Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) is an essential crop in the Paraguayan diet. It plays a crucial role in food security. It is a source of income for family agriculture. It has a significant potential to adapt to various climatic and soil conditions in Paraguay, making it a promising crop for improving productivity. However, Paraguay faces a deficit in the development of sweet potato cultivation technology, resulting in a low productivity of 5.3 ton/ha. Efforts have been made to collect and characterize sweet potato genotypes, covering a diversity of native varieties. These efforts have laid the groundwork for future sweet potato research and development. Still, ongoing research and development of strategies are needed to address existing challenges of improving genetic resource traits and developing cultivation technology and to fully exploit growth opportunities in this sector. This review summarizes sweet potato cultivation in Paraguay, focusing on several key technical aspects. It analyzes current market situation and production conditions as well as the availability of genetic materials adapted to different ecoregions. Additionally, it explores prospects for the development of advanced sweet potato crops, including the production of high-quality, virus-free sweet potato plants with improved productivity.

장미 속은 오랜 시간에 걸쳐 잡종화, 배수화 및 육종 등을 통해 약 250개의 종과 30,000여 품종이 존재하는 진화 역사를 가지고 있으며, 다양한 분류체계로 구분되고 있다. 이에, 본 연구 는 장미 속 자원의 다양성을 평가하고 자생식물 해당화의 육종적 활용을 위해 수행되었다. 장미 속 자원의 형태학적 다양성을 확인하기 위해 장미 속 자원 303점에 대해 형태적 특성조사를 실시하고 해당화 및 장미 속 자원 29점을 선발하여 SSR 분석을 실시하였다. 추가적으로, 해당화의 육종적 활용을 위한 자원 6점 을 선발하고 화분 검정을 실시하였다. 본 연구의 결과, 장미 속 자원 303점의 다양성 평가 결과에서 유사한 형태적 특징을 지닌 자원끼리 7개 그룹으로 나뉘었다. 선발된 29개 자원의 형태학적 데이터와 분자학적 데이터를 이용한 군집 분석 결과, 데이터의 유사성을 보인 자원끼리 각각 5개, 4개 그룹으로 구분되었다. 또한, 혼합분석 시에는 3개 그룹으로 확인되었다. 분류 결과를 바탕으로 자생 식물을 이용한 정원장미 육종을 위해 각각 특성이 다른 해당화를 3점 선발하였고 장미 속 자원에 속하는 정원 장미 3점을 선발하여 총 6자원을 선발하였다. 선발된 자원의 화분 검정 결과, 종간 교잡체를 제외한 5가지 자원에서 90% 이상의 정상화분율을 확인하였다. 본 결과는 자생식물 해당화를 재평가 하고 정원 장미 육종 전략 수립에 도움이 될 것으로 기대된다.

현대 사회에서 음악은 일상생활에 깊숙이 자리 잡아, 개인의 음악적 취향과 감정 상태에 맞는 콘텐츠를 손쉽게 찾고 소비하는 것이 중요해지고 있다. 콘텐츠 소비 증가와 더불어 제작 속도 및 효율 또한 중요한 요소로 부상하고 있다. 그러나 기존 음악 콘텐츠 제작 방식은 주로 기존 음악을 플레이리스트로 만들고 간단한 애니메이션이나 이미지를 영상으로 추가하는 방식이다. 이러한 한계를 극복하고자, 인공지능(AI) 기술을 활용하여 사용자 맞춤형 음악을 생성하고 콘 텐츠를 제공하는 어플리케이션을 개발하였다. AI 모델을 통해 사용자의 감정 상태를 분석하고, 이를 기반으로 음악적 요소를 최적화하여 개인화된 음악 콘텐츠를 생성하는 것에 목표를 두었 다. Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients(MFCC)와 템포 분석을 통해 음악 데이터의 특징을 추출하고, 이를 기반으로 사용자 감정에 부합하는 프롬프트를 생성하였다. 생성된 프롬프트는 MusicGen 모델에 입력되어, 사용자의 감정 상태와 음악적 취향을 반영한 새로운 음악을 생성 하는 데 활용하였다. 또한, ComfyUI를 활용하여 텍스트-이미지-비디오 변환 파이프라인을 구 축함으로써, 생성된 프롬프트를 기반으로 다양한 멀티미디어 콘텐츠 제작을 가능하게 하였다. 기존 음악 콘텐츠 제작 방식의 시간 및 비용 문제를 해결하고, 사용자에게 보다 정교하고 개 인화된 음악 경험을 제공하는 데 기여할 수 있을 것으로 기대된다. 향후 다양한 분야에서의 응용 가능성을 제시한다.

Today, the principles of green chemistry are being fundamentally applied in the chemical industry, such as the nitrobenzene industry, which is an essential intermediate for various commercial products. Research on the application of response surface methodology (RSM) to optimize nitrobenzene synthesis was conducted using a sulfated silica (SO4/SiO2) catalyst and batch microwave reactor. The nitrobenzene synthesis process was carried out according to RSM using a central composite design (CCD) design for three independent variables, consisting of sulfuric acid concentration on the silica (%), stirring time (min), and reaction temperature (°C), and the response variable of nitrobenzene yield (%). The results showed that a three-factorial design using the response surface method could determine the optimum conditions for obtaining nitrobenzene products in a batch microwave reactor. The optimum condition for a nitrobenzene yield of 63.38 % can be obtained at a sulfuric acid concentration on the silica of 91.20 %, stirring time of 140.45 min, and reaction temperature of 58.14 °C. From the 20 experiments conducted, the SO4/SiO2 catalyst showed a selectivity of 100 %, which means that this solid acid catalyst can potentially work well in converting benzene to nitrobenzene.

Carbon foam composites containing hollow microspheres, reinforced by carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and montmorillonite (MMT), have been developed as the thermal insulation and EMI shielding layer. The effects of additive amounts of CNTs/ MMT on microstructure and properties of the carbon foam composites were investigated. Results showed that carbon foam composites had hierarchical porous structure, with CNTs and MMT being relatively uniformly dispersed in the composites. The addition of multiscale additives improved the mechanical, electromagnetic shielding effectiveness and thermal insulation properties of carbon foam composites. The composites containing 0.2 wt.% CNTs and 5 wt.% MMT, showed outstanding compressive strength, up to 8.54 MPa, increased by 116% to pure carbon foam. Their electromagnetic shielding effectiveness was as high as 65 dB, increased by 75%. Due to the hierarchical porous structure and MMT’s heat barrier effect, carbon foam composites presented remarkable thermal insulation properties. The minimum thermal conductivity was 0.45 W·m−1·K−1 at 800 °C. Their exceptional thermal protection can also be evidenced by ablation resistance under flame at 1000 °C. Therefore, such multifunctional carbon-based composites are ideal for use in thermal protection.

Moso bamboo, as a kind of renewable functional material, exhibits outstanding development potential. It is promising to prepare activated carbon with good mechanical strength and high specific surface area using moso bamboo as raw material. In this work, we employed a hydraulic extruder to extrude the bamboo charcoal and the adhesive to obtain the moso bamboo activated carbon, and improved the specific surface area of the columnar activated carbon through high-temperature water vapor activation. Through the catalytic role of the water vapor activation process, the formation and expansion of the pores were promoted and the internal pores were greatly increased. The obtained columnar activated carbon shows excellent mechanical strength (93%) and high specific surface area (791.54 m2/ g). Polyacrylamide@asphalt is one of the most effective adhesives in the high-temperature water vapor activation. The average pore size (22.99 nm) and pore volume (0.36 cm3/ g) of the prepared columnar activated carbon showed a high mesoporous ratio (83%). Based on the excellent pore structure brought by the activation process, the adsorption capacity of iodine (1135.75 mg/g), methylene blue (230 mg/g) and carbon tetrachloride (64.03 mg/g) were greatly improved. The resultant moso bamboo columnar activated carbon with high specific surface area, excellent mechanical properties, and outstanding adsorption capacity possesses a wide range of industrial applications and environmental protection potential.

The intensive development of the petrochemical industry globally reflects the necessity of an efficient approach for oily sludge and wastewater. Hence, for the first time, the current study utilized magnetic waxy diesel sludge (MWOPS) to synthesize activated carbon coated with TiO2 particles for the removal of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) and COD from oily petroleum wastewater (OPW). The photocatalyst was characterized using CHNOS, elemental analysis was performed using X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HR-TEM), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR), Raman, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), MAP thermo-gravimetric analysis/ differential thermo-gravimetric (TGA–DTG), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The optimization of synthesized highly porous AC/Fe3O4/TiO2 photocatalyst was conducted considering the impacts of pH, temperature, photocatalyst dosage, and UVA6W exposure time. The results demonstrated the high capacity of the MWOPS with inherent magnetic potential and desired carbon content for the removal of 91% and 93% of TPH and COD, respectively. The optimum conditions for the OPW treatment were obtained at pH 6.5, photocatalyst dosage of 250 mg, temperature of 35 °C, and UVA6W exposure time of 67.5 min. Moreover, the isotherm/kinetic modeling illustrated simultaneous physisorption and chemisorption on heterogeneous and multilayer surfaces. Notably, the adsorption efficiency of the AC/Fe3O4/TiO2 decreased by 4% after five adsorption/desorption cycles. Accordingly, the application of a well-designed pioneering photocatalyst from the MWOPS provides a cost-effective approach for industry manufacturers for oily wastewater treatment.

This study responds to literature calls to investigate the different social and psychological antecedents of negative consumer emotional well-being in the context of the health crisis Covid-19. We perform a path analysis on a sample of Australian consumers during the Covid-19 lockdown. We find that social norms and word-ofmouth increase consumer fear-of-missing-out which in turn fuels panic buying behavior. Such behavior is moreover spurred by positive motivations to panic buy. By contrast, we find that consumer ability to self-regulate during Covid-19’s reduces their tendencies to succumb to panic buying. We moreover find that such self-regulation is enhanced through sustainable product consumption behavior during Covid-19. Lastly, it was found that panic buying has a negative influence on emotional well-being of consumers. Implications of our findings for theory and future research directions are provided.

This research aims to analyse consumers’ (Millennials and Gen Z) luxury consumption behaviour by focusing on the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations that drive consumption of luxury goods. Then, the study investigates whether they prefer to purchase offline or online for luxury goods. Lastly, it analyses which media most influences individuals when it comes to luxury consumption. An online survey is developed and distributed to Millennials and Gen Z. A first round of data collection took place in 2022 and a second round of data collection will take place at the beginning of 2024. Initial findings show that consumers are driven by intrinsic rather than extrinsic motivations when purchasing and who influences more when buying luxury online. Furthermore, it emerges that consumers prefer to shop offline, highlighting the importance of physical stores.