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The purpose of this paper is to present the freely available finite element simulation software Pyrit.

In a first step, the design principles and the objective of the software project are defined. Then, the software’s structure is established: The software is organized in packages for which an overview is given. The structure is based on the typical steps of a simulation workflow, i.e., problem definition, problem-solving and post-processing. State-of-the-art software engineering principles are applied to ensure a high code quality at all times. Finally, the modeling and simulation workflow of Pyrit is demonstrated by three examples.

Pyrit is a field simulation software based on the finite element method written in Python to solve coupled systems of partial differential equations. It is designed as a modular software that is easily modifiable and extendable. The framework can, therefore, be adapted to various activities, i.e., research, education and industry collaboration.

The focus of Pyrit are static and quasistatic electromagnetic problems as well as (coupled) heat conduction problems. It allows for both time domain and frequency domain simulations.

In research, problem-specific modifications and direct access to the source code of simulation tools are essential. With Pyrit, the authors present a computationally efficient and platform-independent simulation software for various electromagnetic and thermal field problems.

This research investigates the effects that blockchain exerts on omnichannel solutions and logistics strategies with the aim of solving the last mile issues and improving performance.

Research hypotheses are developed according to the literature review and the related gaps. Then, the hypotheses are tested using structural equation modelling and adopting a partial least squares – path modelling technique on a dataset composed of 157 firms.

Blockchain technology alone is not an effective driver in solving last mile issues and improving performance. Rather, it exerts a positive contribution to both omnichannel and logistics. However, omnichannel is not effective in managing last mile problems and increasing performance without the support of other practices. Firms need to implement a strong logistics system to manage the last mile and get high performance, which can be then reinforced through blockchain and omnichannel solutions.

This research investigates the novel wave of research on blockchain and its impact on logistics management and omnichannel. It combines these ingredients to address the issues of last mile and improve the economic performance. The research provides an empirical verification of a new research stream that currently lacks empirical support.

Equity is an issue that pervades all aspects of primary care provision for children and as such is a recurring theme in the Models of Child Health Appraised project. All European Union member states agree to address inequalities in health outcomes and include policies to address the gradient of health across society and target particularly vulnerable population groups. The project sought to understand the contribution of primary care services to reducing inequity in health outcomes for children. We focused on some key features of inequity as they affect children, such as the importance of good health services in early childhood, and the effects of inequity on children, such as the higher health needs of underprivileged groups, but their generally lower access to health services. This indicates that health services have an important role in buffering the effects of social determinants of health by providing effective treatment that can improve the health and quality of life for children with chronic disorders. We identified common risk factors for inequity, such as gender, family situation, socio-economic status (SES), migrant or minority status and regional differences in healthcare provision, and attempted to measure inequity of service provision. We did this by analysing routine data of universal primary care procedures, such as vaccination, age at diagnosis of autism or emergency hospital admission for conditions that can be generally treated in primary care, against variables of inequity, such as indicators of SES, migrant/ethnicity or urban/rural residency. In addition, we focused on the experiences of child population groups particularly at risk of inequity of primary care provision: migrant children and children in the state care system.

This study aims to examine the impact of Covid19 on service ecosystem self-adjustment (SES_SA) and additionally to explore the mediating role of SES_SA on the relationship between the Covid19 pandemic and the development of digital service capability (DD_SC).

Data were drawn from 384 business people with the help of a survey questionnaire. The interrelation of the model was examined with the help of structural equation modeling (SEM) using bootstrapping measures in Smart-partial least square (PLS). Three constructs (Covid19, DD_SC and SES_SA) were found with the help of exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Convergent and discriminant validity were obtained through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using statistical package for the social sciences-analysis of a moment structures (SPSS-AMOS)-V.23.

There is a substantial impact of Covid19 on SES_SA and DD_SC. The investigation also discovered that SES_SA significantly impact DD_SC, whereas, Covid19 impact DD_SC indirectly through SES_SA. Age has a significant favorable influence on fear of Covid19.

There is scant literature linking SES_SA and the DD_SC.

The study promotes understanding of the contribution of Covid19 and SES_SA in the DD_SC among business people to enhance value co-creation. Capitalizing on DD_SC will enhance customer experience, assist customers in decision-making, and foster digital economic growth.

It enlightens on the digital capabilities needed for creating and co-creating value. Most studies in this area are qualitative/conceptually based and have not studied this kind of interrelation. Hence, it’s the only quantitative study that has examined the inter-relations among Covid19, SES_SA and DD_SC using SEM. This study also offers comprehension of all theories used in this context by relating Covid19 effects to DD_SC.

Many researchers have reported that vitamin D can affect brain development as well as brain function. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in the Saudi population is 81% and it is more among women than among men. Though many studies have been done to find out the factors influencing the academic performance of Health sciences students, there is not adequate evidence regarding the influence of vitamin D level on academic performance. Therefore, this study aims to find out the association if any, between the vitamin D level and academic performance of health sciences students.

After obtaining the ethical committee approval, the data was collected from 86 female medical students, 70 female applied medical sciences students and 57 nursing students of Northern Border University. The detailed questionnaire contained the aim of the study, demographic characteristics and academic performance predictors such as self-efficacy, academic motivation, academic engagement and social engagement. The vitamin D levels were measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) machine (BioTek) which is available in the local hospital. The multiple linear regression analysis was used to find out the association between vitamin D levels and academic performance.

This study showed that vitamin D level had a significant association with the overall performance of the students as well as their self-efficacy.

Since there is a lot of stress among health sciences students due to subject overload and inadequacy of time, the health aspects are often overlooked. This study emphasizes the importance of early screening of vitamin D levels and early intervention in those with low vitamin D levels for better academic performance.

There is very little awareness of the impact of vitamin D deficiency on academic motivation, academic engagement, social engagement and self-efficacy among medical and health sciences students. This study can increase awareness.

There are very few studies done to find out the association between Vitamin D level and academic performance. This study is unique as it has highlighted the association between vitamin D level and grade point average (GPA) and also the association between vitamin D level and academic predictors such as self-efficacy, academic motivation, academic engagement and social engagement.

The critical role of diet in climate change mitigation has raised behavioural approaches to the top of the agenda. In this paper, the authors take a critical look at these behavioural approaches and call for a more dynamic, practice-oriented understanding of long-term changes in sustainable food consumption and supply.

This approach is based on the experiences from a long-term experiment promoting sustainable eating in a workplace lunch restaurant using a series of informational and nudging techniques. In the experiment, the authors found that focussing solely on eating behaviours did not help to capture the multi-level change processes mobilised. The authors therefore propose a more dynamic, practice-oriented methodology for examining long-term changes in sustainable eating. The emprical data of the experiment are based on qualitative and quantitative data, consisting of customer survey, customer and kitchen personnel focus group discussions and monitoring data on the use of food items in the restaurant and their climate impacts.

The results draw attention to a series of practical challenges restaurants face when promoting sustainable eating. Directing analytical attention to tinkering helped to reveal the tensions brought about by labelling and nudging in menu planning and recipe development. The results show how tinkering required attentiveness to customers' wishes in both cases. Nudging offered more freedom for the restaurant to develop menus and recipes. In the case scrutinised, however, nudging customers towards tastier and more satiating vegetarian dishes included the use of dairy. This partly watered down the climate benefits gained from reduced meat consumption.

Rather than looking separately at changes in consumer behaviour and in the supply of food, the authors show how we need analytical concepts that enable the evaluation of their mutual evolution. Tinkering can assist us in this endeavour. Its adaptive, adjustive character, however, calls for caution. The development of praxis in food services and catering requires critical companions from the transdisciplinary research community. Research can provide systematic knowledge on the impacts of labels and nudges on kitchen praxis. However, research itself also needs to tinker and learn from experiments. This necessitates long-term speculative research strategies.

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it intends to explore the link between internal social capital, logistics capabilities, supply chain risk management (SCRM) capabilities and supplier performance. Second, the mediating effect of logistics capabilities between internal social capital and SCRM capabilities, and that of SCRM capabilities between logistics capabilities and supplier performance are also examined.

A theoretical model developed from the extant literature was empirically validated through a cross-sectional survey of 122 respondents in 52 public healthcare facilities in Uganda. The data were analysed using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The study found that internal social capital and SCRM capabilities are significant predictors of supplier performance. Internal social capital is positively and significantly related to logistics capabilities, and logistics capabilities are positively and significantly related to SCRM capabilities. The authors also found non-significant relationships between internal social capital and SCRM capabilities, and between logistics capabilities and supplier performance. Furthermore, it was revealed that logistics capabilities play a partial mediating role in the relationship between internal social capital and SCRM capabilities, while SCRM capabilities fully mediate between logistics capabilities and supplier performance.

Further to providing empirical evidence of the antecedents of supplier performance in the public healthcare in a developing economy, which has been evidently scant, this study provides initial empirical evidence of the mediating role of logistics capabilities in the relationship between internal social capital and SCRM capabilities and that of SCRM capabilities in the relationship between logistics capabilities and supplier performance. This is important for understanding the mechanism through which supplier performance can be enhanced.

International outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 infection has fostered the Italian government to impose the FFP2 protective facial masks in closed environments, including bar, restaurants and, more in general, in the food sector. Protective facial masks are rocketing, both in mass and in costs, in the food sector imposing efforts in fostering reuse strategies and in the achievement of sustainable development goals. The scope of the present paper is to depict possible strategies in manufacturing and reuse strategies that can reduce the carbon footprint (CF) of such devices.

To implement circular economy strategies in the protective facial masks supply chain, it was considered significant to move towards a study of the environmental impact of such devices, and therefore a CF study has been performed on an FFP2 facial mask used in the food sector. Different materials besides the mostly used polypropylene (PP) (polyethylene (PE), polycarbonate (PC), poly (lactic acid) (PLA), cotton, polyurethane (PUR), polystyrene (PS) and nylon 6,6) and different sanitisation alternatives as reuse strategies (both laboratory and homemade static oven, ultraviolet germicidal irradiation) readily implemented have been modelled to calculate the CF of a single use of an FFP2 mask.

The production of textiles in PP, followed by disposal was the main contributor to CF of the single-use FFP2 mask, followed by packaging and transportations. PP and PE were the least impacting, PC, cotton and Nylon 6-6 of the same weight results the worst. PLA has an impact greater than PP and PE obtained from crude oil, followed by PUR and PS. Static laboratory oven obtained an 80.4% reduction of CF with respect to single use PP-made FFP2 mask, whereas homemade oven obtained a similar 82.2% reduction; UV cabinet is the best option, showing an 89.9% reduction.

The key strategies to reduce the environmental impacts of the masks (research for new materials and reuse with sanitisation) should ensure both the retention of filtering capacities and the sanitary sterility of the reused ones. Future developments should include evaluations of textile recycling impacts, using new materials and the evaluation of the life cycle costs of the reused masks.

This paper intends to provide to stakeholders (producers, consumers and policy makers) the tools to choose the best option for producing and reuse environmentally friendly protective facial masks to be used in the food sector, by using both different materials and easily implemented reuse strategies.

The reduction of the CF of protective facial masks in the food sector surely will have relevant positive effects on climate change contributing to reach the goals of reducing CO₂ emissions. The food sector may promote sustainable practices and attract a niche piece of clients particularly sensible to such themes.

The paper has two major novelties. The first one is the assessment of the CF of a single use of an FFP2 mask made with different materials of the non-woven filtering layers; as the major contribution to the CF of FFP2 masks is related to the non-woven textiles manufacturing, the authors test some other different materials, including PLA. The second is the assessment of the CF of one single use of a sanitised FFP2 mask, using different sanitation technologies as those allowed in bars or restaurants.

Quantitative and spatial-explicit flood risk information is of great importance for strengthening climate change adaptation and flood resilience. Shanghai is a coastal megacity at large estuary delta with rising flood risks. This study aims to quantify the overall economic-societal risks of storm flooding and their spatial patterns in Shanghai.

Based on multiple storm flood scenarios at different return periods, as well as fine-scale data sets including gridded GDP, gridded population and vector land-use, a probabilistic risk model incorporating geographic information system is used to assess the economic-societal risks of flooding and their spatial distributions.

Our results show that, from 1/200 to 1/5,000-year floods, the exposed assets will increase from USD 85.4bn to USD 657.6bn, and the direct economic losses will increase from USD 3.06bn to USD 52bn. The expected annual damage (EAD) of assets is around USD 84.36m. Hotpots of EAD are mainly distributed in the city center, the depressions along the upper Huangpu River in the southwest, the north coast of Hangzhou Bay, and the confluence of the Huangpu River and Yangtze River in the northeast. From 1/200 to 1/5,000-year floods, the exposed population will rise from 280 thousand to 2,420 thousand, and the estimated casualties will rise from 299 to 1,045. The expected annual casualties (EAC) are around 2.28. Hotspots of casualties are generally consistent with those of EAD.

In contrast to previous studies that focus on a single flood scenario or a particular type of flood exposure/risk in Shanghai, the findings contribute to an understanding of overall flood risks and their spatial patterns, which have significant implications for cost-benefit analysis of flood resilience strategies.