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The ERC-funded FRAGSUS Project (Fragility and sustainability in small island environments: adaptation, cultural change and collapse in prehistory, 2013–18), led by Caroline Malone (Queens University Belfast) has explored issues of environmental fragility and Neolithic social resilience and sustainability during the Holocene period in the Maltese Islands. This, the first volume of three, presents the palaeo-environmental story of early Maltese landscapes. The project employed a programme of high-resolution chronological and stratigraphic investigations of the valley systems on Malta and Gozo. Buried deposits extracted through coring and geoarchaeological study yielded rich and chronologically controlled data that allow an important new understanding of environmental change in the islands. The study combined AMS radiocarbon and OSL chronologies with detailed palynological, molluscan and geoarchaeological analyses. These enable environmental reconstruction of prehistoric landscapes and the changing resources exploited by the islanders between the seventh and second millennia bc. The interdisciplinary studies combined with excavated economic and environmental materials from archaeological sites allows Temple landscapes to examine the dramatic and damaging impacts made by the first farming communities on the islands’ soil and resources. The project reveals the remarkable resilience of the soil-vegetational system of the island landscapes, as well as the adaptations made by Neolithic communities to harness their productivity, in the face of climatic change and inexorable soil erosion. Neolithic people evidently understood how to maintain soil fertility and cope with the inherently unstable changing landscapes of Malta. In contrast, second millennium bc Bronze Age societies failed to adapt effectively to the long-term aridifying trend so clearly highlighted in the soil and vegetation record. This failure led to severe and irreversible erosion and very different and short-lived socio-economic systems across the Maltese islands.

Research data supporting the full paper entitled "Snail shell derived magnetic nanocatalysts for biodiesel production: Process optimization through response surface methodology, kinetics, and thermodynamic studies" by S. Ao et al. in Biomass and Bioenergy. A heterogeneous biomass-based catalyst based on CaO derived from snail shells and magnetite nanoparticles was used and recycled in the generation of biodiesel from Soybean oil. The following supporting data that characterizes the fresh and recycled catalyst and also the product(s) of biodiesel formation are deposited here: X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) data from a PANalytical X’Pert Pro diffractometer. Cu Kα radiation was used over 2theta = 10-60°, and with 40 kV and 100 mA as functional voltage and current, respectively. Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) analyses in the range 400–4000 cm-1 from a Bruker 3000 HYPERION FT-IR spectrometer. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) from a TG/DTA (Netzsch Geratebau GMBH, model no. STA 409) under air flow of 1.5 bar and 2 L h-1. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, acquired at 5kV and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) data and maps acquired at 10kV on a TESCAN MIRA3 FEG-SEM equipped with an Oxford Instruments X-maxN 80 EDS detector. Prior to SEM-EDS, samples were sputter coated with 10 nm of Pt using a Quorum Technologies Q150T ES coater. Elemental composition from an Elementar Vari EL Cube (Germany). A Quantachrome® ASiQwin™ instrument was used for analysis by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and pore volume analyser at 77 K through N2 adsorption-desorption processes. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) examination using an ESCALAB Xi+ system with a micro-focused dual-anode Al/Mg K source. Temperature-programmed desorption using a flow of helium (100 cm3 min-1) whilst heating the samples to 50 °C at a rate of 5 °C min-1. A stream of CO2 was permitted to flow over the sample after 30 minutes at this temperature. Physisorbed species were removed from the sample by passing it through a flow of helium for one hour at a rate of 100 cm3 min-1. The desorption of NH3 and CO2 was measured with a flow of helium gas at 900 °C and a temperature ramp-rate of 10 °C min-1. Inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) and C, H, N elemental analyses using a Thermo Scientific iCAP 7400 ICP-OES spectrometer and an Exeter analytical CE 440 elemental analyser (975 °C), respectively. Vibrating-sample magnetometer (VSM) data obtained from a Lake Shore 7410 series instrument. The magnetometer was calibrated using a nickel reference sphere. A 1.5 Tesla applied field maximum was used for the tests. 1H and {1H}13C NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) data from a 600 MHz JEOL ECZR series instrument at 28 °C. Signals were internally referenced against tetramethylsilane. GC (Gas chromatography) data from an Agilent 7890 GC operating in head space injector mode and with a CPSIL 8CB capillary column (30 m × 0.25 mm × 0.25 μm) employed a GC-FID detector. The oven temperature was initially 55 °C and was increased with a rate of 10 °C min-1 up to 230 °C. The temperature of the detector and the injector were 300 °C and 250 °C respectively. For quantitative analysis of the products, methanol (GC/MS grade) was used as an internal standard.

This paper examines the history of the various actual and proposed interconnectors between New South Wales and Victoria into South Australia. It covers the period from the earliest proposal for a regulated interconnector to the recent Victoria Supreme Court review and the latest ministerial proposals. It finds, inter alia, that the Supreme Court decision is likely to have strengthened, in a beneficial way, the regulatory regime for dealing with merchant interconnectors and the obligations on incumbent transmission companies. It finds that none of the proposals for regulated interconnectors did or would have passed the regulatory tests as formulated in terms of aggregate benefits to all market participants. It finds that neither of the merchant interconnectors (into South Australia and Queensland) are likely to have been profitable. It sees a possible explanation for the construction of regulated interconnectors in terms of the benefits to customers, or in terms of bringing about a single competitive market. Above all, it illustrates the political context in which decisions on interconnectors have been made, and the need to take account of such motivations when comparing the likely effects of regulated interconnectors versus merchant interconnectors

Triploidy could prevent escaped farm salmon breeding in the wild, while also improving nutrient quality within farmed fillets. Despite these potential advantages, triploid Atlantic salmon have not been widely used in aquaculture, and their reproductive function has yet to be fully evaluated. Here, we compare reproductive function and fillet composition between triploid and diploid farm salmon under standard aquaculture rearing conditions. We show that female triploids are sterile and do not develop gonads. In contrast, males produce large numbers of motile spermatozoa capable of fertilising wild salmon eggs. However, compared with diploids, reproductive development and survival rates of eggs fertilised by triploid males were significantly reduced, with less than 1% of eggs sired by triploid males reaching late eyed stages of development. Analyses of fillets showed that total lipid and fatty acid quantities were significantly lower in triploid compared to diploid Atlantic salmon fillets. However, when fatty acids were normalized to total lipid content, triploid fillets had significantly higher relative levels of important omega-3 Long Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids. Our results show that: (1) escaped triploid farm salmon are very unlikely to reproduce in the wild; and (2) if able to match diploid fillet lipid content, triploid farm salmon could achieve better fillet quality in terms of essential fatty acids. Comparisons between diploid and triploid Atlantic salmonExcel file containing all the data collected during the investigation into the reproductive maturation of triploid Atlantic salmon, their fatty acid biochemistry and how they compare to diploid conspecifics

This repository contains the data related to the Data in Brief article titled: Bulk and critical material demand for selected ‘Starter Kit’ energy system models. The data include the modeled mass of materials and their embodied emissions. A metadata file is also included to clarify the units, materials and scenario names.

Monocultural rubber plantations have replaced tropical forest, causing biodiversity loss. While protecting intact or semi-intact biodiverse forest is paramount, improving biodiversity value within the 11.4 million hectares of existing rubber plantations could offer important conservation benefits, if yields are also maintained. Some farmers practice agroforestry with high-yielding clonal rubber varieties to increase and diversify incomes. Here, we ask whether such rubber agroforestry improves biodiversity value or affects rubber yields relative to monoculture. We surveyed birds, fruit-feeding butterflies and reptiles in 25 monocultural and 39 agroforest smallholder rubber plots in Thailand, the world’s biggest rubber producer. Management and vegetation structure data were collected from each plot, and landscape composition around plots was quantified. Rubber yield data were collected for a separate set of 34 monocultural and 47 agroforest rubber plots in the same region. Reported rubber yields did not differ between agroforests and monocultures, meaning adoption of agroforestry in this context should not increase land demand for natural rubber. Butterfly richness was greater in agroforests, where richness increased with greater natural forest extent in the landscape. Bird and reptile richness were similar between agroforests and monocultures, but bird richness increased with the height of herbaceous vegetation inside rubber plots. Species composition of butterflies differed between agroforests and monocultures, and in response to natural forest extent, while bird composition was influenced by herbaceous vegetation height within plots, the density of non-rubber trees within plots (representing agroforestry complexity), and natural forest extent in the landscape. Reptile composition was influenced by canopy cover and open habitat extent in the landscape. Conservation priority and forest-dependent birds were not supported within rubber. Synthesis and applications. Rubber agroforestry using clonal varieties provides modest biodiversity benefits relative to monocultures, without compromising yields. Agroforests may also generate ecosystem service and livelihood benefits. Management of monocultural rubber production to increase inter-row vegetation height and complexity may further benefit biodiversity. However, biodiversity losses from encroachment of rubber onto forests will not be offset by rubber agroforestry or rubber plot management. This evidence is important for developing guidelines around biodiversity-friendly rubber and sustainable supply chains, and for farmers interested in diversifying rubber production. The accompanying ReadMe.txt file explains the contents of each .csv file, including definitions of each column. Sampling protocols are outlined in the paper in Journal of Applied Ecology.

Currently, fossil fuels make up a significant proportion of global energy demand and cause many concerns, such as increasing greenhouse gas emission. Therefore, there is a considerable need for cost-effective, facile and efficient processing of environmental-friendly energy harvesting and storage systems. Solar energy is one of the most promising energy sources that meet the energy demand. The silicon-based solar cells exhibit competitive power conversion efficiency and dominate the solar cell market in recent years. In contrast, organic solar cells (OSCs) have emerged as promising third-generation photovoltaic devices owing to their outstanding properties such as the potential of low-cost mass manufacturing, lightweight, mechanical flexibility and easy processability. Therefore, OSCs have received growing attention from the research community. For solar cell technologies, a smectic liquid crystal C8-BTBT was selected in Chapter 3 due to its unique thermal dynamic and crystal properties. A range of ternary OSCs with and without C8-BTBT loading at gradient weight fractions were thermally treated and fabricated. In addition, the assessment of fabricated OSCs on the photovoltaic characteristics reveals the evolution of various cell parameters with annealing temperature and C8-BTBT weight fractions. The cell with 5 wt% C8-BTBT loading exhibited the best performance after thermal annealing treatment at 120 oC. Furthermore, flexible hydrogel substrates were fabricated for flexible OSCs in Chapter 4. The PHEMA hydrogel films were optimised via adjusting photopolymerisation duration under UV light. Based on the fabricated PHEMA substrates, flexible OSCs were subsequently made, whose extracted device parameters showed comparable characteristics with those in Chapter 3. Moreover, PHEMA-based OSCs can be dissolved in different types of polar solvents, which is promising for realising sustainable and recyclable solar cells. For the development of energy storage devices, asymmetric carbon nanohorns were proposed as an active material to fabricate flexible solid‐state carbon wire (CW)‐based electrochemical supercapacitors (ss‐CWECs) which exhibited high power density and ultra‐low cutoff frequency. Based on microscopy and electrochemical characterisation, the fundamental reaction mechanism in polyvinyl‐based electrolyte system was elucidated in Chapter 5, as being associated with deprotonation reaction under the acid, base, and elevated temperature conditions. In Chapter 6, by using activated carbon, multi‐walled carbon nanotubes, and single‐wall carbon nanohorns as hybrid electrode materials (5:1:1), remarkable specific length capacitance of 48.76 mF cm−1 and charge-discharge stability (over 2000 times cycles) of ss‐CWECs were demonstrated, which are the highest reported to date. Furthermore, a high‐pass filter for eliminating ultra‐low electronic noise was demonstrated, enabling an optical Morse Code communication system to be operated. vThe collective works in this thesis demonstrate novel energy conversion and storage applications with the liquid crystal in OSCs and carbon nanoparticles in supercapacitors. These results provide a step forwards in the development of energy conversion and storage devices for a more efficient energy system.

There is an increasing strategic imperative for leading manufactures to rethink their operations, particularly within the context of the sustainable development goals (SDGs), and their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitments. Today, ESG performance is a critical component of business strategy, and a source of competitive advantage. From a strategic operations management perspective, an under explored dimension is the role mergers & acquisitions (M&A) plays in enhancing the ESG profile of an organisation, and that of its product supply chain. While outcomes from M&A may produce mixed financial results, the challenges of enhancing post-merger ESG performance is not well understood in the operations management literature, or practically considered during M&A, representing a gap of both theoretical and practical relevance. The objective of this research is to study sustainable supply chains enabled by M&A, by examining motivations, strategic considerations, and integration outcomes from a capabilities perspective. The research question is: How might sustainable supply chain perspectives inform M&A? A multiple case study research approach was adopted, drawing upon eight in-depth product-supply chain M&A transactions within the agri-food and energy sectors. These industries were selected based on their recent volume of M&A activity, and their increasing strategic significance on sustainability. This research contributes to two main streams of sustainable supply chain theory: theory describing supply chain strategies for competitive advantage, and those theories for developing organisational and performance processes for operations sustainability. This thesis contributes five new insights relevant to firms active in M&A, with ambitious sustainable supply chain goals. Firstly, a deal analysis and maturity model framework, integrating key concepts from sustainable supply chain management and the M&A process literature is defined. Secondly, existing merger motives that explain M&A target selection are expanded to include product stewardship, firm ESG performance, and network transformation as sustainable supply chain motivations. Thirdly, this research provides insight into the strategic considerations of relevance by M&A process phase when executing sustainability-targeted M&A. Fourthly, the integration outcomes that are enabled by sustainable supply chain M&A are identified. Finally, propositions for sustainable supply chains are identified that define the relationship between the merger motivations, strategic considerations, and integration outcomes. Together, these form a substantive sustainable supply chain management premise, and a new organisational process perspective for operations sustainability-enabled M&A. This research is of relevance to managerial practitioners in part due to the increasing stakeholder interest in operations sustainability and ESG performance. Industrial sectors and firms with ambitious ‘net-zero’ transition agendas will find the merger motives, strategic considerations, integration outcomes, and resulting operations-sustainability M&A deal archetypes of practical relevance. The four emergent deal archetypes are 1 (passive), 2 (pragmatic), 3 (ideological), and 4 (regenerative). Furthermore, private equity firms and corporate development officers exploring divestment opportunities might utilise this operations-sustainability enabled M&A perspective to inform due diligence and supply chain ESG risk management.