Increase In Demand Research Articles

Investigation of a novel Defatted Spent Coffee Ground (DSCG)-supported Ni catalyst for fuel cell and supercapacitor applications

With the increase in energy demand, a material that can be used in fuel cell applications has been developed for both energy storage and the use of alternative energy sources to fossil fuels. In this study, a new Defatted Spent Coffee Ground (DSCG)-based electrode material was synthesized for two different application areas. A new electrocatalyst synthesis was carried out by subjecting DSCG to chemical activation and carbonization processes. The glycerol electrooxidation performances of the catalysts synthesized at 10–50 % Ni loading rates were investigated by CV measurements. 30 % Ni-DSCG catalyst exhibited the highest catalytic activity with 3.290 mA/cm2.As a result of the electrochemical measurements, 30 % Ni-DSCG catalyst with the best catalytic performance was used as the supercapacitor electrode material. The electrochemical performances of the produced supercapacitor electrodes were tested at room temperature using galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD), Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques, and the capacity and stability of the electrodes were calculated as a result of the findings. In the calculations, the energy and power density of the 30 % Ni-DSCG supercapacitor electrode were calculated as 22.897 Wh kg−1, 841.114 W kg−1, respectively. The supercapacitor electrode capacitance was found to be 50.48 F/g.Its cyclic capacity was found to be 90 %. It showed that the DSCG-based synthesized electrocatalyst could be a good option for energy storage technology as EDLC electrode material and fuel cell applications as anode catalyst due to its good conductivity, superior cyclic stability, environmental friendliness and low cost.

Chronic cold exposure causes left ventricular hypertrophy that appears to be physiological.

Exposure to winter cold causes an increase in energy demands to meet the challenge of thermoregulation. In small rodents, this increase in cardiac output leads to a profound cardiac hypertrophy, 2-3x that typically seen with exercise training. The nature of this hypertrophy and its relevance to winter mortality remains unclear. Our goal was to characterize cold-induced cardiac hypertrophy and to assess its similarity to either exercise-induced (physiological) hypertrophy or the pathological hypertrophy of hypertension. We hypothesized that cold-induced hypertrophy will most closely resemble exercise-induced hypertrophy, but be another unique pathway for physiological cardiac growth. We found that cold-induced hypertrophy was largely reversed after return to warm temperatures. Further, metabolic rates were elevated while gene expression and mitochondrial enzyme activities indicative of pathology were absent. A gene expression panel comparing hearts of exercised and cold exposed mice further suggests that these activities are similar, although not identical. In conclusion, we found that chronic cold led to a phenotype that most closely resembled physiological hypertrophy, with enhanced metabolic rate, without induction of fetal genes , but with decreased expression of genes associated with fatty acid oxidation, suggesting that heart failure is not a cause of winter mortality in small rodents and identifying a novel approach for the study of cardiac growth.

Assessment of an eco-efficient process for the optimization of metal recovery in lithium cobalt oxide and lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide batteries

The expansion of technology motivates the increase of global demands for critical minerals. In this context, the exploration of secondary sources of these components is expanding. End-of-life batteries can be seen as potential sources of lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese for electric vehicles or diverse applications in electronic equipments. This paper provides a comprehensive evaluation of the recovery of metals from waste batteries with diverse chemistry composition. Lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) and lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide (NMC) batteries were co-treated with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) channels under supercritical water, varying reaction temperature (400–600 °C) and PVC/Battery composition (0–3 m/m) in a tubular continuous reactor. Results show high recovery rates for all metals, with up to 90% percentage recovery of lithium and cobalt in all cases. Temperature and feed composition were identified as determining factors for the recovery of lithium from LCO batteries. In the case of cobalt, temperature was identified as the most important factor that affects its recovery. The selected optimal conditions for cobalt recovery in the solid products of reactions were identified for batteries LCO and NMC: temperature of 600 °C and PVC/Battery ratio of 3.0 and temperature of 500 °C and PVC/Battery ratio of 1.5, respectively. Environmental impacts, primarily Global Warming Potential (GWP), were minimal, with 4.71·10−5 kg CO2 eq., indicating the benefits of the process as an eco-efficient and promising route for the recycling of valuable metals.

Application of the Adiabatic Connection Random Phase Approximation to Electron-Nucleus Hyperfine Coupling Constants.

The electron-nucleus hyperfine coupling constant is a challenging property for density functional methods. For accurate results, hybrid functionals with a large amount of exact exchange are often needed and there is no clear "one-for-all" functional which describes the hyperfine coupling interaction for a large set of nuclei. To alleviate this unfavorable situation, we apply the adiabatic connection random phase approximation (RPA) in its post-Kohn-Sham fashion to this property as a first test. For simplicity, only the Fermi-contact and spin-dipole terms are calculated within the nonrelativistic and the scalar-relativistic exact two-component framework. This requires to solve a single coupled-perturbed Kohn-Sham equation to evaluate the relaxed density matrix, which comes with a modest increase in computational demands. RPA performs remarkably well and substantially improves upon its Kohn-Sham (KS) starting point while also reducing the dependence on the KS reference. For main-group systems, RPA outperforms global, range-separated, and local hybrid functionals─at similar computational costs. For transition-metal compounds and lanthanide complexes, a similar performance as for hybrid functionals is observed. In contrast, related post-Hartree-Fock methods such as Møller-Plesset perturbation theory or CC2 perform worse than semilocal density functionals.

Marketing Strategies for Financial MCN Institutions in the Era of Integrated Media

The rapid convergence of multiple types of information carriers in the era of integrated media has given rise to the immediate popularity of short-form videos while enhancing the speed and quality of information dissemination, and the Multi-Channel Network (MCN) Institutions behind them have emerged. With the growth of residents' wealth and the increase in demand for investment and financing, MCN institutions focusing on the financial field are attracting more and more attention from the market. Studying the marketing strategies of financial MCN institutions can help improve their business model and is of great significance in promoting the healthy development of investor education. In this paper, we focus on traffic conversion as an essential link in marketing, summarize the common traffic conversion strategies of financial MCN institutions, analyze the case study of JF Wealth Holdings Ltd., and finally provide corresponding strategic suggestions in terms of customer positioning, traffic retention, traffic conversion, and so on.

Will there be water? Climate change, housing needs, and future water demand in California

Climate change in California is expected to alter future water availability, impacting water supplies needed to support future housing growth and agriculture demand. In groundwater-dependent regions like California's Central Coast, new land-use related water demand and decreasing recharge is already stressing depleted groundwater basins. We developed a spatially explicit state-and-transition simulation model that integrates climate, land-use change, water demand, and groundwater gain-loss to examine the impact of future climate and land use change on groundwater balance and water demand in five counties along the Central Coast from 2010 to 2060. The model incorporated downscaled groundwater recharge projections based on a Warm/Wet and a Hot/Dry climate future from a spatially explicit hydrological process-based model. Two urbanization projections from a parcel-based, regional urban growth model representing 1) recent historical and 2) state-mandated housing growth projections were used as alternative spatial targets for future urban growth. Agricultural projections were based on recent historical trends from remote sensing data. Annual projected changes in groundwater balance were calculated as the difference between land-use related water demand, based on historical estimates, and climate-driven recharge plus agriculture return flows. Results indicate that future changes in climate-driven groundwater recharge, coupled with cumulative increases in agricultural water demand, result in overall declines in future groundwater balance, with a Hot/Dry future resulting in cumulative groundwater decline in all but Santa Cruz County. Cumulative declines by 2060 are especially prominent in San Luis Obispo (−2.9 to −5.1 Bm3) and Monterey counties (−6.5 to −8.7 Bm3), despite limited changes in agricultural water demand over the model period. These two counties show declining groundwater reserves in a Warm/Wet future as well, while San Benito and Santa Barbara County barely reach equilibrium. These results suggest future groundwater supplies may not be able to keep pace with regional demand and declining climate-driven recharge, resulting in a potential reduction in water security in the region. However, our county-scale projections showed new housing and associated water demand does not conflict with California's groundwater sustainability goals. Rather, future climate coupled with increasing agricultural groundwater demand may reduce water security in some counties, potentially limiting available groundwater supplies for new housing.

Investigation of hydrohalic acids as lixiviants for the leaching of cathode metals from spent lithium-ion batteries

The exploration of alternative energy sources is inextricably linked with energy storage considerations. Current high density energy storage options on the market rely heavily on lithium (Li)-based technologies. A projected increase in energy storage technology demand has sounded the alarm on a need to develop suitable approaches for the recovery of the various constituent metals from spent Li-ion batteries (LIBs). This, coupled with urgent consideration for the environment has necessitated the investigation of various LIB metal recovery techniques. In this work, we explore the novel application of the hydrohalic acids, hydrobromic (HBr) and hydroiodic (HI) acid, as lixiviants in a series of leaching experimental investigations on LIB cathode powder. A methodology for battery disassembly and cell cathode material recovery is presented leading up to the metal leaching. Our results indicate that the lixiviants can be utilized in the absence of a reducing agent which is typically present in conventional LIB leaching systems. The highest recoveries of the constituent metals, Co, Li, Mn and Ni in the HI system were 92.9 %, 93.6 %, 93.1 % and 94.5 % respectively, at an operating temperature of 60 ℃ and with a 1.5 M HI concentration. The HBr system achieved metal recoveries of 90.6 %, 89.1 %, 83.1 % and 96.4 % for Co, Li, Mn and Ni respectively, at 60 ℃ and using 2 M HBr. Kinetic studies showed that the leaching mechanism for both acids follow a chemical reaction-controlled model.

A GIS-Based Approach for Urban Building Energy Modeling under Climate Change with High Spatial and Temporal Resolution

The energy demand and associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of buildings are significantly affected by the characteristics of the building and local climate conditions. While energy use datasets with high spatial and temporal resolution are highly needed in the context of climate change, energy use monitoring data are not available for most cities. This study introduces an approach combining building energy simulation, climate change modeling, and GIS spatial analysis techniques to develop an energy demand data inventory enabling assessment of the impacts of climate change on building energy consumption in Shanghai, China. Our results suggest that all types of buildings exhibit a net increase in their annual energy demand under the projected future (2050) climate conditions, with the highest increase in energy demand attributed to Heating, Ventilation, and Cooling (HVAC) systems. Variations in building energy demand are found across building types. Due to the large number of residential buildings, they are the main contributor to the increases in energy demand and associated CO2 emissions. The hourly residential building energy demand on a typical hot summer day (29 July) under the 2050 climate condition at 1 p.m. is found to increase by more than 40%, indicating a risk of energy supply shortage if no actions are taken. The spatial pattern of total annual building energy demand at the individual building level exhibited high spatial heterogeneity with some hotspots. This study provides an alternative method to develop a building energy demand inventory with high temporal resolution at the individual building scale for cities lacking energy use monitoring data, supporting the assessment of building energy and GHG emissions under both current and future climate scenarios at minimal cost.

Sistem Prediksi Penjualan Beras pada Koperasi Pegawai Republik Indonesia (KPRI) Bina Warga menggunakan Metode Single Moving Average

This study aimed to know the prediction of rice sales for Employee Cooperatives Republic of Indonesia Bina Warga Benjeng in the following month. Rice sales are often difficult to predict market demand. When consumer demand increases, rice supplies sometimes suffer from shortages. If consumer demand decreases, stock builds too much and results in a decrease in rice quality. In order for the rice sales process to run smoothly, it is necessary to have a sales prediction so that there are no excesses or shortage in rice supplies. The method of discussion used to predict in this study using the Single Moving Average method which is a prediction method that uses new actual data requests to raise the predictive value of the next month’s demand. The best results were using the Single Moving Average methods using rice sales data variant 25 kg variant were successfully implemented with an RMSE value of 9.3% which means this prediction accuracy of 90.7% accurate.

Platform integration in ride-sourcing markets with heterogeneous passengers

This paper explores the impacts of a novel business model termed platform integration, which enables passengers to simultaneously request on-demand rides from multiple ride-sourcing platforms via a third-party integrator. In particular, we employ an equilibrium model where passenger demand and driver supply are endogenously dependent on the prices and wages that emerge from the competitive interaction between two platforms, with and without an integrator. A Hotelling model is adopted to characterize passengers’ heterogeneity in service preference for different platforms. We employ the concepts of a Nash equilibrium and a shared monopoly to analyze equilibrium outcomes that can arise in various settings of demand and supply characteristics with and without platform integration. We find that how the platform should adjust its price and wage at Nash equilibrium as potential demand increases is affected by the nature of supply. We also find that the profit at Nash equilibrium can increase or decrease in supply capacity depending on the competitive situation of the platforms. We build on these equilibrium results to analyze how platform integration affects the platform’s decision-making of price and wage, and market performance. We find that platform integration can increase platform profit but reduce driver income, and may hurt passengers who have a strong preference for one certain platform, especially in the case of a less heterogeneous supply.

Product refurbishment in an imperfect production inventory system under carbon regulations: An interval type-2 fuzzy environment

This study develops an imperfect production inventory model focusing on the proper handling of imperfect products and addressing carbon emissions in different stages of a production process. The proposed inventory system consists of three stages: production, screening, and refurbishing. The produced products undergo a screening process, with perfect quality items being delivered to the primary market, while imperfect quality products are routed through a refurbishing process, subsequently sold in the secondary market. It is observed that in the existing literature on refurbished products, all such types of products have been sold at the end of the business period, this means that there is no continuous demand of refurbished product at the remaining time points of the business period which does not support the practical situation in a real business system. In this regards, our main objective in this study is consideration of continuous demand of refurbished products along with perfect ones. Again, we incorporate interval type-2 fuzzy uncertainty in both markets’ demand to better reflect market fluctuations introducing a new defuzzification method. In this framework, we evaluate the effectiveness of two emission regulatory strategies: carbon tax and carbon cap and trade policies. The findings of this study offer valuable insights into various aspects. Notably, our analysis reveals that if the difference between the primary and secondary markets’ demands reduces to a large extent, a negative impact on the profit is observed. It is also shown that an increase in demand for refurbished products allows for a higher permissible rate of imperfections in production. Comparing the outcomes under two emission regulations, we find that the cap and trade policy is beneficial from both economic and environmental perspectives. Additionally, it becomes evident that the manufacturer should carefully consider the duration of each inventory stage, as it leads to a significant increase in overall emissions. Regarding the uncertain nature of the market, it is observed that demand volatility in the secondary market negatively affects the profit.

Biomonitoring of Heavy Metal Toxicity in Freshwater Canals in Egypt Using Creeping Water Bugs (Ilyocoris cimicoides): Oxidative Stress, Histopathological, and Ultrastructural Investigations.

The abundance of metal pollutants in freshwater habitats poses serious threats to the survival and biodiversity of aquatic organisms and human beings. This study intends for the first time to assess the pernicious influences of heavy metals in Al Marioteya canal freshwater in Egypt, compared to Al Mansoureya canal as a reference site utilizing the creeping water bug (Ilyocoris cimicoides) as an ecotoxicological model. The elemental analysis of the water showed a significantly higher incidence of heavy metals, including cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb), in addition to the calcium (Ca) element than the World Health Organization's (WHO) permitted levels. The Ca element was measured in the water samples to determine whether exposure to heavy metals-induced oxidative stress engendered Ca deregulation in the midgut tissues of the creeping water bug. Remarkably, increased levels of these heavy metals were linked to an increase in chemical oxygen demand (COD) at the polluted site. Notably, the accumulation of these heavy metals in the midgut tissues resulted in a substantial reduction in antioxidant parameters, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and ascorbate peroxidase (APOX), along with a marked rise in malondialdehyde (MDA), cytochrome P450, and protein carbonyl levels. These results clearly indicate a noticeable disturbance in the antioxidant defense system due to uncontrollable reactive oxygen species (ROS). Notably, the results demonstrated that oxidative stress caused disturbances in Ca levels in the midgut tissue of I. cimicoides from polluted sites. Furthermore, the comet and flow cytometry analyses showed considerable proliferations of comet cells and apoptotic cells in midgut tissues, respectively, exhibiting prominent correlations, with pathophysiological deregulation. Interestingly, histopathological and ultrastructural examinations exposed noticeable anomalies in the midgut, Malpighian tubules, and ovarioles of I. cimicoides, emphasizing our findings. Overall, our findings emphasize the potential use of I. cimicoides as a bioindicator of heavy metal pollution in freshwater to improve sustainable water management in Egypt.

Exposure to bovine livestock and latent tuberculosis infection in children: Investigating the zoonotic tuberculosis potential in a large urban and peri-urban area of Cameroon.

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB), a neglected zoonotic disease, is endemic in cattle in many Sub-saharan African countries, yet its contribution to tuberculosis (TB) burden is understudied. Rapid urbanisation and increase in demand for animal proteins, including dairy products, increases the risk of spill over. This study compared the latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) risk in children, a proxy-measure for recent TB infection, in children living in high cattle density areas to children from the general population in Cameroon. Cross-sectional study in the Centre Region of Cameroon in 2021, recruiting 160 children aged 2-15 years, stratified by exposure to livestock, people treated for pulmonary TB (PTB) and the general community. Veinous blood was tested for LTBI using QuantiFERON-TB Gold-Plus. Prevalence were calculated and the association to exposure and other risk factors investigated using logistic regression models. The crude LTBI prevalence were 8.2% in the general population, 7.3% in those exposed to cattle and 61% in pulmonary TB household contacts. After adjusting for confounding and sampling design, exposure to cattle and exposure to pulmonary TB were associated with higher risk of LTBI than the general population (respectively odds ratio (OR): 3.56, 95%CI: 0.34 to 37.03; and OR: 10.36, 95%CI: 3.13 to 34.21). Children frequently consuming cow milk had higher risk of LTBI (OR: 3.35; 95%CI 0.18 to 60.94). Despite limited statistical power, this study suggests that children exposed to cattle in a setting endemic for bTB had higher risk of LTBI, providing indirect evidence that Mycobacterium bovis may contribute to TB burden.

A material flow or life cycle analysis perspective for the Water-Energy-Food nexus assessment of organisations? A comparative study

Nowadays, food production systems play a relevant role as the steady increase of global population and food demand. The water-energy-food (WEF) nexus is a suitable approach to tackle resources management associated with these three pillars recognizing synergies and trade-offs. Different approaches have been used in the literature to measure the WEF nexus, being material flow analysis (MFA) and life cycle assessment (LCA), two of the most proven methodologies. The MFA approach is based on the amount of resources consumed, while using the LCA perspective considers all flows of the system (LCA footprints approach) or considering only the flows associated with water, energy, and food pillars as the inventory data (WEF-LCA approach). This manuscript compares the three mentioned approaches to identify their strengths and weaknesses. To do this, a sample of 100 Spanish dairy farms is analysed, where a single WEF nexus index (WEFni) is obtained using Data Envelopment Analysis. Results show that only four farms achieved a WEFni equal to 100 in all approaches, while the main difference between them is the number and type of resources considered for calculating the WEF nexus, which could imply a partial identification of hotspots of food systems.

Increasing airspace capacity by improving ATCo’s efficiency through an innovative handover mechanism

The current lack of airspace capacity poses a major challenge to a sustainable and efficient air transport system, especially as future demand increases. Recent efforts to increase airspace capacity have focused on airspace sectorization. The digitization of Air Traffic Management (ATM) holds promise for overcoming current inefficiencies arising from the spatial fragmentation of airspace. While research has explored digitized ATM services to improve airspace capacity, there has been a notable gap in addressing spare capacity through enhancing synergies between adjacent sectors. This work proposes the application of an early handover (EHO) mechanism based on the spatio-temporal interdependencies among sectors and aircraft. Essentially, the mechanism involves alleviating overloaded sectors by redistributing peak demand to neighboring ones. This alleviation results in a reduction of the dedicated resources required to meet demand, facilitating the consolidation of sectors into larger units. Ultimately, this consolidation enhances airspace efficiency by minimizing the ATCo resources necessary for ATM. A simple and fast heuristic is proposed to select the aircraft for early handover to the air traffic controller of another sector, together with a specific schedule. A Colored Petri Net model is implemented to formalize the dynamic spatio-temporal interdependencies among adjacent sectors and to illustrate the EHO applicability using an academic exercise for illustration purposes. Afterwards, a simulation study based on real European airspace data is employed to illustrate and validate the mechanism. Finally, a discussion on the potential impacts of adopting the mechanism in real-life applications and lines of future research are provided.

Efficiency and fuel consumption of mixed traffic flow with lane management of CAVs

The mixed traffic flow of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) and human-driven vehicles (HDVs) will exist on highways for a long time, as the deployment of CAVs is gradual. To reduce the negative impact of HDVs on CAVs, the deployment of dedicated lanes has been considered an effective solution. Along with the dedicated lanes, three different lane management strategies will be formed, which are (C, H) strategy (CAVs dedicated lanes and HDVs dedicated lanes), (C, G) strategy (CAVs dedicated lanes and general lanes), and (G, H) strategy (general lanes and HDVs dedicated lanes). To evaluate the influence of dedicated lane settings on mixed traffic flow comprehensively, this paper proposes a framework for evaluating road segment efficiency and fuel consumption by considering lane management strategies. First, the possible traffic flow equilibrium states under three lane management strategies are discussed, and the characteristics of five car-following modes in mixed traffic flow are analyzed. Then, a mixed traffic flow capacity model considering platoon size is introduced to the traditional BPR function to establish a speed estimation model for mixed traffic flow and a fuel consumption estimation model for mixed traffic flow. Next, the traffic flow distribution model at the lane level in a steady state is derived for different lane management strategies. Based on the traffic flow distribution model, the speed estimation model and the fuel consumption estimation model for mixed traffic flow, which consider lane management strategies, are proposed. Finally, a numerical simulation is conducted to analyze the effects of different lane management strategies and configuration schemes on road segment efficiency and fuel consumption. The results of numerical experiments show that (1) at the same traffic demand, the operational speeds of vehicles under the (C, H) strategy and (G, H) strategy tend to increase and then decrease with the increase in the penetration rate of CAVs. While the speed of the vehicle under the (C, G) strategy increases with the increase in the penetration rate of CAVs. (2) Compared with the baseline strategy, all three management strategies can improve the operating efficiency of vehicles under certain traffic conditions. (3) At the same traffic demand, the average fuel consumption under the three strategies tends to decrease first and then increase slightly as the penetration rate increases. Increasing the number of dedicated lanes under specific traffic conditions can significantly increase the fuel consumption reduction rate under each strategy. At the same penetration rate, this advantage diminishes with the increase in traffic demand. (4) The increase in platoon size favors the efficiency of vehicle operations under different strategies. However, as platoon size increases, the marginal benefit of increasing platoon size becomes smaller and smaller. In addition, the average fuel consumption of vehicles has a low sensitivity to platoon size, and increasing platoon size may not always reduce fuel consumption.

REGIONAL FEATURES OF THE INTERSECTION OF ECO- AND RURAL TOURISM IN VINNYCHCHYNA DURING MARITAL STATE

The article examines the tourist potential of the Vinnytsia region and determines that the region has significant natural and recreational potential for the development of ecological and rural tourism. It has been established that the development of these types of tourism is due to the increase in demand for domestic tourism as a result of the war in Ukraine. Therefore, the main consumers of eco- and rural tourism services in Vinnytsia region are internally displaced persons, as well as connoisseurs of Ukrainian folk traditions due to the attractiveness of the nature, its environmental friendliness and rural lifestyle. Regulatory and legal documents regulating rural tourism, namely the Regional Development Strategy of the Vinnytsia Region until 2027, as well as the main directions of activity of the public organization «Vinnytsia Regional Branch of the Association for the Promotion of the Development of Rural Green Tourism in Ukraine» were studied. The tourist route Camino Podoliсo or St. Jacob’s Way, which covers two regions of Khmelnytskyi and Vinnytsia, was studied. It was found that this project is a unique opportunity to gain impressions from getting to know the unique sights, customs and traditions and natural features of Podillia. The significant areas of Vinnytsia region, the village of Busha of the Yampil district, on the territory of which there are outstanding monuments of the archaeology and architecture of the famous Bushan relief (carved out of stone in the Rock Temple by the hands of our glorious ancestors) and the remains of the Bushan fortress – a stone tower, the Haydamatskyi ravine, the remains of multi-layered settlements of Trypillia, Chernyakhiv, Penkiv and Scythian cultures, a medieval cemetery. The possibilities of Mogilev-Podilskyi, Barskyi and Vinnytsia districts regarding the development and intersection of eco- and rural tourism in wartime are also described. In the article, with the help of a SWOT analysis, the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the development of eco- and rural tourism in Vinnytsia are given. It was found that the combination of eco- and rural tourism is a necessary condition for the economic development of rural areas, and rural recreation should strengthen the ecological awareness of tourists in order to preserve the environment.

Fioria vitifolia-mediated silver nanoparticles: Eco-friendly synthesis and biomedical potential

Growing environmental concerns have led to an increase in demand for environmentally friendly synthesis techniques and sustainable nanomaterials. This study emphasizes the need of using greener approaches in scientific research. It was anticipated that the phytochemicals in Fioria vitifolia might effectively decrease silver ions, resulting in stable Ag-NPs. An aqueous leaf extract of F. vitifolia was utilized to produce Ag-NPs using a green method. The aim of this research was to biosynthesize Ag-NPs and examine their morphology and structure using UV, XRD, FTIR, TGA, FESEM, EDX, and HR-TEM, followed by biological evaluation. At 100 μg/mL, Ag-NPs effectively inhibited Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus with maximum inhibition zones of 17 mm and 15 mm, respectively. Their antioxidant ability was tested using DPPH and ABTS tests, which revealed inhibition rates of 68.53 % and 69.10 %, respectively. Ag-NPs had an MSM value of 75.6 % at 250 μg/mL, indicating considerable anti-inflammatory action. In vitro cytotoxicity tests on HeLa cancer cells showed an IC50 of 38.47 μg/mL. Under sunlight, Ag-NPs degraded indigo carmine by 88.1 % in 100 min. Over five recycle periods, both antibacterial activity and adsorption efficiency remained above 80 %. Eco-toxicity testing on zebrafish embryos revealed low toxicity at 100 μg/mL. The use of F. vitifolia for nanoparticle production is unprecedented in this study, indicating its potential for a variety of biological applications and stressing the importance of green nanotechnology in medicinal chemistry.

Impact of Iron Intake and Reserves on Cognitive Function in Young University Students.

Iron is a key nutrient for cognitive function. During periods of high academic demand, brain and cognitive activity increase, potentially affecting iron intake and reserves. The present study aimed to investigate the impact of iron levels on cognitive function in a university sample, considering the influence of gender. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 132 university students (18-29 years) from the University of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain). A dietary record was formed through a questionnaire to analyze iron consumption, and blood and anthropometric parameters were measured. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV was used to determine the Intelligence Quotient (IQ), as well as the Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI), Working Memory Index (WMI), Processing Speed Index (PSI), and Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI), to assess cognitive abilities. Among women, the prevalence of iron deficiency (ID) and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) was 21% and 4.2%, respectively. No ID or IDA was found in men. The impact of iron intake on IQ and cognitive abilities was mainly associated with the female population, where a positive association between iron intake, serum ferritin, and total IQ was revealed. In conclusion, low iron intake is related to poorer intellectual ability, suggesting that an iron-rich diet is necessary to maintain the academic level of university students.

RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF PATIENT-REPORTED OUTCOME MEASURES IN A MATCHED COHORT OF INPATIENT AND DAY-SURGERY HIP ARTHROPLASTY PATIENTS

Most hip replacements are performed in an in-patient setting; however, there has been a shift in recent years in Canada towards doing more on an outpatient basis. In 2021–2022, 15.6% of hip replacements were performed as day surgeries compared to 0.7% in 2018–2019. This analysis will assess patient reported outcome measures of patients who had inpatient versus outpatient hip replacement surgery between 2018 and 2021.We analysed a retrospective sample of 4917 adult patients who had an elective primary unilateral hip replacement. Preoperative and three-month postoperative PROMs were completed - the Oxford Hip Score, EQD5L and patient satisfaction with the outcome were recorded. Patients who had an outpatient procedure were matched 1:1 with patients who are admitted to hospital for surgery based on age, sex and pre-COVID versus the COVID (March 15, 2020 as the start). Preoperative PROMs and Charlson Comorbidity Index were collected. T-tests and chi-square tests were used to assess the differences.The inpatient group on average was older, female and had a lower preoperative PROMs score and more comorbidities than the outpatient group. With cohort matching the sample consisted of 1244 patients. The inpatient and outpatient groups have similar Oxford scores, postoperative EQ-5D-5L scores and the proportion satisfied with their surgical results. The Oxford postoperative score was slightly higher in the outpatient group compared to the inpatient group; however, this is not clinically significant.We observed that outpatient protocols have no difference in patient satisfaction, self-reported functional outcomes and self-reported health-related quality of life three months after a hip replacement. Day surgery protocols represented potential solution to the challenges caused by the expected increase in demand for hip replacements. Our results demonstrated that patients do well clinically with day surgery procedures and there does not appear to be any detrimental effect on PROMs.