Abstract The widespread integration of photovoltaic (PV) power, energy storage systems, and other demand‐side resources highlights the importance of optimal dispatching for the PV‐storage‐load virtual power plant (VPP). However, the fluctuation of the PV power generation and the uncertainty of the electricity prices exacerbate the economic operation risks of the VPP. To address these challenges, an optimal dispatching strategy for the PV‐storage‐load VPP is proposed, with due consideration given to the dual uncertainties of electricity prices and PV power output. Firstly, the conditional value‐at‐risk theory is employed to quantify the uncertainty risk of VPP revenue caused by electricity price fluctuations. Secondly, in view of the asymmetric fluctuation intervals of PV power output, a quantification method for PV uncertainty and dispatch robustness is developed using the confidence gap decision theory. Furthermore, by combining the regulation reserve model of multi‐type flexible resources, a robust optimization model for the PV‐storage‐load VPP is constructed with the objective of maximizing comprehensive operational revenue, which includes the provision of upward and downward reserve services. Finally, case studies based on a PV‐storage‐load VPP in a Chinese province are conducted to validate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed model. The simulation results indicate that the proposed robust optimization strategy effectively reflects the relationship between the uncertainty of PV power output and the risk preference of decision‐maker, mitigates the fluctuation risks of electricity prices to ensure the stability of the power system, and enhances the economic efficiency and flexibility of the PV‐storage‐load VPP operation.
Energy industries. Energy policy. Fuel trade, Production of electric energy or power. Powerplants. Central stations
Christine Böttcher, Debra McDavid, Angelica M. Jermakow
et al.
Conclusions: This study has demonstrated that a relatively simple and robust protoplast isolation, DNA-free protoplast transfection and plant regeneration workflow can be used to efficiently produce nontransgenic, diploid, edited clones with desired phenotypes of four elite winegrape cultivars, including the highly recalcitrant Cabernet Sauvignon.
Khoo Terh Jing, Chin Yee Ha , Mohd Wira Mohd Shafiei
et al.
This research explores the current green site management practices (GSMPs) commonly practiced by contractors. While the construction industry has contributed significantly to Malaysia’s development, it has also raised various environmental concerns. GSMPs are gaining attention as a solution to these issues. Nevertheless, their implementation faces various challenges, such as financial concerns and a lack of knowledge. A qualitative approach was adopted to focus on contractors’ experiences with green practices. Five contractors were randomly selected from the construction sites in Malaysia using the convenience sampling method. These respondents, all at the management level, were well-positioned to provide insights. Data collection continued until no new issues emerged from the interviews. The findings revealed that GSMPs are becoming a current trend within the industry. Contractors are beginning to integrate green practices in their construction activities, focusing on construction site waste management, workforce management, best regulatory practices, site establishment and administration, and site facilities. However, there is a notable lack of awareness and knowledge about these green practices among contractors. The study offers practical implications for the future of GSMPs, highlighting the need for increased understanding and adoption. By elaborating on available practices and their implications, this study aims to encourage broader implementation of GSMPs in construction sites.
Management. Industrial management, Marketing. Distribution of products
Abstract Background The advancement of nanotechnology underscores the imperative need for establishing in silico predictive models to assess safety, particularly in the context of chronic respiratory afflictions such as lung fibrosis, a pathogenic transformation that is irreversible. While the compilation of predictive descriptors is pivotal for in silico model development, key features specifically tailored for predicting lung fibrosis remain elusive. This study aimed to uncover the essential predictive descriptors governing nanoparticle-induced pulmonary fibrosis. Methods We conducted a comprehensive analysis of the trajectory of metal oxide nanoparticles (MeONPs) within pulmonary systems. Two biological media (simulated lung fluid and phagolysosomal simulated fluid) and two cell lines (macrophages and epithelial cells) were meticulously chosen to scrutinize MeONP behaviors. Their interactions with MeONPs, also referred to as nano-bio interactions, can lead to alterations in the properties of the MeONPs as well as specific cellular responses. Physicochemical properties of MeONPs were assessed in biological media. The impact of MeONPs on cell membranes, lysosomes, mitochondria, and cytoplasmic components was evaluated using fluorescent probes, colorimetric enzyme substrates, and ELISA. The fibrogenic potential of MeONPs in mouse lungs was assessed by examining collagen deposition and growth factor release. Random forest classification was employed for analyzing in chemico, in vitro and in vivo data to identify predictive descriptors. Results The nano-bio interactions induced diverse changes in the 4 characteristics of MeONPs and had variable effects on the 14 cellular functions, which were quantitatively evaluated in chemico and in vitro. Among these 18 quantitative features, seven features were found to play key roles in predicting the pro-fibrogenic potential of MeONPs. Notably, IL-1β was identified as the most important feature, contributing 27.8% to the model’s prediction. Mitochondrial activity (specifically NADH levels) in macrophages followed closely with a contribution of 17.6%. The remaining five key features include TGF-β1 release and NADH levels in epithelial cells, dissolution in lysosomal simulated fluids, zeta potential, and the hydrodynamic size of MeONPs. Conclusions The pro-fibrogenic potential of MeONPs can be predicted by combination of key features at nano-bio interfaces, simulating their behavior and interactions within the lung environment. Among the 18 quantitative features, a combination of seven in chemico and in vitro descriptors could be leveraged to predict lung fibrosis in animals. Our findings offer crucial insights for developing in silico predictive models for nano-induced pulmonary fibrosis.
Sri Marfuati, Hikmah Fitriani, Mustika Weni
et al.
Background: With 10 million cases around the world, pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) has been classified as a highly contagious disease and mostly affecting low and middle countries. Having the second highest incident cases in West Java of Indonesia, Cirebon becomes a challenging city in order to reduce the number of TB cases in the country.
Aims: This study aims to identify the patients’ knowledge and treatment phases, and how the two factors encourage patients to comply with their medication.
Methods : This cross-sectional observational study was conducted among 91 new pulmonary tuberculosis patients at the Cirebon City Community Lung Health Centre, selected using random sampling. Not only respondent characteristics, but also data on the patients' knowledge levels, treatment phases, and medication adherence were collected using a questionnaire and medical records. To assess the relationship between these variables, the collected data was then analyzed using the Spearman Correlation test. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Health Research Ethics Commission, and informed consent was gathered from all participants.
Results: This study reveals the most updated characteristics of the Tuberculosis patients at the Cirebon City Community Lung Health Center aged 15-64 years old with treatment duration ranged 1-6 months. The majority have insufficient knowledge about tuberculosis (45.1%), and 75.8% of patients adhered to their prescribed medication regimen, regardless of their knowledge level. The data indicates a significant positive correlation between knowledge level and medication adherence (p = 0.015), with 95% of patients with good knowledge adhering to treatment compared to only 34% with poor knowledge. Furthermore, there is a significant relationship between adherence and treatment duration (p = 0.002), as 85% of patients who adhered to treatment did so for more than two months.
Conclusion: The study shows that patients with better knowledge of tuberculosis are more likely to stick to their medication, which also leads to longer treatment durations. Given the high incidence of TB in the region, these findings suggest the need for targeted educational programs to enhance patients' understanding of TB, thereby improving adherence to treatment protocols.
Received: 20 May 2024, Reviewed: 09 June 2024, Revised: 26 August 2024, Accepted: 30 August 2024.
There are various methods to prevent river bank erosion, one of them is groin. These structures are used to control the natural movement of the bed and reduce the movement of sediments by reducing the power of the water flow. Groins are divided into permeable and impermeable types, the permeable form of which is used in rivers where the amount of suspended load is high. By reducing the speed of the flow in the groin field, the sedimentary materials are quickly deposited. This process and then creating a thick sedimentary layer, keeping the erosion flow away from the groin area and it provides the stable conditions necessary to protect the banks. In this study, the performance of parallel permeable groin and single permeable groin has been compared. For this purpose, a flume with a length of 5 meters, width of 30 cm and height of 30 cm has been used. Experiments have been conducted with 60 and 40% permeability rates in clear water conditions, and the observations from the experiments have been made in relation to the maximum scour depth and the changes in the topography of the flume bed have been compared.
Construction industry, Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
The cultural rituals of any society are the birth certificates of that society’s culture, history, religion, and ethics. These rites and rituals are an important factor in fostering cohesion and unity among the people of a society who gather together in various ceremonies. Mourning ceremonies and rituals vary in different provinces, cities, and villages across the country, particularly during the first decade of Muharram. Iran is considered one of the inheritors of world culture due to its diverse and rich cultural rituals. The purpose of this research is to do a comparative and documented study of Muharram rituals in these two provinces so that by revealing the manifestations of cultural rituals and their differences and similarities, we can reach the deep and rich layers of the culture of these two provinces. This research intends to investigate the differences and similarities between the rituals of the first decade of Muharram and their cultural differences in the two provinces of East Azarbaijan and Khuzestan, using a descriptive-comparative study method. These two provinces have a deep cultural and religious background and an ancient civilization. The results of this research show that despite the great similarity in the performance of Muharram rituals in the two provinces in question, the diversity of mourning rituals is also visible in these two provinces. The varieties and differences are closely related to cultural, climatic, and linguistic differences in these two provinces. These two provinces’ people have chosen to mourn in accordance with their religion, vegetation, culture, and language. The results of this research show that, in addition to these differences, the common points of this cultural ritual in the two provinces are the love of the Prophet’s family and devotion to Ashura culture.
Economic growth, development, planning, Ethnology. Social and cultural anthropology
The relevance of the study is that the digital challenge is important and stimulating, requiring the formation of digital education in the digital economy. The purpose of the article is to develop a model of digital education as a factor of improving the efficiency of digital competencies that contribute to the development of the digital economy. The object of research is the formation of a digital education model as a factor in the implementation of digital literacy. The subject of the study is the impact of the digital education model on the development of the digital economy. The methodology for researching digital education, which cultivates a smart economy, smart governance and smart people, is represented by the Agile methodology (flexible adaptive), based on the use of the values of artificial intelligence and deep learning, which can create effective tools for education, increasing their effectiveness through rapid change. The results of the study: 1) analyzes the formation of digital competencies in the context of the European educational paradigm that contribute to the development of the digital economy; 2) identifies the directions of implementation of digital competencies in the context of the European educational paradigm; 3) reveals digital tools and educational platforms that contribute to the formation of digital education; 4) formulates the concept of quality, inclusive, accessible digital education as a factor in improving digital competencies and adapting education to the digital age; 5) traces the impact of digital education and digital competencies on the development of the digital economy. The concept of digital education contains both its potential and its risks, which can have serious consequences for the future of the educational process if digital literacy is not developed. The combination of four factors – cultural change, technological innovation, national policy leadership and internal development of the digital education system – stimulates the digital transformation of society.
In the era of the urban economy and service economy, the decoupling of service industry land expansion from economic growth has always been a key measure to evaluate sustainable and healthy development. Based on the decoupling model and GIS spatial analysis method, this paper conducted an empirical study of Chinese cities from 2012 to 2019. Results: (1) Increasing spatial heterogeneity, correlation and agglomeration of land expansion were found in China’s urban service industry and its economic growth; (2) Most cities were in weak decoupling, with evolved, degraded and unchanged cities accounting for one-third each, and the number of cities in negative decoupling was increasing, leading to increasingly diverse and complex decoupling relationships; (3) From the perspective of changes in the urban service industry land and its decoupling from economic growth, HH cities were clustered in the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei and Chengdu–Chongqing urban agglomerations in a continuous belt pattern, while LL and HL cities were mostly in the north, especially in the northeast, creating many cluster-like agglomerations that have become problematic spaces; (4) A significant synergistic effect was identified between the factors of urban permanent population, value added of the secondary industry, per capita GDP, government financial expenditure, international trade, foreign direct investment, total retail of commodities, and authorized patents, with factor pairs formed showing nonlinear enhancement. The factor value added of the secondary industry had the largest direct impact, while urban permanent population and foreign direct investment led in terms of net synergies; (5) It is recommended to introduce classified and differentiated urban service industry land use policies, plan and build a number of national, provincial and municipal modern service industry clusters, demonstrate changes in land supply and use, build a scientific and efficient land resource allocation and management system, guard against and prevent recoupling and effectively improve the ability of cities to achieve high-quality economic development.
Abstract The constant ratio of global warming to cumulative CO2 emissions underpins the use of cumulative emissions budgets as policy tools, and the need to reach net zero CO2 emissions to stabilize global mean temperature. Several studies have argued that this property arises because heat and carbon are mixed into the ocean by similar physical processes, and this argument was echoed in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. Here we show that, contrary to this hypothesis, atmosphere-ocean fluxes of heat and carbon evolve very differently to each other in abrupt CO2 increase experiments in five earth system models, and that changes in the atmosphere, ocean and land carbon pools all contribute to making warming proportional to cumulative emissions. Our results strongly suggest that this proportionality is not amenable to a simple physical explanation, but rather arises because of the complex interplay of multiple physical and biogeochemical processes.
Increasing human activities have greatly influenced the ecosystem and the use of ecological resources, and the unbalanced urban–rural development in China (urban and rural areas being two major bases of human activities) has always been accompanied by heterogeneous ecological effects. Human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) is an integrated indicator quantifying the human domination of productivity and harvest in the biosphere. Identifying the unbalanced constraints of urban and rural development on HANPP has become necessary for improving human–land relationships. This study analyzed the spatial distribution and regional differentiations of the HANPP in China in 2015 and investigated how HANPP and its components responded to unbalanced regional urban–rural development. The results show that the total amount of HANPP was 2.68 PgC and gradually decreased from the southeast to the northwest of China in 2015, representing 60.33% of the NPP<sub>pot</sub>. In addition, HANPP<sub>luc</sub>, harvest through cropland, livestock grazing, and forestry contributed 60.70%, 29.86%, 8.53%, and 0.91%, respectively, to the total HANPP, with HANPP<sub>luc</sub> playing the dominant role in 21 provinces. There was a significant differentiation (<i>p</i> < 0.05) in the spatial distribution of HANPP (gC/m<sup>2</sup>), HANPP<sub>harv</sub> (gC/m<sup>2</sup>), and HANPP<sub>luc</sub> (gC/m<sup>2</sup>), especially between the Huanyong Hu Line and the western–eastern part of China, fundamentally resulting from uneven regional development. In addition, biomass production–consumption decoupling existed in most regions in China, 17 provinces were identified as consumption type, and a universal positive correlation (<i>p</i> < 0.05) was identified between the production–consumption ratio of occupied biomass and HANPP<sub>harv</sub> (%HANPP). Different drive mechanisms were found between urban–rural development and HANPP, and each HANPP index was more likely to be affected by urban economy (UE), rural population (RP), and rural agricultural technology (RA) in China. The higher regional average nighttime light intensity, the proportion of the built-up area, and the urban road area corresponded with a large HANPP<sub>luc</sub> value. Conversely, HANPP would decrease as the proportion of urban green spaces increased. Furthermore, HANPP (%NPP<sub>pot</sub>) and HANPP (gC/m<sup>2</sup>) mostly depended on the rural development index, while HANPP<sub>luc</sub> and HANPP<sub>harv</sub> were mainly controlled by urban and rural development, respectively. Our findings help understand, first, how unbalanced regional development influences human-induced biomass occupation, the comprehensive urban ecological construction, and rural ecological restoration and, second, that the overall planning of urban–rural integration development must be strengthened to face greater ecological pressures in the future.
In the conditions of the knowledge economy, the most important source of competitive advantages of the organization is human capital. The human capital development is based on the relevant management culture to provide proper material and technical prerequisites for motivating both high activity culture standards and productive performance. Hence efficient organizational culture of modern business environment affects almost all aspects of the organization activities and is a must for human capital formation.
The need to understand the role of organizational culture as an effective strategic tool in the management of organizational processes in the modern business environment actualizes the topic of this study and determines the goal - to analyze the significance of organizational culture in transforming human potential into human capital as a social resource that makes efficient production and innovation possible.
The specified goal presupposes the setting of a number of tasks to identify the essence of such concepts as "corporate culture", "human capital" and "human potential" and to analyze their interdependence in the process of functioning and development of modern business organizations.
Methodology. General scientific methods are used to substantiate the theoretical positions and reasoning of the conclusions. The system method allows to consider the nature and instrumental role of organizational culture for the manager to transform the human potential into the human capital of the organization.
The results of the study indicate the complex nature of the organizational culture phenomenon as a factor in the developing and managing human capital: on the one hand, it is a tool for transforming human potential into the human capital of the organization, on the other hand, it is an integral attribute of human capital itself.
Ayodeji Adeitan, Clinton Aigbavboa, Olufemi Bamisaye
Industry 4.0 technologies have capacities to improve competitiveness in the logistics chain by taking advantage of information flow through the logistics processes. This paper aims to determine the influence of effective and new information flow on logistics management in Nigeria. The methodology used in this study includes; the quantitative methodology, a mean item score, exploratory factor analysis, normality test, and Man-Whitney test. Findings revealed negotiating better contracts, better product tracking, better quality logistics information flow, expanded network, and enhanced information transfer as the top five effect of information flow on logistics management in Nigeria. It is recommended that Nigerian companies engaging in logistics activities need to adopt industry 4.0 technologies to aid effective and new information flow in their logistics management processes. Finally, the growth of logistics firm and its ability to compete depend on effective information flow.
Management. Industrial management, Large industry. Factory system. Big business
Basal stem rot (Ganoderma boninense) is one of the main diseases of oil palm. The objective of the research was to obtain indigenous rhizobacteria (RBI) isolate which have the ability increase growth and to control basal stem rot on oil palm seedlings in planta. Experimental research consists of 3 stages by using Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Indigenous rhizobacteria isolate testing as plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and to control of G. boninense on pre-nursery of oil palm consisted of 29 treatments (27 RBI isolates, without G. boninense inoculation as positive control, and G. boninense inoculation as negative control) with 5 replications each. Data were analyzed by variance, if the result significantly different, it was continued by using Least Significance Different (LSD) at 5% level. The results showed that two of the best isolates were RZ2E 2.1 and RZ2E 1.2 which were able to increase growth and were able to suppress the development of basal stem rot G. boninense.