查看更多>>摘要：The end of the Cold War and the expansion of globalization to most of the planet has brought about significant changes in the field of International Relations. National economies are more interdependent than ever, the threat of global nuclear war has now decreased significantly and new technologies currently form the cornerstone of world growth, while at the same time changing the conduct of armed conflict. This study, with the use of a methodological research tool called "Contemporary Narrative" attempts to analyze the contemporary problems resulting from the possible use of new technologies as weapons of mass destruction and more specifically, the strategic use of modern biological weapons as part of "Bio-Hybrid Threats". The initial historical overview of the use of biological weapons is followed by an analysis of modem global technological-biotechnological developments within the context of global bioterrorism.
查看更多>>摘要：Planted roofs have been investigated as a passive cooling technology for energy efficiency purposes in buildings. More quantitative data on this topic are required to solve a lack of information for many specific regions. This study is focused on a numerical investigation of the thermal comfort inside a green roof rectangular ventilated cavity in a hot and humid climate like the one of Lome in west Africa. The left vertical is heated and partly saturated with water to provide humidification of the indoor air. Transfer dimensionless equations are solved using an implicit finite difference scheme, the Thomas algorithm, and the Gauss-Seidel iterative method. We analyze the effects of inlet airflow on the thermal process inside the ventilated and planted enclosure have been investigated. The comfort temperature range deduced from the data is 25℃ < T_c < 27°, and that of the indoor air humidity is 49% < Hr <60%. The different ranges obtained are significant and lead to improving inside thermal comfort. The solar flux of 350 W.m~(-2), the average value in the case of Lome city, was used to establish a heat transfer correlation to predict heat transfer through the roof with a relative error not exceeding 4%. This model can be very useful for engineers in the design and optimization stage of a green roof in practical buildings.
查看更多>>摘要：This study explores the relationship between business practices related to climate change and environmental performance. Using an international sample of analysis from 2013 to 2017, the paper examines how managerial incentives, public policy, disclosure, and responsibilities to executives on climate change, as corporate governance factors, affect a firm's environmental performance. By employing several regression analyses, our independent variables-incentives, public policy, disclosure, and responsibilities-show to improve the environmental performance in terms of reduction of GHG emissions. In addition, results show that stakeholders' engagement seems less relevant in the US concerning other countries, this could be related to the US public opinion which exerts lower pressures on companies to deal with climate change. This study contributes to the environmental governance literature, where the impact of governance practices on environmental problem solving has not been widely studied.
查看更多>>摘要：The intensification of agriculture through the use of animal energy has been used since colonial times. This study aims to analyze the level of mechanization in Niger while relying on the role played by animals used for farming in the regions of Maradi and Zinder (Niger Republic). Data collection was carried out between June and August 2020, using a questionnaire addressed to agriculture and related regional technical services and farmers. The questionnaire helped to collect information on the evolution of mechanization, the different coupling tools, the areas worked with animal traction, the proportions of farmers using animal energy, and the species of animals used for farming. The analysis of data collected showed that the farm park equipment has been strengthened by the purchase of agricultural equipment, especially for harness cultivation and intermediate motorization. The cart, the hoe, the plow, and the seeder are the most harnessed tools to the draft animal. The percentage of use of these tools by producers is 87.5,42.5, 41.67, and 11.67% respectively. The area that worked using animal energy is about 16 times higher than that worked with human energy. It appears that about 90% of farmers use animal energy in carrying out their cropping calendar. Cattle are the most used (98.15%) for animal energy users followed by donkeys (1.85%) and camels (0.93%). Young animals (2-3 years old) are the most used (56.04%) in farming and traction with a pair of oxen is the most developed and represents 55.02% of the coupling. The maintenance of the coupling tools and their repairs are generally carried out locally by the users and other service providers. This confirms that the draft animal largely contributes to the development of agricultural mechanization in Niger.
查看更多>>摘要：This study compares and presents the similarities in the development of Chinese diasporic media in Western countries, especially focusing on the influence of the Chinese diaspora and the homeland political economy, from the past to the present. An investigation was conducted on the research sample-the Chinese diaspora and diasporic media in Australia and New Zealand through documentary and field research. The research results suggest that the transformation of sub-Chinese groups (from Hong Kongese to the mainlanders) and Greater China's political economy simultaneously determine the readership, advertisements, ownership, as well as media content from the early 19th century to the present. Subsequently, comparisons of the development of the Chinese diasporic media in the US, Canada, and Western Europe suggest the same two influential factors. Furthermore, the results of the findings show that contemporary Chinese diasporas and the mainland political economy impact are two of the most influential factors in the boom of overseas Chinese digital media. Overall, although Chinese diasporic media are varied and diverse, their development is determined by two external factors: the Chinese diaspora and the homeland. These findings could serve as a reference that contributes to both the diasporic media industry and research.
查看更多>>摘要：The primary aim of this research is to develop a framework for data management and sharing that will enable countries to share complex data about known and unknown high-risk passengers to streamline border-control security processes through the use of big data analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI). A total of 15 semi-structured interviews were used to gather qualitative data. A thematic analysis approach was used to analyze the data and the interview data were coded using NVivo 11 qualitative-data-analysis software. Five aggregate dimensions were developed, comprising nine themes and nine sub-themes, based on 39 codes that emerged from the data. This research has several theoretical and practical contributions. Primarily, the development of an AI-based risk engine will not only improve how borders are enforced but will also lead to the integration of new technology for border control, thus boosting securitization, decreasing human factors/error, minimizing border-related crime, and helping to manage healthcare issues.
Olga KronusovaMichala PiklovaKristyna SirovaPetr KaStanek...
68-77页
查看更多>>摘要：Inflorescence of eight different varieties of Cannabis sp. (3 hemp varieties and 5 medical cannabis varieties) were subjected to extraction with n-hexane or ethanol as representatives of non-polar and polar solvents. Crude extracts were either used directly or after decarboxylation of cannabis acids for measurement of selected biological activities-cytotoxicity against carcinogenic line B16 (musculus skin melanoma cells), cytotoxicity against Human Dermal Fibroblast (HDF) as a control non-carcinogenic line, antimicrobial activity against Candida albicans (DBM, 2186), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC, 25923) and Salmonella enterica (CCM, 4420) and antioxidant activity using the ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) assay. 32 samples with a different profile of cannabinoids measured by HLPC were thus obtained and evaluated. The content of total flavonoids that could exert synergic action on bioactivity was measured by the spectrophotometric method. The hexane extracts showed higher antimicrobial activity, decarboxylation of the samples led to an increase in cytotoxicity against the human skin fibroblast line in most of the studied samples, and to decrease in the antioxidant effects of the decarboxylated extracts. The obtained findings suggest a therapeutic potential of the selected cannabis extracts in the treatment of skin cancer, skin wounds, or surgical wound healing.
Wend Yam Serge Boris OuedraogoMoumouni DjiboAli DoumouniaSerge Roland Sanou...
78-83页
查看更多>>摘要：In this study, we propose a new method for detecting wet periods by using telecommunications Commercial Microwave Links (CML). The purpose of the study is to automatically find rain time slots. The attenuation of the microwave signal, propagating between a transmitting antenna and a receiving one, due to the variations of the climatic conditions over the link, is a non-stationary signal. When a rain event occurs over a CML, the attenuation signal level increases proportionally to the rain amount. This level decreases again at the end of the rain. These abrupt variations are exploited here to detect rainy time slots. The proposed method consists in splitting the attenuation signal into frames and computing the variation of the energy between consecutive frames. To determine whether the current frame corresponds to a wet period, the proposed method, named Energy Variation (EVA), compares the variation of the energy with a given threshold, while taking into account the status of the previous frame. Simulation results from real attenuation data of the mobile phone operator Telecel Faso SA (Burkina Faso) show that the proposed method allows the detection of 84.61% of rainy events. The Matthews Correlation Coefficient (MCC) is higher than 0.9, which demonstrates that EVA can discriminate between wet and dry periods with high accuracy.
查看更多>>摘要：Chitosan (CS) the polysaccharide was copolymerized with Poly (Vinyl Alcohol) (PVA) for the preparation of CS-co-PVA hydrogel and with Carboxymethyl Cellulose (CMC) for CS-co-CMC hydrogel. The prepared hydrogels were characterized by FTIR, thermal analysis (TGA and DSC), and SEM. The hydrogels were studied for agriculture applications, where their ability to swell and take large quantities of water many times its weight was exploited for water retention when the hydrogel was mixed with agricultural soil. For almost 40 days the soil in the soil/hydrogel sample was kept wet whereas the reference sample (without hydrogel) has a maximum of 20 days wet. The next application was loading the NPK fertilizer applied as a model into the prepared hydrogels and then allowing to release of the loaded fertilizer in a controlled manner and for long time intervals. Both hydrogels CS-co-PVA and CS-co-CMC have shown a high maximum loading percentage (L_(max)%) and a highly efficient loading percentage (EL%). Equivalent to the release character of both hydrogels has shown a controlled agrochemical deliver pattern.
Eli Morales RojasManuel E. Reategui-IngaReiner Reategui IngaPierina Lizbeth Neyra Vargas...
93-98页
查看更多>>摘要：The objective of this study was to review the main rainwater harvesting and treatment systems through a bibliometric analysis from 2000-2021. A bibliometric analysis was used in the R program and VOS viewer, the query involved titles, abstracts, and keywords during the last 20 years (2000-2021). The results indicate that from 2013 onwards, interest in this topic increased. 13% of the publications belong to the academic journal Journal of Cleaner Production. The main author leading the publications is Ghisi, from Brazil, who conducted 24 types of research and one of his papers reached 95 citations. In conclusion, there is evidence of the need to strengthen research in developing countries to contribute to water saving and supply in areas that do not have drinking water.
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