bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Pro-Environmental Viticulture: Status Quo and Perspectives from Prosecco Winegrowers in Italy
Authors: Giampietri Elisa , Trestini Samuele
Published: January 2023

In the last few decades, criticisms arose in society over sustainability in viticulture, due particularly to environmental and health concerns about pesticide use. The presence of social conflicts is well documented in some renowned wine areas as the Bourgogne in France and the Prosecco in Italy. As a novel contribution, this paper provides empirical insights into winegrowers’ commitment and will and related motivations towards environmental sustainability in the Prosecco Hills area, where social conflicts are well documented around this relevant facet, but little is known on the part of producers. This study aims to explore the pro-environmental behavioral intention of Prosecco winegrowers, focusing on its behavioral determinants, namely knowledge, responsibility, and self-identity. Data collection was held from August to December 2021 through a structured online questionnaire sent to Prosecco winegrowers. We obtained 87 completed questionnaires and data were analyzed through Partial Least Square Structural Equation modeling using SmartPLS software. The results suggest that, on average, winegrowers in our sample show a high pro-environmental behavioral intention. Moreover, the results associate a higher intention to adopt pro-environmental behavior and a higher responsibility towards sustainable viticulture with winegrowers’ having a good knowledge of farming practices beneficial for the environment. Moreover, winegrowers who feel more responsible for acting sustainability towards the environmental in the area and those who view themselves as pro-environmental farmers intend to farm more sustainably. Our results have implications to support the design of locally adapted strategies and policies aimed at improving the diffusion of more sustainable farming practices and resolving local conflicts.
Municipal Solid Waste Collection: Challenges, Strategies and Perspectives in the Optimization of a Municipal Route in a Southern Mexican Town
Authors: Del Carmen-Niño Viridiana , Herrera-Navarrete Ricardo , Juárez-López Ana Laura , Sampedro-Rosas María Laura , Reyes-Umaña Maximino
Published: January 2023

Solid waste management represents a challenge for municipalities, particularly at the collection stage. The high costs involved in its operation make it difficult to provide the service in all its communities, which results in bad practices (burning, burying, or dumping into a river) and the proliferation of open dumps. Collection efficiency is aggravated by poor route planning, narrow road networks, and irregular scheduling. This research proposes and develops the following objectives: (1) an analysis of the technical and logistical conditions of a town, (2) an improved municipal route for waste collection, and (3) the practical implications identified in the optimization of the service (challenges, strategies, and perspectives). During the study period (2018, 2019 and 2021), the following steps were carried out: (1) field trips to monitor the formal and informal routes, georeferencing each stop with a global positioning system, (2) semi-structured interviews to route personnel to learn about technical and logistical aspects, (3) the downloading of cartographic data for digitization, and (4) a network analysis aimed at designing an optimal route for formal collection and the spatial scope of the informal routes. The current technical and logistical analysis detected inefficiency in collection due to weak municipal operational planning and the irregular frequency of visits to the locality. The locality produces an average of 2.8 tons per day and its largest volume is organic waste (68.3%), followed by non-recyclable inorganic waste (21.2%), and recyclable waste (10.5%). In terms of results for the optimization of the municipal collection route, it is estimated that there will be an improvement in the time of the day of approximately 2 h less, going through 95 points when its schedule is 60 collection points, while the distance factor does not suffer changes due to the fact that there are no alternate routes between the departure and destination route. Among the main challenges faced by the municipalities are the limited budgets for basic sanitation services, which is why technological strategies and trained human resources are required for better municipal solid waste management. From a technical perspective, geographic information systems are a current trend to model and optimize service routes, with which a better scenario can be proposed. From a social perspective, community participation works as a key factor to carry out activities focused on finding solutions to the problems related to municipal solid waste management.
Using Multicriteria Decision Making to Evaluate the Risk of Hydrogen Energy Storage and Transportation in Cities
Authors: Sun Dongshi , Guo Di , Xie Danlan
Published: January 2023

Hydrogen is an environmentally friendly source of renewable energy. Energy generation from hydrogen has not yet been widely commercialized due to issues related to risk management in its storage and transportation. In this paper, the authors propose a hybrid multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM)-based method to manage the risks involved in the storage and transportation of hydrogen (RSTH). First, we identified the key points of the RSTH by examining the relevant literature and soliciting the opinions of experts and used this to build a prototype of its decision structure. Second, we developed a hybrid MCDM approach, called the D-ANP, that combined the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMENTEL) with the analytic network process (ANP) to obtain the weight of each point of risk. Third, we used fuzzy evaluation to assess the level of the RSTH for Beijing, China, where energy generation using hydrogen is rapidly advancing. The results showed that the skills of the personnel constituted the most important risk-related factor, and environmental volatility and the effectiveness of feedback were root factors. These three factors had an important impact on other factors influencing the risk of energy generation from hydrogen. Training and technical assistance can be used to mitigate the risks arising due to differences in the skills of personnel. An appropriate logistics network and segmented transportation for energy derived from hydrogen should be implemented to reduce environmental volatility, and integrated supply chain management can help make the relevant feedback more effective.
Safety Risks Analysis: Moderating Effect of Risk Level on Mitigation Measures Using PLS-SEM Technique
Authors: Yew Wong Chin , Sia Mal Kong , Janet Own QianYi
Published: January 2023

The Malaysian construction sector registers higher fatal accidents than the manufacturing sector even though the latter has the highest cases of accidents. There is a need to implement effective safety risk management. The main objective of this study is to explore the moderating effect of risk level of accidents on mitigation measures implemented. For this purpose, the factors causing safety risks and the practical measures taken by contractors to mitigate these risks were identified, in addition to the operationalization of the likelihood and severity of accidents using suitable rating scales. Descriptive analysis shows that a fall-related accident is the most likely and the most severe safety risk at high risk level. Results from multivariate analysis using SmartPLS 4 show that safety risks have a significant positive relationship with mitigation measures, and risk level actually heightens this relationship. As a result, the practical measures implemented on construction sites to mitigate the impacts of accidents may be inadequate unless the moderating effect of risk level is considered during the planning, design, and management of construction safety. Therefore, mitigation measures taken by the contractors must take into account the types of factors causing safety risks, as well as the likelihood and severity of these factors.
Does Help-Seeking Message Content Impact Online Charitable Behavior? A Qualitative Comparative Analysis Based on 40 Waterdrop Projects
Authors: Liu Yanzhi , Cao Rong , Wang Zheng
Published: January 2023

A help-seeking message is composed of abundant types of content; therefore, it is unsuitable for analysis by the traditional methods that assume that variables are independent of one another. To address this problem, we introduced qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to explore the synergistic effects of help-seeking message content on online charitable behavior. Crisp-set QCA and fuzzy-set QCA were both used to analyze qualitative and quantitative data from 40 Waterdrop projects. To analyze the qualitative data, three members of our research team intensively and separately read a large number of help-seeking messages, analyzed and summarized the main content referring to previous studies on charitable donation, extracted rational appeals, positive emotions, negative emotions, moral appeals, and the economic condition as condition variables, and finally determined the coding rules collaboratively. The necessity analysis results show that moral appeals and rational appeals are necessary conditions for online charitable behavior. The sufficiency analysis results show that there are three configurations impacting online charitable behavior. This study can help inspire future studies shifting from a traditional perspective to a configuration perspective and help seekers obtain more charitable donations.
Response of Photosynthetic Efficiency to Extreme Drought and Its Influencing Factors in Southwest China
Authors: Jia Liping , He Yi , Liu Wanqing , Zhang Yaru , Li Yanlin
Published: January 2023

In the context of the continuous change in global climate, the frequency and intensity of drought and heatwaves are increasing. This study took the extreme drought event in southwest China in 2009/2010 as a case study. Based on the sunlight-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF), we explored the effects of high-temperature weather on the photosynthetic efficiency, the vegetation responses to drought in two ecosystems, and the differences in influencing factors. The results showed a disproportionate change between the vegetation productivity represented by SIF and the greenness symbolized by the leaf area index (LAI). The response of photosynthetic efficiency to drought was significantly inequitable between the grassland and cropland. The geodetector showed that grassland ecosystems with more superficial canopy structures were more susceptible to high temperature. The correlation between the Photosynthesis efficiency index (PEI) and temperature (T) and vapor pressure deficit (VPD) of the grassland ecosystem was above 0.6. This study suggests that drought exacerbates the disproportionate change between vegetation productivity and greenness, and grasslands are more vulnerable to drought. The result is helpful for ecosystem management.
Stochastic Flexible Power System Expansion Planning, Based on the Demand Response Considering Consumption and Generation Uncertainties
Authors: Toolabi Moghadam Ali , Bahramian Bahram , Shahbaazy Farid , Paeizi Ali , Senjyu Tomonobu
Published: January 2023

This paper presents the generation and transmission expansion planning (GTEP) considering the switched capacitive banks (SCBs) allocation in the power system, including the demand response program (DRP). This scheme is based on the system flexibility. The objective function of the scheme minimizes the expected planning cost that is equaled to the summation of the total construction costs of the SCBs, the generation units (GUs) and the transmission lines (TLs), and the operating cost of the GUs. It is concerned with the AC power flow constraints, the planning-operation model of the mentioned elements, the DRP operation formulation, and the operating and flexibility limits of the network. In the following, the scenario-based stochastic programming is used to model the uncertainty parameters, such as the load and renewable power of wind farms. Then, the hybrid evolutionary algorithm, based on the combination of the crow search algorithm and the grey wolf optimizer, is used to determine the optimal point with the approximate unique solution. Finally, the scheme is applied on the transmission networks, the numerical results confirm the capabilities of the proposed scheme in simultaneously improving the flexibility, operation, and economic situation of the transmission network, so that the hybrid algorithm achieves the optimal solution in a shorter computation time, compared with the non-hybrid algorithms. This algorithm has a low standard deviation of about 92% in the final response. The proposed scheme with the optimal planning of the lines, sources, and capacitor banks, together with the optimal operation of the DRP succeeded in improving the energy loss and the voltage deviation by about 30–36% and 25–30%, compared with those of the power flow studies.
Convergence Analysis of the Overall Benefits of Returning Farmland into Forest in the Upper Yangtze River Basin, China
Authors: Li Yingjuan , Lin Qiong , Zhang Jianyu , Fang Liuhua , Li Yi , Zhang Lianjun , Wen Chuanhao
Published: January 2023

Returning farmland to the forest (RFTF) in the upper Yangtze River basin is a strategic measure to promote the sustainable development of ecological protection. The convergence analysis of the overall benefits of the upper Yangtze River basin provides a basis for a scientific and reasonable understanding of the improvement in the comprehensive benefits of RFTF in the basin. It provides policy suggestions for basin governance and sustainable development. Therefore, the convergence analysis and its spatial effect decomposition are carried out based on the entropy weight method to calculate the overall benefits of RFTF in the upper Yangtze River basin. The results indicate that there is no σ convergence in the overall benefits of RFTF in the upper Yangtze River basin, but there is significant absolute β convergence and significant conditional β convergence, and the overall development trend is stable. After thoroughly considering certain economic and social factors, especially the traffic infrastructure and the intensity of economic activities, the convergence rate of the overall benefits of RFTF in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River is accelerated. From the perspective of the spacing effect, the overall benefits of RFTF in this region and surrounding areas in the previous period significantly affected this region. As a result, sustainable development of the upper Yangtze River basin needs to include coordinated regional action to ensure ecological benefits, to improve transportation infrastructure, to scientifically recognize economic activities, and to guard against food security risks.
A Variable-Fidelity Multi-Objective Evolutionary Method for Polygonal Pin Fin Heat Sink Design
Authors: Deng Xinjian , Li Enying , Wang Hu
Published: January 2023

For the multi-objective design of heat sinks, several evolutionary algorithms usually require many iterations to converge, which is computationally expensive. Variable-fidelity multi-objective (VFO) methods were suggested to improve the efficiency of evolutionary algorithms. However, multi-objective problems are seldom optimized using VFO. Therefore, a variable-fidelity evolutionary method (VFMEM) was suggested. Similar to other variable-fidelity algorithms, VFMEM solves a high-fidelity model using a low-fidelity model. Compared with other algorithms, the distinctive characteristic of VFMEM is its application in multi-objective optimization. First, the suggested method uses a low-fidelity model to locate the region where the global optimal solution might be found. Sequentially, both high- and low-fidelity models can be integrated to find the real global optimal solution. Circulation distance elimination (CDE) was suggested to uniformly obtain the PF. To evaluate the feasibility of VFMEM, two classical benchmark functions were tested. Compared with the widely used multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO), the efficiency of VFMEM was significantly improved and the Pareto frontier (PFs) could also be obtained. To evaluate the algorithm’s feasibility, a polygonal pin fin heat sink (PFHS) design was carried out using VFMEM. Compared with the initial design, the results showed that the mass, base temperature, and temperature difference of the designed optimum heat sink were decreased 5.5%, 18.5%, and 62.0%, respectively. More importantly, if the design was completed directly by MOPSO, the computational cost of the entire optimization procedure would be significantly increased.
Visualising the Knowledge Domain of Reverse Logistics and Sustainability Performance: Scientometric Mapping Based on VOSviewer and CiteSpace
Authors: Yang Kaihan , Thoo Ai Chin
Published: January 2023

Considering reverse logistics’ benefit for sustainability, it has gained significant attention as a strategic decision. Additionally, a geometric expansion occurs in reverse logistics and sustainability performance. Despite this, little has been written about this evolution retrospectively. Therefore, this study aims to conceptualise and perform a systematic scientometric review of reverse logistics and sustainability performance to identify research hotspots and emerging trends and offer suggestions for future research agendas by reviewing, retrieving, and analysing 848 papers from the Scopus databases. Based on the analysis, there was a rapid rise in the number of publications within this domain, while, at the same time, increasing interdisciplinary subject research has appeared. Furthermore, scholars and institutions from China, India, and the USA were the most prolific in this research domain. Mainly, the current study underscored some pivotal research hotspots, such as assessing the reverse logistics effect on different sustainability performance dimensions and developing a reverse logistics and sustainability performance network. Moreover, emerging trends include game theory, artificial intelligence, Industry 4.0, the manufacturing industry of developing countries, and the circular economy. Finally, a moderator was also sought to be proposed to optimise the relationship between reverse logistics and sustainability performance due to the inconsistent link between them. Having a comprehensive overview of reverse logistics and sustainability performance over the last 24 years may help practitioners and researchers better understand global trends and directions in this field.
Land Use Indicators in the Context of Land Use Efficiency
Authors: Kalisz Barbara , Żuk-Gołaszewska Krystyna , Radawiec Wioleta , Gołaszewski Janusz
Published: January 2023

In recent decades, the land use changes induced by various economic activities in agricultural ecosystems have affected many aspects of human life. This is the reason why land use change is considered as one of the agriculture-related environmental impacts in a sustainability assessment of food and bio-based products. At the same time, the methodology applied for the quantification of land use change effects is still under intensive research, stimulating scientific discussions. The overall objective of this paper is to fill the gap in knowledge of responsible and sustainable land use management. Specifically, the research provides a comprehensive set of land use change indicators in the context of land use change and land use efficiency. The indicators can be measured based on publicly available databases with the applicability to agricultural sustainability assessment of land use change on a local, regional and global scale. The high share of artificial land and dominant agricultural use of land with low land use intensity were noted in Belgium, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Slovenia, Cyprus, Croatia, Finland, Germany, and United Kingdom. However, land use efficiency was also low. In turn, heterogeneous land cover (but less artificial areas than in other EU countries) and heterogeneous land uses with diverse land use intensity were noted in Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, and Sweden. The challenge in future research could be aggregation of different indicators in assessing the similarity of land use between countries.
Demystifying the Sustainable Competitive Advantage of Sualkuchi Silk Products: Perspectives of Buyers and Sellers
Authors: Tiwari Sunil , Rosak-Szyrocka Joanna , Bharali Dimpal , Akoijam Sunildro L. S. , T.A. Binoy
Published: January 2023

India’s Assam silk products are well known and popular across the globe but have been facing stiff competition from numerous competitors. In this regard, there is a need to analyse the sustainable competitive advantages of Assam silk products to devise defensive strategies to sustain the age-old industry. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify the sustainable competitive advantages of the Assam silk products from buyers’ and sellers’ perspectives. Data were collected from 200 sellers and buyers through a standardised structured questionnaire; namely, the Buyers’ and Sellers’ Agreement Scale (BSAS). We employed the one-sample and independent-sample t-tests for the data estimation. The findings indicated that the Assam silk products had different levels of sustainable competitive advantages that mainly included quality, geographical indications, designs, durability, customer loyalty, customer base, timely delivery, product differentiation, product uniqueness, and innovation. The findings were new because this was the first study that identified the sustainable competitive advantages of India’s Assam silk industry, which occupies a significant position in the world. The study will benefit India’s Assam silk industry in devising strategies to face the challenges in sustaining and growing its business for a long time.
A Sustainable Proposal for a Cultural Heritage Declaration in Ecuador: Vernacular Housing of Portoviejo
Authors: Hidalgo Zambrano Raúl Vinicio , Milanes Celene B. , Pérez Montero Ofelia , Mestanza-Ramón Carlos , Nexar Bolivar Lucas Ostaiza , Cobeña Loor David , García Flores De Válgaz Roberto Galo , Cuker Benjamin
Published: January 2023

Vernacular houses treasure the knowledge and traditions of nations. They express the cultural heritage of different generations, including local materials and non-professional designs evolved by resident communities. In South America, vernacular houses often are designed in rural areas. These are influenced by the customs of the indigenous people who inhabited this region for centuries before colonization. In the coastal area of Ecuador, particularly in the canton of Portoviejo, belonging to the province of Manabí, there is an architectural typology called “housing of the three spaces”, which has not been valued as cultural heritage. This article responds to the research question of how to structure a sustainable architectural solution, which observes the patrimonial values of the housing of the three Manabí spaces, and which contributes to the resolution of the housing problem in rural Ecuadorian areas. The research was descriptive. The questionary technique was used to characterize these housings and analyze their sustainability criteria and historic heritage values. The results contribute relevant information for the consideration of the housing of the three spaces as cultural heritage. Furthermore, we explored a conceptual and analytical transition of the modern housing named Biosuvernacular (bio meaning life, su for sustainability and vernacular for traditional design) with reasonable economical solutions for resolving the housing problem in the study area.
Study on Consumers’ Purchase Intentions for Carbon-Labeled Products
Authors: Duan Jingyang , Zhang Mingyang , Cheng Baodong
Published: January 2023

The carbon-labeling system is able to quantify the level of greenhouse gas emissions of goods throughout their life cycle, including production, delivery, and consumption. With the proposal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, the carbon-labeling system has an inevitable impact on production by companies and the purchase behavior of consumers. This paper constructs a theoretical model of the influencing mechanism on consumer willingness to purchase carbon-labeled products by utilizing the theory of consumption values. Through a survey and analysis of a sample of 347 Chinese university students, a regression analysis is applied to explore their willingness to consume carbon-labeled products and the corresponding influencing factors. The results show that (1) despite relatively low public awareness of the carbon-labeling system, the willingness to purchase carbon-labeled products is strong; (2) functional value, emotional value, and epistemic value can positively influence customer willingness to purchase carbon-labelled products; and (3) there is a significant difference in the willingness to purchase carbon-labelled products in terms of age and no significant difference in terms of gender, income, occupation, and education level. Based on the findings, some recommendations are made to help companies adopt appropriate strategies to trigger consumers’ purchase intentions and gain a market advantage in carbon-labeling scenarios.
On the Sustainable Utilization of Geopolymers for Safe Management of Radioactive Waste: A Review
Authors: Phillip Esther , Choo Thye Foo , Khairuddin Nurul Wahida Ahmad , Abdel Rahman Rehab O.
Published: January 2023

The application of geopolymers for the safe management of radioactive waste has not been implemented on a large scale, where they are tirelessly examined with the purpose of facilitating the practicality and feasibility of the actual application towards the sustainable performance of these materials. This review therefore compiles the findings of the utilization of geopolymers as sorbents for removal of radio-contaminants from aqueous waste streams and as immobilization matrices for the containment of different radioactive wastes. The investigated geopolymer base materials encompass a wide range of reactive aluminosilicate precursor sources that include natural materials, industrial wastes, and chemicals. This work introduces to the reader the scientific interest in the field of geopolymer studies, their sustainability analysis, and their application in the nuclear industry, in particular in radioactive waste treatment and immobilization. The geopolymer classification, radiation stability, and structural characterizations were summarized with special reference to the characterization of the structure alteration due to the inclusion of functional materials or radioactive wastes. The effect of the application of metakaolin-based materials, fly ash-based materials and other base materials, and their blend on radio-contaminant removal from aqueous solutions and the immobilization of different problematic radioactive waste streams were reviewed and analyzed to identify the gaps in the sustainable performance of these materials. Finally, perspectives on geopolymer sustainability are presented, and the identified gaps in sustainable application included the need to investigate new areas of application, e.g., in pretreatment and membrane separation. The reusability and the regeneration of the geopolymer sorbents/exchangers need to be addressed to reduce the material footprints of this application. Moreover, there is a need to develop durability tests and standards based on the record of the application of the geopolymers.
Electric Vehicle Lithium-Ion Battery Fault Diagnosis Based on Multi-Method Fusion of Big Data
Authors: Wang Zhifu , Luo Wei , Xu Song , Yan Yuan , Huang Limin , Wang Jingkai , Hao Wenmei , Yang Zhongyi
Published: January 2023

Power batteries are the core of electric vehicles, but minor faults can easily cause accidents; therefore, fault diagnosis of the batteries is very important. In order to improve the practicality of battery fault diagnosis methods, a fault diagnosis method for lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles based on multi-method fusion of big data is proposed. Firstly, the anomalies are removed and early fault analysis is performed by t-distribution random neighborhood embedding (t-Sne) and wavelet transform denoising. Then, different features of the vehicle that have a large influence on the battery fault are identified by factor analysis, and the faulty features are extracted by a two-way long and short-term memory network method with convolutional neural network. Finally a self-learning Bayesian network is used to diagnose the battery fault. The results show that the method can improve the accuracy of fault diagnosis by about 12% when verified with data from different vehicles, and after comparing with other methods, the method not only has higher fault diagnosis accuracy, but also reduces the response time of fault diagnosis, and shows superiority compared to graded faults, which is more in line with the practical application of engineering.
Hybrid Project Management between Traditional Software Development Lifecycle and Agile Based Product Development for Future Sustainability
Authors: Leong Jason , May Yee Kiu , Baitsegi Onalethata , Palanisamy Lingesvaran , Ramasamy R. Kanesaraj
Published: January 2023

The purpose of this review is to look at the future sustainability of project management by combining agile methodology and product management. Digital transformation is evolving rapidly, and the question is whether traditional project management is sustainable. To ensure sustainability, a hybrid approach is taken by combining agile methodology to ensure the latest trend in software development approaches are maintained. Agile methodologies were crafted in 2000, but it has only been widely used since 2011 for software development. This paper will focus on the types of agile requirements engineering methods used in the agile framework, used and described in various articles, journals, and studies over the last six years, and how this can be applied together with traditional project management.
Public Investment, Environmental Regulation, and the Sustainable Development of Agriculture in China Based on the Decomposition of Green Total Factor Productivity
Authors: Hu Siying , Lu Shangkun , Zhou Huiqiu
Published: January 2023

This study aims to accurately assess the growth of agricultural total factor productivity and its driving components under the constraints of resources and environment, and provides reliable information for agricultural policy formulation and agricultural development practices. According to the input and output panel data of provincial agricultural planting in China and employing the Global Malmquist–Luenberger (GML) index method and the Bootstrap method, this paper measures China’s agricultural green total factor productivity (GTFP), technical efficiency change (EC), and technical best-practice gap change (BPC). In addition, the Tobit model is applied to analyze the impact of public investment and environmental regulation variables on China’s agricultural GTFP and its components. The results show that (1) China’s agricultural GTFP has steadily improved, and technological promotion is the main contributor; (2) agricultural GTFP and its components present significant spatial differences, which are overall manifested as agricultural priority development zone > agricultural moderate development zone > agricultural protection development zone; and (3) financing support of technical innovation and the intensity of environmental regulation have a significant positive impact on agricultural GTFP and its components. The combination of positive technical innovation support and appropriate environmental regulation helps to improve agricultural GTFP and achieve the sustainable development of China’s agriculture.
Impact of New Rural Pension Insurance on Farmers’ Agricultural Mechanization Service Inputs
Authors: Liu Qilin , Li Qianqian
Published: January 2023

The rural social security system is a crucial guarantee for the purpose of transforming agricultural production methods. This research assesses how the new rural pension insurance (NRPI) alters the farmers’ agricultural mechanization service (AMS) inputs. Using the 2016 and 2018 waves of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), the study observed that NRPI significantly increased farmers’ AMS inputs. Participation in the NRPI could increase AMS inputs by 18.6% and 13.2% for households with and without elderly farmers, respectively. Both grandchild care and labor off-farm transfer were significant in mediating the relationship between NRPI and AMS inputs with elderly farmers, accounting for 13.72% and 9.13% of inputs, respectively. Furthermore, for families without elderly farmers, the mechanism tests suggest that the crowding-out effect of labor off-farm transfer was a fundamental transmission mechanism for the NRPI to contribute to the increase in AMS inputs, with a proportion value of 15.41%. Additionally, the heterogeneity analysis demonstrated that for households with elderly farmers, the NRPI had a more evident effect on the AMS inputs of the farmers with grandchild care, as well as a low proportion of non-agricultural labor transfer and a high level of agricultural income. For households without elderly farmers, the NRPI’s promotion effect on the investment in AMS inputs was more significant when there was a low proportion of non-agricultural labor transfer and for farmers with low levels of agricultural income. The conclusion provides references for improving NRPI and promoting the promotion of AMS and sustainable agricultural development.
An Organisational-Life Cycle Assessment Approach for Internet of Things Technologies Implementation in a Human Milk Bank
Authors: Costa Tamíris Pacheco da , Gillespie James , Pelc Katarzyna , Shenker Natalie , Weaver Gillian , Ramanathan Ramakrishnan , Murphy Fionnuala
Published: January 2023

Human milk banks (HMB) are responsible for screening and recruiting milk donors with surplus milk to their own infant’s needs, followed by transporting, heat-treating (pasteurising) and microbiologically confirming the donor human milk (DHM) is safe to issue to vulnerable infants. Maintaining the safety and quality of DHM are vital requirements in HMB operations. DHM must be maintained in ideal temperature conditions throughout the whole period—from expression until delivery. In this regard, monitoring technologies (e.g., sensors, Big Data and the Internet of Things) have become a viable solution to avoid food loss, allowing prompt corrective action. Therefore, this study aimed to understand the trade-offs between optimising DHM transportation and the environmental impact of implementing such technologies. The environmental performance was carried out through an Organisational Life Cycle Assessment (O-LCA). The electricity consumed during milk storage is the main driver for the environmental impacts in this organisation, responsible for up to 82% of the impacts in ionising radiation. The transportation stage and the treatment of discarded DHM were also relevant for ozone formation and marine eutrophication, respectively. Considering the strategy to integrate monitoring technologies to control the temperature conditions during transportation and the reduction of milk discarded by 3%, an environmental impact reduction can be also observed. In some categories, such as global warming, it could avoid around 863 kg of CO2-eq per year. The sensitivity analysis showed that the impacts of the HMB depend highly on the transport distance. In addition, changing the transportation mode from motorcycles to drones or electric vehicles can affect the environmental performance of this organisation. Therefore, human milk transport logistics must be studied in a multidisciplinary way to encompass all possible impacts of these strategies.
Distribution and Source Apportionment of Heavy Metals in Soil around Dexing Copper Mine in Jiangxi Province, China
Authors: Ni Shanqin , Liu Guannan , Zhao Yuanyi , Zhang Changqing , Wang Aiyun
Published: January 2023

The soil heavy metal pollution around the mine threatens crop growth and human health. Intensively studies of the distribution characteristics and source of soil heavy metals around some typical mines are very crucial for environmental management and green development of mine. A total of eighty-nine soil samples, twenty-one sediment samples, five waste rock samples and two tailing sand samples were sampled to investigate copper (Cu), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr) and mercury (Hg) in soil, sediment, waste rocks and tailings sand around Dexing Copper Mine, Jiangxi Province, China. The concentrations of the seven heavy metals were determined using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry ICP-MS/atomic fluorescence spectroscopy (AFS). The Igeo values of soil heavy metal showed that 100% of Cu were at an unpolluted-to-moderately-polluted level (Igeo > 0), more than 50% of Cu were heavily polluted (Igeo > 3), 65.16%, and 22.47%, 7.86% and 7.87% of the soil samples for Cd, Hg, As and Zn were overly moderately polluted (Igeo > 1). A total of 13.48% and 11.24% of the soil samples for Pb and Cr, respectively, were moderately polluted (1 < Igeo < 2). The concentrations of heavy metals in soil were Compared with Risk Screening Values for Contamination of Agricultural Land (RSVCAL), with the concentration of 97.75% soil samples for Cu, and 69.21% of soil samples for Cd were higher than RSVCAL. In Dawu river basin the concentration of 50% soil samples for Pb were higher than RSVCAL. According to Igeo and RSVCAL, the soils around Dexing Copper Mine were polluted by heavy metals to some extent, with especially the Cu pollution of soil being the most serious. These heavy metal concentrations exceeding RSVCAL have threatened the safety of agricultural products. The results of soil profile analysis, principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) indicated that the mining activities of Dexing copper mine should be the main source of Cu in the soil. High As concentration in soil obviously caused by the copper mine as well. In addition, Dexing Copper Mine should partly account for soil pollution by Zn, Pb, Cd, Hg and Cr around the mine.
New Biotechnological Production of EPA by Pythium irregulare Using Alternative Sustainable Media Obtained from Food Industry By-Products and Waste
Authors: Russo Giovanni Luca , Langellotti Antonio Luca , Martín-García Beatriz , Verardo Vito , Romano Raffaele , Sacchi Raffaele , Masi Paolo
Published: January 2023

Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) have multiple beneficial effects on human health, in particular docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6, n-3) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5, n-3). A variety of microorganisms has been used for the commercial production of non-animal-source LC-PUFAs. The oomycetes of the Pythium family are promising EPA producers, and in this work, the optimization of Pythium irregulare growth using food industry by-products and wastes as cheap sources of nutrients was carried out. Sugar cane molasses (SCM), spent brewery yeast (SBY), cheese whey (CW), and expired orange juice (EFJ) were tested. A combination of SBY as a source of nitrogen and EFJ as a source of organic carbon resulted in the best outcome among the other sustainable media ingredients. The optimization of the new medium was conducted through a response surface methodology using EFJ and SBY as factors. The results show a significant positive impact of these factors on biomass productivity (p < 0.005), with an optimized biomass yield of 14.22 g L−1, a lipid yield of 2.23 g L−1, and an EPA concentration of 155 mg L−1.
Complex Network Analysis of China National Standards for New Energy Vehicles
Authors: Sun Weiwei , Zhang Xueli , Yuan Min , Zhang Zheng
Published: January 2023

Standards are technical measures to regulate and promote sustainability. China National Standards for new energy vehicles (NEV) are developing at an increasing rate. We explored the functions and citation network the China national standards from a complex-network perspective. Different types of standards were clustered and citation relationships were identified based on standards’ document analyses. In this paper, the evolution of standard nodes and citation links are presented, and implications for future standardization work are proposed. In total, 114 existing standards were identified through desktop research and network analysis by using the Gephi ForceAtlas2 algorithm. This study can be helpful for future standardization in areas such as autonomous driving and carbon-related standards based on citation-network analysis.
Designing and Building an Intelligent Pavement Management System for Urban Road Networks
Authors: Moradi Maryam , Assaf Gabriel J.
Published: January 2023

Pavement maintenance plays a significant role in megacities. Managing complaints and scheduling road reviews are the two maintenance concerns under the intelligent pavement management system (PMS) plan. In contrast, if the damages are not treated immediately, they will increase over time. By leveraging accurate data from sensors, smart PMS will improve management capability, support sustainability, and drive economic growth in the road network. This research aimed to elaborate on the different modules of an intelligent city pavement network to advance to a sustainable city. First, a 3D mobile light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor, accompanied by a camera, was applied as the data collection tool. Although 3D mobile LiDAR data have gained popularity, they lack precise detection of pavement distresses, including cracks. As a result, utilizing RGB imaging may help to detect distresses properly. Two approaches were integrated alongside conducting the data analysis in this paper: (1) ArcGIS pro, developed by Esri Inc., which includes noise removal, digital elevation model (DEM) generation, and pavement and building footprint extraction; (2) the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (AASHTOWare PMED), which was used to assess site specifications such as traffic, weather, subbase, and current pavement conditions in an effort to design the most appropriate pavement for each road section. For the 3D visualization module, CityEngine (a software from Esri) was used to provide the 3D city model. After implementing the research methodology, we drew the following conclusions: (1) using the AASHTOWare PMED method to make decisions about road maintenance and rehabilitation(M&R) actions can significantly speed up the decision-making process, essentially saving time and money and shortening the project’s duration; and (2) if the road conditions are similar, the smart geographical information system (GIS)-based PMS can make consistent decisions about road M&R strategies, i.e., the interference from human factors is less significant.
Comparative Analysis of the Aviation Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) Industry in Northeast Asian Countries: A Suggestion for the Development of Korea’s MRO Industry
Authors: Nam Seungju , Choi Sejong , Edell Georgia , De Amartya , Song Woon-Kyung
Published: January 2023

Aviation maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) has become more important to the air transport industry during the pandemic since it plays a crucial role in improving safety, ensuring profitability, and achieving sustainability in the industry. The growth of the Northeast Asian MRO market is forecasted to be remarkable, making the region the next MRO powerhouse. This study investigates the MRO industry in Northeast Asian countries (China, Japan, and Korea) to gain insights for strategical development of the industry. SWOT analysis was used to understand external macro-environment and internal conditions comprehensively, with comparative analysis then performed to find each country’s competitiveness. SWOT analysis of the external environment of the aviation MRO industry in Northeast Asia finds opportunities from increased competition in the air transport industry and technological development and threats caused by aircraft advancements (less scheduled maintenance checks) and a limited workforce. Internal conditions are analyzed using six factors: cost, workforce, geographic presence, quality with shorter turnaround time, technological advancement, and certification. The results indicate that Korea’s MRO industry has strong human resources but weak technological capabilities. The competitive advantage of the Chinese MRO industry stems from both a large number of aircraft and lower costs. While Japan possesses superior MRO technology, high labor costs reduce their industrial competitiveness. Based on a comparative analysis, this study provides strategic insights into the improvements that can be made in the Korean MRO industry. Since composite MRO of newer aircraft presents a small technological gap which can be overcome with high-quality human resources, Korea should focus its resources and policies on promoting the composite MRO industry due to its high growth potential.
Stress and Deformation Characteristics of Tunnel Surrounding Rock under Alteration
Authors: Chen Yapeng , Wu Tong , Yan Xiaoshi , Shi Shang , Li Jianyong , Dong Jinyu
Published: January 2023

Based on a typical project in an altered rock area, this study carried out numerical simulations using the FLAC3D software to calculate the changes in the stress field, deformation field, and plastic zone of the surrounding rock during the unsupported and supported excavation of a water transfer tunnel. The degree of alteration of the surrounding rock was considered as the base point. The following results were obtained: in the unsupported state, the tunnel surrounding rock was affected by different degrees of alteration, and compressive stress concentration appeared within a certain range at the bottom of the chamber. The value of all-directional stress decreased with the deepening of the degree of alteration, while the opposite was the case for the depth of influence. The displacement changes at the bottom and side walls of the chamber were large and increased significantly with the deepening of the degree of alteration; the displacement monitoring points distributed around the tunnel exhibited the same deformation trend. The plastic zone of the surrounding rock obviously expanded as the degree of alteration deepened. The stress, deformation field, and plastic zone of the tunnel surrounding rock were effectively controlled after the adoption of support measures. The results obtained by this study can be used as a reference for similar projects in altered rock areas.