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Abstract Concerns about drinking water (DW) quality contamination during water distribution raise a need for real-time monitoring and rapid contamination detection. Early warning systems (EWS) are a potential solution. The EWS consist of multiple conventional sensors that provide the real-time measurements and algorithms that allow the recognizing of contamination events from normal operating conditions. In most cases, these algorithms have been established with artificial data, while data from real and biological contamination events are limited. The goal of the study was the event detection performance of the Mahalanobis distance method in combination with on-line DW quality monitoring sensors and manual measurements of grab samples for potential DW biological contamination scenarios. In this study three contamination scenarios were simulated in a pilot-scale DW distribution system: untreated river water, groundwater and wastewater intrusion, which represent realistic contamination scenarios and imply biological contamination. Temperature, electrical conductivity (EC), total organic carbon (TOC), chlorine ion (Cl-), oxidation–reduction potential (ORP), pH sensors and turbidity measurements were used as on-line sensors and for manual measurements. Novel adenosine-triphosphate and flow cytometric measurements were used for biological water quality evaluation. The results showed contamination detection probability from 56% to 89%, where the best performance was obtained with manual measurements. The probability of false alarm was 5–6% both for on-line and manual measurements. The Mahalanobis distance method with DW quality sensors has a good potential to be applied in EWS. However, the sustainability of the on-line measurement system and/or the detection algorithm should be improved.

The increased demand for bio based products worldwide provides an opportunity for Eastern European countries to increase their production in agriculture and forestry. At the same time, such economic development must be congruent with the European Union’s long-term climate and biodiversity objectives. As a country that is rich in bioresources, the Latvian case study is highly relevant to many other countries—especially those in Central and Eastern Europe—and faces a choice of transition pathways to meet both economic and environmental objectives. In order to assess the trade-offs between investments in the bioeconomy and the achievement of climate and biodiversity objectives, we used the Functional Land Management (FLM) framework for the quantification of the supply and demand for the primary productivity, carbon regulation and biodiversity functions. We related the supply of these three soil functions to combinations of land use and soil characteristics. The demand for the same functions were derived from European, national and regional policy objectives. Our results showed different spatial scales at which variation in demand and supply is manifested. High demand for biodiversity was associated with areas dominated by agricultural land at the local scale, while regional differences of unemployment rates and the target for GDP increases framed the demand for primary productivity. National demand for carbon regulation focused on areas dominated by forests on organic soils. We subsequently identified mismatches between the supply and demand for soil functions, and we selected spatial locations for specific land use changes and improvements in management practices to promote sustainable development of the bio-economy. Our results offer guidance to policy makers that will help them to form a national policy that will underpin management practices that are effective and tailored toward local climate conditions and national implementation pathways.

Complex systems consist of multiple interacting parts; some of them (or even all of them) may also be systems. While performing their tasks, these parts operate with multiple data and information flows. Data are gathered, created, transferred, and analyzed. Information based on the analyzed data is assessed and taken into account during decision making. Different types of data and a large number of data flows can be considered as one of the sources of system complexity. Thus, information management, including data control, is an important aspect of complex systems development and management. According to ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288:2015, “the purpose of the Information Management Process is to generate, obtain, confirm, transform, retain, retrieve, disseminate and dispose of information, to designated stakeholders…”. Information management strategies consider the scope of information, constrains, security controls and information life cycle. This means that information management activities should be implemented starting from the level of primitive data gathering and ending with enterprise-level decision making. The articles, which have been recommended by reviewers for this issue of CSIMQ, present contributions in different aspects of information management in complex systems, namely, implementation of harmful environment monitoring and data transmitting by Internet-of-Things (IoT) systems, analysis of technological and organizational means for mitigating issues related to information security and users’ privacy that can lead to changes in corresponding systems’ processes, organization and infrastructure, as well as assessment of potential benefits that a controlled (i.e. based on the up-to-date information) change process can bring to an enterprise.

The introduction of pottery vessels to Europe has long been seen as closely linked with the spread of agriculture and pastoralism from the Near East. The adoption of pottery technology by hunter–gatherers in Northern and Eastern Europe does not fit this paradigm, and its role within these communities is so far unresolved. To investigate the motivations for hunter–gatherer pottery use, here, we present the systematic analysis of the contents of 528 early vessels from the Baltic Sea region, mostly dating to the late 6th–5th millennium cal BC, using molecular and isotopic characterization techniques. The results demonstrate clear sub-regional trends in the use of ceramics by hunter–gatherers; aquatic resources in the Eastern Baltic, non-ruminant animal fats in the Southeastern Baltic, and a more variable use, including ruminant animal products, in the Western Baltic, potentially including dairy. We found surprisingly little evidence for the use of ceramics for non-culinary activities, such as the production of resins. We attribute the emergence of these sub-regional cuisines to the diffusion of new culinary ideas afforded by the adoption of pottery, e.g. cooking and combining foods, but culturally contextualized and influenced by traditional practices.

Abstract Mixed forests are suggested as a strategic adaptation of forest management to climate change. Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) are tree species of high economic and ecological value for European forestry. Both species coexist naturally in a large part of their distributions but there is a lack of knowledge on the ecological functioning of mixtures of these species and how to manage such stands. This paper analyses these species’ intra- and inter-specific competition, including size-symmetric vs. size-asymmetric competition, and explore the effect of weather conditions on tree growth and competition. We studied basal area growth at tree level for Scots pine and Norway spruce in mixed versus pure stands in 22 triplets of fully-stocked plots along a broad range of ecological conditions across Europe. Stand inventory and increment cores provided insights into how species mixing modifies tree growth compared with neighbouring pure stands. Five different competition indices, weather variables and their interactions were included and checked in basal area growth models using a linear mixed model approach. Interspecific size-asymmetric competition strongly influenced growth for both tree species, and was modulated by weather conditions. However, species height stratification in mixed stands resulted in a greater tree basal area growth of Scots pine (10.5 cm2 year−1) than in pure stands (9.3 cm2 year−1), as this species occupies the upper canopy layer. Scots pine growth depended on temperature and drought, whereas Norway spruce growth was influenced only by drought. Interspecific site-asymmetric competition increased in cold winters for Scots pine, and decreased after a drought year for Norway spruce. Although mixtures of these species may reduce tree size for Norway spruce, our results suggest that this could be offset by faster growth in Scots pine. How inter-specific competition and weather conditions alter tree growth may have strong implications for the management of Scots pine-Norway spruce mixtures along the rotation period into the ongoing climate change scenario.

Abstract The paper addresses the impact of peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) and spectrum of the waveform, as well as load resistance on the performance of low-power harvesting device in a real-life wireless power transfer (WPT) scenario. In the current study, a combination of the classic voltage doubler circuit for RFDC conversion and premanufactured device for DC-DC conversion is used. For the investigation of conversion efficiency and harvesting device performance, three types of waveforms are used: single tone, multicarrier signals with low PAPR and multicarrier signal with high PAPR. In order to generate high-PAPR signal, subcarriers with the same amplitude and phase are summed, whereas for generation of low PAPR signal the phases of the subcarriers are chosen pseudo-randomly. Over-the-air transmission in 865 MHz ISM band is made using directional antennas and all multicarrier waveforms have equal 5 MHz bandwidth. To evaluate the performance of harvesting device and conversion efficiency, the average voltages at the input and output of the RF-DC converter as well as at the output of the DC-DC converter with corresponding input and load impedance are measured. The experiments have shown that the employed multicarrier signals can greatly improve the performance of harvesting device during WPT under certain conditions, which are discussed in the paper.

Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI) serves both inhabitants' and visitors' numerous and various needs. This research aimed to enhance knowledge regarding the role of UGI in urban tourism. The research questions addressed tourists' perceptions of UGI, their understanding and uses of UGI, and the ways that this understanding influenced their travel choice to specific urban destinations. A cross-cultural comparative study among urban tourists was carried out in eight European countries. The selection of case studies followed a roughly comparative logic, employing the same on-site questionnaire survey administered in a sample of large and medium size cities in Southern European, Central European and Northern European countries. Looking from the perspective of the tourists' countries of origin, our findings validate a well-established trend in international tourism, namely the fact that neighbouring countries tend to be the most significant tourist markets of an urban destination. The other major finding confirmed the most well-known tourist movement patterns of Northern and Central Europeans travelling to the Mediterranean for tourism purposes. While the study revealed that the majority of the tourists interviewed were not very familiar with the term 'Green Infrastructure', nor with specific UGI features offered in the visited cities, the importance of UGI was acknowledged and viewed in a mostly very positive light. The majority of respondents enjoyed visiting UGI and used it for some light physical activity or for purposes of relaxation, socialization, and in order to explore the culture and society of the destination city. The fact that most UGI in the case study cities is located around or within a short distance from important heritage sites provided UGI with an indirect possibility of being included in the tourists' visiting plans. In conclusion, the results of this study may prove to be very helpful to local and regional authorities in considering how to plan, manage and promote an urban tourism destination's green infrastructure as part of the tourism offer. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Agricultural credit is required for the development of agriculture scenario in any economy. Commercial, cooperative and regional rural banks have extended agricultural credit to the farmers in Dakshina Kannada district of India. The effectiveness of agricultural credit system depends on the utilization of credit funds by the borrowers. The present study made an attempt to understand the factors influencing the utilization of agricultural credit of banks in Dakshina Kannada. The study used primary and secondary data. Primary data are gathered from the borrowers of banks operating in Dakshina Kannada district. The study found that there is an impact of demographic, agriculture and agricultural credit factors on the purpose of utilization of agricultural credit in Dakshina Kannada district.

Digital transformation is penetrating financial sector. Financial sector is challenged by new start-up companies who combine finance and technology, thereby creating disruptive innovations. The authors perform a study on information technology impact on competency management in the financial sector of Latvia based on the technology management competency model. The authors have executed extensive academic literature review and interviews with leading fintech industry experts. The research team performed mixed research combining qualitative and qualitative methods. The process of the quantitative research was designed as a collection of publicly available financial statement data from lursoft.lv (enterprise database) for selected fintech companies and the analysis of financial data by comparing different fintech companies. The process of the qualitative research was designed as face-to-face expert interviews and the definition of central interview questions for the research based on the literature review and related sub-questions. The authors use the one-way analysis of variance technique and prove that competency management differs among fintech companies by comparing average turnover per employee of platform and credit companies. The finding persuades the authors to propose a fundamental fintech competency model to ensure competitiveness and sustainability of fintech companies. The objective of the research is to define a fundamental set of competencies linked with information technology management for financial sector companies to maintain competitiveness. Results prove that current set of competencies employed by fintech companies represents sufficient technical competencies. The conclusions demonstrate that fintech companies tend to have different competency management models. The research team concludes that soft skills development, data analytics using advanced data analytic tools, technology awareness, the ability and experience to use open source technology tools to develop technology solutions without deep technology competency, the ability to see the big picture, and interconnections between processes are competencies of the future.