Access to medicines is one of the essential problems in Public Health of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The World Health Organization (WHO) defines access to medicines as the possibility of "having continuously accessible and affordable medicines in public or private health facilities that are within a kilometer of the place of residence." Access to medicines, as defined by the WHO, is not fully guaranteed in many LMICs and even in many regions of high-resource countries. The WHO identifies several factors as determinants of limitations in the access to medicines: rational selection, affordable prices, sustainable financing, and reliable health services. The action on these factors makes it possible to improve universal access to medicines with consequent improvement in Public Health. Adequate access to antibiotics and vaccination will avoid a large part of the deaths caused by infectious diseases in the LMICs. However, the emergence of resistance and the difficulties in vaccination campaigns due to socio-political or cultural problems make it challenging to fight many easily treatable infectious diseases. The use and abuse of antibiotics are inevitably associated with the appearance of resistances that make them ineffective. Thus, whereas limited access to antibiotics raises mortality rates from infectious diseases, generalized open access to them ends up eliminating their clinical value. Moreover, the contraction of research in this field for many years has reduced the success in discovering new drugs. Additionally, local market regulations, inadequate selection, inaccessible prices, especially for those of second and third-generation, inefficient health systems, and difficulties of administration and control of prescription compliance, especially in the case of combined therapies, are additional obstacles to universal access to antibiotics. In order to simultaneously improve access to antibiotics and keep resistances under control, it is necessary to develop training and education activities at different social levels (from patients to various Health Care Providers) to complement the national or supranational strategic plans.

During public health events, Active Mobility (walking and cycling) plays an important role in securing residents' travel. To enhance the resilience of urban transportation, this article integrates the travel environment elements for walking and cycling and constructs a travel environment for Active Mobility evaluation index system. This article uses survey data from the main urban area of Harbin in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2022, and combines the Gradient Boosting Decision Tree (GBDT) and Impact-Asymmetry Analysis (IAA) methods to analyze the satisfaction of the travel environment for Active Mobility. It proposes strategies for optimizing the travel environment for Active Mobility, ensuring residents' travel during public health events, guiding them to adopt Active Mobility, and improving urban transportation resilience. This research shows that Active Mobility can enhance urban transportation resilience. In addition, there are differences in resident demand for walking and cycling environments in the travel environment for Active Mobility. Residents are more concerned about the comfort of the walking environment, while they prioritize the convenience of the cycling environment.

We are experiencing an unprecedented urbanization process that alongside with physical, social and economic developments is having a significant impact on population’s health. Due to higher apprehensions of pollution, violence and poverty, our modern cities no longer ensure a good quality of life so they become unhealthy environments. This study aims to measure the socio-environmental and hematologic profile of residents of Santo André’s landfill – “Bairro Espírito Santo” by using the contextualization of the studied area. The research method is Observational type and from Retrospective cohort and by convenience sampling in Santo André in the Greater ABC region. The study determined a socio environmental profile and the hematologic diseases screening related to a close location to the landfill. The disease manifests itself within a broad spectrum of symptoms that causes changes in blood count parameters. The full blood counts analysis was performed, indicating that the blood counts of residents living near the landfill led to positive hematological changes and diseases like Leukopenia, Anemia, Neutropenia and lymphocytosis were the most common changes. However it is considered that the proof of the relation of cause- effect to environmental exposures that may trigger chronic manifestations in humans requires specific studies that are often complicated.

Researchers, journals, and universities want to receive more citations for their scholarly publications. However, a paper citations depend on its quality, visibility and author’s online profile. Research support documents (unpublished papers, white papers, project reports, datasets, software, posters, online resources and teaching materials) can be additional source for increasing the author’s visibility. To enhance research visibility and impact, the full range of scholarly output should be available online on the open access platform. With open access platform, key research findings are made accessible immediately to the scientific community. Therefore, the publicly available research support documents may result in receiving more citations in addition to the published papers. In this paper we conducted a simplified three stages study on the benefits of research support documents publications on open access platform. We also elaborated on approaches of improving your research visibility and impact through these document.

Concurrent waves of Coronavirus disease, Ebola virus disease, avian influenza A and black fungus are jeopardizing the lives in some parts of Africa and Asia. From this point of view, this review aims to summarize both socio-economic and public health implications of these parallel outbreaks along with their best possible management approaches. Various online databases were used to collect the necessary information regarding these outbreaks. Based on the reports published and analyses done so far, the long-lasting damages caused by these simultaneous outbreaks on global socio-economical and public health status can be conceived from the past experiences of outbreaks, especially the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, prolonged restrictions by the local government may lead to food insecurity, global recession, and an enormous impact on the mental health of people of all ages, specifically in developing countries. Such overwhelming effects already have been reported to be declining national growth of the economy as well as increasing political insecurity and shortage of basic needs. Although various actions have already been taken including vaccination, clinical management, and further research, social distancing, and lockdown, etc. to improve the situation, the emerging variants and associated genetic mutations may make the containment difficult worsening the situation again. Considering the current mutational dynamics of the pathogens and the past experiences, perpetual preparedness along with updated clinical management backed by epidemiological studies and innovating scientific effort are inevitable to combat the simultaneous waves of multiple infectious diseases.

This paper presents laboratory devices on which experimental measurements were carried out to prove the validity of the assumption about the reduction of vibrations transmitted to the conveyor belt structure generated by the impact forces of falling material grains in the places of transfer or on the hoppers of conveyor belts. In order to limit damage to the conveyor belts caused by the impact of the sharp edges of material grains, conveyor belts are supported by impact rollers or impact rubber rods in the places of transfers and on the hoppers of belt conveyors. The flattened ends of the impact rollers are inserted into the grooves of steel brackets installed on the supports of the fixed conveyor idlers of a conventional design. In this paper, a special modification of the fixed conveyor idler is presented, which consists of inserting plastic brackets into the structurally modified roller axle holders of the fixed conveyor idler. Measurements were carried out on the first laboratory device, which showed that the specially modified fixed conveyor idler resulted in a higher damping of up to 15% of the impact forces of the falling weight on the rubberized hoop of the impact roller shell compared to the conventional fixed conveyor idler design. Measurements carried out on the second laboratory device show that the effective vibration velocity values detected at the points where the impact roller axis fits into the fixed roller table holder, i.e. points B and D, are higher than when using plastic brackets, up to 6% for a 108 mm diameter roller, compared to steel impact roller brackets.

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.

Quantifying different stocking rates effects in three study areas placed at Mediterranean forest (Cuenca, Spain) was conducted by applying a multiparametric soil quality index, SQI, developed in undisturbed forest soils (> 40 years). The main objective is to advance in the development and application of multiparametric indexes which allow for soil condition assessment. For it, is analyse the effectiveness of a multiparametric soil quality index (SQI) as an indicator livestock impacts on the soil in mediterranean forests. Control areas without stocking rates were compared in forest stands with different age (Thicket forest stand, < 30 years; High polewood forest stand, 30-60 years; Old growth forest stand, > 60 years); with various intensity grazing areas (permanent livestock passage: inactive sheepfold for 2-3 years, and active sheepfold; intermittent livestock passage: bare soil, pine stand, scrubland). The multiparametric soil quality index (SQI) applied sensitive to changes in forest ecosystems depending of different stocking rates. However, for even more preci-sion to assess cattle alteration, multiparameter index recalibrated, creating a new one; Soil Status Index by Livestock (SSIL). Correlation between quality ranges obtained with both indexes in dif-ferent study areas suggest that SSIL can be considered a livestock impact reference indicator in Mediterranean forest soils.

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.

When asked to estimate the carbon footprint of a bundle of relatively low carbon footprint items and relatively high carbon footprint items, people typically report a lower value compared to estimating the high carbon footprint items alone. This finding is called the negative footprint illusion and suggests people report the average rather than sum of the combined items’ carbon footprint. In a recent paper by Gorissen et al. (2024), the authors claimed that people are immune to this illusion if the question is framed differently. Specifically, they found that estimates of the environmental friendliness of a set comprising a burger (high carbon footprint) and an organic apple (low carbon footprint) was higher than for a set comprising the burger alone, whereas no difference was found between the two sets when participants were asked to estimate how environmentally damaging they were. Using larger item categories wherein the degree of the items’ environmental impact is clearly communicated, here we show it does not matter whether participants are required to estimate how friendly or damaging the items are. The roles of attribute substitution, dependent variables, and independent variables (stimulus characteristics) in modulating the negative footprint illusion is discussed.

Purpose: A novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 was identified as the cause of COVID-19 eventually led to the declaration of Public health emergency of international concern and a pandemic by WHO due to its exponential global spread. Present study was conducted to investigate the impact of second wave of pandemic on mental wellbeing and social behaviors among university students of Pakistan during this crucial period of COVID-19 infection. Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study was designed to evaluate the psychosocial impact during the current COVID-19 outbreak among the students of The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan. Snowball sampling or chain referral sampling procedure was adopted to recruit the participants in the study. Verbal informed consent was taken from all participants before recruitment in the study irrespective of their gender, age and socioeconomic status. Results: Mental health of university students during COVID-19 epidemic was affected to a varying degree revealing that 26.66% were recorded to have mild, 27.15% moderate and 17.04% suffering from severe anxiety out of total 1029 students. Students who were residing in urban areas with parents and having a steady family income were negatively associated and found protective factors against anxiety. However, having a relative or an acquaintance infected with COVID-19 was an independent risk factor for experienced anxiety. Positively associated factors with the level of anxiety symptoms included economic stressors, effects on daily-life, and academic delays whereas social support was negatively correlated with anxiety in COVID-19 related stressors. Conclusion: Public health emergencies and such pandemic are exerting serious psychological impacts on university students. It is recommended that the higher authorities should plan better policies to reduce this impact for the provision of high quality and timely crisis-oriented psychological services to university students.

Measuring the impact of land use regulation on the land market involves identifying and classifying relevant impact factors related to the land market. The objective of this study was to identify land market impact factors in the context of the introduction of land use regulation in Nepal. A desktop review was carried out to identify preliminary set of impact factors, which were reclassified through intuitive analysis based on the degree of thematic closeness. Perspective-based impact factors were identified through the qualitative analysis of primary data collected through semi-structured interviews with the Nepalese land market stakeholders. These independently derived impact factors were compared with the desktop literature review impact factors resulting in fourteen land market impact factors across four dimensions, including transaction cost, valuation, mortgage availability, taxation, and compensation across the economic dimension; lot size, subdivision restrictions, and coordination across the institutional dimension; awareness, expectation and proximity across the social dimension; and risk reduction, quality of residential land, and suitability of zoning classification across the environmental dimension. There was significant overlap and commonality across factors identified from both the literature review and semi-structured interviews. The land market impact factors determined in the study may be adapted and generalized across other countries and could be utilized to better understand the impacts of land policy decisions on urban planning and development. Further research is recommended on the process to operationalize the use of these factors to quantify the impact of land use regulation on different land markets.

Mercury contamination in the Amazon is a significant public health concern arising from both natural sources and intensive mining activities in the region. This metal is used to separate Au from sediments, forming an amalgam that facilitates the extraction of precious metals. Accordingly, this study aimed to address the following question: What is the impact of mining on mercury contamination in the animal and human populations of the Amazon? The overall objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the existing literature to identify gaps in geographic coverage and assess the impact of Hg contamination on human and animal populations in the Amazon region. Our hypothesis was that higher mercury concentrations in tissue samples would be found closer to the mining areas. We employed the PECO and PRISMA-ScR protocols to collect articles published between 2017 and 2023, selected based on criteria representing projected points on a map within the biogeographic boundaries of the Amazon. Mercury concentrations increase with trophic levels, reaching high values of 3.7 µg/g in the muscles of predatory fish and 34.9 µg/g in human hair. The average level of mercury in humans exceeds 6 µg/g, surpassing tolerance levels. Although mining regions show high concentrations of Hg, the highest incidence was observed among populations with fish-based diets. Research on fish is crucial for assessing the risk to human health, given that fish are the main source of protein in the region.

The aim of this research work is to study the influence of temperature, solar irradiation and wind dust on the production of solar energy. In addition, it aims to study the assessment of water quality, in particular groundwater used for cooling and cleaning photovoltaic panels (quality analysis). it's an important source, stable and sustainable can be used entirely for cooling and cleaning PV modules from the sales dust, in order to improve their performance. To date, all research studies carried out in this context of cooling and cleaning using water have not taken account of the nature of this water. We have taken a sample of water from a well in a rural area in the Darra Tafilalet region of Morocco. This region has an arid and semi-arid climate, with very high temperatures and dust-laden winds, particularly in summer. These meteorological characteristics influence the efficiency of cells, particularly photovoltaic (PV) panels, reducing their performance. Next, the water sample was analysed in the laboratory. The results obtained show that the groundwater in this area is very sensitive to cooling and cleaning photovoltaic panels. Moreover, these results indicate that the temperature, solar irradiation and wind-blown dust have a significant influence on energy production.

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.

The article presents a methodology for modeling the impact of factors of both on-farm activity and environmental factors on the resulting indicators of an international company. The dataset includes the company's profit, revenue, valuation, share price, and market share from 2012 through 2022. This empirical period is optimal for such a type of modeling. Modeling the impact of carbon emissions factors on the resulting indicators is considered based on complex systems theory. Endogenous model variables include indicators of the development of the international company. Predefined model variables reflect the influence of both the external environment and internal factors on the development indicators of an international company. An approach of picture fuzzy rough sets based on time series of endogenous and exogenous variables can provide an opportunity to analyze and consider the consequences of feedback changes in the systems of which they are a part. Based on the results of the analysis of the model construction, it is concluded that picture fuzzy rough sets can be an excellent way to model interdependent social processes.

Patients with chronic (CM) and high frequency episodic migraine (HFEM) report cognitive complaints that contribute to migraine burden. Although, there is little evidence about the ef-fects of migraine treatments on these symptoms. Objective: To evaluate the effect of preventive treatment on the impact of cognitive symptoms, specifically the ability to concentrate, in individuals with CM and HFEM. Methods: Prospective cohort study in patients with CM and HFEM initiating treatment with botulinum toxin (BT) or anti-CGRP/R monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Patients were evaluated at baseline and after 3 months of treatment, using a headache diary and a question about the im-pact of migraine attacks on concentration (never, rarely, sometimes, often, and always). Results: 108 patients (105 females, 44.3 years of age on average), 75% with CM and 27% with HFEM were included, 55 received a first session of BT and 53 received 3 injections of a monthly mAb. In both groups, there was a significant decline on the impact of migraine in concentration (related samples Wilcoxon signed rank test <0.001) compared to baseline. Reduction in monthly headache days was the main predictor of any concentration improvement, while treatment group, age, ongoing medication with topiramate or baseline medication overuse were not sig-nificant. Conclusion: Preventive treatment of HFEM or CM with drugs not acting on central nervous sys-tem is associated with a decrease of the impact of migraine attacks on concentration, predicted by the decline in headache days. These results indicate that migraine preventive treatment also improves non-pain symptoms, which is relevant given the contribution of cognitive complaints to the impact of headache attacks

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly changed the world and human society in various ways. Infection-related figures are key indicators of the direct impact of the pandemic. In addition to the virus, many vulnerable populations (e.g. patients with complex health conditions) have suffered direct or indirect health impacts, such as delayed treatment or diagnosis of cancer and severe mental illness due to stay-at-home restrictions, or financial issues. Studying these kinds of impacts can provide the community with insights and understanding of how the pandemic has affected patients with health conditions and help inform decision-makers design policies that support various vulnerable populations. This paper surveys analytical work conducted on how COVID-19 has impacted patients with complex health conditions. We categorise vulnerable populations into three specific cohorts: patients with chronic disease, patients with cancer and patients with end-of-life care. We then investigate how each of these cohorts has been impacted by the pandemic. We also identify each cohort from an analytics perspective by leveraging various data collection strategies and analytical methods. The goals of this paper are to provide evidence on how to improve the quality of life for vulnerable populations and to inform a national response strategy for future pandemics, which seems inevitable in a highly globalised economy.

Depressions containing partially molten rocks were investigated in Quaternary pebbly sedi-ments in Alpine foreland in Bavaria, Germany. Ruins of limekilns from 18-19th centuries are abundant around Seeshaupt. They are usually associated with earthworks for fuel feeding and protection from wind. Depressions contain partially molten stones from furnace walls, with lime and burnt loam remnants. On the surface of pebbles (typically gneisses), green glass formed with chemical composition possibly affected by moderately volatile components of wood biomass, mainly K and Cu. Thermoplastic deformation of pebbles is limited and the sur-face melt deformation points to slow flow. At Emmerting, on the other hand, two walled circu-lar depressions which lack additional earthworks have been identified as possible impact cra-ters. Thermally affected pebbles show much more intense deformation. Colorless to greenish glass, also K and Cu enriched, usually forms only thin surface coatings, in places covered by younger melt extruded from pebble interior. Burnt loam is missing. At Grabenstätt-Kaltenbach, a depression of unclear origin was investigated. Morphologically, it matches craters rather than limekilns, but anthropogenic contamination (brick-like material) is probable. The rare molten samples do not display extreme deformation features. The thermally affected stones, mainly those from Emmerting, have elevated magnetic susceptibility.

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).

This article describes the POTENTIALS project, which aimed to develop business models for the reuse of former industrial and mining sites in different regions. The project focused on the creation of eco-industrial parks as a result to enable sustainable energy production and reduce waste and pollution. A key aspect was the Territorial Impact Assessment (TIA), a new and complex policy assessment tool. Therefore, the TEQUILA (Territorial Efficiency Quality and Identity Layer Assessment) approach is used to describe the TIA and emphasizes its application in assessing the impact of EU policies and projects on territorial cohesion. It underlines the need for a differentiated understanding of the regional characteristics and potential impacts of policies; and stresses the importance of regionalized impact models for the assessment. Furthermore, the process and results of applying the TEQUILA methodology to assess the territorial impact of different scenarios of business models within the POTENTIALS project is given.

The article focuses on mining of non-energy mineral resources with minimum environmental impacts. It issues from research results of a project Competence Centre for Effective and Ecological Mining of Mineral Resources implemented at the Faculty of Mining and Geology at VŠB-Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Geological Survey, a company Watrad ltd., a state enterprise Diamo, a company RPS Ostrava plc and a company Sedlecký kaolin plc. The paper starts with a partial analysis of the existing legal norms related to mining and processing of mineral resources. Next, it analyses mineral resource mining options free of negative environmental impacts. The fundamental tool to assess potential environmental impacts of mining is the implementation of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process for a given mineral resource. In the Czech Republic environmental impact assessment is carried out by course of Act 100/2001 Coll. Its important amendment is Act 39/2015 Coll. claiming, inter alia, that the environmental impact assessment is rigidly connected with other permits and procedures, such as the zoning process and building construction permits. The article describes the environmental impacts of mining of non-energy mineral resources, including the following factors: appropriation of land, impacts on surface water, ground water and soil, noise, influence on the landscape character, and air pollution. The paper also includes a case study summarizing information on the environmental factors that may play a role in potential underground mining of graphite in the deposit Český Krumlov - Městský Vrch and the deposit Lazec - Křenov.

The industrial metaverse paradigm is generally a virtual environment that integrates various technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) to enhance business operations and processes. It aims to streamline workflows, reduce error rates, improve efficiency, and provide a more engaging experience for employees. The promise of the industrial Metaverse to drive sustainability and resource efficiency is compelling. Utilizing advanced technologies like the Industrial Metaverse is essential for staying competitive in today’s rapidly evolving business environment. However, the environmental impact of the technologies underpinning the industrial metaverse, like data centres and network infrastructure, should not be overlooked. The ecological footprint of these technologies must be considered in the sustainability equation. Researchers have warned that by 2025, without sustainable AI practices, AI will consume more energy than the human workforce, significantly offsetting carbon-zero gains. As the metaverse persists in evolving and gaining momentum, it will be necessary for companies to prioritize sustainability and explore new ways to balance technological advancements with environmental stewardship. However, recent studies have conjectured that the Metaverse holds the potential to reduce carbon emissions, as digital replacements for physical goods become more prevalent and physical activities like mobility and construction are reduced. However, the specific extent to which this substitution can alleviate environmental concerns remains understudied, presenting a knowledge gap in understanding the real-world impact of digital replacements. Thus, the objective of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the industrial metaverse as well as explore the environmental impact of the industrial metaverse. The methodological approach is that of integrative literature review design wherein multiple sources from web science and databases such as ACM library, IEEE Library, and Google Scholar, were analysed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the developments in the industrial metaverse. Specifically, firstly by considering the Industrial metaverse architecture we elucidate the concept of the "industrial metaverse" and the associated enabling technologies. Secondly, an exploration through discussion, of the prevalent use cases and deployment of the emerging industrial metaverse. Thirdly, exploration of the impact of the industrial metaverse on the environment. In the fourth instance, we address novel security and privacy risks as well as upcoming research challenges, keeping in mind that the industrial metaverse is based on a strong data fabric. Results point to the Industrial Metaverse as having both positive and negative environmental effects by energy consumption, e-waste, and pollution. Overall research, however, indicates that most industrial metaverse applications have a positive environmental impact and subsequently trend toward sustainability. Ultimately for sustainability in the industrial metaverse, enterprises may consider utilizing renewable energy sources and cloud services. Furthermore, examining the effects of products on the environment as well as creating a circular economy.

Myocastor coypus is a pest animal present in Africa, Europe, North America, and Asia that causes agricultural and ecological damages. Moreover, it has to be considered as a potential risk for public health. Forty-four Nutrias from the “Parco Naturale La Mandria” (Piedmont region, Northwest Italy) have been analysed. A complete necropsy and a whole histological evaluation of liver, kidney and lung have been carried out on all the animals. Moreover, the positivity to Hepatitis E Virus (HEV), Encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV), Francisella spp., Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum have been investigated. None of the animal resulted positive for HEV, EMCV, Francisella spp. or Neospora caninum. Two animals tested positive for Toxoplasma gondii. A high presence of histological lesions has been identified in different organs, suggesting that lesions could be induced by different pathogens. As previously reported, Nutria can act as a host for several pathogens, including important agents for human and animal health, and surveillance is necessary, to fully understand the biological role and the importance of coypu as a disease reservoir in our country.

.With the increasing use of carbon fiber reinforced plastics in various area, carbon fiber composites based on prepregs have attracted attention in industries and academia research. However, prepreg manufacturing processes are costly, and the strength of structures varies depending on the orientation and defects (pores and delamination). For non-contact evaluation of internal defects, we proposed lock-in infrared thermography to investigate orientation angles after a compression test. We also conducted a drop-weight impact test to study the behaviour of the composites after impact according the fibers orientation for composite fabricated using unidirectional carbon fiber prepregs. Using CAI tests, we determined the residual compressive strength and confirmed the damage modes using a thermal camera. The results of the drop weight impact tests show that the specimen laminated at 0° suffered the largest damage because of susceptibility of the resin to impact. In contrast, the specimens oriented in of 0°/90° and +45°/–45° directions transferred more than 90% of the impact energy back to the impactor because of the lamination of fibers in the orthogonal directions. Furthermore, the specimens that underwent complete damage in the impact tests were subjected to the lock-in method and showed internal delamination and cut fibers. With the finite elements analysis, the damage of each ply could be observed. Moreover, the temperature differences in the residual compression tests were not significant.

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.

Climate change represents a major threat to lotic freshwater ecosystems and their ability to support the provision of ecosystem services. England’s chalk streams are in a poor state of health, with significant concerns regarding their resilience, the ability to adapt, under a changing climate. This paper aims to quantify the effect of climate change on hydroecological response, the health of the river, for the River Nar, a SSSI in the south-east of England. To this end, we apply a coupled hydrological and hydroecological modelling framework, with the UKCP09 probabilistic climate projections serving as input (A1B high emissions scenario). Results show that, from 2021 to the end of the century, hydroecological response becomes more heterogeneous. Despite the limited range of the functional feeding groups on the baseline, the River Nar has been able to adapt to extreme events due to inter-annual variation. In the future, this variation is greatly reduced, raising real concerns over the resilience of the river ecosystem under climate change. These new insights into the health of the River Nar, and chalk streams more generally, highlights the necessity of further study and the real need to for changed river management practices.

This paper undertakes a comprehensive review to underscore the central role of sustainability in the evaluation and innovation of jet grouting technologies. It meticulously traces the evolution of evaluation methodologies, emphasizing the imperative of sustainable practices throughout history. Traditional evaluation paradigms are examined alongside contemporary trends, with a particular focus on sustainability metrics and visualization techniques. Through an examination of innovative jet grouting technologies, this paper illustrates how sustainability principles have driven advancements aimed at improving the efficiency and environmental impact of jet grouting methods. Central to this review is an assessment of sustainability across multiple dimensions, including method applicability, installation and operational compatibility, and the performance of the resulting jet grouted piles. By emphasizing sustainability considerations, the paper highlights the intrinsic link between environmental integrity and technological innovation in the field of jet grouting. In addition, it discusses analytical evaluation methods designed to proactively address sustainability concerns prior to construction, thereby promoting a more environmentally responsible approach. Finally, this paper presents a pioneering evaluation framework that integrates real-time monitoring and visualization tools, allowing stakeholders to track sustainability milestones throughout the construction process. By emphasizing sustainability as a guiding principle, this review advocates for a paradigm shift toward more ecologically sound and resilient jet grouting practices.

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.

As the natural resources are getting exhausted, the concept of sustainable development of region has received increasing attentions, especially for resource-dependent cities. In this paper an innovative method that emergy analysis and IPAT (Human Impact Population Affluence Technology) model were combined in order to analyze the quantitative relationship of economic growth and energy consumption and further to evaluate its overall sustainability level. Taiyuan, a traditional, resource-dependent city in China, is selected as the case study region. The main results show that total emergy of Taiyuan increased from 9.023× 1023 sej in 2007 to 9.116× 1023sej in 2014, with 38% reduction on non-renewable emergy and 125% growth on imported emergy. Regional emergy money ratio (RMB) was reduced by 48% from 5.31× 1013sej/$ in 2007 to 2.74× 1013sej/$ in 2014, indicating that the increasing speed of consuming resources and energy was faster than the increase of GDP, and that Taiyuan’s money purchasing power declined. The lower emergy sustainability index (ESI) indicates that Taiyuan was explored and produced large quantities of mineral resources, which puts more stress on the environment as a consequence, and that this is not sustainable in the long run. The IPAT analysis demonstrates that Taiyuan sticks to the efforts of energy conservation and environmental protection, in order to promote regional sustainable development, it is necessary to take an integrated effort. Policy insights suggest that resourceful regions should improve include energy and resource efficiency, optimizing energy and resourceful structure.

As we are aware Information Technology had its cutting-edge lifestyle from the overdue sixties of the remaining century whilst the Arpanet become introduced, funded with the aid of using the branch of protection of the USA. After that, the IT enterprise has come a protracted manner to its cutting-edge form in which its miles gambling a dominant function in each sphere of life. It has made innovative modifications in facts amassing and dissemination and worldwide communication. It is growing into a surely paperless painting environment. Also, we can now ship a message very without difficulty to everywhere withinside the international in seconds. From a schooling factor of view, we can have a digital elegance in which the teacher ought to take a seat down in any part of the arena and his college students scattered in all exceptional elements of the arena via video convention with the presentation of look at substances in addition to query and solution sessions. A health practitioner now sitting in any part of the arena ought to carry out a surgical procedure in which the affected person is mendacity in some other part of the arena. These work examples display where we stand these days compared to what has become 1/2 of a century back. But as we recognize, nothing on this international is only correct as the whole thing has a darkish side. In this paper, we might speak about the deserves and demerits of enforcing IT globally and in which we are heading withinside the future.

Bulk composition, mineralogy and microchemistry of various fractions of the filling of the Crater No. 4 at Emmerting were investigated. Here we present mainly the fine fractions, which, in contrast to pebbles larger than ca. 4 cm, are relatively poor in material affected by melting. A 0.1 mm long meteorite fragment without ablation features was found, and remelted fragments of the same body have been identified. The projectile was dominated by enstatite, also containing forsterite, basic plagioclase, Ni-rich pyrrhotite and troilite, kamacite, silica, and probably merrillite. The molten fragments contain porous Mg-rich glass (indicating temperature &gt; 1500 °C), minor Fe oxides, and occasionally uncommon Ni-rich minerals. The bulk composition and electron microprobe show that the amount of meteoritic material is low (&lt;&lt; 1 %), and it is not unequivocally manifested even in platinum-group elements abundances and osmium isotope ratios (the latter, however, were only measured in two samples). This can be explained by dilution of the filling by particles brought after the crater formation, and by probably achondritic composition of the projectile. Relatively large hollow spheroid Fe oxide particles were observed in thin sections from the magnetic fraction. A Mn oxide hollow spherule has also been found. In magnetically separated filling from the nearby Crater No. 5, bulk chemical composition points to contamination with several metals and metalloids probably due to influence of recent alluvial sediments. Therefore, the extent of meteoritic contamination in this crater may be even smaller.

This article analyses the environmental impact of the measures imposed during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We compare the evolution of atmospheric pollution levels in recent years and during lockdown, and assess the effects of the decrease in mobility and changes in patterns and lifestyles during the latter period. Thus, the reduction in the risk to human health brought about by the improvement of air quality during the months of confinement through the use of dose-response functions is estimated. The focus of the case study is the island of Tenerife. The island of Tenerife has been selected because it can serve as an example for other sites in Europe. We distinguish between the three areas with the highest population concentrations: the Metropolitan, Southern, and Northern areas. The impacts of air pollution and its relationship with changes in consumption and activity patterns are clearly distinguishable. Therefore, the lessons learned can be easily extrapolated to other areas, in both island and mainland contexts.

This study investigates the impact of the economic downturn induced by the COVID-19 pandemic on nutritional health disparities among women. The research aimed to understand how economic challenges have influenced dietary choices, access to nutritious food, and overall nutritional well-being in different socioeconomic groups of women.Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, the study combined quantitative data from national health and economic databases with qualitative insights from interviews conducted with a diverse group of women. The quantitative analysis focused on trends in nutritional health indicators and economic variables pre- and post-pandemic. Simultaneously, the qualitative component explored personal experiences and perceptions related to nutrition and economic hardships during the pandemic.The findings revealed a significant correlation between the economic downturn and worsening nutritional health among women, especially in low-income and marginalized communities. Women in these groups reported reduced access to healthy food options, increased reliance on less nutritious food due to budget constraints, and a general decline in dietary quality. This decline was less pronounced in higher-income groups, highlighting a clear disparity.Moreover, the study observed that the pandemic exacerbated pre-existing nutritional inequalities, with vulnerable groups experiencing a more pronounced impact. The research also noted that community support systems and public health interventions played a crucial role in mitigating some of these effects.In conclusion, the COVID-19 pandemic has not only posed a direct health challenge but has also indirectly affected women's nutritional health through economic strain. The study underscores the need for targeted nutritional support and economic policies that prioritize the health of women, particularly those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Covid-19 pandemic lockdown has slow down the world economic system. The pandemic has cleared the roads, close factories and grounded planes causing severe economic challenges. The damaging impact of the pandemic amid lockdown has been a blessing in guise for the environment because of significant drop in pollution level as transport and industrial sectors shutdown. Transport and industrial sectors are major contributors to environmental degradation through various emissions as a result of fossil fuel consumption. Energy consumed by transport and industrial sectors will have to shift to viable, readily available, economically and environmentally friendly with no carbon build up post Covid-19 pandemic. Hydrogen energy remains the best alternative option technologies containing green house gas emission and pollutions of several forms. Hydrogen holds the potential to provide a clean, reliable, renewable and economical source of energy for meeting the growing and unending global energy needs post pandemic. The present paper explores the economic feasibility and potential of hydrogen to serve as a competitive fuel option post pandemic. In this paper, the role of hydrogen as an energy carrier hydrogen economy structure, potential of hydrogen economy, hydrogen production methods, hydrogen application and the economic and environmental importance of hydrogen as a viable fuel option post covid-19 pandemic were discussed. There will be a surge in demand and investment for hydrogen economy post Covid-19.

The advent of remote work has ushered in a new era of economic transformation, redefining the dynamics of local economies, and unleashing the multiplier effect on a national scale. This abstract explores the profound implications of remote work on local economies, dissecting how the multiplier effect operates within a nation's economic landscape. The multiplier effect is a fundamental economic concept that highlights how changes in spending and investment can create a ripple effect, leading to a magnified impact on an economy. This concept gains new significance in the context of remote work, as it triggers a chain reaction of economic activities that radiate from remote workers to their local communities. The increased flexibility and reduced geographical constraints of remote work have reshaped the allocation of resources. The continued reliance on remote work may lead to a reduction in demand for commercial real estate in urban centers, necessitating adaptive urban planning strategies. In conclusion, the rise of remote work has initiated a transformative era for local economies, driven by the multiplier effect. By amplifying the impacts of spending and investment, remote work fosters job diversification, innovation, and infrastructure development within communities. As remote work continues to reshape the landscape of work and life, understanding and harnessing its multiplier effect remains paramount for policymakers, businesses, and local communities alike. The multiplier effect is a concept in economics that illustrates how changes in spending can lead to larger impacts on a nation's economy through a chain reaction of economic activities. It demonstrates that an initial injection of spending, whether from government expenditure, investment, or consumption, doesn't just have a one-time impact. Instead, it sets off a series of interconnected spending and income-generation processes that result in a larger overall increase in economic activity. t's important to note that the multiplier effect can work in reverse as well. If there's a decrease in spending, it can lead to a decrease in economic activity and income through the same chain reaction process. This concept highlights the interconnected nature of economic activities and emphasizes the significance of changes in spending patterns on a nation's overall economic health. The magnitude of the multiplier effect is influenced by factors such as the marginal propensity to consume (the proportion of additional income that households spend), leakages (savings and taxes that reduce the multiplier effect), and the extent to which additional spending creates additional production capacity within the economy. Understanding the multiplier effect is essential for policymakers, as it helps them gauge the potential impacts of changes in fiscal and monetary policies on the economy.

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.

Photovoltaic (PV) technologies are developing rapidly as a result of their ability to reduce energy consumption from conventional sources as well as the growth of global energy expenditures. Nevertheless, several impact categories during the PV panel life cycle occur and some principal sectors are affected. These impact categories are assessed by applying life cycle analysis (LCA) techniques through various software programs, databases and methods. Such analyses of energy technologies are crucial, as they can reveal the occurrence of hazardous emissions at distinct life cycle stages. In the present paper, a PV panel impact assessment through life cycle analysis is carried out. More precisely, a combination of PV technologies—monocrystalline, multicrystalline, copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), amorphous, and ribbon—is studied. The impact categories of ozone depletion, human toxicity, particulate matter, ionising radiation, photochemical ozone formation, acidification, eutrophication, and ecotoxicity, as well as the sectors of human health, ecosystem quality, and environment, are assessed using the openLCA software, the ecoinvent database, the eco-indicator 99, IMPACT 2002+, ReCiPe, and TRACI methods.

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.

To mitigate the adverse impacts of urban stormwater on streams, watershed managers are increasingly using low impact development and green infrastructure (LID-GI) stormwater control measures such as rain gardens—vegetated depressional areas that collect and infiltrate runoff from rooftops and driveways. Their catchment-scale performance, however, can vary widely, and few studies have investigated the cumulative performance of residential rain gardens for event runoff control in intermediate-sized (i.e., 1-10 km2) suburban catchments. We modeled three years of continuous rainfall-runoff from a 3.1 km2 catchment in Columbia, MD, USA, using the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM). Various extents of rain garden implementation at residential houses were simulated (i.e., 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% coverage) to determine the effects on peak flow, runoff volume, and lag time. On average, treating 100% of residential rooftops in the catchment reduced peak flows by 14.3%, reduced runoff volumes by 11.4%, and increased lag times by 3.2% for the 223 rainfall events during the simulation period. Peak flow reductions were greater for smaller storm events (p&lt;0.01). Our results show that residential rain gardens can significantly improve the runoff response of suburban catchments, and that they represent an effective and relatively low-cost option for urban watershed management and restoration.

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.

The railway industry focus in the past years was to research, find and develop methods to mitigate noise and vibration resulted from wheel/rail contact along track infrastructure. This resulted in a wide range of abatement measures that are available for the professionals of the industry today. However, although there are many options in the market, their practical implementations depend upon general constraints that affect most technological application in the engineering world. The progression of these technologies have facilitated the selection of more adequate methods for each best case scenario, but further studies are ought to be made to proper assess if each one is fit for their purpose. Every method implementation must be analyzed through budget and timeframe limitations, which includes building, maintenance and inspection costs and time allocation, while also aiming to meet different benefits, such as environmental impact control and wear of the whole infrastructure. There are several situations and facilities in a railway project design that need noise and vibration mitigation methods and each design allocates different priorities for each one of them. Traditionally the disturbance caused by railways to the community are generated by wheel/rail contact sound radiation that expresses in different ways, depending on the movement of the rolling stock and track alignment, such as rolling noise, impact noise and curve noise. More specifically, in special trackworks such as turnouts, the main area of this study, there are two noises types that must be evaluated: impact noise and screeching noise. With respect to the second, it is similar to curve squeals and, being such, its mitigation methods are to be assigned as if it was to abate curve squeal in turnouts and crossings. The impact noise on the other hand, emerges from the sound made by the rolling stock moving through joints and discontinuities (i.e. gaps) that composes these special components of a railway track. A life cycle analysis is therefore substantial for this reality and in this case will be applied to Squeal and Impact Noise on Special Trackwork. The evaluation is based on a valid literature review and the total costs were assumed by industry reports to maintain coherency. The period for a life cycle analysis is usually of 50 years, hence it was the value assumed. As for the general parameters, an area with high density of people was considered to estimate the values for a community with very strict limits for noise and vibration.

The existence of insecurity in a state necessitates immediate government attention and action as it poses a risk to human life and property and impedes socio-economic development. The study aims to evaluate insecurity and its impact on socio-economic development in Oyo state. It will also determine the major causes of insecurity problems and offer data that can help develop effective security strategies and policies. The study population consisted of residents who were randomly selected from the Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria. The descriptive survey method was adopted and analyzed with the Chi-square technique. According to this research, there is a negative correlation between insecurity and the state's socio-economic development. The study recommends good governance and inclusive government policies to curb insecurity and ensure the state's socio-economic development.

This study examines the impact of alcohol concentration on the precision of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operations. While the impact of alcohol impairment on various activities is well documented, its specific influence on drone piloting accuracy remains less studied. To address this, we carried out empirical research using an original methodology and a real-world environment. The study involved a group of 35 participants performing a series of flights using a selected drone (DJI Mavic2 Pro) on a bespoke obstacle route. Between each flight series, participants consumed a measured amount of alcohol, designed to incrementally increase their blood alcohol concentration monitored via breath tests. The precision of the drone pilot was evaluated by comparing various parameters from successive test flights, such as time, distance, average speed, and incident frequency, against a baseline trial executed with zero alcohol concentration. Our results indicate a noticeable decline in UAV piloting precision corresponding with increasing alcohol concentration. Parameters such as flight time, distance, speed, and incident frequency all demonstrated this trend. We conclude that alcohol consumption detrimentally affects the accuracy of drone operations. These findings underscore the need for clear policies and guidelines regarding the operation of UAVs under the influence of alcohol.

Abstract: Field studies with large-stemmed plants Artemisia dubia (wormwood) have been carried out at Vėžaičiai Branch LAMMC since 2018. According to three years of experimental results, annual dry matter (DM) yield varied from 7.94 to 10.14 t ha-1. Growing conditions, nitrogen ap-plication level and harvesting time had significant impacts on Artemisia dubia productivity. This article presents the results of research on preparation and use of Artemisia dubia biomass for en-ergy conversion and evaluation of technological-technical and environmental parameters of these plants utilization for solid biofuel. For experiments were used 6 variants of Artemisia dubia samples, which were grown in 2021: plants were cut three times and two fertilization options were used: (1) no fertilization and (2) fertilization with 180 kg ha-1 of nitrogen fertilizer. These harvested plants were chopped, milled and were pressed into the pellets. The physi-cal-mechanical characteristics (mоisture content, density and strength) of Artemisia dubia pellets were investigated. During this study, it was found that the density in dry mass (DM) of pellets ranged from 1119.86 to 1192.44 kg m-3. The pellet moisture content ranged from 8.80 to 10.49%. After testing of pellet strength, it was found that the pellets which were made from plant bio-mass PK-1-1, were the most resistant to compression, they withstood 560.36 N of pressure. Dry fuel lower heating value (LHV) of pellets was sufficiently high and was very close to pine saw-dust pellets, it varied from 17.46±0.25 MJ kg-1 to 18.14±0.28 MJ kg-1. The ash content of burned pellets ranged from 3.62±0.02% to 6.47±0.09%. Emissions of harmful pollutants – CO2, CO, NOx and unburnt hydrocarbons (CxHy) did not exceed the maximum permissible levels. Summariz-ing the results of investigated properties, cоmbustion and emissiоns of Artemisia dubia pellets, it can be concluded that this biofuel can be used for production of pressed biofuel and it is charac-terized by sufficient high quality, efficient combustion and permissible emissions to the envi-ronment.

Cultural routes are a composite set of heritage, referring to any ancient routes of human communication. As one of the key products of cultural tourism, they providing visitors with a rich cultural experience across regions. We systematically review reports and studies related to the tourism development of 38 cultural routes cases around the world, with a special focus on their distribution, typology, planning patterns and tools for cultural tourism. We summarized eight tools, there are some differences in how often these eight tools are used by the different types of routes and different planning patterns for routes tourism. The study also made an evaluation system based on the conservation principles of cultural routes to find out how different tools of tourism affect the conservation and development of the historical region. It was found that although many efforts have been made by tourism decision-makers to protect and develop cultural routes there are still many problems and challenges in the process of tourism development along cultural routes. We close the paper by making a few recommendations for decision makers and researchers concerning future routes’ tourism planning and study.

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.

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.

Continuous rigid frame bridges across valleys are often at the risk of rockfalls caused by heavy rainfalls, earthquakes and debris flows in a mountainous country. Hollow thin-walled bridge piers (HTWBP) in valleys are exposed to the threat of the impact of accidental rockfalls. In the current research, ANSYS/LS-DYNA is used to establish a high-precision rockfall-HTWBP model. The rockfall-HTWBP model is verified against a scaled impact test of a previous research. A mesh independence test is also performed to obtained an appropriate mesh size. Based on the rockfall-HTWBP model, the impact force, damage and dynamic response characteristics of HTWBP under the rockfall impact are studied. In addition, a damage assessment criteria is proposed based on the response surface model combined with Central Composite Design method and Box-Behnken Design method. The main conclusions are as follows: 1）The impact force of rockfall has a substantial impulse characteristic, and the duration of the impulse load is approximately 0.01s. 2）The impacted surface of the pier is dominated by the final elliptic damage with the conical and strip damage areas as the symmetry axis. The cross-sectional damage mode is compression failure in the impact area and shear failure at the corner. 3）The maximum displacement occurs in the middle height of the pier. The maximum displacement increases with impact height, impact velocity and rockfall diameter and decreases with the uniaxial compressive strength of the concrete. 4) The initial impact velocity and diameter of the rockfall are the most significant parameters affecting the damage indices. In addition, a damage assessment method with a damage zoning diagram based on the response surface method is established for the fast assessment of the damage level of impacted HTWBP.

This article seeks to understand how the incorporation of new scientific articles in the field of urban studies on topics related to housing, manage to impact specialized media. In other words, it seeks to identify whether social science that publishes findings on housing has become less relevant over time, as occurs in other areas of knowledge. To do this, data is collected from the Web of Science of the urban studies categories, using as a filter that either in the title, keywords or abstract contain the word "housing". With this database, all the DOIs of the indexed articles are taken and it is reviewed whether those new DOIs incorporated into the knowledge database have impacted in relation to new citations that of said DOIs that are added in the future. More than looking for the impact of an article for the particular, it is sought to review added values. It is identified that the only disruptive moment occurred after the 2008 real estate crisis. This finding emphasizes the importance of looking for new paths for the production of knowledge on housing that is novel and original, that manages to break with an apparent trend of scarce innovation or lack of knowledge among peers of what is being published in the matter.

The advent of artificial intelligence has ushered in a new era of digital tools, including chatbots and virtual assistants, for educational purposes. ChatGPT, an advanced language model, has gained popularity as an educational aid. However, concerns have emerged regarding its potential negative impact on student learning behavior. This experimental research study investigates the influence of ChatGPT on student learning behavior and offers insights into its potential drawbacks.

This mixed-methods research article explores the influence of ChatGPT, a state-of-the-art AI language model, on the development of maladaptive learning habits in users. The study combines quantitative and qualitative data to provide a comprehensive understanding of how engaging with ChatGPT may inadvertently foster detrimental learning behaviors. Findings suggest that while ChatGPT can be a valuable learning tool, it has the potential to exacerbate or create bad learning habits if not used mindfully.

In the process of use and manufacture, carbon fiber foam sandwich structures were often damaged by low-energy impact, resulting in performance degradation. Therefore, it was necessary to study the damage caused by low-speed impact of composite sandwich structures. In this paper, based on Hashin failure criterion, an equivalent finite element model of carbon fiber foam sandwich panel under low velocity impact was established. The model was used to simulate the damage of foam sandwich panel with [±45°/±45°/ (core) /±45°/±45°] ply structure under the impact energy of 10.58J, 21.17J, 31.75J and 42.34J. The simulation results of impact damage depth were compared with the experimental results. The error was less than 10%, which proved the rationality of the impact equivalent model. The model was used to predict and analyze the damage of foam sandwich panels with [±45°/ (core) /±45°], [±45°/ (0°, 90°) / (core) /±45°] and [±45°/ (0°, 90°) (core) / (0°, 90°) /±45°] ply structures under 21.17J impact energy. By comparing and analyzing the damage situation, impact force response time and impact velocity response time, the low energy impact resistance was analyzed. The results showed that increasing the number of ply structure of [±45°] can reduce the impact damage degree and improve the bearing capacity of sandwich panels.

The thermal insulation properties of building walls are critical to the overall energy efficiency and comfort of a building. One important factor that can affect these properties is the type of bricks used in construction. Bricks can vary in their geometry and thermal coefficient, which can impact their ability to transfer heat through the wall. The geometry of a brick can affect its thermal properties by altering the amount of air trapped within it and the surface area available for heat transfer. Hollow bricks or those with complex geometries may have lower thermal conductivity than regular solid bricks due to the air pockets trapped within them. Conversely, larger surface areas on the exterior of the brick can increase heat transfer. The thermal coefficient of clay, a common material used in brick production, is another important factor. Clay has a relatively low thermal conductivity, meaning it is a poor conductor of heat. However, the quality of the clay, as well as the firing temperature and duration used in brick production, can impact its thermal coefficient. Higher firing temperatures and longer firing times can result in a more compact and dense clay brick, which can improve its thermal properties. In summary, the thermal insulation properties of building walls can be significantly affected by the type of bricks used in their construction. It is important to consider the geometry and thermal coefficient of the bricks when designing a building to achieve the desired level of thermal insulation. By selecting bricks with appropriate properties, designers can help to improve the energy efficiency and comfort of the building while reducing its environmental impact.

This study aims to examine households' perceptions of the socio-cultural, economic, and environmental impacts of ecotourism in the protected area, focusing on Simien Mountain National Park, North west Ethiopia. Using a mixed research approach with a sequential explanatory design, we collected data through a single-round cross-sectional survey, interviews, focus groups, discussions, and secondary sources of information. Three districts were selected using a multi-stage sampling method, and 397 respondents were surveyed. We analyzed the quantitative data using percentages, averages, t-tests, ANOVA, and regression models, and examined the qualitative data using thematic analysis. Our findings suggest that households living in the park generally perceived the social, economic, and environmental impacts of ecotourism as favorable. However, the study also revealed that the benefits of tourism are not being fully utilized, indicating the potential for further development. We found significant differences in how people perceived ecotourism based on their gender, education, and residence location. Specifically, men and respondents with higher levels of education were more likely to perceive ecotourism positively. The logistic regression model revealed a statistically significant direct cause-and-effect relationship between three demographic factors of household respondents' participation in ecotourism (dependent variable) and gender (B = 1.85, p = 0.023), educational attainment (B = 0.23, p = 0.003), and location (B = 0.42, p = 0.041). In light of these findings, the authors recommend that the local government and the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Agency should develop sustainable plans for tourism that will benefit nearby communities and improve living conditions in the park.

The construction industry generates significant CO2 emissions, and rebar is a major contributor to this environmental impact. Extensive research has been conducted to address this issue. Recent advancements have introduced algorithms to reduce rebar waste and consumption, demonstrating the feasibility of achieving near-zero rebar cutting waste (N0RCW) by considering special-length rebars. However, conventional lap splices, the most common rebar joint method, consistently consume excessive rebar quantities despite extending beyond their mandated zones. Conversely, couplers eliminate rebar lengths required for lapping splices, reducing the usage of rebar. Applying special lengths and couplers in heavily loaded structures like diaphragm walls can significantly reduce rebar usage and cutting waste, consequently reducing CO2 emissions and associated costs. This study aims to optimize rebar consumption and sustainability in diaphragm wall structures by integrating mechanical couplers with a special-length rebar approach. A case study confirmed a substantial reduction in purchased rebar usage (17.95% and 5.38%) and carbon emissions (15.24% and 2.25%) compared to the original design and previous study, respectively. Broadly implementing the proposed method across various buildings and infrastructure projects could further multiply these benefits, fostering the achievement of SDGs adopted by the United Nations for sustainable construction.

In this paper we introduce a computational model for the simulation of hypervelocity impact (HVI) phenomena which is based on the Discrete Element Method (DEM). Our paper constitutes the first application of DEM to the modeling and simulating of impact events for velocities beyond 5 kms⁻¹. We present here the results of a systematic numerical study on HVI of solids. For modeling the solids, we use discrete spherical particles that interact with each other via potentials. In our numerical investigations we are particularly interested in the dynamics of material fragmentation upon impact. We model a typical HVI experiment configuration where a sphere strikes a thin plate and investigate the properties of the resulting debris cloud. We provide a quantitative computational analysis of the resulting debris cloud caused by impact and a comprehensive parameter study by varying key parameters of our model. We compare our findings from the simulations with recent HVI experiments performed at our institute. Our findings are that the DEM method leads to very stable, energy–conserving simulations of HVI scenarios that map the experimental setup where a sphere strikes a thin plate at hypervelocity speed. Our chosen interaction model works particularly well in the velocity range where the local stresses caused by impact shock waves markedly exceed the ultimate material strength.

This analyses the impact of competition on liquidity creation in the banking industry of the United States. For the purposes of this paper panel data of US banks for the period of 1976-2000 is chosen as a sample. The plausible endogeneity issue is addressed by employing instrumental variables and then implementing two stages least squares method. Besides this, crisis period of 1990-1992 is also analyzed to compare effect with in “normal times”. The results show that decrease in the level of competition negatively affects the liquidity creation ability of banks in the US and this impact is even more negative during the crisis period.

Objectives: To analyse and detail surgical process improvement activities that achieve the highest economic impact. Methods: Over 4 years, a team of technicians and healthcare professionals implemented a set of Lean surgical process improvement projects at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital (VHUH), Barcelona, Spain. These projects now form part of the daily routine in the surgical process. The economic impact on the hospital's surgical activity budget was analysed. Results: Process improvements have led to annual operational savings of over € 8.5 million. These improvements include better patient flow, better management of information between healthcare professionals, and improved logistic circuits. Conclusions: The current cultural shift towards process management in large hospitals implies shifting towards results-based healthcare, patient-perceived value (VBHC) and value-added payment. A Lean project implementation process requires long-term stability. The reason a considerable number of projects fail to complete process improvement projects is the difficulty involved in establishing the project and improving management routines. Few studies in the literature have investigated the economic impact of implementing Lean management a posteriori, and even fewer have examined actual cases. In this real case study, changes to surgical block management were initiated from zero. After being carefully thought through and designed, changes were carried out and subsequently analysed.

Ecosystem services (ES) are increasingly recognized as a means to adapt to the ongoing impact of climate change and associated impacts. However, these ES itself are facing adverse impact of climate change especially in developing countries where most of the people are dependent on these services for their livelihood. Very little is known about the relationship between the climate change and ES. Here we assess the impact of climate change on ecosystem services in ES rich landscape of Panchase Mountain Ecological Region of western Nepal. The study area was divided into three ecoregions from lowland through midland to the upland region. Focus group discussion, and key informant interview were used to elicit the required data for the study, which was further supported by transect walk, field observation and secondary source of information. Major impacts of climate change were observed are, reduced availability of water, reduced food production, forest ecosystem, shifting species composition in forest ecosystem, farmland abandonment, and their associated ecosystem services. We recommend to initiate the management actions to help ES adapt to climate change, and which in return could support the ecosystem itself and people dependent on the ES in adaptation to climate change by providing various goods and services.

The aim of this study was to explore the perceived impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on radiographers’ activities and profession in Switzerland. A survey conducted in the UK, translated into French and German, was disseminated through professional bodies and social media. The participants were Swiss radiographers (clinical/educators/ researchers/students) and physicians working within the medical imaging profession (radiology/nuclear medicine/radiation-oncology). The survey covered five sections: demographics, AI-knowledge, skills, confidence, perceptions about the AI impact. Descriptive, association statistics and qualitative thematic analysis were conducted. A total of 242 responses were collected (89% radiographers; 11% physicians). AI is being used by 43% of participants in clinical practice, but 63.8% of them did not feel confident with AI terminology. Participants viewed AI as an opportunity (57.2%), while 18.5% considered it as a threat. The opportunities were associated with streamlining repetitive tasks, minimizing errors, increasing time towards patient-centred care, research, and patient safety. The significant threats identified were reduction on work positions (22.6%), decrease of the radiographers’ expertise level due to automation bias (16.4%). Participants (68.3%) did not feel well trained/prepared to implement AI in their practice, highlighting the non-availability of specific training (87.6%). 93% of the participants mentioned that AI education should be included at undergraduate education program. Although most participants perceive AI as an opportunity, this study identified areas for improvement including lack of knowledge, educational supports/training, and confidence in radiographers. Customised training needs to be implemented to improve clinical practice and understanding of how AI can benefit radiographers.

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 World Health Organization’s Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT) for walking and cycling is a user-friendly web-based tool to assess health impacts of active travel. HEAT, developed over 10 years ago, has been used by researchers, planners and policymakers alike in appraisals of walking and cycling policies of both national and more local scales. HEAT has undergone regular upgrades adopting the latest scientific evidence. This article presents the most recent upgrades of the tool. Health impacts of walking and/or cycling in a specified population are quantified in terms of premature deaths avoided (or caused). In addition to the calculation of benefits from physical activity, HEAT was recently expanded to include assessments of the burden associated with air pollution exposure and crash risks while walking or cycling. Further, impacts on carbon emissions from mode shift to active travel modes can now be assessed. Monetization of impacts using Value of Statistical Life and Social Costs of Carbon now uses country-specific values. As active travel inherently results in often substantial health benefits as well as not always negligible risks, assessments of active travel behaviour or policies are incomplete without considering health implications. The recent developments of HEAT make it easier than ever to obtain ballpark estimates of health impacts and carbon emissions related to walking and cycling.

Due to the high solar irradiance or energy price, certain regions in the U.S. may reach 100% PV penetration and experience degradation of frequency response greater than the interconnection as a whole. Therefore, in this section, the 100% PV penetration region in each interconnection is simulated to study the local high PV penetration effects. The study was performed by quantifying RoCoF, frequency nadir, and settling frequency at different regional PV penetration levels. The impact of high regional PV penetration on the compliance of grid code on frequency response is also studied.

Metal fabrications experience complex physical metallurgical processes during additive manufacturing, leading to residual stress and coarse microstructure with directional growth. It significantly affects the comprehensive performance of the fabrications, which limits the application of additive manufacturing. Ultrasonic impact treatment (UIT), as a strengthening means to assist additive manufacturing, can effectively improve the stress state and refine the microstructure and the comprehensive performance. This paper introduces the effect of UIT on AM metal fabrications on microstructure morphology, stress distribution, surface roughness, internal defects, and comprehensive performance to gain a deeper understanding of the role of UIT on additively manufactured metal fabrications, which is based on the working principle and effect of process parameters. In addition, the strengthening mechanism of UIT in additive manufacturing is described from the perspective of surface plastic deformation and substructure formation, providing support for the shape and property control of metal fabrications in the process of additive manufacturing assisted by UIT. Finally, the issues that need to be studied in depth on UIT in additive manufacturing are summarized, and an outlook on future research directions is taken.

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.

In this work a solution-annealed AISI 316H grade austenitic stainless steel was studied in terms of investigating the electrolytic hydrogen charging effects on the resulting Charpy impact toughness and dry sliding tribological behavior. Conventional Charpy impact bending tests were employed to study the mechanical response of the investigated material to dynamic loading conditions, whereas dry linear sliding tribological tests were used to study the material friction and wear behavior. The obtained mechanical and tribological properties were correlated with corresponding fracture and tribological mechanisms determined from morphological observations of fracture surfaces and tribological tracks. The applied testing procedures were individually carried out for the non-hydrogenated, hydrogen-charged, and dehydrogenated material conditions. The observed changes of individual properties due to applied hydrogen charging were rather small which indicated good resistance of the solution-annealed AISI 316H steel against material degradation in currently used electrolytic hydrogenation conditions.

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.

The effect of coal hydrophilic particles in water-glycerol drops on the maximum diameter of spreading along a hydrophobic solid surface is experimentally studied by analyzing the velocity of internal flows by Particle Image Velocimetry. The grinding fineness of coal particles was 45-80 μm and 120-140 μm, their concentration was 0.06 wt.% and 1 wt.%. The impact of particle-laden drops on a solid surface occurred at Weber numbers (We) from 30 to 120. It is revealed the interrelated influence of We and the concentration of coal particles on changes in the maximum absolute velocity of internal flows in a drop within the kinetic and spreading phases of the drop-wall impact. A physical model is formulated for internal convective flows in the longitudinal section of a drop parallel to the plane of the solid wall. The kinetic energy of translational motion of coal particles in a spreading drop compensates for the energy expended by the drop on sliding friction along the wall. At We=120, the inertia-driven spreading of the particle-laden drop is mainly determined by the dynamics of the deformable Taylor rim. An increase in We contributes to more noticeable differences in the convection velocities in spreading drops. When the drop spreading diameter rises at the maximum velocity of internal flows, a growth of the maximum spreading diameter occurs. The presence of coal particles causes a general tendency to reduce the drop spreading.

Investments in digital infrastructure in marginalised communities are set to increase in the next decade. These are premised on the potential of digital technologies to contribute towards solving societal problems, including the fragility of food value chains in rural areas. Although there are mixed empirical findings on the impact of these digital infrastructure investments, huge investments are continuing amid changing ICT policies in most developing countries. This paper, using a case study of a local livestock value chain in a rural community in Zimbabwe, argues for the application of non-conventional approaches towards digital infrastructure transformation impact assessment. Using selected theories and frameworks (socio-ecological systems framework, choice framework and technology affordances theory) as well as empirical data from a project in a rural community, the paper shows that real-time impact assessment using context-specific metrics may reveal hidden digital infrastructure transformation impacts, positive and negative, that are often overlooked when traditional impact assessment approaches are employed. The findings of this study contribute towards improving approaches towards ICT impact assessment. Practitioners engaging in impact assessment are challenged to move beyond dependence on traditional metrics (e.g. access) to the adoption of participatory processes to decipher context-appropriate metrics.

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 World Health Organization estimates that every year air pollution kills seven million people worldwide. As it is expected that climate change will affect future air quality patterns, the full understanding of the links between air pollution and climate change, and how they affect human health, are challenges of future research. In this scope, a methodology to assess the air quality impacts on health was developed. The WRF-CAMx modelling framework was applied for the medium-term future climate (considering the SSP24.5 scenario) and for the recent past (considered as baseline). Following the WHO recommendations, mortality health indicators were used to estimate health impacts of long-term exposures. For that, the Aveiro Region, in Portugal, was considered as a case study. Future climate results indicate the occurrence of higher temperatures, and lower total precipitation. Despite that, improvements in the main pollutants’ concentrations, and consequently in the reduction of the related premature deaths are foreseen, mainly due to the reduction of pollutants emissions imposed by the European legislation for the upcoming years. The applied approach constitutes an added value in this research field, being crucial to anticipate the effects of climate change on air quality and evaluate their impacts on human health.

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.

To solve the problem of deformation and stress in segments when a full-face hard rock tunnel boring machine (TBM) tunnel for an urban subway passes through existing buildings, a three-dimensional mechanical calculation model of TBM tunneling under existing buildings was established based on numerical analysis to comprehensively study the spatial attributes of tunnel segments during TBM tunneling. The Qingdao Metro Line 1 TBM tunnel in the hard rock stratum of Xiaobei District passes through existing buildings. The results indicated that (1) the stress and deformation of the segments were different at different positions. The horizontal and vertical stress and displacement of the segments in front of the building were significantly affected by the building. When the segment was not in the area below the horizontal plane of the building, the vertical stress of the segment was significantly greater than the two stresses in the horizontal direction. (2) The vertical displacements of the vault and the arch bottom were the largest, and the influence of vertical accessories was stronger when the segment was closer to the building.(3) When the tunnel was excavated to approximately one tunnel diameter in front of the building, the building was affected. If the surrounding rock is unstable, the excavation face may collapse and the ground surface may sink, possibly leading to inclination, cracking, and uneven settlement of the building.

This paper establishes a prognosis of the long term environmental impact of various car subsidy concepts. The CO2 emissions of the German car fleet impacted by the purchase subsidies are determined. A balance model of the CO2 emissions of the whole car life cycle is developed. Consideration of production-, use- and End-of-Life processes are taken into account. The implementation of different subsidy scenarios directly affects the forecasted composition of the vehicle population and therefore the resulting life cycle assessment. All scenarios compensate the additional emissions required by the production pull-in within the considered period and hence reduce the accumulated CO2 emissions until 2030. The exclusive funding of BEVs is most effective with a break-even in 2025.

The suppression of natural spaces due to the urban sprawl and increase of the built and agricultural environments has impacted the water resources quality, especially in areas with high population density, as the metropolitan regions. Considering the advance in Brazilian environmental legal framework, the present study aims to verify whether land use has still significantly affected water quality, through a case study in the Stones River watershed, a peri-urban river basin at a metropolitan region, Brazil. Analysis of physical-chemical indicators, collected at several sample points with different land-use (urban areas, commercial forestry, riparian forestry, mixed vegetation, pasture, and sugar cane plantation) at different seasons of the year (dry and rainy) were carried out. As a result, it was verified some statistically significant spatiotemporal effects on the of water quality caused associated to the land-use. In conclusion, in spite of the advances in the Brazilian law, land-use has still significantly affected the water quality, demanding public policies and decisions, so that effective compliance with legal guidelines is ensured.

Globally 703 000 people commit suicide (4th leading cause of mortality among 15-29 year-olds, 1.4% of all deaths globally) every year, which have a negative effect on families, colleagues, and societies. India accounts for 36.6 percent of global suicide in women and 24.3 percent among men, while having only 17.8 percent of the global population, also remarkable fact is that the suicide ratio for female is 14.7 per 100,000 compared to 21.2 per 100,000 of male which is 2.1 times the global average in female, while 1.4 times higher for men. COVID-19 (coronavirus disease-2019) pandemic has certainly affected the physical, mental, economical and social well being of global population directly or indirectly in different ways. Deteriorating physical, mental, economical and social health of an individual could increase the suicidal tendency, leading to accidents and suicide. This study tried to find out the COVID-19 pandemic situation impact on accidental death as well as suicide rates in India. The study period is from 1st January 1967 to 31st December 2021, to assess the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic situation on suicide and accidental death rates. This study revealed that the suicide deaths percentage among males increased significantly in comparison to females in COVID-19 era and actual count and incidence also increased. This study revealed that the mean accidental death and suicide both increased during COVID period of study as compared to pre-pandemic whole period from 1967 by 25.47 % and 30.61% respectively. Alternatively we can say that the accidental death and suicides increased significantly in India, which is largely preventable.

This experimental study investigates the effect of scarf geometry in restoring the impact response of scarf patched 3 mm thick glass-fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) matrix composite laminates. Traditional circular along with rounded rectangular scarf patch configurations considered as repair patches. Experimental measurements revealed that the temporal variations of force and energy response of the pristine specimen are close to that of circular repaired specimens. The predominant failure modes were witnessed only in repair patch which include the matrix cracking, fibre fracture, delamination and no discontinuity in adhesive interface was witnessed. When compared with the pristine samples, the top ply damage size of the of the circular repaired specimens is larger by 9.91 %, while that of the rounded rectangular repaired specimens is larger by 434.23 %. The results show that circular scarf repair is more suitable choice of repair approach under the condition of 37J low-velocity impact event even though the global force-time response is similar.

The inclusion of scientific journals in prestigious indexers is often associated with higher citation rates; journals included in such indexers are significantly more acknowledged than those that are not included in them. This phenomenon refers to the Matthew effect on journal citations, according to which, journals in exclusive rankings tend to be increasingly cited. This paper shows the opposite: that the inclusion of journals in local indexers ruled by inclusive logic reduces the Matthew effect on journal citations, since it enables them to be equally exposed. Thus, we based our arguments on the comparison of 68 Brazilian journals before and after they were indexed in the Scientific Periodicals Electronic Library (Spell), which ranks journals in the Brazilian management field based on local citations. Citation impact indicators and iGini (a new individual inequality analysis measure) were used to show that the inclusion of journals in Spell has increased their impact factor and decreased their citation inequality rates. In addition, the results indicated that the effect between ranking and inequality has declined after journals were included in Spell; this outcome indicates that the database has reduced the Matthew effect on journal citations.

The phenomenon of droplet impact on moving surfaces is widely observed in fields such as transportation, rotating machinery, and inkjet printing. Droplets exhibit non-axisymmetric behavior due to the motion of solid surfaces which significantly determines core parameters such as contact time, maximum spreading radius, and bounding velocity, thereby affecting the efficiency of related applications. In this study, we focus on kinetics and morphology of the non-axisymmetric bouncing behaviors for droplets impacting on a moving superhydrophobic surface (SHPS) within the normal (Wen) and tangential (Wet) Weber numbers. Considering the influences of moving surface on the contact area and contact time, the previous scaling formula for the horizontal velocity of droplets has been improved. Based on the velocity superposition hypothesis, we establish a theoretical model for the ratio of the maximum spreading radius at both ends depending on Wen and Wet. This research provides both experimental and theoretical evidence for understanding and controlling the non-axisymmetric behavior of droplets impacting on moving surfaces.

In Bangladesh, microcredit program has been in function for almost half a century. Though popularly termed as a tool for poverty alleviation and women empowerment, criticism about microcredit program’s actual effectiveness isn’t new. This study attempts to evaluate the impact of such programs by measuring borrowers’ social mobility. Using a multidimensional approach, indicators like household income, economic susceptibility, living conditions, consumption pattern, children’s education, healthcare facilities, women’s participation in decision-making were taken into account for measurement. Quantitative method was used. Based on a non-probability sampling, 107 microcredit borrowers were selected for conducting interview schedules who live in a rural, a semi-urban and an urban area. Statistical analysis of data reveals that those who have been taking loans for several number of years have all managed to increase their income level to a variety of extent, but only those have gained some sort of mobility who have been taking loans for more than 4-5 years and have taken 5 times or more. Few of them have actually moved from microcredit to become a microfinance client by taking bigger amount of loans and having savings. Positive responses about the indicators being used in the study were found among the handful of those who have mobilized significantly. In true sense, most of the borrowers are stuck at the bottom end of socio-economic ladder and are struggling to manage a better living standard.

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.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) stands as an emerging technology poised to reshape various facets of our daily lives, with a particularly noteworthy influence on the labor market. In Morocco, AI adoption has commenced in diverse sectors, including finance, insurance, and telecommunications, opening up fresh avenues for employment. Nevertheless, this technological shift also ushers in challenges for Moroccan workers, necessitating training and upskilling to effectively engage with AI-driven systems. Within this article, we delve into the burgeoning impact of AI on the Moroccan economy and job landscape, delving into both the opportunities and obstacles that accompany its proliferation. Furthermore, we explore strategies that authorities and businesses can employ to harness the benefits of AI while mitigating its potential adverse effects on Morocco's workforce.

The pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus obstructed the Chinese economy and has expanded to the rest of the world at a rapid pace affecting at least 215 countries, areas and territories. The advancement of the disease and its economic repercussions is profoundly ambiguous, making it challenging for policymakers to formulate suitable microeconomic and macroeconomic policy responses. The scenarios in this paper illustrate how an outbreak could significantly affect the global economy in the short run. It has been estimated that each additional month of crisis would cost from about 2.5-3% of the global GDP and that the GDP growth would take a blow, reaching about 3-6%, depending on the country. Scenarios also suggest that GDP can drop by more than 10% and even exceed 15% in some countries. Via addressing the economic consequence of COVID-19 in different industries and countries, the paper presents assessments of the likely global economic costs of COVID-19 and the GDP growth of different countries. Economies will be negatively affected because of the high number of jobs at risk. Countries highly dependent on foreign trade are more negatively affected. Given that disease and its economic influence are highly unpredictable in numerous aspects, the global economy at the moment is the most critically threatened in history.

Shelter-in-place policies and the closure of non-essential workplaces intended to disrupt transmission of the SARS-COV-2 virus are effective approaches to combating COVID-19. They have, however, caused record levels of unemployment in the United States, raising questions of whether mitigation is more societally damaging than the disease. Here we use a coupled epidemiological-economic model to estimate the impact on employment of an unmitigated, business-as-usual approach to the pandemic. We compared unemployment between March-August 2020 in ten Californian socio-economic systems (SESs) to unemployment forecast by a model of industrial sector inter-dependencies subjected to unmitigated outbreaks of COVID-19. We found that economic losses are unavoidable because disease-driven losses propagate economically through SESs, amplifying losses to the disease. While model forecasts are generally lower than actual unemployment, jobs savings would come at the cost of greatly increased worker mortality. The costs would also be disproportionately greater among smaller and inland SESs.

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.

Community co-creation is increasingly crucial to the building of sustainable societies. Communities must proactively and independently create value chains in the face of many wicked problems. However, practical frameworks and tools for facilitating community co-creation require further development. As such, for this paper, we propose a theoretical framework for analyzing community co-creation value chain mechanisms based on a narrative review of literature on Collective Impact, social impact assessment, and Community Capital from the perspective of collective impact, a framework with a fair amount of previous research. We argue for the importance of applying knowledge of social impact assessment, particularly for the collective impact conditions of common agenda and shared measurement system. We discuss its relationship with the Theory of Change and the use of systems thinking to mitigate the subjectivity and arbitrariness of design thinking. Furthermore, we emphasize the value of employing the community capital concept as a framework for analyzing interrelationships among elements. By integrating multiple concepts, we enhance the collective impact framework and outline potential avenues for future research on analyzing and effectively implementing co-creation value chain mechanism in a community-based approach.

Floor mats are commonly used to improve the impact sound performance of existing homes, but the actual reduction does not consistently appear depending on the test-bed conditions used to determine it. Therefore, this study evaluated the effects of the environmental conditions of the test-bed on the impact sound reduction performance of different floor mats. The Korean Industrial Standard, KS F 2865, specifies the measurement method in the test room and sets the thickness range of the available target floor structure from bare slab 120 mm to 210 mm. The evaluation method is ∆?, which is the difference in standardized impact sound levels before and after the installation of the floor finishing material. In this study, a total of eight types of floor mats were tested in four different test-beds according to KS F 2865. The impact sources used were tapping, bang machines and a rubber ball to consider both light-weight and heavy-weight impact sounds. The results were derived as impact sound reduction performance for each frequency band and a single number quantity. The results showed that light impact sound had a similar minimum reduction characteristic of at least 38 dB, regardless of the floor structure on which the mat was installed. However, the heavy-weight impact sound showed different tendencies depending on the floor mat and the characteristics of the floor structure of the test-bed when a bang machine and a rubber ball were used. In particular, the reduction by the bang machine showed less than half the tendency of the reduction by the rubber ball, and the tendency of the heavy-weight impact sound to be reduced depending on the floor mat was maintained, but the reduction differed depending on the test bed. The reduction was larger in the box-type test room than in the real-life type test room, and among the box-type test rooms, the one with a thicker bare slab showed a relatively larger reduction. In addition, the reliability of the measurement results was discussed through the correlation analysis between the single number quantities depending on the thickness of the bare slab of the test-beds.

Blast charge initiation procedures have a significant impact on both mining safety and production rates. In this study, the inventory benefit of an electric initiation system was investigated to assess its influence on both fragmentation and blast-induced damages. The Wipfrag software's was used to examine the size distribution and productivity of 12 small-scale blasts initiated by both non-electric and electric detonators. All blast rounds was initiated with plain type of electric and NONEL detonators. The average burden, spacing, stemming length, and charge weight were, respectively, 0.85 m, 1.10 m, 0.66m, and 1.1kg. The results showed that the mesh through which 80% of the blast fragments will pass for the electric blast is smaller than the mesh through which the material products from the NONEL blast will pass. The results also demonstrate that the generated blast-induced ground vibration (PPV) from all blast rounds for electric blast varies from 0.4–1.2 mm/s and 80–105dB, while that for non-electric blast ranges from 0.05–0.2mm/s and 72–95dB. As a result, the electric blast initiation technique was found to produce good fragmentation, with a higher percentage of optimum fragment sizes on spec than non-electrically initiated blasts.

In conclusion, this qualitative exploration has unveiled the profound and essential impact of music on psychological well-being, especially in the post-pandemic world. Through in-depth literature reviews, informal interviews, and observations with thirty CAS participants from SMC, the researcher uncovered ten salient themes that collectively illustrate music's multifaceted role as a potent remedy. These findings showcase how music serves as an emotional outlet, a cognitive enhancer, and a source of inspiration. The emotional depth and spiritual resonance participants associate with music underscore its capacity to address diverse human needs, making it an indispensable tool in navigating the complexities of our post-pandemic reality. Moreover, the cognitive benefits observed, such as improved concentration and focus, are particularly pertinent in the context of remote work and education, highlighting music's necessity in our daily lives. Additionally, this study emphasizes the vital role of virtual music communities in fostering social connections, even amidst physical isolation, further underscoring the enduring relevance of music in these challenging times. This research contributes to the expanding knowledge of music's impact on well-being, offering a holistic perspective encompassing spiritual, emotional, social, and cognitive dimensions. It enriches existing music psychology theories and invites further exploration into the mechanisms underpinning music's diverse effects. These insights have practical implications for fields such as mental health, education, and remote work, where music can be utilized as an essential tool for stress reduction and emotional regulation. This is highlighted further in the Suggested songs that can help sought the mind, body, spirit and soul. Looking ahead, future research could delve deeper into the long-term impact of music engagement on well-being and explore the universality of music's benefits through cross-cultural studies. Overall, music, as illuminated by this study, stands as a timeless and indispensable companion, offering solace, inspiration, vitality, and connection in the face of any contemporary challenges.

Seasonal changes and varying degree of corneal hydration has been linked to excimer laser corneal ablation rates. Use of PMMA as calibration material in refractive lasers is well established. However, PMMA ablation may be equally affected by seasonal variations in temperature and humidity, intern affecting the calibration process. Aim of this work is to analyze the effect of seasonal changes in PMMA Performance using SCHWIND AMARIS laser system. PET and PMMA ablations conducted in climate-controlled environment with 826 consecutive AMARIS systems manufactured over 6 years were retrospectively analyzed. Lasers were stratified depending on seasons and months of the year. Metrics like Single laser pulse fluence, nominal number of laser pulses, mean performance, standard deviation, and technical performance of system were compared to global average values. Cyclic winter-summer variation was confirmed with seasons winter and summer showing statistically significant variations with respect to global values. Metric technical performance showed deeper PMMA ablation performance in summertime, with maximum seasonal deviation of 6%. Results were consistently confirmed in seasonal as well as monthly analyses. These findings could help minimize variance among laser systems by implementing compensation factors depending on seasons such that laser systems installed worldwide follow the same trend line of variation.

This paper investigates the impact of sediment deposition and inflow conditions on horizontal impact pressure and frequency analysis of bridge deck vibrations during flooding. Flooding-induced pressure and vibrations contribute to bridge collapse, and sediment deposition influences water flow and impact pressure. The study explores the relationship between sediment deposition height and impact pressure, revealing a significant increase as sediment approaches 50% of bridge deck clearance. Sediment amplifies impact pressure response to flow velocity changes. The dimensionless sediment deposition height has a greater influence on impact pressure compared to the inflow Froude number. Two distinct frequencies, dominant and secondary, are identified for impact pressure and water level fluctuations. Dominant frequencies positively correlate with sediment deposition height and Froude number, indicating an increasing trend. Secondary frequencies remain stable (0.31-0.58 Hz). These findings enhance understanding of flow dynamics and bridge-flow interaction in sediment-deposited channels, providing theoretical support for evaluating and managing disasters related to bridges in such environments. Overall, this research contributes to the field of bridge engineering and supports improved design and maintenance practices for bridges exposed to sediment-deposited channels.

Considering that a fair coin has two sides and a cylindrical edge, the probability that it would fall on its edge is calculated, yielding the probability of heads or tails less than 50%. Theoretical models for a static case and for five dynamic cases, without and with rebounds, show that there is a small probability that the coin does not fall on its head or tail, depending on initial toss conditions, the coin geometry and conditions of the coin and landing surfaces. For the dynamic model with rebounds, it is found that the probability that a 50 Eurocent coin thrown from a normal height with common initial velocity conditions and appropriate surface conditions will end up on its edge is in the order of one against several thousand.

Obesity, characterized by the excessive accumulation of body fat, contributes to a multitude of physiological dysfunctions. This paper explores the complex relationship between obesity and various risk factors and complications, shedding light on critical health implications. Obesity triggers alterations in insulin, leptin, adiponectin, cytokines, and insulin-like growth factors, fostering conditions conducive to cancer initiation. Aberrations in nutrient-dependent intracellular signaling pathways, driven by the excess nutrition characteristic of obesity, contribute to the neoplastic transformation of cells. The Body Mass Index (BMI) correlates directly with adiposity, underlining its significance in cancer risk. Furthermore, insulin and insulin-like growth factors, notably IGF-2, play pivotal roles in this relationship. The expression of IR-A receptors is elevated in cancer. Obesity and cardiovascular diseases share a strong association. Obesity elevates the risk of fatal events like myocardial infarction. High cholesterol levels contribute to atherosclerosis in the aorta and coronary arteries. The severity of coronary artery disease is influenced by plaque formation characterized by calcium deposits. Obesity is also linked to hypertension and increased ventricular mass, exacerbating cardiovascular risks. Hypercholesterolemia and hypertension correlate with a high Body Mass Index (BMI). Obesity is intricately connected to insulin resistance, particularly evident in childhood obesity. It entails a gradual decline in insulin sensitivity, leading to elevated insulin levels in the bloodstream. Insulin resistance is a central factor in the development of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. Obesity also results in elevated triglyceride levels and reduced high-density lipoproteins, contributing to atherogenic dyslipidemia and a heightened risk of atherosclerosis. Additionally, obesity is associated with various other disorders, including epilepsy, depression, and neuropsychological problems. Beyond its physiological impact, obesity is associated with significant psychosocial challenges. Studies indicate that individuals with obesity face a higher risk of depressive symptoms, often related to overeating and unhealthy dietary patterns. The social withdrawal tendencies of obese individuals exacerbate these symptoms, with higher rates of depression observed in this group. OSA, a sleep disorder characterized by intermittent breathing cessation during sleep, is strongly correlated with obesity. Approximately 58% of obese individuals experience OSA, with higher Body Mass Index (BMI) associated with an increased risk. Weight reduction has been found to mitigate the severity of OSA and related arrhythmias. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy demonstrates effectiveness in reducing visceral fat accumulation and leptin levels. This comprehensive review underscores the intricate web of health implications associated with obesity, emphasizing the critical need for preventive measures and intervention strategies to address the multifaceted challenges posed by this global health concern.

With the development of Internet technology, teachers are constantly seeking innovative teaching methods to match the potential of enhanced technology. Although many studies have been performed before , they aren’t enough in this field. The purpose of this paper is to explore innovative teaching designs and examine the impact of Internet-assisted English teaching of reading based on constructivism. The case is carried out in NO.9 middle school of Bengbu, a underdeveloped area of China, most of students aren’t interested in learning English .We compared Internet-assisted with traditional textbook literature methods to improve the reading proficiency of students, using a questionnaire survey,pre-test and post-tests comparisons. The result showed Internet-assisted English reading teaching is better than textbook. It can arouse students' interest and motivation,reading proficiency and exam result of students have been improved significantly, created a positive learning situation.

In 2014, the International Union for Conservation of Nature adopted the Red List of Ecosystems (IUCN RLE) criteria as the global standard for assessing risks to terrestrial, marine, and freshwater ecosystems. Identifying and quantifying the impacts of biodiversity assessments on the status of nature is key to justifying continued investment in assessments and enabling strategic planning to maximize future impact. In this policy perspective, we use an established impact evaluation framework to identify the impacts of the IUCN RLE since its inception. To date, 1,397 ecosystem units in 100 countries have been assessed following the IUCN RLE protocol. Systematic assessments are complete or underway in more than 25 countries and two continental regions (the Americas and Europe). Countries with established ecosystem red lists have already used them to inform legislation, land-use planning, protected area expansion, monitoring and reporting, and ecosystem management. IUCN RLE indices based on systematic assessments have high potential to inform global biodiversity reporting for the Aichi Targets and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Expanding the coverage of IUCN RLE assessments, building capacity to undertake them, and establishing stronger policy instruments to manage red-listed ecosystems will be key to maximizing conservation impacts over the coming decades.

2.25Cr-1Mo steel with high strength at high temperatures and good hydrogen resistance is widely used for power generation boiler material in high temperature and pressure use environments. Following the test evaluation of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, specimens from the base metal of a boiler pipe were found to have impact toughness values of 285 and 21 ft-lb, which are drastically different values. The analysis of the fracture surface of the 21 ft-lb test specimen revealed MnS inclusions, and it was found that cracks initiated at the inclusions. Observation of the cross-section of the crack propagation front revealed that cracks propagated along the ferrite regions and precipitate voids. Inclusions were also found in the 285 ft-lb impact specimen; however, the volume fraction of the inclusions was significantly less than that of the 21 ft-lb specimen. It was also found that the ferrite and carbide content of the 285 ft-lb specimen was less than 21 ft-lb specimen. The reason that the inclusions, ferrite, and carbide content differed in the two adjacent impact test specimens was analyzed. The effects of micro-segregation, such as MnS inclusions on ferrite and carbide, were compared and analyzed.

Single parenting is a social phenomenon that has always been in existence and is as old as mankind, and today the number of single-parent families has been rampantly increasing. As a result, the researcher conducted a study in the Gambella region of Ethiopia to investigate the economic and educational implications of single parenting on female adolescent students. The study employed a qualitative research approach with a case study research design. The researchers used the purposive sampling technique to select the research area and research participants for in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, and eleven interviewees, seventeen participants in focus group discussions within two groups, and seven key informants participated. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, translated, and thematically analyzed. Interviews with research participants revealed that adolescent girl students from single-parent homes experience financial difficulties. The study also explored that students with single parents are more likely to be absent from school, to come late to school, to score low marks, and to drop out of school. Therefore, having an understanding of the benefits of having intact parents for the well-being of adolescents and raising children together should be advocated.

Preprints are regularly cited in peer reviewed journal articles, books and conference paper. Are preprint citations somehow less important than citations to peer reviewed research papers? This study investigates citation patterns between 2017 and 2020 for preprints published in three preprint servers, one specializing in biology (bioRxiv), one in chemistry (ChemRxiv), and another hosting preprints in all disciplines (Research Square). As evaluation of scholarship continues to largely rely on citation-based metrics, this analysis and its outcomes will be useful to inform new research-based education in today’s scholarly communication.

In this paper, a numerical modeling of the impact, spreading, and eventually rebound of a viscoelastic droplet is reported. The numerical model is based on the volume of fluid (VOF) method coupled with the FENE-CR constitutive equations, and accounts for both the surface tension and the substrate wettability. The FENE-CR constitutive equations are used to model the polymer solution, while taking advantage of its rheological characterization. The comparison is performed between droplets of Newtonian solvent and a monodisperse polymer solution. The droplet impact on both hydrophilic and superhydrophobic substrate is analyzed through a detailed analysis of the spreading diameter evolution. It is found that while the droplet kinematic phase seems independent of the substrate and fluids properties, the recoiling phase is highly related to all of them. In addition, the model infers a critical polymer concentration above which the droplet rebound from a superhydrophobic substrate is suppressed. The simulation is of particular interest to ink-jet processing, and demonstrates the capability of the model to handle complex non-Newtonian droplet dynamics.