Search Results (9)

Partially linear time series models often suffer from multicollinearity among regressors and autocorrelated errors, both of which can inflate estimation risk. This study introduces a generalized ridge-type kernel (GRTK) framework that combines kernel smoothing with ridge shrinkage and augments it through ordinary and positive-part Stein adjustments. Closed-form expressions and large-sample properties are established, and data-driven criteria—including GCV, AICc, BIC, and RECP—are used to tune the bandwidth and shrinkage penalties. Monte-Carlo simulations indicate that the proposed procedures usually reduce risk relative to existing semiparametric alternatives, particularly when the predictors are strongly correlated and the error process is dependent. An empirical study of US airline-delay data further demonstrates that GRTK produces a stable, interpretable fit, captures a nonlinear air-time effect overlooked by conventional approaches, and leaves only a modest residual autocorrelation. By tackling multicollinearity and autocorrelation within a single, flexible estimator, the GRTK family offers practitioners a practical avenue for more reliable inference in partially linear time series settings. Full article

Some 500 million micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMES) are active across the globe. Data for Europe suggest that MSMEs are responsible for 40–60% of industrial pollution. Resource-Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECP) has been empirically demonstrated to mitigate waste generation, wastewater discharge, and emissions in industrial processes while maintaining cost-effectiveness. RECP has been applied in several thousand enterprises globally. RECP has shown the potential to reduce waste and emissions from industries by up to 30%. Applying RECP to MSMEs has some restrictions: the availability of data, the limited capacities of management, and limited financial resources make RECP application in MSMEs generally more challenging compared to bigger enterprises. This calls for the development of RECP approaches dedicated to MSMEs. This paper describes the systematic development of a delivery approach for MSMEs in Jordan. The results show that by minimizing the time required from management, active involvement of owner/managers, provision of tailored information on applicable options, and involving other stakeholders such as chambers and financial institutions, enterprises can be involved in big numbers with very reasonable efforts, reaching remarkable results. Full article

Construction sites rely on erosion control practices to protect bare slopes and prevent soil loss. The effectiveness of certain erosion controls is often under-evaluated if they are not a part of a product evaluation program. Furthermore, erosion controls in general are not fully understood regarding how their performance can be affected by site specific variables, such as soil variations. This study used large-scale rainfall simulators to evaluate how a commonly used erosion control on construction sites, broadcasted straw mulch, performs on three common soil types in Alabama. The study at the Auburn University, Stormwater Research Facility (AU-SRF) used the industry standard testing method and three different soil types: sand, loam, and clay in accordance with ASTM D6459-19, the standard test method for testing rolled erosion control products’ (RECPs) performance in protecting hillslopes from rainfall-induced erosion. As required by ASTM D6459-19, the rainfall simulators simulated a storm of varying 20 min increments of 2 in./h (5.08 cm/h), 4 in./h (10.16 cm/h), and 6 in./h (15.24 cm/h). A total of nine bare soil tests on the 4:1 test plots was performed with an average total soil loss of 1977 lb (897 kg), 236.2 lb (107 kg), and 114.2 lb (51.8 kg) for sand, loam, and clay, respectively. The average erodibility K-factor for each soil type is calculated to be 0.37 (sand), 0.043 (loam), and 0.013 (clay). Nine straw tests were performed on the 4:1 plots, with an average total soil loss of 44.31 lb (20.1 kg), 6.74 lb (3.1 kg), and 17.13 lb (7.8 kg) for sand, loam, and clay, respectively. Straw testing indicated substantial soil loss reduction with average cover management C-factor values under the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) method of 0.021, 0.047, and 0.193 for sand, loam, and clay applications, respectively. This variation in C-factor across the three soil types indicates that the single C-factor, often reported by product manufacturers, is not adequate to imply performance. Full article

Nutrition in early life has an impact on white matter (WM) development in preterm-born babies. Quantitative analysis of pixel brightness intensity (PBI) on cranial ultrasound (CUS) scans has shown a great potential in the evaluation of periventricular WM echogenicity in preterm newborns. We aimed to investigate the employment of this technique to objectively verify the effects of parenteral nutrition (PN) on periventricular WM damage in preterm infants. Prospective observational study including newborns with gestational age at birth ≤32 weeks and/or birth weight ≤1500 g who underwent CUS examination at term-equivalent age. The echogenicity of parieto–occipital periventricular WM relative to that of homolateral choroid plexus (RE_CP) was calculated on parasagittal scans by means of quantitative analysis of PBI. Its relationship with nutrient intake through enteral and parenteral routes in the first postnatal week was evaluated. The study included 42 neonates for analysis. We demonstrated that energy and protein intake administered through the parenteral route positively correlated with both right and left RE_CP values (parenteral energy intake vs. right RE_CP: r = 0.413, p = 0.007; parenteral energy intake vs. left RE_CP: r = 0.422, p = 0.005; parenteral amino acid intake vs. right RE_CP: r = 0.438, p = 0.004; parenteral amino acid intake vs. left RE_CP: r = 0.446, p = 0.003). Multivariate linear regression analysis confirmed these findings. Quantitative assessment of PBI could be considered a simple, risk-free, and repeatable method to investigate the effects of PN on WM development in preterm neonates. Full article

The transformation of resource-based cities has a crucial impact on the development of local manufacturing enterprises. This study aims to assess the impact of the Resource-Exhausted City Program (RECP) on the performance of manufacturing enterprises, with a particular focus on the role of policy measures. Using data on manufacturing enterprises from 2004 to 2014, this study employs multiple difference-in-difference methods to investigate the impact of the RECP on corporate performance and its potential mechanisms. The results show that (1) the RECP can significantly improve the performance of firms in the pilot areas; (2) the implementation of RECP contributes to the improvement of manufacturing enterprises’ performance by using policy measures, mainly including subsidies, tax incentives and access to low-interest loans; and (3) the supportive effects of the RECP are more pronounced in outward-oriented, state-owned and larger manufacturing enterprises. This study provides new insights into the relationship between resource-exhausted city policies and corporate performance. Full article

This paper discusses various reciprocalization strategies in Turkish, including lexical, pronominal, and verbal reciprocals, as well as the collective and discontinuous constructions that appear with symmetric predicates. We propose that there are two distinct sources of reciprocity in Turkish: symmetry and distributivity–reciprocity. Lexical and verbal reciprocals are established via symmetry, whereas pronominal reciprocals are formed via distributor–reciprocator operators introduced by the reciprocal pronoun birbiri ‘each other’. We argue that the verbal reciprocal morpheme -(I)ş is ambiguous between a symmetric reciprocal head ($v_{\mathrm{RECP}}$) and a pluractional head ($v_{\mathrm{RL}}$). The symmetric reciprocal head $v_{\mathrm{RECP}}$ turns an asymmetric transitive predicate into a symmetric transitive predicate by creating two event variables as subevents of a single eventuality and permutes the thematic roles across the arguments of the predicate. Our proposal builds on the idea that symmetric predicates introduce plural events consisting of atomic subevents as their parts. This double-sourced analysis allows us to account for a range of facts involving collective and discontinuous constructions. We argue that both discontinuous and collective constructions are transitive and that collective constructions are formed through a combination of the two reciprocal sources (symmetry and distributivity–reciprocity) with an unpronounced reciprocal pronoun. We also provide an account of the reciprocal–pluractional syncretism of the -(I)ş suffix, arguing that the symmetric reciprocal head $v_{\mathrm{RECP}}$ and the pluractional head $v_{\mathrm{RL}}$ share a common [pl] feature spelled out as -(I)ş. Full article

Vegetated swales, or bioswales, are among the most commonly used type of green infrastructure (GI) for managing stormwater in temperate climate regions. However, performance data on bioswale drainage technology applied to highly weathered soils (low fertility, high acidity, and erosion prone) in tropical and subtropical climates are still limited. Aimed at closing this gap, this research investigated the performance—assessed in terms of vegetation biomass, biodiversity and coverage of swale, the structural integrity of revetments, and erosion control potential—and cost effectiveness of five rolled erosion control products (RECPs) currently available on the market, in combination with herbaceous vegetation as the revetment of drainage swales, in tropical soils. Additionally, the research project evaluated the performance of a new preseeded RECP, the Preseeded Reinforcement Mat, for drainage in areas that are difficult to access. The performances of all six RECPs were generally adequate as bioswale revetments in the conditions investigated, with performance index values ranging from 6 to 10 in a 0 to 10 scale. At the same time, some RECPs were more conducive to the growth of regional herbaceous vegetation species, measured in terms of biodiversity, which ranged from 2 to 14 species in the different bioswales, and some were more cost effective than others, with costs ranging from 19% to 106% of the cost of concrete lined swales. Full article

This paper presents a review of the stream current power sector, with a distinction made between the marine (MCP) and the river/estuary current power (RECP). Although scientific literature about MCP is actually well defined, that about RECP seems small, though this domain has some research interest. This paper has thus a special emphasis on this latter, with comparative studies done between these domains. The assessment of the academic and industrial interests for the RECP is first addressed, based on two main scientific resources and a qualitative highlight of its potential. Then, a review of actual constraints restricting its development is introduced, followed by a non-exhaustive presentation of industrial projects. Finally, some development prospects allowing constraints to be mitigated are proposed. Globally, MCP and RECP are treated unconcernedly, with a primary interest on the mechanical converter study and the location energy potential estimation. It has been highlighted that countries with RECP potential are more plentiful, and that undertaken projects can be classified mainly into two categories following the nominal power of the production unit. Furthermore, the river current power growth has been confirmed in recent years, with a majority part of patented hydrokinetic technologies, although commercial deployments are still scarce. Full article

The transformation of conventional industrial parks into eco-industrial parks (EIPs) presents an effective opportunity to attain inclusive and sustainable industrial development. UNIDO has acquired broad experience of EIPs by implementing a number of EIP projects in developing countries. To support these, a UNIDO EIP Toolbox was developed in order to (a) provide a practical set of customized and flexible tools to assist practitioners with the development and implementation of EIPs and related initiatives, and (b) to support EIP implementation and decision-making processes in relation to existing and new industrial parks. The EIP Toolbox currently covers tools on selecting industrial parks for EIP projects, stakeholder mapping, policy support, assessing industrial parks against the International EIP Framework, industrial symbiosis identification, monitoring impacts from company-level Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production (RECP) assessments and park-level EIP opportunities. The focus of this paper is the application of the developed EIP tools in Viet Nam, supported by learnings from their application in other countries (e.g., China, Colombia, India, Morocco and Peru). The application of the EIP tools to date has demonstrated their value in contributing to the development and implementation of EIP practices. The added value of the tools is to support decision-making and stakeholder consultation processes on specific EIP topics of interest. An overall lesson learned from the tools’ applications is that they are useful in identifying and prioritizing “tip of the iceberg” symbiosis and RECP options as well as park-level EIP opportunities through interactive stakeholder consultations or workshops, possibly led by park management, and in guiding the discussion through a step-by-step structured approach. As such, rather than a stand-alone solution, the tools are best placed to be used as a supplementary instrument, in conjunction with other pragmatic and detailed implementation approaches. The current version of the UNIDO EIP Toolbox represents version 1.0. It is envisaged that the set of tools will be updated and expanded to reflect insights from their application in EIP projects. It is hoped that this paper will create further interest among EIP stakeholders and the academic community in applying the UNIDO EIP Toolbox as well as feedback from users in developing, transition and developed countries to further strengthen and expand the tools. Full article