Search Results (12)

Government Purchasing Price (Harga Pembelian Pemerintah, HPP) is a policy established to maintain stable Harvested Dry Paddy (Gabah Kering Panen, GKP) prices at the farm-gate level and to protect farmers from declining incomes due to price drops during harvest periods. The effectiveness of the policy has yet to be evaluated; however, reports indicate that paddy prices in several regions are still below the HPP rate. This study explores variations in the trends and volatility of farm-gate-level GKP prices before and after the adoption of the new HPP policy and constructs a provincial-level forecasting model based on the Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) methodology using a daily provincial panel dataset covering the period from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2025. An analysis of six sample provinces was performed: the Special Region of Yogyakarta (DIY), East Java, South Kalimantan, Bali, West Sumatra, and Jambi. The model was trained using pre-policy observations and recursively forecasted post-policy prices under a hypothetical no-HPP-policy scenario, which were then descriptively compared with observed prices after the policy was implemented. The results show that the model delivers very high prediction accuracy, with tested Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) values ranging from 0.61% to 1.60% and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) values ranging from IDR 50.31 to IDR 158.04. The comparison shows that observed post-policy GKP prices tend to remain higher and more stable over time than those forecasted under the no-HPP-policy scenario, although the magnitude of this difference varies among regions. These findings provide descriptive forecasting evidence regarding post-policy GKP price dynamics rather than definitive causal estimates of policy impact. Full article

Phytate is a substance that has been considered mainly as an antinutrient, but at the same time it is a significant source of phosphorus and has several useful health-related properties that could be exploited. In this respect, a field experiment was conducted to study the effect of organic and conventional cropping systems with nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) amounts from 0 to 150 kg ha⁻¹ and 0–25 kg ha⁻¹, respectively, in six years (2017–2022) of weather conditions on phytate content in Estonia. Winter wheat had a higher phytate content of 1.9 ± 0.13 g 100 g⁻¹ compared to spring barley with 1.1 ± 0.05 g 100 g⁻¹. Fertilization with N or P did not affect phytate content in grains. Harvest year weather conditions (precipitation and air temperature) had a strong effect on phytate content. at a specific stage of plant development. Higher values of growing degree days in June and July, which sum in the experimental period varied between 609 and 978 °C, increased phytate content in winter wheat grains (flowering and grain filling stage), while the impact on spring barley phytate content was opposite (heading and flowering stage). Future research should study phytate content in grains grown on varying fertility level soils. Full article

COVID-19 patients with severe or critical symptoms are often treated with corticosteroids, per contemporary guidelines. Due to their immunosuppressive and immunomodulatory properties, corticosteroids are associated with the development of superinfections. We aimed to retrospectively assess patterns of corticosteroid use and the profiles of bacterial blood stream infections associated with exposure to different dosing levels, in a cohort of 1558 real-life adult COVID-19 patients. A total of 1391 (89.3%) patients were treated with corticosteroids, with 710 (45.6%) patients receiving low, 539 (34.6%) high and 142 (9.1%) very high corticosteroid doses. Bacteremia developed in a total of 178 (11.4%) patients. The risk of bacteremia was of similar magnitude between the no and low-dose corticosteroid treatments (p = 0.352), whereas it progressively increased with high (OR 6.18, 95% CI (2.66–14.38), p < 0.001) and very high corticosteroid doses (OR 8.12, 95% CI (3.29–20.05), p < 0.001), compared to no corticosteroid treatment. These associations persisted after multivariate adjustments and were present independently of sex, comorbidity burden, and mechanical ventilation. The profiles of individual bacterial pathogens differed depending on the used corticosteroid doses. High and very high corticosteroid doses are frequently used for real-life COVID-19 patients with severe and critical clinical presentations and are associated with a higher risk of bacteremia independently of sex, comorbidity burden, and mechanical ventilation use. Full article

Protecting and preserving cultural heritage (CH) in view of global climate change is the main objective of the KERES project. For managing climate impact with proper measurements, including prevention and responsive actions, an ontology has been devised in the course of this project in close cooperation with relevant stakeholders of selected CH assets that serve us as case studies. In particular, the ontology supports modeling specific CH assets with respect to the challenges of climate change. It turns out the main challenge is to subsume the diversity of models and processes specific to individual assets on a proper level of abstraction. Based on the ontology, we succeeded in creating software that assists stakeholders in managing their CH challenges, including an interactive app for suggesting preventative measurements and a web application for creating route cards that are used by emergency service professionals in the case of rescuing cultural assets. We are confident that our methodology of CH assets abstraction and modeling will be applicable to a broader range of CH assets. Full article

Agriculture accounts for a large percentage of nitrous oxide ($N_{2}O$) emissions, mainly due to the misapplication of nitrogen-based fertilizers, leading to an increase in the greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint. These emissions are of a direct nature, released straight into the atmosphere through nitrification and denitrification, or of an indirect nature, mainly through nitrate leaching, runoff, and $N_{2}O$ volatilization processes. $N_{2}O$ emissions are largely ascribed to the agricultural sector, which represents a threat to sustainability and food production, subsequent to the radical contribution to climate change. In this connection, it is crucial to unveil the relationship between synthetic N fertilizer global use and $N_{2}O$ emissions. To this end, we worked on a dataset drawn from a recent study, which estimates direct and indirect $N_{2}O$ emissions according to each country, by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines. Machine learning tools are considered great explainable techniques when dealing with air quality problems. Hence, our work focuses on expectile regression (ER) based-approaches to predict $N_{2}O$ emissions based on N fertilizer use. In contrast to classical linear regression (LR), this method allows for heteroscedasticity and omits a parametric specification of the underlying distribution. ER provides a complete picture of the target variable’s distribution, especially when the tails are of interest, or in dealing with heavy-tailed distributions. In this work, we applied expectile regression and the kernel expectile regression estimator (KERE) to predict direct and indirect $N_{2}O$ emissions. The results outline both the flexibility and competitiveness of ER-based techniques in regard to the state-of-the-art regression approaches. Full article

Background: Cell and/or tissue-based wound care products have slowly advanced in the treatment of non-healing ulcers, however, few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of these devices in the management of severe diabetic foot ulcers. Method: This study (KereFish) is part of a multi-national, multi-centre, randomised, controlled clinical investigation (Odin) with patients suffering from deep diabetic wounds, allowing peripheral artery disease as evaluated by an ankle brachial index equal or higher than 0.6. The study has parallel treatment groups: Group 1 treatment with Kerecis^® Omega3 Wound™ versus Group 2 treatment with standard of care. The primary objective is to test the hypothesis that a larger number of severe diabetic ulcers and amputation wounds, including those with moderate arterial disease, will heal in 16 weeks when treated with Kerecis^® Omega3 Wound™ than with standard of care. Conclusion: This study has received the ethics committee approval of each participating country. Inclusion of participants began in March 2020 and ended in July 2022. The first results will be presented in March 2023. The study is registered in ClinicalTrials.gov as Identifier: NCT04537520. Full article

The objective of this field crop study was to compare the effect of organic (cattle manure, off-season cover crop) and mineral N (NH₄NO₃; 0, 50, 100° 150 kg N ha⁻¹) fertilizers on (i) gluten-starch interaction, and (ii) rheological properties of winter wheat dough. Data were collected from the long-term field experiment located in the Baltic Sea region (58°22′ N, 26°40′ E) in years 2013–2017. The amount of minuppueral N 150 kg ha⁻¹ applied in two parts before flowering ensured higher gluten content (31 ± 3.3%) and dough quality (81 ± 7.4 mm) due to more positive interactions between gluten proteins and starch granules. The quality of dough was more variable in organic treatments (ranged up to 33%) because the availability of organic N was more variable and sensitivity to the weather conditions was higher. The mean variability of different dough properties over trial years under organic treatments was 1.4–2.0 times higher than in the treatment with 150 kg N ha⁻¹. Full article

Changing the home food environment is key to childhood obesity treatment. However, new challenges arise as the child grows older. This study investigates parents’ views on the longer-term management of the home food environment, 4 years after starting obesity treatment for their preschool-aged child. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 33 parents (85% mothers, 48% with a university degree) of 33 children (mean age 9.3 (SD 0.7), 46% girls) from Sweden. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Two main themes were developed. Making changes in the home food environment illustrates the types of changes families make over time in relation to child development. It consists of three subthemes: covert changes, overt changes and child-directed changes. The second theme, an ongoing negotiation, captures parents’ experiences of managing the home food environment as a continuous process of balancing and recalibrating in relation to present challenges and concerns about the future. It includes three subthemes: concern and care, two steps forward one back and maintaining everyday balance. Managing the home food environment is a constant process affected by everyday life, parents’ strategies and the child’s development. Our findings can strengthen childhood obesity treatment and help prepare parents for challenges that lie ahead. Full article

Sustainability strategy at companies has become a key business and management aspect for the development and success of an enterprise. The communication of strategies and actions relating to sustainability has become increasingly important for both companies and brands. This research studies the communication process that forms part of the sustainable strategy of fashion companies, ranging from the corporate website to e-commerce, and it proposes improvements for sustainability communication. Two new models are presented: the Operational Model for Evaluating Fashion Corporate Websites (OMEFCW) and the Operational Model for Evaluating Fashion E-Commerce (OMEFeC), based on the core dimensions of online sustainability communication (orientation, structure, ergonomics and content—OSEC), as established by Siano. In order to obtain an optimal view of the fashion industry, four corporate groups—two luxury fashion groups (Kering Group and Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH)) and two fast fashion groups (H&M Group and Intidex)—are compared. In addition, all of the e-commerce operations of the groups’ fashion brands are analyzed, a total of 32 brands. The results show that it is necessary to continue improving in terms of the communication of sustainability within the fashion industry, whilst demonstrating the great deficiency that exists regarding the communication of sustainability in the case of the brands’ e-commerce operations, which are precisely the web pages most visited by consumers. Full article

Background: Derangement of liver blood tests (LBT) is frequent in patients with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We aimed to evaluate (a) the prevalence of deranged LBT as well as their association with (b) clinical severity at admission and (c) 30-day outcomes among the hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Methods: Consecutive patients with COVID-19 hospitalized in the regional referral center over the 12-month period were included. Clinical severity of COVID-19 at hospital admission and 30-day outcomes (need for intensive care, mechanical ventilation, or death) were analyzed. Results: Derangement of LBT occurred in 2854/3812 (74.9%) of patients, most frequently due to elevation of AST (61.6%), GGT (46.1%) and ALT (33.4%). Elevated AST, ALT, GGT and low albumin were associated with more severe disease at admission. However, in multivariate Cox regression analysis, when adjusted for age, sex, obesity and presence of chronic liver disease, only AST remained associated with the risk of dying (HR 1.5081 and 2.1315, for elevations 1–3 × ULN and >3 × ULN, respectively) independently of comorbidity burden and COVID-19 severity at admission. Patients with more severe liver injury more frequently experienced defined adverse outcomes. Conclusions: Deranged LBTs are common among patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and might be used as predictors of adverse clinical outcomes. Full article

The size distribution of wheat-grain starch granules has an impact on the yield of fine flour. The aim of the study was to compare the impact of conventional (mineral fertilizers, pesticides) and organic farming treatments (cover crops, composted cattle manure) on (i) the size distribution of starch granules, (ii) the level of the first break whole and fine flour yield. The grain samples of winter wheat cv Fredis were taken from a long-term field crop rotation experiment established in 2008 at the Estonian University of Life Sciences in Tartu County (58°22′ N, 26°40′ E) on Stagnic Luvisol soil. The weather conditions during the grain filling period of winter wheat had a strong impact (p < 0.001) on the grain starch granule size distribution. The proportion of starch granules with a smaller diameter (C-type granules) was higher in years with a longer grain filling period. The size distribution of starch granules was not influenced by farming system. The increased proportion of C-type granules increased the fine flour yield significantly. Fertilisation with organic manure and twice with mineral nitrogen increased significantly the mean diameter value of different starch granules. Full article

In recent years, increasing numbers of luxury groups have adopted sustainable practices in their supply chains (sourcing, manufacturing, logistics, distribution, servicing, waste and recycling). However, the report from Greenpeace International organization (2014) indicates that some luxury brands/companies did not actively conduct sustainable practices to produce items, which is likely attributed to the cost and risks caused by such practices outweighing the benefits. This, to some extent, is due to the failure of developing collaborative practices. Specifically, some luxury brands may fail to develop collaborative practices to create value that are able to benefit multiple stakeholders. Thus, in our study, we explore the value creation mechanism to create sustainable value that benefits not only brands’ shareholders, but also other stakeholders, including producers, customers, other stakeholders in the society (e.g., marginalized people) and the environment. In addition, based on a case study from Stella McCartney and Kering and the literature on value creation, we develop a novel model for guiding sustainable value creation (i.e., value co-creation model), where the conceptual building blocks and specific practices are presented. Our contribution lies in extending the knowledge of the value co-creation model from co-creation with customers to co-creation with multiple stakeholders and elaborating systematically and empirically sustainable value co-creation mechanisms including the building blocks and specific practices. In addition, this study offers significant managerial insights for luxury brands/companies to effectively achieve sustainable value. Full article