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Solar water disinfection (SODIS) is one the cheapest and most suitable treatments to produce safe drinking water at the household level in resource-poor settings. This review introduces the main parameters that influence the SODIS process and how new enhancements and modelling approaches can overcome some of the current drawbacks that limit its widespread adoption. Increasing the container volume can decrease the recontamination risk caused by handling several 2 L bottles. Using container materials other than polyethylene terephthalate (PET) significantly increases the efficiency of inactivation of viruses and protozoa. In addition, an overestimation of the solar exposure time is usually recommended since the process success is often influenced by many factors beyond the control of the SODIS-user. The development of accurate kinetic models is crucial for ensuring the production of safe drinking water. This work attempts to review the relevant knowledge about the impact of the SODIS variables and the techniques used to develop kinetic models described in the literature. In addition to the type and concentration of pathogens in the untreated water, an ideal kinetic model should consider all critical factors affecting the efficiency of the process, such as intensity, spectral distribution of the solar radiation, container-wall transmission spectra, ageing of the SODIS reactor material, and chemical composition of the water, since the substances in the water can play a critical role as radiation attenuators and/or sensitisers triggering the inactivation process.

Due to COVID-19, the shipping market has faced uncertainty, and the possibility of changes in port routes has increased. The purpose of this study was to analyze the network of container liner shipping routes between Asia and Europe. In particular, this research focused on a global risky situation—the COVID-19 pandemic. The data examined encompassed Asia–Europe route schedules from January 2018 to October 2021, which exhibited significant fluctuations due to the COVID-19 pandemic originating in 2019. To access this problem, utilizing concepts of centrality from social network analysis (SNA), namely degree centrality and betweenness centrality, this analysis incorporated route capacity as a weighted factor. The findings revealed that the port of Rotterdam held the highest degree of centrality in 2018, 2019, and 2021, while Shanghai claimed the highest degree of centrality in 2020. Singapore exhibited the highest betweenness centrality. Asian ports wielded greater influence during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to European ports. Furthermore, Singapore emerged as a pivotal mediator in the Asia–Europe routes, playing a significant role within the global supply chain. Results showed that the port could be put into an unstable situation. Therefore, the managers of port and shipping companies should be ready to minimize risk. From an academic perspective, it is difficult to integrate and analyze container liner schedules as they are monthly updated. This study therefore analyzed continuous schedules to examine dynamic changes in schedules. By adopting SNA, we presented changes in connectivity over multiple periods. This study addressed questions stakeholders may have had about route changes during the global crisis, contributing to sustainable container transportation. This study provides a general understanding of Asia–Europe container scheduling for decision makers. Using market schedules, this research analyzed the connections, and evaluated and compared each port.

Ruil (Nothofagus alessandrii) is an endangered keystone species from the Mediterranean climate zone of Chile. Ruil’s fragile state of conservation urges development of restoration programs, but specific protocols for nursery production and field establishment that ensure plant survival are largely unknown. Therefore, we examined the effect on nitrogen (N) fertilization and container size during nursery production in combination with the use of mesh shelters after outplanting on survival and growth during the first growing season in the field. First year outplanting survival of nursery-grown container seedlings was enhanced when seedlings were given nitrogen (N) during nursery production and deployed with mesh tree shelters in the field. The volume of the container had no effect on outplanting survival and growth. Increasing N from zero to 200 mg N L−1 provided sufficient N levels, resulting in increased seedling height, root-collar diameter, shoot biomass, and total seedling N and phosphorous concentrations. Additional N provided by the 400 and 600 mg N L−1 treatments underwent luxury consumption by the seedlings with no further benefits in field performance. Improved growth in the nursery, along with the use of mesh tree shelters after outplanting, especially during the typical summer drought, may be responsible for increased survival during the first growing season. Increasing the performance of nursery-grown ruil seedlings is essential to restoring this endangered, vulnerable, and foundation species within the highly biodiverse, yet seriously threatened endemic Maulino Costero Forest of the Mediterranean climate of central Chile.

The purpose of this study is to improve the prediction of container volumes in Busan ports by applying external variables and time-series data decomposition methods to deep learning prediction models. Previous studies on container volume forecasting were based on traditional statistical methodologies, such as ARIMA, SARIMA, and regression. However, these methods do not explain the complexity and variability of data caused by changes in the external environment, such as the global financial crisis and economic fluctuations. Deep learning can explore the inherent patterns of data and analyze the characteristics (time series, external environmental variables, and outliers); hence, the accuracy of deep learning-based volume prediction models is better than that of traditional models. However, this does not include the study of overall trends (upward, steady, or downward). In this study, a novel deep learning prediction model is proposed that combines prediction and trend identification of container volume. The proposed model explores external variables that are related to container volume, combining port volume time-series decomposition with external variables and deep learning-based multivariate long short-term memory (LSTM) prediction. The results indicate that the proposed model performs better than the traditional LSTM model and follows the trend simultaneously.

Salinity is one of the factors that compromise the formation of seedlings, so it is necessary to associate measures that mitigate its effects. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of irrigation frequencies, water salinity, polymer and container volume on the growth and quality of Talisia esculenta (A. St.-Hil.)Radlk seedlings. The treatments were obtained from the combination of polymer concentrations (0.0; 0.2; 0.6; 1.0 and 1.2 g dm-3), electrical conductivities of water (0.3; 1.1; 2.7; 4.3 and 5.0 dS m-1) and irrigation frequencies (daily and alternate) plus two additional treatments to evaluate container volume. The growth and quality of seedlings were analyzed at 100 days after sowing. Reduction in irrigation frequency from daily to alternate days reduced the growth, biomass accumulation, and quality of the seedlings. Overall, salinity hampered the formation of the seedlings while the polymer had positive effects. T. esculenta seedlings are considered to be sensitive to salinity and should be irrigated using water with conductivity of up to 0.7 dS m-1 at a daily frequency of application. The polymer can be incorporated up to 1.2 g dm-3 and containers with higher volumetric capacity (0.75 vs 1.30 dm3) are indicated for the production of T. esculenta seedlings.

Traditional timer-based systems for irrigation management, which are more commonly used in commercial nurseries in South Africa, are not ideal as they may not irrigate seedlings efficiently. A sensor-based irrigation system is presented as an alternative, as this can provide several benefits to nurseries and nursery-grown seedlings. Small-sized soil water sensors that could fit in small-volume nursery containers (25 to 100 mL), and could be integrated into an automated irrigation system, are reviewed. Several experiments have been conducted internationally to measure soil water status of small-volume containers in soilless substrates, and a large body of knowledge is now available. In this review, we describe the principles of several currently commercially available sensors that can be adapted to this purpose, giving advantages and disadvantages of each type. We conclude that a sensor-based irrigation system has great potential to address the challenges associated with irrigation scheduling, while improving water usage in most nurseries.

Container ships must pass through multiple ports of call during a voyage. Therefore, forecasting container volume information at the port of origin followed by sending such information to subsequent ports is crucial for container terminal management and container stowage personnel. Numerous factors influence container allocation to container ships for a voyage, and the degree of influence varies, engendering a complex nonlinearity. Therefore, this paper proposes a model based on gray relational analysis (GRA) and mixed kernel support vector machine (SVM) for predicting container allocation to a container ship for a voyage. First, in this model, the weights of influencing factors are determined through GRA. Then, the weighted factors serve as the input of the SVM model, and SVM model parameters are optimized through a genetic algorithm. Numerical simulations revealed that the proposed model could effectively predict the number of containers for container ship voyage and that it exhibited strong generalization ability and high accuracy. Accordingly, this model provides a new method for predicting container volume for a voyage.

For decades, trade between Europe and China has grown consistently, which has resulted in increased container transportation volumes. Such transportation has been dominated by sea-based options. However, over the years, an air-based mode of transport was developed, while it has lately become increasingly popular to use railways utilizing the Trans-Siberian land bridge. This latter approach boomed amid the COVID-19 crisis in 2020. However, the railway container boom in Eurasia has deeper roots than just the COVID-19 era. As is illustrated in this research work, international trade containers (trade between Russia and other countries, mostly China) and transit containers (e.g., serving the Chinese-EU route) were already showing some significance as early as 2003-2004. In 2020, their volume was already measured in the millions, regardless of the railway data source being used. This is well above the starting period in the 1980s and 1990s, when total annual volumes were around 0.1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). Container capacity has developed over the years, first being used for international trade and only lately for transit. As a preliminary comparison to air freight, the growth rate was roughly double that in the two-decade observation period.

El envase de un producto tiene un papel muy importante, debido a que debe llamar la atención, diferenciar la marca y el producto de la competencia, transmitir los valores de la marca reflejando las características del producto y, sobre todo, contener el producto. En este sentido, el tamaño y el color son determinantes en las percepciones del volumen de los consumidores. Con el objetivo de realizar una aproximación a la importancia de la forma y el color sobre las percepciones de volumen en los consumidores, se realizó un experimento basado en una encuesta online para medir las percepciones de volumen entre pares de envases donde la única diferencia era el tamaño, en unos casos, y el color, en otros, así como la disposición a pagar los envases ecológicos por parte del consumidor. Los principales resultados del estudio muestran que reducciones del volumen en un 5% no son percibidas, especialmente si la reducción es en altura, y que los envases de colores oscuros como verde o marrón parecen contener más producto. Por último, se obtiene un elevado nivel de preferencia del envase ecológico que aumenta si este, además, es más económico que el tradicional. The packaging of a product has a very important role, since it must attract attention, differentiate the brand and the product from competitors, transmit the values of the brand by reflecting the characteristics of the product and, above all, contain the product. In this sense, size and color are determining factors in consumer perceptions about volume. In order to make an approach to the importance of shape and color on volume perceptions by consumers, an online survey was applied in order to measure volume perceptions between pairs of containers, where the only difference was size, in some cases, and color, in others, as well as the willingness of consumers to pay for ecological packaging. The main results of the study show that volume reductions of 5% are not perceived, especially if the reduction is in height, and that dark colored containers, such as green or brown, contain more product. Finally, a high level of preference for the ecological container is observed, which increases if this, in addition, is cheaper than the traditional one. a embalagem de um produto tem um papel muito importante, por isso deve chamar a atenção, diferenciar a marca e o produto da concorrência, transmitir os valores da marca que reflitam as características do produto e, principalmente, conter o produto. Nesse sentido, o tamanho e a cor são determinantes nas percepções do volume dos consumidores. Com o objetivo de realizar uma aproximação da importância da forma e da cor sobre as percepções de volume nos consumidores, foi realizada uma experiência baseada na pesquisa on-line para medir as percepções de volume entre pares de embalagens em que a única diferença era o tamanho, em uns casos, e a cor, em outros, bem como a disposição do consumidor para pagar pelas embalagens ecológicas. Os principais resultados deste estudo mostram que reduções do volume em 5% não são percebidas, em especial se a redução é na altura, e que os frascos de cores escuras como verde ou marrom parecem conter mais produto. Por último, obtém-se um elevado nível de preferência da embalagem ecológica que aumenta se esta, além disso, for mais econômica que a tradicional. Le récipient d'un produit a un rôle très important, car il doit attirer l'attention, différencier la marque du produit de la concurrence, transmettre les valeurs de la marque reflétant les caractéristiques du produit et, surtout, contenir le produit. En ce sens-ci, la taille et la couleur sont des facteurs déterminants dans la perception du volume par le consommateur. Afin d’aborder l’importance pour les consommateurs de la forme et de la couleur pour la perception du volume, on a mené une expérience en partant d’un sondage en ligne qui visait à mesurer les perceptions de volume entre paires de récipients pour lesquels la seule différence était la taille dans certains cas, et la couleur dans d'autres, ainsi que la volonté du consommateur de payer pour un récipient écologique. Les principaux résultats de l'étude montrent que les réductions de volume de 5% ne sont pas perçues, particulièrement si la réduction est en hauteur, et que les récipients de couleur foncée tels que le vert ou le brun semblent contenir davantage de produit. Enfin, le récipient écologique a un niveau de préférence élevé, qui augmente s’il est en outre moins cher que le récipient traditionnel.