Investigating local trawl fishing as a source of plastic beach litter.

This paper uses a particle tracking model to simulate the distribution of fishing-related marine-sourced plastic litter from demersal trawling activities along the Atlantic coast of Scotland. The modelled fishing litter dispersed widely across the region, with ∼50% of the particles beaching along the northwestern Scottish coast after a year-long simulation. The model was tuned using observations of beached litter loadings along the same coastline to estimate the annual input, by mass, of small (<1 kg) plastic litter. Model results suggest that between 107 g and 280 g of small fishing-related litter enters the ocean per hour of fishing, resulting in an estimated 234 t to 614 t of small fishing-related litter entering the ocean annually on the Scottish west coast. These results suggest that fishing on the Atlantic coast of Scotland may be a significant source of marine plastic. However, more modelled and observational data are required to reduce uncertainty.

Identifying the fate of dissolved organic matter in wastewater treatment plant effluent-dominated urban river based on fluorescence fingerprinting and flux budget approach.

Effluent organic matter from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is an important source of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in urban rivers worldwide and is an important water quality factor. Identifying the fate of DOM in urban river is crucial for water quality management. To address this concern, a fluorescent flux budget approach was conducted to probe the fate of DOM in WWTP effluent-dominated urban river, in combination with field measurement and fluorescence fingerprinting. An urban river receiving two WWTP effluents in Hefei City, China was chosen as the study site, where longitudinal measurements of river hydrology and water quality were performed. The fluorescence fingerprinting revealed the presence of two humic-like components (C1, C4), one fulvic-like component (C2) and one protein-like component (C3) in this investigated river, among which C2 and C4 were indicative of anthropogenic influences, closely associated with treated effluents. For each fluorescent component, the WWTP effluent contributed over 80 % of the total fluorescent dissolved organic matter (FDOM) input in this river. Using the developed FDOM flux budget model, it was found that the C1 and C3 were almost conserved within the waterbody, while the C2 and C4 experienced losses due to biogeochemical reactions. The decay rates of C2 and C4 were estimated to be 0.109-0.174 d-1 and 0.096-0.320 d-1, respectively. Spatial heterogeneity of decay rates for C2 and C4 were associated with the varied chemistries of the lateral input sources including two treated effluents and one tributary flow. Our study highlights that after treated effluent is released into the receiving waterbody, the FDOM would undergo loss from the waters particularly for anthropogenic fulvic-like substance C2 and humic-like substance C4. Additionally, the quantified FDOM decay rate in actual urban water environment provides insights for river water quality management, especially when using DOM as the surrogate indicator of organic pollutants.

An assessment of uncontrolled human interventions on the contemporary sediment budget and morphological alterations of the Vu Gia Thu Bon River basin, central Vietnam.

The Vu Gia Thu Bon (VGTB) River basin is critical for regional development and prosperity in water resources. However, human interventions (e.g., dam construction and sand mining) have significantly affected this basin's sediment budget and morphological alterations over recent decades. Such humane actions drive an imbalance in water resources in the basin from upstream to downstream. Therefore, this study investigated spatiotemporal changes in sediment budget and morphology alterations using long-term data and bathymetric surveys; from these data, dams and sand mining contributions were quantified and differentiated. Based on field survey data and interviews, we estimated the sand-mining volume by incorporating reported and a newly proposed empirical formula. The results show that the total riverbed incision volume from 2010 to 2021 was 63.30 Mm3, with an incision rate of 0.14 m/yr. The officially reported sand-mining rate was 1.12 Mm3/yr, while the newly proposed empirical formula estimated 4.4 Mm3/yr. According to the developed empirical formula, the percentage reductions in the sediment budget due to sand mining and upstream dams were 69.7 % and 30.3 %, respectively, according to reports, and 17.8 % and 82.2 %. The statistical method was thus likely too conservative compared to the developed empirical formula. We found that the natural sediment supplies sourced from upstream were insufficient to compensate for the mined bed material. Therefore, our combination of different datasets permitted the assessment of future geomorphological developments within the VGTB River basin under the ongoing sediment deficits. The results of this study provide valuable insights into the impacts of human interventions, specifically sand mining, on the sediment budget, morphological alterations, and riverbed incision. The developed assessment forms the foundation for developing and expanding the region's water/sediment resource management strategies.

The Metabolic Effort and Duration of Ecdysis in Timber Rattlesnakes: Implications for Time-Energy Budgets of Reptiles.

AbstractTemperate reptiles are often considered to be low-energy systems, with their discrete use of time and energy making them model systems for the study of time-energy budgets. However, the semifrequent replacement and sloughing of the epidermis is a ubiquitous feature of squamate reptiles that is often overlooked when accounting for time and energy budgets in these animals. We used open-flow respirometry to measure both the energetic effort of ecdysis and the duration of the associated metabolic upregulation (likely related to behavioral changes often reported for animals in shed) in wild-caught timber rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus). We hypothesized that total effort of skin biosynthesis and physical removal would be related to body mass and expected the duration of the process to remain static across individuals at a fixed temperature (25°C). We provide both the first measurements of the cost of skin biosynthesis and physical removal in a reptile and the highest-resolution estimate of process duration recorded to date. We found that skin biosynthesis, but not the cost of physical removal of the epidermis, was related to body mass. Shed cycle duration was consistent across individuals, taking nearly 4 wk from process initiation to physical removal of the outermost epidermal layer. Total energetic effort of ecdysis was of sizeable magnitude, requiring ∼3% of the total annual energy budget of a timber rattlesnake. Energetic effort for a 500-g snake was equivalent to the amount of metabolizable energy acquired from the consumption of approximately two adult mice. Ecdysis is a significant part of the time-energy budgets of snakes, necessitating further attention in studies of reptilian energetics.

Benefits and costs: Understanding the influence of heavy metal pollution on environmental adaptability in Strauchbufo raddei tadpoles through an energy budget perspective.

Understanding the impact of environmental pollution on organismal energy budgets is crucial for predicting adaptive responses and potential maladaptation to stressors. However, the regulatory mechanism governing the trade-off between energy intake and consumption remains largely unknown, particularly considering the diverse adaptations influenced by exposure history in realistic field conditions. In the present study, we conducted a simulated field reciprocal transplant experiment to compare the energy budget strategies of Strauchbufo raddei tadpoles exposed to heavy metal. The simulated heavy metal concentrations (0.29 mg/L Cu, 1.17 mg/L Zn, 0.47 mg/L Pb, 0.16 mg/L Cd) mirrored the actual environmental exposure concentrations observed in the field habitat. This allowed for a comparison between tadpoles with parental chronic exposure to heavy metal pollutants in their habitat and those without such exposure. Results revealed that under heavy metal exposure, tadpoles originating from unpolluted areas exhibited heightened vulnerability, characterized by reduced food intake, diminished nutrient absorption, increased metabolism cost, reduced energy reserves, and increased mortality rates. In contrast, tadpoles originating from areas with long-term heavy metal pollution demonstrated adaptive strategies, manifested through adjustments in liver and small intestine phenotypes, optimizing energy allocation, and reducing energy consumption to preserve energy, thus sustaining survival. However, tadpoles from polluted areas exhibited certain maladaptive such as growth inhibition, metabolic suppression, and immune compromise due to heavy metal exposure. In conclusion, while conserving energy consumption has proven to be an effective way to deal with long-term heavy metal stress, it poses a threat to individual survival and population development in the long run.

Community-based, cost-effective multispecies mangrove restoration innovation to maximize soil blue carbon pool and humic acid and fulvic acid concentrations at Indian Sundarbans.

Sundarbans is the world's largest and most diverse contiguous mangrove ecosystem. In this pilot study, three plots (around 1 ha each) were selected, where one site (S1) had 1 year of community involvement, another site (S2) had a community network to support the restoration initiatives for 2 years, while a control site (C) was devoid of any post plantation community protection. Rhizophora mucronata (Rhizophoraceae), Sonneretia caseolaris (Lythraceae) and Avicennia marina (Acanthaceae) were planted at the sites in 2012. After 6 years (in 2017), at S1, the monitoring showed low survival rate for salinity-sensitive species, 2% for R. mucronata and 4% for S. caseolaris. At S2, R. mucronata has high survival rates, i.e. 71%, followed by S. caseolaris with 40%, whereas at C, the survival rate of both species was 0%. At S1 and C, the salinity-tolerant A. marina replaced the planted mangroves partially (S1) or entirely (C). At S2, available soil P increased by 17.5%, in 6 years, and the overall blue carbon pool showed a linear increase from 64.4 to 88.6 Mg C ha-1 (34.3% rise). S1 showed a minimum increment in P and the blue carbon pool (6.9% rise), while site C showed fluctuations in the blue carbon pool with only a 3.1% increase. Humic acid and fulvic acid concentrations in the S2 site indicate positive functional carbon sequestration in the edaphic environment. The community involvement increased the plantation cost (567.70 USD) of S2, in comparison to S1 (342.52 USD) and C (117.34 USD), but it has resulted in better restoration and survival of the mangroves. The study concludes that community participation for at least 2 years can play a significant role in the conservation of mangrove ecosystems and the success of restoration initiatives in tidal, saline wetlands and would aid in compliance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14 (Life Below Water) targets.

Estimating the Economic Impact of Levalbuterol's Potential Transition From the National Reimbursement Drug List for the Treatment of Pediatric Asthma in China: A Budget Impact Analysis.

Background Levalbuterol is a short-acting ß2-agonist (SABA) indicated for treating or preventing asthma exacerbation. It was included in the 2020 Chinese National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL). This study estimates the economic impact of levalbuterol's status change within and withdrawal from the NRDL in treating pediatric asthma from a publicly funded medical insurance perspective. Methodology A prevalence-based budget impact model was developed. The analysis compared a world with a levalbuterol scenario to a world without levalbuterol. Epidemiological data were obtained from the existing literature. Cost data were estimated based on the drug dosage in clinical trials, real-world settings, and expert opinions. Scenario analysis considered the same length of stay (LOS) in the two groups. One-way sensitivity analyses were carried out to show the impact of varying individual parameters. Results In the base-case analysis, compared to the world without scenario, the preservation of levalbuterol resulted in cost savings of ¥82.8 million in China over three years. In the scenario analysis, savings decreased to ¥76.1 million over three years. Sensitivity analysis showed that, for the most part, the results were robust to changes in input parameter values. Conclusions Using levalbuterol may lead to substantial cost savings for Chinese society.

Estimating the budget impact of a Tuberculosis strategic purchasing pilot study in Medan, Indonesia (2018-2019).

BACKGROUND: Indonesia has the world's second-highest tuberculosis (TB) burden, with 969,000 annual TB infections. In 2017, Indonesia faced significant challenges in TB care, with 18% of cases missed, 29% of diagnosed cases unreported, and 55.4% of positive results not notified. The government is exploring a new approach called "strategic purchasing" to improve TB detection and treatment rates and offer cost-effective service delivery. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to analyze the financial impact of implementing a TB purchasing pilot in the city of Medan and assess the project's affordability and value for money. METHODS: We developed a budget impact model to estimate the cost-effectiveness of using strategic purchasing to improve TB reporting and treatment success rates. We used using data from Medan's budget impact model and the Ministry of Health's guidelines to predict the total cost and the cost per patient. RESULTS: The model showed that strategic purchasing would improve TB reporting by 63% and successful treatments by 64%. While this would lead to a rise in total spending on TB care by 60%, the cost per patient would decrease by 3%. This is because more care would be provided in primary healthcare settings, which are more cost-effective than hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: While strategic purchasing may increase overall spending, it could improve TB care in Indonesia by identifying more cases, treating them more effectively, and reducing the cost per patient. This could potentially lead to long-term cost savings and improved health outcomes.

Selective treatment of clinical mastitis: Assessment of the Net Cash Impact on Dairy Farms Under Diverse Scenarios. A European Perspective.

Selective treatment of clinical mastitis (STCM) potentially reduces antimicrobial use without negative implications on cow's milk production or health. However, this approach comes with additional costs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the net cash impact (NCI) of implementing STCM compared with blanket treatment of clinical mastitis (BTCM) under different diagnostic-test turnaround times (24 h, 14 h, and 8 h) using a stochastic partial budget analysis with Monte Carlo simulation. The target population was European commercial dairy herds; therefore, the model inputs were primarily from European sources. Additionally, variables associated with dairy management programs were obtained from USDA sources, worldwide multisite clinical trials, and expert opinion. The output was calculated by subtracting the cost of STCM from the cost of BTCM and it represented the expected NCI if a herd switched from BTCM to STCM. Depending on the time-to-treatment efficiency and diagnostic-test turnaround time, the expected mean NCI, assuming that STCM has no impact on the cow's future health or production, ranged from +€8.7 to +€12.4 per case with 72.4% to 84.8% of the iterations being ≥ €0. Moreover, using the numerically favorable health and production effects of STCM reported in the literature, the expected mean NCI ranged from +€44.5 to +€48.1 per case with 93.6% to 95.4% of the iterations being ≥ €0. The variables with the greatest contribution to NCI variance were proportion of gram-positive cases (39.2% of the variance) and days out of the tank for treated cows (22.0%). However, if future cow's health and production were accounted for, culling risk (24.6%), recurrence risk (19.4%), and milk yield (10.6%) would have the greatest contribution to NCI. The sensitivity analysis indicated that farms with high clinical mastitis incidence, low proportion of gram-positive cases, large number of days out of the tank for treated cows, higher milking frequency or using automatic milking systems, not using the highest priced diagnostic tests, and having high antimicrobial treatment costs are the best candidates for STCM. Improving time-to-treatment efficiency, for example, by using a rapid diagnostic test, leads to a favorable NCI, while high daily milk yield and milk price enhances the NCI in already positive scenarios. Finally, the cash flow entirely depends on future cow's health and milk yield. In conclusion, results indicate that overall, STCM is a practice that positively impacts the NCI of many herds.

The challenge of estimating global termite methane emissions.

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, more potent than carbon dioxide, and emitted from a variety of natural sources including wetlands, permafrost, mammalian guts and termites. As increases in global temperatures continue to break records, quantifying the magnitudes of key methane sources has never been more pertinent. Over the last 40 years, the contribution of termites to the global methane budget has been subject to much debate. The most recent estimates of termite emissions range between 9 and 15 Tg CH4 year-1, approximately 4% of emissions from natural sources (excluding wetlands). However, we argue that the current approach for estimating termite contributions to the global methane budget is flawed. Key parameters, namely termite methane emissions from soil, deadwood, living tree stems, epigeal mounds and arboreal nests, are largely ignored in global estimates. This omission occurs because data are lacking and research objectives, crucially, neglect variation in termite ecology. Furthermore, inconsistencies in data collection methods prohibit the pooling of data required to compute global estimates. Here, we summarise the advances made over the last 40 years and illustrate how different aspects of termite ecology can influence the termite contribution to global methane emissions. Additionally, we highlight technological advances that may help researchers investigate termite methane emissions on a larger scale. Finally, we consider dynamic feedback mechanisms of climate warming and land-use change on termite methane emissions. We conclude that ultimately the global contribution of termites to atmospheric methane remains unknown and thus present an alternative framework for estimating their emissions. To significantly improve estimates, we outline outstanding questions to guide future research efforts.

Individual energetics scale up to community coexistence: Movement, metabolism and biodiversity dynamics in fragmented landscapes.

Unravelling the intricate mechanisms that govern community coexistence remains a daunting challenge, particularly amidst ongoing environmental change. Individual physiology and metabolism are often studied to understand the response of individual animals to environmental change. However, this perspective is currently largely lacking in community ecology. We argue that the integration of individual metabolism into community theory can offer new insights into coexistence. We present the first individual-based metabolic community model for a terrestrial mammal community to simulate energy dynamics and home range behaviour in different environments. Using this model, we investigate how ecologically similar species coexist and maintain their energy balance under food competition. Only if individuals of different species are able to balance their incoming and outgoing energy over the long-term will they be able to coexist. After thoroughly testing and validating the model against real-world patterns such as of home range dynamics and field metabolic rates, we applied it as a case study to scenarios of habitat fragmentation - a widely discussed topic in biodiversity research. First, comparing single-species simulations with community simulations, we find that the effect of habitat fragmentation on populations is strongly context-dependent. While populations of species living alone in the landscape were mostly positively affected by fragmentation, the diversity of a community of species was highest under medium fragmentation scenarios. Under medium fragmentation, energy balance and reproductive investment were also most similar among species. We therefore suggest that similarity in energy balance among species promotes coexistence. We argue that energetics should be part of community ecology theory, as the relative energetic status and reproductive investment can reveal why and under what environmental conditions coexistence is likely to occur. As a result, landscapes can potentially be protected and designed to maximize coexistence. The metabolic community model presented here can be a promising tool to investigate other scenarios of environmental change or other species communities to further disentangle global change effects and preserve biodiversity.

Soil environmental anomalies dominate the responses of net ecosystem productivity to heatwaves in three Mongolian grasslands.

Climate change is causing more frequent and intense heatwaves. Therefore, it is important to understand how heatwaves affect the terrestrial carbon cycle, especially in grasslands, which are especially susceptible to climate extremes. This study assessed the impact of naturally occurring, simultaneous short-term heatwaves on CO2 fluxes in three ecosystems on the Mongolia Plateau: meadow steppe (MDW), typical steppe (TPL), and shrub-grassland (SHB). During three heatwaves, net ecosystem productivity (NEP) was reduced by 86 %, 178 %, and 172 % at MDW, TPL, and SHB, respectively. The changes in ecosystem respiration, gross primary production, evapotranspiration, and water use efficiency were divergent, indicating the mechanisms underlying the observed NEP decreases among the sites. The impact of the heatwave in MDW was mitigated by the high soil water content, which enhanced evapotranspiration and subsequent cooling effects. However, at TPL, insufficient soil water led to combined thermal and drought stress and low resilience. At SHB, the ecosystem's low tolerance to an August heatwave was heavily influenced by species phenology, as it coincided with the key phenological growing phase of plants. The potential key mechanism of divergent NEP response to heatwaves lies in the divergent stability and varying importance of environmental factors, combined with the specific sensitivity of NEP to each factor in ecosystems. Furthermore, our findings suggest that anomalies in soil environment, rather than atmospheric anomalies, are the primary determinants of NEP anomalies during heatwaves. This challenges the conventional understanding of heatwaves as a discrete and ephemeral periods of high air temperatures. Instead, heatwaves should be viewed as chronologically variable, compound, and time-sensitive environmental stressors. The ultimate impact of heatwaves on ecosystems is co-determined by a complex interplay of environmental, biological, and heatwave features.

Ecohydrological assessment of the water balance of the world's highest elevation tropical forest (Polylepis).

Polylepis trees grow at elevations above the continuous tree line (3000-5000 m a.s.l.) across the Andes. They tolerate extreme environmental conditions, making them sensitive bioindicators of global climate change. Therefore, investigating their ecohydrological role is key to understanding how the water cycle of Andean headwaters could be affected by predicted changes in environmental conditions, as well as ongoing Polylepis reforestation initiatives in the region. We estimate, for the first time, the annual water balance of a mature Polylepis forest (Polylepis reticulata) catchment (3780 m a.s.l.) located in the south Ecuadorian páramo using a unique set of field ecohydrological measurements including gross rainfall, throughfall, streamflow, and xylem sap flow in combination with the characterization of forest and soil features. We also compare the forest water balance with that of a tussock grass (Calamagrostis intermedia) catchment, the dominant páramo vegetation. Annual gross rainfall during the study period (April 2019-March 2020) was 1290.6 mm yr-1. Throughfall in the Polylepis forest represented 61.2 % of annual gross rainfall. Streamflow was the main component of the water balance of the forested site (59.6 %), while its change in soil water storage was negligible (<1 %). Forest evapotranspiration was 54.0 %, with evaporation from canopy interception (38.8 %) more than twice as high as transpiration (15.1 %). The error in the annual water balance of the Polylepis catchment was small (<15 %), providing confidence in the measurements and assumptions used to estimate its components. In comparison, streamflow and evapotranspiration at the grassland site accounted for 63.7 and 36.0 % of the water balance, respectively. Although evapotranspiration was larger in the forest catchment, its water yield was only marginally reduced (<4 %) in relation to the grassland catchment. The substantially higher soil organic matter content in the forest site (47.6 %) compared to the grassland site (31.8 %) suggests that even though Polylepis forests do not impair the hydrological function of high-Andean catchments, their presence contributes to carbon storage in the litter layer of the forest and the underlying soil. These findings provide key insights into the vegetation-water­carbon nexus in high Andean ecosystems, which can serve as a basis for future ecohydrological studies and improved management of páramo natural resources considering changes in land use and global climate.

Partial budget analysis of laying hens' transition from cages to production systems of improved welfare: a case study in Greece.

1. In recent years, public concern regarding animal welfare has increased while, at the same time, cage systems for animal production have been greatly criticised by EU citizens. In addition, large food retailers promote food products that are made with eggs produced in cage-free systems.2. The objective of this study was to evaluate the economic viability of the transition of laying hens' to production systems; from conventional to alternative systems with improved welfare. Three independent scenarios were assumed as follows: transition from enriched colony cages to barn (S1), transition from barn to free-range (S2), and transition from free-range to organic (S3). Economic assessments of each transition was applied to a model farm in Greece with 12 000 hens, through partial budget analysis and net benefits and costs were estimated.3. The results showed a positive economic impact in all transitions to a production system of improved animal welfare (€12,044 in S1, €18,957 in S2 and €7,977 in S3) which indicated that they are economically sustainable. In all scenarios, unit cost increased by 19% in S1, 12% in S2, and 85% in S3.4. In conclusion, transitioning towards improved animal welfare production systems in laying hen farms could be an economically viable option for egg producers in compliance with societal demands and market trends.

Cost-Effectiveness and Budget Impact Analyses of Selective Internal Radiation Therapy versus Atezolizumab Plus Bevacizumab from a German Statutory Health Insurance Perspective.

Purpose: To compare personalized dosimetry with yttrium-90 (90Y)-loaded glass microspheres (SIRT) vs atezolizumab and bevacizumab (A+B) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treatment in terms of cost-effectiveness and budget impact from a German statutory health insurance (SHI) perspective. Patients and Methods: Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) and budget impact analysis (BIA) models were developed in MS Excel. The available key studies (IMbrave150 and DOSISPHERE-01) suggest that both strategies are comparable in terms of progression-free survival and overall survival in HCC, but a difference in severe adverse events (SAE) in favor of SIRT was observed. Accordingly, the CEA model investigates the endpoints "cost per SAE avoided" and "cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained", whereas the BIA simulates the impact of a stepwise re-allocation of current market share to the option which emerges as more cost-effective from the CEA. Results: The model suite estimated a mean annual total per-patient costs of € 29,984 for SIRT, compared to € 75,725 for A+B. SIRT was associated with a lower number of SAE and a higher number of QALYs compared to A+B. Switching additionally 25% of the eligible patients (≈500) from systemic therapy to SIRT could generate annual savings of approximately € 22.6 million Euros to the SHI. Conclusion: SIRT was identified as dominant treatment strategy. SIRT use not only saves SHI expenditure compared to systemic immunotherapy but also yields extra QALYs. This positions SIRT as the dominant and more cost-effective treatment strategy for patients with HCC. The savings to the SHI system, derived from the BIA conducted, become increasingly significant with rising adoption rates of SIRT.

Greenhouse gas fluxes of different land uses in mangrove ecosystem of East Kalimantan, Indonesia.

BACKGROUND: Mangrove ecosystems exhibit significant carbon storage and sequestration. Its capacity to store and sequester significant amounts of carbon makes this ecosystem very important for climate change mitigation. Indonesia, owing to the largest mangrove cover in the world, has approximately 3.14 PgC stored in the mangroves, or about 33% of all carbon stored in coastal ecosystems globally. Unfortunately, our comprehensive understanding of carbon flux is hampered by the incomplete repertoire of field measurement data, especially from mangrove ecosystem-rich regions such as Indonesia and Asia Pacific. This study fills the gap in greenhouse gases (GHGs) flux studies in mangrove ecosystems in Indonesia by quantifying the soil CO2 and CH4 fluxes for different land use types in mangrove ecosystems, i.e., secondary mangrove (SM), restored mangrove (RM), pond embankment (PE) and active aquaculture pond (AP). Environmental parameters such as soil pore salinity, soil pore water pH, soil temperature, air temperature, air humidity and rainfall are also measured. RESULTS: GHG fluxes characteristics varied between land use types and ecological conditions. Secondary mangrove and exposed pond embankment are potential GHG flux sources (68.9 ± 7.0 and 58.5 ± 6.2 MgCO2e ha- 1 yr- 1, respectively). Aquaculture pond exhibits the lowest GHG fluxes among other land use types due to constant inundation that serve as a barrier for the release of GHG fluxes to the atmosphere. We found weak relationships between soil CO2 and CH4 fluxes and environmental parameters. CONCLUSIONS: The data and information on GHG fluxes from different land use types in the mangrove ecosystem will be of importance to accurately assess the potential of the mangrove ecosystem to sequester and emit GHGs. This will support the GHG emission reduction target and strategy that had been set up by the Indonesian Government in its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and Indonesia's 2030 Forest and Other Land Use (FOLU) Net Sink.

Activitybudget and foraging patterns ofNubian giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis camelopardalis) in Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya.

The activity budget of giraffe in various African populations has been studied extensively, revealing that it is affected by body size, foraging patterns, and sex. Foraging patterns show an animal's feeding choices in its environment and are influenced by resource availability, competition, and predation risk. The ability of giraffe to survive and reproduce is significantly impacted by the variation in activity budget and foraging across different ecosystems. Our study focused on evaluating the seasonal activity budgets and foraging patterns of Nubian giraffe in Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya. We used the scan sampling method to record the activity budget of giraffe which included foraging, movement, resting, and drinking water. We then evaluated if activities varied with the seasons. A total of 11,280 activities were documented, with 4560 (40.4%) occurring during the dry season and 6720 (59.6%) during the wet season. Foraging accounted for 53% of the time budget during the dry season, but increased to 57% during the wet season. There was a slight drop in records of movement (22%; n = 995 of 4560) and resting (25%; n = 1145 of 4560) from the dry season to the wet season (20%; n = 1375 out of 6720 and 22%; n = 1515 of 6720). During the dry season, females (53%) foraged longer than males (47%), whereas males (44%) had longer resting periods than females (56%). Giraffe frequently fed on Vachellia xanthophloea (67%; n = 4136 of 6215 foraging records), Maytenus senegalensis (19%), and Solanum incanum (9%) over both seasons. Overall, seasons had little impact on giraffe activity time budgets and foraging patterns in Lake Nakuru National Park. A better insight into the behavioural patterns of this subspecies will allow managers to enhance the protection and conservation of the species and its habitat. Heavy foraging on Vachellia by giraffe at LNNP has been associated with a population decline in number, so perhaps planting more of this species in LNNP could promote a rebound in numbers.

Effect of highway greenbelt constrution on groundwater flow in a semi-arid region.

The highway greenbelt, vigorously promoted in arid and semi-arid areas, has obvious impacts on beautifying the environment, absorbing dust, reducing noise, and maintaining soil and water. Moreover, it affects the characteristics of how water resources are distributed and the regional groundwater cycle. However, the impact of highway greenbelt construction on groundwater flow in semi-arid areas is unknown. The Hubao Highway greenbelt in the north part of the Tumochuan Plain was studied as an example. The paper combines field investigation, remote sensing and mathematical modeling to quantify the impact of highway green space construction on regional groundwater circulation. The results showed that: Trees, shrubs and grasses were the dominant vegetation types in the landscaped area, accounting for 42.17% of the studied area. The total evapotranspiration water consumption of the green belt during the growing season was 471.35 × 104m3. The groundwater recharge in the study area was mainly derived from the lateral recharge in front of the mountain, and the main discharge was the evapotranspiration water consumption of the green belt. This evapotranspiration accounts for 3.31% of the total groundwater recharge. Under the condition that the recharge in front of the mountain remains constant, the evapotranspiration water consumption of the green belt will still have an increasing trend in the future. Appropriate planting of poplar and other high water-consuming trees may be the best way to mitigate the adverse effects of greenbelt evapotranspiration on groundwater resources. The results of this study provide valuable insights for environmental protection and infrastructure development in similar areas.

Developing a fuzzy bi-objective programming and MCDM model for bridge maintenance strategy optimization.

Bridges serve as critical links in road networks, requiring continuous maintenance to ensure proper functionality throughout their lifespan. Given their pivotal role in the urban landscape, connecting various parts of a city, this research presents a multi-objective optimization model for the maintenance and repair of bridges in Babolsar, Iran. The model takes into account budget constraints and aims to minimize the total life cycle and user costs, encompassing traffic delays and vehicle expenses, while maximizing the reliability of the bridge network. Recognizing the inherent complexity of this problem, a multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm has been developed for an accurate solution. The study further conducts sensitivity analysis on the objective function concerning the available budget, evaluating key parameters such as hourly costs and the time value of vehicles. The results show that with an increase in the budget level, the number of repairs related to the most costly maintenance has significantly risen. In other words, as the budget expands, the model tends to favor repairs with higher costs because their impact on the bridge's performance is more substantial.

A budget impact analysis of a digital monitoring solution in patients treated with oral anticancer agents: a medico-economic analysis of the randomized phase 3 CAPRI trial.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Remote patient monitoring (RPM) has demonstrated numerous benefits in cancer care, including improved quality of life, overall survival, and reduced medical resource use. This study presents a budget impact analysis of a nurse navigator-led RPM program, based on the CAPRI trial, from the perspective of the French national health insurance (NHI). The study aimed to assess the impact of the program on medical resource utilization and costs. METHODS: Medical resource utilization data were collected from both medico-administrative sources and patient-reported questionnaires. Costs were calculated by applying unit costs to resource utilization and estimating the average monthly cost per patient. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to explore different perspectives and varying resource consumption. RESULTS: The analysis included 559 cancer patients participating in the CAPRI program. From the NHI perspective, the program resulted in average savings of €377 per patient over the 4.58-month follow-up period, mainly due to reduced hospitalizations. The all-payers perspective yielded even greater savings of €504 per patient. Sensitivity analyses supported the robustness of the findings. CONCLUSION: The budget impact analysis demonstrated that the CAPRI RPM program was associated with cost savings from the perspective of the NHI. The program's positive impact on reducing hospitalizations outweighed the additional costs associated with remote monitoring. These findings highlight the potential economic benefits of implementing RPM programs in cancer care. Further research is warranted to assess the long-term cost-effectiveness and scalability of such programs in the real-world settings.