Models of evaluating the impact of changes technological and industrial areas in enterprise development

In this paper, the authors demonstrated that the industrial enterprises development is impossible without evaluating changes that occur with technological and manufacturing sector enterprises by external and internal factors. As a result of this study on the ratio of different types of external and internal changes, the authors developed a classification of typical situations in which the technological and production sphere of the enterprise. To address the evaluation of changes in the paper developed a set of models assessing the impact of natural and artificial changes to enterprise development based on consideration of the consequences of different rates of technological and industrial areas researched the company and its competitors and provides a definition of the type of the current situation in which the industrial an enterprise that provides grounds for the development of appropriate strategies and measures for its development.

Homogenization of the historical series from the Coimbra Magnetic Observatory, Portugal

The Coimbra Magnetic Observatory (COI), Portugal, established in 1866, has provided nearly continuous records of the geomagnetic field elements for more than 150 years. However, during its long lifetime inevitable changes to the instruments and measurement procedures and even the relocation of the observatory have taken place. In our previous work (Morozova et al., 2014) we performed homogenization – elimination of the artificial changes – of the measured declination series (D) for the period from 1866 to 2006. In this paper we continue work on applying homogenization procedures to the measured series of the absolute monthly values of the horizontal (H, 1866–2006), vertical (Z, 1951–2006) and inclination components (I, 1866–1941). After homogenization of all measured series for the 1866–2006 time interval, we performed the homogenization of the series of all geomagnetic field elements (X, Y, Z, H, D, I and F) to the level of the 2015 epoch. Since all series except D have a gap of about 10 years in the middle of the 20th century, splitting each of them into two, the homogenization to the level of 2015 was done only for the series available after 1951 (with the D series homogenized for the whole time interval of 1866–2015). The COI geomagnetic field elements are available via the following addresses: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4308022 (Ribeiro et al., 2020) for the original COI data (ASCII and XLSX formats) and https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4308036 (Morozova et al., 2020) for the homogenized COI data (ASCII and XLSX formats).

Homogenization of the historical series from the Coimbra Magnetic Observatory, Portugal

The Coimbra Magnetic Observatory (COI), Portugal, established in 1866, provides almost continuous records of the geomagnetic field elements for more than 150 years. However, during its long lifetime inevitable changes of the instruments, measurement procedures and even re-location of the Observatory took place. In our previous work (Morozova et al., 2014) we performed homogenization – elimination of the artificial changes – of the measured declination series (D) for the period from 1866 to 2006. In this paper we continue work applying homogenization procedures to the measured series of the absolute monthly values of the horizontal (H, 1866–2006) vertical (Z, 1951–2006) and inclination components (I, 1866–1941). After homogenization of all measured series for the 1866-2006 time interval we performed the homogenization of the series of all geomagnetic field elements (X, Y, Z, H, D, I and F) to the level of epoch 2015. Since all series except D have a gap of about 10 years long in the middle of the 20th century, splitting each of them into two, the homogenization to the level of 2015 was done only for the series available after 1951 (with D series homogenized for the whole time interval 1866–2015). The COI geomagnetic field elements are available via the following addresses: COI original data – https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4122066 (Ribeiro et al, 2020); COI homogenized data – https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4122289 (Morozova et al, 2020).

Morphology of an arid landscape utilising synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) and differential interferometric SAR (DInSAR), southern Riyadh, Central Arabia

This study on the southern Riyadh area examines the ERS-1/2 and ENVISAT satellites data' ability of detecting Early Quaternary-Holocene trans-tensional Central Arabian graben system morphology. It also, test the hypothesis of potentially geohazardous arid region for the consequent dissolution-induced collapses and karstifications and possible recent faults reactivation. Eight Single Look Complex (SLC) amplitude images are calibrated, filtered, georeferenced, orthorectified, and filtered at a resolution of 20 metres, and compared with one another by producing 17 diachronic images of the pairs at different intervals (1996, 2003–2005, 2008). The diachronic SAR intensity imageries suggest a downthrown displacement reaching 600 m and eastward tilting at the bottoms of the grabens. Also, the structurally-controlled valleys are developing an eastward-running drainage system towards the oasis of Al-Kharj and capturing an older hydrologic system. Moreover, a 12-year period (1996–2008) of the SAR data was obtained to examine the average annual rate of southern Riyadh's anthropological sprawl, which is estimated at approximately 390 metres/year over the 12 years and constrained by geomorphological features towards the deformed area. DInSAR imageries show the primary results obtained from the 26 May 2004 and 31 Jan. 2005 pair of images, merged with 30 m resolution DEM-SRTM data for the arid region south of Riyadh to eliminate the influence of topography. DInSAR is applied in this study for its ability of detecting small displacements at the centimetre scale (1/2 wavelength). Although the DInSAR's coherence and phase imageries suggest a fairly stable region since the last tectonic and subsequent geomorphic events, erosional and artificial changes are observed, bounded within the valleys and depressions, primarily due to aeolian and fluvial processes and agriculture. It is highly recommended to preserve the area for sustainability and economy.

Light Pollution Monitoring and Sky Colours

The measurement of night sky quality has become an important task in nature conservation. The primary device used for this task can be a calibrated digital camera. In addition, colour information can be derived from sky photography. In this paper, we provide a test on a concept to gather information about the possible sources of night sky brightness based on digital camera images. This method helps to understand changes in night sky quality due to natural and artificial changes in the environment. We demonstrate that a well-defined colour–colour diagram can differentiate between the different natural and artificial sources of night sky radiance. The colour information can be essential when interpreting long-term evolution of light pollution measurements.

Analysis of cross sections on iron and oxygen using Cf-252 neutron source

The leakage neutron spectra measurements have been done on benchmark spherical assemblies with Cf-252 source in center of 1) heavy water sphere with diameter of 30 cm (with Cd cover) and of 2) iron spheres with diameter of 100 cm and 50 cm. It has been stated for years that transport calculations by iron overestimate measured spectra in energy region around 300 keV by about 20-40 % (calculation to measurement ratio C/E = 1.2-1.4). The influence of an artificial changes in cross-section XS-Fe-56 (n,elastic)designed by IAEA, Nuclear Data Section, has been studied on the iron spheres. Influence of those XS-corrections to calculated neutron spectrum is presented.

On the presence of Brachytrupes megacephalus Lefebvre 1827 (Orthoptera, Gryllidae) in the Natural Reserve "Simeto Oasis" (Sicily, Italy)

The authors present the first results of a survey on the presence of Brachytrupes megacephalus (Orthoptera species described by Alexandre Lefebvre in 1827 from specimens found in Sicily) in the Natural Reserve (NR) "Simeto Oasis". The NR is located along the Sicilian Ionian sandy coast just south of the city of Catania, at the mouth of the most important in river Sicily, Simeto. Brachytrupes megacephalus is a south Mediterranean species living in the sandy environments of Sicily, Aeolian Islands, Maltese islands, south Sardinia, North Africa. Due to its rarity in Europe, the species was included in Annexes II and IV of the European Directive 92/43 as one that requires special protection. This cricket is vegetarian, hygrophilous, yellowish in color, normally crepuscular and nocturnal. It is a burrowing animal living in tunnels that the individuals dig by the expulsion of the excavated sand by means of a very spectacular behavioural pattern involving its forelegs and the large head; this activity produces typical small irregular sandy cones on the ground surface, which reveals the presence of the animals (Conti et al. 2012). By detecting these formations, and also the entrances of the tunnels, it is possible to map the presence of B. megacephalus (Petralia et al. 2015). The species was present in the NR and was well represented in all the areas in which the soil has not been altered by the diverse human activities. The very intensive anthropization of the NR (e.g. houses, roads, cultivations, trampling, pollution, artificial changes of the vegetation) has subtracted vital space for the species; however, up to now the specie has survived even under difficult conditions and has been able to re-colonize the areas where the anthropic disturbance had ceased. The purpose of this research is to provide the management authority of the NR with useful information for the planning of appropriate safeguard measures aimed at limiting the anthropic pressure as well as measures aimed at protecting and restoring the habitat of the species, a fundamental condition for its survival.

Challenges and Inconsistencies in Using Lysophosphatidic Acid as a Biomarker for Ovarian Cancer

Increased detection of plasma lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) has been proposed as a potential diagnostic biomarker in ovarian cancer, but inconsistency exists in these reports. It has been shown that LPA can undergo an artificial increase during sample processing and analysis, which has not been accounted for in ovarian cancer research. The aim of this study is to provide a potential explanation about how the artificial increase in LPA may have interfered with previous LPA analysis in ovarian cancer research. Using an established LC-MS method, we measured LPA and other lysophospholipid levels in plasma obtained from three cohorts of patients: non-cancer controls, patients with benign ovarian tumors, and those with ovarian cancer. We did not find the LPA level to be higher in cancer samples. To understand this inconsistency, we observed that LPA content changed more significantly than other lysophospholipids as a function of plasma storage time while frozen. Additionally, only LPA was found to be adversely impacted by incubation time depending on the Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) concentration used during blood drawing. We also show that the inhibition of autotaxin effectively prevented artificial LPA generation during incubation at room temperature. Our data suggests that the artificial changes in LPA content may contribute to the discrepancies reported in literature. Any future studies planning to measure plasma LPA should carefully design the study protocol to consider these confounding factors.