors: Ma Zhanming , Xia Min , Weng Liguo , Lin Haifeng
Published: February 2023

Extracting buildings and water bodies from high-resolution remote sensing images is of great significance for urban development planning. However, when studying buildings and water bodies through high-resolution remote sensing images, water bodies are very easy to be confused with the spectra of dark objects such as building shadows, asphalt roads and dense vegetation. The existing semantic segmentation methods do not pay enough attention to the local feature information between horizontal direction and position, which leads to the problem of misjudgment of buildings and loss of local information of water area. In order to improve this problem, this paper proposes a local feature search network (DFSNet) application in remote sensing image building and water segmentation. By paying more attention to the local feature information between horizontal direction and position, we can reduce the problems of misjudgment of buildings and loss of local information of water bodies. The discarding attention module (DAM) introduced in this paper reads sensitive information through direction and location, and proposes the slice pooling module (SPM) to obtain a large receptive field in the pixel by pixel prediction task through parallel pooling operation, so as to reduce the misjudgment of large areas of buildings and the edge blurring in the process of water body segmentation. The fusion attention up sampling module (FAUM) guides the backbone network to obtain local information between horizontal directions and positions in spatial dimensions, provide better pixel level attention for high-level feature maps, and obtain more detailed segmentation output. The experimental results of our method on building and water data sets show that compared with the existing classical semantic segmentation model, the proposed method achieves 2.89% improvement on the indicator MIoU, and the final MIoU reaches 83.73%.
Physiological Characteristics and Cold Resistance of Five Woody Plants in Treeline Ecotone of Sygera Mountains
Authors: Ding Huihui , Chen Wensheng , Li Jiangrong , Fu Fangwei , Li Yueyao , Xiao Siying
Published: February 2023

Investigating the distribution of internal physiological indicators and the cold resistance of woody plants in the alpine treeline ecotone is of great ecological importance to explain the mechanism of alpine treeline formation. Less research has been conducted on the cold resistance mechanisms of alpine treeline woody plants than on commercial crops. In this paper, five different tree species in the alpine treeline ecotone of the Sygera Mountains were used as the research objects and the leaves, branches, and roots of 19 woody plants were collected in the non-growing season (November) of 2019. Their non-structural carbohydrate content (soluble sugar and starch), malondialdehyde, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), proline, superoxide dismutase, and peroxidase levels were measured. The contents of C, N, P, and K elements were analyzed, along with the distribution characteristics of physiological indices and organs of various woody plants and their relationship to plant nutrients. Results showed that the MDA (5.46 ± 1.95 μg·g−1) and H2O2 (4.11 ± 0.76 mmol·g−1) of tree root organs and the MDA (3.03 ± 2.05 μg·g−1) and H2O2 (4.25 ± 1.03 mmol·g−1) of shrub leaf organs were higher than those of other organs, indicating that under the stress of low temperatures, the root organ of arbor species and the leaf organ of shrub species experienced the most damage. Osmotic substances, particularly soluble sugars, play a crucial role in the response of the woody plants in Sygera Mountains to low-temperature stress. Plant nutrients could enhance plant stress resistance by further activating the activity of the antioxidant system and increasing the synthesis of osmotic substances. This study hypothesized that the stress on the root organs of the arbor species in the treeline ecotone may not be repaired in time, which may be a key mechanism for the formation of the alpine treeline in the Sygera Mountains.
Research on the Relationship between Agricultural Insurance Participation and Chemical Input in Grain Production
Authors: Zhang Lu , Yang Yuxin , Li Xiaofeng
Published: February 2023

As an important agricultural policy, agricultural insurance will affect farmers’ production input, such as fertilizers and pesticides. Its development needs to consider the environmental impact and adapt to the needs of sustainable development. In addition, farmers’ chemical input behavior during the agricultural production process may also affect their agricultural insurance participation behavior. Based on data from a survey of 1318 farmers in the Shandong, Liaoning, Jiangxi, and Sichuan provinces of China, this paper established a simultaneous equations model to explore the interaction between farmers’ agricultural insurance participation behavior and chemical input in the grain production process. The results show a mutual causality between the decision to obtain insurance and chemical input in grain production. Farmers who input fewer chemical fertilizers and more pesticides per mu are more inclined to purchase agricultural insurance. Agricultural insurance participation significantly increases the input of chemical fertilizers and reduces the input of pesticides in the grain-production process. On this basis, the following policy recommendations are proposed: firstly, we should pay attention to the increasing role of agricultural insurance in agricultural sustainable development and further improve the agricultural insurance policy system; secondly, we should innovate and develop “green”-oriented agricultural insurance policies to accelerate the high-quality development of agricultural insurance; third, we should increase publicity and guidance to encourage more farmers to engage in green production.
The Impact of Public Policy Measures during the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Characteristics of Urban Wastewater in the Republic of Serbia
Authors: Pešić Vesna , Bečelić-Tomin Milena , Leovac Maćerak Anita , Kulić Mandić Aleksandra , Tomašević Pilipović Dragana , Kerkez Djurdja
Published: February 2023

The change in the way of life caused by the introduction of social restriction measures (closures, the restriction of working hours, and restriction of movement) by governments and thus, the resulting changes in people’s behavior, have affected all aspects of life, i.e., social activities, business, the environment and the performance of the infrastructure of the water supply system. Social distancing policies around the world in response to the pandemic have led to spatio-temporal variations in water consumption and therefore, to changes in the flow of wastewater, creating potential problems in the infrastructure, operation and quality of services. The goal of this work was to examine how these changes and how the pandemic itself affected the characteristics of municipal wastewater. Data on the quantity and quality of municipal wastewater in four settlements of different sizes in the Republic of Serbia in the period from 2015 to 2022 were collected. The data indicated an increase in the amount of wastewater generated in 2020, which may be a consequence of excessive water use. An increase in the mean concentrations of most parameters in 2020 compared to the previous five-year average was also observed. The most significant changes were observed concerning the concentrations of organic matter (2–124%), nitrogen (6–80%), phosphorus (14–91%), suspended matter (8–308%), fats and oils (97–218%) and surfactants (12–110%). Changes in terms of increasing concentrations were also noticed after the peak of the pandemic, i.e., in the period from 2021 to 2022. In addition, an increase in the COD/BOD ratio from around 2 to around 4 in the year 2020 was also observed (COD—Chemical Oxygen Demand; BOD—Biological Oxygen Demand). This is very important and should be taken into account in wastewater treatment procedures in order to achieve high efficiency in the operation of the plant itself.
A Dynamic Scene Vision SLAM Method Incorporating Object Detection and Object Characterization
Authors: Guan Hongliang , Qian Chengyuan , Wu Tingsong , Hu Xiaoming , Duan Fuzhou , Ye Xinyi
Published: February 2023

Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) based on RGB-D cameras has been widely used for robot localization and navigation in unknown environments. Most current SLAM methods are constrained by static environment assumptions and perform poorly in real-world dynamic scenarios. To improve the robustness and performance of SLAM systems in dynamic environments, this paper proposes a new RGB-D SLAM method for indoor dynamic scenes based on object detection. The method presented in this paper improves on the ORB-SLAM3 framework. First, we designed an object detection module based on YOLO v5 and relied on it to improve the tracking module of ORB-SLAM3 and the localization accuracy of ORB-SLAM3 in dynamic environments. The dense point cloud map building module was also included, which excludes dynamic objects from the environment map to create a static environment point cloud map with high readability and reusability. Full comparison experiments with the original ORB-SLAM3 and two representative semantic SLAM methods on the TUM RGB-D dataset show that: the method in this paper can run at 30+fps, the localization accuracy improved to varying degrees compared to ORB-SLAM3 in all four image sequences, and the absolute trajectory accuracy can be improved by up to 91.10%. The localization accuracy of the method in this paper is comparable to that of DS-SLAM, DynaSLAM and the two recent target detection-based SLAM algorithms, but it runs faster. The RGB-D SLAM method proposed in this paper, which combines the most advanced object detection method and visual SLAM framework, outperforms other methods in terms of localization accuracy and map construction in a dynamic indoor environment and has a certain reference value for navigation, localization, and 3D reconstruction.
Hopelessness among Medical Students Caused Due to COVID-19 Pandemic Linked Educational Hiatus: A Case Study of Bursa Uludag University, Türkiye
Authors: Aydin Mevlut Okan , Ozkaya Guven , Kafa Ilker Mustafa , Haque Shafiul , Alper Zuleyha
Published: February 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions in medical education, leading to feelings of hopelessness among students regarding their medical careers. However, effective institutional crisis-response approaches can mitigate these feelings of hopelessness. This study evaluated changes in the levels of hopelessness among Turkish medical students due to interruptions in their education caused by the pandemic between March and July 2020, using the Beck Hopelessness Scale in three selected periods. A statistical survey was conducted with a total of 3580 participants in three different periods to study the impact of various contributing factors, such as socio-economic status, family problems, health problems, and lack of working environment, on the levels of hopelessness in conjunction with active COVID-19 cases and the effect of institutional interventions for the continuation of medical education during the pandemic. The analysis revealed a direct relationship between contributing factors and hopelessness scores at the end of the selected three periods. Additionally, active COVID-19 cases and institutional crisis-response strategies were found to be indirectly associated with students’ hopelessness. An increase in students’ hopelessness was found to be related to an increase in active COVID-19 cases in the country, a lack of continuing education practices, and the role of contributing factors. Conversely, a decrease in hopelessness was associated with effective institutional crisis-response strategies. These findings suggest that educational settings dealing with practical subjects should prioritize preparedness for crisis situations.
Mall Environment and Mall Value as Antecedents of Customer Loyalty in Shopping Malls: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Adeola Ogechi , Adisa Isaiah , Moradeyo Adenike , Ibelegbu Oserere
Published: February 2023

Shopping malls contribute significantly to a nation’s economic activities, as demonstrated by the significant investment in sub-Saharan Africa’s retail industry. The impact of shopping malls on communities’ socio-economic conditions cannot be overlooked, as they have implications for employment opportunities, national income, and infrastructure development. However, as the number of malls in urban areas increases, it is important for retail operators to understand the factors that attract and sustain customer loyalty. This study adopts a regression analysis approach to identify the factors influencing customer loyalty in shopping malls. Mall environment and mall values were used as predictors of customer loyalty. The study was conducted in Lagos State, Nigeria, due to the prevalence of shopping malls and the nature of the urban settlement. A survey of 300 respondents was conducted, with 277 responses found usable. The findings indicate that the mall value has a significant positive effect on customer loyalty, but the mall environment does not. However, there is a significant and positive joint effect of both the mall value and mall environment on customer loyalty. Additionally, the study finds that age plays a major role in mediating these predictive relationships. The practical implication for shopping mall investors and operators in Africa’s retail market is provided.
Tropical Dry Forest Restoration in an Era of Global Change: Ecological and Social Dimensions
Authors: Campo Julio , Giardina Christian P. , Dirzo Rodolfo
Published: February 2023

In 2019, the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed 2021 to 2030 to be the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration [...]
Satisfied and Frustrated Needs, Subjective Vitality and University Students’ Life Satisfaction of Physical Activity and Sports
Authors: Pineda-Espejel Heriberto Antonio , Morquecho-Sánchez Raquel , Terán Lucía , López-Gaspar Icela , Hernández-Mendo Antonio , Morales-Sánchez Verónica , Chica-Merino Encarnación , Granero-Gallegos Antonio
Published: February 2023

This study is based on frameworks of the eudaimonic activity model and the basic psychological needs theory, with two purposes: one, to prove the validity of a translation and adaptation of the Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction and Frustration Scale; two, to analyze how the basic psychological satisfaction and frustration needs influences the well-being of university physical activity and sports students, through sex. A total of 830 University students of physical activity and sports with an age between 17 and 31 years (M = 20.70 years; ±2.96) participated. The sample was divided into two subsamples by random selection of 50% of the cases, preserving the relative distribution of sex and age. The first subsample was used to validate the adaptation of the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale to Spanish as spoken in Mexico (Study 1); and the second subsample was used to test a proposed sequential theoretical model (Study 2). In Study 1, the CFA supported the structure of six factors—satisfaction of needs for autonomy, relatedness and competence; frustration of needs for autonomy, relatedness and competence (RMSR = 0.04; RMSEA = 0.046; TLI = 0.93; CFI = 0.94)—as well as the structure of six first-order factors plus two second-order factors—psychological need satisfaction and psychological need frustration (RMSR = 0.05; RMSEA = 0.055; TLI; CFI = 0.91). Both structures were equivalent between men and women. In Study 2, the results of the structural equations model show good fit (RMSEA = 0.05; TLI = 0.90; CFI = 0.92), indicating that the needs satisfied and frustrated contribute in a unique way to indicators of eudaimonic well-being (i.e., subjective vitality) and subjective well-being (i.e., life satisfaction), being equivalent through sex. In conclusion, satisfaction of competence, relationships and autonomy are essential nutrients for a positive performance in this sample.
Identifying the Most Ecoliterate Inhabitants in a Top-Ten Ecologically Advanced City of China: A Sociodemographic Perspective
Authors: Ha Changchen , Dong Shumin
Published: February 2023

Ecological literacy (ecoliteracy) is an interdisciplinary concept that spans ecology and linguistics. This concept is particularly important given today’s increasingly severe ecological environmental problems. In the discipline of linguistic ecology, ecoliteracy can include five aspects: ecological knowledge literacy, ecological awareness literacy, ecological ethics literacy, ecological emotional literacy, and ecological behavioral literacy. We advocate for a quantitative assessment of the level of ecoliteracy from those five dimensions. However, in the evaluation process, the difference in the specific sociodemographic characteristics (SDCs) of the participants is a factor that cannot be ignored. Therefore, this article starts from SDCs and takes the inhabitants of Guiyang City, a top-ten ecologically advanced city in China, as the study population. The main purpose of the study was to identify the differences in the levels of ecoliteracy shown by inhabitants of this city who have different SDCs. The results indicated that there were significant differences in the levels of ecoliteracy among the inhabitants of Guiyang City with regards to gender, age group, ethnicity, type of living area, educational background, and current main identity. The highest overall score among the participants, that is, the most ecoliterate inhabitants, were found to be males, middle-aged groups, Buyi ethnic groups, those who live in urban areas, the most highly educated, and those who work for the Chinese government. To address the specific five-dimensional levels, this article also analyzed the nuances among inhabitants regarding each aspect. Based on this analysis, the reasons for the differences among inhabitants with different SDCs are discussed. In addition, after discovering the specific characteristics of inhabitants with high-level ecoliteracy, we also propose ways to improve low-level ecoliteracy among inhabitants. Our ultimate goal is to make contributions to the advancement of harmonious coexistence between humans and the natural environment.
A Composite Resilience Index (CRI) for Developing Resilience and Sustainability in University Towns
Authors: Abdul-Rahman Mohammed , Alade Wale , Anwer Shahnawaz
Published: February 2023

Globally, most higher educational institutions can no longer house their students within their campuses due to the increased number of enrolments and the unavailability of land for spatial expansion, especially in urban areas. This leads to studentification which negatively impacts university towns. Developing resilience against the negative impacts of studentification will make university towns more sustainable. However, there is no existing community resilience index designed for that purpose. Thus, this study develops a composite resilience index for university towns, using Akoka, a university town in Lagos, Nigeria, as a case study. The composites of the index were determined by prioritizing online user-generated content mined from Twitter between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2021 using artificial intelligence, while the elements of resilience and risk reduction were developed through the Delphi and analytic hierarchy process. The research outcomes showed that the physical, economic, social, and cultural criteria subjected to comparisons represented ≥70% of the total weights. These criteria made up the outcome indicators, while the integrated community-based risk reduction program model was adopted for the process indicators. Both outcome and process indicators formed the localized composite resilience index for Akoka, Lagos, Nigeria. This proposed composite resilience index would help the town to assess and build resilience against the negative impacts of studentification and provide a methodology for other university towns to create theirs using similar methods.
Enhancing Polyphenols and Tannins Concentration on Cotton Dyed with Red Tea
Authors: Lambrecht Louise , Capablanca Lucía , Bou-Belda Eva , Montava Ignacio , Díaz-García Pablo , Gisbert-Payá Jaime
Published: February 2023

Natural dyes, obtained from plants, insects/animals, and minerals, are renewable and sustainable bioresource products with minimum environmental impact. However, there are still many issues to solve related to natural dyes; consequently, synthetic dyes are still wildly used. Natural dyes have a low affinity towards the substrate cotton, so a solution had to be found: mordants. Mordants can also be harmful to the environment, which is why bio-mordants are used. The mordant used in this paper is chitosan. Cotton is pre-mordanted using the pad dyeing method. By using the exhaustion method, the fabric was coloured with red Camellia sinensis (tea) extracts. The colour, absorption of polyphenols and tannins, and ultraviolet protection (UPF) were tested. A comparison study was carried out between the cotton fabric and the cotton padded with chitosan at two different concentrations. The results are impressive. Cotton pre-mordanted with chitosan can absorb more polyphenols and tannins than cotton itself, and the colour fastness and UPF, once the fabric is laundered, demonstrate there is some kind of bonding between the fibre, quitosan, and active compounds from tea. The UPF was also doubled by using chitosan and the reddish colour obtained by Camellia sinensis extracts were darker on the cotton fabric. The increase in UPF protection on mordanted fabrics is higher than the gap obtained by colour difference, which means there are active compounds that do not confer colour, but enhance UPF protection.