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Sustainable digitalisation - a system thinking approach for determining costs and benefits in the agri-sector
No full textContext: The digital transformation of agriculture is widely promoted as a pathway to sustainability, yet the actual outcomes of digitalisation remain uncertain and context-dependent. As such, technology uptake among businesses can have positive impacts on individual farms, while the aggregated outcomes of digitalisation involving multiple farms and multi-actors in associated networks are fully uncertain. The novelty of this research is the introduction of an approach to investigate costs and benefits in different contexts at different levels of digitalisation. Objective: The main objective is to introduce a systems-based approach for assessing sustainable digitalisation by differentiating outcomes across multiple levels of analysis. This approach is designed to address the common pitfall of generalising impacts such as assuming large-scale effects based on evidence limited to the farm level. Methods: This research is based on a scoping literature review in the European Union Horizon Europe project called CODECS, which is highly suited for interdisciplinary research with multiple topics. Results and conclusion: A framework has been designed to clarify the needs for distinguishing costs and benefits of digitalisation across three interconnected system levels: digitised socio-physical systems, socio-cyber-physical systems, and governance-cyber-ecological systems. To deal with complexities at each level, the framework integrates internal and external drivers, contextual conditions, and value-based perspectives, which all will influence outcomes of sustainability assessments. Significance: The framework offers a practical tool for researchers, policymakers, and innovation actors, to deal with the complexities of digital transitions in agriculture, to reach at sustainable digitalisation outcomes in a long term regionally, as well as in a short-term locally, by enhanced understanding of the needs for distinguished sustainability assessment applications to reach at more accurate costs and benefits
Adaptive Randomized Pivoting for Column Subset Selection, DEIM, and Low-Rank Approximation
No full textResponse to the Letter to the Editor: "Reaffirming Caution-The Unacceptable Vasoconstrictive Risk of CGRP-Related Therapies in Moyamoya Angiopathy"
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Capture and escape from the 2:1 resonance between Ariel and Umbriel in a fast-migration scenario of the Uranian system
No full textEnhancing oblique incidence performance of mm-wave substrate-integrated FSS absorbers
No full textThis article proposes a scan compensation approach employing a superstrate and metallic vias to enhance the oblique incidence performance of millimeter-wave (mm-wave) absorbers. The design features a top resistive surface of tantalum nitride (TaN) printed on a gold-backed alumina substrate, achieving a broad absorption bandwidth from 70 to 117.6 GHz (FBW = 50.7%) with a reflection coefficient (Formula presented.), below −10 dB. An equivalent circuit model (ECM) is used to analyze the performance of the designed absorber at oblique incidence angles. The scan compensation approach is introduced based on an analytically optimized cost function, and its integration with metallic vias is investigated to further stabilize oblique incidence absorption. The proposed analytical method can be applied to any general frequency-selective surface (FSS) to improve angular stability
Hydrodynamic Loadings on Debris Accumulations at Low Froude Numbers in Straight Channel
No full textDebris accumulation critically impacts hydraulic structures by altering approach flow, amplifying hydrodynamic forces, and inducing backwater rise. While previous research has extensively examined drag forces due to debris, the effects of debris porosity, its proximity to the channel bed, and upstream-downstream water level difference on hydrodynamic loadings are still not fully understood. To address these gaps, 336 experiments were conducted under subcritical flow conditions, involving nine debris configurations, characterized by different geometries and porosities. Drag and lift forces were measured to quantify debris-flow-structure interactions. The results show that drag and lift coefficients increase with blockage ratio and water level difference, whereas they decrease with Froude number and proximity ratio. Moreover, debris porosity and geometry have a negligible effect on drag coefficient but significantly influence lift coefficient. In the tested range of Reynolds numbers, both coefficients are not affected by the flow regime, with all other parameters being constant. Based on experimental evidence and dimensional analysis, empirical equations were derived for estimating drag and lift coefficients. To the best of the authors' knowledge, for the first time, the proposed predictive relationships account for all the above-mentioned hydraulic and geometric variables, providing useful tools for improving the design and resilience of bridge infrastructures
Long-term vegetation dynamics and management challenges in coastal dunes: Insights from a resurvey of two Mediterranean sites in Italy
No full textCoastal dune ecosystems play a vital role in shoreline protection and biodiversity conservation, yet they face
growing threats from coastal erosion, human activity, and invasive species. Long-term vegetation monitoring is
key to understanding these changes and guiding conservation efforts. This study resurveyed historical vegetation
plots established approximately 20 years ago in San Rossore and Calambrone (Tuscany, Italy) to assess shifts in
species composition and habitat conditions. Species abundance was visually estimated using the Braun-Blanquet
method, and each relev ́e was classified into one of five herbaceous habitats (1210, 2110, 2120, 2210, and 2230)
according to the 92/43/EEC Habitats Directive. Changes in species richness and diversity were analyzed using
Hill numbers, while temporal differences were assessed through the Wilcoxon test and rank-abundance curves.
The resurvey revealed three key patterns: (i) a marked reduction in the number of resampled plots, with
habitat 1210 halved in San Rossore and entirely lost in Calambrone; (ii) although diagnostic dune species have
persisted, their abundance has declined, while ruderal and invasive alien species have increased; and (iii) in
Calambrone, increases in species richness and evenness, coupled with a decline in dominance, suggest that beach
tourism—particularly mechanical cleaning and trampling—has facilitated the spread of generalists and nonnative
species.
Overall, our findings highlight ongoing degradation and fragmentation of coastal dune habitats in San Rossore,
where erosion is the primary threat, and in Calambrone, where intense tourist pressure prevails. Without targeted
conservation actions in anthropized areas and structural interventions to mitigate erosion, further deterioration—
and even the complete loss—of these habitats can be expected