Effect Of External Environment Research Articles

Robust sliding-mode control for maximum power point tracking of photovoltaic power systems with quantized input signal

A robust sliding-mode controller is proposed for maximum power point tracking in photovoltaic power generation system. Thanks to using hysteresis quantized inputs, the chattering phenomena, as the main weakness of the sliding mode controllers, is removed. Also, the external disturbances, model uncertainties, environmental and load variation effects are attenuated in the proposed controller scheme. The upper bound of the disturbance is assumed to be unknown and is estimated with an appropriate adaptive rule. Using the Lyapunov theory, the stability of the proposed scheme is verified and analytically proved. MATLAB simulation results confirm that the undesired effects of disturbances and chattering are simultaneously removed, as is proved in the theoretical analysis.

Psychological Distress of International Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic in China: Multidimensional Effects of External Environment, Individuals' Behavior, and Their Values.

The COVID-19 epidemic has had a significant impact on society. In particular, it has had a strong impact on college students, including international students. Through an online questionnaire survey, it is found that the psychological distress experienced by international students is the result of a combination of the external environment (including the lockdown measures, social distancing, and social support) and internal factors such as values and behavior. The analysis shows that the new teaching mode and the corresponding changes in learning behavior are significantly associated with the psychological distress brought about by the COVID-19 epidemic. In addition, the influence of international students’ values also plays a significant role in their psychological distress. Collective values are conducive to the alleviation of psychological distress, while individual values have the opposite effect. At the same time, the study also reveals that if there is sufficient social support, isolation (due to lockdown or social distancing early or later on) is not necessarily directly related to psychological distress. However, only formal social support can effectively alleviate psychological distress, while informal social support does not play a similar role. These conclusions have certain policy significance for the prevention of and response to epidemics in other countries.

Effects of entrepreneurial orientation and external business environment on entrepreneurial intentions of STEM students in Nigeria

Effects of entrepreneurial orientation and external business environment on entrepreneurial intentions of STEM students in Nigeria

Fatigue Characteristics of Double Damage Reinforced Prestressed Hollow Slab Beams under Freeze-Thaw Cycle Erosion

A bridge structure is subjected to different external loads and environmental effects during its operation, which results in different types and degrees of damage to the structure during its service life. Reinforcement is often required to maintain regular operation and extend its service life. However, a reinforced bridge structure continues to be subjected to vehicle loads and environmental erosion. Therefore, research on the durability deterioration mechanisms and fatigue life decay of reinforced structures is key to ensuring the long service lives of bridge structures. To study the influence of freeze–thaw cycle erosion on the basic mechanical properties and fatigue characteristics of a bridge structure and a strengthened structure, 2 m long prestressed hollow slab beams were designed and fabricated based on the principle of a similarity ratio and subsequently pre-cracked by fatigue failure. The prestressed hollow slab beams were strengthened after fatigue damage by two methods: pasting steel plates and pasting carbon fiber cloths. After this, a freeze–thaw cycle test was conducted to study the dynamic and static mechanical index changes and the attenuation of the fatigue characteristics of the prestressed strengthened hollow slab beams under freeze–thaw cycle erosion. Meanwhile, a numerical model for reinforced structures was established based on the ABAQUS software to study the mechanisms governing the attenuation of the fatigue life of the prestressed hollow slab beams with different freeze–thaw cycles. The results showed that the deflections and strains observed for the two methods were less than those prior to reinforcement. For instance, the deflection in the span decreased by 14–15%, and the compressive strain decreased by 5.2% to 6%. Under the fatigue load, the prestressed hollow slab beams strengthened by the two methods could withstand a fatigue load cycle of 2 million, and the reinforced components exhibited good fatigue resistance. Under cyclic erosion and fatigue loading, the deflections and strains in the reinforced prestressed hollow slab beams were increased by varying degrees, such as a 30–40% increase in the tensile strain and a 65–70% increase in the span. The fatigue life of the reinforced hollow slab beams decreased with the increasing number of freeze–thaw cycles, and the decay rate of the fatigue life was accelerated.

The Influences of High-Involvement Work Practices on Older Workers’ Retirement Intention

Research on retirement decisions has invited studies to examine how personal, work-related, and environmental factors interplay to affect older workers’ retirement decisions. Drawing upon the person-environment fit framework, we proposed a negative relationship between high-involvement work practices (HIWPs) and older workers’ retirement intention. We further developed hypotheses regarding the moderating effects of gender, age, educational level, managerial status, and external economic environment on the relationship between HIWPs and retirement intention. We tested the hypotheses using a sample of 754,856 employees age 50 and over from 360 U.S. government agencies participating in the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey from 2006 to 2015. The results, based on mixed effect logit regressions and cross-classified modeling, indicated that older workers’ experience of HIWPs had a negative relationship with their retirement intention, and the negative relationship was stronger for older men workers, workers aged 50-59 years, older workers without a bachelor’s degree, and non-managerial older workers than for older women workers, those aged 60 years or over, those with a bachelor’s degree, and those with managerial responsibilities, respectively. Moreover, the results showed that the negative HIWPs-retirement intention relationship has become stronger since the Great Recession of 2008. We discussed the theoretical and practical implications of older workers’ retirement decisions by considering the interactions between human resource management practices and personal and environmental factors.

ФОРМУВАННЯ СИСТЕМИ УПРАВЛІННЯ ЕКОНОМІЧНИМ ПОТЕНЦІАЛОМ ПІДПРИЄМСТВ У СУЧАСНИХ УМОВАХ

development is associated with functional dependency, in particular related to its economic potential, optimization methods of potential utilization, and company management paradigm which challenges a critical need to build a management system to facilitate economic potential development, and also provides for: 1) the need to harmonize this system with the strategy of effective regional development; 2) enterprise economic potential reproduction subject to transformation of management decision-making criteria; 3) the implementation of progressive methods of enterprise production resource and asset management with a focus at maneuvering. In this context, the capacity to respond promptly to market changes is of critical importance to enterprises. To this end, modern enterprises are forced to increase their production output through the rational use of their labor, production resources and financial assets, as well as to take into account the emergence of new social needs, focusing on key factors of change, which will ensure the dynamism of their economic potential. The paper argues that management system of enterprise economic potential is a set of targeted tools and methods to affect enterprise stakeholders’ interests characterized by constant dynamic transformational changes under the effects of internal and external environment, with a focus on rational use of enterprise potential and ensuring its balanced business performance The suggested pathways and recommendations on enterprise economic potential management have significant implication and can be used in business for the most effective use of labor, production and material resources in static and dynamic aspects of the overall industry strategic development of the in general.

Study on the Mechanical Properties of Chlorine Saline Soil under the Interaction of Multiple Factors

The distribution of chlorine saline soils is extensive in Haixi region of Qinghai Province in Northwest China. Its natural and geographical conditions are unique, and the external environment varies greatly. To study the effects of variable external environment on the mechanical characteristics of chlorine saline soils, a number of unconsolidated undrained (UU) dynamic triaxial tests under different confining pressure, moisture content, and loading frequency were carried out. The dynamic stress–dynamic strain, failure strength, dynamic elastic modulus, and parameter of shear strength were analyzed. The triaxial test results demonstrated that the stress–strain curves of the soil were strain-hardening. The failure strength and dynamic elastic modulus increased with the increasing of confining pressure; the law with moisture content and loading frequency were inconsistent. The dynamic cohesion and dynamic friction angle increased with the increasing of loading frequency, but decreased with the increasing of moisture content. Besides, the significance analysis theory was used to analyze the effect degree of different factors. It found that the effects of confining pressure, loading frequency, and the interaction between confining pressure and frequency on mechanical characteristics were significant, but the moisture content had less effect.

The Analysis and Design of a High Efficiency Piezoelectric Harvesting Floor with Impacting Force Mechanism

In renewable energy technology development, piezoelectric material has electro-mechanical converted capability and the advantages of simple construction and compact size, it has potential development since the environment vibration can be transferred into an electrical energy in daily harvesting applications. To improve the electro-mechanical converted efficiency of a piezoelectric harvester at low-frequency environment, a free vibration type of piezoelectric cantilever harvesting structure was proposed, which can generate a resonant oscillation by releasing an initial deformed displacement, and was uninfluenced from the effects of external environment. To analyze the harvesting behaviors, an equivalent circuit with voltage source was provided, and the parameters in theoretical model can be determined by the dimensions of the piezoelectric unimorph plate and its initial deformation. From the comparison of measurement and simulation, it reveals a significant efficient theoretical model where 8% error occurrence for storage energy was found. Finally, the proposed free-vibration generation method was developed in a piezoelectric harvesting floor design, which can transfer human walking motion into electric energy, and store in an external storage capacitor. From the testing result, one time of footstep motion can cause the charging energy in a 33 μF of storage capacitor achieve to 0.278 mJ, which was larger than the driven power of the wireless transmitter module, and then the wireless transmitter can be driven to send a RF signal without external power supply. Therefore, the designed piezoelectric harvesting floor has potential development to locate the user’s current position, which can provide users with future appropriate service for intelligent building application.

Towards an enhanced indication of provisioning ecosystem services in agro-ecosystems

Provisioning ecosystem services play a vital role in sustaining human well-being. Agro-ecosystems contribute a significant share of these services, besides food and fodder and also fuel and fibre as well as regulating and cultural ecosystem services. Until now, the indication of provisioning ecosystem services of agro-ecosystems has been based almost only on yield numbers of agricultural products. Such an indication is problematic due to several reasons which include a disregard of the role of significant anthropogenic contributions to ecosystem service co-generation, external environmental effects and strong dependence on site conditions. We argue for an enhanced indication of provisioning ecosystem services that considers multiple aspects of their delivery. The conceptual base for such an indication has been made by prior publications which have been reviewed. Relevant points were taken up in this article and condensed into a conceptual model in order to develop a more holistic and expanded set of indictors, which was then exemplarily applied and tested in three case studies in Germany. The case studies represent different natural conditions, and the indicator set application showed that ecosystem services (ES) flow—in terms of output alone—does not characterise agro-ecosystems sufficiently. The proposed aspects of provisioning ecosystem services can give a fuller picture, for example, by input-output relationships, as it is possible by just using single indicators. Uncertainties as well as pros and cons of such an approach are elaborated. Finally, recommendations for an enhanced indication of provisioning ecosystem services in agro-ecosystems that can help to integrate agricultural principles with ideas of sustainability and site-specific land use are derived.

Strategic planning to investigate the decision index of organization for effective total quality management implementation – in context of Indian small and medium enterprises

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to present an empirical assessment and strategic planning for measuring the impact of total quality management (TQM) practices on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and its effectiveness for business excellence. The authors investigate the present status of quality system in SMEs and find the thrust areas for TQM implementation in SMEs of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis. Also, it examines the effect of external environment on internal factors of SMEs by situation analysis. This study helps to develop a model for assessing the components of TQM in SMEs after identifying their weightage.Design/methodology/approachThe qualitative and quantitative techniques have been used together for robust conclusions. The survey data has been collected through the properly designed questionnaire. After studying the present status of TQM in SMEs, situation analysis has been carried out for examining the effect of the external environment on internal factors of SMEs. The weightage of TQM critical success factors was calculated by pair-wise comparison method of analytical hierarchical process (AHP) analysis for framework development.FindingsThe study offers useful insights and guidelines for identification of the contribution of TQM critical factors in SMEs performance. It has been observed that the attribute understanding of customer need and its fulfillment ability has the highest priority, whereas supplier partnership and the ability to reduce waste having the least priority in SMEs. Validation study facilitates to channelize TQM initiatives, to improve environmental and operational performance.Originality/valueThe authors provide a comprehensive typology of TQM practices, and its performances on SMEs. This paper can increase the awareness of the significance of TQM strategy which could help managers of SMEs to have a better understanding of the benefits of implementing TQM and therefore unable patient satisfaction with their organizations.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MODEL OF INNOVATIVE TOURIST PRODUCT IN UKRAINE: FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS

Abstract. The article presents a scientific discussion on trends and prospects for product innovation in the tourism business. The main objective of the study is to substantiate the nature and role of innovative tourism products in improving the efficiency of economic and product activities of tourism enterprises, the need for their implementation in tourism at its present stage in Ukraine. Analysis of literature sources and existing approaches to solving the problem of implementation of innovative products by tourism enterprises allowed us to formulate conceptual tools in this area, taking into account industry specifics, to characterize the types of product innovations of tourism enterprises. The topicality of solving this scientific problem boils down to the fact that in conditions of competition, the development of tourism business is ensured primarily by the use of product innovations by tourism enterprises, the introduction of effective ways to implement priority areas of innovation. The study of the problem of implementation of innovative tourist products in the practical activities of enterprises is carried out in the following logical sequence: the subject matter and types of innovative tourist products have been analysed, the main prerequisites for their implementation in the activities of enterprises have been defined; the main trends in the development of innovations in the tourism business of Ukraine, in particular, new tourism products and innovative approaches used to retain regular customers and attract new ones in a competitive environment; an optimal model of implementation of innovative tourist products has been developed. The methodological tools of the conducted study were general theoretical and specific methods, in particular, logical and dialectical, graphoanalytical method, method of scientific abstraction, systemic and integrated approaches. The study covered the period of 2010—2019. The object of research is an innovative tourist product that allowed implementation of its model taking into account the effect of external and internal environment. The article presents the results of empirical analysis of the main trends in the development of innovation at the present stage of development of the tourism business in Ukraine. In addition, there are reasons that inhibit innovation in tourism, which must be taken into account for the development and implementation of innovative tourist products. The study theoretically proves and supports that the development of innovative activities and the introduction of innovative tourist products provide tourism enterprises with competitive advantages. The results of the study can be useful in the practical work of travel agencies that seek to create a portfolio of innovative products and increase the efficiency of their activities. Кeywords: іnnovation, innovative product, innovative tourist product, tourist business, kinds of product innovations in tourism, the model of implementation of innovative tourism product. JEL Classification B26, B41, C58, F43, G15, H42 Formulas: 0; fig.: 4; tabl.: 1; bibl.: 36.

A dynamic harmonic regression approach for bridge structural health monitoring

Structural damage in a bridge is defined as a significant deviation in the structural response from its standard operating conditions, not explainable by variations in external environmental and operational effects. However, environmental effects such as temperature fluctuations can cause significant seasonal variations in the structural response of a bridge and can mask its changes due to structural damage. This poses a challenge for structural health monitoring of bridges where reliable diagnosis of damage or deterioration is often related to isolation of the responses. To address it, a statistical damage-detection methodology is introduced where strain data are modelled using a dynamic harmonic regression time-series model. Prediction intervals of multi-step ahead forecasts from the dynamic harmonic regression model are then used as statistical control limits within which the observed phenomenon should fall under standard operating conditions. This single recursive structural health monitoring framework for automatic fitting and multi-step ahead forecasting of 1-min interval time-series strain data includes recorded temperature values and diurnal trends as regressors in the model to account for environmental variations. The potential of this method as a robust automatic structural health monitoring strategy is demonstrated on strain data sampled at 1-min interval from a full-scale damaged pre-stressed concrete bridge – before, during and after repair. The proposed method can capture both sudden and daily changes in structural response due to temperature effects, and a rolling multi-step ahead interval forecast was able to identify damage on back-cast data transitioning from a healthy state to a damaged state.

Effects of soft water attack on Portland and natural zeolite blended cements

The durability of concrete infrastructure is related to the properties of the applied concrete and the effects of the aggressive external environment on it. When concrete is directly exposed to soft water, the leaching of calcium ions from hardened cement or cement-based pastes occurs, causing reduction in strength and further deterioration of the concrete structure. This paper presents the experimental results of soft water attack effects on phase composition and compressive strength of blended cement pastes, when cement is replaced with 0, 10, 20 and 30% of natural zeolite. In order to simulate soft water attack in laboratory conditions, paste specimens were exposed to leaching in deionised water up to 180 days. The evaluation of the changes in phase composition (ettringite, portlandite, calcium silicate hydrate gel) due to calcium ion leaching was made based on X-ray diffraction analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and paste compressive strength tests. The presence of portlandite and ettringite after 180 days of exposure to deionised water indicates that leaching did not influence the stability of the hydration products in blended cement pastes. Moreover, blended cement paste with 10% of natural zeolite had a higher compressive strength than the reference one.

Restructuring the business management model of an enterprise in a crisis

The purpose of the article is theoretically and practically substantiate the methodological approaches to the restructuring of the business management model of the enterprise in a crisis. Methodology of research. To achieve this goal, methods of analysis and synthesis, scientific abstraction, induction and deduction, abstract-logical research methods. Findings. A sign of the current financial and economic condition of enterprises is the vulnerability to external and internal factors influencing the financial and economic activities caused by the spread of globalization processes and the economic crisis in the country. Restructuring the business management model allows for the rapid adoption and implementation of management decisions to form the necessary behavior of the managed system in a crisis. This will prevent and / or mitigate the negative effects of internal and external business environment to achieve the stated goals: maximizing the market value of the company and achieving sustainable economic growth, maintaining an acceptable level of business activity and maintaining performance. The authors outline the priorities of the potential development of business activity and the tools for managing it. As part of the implementation of management functions, methodological approaches to the analysis of deviations of the actual values of business activity parameters from the planned and normative ones have been substantiated; policy directions have been determined to improve the management of the enterprise's business activity in a crisis. Namely: financial forecasting, operational and strategic monitoring, control of business activity by key performance indicators. Practical value. The article substantiates that the implementation of the proposed model of business management will preserve the achievements of the achieved level, increase the level of resistance to negative influences of external and internal environment and provide a bookmark “pillows of financial security” in potential deepening financial crisis in Ukraine. Keywords: financial management, business activity, management model, crisis. REFERENCES 1. Kashchena, N. B., Horoshanska, O. O., & Polova, T. V. (2016). Dilova aktyvnist pidpryiemstva: sutnist ta metodyka analizu [Business activity of the enterprise: the essence and methods of analysis]. Kharkiv: Ivanchenkо I.S. [in Ukrainian]. 2. Kartsevа, V. V. (Eds.). (2019). Finansova systema ta yii rol u zabezpechenni rozvytku ekonomiky Ukrainy [The financial system and its role in ensuring the development of Ukraine's economy]. Poltava: PUET [in Ukrainian]. 3. Kobryn, L. Y. (2018). Teoretyko-metodychni pidkhody do upravlinnia dilovoiu aktyvnistiu pidpryiemstva [Theoretical and methodological approaches to business management of the enterprise]. Naukovi zapysky. Seriya «Ekonomichni nauky» – Scientific notes. Series of Economic Sciences, 1 (56), 193–200 [in Ukrainian]. 4. Mukomela-Mykhalets, V. O. (2011). Kontseptualni zasady stvorennia efektyvnoi systemy upravlinnia dilovoiu aktyvnistiu mashynobudivnoho pidpryiemstva [Conceptual bases of creation of effective system of management of business activity of the machine-building enterprise]. Visnyk Khmelnytskoho natsionalnoho universytetu – Bulletin of Khmelnytsky National University 3, Vols. 1, 23–27 [in Ukrainian]. 5. Kharchenko, V. A. (2013). Dilova aktyvnist yak skladova systemy upravlinnia rozvytkom promyslovoho pidpryiemstva [Business activity as a component of the management system of industrial enterprise development]. Skhid – East, 4, 87–92 [in Ukrainian]. 6. Sydorenko-Melnyk, H. M. (2013). Orhanizatsiino-metodychni zasady finansovoho monitorynhu dilovoi aktyvnosti pidpryiemstva [Organizational and methodological principles of financial monitoring of business activity of the enterprise]. Biznes Inform: Mizhnarodnyi naukovyi ekonomichnyi zhurnal – Business Inform: International Scientific Economic Journal, 11 (430), 281–284 [in Ukrainian]. Published: 2021-04-07

STATE POLICY OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC STABILIZATION IN THE CONTEXT OF DECLINING FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY OF ENTERPRISES

Constant transformations, diversity and variability of the economic environment are the main reasons for negative changes in the company's activities. Such changes have a significant impact on the state of the enterprise and, consequently, on its stability. An analysis of the activities of enterprises in recent years has shown that many of them have suffered losses and bankruptcies. Of course, this process can be attributed to the difficult economic situation that has occurred in the country in recent years. However, as practice shows, most of the loss-making enterprises did not pay enough attention to monitoring socio-economic stabilization. It is necessary to proceed from the fact that socio-economic stabilization is not an end in itself, but a means of ensuring sustainable economic growth and raising the level and quality of life of the population. Therefore, it is important not only the current state of the economy, but also what social methods it has achieved: benefits, subsidies for investment in people, science, infrastructure, by depleting resources for their own development or based on improving the efficiency of economic entities, creating a competitive environment . This process is important in studying the ability the company to counteract the negative effects of external and internal environment.

A relationship between stellar metallicity gradients and galaxy age in dwarf galaxies

ABSTRACT We explore the origin of stellar metallicity gradients in simulated and observed dwarf galaxies. We use FIRE-2 cosmological baryonic zoom-in simulations of 26 isolated galaxies as well as existing observational data for 10 Local Group dwarf galaxies. Our simulated galaxies have stellar masses between 105.5 and 108.6 M⊙. Whilst gas-phase metallicty gradients are generally weak in our simulated galaxies, we find that stellar metallicity gradients are common, with central regions tending to be more metal-rich than the outer parts. The strength of the gradient is correlated with galaxy-wide median stellar age, such that galaxies with younger stellar populations have flatter gradients. Stellar metallicty gradients are set by two competing processes: (1) the steady ‘puffing’ of old, metal-poor stars by feedback-driven potential fluctuations and (2) the accretion of extended, metal-rich gas at late times, which fuels late-time metal-rich star formation. If recent star formation dominates, then extended, metal-rich star formation washes out pre-existing gradients from the ‘puffing’ process. We use published results from ten Local Group dwarf galaxies to show that a similar relationship between age and stellar metallicity-gradient strength exists among real dwarfs. This suggests that observed stellar metallicity gradients may be driven largely by the baryon/feedback cycle rather than by external environmental effects.

Mental health of cisgender and transgender during COVID-19 pandemic

Normally every individual wants to lead a free life movement but sometimes could not possible due to external environmental effects. During and after the home quarantine, people are still scared by consistent death and infected news of 2019-nCoV pandemic. Which is why, most of the persons have been feeling insecure and nervous that significantly growing up long term stress. The current study depicts the ongoing mental health condition of Bangladeshi cisgender and transgender individuals caused by SARS-CoV-2 outbreak.

HDDS: Hierarchical Data Dissemination Strategy for energy optimization in dynamic wireless sensor network under harsh environments

The primary issue in Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) based monitoring applications is the preservation of the sensing coverage under the harsh physical environment. WSN forms the monitoring infrastructure, where a large set of energy-constrained sensor nodes are deployed to collect the physical parameters of the environment. The sensor nodes communicate their data to the nearby edge server (ES) where data is processed locally before it is forwarded to the distant cloud platform. Most of WSN’s existing routing algorithms aim to develop an energy-efficient data transmission route without recognizing the effect of harsh external environment, rendering it non-adaptive to environmental changes. In this paper, we have focused to develop an energy-efficient hierarchical data dissemination protocol for the sensor to ES communication. Along with energy optimization, the proposed protocol aims to preserve the network coverage and supports the dynamic changes in network topology like node failure, node addition, etc., due to harsh environmental interface. As the sensor nodes are required to operate autonomously, the proposed protocols are designed by considering only the local information of a sensor node. Simulation and experimental results show the efficiency of the proposed protocol over many state-of-the-art protocols with respect to several parameters such as energy consumption, lifetime of the network, coverage ratio, packet delivery ratio, latency, etc.

Metabonomic Insights into the Sperm Activation Mechanisms in Ricefield Eel (Monopterus albus).

In fish, sperm motility activation is one of the most essential procedures for fertilization. Previous studies have mainly focused on the external environmental effects and intracellular signals in sperm activation; however, little is known about the metabolic process of sperm motility activation in fish. In the present study, using ricefield eel (Monopterus albus) sperm as a model, metabonomics was used to analyze the metabolic mechanism of the sperm motility activation in fish. Firstly, 529 metabolites were identified in the sperm of ricefield eel, which were clustered into the organic acids, amino acids, nucleotides, benzene, and carbohydrates, respectively. Among them, the most abundant metabolites in sperm were L-phenylalanine, DL-leucine, L-leucine, lysolecithin choline 18:0, L-tryptophan, adenine, hypoxanthine, 7-Methylguanine, shikimic acid, and L-tyrosine. Secondly, compared to pre-activated sperm, the level of S-sulfo-L-cysteine and L-asparagine were both increased in the post-activated sperm. Ninety-two metabolites were decreased in the post-activated sperm, including quinic acid, acetylsalicylic acid, 7,8-dihydro L-biopterin, citric acid, glycylphenylalanine, and dihydrotachysterol (DHT). Finally, basing on the pathway analysis, we found that the changed metabolites in sperm motility activation were mainly clustered into energy metabolism and anti-oxidative stress. Fish sperm motility activation would be accompanied by the release of a large amount of energy, which might damage the genetic material of sperm. Thus, the anti-oxidative stress function is a critical process to maintain the normal physiological function of sperm.

Various Driver Factors For Youth Farmers in Malang Related with Horticultural Business

Horticultural business in Malang tends to be cultivated by young farmers with various characteristics, such as individual characteristics, economic environment, social culture, empowerment, and managerial capacity. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of individual characteristics and external environment on the interests of young farmers and horticultural farming in Malang Regency. The study was conducted using a purposive sampling method with a number of 200 young farmers. Data collection was carried out for 3 months, from January to March 2019. Data analysis was used using SEM WarpPLS. Based on the results of the analysis and discussion that the interest of young farmers in horticultural agriculture in Malang Regency is still high, the statistical test found that the external environment in the form of social and empowerment factors encourages the interest of young farmers in horticultural agriculture in Malang Regency. In addition, the knowledge of young farmers is the main driving factor that drives the interests of young farmers. Other factors such as individual characteristics, economic environment, and managerial capacity are not significant drivers, because the statistical value is below its critical value.