Practical Solution Research Articles

The shifting of buffer crop repertoires in pre-industrial north-eastern Europe

This study explores how major climatic shifts, together with socioeconomic factors over the past two millennia, influenced buffer crop selection, focusing on five crops: rye, millet, buckwheat, oat, and hemp. For this study, we analyzed archaeobotanical data from 135 archaeological contexts and historical data from 242 manor inventories across the northeastern Baltic region, spanning the period from 100 to 1800 AD. Our findings revealed that rye remained a main staple crop throughout the studied periods reflecting environmental adaptation to northern latitudes. The drought-tolerant and thermophilic millet crop exhibited resilience during the adverse dry climatic conditions of the Medieval Climatic Anomaly while showing a significant decline during the Little Ice Age. During the period of post-1500 AD, a significant shift towards cold-resilient summer crops such as buckwheat and hemp is recorded. This study enhances our understanding of how historical agricultural systems responded to both socioeconomic factors and climatic change in northern latitudes, offering notable potential solutions for modern agricultural practices in the face of future climate variability trends.

Two Birds with One Stone: Eco‐Friendly Nano‐Formulation Endows a Commercial Fungicide with Excellent Insecticidal Activity

AbstractThe development of multi‐action pesticides presents significant advantages, including cost‐effectiveness, reduced application frequency, enhanced resistance management, and minimized environmental impact. Despite its efficacy in targeting chitin synthase in both fungi and insects, the insecticidal performance of polyoxin B remains limited. To overcome this limitation, a novel nano‐formulation, polyoxin B@ZTS is developed, utilizing agricultural byproducts, tea saponin, and zein. This formulation features a small particle size, high leaf deposition efficiency, and excellent dispersion properties. Leveraging a disulfide bond system, polyoxin B@ZTS is designed to respond to the intracellular reducing environment, enabling controlled release of polyoxin B. Remarkably, the nano‐formulation facilitates the penetration of physiological barriers, achieving equivalent insecticidal and fungicidal efficacy to polyoxin B at only one‐fifth of the dosage. This work highlights the potential of eco‐friendly, cost‐effective, and multifunctional nano‐pesticides, providing a compelling solution for sustainable agricultural practices and demonstrating broad applicability in integrated pest and disease management.

Investigation of the Effectiveness of Using Luffa Cylindrica to Reduce Water Consumption in Agriculture

Background: To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals: Zero Hunger, a stable and accessible water supply in agriculture is essential. The projected steady increase in population will contribute to a moderate increase in consumption, which in turn will require the development of technologies that increase soil productivity. With the increasing impact of global warming, droughts are becoming increasingly common in the northern region of Bangladesh. Notably, Bangladeshi farmers currently allocate about 37% of the total cost of rice production to irrigation. Objectives: The current study aims to overcome the problem of water shortage in agriculture, particularly in rice cultivation. It is expected that the use of biological sponge extracted from dried Luffa cylindrica will help retain water for its uptake by rice roots. That is, it is expected that by using Luffa cylindrica it will be possible to prevent or significantly reduce evapotranspiration and water seepage into the soil. Methods: This work is an experimental study on rice cultivation in soil with and without Luffa cylindrica. The study controlled the main factors contributing to water loss: evaporation and percolation, for the quantitative measurement of which different systems and methods were used. In addition, other extensive measurements related to irrigation were carried out and contribute to the understanding of the effectiveness/ineffectiveness of the studied approach to reducing water use. Results: A comparison of fields with and without Luffa cylindrica shows a marked contrast in water storage capacity. Initial observations indicate that integrating Luffa cylindrica into rice paddies improves water retention, thereby reducing losses due to evaporation and seepage. It was found that the irrigation frequency was above the optimum threshold to achieve the desired result. In addition, more water was required to fill the Luffa-containing field than the Luffa-containing field, as the dry Luffa cylindrica also had to be saturated. Despite these issues, the use of Luffa cylindrica resulted in water savings of 26.97%. Conclusion: improving soil moisture retention in rice paddies. By utilizing the fibrous structure of dry Luffa cylindrica, water losses due to evapotranspiration and seepage were significantly reduced, resulting in substantial water savings and reduced costs for farmers. The eco-friendliness and cost-effectiveness of Luffa cylindrica highlights its potential as a sustainable water management solution for agricultural practices. Its availability and ease of cultivation make it a viable option for farmers, with minimal investment required to implement the technique on a large scale.

PSAQ-ViT V2: Toward Accurate and General Data-Free Quantization for Vision Transformers.

Data-free quantization can potentially address data privacy and security concerns in model compression and thus has been widely investigated. Recently, patch similarity aware data-free quantization for vision transformers (PSAQ-ViT) designs a relative value metric, patch similarity, to generate data from pretrained vision transformers (ViTs), achieving the first attempt at data-free quantization for ViTs. In this article, we propose PSAQ-ViT V2, a more accurate and general data-free quantization framework for ViTs, built on top of PSAQ-ViT. More specifically, following the patch similarity metric in PSAQ-ViT, we introduce an adaptive teacher-student strategy, which facilitates the constant cyclic evolution of the generated samples and the quantized model in a competitive and interactive fashion under the supervision of the full-precision (FP) model (teacher), thus significantly improving the accuracy of the quantized model. Moreover, without the auxiliary category guidance, we employ the task-and model-independent prior information, making the general-purpose scheme compatible with a broad range of vision tasks and models. Extensive experiments are conducted on various models on image classification, object detection, and semantic segmentation tasks, and PSAQ-ViT V2, with the naive quantization strategy and without access to real-world data, consistently achieves competitive results, showing potential as a powerful baseline on data-free quantization for ViTs. For instance, with Swin-S as the (backbone) model, 8-bit quantization reaches 82.13 top-1 accuracy on ImageNet, 50.9 box AP and 44.1 mask AP on COCO, and 47.2 mean Intersection over Union (mIoU) on ADE20K. We hope that accurate and general PSAQ-ViT V2 can serve as a potential and practice solution in real-world applications involving sensitive data. Code is released and merged at: https://github.com/zkkli/PSAQ-ViT.

Predicting soil properties for fertiliser recommendation in South Korea using MIR spectroscopy

The national fertiliser policies in South Korea aim to provide guidance to farmers for efficient fertiliser application and thus rely on the annual collection and analysis of soil samples. Providing timely soil analysis results remains a challenge, as wet laboratory analysis is time-consuming and expensive. This study represents a pioneering effort in South Korea, by investigating mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy for accurate soil properties prediction and its application in developing fertiliser recommendations for several crop types. Additionally, we examined the time efficiency of MIR spectroscopy compared to conventional analytical methods. A total of 567 soil samples from diverse soil and land use types (paddy, upland, orchard, and greenhouse fields) in South Korea (0–20 cm depth) were collected and scanned using an MIR spectrometer. Four machine learning algorithms (partial least squares regression, support vector machine, cubist, and random forest) were trialled and compared for their prediction accuracies using 15-fold cross-validation for eight essential soil properties: organic matter, total nitrogen (N), available phosphorus (P), pH, exchangeable calcium (Ca), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), and available silica. Results demonstrated robust predictive performance (R2 > 0.70) across the selected soil properties, with organic matter and total nitrogen exhibiting excellent accuracy (R2 > 0.9). Compared with conventional analysis, the average difference in fertiliser application recommendation for seven crops using MIR prediction was 3.8 % for N, 13.9 % for P and 8.1 % for K. Based on the measurement of 11 soil properties, analysis using MIR spectroscopy was about 12 times faster than conventional methods. The study demonstrates the potential of this approach to revolutionise soil analysis protocols, offering a more efficient and cost-effective solution for sustainable agricultural practices in South Korea.

Leveraging IOT-Driven Solutions for Sustainable Farming and Advanced Agricultural Practices to Deploy Smart Applications in Farming for Increased Yield

Leveraging IOT-Driven Solutions for Sustainable Farming and Advanced Agricultural Practices to Deploy Smart Applications in Farming for Increased Yield

Emerging Nanochitosan for Sustainable Agriculture.

Chemical-intensive agriculture challenges environmental sustainability and biodiversity and must be changed. Minimizing the use of agrochemicals based on renewable resources can reduce or eliminate ecosystems and biodiversity threats. Nanochitosan as a sustainable alternative offers promising solutions for sustainable agricultural practices that work at multiple spatial and temporal scales throughout the plant growth cycle. This review focuses on the potential of nanochitosan in sustainable agricultural production and provides insights into the mechanisms of action and application options of nanochitosan throughout the plant growth cycle. We emphasize the role of nanochitosan in increasing crop yields, mitigating plant diseases, and reducing agrochemical accumulation. The paper discusses the sources of nanochitosan and its plant growth promotion, antimicrobial properties, and delivery capacity. Furthermore, we outline the challenges and prospects of research trends of nanochitosan in sustainable agricultural production practices and highlight the potential of nanochitosan as a sustainable alternative to traditional agrochemicals.

The Application of Kinesin Inhibitors in Medical Issues.

Kinesins are a group of motor proteins in charge of several crucial functions in the cell. These proteins often bind to microtubules and perform their functions using the energy produced by ATP hydrolysis. One function of mitotic kinesin, a subclass of kinesin that is expressed during cell division at the mitotic phase, is to create the mitotic spindle. Uncontrolled cell growth is one trait of cancerous cells. Traditional anticancer medications still used in clinics include taxanes (paclitaxel) and vinca alkaloids (vincristine, vinblastine), which interfere with microtubule dynamics. However, because non-dividing cells like post-mitotic neurons contain microtubules, unwanted side effects like peripheral neuropathy are frequently found in patients taking these medications. More than ten members of the mitotic kinesin family play distinct or complementary roles during mitosis. The mitotic kinesin family's KSP, or Eg5, is regarded as its most dramatic target protein. The current work systematically reviews the use of kinesin inhibitors in the medical field. The challenges of KSP and the practical solutions are also examined, and the outcomes of the previous works are reported. The significant gaps and shortcomings of the related works are also highlighted, which can be an onset topic for future works.

Closing the Theory-to-Practice Gap: Quantifying the Impact of Ovid Synthesis for Clinical Improvement Projects.

This article presents a program evaluation study involving 18 health system leaders who use Ovid Synthesis, a web-based workflow solution for evidence-based practice, quality improvement, and research initiatives. The findings demonstrate the critical prioritization of standardization, collaboration, dissemination, and patient outcomes in order to successfully implement evidence-based practice (EBP) and how Ovid Synthesis successfully supports these priorities. Significant interest in measuring return on investment underscores the importance of demonstrating the value of EBP, in order to support continued investments in EBP practices.

Flexural behavior of bonded post-tensioned concrete beams with steel or GFRP bars

Post-tensioned concrete beams with GFRP reinforcement have gained attention in recent years due to their unique flexural behavior and potential cost benefits. Because of the absence of comprehensive guidelines in international codes and limited application in constructions, this hybrid system is adopted in the current paper as a pioneering solution for sustainable and eco-friendly construction practices. Particularly noteworthy is the corrosion resistance of GFRP bars, which significantly enhances the durability of structures. The influence of using GFRP with bonded post-tension concrete beam is experimentally investigated compared to concrete beams with prestressing and non-prestressing reinforcement. Eight concrete beams with different reinforcement types and ratios were cast and tested under three-point load. Flexural resistance, crack pattern, deflections, and strains of the beams were compared with a reference beam with prestressing and non-prestressing reinforcement. Experimental load capacities of the tested beams were compared to those obtained from various international codes. The experimental results revealed that the beams with GFRP bars had smaller failure load and larger deflection compared to those with non-prestressing steel by up to 25 % and 37 %, respectively. A 3D finite element model (FEM) was developed and validated by comparing the numerical results with those obtained from the experiments. A sensitivity analysis was performed, using the validated FEM, by changing the concrete strength, steel yield stress, and GFRP ultimate strength by ± 20 %. The sensitivity analysis included seventy-two beams which had the same dimensions, loading, and boundary conditions of the tested beams. Changing the concrete strength only led to varying the beam capacities by −7 % ∼ + 4 %. Changing the steel yield stress only led to changing of the beam capacities by −13 % ∼ + 11 %. No change was observed when the GFRP ultimate stress was varied by 20 %.

A Preisach Model Defining Correlation between Monotonic and Cyclic Response of Structural Mild Steel

This article delivers a new Preisach model representing the correlation between the elastoplastic behavior of structural mild steel under axial monotonic and cyclic loading with damage. The newly formed model is based on the experimentally defined correlation between axial monotonic and cyclic behavior of structural mild steel. To examine the monotonic and cyclic behavior of structural mild steel and find fitting material properties for the model, monotonic and cyclic axial tensile tests are performed. Tests are executed on coupons of the commonly used European structural steel S275. The model represents a mathematical description of modified single-crystal material behavior under monotonic loading. Two different approaches were used to describe damage in the multilinear mechanical model. The excellent agreement with experimental results is achieved by infinitely linking many single-crystal elements in parallel, forming the polycrystalline model. This model provides a good solution for everyday engineering practice due to its geometric representation in the form of the Preisach triangle and the lower costs of monotonic tests used to define material properties compared to cyclic tests.

Assessment of fly ash based sand as a perspective alternate backfill material for stowing in mining activity

Due to the paucity of river sand and increased regulations on sand mining, mine fill voids are kept emptied, fostering the demand for alternate backfilling material. This study attempts to develop fly ash based sand (FAB Sand) using abundantly available fly ash alone as resource material and explores its suitability as a stowing material in mine void applications, including both underground and open mining activity. Since sand within particle sizes from 4.75 to 0.075 mm is explicitly used for stowing applications, FAB Sand is developed within the same particle size range. Its applicability is evaluated in terms of physical, chemical, mechanical, morphological and mineralogical properties, and suitability is assessed by comparing vis-à-vis with river sand. Towards environmental acceptability, leaching characteristics and human health risks of FAB Sand are examined comprehensively. The findings of the study reveal that FAB Sand is not only doable and promising but could also become a sustainable alternate backfilling material for stowing in mining activities. Results pertaining to environmental acceptability endorse that FAB Sand poses no threat to ecology and human health. Overall, the proposed novel alternate backfill material and its employability alleviates the mining of sand from rivers while concurrently accentuating sustainable solutions for mining practices.

AI-CiciBot as Conversational Partners in EFL Education, focusing on Intelligent Technology Adoption (ITA) to Mollify Speaking Anxiety

This study examines the role of AI-CiciBot as a conversational partner in mitigating speaking anxiety among Indonesian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students. The aim is to explore the integration of intelligent technology adoption (ITA) into classrooms to enhance language learning and reduce anxiety during speaking activities. The primary gap addressed in this research is the lack of technology-based solutions for oral language practice in Indonesia, where traditional curricula emphasize reading and writing over speaking. This study aims to fill the gap by introducing AI-CiciBot, a novel AI-powered conversational tool that provides a supportive, low-pressure environment for students to practice speaking English. The study uses a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative data from pre-test and post-test scores and qualitative insights from student interviews. The research tools include a questionnaire and an AI-CiciBot platform for speaking practice. IBM SPSS Statistics analyzed the data, focusing on students' speaking performance and anxiety levels before and after using AI-CiciBot. Findings in this study show a significant improvement in students' speaking skills and a reduction in anxiety. The mean score for pre-tests was 49.17, which increased to 90.47 in post-tests, indicating AI-CiciBot's effectiveness. Interviews revealed that students initially hesitant to engage in speaking activities due to fear of judgment became more confident and willing to participate after practicing with the AI bot. This study contributes to the field of EFL education by demonstrating the potential of AI-driven tools like AI-CiciBot to address speaking anxiety and improve oral proficiency. It also highlights the importance of ITA in encouraging students to embrace AI-based learning solutions. To maximize learning outcomes, future research should investigate the long-term impact of AI-CiciBot on students' speaking proficiency and its integration with human instructors.

Construction of Greenhouse for Horticultural Cultivation with Soil Media and Hydroponics

Theneral background greenhouse technology is increasingly recognized as an efficient solution for sustainable agricultural practices, especially in regions with limited fertile land. Specific background In Kedungpeluk Village, where the majority of residents work as fish farmers, there are also unused and arid lands. These underutilized spaces provide an opportunity for greenhouse-based horticultural cultivation using soil media and hydroponic technology. Knowledge gap however, limited knowledge and infrastructure have prevented local farmers from effectively utilizing these lands for sustainable crop production. Aims this community engagement project aims to build and utilize a greenhouse system to cultivate horticultural plants, focusing on optimizing both soil and hydroponic methods. Results the project successfully transformed barren land into productive greenhouses that facilitate the growth of tomatoes, chilies, eggplants, pak choy, and water spinach. The greenhouse structure, designed with transparent roofing, enhances sunlight exposure, promoting optimal plant growth. Both soil and hydroponic methods showed potential for increasing crop yields, with soil cultivation being more flexible but requiring extra care for pests, while hydroponics provided faster results with minimal weed and pest interference. Novelty this project introduces a dual-method approach combining traditional soil cultivation with modern hydroponic technology in a controlled greenhouse environment. Implications the findings highlight that greenhouse farming is a viable, modern agricultural solution for rural communities, offering increased productivity and quality crops, while also addressing the challenges of limited fertile land and changing climate conditions. This project serves as a model for sustainable agriculture in similar settings. Highlights: Dual-method approach: Combining soil and hydroponic techniques in a greenhouse. Efficient land use: Transforming unused arid land for productive horticulture. Controlled environment: Optimizing plant growth through sunlight, temperature, and humidity control. Keywords: Greenhouse, Horticulture, Soil Media, Hydroponics, Sustainable Agriculture

Development of sustainable alkali activated composite incorporated with sugarcane bagasse ash and polyvinyl alcohol fibers.

The infrastructure boom has driven up cement demand to 30 billion tons annually. To address this and promote sustainable construction, researchers are developing solutions for carbon-neutral building practices, aiming to transform industrial waste into an eco-friendly alternative. This study aims to develop and enhance the mechanical and durability properties of alkali-activated composites (AACs) by incorporating varying amounts (5, 10, 15, and 20%) of finely ground bagasse ash (GBA) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers. Results indicate that higher GBA content initially reduces the 7th and 14th-day strength but results in increased strength at later ages. The optimum 28-day strength is achieved with a 10% GBA content, leading to a 10% increase in compressive strength, 8% increase in tensile strength, and 12% increase in flexural strength. Additionally, the incorporation of GBA enhanced the resistance of the composite to chloride ingress, thus reducing its conductance and increasing the overall durability. This study demonstrated the potential of GBA as an eco-friendly material, emphasizing the significance of tailored AACs formulations for durable and sustainable construction practices.

INTEGRATING ENGLISH LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION WITH ECONOMIC DISCOURSE: PEDAGOGICAL APPROACHES FOR ECONOMICS STUDENTS

The integration of English language instruction with economic discourse is essential for preparing economics students to participate in global professional environments. This article explores pedagogical approaches for merging English for Specific Purposes (ESP) with economics education, focusing on Content-Based Instruction (CBI), Task-Based Learning (TBL), and the use of authentic materials. These methods enhance both language proficiency and economic literacy, allowing students to develop the communicative and analytical skills necessary to thrive in international economic contexts. The article also discusses challenges, such as varying English proficiency levels and interdisciplinary collaboration, offering solutions for more effective teaching practices.

Closing the Gap Between Theory and Practice During Alternating Optimization for GANs.

Synthesizing high-quality and diverse samples is the main goal of generative models. Despite recent great progress in generative adversarial networks (GANs), mode collapse is still an open problem, and mitigating it will benefit the generator to better capture the target data distribution. This article rethinks alternating optimization in GANs, which is a classic approach to training GANs in practice. We find that the theory presented in the original GANs does not accommodate this practical solution. Under the alternating optimization manner, the vanilla loss function provides an inappropriate objective for the generator. This objective forces the generator to produce the output with the highest discriminative probability of the discriminator, which leads to mode collapse in GANs. To address this problem, we introduce a novel loss function for the generator to adapt to the alternating optimization nature. When updating the generator by the proposed loss function, the reverse Kullback-Leibler divergence between the model distribution and the target distribution is theoretically optimized, which encourages the model to learn the target distribution. The results of extensive experiments demonstrate that our approach can consistently boost model performance on various datasets and network structures.

Exploring the feasibility of using Participatory Action Research (PAR) as a mechanism for school culture change to improve mental health

ABSTRACT Adolescence is a key time to prevent or reduce poor mental health outcomes. Supportive school environments play an important role in this, and the concept of health-promoting schools have been supported globally. Participatory action research (PAR) combines theory, practice, action, and reflection by developing practical solutions to address concerns and issues within communities. Running four PAR groups across three secondary schools, we explored the feasibility of using the approach as a mechanism for bringing about culture change and improving mental health. We undertook interviews and focus groups with students (n = 24), school staff (n = 11), facilitators (n = 3), and parents/carers (n = 2). Findings are organised under five key headings: 1) Establishing PAR groups, and the PAR cycle; 2) PAR group impact; 3) Facilitators of PAR success; 4) Barriers to PAR success; 5) Future recommendations. This study demonstrated the feasibility of PAR as a tool to improve school culture. Students participating in PAR were engaged, passionate, and motivated to influence and transform school culture to improve mental health. Future research should aim to trial the PAR approach on a larger scale, to determine whether the barriers and facilitators of PAR success identified here are relevant and transferable to schools in other contexts, and to measure the impact of such initiatives on mental health outcomes.

Marine Ecosystems and Pollution: Intersection of Zoology and Law in Environmental Sustainability

Marine Biowaste, resulting from natural biological processes or human activities, seriously threatens the environment. Sources and impacts of Marine bio waste are discussed, classifying into two broad categories: Organic and Inorganic. Organic biowastes include those from aquaculture, agricultural runoff, industrial discharges, and urban runoff, while inorganic Biowaste include plastics, microplastics, metals, and synthetic materials. Those sources present pollution, habitat destruction, and impacts on marine species, which together drastically close the ecological balances. The role of zoology in Biowaste degradation is important, because it is concerned with the study of organisms responsible for breaking down organic wastes to make nutrients available. Both National and International legislation, such as UNCLOS and MMPA in the United States, provide a legal framework for the protection of Marine ecosystems from pollution and overexploitation. Advances in Marine biotechnology offer novel solutions to problems related to bio waste management, such as algal Biofuels and integrated waste management systems. Synthetically, biology trends, adaptation of climate change, and models of the circular economy provide potential solutions for future research and sustainable practices. This paper gives reasons for full strategies of Biowaste management with a view towards the preservation of Marine ecosystems and assurance of Environmental sustainability.

Optical and Structural Properties of V2O5 Electrochromic Thin Films

The increase in global temperature has led to a significant surge in energy consumption within the air conditioning industry, resulting in environmental deterioration. Electrochromic (EC) windows have emerged as a promising solution to address these challenges. Vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) stands out among all metal oxide materials due to its remarkable EC properties, including substantial Li+ ion insertion capacity and multicolor capabilities. Despite the potential of V2O5, there remains a lack of comprehensive research on the structural and optical properties of V2O5 films with varying thicknesses. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the structural and optical properties of V2O5 thin films with thicknesses ranging from 46 to 344 nm. By employing the sol-gel spin coating method, V2O5 thin films were fabricated and analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy and ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometry. The fabricated V2O5 thin films with thicknesses of 46-274 nm demonstrated an average film transparency of 83 %. XRD analysis further revealed that the V2O5 thin films reached their peak crystallinity at a thickness of 344 nm. Moreover, CV analysis revealed that the V2O5 device, with a thickness of 274 nm, exhibited a cathodic peak current of -1.63 mA, indicating its excellent ability to facilitate Li+ ion diffusion. Additionally, CA measurements displayed a high optical modulation of 37.78 %. Ultimately, this research contributes to the development of energy-efficient solutions for sustainable environmental practices.