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The maritime supply chain is a colossal ecosystem and the interface of the intercontinental trade market. Within this ecosystem, freight transportation is considered a fundamental component of all supply chain systems. As a matter of its demanding multimodal and intermodal character, freight transportation is a highly competitive market where actors involved, demand reliable and high-quality services at competitive prices. However, even though its systems keep evolving, being spurred by developments at multiple levels, the maritime actors' fundamental operational processes keep an unprecedented low pace of evolution and transformation, and the maritime supply chain market is considered to be as hyper-fragmented as ever. This paper investigates how the effective, efficient, and sustainable matching of the demand and supply needs of the actors involved in the maritime supply chain domain can be strategically achieved and supported through specialised information systems. The paper, also presents a holistic framework for designing these systems. The analysis was based on the outcomes received from a number of interviews conducted with strategically positioned experts, pointing out their emerging needs and the challenges they face. The outcomes showed that digital transformation is still in its infancy but that the embracement of a decision-matchmaking system could be a real game changer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oleaginous yeasts have attracted increasing scientific interest as single cell oil (SCO) producers. SCO can be used as a fossil-free fuel substitute, but also as a source of rarely found odd-chain fatty acids (OCFAs), such as C15, C17, and C25 fatty acids which have a wide range of nutritional and biological applications. Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) have gained interest as sustainable carbon source for yeasts. This study aims to improve current knowledge on yeast species that yield high amounts of SCO using VFAs as a carbon source. Specifically, the growth of the promising yeasts Cryptococcus curvatus and Rhodotorula toruloides was evaluated on individual VFAs, such as acetic, propionic, and butyric acid. C. curvatus proved to be more tolerant in higher concentrations of VFAs (up to 60 g/L), while butyric acid favored biomass and lipid conversion (0.65 and 0.23 g/gsubstrate, respectively). For R. toruloides, butyric acid favored biomass conversion (0.48 g/gsubstrate), but lipid conversion was favored using acetic acid, instead (0.14 g/gsubstrate). Propionic acid induced the formation of OCFAs, which yielded higher amounts for C. curvatus (up to 2.17 g/L). VFAs derived from the anaerobic digestion of brewer's spent grain were tested as a cost-competitive carbon source and illustrated the significance of the combination of different VFAs in the quality of the produced SCO, by improving the biodiesel properties and OCFAs production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatio-temporal dynamics of urban development can effectively be considered as a stepping stone for urban planning, decision-making and resource use and conservation. Consecutive satellite observations of night anthropogenic lighting and their profound study have provided beneficial estimators of both demographic and socio-economic dynamics. In the light of the above, the main aim of this paper is to examine the seasonal changes in night-time satellite images, and their correlation with the touristic activity in European Union (EU) countries. This study is conducted using 2012 and 2013 earth observation (night light imaginary from Defence Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP; yearly basis) and visible infrared imaging radiometer suite (VIIRS; seasonal basis) satellite programmes) and statistical data associated with the touristic activity (total nights spent) on a country level (NUTS 0). These data were processed using both remote sensing techniques, geographic information system (GIS) and statistical analyses (linear regression and geographically weighted regression (GWR)). The research results show that the night-time light emissions are highly correlated with the touristic activity and that the GWR proved to be an effective tool for the investigation of this relationship. However, a number of additional parameters should be further considered before determining the ability and the accuracy of the nightlight imaginary in the assessment of the touristic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]