Data for Sustainable Development in Logistics and Supply Chains – A Systematic Literature Review

The pressure on companies to contribute to sustainable development has increased drastically due to new regulations and political and social demands. The logistics and supply chain industry is directly influenced by this pressure as it has a considerable impact on society, is accountable for a large amount of emissions, and is a major contributor to the economy. The amount of information available is multiplying, and data is an asset that has become the essence of this century’s economy. This study investigates the implications of data in sustainable development by identifying data objects and attributes for logistics in a systematic literature review. The findings highlight the importance of data to sustainable development, contributing to the UN SDGs, promoting informed decision-making, and focusing on operational optimization

Áreas Prioritárias para Conservação de Anura (Amphibia) no Bioma da Mata Atlântica

Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso apresentado ao Instituto Latino-Americano de Ciências da Vida e Natureza da Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana, como requisito parcial à obtenção do título de Bacharel em Ciências Biológicas – Ecologia e Biodiversidade.A biologia e biogeografia da conservação são ciências utilizadas a fim de buscar ferramentas que aprimorem a proteção e melhoramento da conservação da biodiversidade. A biogeografia possui tecnologias como o Planejamento Sistemático de Conservação (PSC), que é uma abordagem destinada ao mapeamento de áreas de conservação, buscando identificar áreas prioritárias que podem ser o foco ideal de pesquisas e investimento na conservação. A partir das áreas prioritárias, é possível criar Áreas de Proteção (APs) e projetos que tenham como objetivo a conservação in situ da biodiversidade da região em pequenas e largas escalas. A Mata Atlântica é o bioma mais ameaçado do Brasil, é abrigo para muitas espécies, incluindo a anurofauna que sofre com as ameaças de extinção e ainda possui baixos esforços de conservação. Para manter um controle sobre o status de ameaça das espécies foi estabelecida a Lista Vermelha de Espécies Ameaçadas da International Union for Conservation (IUCN). O objetivo deste estudo foi identificar áreas prioritárias para a conservação de Anura (Amphibia) no bioma da Mata Atlântica baseado no status de conservação das espécies. A área de estudo foi retirada do shapefile de limite consensual da Mata Atlântica, os dados de distribuição geográfica foram retirados da IUCN, e somente as espécies de Anura que corresponderam às categorias de ameaça CR, EN, VU, NT e EX foram analisadas, das 9 categorias disponíveis. As análises de prioridade foram focadas nas áreas que tiveram o índice de prioridade acima de 0.95 na Mata Atlântica, por meio do software Zonation 4.0, com pesos diferentes para cada status de conservação, utilizando os parâmetros de Additive Benefit Function (ABF), warp = 10, edge removal = 1 e BLP = 0. As áreas prioritárias foram comparadas com as APs obtidas do banco de dados global Protected Planet. Com este estudo, foram identificadas e ranqueadas as áreas prioritárias no espaço geográfico para a conservação de Anura no bioma da Mata Atlântica com resolução de 0,01x0,01°. Como resultado, observou-se que cerca de 25% das áreas prioritárias já estão sob algum tipo de AP, principalmente no RJ. No entanto, representam apenas 4,96% da área da Mata Atlântica total. Apesar da variedade de tipos de APs possíveis, a grande parte é representada por Áreas de Proteção Ambiental (APAs), Parques Nacionais e Reservas. Para conservação dos grupos de forma eficaz as APs devem ser estabelecidas nos 3,71% restantes da Mata Atlântica que ainda permanece sem proteção. A maioria das áreas prioritárias estão nas regiões litorâneas, principalmente nos estados do RJ, SP e ES. As áreas que estão fora da cobertura de APs estão sujeitas a todos os tipos de ameaça, principalmente ações antrópicas. É necessário a criação e manutenção das APs para que cubram as áreas de prioridade de conservação. Os estudos por meio de PSC aumentaram nos últimos anos e são essenciais para aumentar o nível de conservação e pesquisa de espécies, para que haja a menor perda de biodiversidade possível

Ranunculus sardous CRANTZ – Rauhaariger Hahnenfuß – eine kennzeichnende Art der Außendeichsweiden an der Wurster Küste

During research at the Wurster coast in the north of Lower Saxony we discovered Ranunculus sardous in pastures outside the dikes. This species is very rare in our region. In other parts of Germany it mostly grows in fields. In former times this pioneer plant was found in Central Europe and also in Northwest Germany showing a scattered distribution. Since about 50 years it shows a distinct retreat. Today you can find this species in Lower Saxony only in three areas: in the marshes of Ostfriesland and the estuaries of Weser and Elbe. In these places it grows as a characteristic species of flooded grasslands

Openness of Digital Twins in Logistics – A Review

Openness is becoming increasingly important in scientific research and practice. It describes the phenomenon of sharing information with other internal or external stakeholders by using different technologies, e.g., cloud computing, distributed ledger, or digital twins. Hence, many researchers investigate and evaluate the openness of platforms. Alongside these platforms, digital twins are gaining influence in industrial processes. A digital twin is a virtual representation of a physical entity connected through a bi-directional data linkage. Its primary purpose is to visualize, analyze, and optimize production and logistics systems. Nevertheless, research shows a lack of knowledge in the domain of the openness of digital twins and that the topic has not been addressed adequately. To approach this research gap, this paper provides a review of literature-based work on digital twins focusing on logistical contexts. It aims to answer the question of how open digital twins are, depending on their use case, purpose, and status as digital twin or digital shadow. Through a comprehensive research approach, this paper provides researchers and practitioners with meaningful insights into the openness of digital twins

Practical Requirements for Digital Twins in Production and Logistics

Companies are under tremendous pressure to analyze and optimize their productional and logistical networks in today's global business world. Hence, practitioners and researchers show great interest in digital twins. A digital twin is a virtual construct that mirrors real-world objects and conceptual ideas while it processes, handles, distributes, and optimizes data streams. Its main purpose is to visualize, analyze, and optimize objects and systems, making a digital twin highly suitable to help companies gain an advantage over their competitors through a great degree of transparency over their production and logistics. Therefore, almost every company evaluates the usage of digital twins. Nevertheless, many companies struggle to instantiate digital twins since they lack fundamental knowledge about all necessary components of a digital twin and the individual requirements for the operation of the digital twin. This lack of knowledge hinders the broad implementation in practice. Research shows many descriptions of theoretical use cases and field studies but rarely describes digital twins in real operational settings. To address this research gap between theoretical concepts and practical challenges of the implementation of digital twins, this paper investigates the practical requirements of digital twins in real-life usage. Based on a thorough interview series with international manufacturing and logistics experts, we identify and analyze the requirements for data handling, data policy, and services of digital twins and cluster them according to the requirements engineering approach. Through a comprehensive overview of the different requirements, the paper delivers profound insights into the needs of companies from various fields and, therefore, gives practitioners a guideline on crucial aspects of implementing digital twins

Neural Mechanism of a Sex-Specific Risk Variant for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in the Type I Receptor of the Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase Activating Polypeptide

AbstractBackgroundPosttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a frequent anxiety disorder with higher prevalence rates in female patients than in male patients (2.5:1). Association with a single nucleotide polymorphism (rs2267735) in the gene ADCYAP1R1 encoding the type I receptor (PAC1-R) of the pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide has been reported with PTSD in female patients. We sought to identify the neural correlates of the described PAC1-R effects on associative learning.MethodsIn a reverse genetic approach, we examined two independent healthy samples (N1 = 112, N2 = 73) using functional magnetic resonance imaging during cued and contextual fear conditioning. Skin conductance responses and verbal self-reports of arousal, valence, and contingency were recorded.ResultsWe found that PAC1-R modulates the blood oxygenation level–dependent response of the hippocampus. Specifically, we observed decreased hippocampal activity during contextual, but not during cued, fear conditioning in female participants carrying the PAC1-R risk allele. We observed no significant differences in conditionability for skin conductance responses, verbal reports, or activation in other brain regions between the genotype groups in female participants.ConclusionsOur results suggest that impaired contextual conditioning in the hippocampal formation may mediate the association between PAC1-R and PTSD symptoms. Our findings potentially identify a missing link between the involvement of PAC1-R in PTSD and the well-established structural and functional hippocampal deficits in these patients

Identification of Autophagy as a Functional Target Suitable for the Pharmacological Treatment of Mitochondrial Membrane Protein-Associated Neurodegeneration (MPAN) In Vitro

Mitochondrial membrane protein-associated neurodegeneration (MPAN) is a relentlessly progressive neurodegenerative disorder caused by mutations in the C19orf12 gene. C19orf12 has been implicated in playing a role in lipid metabolism, mitochondrial function, and autophagy, however, the precise functions remain unknown. To identify new robust cellular targets for small compound treatments, we evaluated reported mitochondrial function alterations, cellular signaling, and autophagy in a large cohort of MPAN patients and control fibroblasts. We found no consistent alteration of mitochondrial functions or cellular signaling messengers in MPAN fibroblasts. In contrast, we found that autophagy initiation is consistently impaired in MPAN fibroblasts and show that C19orf12 expression correlates with the amount of LC3 puncta, an autophagy marker. Finally, we screened 14 different autophagy modulators to test which can restore this autophagy defect. Amongst these compounds, carbamazepine, ABT-737, LY294002, oridonin, and paroxetine could restore LC3 puncta in the MPAN fibroblasts, identifying them as novel potential therapeutic compounds to treat MPAN. In summary, our study confirms a role for C19orf12 in autophagy, proposes LC3 puncta as a functionally robust and consistent readout for testing compounds, and pinpoints potential therapeutic compounds for MPAN.</p

Identification of Autophagy as a Functional Target Suitable for the Pharmacological Treatment of Mitochondrial Membrane Protein-Associated Neurodegeneration (MPAN) In Vitro

Mitochondrial membrane protein-associated neurodegeneration (MPAN) is a relentlessly progressive neurodegenerative disorder caused by mutations in the C19orf12 gene. C19orf12 has been implicated in playing a role in lipid metabolism, mitochondrial function, and autophagy, however, the precise functions remain unknown. To identify new robust cellular targets for small compound treatments, we evaluated reported mitochondrial function alterations, cellular signaling, and autophagy in a large cohort of MPAN patients and control fibroblasts. We found no consistent alteration of mitochondrial functions or cellular signaling messengers in MPAN fibroblasts. In contrast, we found that autophagy initiation is consistently impaired in MPAN fibroblasts and show that C19orf12 expression correlates with the amount of LC3 puncta, an autophagy marker. Finally, we screened 14 different autophagy modulators to test which can restore this autophagy defect. Amongst these compounds, carbamazepine, ABT-737, LY294002, oridonin, and paroxetine could restore LC3 puncta in the MPAN fibroblasts, identifying them as novel potential therapeutic compounds to treat MPAN. In summary, our study confirms a role for C19orf12 in autophagy, proposes LC3 puncta as a functionally robust and consistent readout for testing compounds, and pinpoints potential therapeutic compounds for MPAN.</p