ALBERT

Beschreibung: For an industry to succeed in a competitive market, it should continuously take care of not only its stakeholders but also its technical efficiency and productivity. In this paper, data envelopment analysis was combined with Malmquist productivity analysis to investigate the pattern of multifactor productivity changes in the European energy industry over the period from 2005–2016. The results showed that the whole industry was technically inefficient and had large potential for improvement. A slight average increase in productivity that was observed over the studied period proved to be sensitive to the financial and economic situation and equally sensitive to technological and efficiency advances. As for efficiency gains, they reflected the nature of the energy industry, implying that they were due to scale efficiencies rather than human resource improvements. Although technological innovation and the optimal scale of production increased productivity, the slow pace at which this occurred and the negative outlook highlighted by the observed trends call for more serious consideration of the future productivity deployment of the European energy industry, particularly in the context of its decarbonisation, diversification, and modernisation.

Beschreibung: Regional climate change assessments show a likely temperature increase that is higher than the global average for all seasons in Africa, which would have extreme negative implications for ecosystem health and productivity. Most extreme climate change effects in West Africa are predicted to occur in desert and grassland areas. It is important for smallholder farmers in this region to understand the implications of these projections to their livelihood and to identify appropriate adaptation strategies. A grazing game was used to explore gender-specific adaptive responses to climate variability in the semiarid region of Ghana. The game was designed to understand the decision-making processes that result in the overgrazing of animals, leading to desertification based on the players’ interactions with the environment. A total of 44 grazing games comprising 22 games for male-headed households (HH) and 22 games for female-HH were played from August to December 2014 from 14 communities within the Bolgatanga Municipality and the Bongo district. The study revealed that males migrate to the southern part of the country to work on other people’s farms during the dry season as an adaptation strategy, while females engage in off-farm activities such as shea-butter production and basketry. Results of the game showed that males produced the highest number of cattle but created the largest desert patches. Females, on the other hand, were more conscious about the environment (long-term condition of the rangeland) than the short-term income benefits from the sale of cattle; hence, they created fewer desert patches. Strategies such as reducing the number of cattle to allow for the re-growth of vegetation in periods of feed scarcity, ploughing for one another using bulls, and family support using income from the sale of livestock were employed by both gender groups. The involvement of female farmers in decision-making is crucial to improve natural resource management.

Beschreibung: (1) Background: Obesity (OB) is a frequent co-morbidity in Binge Eating Disorder (BED), suggesting that both conditions share phenotypical features along a spectrum of eating-related behaviors. However, the evidence is inconsistent. This study aimed to comprehensively compare OB-BED patients against OB individuals without BED and healthy, normal-weight controls in general psychopathological features, eating-related phenotypes, and early life experiences. (2) Methods: OB-BED patients (n = 37), OB individuals (n = 50), and controls (n = 44) completed a battery of standardized questionnaires. Responses were analyzed using univariate comparisons and dimensionality reduction techniques (linear discriminant analysis, LDA). (3) Results: OB-BED patients showed the highest scores across assessments (e.g., depression, emotional and stress eating, food cravings, food addiction). OB-BED patients did not differ from OB individuals in terms of childhood traumatization or attachment styles. The LDA revealed a two-dimensional solution that distinguished controls from OB and OB-BED in terms of increasing problematic eating behaviors and attitudes, depression, and childhood adversities, as well as OB-BED from OB groups in terms of emotional eating tendencies and self-regulation impairments. (4) Conclusions: Findings support the idea of a shared spectrum of eating-related disorders but also highlight important distinctions relevant to identifying and treating BED in obese patients.

Beschreibung: Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) is a multi-sectorial community strategy for guaranteeing that people with disabilities enjoy the same rights and opportunities as all other community members. CBR is organized in a five-component matrix—namely, health, education, social, livelihood, and empowerment. To measure the effectiveness of CBR, the World Health Organization (WHO) has developed standardized indicators. The objective of the present study is to translate and validate the CBR indicators (CBR-Is), providing preliminary evidence of their use for disability in Italy. After obtaining permission from the WHO, the CBR-Is followed a process of translation and cross-cultural adaptation according to international guidelines. An examination of internal consistency and reliability was than performed. The intra-rater reliability was estimated using the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient with a 95% confidence interval. In order to measures the differences between people with and without disabilities, an independent sample t-test was used for quantitative indicators. The Italian version of the CBR-Is (IT-CBR-Is) was administered to 234 people. The internal consistency showed a good value, with a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.862, and the intra-rater reliability analysis showed solid values for each domain (range: 0.723–0.882). Statistically significant differences between people with and without disabilities were found for each domain of the CBR matrix—namely, health, social, education, livelihood, and empowerment. The IT-CBR-Is are consistent and reliable measures when used to investigate disability in a community-based inclusive development perspective. National stakeholders can now have specific indicators to implement services and actions for people with disabilities.

Beschreibung: Smoke-free pregnancies have long-term health benefits for mothers and babies. This paper quantitatively examines factors associated with smoke-free pregnancies among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women (hereafter Aboriginal women) and qualitatively explores their smoking cessation (SC) experiences during pregnancy. An Aboriginal-led online cross-sectional study on SC was conducted with Aboriginal women and in partnership with Aboriginal communities, between July and October 2020. The present analysis includes participants who made a pregnancy-related quit attempt (N = 103). Chi-squared tests, logistic regression models, and thematic analysis of free-form text responses were performed. The adjusted odds of having smoke-free pregnancies were 4.54 times higher among participants who used Aboriginal Health Services (AHS) (AOR = 4.54, p-value 0.018). Participants living in urban settings had 67% lower odds of having smoke-free pregnancies compared to their regional/remote counterparts (AOR = 0.33, p-value 0.020). Qualitative data revealed strong motivations to reduce tobacco-related harms to the fetus and variability in quitting experiences at different stages of and across pregnancies. Smoking cessation care (SCC) can support Aboriginal women meaningfully if their quitting experiences are considered in SCC development and implementation. Consistent funding for AHS-led SCC is needed to garner health benefits for Aboriginal peoples. More research into urban versus regional/remote differences in maternal SC is recommended.

Beschreibung: During the last few years, attention has overwhelmingly focused on the integrated management of urban services and the demand of customers for locally-based supply. The rapid growth in developing smart measuring devices has made the underlying systems more observable and controllable. This exclusive feature has led the system designers to pursue the implementation of complex protocols to provide faster services based on data exchanges. On the other hand, the demands of consumers for locally-based supply could cause a disjunction and islanding behavior that demands to be dealt with by precise action. At first, keeping a centralization scheme was the main priority. However, the advent of distributed systems opened up new solutions. The operation of distributed systems requires the implementation of strong communication links to boost the existing infrastructure via smart control and supervision, which requires a foundation and effective investigations. Hence, necessary actions need to be taken to frustrate any disruptive penetrations into the system while simultaneously benefiting from the advantages of the proposed smart platform. This research addresses the detection of false data injection attacks (FDIA) in energy hub systems. Initially, a multi-hub system both in the presence of a microgrid (the interconnected smart energy hub-based microgrid system) and without it has been modeled for energy management in a way that allows them to cooperate toward providing energy with each other. Afterward, an FDIA is separately exerted to all three parts of the energy carrier including the thermal, water, and electric systems. In the absence of FDIA detection, the impact of FDIA is thoroughly illustrated on energy management, which considerably contributes to non-optimal operation. In the same vein, the intelligent priority selection based reinforcement learning (IPS-RL) method is proposed for FDIA detection. In order to model the uncertainty effects, the unscented transformation (UT) is applied in a stochastic framework. The results on the IEEE standard test system validate the system’s performance.

Beschreibung: Climate change-related natural disasters, including wildfires and extreme weather events, such as intense storms, floods, and heatwaves, are increasing in frequency and intensity. These events are already profoundly affecting human health in the United States and globally, challenging the ability of communities to prepare, respond, and recover. The purpose of this research was to examine the peer-reviewed literature on community resilience initiatives in one of the most densely populated and economically important regions, the Northeastern United States, and to identify evidence-based interventions and metrics that had been field-tested and evaluated. This paper addresses two critical gaps in the literature: (1) what strategies or interventions have been implemented to build or enhance community resilience against climate change-related natural disasters; and (2) what metrics were used to measure community resilience as an outcome of those strategies or interventions? This review provides a succinct list of effective interventions with specific health outcomes. Community or state-level health officials can use the results to prioritize public health interventions. This review used existing database search tools to discover 205 studies related to community resilience and health outcomes. Methods set criteria to assess if interventions were able to measure and change levels of community resilience to the health impacts associated with a changing climate. Criteria included: (a) alignment with the United States’ National Preparedness Goal for reducing risks to human health and for recovering quickly from disasters; (b) derived from publicly available data sources; (c) developed for use by communities at a local scale; and (d) accessible to modestly resourced municipalities and county health agencies. Five (5) peer-reviewed, evidence-based studies met all of the selection criteria. Three of these articles described intervention frameworks and two reported on the use of standardized tools. Health-related outcomes included mental health impacts (PTSD/depression), mental stress, emergency preparedness knowledge, social capital skills, and emergency planning skills. The paper recommends the COAST project, COPEWELL Rubric for self-assessment, and Ready CDC intervention as examples of strategies that could be adapted by any community engaged in building community resilience.

Beschreibung: Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Entrepreneurial Education (EE) are quite abstract and demanding concepts for teacher students. Yet, Key Sustainability Competences and Entrepreneurial Competences entail important qualities of future citizens and workers, and teacher students should become prepared to accommodate education for these competencies in their teaching practice. This paper explores teacher students’ process of sense-making of sustainable development and how becoming a teacher who practices ESD connects with entrepreneurship. EE serves as a good mirroring surface to ESD as they both have their roots in Transformative Learning (TL) but pursue transformation towards different goals. The case study follows the vocational teacher education (VTE) students’ sensemaking of Sustainable Development as a part of teacher’s work during one semester which included integrated Thematic Studies of Sustainable Development. The qualitative content analysis of students’ texts focused on signs of transformative learning and was guided by the dimensions of sustainable development and learning goals set for teacher’s sustainability competences in the VTE curriculum. The results indicate that transformative learning is possible. Furthermore, they address the importance of certain entrepreneurial capabilities in the actualization of change agency.

Beschreibung: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of high levels of knowledge, positive attitude, and good practice on evidence-based medicine (EBM) and identify the associated factors for practice score on EBM among emergency medicine doctors in Kelantan, Malaysia. This cross-sectional study was conducted in government hospitals in Kelantan. The data were collected from 200 emergency physicians and medical officers in the emergency department using the Noor Evidence-Based Medicine Questionnaire. Simple and general linear regressions analyses using SPSS were performed. A total of 183 responded, making a response rate of 91.5%. Of them, 49.7% had a high level of knowledge, 39.9% had a positive attitude and 2.1% had good practice. Sex, race, the average number of patients seen per day, internet access in workplace, having online quick reference application, and attitude towards EBM were significantly associated with EBM practice scores. It is recommended that appropriate authorities provide emergency doctors with broader access to evidence resources. EBM skill training should be enhanced in the current medical school curriculums.

Beschreibung: Background: Hemodialysis patients are suffering from depressive symptoms. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels are negatively associated with depressive symptoms and decrease during a single hemodialysis session. Resistance training (RT) might be an additional non-pharmacological tool to increase BDNF and promote mental health. Methods: Two randomized groups of hemodialysis patients: control (CTL, n = 76/F36; 66.33 ± 3.88 years) and RT (n = 81/F35; 67.27 ± 3.24 years). RT completed six months of training thrice a week under the supervision of strength and conditioning professional immediately before the dialysis session. Training loads were adjusted using the OMNI rating of perceived exertion. The total antioxidant capacity (TROLOX), glutathione (GSH), thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS), and BDNF levels were analyzed in serum samples. Quality of life (assessed through Medical Outcomes—SF36), and Beck Depression Inventory was applied. Results: RT improved handgrip strength (21.17 ± 4.38 vs. 27.17 ± 4.34; p = 0.001) but not for CTL (20.09 ± 5.19 vs. 19.75 ± 5.54; p = 0.001). Post-training, RT group had higher values as compared to CTL related to TROLOX (RT,680.8 ± 225.2 vs. CTL,589.5 ± 195.9; p = 0.001) and GSH (RT, 9.33 ± 2.09 vs. CTL,5.00 ± 2.96; p = 0.001). RT group had lower values of TBARS as compared to CTL at post-training (RT, 11.06 ± 2.95 vs. CTL, 13.66 ± 2.62; p = 0.001). BDNF increased for RT (11.66 ± 5.20 vs. 19.60 ± 7.23; p = 0.001), but decreased for CTL (14.40 ± 4.99 vs. 10.84 ± 5.94; p = 0.001). Quality of life and mental health increased (p = 0.001) for RT, but did not change for CTL (p = 0.001). BDNF levels were associated with emotional dimensions of SF36, depressive symptoms, and handgrip (p = 0.001). Conclusions: RT was effective as a non-pharmacological tool to increased BDNF levels, quality of life, temper the redox balance and decrease depressive symptoms intensity in hemodialysis patients.

Beschreibung: The loss of forests is a major environmental, social, and economic problem. The disappearance has been occurring to an extreme degree in many parts of Southeast Asia, including Thailand. Logging and clearing of forests for agriculture, cash crops, and food production has destroyed much of the tropical forests in Thailand. Floristic inventory could provide essential information for forest conservation but species identification as a part of inventory creating could be challenging in some cases. Barcode DNA coupled with High Resolution Melting analysis (Bar-HRM) was used here in aiding species identification of plant in Dipterocarpaceae (Dipterocarpus alatus, D. costatu, D. intricatus, D. obtusifolius, Hopea ferrea, H. odorata, Shorea guiso, S. obtuse, S. roxburghii, and S. siamensis) and Fagaceae (Castanopsis echinocarpa, C. inermis, Lithocarpus wallichianus, Quercus aliena and Q. oidocarpa) families. Two main experiments were conducted including: (1) a comparing method for primer design and (2) testing the robustness of the Bar-HRM by trying to identify tree samples that did not have sequences in the GenBank. In experiment 1, the manual design primer pair was found to be the best fit for the work. Of key importance is finding the primers which give the most nucleotide variations within the generated amplicon; this is a parameter that cannot be set in any web-based tools. Next, in experiment 2, Bar-HRM using primers of ITS1 and ITS2 regions were able to discriminate all 10 tested tree species without any problem, even when there were no sequences of the samples to be analysed before performing the HRM. Here, Bar-HRM poses potential to be a game-changer in tropical forest conservation, as it will be useful for species identification.

Beschreibung: In this paper, a new methodology for the assessment of the so-called “acoustic capacity” of a road infrastructure is proposed. This aspect is very important in the field of transportation planning as, currently, road infrastructures are verified only in terms of physical capacity; at most, the environmental capacity due to atmospheric pollutants is taken into account, while the acoustic capacity is completely neglected. The acoustic capacity is assessed based on the Harmonoise model, which is widely recognized at the European level. The Harmonoise model, starting from traffic data, such as traffic flows, average speed, and typologies of vehicles, provides the levels of noise emissions and immissions, which can be compared to the noise limit levels established by law. The validity of the proposed methodology was assessed on a test network. The results of this analysis show that, generally, the acoustic capacity is actually a capacity constraint, which involves several traffic flows: this occurs in particular in the case of an intersection, but also in the case of a bi-directional road. Furthermore, the acoustic capacity of a road infrastructure is generally lower than its physical capacity.

Beschreibung: To respond to global climate change and achieve a “carbon peak” and “carbon neutrality” as soon as possible has become a common goal around the world. Economic growth relies heavily on financial development; indeed, low-carbon economic development is inseparable from financial support. This paper studies the impact of financial development on carbon emission intensity and its mechanism from both theoretical and empirical aspects. Based on the 2005–2018 data on Chinese cities and the Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) research results, this paper finds that: (1) Financial development has significantly reduced China’s carbon emission intensity overall. After considering spatial effects, financial development increases local carbon emission intensity, although it may lead to a more significant decrease in the surrounding area. (2) The analysis of heterogeneity shows that only the financial development in the eastern region has a substantial detrimental impact on total carbon emission intensity and the carbon emission intensity of neighboring cities. The financial development in the central and western regions has no significant effect on carbon emission intensity. (3) The mechanism test shows that financial development mainly reduces carbon emission intensity through technological innovation and structural optimization, with the effect of technological innovation being 9.5%, and the effect of structural optimization being 12.15%. The expansion of the consumption effects of financial development has no significant impact on carbon emission intensity. Accordingly, this article believes that it is necessary to further support financial development, build large-scale financial centers, continue to optimize the structure of financial products, and encourage the development of green finance.

Beschreibung: Sowing time, as an element, is important to improving the adaptation of cultivars to environmental conditions and to achieving high seed yields. The field experiment was conducted from 2018–2019 at the Experimental Station of Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy. The experimental design included treatments with different sowing dates: eight sowing dates in 2018 and 10 sowing dates in 2019. The first sowing of spring rapeseed was carried out when the soil reached its physical maturity, i.e., it did not stick to agricultural implements and it crumbled well. The other sowing dates were every seven subsequent days. From 2018–2019, the rapeseed emerged as best in early May (3 and 4 May), and later sowing reduced the emergence of rapeseed. In 2018, most pods were formed on one plant when the rapeseed was sown (on 1 June), compared to other sowings, on average 2.8 times more. In 2019, most pods were formed by the latest-sown rapeseed (7 June), from 1.4 to 2.7 times more compared to previously sown crops. In 2018, the sowing time of spring rapeseed did not have a significant effect on the number of seeds in one pod. In 2019, it was found that the rapeseed formed most of the seeds in the pod at a similar time as in 2018: the sowings of 19 April and 7 June. The average number of seeds in the pod was significantly reduced by early sowing (5 April). In 2019, the highest 1000-seed weight was found at the earliest-sown crop (5 April), which was on average 18.0% higher compared to the later sowings. The 1000-seed weight of the last-sown rapeseed (7 June) was the lowest. In 2018, the yields of early-sown (20 April) spring rapeseed were the highest. Later sowing significantly reduced the yields by 20.7 to 48.2%. In 2019, the highest seed yield was obtained after sowing spring rapeseed in late April (26 April); it was significant, on average, 1.9 times higher than the yields of spring rapeseed sown from 3 May to 7 June. Meteorological conditions had a stronger effect on the field emergence and yield components of spring rapeseed than the sowing date.

Beschreibung: “Clean water and sanitation” is listed as one of the 17 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and implementing circular economy principles in the water sector has been widely regarded as an important approach in achieving this goal. In the era of Industry 4.0, research and practice in the digitalisation of the water sector to create a smart water system have attracted increasing attention. Despite the growing interest, limited research has been devoted to how digital technologies might enhance circularity. In practice, smart water systems often fail to promote circularity in such aspects as water reuse and resources recovery. This paper aims to identify the main barriers to implementing circularity in the smart water management system in Zhejiang, China. The research adopts a mixed research method that includes a literature review to identify the potential barriers from the existing studies, a case study to determine the most critical barriers in practice, and a fuzzy Delphi method to reach a consensus on the crucial barriers. The research identified 22 main barriers to implementing circular economy in smart water management. The barriers are divided into three categories: infrastructure and economic, technology, and institution and governance. The results show that the barriers related to recycling technologies, digital technology know-how, and the lack of CE awareness raise the most concern. Our findings also indicate that experts are interested in the decentralized wastewater treatment system. This research provides significant insights that practitioners, researchers, and policymakers can use in developing and implementing digital-based CE strategies to reduce water scarcity and pollution.

Beschreibung: Bearing in mind the growing interest in Yerba Mate, a comprehensive study has been prepared containing the most important aspects and possibilities of its use. The introduction of the work contains the species characteristics of Yerba Mate, as well as information about the origin and places of cultivation. The next part focuses on the analysis of the composition, pointing to purine alkaloids, polyphenols, saponins, and minerals as groups of active compounds responsible for the clinical activity of Yerba Mate. The review of the results of preclinical and clinical studies indicates activity in relation to the stimulating effect, reducing weight by stimulating lipolysis, cardioprotective, anti-diabetic, and anti-inflammatory effects. The information about the action of Yerba Mate is supplemented by the characteristics of its potential toxicity in terms of PAHs content (in particular benzo[α]pyrene) and preparation as a determinant of increased irritation. The current data on the effects of Yerba Mate and the wide safety margin of its use position this raw material as a valuable component of functional food. The growing frequency of consuming Yerba Mate, conditioned by the availability resulting from the globalization of the market and the information provided about it’s the pro-health effects, will position Yerba Mate’s popularity among wider population groups.

Beschreibung: E-cigarettes utilize a wide range of flavoring chemicals with respiratory health effects that are not well understood. In this study, we used pulmonary-associated cell lines to assess the in vitro cytotoxic effects of 30 flavoring chemicals. Human bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) and both naïve and activated macrophages (THP-1) were treated with 10, 100, and 1000 µM of flavoring chemicals and analyzed for changes in viability, cell membrane damage, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and inflammatory cytokine release. Viability was unaffected for all chemicals at the 10 and 100 µM concentrations. At 1000 µM, the greatest reductions in viability were seen with decanal, hexanal, nonanal, cinnamaldehyde, eugenol, vanillin, alpha-pinene, and limonene. High amounts of ROS were elicited by vanillin, ethyl maltol, and the diketones (2,3-pentanedione, 2,3-heptanedione, and 2,3-hexanedione) from both cell lines. Naïve THP-1 cells produced significantly elevated levels of IL-1β, IL-8, and TNF-α when exposed to ethyl maltol and hexanal. Activated THP-1 cells released increased IL-1β and TNF-α when exposed to ethyl maltol, but many flavoring chemicals had an apparent suppressive effect on inflammatory cytokines released by activated macrophages, some with varying degrees of accompanying cytotoxicity. The diketones, L-carvone, and linalool suppressed cytokine release in the absence of cytotoxicity. These findings provide insight into lung cell cytotoxicity and inflammatory cytokine release in response to flavorings commonly used in e-cigarettes.

Beschreibung: A field trial was conducted twice (in 2020 and 2021) to evaluate the effect of clove fruit extract (CFE) and/or salicylic acid (SA), which were used as a foliar nourishment, on growth and yield traits, as well as physiological and biochemical indices utilizing potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) plants irrigated with deficient regimes in an arid environment. Three drip irrigation regimes [e.g., well watering (7400 m3 ha−1), moderate drought (6200 m3 ha−1), and severe drought (5000 m3 ha−1)] were designed for this study. The tested growth, yield, and photosynthetic traits, along with the relative water content, were negatively affected, whereas markers of oxidative stress (hydrogen peroxide and superoxide), electrolyte leakage, and peroxidation of membrane lipids (assessed as malondialdehyde level) were augmented along with increased antioxidative defense activities under drought stress. These effects were gradually increased with the gradual reduction in the irrigation regime. However, under drought stress, CFE and/or SA significantly enhanced growth characteristics (fresh and dry weight of plant shoot and plant leaf area) and yield components (average tuber weight, number of plant tubers, and total tuber yield). In addition, photosynthetic attributes (chlorophylls and carotenoids contents, net photosynthetic and transpiration rates, and stomatal conductance) were also improved, and defensive antioxidant components (glutathione, free proline, ascorbate, soluble sugars, and α-tocopherol levels, and activities of glutathione reductase, peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, catalase, and ascorbate peroxidase) were further enhanced. The study findings advocate the idea of using a CFE+SA combined treatment, which was largely efficient in ameliorating potato plant growth and productivity by attenuating the limiting influences of drought stress in dry environments.

Beschreibung: Growing evidence demonstrates human milk’s protective effect against necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Human milk derives these properties from biologically active compounds that influence intestinal growth, barrier function, microvascular development, and immunological maturation. Among these protective compounds are growth factors that are secreted into milk with relatively high concentrations during the early postnatal period, when newborns are most susceptible to NEC. This paper reviews the current knowledge on human milk growth factors and their mechanisms of action relevant to NEC prevention. It will also discuss the stability of these growth factors with human milk pasteurization and their potential for use as supplements to infant formulas with the goal of preventing NEC.

Beschreibung: Background: Digital transcriptomics is rapidly emerging as a powerful new technology for modelling the environmental dynamics of the adaptive landscape in diverse lineages. This is particularly valuable in taxa such as turtles and tortoises (order Testudines) which contain a large fraction of endangered species at risk due to anthropogenic impacts on the environment, including pollution, overharvest, habitat degradation, and climate change. Sea turtles (family Cheloniidae) in particular invite a genomics-enabled approach to investigating their remarkable portfolio of adaptive evolution. The sex of the endangered loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) is subject to temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), a mechanism by which exposure to temperatures during embryonic development irreversibly determines sex. Higher temperatures produce mainly female turtles and lower temperatures produce mainly male turtles. Incubation temperature can have long term effects on the immunity, migratory ability, and ultimately longevity of hatchlings. We perform RNA-seq differential expression analysis to investigate tissue- and temperature-specific gene expression within brain (n = 7) and gonadal (n = 4) tissue of male and female loggerhead hatchlings. Results: We assemble tissue- and temperature-specific transcriptomes and identify differentially expressed genes relevant to sexual development and life history traits of broad adaptive interest to turtles and other amniotic species. We summarize interactions among differentially expressed genes by producing network visualizations, and highlight shared biological pathways related to migration, immunity, and longevity reported in the avian and reptile literature. Conclusions: The measurement of tissue- and temperature-specific global gene expression of an endangered, flagship species such as the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) reveals the genomic basis for potential resiliency and is crucial to future management and conservation strategies with attention to changing climates. Brain and gonadal tissue collected from experimentally reared loggerhead male and female hatchlings comprise an exceedingly rare dataset that permits the identification of genes enriched in functions related to sexual development, immunity, longevity, and migratory behavior and will serve as a large, new genomic resource for the investigation of genotype–phenotype relationships in amniotes.

Beschreibung: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is one of the most significant risk factors for cardiovasculardisese. Malnutrition has been recognized as a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease in patients with CKD, including those on chronic dialysis. Current studies showed higher all-cause and cardiovascular mortality rates in patients with CKD and malnutrition. Geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI), a simple and validated nutritional screening measure for both elderly people and patients on dialysis, is based only on three objective parameters: body weight, height, and serum albumin level. Recently, we demonstrated that the cutoff GNRI for predicting all-cause and cardiovascular mortality was 96 in patients on hemodialysis. Moreover, together with left ventricular hypertrophy and low estimated glomerular filtration rate, the utility of GNRI as a significant determinant of cardiovascular events was demonstrated in non-dialysis-dependent patients with CKD. In the present review, we summarize available evidence regarding the relationship of GNRI with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in patients with CKD including those on dialysis.

Beschreibung: Eight pens (25 pigs/pen; n = 200) provided with an interactive straw-filled rooting tower (experimental group) and five pens (25 pigs/pen; n = 125) with a stationary (fixed) tower without straw (control group) were compared within three fattening periods on a conventional farm with fully slatted flooring. The effectiveness of the tower to trigger favourable behaviour in feeding and outside feeding periods was assessed. The incidence of deep tail injuries was lower in the experimental group (experimental group: Odds Ratio 0.3, p 〈 0.001) and was influenced by the batch (Odds Ratio: 2.38, p 〈 0.001) but not by pen and sex. In spring, most pens were excluded due to severe tail biting. Tail injury scores were more severe in the control group in weeks 5, 6 and 7 compared to the experimental group (p = 0.002, p 〈 0.001, p 〈 0.001, respectively). Tower manipulation was more frequent during feeding compared to outside feeding time (p = 0.002). More head than tail manipulation occurred in the experimental group (p = 0.03). The interactive tower as the only measure was not appropriate to reduce tail biting sufficiently in pigs with intact tails on a conventional fattening farm. Of high priority to prevent tail biting outbreaks was the early detection of biting pigs.

Beschreibung: The main objective of this study was to explore the perceptions of LGBTQIA+ students regarding sexual and gender diversity in the university context by (1) identifying conceptions about a being LGBTQIA+ student in the higher education context, (2) researching perceptions of the stigma and discrimination against, and inclusion of LGBTQIA+ students and (3) to recognize discourses and scenarios identified by students in the university context regarding sexual diversity and gender diversity, distinguishing their experiences in the classroom as well as in the university, with their peers and with their professors. This research was based on a quantitative method, the sample consisted of 171 students from the School of Medicine of a public university in the United States in the state of Texas. The results showed that there is currently a greater knowledge of the subject of sexual and gender diversity and of the spaces and resources offered by the university on the subject compared to previous years, however, it is found that knowledge is still limited and that this knowledge may possibly be due to the faculty in which they study.

Beschreibung: Due to the clime change scenario, severe hydro-meteorological phenomena are having a high impact on the ecosystems of the earth. Some strategies based on the use of natural communities associated with geomorphological changes that restore the natural landscape are gaining success due the resistance and resilience against damages. All of these strategies are known as nature-based solutions (NBS). Soil and water bioengineering techniques are one of the most appreciated tools to reach effectiveness for slope stabilization. They are based on the capacity of some plants to consolidate the soil with his rooting system in special conditions (high slope, flooding impact). Slope stabilization solutions with soil and water bioengineering techniques need to be adapted to this new scenario. Crib wall is one of the most complete soil and water bioengineering technique for structural slope stabilization. It is based on a wooden box full of live plants that in the future will grow and gain stability at the same time that wood decays. The crib wall box is full of soil, and the front area is traditionally stabilized with some branches of fascines to let plants grow, maintaining the structure. Fascines are made of branches of riparian species with the capacity for vegetative propagation. Their diameter can change due to the humidity variation, so the stiffness of the system is at risk against severe hydro-meteorological phenomena. This study aims to assess that the introduction of HDCL in crib walls improves planting success and makes them more resistant to adverse weather events in Mediterranean areas. Four experiments were performed in controlled and natural conditions with this proposal. The results show that the use of natural fibers instead of branch fascine helps to maintain the humidity conditions and increase the resistance capacity. High-density coir logs (HDCL) are not affected by volume changes for humidity conditions. HDCL maintains the plant’s humidity conditions longer and makes plants grow faster, bigger and increase their survival. This method of Crib wall construction increases the associated biodiversity. The most important results are that the use of HDCL in crib walls has an effect on the growth of planted shrub, the development of roots, the colonization of native vegetation and ultimately, the resistance of the structure to the floods. The results also show that crib walls are a good technique for the stabilization of slopes with considerable gradients and high hydraulic impacts. HDCL can reduce the water stress of plantations, and they can be a good system to retain runoff and provide it to the plants. Finally, the HDCL allows the revegetation of a crib wall 30% faster than with branch fascine.

Beschreibung: The reniform nematode, Rotylenchulus reniformis (Linford and Oliveira), remains a common, widespread nematode pest of cotton across the southern United States. Trials were conducted during 2017 at three non-irrigated locations: one location in Hamilton, MS, and two locations in Tchula, MS, in field settings with a history of cotton production and documented economically-damaging reniform nematode populations. Trials were designed to evaluate the response of two cotton cultivars to in-furrow nematicides consisting of aldicarb, 1,3-dichloropropene, and a non-treated control applied for nematode suppression. No significant interactions between cotton cultivar and nematicide were observed. However, treatment with 1,3-dichloropropene produced greater plant biomass, and plant height compared to aldicarb-treated cotton and the nontreated. Nematode densities were suppressed with the use of 1,3-dichloropropene compared to aldicarb and the non-treated control. The use of 1,3-dichloropropene resulted in positive early-season plant growth responses; however, these responses did not translate into greater yield.

Beschreibung: Climate change is expected to lead to changes to the amount, frequency, intensity, and timing of precipitation and subsequent water supply and its availability to plants in mountain regions worldwide. This is likely to affect plant growth and physiological performance, with subsequent effects to the functioning of many important high-elevation ecosystems. We conducted a quantitative systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of altered water supply on plants from high elevation ecosystems. We found a clear negative response of plants to decreases in water supply (mean Hedges’ g = −0.75, 95% confidence intervals: −1.09 to −0.41), and a neutral response to increases in water supply (mean Hedges’ g = 0.10, 95% confidence intervals: 0.43 to 0.62). Responses to decreases in water supply appear to be related to the magnitude of change in water supply, plant growth form, and to the measured response attribute. Changes to precipitation and water supply are likely to have important consequences for plant growth in high elevation ecosystems, with vegetation change more likely be triggered by reductions than increases in growing season precipitation. High elevation ecosystems that experience future reductions in growing-season precipitation are likely to exhibit plant responses such as reduced growth and higher allocation of carbohydrates to roots.

Beschreibung: Wine batch distillation in a copper pot still heated directly by combustion is unusual. It is a niche sector. Few studies are available on the subject and even fewer have studied it from a thermal point of view. In a context of ecology awareness and regularly increasing gas taxes, finding less energy consuming and more performing solutions has become necessary. Two methods already exist to recover energy for such pot stills, however improvements could be made. The present study focuses on the heating zone of an experimental pot still. First, a thermal diagnosis based on a nodal model is conducted in transient regime. The major sites of energy expenditure and waste are thus identified and quantified. Results highlight significant losses both in combustion smoke and by conduction to the environment resulting from a limited thermal performance of the system. Proposals are then made to enhance it. For instance, the preheating could be optimized and more thermal waste could be recovered.

Beschreibung: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of Bacillus subtillis PB6, chromium propionate or a combination of the two on the performance, egg and eggshell quality, nutrient metabolizability and serum biochemistry of layer breeders. White Plymouth Rock and Red Rhodes Island breeder hens at 55 weeks of age were allocated in individual cages using a completely randomized block design with 16 replicates. Hens were fed control, control + probiotic (500 g/ton of Bacillus subtilis PB6), control + CrProp (50 g/ton of chromium propionate) and control + probiotic + CrProp diets from 55 to 70 weeks of age. Productive parameters and eggshell quality as well as cortisol and blood biochemistry were grouped each 28 d as well as for the overall period. The metabolizability of nutrients and energy was determined at 70 weeks of age. In the overall period, hens fed the control + probiotic or control + probiotic + CrProp diets had significantly higher egg production, egg mass, shell percentage, thickness and shell strength. The metabolizability of dry matter, nitrogen and energy increased in hens that were fed the control + probiotic + CrProp diet. In conclusion, diets supplemented with Bacillus subtillis PB6 and chromium propionate resulted in improved productive performance, eggshell quality and nutrient metabolizability of layer breeders, without modifying serum cortisol, albumin and triglycerides.

Beschreibung: Floods are a known natural hazard in Germany, but the amount of precipitation and ensuing high death toll and damages after the events especially from 14 to 15 July 2021 came as a surprise. Almost immediately questions about failure in the early warning chains and the effectiveness of the German response emerged, also internationally. This article presents lessons to learn and argues against a blame culture. The findings are based on comparisons with findings from previous research projects carried out in the Rhein-Erft Kreis and the city of Cologne, as well as on discussions with operational relief forces after the 2021 events. The main disaster aspects of the 2021 flood are related to issuing and understanding warnings, a lack of information and data exchange, unfolding upon a situation of an ongoing pandemic and aggravated further by critical infrastructure failure. Increasing frequencies of flash floods and other extremes due to climate change are just one side of the transformation and challenge, Germany and neighbouring countries are facing. The vulnerability paradox also heavily contributes to it; German society became increasingly vulnerable to failure due to an increased dependency on its infrastructure and emergency system, and the ensuing expectations of the public for a perfect system.

Beschreibung: Disposal of municipal solid wastes (MSW) remains a challenge to minimize its impacts on the environment and human health. Landfilling, currently the most common method used for MSW disposal, occupies land space and leads to soil and air emissions. Gasification, an alternative MSW disposal method, can convert waste to energy, but can also lead to soil and air emissions and is a more extensive operation. In this study, life cycle assessments (LCA) of the two disposal methods (landfilling without energy recovery and gasification) were compared to understand impacts on environment and health. The LCA was conducted following the ISO 14040 standards with one ton of MSW as the functional unit. The life cycle inventory was obtained from published journals, technical reports, LandGEM, HELP and GREET database. The impact assessment was done using TRACI 2.1 and categorized into eight groups. The LCA revealed that landfilling is a higher contributor in global warming, acidification, smog formation, eutrophication, ecotoxicity and human health cancer and non-cancer categories. The negative environmental impacts of MSW landfilling can be primarily attributed to the fate of leachate loss and landfill gas, while those of the MSW gasification can be attributed to the disposal of its solid residues.

Beschreibung: This article aims to assess how fiscal and financial incentives and government support conditioned the profitability of Portuguese SMEs between 2010 and 2019. The high tax and financial burdens on SMEs have consequences for sustainability and business development. Thus, the study analyzes different incentives provided by the Portuguese government to ease this burden and improve business profitability. The study uses panel data with fixed effects using five different sources of information from five internal tax grant types, three different European Union program financial subventions, and three national budget-specific expenses. The results obtained suggest that tax incentives influence the profitability of SMEs; however, government incentives do not have any impact. The QREN (financial) incentives positively decide the ROA and negatively impact the ROE, contributing to sustainable performance. Portugal 2020 incentives have a weak effect on the first years, improving in the following years. However, the incentive related to R&D is not relevant. This work aims to contribute to decision making for managers, shareholders, and government entities, allowing them to choose those measures that could increase the company’s added value, and for governments, as a tool to select incentives that will most benefit SMEs’’ profitability. This work identifies the key incentives that impact companies’ profitability.

Beschreibung: In recent years, the production and consumption of thermally modified wood (TMW) has been increasing. Offcuts and other waste generated during TMWs processing into products, as well as already disposed products based on TMWs can be an input recycled raw material for production of particleboards (PBs). In a laboratory, 16 mm thick 3-layer PBs bonded with urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin were produced at 5.8 MPa, 240 °C and 8 s pressing factor. In PBs, the particles from fresh spruce wood and mixed particles from offcuts of pine, beech, and ash TMWs were combined in weight ratios of 100:0, 80:20, 50:50 and 0:100. Thickness swelling (TS) and water absorption (WA) of PBs decreased with increased portion of TMW particles, i.e., TS after 24 h maximally about 72.3% and WA after 24 h maximally about 64%. However, mechanical properties of PBs worsened proportionally with a higher content of recycled TMW—apparently, the modulus of rupture (MOR) up to 55.5% and internal bond (IB) up to 46.2%, while negative effect of TMW particles on the modulus of elasticity (MOE) was milder. Decay resistance of PBs to the brown-rot fungus Serpula lacrymans (Schumacher ex Fries) S.F. Gray increased if they contained TMW particles, maximally about 45%, while the mould resistance of PBs containing TMW particles improved only in the first days of test. In summary, the recycled TMW particles can improve the decay and water resistance of PBs exposed to higher humidity environment. However, worsening of their mechanical properties could appear, as well.

Beschreibung: Although the negative effect of social media use among youth on body image and eating concerns has been established, few classroom-based resources that can decrease these effects through targeting social media literacy skills have been developed. This study aimed to test the efficacy of SoMe, a social media literacy body image, dieting, and wellbeing program for adolescents, through a cluster randomized controlled trial. Participants (n = 892; Mage = 12.77, SD = 0.74; range 11–15; 49.5% male) were randomized by school (n = 8) to receive either weekly SoMe (n = 483) or control sessions (lessons as usual; n = 409) over 4 weeks in their classroom. Participants completed surveys at four timepoints (baseline, 1-week post-intervention, and 6- and 12-month follow-up) assessing body dissatisfaction, dietary restraint, strategies to increase muscles (primary outcomes), self-esteem and depressive symptoms (secondary outcomes), and internalization of appearance ideals and appearance comparison (exploratory outcomes). Modest positive intervention effects were found in dietary restraint and depressive symptoms at 6-month follow-up in girls but few positive effects emerged for boys. The findings provide only preliminary support for a social media literacy intervention, but suggest the usefulness of both identifying those who benefit most from a universally delivered intervention and the need to refine the intervention to maximize intervention effects.

Beschreibung: Evidence of hearing impairment was identified in a harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) on the basis of scanning electron microscopy. In addition, based on histopathology and immunohistochemistry, there were signs of unrelated cerebral toxoplasmosis. The six-year old individual live stranded on the Dutch coast at Domburg in 2016 and died a few hours later. The most significant gross lesion was multifocal necrosis and haemorrhage of the cerebrum. Histopathology of the brain revealed extensive necrosis and haemorrhage in the cerebrum with multifocal accumulations of degenerated neutrophils, lymphocytes and macrophages, and perivascular lymphocytic cuffing. The diagnosis of cerebral toxoplasmosis was confirmed by positive staining of protozoa with anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies. Tachyzoites were not observed histologically in any of the examined tissues. Ultrastructural evaluation of the inner ear revealed evidence of scattered loss of outer hair cells in a 290 µm long segment of the apical turn of the cochlea, and in a focal region of ~ 1.5 mm from the apex of the cochlea, which was compatible with noise-induced hearing loss. This is the first case of concurrent presumptive noise-induced hearing loss and toxoplasmosis in a free-ranging harbour porpoise from the North Sea.

Beschreibung: The use of intelligent compaction (IC) in asphalt overlay includes the use of double-drum IC rollers, a roller measurement system, global position system (GPS) radio/receiver/base station, infrared temperature sensors, and an onboard computer reporting system. GPS based mapping and optional feedback control help to overcome the drawbacks associated with conventional compaction such as identifying soft spots, achieving consistent roller patterns, and monitoring asphalt surface temperature and levels of compaction with adequate quality control or quality assurance (QC/QA). Cost-effectiveness of both compaction types was measured in terms of initial and roadway lifecycle cost based on the cost inputs received from South Korea and other published literatures. Roadway lifecycle cost was reported based on the improvement in in-place density, smoothness, and fatigue life. The results of this study showed that: (1) with IC an approximate 4.1% initial cost reduction can be achieved compared to conventional compaction; (2) QC/QA cost is found to have the most significant effect on the higher initial cost of conventional compaction compared to other associated costs whereas intelligent roller cost is the vital cost category for IC; (3) improvement of in-place air voids and density due to the IC has shown that at 97% field density (or at 3% air void content) the State Highway Agency can save approximately 44% over a 20-year service period; and (4) agency cost is observed to be reduced by approximately 62% with the IC method based on the 25-year analysis period due to the increase in fatigue life.

Beschreibung: Gait and physical fitness are related to cognitive function. A decrease in motor function and physical fitness can serve as an indicator of declining global cognitive function in older adults. This study aims to use machine learning (ML) to identify important features of gait and physical fitness to predict a decline in global cognitive function in older adults. A total of three hundred and six participants aged seventy-five years or older were included in the study, and their gait performance at various speeds and physical fitness were evaluated. Eight ML models were applied to data ranked by the p-value (LP) of linear regression and the importance gain (XI) of XGboost. Five optimal features were selected using elastic net on the LP data for men, and twenty optimal features were selected using support vector machine on the XI data for women. Thus, the important features for predicting a potential decline in global cognitive function in older adults were successfully identified herein. The proposed ML approach could inspire future studies on the early detection and prevention of cognitive function decline in older adults.

Beschreibung: The present study aimed at assessing the consequences of prolonged exposure to COVID-19 distress on mental health in non-frontline health care workers. For this purpose, we have conducted a survey on 425 Italian dermatologists, in the period February–March 2021. The psychopathological symptoms, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSD), as well as resilience, have been evaluated. The main factors that influence the physician’s psychological health have been also investigated. Our study showed that the physicians older than 40 years, as well as those who lived this period in company, reported more personal resources, better managing the distress. Resilience, COVID-19 belief, COVID-19 working difficulties, and age were the common predictors of the severe psychopathological symptoms. An interesting result is that the lower level of resilience was the most powerful predictor of a more severe depression, as well as of a higher severity of generalized anxiety disorder, but not of COVID-19 PTSD. The fear of COVID-19 was the most powerful predictor of COVID-19 PTSD. Home conditions and previous SARS-CoV2 infection constituted significant predictors of severe depressive symptoms, but not of anxiety and COVID-19 PTSD. These results are useful in a better understanding of protective and risk factors involved in COVID-19 long-term distress exposure.

Beschreibung: Cancer is one of the leading causes of death globally, associated with multifactorial pathophysiological components. In particular, genetic mutations, infection or inflammation, unhealthy eating habits, exposition to radiation, work stress, and/or intake of toxins have been found to contribute to the development and progression of cancer disease states. Early detection of cancer and proper treatment have been found to enhance the chances of survival and healing, but the side effects of anticancer drugs still produce detrimental responses that counteract the benefits of treatment in terms of hospitalization and survival. Recently, several natural bioactive compounds were found to possess anticancer properties, capable of killing transformed or cancerous cells without being toxic to their normal counterparts. This effect occurs when natural products are associated with conventional treatments, thereby suggesting that nutraceutical supplementation may contribute to successful anticancer therapy. This review aims to discuss the current literature on four natural bioactive extracts mostly characterized by a specific polyphenolic profile. In particular, several activities have been reported to contribute to nutraceutical support in anticancer treatment: (1) inhibition of cell proliferation, (2) antioxidant activity, and (3) anti-inflammatory activity. On the other hand, owing to their attenuation of the toxic effect of current anticancer therapies, natural antioxidants may contribute to improving the compliance of patients undergoing anticancer treatment. Thus, nutraceutical supplementation, along with current anticancer drug treatment, may be considered for better responses and compliance in patients with cancer. It should be noted, however, that when data from studies with bioactive plant preparations are discussed, it is appropriate to ensure that experiments have been conducted in accordance with accepted pharmacological research practices so as not to disclose information that is only partially correct.

Beschreibung: Conflicts are ubiquitous in forest management because of several overlapping temporal and spatial issues (see examples in tropical and temperate areas [...]

Beschreibung: Despite its severe adverse effects, such as agranulocytosis, clozapine is the primary treatment for treatment-resistant schizophrenia. The established clozapine monitoring system has contributed to reducing agranulocytosis incidence and mortality rates. However, the pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused changes in the monitoring system. This review aimed to assess the current evidence on the neutrophil changes in the patient on clozapine treatment and infected with COVID-19. Individual cases reported various absolute neutrophil count (ANC) levels, normal, reduced, or elevated. No agranulocytosis case was reported. One case had a borderline moderate-severe ANC level, but the patient was in the 18-week period of clozapine treatment. A cumulative analysis of case the series initially reported inconclusive results. However, a more recent study with a larger sample size reported a significant reduction in the ANC during COVID-19 infection. Nevertheless, this effect is transient as no significant difference was found between the baseline and the post-infection period in ANC levels. In conclusion, COVID-19 is associated with a temporary reduction in ANC levels. The results supported the recommendation to reduce the frequency of clozapine monitoring in the eligible candidates. However, more data are required to confirm the current findings given the limitations, including study design, sample size, and statistical analysis.

Beschreibung: In order to assess the sustainability of silvicultural treatments in semiarid forests, it is necessary to know how they affect the nutrient dynamics in the forest. The objective of this paper is to study the effects of silvicultural treatments on the net N mineralization and the available mineral N content in the soil after 13 years following forest clearings. The treatments were carried out following a randomized block design, with four treatments and two blocks. The distance between the two blocks was less than 3 km; they were located in Chelva (CH) and Tuéjar (TU) in Valencia, Spain. Within each block, four experimental clearing treatments were carried out in 1998: T0 control; and T60, T75 and T100 where 60%, 75% and 100 of basal area was eliminated, respectively. Nitrogen dynamics were measured using the resin tube technique, with disturbed samples due to the high stoniness of the plots. Thirteen years after the experimental clearings, T100, T75 and T60 treatments showed a twofold increase in the net mineralization and nitrification rates with respect to T0 in both blocks (TU and CH). Within the plots, the highest mineralization was found in sites with no plant cover followed by those covered by undergrowth. These results can be explained in terms of the different litterfall qualities, which in turn are the result of the proportion of material originating from Pinus halepensis Mill. vs. more decomposable undergrowth residues.

Beschreibung: The construction sector is one of the main contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and consumers of energy, making it one of the most relevant sectors when planning reduction strategies and policies. The use of timber in the built environment has been identified as a key strategy to reduce the carbon footprint of the construction sector. In this paper, we use the concept of policy gap analysis to identified underlying challenges in the implementation of timber construction on three Nordic countries, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. We carried out a series of semi-structured interviews with experts from the countries of study. The interviews came from industry, government, and construction companies. The use of the gap analysis approach was useful not only to identify areas that are being targeted but also those areas that were not covered by any programme at the time of study. The results showed that the studied programmes have a large level of coverage and congruence with the identified challenges. Moreover, they also showed that challenges related to fire safety regulations and insurance policies for timber buildings still need to be addressed, whereas the challenges of high price variability and lack of promotion are being addressed by multiple programmes. With this work, we have seen how timber construction is gaining momentum and how the challenges have been addressed systematically.

Beschreibung: In the first quarter of 2020, Italy became one of the earliest hotspots of COVID-19 infection, and the government imposed a lockdown. During the lockdown, an online survey of 2053 adults was conducted that asked about health behaviors and about the psychological and overall impact of COVID-19. The present study is a secondary analysis of that data. We hypothesized that self-control, higher socio-economic status, existing health conditions, and fear of infection were all inversely related to actions (or intentions) that violated the lockdown (i.e., infractions). Using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), we found that only the fear of infection significantly dissuaded people from violating lockdown rules. Since it is not practical or ethical to sow a fear of infection, our study indicates that enacting rules and enforcing them firmly and fairly are important tools for containing the infection. This may become more important as vaccines become more widely available and people lose their fear of infection.

Beschreibung: Wastewaters from the olive oil industry are a regional environmental problem. Their phenolic content provides inherent toxicity, which reduces the treatment potential of conventional biological systems. In this study, Sulfate Radical based Advanced Oxidation Processes (SRbAOPs) are compared with advanced oxidation processes (namely Fenton’s peroxidation) as a depuration alternative. Synthetic olive mill wastewaters were submitted to homogeneous and heterogeneous SRbAOPs using iron sulfate and solid catalysts (red mud and Fe-Ce-O) as the source of iron (II). The homogenous process was optimized by testing different pH values, as well as iron and persulfate loads. At the best conditions (pH 5, 300 mg/L of iron and 600 mg/L of persulfate), it was possible to achieve 39%, 63% and 37% COD, phenolic compounds and TOC removal, respectively. The catalytic potential of a waste (red mud) and a laboratory material (Fe-Ce-O) was tested using heterogenous SRbAOPs. The best performance was achieved by Fe-Ce-O, with an optimal load of 1600 mg/L. At these conditions, 27%, 55% and 5% COD, phenolic compounds and TOC removal were obtained, respectively. Toxicity tests on A. fischeri and L. sativum showed no improvements in toxicity from the treated solutions when compared with the original one. Thus, SRbAOPs use a suitable technology for synthetic OMW.

Beschreibung: Soybean varieties genetically free from Kunitz trypsin inhibitor (KTI) and lipoxygenase-2 (Lox2) are desirable to increase human consumption, as the former is an antinutritional factor that affects protein digestibility while the latter is a principal contributor to off-flavour. In the present investigation, soybean genotypes free from both these undesirable components were developed by introgression of null allele of Lox2 from NRC109 (lox2lox2) into two KTI-free soybean genotypes derived from genotypes JS97-52 and NRC7. Foreground selection of plants in F1, F2, BC1F1, BC1F2, BC2F1 and BC2F2 generations developed from two cross combinations i.e. NRC7-derived KTI-free genotype (N7KTIF)×NRC109 (parental combination 1) and JS97-52 derived KTI free genotype (JKTIF)×NRC109 (parental combination 2) was performed using null allele specific markers and tightly linked simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers for both KTI and Lox2 genes for the identification of homozygous recessive (titilox2lox2) plants. Background selection was performed using 239 and 241 polymorphic SSR markers across the genome. This resulted in the development of 9 and 13 soybean lines stacked for null alleles of both KTI and Lox2 (titilox2lox2) exhibiting recurrent parent genome content more than 97 and 96%, respectively. Days-to-flowering, days-to-maturity, 100-seed weight and yield per plant of the stacked lines developed from both the parental combinations were at par with the respective recurrent parents.

Beschreibung: The analysis of the impact of shift work on occupational health still needs further contributions. Therefore, we developed this research with the purpose of assessing the impact of shift work on occupational health indicators, namely burnout, work-engagement, occupational self-efficacy, and mental health functioning (symptoms of depression and anxiety), by comparing workers who did shift work (44.2% of participants) with workers who did not (55.8% of participants). A total of 695 Portuguese professionally active adults between 18 and 73 years of age (Mage = 37.71; SD = 12.64) participated in this study and completed a survey containing a sociodemographic questionnaire and four occupational health measures: The Burnout Assessment Tool, The Work-Engagement questionnaire (UWES), The Occupational Self-Efficacy Questionnaire, and the BSI-18 for mental health symptoms. Results showed statistically significant differences (p 〈 0.05) for all indicators, demonstrating that participants who worked shifts presented lower scores of work-engagement and occupational self-efficacy, and higher scores of burnout, depression, and anxiety when compared to participants who did not work shifts. Linear regressions showed that shift work explained significant but low percentages of anxiety symptoms, low work-engagement, depression symptoms, low occupational self-efficacy, and burnout. We concluded that non-standard working hours (by shifts) are detrimental to employee occupational health, by increasing the risk of anxiety and depression levels, and burnout, and by reducing work-engagement (as a well-being indicator) and occupational self-efficacy perceptions.

Beschreibung: Water Use Efficiency (WUE) is an important indicator of the carbon cycle in the hydrological and ecological system. It is of great significance to study the response of different hydrological processes to climate and to understand ecosystem carbon sink. However, little is known about the effects and mechanisms of precipitation and temperature on the WUE of different hydrological processes. Thus, three kinds of WUEs (GPP/E (eWUE), GPP/Et (tWUE), and GPP/P (pWUE)) are defined for three different hydrological indicators in semi-arid areas in this study in order to reveal the variation pattern of WUEs based on hydrological indicators and their response to climate. We found that in the past 15 years, the seasonal fluctuation of evapotranspiration in arid areas was large, and the spatial difference of WUE of different hydrological processes was obvious. In semi-arid areas, temperature had a significant effect on WUE (about 68–81%). However, precipitation had a lag effect on WUEs, and the negative impact of precipitation has a great influence (about 84–100%). Secondly, the threshold values of precipitation to WUEs (200 or 300 mm) and temperature to WUEs (2 or 7 °C) are also different from previous studies. This study advances our understanding of the influence of different hydrological processes on ecosystem carbon and climate.

Beschreibung: Consumption of unbranded olive oil obtained in bulk has previously been reported to be very high in Greece, underlining the need to investigate knowledge regarding its health attributes and storage practices, two areas that can affect oil quality. This study aimed to investigate Greek consumers’ use and choice of olive oil, their knowledge about its quality, as well as domestic storage practices of olive oil. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in a representative sample of 857 Greek households that consume olive oil, using a previously validated questionnaire. Most participating households use olive oil produced by themselves or by their extended family or friends (60.3%), and only 27.4% purchase branded olive oil, while 57% reported using extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). Only 38.4% of the respondents reported optimal domestic storage practices to maintain olive oil quality, with a significant greater percentage of non-producers group compared to olive oil producers. In all areas of Greece, the higher the knowledge of olive oil quality, the higher the probability of consumers selecting EVOO and perceiving olive oil price as low. The present survey highlights the need to heighten consumers’ knowledge of olive oil attributes and correct storage practices and awareness about branded EVOO and its superior quality.

Beschreibung: The purpose of the research was the recognition of edge effects regarding similarities and differences of vascular flora in undergrowth layers in the urban forest ecotones. Four types of urban forest neighborhoods were analyzed: ecotones adjacent to the manor park, the agriculture field, housing estates and the road. The plant compositions in the forest ecotones were compared with the plant compositions in the urban forest interior and the forest nature reserve. The phytosociological type of studied forests was a subcontinental oak-hornbeam one (Tilio-Carpinetum). Diagnostic plant species (e.g., characteristic) for forests from the non-diagnostic ones were identified. Forest consistent plant species dominated in the ecotone adjacent to the manor park and in the interior of urban forests too, but the best conditions for these plants were inside the forest nature reserve, where native consistent forest plants showed the highest dominance when comparing all studied areas. A higher anthropogenic pressure from the adjacent areas results in supporting the growth of inconsistent plant species in the forests, and these plants are mostly represented by plants belonging to grass and synanthropic communities. Another conclusion drawn from our research is that the protected forest, represented by a nature reserve in the city, provides better “shelter” for native forest plants than the urban forest without any protection. Ultimately, a permanent challenge is to achieve and maintain the balance between nature and the impact of anthropogenic activities on urban forests in the city. The high quality of green areas, biodiversity, including forests, implicates possibilities of sustainable development in cities. The research results will be useful for local urban planners and ecologists during their work on strategies of city development, including shaping of green infrastructure.

Beschreibung: Nerokremmydo of Zakynthos, a Greek landrace of sweet onion producing a large bulb, was experimentally cultivated in a glasshouse using aeroponic, floating, nutrient film technique, and aggregate systems, i.e., AER, FL, NFT, and AG, respectively. The aim of the experiment was to compare the effects of these soilless culture systems (SCSs) on plant characteristics, including fresh and dry weight, bulb geometry, water use efficiency, tissue macronutrient concentrations, and uptake concentrations (UC), i.e., uptake ratios between macronutrients and water, during the main growth, bulbing, and maturation stages, i.e., 31, 62, and 95 days after transplanting. The plants grown in FL and AG yielded 7.87 and 7.57 kg m−2, respectively, followed by those grown in AER (6.22 kg m−2), while those grown in NFT produced the lowest yield (5.20 kg m−2). The volume of nutrient solution (NS) consumed per plant averaged 16.87 L, with NFT plants recording the least consumption. The SCS affected growth rate of new roots and “root mat” density that led to corresponding nutrient uptake differences. In NFT, reduced nutrient uptake was accompanied by reduced water consumption. The SCS and growth stage strongly affected tissue N, P, K, Ca, Mg, and S mineral concentrations and the respective UC. The UC of N and Κ followed a decreasing trend, while that of Mg decreased only until bulbing, and the UC of the remainder of the macronutrients increased slightly during the cropping period. The UC can be used as a sound basis to establish NS recommendations for cultivation of this sweet onion variety in closed SCSs.

Beschreibung: Performance in wheelchair basketball is determined by capabilities, such as strength and power. The study has two aims: first, to analyze the association between speed and acceleration variables (collected in the bench press (BP) exercise) and the distinct percentages of one-repetition maximum (1RM); second, to analyze the effect of a strength training protocol on wheelchair basketball (WB) players according to their functional impairments. Ten Spanish male WB players volunteered to participate in the study. The players did a pretest and posttest (1RM in bench press) with 6-week muscle strength intervention program. The results showed a high association between the %1RM and the mean propulsive velocity (MPV) and the maximum velocity (Vmax), both in the total of the participants, and in each separate group of athletes. After implementing the strength training program, both the players of the IWBF (International Wheelchair Basketball Federation) 〈 2.5 group and those of IWBF 〉 2.5 group improved their 1RM (p 〈 0.01, ES = 0.20 to 0.23). However, the program produced positive effects at submaximal intensities in the MPV reached with 30, 40, 70, and 80 kg and in time to maximum velocity (TVmax) with 30, 40, and 70 kg (ES = −3.24 to 1.32) only in players with greater functional impairments. The high association between %1RM and MPV and Vmax can allow for determination the %1RM of the WB players in the BP using the MPV and the Vmax. The training program was effective in improving 1RM in both groups, while improvements in submaximal values only occurred in the IWBF 〈 2.5 group.

Beschreibung: Defining the most profitable remote sensing platforms is a difficult decision-making process, as it requires agronomic and economic considerations. In this paper, the price and profitability of three levels of remote sensing platforms were evaluated to define a decision-making process. Prices of satellite, plane and UAV-acquired vegetation indices were collected in Italy during 2020 and compared to the economic benefits resulting from variable rate nitrogen application, according to a bibliographic meta-analysis performed on grains. The quality comparison of these three technologies was performed considering the error propagation in the NDVI formula. The errors of the single bands were used to assess the optical properties of the sensors. Results showed that medium-resolution satellite data with good optical properties could be profitably used for variable rate nitrogen applications starting from 2.5 hectares, in case of medium resolution with good optical properties. High-resolution satellites with lower optical quality were profitable starting from 13.2 hectares, while very high-resolution satellites with good optical properties could be profitably used starting from 76.8 hectares. Plane-acquired images, which have good optical properties, were profitable starting from 66.4 hectares. Additionally, a reference model for satellite image price is proposed.

Beschreibung: Dietary nitrate supplementation has shown promising ergogenic effects on endurance exercise. However, at present there is no systematic analysis evaluating the effects of acute or chronic nitrate supplementation on performance measures during high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and sprint interval training (SIT). The main aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the evidence for supplementation of dietary beetroot—a common source of nitrate—to improve peak and mean power output during HIIT and SIT. A systematic literature search was carried out following PRISMA guidelines and the PICOS framework within the following databases: PubMed, ProQuest, ScienceDirect, and SPORTDiscus. Search terms used were: ((nitrate OR nitrite OR beetroot) AND (HIIT or high intensity or sprint interval or SIT) AND (performance)). A total of 17 studies were included and reviewed independently. Seven studies applied an acute supplementation strategy and ten studies applied chronic supplementation. The standardised mean difference for mean power output showed an overall trivial, non-significant effect in favour of placebo (Hedges’ g = −0.05, 95% CI −0.32 to 0.21, Z = 0.39, p = 0.69). The standardised mean difference for peak power output showed a trivial, non-significant effect in favour of the beetroot juice intervention (Hedges’ g = 0.08, 95% CI −0.14 to 0.30, Z = 0.72, p = 0.47). The present meta-analysis showed trivial statistical heterogeneity in power output, but the variation in the exercise protocols, nitrate dosage, type of beetroot products, supplementation strategy, and duration among studies restricted a firm conclusion of the effect of beetroot supplementation on HIIT performance. Our findings suggest that beetroot supplementation offers no significant improvement to peak or mean power output during HIIT or SIT. Future research could further examine the ergogenic potential by optimising the beetroot supplementation strategy in terms of dosage, timing, and type of beetroot product. The potential combined effect of other ingredients in the beetroot products should not be undermined. Finally, a chronic supplementation protocol with a higher beetroot dosage (〉12.9 mmol/day for 6 days) is recommended for future HIIT and SIT study.

Beschreibung: Policies that attempt to balance timber production with non-market values that forests provide are common across the United States. Such is the case in northern Maine, USA, where management of critical areas of mature softwood-dominated forest are regulated through the State’s primary wildlife management agency. We use a case study approach with qualitative and quantitative analyses to understand the persistent difficulties encountered by both forest and wildlife managers when implementing this policy. Interviews with foresters and wildlife biologists established the management parameters, and simulated management scenarios compared forest management outcomes with respect to both financial and wildlife habitat provision goals. The model results indicated that there are opportunities for comparable revenues within regulated habitat areas as without, although the returns varied due to legacy of previous management and species composition. More importantly, the interviews revealed that differing habitat metrics used by foresters and biologists are a barrier to communication and management planning, and thus also a barrier to effective policy implementation. We close with thoughts on the applicability of both the methods and results to other situations where an understanding of multiple-use forest policy implementation is desired.

Beschreibung: In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic revealed a faceless, non-adversarial threat that endangered Israelis and Palestinians with the same ferocity. However, the capacities of the health systems to address it were not equal, with Israel more equipped for the outbreak with infrastructure, resources, manpower and later, vaccines. The pandemic demonstrated the life-saving benefits of cooperation and the self-defeating harms brought by non-cooperation. These trends are explored here by an international team of public health and environmental scholars, including those from different sides of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. This article explores the importance of recognizing the Israeli and Palestinian jurisdictions as a single epidemiological unit, and illustrates how doing so is a pragmatic positioning that can serve self-interest. We demonstrate how despite political shocks precipitating non-cooperation, there has been a recurrent tendency towards limited cooperation. The paper concludes with lessons over the need for reframing public health as a potential bridge, the need for structural changes creating sustainable platforms for accelerated transboundary cooperation to enable the steady management of current and future public and environmental health crises regardless of dynamic political crises, and the importance of civil society and international organizations in forging collaboration in advance of governmental engagement.

Beschreibung: Hot pepper (Capsicum annum L.) is a major spice crop and is used worldwide for its nutritional value. In the field, its plant is susceptible to various fungal diseases, including fusarium wilt, caused by soil-borne fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. capsici, which can survive in the soil for several years. The infected plant can be recognized by the yellowing of older leaves and downward curling of apical shoots, followed by plant wilting and ultimately the death of the plant. The resistance mechanism in plants is controlled by a single dominant gene, and conventional plant breeding techniques are used to develop a wilt-resistant germplasm. Non-conventional techniques such as gene pyramiding and expression enhancement of antifungal genes could be used to shorten the time to develop resistance against fusarium wilt in hot peppers. In this review, we discuss different aspects of the disease and the molecular basis of resistance in chili/hot pepper plants. Furthermore, this review covers the scope of conventional and non-conventional breeding strategies and different management approaches used to tackle the disease.

Beschreibung: It is widely acknowledged that vertebrates can discriminate non-symbolic numerosity using an evolutionarily conserved system dubbed Approximate Number System (ANS). Two main approaches have been used to assess behaviourally numerosity in fish: spontaneous choice tests and operant training procedures. In the first, animals spontaneously choose between sets of biologically-relevant stimuli (e.g., conspecifics, food) differing in quantities (smaller or larger). In the second, animals are trained to associate a numerosity with a reward. Although the ability of fish to discriminate numerosity has been widely documented with these methods, the molecular bases of quantities estimation and ANS are largely unknown. Recently, we combined behavioral tasks with molecular biology assays (e.g c-fos and egr1 and other early genes expression) showing that the thalamus and the caudal region of dorso-central part of the telencephalon seem to be activated upon change in numerousness in visual stimuli. In contrast, the retina and the optic tectum mainly responded to changes in continuous magnitude such as stimulus size. We here provide a review and synthesis of these findings.

Beschreibung: The Boa constrictor is one of the most common reptiles bred in captivity. To achieve a successful breeding season, thorough knowledge of the females’ reproductive activity is necessary. In this regard, information on the Boa constrictor is still rather scarce. The aim of the present study was to monitor the ovarian activity and the embryonic development of boas by ultrasound. We performed brief scans on thirty non-anaesthetized snakes using a portable ultrasound system and a 7.5–10 MHz linear array transducer (Esaote MyLab™ Classic). Ultrasound features, dimensions, and echogenicity of the preovulatory and postovulatory follicles were determined. As gestation progresses, the postovulatory follicle size increases, and the embryonic silhouette becomes increasingly recognizable. During the second month after ovulation, by using color Doppler, early embryos’ heart activity could be evaluated. It is possible to highlight vascular connections between the mother and the membrane covering the embryonic structures. Ultrasound also allows one to identify follicular regression or slugs (nonfertilized eggs) early. The present study suggests that ultrasound could be an excellent noninvasive technique to evaluate the reproductive activity of Boa constrictor, allowing us to precisely identify the correct time for mating, monitor embryo development and viability, and allow the early diagnosis of follicular regression.

Beschreibung: With a growing global population and energy demand, there is increasing concern about the world’s reliance on fossil fuels, which have a negative impact on the climate, necessitating the immediate transition to a cleaner energy resource. This effort can be initiated in the rural areas of developing countries for a sustainable, efficient and affordable energy source. This study evaluated four types of renewable energy (solar, wind, biomass, and mini-hydro energy) using the integrated Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) approaches to select the best renewable energy source in Tatau, Sarawak. The criteria under consideration in this study included the environment, engineering and economics. The LCA was used to assess the environmental impact of renewable energies from gate-to-grave boundaries based on 50 MJ/day of electricity generation. The AHP results showed that solar energy received the highest score of 0.299 in terms of the evaluated criteria, followed by mini-hydro, biomass and wind energy, which received scores of 0.271, 0.230 and 0.200, respectively. These findings can be used to develop a systematic procedure for determining the best form of renewable energy for rural areas. This approach could be vital for the authorities that are responsible for breaking down multi-perspective criteria for future decision making in the transition into renewable energy.

Beschreibung: Cholera remains a heavy burden worldwide, especially in Sub-Saharan African countries, which account for the majority of the reported cases on the continent. In this study, a 27-year retrospective analysis of cholera epidemics in Guinea-Bissau was performed in order to highlight major stressors fueling the trigger and dissemination of the disease. Although the role of environmental factors did not always have the same degree of importance for the onset of epidemics, a cholera seasonal pattern was clearly perceived, with most of the reported cases occurring during the wet season. The generated theoretical hypothesis indicated rainfall above climatological average, associated with a lack of WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) infrastructure, and the occurrence of concomitant epidemics in neighboring countries as the key indicators for optimal conditions for cholera to thrive in Guinea-Bissau. Warmer air temperature, the increase in sea surface temperature, and the decrease in salinity in the coastal areas may also contribute to the emergence and/or aggravation of cholera events. Prediction of the conditions favorable for cholera growth and identification of risk pathways will allow the timely allocation of resources, and support the development of alert tools and mitigation strategies.

Beschreibung: Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites produced by fungi on agricultural produce. Mycotoxins can be cytotoxic, genotoxic, mutagenic, and teratogenic, and they are persistent threats to human and animal health. Consumption of mycotoxin-contaminated maize can cause cancer and even sudden death. Health hazards can also occur from consuming products from animals fed with mycotoxin-contaminated feed or forage. The main mode of spread of mycotoxigenic fungi is through air-borne spores originating from soil or plant debris, although some fungi can also spread through infected seed-to-seedling transmission, ultimately followed by contamination of the harvestable product. This perspective assesses opportunities to prevent mycotoxigenic fungal infection in maize seeds produced for sowing as an important starting point of crop contamination. A case study of Nigeria showed infection in all tested farmer-produced, seed company, and foundation seed samples. A schematic overview of the formal and informal seed systems is presented to analyze their contribution to fungal infection and mycotoxin contamination in the maize value chain, as well as to set criteria for successful control. We recommend an integrated approach to control mycotoxigenic fungal infection, including resistant varieties and other control methods during seed production, grain production, and grain storage, with an important role in maintaining seed health.

Beschreibung: According to the current European scenario, cultural, creative, and community-led policies play an increasingly important role in influencing local resources, systems, and infrastructures management and demand a novel approach in governing, financing, and monitoring urban regeneration processes. Therefore, cities become contexts where cultural and creative practices can be implemented, integrating social cohesion principles based on communities, shared values, and collaborative decision-making approaches, with particular attention to enhancing cultural heritage, mainly unused or underutilised. The purpose of this research is to explore how the Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor (CCCM) methodological framework, developed by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, can be integrated at the local scale to assess the impacts of urban regeneration processes in an interactive and dynamic way, through the data emerging from the monitoring of urban regeneration experiences activated with the communities. The paper describes the “Play ReCH (Re-use Cultural Heritage)” approach, that promotes a process of collaboration, gamification, and innovation in cultural heritage reuse, as an opportunity to test how cultural, creative, and community-led urban strategies can support the enhancement of heritage generating enabling environments and culturally vibrant contexts. The Play ReCH approach and the “Hack the City Salerno” mission, activated in the Salerno historic centre (Italy), open the reflection on some relevant issues related to how citizens become makers of cultural and creative cities’ policies, and contribute to evaluating and monitoring their implementation at diverse urban scales. The Play ReCH mission underlines how new evidence suggests declining the CCCM conceptual framework and related urban policies assessment, co-defining suitable community-based indicators.

Beschreibung: Disordered eating, or abnormal eating behaviours that do not meet the criteria for an independent eating disorder, have been reported among people with schizophrenia. We aimed to systemati-cally review literature on disordered eating among people with schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD). Seven databases were systematically searched for studies that described the prevalence and correlates of disordered eating among patients with SSD from January 1984 to 15 February 2021. Qualitative analysis was performed using the National Institutes of Health scales. Of 5504 records identified, 31 studies involving 471,159 subjects were included in the systematic review. The ma-jority of studies (17) rated fair on qualitative analysis and included more men, and participants in their 30s and 40s, on antipsychotics. The commonest limitations include lack of sample size or power calculations, poor sample description, not using valid tools, or not adjusting for con-founders. The reported rates were 4.4% to 45% for binge eating, 16.1% to 64%, for food craving, 27% to 60.6% for food addiction, and 4% to 30% for night eating. Positive associations were re-ported for binge eating with antipsychotic use and female gender, between food craving and weight gain, between food addiction and increased dietary intake, and between disordered eating and female gender, mood and psychotic symptoms. Reported rates for disordered eating among people with SSD are higher than those in the general population. We will discuss the clinical, treatment and research implications of our findings.

Beschreibung: This article analyses the role of intermediaries’ engagements to bridge the gaps between research, education and practice in the processes of knowledge production needed for the shift to sustainable agri-food systems. It is based on an immersive study of an intermediary organization in the USA, including comprehensive interviews with the staff of the organization about their professional activities, their career paths, their close and longstanding professional relationships, and their values. Three characteristics of engaged intermediaries are identified, which can be positive add-ons for bridging activities: they consider farmers and scientists as equal contributors to the production of knowledge; they are involved in multiple life-worlds: for instance, being both a farmer and an outreach specialist or scientist; and they are closely associated with movements furthering the development of local and sustainable agri-food systems and an equitable sharing of knowledge. The article addresses topics often neglected in the innovation systems literature: the experience, social relations and political engagement of intermediary actors.

Beschreibung: Evaluating the effects of crop successions in no-tillage system (NTS) is essential for the correct recommendation of agronomic practices, such as top-dressing nitrogen fertilization. The aim was to evaluate the effect of the crop succession and the splitting of top-dressing N fertilization on the agronomic performance and economic viability of common bean crop. The experiment was conducted in southeastern Brazil for two agricultural seasons in an area under NTS, using a split-plot in randomized complete block design. The plots represented three cropping successions (maize in sole crop, maize intercropped with Urochloa ruziziensis and U. ruziziensis in sole crop) and the subplots composed of ten combinations of splitting of top-dressing N, at the stages V3, V4 and R5 of the common bean crop. In relation to the single application of the N dose of 90 kg ha−1, the common bean had higher response as a function of the N splitting schemes adopted, regardless of the previous cropping succession. The cropping successions evaluated did not interfere with the seed yield of common bean as subsequent crop, even at the beginning of the establishment of NTS. To obtain higher seed yield and economic viability, the N dose of 90 kg ha−1 indicated for the crop must be split and applied among the phenological stages V3, V4 and R5.

Beschreibung: In this study, yield and water productivity response of rice to various irrigation levels applied with subsurface and surface drip systems in 2019 and 2020 in the Mediterranean Region of Turkey was evaluated in comparison with conventional flooding (CF). The treatments consisted of two irrigation methods namely surface drip (DI) and subsurface drip systems (SDI), three irrigation levels designated as plant pan coefficients (I1.00: Evaporation from Class A pan (Ep) × 1.00; I1.25: Ep × 1.25 and I1.50: Ep × 1.50) and CF as control. The effects of drip systems and coefficients on yield and yield components were statistically significant (P 〈 0.01). DI produced higher yield than SDI. CF produced significantly greater yield than both DI and SDI systems. With two drip systems, average water savings of 60.5% in I1.00, 54.5% in I1.25 and 49% in I1.50 were achieved as compared to CF. However, yield reductions of 15% in I1.50, 20% in I1.25, 29% in I1.00 were observed for DI; corresponding values for SDI were 20, 28 and 44%, respectively. Drip irrigation in aerobic rice production system had almost twice the water productivity based on total irrigation water applied (WPI) or total water input (irrigation + rainfall) (WPI+P) compared with CF. During the study years, the highest WPI and WPI+P values were found in DI-I1.00 (0.81–0.73 kg/m3) and (0.85 and 0.74 kg/m3), respectively. In conclusion, DI-I1.50 treatment is recommended for sustainable aerobic rice production since DI-I1.50 resulted in water saving of 49% but yield decrease of 15% as compared to CF.

Beschreibung: COVID-19 has brought serious challenges to education and many other sectors. Within the educational context, the main difficulties experienced have been reported as challenges related to not only mechanical impediments—such as technology or infrastructure—but also to methodological and personal features, such as lack of motivation or online learning/teaching experiences. The abrupt transition from face-to-face to online education has created the need for some specific abilities, such as digital literacy on the side of the learners at all educational levels. In this context, this mixed-method study aims to determine the digital literacy levels of learners belonging to different school levels and whether age, gender and school degree were significant variables. This study also investigates the technology-related challenges students experienced during COVID-19 pandemic. The sample consisted of 510 participants representing different school levels, age groups, and genders; in addition, a smaller representative group (n = 30) revealed their own evaluations related to their levels of digital literacy and the technology-related challenges they had about online learning. The findings suggest that there is a statistically significant relationship between students’ digital literacy and their gender and school degree, while age was not found to be a statistically significant variable. The qualitative self-reported data suggested that learners have sufficient levels of digital literacy, and that the major technology-related challenges were reported to be lack of the necessary technologies and difficulties in adapting to a new approach to learning.

Beschreibung: Physical processes play important roles in controlling eutrophication and oligotrophication. In stratified lakes, internal waves can cause vertical transport of heat and nutrients without breaking the stratification, through boundary mixing events. Such is the case in tropical Valle de Bravo (VB) reservoir lake, where strong diurnal winds drive internal waves, boundary mixing, and hypolimnetic warming during stratification periods. We monitored VB during 21 years (2001–2021) when important water-level fluctuations occurred, affecting mixing and nutrient flux. Stability also varied as a function of water level. Hypolimnetic warming (0.009–0.028 °C day−1) occurred in all the stratifications monitored. We analyzed temperature distributions and modeled the hypolimnion heat budget to assess vertical mixing between layers (0.639–3.515 × 10−6 m3 day−1), vertical diffusivity coefficient KZ (2.5 × 10−6–13.6 × 10−6 m2 s−1), and vertical nutrient transport to the epilimnion. Nutrient flux from the metalimnion to the epilimnion ranged 0.42–5.99 mg P m−2day−1 for soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) and 5.8–101.7 mg N m−2day−1 for dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN). Vertical mixing and the associated nutrient fluxes increase evidently as the water level decreases 8 m below capacity, and they can increase up to fivefold if the water level drops over 12 m. The observed changes related to water level affect nutrient recycling, ecosystemic metabolic balance, and planktonic composition of VB.

Beschreibung: Optimization and sensitivity analysis of the kinetic parameters of the catalytic ozonation process is crucial to improve water treatment, reactor design, and construction. This study evaluated the optimization of the kinetic constants for Diclofenac (DCF) degradation during catalytic ozonation with Goethite (FeOOH, as a catalyst) through different kinetic modeling approaches. A central composite design was used to evaluate the effect of ozone dose and catalyst loading. The results showed that FeOOH did not significantly influence the degradation of DCF, while the reactivity of DCF with ozone was high (with 〉90% degradations in 20 min). However, the variation in catalyst loading significantly affected TOC removal (〉10%) and ozone use, with ozone efficiency in ozone transfer (RU) 5% higher than ozonation. After evaluating the different kinetic models of reaction speed by optimizing kinetic parameters and performing sensitivity analysis for the treatment of DCF by catalytic ozonation, it can be concluded that the addition of FeOOH improved the kinetics of the decomposition of ozone and the yield in the production of hydroxyl radicals.

Beschreibung: Copper (Cu) has a narrow range between optimal concentrations as a micronutrient critical for phytoplankton growth and concentrations potentially toxic to living organisms. This sensitivity indicates an ecosystem vulnerability that threatens not only nature but also human health due to bioaccumulation. An important source of elevated Cu concentrations in coastal environments are biocides used as antifouling protection on ships. A pilot study conducted in the Marine Protected Area (MPA) of the Krka Estuary (Croatia) over a period of 16 months investigated the relationship between ship traffic and Cu concentrations. The aim was to contribute to more informed environmental management by assessing the associated risks. In the study presented here, Cu concentrations were monitored, analyzed, and correlated with vessel traffic. Observations revealed that the seasonal increase in maritime traffic caused by nautical tourism was associated with an increase in Cu concentrations of more than five times, posing a toxicity risk to the environment. In order to understand the distribution of copper emissions, a mapping of maritime traffic was carried out by counting transits, radar imagery, and drone photography. This approach has proven sufficient to identify the potential risks to the marine environment and human health, thus providing an effective assessment tool for marine stakeholders.

Beschreibung: The aim of this meta-analysis was to quantify the change in sedentary time during the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on health outcomes in the general population. One thousand six hundred and one articles published after 2019 were retrieved from five databases, of which 64 and 40 were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis, respectively. Studies were grouped according to population: children (65 years). Average sedentary time was calculated, with sub-analyses performed by country, behaviour type and health outcomes. Children were most affected, increasing their sedentary time by 159.5 ± 142.6 min day−1, followed by adults (+126.9 ± 42.2 min day−1) and older adults (+46.9 ± 22.0 min day−1). There were no sex differences in any age group. Screen time was the only consistently measured behaviour and accounted for 46.8% and 57.2% of total sedentary time in children and adults, respectively. Increases in sedentary time were negatively correlated with global mental health, depression, anxiety and quality of life, irrespective of age. Whilst lockdown negatively affected all age groups, children were more negatively affected than adults or older adults, highlighting this population as a key intervention target. As lockdowns ease worldwide, strategies should be employed to reduce time spent sedentary. Trial registration: PROSPERO (CRD42020208909).

Beschreibung: In this study, microbial community dynamics were explored during biological degradation of azo dyes with different chemical structures. The effect of the different molecular structures of the azo dyes was also assessed against the simultaneous removal of color and the bacterial community. Winogradsky columns were inoculated with dewatered sludge and separately fed with six different azo dyes to conduct the sludge acclimatization process, and nine bacterial decolorizing strains were isolated and identified. The decolorization and biodegradation performances of the acclimated system and isolated strains were also determined. Results showed that the bacterial isolates involved in decolorization and the degradation of the azo dyes were mainly associated with the azo dye structure. After 24 h acclimatization at room temperature without specific illumination, immediate decolorization of methyl red (89%) and methyl orange (78%) was observed, due to their simple structure compared to tartrazine (73%). However, after 8 days of acclimatization, methyl red was easily decolorized up to 99%, and about 87% decolorization was observed for orange G (87%), due to its complex chemical structure. Higher degrees of degradation and decolorization were achieved with Pseudomonas geniculate strain Ka38 (Proteobacteria), Bacillus cereus strain 1FFF (Firmicutes) and Klebsiella variicola strain RVEV3 (Proteobacteria) with continuous shaking at 30 °C. The azo dyes with benzene rings were found to be easier to decolorize and degrade with similar microbial communities. Moreover, it seems that the chemical structures of the azo dyes, in a sense, drove the divergent succession of the bacterial community while reducing the diversity. This study gives a deep insight into the feasible structure-based artificial manipulation of bacterial communities and offers theoretical guidance for decolorizing azo dyes with mixed bacteria cultures.

Beschreibung: Although researchers expect the valuation of ecosystems and their services to be used in various decision-making processes, some studies have insisted that the valuation results cannot be fully used in the real world. The so-called “information gap” was highlighted, and some reasons for the gap were raised by researchers. One of them is the lack of local-specific and demand-side information, such as who receives the benefits and to what extent. This study proposes a valuation that includes demand-side information for it to be practically useful for policy decision making, especially for local policymakers. We focus on the headwater conservation service of the forest ecosystem by referring to the case of constructing solar power plants in the Satetsu-gawa river basin in Ichinoseki, Japan. We estimate the size of the area and the number of households affected by deforestation caused by the construction of the plants. Furthermore, the lost value of ecosystem services is assessed in monetary terms to reflect information on the demand side. Based on the results, we present multiple indicators for assessing the impact of constructing the plants and discuss how the valuation can be used by local policymakers as well as how it can close the information gap.

Beschreibung: In this study, the effects of supplemented inositol on sperm extenders were examined on the spermatozoa motility rate and duration, total antioxidant and oxidant status, apoptotic spermatozoa and DNA damage, during the sperm post-thaw process of Mesopotamian Catfish (Silurus triostegus, H. 1843). The semen was frozen in diluents containing different inositol concentrations (5, 10, 20 and 40 mg). Increasing levels of inositol linearly improved the spermatozoa motility rate and duration significantly (p 〈 0.05). MDA and TOS were linearly decreased, however, TAS and GSH linearly increased (p 〈 0.05). The increasing inositol levels resulted in a linear and quadratic decrease in DNA damage in the comet assay, 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine and the determined percentage of apoptotic spermatozoa (p 〈 0.05). These results suggest that there are many positive effects of the use of supplemental inositol on enhancing sperm cryopreservation efficiency in Silurus triostegus.

Beschreibung: Dietary supplementation with oilseeds improves the fatty acid profiles of meat, but results are often inconsistent. This study aimed to assess the effects of dietary linseed and vitamin E supplementation on fatty acid profile, cholesterol content and color stability of beef samples. Dorsal subcutaneous fat samples were subjected to lipid stability assessment. Eighteen young bulls (385 ± 15 kg BW, age 8–9 months) were allocated into three homogeneous groups, each receiving ad libitum wheat straw and concentrate only (CON = 5.5 kg/day), concentrate with linseed (LIN = 80 g/kg, i.e., 440 g/head/day), and concentrate with linseed plus vitamin E (L+E = 80 g/kg, i.e., 440 g/head/day + 2500 IU/head/day of Vitamin E). Group L+E showed significantly lower cholesterol content, lower n-6/n-3 ratio and a higher PUFA percentage compared to the CON group. Meat color was affected by feeding LIN with a decrease in a*, b*, and C* compared to the CON group. The experimental diets increased H° values compared to the CON group. A positive effect of vitamin E in protecting lipids of dorsal subcutaneous depots from oxidation was detected in group L+E compared to group LIN. The supplementation with extruded linseeds in the diet had positive effects on the nutritional profile of the meat. When vitamin E was included, linseed did not alter the color of meat, and the lipid stability of the subcutaneous fat improved.

Beschreibung: Economic crises cause significant shortages in disposable income and a sharp decline in the living conditions, affecting healthcare sector, hitting the profitability and sustainability of companies leading to raises in unemployment. At micro level, these sharp decreases in earnings associated with unemployment and furthermore with the lack of social protection will impact the quality of life and finally the health of individuals. In time of crisis, it becomes vital to support not only the critical sectors of the economy, the assets, technology, and infrastructure, but to protect jobs and workers. This health crisis has hit hard the jobs dynamics through unemployment and underemployment, the quality of work (through wages, or access to social protection), and through the effects on specific groups, with a higher degree of vulnerability to unfavorable labor market outcomes. In this context, providing forecasts as recent as possible for the unemployment rate, a core indicator of the Romanian labor market that could include the effects of the market shocks it becomes fundamental. Thus, the paper aims to offer valuable forecasts for the Romanian unemployment rate using univariate vs. multivariate time series models for the period 2021–2022, highlighting the main patterns of evolution. Based on the univariate time series models, the paper predict the future values of unemployment rate based on its own past using self-forecasting and implementing ARFIMA and SETAR models using monthly data for the period January 2000–April 2021. From the perspective of multivariate time series models, the paper uses VAR/VECM models, analyzing the temporal interdependencies between variables using quarterly data for the period 2000Q1–2020Q4. The empirical results pointed out that both SETAR and VECM provide very similar results in terms of accuracy replicating very well the pre-pandemic period, 2018Q2–2020Q1, reaching the value of 4.1% at the beginning of 2020, with a decreasing trend reaching the value of 3.9%, respectively, 3.6% at the end of 2022.

Beschreibung: This article introduces an application of the recently developed hunger games search (HGS) optimization algorithm. The HGS is combined with chaotic maps to propose a new Chaotic Hunger Games search (CHGS). It is applied to solve the optimal power flow (OPF) problem. The OPF is solved to minimize the generation costs while satisfying the systems’ constraints. Moreover, the article presents optimal siting for mixed renewable energy sources, photovoltaics, and wind farms. Furthermore, the effect of adding renewable energy sources on the overall generation costs value is investigated. The exploration field of the optimization problem is the active output power of each generator in each studied system. The CHGS also obtains the best candidate design variables, which corresponds to the minimum possible cost function value. The robustness of the introduced CHGS algorithm is verified by performing the simulation 20 independent times for two standard IEEE systems—IEEE 57-bus and 118-bus systems. The results obtained are presented and analyzed. The CHGS-based OPF was found to be competitive and superior to other optimization algorithms applied to solve the same optimization problem in the literature. The contribution of this article is to test the improvement done to the proposed method when applied to the OPF problem, as well as the study of the addition of renewable energy sources on the introduced objective function.

Beschreibung: The current study site of the project Inform@Risk is located at a landslide prone area at the eastern slopes of the city of Medellín, Colombia, which are composed of the deeply weathered Medellín Dunite, an ultramafic Triassic rock. The dunite rock mass can be characterized by small-scale changes, which influence the landslide exposition to a major extent. Due to the main aim of the project, to establish a low-cost landslide early warning system (EWS) in this area, detailed field studies, drillings, laboratory and mineralogical tests were conducted. The results suggest that the dunite rock mass shows a high degree of serpentinization and is heavily weathered up to 50 m depth. The rock is permeated by pseudokarst, which was already found in other regions of this unit. Within the actual project, a hypothesis has for the first time been established, explaining the generation of the pseudokarst features caused by weathering and dissolution processes. These parameters result in a highly inhomogeneous rock mass and nearly no direct correlation of weathering with depth. In addition, the theory of a secondary, weathering serpentinization was established, explaining the solution weathering creating the pseudokarst structures. This contribution aims to emphasize the role of detailed geological data evaluation in the context of hazard analysis as an indispensable data basis for landslide early warning systems.

Beschreibung: Permafrost is a key element of the cryosphere and sensitive to climate change. High-resolution permafrost map is important to environmental assessment, climate modeling, and engineering application. In this study, to estimate high-resolution Xing’an permafrost map (up to 1 km2), we employed the surface frost number (SFN) model and ground temperature at the top of permafrost (TTOP) model for the 2001–2018 period, driven by remote sensing data sets (land surface temperature and land cover). Based on the comparison of the modeling results, it was found that there was no significant difference between the two models. The performances of the SFN model and TTOP model were evaluated by using a published permafrost map. Based on statistical analysis, both the SFN model and TTOP model efficiently estimated the permafrost distribution in Northeast China. The extent of Xing’an permafrost distribution simulated by the SFN model and TTOP model were 6.88 × 105 km2 and 6.81 × 105 km2, respectively. Ground-surface characteristics were introduced into the permafrost models to improve the performance of models. The results provided a basic reference for permafrost distribution research at the regional scale.

Beschreibung: The study on the spatial distribution of forest soil nutrients is important not only as a reference for understanding the factors affecting soil variability, but also for the rational use of soil resources and the establishment of a virtuous cycle of forest ecosystems. The rapid development of remote sensing satellites provides an excellent opportunity to improve the accuracy of forest soil prediction models. This study aimed to explore the utility of the Gaofen-1 (GF-1) satellite in the forest soil mapping model in Luoding City, Yunfu City, Guangdong Province, Southeast China. We used 1000 m resolution coarse-resolution soil map to represent the overall regional soil nutrient status, 12.5 m resolution terrain-hydrology variables to reflect the detailed spatial distribution of soil nutrients, and 8 m resolution remote sensing variables to reflect the surface vegetation status to build terrain-hydrology artificial neural network (ANN) models and full variable ANNs, respectively. The prediction objects were alkali-hydro-nitrogen (AN), available phosphorus (AP), available potassium (AK), and organic matter (OM) at five soil depths (0–20, 20–40, 40–60, 60–80, and 80–100 cm). The results showed that the full-variable ANN accuracy at five soil depths was better than the terrain-hydrology ANNs, indicating that remote sensing variables reflecting vegetation status can improve the prediction of forest soil nutrients. The remote sensing variables had different effectiveness for different soil nutrients and different depths. In upper soil layers (0–20 and 20–40 cm), remote sensing variables were more useful for AN, AP, and OM, and were between 10%–14% (R2), and less effective for AK at only 8% and 6% (R2). In deep soil layers (40–60, 60–80, and 80–100 cm), the improvement of all soil nutrient models was not significant, between 3 and 6% (R2). RMSE and ROA ± 5% also decreased with the depth of soil. Remote sensing ANNs (coarse resolution soil maps + remote sensing variables) further demonstrated that the predictive power of remote sensing data decreases with soil depth. Compared to terrain-hydrological variables, remote sensing variables perform better at 0–20 cm, but the predictive power decreased rapidly with depth. In conclusion, the results of the study showed that the integration of remote sensing with coarse-resolution soil maps and terrain-hydrology variables could strongly improve upper forest soil (0–40 cm) nutrients prediction and NDVI, green band, and forest types were the best remote sensing predictors. In addition, the study area is rich in AN and OM, while AP and AK are scarce. Therefore, to improve forest health, attention should be paid to monitoring and managing AN, AP, AK, and OM levels.

Beschreibung: Blastocystis sp. is an important zoonotic protist in humans and various animals with worldwide distribution. However, there have been no data on the occurrence of Blastocystis sp. in C. bactrianus, an important economic animal in northwestern China. In the present study, a PCR-sequencing tool based on the SSU rRNA gene was applied to investigate the prevalence and genetic diversity of Blastocystis sp. in 638 faecal samples from C. bactrianus in 21 sampling sites within three main breeding areas (Gansu, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang) in northwestern China. The total prevalence of Blastocystis sp. was 21.8% (139/638) in C. bactrianus, with the infection rates of 29.5% (18/61), 50.0% (14/28) and 19.5% (107/549) for animals aged 6 years, respectively. Significant differences in prevalence were detected among C. bactrianus from three geographic areas (χ2 = 19.972, df = 2, p 〈 0.001) and all sampling sites (χ2 = 104.154, df = 20, p 〈 0.001). A total of 16 of 21 sampling sites were positive for Blastocystis sp., with the prevalence ranging from 7.7% to 70.6%. Sequence analysis of the SSU rRNA gene identified eight subtypes in C. bactrianus in the present study, including seven animal adapted subtypes (ST10, ST14, ST21, ST24, ST25, ST26 and ST30) and one potentially novel subtype, with ST10 being the dominant one. To the best of our knowledge, this study provides the first insight for the occurrence and genetic make-up of Blastocystis sp. in C. bactrianus and contributes to the understanding of the transmission of Blastocystis infection in C. bactrianus in China.

Beschreibung: A basic assumption of many scientific theories on the topic of decision making is rational behaviour. However, previous authors assume the existence of behavioural biases in freight transport which impede rational decision making. Hardly any research exists on behavioural biases in freight transport. To address this gap, we carry out a systematic literature review on the influencing factors of freight mode choice and provide empirical evidence for the occurrence of behavioural biases in the logistics sector. Fifteen logistics service providers and six shippers are involved in interviews and a focus group to understand their mode choice process and derive information on the existence of behavioural biases. Several biases showed to exist in the practical decision-making process. For example, decision makers tend to avoid complex options (principle of least effort), they stick to already tried and tested options (status quo bias, zero-risk bias) and they tend to make decisions based on immediate and easily accessible information (availability bias). These biases distort the demand for sustainable freight transport. We therefore conclude with several motivational, cognitive and technological debiasing strategies to reduce the negative impact of behavioural biases in freight transport.

Beschreibung: Physical activity is associated with enhanced sleep quality and optimal body composition, as well as a reduction in cardiovascular risk factors in the general population. Although earlier research has established a link between physical exercise and excellent sleep quality as well as an optimum BMI in adults, little is known about the relationship in the young adult populations. The purpose of this study is to discover if there is a relationship between sleep quality, blood pressure, waist circumference, socio-demographic variables with physical activity among young adult in Kuala Lumpur. A cross-sectional sample of 120 university students was recruited for this study. Physical activity and sleep quality were assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, respectively. Blood pressure, Body mass index, and waist circumference were also measured. Approximately 36% of university students engage in moderate to vigorous physical exercise. The average physical activity was 2430.37 ± 2509.16 MET-minutes each week, which meets the minimal need. The median difference in MET-minutes per week between gender was not significant, with males having greater MET than females (p 〉 0.05). However, there was no statistically significant variation in MET-minutes each week between study year and mode of transportation. (p 〉 0.05). Approximately 40.3% of university students were classified as having good sleep quality. The average sleep quality is 5.37 ± 2.38, indicating that the students have slightly a poor sleep quality. There was no statistically significant variation in sleep score between gender, year of study, and mode of transportation (p 〉 0.05). The waist circumference (WC) has a significant relationship with body mass index (BMI), systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). According to multinomial logistic regression, there was a significant association between level of physical activity (PA) and BMI and year of study when comparing moderate and low PA. Physical activity is essential because it may alter a young adult’s lifestyle, encouraging active commuting to work or other short-distance destinations. Attention must be given to this particular population to encourage regular and sustainable participation in physical activity to achieve lifelong health benefits. Other variables, such as body fat, energy intake, stress level and muscle mass, can also be examined for future research.

Beschreibung: Energy Transition (ET) needs actors to perform independent actions on multiple levels of governance. These actors may need to write and read their data, and at the same time they want to protect their data from unauthorized access. This is particularly the case for positive energy districts (PED), a growing trend in the EU that requires actors to perform, write and read operations on a neighborhood scale where governance competences are typically absent. This paper presents a decentralized privacy-aware data management framework that enables actors to store, read, and modify data in PEDs. Our framework design integrates blockchain with a Distributed Hash Table (DHT), role-based access control, ring signature, and different encryption techniques. The proposed framework stores encrypted data on the DHT, and metadata and hash key are sent to the blockchain, which allows the data owner to keep track of their data. The proposed framework components handle multi-level data access in PEDs and enable data security at run-time. Moreover, we show security and privacy analysis and performance evaluation in time overhead. The results show that the proposed solution is effective, secure, and scalable.

Beschreibung: The COVID-19 pandemic affected consumers’ behavior worldwide. This paper aims to analyze consumers’ sustainable food behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research was based on an online survey during May–October 2020 among 859 Romanian consumers. Principal component analysis and cluster analysis were employed to group the consumers based on their behavior. Furthermore, the binary-logistic regression was used to identify the socio-demographic profile of the identified groups. Based on the cluster analysis, the consumers were grouped into three main groups: indifferent, pro-environment protection, and health concerned. The results indicate a positive attitude towards sustainable food behavior. Consumers’ attitude towards sustainable food choice is mainly influenced by age and education level. The study offers valuable information for future public policy and marketing campaign regarding sustainable food behavior.