Search Results (1,072)

Vietnam’s wooden forest products industry is an important export sector, contributing to industrial growth and employment. However, it is facing increasing pressures related to challenges such as forest and export sustainability. Despite its potential, Vietnam’s export performance remains uneven across destination markets, related to the presence of significant unrealized trade potential. This study examines the determinants of export efficiency in Vietnam’s wooden forest products sector by moving beyond traditional gravity variables to incorporate institutional and cultural dimensions. Using a panel of 70 trading partners between 2004 and 2023, covering more than 93% of Vietnam’s total wood exports, this study employs an instrumental-variable single-stage stochastic frontier gravity model (IV-SFGM) to estimate trade potential. The results show that economic size, favorable exchange rates, and shared borders significantly enhance export performance. Furthermore, geographical distance and land enclosure remain persistent structural barriers, particularly relevant for bulky and logistics-intensive wood products. Institutional and cultural distance constitute substantial non-tariff barriers, significantly reducing export efficiency across markets. Conversely, regional trade agreements, trade freedom, and foreign direct investment play a critical role in mitigating inefficiencies and facilitating market penetration. Export efficiency in Vietnam’s wooden forest products sector indicates considerable improvement, rising from approximately 25% in the mid-2000s to over 55% in recent years, indicating notable progress in the market and highlighting considerable untapped potential. So, integrating institutional and cultural factors into a frontier-based gravity framework, this study offers novel empirical evidence from an emerging, biodiversity-rich economy with evolving governance institutions. The findings provide important policy implications for aligning export growth with institutional reform and trade liberalization, thereby contributing to the achievement of SDGs such as Decent Work and Economic Growth. Full article

The European forest-based sector faces a perfect storm of demographic, geopolitical, climatic, and policy-driven challenges. These multipronged, oftentimes interlinked factors are particularly consequential for export-oriented, forest-rich economies like Sweden. This study provides a qualitative scenario analysis to assess potential futures for the Swedish forest sector towards 2050, focusing on the impacts of key drivers: geopolitical alignment, European Union (EU) policy implementation, economic and demographic trends, technological progress, and climate change. Two critical uncertainties—Europe’s geopolitical positioning and the policy balance between wood use and forest conservation—form the axes for four contrasting scenarios. Results indicate that, across all futures, volume-based manufacturing in Sweden is expected to stagnate or decline due to high costs and weak EU demand, with bulk production shifting to the Global South. Long-term viability hinges on a strategic shift to high-value segments (e.g., specialty packaging solutions, biochemicals, construction components) and the adoption of advanced technologies. Concurrently, the sector must adapt to increased forest disturbances and diversify tree species, despite industry processes being optimized for current conifers. The study concludes that without a decisive transition from commodity production to innovative, value-added strategies, the Swedish forest sector’s competitiveness and resilience are at serious risk. Full article

Vitis sp. cv. Koshu is an important Japanese indigenous wine grape cultivar. However, it possesses challenging traits for winemaking, including large berries and low sugar content. To explore the transcriptional profile associated with these characteristics, we conducted a comparative transcriptome analysis of the berry flesh of Koshu and Chardonnay at 10 days after the onset of véraison. A total of 5534 differentially expressed genes were identified, revealing a distinct transcriptional profile in Koshu. The expression patterns in Koshu suggest an altered ripening progression, characterized by the marked downregulation of the ripening marker Grape Ripening-Induced Protein 22-like (GRIP22-like) and the upregulation of photosynthesis-related genes. Despite its large-berry phenotype, cell wall-loosening genes were suppressed in Koshu, leading to the hypothesis that its size may reflect cell division in the early growth stage rather than cell expansion during ripening. Its low-sugar phenotype appears to be associated with multiple factors, including the suppression of key sugar accumulation enzyme genes, such as sucrose synthase 2 (SS2) and sucrose-phosphate synthase 1 (SPS1), the upregulation of Early Response to Dehydration 6-like (ERD6-like) genes, which encode putative vacuolar glucose exporters, and the suppression of cell wall-loosening genes, suggesting a potential biophysical limitation on sugar storage. This study provides the first detailed transcriptomic resource for Koshu berry and identifies key candidate genes for future breeding strategies to improve this unique cultivar. Full article

The radial sand-ridge field off the Jiangsu coast is a distinctive landform in a strongly tide-dominated environment, where sediment supply and geomorphic patterns have been profoundly altered by Yellow River course changes, reduced Yangtze-derived sediment, and large-scale reclamation. Focusing on a typical nearshore sector off Dongtai, this study integrates multi-source data from 1979 to 2025, including historical nautical charts, high-precision engineering bathymetry, full-tide hydro-sediment observations, and surficial sediment samples, to quantify seabed erosion–deposition over 46 years and clarify linkages among tidal currents, suspended-sediment transport, and surface grain-size patterns. Surficial sediments from Maozhusha to Jiangjiasha channel systematically fine from north to south: sand-ridge crests are dominated by sandy silt, whereas tidal channels and transition zones are characterized by silty sand and clayey silt. From 1979 to 2025, Zhugensha and its outer flank underwent multi-meter accretion and a marked accretion belt formed between Gaoni and Tiaozini, while the Jiangjiasha channel and adjacent deep troughs experienced persistent scour (local mean rates up to ~0.25 m/a), forming a striped “ridge accretion–trough erosion” pattern. Residual and potential maximum currents in the main channels enhance scour and offshore export of fines, whereas relatively strong depth-averaged flow and near-bed shear on inner sand-ridge flanks favor frequent mobilization and short-range trapping of coarser particles. Suspended-sediment concentration and median grain size are generally positively correlated, with suspension coarsening in high-energy channels but dominated by fine grains on nearshore flats and in deep troughs. These findings refine understanding of muddy-coast geomorphology under strong tides and may inform offshore wind-farm foundation design, navigation-channel maintenance, and coastal-zone management. Full article

Classifying optical water types (OWTs), particularly concerning different phytoplankton bloom types, is critically important because dominant phytoplankton groups govern key marine ecosystem functions and biogeochemical processes, including nutrient cycling and carbon export. This study refines a recent OWT classification method developed for the Second-Generation Global Imager (SGLI), which was originally proposed to discriminate dinoflagellate and diatom blooms. By employing binary logistic regression (bLR) with independent in situ data from Karenia selliformis (dinoflagellate) blooms off the Kamchatka Peninsula and Skeletonema spp. (diatom) blooms in Tokyo Bay, this study establishes more robust and statistically meaningful boundaries between OWTs. The analysis confirms the diagnostic spectral shapes from SGLI data: a trough at 490 nm for K. selliformis blooms and a peak at 490 nm for diatom blooms, validating the consistency of this spectral criterion. The updated method reliably identifies waters dominated by coloured dissolved organic matter and different phytoplankton functional types in mesotrophic waters, and successfully detected a Karenia mikimotoi bloom in the Gulf St. Vincent, South Australia, demonstrating its potential for the global monitoring of red tides. By providing a reliable, satellite-based tool to distinguish between ecologically distinct phytoplankton groups, this refined OWT classification offers a valuable data product to improve the accuracy of marine ecosystem and carbon cycle models, moving beyond bulk chlorophyll-a parameterizations. Full article

The early detection of internal damage caused by Elasmopalpus lignosellus in fresh asparagus constitutes a challenge for the agro-export industry due to the limited sensitivity of traditional visual inspection. This study evaluated the potential of VIS–NIR hyperspectral imaging (390–1036 nm) combined with machine-learning models to discriminate between infested (PB) and sound (SB) asparagus spears. A balanced dataset of 900 samples was acquired, and preprocessing was performed using Savitzky–Golay and SNV. Four classifiers (SVM, MLP, Elastic Net, and XGBoost) were compared. The optimized SVM model achieved the best results (CV Accuracy = 0.9889; AUC = 0.9997). The spectrum was reduced to 60 bands while LOBO and RFE were used to maintain high performance. In external validation (n = 3000), the model achieved an accuracy of 97.9% and an AUC of 0.9976. The results demonstrate the viability of implementing non-destructive systems based on VIS–NIR to improve the quality control of asparagus destined for export. Full article

High-quality agricultural products from the Lambayeque region have contributed to the growth of Peru’s agro-export sector and increased international trade. However, the need for agricultural exports to be more resilient and sustainable is demonstrated by the fact that markets are still concentrated, logistical costs are high, and global demand is constantly shifting. The purpose of this study is to use a gravity-based trade model and market intelligence techniques to analyse the agricultural exports from the Lambayeque region between 2015 and 2024. Using official data from the World Bank, AZATRADE, CEPII, and MINCETUR, we employed a quantitative explanatory approach. The results show that the concentration of businesses has significantly decreased while the value of exports has increased steadily. The Herfindahl–Hirschman Index increased from 6209 in 2015 to 1349 in 2024, and export destinations have become slightly more diverse. Exports are negatively impacted by geographic distance, but free trade agreements greatly benefit them. There is a lot of export potential in markets like Finland, Indonesia, Austria, Bolivia, and Vietnam. However, Israel and Hong Kong appear to be full. Overall, the findings indicate that Lambayeque’s export performance has improved, but it still runs the risk of becoming overly focused on a single sector. Long-term sustainability of the region’s agricultural exports depends on enhancing logistical infrastructure, bolstering market intelligence, and promoting regional diversity. Full article

This paper develops a dynamic real-options model of tariff deterrence in which the exporting country, though subject to the importing country’s market power, assumes the role of leader in a Stackelberg framework under uncertainty by acting preventively to dissuade the importer from imposing a tariff. The follower holds an option to impose a tariff subject to irreversible enforcement costs, while the leader can undertake costly deterrence, through signaling and capacity building, to delay or prevent action. The interaction generates a preventive equilibrium in which the importing country (the follower) optimally remains inactive, and the exporting country (the leader) sustains continuous deterrence expenditures, which nevertheless may be preferable to submit to tariffs. Uncertainty and irreversibility, which can both be manipulated, enlarge the inaction zone, and increase resilience and adaptability of both contenders. Both conditions tend to stabilize the system but transfer costs asymmetrically: the powerful waits costlessly, the weaker pays to maintain stability. In equilibrium, deterrence requires continuous spending by the leader to keep the follower indifferent between acting and waiting, implying that power operates through potentiality rather than action. The paper extends the Stackelberg framework to international trade, revealing that although the theoretical first-mover advantage rests with the larger, importing country, the smaller, exporting country becomes the de facto leader by acting preemptively to discourage the threat of tariff. Full article

Phytoplankton sinking is a pivotal process within the biological carbon pump that drives the vertical transport of organic carbon in the ocean. Its rates and underlying mechanisms directly influence the efficiency of the global carbon cycle and the potential for long-term sequestration. This review synthesizes current knowledge of phytoplankton sinking, encompassing buoyancy regulation mechanisms, environmental and physiological controls, methodological approaches such as settling column (SETCOL), and comparative evidence from laboratory and field studies. The aim is to elucidate the regulatory processes governing sinking and to provide a foundation for improving ecological models and refining estimates of carbon export. Evidence demonstrates that sinking rates vary considerably among phytoplankton groups, with nutrient limitation and aggregation emerging as critical modulators of export efficiency. By integrating results from experimental and in situ research, this review identifies unresolved questions and highlights priority areas: (1) quantitative coupling between aggregation and carbon flux; (2) mechanistic understanding of group-specific sinking responses; (3) integration of novel technologies, including in situ imaging and high-resolution modeling with established methods; and (4) development of interdisciplinary frameworks. Overall, this review consolidates current knowledge and underscores phytoplankton sinking as a crucial yet insufficiently resolved process within the marine carbon cycle. Full article

This study examines the potential implications of the EU–Mercosur free trade agreement for the Polish horticultural sector, with particular emphasis on sustainability, trade competitiveness, and structural complementarities between the regions. Drawing on production, trade, and demographic data for the EU, Poland, and Mercosur countries, the analysis evaluates the alignment of horticultural supply and demand structures, the degree of intra-industry exchange, and the economic conditions shaping bilateral trade. The research applies the Grubel–Lloyd index and a Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood (PPML) gravity model to assess the determinants of Poland’s horticultural exports to Mercosur. The results indicate that trade remains predominantly inter-industry, reflecting substantial differences in agricultural specialisation and regulatory frameworks. At the same time, rising income levels in Mercosur, together with selected product-level complementarities, indicate emerging export opportunities for Poland. Poland’s trade with the Southern Common Market remains mainly as inter-industry, with the greatest export potential concentrated in high-value-added processed goods. Divergent sustainability standards, particularly in pesticide use, environmental regulation, and carbon-intensive transport, pose structural challenges that may affect the competitiveness and environmental footprint of expanded trade. Overall, the findings provide evidence that closer integration with Mercosur may support export diversification, but requires careful alignment with the EU’s sustainability objectives to ensure resilient and environmentally responsible development of the horticultural sector. Full article

Reality-capture has made point clouds a primary spatial data source, yet processing and integration limits hinder their potential. Prior reviews focus on isolated phases; by contrast, Smart Point Clouds (SPCs)—augmenting points with semantics, relations, and query interfaces to enable reasoning—received limited attention. This systematic review synthesizes the state-of-the-art SPC terminology and methods to propose a modular pipeline. Following PRISMA, we searched Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar up to June 2025. We included English-language studies in geomatics and engineering presenting novel SPC methods. Fifty-eight publications met eligibility criteria: Direct (n = 22), Indirect (n = 22), and New Use (n = 14). We formalize an operative SPC definition—queryable, ontology-linked, provenance-aware—and map contributions across traditional point cloud processing stages (from acquisition to modeling). Evidence shows practical value in cultural heritage, urban planning, and AEC/FM via semantic queries, rule checks, and auditable updates. Comparative qualitative analysis reveals cross-study trends: higher and more uniform density stabilizes features but increases computation, and hybrid neuro-symbolic classification improves long-tail consistency; however, methodological heterogeneity precluded quantitative synthesis. We distill a configurable eight-module pipeline and identify open challenges in data at scale, domain transfer, temporal (4D) updates, surface exports, query usability, and sensor fusion. Finally, we recommend lightweight reporting standards to improve discoverability and reuse. Full article

Chemotherapy causes primordial follicle apoptosis, resulting in premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) and infertility. In this study, we found that intraperitoneal injection of retinoic acid (RA) and calcitriol partially reversed the cyclophosphamide and doxorubicin treatment-induced decrease in primordial follicles in neonatal mouse ovaries. Furthermore, RA and calcitriol co-treatment reversed cyclophosphamide treatment-induced PI3K/Akt activity and FOXO3a nuclear export in the oocytes within primordial follicles, suggesting that the oocyte transcriptional activity was decreased, which in turn reduced the binding of chemotherapeutic drugs to DNA. Consistent with these findings, RA and calcitriol co-treatment reversed cyclophosphamide treatment-induced changes in reactive oxygen species (ROS), DNA damage response proteins (γH2AX, p-CHK2, p-p53, PUMA, BAX, Cleaved Caspase-3, and cPARP), and antioxidant proteins (NRF2, HO-1, and GPX4). Moreover, RA and calcitriol co-treatment preserved fertility in cyclophosphamide-treated mice without impairing cyclophosphamide’s antitumor efficacy in MCF-7 tumor-bearing mice. Thus, RA and calcitriol protect mouse primordial follicles from cyclophosphamide treatment-induced apoptosis by inhibiting cyclophosphamide treatment-induced oocyte transcriptional activity and enhancing antioxidant capacity. Our results suggest a potential strategy for preserving ovarian reserve during chemotherapy in female cancer patients. Full article

Reservoir petrophysical characterization is traditionally performed through the interpretation of well logs validated with routine core analysis (RCAL), often excluding the integration of other tools such as computed tomography (CT), which provides interpretation of higher resolution. In this study, artificial neural network (ANN) models were applied to estimate porosity and permeability by integrating conventional logs with CT-derived data (RHOB and PEF), thereby validating the petrophysical model of Ciénaga de Oro Formation. Neural networks were trained in MATLAB^® using a feed-forward regression network based on a multilayer perceptron (MLP) architecture, with RCAL measurements serving as a reference. Model performance was assessed by comparing predictions with laboratory data from two wells, yielding high accuracy (R² = 0.98 for permeability and R² = 0.90 for porosity) with mean absolute errors below 5%. Additional validation was performed using well logs and CT data from complete 3 ft sections, with the trained models successfully reproducing core heterogeneities at millimetric resolution. These results confirm the potential of integrating well logs and CT data with ANN to enhance petrophysical characterization and extend property estimation to wells lacking core or laboratory measurements. Furthermore, an interactive MATLAB^® tool was developed, enabling users to load well logs and CT files as flat inputs, generate high-resolution predictions, validate results, and export the estimated values. Full article

Significant achievements have been made in the control of point source pollution. However, agricultural non-point source pollution (AGNPSP) has become a serious threat to ecological environment quality and is now the main source of pollution in the Yangtze River Basin. The topographical features of the upper Yangtze River region are primarily characterised by hilly and mountainous terrain, marked by steep slopes and pronounced undulations. This renders the land susceptible to soil erosion, thereby becoming a significant conduit for the entry of AGNPSP into water bodies. Consequently, there is an urgent need to identify critical sources, areas and periods of AGNPSP and to promote the effective prevention and control of such pollution. The present study adopted the Yongchuan District of Chongqing, a region characterised by hilly and mountainous terrain in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, as a case study. The research, conducted from 2018 to 2021, sought to identify the “critical sources—areas—periods“ of AGNPSP. In order to surmount the challenge posed by the absence of fundamental data, the study constructed and integrated three models. The export coefficient model was used to calculate the pollution load, the pollutant load intensity model was used for spatial analysis, and the equal-scale pollution load equation was used to assess the contribution degree of different pollutants. Furthermore, the study developed a monthly pollutant flux model to accurately identify the critical pollution periods within the year. In conclusion, the research results have indicated the necessity of a governance strategy that is to be implemented with utmost priority. This strategy is to be based on the following hierarchy: critical sources, areas, and periods. The results of the study indicate the following: (1) The pollutants that exhibit the greatest contribution in Yongchuan District are total nitrogen (TN)and chemical oxygen demand (COD), accounting for 34% and 33%, respectively. The primary source of pollution is attributed to livestock and poultry breeding, accounting for 49.7% of the total pollution load. (2) The critical area of AGNPSP in Yongchuan District is located in the south of the district and primarily comprises Zhutuo Town, Hegeng Town and Xianlong Town. Among the critical areas identified, livestock and poultry farming accounts for 68% of the pollution load. (3) The monthly variation of pollutant fluxes demonstrates a single peak pattern, with the peak occurring in June. The data indicates that the flux of pollutants in June and July accounted for 37% of the total, thus identifying these months as critical periods for the management of AGNPSP in Yongchuan District. The critical source–area–period analysis indicates that the comprehensive management strategy for AGNPSP should focus on critical sources, areas and periods. Furthermore, it should adopt a prioritised, zoned and phased management approach. This approach has the potential to promote cost-effective and efficient prevention and control, thereby facilitating the achievement of sustainable agricultural development. Full article

The recent rise of trade protectionism has complicated the relationship between trade and innovation in some countries. This paper evaluates the impact of U.S. export control on the innovation performance of Chinese manufacturing listed firms. Based on firm-level invention patent data from 2015 to 2023, we find that firms subject to export control substantially expand their patent application activities. However, the quantitative expansion coincides with a deterioration in patent quality, as evidenced by the fast-track granted rate. Further analysis suggests that the divergence between firms’ internal innovation preferences, as reflected in management’s innovation awareness, knowledge width and technological trajectory, and their external R&D investment, underlies the innovation quantity–quality tension. Moreover, the decline in innovation quality is primarily concentrated in technological fields not favored by Chinese industrial policy and among state-owned enterprises, suggesting strategic balancing of innovation decisions in response to government intervention. This study provides further insights into the comprehensive impact of trade shock on innovation and contributes to the literature on the potential technological externalities of the U.S.–China trade conflict. Full article