Suchergebnisse

Comprehensive stated preference (SP) experiment was conducted in Jakarta (a capital of Indonesia), where proposal for congestion charge (CC) has been considered as a way to reduce acute traffic congestion. With the government planning a CC scheme, public support is regarded as a prerequisite for its implementation. Therefore, a framework of structural equation model (SEM) is used to search explanatory power for the appropriateness of CC considering unobserved variable (latent variable) from psychometric data obtained from SP questionare. Causal paths among psychological determinants and their strength are measured and analyzed along with proposal acceptability from a psychological perspective. The findings from analysis with a SEM approach shows that a number of psychological determinants provide an explanation for the acceptability of the proposed scheme. The findings from analysis with a SEM approach shows that a number of psychological determinants provide an explanation for the appropriateness of the proposed scheme. Latent variables representing the validity of the CC scheme, such as ACE, APC and REC appear to have a significant explanation. These emerge as psychological determinants contributing a positive correlation with enhancement of appropriateness CC policy. Empirical result further shows that males have positive scores for the latent variables of car dependency (CDC) and inhibition freedom of movement (IFM). Furthermore, the variable of annual income, it has a positive correlation with recognition of the effects of CC in mitigating congestion and environmental problems (REC), car dependency (CDC) and awareness of the problems of cars in society (APC). This means that respondents with higher incomes are more concerned with the problems manifested by motorization while, on the contrary, the path coefficient between annual income (AI) and car dependency (CDC) has a value of 0.270. This discloses an automobile dependency. These findings should provide insight that designing a more acceptable policy in respecting to the acceptance of public in large.

© 2015 CSIC. The selective hydrolysis of hemicellulose from olive stones was attempted in order to achieve a maximum D-xylose yield. For this aim, batch hydrolysis was conducted under different operating conditions of temperature, acid concentration and solid loading. Firstly, distilled water, sulphuric acid and nitric acid were assessed as hydrolytic agents at different temperatures (200, 205, 210 and 220 °C) and at a fixed acid concentration (0.025 M). Sulphuric acid and 200 °C were selected for the subsequent dilute acid hydrolysis optimization based on the obtained D-xylose yields. The combined influence of solid loading (from 29.3 to 170.7 g olive stones into 300 mL acid solution) and sulphuric acid concentration (0.006-0.034 M) on the release of D-xylose was then estimated by response surface methodology. According to a statistical analysis, both parameters had significant interaction effects on D-xylose production. The results illustrated that the higher the solid loading, the higher the required acid concentration. The decrease in the solid/liquid ratio in the reactor had a positive effect on D-xylose extraction and on the amount of acid used. The optimum solid loading and sulphuric acid concentration were determined to be 50 g (solid/liquid ratio 1/6) and 0.016 M, respectively. Under these conditions, the predicted D-xylose yield (expressed as g of sugar per 100 g of dry matter fed) was 20.4 (87.2% of maximum attainable). ; This work was funded by the Projects 01272/2005 and AGR/6509 (Andalusia Regional Government, Spain). The authors would like to acknowledge 'S.C.A. San Juan' (Jaén, Spain) for the supply of olive stones. Marwa Saleh also acknowledges a grant from the AECI (Spain) ; Peer Reviewed

Assessing soil quality is considered one the most important indicators to ensure planned and sustainable use of agricultural lands according to their potential. The current study was carried out to develop a spatial model for the assessment of soil quality, based on four main quality indices, Fertility Index (FI), Physical Index (PI), Chemical Index (CI), and Geomorphologic Index (GI), as well as the Geographic Information System (GIS) and remote sensing data (RS). In addition to the GI, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) parameter were added to assess soil quality in the study area (western part of Matrouh Governorate, Egypt) as accurately as possible. The study area suffers from a lack of awareness of agriculture practices, and it depends on seasonal rain for cultivation. Thus, it is very important to assess soil quality to deliver valuable data to decision makers and regional governments to find the best ways to improve soil quality and overcome the food security problem. We integrated a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) with Sentinel-2 satellite images to extract landform units of the study area. Forty-eight soil profiles were created to represent identified geomorphic units of the investigated area. We used the model builder function and a geostatistical approach based on ordinary kriging interpolation to map the soil quality index of the study area and categorize it into different classes. The soil quality (SQ) of the study area, classified into four classes (i.e., high quality (SQ2), moderate quality (SQ3), low quality (SQ4), and very low quality (SQ5)), occupied 0.90%, 21.87%, 22.22%, and 49.23% of the total study area, respectively. In addition, 5.74% of the study area was classified as uncultivated area as a reference. The developed soil quality model (DSQM) shows substantial agreement (0.67) with the weighted additive model, according to kappa coefficient statics, and significantly correlated with land capability R2 (0.71). Hence, the model provides a full overview of SQ in the study area and can easily be implemented in similar environments to identify soil quality challenges and fight the negative factors that influence SQ, in addition to achieving environmental sustainability.

Abstract
Doxorubicin (DOX) is a potent anticancer drug with adverse cardiotoxic effects. Alginates are multifunctional biopolymers and polyelectrolytes derived from the cell walls of brown seaweeds. They are nontoxic, biocompatible, and biodegradable, and hence, utilized in several biomedical and pharmaceutical applications. Here, we investigated the potential cardioprotective effect of thermally treated sodium alginate (TTSA), which was extracted and purified from the seaweed Sargassum aquifolium, in treating acute DOX cardiotoxicity and apoptotic pathways in rats. UV–visible spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared, and nuclear magnetic resonance (1H–NMR) spectroscopy techniques were used to characterize TTSA. CK-MB and AST levels in sera samples were determined. The expression levels of Erk-2 (MAPK-1) and iNOS genes were investigated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The protein expression levels of Erk-2, anti-apoptotic p53, and caspase-3 were analyzed using western blotting and ELISA. For the in vivo studies, sixty rats were randomly divided equally into six groups and treated with DOX, followed by TTSA. We revealed that treatment with TTSA, which has low molecular weight and enhanced antioxidant properties, improved DOX-mediated cardiac dysfunction and alleviated DOX-induced myocardial apoptosis. Furthermore, TTSA exhibited a cardioprotective effect against DOX-induced cardiac toxicity, indicated by the increased expression of MAPK-1 (Erk2) and iNOS genes, which are implicated in the adaptive responses regulating DOX-induced myocardial damage. Moreover, TTSA significantly (p < 0.05) suppressed caspase-3 and upregulated anti-apoptotic protein p53 expression. TTSA also rebalanced the cardiomyocyte redox potential by significantly (p < 0.05) increasing the levels of endogenous antioxidant enzymes, including catalase and superoxide dismutase. Our findings suggest that TTSA, particularly at a dose of 400 mg/kg b.w., is a potential prophylactic supplement for treating acute DOX-linked cardiotoxicity.

This study aims to find out the influence of the university's role on the implementation of eco-innovation in the creative industry in the natural stone handicraft sector. The object of this research is the creative industry center of the marble and natural stone handicraft sub-sector in TulungagungCity, Indonesia. From the existing craftsmen population, 81 craftsmen as respondents were taken as samples. The research data was obtained by distributing questionnaires, then the data were tested, processed and analyzed using Partial Least Square Consistent - Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results of this study states that the role of the university in the implementation of eco-innovation in the industry center of natural stone handicraft in Tulungagung can significantly improve eco-organizational innovation, eco-process innovation and eco-marketing innovation, but not significant in improving eco-product innovation. To further improve the implementation of eco-product innovation, what needs to be improved is the role of the university in assisting to increase eco-marketing, because of its significant influence on eco-product innovation. The results of this study will later be developed to explain the concept of triple helix, namely the role of University, Industry and Government in the implementation of eco-innovation and the improvement of the performance of creative industrial centers of natural stone crafts in Tulungagung Indonesia.

Urban bus reform so-called Trans Koetaradja (TK) is regarded as a potential urban transport policy aiming at alleviating autos traffic congestion and mitigating highly private mode dependency in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. The new bus system proposed by the Government has been operated since early 2018, and it remains free of fare services due to subsidy provide by the Government as the bus corridors have been expanded the budget getting escalating year by year. To reduce the burden of subsidies, the Government intends to drop monetary aid by applying full fare for the bus. However, declining the subsidy could affect bus ridership, especially low-income households whose captive riders may not afford the ticket. It hypothesizes that the travel cost budget (TCB) has significantly influenced the ability to pay for a particular household to afford the bus fare. The TCB for this study defines the maximum amount of money allocated by a specific family for their transportation within a month. Therefore, this study is aiming at exploring factors that effecting the households' transportation expenditures, taking into account household life stages (HLS) among TK' bus users. The use of revealed preference data obtained in 2019, the regression analysis of the ordinary least square (OLS) method, was used to calibrate and teste the exogenous variables across HLS. To simplify, the HLS in this study is segmented as early, middle, and established HLS. The distribution of TCB across HLS revealed that the share of transport expenditure on average to their monthly income had shared about 10-11 %. The finding from the OLS indicates that the variables of the female gender, monthly income, and the number of owned motorcycles have significant contributions to the TCB. The most significant finding is the impact of monthly income on the TCB across HLS. It exhibited early, and middle HLS has shown more spending share on income compared to the established HLS

AbstractAn increased prevalence of birth defects was allegedly reported in Iraq in the post 1991 Gulf War period, which was largely attributed to exposure to depleted uranium used in the war. This has encouraged further research on this particular topic. This paper reviews the published literature and provided evidence concerning birth defects in Iraq to elucidate possible environmental exposure. In addition to published research, this review used some direct observation of birth defects data from Al-Ramadi Maternity and Paediatric Hospital in Al-Anbar Governorate in Iraq from1stJuly 2000 through 30thJune 2002. In addition to depleted uranium other war-related environmental factors have been studied and linked directly or indirectly with the increasing prevalence of birth defects. However, the reviewed studies and the available research evidence do not provide a clear increase in birth defects and a clear indication of a possible environmental exposure including depleted uranium although the country has been facing several environmental challenges since 1980.