The effects of partial replacement of Si by Al on the microstructure, tensile properties, and Charpy impact toughness were investigated using 0.2%C-Si/Al-Mn-Cr-B TRIP-aided martensitic steels. The impact toughness was related to the microstructural and mechanical properties. The partial re-placement decreased the volume fraction of retained austenite and increased the mechanical stabil-ity, accompanied by softening and an increase in the volume fraction of the primary martensite. Resultantly, the partial replacement decreased strength and ductility. The impact absorbed energy (value) at 25 C was slightly increased by the partial replacement. The increased impact absorbed energy was mainly caused by high crack/void propagation energy due to the softened primary martensite and a small contribution of the stabilized retained austenite. The 50% shear fracture ductile-to-brittle transition temperature was marginally raised by the partial replacement. The raised transition temperature was mainly associated with an increase in a unit crack path of qua-si-cleavage/cleavage fracture.

The study examines the return performance and resilience to market volatility of the recently introduced Environment, Social/Sustainable, and Governance (ESG) weight-tilted Hang Seng Index (HSIESG) compared to its parent, the Hang Seng Index (HSI). The ESG-infused index has a higher mean return and lower return volatility than the parent index, although the differences are statistically and economically insignificant, a result consistent with the high correlation between the two index returns. Most important, the ESG weighted-tilted index is more resilient to volatility spikes than the parent index and therefore has lower downside risks. The overall results show that stocks with high ESG ratings are less susceptible to trading pressures triggered by volatility-induced turnovers. The paper contributes to the literature by providing significant incremental information on the emerging market for ESG-related equity products in Hong Kong.

Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) polymer is widely used in various fields today. In order to thoroughly reveal the structural impact performance of PMMA materials, this paper is based on the comprehensive Johnson-Cook constitutive model and damage failure model, and accurately confirm the J-C constitutive and damage failure model parameters of PMMA through material test data, The dynamic process of steel bullet impacting PMMA plate structure is analyzed by finite element software ABAQUS. The calculation results show that the numerical simulation results in this paper are in good agreement with the experimental test data. Therefore, the feasibility and accuracy of the impact analysis of PMMA structures based on J-C constitutive and damage failure models in this paper are studied. Finally, based on the J-C constitutive model and damage failure model, the variation of the residual velocity of the bullet with the PMMA plate thickness is analyzed in depth, that is, the results show that the residual velocity of the bullet has a certain linear relationship with the plate thickness.

Recently, more and more countries are entering the global race for university competitiveness. On the one hand, global rankings are a convenient tool for quantitative analysis. On the other hand, their indicators are often difficult to quickly calculate, they often contradict each other. We thought about using widely available indicators for a quick analysis of the University's publication strategy. We opted for the normalized citation indicators available in SciVal analytical tool, i.e. Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) and Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI). We have demonstrated the possibility of applying the correlation analysis to the impact indicators of a document and a journal on the sample of the social and humanitarian fields at Peoples' Friendship University of Russia. Particular attention was paid to the application of the results in practice.

Dust storms originating from Central Australia and western New South Wales frequently cause high particles concentration at many sites across New South Wales, both inland and along the coast. This study focussed on a dust storm event in February 2019 which affect air quality across the state as detected at many ambient monitoring stations in the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) air quality monitoring network. The WRF-Chem (Weather Research and Forecast Model – Chemistry) model is used to study the formation, dispersion and transport of dust across the state of New South Wales (NSW, Australia). Wildfires also happened in northern NSW at the same time of the dust storm in February 2019, and their emissions are taken into account in WRF-Chem model by using Fire Inventory from NCAR (FINN) as emission input. The model performance is evaluated and is shown to predict fairly accurate the PM2.5 and PM10 concentration as compared to observation. The predicted PM2.5 concentration over New South Wales during 5 days from 11 to 15 February 2019 is then used to estimate the impact of the February 2019 dust storm event on three health endpoints namely mortality, respiratory and cardiac diseases hospitalisation rates. The results show that even though as the daily average of PM2.5 over some parts of the state, especially in western and north western NSW near the centre of the dust storm and wild fires, are very high (over 900 µg/m3), the population exposure is low due to the sparse population. The top five Statistical Area Level 4 regions with the most impact in term of mortality, respiratory diseases hospitalisation and cardiac disease hospitalisation are Far West and Orana, Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, New England and North West, Sydney – Inner South West and either Central Coast (mortality) or Sydney – Parramatta (respiratory diseases hospitalisation) or Sydney – Inner West (cardiac diseases hospitalisation). Generally, the health impact is similar in order of magnitude to that caused by biomass burnings events from wildfires or from hazardous reduction burnings (HRBs) near populous centres such as in Sydney in May 2016. One notable difference is the higher respiratory diseases hospitalisation for this dust event (161) compared to fire event (24).

Air pollution poses a significant risk to public health and ecosystems. The use of sophisticated models to simulate the transformation and dispersion of pollutants in the atmosphere is a recognized method to assess air pollution levels and its sources and inform policy decisions for effective mitigation strategies in urban and industrial environments. The reliability of models depends, in part, on the sensitivity to the variance of input parameters, which can introduce uncertainty into the model's predictions. This uncertainty is especially challenging when the input parameters exhibit inherent variability. In this study, we analyse the uncertainty of an integrated emission/dispersion model by evaluating the relationship between input parameters and model outcomes. We uncover new aspects of this relationship while clarifying some previously known dependencies. Wind speed was found to have the most significant effect on calculated concentrations, with small differences leading to substantial concentration variations. The time of day, which reflects prevailing vertical turbulence conditions, was also found to have a notable impact on concentrations, whereas ambient temperature can also significantly influence model’s results. Based on these findings, we offer specific recommendations for regulators and scientists involved in environmental impact assessment to improve the accuracy and reliability of air pollution modelling.

Objective: To analyze the clinical and economic impact of community-onset urinary tract infections (UTI) caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae requiring hospitalization. Methods: A retrospective cohort study included all adults with UTI caused by K. pneumoniae admitted to a tertiary care hospital in Barcelona, Spain, between 2011 and 2015. Demographic, clinical and economic data were analyzed. Results: One hundred and seventy-three episodes of UTI caused by K. pneumoniae were studied; 112 were non-ESBL-producing and 61 ESBL-producing. Multivariate analysis identified ESBL production, acute confusional state associated with UTI, shock, and time to adequate treatment as risk factors for clinical failure during the first 7 days. Economic analysis showed differences between ESBL-producing and non-ESBL-producing K. pneumoniae for the total cost of hospitalization per episode (mean 6,718 € vs 3,688 € respectively). Multivariate analysis of the higher costs of UTI episodes found statistically significant differences for ESBL production and time to adequate treatment. Conclusion: UTI caused by ESBL-producing K. pneumoniae requiring hospitalization, and time to adequate antimicrobial therapy are associated with worse clinical and economic outcomes.

The ductile behavior of strain hardening cement-based composites (SHCC) under direct tensile load makes them promising solutions for applications where high energy dissipation is needed, such as earthquake, impact by a projectile, or blast. However, the superior tensile ductility of SHCC due to multiple cracking does not necessarily entail compressive and shear ductility. As an effort to characterize the behavior of SHCC under impact compressive and shear loading, relevant to the mentioned high-speed loading scenarios, the paper at hand studies the performance of a SHCC and its constituent cement-based matrices using the split-Hopkinson bar method. For compression experiments, cylindrical specimens with a length-to-diameter ratio (l/d) of 1.6 were used. The selected length of the sample led to similar failure modes under the quasi-static and impact loading conditions, which was necessary for a reliable comparison of the obtained compressive strengths. The impact experiments were performed in a split-Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) at a strain rate that reached 110 s-1 at the moment of failure. For shear experiments, a special adapter was developed for a split-Hopkinson tension bar (SHTB). The adapter enabled performing impact shear experiments on planar specimens using the tensile wave generated in the SHTB. Results showed a dynamic increase factor (DIF) of 2.3 and 2.0 for compressive and shear strength of SHCC, respectively. As compared to the non-reinforced constituent matrix, the absolute value of the compressive strength was lower for the SHCC. Contrarily, under shear loading, the SHCC yielded the higher shear strength than the non-reinforced matrix.

In many ports, the ship's speed is limited for the safety of navigation. At the same time, ship captains and port pilots choose the speed of the ship, but not higher than the permitted speed of the ship in the port, therefore the speed of the ship also depends on the experience of the ship captains and port pilots and the sailing conditions of the ship in specific conditions. Choosing the optimal speed of ships in port, including the effect of shallow depth, can reduce fuel consumption and ship emissions in ports, which is important for the development of green and sustainable ports. In all cases, shipping safety is the highest priority. The main objectives of the article are determining the optimal speed of ships in ports with low clearance, ensuring navigational safety, reducing fuel consumption and emissions, and at the same time creating a sustainable port. The article presents the methodology of optimal ship speed calculation, minimum ship controllable speed maintenance, fuel consumption and emission reduction methodology and their impact on sustainable and green maritime transport and port development. The developed methodology was tested on real ships and with the help of a calibrated simulator, sailing through harbor channels and harbor waters in low clearance conditions.

The overrun of transient power quality index caused by the large-capacity electric arc furnace (EAF) has become a prominent problem affecting the safe and stable operation of the power system. (1) In this paper, the relationship between arc furnace volt-age and current is derived based on the different stages of arc combustion, and the random variation of chaotic phenomenon of the arc voltage are simulated. Established an EAF model suitable for the study of transient power quality problems. (2) Take 50t AC EAF as an example to analyze the reactive power impact and the influence on the point of common coupling (PCC) voltage caused by the three-phase short circuit of the electrode. The results show that the experimental results are consistent with the theoretical analysis, verifying the correctness and effectiveness of the model. (3) When the three-phase short-circuit occurs, the reactive power impact is nearly 6 times that of normal operation, the short-circuit current is 2.66 times that of normal operation, and the effective value of the PCC voltage has dropped by 40.37%, which provides a theoretical basis for real-time compensation of impulsive reactive power and improvement of the transient power quality of the EAF.

This paper examines the Business Model (BM) from a socioeconomic system perspective to discern key factors, and understand its interactions resulting in the Scaling of Social Impact (SSI) in Social Entrepreneurship (SE). Previously, studies have explained the importance of BM in relation to SE. However, there is a lack of empirical studies on how BM’s transitions through participation of various actors result in SSI. This research applies qualitative analysis on a single case study of a Japanese social startup, “mymizu”, the first water refill application platform in Japan. The findings show that collaboration amongst different stakeholders on the initial phase of the BM could increase awareness of responsible consumption, convert into actual users for sustainability, and change their behavior. Secondly, members of the society could take on dual roles, both as users and collaborators in the BM, which results in an exponential scaling effect of the social impact. This paper contributes towards adding a participatory stakeholder (PS) to the ecosystem of SSI and building a “regenerative” BM that is relevant in SE towards sustainability.

Stormwater management is a key urban issue in the world, in line with the global issues of urban sprawl and climate change. It is urgent to investigate the effectiveness in managing stormwater with different strategies for maintain urban resilience. A method based on a storm water management model (SWMM) was developed for assessing the control of stormwater runoff volume and the percentage removal of suspended solids by implementing a Sponge City strategy. An interdisciplinary approach was adopted incorporating Low Impact Development (LID) with urban Green Infrastructure and Gray Infrastructure paradigms in a typical old residential community in Suzhou, China. Four types of sponge facilities for reducing stormwater runoff were bio-retention cells, permeable pavements, grassed pitches, and stormwater gardens. The simulation results indicate that the stormwater pipe system can meet the management standard for storms with a five-year recurrence interval. The volume capture ratio of annual runoff is 91% and the reduction rate of suspended solids is 56%. This study demonstrates that Sponge City strategy is an effective approach for managing stormwater, particularly in old and densely populated urban areas. Implementing spongy facilities with a LID strategy for stormwater management can significantly enhance urban water resilience and increase ecosystem services.

Silty clay modified by fly ash and crumb rubber is a kind of sustainable subgrade filler which has good anti-freeze-thaw resistance stability but wake vibration isolation performance. The objective of this study was to improve the vibration isolation of the modified soil and investigate the vibration isolation effect of the composite subgrade structure of XPS plates and the modified soil by indoor impact test. First, the vibration isolation performance of silty clay, modified soil and composite subgrade structure was respectively evaluated. Second, the effect of XPS plate’s thickness and vibration intensity on the vibration performance of the composite subgrade structure were evaluated. Third, the vibration isolation performance of the test groups under the condition of freeze-thaw cycles was assessed. The results show that the vibration isolation performance of subgrade can be effectively improved by setting XPS plates. The composite subgrade structure has certain vibration isolation effect, especially in vertical direction. Considering vibration isolation performance and costs, 5cm is the optimum XPS plates thickness. The composite subgrade structure has great vibration isolation performance under the condition of freeze-thaw cycles, so it is suitable to be applied in road subgrade in seasonal frozen regions.

Wood plastic composite usage and demands have increased due to chemical, and mechanical properties when compared to plastic materials. However, because of the possibility of structural and mechanical changes of the material when exposed to external environment more research needs to be done. In the present study yellow birch/HDPE composites materials made by injection molding were treated by zinc oxide and exposed to fungal rots. Mechanical properties of the composites were assessed by Tensile and Izod impact test. The impact energies of the samples loaded with 30 % ZnO-treated fibers and exposed to G. trabeum and T. versicolor decreased, compared to when samples were not treated with ZnO. The mechanical properties of all samples treated with ZnO and exposed to rot decreased which were reported as a decreased Young's modulus and impact energies. ZnO prevented mycelium proliferation which was nonexistent on samples. It has been noted that the decrease in mechanical properties of treated samples was due to NaOH used to dissolve the ZnO powder.

Abstract Mastitis is a common disease of dairy animals. The source of mastitis infection may be regarded as contagious or environmental. A wide range of pathogens including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and the toxins of these pathogens can cause the disease. Mastitis is generally associated with poor hygienic and husbandry practices. The primary reservoir of infection is the mammary gland. The infectious agent enters through the milk canal, interacts with the mammary tissue/cells and multiplies. Most contagious mastitis causing pathogens are spread during milking. Most other species are opportunistic invaders from the cow's environment.

It was believed that the construction of large dams in the upper tributary basin of the Chao Phraya River (CPR) has caused sediment load reduction in the CPR system by 75–85%. Based on historical and observed river flow and sediment data measured during 1922–2019, we investigated the effects of three large dams, the Sirikit, Naresuan, and Khwae Noi dams, on river runoff and sediment loads supplied to the CPR using Mann-Kendall (MK) test and the double mass curve (DMC). Results from this study revealed that the Nan River contributed approximately 40% and 57% of the runoff and total sediment load (TSL) to the CPR, respectively. The water regulation by the Naresuan diversion dam has mainly caused the reduction on annual runoff and TSL downstream of each dam. The results from this study also reveal that the sediment load observed at the headwater (C.2) of the CPR still increased after the construction of the Sirikit dam due to the expansion of irrigation areas downstream of the dam and the channel improvement in the lower reach of Nan River. After the three major dams were operated, the sediment load at C.2 reduced by 31% compared that discharging during the pre-construction period.

The change in the value of the breaking energy is discussed here for selected steel grades used in building structures after subjecting the samples made of them to episodes of heating in the steady-state heating regime and then cooling in a simulated fire conditions. These changes were recorded based on the instrumented Charpy impact tests, in relation to the material initial state. The S355J2+N, 1H18N9T steels and also X2CrNiMoN22-5-3 duplex steel were selected for detailed analysis. The fire conditions were modelled experimentally by heating the samples and then keeping them for a specified time at a constant temperature of: 600°C (first series) and 800°C (second series), respectively. Two alternative cooling variants were investigated in the experiment: slow cooling of the samples in the furnace, simulating the natural fire progress, without any external extinguishing action, and cooling them in water mist simulating an extinguishing action by a fire brigade. The temperature of the tested samples was set at the level -20oC and alternatively at the level + 20oC. The conducted analysis is aimed at assessing the risk of sudden, catastrophic fracture of load-bearing structure made of steel degraded as a result of a fire previously occurred with different development scenarios.

Human-generated, natural occurrences and other actions connected with the petroleum industry have contributed expansively to the contamination of numerous areas of human habitant, thus effecting overwhelming challenges and constraints to sustainable human health, development and the biosphere. The sites commonly associated include derelict pits, hydrocarbon onshore release sites, and places to where oil slicks exuding from offshore releases are blown onshore. In diverse cases, remediation is pertinent to restore the affected ambient. This is required despite the complexity and intricate pore structure and fluid trafficking trajectories of soil which are not easily amenable to remediation. Due to the complex assemblage of contaminated soil, it is necessary to conduct an encompassing site assessment by considering the potential impact of the environment and human health prior to proper selecting and implementing of a desirable remediation process. There are extant remediation methodologies which are effective and efficient for the clean up of contaminated shorelines and other petroleum-contaminated sites involving inter alia agricultural activities. There are salient variations in the techniques to expunge contaminants regarding spatiotemporal and pecuniary costs or considerations due to the gross environmental hazards entailed. This study provides for the opportunity to harness and sustain the capacity for the mitigation of untoward impacts, and induce the latitude for an enabling condition in sustainable human health, environment and development in the petroleum industry and other anthropogenic activities.

With increasing interest in understanding contribution of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) to particulate air pollution in urban areas, an exploratory study was carried out to determine levels of carbonaceous aerosols and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the City of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. PM2.5 samples were collected using a high-volume sampler for 24 h in several areas in Kuala Lumpur during the north-easterly monsoon from January to March 2019. Samples were analysed for water soluble organic carbon (WSOC), organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC) and secondary organic carbon (SOC) in PM2.5 was estimated. Particle-bound PAHs were analysed using gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID). Average concentrations of WSOC, OC and EC were 2.7 ± 2.2 (range of 0.63-9.1) µg/m3, 6.9 ± 4.9 (3.1-24.1) µg/m3 and 3.7 ± 1.6 (1.3-6.8) µg/m3, respectively, with estimated average SOC of 2.3 µg/m3, contributing 34% to total OC. The average of total PAHs was 1.8 ± 2.7 ng/m3. Source identification methods revealed natural gas and biomass burning, and urban traffic combustion as dominant sources of PAHs in Kuala Lumpur. To understand human health risk posed by PAHs, a deterministic screening health risk assessment was also conducted for several age groups including infant, toddler, children, adolescent and adult. The total concentration of BaPeq is 3.8 ng/m3, with the average of 0.29 (range of 0.001-1.6) ng/m3. Carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risk of PAH species were well below the acceptable levels recommended by the USEPA. Future work is needed using long-term monitoring data to understand the origin of PAH contributing to SOA formation and to apply source-risk apportionment to know better the potential risk factors posed by the various sources in urban areas in Kuala Lumpur.

The problem of normal impact of a rigid sphere onto a Maxwell viscoelastic solid half-space is considered. The first-order asymptotic solution is constructed in the framework of Hunter’s model of viscoelastic impact [Hunter, S. C., 1957. Energy absorbed by elastic waves during impact. Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 5(3), 162–171.]. In particular, simple analytical approximations have been derived for the maximum contact force and the time to achieve it. A linear regression method is suggested for evaluating the instantaneous elastic modulus and the mean relaxation time from a set of experimental data collected for different impactors and impact velocities.

This research delves into the intricate dynamics underlying the impact of investments on global output, em-ploying the Leontief matrix as a robust analytical framework. Investments wield a profound influence on economies worldwide, with varying effects contingent upon investment types, development levels of coun-tries, and external factors such as trade conflicts and global shocks. The diverse range of investment forms, including physical capital, human capital, R&D, and technological investments, engenders distinct implica-tions for productivity, innovation, and efficiency. Developing and developed economies navigate unique tra-jectories, with investments playing a pivotal role in bridging infrastructure gaps, improving technology, and spurring growth. However, external disruptions, such as trade wars and global shocks, introduce an element of complexity, reshaping investment patterns and altering global output trajectories. This study centers on harnessing the Leontief matrix's prowess to evaluate the interplay of investments and global output, focusing on the Romanian economy. By analyzing input-output tables, encompassing 105 branches aggregated into 10 sectors, the research captures the intricate connections between economic segments. No-tably, the Romanian context reveals the volatility of the matrix coefficients', an outcome of ongoing transi-tional processes, technological advancements, and fluctuating relative prices. In unraveling the intricate threads weaving investments and global output, this study contributes to a nuanced comprehension of these multifaceted interactions. The findings underscore the significance of tailoring investment strategies to specific economic contexts and advocate for robust frameworks, such as the Leontief matrix, to inform pol-icy decisions and drive sustainable growth in an increasingly complex global economy.

The size of the home is considered the most critical issue affecting the quality of life. This can be measured by the quality of the house and its environment. This paper highlights the housing quality index at the urban axis level in Bistrita-Nasaud county and the impact of socioeconomic activities on the index. The Household Quality of Life Index (HQLI) was calculated based on 11 variables. Household quality of life comprises two distinctive indices: the Housing Conditions Index (HCI) and the Asset Possession Index (API). The study found a variation in the housing condition variables across the urban focus areas. The impact of the socioeconomic environments is disproportionately dependent on the social-economic profile of the urban environments that make up the Urban Axis and the related economic activities that take place in the area of influence in the administrative-territorial units and the variability of the Housing Conditions Index This can be measured by the quality of the house and its environment. This paper highlights the housing quality index at the urban axis level in Bistrita-Nasaud county and the impact of socioeconomic activities on this index. The study area comprises territories in the municipality of Bistrita. The socio-economic context of the area has been the basis for understanding the patterns of evolution identified in the urban landscape, and being a driver in ongoing urban transformations and processes. The impact of the socio-economic is disproportionate to the socioeconomic profile of the urban environments that make up the Urban Axis and the economic activities related to the economic activities taking place in the catchment area in the administrative-territorial units, hence the variability of the Housing Conditions Index which is a system Housing Quality Indicator (HQI) is a tool for measuring and evaluating housing systems based on quality and not just cost.

We have modelled the energy consumption of prototype and real buildings under present and future climatic conditions with the EnergyPlus model to develop a better understanding of the relationship between changing climate conditions and energy demand. We have produced detailed meteorological information with 50 meters of spatial resolution through dynamical downscaling process combining regional, urban and computational fluid dynamics models which include the effects of the buildings on urban wind patterns. The city of Madrid has been chosen for our experiment. The impact on energy demand and their respective economic cost are calculated for year 2100 versus 2011 based on two IPCC climate scenarios, RCP 4.5 (stabilization of emissions) and RCP 8.5 (not reduction of emissions). Findings show that climate change will have a significant impact on the energy demand for buildings. Space heating demand will be increased by the RCP 4.5 and cooling demand will be increased for the RCP 8.5 in the analysed buildings.

Emergence of COVID-19 had profound impact on global stock markets, including Indian mar-ket. Key indices like NIFTY50 and Sensex dropped by approximately 40% within two months in 2020, which also affected major mutual funds, leading to significant depreciation of their Net Asset Value. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) allows mutual funds to use deriva-tives for hedging purposes, capped at 100% of the scheme's net assets covering debt, equity, and derivatives. However, circular amendment by SEBI in January-2019 permitted covered call strat-egies on constituent stocks of Sensex and NIFTY50 for mutual fund schemes, excluding ETFs and Index Funds. This study investigated whether mutual funds increased their derivative us-age as risk mitigation strategy during COVID-19 pandemic, analyzing derivative holdings from 2019-2023. Surprisingly, findings indicated a decline in derivative holdings in 2020 compared to pre-pandemic levels. Statistical tests and performance evaluation metrics such as T-test, F-test, Treynor Ratio, Sharpe Ratio, and Jensen's calculations were employed to assess mutual fund performance. Although derivative-holding mutual funds didn't outperform benchmarks in aver-age returns, it showcased significantly reduced volatility, offering investors favorable risk-return trade-offs. research sheds light on derivative utilization in Mutual Fund industry, potentially in-forming regulators, fund managers, and investors in their decision-making

Many academics are critical of the current publishing system, but it is difficult to create a better alternative. This review relates to the Sciences and Social Sciences, and discusses the primary purpose of academic journals as providing a seal of approval for perceived quality, impact, significance, and importance. The key issues considered include the role of anonymous refereeing, continuous rather than discrete frequency of publications, avoidance of time wasting, and seeking adventure. Here we give recommendations about the organization of journal articles, the roles of associate editors and referees, measuring the time frame for refereeing submitted articles in days and weeks rather than months and years, encouraging open access internet publishing, emphasizing the continuity of publishing online, academic publishing as a continuous dynamic process, and how to improve research after publication. Citations and functions thereof, such as the journal impact factor and h-index, are the benchmark for evaluating the importance and impact of academic journals and published articles. Even in the very top journals, a high proportion of published articles are never cited, not even by the authors themselves. Top journal publications do not guarantee that published articles will make significant contributions, or that they will ever be highly cited. The COVID-19 world should encourage academics worldwide not only to rethink academic teaching, but also to re-evaluate key issues associated with academic journal publishing in the future.

The study investigated the usage of open data in public organizations, focusing on the motives, preferences, and governance ideals that determine their quality. The study shed light on how open data platforms are created and improved, as well as their influence on government operations. The primary goal was to understand the motivations behind the usage of open data, evaluate gov-ernance ideals, and examine institutions' efforts to standardize data formats. Hierarchical regres-sion analysis divides variables into core reasons and different preferences, demonstrating a need for "diversification" in order to use open data effectively. Efficiency, accountability, community impact, knowledge, and high-quality service delivery are all emphasized in governance value analysis. The institution's dedication to standardizing open data formats is evidenced by legislative measures and the integration of many technologies. The findings illustrate the institution's dual strategy of em-ploying traditional techniques and new technologies for effective data management. The report suggests increasing data openness and standardization, investing in ongoing training, upgrading alerting and awareness systems, and adopting specific regulations for open data use. Monitoring and feedback techniques are critical for adjusting and refining open data services to satisfy de-velopment needs. This study adds to the scientific knowledge of open data use by highlighting important motives, preferences, and governance ideals. The offered guidelines provide practical insights for public organizations looking to improve their open data platforms by promoting openness, efficiency, and community participation.

The broad and rapid application of new genomic techniques (NGTs) such as CRISPR-Cas has led to a fast increase in the number of genetically modified crops. With the recently published EU Commission’s (EC) regulatory proposal on plants generated with NGTs (July 5, 2023) the process of admission of such genetically modified plants is aimed to get accelerated and simplified. NGT plant applications shall be categorized based on their molecular characteristics into category 1 NGT (NGT1) and category 2 NGT (NGT2), which is in divergence from the current legislation centered around Directive 2001/18/EC. In the regulatory proposal NGT2 plants are envisioned to undergo a reduced risk assessment while for NGT1 plants no risk assessment is foreseen at all. To demonstrate were the path of the proposal leads to in practice, we applied the proposed criteria for categorization to a list of NGT plant applications that are currently in the commercialization pipeline. A key finding is that out of those plant applications affected by the EC proposal, 94% would be classified as NGT1 and thus would receive a market approval without risk assessment, monitoring and sufficient labeling provisions. The remaining 6% of applications would be classified as NGT2 plants for which, in deviation from the current regulation, an adapted risk assessment is proposed. A screening of intended traits in the pipeline highlights that certain NGT1 plants can pose similar environmental risks (e.g. invasiveness) compared to other genetically modified organisms (GMOs), as defined in Directive 2001/18/EC. For example, NGT1 applications based on RNAi technology can exhibit insecticidal effects with potential side effects on non-target organisms (i.e. other insects). Our quantitative and case-specific elaboration on how the current EC regulatory proposal would affect the environment, health or consumer protection will be informative for decision makers and politicians.

This paper identifies the characteristics of the farmer that affect the degree of farmer’s perceived-impact of climate change (CC). We use data from the Indonesian Rice Farm Household survey consisting of 87,330 farmers. An ordered probit regression model was used to estimate the effect of each variable on the degree of perceived-impact of CC. The results of this study confirm the previous empirical studies. Several variables that have been identified as having a positive effect on farmer adaptation practices such as farmer education, land tenure, irrigation infrastructure, cropping system, chemical fertilizer application, access to extension services and participation in farmer group affect the degree of CC perceived-impact negatively. However, a different result was found in the estimation of the gender variable. We found that female farmer has a higher resilience toward CC than the male farmer does. Furthermore, the female farmer has a more positive perception about future farming conditions than the male does. Finally, we suggest that the implementation of national adaptation policy should prioritize more to the farmer with insecure land tenure and utilize and expand the channel of agricultural extension services to deliver the planned adaptation policy.

The decreasing width, increasing aspect ratio RDL presents significant challenges to design for reliability (DFR) of advanced package. Therefore, this paper proposes a ML based RDL modeling and simulation method. In the method, RDL is divided into blocks and subdivided into pixels of metal percentage, and the RDL is digitalized as tensors. Then, an ANN-based surrogate model is built and trained by a subset of tensors to predict the equivalent material properties of each block. Lastly, all blocks are transformed into elements for simulations. For validation, line bending simulations were conducted on an RDL, with the reaction force as accuracy indicator. The results show that neglecting layout impact causes critical errors as substrate thins. By the method, the reaction force error is 2.81% and the layout impact can accurately be considered with 200×200 elements. For application, the TCT maximum temperature state simulation was conducted on a CPU chip. The simulation indicates that for advanced package the maximum stress more likely occurs in RDL rather than bumps, both RDL and bumps are critical impacted by layouts, and RDL stress is also impacted by vias/bumps. The proposed method precisely concerns layout impacts with little resources, presents an opportunity of efficiency improvement.

This paper aims to provide an evaluation of how Value Added Tax (VAT) policy alterations influence market liquidity, trading volume, and stock performance. To fill the existing literature gap on the direct effect of (VAT) adjustments on stock market dynamic, particulate within the banking industry. The study employs an event study methodology to analyse the immediate and medium-term effects on bank stocks listed in markets subject to a (VAT) adjustments. The core of the study analysis is anchored around two pivotal events, the initial application of (VAT) on 1st January 2018, and the subsequent (VAT) increase to 15% on 1st July 2020 using MATLAB R2022b. The study analysis encompasses the period immediately before and after the introduction and subsequent increase (VAT) in kingdom Saudi Ariba (KSA) employing an eleven sample comprises the (KSA) largest banks with a ±7 days window period from the event. The analysis revels that the imposition of 5% (VAT) lead a substation downturn in trading volume and stock returns of 9.5%, and 39.5%, subsequently. While when the (VAT) was increased by 15% the market exhibited a mixed but ultimately positive response of 3.3% trading volumes increases and 128.7% average stock return recovery.

Engineers make things, make things work, and make things work better and easier. This kind of knowledge is crucial for innovation, and much of the explicit knowledge developed by engineers is embodied in scientific publications. In this paper, we analyze the evolution of publications and citations in Engineering in a middle-income country such as Mexico. Using a database of all Mexican publications in Web of Science from 2004 to 2017, we explore the characteristics of publications that tend to have the greatest impact; this is the highest number of citations. Among the variables studied are the type of collaboration (no collaboration, domestic, bilateral, or multilateral), the number of coauthors and countries, the language of the article, controlling for a coauthor from the USA and the affiliation institution of the Mexican author(s). Our results emphasize the overall importance of joint international efforts and suggest that publications with the highest number of citations are those with multinational collaboration (coauthors from three or more countries), written in English, and when one of the coauthors is from the USA.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the COVID-19 disease has wreaked havoc on the world community in terms of every imaginable parameter. The research output on COVID-19 has been nothing short of phenomenal, especially in the medical and biomedical sciences, where the search for a potential vaccine is being conducted in earnest. Much of the advanced research has been distributed in the leading medical journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), where the latest research is distributed on a daily basis. The purpose of this paper is to provide some perspectives on 44 interesting and highly topical research papers that have been published in JAMA, at the time of writing, within the past two weeks. The diverse topics include public health, general medicine, internal medicine, oncology, paediatrics, geriatrics, and biostatistics.

The opportunities and potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Environmental Assessment (EA) are often mentioned. However, do we in the EA field understand the implications of what is happening in other biological sciences, and are we preparing for the changes that are coming? This interdisciplinary letter focuses on AI-driven developments in biodiversity data and analysis as a starting point for stimulating discussion about what AI means in practice for the field of EA. We highlight implications for training, transformation of practice and decision making as first steps in a research agenda.

The European Green Deal has set a concrete strategic plan to increase farm sustainability. At the same time, the current global challenges, due to climate change and fuels and commodity market crisis, combined with the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine, comprise the need for quality food, but also the reduction of negative external effects of agricultural production, with fair remuneration for the farmers. In response, precision agriculture has great potential to contribute to the sustainable development. Precision agriculture is a farming management that provides a holistic system approach to managing the spatial and temporal crop and soil variability within a field to improve the farm’s performance and sustainability. However, farmers are still hesitant to adopt it. On these premises, the study aims to evaluate the impacts of precision agriculture technologies on farm profitability, agronomic and environmental management by farmers adopting (or not) these technologies, using the case study method. In detail, the work focuses on the period 2014-2022 for two farms that cultivate durum wheat in Central Italy. The results suggest that the implementation of precision technologies can guarantee economic and agri-environmental efficiency. Results could serve as a basis for developing a program to start training in farms as well as suggest policy strategies.

[Research Objective] In the context of the rapid development of digital governance, understanding and analyzing the burden level of digital tools in the process of serving digital governance from multiple perspectives is an important prerequisite for improving the capacity and accuracy of government digital governance, promoting sustainable public participation, and maximizing digital value in the new era. [Research Method] By constructing a model of the burden of digital tools caused by technical, organizational and environmental factors on the public based on the TOE framework, using SPSS for data testing based on 275 research questionnaires, and using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to explore the linkage ways and paths of the burden-increasing effect of digital tools in a holistic perspective. [Research findings] does not constitute a necessary condition for high levels of digital tool affordances under a single condition, but improving users' digital literacy plays a more general role in optimising the efficiency of digital tool use. According to the results, there are five dominant patterns that have a significant impact, i.e. the driving paths that lead to high levels of digital tool affordability are characterised by a "homogeneous approach". In the cross-group study, significant differences were found in the driving paths of high digital tool affordability by group, depending on the level of digital tool mastery. This paper suggests that the government should continue to pay attention to affordability levels, rationalise the use of financial resources, improve the level of digital tool adaptation, and innovate the existing performance evaluation system for digital governance indicators.

This paper presents an in-depth study of the stress wave behavior propagating in a Rayleigh–Love rod with a sudden cross-sectional area change. The analytical solutions of stress waves are derived for the reflection and transmission propagation behavior at the interface of the cross-sectional area change in the rod, considering inertia and Poisson’s effects. Examples solved by the finite element method are provided to verify the correctness of the analytical results. In addition to the forward analysis of Rayleigh–Love wave propagation in rods impacted by a striker rod, a nondestructive testing method is proposed to conduct the defect assessment in the rod type of the structure component with a sudden cross-sectional area change within a cover medium by using the measured signals at the measurable zone of the rod to be inspected.

To investigate the structural behavior of simply supported concrete beams with steel and polypropylene fiber under low velocity impact loading. In all twenty-four beams (150X200X1800 mm) with simply supported boundary condition were modeled and analyzed using ABAQUS software. Steel and polypropylene fibers of aspect ratio of 60 and 231 respectively are used. The total volumes of fibers are maintained at 1% by volume of specimen. A 100 kg hammer with tip diameter 16 mm (hemispherical contact area = 201 mm2) with four different velocities (3.13 m/s, 4.42 m/s, 5.43 m/s and 6.11 m/s) were used in the analysis. It is observed that with the addition of hybrid fibers the deflection in beams was reduced. The beams with 1% PP and 0% steel fiber shows the maximum deflection values due to low modulus of elasticity. Beams with 0.9% steel and 0.1% polypropylene fibers was less affected in terms of deflection as compared to all other beams, it is due to presence of high tensile strength fibers.

Based on the total scholarly article output of Norway, we investigated the coverage and degree of openness according to three bibliographic services 1) Google Scholar, 2) oaDOI by Impact Story and 3) 1findr by 1science. According to Google Scholar, we find that more than 70% of all Norwegian articles are openly available. However, degrees are profoundly lower according to oaDOI and 1findr, respectively 31% and 52%. Varying degrees are mainly caused by different interpretations of openness, with oaDOI being most restrictive. Furthermore, open shares vary considerably by discipline, with the Medcine and Health sciences at the upper and the Humanities at the lower end. We also determined the citation frequencies using Cited-by values as of Google Scholar, applying year and subject normalization. We find a significant citation advantage for open articles. However, this is not the case for all types of openness. In fact, the category Open Access journals was by far lowest cited, indicating that young journals with a declared open access policy still lack recognition.

The silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) is among the most valuable conifers in Europe for ecological and economic reasons. In the course of history, primarily in the 20th century, its share in stands has been declining due to ill-suited management practices, especially clear-cut management, air pollution, and wildlife-induced damage. Based on recent knowledge of fir ecology and population dynamics, small-scale shelterwood and selection management have been introduced in fir stands, which have also stabilized them. Fir is an essential species for maintaining high stability and biodiversity, especially on planosols and in waterlogged habitats. Due to its shade tolerance and environmental flexibility, particularly at higher altitudes, it can coexist very well with many tree species in mixtures, which can increase the productive potential of stands. It can form stands of heterogeneous structure, ranging from single to multi-layer to selection. For its successful natural regeneration, it is essential to reduce cloven-hoofed game and thus prevent bud browsing damage. On the other hand, fir is a species relatively resistant to bark stripping and the spread of secondary rot compared to Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst.). During global climate change, fir is expected to shift to higher elevations with sufficient precipitation, while in the southern part of its natural range or at lower elevations, outside water-influenced habitats, it is likely to decline. This paper essentially reviews the description and distribution of the species, its ecological requirements, threats and diseases, habitat and stand conditions, and close-to-nature forest management practices with emphasis on ongoing climate change.

The rise of fintech in the financial sector presents a transformative shift towards digitalization and sustainability, leveraging technologies like AI to minimize environmental footprint. Neobanks not only challenge traditional banking models but also offer innovative solutions that align with sustainable objectives. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of neobanks on global sustainability, from economic, environmental, and social point of view. A comprehensive literature review of existing literature and current sustainable practices of neobanks was conducted. We have found that neobanks significantly positively contribute towards environmental sustainability with reduced paper use and logistics requirements of banking services. By offering more accessible and affordable banking services they importantly contribute towards higher financial inclusion, and with innovative products towards more competitive and innovative financial markets. AI-based tools they employ are increasing financial literacy and social inclusion. We also highlight concerns regarding electronic waste management, potential high energy consumption, required digital literacy and cybersecurity risks. We conclude that despite the mentioned risks, neobanks importantly contribute to global sustainability in many ways, and will even more in the future. Our findings can help neobanks shape sustainable practices and guide policymaking, as well as spread awareness of sustainable impact of banking services.

We present the prototype and analytical model of a miniaturized impact actuation mechanism, providing a fast out-of-plane displacement to accelerate objects against gravity, allowing for freely moving objects and hence for large displacements without the need of cantilevers. To achieve the necessary high speed, we chose a piezo electric stack actuator driven by a high-current pulse generator, connected to a rigid support and a rigid three-point contact with the object. We describe this mechanism with a spring-mass model and compare various inertial masses, all of them spheres, from different diameters and materials. As expected, we found that larger flight heights are achieved by harder projectiles, achieving, e.g., approx. 3 mm displacement for a 3 mm steel sphere using a 3x3x2 mm³ piezo stack.

This study investigates the impacts of climate change policies on businesses across various sectors, aiming to understand how these regulations affect operational, financial, and strategic aspects of business management. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, data was collected from 500 businesses through surveys and interviews, encompassing a wide range of industries, sizes, and geographic locations. The findings reveal a complex landscape where 30% of businesses report positive impacts, primarily in the renewable energy and technology sectors, citing increased demand for green products and improvements in energy efficiency. Conversely, 45% of businesses, especially from manufacturing and agriculture, experience negative impacts, including increased operational costs and regulatory compliance challenges. Notwithstanding, a significant majority of businesses are committed to enhancing their sustainability practices, viewing climate change policies as an opportunity for innovation and long-term growth. The study highlights the nuanced effects of climate change policies, emphasizing the need for sector-specific support measures to alleviate financial and operational burdens on negatively impacted businesses. Moreover, it points to a broader shift towards sustainability within the business community, suggesting that climate policies, despite their varied impacts, are driving significant changes in business strategies towards environmental stewardship.

The integration of AI in educational settings, particularly through Large Language Models (LLMs), is accelerating, reshaping pedagogical approaches due to students' interactions with new learning tools. This study assesses the impact of generative AI on the educational experiences of computer and data science students at the Center for Informatics, University of Paraíba (CI/UFPB), Brazil. Through Exploratory Factorial Analysis (EFA) of five psychometric scales, the research examines students' acceptance of LLMs, their associated burnout levels, technology anxiety, and the prevalence of metacognitive and dysfunctional learning strategies associated with LLMs. Results indicate significant adoption of AI technologies among students, accompanied by a low incidence of technology anxiety, manifesting as fears of losing jobs to AI. However, a significant correlation was observed between academic burnout and dysfunctional learning strategies, which could likely be attributed to the rigorous academic environment. Additionally, the employment of metacognitive strategies in conjunction with LLMs reflects an advanced learning approach, yet challenges with functional learning strategies persist. This study contributes to the discourse on AI in education, highlighting the need for educational frameworks that support effective AI adoption while addressing the psychological demands on students.

Impact force and maximum velocity are important indicators of kick efficiency in fighting activities. Therefore, this systematic review compared the front kick (FK) and roundhouse kick (RK), including maximal and impact force, maximum velocity, maximum angular velocity, and execution time, at different target types and experience levels. The Web of Science, SportDiscus, and PubMed were systematically searched from January 1982 to May 2022, according to PRISMA guidelines. The normalized kicking values were compared using one-way ANOVA. Eighteen articles, including FK with a pooled sample of 113 elite men, 109 sub-elite men, and 46 novices, and 25 articles, including RK with a sample of 238 elite men, 143 sub-elite men, and 27 novice men, fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The primary findings were that the impact forces of FK were higher than RK for the novice, sub-elite, and elite groups by 47% (p<0.01), 92% (p<0.01), and 120% (p<0.01), respectively. Moreover, the maximum foot velocity of RK was faster than FK for the sub-elite and elite groups by 44% (p<0.01) and 48% (p<0.01), respectively. The Elite group had 65% (p<0.01) higher knee extension angular velocity within RK than FK, and 138% (p<0.01) higher hip extension angular velocity within FK than RK.

Although agricultural crops production systems in subtropical plateau regions currently pose high environmental risks, especially in developing countries, their environmental impacts and emission-reduction potentials remain unclear, and the development potential of such systems is likely huge. We conducted a case study in Yunnan Province, China, to quantify the environmental impacts from crop production during 2002–2021. The life cycle assessment method was employed to identify factors driving the environmental impacts, and potential mitigation strategies were proposed. The yield and total nutrient input of grain crops in Yunnan Province increased over the 20-year period, and environmental footprint of crops production in Yunnan Province was higher than that of other regions. Average annual mean greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and soil acidification potentials (AP) and water eutrophication potentials (EP) of crops production during 2002–2021 were 732 kg CO2-eq·Mg-1, 15.8 kg SO2-eq·Mg-1, and 2.7 kg PO4-eq Mg-1, respectively. GHG emissions from g crops mainly originated from applying agricultural materials during the crop life cycle. There was a significant correlation between surplus nitrogen and environmental impacts. Scenario testing showed that through crop sowing, nutrient regulation, and crop management, the crop yield could be increased and environmental costs could be reduced. The greatest reductions were found in wheat production: 53.1%, 67.9%, and 67.7% for GHG emissions, AP, and EP, respectively. Adopting comprehensive agricultural management measures could reduce the negative impact of crops production on the environment in subtropical plateau areas and achieve sustainable agricultural development.

A framework of similarity laws, termed oriented-density-length-velocity (ODLV) framework, is suggested for the geometric distorted structures subjected to impact loading. The distinct feature of this framework is that the newly proposed oriented dimensions, dimensionless numbers and scaling factors for physical quantity are explicitly expressed by the characteristic lengths of three spatial directions, which overcome the inherent defects that traditional scalar dimensional analysis could not express the effects of structural geometric characteristics and spatial directions for similarity. The non-scalabilities of geometrical distortion as well as other distortions such as different materials and gravity could be compensated by the reasonable correction for the impact velocity, the geometrical thickness and the density, when the proposed dimensionless number of equivalent stress is used between scaled model and prototype. Three analytical models of beam, plate and shell subjected to impact mass or impulsive velocity are verified by equation analysis. And a numerical model of circular plate subjected to dynamic pressure pulse is verified in more detail, form the view of point of space deformation, deformation history and the components of displacement, strain and stress. The results show that the proposed dimensionless numbers have attractively perfect ability to express the dimensionless response equations of displacement, angle, time, strain and strain rate. When the proposed dimensionless numbers are used to regularize impact models, the structural responses of the geometrically distorted scaled models can behave the completely identical behaviors with those of the prototype on space and time —not only for the direction-independent equivalent stress, strain and strain rate but also for the direction-dependent displacement, stress and strain components.

This study evaluates various safety aspects of standardized impacts that cyclists may suffer while wearing a bicycle helmet, by combining a partially validated finite element model of the cranio-cervical region and a newly developed bicycle helmet model. Under EN 1078 standardized impact conditions, the results of simulated impact tests show that the helmet can absorb 40% to 50 % of the total impact energy at impact velocities above 4 m/s. Further, based on a relationship between Head Injury Criterion and the risk of injury from field data, the results of the simulations suggest that minor injuries may occur at impact velocities of 10 km/h, serious injuries at 15 km/h, and severe injuries at 20 km/h. Fatal injuries will likely occur at impact velocities of 30 km/h and higher.

This research investigates the fatigue crack propagation on the lower surface of rocket deflector troughs of offshore rocket launch platforms. Initially, a numerical model of the offshore rocket launch platform is established using ABAQUS based on the Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM). Subsequently, two variable parameters—namely, the initial crack length and initial tilt angle—are introduced. This research systematically analyzes the impact of these parameters on fatigue crack propagation patterns in both the maximum stress and maximum deformation regions of the deflector channels under the combined conditions of high temperature and impact. Finally, the research indicates that the propagation length of surface cracks in the deflector trough exhibits a trend of initial increase followed by a subsequent decrease with the increase in the preset inclination angle. Notably, the stable propagation rate of the crack in the region of maximum deformation surpasses that observed in the region of maximum stress. Through meticulous comparative analysis, it is evident that temperature loading significantly fosters the initiation and propagation of cracks, particularly in the upper region of the deflector channel's lower surface.

The relationship between child psychology and the widespread usage of mobile devices in the modern day is examined in "The Mobile Dilemma: Child Psychology and the Era of Technological Dependence." The abstract serves as a brief synopsis of the work, highlighting its important ideas and arguments. Concerns concerning the effects of excessive time spent on mobile devices on children's mental health and development have arisen in this age of technology dependency. The essay opens by pointing out the importance of investigating the psychological effects of kids' exposure to mobile gadgets. The effects of mobile phone addiction on learning, memory, and social and emotional health are investigated. The neurodevelopmental implications are explored further in the abstract, with a focus on the impact of mobile technology on brain plasticity and the formation of the developing brain. It offers advice on how to establish appropriate limits for children's screen time, encourages the development of digital literacy, and promotes responsible behavior.The pros and cons of using mobile devices in the classroom are also examined, along with their effects on students' ability to study and the risks and difficulties that could arise from implementing such a strategy. The emotional and social impacts of mobile device addiction are discussed in the abstract. This includes the impact on one's social life, empathy, ability to communicate, and sense of self-worth. The abstract also stresses the importance of interdisciplinary efforts involving parents, teachers, psychologists, and legislators to combat mobile device addiction through intervention and preventative techniques. Future directions are highlighted, with a focus on topics such as mobile technology development, digital well-being, privacy protection, mental health implications, screen time limits, digital literacy, and the impact of cultural and socioeconomic variables.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), also known globally as COVID-19, originated in December 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei province in China and has rapidly spread across the globe ever since. The first recorded case in sub-Saharan Africa was in Nigeria, on the 25th February, 2020. The virus continues to spread, and new variants of the disease have emerged, the number of deaths and new infections in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa has been relatively low compared to predictive models. This could be due to several factors, such as slower transmission dynamics of the virus, a lower-case fatality rate, or a lack of testing or reliable data. Whilst this may also, in part, be due to the robustness of the nations' public health responses, there is scarce reporting on the specifics of this. However, emerging research has demonstrated that various environmental factors could influence virus transmission. The study adopted collected meteorological data that was critically analysed and discussed. The impact of three factors in the context of sub-Saharan African nations: temperature, ultraviolet (UV) exposure and pre-existing infection with Plasmodium (malaria) were discussed. These factors were discussed critically in light of the reduced rates of transmission and mortality observed.

Aflatoxins are a known cause of primary liver cancer in Mozambique since pre-independence epidemiological studies. However, their impact goes beyond the public health, affecting the country’s economy and raising legal concerns. As a developing country endemic for Aspergillus, the nation has been struggling to keep pace with external trade quality demands, delicate policy making, still dealing with the farmers’ limitations to control the contamination. The contamination shows variations over time, space and the different commodities. Considering the recommendations of the Codex Alimentarius, the major crops will be highly implicated unless there is major intervention from the authorities to control the toxins.

This article is devoted to discussing the famous Impact factor citation suited to indicate the published scientific result's significance. Considering this problem based on the available statistical data, we demonstrate that: Impact factor follows a distribution having a heavy power tail that may lead to inconsistency in scientifically comparable journals' evaluation. Further, we remark that many papers recognized as sleeping and seemingly sleeping beauties are not considered when calculating. This makes the impact factor unsuitable in evaluating the original, groundbreaking discoveries and their consequences. Due to permanent changes in the composition of the underlying datasets, the impact factor can not be considered as a reliable indicator and to be used as a consistent evaluation metric. Overall, discussing all represented impact factor obstacles and other appropriate considerations, we conclude that the considered index can hardly be used as a reliable estimator of the publication's significance.

The understanding of structural alteration mechanisms due to relative humidity impact on organic supports of paintings is of crucial significance for the preventive conservation strategies in order to ensure the long-term preservation of important cultural identity artworks. The effort in this paper is to simulate Museum realistic relative humidity condition in a climate chamber while monitoring the structural responses through a quantitative interferometric method allowing the quantitative correlation between the physical values of deformation and mass alteration relevant to relative humidity fluctuations.

The present investigation is focused on the forecasting visual observation of the impact of anthropogenic activity on the pilgrimage places located along the coastal environments in Tamil Nadu, India. Devotees performing the unregulated ritual ceremonies, open defecation, waste materials dumping and local municipality discharging wastewater contamination levels were assessed from direct visual surveillance, and by taking photographs and baseline information collected from five different pilgrimage sites. Results showed that ritual ceremonies, wastewater discharges and debris highly contaminated site-III, and found open defecation at site-I. The lack of coastal regulation, pollution awareness, insufficient sanitation facilities and failure to control the commercial and recreational activities have major deleterious effects on the present and future environments of the coastal areas. This is the first attempt conducted by visual assessment of the coastal pollution in pilgrimage places. The results immensely support the recommendation for proper regulation of ritual activities, arrangement of basic sanitation facilities and prohibition of wastewater discharges to prevent waterborne diseases as well as to strictly follow the regional and national level of coastal regulation policy to protect the biological resources of the Gulf of Mannar marine ecosystems.

The study presents an efficient computational investigation on the behaviour of the direct-drive system integrated into the offshore 5MW NREL wind turbine model under demanding aerodynamic loading conditions with the aim of optimising and developing more sustainable key structural components. The research was based on computational simulation packages to verify the use of real-world wind data, the loading conditions on the blade structures through aero-elastic simulation studies, as well as analyse the behaviour of the drive system. Through the application of validated aerodynamic loading conditions, resulting normal forces on the blades structure were obtained and applied to a dedicated simplified model that was also previously validated, to estimate the transferred loads into the powertrain. The adopted methodology allowed for the identification of shaft misalignment induced air-gap eccentricity. The impact of shaft deflections on resulting magnetomotive force was considered by making use of the Maxwell stress distribution expression. By taking into account the resulting loading cases on the generator structure, as well as the inherent typical loads generated by the electrical machine, a procedure including structural parametric and topology optimisation was developed and performed, achieving a rotor mass reduction between 8.5 and 9.6% if compared with the original model.

This study investigates the prevalence, causes, and spatial distribution of Abandoned, Lost, or Discarded Fishing Gears (ALDFGs) in the Gulf of Gabès, a critical fishing area in Tunisia. Five main fishing gear types—benthic trawls, encircling nets, longlines, gillnets, and trammel nets were analyzed for their loss rates and contributing factors. The study involved extensive surveys among local fishermen using geographic information system (GIS) tools for spatial mapping. The findings reveal varying loss rates among different gear types, with longlines experiencing the highest losses (59%), followed by trammel nets (45%), gillnets (40%), trawls (38%), and encircling nets (36%). Causes of gear loss include entanglement on obstructions, conflicts with other fishing gears, entanglement with marine animals, adverse weather conditions, and intentional dumping at sea. The study highlights the challenges posed by the consistent increase in regional fishing efforts. Spatial distribution mapping indicates two significant concentrations of ALDFGs, correlating with specific fishing activities and depths. The study emphasizes the importance of addressing gear losses as a threat to marine biodiversity and ecosystem health. Recommendations for mitigation include improving boat equipment, raising awareness among fishermen, implementing effective waste management, and exploring economic incentives for ALDFG recovery. This research contributes essential insights for fisheries management, environmental conservation, and sustainable practices in the Gulf of Gabès. Collaborative efforts are crucial to developing and implementing strategies that minimize the impact of ALDFGs on the marine environment while supporting the socio-economic interests of fishermen.

This article aims to investigate gaps in the law and policies on e-waste management in communi-ties of Thailand and suggests a guideline for improving, developing, and designing legal measures and state policies for more effective enforcement of the law on e-waste management in communities. The findings reveal that the currently applicable law of Thailand lacks effective approaches and rules for e-waste management. Also, there is not any implementation of key envi-ronmental principles for e-waste management in communities, such as the Polluter Pays Principle (PPP) that requires manufacturing companies to take part in being responsible for disposal ex-penses or the Public Participation principle that requires users, manufacturers, distributors, and government agencies to take parts in disposing e-waste. As a result, problems of e-waste in com-munities of Thailand have been continuously increasing. According to such problems, the authors suggest that legal measures on e-waste management in communities should be specifically de-signed by implementing key environmental principles as a basis in determining formats and guidelines of e-waste management, especially participation of all sectors that can help in solving and reducing e-waste in communities that is harmful to health, sanitation, and environment.

The 2019-2020 summer wildfire event on the east coast of Australia was a series of major wildfires occurring from November 2019 to end of January 2020 across the states of Queensland, New South Wales (NSW), Victoria and South Australia. The wildfires were unprecedent in scope and the extensive extend of the wildfires has caused smoke pollutants transported not only to New Zealand but across the Pacific Ocean to South America. At the height of the wildfires, smoke plumes were injected into the stratosphere at height up to 25km and hence transported across the globe. Based on meteorological and air quality simulation using WRF-Chem model, air quality monitoring data collected during the bushfire period and remote sensing data from MODIS and CALIPSO satellites, the extend of the wildfires and the pollutant transport, and their impacts on air quality and health on exposed population in NSW can be analysed. The results showed that WRF-Chem model using Fire Emission Inventory from NCAR (FINN) predicts the dispersion and transport of pollutants and the predicted concentration of PM2.5 and other pollutants from wildfires reasonably well when compared with ground-based and satellite data. The impact on health endpoints such as mortality, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases hospitalisation across the modelling domain is then estimated. The estimated health impact is comparable with previous study based only on observation data, but the results in this study provide much more detailed spatially and temporally with regards to the health impact from the 2019-2020 wildfire.

This research aimed to improve the interpretation of electrical resistivity (ER) results in concrete bridge decks by utilizing results from multiple nondestructive evaluations (NDE) techniques in machine learning algorithms. To achieve this, a parametric study was first conducted using numerical simulations to investigate the effect of various parameters on ER measurements, such as the degree of saturation, corrosion length, delamination depth, concrete cover, and the moisture condition of delamination. A data set from this study was used to build a machine-learning algorithm based on the Random Forest methodology. This algorithm was then implemented on data collected from a bridge deck in the BEAST® facility. The presented results demonstrate an improvement in the interpretation of ER measurements using data from other NDE technologies.

Registration of the flow pattern fine structure and the matter distribution of a free falling liquid drop in a target fluid at rest in the impact mode of coalescence, when the kinetic energy of the drop exceeds its available potential surface energy (APSE), was carried out by photo and video recording. The main attention was paid to the study of the flow structure at the initial stage of the cavity formation. To carry out color registration, the flow pattern was illuminated by several matrix LED and fiber optic sources of constant light. The planning of experiments and interpretation of the results were based on the properties of the complete solutions of the fundamental equations of fluid mechanics system, including the transfer and conversion of energy processes. Complete solutions of the system of equations describe large-scale flow components that are waves or vortices as well as thin jets (ligaments, filaments, fibers, trickles). In experiments, the jets are accelerated by the converted available potential surface energy (APSE) when the free surfaces of merging fluids were eliminated. The experiments were performed with the coalescence of water, solutions of alizarin ink, potassium permanganate, copper sulphate or iron sulphate drops in deep water. In all cases, at the initial contact, the drop begins to lose its continuity and breaks up into a thin veil and jets, the velocity of which exceeds the drop contact velocity. Small droplets, the size of which grows with time, are thrown into the air from spikes at the jet tops. On the surface of the liquid, the fine jets leave colored traces that form linear and reticular structures. Part of the jets penetrating through the bottom and wall of the cavity forms an intermediate covering layer. The forming layer jets are separated by interfaces of the target fluid. The processes of molecular diffusion equalize the density differences and form an intermediate layer with sharp boundaries in the target fluid. All noted structural features of the flow are also visualized when a fresh water drop isothermally spreads in the same tap water. The fast-changing and finely structured diffuse boundary of merging fluids, which at the initial stage has a complex and irregular shape, is gradually smoothed out by molecular diffusion processes. The similar flow patterns were observed in all performed experiments, however the geometric features of the flow depend on the individual thermodynamic and kinetic parameters of the contacting fluids.

Urban floods are typical urban disasters that threaten the economy and development of cities. Sponge cities can improve the flood resistance ability and reduce the floods by setting low-impact development measures (LID). Evaluating the floods reduction benefits is the basic link in the construction of sponge cities. Therefore, it is of great significance to evaluate the benefits of sponge cities from the perspective of different rain patterns. In this study, we investigated the urban runoff of various rainfall patterns in Mianyang city using the Strom Water Management Model (SWMM). We employed 2–100-year return periods and three different temporal rainfall downscaling methods to evaluate rain patterns and simulate urban runoff in Mianyang, with and without the implementation of sponge city measures. After calibration, model performance was validated using multi-source data concerning flood peaks and inter-annual variations in flood magnitude. Notably, the effects of peak rainfall patterns on historical floods were generally greater than the effects of synthetic rainfalls generated by temporal downscaling. Compared to the rainfall patterns of historical flood events, the flood protection capacities of sponge cities tended to be overestimated when using the synthetic rainfall patterns generated by temporal downscaling. Overall, an earlier flood peak was associated with better flood sponge city protection capacity.

The results of studying the effect of particles of few-layer graphene (FLG) synthesized by self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) on the complex of strength and thermo physical properties of polymer composite products obtained by DLP 3D printing are presented. It has been discovered to achieve an increase in thermo physical and strength parameters of polymers modified by FLG compared with samples made on the unmodified base resin. This result was achieved due to low defectiveness, namely the absence of Stone-Wales defects in the structure of FLG due to the homogeneous distribution of FLG over the volume of the polymer in the form of highly dispersed aggregates. It was possible to increase hardness by 120 %, bending strength by 102 %, Charpy impact strength by 205 %, and thermal conductivity at 25 °C by 572 % at concentrations of few-layer graphene of no more than 2 wt. %.

In response to the problem of increasing climate change and energy security, investment in renewable energy sources has increased significantly both in Europe and globally. Wind and solar power plants are expected to be the largest contributors to global decarbonization, ranking first and second in projected capacity by 2050. Since all power plants have some impact on the environment, this also applies to photovoltaic power plants. Because of the large capacities projected for PV installed capacity, their environmental impacts should be evaluated. The environmental impacts of PV power plants change over time. Improving the manufacturing technology of PV system components, increasing the efficiency of solar cells, and using materials that are less harmful to the environment will reduce these impacts. Manufacturing PV system components is a highly energy-intensive process that involves greenhouse gas emissions. As new renewable energy capacity is built, the amount of "green" electricity on the grid increases, reducing CO2 emissions per kWh consumed. The objective of this paper is to analyze the current status of the environmental impact of PV power plants under these changing conditions in terms of CO2 emissions, land use, pollutant and noise emissions, and water consumption. The capacity installed to date will reach the end of its lifetime by 2050, which means that the amount of waste associated with it will increase over time. This can have a significant impact on the environment, which is why part of the work is dedicated to this problem. In addition to the available information from the literature, in the part related to land use, the authors also made their own estimates based on data on newly installed PV power plants and PV modules available on the market. The results of the analysis show that there is enough land both in Europe and worldwide to install the planned capacities of rooftop and ground-mounted PV power plants. CO2 emissions are at the same level as for concentrated solar power, with a decreasing trend. Pollutant emissions, noise and water consumption are not a major problem compared to other types of power plants. Overall, it can be concluded that the expansion of PV capacity has a very positive impact on the environment.

This paper summarizes opinions on the economic impacts of horticulture research and extension at MSU Coastal Research and Extension Center. More than 8,400 horticulture producers, master gardeners, research and extension staff, and non-profit organizations participated in horticulture events during the last five years. Qualitative assessments of horticulture research and extension performed by the faculty and staff were solicited during voluntary surveys.

This paper revisits a classic problem in physics - Hertz elastic dynamics of two colliding elastic spheres. This study obtains impact period in terms of hypergeometric function and successfully combines Deresiewicz's three segmental solutions into one single solution. Our numerical investigation confirms that Deresiewicz's inversion is a good approximation. As an essential part of this study, a general Maple code is provided.

We report the experiences of the bike sharing system in Ningbo, China. To analyze the impact of the system, system log data are collected for the whole month of May 2014 (with more than 1.7 million usage records), supplemented by questionnaire data from 1,856 respondents. Our results show that public bike usage follows the same pattern as road traffic, with morning and evening peaks on week days. In terms of mode substitution, 16% of public bike trips would have been made by private cars. In average, each public bike is used 3.7 times per day, with each trip lasting around 23 minutes and covering around 3.5 kilometre. This translates into a reduction of car travel by more than 11 million kilometre per year, a significant contribution to the sustainability of urban transport in Ningbo.

Introduction: Pharmaceutical products are inevitable for human health. Owing to the growing need for pharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical companies introduce drugs annually into the market in addition to the extensive collection of existing pharmaceutical products. Households, farms, health facilities, and pharmaceutical industries release pharmaceutical waste into the environment at low concentrations through routine pharmaceutical use, damage, and expiry. The effects of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) on non-target species in the environment are not known. Over the years, pharmaceuticals such as diclofenac and ibuprofen in trace amounts have been detected in public water systems, ground and surface water. Unwanted medicines should be safely disposed of at a reduced financial cost to mitigate the public and environmental health risks. Lack of general knowledge of how to dispose of unused pharmaceuticals leads to improper disposal resulting in accidental toxicity, rising healthcare costs, landfills pilfering/scavenging, water supply pollution, anti-microbial resistance, and death. To mitigate such effects, pharmacists should raise public awareness about safe disposal practices. Objective: This review aims to examine the sources of pharmaceutical waste, disposal costs, secure disposal methods, the effects of inappropriate disposal, and the role of pharmacists in the disposal. Method: The information on the stated objectives was gathered from available sources through a comprehensive literature review. Conclusion: Many countries contain tons of pharmaceutical waste that are expensive to destroy. Because of improper disposal, pharmaceutical waste has been found at trace amounts in drinking and surface water. A practical, environmentally sustainable approach to pharmaceutical waste management, with policies and guidelines, and public awareness campaigns, are necessary to address the problem of safe waste disposal. The national drug regulatory bodies should conduct environmental risk assessment resulting from the disposal of unwanted pharmaceuticals. Pharmacists should facilitate extensive training on sustainable drug use and proper pharmaceutical waste disposal at all levels to reduce the risks associated with improper disposal. Reduction of pharmaceutical waste generation at each step of a drug’s lifecycle, implementing takeback options, collection at approved sites, and modern technology to treat wastewater are highly recommended to reduce the effects of unwanted pharmaceuticals on human health and the environment.

Although child-centred care is increasingly referred to within the nursing literature, a clear definition of child-centred care and clarity around the concept is yet to be achieved. The objectives of this review were to examine: 1) What constitutes the concept of child-centred care in healthcare? 2) How has the concept of child-centred care developed? 3) What is the applicability of child-centred care and what are its limitations? and 4) How does the concept of child-centred care benefit and inform children’s healthcare? In total, 2984 papers were imported for screening, following removal of duplicates and screening, 21 papers were included in the scoping review.The findings suggest that child-centred care is an emerging, ambiguous, poorly defined concept; no clear consensus exists about what constitutes child-centred care. Although it seems antithetical to argue against child-centred care, little robust evidence was identified that demonstrates the impact of, and benefit from, child-centred care. If child-centred care is to be a sustainable, convincing model to guide practice and compete with other models of care it needs to establish robust evidence of its effectiveness, impact on children and their families as well as the wider impacts on the healthcare system.

In this research, we investigate the healthcare expenditure patterns in Uzbekistan, analyze their economic implications, and provide policy recommendations. The study focuses on the time frame from 2000 to 2019, employing quantitative data analysis, theoretical frameworks such as Wagner’s Law, and an economic geography perspective. Our objective is to gain insights into the relationship between economic development and healthcare spending, identify spatial disparities, and forecast future trends. The findings reveal fluctuations in per capita healthcare spending, emphasizing the necessity for sustainable financing mechanisms and preventive measures. Ultimately, our study underscores the significance of aligning healthcare expenditure decisions with economic objectives while prioritizing the well-being of the population.

One of the main drivers behind the urbanization process is attributed to economic fundamentals of urban growth, which boost migration from rural to urban context. This migration can be studied geographically, with increasing rates of population as the main component in developing countries, over Asia and Africa, specifically. Research has been focusing in creating models and adaptative schemes to manage and plan cities to promote sustainable development for housing large quantities of population and preserve a long-term living environment. The approach from a smart city perspective, adjusted to the rapid urbanization condition can be helpful to deal urban issues by convergence and interaction between urban agents and information technology. At academia, few works have addressed the role of Smart Cities to face the challenge of rapid urbanization. The aim of this study is to research and analyze if strategies with smart city vision can lessen environmental impacts at cases with rapid urbanization, and how can we leverage technology to promote environmental sustainability at rapid urbanization phenomena occurring at developing countries using RIAM environmental assessment method in the case of Beijing, China'.

The monitoring of river discharge is vital for the correct management of water resources. A worldwide facility used for measuring discharge are flat-V gauging weirs. These structures consist of a small weir, with a triangular cross-section and a flat “V”-shaped notch. Their extensive use is a consequence of their utility in the measurement of both low and high flow conditions. However, depending on their size, local morphology and river discharge can act as full or partial hydraulic barriers to fish migration. To give answer to this question, the present work studies fish passage performance over flat-V weirs considering their hydraulic performance. For this, radio-tracking and video monitoring observations were combined with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models in two flat-V weirs, using Iberian barbel (Luciobarbus bocagei) as target species. Results show that fish passage is conditioned by both hydraulic and behavioral processes, providing evidences about the scenarios where flat-V weirs may act as full or partial barriers to upstream movements. For the studied flat-V weirs, a discharge range of 0.27-8 m3/s, with a water drop difference between upstream and downstream water levels lower than 0.7 m and a depth downstream the weir higher than 0.30 m can be considered as an effective passage situation for barbels. These findings are of interest to quantify flat-V weir impacts, for engineering applications and to establish managing or retrofitting actions when required.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 poses a devastating threat to human society in terms of health, economy and lifestyle. Establishing accurate and real-time models to predict and assess the impact of the epidemic on the economy is instructive. We have designed a new model to quantitatively assess the impact of the COVID-19 on the economy of China’s mainland. The nominal GDP in the Q1 of 2020 that we predicted for China’s mainland with the Baidu Mi-gration Data is RMB 20,785.7 billion, which is less by 3.59% than that in 2019. The estimated val-ue is confirmed roughly by the official report released in April 17, 2020 (RMB 20,650 billion, 6.8% year-on-year declined). Strict control measures during the epidemic have greatly reduced Chi-na's economic activity and had a serious impact on the country's economy. Orderly promotion of population mobility plays a decisive role in economic recovery.

ackground: The swift assimilation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) across multiple industries is altering the worldwide economic terrain. Unprecedented opportunities and difficulties are brought about by this revolutionary technology, which has an impact on innovation, trade, labor markets, and security. Objective: The goal of this study is to thoroughly investigate the economic effects of AI by exploring how it may affect labor markets, innovation, trade internationally, and security. The goal is to offer insights that support strategic decision-making and policy formation by examining current trends, opportunities, and difficulties. Results: The research highlights the dual character of artificial intelligence's influence, highlighting both its potential to spur economic expansion and its drawbacks, including the loss of jobs, a lack of standards, and security issues. The study highlights how crucial cooperation is to overcoming these obstacles and realizing AI's full potential. Conclusion: The balancing opportunities and risks becomes critical as AI continues to change the economic landscape. The report promotes proactive steps including ethical AI design guidelines, ongoing worker retraining, and flexible regulatory strategies. As we shape an AI future that puts inclusion, creativity, and responsible governance first, collaboration emerges as a key theme.

Although the similarity laws were widely used in impact fields, the scaling relations of anisotropic elastic structures often were broken when the geometric distortion (not equal scaling in different spatial directions) and the material distortion (different materials used for scaled model and full-size prototype) were considered. To overcome the difficulty of geometric and material distortion, a directional framework of similarity laws, termed as oriented-density-length-velocity (ODLV) system, is proposed for the anisotropic elastic structure under impact loads. Different from previous similarity law systems using scalar dimensional analysis, the directional similarity law framework mainly considers spatial anisotropy for structural geometry and material parameters. Based on the oriented dimensional analysis and the orthotropic Hooke's law, directional dimensionless numbers and directional scaling relations with geometric power properties for the elastic modulus and the Poisson's ratio are presented systematically. By selecting the dominant material parameters controlling similarity, three important scaling techniques with correction of geometric width and thickness are proposed to compensate for the difficulty of distortion. A clamped square plate with different anisotropic and isotropic elastic materials subjected to dynamic pressure pulse is verified numerically and discussed in detail. The results show that the thin square plate prototype must be scaled to be the thinner/thicker rectangular plate, and the components of displacement, stress and strain between scaled model and full-scale prototype behave good consistency in both spatial and temporal fields.

The objectives of the research are to investigate the characteristics of the board of directors on the financial performance of the enterprise. Using a sample data from 52 construction and real estate enterprises listed on Vietnam stock exchange in the period 2006-2020. Using typical regression methods such as pooled OLS, FEM, REM and assessing the defects of the research model, the FGLS method is selected. At the same time, due to the existence of endogenous phenomena and the nature of interdependence among enterprises in Vietnam, research using the instrumental variables two-step generalized method of moments (IV-GMM) in order to correct for cross-sectional dependence, autocorrelation, endogeneity, and heteroskedasticity in the analysis. Research results suggest that board size, female board members, meeting frequency, and board members' education have a positive influence on financial performance. Moreover, the independence of the Board of Directors increases, the business efficiency decreases. The research also found a positive relationship of tangible fixed assets, and a negative relationship between capital structure choice, firm size and corporate financial performance.

Bedbug (Cimex spp.) are a nuisance public-health pest that is on the rise globally, particularly in crowded cities such as Hong Kong. To investigate the health impacts of bedbug infestations among bedbug victims, online surveys were distributed in Hong Kong between June 2019 to July 2020. Data on sociodemographics, self-rated health, average hours of sleep per day, and details of bedbug infestation were collected. Bivariate and multivariable analysis were performed using logistic regression. The survey identified 422 bedbug victims; among them, 223 (52.9%) experienced ≥5 bites in the past month, most bites occurred on the arms (n=202, 47.8%) and legs (n=215, 51%), and the most common reaction to bites were itchiness (n=322, 76.3%), redness, and swelling of the skin (n=246, 58.1%), and difficulties sleeping or restlessness (n=125, 29.6%). Bites usually occurred during sleep (n=230, 54.5%). For impact on daily life in the past month, most bedbug victims reported moderate to severe impact on mental and emotional health (n=223, 52.8%) and sleeping quality (n=239, 56.6%). Lower self-rated health (aOR&lt;1) was independently associated with impact to physical appearance (p=0.008), spending money on medication or doctor consultation (p=0.04), number of bites in the past month (p=0.023), and irregular time of bites (p=0.003). Lower average hours of sleep per day (aOR&lt;1) was independently associated with impact on mental and emotional health (p=0.016). This study brings attention to the neglected issue of bedbug infestation by considering bedbugs as an infectious agent instead of a vector and providing empirical evidence describing its health impacts.

Background and Research Highlights: Despite all the concerns and initiatives, natural resources like forests, as well as biodiversity are decreasing at an alarming rate worldwide. Conservation is considered as one of the major tools to prevent such loss and rapid degradation. Evidence around the world shows the adverse effects of conservation laws and policies on indigenous peoples and other local communities. Objectives: This study was conducted in one of the forest-dependent communities situated in Sundarban (world’s largest mangrove forest) to understand the impact of conservation laws and policies on their livelihood. Materials and Methods: A qualitative methodology was designed to collect data, using focus group discussions and case study with community people, and individual interviews with the personnel from NGOs and relevant government departments. Findings: Strict conservation policies and restrictions in accessing forest resources made lives and livelihoods of the local community insecure and unstable, thus putting the community in a vulnerable situation. The had to leave their traditional mode of income and look for alternative livelihood options. Almost no evidence was found in relation to upkeeping their rights in conservation activities. Prohibited movement, provision of punishment for entering into the forest without proper permission and struggles in everyday life were some of the highlighted issues. They had no participation in conservation activities, management of alternative livelihood options, and even they were not sensitized before putting restrictions. Although they had a history of emotional and physical attachment with the forest, existing activities did not consider these issues. In addition, corruption and abuse of power by law enforcement agencies towards the local community intensified the sufferings. Conclusion: This study argues that the realization of human rights in conservation activities and the sensitization of the implementing stakeholders are prerequisites for ensuring the sustainability of both biodiversity and the affected people.

Globalized in 1995 through the TRIPs Agreement, humanity’s dominant mechanism for encouraging innovations involves 20-year product patents, whose monopoly features enable innovators to reap large markups or licensing fees from early users. Exclusive reliance on this reward mechanism in the pharmaceutical sector is morally problematic for two main reasons. First, it imposes a great burden on poor people who cannot afford to buy patented treatments at monopoly prices and whose specific health problems are therefore neglected by pharmacological research. Second, it discourages pharmaceutical firms from fighting diseases at the population level with the aim of slashing their incidence. These problems can be much alleviated by establishing a supplementary alternative reward mechanism that would enable pharmaceutical innovators to exchange their monopoly privileges on a patented product for impact rewards based on the actual health gains achieved with this product. Such an international Health Impact Fund (HIF) would create powerful new incentives to develop remedies against diseases concentrated among the poor, rapidly to provide such remedies with ample care at very low prices, and to deploy them strategically to contain, suppress, and ideally to eradicate the target disease. By promoting innovations and their diffusion together, the HIF would greatly enlarge the benefits, and thereby also the cost-effectiveness, of the pharmaceutical sector, in favor of the world’s poor especially.

In our study we used the data set on morphimetric traits in beetles species. It has been constantly replenishing for 20 years by the samples, received from different regions of Russia and abroad. In this case we have selected data on nine species for which the left and right sides had been measured and fluctuating asymmetry (FA) could be estimated. The samples were from 6 provinces of Russia and Belarus, which ranged in 3 degrees in latitude and 57 degrees in longitude and included more than 150 plots in different types of biotopes. FA was assessed according to the standard method in 5265 specimen in one dimensional trait and one - meristic. ANOVA showed that biotope, species and their interaction affected FA in both traits, that is different species reacted differently to biotope type. In uncommon biotopes (according to accepted in carabidology classification) FA was increased. In forest species the negative relationship between FA in dimensional and meristic traits in the range in biotopes was revealed. In those species only FA values were higher in males than in females. In generalist species FA varieв similarly in both sexes and in both traits being the highest in open biotopes. In eudomonant of arable lands biotopes – Poecilus cupreus – the highest values of FA were recorded in the meadows, being about equal in all types of crops.

The combination of increased pressures for high-volume, high-impact publications in English language with the high rejection rates of submitted manuscripts for publications presents an often unsurpassable obstacle for (early career) researchers. At the same, the register requirements of peer-reviewed journals -that can contribute to whether a paper is accepted for publication- has received little attention. This paper redresses this gap, by investigating the linguistic choices in 60 published manuscripts in four journals, with impact factor (IF) above 2; all 4 journals, publish original research papers in the field of chemical engineering science and specifically focus on wastewater treatment. Our survey shows that chemical engineering research publications tend to comply to a set of unwritten requirements: multidisciplinarity, brevity, co-authorship, focus on the description of practical results (rather than methods), and awareness of non-specialised audiences. It is found that less discipline-specific vocabulary was used in higher IF journals and this is interpreted within the current context of manuscript publication and consumption. Also, a complex relationship between the advertised scope of each journal and the actual published papers exists, indicating that guide for authors and aims and objective published by the journal's editorial office should be critically evaluated.

In 2011, commercial aviation contributed approximately 3.5% of global anthropogenic climate change through the emission of greenhouse gases during flight and operational non-CO2 climate effects. Over the last few years, numerous aviation-related organisations have set goals to reduce aviation’s climate impact. These goals, however, lack alignment, are poorly or ambiguously defined, or are internally inconsistent. This increases uncertainty about what aviation should work towards, how various stakeholders can contribute, and introduces problems with respect to accountability. In order to address this issue, this paper presents a comprehensive definition of a climate neutral air transport system as an “air transport system of which the climate effects of all its greenhouse gases and non-carbon dioxide effects throughout the entire life-cycle of each element of the system is balanced”. The proposed definition spans relevant system and encompasses all life cycle phases. To achieve a climate neutral air transport system by 2050, all life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions and non-CO2 climate effects remaining after in-sector reduction should be neutralised, as should all remaining non-CO2 climate forcing from emissions prior to 2050. Clarity on governance is furthermore needed, as the goal and associated targets proposed should be adopted globally.

Nicaragua is preparing the construction of an interoceanic canal that will be the longest and largest canal on earth. An environmental and social impact assessment has been published in 2014 supporting a general viability of the canal. Nonetheless, several scientist and societal actors raised serious concerns regarding the social, economic and ecological sustainability. Despite an open dispute within the Nicaraguan society, no independent, transparent and scientifically sound assessment has been carried out. Only the environmental and social impact assessment, charged by the canal constructor, has so far been realized. The aim of this study is to contribute to an open scientific debate through an objective and independent quantification of land use and hydrological impacts. This article presents a transparently documented and comprehensible impact assessment investigation of the West Canal Segment of the Nicaragua Canal. Based on publically available data and scientifically sound and recognized methods land use, hydrological (water availability) and socio-economic impacts (streets, population) are described, quantified and compared with official declarations in the impact assessment. While some results support official declarations other do not. The number of affected population and the water use of the Brito Lock resulted much higher in this study, for instance. Hence, society and water availability could be affected much higher than estimated in the impact assessment.

Amidst escalating environmental concerns, short natural fiber thermoplastic (SNFT) biocomposites have emerged as sustainable materials for the eco-friendly production of mechanical components. However, their limited durability has prompted research into the experimental evaluation of the deterioration of the mechanical characteristics of SNFT biocomposites, particularly under the influence of ultraviolet rays. However, conducting tests to evaluate the mechanical properties can be time-consuming and expensive. In this study, an artificial neural network (ANN) model was employed to predict the mechanical properties (tensile strength) and the impact performance (resistance and absorbed energy) of polypropylene reinforced with 30 wt.% short flax or wood pine fibers (referred to as PP30-F or PP30-P, respectively). Eight parameters were collected from experimental studies. The ANN input parameters comprised nondestructive test results, including mass, hardness, roughness, and natural frequencies, while the output parameters were the tensile strength, the maximum impact load and absorbed energy. The model was developed using the ANN toolbox in MATLAB. The linear coefficient of correlation and mean squared error were selected as the metrics for evaluating the performance function and accuracy of the ANN model. They calculate the relationship and the average squared difference between the predicted and actual values. The data analysis conducted by the models demonstrated exceptional predictive capability, achieving an accuracy rate exceeding 96%, which was deemed satisfactory. For both the PP30-F and PP30-P biocomposites, the ANN predictions deviated from the experimental data by 3, 5, and 6% about the impact load, absorbed energy, and tensile strength, respectively.

In Ghana, about 73% of households rely on solid fuels for cooking. Over 13,000 annual deaths are attributed to exposure to indoor air pollution from inefficient combustion. In this study, assessment of thermal efficiency, emissions and total global warming impact of three cookstoves commonly used in Ghana was completed using IWA water boiling test (WBT) protocol. Statistical averages of three replicate tests for each cookstove were computed. Thermal efficiency results were: wood-burning cookstove 12.2% (Tier 0), traditional charcoal cookstove 23.3% (Tier 1-2) and improved charcoal cookstove 30% (Tier 2-3). The wood-burning cookstove emitted more CO, CO2 and PM2.5 than charcoal cookstove (coalpot) and improved cookstove. Emission factor for PM2.5 and emission rate for the wood-burning cookstove (Tier 0) were over four times higher than the traditional charcoal cookstove (Tier 3) and improved cookstove (Tier 2). On the basis of WBT, annual global warming impact potential for emissions are estimated at 4 tonnes of CO2e for the wood-burning cookstove, 1.5 tonnes of CO2e for charcoal cookstove (coalpot) and 1 tonne of CO2e for improved cookstove. We conclude that there is the need for awareness, policy and incentives to enable end-users switch to improved cookstoves for increased efficiency, reduced emissions/global warming impact.

Mass mortality events and anthropogenic impacts were increasingly documented affecting Paramuricea clavata (Risso, 1826) during the last decades. These impacts enhance the settling of epibiontic organisms on the injured colonies. The epibiosis was studied by photographic sampling carried out on the granitic outcrops of the Tavolara Channel within the Tavolara-Punta Coda Cavallo Marine Protected Area (NE Sardinia) between 2017-2023 at 35-55 m. The number of colonies and percent surface involved in epibiosis, the specific richness of the epibiontic community and the temporal evolution of the phenomenon were investigated. Almost all the investigated gorgonians (93%) showed parts involved in epibiosis, with a high percentage of covering (one-third of the surface). Out of the 37 epibiontic species recorded, the most recurrent described an ecological succession dominated by hydrozoans, sponges, bryozoans, serpulids and the parasitic soft coral Alcyomiun coralloides. Nevertheless, single colonies studied through time revealed the unpredictability of the colonization process. The peculiar habitat of a high naturalistic value of the granitic outcrops hosting the P. clavata forests demonstrates a widespread suffering condition, supported both by environmental and anthropogenic sources of stress. Such considerations make it necessary to review the current zonation of the area, where the actual vulnerability and usability evaluations are based on obsolete information.

Introduction In 2016 the European Union setup its first structured food provision program to combat food insecurity. We aimed to measure the program’s capacity in assisting its beneficiaries to achieve a healthy diet and measure their satisfaction. Methods A computational study was carried out to calculate daily food provision per person under the program for January 2016-December 2017. A cross sectional survey in 3942 beneficiaries took place in December 2017-June 2018 collecting anthropometric, sociodemographic and program satisfaction data. Descriptive statistics were performed and reported as relatively frequencies, mean ± standard deviation. Results Dairy, fresh meat, legumes, sugar, olive oil and tomato concentrate were the most commonly procured items. The program’s contribution to vegetable, dairy and cereal intake was the lowest (3.4%, 6.1%, 6.0% respectively) as opposed to free sugars (12.2%) and oils (24.5%). The program’s algorithm favors greatly (almost 3-fold) single person applications compared to 4+ persons applications. The monetary value was estimated at 21.23±23.4 euros/food provision, however 64.4% of beneficiaries reported a high positive impact on the household budget. 50.7% and 41.6% reported high positive impact on feelings of anxiety and security, respectively. ~70% of the beneficiaries were highly satisfied with the foods provided, with lower scores for quality and shelf-life (50.7% and 58.8% high respectively). Conclusions The program is met by high beneficiary satisfaction and is perceived as a substantial assistance. Increases in the amounts and variety of foods delivered, with a focus on fruit, vegetables and fish should be considered, to further improve the program’s dietary impact.

This paper focused on impact localization of composite structures, which possess more complexity in the guided wave propagation because of the anisotropic behavior of composite materials. In this work, a composite plate was manufactured by using a compression molding process with proper pressure and temperature cycle. Eight layers of woven composite prepreg were used to manufacture the composite plate. A structural health monitoring (SHM) technique is implemented with piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) to detect and localize the impact on the plate. There are two types of impact event are considered in this paper (a) low energy impact event (b) high energy impact event. Two clusters of sensors recorded the guided acoustic waves generated from the impact. The acoustic signals are then analyzed using a wavelet transform based time-frequency analysis. The proposed SHM technique successfully detect and localize the impact event on the plate. The experimentally measured impact locations are compared with the actual impact locations. An immersion ultrasonic scanning method was used to visualize the composite plate before and after the impact event. A high frequency 10 MHz 1-inch focused transducer was used to scan the plate in the immersion tank. Scanning results show that there is no visible manufacturing damage in the composite plate. However, clear impact damage was observed after the high-energy impact event.

External impact on the development of fluvial systems is generally exerted by changes in sea level, climate and tectonic movements. In this study it is shown that regional to local differentiation of fluvial response may be caused by semi-direct effects of climate change and tectonic movement, as for instance vegetation cover, frozen soil, snow cover and longitudinal gradient. Such semi-direct effects may be responsible for specific fluvial activity resulting in proper drainage patterns, sedimentation series and erosion-accumulation rates. These conclusions are exemplified by the study of the Tis(z)a catchment in the Pannonian Basin in Hungary and Serbia from the middle of the last glacial to the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. Previous investigations in that catchment are supplemented here by new geomorphological-sedimentological data and OSL-dating. Specific characteristics of this catchment in comparison with other regions are the preponderance of meandering systems during the last glacial and the presence of very large meanders in given time intervals.

Outer particles collision with certain dynamic object is not a pure impact wear behavior; it is typically accompanied by sliding wear phenomena. This study aimed investigating the impact-sliding wear performance of three different TC17 titanium alloys. One was untreated, and the other two were subjected to laser shock peening (LSP) by 5 and 7 J pulse energy, respectively. Wear test was performed on a novel impact-sliding wear testing rig, which can realize multiple impact-sliding motions by changing motion parameters in x and z directions. Present results showed that wear resistance of both treated samples improved compared with the untreated alloy. Given the increase in wear cycles, increment in wear rate of the untreated sample was constantly higher than those of treated samples. All results can be attributed to the increase in surface hardness of the material and residual compressive stress, which was also introduced after LSP.

Green infrastructure systems are often overdesigned. This may be a byproduct of static sizing (e.g., accounting for a design storm’s runoff volume but not exfiltration rates) or may be deliberate (e.g., buffering against performance loss through time). Regardless, overdesign may compromise plants’ access to water in systems where soil pits are embedded in infiltration beds. It could raise the storm size required for water to reach soil pits, reducing water availability between storms, which could ultimately induce plant physiological stress. This study investigated the hydrological dynamics and water relations of a tree trench system suspected to have been overbuilt and identified factors contributing to, compounding, and mitigating the risk of plant stress. Results provided strong evidence that the abovementioned processes played out. Water in the infiltration bed reached soil pits only once in three years, with that event occurring during a hydrant release. Moreover, minimal water was retained in the soil pit during the event due to the hydraulic properties of the soil media. Through a growing season, one of the two tree types frequently experienced water stress, while the other did so only rarely. These contrasting responses can likely be attributed to roots either being largely confined to the soil pits or reaching a deeper water source. Implications of these results for green infrastructure design are considered.

The article's purpose is a citation analysis of the impact of scientific publications by authors of different gender compositions. The PageRank method was chosen to calculate the citation impact of scientific publications, and the citation has also estimated the impact of scientific publications based on the number of citations. The normalized citation impact of scientific publications is calculated according to nine subsets of scientific publications that correspond to patterns of different gender compositions of authors. Also, these estimates were calculated for each country with which the authors of the publications are affiliated. The Citation database was chosen for the scientometric analysis Network Dataset ( ver . 13). The dataset includes more than 5 million scientific publications and 48 million citations. The main subject areas of scientific publications in this database are computer science, artificial intelligence, mathematics, engineering, etc. The results indicate that articles with a predominantly male composition are cited more than articles with a mixed or female composition of authors in this direction. Analysis of advantages in dynamics indicates that in the last decade for developed countries, there has been a decrease in the connection between the citation impact of scientific publications and the gender composition of their authors. However, the obtained results still confirm the presence of gender inequality in science, which may be related to socioeconomic and cultural characteristics, natural homophily, and other factors that contribute to the appearance of gender gaps. An essential consequence of overcoming these gaps, including in science, is ensuring the rights of people in all their diversity.

When different strain hardening and strain rate sensitive materials are used for scaled model and prototype, the traditional pure geometrical similarity laws of solid mechanics will fail. Although correcting the basic scaling factors of velocity, density and geometry have been developed to compensate for the material distortion in recent non-geometric scaling works, it is difficult to be widely used because of its inherent indirect (depending on the structural strain and strain rate responses) and inexact (having significant prediction errors for prototype) defects. In this paper, a framework of material similarity, based on the new suggested material dimensionless numbers and the ‘Material number vs. strain/strain-rate’ function curves, are further developed, which represents the objective requirement of similarity theory for the basic mechanical properties of materials. It is demonstrated what is similitude materials of solid mechanics and how to use the best similitude materials to overcome the non-scalabilities of materials for identical or different materials. The direct and exact solution of the basic correction factors is further obtained and therefore overcomes the previous inherent indirect and inexact defects radically. Based on the similarity evaluation of different materials of the classical constitutive models, the impacted structures of circular plate and crooked plate with strain hardening and strain rate sensitive materials are verified numerically. The results show the completely different materials can be exact similitude for various structural behaviors (strain, strain rate, stress and displacement) of time and space fields after using the best similitude materials; and the basic correction factors do not depend on the structural strain and strain rate responses. As a contrast, when the non-similitude materials are used, the similarity results are very sensitive to the selection of strain/strain-rate and often leads to failed predictions. In addition, for the material elastic and temperature effects, the proposed method is also discussed to be valid.

Certain services can help avoid environmental impact in larger contexts. However, there is no commonly agreed bottom-up methodology for calculation of the total net reduction effect of specific digital services. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a common denominator for most methodologies. The most common method is the Attributional LCA (ALCA), and recently the emerging handprint ALCA estimating so-called positive environmental impacts. Moreover, Consequential LCA (CLCA) can be used to capture market effects. The third conceptual approach is Input-Output LCA. The purpose is to propose and test a new method based on some of the existing ones. The existing concepts are compared and a synthesis is made to create a practical but still useful method. The new method is applied to two illustrative cases in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) domain; the introduction of a 5G enabled drone for pipe inspection and the 5G enabled health consultation. Compared to simplified ALCA, the difference between the absolute score for the baseline system and the target system changes up to 15% when the proposed simplified CLCA (SCLCA) method is used. The results show that SCLCA, when combined with analytical methods for expressing digital ICT services’ own impact, is a fruitful approach which is both practical and feasible.

Despite laws and directives for the regulation and restriction of pesticide in farming, the large use of Plant Protection Products (PPPs) in paddy fields is a relevant worldwide cause of contamination of the environment. The aim of this work is to evaluate the environmental impact due to the use of PPPs by using an integrated approach based on chemical analyses and ecotoxicological hazard assessment, supported by statistical tools, in order to overcome the issues related to the traditional tabular evaluation. Samples of soil and water of seven conventional and organic paddies located in Northern Italy have been examined for two years by extensive chemical and ecotoxicological analyses. The results evidenced a direct relationship between the presence of Oxadiazon in water and bioassays responses as the main cause of the toxicity measured. This phenomenon affected both biological and conventional rice fields, due to the free circulation of water through irrigation canals. Therefore, the implementation of organic districts with a water circulation isolated from conventional fields represents a simple and effective countermeasure to safeguard the agricultural practices of organic crops.

In this study we mimic the unique, transparent protective carapace (shell) of myodocopid ostracods, through which their compound eyes see, to demonstrate that the carapace ultrastructure also provides functions of strength and protection for a relatively thin structure. The bulk ultrastructure of the transparent window in the carapace of the relatively large, pelagic cypridinid (Myodocopida) Macrocypridina castanea was mimicked using thin film deposition of dielectric materials to create a transparent, 15 bi-layer material. This biomimetic material was subjected to the natural forces withstood by the ostracod carapace in situ, including scratching by captured prey and strikes by water-borne particles. The biomimetic material was then tested in terms of its extrinsic (hardness value) and intrinsic (elastic modulus) response to indentation along with its scratch resistance. The performance of the biomimetic material was compared with that of a commonly used, anti-scratch resistant lens and polycarbonate that is typically used in the field of transparent armoury. The biomimetic material showed the best scratch resistant performance, and significantly greater hardness and elastic modulus values. The ability of biomimetic material to revert back to its original form (post loading), along with its scratch resistant qualities, offers potential for a biomimetic eye protection coating that could enhance material currently in use.

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 changed the way we interact and engage in commerce at a fundamental level. Social distancing and stay-at-home orders leave businesses and cities wondering what economic activity will look like in the future. Given a likely reduction in face-to-face interactions, it is important to better understand how social interactivity influences economic outcomes. Here we measure the effect of social interactions in the workforce on patent production and economic efficiency. We decompose U.S. occupations into individual work activities, determine which of those activities are associated with face-to-face interactions, and reaggregate the labor force of each U.S. metropolitan statistical area (MSA) into a metric of social interactiveness. We then calculate each MSA’s density of social work activities and find that this measure is more highly correlated with an MSA’s per capita patent production than simple population density. This suggests that density of face-to-face interactions is the important driver of a city’s rate of invention. We close by exploring analogies between the development of cities and the development of stars, suggesting ways these analogies may help frame future research on cities.

Affective prosody is an indispensable cognitive cue that moderates social activities, and has become a prevailing research topic in psychology-related disciplines. The present study conducts the first bibliometrics-based visualization analysis concerning affective prosody to evaluate the influential cases, including countries/regions, institutions, publication venues, academic articles, and disciplinary contributions, and the diachronic changes of publication trends and research hotspots. With the combination of statistical results and a qualitative literature inspection, limitations of extant studies and promising research directions were also proposed. The present study extracted the bibliographic data of 1,624 articles retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection, which were published over the past 25 years (1997-2021). Statistical results revealed four leading powers (the U.S., Germany, England, and Canada) and four emerging fronts (China, France, Netherlands, and Switzerland), and identified three primary research themes in this field, including clinical implication, measurable index, and modality-specific issues. Literature inspection demonstrated current limitations in individual characteristics control and experiment-related influential factors, and proposed two prosperous research directions. Findings of the present study could facilitate academic retrieval of affective prosody research, help concerned researchers identify thematic hotspots and seek appropriate collaboration, and provide convenience for research policy and management in this field.

Structural vibration induced by dynamic load or natural vibration is a nonnegligible factor in failure analysis. Based on vibrating boundary condition, impact resistance of shape memory alloy reinforced composites is investigated. In this investigation, modified Hashin’s failure criterion, Brinson’s model and visco-hyperelastic model are implemented into the numerical model to charactering the mechanical behavior of glass fiber/epoxy resin laminates, SMAs and interphase, respectively. First, fixed boundary condition is maintained in simulation to verify the accuracy of material parameters and procedures by comparing with experimental data. Then, a series of vibrating boundaries with different frequencies and amplitudes are applied during the simulation process to reveals the effect on impact resistances. The statistics of absorbed energy and contact force indicate that impact resistance of the composite under high frequency and large amplitude is lower than that under low frequency and small amplitude, and summarized by a mathematical expression.

Purpose To analyse diagnostic and therapeutic impact of molecular imaging TNM (miTNM) stage obtained with 18F-DCFPyL versus 18F-Fluorocholine in head to head comparison in biochemical recurrence (BCR) prostate cancer (PCa). Material and methods Patients with BCR PCa after radical treatment with previous 18F-Fluorocholine-PET/CT (negative or oligometastatic disease) were derived to 18F-DCFPyL-PET/CT. Patients were classified attending to: grade group, EAU classification, PSA, PSA doubling time (PSAdt) and PSA velocity (PSAvel). The overall detection rate (DR) and miTNM stage according to PROMISE criteria were assessed for both radiotracers and also correlation (Kappa). The influence of PSA and kinetics on both PET/CT (DR and miTNM) and predictive value of unfavourable kinetics on miTNM were determined. Cut-off PSA, PSAdt and PSAvel values able to predict PET/CT results were determined. Change in miTNM and treatment derived of 18F-DCFPyL information with respect to 18F-Fluorocholine was also evaluated. Results We studied 138 patients. 18F-DCFPyL showed a higher DR than 18F-Fluorocholine (64.5% vs 33.3%). 18F-DCFPyL and 18F-Fluorocholine detected T in 33.3% versus 19.6%, N in 27.5% versus 13.8%, M in 30.4% versus 8.7%. Both tracers DR showed significant associations with PSA and PSAvel. Significant association was only found between miTNM and PSA on 18F-Fluorocholine-PET/CT (p=0.033). For 18F-Fluorocholine and 18F-DCFPyL PET/CT a PSAdt cut-off of 4.09 and 5.59 months, respectively, were able to predict M stage. 18F-DCFPyL changed therapeutic management in 40/138 patients. Conclusion 18F-DCFPyL provides a higher DR and superior miTNM staging than 18F-Fluorocholine in restaging BCR, especially with high PSA and unfavourable PSA kinetics, showing a fair agreement to 18F-Fluorocholine.

In some cases, the human impact on ancient landscapes has been so profound that local soils still remain significantly affected even after hundreds and thousands of years after ending impact. We studied the Late Bronze Age Muradymovo settlement located in Urals, Russia, aiming to estimate the consequences of the ancient people activity for environment. Despite the present humid climate, the modern soils inside the cultural layer of the study site contain more than 27% of gypsum at a depth of just 10 cm from the surface, and a microrelief of the study site is typical of a gypsum desert. The nearby background Chernozems are gypsum-free to a depth of 2 meters. According to the archaeological data, the ancient people belonged to the ‘Srubno-Alakul’ archaeological culture (1750–1350 yrs BC cal) and had a tradition of building their houses from gypsum rocks. At the present time, this area is still unsuitable for human settlement. The properties of modern soils inside the cultural layer of the study site are directly affected by the Late Bronze Age human activities. It has been identified on soil morphology, micromorphology and chemical properties of soils developed inside the cultural layer of the settlement.