Many countries with lower research & innovation capacity face persistent constraints in building stable research systems. Chronic underfunding and weak science policy reduce institutional capacity and limit researchers' career prospects. These conditions encourage brain drain, particularly among early-career scientists who seek predictable funding, transparent evaluation, and merit-based advancement. As a result, research institutions lose skilled personnel, which weakens scientific training, governance, and research output. Additionally, within this environment, predatory publishing practices create further damage. These scientific outlets reward volume over quality, thus distorting evaluation criteria. They promote negative selection by favouring speed of publication at the expense of rigorous peer review. Over time, this weakens academic standards and undermines trust in the research output. The result is a decline in scientific credibility and an overall reduction in international competitiveness. Although predatory publishing is motivated by financial gain, it results in serious institutional consequences. It directly reshapes hiring, promotion, and funding decisions in ways that disadvantage high-quality research. This contributes to the erosion of both research integrity and academic communities.

We investigated the effectiveness of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) covers in reducing landfill emissions of hydrogen sulphide (H2S), ammonia (NH3), and inhalable particulate matter smaller than 10 μm in diameter (PM10) at the Waste Management Centre Marišćina (Croatia) by comparing air quality data from 2018, prior to the installation of the HDPE cover, with data from 2021, post-installation. The results demonstrate a significant reduction in H2S and PM10 concentrations (36.76 % and 24.18 %, respectively). However, NH3 levels unexpectedly increased by 20.48 %, suggesting the presence of additional sources of ammonia in the vicinity of the centre or changes in landfill microenvironment. Our findings highlight the effectiveness of HDPE covers in controlling specific landfill emissions and the need for a comprehensive environmental management strategy to address all pollutants. Future research should also investigate the long-term effects of HDPE cover on landfill emissions and how they could contribute to broader environmental goals, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving air quality.

The aim of the present study was to determine the levels of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity in the tail muscle tissue of wild populations of Nephrops norvegicus from the Northern Adriatic, and correlate it to body size, seasons, sex and the content of mercury, arsenic, cadmium, lead and copper. The animals of both sexes were collected in spring and autumn from two relatively distant fishing grounds. A marked variability of muscle AChE activity was found (0.49 to 11.22 nmol/min/mg prot.), displaying the opposite seasonal trend between two sampling sites. Small, but significant negative correlation has been found between AChE activity and carapace length (rs = -0.35, p<0.05). Data reported here provide an essential baseline for future studies of neurotoxicity in crustaceans. The study highlights the necessity for continuous monitoring of potentially toxic metals in edible marine species to avoid possible repercussions of seafood consumption on human health.

Environmental protection is becoming increasingly important in the maritime sector, particularly in the port area. Both sectors have a significant impact on the environment due to activities such as cargo handling, road and rail traffic and marine vessel operations. One of the significant aspects of port operations is emissions to the atmosphere. However, building atmospheric emission inventories in ports is a challenging task that includes intensive data collection campaigns as well as significant financial investments in data processing and analysis. This assists the decision-makers to undertake timely corrective actions and curb adverse impacts. However, current methodologies for building emission inventories have a considerable time lag since emissions are evaluated weeks or months after they have occurred. This paper aims at solving this issue by providing a methodology for building air emission inventories in real-time using IoT data sources with an emphasis on building comprehensive emission inventories in an automated fashion. To validate the approach, an atmospheric emission inventory was built based on Internet of Things (IoT) data for the port of Piraeus. The results indicate that nitrogen oxides (NOX) emissions are prevalent during both operating phases of vessels, followed by sulphur oxides (SOX) emissions. Non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC) and particulate matter (PM) emissions are considerably lower. Emissions during hotelling time are on average 7.1 time higher than the emission generated during the vessel manoeuvring time. In the discussion section, the advantages and constraints of the approach are given with guidelines for further refinement of the proposed methodology.

The increasing exchange of goods by sea is contributing significantly to pollution in port areas. Although several methods have been developed to assess the environmental performance of ports, most of them have shortcomings including a qualitative-only approach and self-assessment of environmental performance. Therefore, there is a pressing need to develop a different approach based on quantitative measurements obtained through measurements at ports. In this paper we present the Port Environmental Index (PEI), a quantitative composite index of port environmental performance driven by IoT. The index allows for environmental measurements to be collected in real time or close to real time through sensors providing an assessment of a port’s environmental performance in real time. In addition, since the methodology for creating the index is standardised, the index makes it possible to compare different ports and rank them in terms of their environmental performance. As a proof of concept (PoC) this paper also describes the application of the index to the port of Thessaloniki (Greece).

In this paper collection and transfer operations of recyclable fractions of mixed municipal solid waste in the city of Rijeka, Croatia have been analysed. Using available information coupled with data obtained from the relevant scientific and technical literature an exercise in sizing the number waste bins needed for the collection of recyclables has been performed and the results were compared with the current system. The findings point out that the system is over capacitated for paper and glass fractions and under-capacitated for the plastics, metal, and multilayer packaging. It can be concluded that collection schemas for recyclables in cities are often not optimally designed and clearly structured, documented, and transparent systems are needed when designing and operating mixed municipal waste collection schemas in cities.

With this study we challenge the widely held assumption that sulphur-containing compounds in ambient air are good indicators of the presence noxious odours near waste management facilities. We analysed an extensive set of olfactometric data and data on the concentrations of hydrogen sulphide and trace sulphur compounds (TSCs) near a waste management facility in Croatia in 2021. The results show that the presence of noxious odours significantly correlates only with the concentrations of hydrogen sulphide and methyl mercaptan in ambient air but not with other measured TSCs. Thus, in addition to the measurement of pollutants in ambient air, Integrated Pollution and Prevention Control (IPPC) permits should mandate olfactometric measurements to detect and mitigate noxious odours near waste management facilities.

Today, most products have a comparatively short lifespan and are being disposed of at an accelerating rate. As a result, waste management is rapidly becoming one of the most pressing global environmental issues. The European Union, for example, is experiencing a continuous rise in the amount of waste produced, with the most recent statistic reporting that, on average, in EU27 countries each person generates 530 kg of municipal solid waste (MSW) annually (1). To address this problem, the EU mandates a so-called “waste management hierarchy”, which prioritizes waste prevention and minimization as the preferred methods of managing waste. Material recovery and recycling are also prioritized. In contrast, thermal treatment of waste and landfilling are the least favoured methods due to concerns about their potential adverse health and environmental effects.

This study focuses on the health risk assessment of arsenic (As), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and selenium (Se) concentrations in seafood species commonly consumed in the northwestern region of Croatia. By measuring the concentrations of these elements coupled with data on seafood consumption, the health risks were evaluated using Target Hazard Quotients and Hazard Indexes. The results indicate a slightly increased health risks linked to seafood consumption for As, Cu and Zn in some of the tested seafood species. The findings of this study highlight the critical need for stronger food quality control measures, especially targeting certain types of seafood.

Emissions of odorous compounds are major contributors to public opposition when siting waste management facilities. Thus, it is essential to understand how to minimise the concentration of odour-causing chemicals in ambient air surrounding such facilities. Although the concentration of pollutants in the atmosphere is a function of meteorology, there is limited data on the atmospheric parameters that drive ambient air concentrations of odour-causing substances in settlements near waste management facilities. Here, we analysed how temperature, wind direction, wind speed, atmospheric pressure and humidity impact the concentrations of hydrogen sulphide (H 2 S) in the ambient air, a potentially toxic chemical and a chief contributor to noxious odours. The relative contribution of each variable was assessed using multivariate statistical analysis applied to an extensive data set of over 7,000 data points collected during 2021. Our results show that all tested atmospheric parameters significantly affected H 2 S concentrations in ambient air. Wind direction had the greatest impact on H 2 S concentrations, followed by temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure and wind speed. Specifically, the concentration of H 2 S was positively correlated with humidity and atmospheric pressure and had a U-shaped correlation with temperature. Atmospheric variables were able to explain 15% of variation in H 2 S concentrations ( R 2 = 15%), indicating the presence of other factors affecting H 2 S ambient air concentrations. Our study shows that proper consideration of atmospheric parameters, especially wind direction and temperatures, is of uttermost importance when siting waste management facilities. The conclusions are broadly applicable to odorous compounds near waste management facilities, so adverse effects to human health and the environment can be minimised.

The aim of this mini review is to outline the currently existing methods of energy recovery from municipal solid waste (MSW), including incineration, pyrolysis, anaerobic digestion, and landfill gas recovery and utilization, providing tentative suggestions for further research. Through a comparative analysis of these technologies, the paper evaluates their feasibility in the context of MSW management and presents current research related to these technologies. Incineration and landfill gas capture and utilization emerge as the most prominent options for energy recovery from municipal solid waste. Incineration effectively reduces waste volume, sanitize the waste, and generates electricity and heat, while landfill gas capture uses methane emissions from the decomposition of landfilled waste to generate electricity and reduce environmental impact. Pyrolysis and anaerobic digestion, on the other hand, have limited use for obtaining energy from MSW due to their complex processes and challenges associated with heterogeneous MSW composition and there are problems that needs to be addressed before their successful application at an industrial scale. In addition, the paper analyses the thermal treatment of waste in the context of the waste management hierarchy. This review underscores the importance of matching technology choices to waste characteristics and highlights the importance of tailored approaches in waste management in general and Waste-to-Energy projects in particular.

For some sound sources, the function of the square of sound pressure amplitudes on the sphere in the far field is an integrable function or can be integrated with geometrical simplifications, so an exact or approximated analytical expression for the sound power can be calculated. However, often the sound pressure on the sphere in the far field can only be defined in discrete points, for which a numerical integration is required for the calculation of the sound power. In this paper, two new algorithms, Anchored Radially Projected Integration on Spherical Triangles (ARPIST) and Spherical Quadrature Radial Basis Function (SQRBF), for surface numerical integration are used to calculate the sound power from the sound pressures on the sphere surface in the far field, and their solutions are compared with the analytical and the finite element method solution. If function values are available at any location on a sphere, ARPIST has a greater accuracy and stability than SQRBF while being faster and easier to implement. If function values are available only at user-prescribed locations, SQRBF can directly calculate weights while ARPIST needs data interpolation to obtain function values at predefined node locations, which reduces the accuracy and increases the calculation time.

The purpose of this case study was to assess the potential for combined heat and power (CHP) generation in Croatia using mixed municipal waste (MMW) as the fuel source. Calculations were based on waste composition by identifiable items coupled with heating values obtained from the technical and scientific literature. The results of the study suggest that MMW could generate between 1.79% and 5.72% of Croatia's electricity needs and provide between 1.099.683 and 343.652 GJ of thermal energy per year, depending on the amount of waste diverted to recycling. The research emphasizes the importance of WtE as a safe and environmentally friendly solution to waste management problems.

The following study aims at assessing the health risks associated with the consumption of the most commonly consumed seafood in the north-western part of Croatia due to the presence of heavy metals. Samples of seafood were collected and analysed for lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and mercury (Hg) content. Analyses of Cd and Pb were carried out by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) whereas Hg content was measured using atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). Metal concentrations were in the following order Hg > Pb > Cd for the gilthead seabream, European hake, sardines, and tuna fish whereas in the Patagonian squid cadmium (Cd) was the heavy metal with the highest concentration, with the order of other metals being Cd > Hg > Pb. The heavy metal concentrations have been used to address the health risks using the Estimated Weekly Intake (EWI), Target Hazard Quotients (THQ), and Hazard Indices (HI). The findings revealed that the concentrations of the tested heavy metals, expressed on a per wet weight basis, did not exceed the Maximum Residue Levels (MRL) for those compounds mandated by national Croatian legislation. However, the HI for Hg was above 1, indicating a risk of adverse health effects due to the presence of this heavy metal in the consumed seafood. We conclude that the consumption of certain type of seafood such as the tuna fish should be limited when sensitive segments of the population such as children, elderly and pregnant women are concerned. Our results strongly advocate for a more stringent seafood quality control in the region.

Fish makes an important part of the Mediterranean diet, which has been scientifically proven to help preserve human health by protecting against major chronic and inflammatory diseases. Eating fish and seafood is very important, not only for its proven health benefits but also for its positive impact on the environment. Due to many fish and seafood significant positive effects on human health, this study aimed to investigate the socio-demographic factors associated with the consumption of fish and seafood in the population of Primorsko-goranska County in Croatia. Another aim was to determine people's attitudes, choices, and reasons for the consumption of fish and seafood. Self-reported data from 2,910 participants were used. According to the European dietary recommendations for fish consumption, the participants were divided into two groups; the very low to low fish consumption group and the moderate to high fish consumption group, in order to examine the differences in socio-demographic and lifestyle variables, and their attitudes, opinions, and reasons for fish and seafood consumption. More fish and seafood were consumed by women, the elderly, the more educated, non-smokers, and more physically active participants. Age, the highest level of education, and a diet even moderately adherent to the Mediterranean diet was found to significantly increase the likelihood of recommended fish consumption. Participants considered the best reasons to consume more fish lower prices, buy much more locally produced fishery products, and prefer to eat wild-caught fish rather than farmed fish. The study has found a slight increase in fish consumption, although still lower than the European average. It also showed significant socio-demographic associations, also the reasons and attitudes toward higher fish and seafood consumption of the Croatian population. The obtained research data are valuable for planning future public health programs in Croatia aimed at greater consumption of fish and seafood, as well as their promotion as an important part of a sustainable diet.

The digitalization is undeniably arriving to the port industry.However, modern digital technologies had not pervaded before in the sector because of, mainly, ports' complexity and heterogeneity as wide ecosystems.When it comes to applying innovative digital tools in maritime ports, a series of additional common barriers are usually faced: (i) unavailability of clear reference in open-source based technologies, (ii) closed-environments and high pricing rates of private providers, (iii) restricting regulations inside and outside the ports preventing port authorities to deploy useful products and (iv) high heterogeneity of objectives, data or perspectives to carry out focused accountable actions.The PIXEL project has helped ports of all sizes to overcome those barriers during the last three years.Throughout a variety of domains of action -including clean energy, environmental performance, smart intermodal transport or machine learning-based maritime data analytics, PIXEL has addressed those hindrances, driving four European ports towards the Port of The Future stand.The different open applications developed form an ecosystem that may be adopted by external ports aiming at improving their digitalisation levels and their operational and environmental performance.For the 2021 edition, we are presenting the suite of tools deployed in the ports in the context of the action, their success stories and best practices, and how they can be leveraged by worldwide maritime transport entities in the future.It is our objective to provide a comprehensive review of their functioning, technical traits and particularities and how they are planned to be exploited by the Consortium.The PIXEL team truly believes that this will mean a milestone in the operational research field for the ports sector.Finally, we aim at offering a perspective on the usage of modern technologies in maritime ports based on the experience and lessons learned in the conduction of PIXEL project and the interaction with other initiatives in the period 2018-2021.

In recent years, exchange of goods around the world has mostly been done by the sea, which increased the pollution coming from the port areas. Activities connected with shipping and handling of goods in ports may harm both human health and the environment. These activities include different (mostly diesel-fueled) machinery used in ports, resulting in air emissions including GHG, NOX, SOX, PM, etc. Besides air pollution, port activities affect noise, light, and odor emission, waste accumulation and water pollution. Existing methodologies for estimating environmental impacts of port activities are mostly qualitative and include self-assessment methods which can often lead to biased results. Because of that, there is a need for a quantitative, industry validated, and cohesive method that would give more accurate results. In this article, the Port Environmental Index (PEI) which has all the attributes described above will be presented. The PEI mission is to integrate all of the main environmental aspects of port such as air emission, waste production, water pollution, noise, light, and odor pollution into one metric that can then be used to assess the port performance and make comparison between ports. The PEI is made as a quantitative composite index based on aggregations of individual indicators for significant aspects of port operations. It includes different indices according to the source of the emission; the Ship Environmental Index (SEI), the Terminal Environmental Index (TEI), and the Port Authority Environmental Index (PAEI). While designing the PEI, correctly choosing the environmental impacts is paramount to properly identify port activities and associated environmental aspects. After their identification, for each significant aspect, a set of representative environmental key performance indicators (eKPIs) is identified. Afterwards, a series of mathematical operations are to be applied: normalization, weighting and aggregation. In this short communication, those methods are outlined yet not definitively chosen. The main idea behind the PEI is to use quantitative, data-based information collected automatically leveraging Internet of Things (IoT) techniques making it possible to assess the environmental impacts of port operations in real-time. The advantages of having such metric in the environmental management plan of a port are numerous. Amongst the most remarkable, it allows inter-port comparison and it can be used for decision making to estimate the impacts using one single metric rather than having many disperse values. Moreover, it can be used by ports for estimating their environmental performance and progress. Since it is based on information collected using IoT technologies provided in real-time, ports can make immediate corrections in their activities.