bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Intercomparison of Satellite-Derived Solar Irradiance from the GEO-KOMSAT-2A and HIMAWARI-8/9 Satellites by the Evaluation with Ground Observations
Authors: Kim Chang Ki , Kim Hyun-Goo , Kang Yong-Heack , Yun Chang-Yeol , Lee Yun Gon
Published: July 2020

Solar irradiance derived from satellite imagery is useful for solar resource assessment, as well as climate change research without spatial limitation. The University of Arizona Solar Irradiance Based on Satellite–Korea Institute of Energy Research (UASIBS-KIER) model has been updated to version 2.0 in order to employ the satellite imagery produced by the new satellite platform, GK-2A, launched on 5 December 2018. The satellite-derived solar irradiance from UASIBS-KIER model version 2.0 is evaluated against the two ground observations in Korea at instantaneous, hourly, and daily time scales in comparison with the previous version of UASIBS-KIER model that was optimized for the COMS satellite. The root mean square error of the UASIBS-KIER model version 2.0, normalized for clear-sky solar irradiance, ranges from 4.8% to 5.3% at the instantaneous timescale when the sky is clear. For cloudy skies, the relative root mean square error values are 14.5% and 15.9% at the stations located in Korea and Japan, respectively. The model performance was improved when the UASIBS-KIER model version 2.0 was used for the derivation of solar irradiance due to the finer spatial resolution. The daily aggregates from the proposed model are proven to be the most reliable estimates, with 0.5 km resolution, compared with the solar irradiance derived by the other models. Therefore, the solar resource map built by major outputs from the UASIBS-KIER model is appropriate for solar resource assessment.
EANet: Edge-Aware Network for the Extraction of Buildings from Aerial Images
Authors: Yang Guang , Zhang Qian , Zhang Guixu
Published: July 2020

Deep learning methods have been used to extract buildings from remote sensing images and have achieved state-of-the-art performance. Most previous work has emphasized the multi-scale fusion of features or the enhancement of more receptive fields to achieve global features rather than focusing on low-level details such as the edges. In this work, we propose a novel end-to-end edge-aware network, the EANet, and an edge-aware loss for getting accurate buildings from aerial images. Specifically, the architecture is composed of image segmentation networks and edge perception networks that, respectively, take charge of building prediction and edge investigation. The International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) Potsdam segmentation benchmark and the Wuhan University (WHU) building benchmark were used to evaluate our approach, which, respectively, was found to achieve 90.19% and 93.33% intersection-over-union and top performance without using additional datasets, data augmentation, and post-processing. The EANet is effective in extracting buildings from aerial images, which shows that the quality of image segmentation can be improved by focusing on edge details.
Shortening the Last Mile in Urban Areas: Optimizing a Smart Logistics Concept for E-Grocery Operations
Authors: Leyerer Max , Sonneberg Marc-Oliver , Heumann Maximilian , Breitner Michael H.
Published: July 2020

Urbanization, the corresponding road traffic, and increasing e-grocery markets require efficient and at the same time eco-friendly transport solutions. In contrast to traditional food procurement at local grocery stores, e-grocery, i.e., online ordered goods, are transported directly to end customers. We develop and discuss an optimization approach to assist the planning of e-grocery deliveries in smart cities introducing a new last mile concept for the urban food supply chain. To supply city dwellers with their ordered products, a network of refrigerated grocery lockers is optimized to temporarily store the corresponding goods within urban areas. Customers either collect their orders by themselves or the products are delivered with electric cargo bicycles (ECBs). We propose a multi-echelon optimization model that minimizes the overall costs while consecutively determining optimal grocery locker locations, van routes from a depot to opened lockers, and ECB routes from lockers to customers. With our approach, we present an advanced concept for grocery deliveries in urban areas to shorten last mile distances, enhancing sustainable transportation by avoiding road traffic and emissions. Therefore, the concept is described as a smart transport system.
The Lived Experience of Gender and Gender Equity Policies at a Regional Australian University
Authors: Manyweathers Jennifer , Lymn Jessie , Rurenga Geraldine , Murrell-Orgill Katie , Cameron Shara , Thomas Cate
Published: July 2020

The research question driving this project was ‘what is the congruence between the lived experience of gender and a policy designed to improve gender equity in a university environment?’ The study used mixed methods to investigate the question. These methods included analysis of organisational travel data, and a collaborative autoethnography of participants engaging with claims for dependent care support expenses while travelling for work. The research found four key themes influencing the relationship between gender equity policies and the lived experience of staff. These include gatekeeping, organisation-wide funding of gender equity policies, policy development processes and gender equity as a concept. This article presents a series of transferable recommendations for organisations looking to improve gender equity.
The Change of pH Value and Octolasion cyaneum Savigny Earthworms’ Activity under Stubble Crops after Spring Triticale Continuous Cultivation
Authors: Kliszcz Angelika , Puła Joanna
Published: July 2020

The changes of pH value followed by various agricultural practices are crucial for biotic components of soil, along with other environmental factors, like temperature and moisture content. In this paper, the earthworms population in triticale continuous cultivation was monitored. Their presence associated with various agrotechnical methods (e.g., stubble crops maintained as mulch, mineral fertilization without pesticides) were assessed twice by the handsorting method, and their presence during the triticale vegetation season (occurrence of coprolites) were monitored too. The aim of the study was to analyse the distribution of earthworm populations in cereal continuous cultivation fields, and whether they prefer any of the stubble crop species (Sinapis alba L., Phacelia tanacetifolia Benth., Fagopyrum esculentum Moench.), which were sown after triticale harvest. The results reveal the most abundant earthworms occurence in the F. esculentum objects (43.1% of all sampled earthworms, which consists of 42% and 47.2% of all sampled matured and juveniles individuals, respectively), and species homogeneity (dominate Octolasion cyaneum Savigny, 1826). The changes of pH varied through the triticale vegetation season, but didn’t exhibit severe variation between sampling sites. Using earthworm services in cropping systems after having enticed them to the field through stubble crop has the potential to boost agricultural sustainability. Their ecological preferences, along with their trophic behaviour, have already been put in place to complete a case study of the autecology of the O. cyaneum Savigny 1826 species.
Providing Sustainable Knowledge for the Young Graduates of Economic and Social Sciences. Case Study: Comparative Analysis of Required Global Competences in Two Romanian Universities
Authors: Butum Lavinia Cornelia , Nicolescu Luminița , Stan Sergiu Octavian , Găitănaru Andrei
Published: July 2020

One of the most important challenges for our society is to keep a properly balanced insight of the relevant triangle of: Quality, functionality, and productivity. Regarding this, the most important challenge for universities now is to understand which are the main global competencies needed in the market, and to put them into practice in the educational process. Our main purpose in this paper is to identify the perception of students of the international competences, the personal competences, theoretical competences, practical competences, and others necessary competences needed for the national and international labor markets. For this purpose, a quantitative study was conducted, based on a survey addressed to 310 bachelor students, coming from two Romanian universities specialized in two domains: In social and in economic fields. The results present common and different views of the two groups of students, regarding specific competencies developed during studies and perceived to be needed on the labor market.
The Depth-First Optimal Strategy Path Generation Algorithm for Passengers in a Metro Network
Authors: Lu Kai , Tang Tao , Gao Chunhai
Published: July 2020

Passenger behavior analysis is a key issue in passenger assignment research, in which the path choice is a fundamental component. A highly complex transit network offers multiple paths for each origin–destination (OD) pair and thus resulting in more flexible choices for each passenger. To reflect a passenger’s flexible choice for the transit network, the optimal strategy was proposed by other researchers to determine passenger choice behavior. However, only strategy links have been searched in the optimal strategy algorithm and these links cannot complete the whole path. To determine the paths for each OD pair, this study proposes the depth-first path generation algorithm, in which a strategy node concept is newly defined. The proposed algorithm was applied to the Beijing metro network. The results show that, in comparison to the shortest path and the K-shortest path analysis, the proposed depth-first optimal strategy path generation algorithm better represents the passenger behavior more reliably and flexibly.
Improving Representation of Decision Rules in LUCC-ABM: An Example with an Elicitation of Farmers’ Decision Making for Landscape Restoration in Central Malawi
Authors: Djenontin Ida Nadia S. , Zulu Leo C. , Ligmann-Zielinska Arika
Published: July 2020

Restoring interlocking forest-agricultural landscapes—forest-agricscapes—to sustainably supply ecosystem services for socio-ecological well-being is one of Malawi’s priorities. Engaging local farmers is crucial in implementing restoration schemes. While farmers’ land-use decisions shape land-use/cover and changes (LUCC) and ecological conditions, why and how they decide to embrace restoration activities is poorly understood and neglected in forest-agricscape restoration. We analyze the nature of farmers’ restoration decisions, both individually and collectively, in Central Malawi using a mixed-method analysis. We characterize, qualitatively and quantitatively, the underlying contextual rationales, motives, benefits, and incentives. Identified decision-making rules reflect diverse and nuanced goal frames of relative importance that are featured in various combinations. We categorize the decision-making rules as: problem-solving oriented, resource/material-constrained, benefits-oriented, incentive-based, peers/leaders-influenced, knowledge/skill-dependent, altruistic-oriented, rules/norms-constrained, economic capacity-dependent, awareness-dependent, and risk averse-oriented. We link them with the corresponding vegetation- and non-vegetation-based restoration practices to depict the overall decision-making processes. Findings advance the representation of farmers’ decision rules and behavioral responses in computational agent-based modeling (ABM), through the decomposition of empirical data. The approach used can inform other modeling works attempting to better capture social actors’ decision rules. Such LUCC-ABMs are valuable for exploring spatially explicit outcomes of restoration investments by modeling such decision-making processes and policy scenarios.
Multi-Vector Approach to Cities’ Transition to Low-Carbon Emission Developments
Authors: Dovie Delali B. K. , Dzodzomenyo Mawuli , Dodor Daniel E. , Amoah Antwi-Boasiako , Twerefou Daniel K. , Codjoe Samuel N. A. , Kasei Raymond A.
Published: July 2020

Globally, cities have made efforts to shift to low-carbon emission development (LED), amidst air pollution, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and high temperature anomalies. However, the emphasis on cities to help shift the global economy to LED has been on a single individual sector approach operating in silos rather than the inter and intra-specific outcomes of multiple sectors. Thus, there are uncertainties of adopting suitable pathways for cities’ transition to LED, due largely to data paucity and policy incoherence, constrained further by barriers to integrating science, policy, and practice. Hence, the need for cities to take advantage of the benefits of multi-directional perspectives of multiple sectors acting together—the “multi-vector” approach, to confront key questions of climate compatible development (CCD) that support LED. Therefore, the paper extends the development narratives of the CCD approach to an “enhanced” climate compatible development (EnCCD) pathway with in-built questions and determinants to scope cities’ transition to LED. The EnCCD suggests that the standalone intersection between mitigation and development to deliver LED will not result in cities’ resilience unless (i) co-benefits, which are outcomes of mitigation and adaptation, and (ii) climate-resilient development, the product of adaptation and development, coevolved. Therefore, the EnCCD transforms the development policy focus of cities on separate, single-purpose sectors, such as energy or transport, into multi-sector portfolios having synergistic benefits of mitigation, adaptation, and development strategies.
Effects of Elevated CO2 Concentration and Nitrogen Application Levels on the Accumulation and Translocation of Non-Structural Carbohydrates in Japonica Rice
Authors: Cao Peipei , Sun Wenjuan , Huang Yao , Yang Jingrui , Yang Kai , Lv Chunhua , Wang Yijie , Yu Lingfei , Hu Zhenghua
Published: July 2020

Non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) play an important role in yield formation. In this paper, the relationships of NSC accumulation and translocation with yield formation were investigated under elevated CO2 concentrations ([CO2]) and nitrogen (N) application rates. A japonica rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivar, “Nanjing 9108,” was grown at three [CO2]—Ambient (T0), ambient + 160 μmol·mol−1 (T1), and ambient + 200 μmol·mol−1 (T2)—in open-top chambers (OTC), with three levels of N fertilizer application rates—10 gN·m−2 (N1), 20 gN·m−2 (N2), and 30 gN·m−2 (N3)—Which were set in OTCs using pot experiments. The results showed that the concentration of NSC (CNSC) and the total mass of NSC stored in stems (TMNSC) under T1 and T2 were higher than those in the T0 treatment, and the CNSC and TMNSC of N3 were lower than those of N1 and N2 at the heading stage. The CNSC and the TMNSC were significantly positively correlated with the stem biomass during the growth period and were notably negatively correlated with the N content in leaves (Nleaf) at the heading and filling stages. The seed setting rate was significantly positively related to the apparent transferred mass of NSC from stems to grains (ATMNSC) at the filling stage, while the relationship between yield and the ATMNSC was not statistically significant. Although there was no difference in the apparent contribution of transferred NSC to grain yield (ACNSC) between treatments, NSC stored in stems further accumulated obviously during the late filling stage, implying that the grain yield of “Nanjing 9108” was predominantly sink-limited. We concluded that elevated [CO2] improved the concentration of NSC at the rice heading stage. The interaction between elevated [CO2] and N fertilizer rates significantly influenced the concentration of NSC at the filling stage. Rice stems NSC reaccumulated at the late grain filling stage, which implies a restriction on NSC transference to grain.
Assessment of Work Conditions in a Production Enterprise—A Case Study
Authors: Tutak Magdalena , Brodny Jarosław , Dobrowolska Małgorzata
Published: July 2020

A commonly used strategy in production enterprises is the idea of sustainable development. For an idea to be effectively implemented, it is essential to have competent and well-informed staff. This condition is necessary, but not sufficient. Still, the introduction of changes in the enterprise—including rational management of resources, as well as fair distribution of benefits and social development—requires acceptance on the part of employees. The implementation of this idea entails the need to introduce organizational changes, new technologies and innovative products. Currently, this direction in development is gradually beginning to determine the competitiveness of an enterprise. The present article discusses the results of a questionnaire survey in one production enterprise; the survey aimed at assessing work conditions. The research results were to show how the current changes related to the idea of sustainable development being implemented in this enterprise are assessed by the employees in the production sector. The obtained results are also to serve as a basis for developing a strategy for introducing further changes in this enterprise. The quantitative research included an evaluation of 24 research variables, which were divided into nine thematic groups relevant to work conditions in the enterprise. The research covered three basic groups of factors: work characteristics, human resource management policies and the social context of work. A global assessment of the enterprise’s performance was also undertaken. The research therefore focused on the practical aspects of the activity carried out by the enterprise. The results obtained should provide a basis for assessing the potential for introducing innovative solutions in line with the idea of sustainable development as well as improvements in human resource management. This basis is also particularly important for implementing such solutions in the enterprise which are in line with changes related to the concept of Industry 4.0.
Policy Coordination for National Climate Change Adaptation in Europe: All Process, but Little Power
Authors: Russel Duncan , Castellari Sergio , Capriolo Alessio , Dessai Suraje , Hildén Mikael , Jensen Anne , Karali Eleni , Mäkinen Kirsi , Ørsted Nielsen Helle , Weiland Sabine , den Uyl Roos , Tröltzsch Jenny
Published: July 2020

Climate change adaptation (CCA) is argued to require coordinated policy responses because it is a complex, long-term, knowledge intensive, cross-sectoral, and multi-level governance challenge that involves many interdependencies and actors with different perceptions, goals, and approaches. This study, therefore, examines approaches of a set of European Union (EU) member states (Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom (England)) to pursue a more coordinated approach to CCA policy. It specifically addresses the co-ordination approaches that the selected countries use for the development and implementation of their national CCA policies in the immediate period following the publication of the EU’s 2013 Adaptation Strategy. The analysis demonstrates that while useful coordination processes have been established in the analyzed EU member states, they have difficulty in challenging existing institutional hierarchies and decision rules. Consequently, longer-term opportunities for managing CCA conflicts and synergies among sectoral policies have to date been limited.
A Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process-Based Analysis of the Dynamic Sustainable Management Index in Leisure Agriculture
Authors: Lin Chun-Nan
Published: July 2020

Agricultural leisure is one of the development trends in modern society. However, in leisure agriculture management, managers must consider the dual characteristics of agricultural production technology and the leisure service industry. Therefore, managers often face various selection pressures during management decision-making. This study examined the following five evaluation aspects: organization and operation, leisure agricultural resources, environmental maintenance management, public facility maintenance management, and operational performance. Thereafter, according to the five evaluation aspects, 21 subprojects were further divided at the second level on the basis of different attributes. Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) was adopted to calculate the relative weights of various indicators, and the indicators were dynamically sorted according to their importance. Moreover, the study summarized the dynamic management indicators of leisure agriculture and contributed to research on leisure farming. The results show that managers’ approach toward leisure agriculture management can be divided into three types: active, moderate, and conservative. The indicators in which the active managers attach importance when managing leisure agricultural enterprises are clearly different from those valued by moderate and conservative managers. Finding managers who are suitable for leisure agriculture management is of great significance to leisure agriculture enterprises. Appointing managers with appropriate attitudes who can continuously improve the efficiency of enterprises and create a competitive advantage can bring sustainable business value to these enterprises.
Significant Implication of Optimal Capacitor Placement and Sizing for a Sustainable Electrical Operation in a Building
Authors: Abdul Razak Muhd Azri , Othman Muhammad Murtadha , Musirin Ismail , Yahya Mohd Ainor , Zakaria Zilaila
Published: July 2020

The improvement of energy efficiency plays an important role to ensure sustainable electrical operation in large-scale buildings. In relation to the low-cost electrical components, a capacitor is an electrical component that can be used to sustain or improve the operating performance of an unbalanced electrical system in large-scale buildings so that energy efficiency improvement can be obtained. This is important to overcome the ineffective utilization of energy caused by the occurrence of power losses in an unbalanced electrical system of large-scale buildings. Further improvement of energy efficiency can be obtained by reducing an excessive amount of incoming power through the determination of tap setting for incoming transformer, and this is classified under the concept of conservative voltage regulation (CVR) approach. In order to solve the problem, the optimal capacitor placement and sizing (OCPS) with CVR is introduced as a new approach for energy efficiency improvement while ensuring a sustainable operation in an unbalanced electrical system of large-scale buildings. The proposed technique utilizes the artificial intelligence (AI) based differential evolution particle swarm optimization (DEPSO) technique with the objective function of total cost minimization for the real power losses, real power consumption, and capacitors installation. The effectiveness of the proposed technique to achieve energy efficiency improvement is investigated through a case study of an unbalanced electrical system in a large-scale office building. The significance of the research output is related to its low-cost technology that has the potential for a comprehensive, pragmatic implementation in large-scale buildings, and subsequently, it will significantly accelerate the increase of national agenda in energy efficiency.
Addressing Inequality: The First Step Beyond COVID-19 and Towards Sustainability
Authors: Ashford Nicholas A. , Hall Ralph P. , Arango-Quiroga Johan , Metaxas Kyriakos A. , Showalter Amy L.
Published: July 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted billions of lives across the world and has revealed and worsened the social and economic inequalities that have emerged over the past several decades. As governments consider public health and economic strategies to respond to the crisis, it is critical they also address the weaknesses of their economic and social systems that inhibited their ability to respond comprehensively to the pandemic. These same weaknesses have also undermined efforts to advance equality and sustainability. This paper explores over 30 interventions across the following nine categories of change that hold the potential to address inequality, provide all citizens with access to essential goods and services, and advance progress towards sustainability: (1) Income and wealth transfers to facilitate an equitable increase in purchasing power/disposable income; (2) broadening worker and citizen ownership of the means of production and supply of services, allowing corporate profit-taking to be more equitably distributed; (3) changes in the supply of essential goods and services for more citizens; (4) changes in the demand for more sustainable goods and services desired by people; (5) stabilizing and securing employment and the workforce; (6) reducing the disproportionate power of corporations and the very wealthy on the market and political system through the expansion and enforcement of antitrust law such that the dominance of a few firms in critical sectors no longer prevails; (7) government provision of essential goods and services such as education, healthcare, housing, food, and mobility; (8) a reallocation of government spending between military operations and domestic social needs; and (9) suspending or restructuring debt from emerging and developing countries. Any interventions that focus on growing the economy must also be accompanied by those that offset the resulting compromises to health, safety, and the environment from increasing unsustainable consumption. This paper compares and identifies the interventions that should be considered as an important foundational first step in moving beyond the COVID-19 pandemic and towards sustainability. In this regard, it provides a comprehensive set of strategies that could advance progress towards a component of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10 to reduce inequality within countries. However, the candidate interventions are also contrasted with all 17 SDGs to reveal potential problem areas/tradeoffs that may need careful attention.
People and the City: Urban Fragility and the Real Estate-Scape in a Neighborhood of Catania, Italy
Authors: Trovato Maria Rosa , Clienti Claudia , Giuffrida Salvatore
Published: July 2020

Urban/social fragility is the main focus of most studies on civil economy involving the commitment of politics in the prospect of integrating and somehow guiding an ordered development of and ordered communities. The contemporary city is strongly influenced by the incommunicability between the social system and environment, the latter more and more, including urban and societal components. This study tries to outline a comparative social-urban profile of Picanello, a popular central neighborhood of Catania, in Sicily, Italy, characterized by the combination of different urban and social life-quality levels, thus expressing a heterogeneous vulnerability/resilience profile. The analysis is placed in the urban planning context and aims to: (1) Denotative a pattern that considers the different fragility/resilience descriptive indices; and (2) connotative a pattern of the human and urban dimensions of the social capital asset. This analysis was performed by implementing a multidimensional pattern allowing us to place the neighborhood in a ranking of the neighborhoods of Catania, thus highlighting strength and weakness under different respects. Furthermore, the monetary measurements of this vulnerability/resilience profile, was carried by means of the structured observation of the real estate market. Fuzzy k-medoids cluster analyses have been comparatively performed—showing and mapping the relationships between urban value density and real estate market prices tensions.
Evaluation of Waste Electronic Product Trade-in Strategies in Predictive Twin Disassembly Systems in the Era of Blockchain
Authors: Tozanlı Özden , Kongar Elif , Gupta Surendra M.
Published: July 2020

Manufacturing and supply chain operations are on the cusp of an era with the emergence of groundbreaking technologies. Among these, the digital twin technology is characterized as a paradigm shift in managing production and supply networks since it facilitates a high degree of surveillance and a communication platform between humans, machines, and parts. Digital twins can play a critical role in facilitating faster decision making in product trade-ins by nearly eliminating the uncertainty in the conditions of returned end-of-life products. This paper demonstrates the potential effects of digital twins in trade-in policymaking through a simulated product-recovery system through blockchain technology. A discrete event simulation model is developed from the manufacturer’s viewpoint to obtain a data-driven trade-in pricing policy in a fully transparent platform. The model maps and mimics the behavior of the product-recovery activities based on predictive indicators. Following this, Taguchi’s Orthogonal Array design is implemented as a design-of-experiment study to test the system’s behavior under varying experimental conditions. A logistics regression model is applied to the simulated data to acquire optimal trade-in acquisition prices for returned end-of-life products based on the insights gained from the system.
The Impact of International Trade on Sustainable Development in Saudi Arabia
Authors: Belloumi Mounir , Alshehry Atef
Published: July 2020

This study examines the impact trade openness has on sustainable development in Saudi Arabia. It does so by employing the autoregressive distributed lag cointegration framework, using annual data over the period 1971 to 2016. Overall, the findings suggest the existence of a long-term relationship between trade openness and two indicators of sustainable development—are economic growth and environmental quality. Results indicate that trade openness does not affect both indicators of economic growth and environmental quality in the short-term. However, in the long-term, trade openness has a significant negative impact on economic growth when it is proxied by the variables the ratio of exports plus imports to GDP, and the ratio of exports to GDP; but a significant positive impact for the variable the ratio of imports to GDP. In addition, trade openness negatively affects environmental quality in the long-term. The tests used for diagnosing models show that they are valid, and thus, our findings are robust. Comprehensively, we find that trade openness could have led to the degradation of sustainable development in Saudi Arabia for the past fourteen years.
Analyzing the Risk of Safety Accidents: The Relative Risks of Migrant Workers in Construction Industry
Authors: Kim Ji-Myong , Son Kiyoung , Yum Sang-Guk , Ahn Sungjin
Published: July 2020

This study analyzed the relative risks of migrant workers, and identified risk factors based on quantitative data for the systematic safety management of migrant workers. Many studies have found that migrant workers are more vulnerable to safety accidents than non-migrant workers. Nevertheless, there are few quantitative studies of migrant workers’ accident-risk in the construction industry, where safety accidents are most frequent. In addition, safety management for the identified accident risk factors has not been implemented systematically. To fill the gap, this study uses safety accident data from construction sites, from the +, for the methodical safety management of migrant workers. The t-test and multiple regression analysis methods are used to define the variance in non-migrant and migrant workers, and the risk indicators, respectively. The two analyses show that the results for migrant construction workers were 2.2% higher in safety accident severity than non-migrant workers, and significant factors are also different. This study’s results will provide critical guidance for the safety management of migrant construction workers.
Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management Linkage: An Empirical Analysis of the Slovak Republic
Authors: Dubravská Mariana , Marchevská Martina , Vašaničová Petra , Kotulič Rastislav
Published: July 2020

Sustainability describes a means to satisfy the needs of today’s generation without causing suffering to the needs and standards of living of future generations. The concept of sustainability consists of three pillars: economic, environmental, and social. The purpose of this study is to find a link between Corporate Social Responsibility and the Environmental Management System and its impact on the economic results of the researched companies. Many companies expect to increase their profits through Corporate Social Responsibility behavior and Environmental Management System certification. Based on an analysis of data collected from 200 of the largest firms operating in various industries in the Slovak Republic, we observed the implications of these two management tools and their impacts on the economic results of these companies. To verify individual hypotheses, we use well-established methods, specifically the Pearson Chi-square test, the Mann-Whitney U test, and the Kruskal-Wallis test, along with the Statistica software. The results suggest a relationship between the incorporation of these two management tools and that incorporation of the Corporate Social Responsibility has an impact on company profit. This work contributes to the literature on sustainability, corporate social behavior, and environmental certification in firms operating in various sectors of the national economy.
Multi-Source Data Modeling of the Spatial Distribution of Winter Wheat Yield in China from 2000 to 2015
Authors: Han Dongrui , Cai Hongyan , Yang Xiaohuan , Xu Xinliang
Published: July 2020

Yield gridded datasets are essential for agricultural land management, food security and harmonious human–land relationships. Many studies have developed yield spatialization models that are based on cropland areas. However, crop planting areas, phenological dates, and net primary production (NPP) have received minimal attention. This study proposes a novel method to simulate winter wheat yields in China from 2000 to 2015 using crop phenological datasets, phenological observations, and NPP. The results showed that the NPP in the growing season and statistical yield showed a significant positive correlation (R2 = 0.93, p < 0.01). The mean prediction error of the gridded yield dataset was 12.01%. The relative errors of the gridded yield dataset for approximately half of the samples were between −10% and 10%. Furthermore, the yield distribution was high in the east and low in the west. The high yield was primarily concentrated in the North China Plain, while low yield was observed in eastern Gansu, central Shanxi, southern Hebei, and eastern Sichuan. From 2000 to 2015, the yield mainly showed an increasing trend in the study area, with the average rate of 0.17 t ha−1 yr−1, especially in the North China Plain. This study suggests that NPP is a key indicator to evaluate the yield of winter wheat. Furthermore, this method can be used to generate gridded yield maps along with providing credible and fundamental data for climate change and sustainable agricultural development.
Expectations and Challenges in the Labour Market in the Context of Industrial Revolution 4.0. The Agglomeration Method-Based Analysis for Poland and Other EU Member States
Authors: Piątkowski Marcin J.
Published: July 2020

Technological revolution brings forth major changes in the labour market as well as the necessity to adapt to the shifting conditions on the part of both employees and entrepreneurs. This notion fits in with the European Policy of “Lifelong Learning” which presents the necessity to constantly improve skills and participate in the process of learning through the entire period of professional engagement. The aim of the article is to diagnose the current situation in the labour market and expectations towards employees as a result of the technological revolution and digitization, and to analyze whether there are groups of countries in the EU with similar features describing the labour market and to present the differences between these groups. The study uses research methods based on literature research, content analysis and comparative analysis, and the empirical part uses cluster analysis—the Ward method, using secondary statistical data from the Eurostat database. It was verified which groups of the Member States exhibited similarities to the extent of: forms of employment; work productivity; commitment of entrepreneurs and employees to the process of continuing vocational training (CVT) and lifelong learning; educating future employees of the economy at the level of higher education (HE) in STEM fields and development of digital skills as well as commitment of governments of each EU Member State to financing research and development in higher education institutions (HEIs). It may be ascertained that the average values of variables describing the pattern followed by “new” Member States which joined the EU in 2004 or later are, in majority, lower than the values of the same variables describing the pattern followed by the “old” Member States. It cannot be unambiguously stated that the affiliation with the Eurozone in any way determined whether a given group of Member States is better or worse than the other. The resulting figures may become significant at the stage of developing the employment policy as well as the education policy and the professional career development policy in the respective Member States. Those results may be applied to both evaluation and planning of actions to be taken against the background of the development strategy in order to reduce clearly visible inequalities between the European Union Member States.
An Epitome of Building Floor Systems by Means of LCA Criteria
Authors: Valencia-Barba Yovanna Elena , Gómez-Soberón José Manuel , Gómez-Soberón María Consolación , López-Gayarre Fernando
Published: July 2020

Studies of the elements that make up the structure of a building have generally focused on topics related to their physical and structural capacities. Although research has been carried out into environmental impact during the life cycle stages, the environmental profile is far from established. This research aims to reduce the gap in the knowledge of this subject, offering useful information to professionals in the construction industry, which will enable them to consider environmental aspects when choosing the best construction systems. The present study applies the methodology of the life cycle assessment (LCA), to analyze and compare four floor construction systems in two different scenarios (“A” with a functional homogeneous unit of 1 m2 and “B” with 1 m² made up of the percentages of the floor system and the special areas of the building). The analysis is performed using the LCA Manager software, along with the Ecoinvent 3.1 database and with a cradle to handover perspective (A1–A5). Comparison was made using two environmental impact methodologies, Eco-indicator 99 and CML 2001. The results highlight the stages A1–A3 as those that generate the greatest environmental impact. Comparing the environmental profiles of the different floor systems, one-way floor systems I and II had the best environmental scores, 30% less than two-way floor system III and 50% less than slab floor system IV.
Understanding Phytomicrobiome: A Potential Reservoir for Better Crop Management
Authors: Bhatt Pankaj , Verma Amit , Verma Shulbhi , Anwar Md. Shahbaz , Prasher Parteek , Mudila Harish , Chen Shaohua
Published: July 2020

Recent crop production studies have aimed at an increase in the biotic and abiotic tolerance of plant communities, along with increased nutrient availability and crop yields. This can be achieved in various ways, but one of the emerging approaches is to understand the phytomicrobiome structure and associated chemical communications. The phytomicrobiome was characterized with the advent of high-throughput techniques. Its composition and chemical signaling phenomena have been revealed, leading the way for “rhizosphere engineering”. In addition to the above, phytomicrobiome studies have paved the way to best tackling soil contamination with various anthropogenic activities. Agricultural lands have been found to be unbalanced for crop production. Due to the intense application of agricultural chemicals such as herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, fertilizers, etc., which can only be rejuvenated efficiently through detailed studies on the phytomicrobiome component, the phytomicrobiome has recently emerged as a primary plant trait that affects crop production. The phytomicrobiome also acts as an essential modifying factor in plant root exudation and vice versa, resulting in better plant health and crop yield both in terms of quantity and quality. Not only supporting better plant growth, phytomicrobiome members are involved in the degradation of toxic materials, alleviating the stress conditions that adversely affect plant development. Thus, the present review compiles the progress in understanding phytomicrobiome relationships and their application in achieving the goal of sustainable agriculture.
Impact of Student Interventions on Urban Greening Processes
Authors: Stobbelaar Derk Jan
Published: July 2020

The aim of this study is to determine the contribution of student interventions to urban greening processes. In two Dutch cities action research was conducted, including reflexive interviews a year after the first intervention, to assess factors causing change in the socio-ecological system. Results show that students and network actors were mutually learning, causing the empowerment of actors in that network by adding contextualized knowledge, enlarging the social network, expanding the amount of interactions in the socio-ecological system and speeding up the process. Students brought unique qualities to the process: time, access to stakeholders who tend to distrust the municipality and a certain open-mindedness. Their mere presence made a difference and started a process of change. However, university staff needed to keep the focus on long-term effects and empowerment, because students did not oversee that. After a year, many new green elements had been developed or were in the planning phase. In Enschede, the municipality district managers were part of the learning network, which made it easier to cause changes in the main ecological network. In Haarlem however, no change took place in the main ecological network managed by the municipality, because no political empowerment of the civil society group had developed yet.
A Photo Post Recommendation System Based on Topic Model for Improving Facebook Fan Page Engagement
Authors: Liao Chia-Hung , Chen Li-Xian , Yang Jhih-Cheng , Yuan Shyan-Ming
Published: July 2020

Digital advertising on social media officially surpassed traditional advertising and became the largest marketing media in many countries. However, how to maximize the value of the overall marketing budget is one of the most concerning issues of all enterprises. The content of the Facebook photo post needs to be analyzed effectively so that the social media companies and managers can concentrate on handling their fan pages. This research aimed to use text mining techniques to find the audience accurately. Therefore, we built a topic model recommendation system (TMRS) to analyze Facebook posts by sorting the target posts according to the recommended scores. The TMRS includes six stages, such as data preprocessing, Chinese word segmentation, word refinement, TF-IDF word vector conversion, creating model via Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI), or Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), and calculating the recommendation score. In addition to automatically selecting posts to create advertisements, this model is more effective in using marketing budgets and getting more engagements. Based on the recommendation results, it is verified that the TMRS can increase the engagement rate compared to the traditional engagement rate recommended method (ERRM). Ultimately, advertisers can have the chance to create ads for the post with potentially high engagements under a limited budget.
Racemic Phospholipids for Origin of Life Studies
Authors: Altamura Emiliano , Comte Arnaud , D’Onofrio Alice , Roussillon Charlotte , Fayolle Dimitri , Buchet René , Mavelli Fabio , Stano Pasquale , Fiore Michele , Strazewski Peter
Published: July 2020

Although prebiotic condensations of glycerol, phosphate and fatty acids produce phospholipid esters with a racemic backbone, most experimental studies on vesicles intended as protocell models have been carried out by employing commercial enantiopure phospholipids. Current experimental research on realistic protocell models urgently requires racemic phospholipids and efficient synthetic routes for their production. Here we propose three synthetic pathways starting from glycerol or from racemic solketal (α,β-isopropylidene-dl-glycerol) for the gram-scale production (up to 4 g) of racemic phospholipid ester precursors. We describe and compare these synthetic pathways with literature data. Racemic phosphatidylcholines and phosphatidylethanolamines were obtained in good yields and high purity from 1,2-diacylglycerols. Racemic POPC (rac-POPC, (R,S)-1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-3-phosphocholine), was used as a model compound for the preparation of giant vesicles (GVs). Confocal laser scanning fluorescence microscopy was used to compare GVs prepared from enantiopure (R)-POPC), racemic POPC (rac-POPC) and a scalemic mixture (scal-POPC) of (R)-POPC enriched with rac-POPC. Vesicle morphology and size distribution were similar among the different (R)-POPC, rac-POPC and scal-POPC, while calcein entrapments in (R)-POPC and in scal-POPC were significantly distinct by about 10%.
Resilient Supplier Selection in Electronic Components Procurement: An Integration of Evidence Theory and Rule-Based Transformation into TOPSIS to Tackle Uncertain and Incomplete Information
Authors: Sureeyatanapas Panitas , Waleekhajornlert Nantana , Arunyanart Sirawadee , Niyamosoth Thanawath
Published: July 2020

The experience of disruptive events causing supply chain vulnerability and business downturns has motivated manufacturing purchasers to consider resilience capability when selecting suppliers. However, this problem is complex, mainly due to difficulties in obtaining precise data on supplier performance. Disruptions are viewed as low-possibility events, leading to incomplete or insufficient evidence to support assessment. A literature review presented in this paper identifies a list of prospective criteria for resilient supplier selection, within the electronics market, considering both quantitative and qualitative aspects in a symmetrical way. A new hybrid methodology, able to handle various forms of uncertain and incomplete data, is proposed to facilitate the supplier selection process. Evidence theory, which suggests the assignment of degrees of belief, instead of traditional probabilities, to expected results, is adopted to construct a decision matrix. The rule-based transformation technique is then employed to transform various forms of the assessment results into a unified format before further aggregation by the modified Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method. The proposed methodology is tested with a case of resilient supplier selection in a company producing computer hardware components. The proposed decision-making methodology can be applied not only by electronics purchasers but also by practitioners in other industries to logically and straightforwardly model the uncertainty and incompleteness of the available information.