Search Results (30,986)

Opuntia ficus-indica (cactus pear) emerged as a promising crop for sustainable bioenergy production on marginal agricultural land, mitigating competition with food crops and lowering the risk of other indirect land use changes. In this study, the bioenergy potential is investigated of cactus pear residues within a smallholder farming context of Nopaltepec, a rural municipality in Central Mexico. Nopaltepec is a native environment of cactus pear and shows an annual production volume of 30 Gg of fresh matter. A bottom-up approach employing semi-structured interviews (n = 16) was utilized to assess the feasibility of transforming the pruning residues of cactus pear into a viable bioenergy source. The results indicate a substantial bioenergy potential, with 27 Mg of fresh matter biomass (equivalent to 9720 m³ biogas) per hectare obtainable annually without compromising fruit yields. Moreover, the digestate produced through anaerobic digestion can be recycled as biofertilizer, offering economic and ecological advantages to smallholders. Notably, farmers expressed keen interest in integrating this technology into their agricultural systems. This research underscores the potential of cactus pear residues for developing a decentralized bioenergy sector and provides valuable ideas for future bottom-up assessments in rural communities like Nopaltepec. Full article

This study examined the vertical transmission of wheat price among the main value chain, looking at the pricing behaviour of certain role players in the wheat production/supply and the distribution of bread, which is a major staple food consumed in South Africa. A nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model was used to analyse the yearly time series data for the period of 2000 to 2022. The results of the stationarity test showed that all variables were of order one, I (1). The study used two pairs, namely farmgate price and retail price, and farmgate price and wholesale price, to examine the existence of asymmetry between these prices, with rainfall and temperature as control variables. The results indicate the existence of a positive long-run asymmetry of 35.9% between the farmgate price of wheat and retail price of bread, and 3.49% asymmetry between the farmgate price and wholesale price of wheat. To develop informed policies on food security, this study suggests that the government should enhance regular access to data and sustain its monitoring and communication of food price information across the whole country. For farmers, a policy on price transparency can help them to establish a public platform to share market prices, ensuring that they receive fair prices. This paper also recommends the provision of subsidies for wheat farmers to help the wheat industry, reduce the cost of bread production, and make bread more affordable and accessible for consumers. Full article

As autonomous vehicle (AV) capabilities expand, it is important to ensure their safety during testing and deployment for public usage. While several testing regulations have been proposed in research, US federal, and even global guidelines for low-speed vehicles in metropolitan settings, regulations for high-speed travel are mainly vacant—this is especially true for regulations relating to AV emergency obstacle avoidance maneuvers (EOAMs). Research in this manuscript introduces a general obstacle avoidance capability assessment (GOACA) for AVs traveling at highway speeds. This GOACA includes test modes including car and bicycle active road objects (AROs) in rural and urban highway settings. These tests were novel in their definitions, methodologies, and execution, especially in the context of AVs driving at highway speeds—critically, this research proposes a test evaluation protocol such that it could serve as a foundation for an official regulation in the future. These GOACA tests included adjacent traffic vehicles which have not been utilized in the prior literature when considering EOAMs within a wholistic AV system context. While the vehicle type will cause simulation results to var, in general, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication is recommended for usage with AVs at highway speeds for critical safety. This is especially true when considering oncoming traffic and low surface μ conditions. Full article

The discrepancy between the physical accessibility and perceived accessibility of public service facilities in coastal towns and villages of Fujian, China, was investigated in this study. Through a spatial distribution analysis of education and medical service facilities in Liushui Town and Xingchen Town, the equity and coverage levels of various facilities were evaluated based on the residents’ physical travel costs and perceptions. The results show pronounced spatial heterogeneity between the physical and perceived accessibility across different regions. Our findings suggest that, while certain areas boast a lot of physical access to facilities, the residents’ perceived access is significantly influenced by factors such as the terrain, transportation conditions, and the types of available travel tools. The findings of this study provide a scientific basis for optimizing the allocation of rural public service facilities, aiming to bridge the foundational service gap between urban and rural areas and promote the equitable development of rural living environments. Full article

As photovoltaic technologies are being promoted throughout the country, the widespread installation of distributed photovoltaic systems in rural areas in rural regions compromises the safety and stability of the distribution network. Distributed photovoltaic clusters can be configured with energy storage to increase photovoltaic local consumption and mitigate the impact of grid-connected photovoltaic modes. Against this background, this paper focuses on rural areas, combines typical operation modes of distributed photovoltaic clusters, and constructs the two-stage energy storage optimization configuration model for rural distributed photovoltaic clusters. Taking a Chinese village as an example, the proposed model is optimized with an improved particle swarm optimization algorithm. Given different combinations with and without energy storage and demand response, comparative analyses are conducted on photovoltaic local consumption and the economic benefits of independent operators in various scenarios. Simulations indicate that the photovoltaic local consumption proportion of distributed photovoltaic clusters with energy storage reaches 62.64%, which is 34.02% more than the scenario without energy storage. The results indicate that configuring energy storage for rural distributed photovoltaic clusters significantly improves the photovoltaic local consumption level. Meanwhile, implementing demand response can achieve the same photovoltaic local consumption effect while reducing the energy storage configuration, and the life-cycle economic benefits are appreciable. The simulation results show that participating in demand response can reduce the energy storage system cost by 7.15% at a photovoltaic local consumption proportion of 60%. This research expands application channels of rural distributed photovoltaic clusters and provides references for investment and operation decisions of distributed photovoltaic energy storage systems. Full article

Although extensive research has examined land use dynamics in urban settings, non-urbanized areas remain understudied, particularly in post-socialist contexts. This study investigates the political, economic, and institutional drivers of land use changes in the non-urbanized areas of Poland through the Political Market Framework. It focuses on how local government structures and interest group interactions shape land development decisions. The two-stage Heckman model was used to address sample selection bias. The results reveal three key findings: (1) municipal council composition significantly influences land use outcomes, with farmers and highly educated councilors generally opposing intensive development, while partisan councilors favor it; (2) interest groups, particularly production companies and the tourism sector, drive both the initiation and scale of land use changes; and (3) institutional factors, including agricultural land quality and farm size, moderate these relationships. This study advances our understanding of rural land use governance by demonstrating how political–economic forces interact with local institutional contexts to shape spatial development patterns. These findings have important implications for land use policy in transitional economies and contribute to broader discussions on rural governance. Full article

The scope of the research work described in this article involved identifying the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the urban public transport system in a medium-sized city and its adjacent metropolitan area, using as reference information the number of tickets effectively sold in order to determine the fluctuation in the volume of passengers on the different bus lines before, during and after the pandemic. At the methodological level, a combined approach was employed, involving, on the one hand, the collection of open access public data from institutional repositories and information provided by the government and, on the other hand, network analysis and graphical mapping using GIS tools. The results obtained at the micro level (individualised study of each urban bus line) reveal a significant decrease in the number of passengers during the pandemic, showing the effect of mobility restrictions and the fear of contagion. However, a gradual recovery in post-pandemic demand has been observed, highlighting a large variability in recovery patterns between different bus lines. Such a situation could be attributable to several factors, such as the socio-demographic characteristics of the areas served, the frequency of the service, connectivity with other modes of transport and users’ perception of the quality of the service. At the macro level (comparison between urban and interurban transport), lines with higher demand prior to the pandemic have shown greater resilience and faster recovery. However, urban transport has experienced a more uniform and accelerated recuperation than interurban transport, with significant percentage differences in the years analysed. This disparity could be explained by the greater dependence of inhabitants on urban transport for their daily trips, due to its greater frequency and geographical coverage. Interurban transport, on the other hand, shows a more fluctuating demand and a lower dependence of users. Finally, the lack of previous research focused on the impact of the pandemic in sparsely populated rural areas restricts the ability to establish a solid frame of reference and generalise the results of this study. The authors consider that more detailed future research, including a comparative analysis of different alternative transport modes in inter-urban settings and considering a broader set of socio-demographic variables of passengers, is needed to better understand mobility dynamics in these areas and their evolution in the context of the pandemic. Full article

Identifying priority conservation areas (PCAs) for national parks is critical for improving the cost-effectiveness and viability of conservation efforts, given the multiplicity of conservation values, the complexity of human activities, and the limited financial resources available. Assessing conservation costs is central to systematic conservation planning (SCP). To compensate for the limitations of the alternative cost method in small-scale case studies and accurately reflect the cost differences due to specific land use, tenure, and management strategies, conservation costs are quantified and spatialized in this study using monetization methods. Taking Shennongjia National Park (SNP) as an example, we considered the core conservation values of species, ecosystems, and geological heritage, using the Zonation 5 model to identify PCAs under three different targets: 17%, 30%, and 50%. The results indicated that, as the conservation targets increased, PCAs expanded from the central and southern high-altitude areas to the northwest and northeast. Conservation gaps are primarily concentrated in the western part of Songluo and the northern parts of Hongping and Songba. Conservation costs exhibit clear spatial heterogeneity, increasing gradually from the central high mountains towards the surrounding areas. Among these, ecological compensation cost was the primary factor driving the sharp increase in total costs, while opportunity cost remained consistently low with minimal fluctuations. Compared to the alternative method, our study clarified the spatial distribution and types of costs in the process of national park construction, providing a quantitative basis and scientific guidance for future fiscal investment directions, methods, and responsible entities. At the administrative division level, we revealed the main cost challenges faced by townships in balancing resource conservation with community development, leading to more targeted, timely, and actionable community governance strategies. These findings further illustrate the significant advantages of using monetary costs in optimizing the boundaries of individual national parks and enhancing funding allocation efficiency, while promoting effective unified management of natural resource assets within spatial planning. Full article

Natural processes are substantially impacted by human activity, and assessing human activity has significant ramifications for regional ecological conservation. The study developed an extended human footprint (HF) assessment model based on the theory of ecological effects and human pressures to evaluate human disturbances in the urban agglomerations of the Yellow River Basin using data from 2005 to 2020, revealing the spatiotemporal pattern in the region. The conclusions show that the HF value of urban agglomeration in the Yellow River Basin has steadily increased from 2005 to 2020, primarily driven by mining intensity and road construction. High HF areas are primarily concentrated in urban areas in the south-central of the region, with a tendency to spread outward. Medium HF areas are mainly distributed in the eastern part of the study area, and the spatial distribution increases year by year, extending outward from the center area. The moderately low and HF areas are mostly found in the mountainous areas of the northwest. Among the urban agglomerations in the Yellow River Basin, the Central Plains UA and Shandong Peninsula UA are the areas most heavily affected by human disturbance. The conclusions are instructive for the high-quality development of urban agglomerations in the Yellow River Basin. Full article

Background/Objectives: Chronic otomastoiditis is a complex inflammatory condition frequently associated with delayed diagnosis, inadequate antibiotic use, and healthcare disparities. This study aimed to analyze the clinical, demographic, and microbiological characteristics of chronic otomastoiditis and its complications over a 10-year period in rural versus urban populations. Methods: This retrospective study included 292 patients with chronic otomastoiditis admitted to the ENT Clinic of Craiova County Emergency Clinical Hospital from 2013 to 2023. Data were collected on patient demographics, clinical presentations, imaging findings, audiometry, bacteriological profiles, and surgical outcomes. Statistical analyses were conducted to identify risk factors and patterns of antibiotic resistance. Results: Urban patients represented 60.27% of cases, while rural patients (39.73%) presented later with more advanced disease. Cholesteatoma was identified in 49.31% of cases, frequently associated with hearing loss and structural complications. Significant antibiotic resistance was noted for Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus, with high resistance rates to amoxicillin and amoxicillin–clavulanate. Surgical interventions, primarily mastoidectomy, were associated with varied recovery rates and complications. Conclusions: Chronic otomastoiditis is influenced by healthcare accessibility and antibiotic resistance. Early diagnosis, antibiotic stewardship, and targeted surgical interventions are critical in managing this condition, particularly in underserved rural populations. Public health efforts should focus on improving healthcare accessibility to mitigate long-term complications. Full article

Combining soybeans with grass or biomass maize in silage holds promise in addressing the nutritional limitations of individual crops, providing a roughage with a good energy–protein balance. This study evaluated the effects of replacing urea-treated rice straw (UTRS) with silages made from intercropped maize–soybean and Guinea grass (GG) in calf diets on feed intake and growth performance. Sixteen native Yellow calves (130.7 ± 16.1 kg live weight and 12.8 ± 2.6 months old) were used; the experiment had a randomised complete block design with four dietary treatments: Treatment 1 (70% UTRS + 30% GG); Treatment 2 (40% UTRS + 30% GG + 30% Guinea grass silage); Treatment 3 (40% UTRS + 30% GG + 30% Guinea grass–soybean silage); and Treatment 4 (40% UTRS + 30% GG + 30% maize–soybean silage). The animals were fed 0.5 kg concentrate per 100 kg live weight daily, with unlimited access to forage and clean water, for 12 weeks after a two-week adaptation. The results indicate that silages containing soybean increased total weight gain and average daily gain (ADG) and decreased feed conversion ratio (FCR); however, silage replacements had no impact on dry matter intake and body conformation, suggesting that Guinea grass–soybean or maize–soybean silage can effectively enhance the ADG and decrease the FCR of growing calves fed UTRS-based diets. Full article

This study examined the diversity and responses of intestinal microbiota in hybrid grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus ♀ × E. lanceolatus ♂) fed diets with varying levels of fishmeal replaced by black soldier fly larvae (BSFL). The 10% BSFL substitution (BSFL10) group showed the highest levels of trypsin and amylase. Substituting fishmeal with 30% and 50% BSFL weakened the intestinal wall, resulting in vacuoles, sparse striatal boundaries, and fewer villi. Microbiota diversity, measured through Shannon’s index, was higher in the BSFL10 and BSFL50 groups than in the control. 16S rRNA amplicon data revealed the dominance of Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Spirochaetota, and Verrucomicrobia phyla. The BSFL-replacement groups showed an increase in Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Spirochaetota compared to the control, but fewer Firmicutes. PICRUSt analysis indicated significant alterations in microbial function, particularly enhanced protein, carbohydrate, lipid, and energy metabolisms in the BSFL-fed group. Substituting 10% fishmeal with BSFL enhanced nutrient metabolism and gut microbiota in juvenile hybrid grouper. Further research is needed to explore factors affecting the efficacy of insect feed as a sustainable aquaculture diet. Full article

Carbon emissions trading pilots are an essential environmental regulation tool for incentivizing companies to reduce carbon emissions and a critical initiative for achieving “dual carbon” targets. This study, based on 2366 observations of 169 high-carbon listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2009 to 2022, uses double machine learning analysis to examine the impact and mechanisms of pilot policy on the low-carbon competitiveness of high-carbon industry-listed companies. The empirical results show that, first, pilot policy significantly enhances the low-carbon competitiveness of high-carbon industry-listed companies, and this conclusion holds after considering a series of robustness checks. Second, mechanism analysis indicates that alleviating green financing constraints and enhancing total factor productivity are pathways through which pilot policy influences low-carbon competitiveness. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the policy effects are stronger for state-owned enterprises, small- and medium-sized enterprises, and companies in eastern regions. Further analysis reveals that pilot policy enhances low-carbon competitiveness and increase enterprise value. Based on the study’s conclusions, the government should ensure the incentivizing effect of pilot policy, promote expansion of the carbon emissions trading market, assist enterprises in overcoming green financing constraints, improve total factor productivity, and formulate tailored policies according to the development levels and resource endowments of regions and companies. Full article

The aim of this study is to determine the effects of a high-concentrate diet on growth performance, serum biochemical indexes, and rumen microbiota in house-fed yaks. Sixteen male yaks (body weight, 151.73 ± 14.11 kg; 18 months) were randomly allocated into two dietary treatments: a group with a low level of concentrate (n = 8, LC, concentrate–forage = 40:60) and a group with a high level of concentrate (n = 8, HC, concentrate–forage = 60:40). We found that compared with the LC group, the average daily feed intake (ADFI), the average daily gain (ADG), and the serum albumin (ALB) concentration in the HC group were significantly increased (p < 0.05). The rumen bacterial compositions also differed significantly between the groups, as indicated by principal coordinate analysis (p < 0.05). Firmicutes and Bacteroidota were the main dominant phyla of rumen bacteria in yaks. Compared with the LC group, the relative abundance of Firmicutes in the HC group was significantly increased (p < 0.05) and the relative abundance of Bacteroidota was significantly decreased (p < 0.05). At the genus level, Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group, Succiniclasticum, Prevotella, Christensenellaceae_R-7_group, and NK4A214_group had the highest relative abundance. The relative abundance of Christensenellaceae_R-7_group in the HC group was significantly higher than that in the LC group (p < 0.05). The PICRUSt 2 results showed a significant enrichment in glycosaminoglycan degradation, apoptosis, and ECM–receptor interaction in HC relative to LC (p < 0.05). In conclusion, high-concentrate diets can enhance growth performance and alter the compositions and functions of ruminal bacterial communities in yaks. Full article

This study evaluates the economic, social, environmental, and institutional impacts of the Geographical Indication (GI) of the Indication of Origin (IO) type in the Abaíra Microregion, Bahia, Brazil, and its alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDGs 2, 4, 8, 12, and 16. The research focuses on assessing the long-term sustainability effects of the Abaíra GI on local communities and territories after its recognition in 2014. Using an exploratory, qualitative approach, this study applies the Economic, Social, and Environmental Impact Assessment Methodology for GIs developed by EMBRAPA, along with semi-structured interviews and field visits with local producers and cooperative members. The analysis highlights the importance of post-GI sustainability assessment and identifies significant impacts on local economic development, cultural preservation, and environmental management. The research reveals improvements in product visibility and commercial value, as well as the adoption of sustainable and innovative practices by local cooperatives and producers. Among the key findings are the strengthening of local traditions, enhanced product quality, and increased market access despite challenges such as rural exodus. When compared with Embrapa Grape and Wine’s methodology, this study proposes a comprehensive framework for evaluating other GIs. Additionally, the results show that support from SEBRAE and educational institutions through training and technical assistance has positively impacted territorial conditions, contributing to the broader goals of sustainable development. Full article