Abstract As the prevalence of metabolic diseases such as diabetes and obesity continue to rise, the search for more effective and convenient treatments has become a crucial issue in medical research. Microneedles (MNs), as an innovative drug delivery system, have shown advantages in the treatment of metabolic diseases in recent years. MNs-based drug delivery system, which use MNs to deliver drugs directly to the subcutaneous tissue, improve drug bioavailability and reduce systemic side effects. This review aims to summarize the latest concepts, designs, and types of MNs, and to investigate the materials and manufacturing methods used in their construction. Subsequently, the mechanisms of drug delivery and graded release of MNs and recent research progress are further summarized. This article focuses on the application of MNs in the treatment of common metabolic diseases, with a special emphasis on the progress and optimization of diabetic and anti-obesity MNs. The main challenges and future perspectives in the production and evaluation of MNs, as well as in enhancing treatment efficacy and improving safety, are elucidated.
This article explores how pedagogy focused on affective possibilities of narrative genres can suggest new directions for climate fiction, potentially challenging the dystopian dominance in the climate crisis imaginary. We analyse a corpus of work produced by first year creative writing students. The students were given the task of “mashing” climate fiction with another genre (romance, horror, crime or any other genre of their choice) and asked to reflect on how this changed the emotional affect and tone of their narrative. Many students were still drawn to dystopian visions, reflecting how climate fiction has become entangled with this particular mode of storytelling, but the focus on reader affect resulted in the students adding layers of hope and agency. Many made use of the possibilities offered by genre: the whimsical allegory of fantasy, the critical thinking of realism, the active fear of horror and the comic potential of satire. By giving students the freedom to embed climate change into their preferred genre, and by asking them to consider the affective consequences of their choices, we offer challenges to the dominance of dystopian climate fiction, suggesting a different path to narratively engage with the climate crisis without descending into hopelessness.
María Victoria Mitre Núñez, Luis Roberto Alfaro De Arcia, Denisse Morales De León
Conocer el estado de los cuerpos de agua, tanto superficiales como subterráneos, es fundamental para la gestión adecuada de las cuencas prioritarias del país, como la del río Guararé, en Panamá. El objetivo de este proyecto fue establecer la relación entre las porquerizas, los puntos de contaminación y su posible impacto en la calidad del agua. Para ello, se realizaron muestreos en puntos específicos de la cuenca y se utilizaron herramientas de Sistemas de Información Geográfica (SIG). La investigación buscó identificar fuentes de contaminación y comprender cómo afectan al ecosistema acuático de la región. Se llevaron a cabo dos campañas de muestreo, con análisis de calidad de agua realizados en sitio y en laboratorio. Estos estudios permitieron obtener datos sobre los parámetros críticos de calidad hídrica. Posteriormente, se elaboraron mapas de contaminación con el objetivo de identificar y visualizar sitios críticos y potencialmente críticos en la subcuenca. Los resultados muestran que, aunque existe cierta correlación entre la densidad de porquerizas y algunos parámetros de calidad de agua muestreados, la contaminación hídrica parece estar más asociada a la concentración poblacional y otras actividades humanas. Estos hallazgos sirven de base para establecer estrategias de intervención, promover la gestión integrada del recurso hídrico en la región y reducir los impactos negativos sobre los cuerpos de agua.
Abstract The aims of this study are to analysis adoption and impacts of conservation agriculture on poverty and resilience to drought in Eastern Ethiopia. Multi-stage sampling method was employed and four districts were randomly selected from Eastern Hararghe Zone. Using cross-sectional survey data collected in 2023 from 430 households, multinomial endogenous switching regression was applied in impact evaluation. The result shows farm experience, education, climatic-shocks experience, access to climate information, access to extension, number of oxen, farm size, labor force, livestock and distance to market are determinants of conservation agriculture (CA) adoption in terms of inter-cropping, crop rotation and crop residue retention or mulch practices in its single and combination of practices. Poverty was evaluated based on cost-of-basic-need and resilience to drought is in its index. Accordingly, the food poverty line and total consumption expenditure or total poverty line was found to be 6582.7ETB and 8620.70ETB per Adult/Equivalent per year in the study area. Results of average treatment effect on treated shows adoption is significantly reduced poverty and increased resilience to drought condition in the area. The study also shows importance role of extension service in adoption of CA practices. There is a need to encourage extension facilities and awareness to promote better adoption of CA particularly, in its combination. The combination of practices increased consumption expenditure of adopters by 73.3 percent compared to non-adopters, given its significant impact on households’ poverty and resilience to drought in moisture stress area of eastern Ethiopia. So, it is crucial to more advances farmers and experts’ information on climate shocks and conservation agricultural practices adoption. The policymakers ought to develop and encourage farmers’ asset building plan including livestock, adult education, market linkage facilities, extension and weather related information delivery service to enhance adoption of conservation agricultural practices to combat the current and future drought.
Tsikalakis Georgios, Neofotistou Eleftheria., Kontogiannakis Emmanouil.
et al.
The concept of sustainable development is not only a scientific term but an essential way of changing the way of life for modern man. The cultivation of the values recommended by the UN through the 17 goals must become a pedagogical tool at all levels of education in order to achieve the most basic component of environmental education and sustainable development in the context of ESG, which is the process of recognizing values and clarifying concepts to develop the skills and attitudes necessary for understanding and appreciating the interrelationship of man, culture and the Biophysical environment. The project focus: a) on principles of software programming and pedagogical issues and b) on eco-social contextualization & dynamiting activities that can be applied with the students in order to create a pedagogical model through the use of Scratch code so that students can master knowledge through STEM methods.
Agustina Tan Watumesa, Celina Gabrielle, Pranawijaya Stephanie
Bioremediation is a low-cost, clean, and environmentally friendly method in managing marine pollution. Despite its great potential, marine bioremediation has its own challenges. As an open system, limited nutrients and fluctuating environmental conditions in the ocean affect the metabolism of degrading microorganisms, thus influencing the biodegradation rate. Multiple strategies have been employed to enhance the bioremediation rate at varying degrees of success. This review discusses these strategies from the perspective of experimental studies under controlled conditions and their potential applications for bioremediation. The addition of nutrients or other electron acceptors (biostimulation), as well as competent microbes to the contaminated site (bioaugmentation), have been reported to enhance pollutant degradation rate. Further modifications, such as using immobilized cells and genetic engineering have been employed to enhance the effectiveness of bioaugmentation. It is possible to combine more than one of these strategies to complement each other. However, one should note that all the reports to date were mostly done at the laboratory scale. Further studies need to be conducted by considering other factors such as climate, location, and types of pollutants, for the improvement of pollutant removal from the marine environment as a whole.
The paper describes the solution of the problem of automatic fixation of the availability of free parking spaces in parking lots based on the video stream of the surveillance camera. The problem was solved using a combination of the YOLOv7 model for detecting objects of interest of the “car” type, trained on a specially created training sample and grouping of objects using the k-means algorithm. The proposed solution has shown satisfactory accuracy and suitability for practical use in conditions of significant optical interference – daily light fluctuations and precipitation for calculating free parking spaces by the model without retraining it for various parking lots
Mohammad Reza Ashrafzadeh, Kamalaldin Shahbazinasab, Alireza Mohammadi
et al.
Human encroachment in natural habitats and consequent landscape modifications pose significant threats to animal populations, particularly endangered species. Therefore, studying the factors that determine the spatial distribution of large carnivores, including those at risk, holds great significance in developing effective conservation strategies. Among the most endangered bear populations worldwide, the conservation of the brown bear Ursus arctos population in the Central Zagros Mountains (southwestern Iran), which represents the species’ southernmost geographical range, is currently facing serious challenges. However, little is known about the species’ geographical range and the critical factors affecting its distribution in this area. Here, we employed a modelling approach to estimate the geographical distribution of this brown bear population and identify the primary landscape features that contribute to the species’ distribution. Our analysis revealed the following findings: (1) about 45% of the study area comprises suitable habitat for brown bears; (2) main factors influencing bear distribution, along with their respective contributions, are (a) distance to conservation areas and prohibited hunting areas (CAs/PHAs; 33.7%), (b) maximum temperature during the warmest month (21.6%), (c) landscape roughness (14.8%), (d) forest density (11.2%) and (e) mean annul precipitation (10.6%); and (3) roughly 69% the predicted suitable habitats exist outside CAs/PHAs. This highlights the importance of considering areas beyond CAs/PHAs in future conservation strategies, were the connectivity among forest patches is crucial for bear survival. The recent escalation of human activities, such as the harvesting of natural resources (e.g., medicinal and aromatic plants, fruits and honey), orchard and agricultural development, overgrazing of livestock, and the construction of water transfer infrastructures from the mountains to downstream regions, raises significant concerns for bear conservation in the study area. These activities contribute to landscape changes and have the potential to escalate conflicts between local communities and bears. Our findings highlight opportunities for designating new areas for brown bear habitat conservation and for promoting landscape connectivity.
The relationship between parameters in wetlands, especially peatlands, as a part of the analysis is interesting to study. The analysis is expected to show the condition of the peatland or the state of the wetlands in general. The water table elevation (WTE) is measured daily, so to compare it with evapotranspiration and rain, daily values for these two parameters are also required. The study was conducted between June-July and August 2022 on shallow peatlands in Gambut District, Banjar Regency, South Kalimantan Province. Evapotranspiration in this study was calculated using the Hargreaves and Modified Hargreaves method which presents a daily evapotranspiration calculation. The methods only depend on the maximum and minimum temperature, the number of outer space radiation whose magnitude depends on its location on the earth's surface, and the time when the research is conducted. The results showed that the highest daily evapotranspiration value generally occurred in August, which was in accordance with previous studies, but the magnitudes were different. The daily evapotranspiration value in this study ranged from 0.5 mm to 1.8 mm, while previously, the values were greater. WTE values show a strong relationship with rainfall, where rainfall increases the WTE value, and conversely, the absence causes the WTEs to decrease gradually. In general, the condition of the peatlands in the study area based on the groundwater elevation conditions still looks quite good with a fast response to rain. The relationship of evapotranspiration with rain and water table elevation cannot be clearly seen in this study because alterations in rainfall and WTE do not directly indicate changes in evapotranspiration values, so a more extended study covering other months and more in-depth covering parameters and other methods is needed to draw valid conclusions more accurate.
Melanie H Jacobson, Miriam Woodward, Wei Bao
et al.
AbstractBisphenol A (BPA) has been recognized as an endocrine disrupting chemical and identified as an obesogen. Although once ubiquitous, human exposure to BPA has been declining owing to its substitution with other bisphenols. Two structurally similar substitutes, bisphenol S (BPS) and bisphenol F (BPF), have raised similar concerns, although fewer studies have been conducted on these newer derivatives. We used data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys from 2013 to 2016 to evaluate associations between BPA, BPS, and BPF and body mass outcomes among children and adolescents aged 6 to 19 years. Concentrations of BPA, BPS, and BPF were measured in spot urine samples using HPLC with tandem mass spectrometry. General obesity was defined as ≥95th percentile of the age- and sex-standardized body mass index (BMI) z-scores according to the 2000 US norms. Abdominal obesity was defined as a waist circumference/height ratio of ≥0.5. BPA, BPS, and BPF were detected in 97.5%, 87.8%, and 55.2% of urine samples, respectively. Log-transformed urinary BPS concentrations were associated with an increased prevalence of general obesity (OR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.32) and abdominal obesity (OR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.27). BPF detection (vs not detected) was associated with an increased prevalence of abdominal obesity (OR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.64) and continuous BMI z-score (β = 0.10; 95% CI, 0.01 to 0.20). BPA and total bisphenols were not statistically significantly associated with general obesity, abdominal obesity, or any body mass outcome. These results suggest that BPA substitute chemicals are correlated with obesity in contemporary children.
Abstract: Assessing ecosystem service (ES) balance and exploring critical drivers are crucial for landscape management. However, a lack of understanding of the determinants of the ecosystem service supply–demand budget, their spillover effects, and spatial variabilities offsets the efficacy of landscape planning and ecosystem conservation. This novel study attempted to close this gap by quantifying ecosystem service budget using an expert knowledge-based supply–demand matrix and explored its dependencies through spatial econometrics and geographically weighted regression approaches instead of using ordinary model simulation and conventional statistical analysis. The overall patterns of ecosystem service balance in the southeastern coast were found to have remained stable in 1980, 2000, and 2017, although remarkable ecosystem service deficits were identified in hotspots of rapid urbanization. The ecosystem service balance was negatively associated with the proportions of built-up land and cropland (p < 0.0001) and exhibited positive associations with the proportions of woodland and grassland (p < 0.0001). Landscape structure and population density were identified as the primary determinants of ecosystem service balance and exhibited spatial variability and spillover effects (i.e., determining ecosystem service balance in both individual and adjacent units). These findings demonstrate the significance of spatial disparities and external effects of determinants of the supply–demand budget in integrative landscape governance. Consequently, localized and targeted strategies for landscape planning are increasingly needed to optimize landscape configuration and alleviate ecosystem service imbalance according to individual socioeconomic conditions and landscape structures. In addition, the spillover effects demonstrate that the maintenance of regional ecosystem service balance and ecosystem sustainability depends not only on individual areas but also on cross-regional collaborations with neighboring regions. These findings have critical implications on strategy formulation for coastal landscape management and ecosystem sustainability.
Canadian high-frequency temperature time series exhibit physical heterogeneity in the coexistence of radiative and advective populations in the total air temperature sample. This work examines forty-five Canadian hourly air temperature records to study seasonal characteristics and variability of radiative and advective population counts and their corresponding temperature biases and trends. The Linear Pattern Discrimination algorithm, conceptualized in a previous study, was adjusted to seasonal analysis on the equinox-to-equinox time scale. Count analysis of radiative and advective days supports the existence of two distinct thermal regimes, Spring–Summer and Fall–Winter. Further, seasonal advective counts for the majority of examined stations typically decrease in numbers. The consistently warmer winter radiative temperature extrema points to the critical role of the advective population in control of the overall temperature magnitude. Canadian northwest warming trends are found to be the highest, indicating the amplifying effect of decreasing advective counts with rapidly increasing temperatures that weaken the advective population’s moderating ability to control the magnitude of the total temperature population.
Plastics can reach the coastal environment and could impact the marine environment. Mussels are marine organisms which are prone to be exposed to microplastics pollution. Therefore, in this preliminary study, the commercially important green mussel (Perna viridis) collected at the Koh Phee Canal in Phuket, Phuket Province, southern peninsular Thailand, was investigated. The collected mussels from aquaculture farm fell into three age groups, namely 1 year-1 month, 1 year-7 months, and 1 year-9 months. Results from the investigation showed 200 items of microplastics present in Perna viridis with 76 items (38%) in flushed water and 124 items (62%) in the soft tissue. The average counts of microplastics in soft tissue and flushed water were 4.13 items per individual and 2.53 items per individual, respectively. Blue color (98 items, 49%) and filament shape (185 items, 92.5%) were the most common color and shape of microplastics in the mussel tissues and the flushed water. The dominant polymers as microplastics were identified as polyester and polyethylene terephthalate, which are common polymer types used in protective packaging and containers. The statistical post hoc tests showed no significant differences by age group in the microplastics accumulation in the Perna viridis (p<0.05). Further studies are required to understand the accumulation rates and residence times of microplastics across the food webs for better understanding on their impacts on human health. The results from this study provide a baseline level of microplastics contamination in green mussel aquaculture located at Phuket, and urgent measures are needed to prevent contamination of food for human consumption and related health problems.
In order to analyze the thermal environment and its influence on workers’ thermal adaptation, a field study was conducted in a rubber factory during winter. Indoor and outdoor environmental parameters were measured and subjective questionnaire surveys were collected. The study was conducted from November to January the next year. During the survey, indoor temperature was in the range of 12.6 to 21.7°C and indoor air velocity ranged from 0.15 to 0.3 m/s. The clothing insulation during heating period was between 0.85-0.9 clo, while it was between 1.21-1.33 clo during pre-heating period. The estimated metabolic rate was around 2-2.2 met. Analysis showed that the thermal sensation vote (TSV) was higher than that predicted by PMV. The neutral temperature difference between TSV and PMV was 4.8°C. The thermal comfort and thermal adaptation of workers in winter were systematically analyzed and a thermal adaptive model was proposed. Basis on the adaptive model, the comfort temperature range of workers was suggested.
Abstract High‐pressure minerals in impact ejecta quantify shock conditions and provide clues for provenance analysis. The sampling site of Chang’E‐5 may contain distal ejecta, which is critical for constraining the impact events and interpreting the constitution of the target geological units. Here, we report a silica fragment consisting of seifertite, stishovite, α‐cristobalite‐like phase, and silica glass in Chang’E‐5 regolith. Both seifertite and stishovite formed via solid‐state transformation mechanism, in which seifertite formed by transition from α‐cristobalite upon pressure loading whereas stishovite may form from seifertite when postshock temperature was significant during pressure release. The coexistence of seifertite and stishovite suggests that their host rock has experienced a peak shock pressure of 11–40 GPa and records different stages of the impact process. Crater size calculation revealed that the host rock of stishovite and seifertite could have been transported from distant craters, confirming the retention of distal ejecta in Chang’E‐5 landing site.
The concept of the circular economy is being proposed as an alternative for the current linear economy. However, little research has been done on how to integrate this topic within education. Serious games are suggested as an appropriate way to create awareness about and stimulate behavioral change toward sustainable development. Therefore, the serious game ecoCEO has been developed to introduce the circular economy concept within upper secondary education. The game's intention is to introduce students to the challenge of resource scarcity, circular product design, sustainable entrepreneurship and circular business models. EcoCEO has been tested among 42 students, whose written reflections were qualitatively examined. EcoCEO appears successful, at least partially, in contrasting the circular economy with the linear economy and in conveying relevant concepts such as recycling and reuse. EcoCEO also illustrates the importance of the circular economy within the context of material scarcity. Moreover, most students in our case study seem to have a good impression of the role and responsibilities of a (sustainable) entrepreneur. Despite its difficulty level, the majority of the students reported having fun while playing ecoCEO.
<p>We present a 1986 through March 2020 estimate of Greenland Ice Sheet ice discharge. Our data include all discharging ice that flows faster than 100 m yr<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span> and are generated through an automatic and adaptable method, as opposed to conventional handpicked gates. We position gates near the present-year termini and estimate problematic bed topography (ice thickness) values where necessary. In addition to using annual time-varying ice thickness, our time series uses velocity maps that begin with sparse spatial and temporal coverage and end with near-complete spatial coverage and 12 d updates to velocity. The 2010 through 2019 average ice discharge through the flux gates is <span class="inline-formula"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M2" display="inline" overflow="scroll" dspmath="mathml"><mrow><mo>∼</mo><mn mathvariant="normal">487</mn><mo>±</mo><mn mathvariant="normal">49</mn></mrow></math><span><svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="54pt" height="10pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="d5aefc4639731fd975542f8180ec803d"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="essd-12-1367-2020-ie00001.svg" width="54pt" height="10pt" src="essd-12-1367-2020-ie00001.png"/></svg:svg></span></span> Gt yr<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span>. The 10 % uncertainty stems primarily from uncertain ice bed location (ice thickness). We attribute the <span class="inline-formula">∼50</span> Gt yr<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span> differences among our results and previous studies to our use of updated bed topography from BedMachine v3. Discharge is approximately steady from 1986 to 2000, increases sharply from 2000 to 2005, and then is approximately steady again. However, regional and glacier variability is more pronounced, with recent decreases at most major glaciers and in all but one region offset by increases in the northwest region through 2017 and in the southeast from 2017 through March 2020. As part of the journal's living archive option and our goal to make an operational product, all input data, code, and results from this study will be updated as needed (when new input data are available, as new features are added, or to fix bugs) and made available at <span class="uri">https://doi.org/10.22008/promice/data/ice_discharge</span> <span class="cit" id="xref_paren.1">(<a href="#bib1.bibx38">Mankoff</a>, <a href="#bib1.bibx38">2020</a><a href="#bib1.bibx38">a</a>)</span> and at <span class="uri">https://github.com/mankoff/ice_discharge</span> (last access: 6 June 2020, <span class="cit" id="xref_altparen.2"><a href="#bib1.bibx42">Mankoff</a>, <a href="#bib1.bibx42">2020</a><a href="#bib1.bibx42">e</a></span>).</p>