Studying the Relationship between Block Chain Technology and Circular Economy Dimensions from Production Aspect and Its Association with Organizational Performance: A Case Study of Pakistani Firms

Blockchain technology and the circular economy are two distinct concepts, which together can serve the economy and businesses in a better way. This research focused on exploring the relationship between blockchain technology and circular economy components from the production aspect to increase organizational performance in Pakistan. The 302 observations were collected from Pakistani companies of different nature of work. A purposive sampling method and closed-question questionnaire were adopted for the collection of data. The PLS-SEM (4.0) method was utilized for analysis purposes. The results point toward blockchain technology’s positive effects on circular economy practices. Overall, blockchain technology shows an affirmative impact on green design (GD), green manufacturing (GM), and recycling and remanufacturing (RR) in Pakistan. However, the association between recycling and remanufacturing, environmental performance, and economic performance was not supported. It can be concluded that adopting the practices of the circular economy can significantly improve business operations in terms of financial and environmental performance. It is recommended that businesses should incorporate blockchain technology along with the practices of circular economy in manufacturing systems for achieving long-term goals

Comparing Agriculture‐Related Characteristics of Flash and Normal Drought Reveals Heterogeneous Crop Response

Despite rapid progress in the burgeoning field of flash drought research, few studies directly compare the differences in characteristics between flash drought (commonly understood as quick, rapid-onset drought) and drought traditionally defined as slow-moving (henceforth normal drought), particularly over agricultural regions where drought effects may be economically the most disastrous. In this study, flash and normal drought events are identified using reanalysis of soil moisture in the data-rich agricultural region of the California Central Valley for investigation of characteristics related to agriculture. In particular, we investigate the relative duration of pixels in drought events, the correlation of drought intensity with vegetation condition, the impact of aridity on vegetation response and drought, and the differences in the different characteristics between rainfed and irrigated agriculture. Overall, we found considerable differences between flash and normal drought, particularly in their spatial distributions and behavior in relation to aridity. Flash droughts even indicate a counterintuitive improvement in vegetation condition in the northern, more humid regions, likely due to the release of growth limiting factors (e.g., below-optimum temperature and radiation) associated with drought. Results also indicate improvements in vegetation conditions during normal drought for irrigated land over rainfed, highlighting the importance of irrigation as a drought protection strategy in agriculture

Molecular characterization and expression analysis of an antimicrobial peptide, mytimacin-6, in the small abalone, <em>Haliotis diversicolor</em>

Macin is a family of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and is involved in the immune responses of marine mollusks. In the present study, a novel Mytimacin (denoted as Hd-mtmc 6) was identified from the small abalone Haliotis diversicolor by RNA-seq and RACE techniques. Hd-mtmc 6 contained a coding sequence of 243 bp and encoded 80 amino acids, with a putative peptide mytimacin 6 consisting of 61 amino acid residues. The mature peptide of Hd-mtmc 6 exhibited typical characteristics of AMPs, including net positive charge (+4), higher hydrophobic residue ratio (37%), and lower molecular mass. Eight cysteines in the mature peptide formed four disulfide bond bridges (C1-C6, C2-C5, C3-C7, and C4-C8). Moreover, the presence of the macin domain, a three-dimensional structure similar to that of hydramacin-1, and a phylogenetic relationship suggested that Hd-mtmc 6 could be a new member of the invertebrate macin family. In unchallenged abalone, the Hd-mtmc 6 transcript was expressed in all tested tissues and could be detected at different stages of embryonic development. Vibrio harveyi challenge caused a significant Hd-mtmc 6 transcripts upregulation within 2 - 6 h in the mantle and hepatopancreas. Our results suggested that Hd-mtmc 6 may be involved in innate immune responses of small abalone. Further investigations are required to confirm its antibacterial activity at the protein level

The vertical influence of temperature and precipitation on snow cover variability in the Central Tianshan Mountains, Northwest China

Seasonal snow cover in mountainous regions will affect local climate and hydrology. In this study, we assessed the role of altitude in determining the relative importance of temperature and precipitation in snow cover variability in the Central Tianshan Mountains. The results show that: (1) in the study area, temperature has a greater influence on snow cover than precipitation during most of the time period studied and in most altitudes. (2) In the high‐elevation area, there is a threshold altitude of 3900±400 m, below which temperature is negatively while precipitation is positively correlated to snow cover, above which the situation is the opposite. Besides, this threshold altitude decreases from snow accumulated period to snow stable period and then increases from snowmelt period to snow‐free period. (3) Below 2000 m, there is another threshold altitude of 1400±100 m during the snow stable period, below (above) which precipitation (temperature) is the main driver of snow cover

Hydrological evaluation of open-access precipitation and air temperature datasets using SWAT in a poorly gauged basin in Ethiopia

Precipitation and air temperature are key drivers of watershed models. Currently there are many open-access gridded precipitation and air temperature datasets at different spatial and temporal resolutions over global or quasi-global scale. Motivated by the scarcity and substantial temporal and spatial gaps in ground measurements in Africa, this study evaluated the performance of three open-access precipitation datasets (i.e. CHIRPS (Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data), TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) and CFSR (Climate Forecast System Reanalysis)) and one air temperature dataset (CFSR) in driving Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model in simulation of daily and monthly streamflow in the upper Gilgel Abay Basin, Ethiopia. The “best” available measurements of precipitation and air temperature from sparse gauge stations were also used to drive SWAT model and the results were compared with those using open-access datasets. After a comprehensive comparison of a total of eight model scenarios with different combinations of precipitation and air temperature inputs, we draw the following conclusions: (1) using measured precipitation from even sparse available stations consistently yielded better performance in streamflow simulation than using all three open-access precipitation datasets; (2) using CFSR air temperature yielded almost identical performance in streamflow simulation to using measured air temperature from gauge stations; (3) among the three open-access precipitation, overall CHIRPS yielded best performance. These results suggested that the CHIRPS precipitation available at high spatial resolution (0.05°) together with CFSR air temperature can be a promising alternative open-access data source for streamflow simulation in this data-scarce area in the case of limited access to desirable gauge data

Noise does not equal bias in assessing the evolutionary history of the angiosperm flora of China: A response to Qian (2019)

In response to our paper on the evolutionary history of the Chinese flora, Qian suggests that certain features of the divergence time estimation employed might have led to biased conclusions in Lu et al (2018). Here, we consider Qian’s specific criticisms, explore the extent of uncertainty in the data and demonstrate that (i) no systematic bias toward dates that are too young or too old is detected in Lu et al.; (ii) constraint of the crown age of angiosperms does not bias the generic ages estimated by Lu et al.; and (iii) ages derived from the Chinese regional phylogeny do not bias the conclusions reported by Lu et al. All these analyses confirm that the conclusions reported previously are robust. We argue that, like many large- scale biodiversity analyses, sources of noise in divergence time estimation are to be expected, but these should not be confused with bias.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163425/2/jbi13947.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163425/1/jbi13947_am.pd