Month: April 2024

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Because tree seeds have been considered a low-risk pathway for the spread of plant pathogenic fungi, their international movement is not subject to strict phytosanitary regulation. However, recent studies have provided scientific evidence that the biosecurity risk of seed trade may not be as negligible as assumed. This review summarises current knowledge about seed trade activity across the world and seed-borne plant pathogenic fungi and highlights knowledge gaps that need to be filled to mitigate the risk of spreading tree pathogens via seeds.

Recent Findings

Several outbreaks of severe tree diseases in natural forests and plantations worldwide have been linked to fungal pathogens spread by seed trade. Indeed, recent studies based on modern sequencing technologies have shown that tree seeds harbour highly diverse fungal communities, including well-known pathogens and fungal taxa belonging to unknown species. While it has become clear that even apparently healthy seeds can carry potentially pathogenic fungi, the likelihood of seed-borne pathogens being introduced and becoming established, spreading and causing impact in the new environment is still unclear which challenges the assessment of the phytosanitary risk posed by seed trade.

Summary

Our analyses show that large amounts of tree seeds have been traded among countries and continents. Based on published literature, the risk of spreading pathogenic fungi via tree seed movement is high. However, the role of the taxonomically and functionally diverse fungal communities associated with seeds is still poorly understood. In particular, more research is needed to assess the likelihood of seed-borne fungi being transmitted to the seedlings and spreading and causing impact in the new environment.

Abstract

As a supporting factor, transportation is an important element of destination image that provides a base for the successful tourism industry. It is like the blood vessels of an area and is considered a determinant in developing a tourist destination. The article aims to characterize the status or problem of transportation accessibility in Kinnaur. GARMIN hand GPS (Global Positioning System) has been used to identify the damaged roads from their start to endpoints. In addition, a simple random sample technique has been used to register the opinion of 280 tourists about the transport facilities. Study results suggest that the bad condition of National Highway–22 is one of the barriers to tourism development in Kinnaur. There were no significant differences found between the selected destinations. Overall, the district headquarters, Kalpa, has been perceived significantly higher agreements by tourists. The government should ensure that the Border Road Organization, the organization entrusted with the responsibility of construction and maintenance of roads in international border areas, has sufficient resources to invest in transport development and its maintenance.

Abstract

Climate change and global warming have made clear the need to change the way we generate and consume energy. To achieve this objective, a sustainable energy transition that encourages the use of renewable energy sources is needed. This study presents an optimization model, which allows the planning of a sustainable electricity system on a large scale, to replace some non-renewable power plants with renewables. The installation of new transmission lines is considered to avoid the oversizing of the new installed capacity, as well as the increase in the energy security of the isolated regions taking advantage of the temporary generation of renewable energies. The optimal solution is achieved by simultaneously minimizing the costs, greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption using a multi-stakeholder approach. To show the applicability of the proposed model, it is presented a case study of the Mexican electricity system. The results show that planning the expansion of generation and transmission capacities using the proposed model decreases water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by up to 45 percent considering an increase in energy demand, as a result of demographic and industrial growth.

Graphical Abstract

Abstract

Nowadays, blockchain has become increasingly popular due to its promise of supporting critical business services in various areas. Blockchain systems, like Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric, rely on sophisticated middleware, which enables the execution of smart contracts. Smart contracts define the business logic within cooperative applications. Detecting attacks and vulnerabilities within blockchain is a crucial issue for ensuring the security of different generations of blockchains. Testing a blockchain application serves multiple purposes: it ensures its quality, maximizes test coverage, and minimizes the risks associated with insufficient knowledge that could potentially impact the software development process. That is why several static analysis tools targeting Ethereum smart contracts and Hyperledger Fabric chaincode have recently been proposed by the blockchain research community. However, the efficiency of these analysis tools remains an open issue that requires further investigation. In this context, this paper presents a new taxonomy related to attacks targeting different generations of blockchain and evaluates the available analysis tools that can be utilized to assess the resilience of blockchain 2.0 and blockchain 3.0 against a range of vulnerabilities and attacks. Additionally, this study presents two quantitative analyses: one assessing the performance of tools in evaluating smart contract vulnerabilities within blockchain 2.0, and another analyzing the performance of tools in assessing blockchain 3.0 vulnerabilities within chaincode. Furthermore, this comprehensive study holds value for the research community as it considers various generations of blockchain.

Abstract

The concept of geo-localization broadly refers to the process of determining an entity’s geographical location, typically in the form of Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates. The entity of interest may be an image, a sequence of images, a video, a satellite image, or even objects visible within the image. Recently, massive datasets of GPS-tagged media have become available due to smartphones and the internet, and deep learning has risen to prominence and enhanced the performance capabilities of machine learning models. These developments have enabled the rise of image and object geo-localization, which has impacted a wide range of applications such as augmented reality, robotics, self-driving vehicles, road maintenance, and 3D reconstruction. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of visual geo-localization, which may involve either determining the location at which an image has been captured (image geo-localization) or geolocating objects within an image (object geo-localization). We will provide an in-depth study of visual geo-localization including a summary of popular algorithms, a description of proposed datasets, and an analysis of performance results to illustrate the current state of the field.

Abstract

The advent of new technologies and applications coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic tremendously increased cloud computing adoption in private and public institutions (government) and raised the demand for communication and access to a shared pool of resources and storage capabilities. Governments across the globe are moving to the cloud to improve services, reduce costs, and increase effectiveness and efficiency while fostering innovation and citizen engagement. However, information security and privacy concerns raised in the past remain significant to government adoption and utilisation of cloud computing. The study conducts a systematic literature review (SLR) using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) approach to examine information security and privacy as the fundamental challenges to government intention to adopt cloud computing. This study screened 758 articles and included 33 articles that revealed information security and privacy as critical factors and barriers to adopting cloud computing through a systematic evaluation (PRISMA approach). The combined two factors contributed 70% of the significant gaps to the cloud computing adoption challenges. In contrast, the individual contribution of information security and privacy as a significant gap to the challenges of cloud adoption yielded 9% and 12%, respectively. Furthermore, 9% of the authors recognised the need for a framework to address the challenges but could not attempt to develop the framework. The study contributes to the information security body of knowledge, PRISMA studies and provides direction in proposing strategies and frameworks to tackle information security and privacy challenges as future research.