The growing concern about climate change and the recognition of the planet’s limits led society to look for alternatives that promote the balance between the natural and the built environment. The circular economy emerges as an alternative to the linear economic model, inspired by natural metabolisms, by circulating resources in continuous loops, where their intrinsic value is maintained and improved. This research proposes a closed-loop strategy in the built environment by studying innovative constructive solutions that aim to find use, value, and inspiration in what is considered waste. A literature review is conducted on the circular design strategies, re-use and recycle typologies, and waste transformation processes. Then, the development of a methodology for qualitative evaluation and selection of re-used and upcycled construction materials from post-consumer waste and by-products is presented and then applied to thirty-five cases of constructive solutions from plastic, wood, paper, steel, aluminium, and agricultural waste. The research reports that the developed framework is adequate. The analysed alternative materials have good environmental performance and can be used as building materials despite their functional limitations, reflecting the enormous potential of waste as a resource for the construction industry.

Lifestyle has been associated with breast cancer risk through different pathways, including oxidative stress. Antioxidant enzymes are endogenous defense mechanisms against oxidative stress damage, and this response might be modulated by the genetic variation in these enzyme-codifying genes. This study aimed to analyze the synergistic effect of an antioxidant Healthy Lifestyle Index (HeLiX) composed of principal components of Western dietary pattern, alcohol consumption, smoking and physical activity, and genetic polymorphisms in the first-line antioxidant response family genes SOD, GPX, and CAT on breast cancer risk. We included 176 SNPs, and only CAT rs554576 remained significant after correction for multiple comparisons. Breast cancer odds were reduced at the highest (T3) and medium (T2) tertiles of the HeLiX. When stratified by HeLiX, we observed a reduced risk of breast cancer with at least one T-allele, and the effect increased in a dose-dependent manner. Compared to the reference category (HeLiX T1 and AA genotype), women at the HeLiX T3 with AT and TT genotypes in postmenopausal women showed an OR = 0.15 (95% CI 0.07–0.32). For HeLiX T2 and AT genotype OR = 0.26 (95% CI 0.13–0.54); for TT genotype OR = 0.24 (95% CI 0.12–0.45). For premenopausal women, at the HeLiX T3 and AT genotype OR = 0.29 (95% CI 0.13–0.62); for the TT genotype OR = 0.21 (95% CI 0.08–0.51). We also observed an inverse association for HeLiX T2 and TT genotype (OR 0.39 95% CI 0.17–0.87). Our study shows a significant synergistic gene-environment interaction on an additive scale, contributing to understanding pathways involved in breast cancer etiology and prevention.

This comparative study aims to investigate environmental awareness, knowledge, and safety among students in Montenegro and North Macedonia, considering the unique socio-cultural and environmental contexts of both countries. A mixed-methods approach involving surveys and interviews was employed to gather data from students in educational institutions across Montenegro and North Macedonia. The study assessed various factors, including students' awareness of environmental issues, their perceived level of knowledge, and their attitudes towards safety measures. A comprehensive series of 400 face-to-face interviews was carried out and these interviews encompassed 200 students from Montenegro and an equal number from North Macedonia, taking place at two esteemed academic institutions: The University of Montenegro in Podgorica and The University of St. Clement of Ohrid, Bitola, Republic of North Macedonia. Our hypothetical conceptual framework proposes that a combination of variables, including gender (H1), age (H2), year of study (H3), and rate of study (H4), significantly influences the attitudes of students from Montenegro and North Macedonia towards environmental awareness, safety, and knowledge. Research findings indicate significant variations in environmental awareness and knowledge perception among students in the two countries. While both Montenegro and North Macedonia face environmental challenges, differences in educational systems and socio-economic factors contribute to distinct attitudes and behaviors towards environmental issues and safety practices. This study sheds light on the importance of understanding regional differences in environmental awareness and knowledge perception among students. By identifying areas of strength and areas needing improvement, policymakers and educators can develop targeted interventions to enhance environmental education and foster a culture of sustainability in both Montenegro and North Macedonia.

With the advent of digitization, the integration of advanced technologies in operations and projects across all sectors is in progress. Accordingly, efforts are being made to utilize cutting-edge technologies to improve the circularity of the built environment. This study aimed to review the existing applications and limitations of building information modeling (BIM) tools for circular economy (CE) implementation from this perspective. A literature review was conducted to provide an overview of the use of BIM tools for conducting life cycle assessments, energy analysis, waste management, and formulation of material passports for buildings. It was found that BIM tools, which are available across all life cycle phases of building, have a great potential to improve the circularity of the sector. The overview provided on the use of various BIM tools may help stakeholders of the built environment understand the role of BIM for CE adoption in the sector.

The current systematic review examines whether there is an association between the genetic 5-HTTPLR pol-ymorphism and parenting and the mechanisms by which this association operates. The literature was searched in various databases such as PubMed, Scopus and ScienceDirect. In line with our inclusion criteria, nine articles were eligible out of 22. Most of the studies, analysed in this review, found an association between 5HTTLPR and parenting. Four studies found a direct association between 5-HTTLPR and parenting with conflicting findings: two studies found that mothers carrying the short variant were more sensitive to their infants, while two studies found that parents carrying the S allele were less sensitive. In addition, several studies found strong interaction between genetic and environmental factors, such as childhood stress and disruptive child behaviour, quality of early care experiences, poor parenting environment, and quality of environment. Only one study found an association between children’s 5HTTLPR and parenting. Parenting can be described as a highly complex construct influenced by multiple factors, including environmental, parenting and child charac-teristics. According to the studies, maternal 5-HTTLPR polymorphism is most likely associated with sensitive parenting.

Understanding and evaluating urban investment environment is essential for effectively improving the efficiency of resource allocation between cities and promoting overall development of the regional economy. This paper takes 15 node cities on maritime Silk Road covered by the “Belt and Road” as the research object, establishes a dynamic evaluation index system for investment environment, and uses projection pursuit cluster to analyze and evaluate the investment environment of the cities. It is found that the investment environment potential of a city is directly related to the level of social development, economic development, and the degree of opening to the outside world. It is recommended that node cities should seize the important opportunity of the construction of the Maritime Silk Road, introduce world-wide human, financial and material resources to promote regional resources allocation and flow, and continuously improve and upgrade the investment environment quality.

Kei-apple (Dovyalis caffra L) is an indigenous fruit tree of southern Africa. It is currently found in the dry, wooded grassland and forest edges of the arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Existing literature have mainly focused on the medicinal and nutritional as well as phytochemical characterization of Kei-apple. Thus, this review highlights beneficial economic prospects of Dovyalis caffra and its contribution to the economic prosperity. It is a drought tolerant plant with diverse uses such as income from the sale of the fruit, cultivated as a fence or to form an impenetrable hedge while the leaves are used for nutrient leaching prevention, fodder and compost making. The trunk of Dovyalis caffra serves as a good source of hard wood for fuel, house building and furniture making. It is also a good apicultural fruit tree and an excellent habitat and fertilizer derivation agent for farming activities. Considering the multidimensional effect of poverty and the food insecurity on many rural communities globally, there is a need to explore the potentials by encouraging the cultivation of Dovyalis caffra to assist with reducing unemployment, food insecurity and income-poverty problems in the arid and semi-arid areas of the world.

The sTetro is a stair cleaning robot which can climb the staircase with its shapeshifting capabilities. As this robot is intended to traverse multi-floor environment autonomously, hence its localization/positioning information is an essential component of the overall system. Usually, the indoor mobile robots rely on some external system for localization information, e.g., WiFi, UWB, vision, RFID signals, or indoor Global Positioning System (GPS). This requires the installation of additional hardware and/or modification of the working environment for precise positioning information of the mobile platform. As the dimensions of the staircase are known a priori, this knowledge can be used to localize the sTetro robot on the stairs. In this article, the geometry of the staircase has been exploited to localize the robot in 3D space with measurements from the onboard time-of-flight (ToF) range sensors only. The heading angle of the robot is also estimated with two ToF sensors installed in front of the sTetro robot. Results achieved by conducting experiments on real robot prove the efficacy of the proposed approach.

In West Africa, research on the hepatitis E virus (HEV) is barely covered despite the recorded outbreaks. The still low level of access to safe water and adequate sanitation is one of the main factors of HEV spread in developing countries. HEV infection induces acute or sub-clinical liver diseases with a mortality rate ranging from 0.5 to 4%. The mortality rate is more alarming (15 to 25%) among pregnant women, especially in the last trimester of pregnancy. Here, we conducted a multicentric socio-demographic and seroepidemiological survey of HEV in Senegal among pregnant women. A total of 1,227 consenting participants attending antenatal clinics responded to our questionnaire. Plasma samples were collected and tested for anti-HEV IgM and IgG by using the WANTAI HEV-IgM and IgG ELISA assay. HEV global seroprevalence was 7.9% with 0.5% and 7.4% for HEV IgM and HEV IgG, respectively. One participant's sample was IgM/IgG positive, while four were declared indeterminate to anti-HEV IgM as per the manufacturer's instructions. From one locality to another, the seroprevalence of HEV antibodies varied from 0 to 1% for HEV IgM and from 1.5 to 10.5% for HEV IgG. The data also showed that seroprevalence varied significantly by marital status (p<0.0001), by the regularity of income (p=0.0043) and by access to sanitation services (p=0.0006). These data could serve as a basis to setup national prevention strategies focused on socio-cultural, environmental and behavioral aspects for a better management of HEV infection in Senegal.

Selection of efficient corrosion inhibitors requires detailed knowledge regarding interaction mechanism, which depends on the type and amount of functional groups within the inhibitor molecule. Position of functional groups between different isomers is often overlooked but not less important since factors like steric hinderance may significantly affect the adsorption mechanism. In this study we have presented how different dihydroxybenzene isomers interact with aluminium alloy 5754 surface, reducing its corrosion rate in bicarbonate buffer (pH = 11). We have shown the highest inhibition efficiency among tested compounds belongs to catechol at 10 mM concentration, although differences were moderate. Utilization of novel impedance approach to adsorption isotherm determination allowed to confirm that while resorcinol chemisorbs on aluminium surface, catechol and quinol follows ligand exchange model of adsorption. Unlike catechol and quinol, the protection mechanism of resorcinol is bound to interaction with insoluble aluminium corrosion products layer and was only found efficient at concentration of 100 mM (98.7%). The aforementioned studies were confirmed with scanning electron microscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses. There is a significant increase of the corrosion resistance offered by catechol at 10 mM after 24 h exposure in electrolyte: from 63 to 98%, with only negligible changes in inhibitor efficiency observed for resorcinol at the same time. However, in the case of resorcinol a change in electrolyte color was observed. We have revealed that the differentiating factor is the keto-enol tautomerism. The NMR studies of resorcinol indicate the keto form in structure in presence of NaOH, while the chemical structure of catechol does not change significantly in alkaline environment.

Folk residence in the cold region of Northeast China is an important part of China's traditional folk residence, with significant geographical representation. In this paper, we take the residential compounds of villages and towns in the cold region of Northeast China as the research object, summarize four typical layout forms of residential compounds of villages and towns in the cold region of Northeast China, simulate the wind environment of compounds of different layout forms in winter by using the computer numerical simulation software Fluent, and then analyze and evaluate the wind environment of compounds by combining with the evaluation standard of wind speed ratio and considering the area of wind shadows, number of vortices and other factors.

This study had the objective to evaluate the effect of Piper betle L. powder (PP) at 5 different doses in substrate incubated by sunflower oil as secondary function of PUFA using in vitro gas production technique. The treatments of this study were run as a 2X5 factorial arrangement in a completely randomised design using the PROC GLM procedure of SAS 9.4: (1) control (S1) without supplementation of PP; (2) 15 mg PP (S2); (3) 30 mg PP (S3); (4) 45 mg PP (S4); and (5) 60 mg PP (S5), while sunflower oil was supplemented in all treatments: low 15 mg/incubation and high 30 mg/incubation. A 500 mg of TMR (hay: concentrate, 50:50) was assigned to basal substrate. The PP containing 1.84 mg/g DM quercetin and 1.00 mg/g DM eugenol altered rumen fermentation without change pH (p < 0.001) and methane production was lesser (p < 0.001) about -30% and -25% for DM and OM measurement, respectively. Gas kinetic, degradability, and ammonia level was significantly affected by supplementing PP (p < 0.01). Overall, this study suggested quercetin and eugenol deriving from PP acted three major accelerations: assembled carbon dioxide, behaved antimicrobial role and performed the balance water molecules in the rumen kinetic. This study suggests that PP promotes changing in vitro rumen fermentation and diminishing methane production within recommended doses, 0.1-15 mg/incubation in DM.

Background: Particulate matter and urban air pollution affect the human body and can lead to death. Epidemiological studies should consider the exposure to pollutants and the diverse responses of individuals depending on their sensitivity to the pollutants. Methods: In this study, air pollution measurements were obtained hourly at measuring stations operated by the national and local governments to increase the reliability of the measured values. A β-ray absorption method was used to analyze the measurements of fine dust and determine the particulate matter content. Results: The air pollution data were log-converted to enable the comparison of data from different time periods. The comparison was made, focusing on the period of Seoul's fine dust policy. As a result, the cancer incidence rate also decreased after the policy. The data on individual characteristics were obtained from a survey of Seoul citizens conducted from 2015 to 2016 and using indicators such as the quality of life and social trust of Seoul citizens. Concludions: The survey on the living environment and residence indicated that 80% of the heads of households were men. Women had a greater dissatisfaction than men with the residential, economic, and social environments. The survey questions on well-being were related to the internal and external environment such as air pollution, noise, and fine dust.

The main goal of this article is to demonstrate the impact of environmental data on the spreading of Covid-19. In this research, data has been collected from 70 cities/provinces that are affected by Covid-19. Here, environmental data refers to temperatures, humidity and population density in each of these cities/provinces. This data has been analyzed using statistical models such as Poisson, Quasi-Poisson and negative Binomial. It is found that a negative Binomial regression model is the best fit for our data. Our results reveal that average high temperature is the vital factor to slow down the spread of Covid-19. In addition, higher population density found to be an important factor for the quick spreading of Covid-19 where it is quite impossible to maintain the social distance and the virus can spread easily.

With the widespread adoption of 3D scanners, reverse engineering methods for obtaining CAD drawings from physical objects have become increasingly utilized. When converting point data obtained from a 3D scanner into a mesh structure, a smoothing process is typically applied because the point data often contains a lot of noise. However, this can result in the loss of important high-frequency details, or in cases where significant high-frequency information remains, there are limitations in representing the object with basic geometric shapes. In this paper, a method to address this issue by using environment mapping and supervised learning techniques is proposed. By mapping the object to an environment and then using supervised learning to analyze the data, it can accurately identify the basic geometric shapes. This approach reduces the working time and allows for easier design of complex surfaces that were previously difficult to model.

In recent decades, the aquaculture industry has experienced significant growth worldwide, surpassing other food production sectors. This review aims to explore the dynamics of aquafeed production, particularly the shift from conventional to local feed production in Africa, driven by cost-effectiveness and the availability of raw materials. The review examines various scientific publications on aquafeed, focusing on both conventional and novel feed formulations and their impact on aquaculture and the environment. Commonly used aquafeed ingredients among African farmers include cassava, maize gluten, groundnut oilcake, sunflower oilcake, soybean meal, kale, peas, garlic, shrimp wastes, and waste blood. Novel ingredients such as insect-based diets and micro-algae formulations are also explored. Aquafeed composition impacts aqua-waste, water quality, algae, oxygen demand, fish mortality, and eutrophication. The findings highlight the need to reorient feed formulation methods and ingredients to achieve a circular economy in Africa, promoting increased fish production at minimal costs, creating employment while supporting climate adaptation and mitigation efforts. Ultimately, the aquafeed sector has the potential to grow sustainably through the adoption of feed alternatives that prioritise sustainable production and encourage beneficiation studies.

To instruct interior lighting design of aviation cockpit and ensure the work efficiency and comfort of pilots, and reduce safety accidents caused by light environment and visual fatigue during flight, it is important to establish a multi-dimensional ergonomic evaluation mechanism of cockpit light environment. In this paper, by improving Jdms' mental load theory, we establish a thorough experimental scheme based on physiological workload, mental workload, work performance and physiological work performance to evaluate the cockpit ergonomic under different light environment multi-dimensionally. Firstly, 12 evaluation indexes including job accuracy, job speed, blinking, heart rate variability, average fixation time, saccadic speed, mental demand, physical demand, operational performance, time demand, degree of confusion and degree of effort are obtained through the experiment, and then the weight of each evaluation index is calculated by entropy method to construct the ergonomic evaluation model. The evaluation results of physiological workload, mental load, work performance and physiological work performance were combined to obtain the final ergonomic evaluation results. According to our experimental results, it was found that light environment for pilot to get the highest ergonomic efficiency is 1500 lx light illumination and 5000K color temperature. The results provide a reference for the ergonomic experiment of aircraft cockpit and the design of aviation cockpit lighting system.

Students in their first year of computer science (CS1) at universities typically struggle to grasp programming concepts. This paper covers research using a Java programming language-guided visual execution environment (VEE) to teach CS1 students about programming concepts. The topics covered include input and output, conditionals, loops, functions, arrays, recursion, and files, all of which are covered in an introductory programming course. The VEE walks beginner programmers through the fundamentals of programming, utilizing visual metaphors to explain and direct interactive Java tasks. The primary goal of this study is to determine whether a cohort of 105 CS1 students from four different groups who are enrolled in two universities—one in Madrid, Spain, and the other in Galway, Ireland—can advance their programming abilities under the guidance of the VEE. Second, does the improvement vary depending on the programming concept? The findings demonstrate that students' programming knowledge has greatly increased. This improvement is significant for all programming concepts, while it is more pronounced for some topics than others, such as operators, conditionals, and loops. Additionally, it demonstrates that students had little prior understanding of files and recursion. The most well-known concept to them was the sequence concept.

Many farms utilize closed-type livestock systems to enhance productivity and facilitate effective environmental management. However, the confined nature of these closed spaces poses an increased risk of exposure to harmful gases and organic dust for both workers and livestock. Additionally, the introduction of outside air through ventilation systems can lead to temperature fluctuations within the breeding environment, resulting in potential productivity issues. This research paper employs computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to develop ventilation operation management plans that address both the working environment and the breeding environment simultaneously. The proposed plans are designed to be easily implemented in practical farm settings. The findings of this study, based on simulation analysis, indicate that while ventilation is effective in reducing harmful gases and improving the working environment, its efficiency decreases after the initial 3 minutes of operation. Furthermore, uncontrolled ventilation can cause sudden temperature changes, which may adversely affect the well-being of the livestock. However, when upgraded ventilation structures are implemented, significant improvements in the working environment (an average of 27.3% improvement) can be achieved while maintaining temperature stability for the livestock. These results highlight the importance of referring to the provided ventilation operation management table before commencing work, as it enables workers to improve the working environment while minimizing the potential impact of ventilation on the breeding environment.

Due to the inherent risks associated with tunnel construction, including potential collapse, various types of work activities, and challenging visibility and communication conditions, safety management in tunnel projects requires significant investment in terms of cost and time. In this research, we propose and demonstrate a novel smart construction system that utilizes worker location monitoring technology to enhance safety in tunnel construction. The system comprises a wearable beacon integrated into safety helmets, scanners strategically placed at regular intervals inside the tunnel, environmental sensors for monitoring temperature, pressure, and air quality, and mobile devices for collecting and analyzing data on workers and the environment. Through a field demonstration conducted in a Korean tunnel construction site, we validated the effectiveness of the proposed system, which demonstrated real-time monitoring of workers and reliable communication capabilities, leading to improved safety and cost-efficiency in tunnel construction. By implementing the proposed system, we achieved a significant reduction of 37% in monthly construction costs and 77% in annual construction costs compared to conventional methods.

The article presents an original method to assess the sustainability of concrete. The method uses three parameters, namely: performance, lifetime and environmental impact, to calculate a sustainability index. The originality and the simplicity of the proposed method presented in the article consists in the fact that by applying the relation to determine the sustainability index, the first two factors service life and performance are constant. This approach is possible in the context of the new proposals to specify the durability of structural concrete in EN 1992 and EN 206. That allows classification of concrete according to its performance, through Environmental action Resistance Classes (ERC). For this purpose, specific experimental methods were used in order to determine the performance of concrete exposed to carbonation. The concretes were prepared with two cement types with additions (CEM II / A-S and CEM II / A-M (S-LL)). Based on the carbonation resistance classes (the first constant - the performance) and exposure classes, the thickness of the concrete cover layer was determined to ensure a certain service lifetime (second constant - the service lifetime). Finally, the global warming potential was calculated for each composition, consequently allowing the users of the method, to select the compositions with the lowest impact on the environment.

This article presents a method to assess the sustainability of concrete based on three elements: service life, performance and environmental impact. The method proposes - to achieve similar performance and service life times, regardless of the component materials used, so that the sustainability assessment ultimately depends on the environmental impact criterion. To this end, specific experimental methods are used to determine the performance of concrete in terms of compressive strength and carbonation resistance for concrete cast with two blended cement types. The procedure needed to classify the concrete through carbonation resistance is detailed, in relationship with the performance obtained for compressive strength. The obtained results highlight the concrete formulations to be used to ensure similar performances regardless of the cement type used. In conclusion, the simplicity in the application of the method, which is closely related to the performance approach on concrete durability in the revision proposals of the European standards, is highlighted. The method is also a useful tool to encourage the widespread use in concrete formulation of blended cements with low environmental impact, without reducing the performance or service life time of the constructions.

Organophosphate pesticides (also known OPPs) have for many years been the choice candidate globally for pest control. OPPs have for over 80 years, been used in gardens, fields and greenhouses as crop protection agents, and even in homes as insecticides and mosquito abatement. Thus, year after year and with the repeated application of organophosphate agents, many problems have appeared as a result of excessive use of pesticides. The adverse effects of pesticides are well documented in human health, environment, pesticide residue in crops, soil and water contaminated by these pesticides. Therefore, it is necessary to shed more light on the risks associated with the irresponsible usage of organophosphate pesticides.

Intensive greenhouse horticulture can cause various environmental problems. Among them, the management, storage and processing of crop residues can provoke aquifer contamination, pest proliferation, bad odors or the abuse of phytosanitary treatments. Biosolarization put in value any fresh plant residue and is an efficient technique for the control of soil-borne diseases. This study aims to examine an alternative means of managing greenhouse crop residues through biosolarization and to investigate the influence of organic matter on yield and quality of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum, L.) fruit. With this purpose, the following nutritional systems were evaluated: inorganic fertilization with and without brassica pellets (Fert, Fert + and Fert ++), fresh tomato plant debris with and without brassica pellets (Rest, Rest + and Rest ++) and no fertilizer application (Control). The addition of organic matter equaled all the treatments except for control with regard to yield and quality of the tomato fruit. In light of these results, the application of tomato plant debris to the soil through biosolarization is postulated as an alternative for the management of crop residues, solving an environmental problem and having a favorable impact on the production and quality of tomatoes as a commercial crop.

The refractive index of a liquid serves as a fundamental parameter reflecting its composition, thereby enabling the determination of component concentrations in various fields such as chemical research, food industry, and environmental monitoring. Traditional methods for refractive index (RI) measurement rely on light deflection angles at interfaces between the liquid and a material of known refractive index. In this paper, the authors present a new differential refractometer for highly sensitive measurement of RI differences between two liquid samples. Using a configuration with two cells equipped with flat parallel plates as measuring elements, the instrument facilitates accurate analysis. Namely, the sensor signals from both the solution and the solvent cuvette are generated simultaneously with one laser pulse, reducing the possible fluctuations of the laser radiation intensity. Our evaluation shows the high sensitivity of RI measurements (< 7 · 106), so this differential refractometer can be proposed not only as a high-sensitivity sensing tool that can be used for mobile detection of nanoparticles in solution samples, but also to determine the level of environmental nano-pollution using water (including rain, snow) samples from various natural as well as industrial sources, thus helping to solve some important environmental problems.

The cruise ship industry has become a well-implemented industry in the Baltic Sea area, and each year, the number of cruise ship passengers rises steadily. Efficient waste management in cruising ports around the Baltic Sea is a crucial element in minimizing environmental impacts. This research involves the four selected ports of Copenhagen, Helsinki, Stockholm and Tallinn. The study applies statistics and interview data to the analysis of waste management systems for cruise ship-generated waste. The interview data involves 14 executives and professionals responsible for environmental issues and decision making in their respective ports. The interviews highlighted the need for standardized environmental legislation and related procedures, which would result in coherent measurement systems. These systems would enable transparent environmental monitoring, thus maintaining the ports’ competitiveness. A common environmental legislation would support the emerging waste management system for the whole Baltic Sea area. We suggest that ports should focus on handling specific types of wastes and collaborate as a spatial network. Specialization to allow discharge of certain fractions of waste is essential. The paper concludes by addressing demands for future research, particularly vessel- and customer behavior focused studies.

Environment pollution is the major problem for all the sectors. In environment pollution there are different types of pollution is included such as air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution etc. In these types of pollution most of it is air pollution. There are many reasons for pollution of air. Human advance in science but one of the major draw backs of science is the pollution of air rapidly. Air pollution is injurious to health. Every year a large number of people died for the effects of air pollution. It can be improved in many ways among these ways technology upgradation plays a major role here. There are various method that prevent air pollution. Many researchers tried and is trying to prevent the air pollution in many ways. In this review paper I summarise the existing research on different ways for preventing air pollution in addition I will discuss the gaps and future aspect on this topic.

Throughout history, the pursuit of diagnosing and predicting crop yields has evidenced genetics, environment, and management practices' intertwined roles in achieving food security. However, the sensitivity of crop phenotypes and genetic responses to weather and climate remains unclear, hampering the identification of the underlying abilities of plants to adapt to climate change. We hypothesize that the PAWN global sensitivity analysis (GSA) coupled with a genetic by environment (GxE) model -built of environmental covariance and genetic markers structures- can evidence the contributions of climate on the predictability of maize yields in the U.S. and Ontario, Canada (US-CA). The GSA-GxE modeling framework estimates the relative contribution of climate variables such as solar radiation, temperature, rainfall, and relative humidity on improving maize yield predictions in US-CA. We use an improved version of the Genomes to Fields (G2F) initiative multi-dimensional database to build the environmental covariance matrices for the proposed GSA-GxE framework. The PAWN indices show that the aggregated GxE model’s highest sensitivity levels over US-CA were attributed to solar radiation, temperature, rainfall, and relative humidity. In one-third of the locations, rainfall was the primary climate variable responsible for maize yield predictability. Also, a consistent pattern of top sensitivity indices by location indicates that Relative Humidity, Solar Radiation, and Temperature were distributed as the main or the second most relevant drivers of maize yield predictability.

Breeding for low hydrogen cyanide (HCN) varieties is a major objective of programmes targeting boiled cassava food product. To enhance breeding for low HCN, knowledge on genetic variation and trait heritability is essential. In this study, 64 cassava clones established across four locations and evaluated for HCN using three HCN assessment methods; 1 to 9 scale, 0 ppm to 800 ppm scale and a quantitative assay based on spectrophotometer readings (HCN_Spec). Data were also collected on the weather variables precipitation, relative humidity, and temperature. Significant differences were observed among clones (P &lt; 0.001) and locations (p &lt; 0.001). There were also significant (p &lt; 0. 001) clone by environment interactions. Locations Arua and Serere posted higher HCN scores among clones and were associated with significantly higher (p &lt; 0.001) mean daily temperature (K) and lower relative humidity (%) across 12-hour and 18-hour intervals. Within locations HCN broad sense heritability estimates ranged 0.22 – 0.64 while combined location heritability estimates ranged 0.14 to 0.32. Relationships between the methods were positive and strong (R2 = 0.75 – 0.92). It is expected that the information herein will accelerate efforts towards breeding for low HCN cassava varieties.

This article explores the behavioral geography of the Hajj pilgrimage, focusing on the impact of the physical environment on pilgrims' behavior. Using qualitative research and analyzing religious literature and online publications, the study reveals significant findings. The spatial arrangement of the Grand Mosque, including the central courtyard and pillars, influences pilgrims' behavior during the Tawaf ritual. Environmental factors such as crowds and noise affect pilgrims' experiences, evoking anxiety while enhancing the ceremony's spiritual significance. Cultural and religious beliefs also shape pilgrims' behavior during the circumambulation. This study provides valuable insights into the multifaceted factors shaping pilgrims' behavior during the Hajj, including spatial organization, cultural influences, and social interactions. The findings can inform improvements in infrastructure, crowd management, and services to enhance the overall pilgrimage experience.

This paper studies pandemic viruses that spread during the period (1759–2020) according to solar activity cycles. Our findings and results include the following: (1) The severity of a pandemic correlates negatively with the strength of solar activity; (2) Pandemic viruses are classified into three types based on their compatibility with solar activity associations. Most of them spread through the quiet Sun, where viruses survive better in cold and rainy weather, and in stable geomagnetic fields without strong disturbances; (3) The emergence of new strains of influenza viruses was manifested in two ways. First, the annual epidemics due to antigenic drift. Second, pandemics recur every 1–12 solar cycles (about 11–120 years) due to viral reassortment of new subtypes, which results in antigenic shifts; (4) Pandemic viruses have two groups according to their recurring period: first, recurring in nine solar cycles; second, recurring in twelve solar cycles. Furthermore, we reassort pandemic viruses from their previous spread in the same periodic classification. Moreover, we derive a periodicity formula for each subtype of the pandemic virus as a spread date.

COVID‑19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, has spread rapidly across the globe since the end of 2019 and brought impressive changes in our life and living through partial or full lockdown and reduced anthropogenic activities. Hence, it is imperative to investigate the impacts and consequences of COVID-19 on global eco-system and environment. The present study accordingly addresses the impacts and consequences of COVID-19 by ten environmental indicators; viz., global warming (or greenhouse gas emission), stratospheric ozone depletion, ozone formation (on human health), fine particulate matter formation, smog, ionizing radiation, human carcinogenic toxicity, human non-carcinogenic toxicity, water resource consumption, and effect on human health. The overall study has been performed in agreement with the standard principle and guidelines of life cycle assessment. Worldwide changes in consumption of fossil fuels, viz., petroleum, coal and natural gas, as a result of COVID-19 pandemic, has been the core theme of the study. Outcomes from the study show that COVID-19 has been a ‘blessing in disguise’ for the global environment with most of the above-mentioned indicators declining by approximately 20-30% in 2020 in comparison to the 2019 level.

A summer high school baseball tournament is held every mid-summer in Koshien Stadium. “Koshien Baseball” is very popular in Japan; however, it faces the problem of extremely high temperatures during games. Thus, high school players are threatened by the harsh environment. For this reason, Internet surveys were conducted twice to purposefully engage the same individuals. Then, information on their views regarding the Koshien tournament before and after the provision of information regarding environmental change in Japan was gathered. Using data, this study examined how their views changed after having the information. Compared with the view before, it was found that (1) respondents were more likely to agree that the management rule of the Koshien tournaments should be altered to protect player’s health, and (2) the impact of providing information is larger for female respondents, young people, and highly educated respondents.

: Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L) R. Br) is a subtropical grain and forage crop. It is privileged with several desirable forage attributes. Nevertheless, research on pearl millet is limited especially as a forage crop in the developing countries. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to investigate the field performance and stability of pearl millet genotypes for forage yield across seven environments. The study was conducted in seven environments (combination of locations and seasons) during 2016/2017-2018/2019 seasons. Twenty-five pearl millet genotypes, selected based on forage yield from a core collection of 200 accessions, were arranged in alpha lattice design with three replications. The parameters measured were fresh forage yield, days to flowering, plant height, number of culms m-2, leaf to stem ratio, and stem girth. The combined analysis revealed that environments, genotypes and their interaction had significant effects on all traits studied except the genotypic effect on stem girth. Across the seven environments, four genotypes (G14, G01, G12, and G22) out-yielded the check genotype in fresh matter yield by 20.7, 16.5, 11.0 and 9.8%, respectively. The additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) analysis showed that the genotype, environment and their interaction were highly significant (P≤0.001) for fresh matter yield. The results of AMMI Stability Values (ASV) and the genotype selection index (GSI) combined with the AMMI estimate-based selection showed that genotypes G14, G22 and G01 were the most stable and adapted genotypes and were superior to the check genotype. These results indicate that forage pearl millet varieties could be developed directly through evaluation of the wealth available collections or indirectly through hybridization in crop breeding programs.

In the past years, our knowledge of coastal environments has been enriched by remotely sensed data. However, to successfully extract information from a combination of different sensors systems, it should be understood how these interact with the common coastal environment. In this research we co-analyze two sensor systems: Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) and satellite based Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). TLS shows large potential for examining coastal processes thanks to the possibility to retrieve repeated, accurate and dense topographic information in a rapid and non-invasive manner. However, TLS presents some limits due to its high economic costs and limited field of view. SAR systems are among the most used active remote sensor system for Earth Observation. Despite their relatively low resolution, SAR systems provide the ability to monitor and map coastal areas with complete, repeated and frequent coverage, penetrating through clouds and providing all weather monitoring. Moreover, Sentinel-1 SAR images are freely available. The availability of a permanently installed TLS system (PLS, Permanent Laser Scanner) allows us, to extensively compare Sentinel-1 SAR data and topographic laser scans during different conditions on a sandy beach. PLS data are compared with simultaneous Sentinel-1 SAR images in order to investigate the combined use of PLS and SAR in coastal environments. The purpose of this comparison is the investigation of a possible relation between PLS and SAR data: knowing their relation, SAR dataset could be correlated to beaches characteristics. Meteorological and surface roughness have also been taken into consideration in the evaluation of the correlation between PLS and SAR data. The permanently installed laser scanner for the present study is located in Noordwijk (the Netherlands). A generally positive but low correlation exists between the two variables. When considering weather phenomena, their correlation increases and shows a dependence on wind directions and speed. The correlation with the surface roughness, evaluated in terms of root-mean squared height, also depends on specific wind speed and directions.

Criticism has been directed towards the traditional methods of management accounting employed by organizations thus far, as they fail to adequately address the growing need for competitiveness and sustainable development in a globalized environment. This criticism stems from both economic factors, such as insufficient monitoring of material, energy, and escalating overhead costs, and environmental concerns, where inadequate attention is given to vital information regarding significant environmental aspects, impacts, risks, and damages arising from the organization's activities and processes. Additionally, these methods do not sufficiently support the implementation of a functional environmental management system (EMS). Drawing upon our research in EMS standardization following the international standards ISO 1400X, as well as our knowledge gained during the development of the Slovak Technical Standard (STN) for ISO 14051, this paper presents an innovative model of environmental management accounting. This model is based on the cost accounting of material and energy flows within organizations. It serves as an enhancement framework for organizations with an existing EMS built according to the EN ISO 14001 model, as well as for organizations lacking a formalized EMS based on this standard. Within this paper, we specify, decompose, and apply the new model, focusing on the cost accounting of material-energy flows in a hypothetical organization. We meticulously examine the ten key steps of the model's structure, particularly in terms of costing and the allocation of costs to material, energy, system, and waste management.

Main purposes and research question: Wheat is the second largest grain crop by tonnage in the world and the largest in Denmark. Given the observed, adverse impacts on wheat yields of climate change and the importance of wheat in the human diet, the purpose of this study was to use life cycle assessment to compare conventional wheat farming with indoor vertical farming using hydroponics. Methods: Life Cycle Assessment was used to assess the base case systems up to the “farm gate” for 1 tonne of wheat grain. The processes contributing most of the impacts were identified, and scenarios were assessed to determine how much the impacts could be reduced. Results: The conventional system outperformed the base case vertical system in every impact category, due to the electricity consumption in the lighting system. The scenarios included increasing the efficiency of the LED lighting and using 100% wind energy, but the conventional system still outperformed the vertical system by significant margins in all impact categories. This was due to the low photosynthetic conversion efficiency and the high energy density of wheat. Conclusions: Until significant improvements are made to lighting efficiency, the photosynthesis conversion efficiency of wheat, new wheat variants designed for vertical gardens and the sustainability of electricity supply, conventional wheat production will be environmentally preferable and vertical gardens would be advised to focus on food products with low energy densities.

Vertical farming (VF) is a potential solution for the production of high-quality, accessible, and climate-friendly nutrition for growing urban populations. However, to realize VF’s potential as a sustainable food source, innovative technologies are required to ensure that VF can be industrialized on a massive scale and extended beyond leafy greens and fruits into the production of food staples or row crops. A major obstacle to the economic and environmental sustainability of VF is the lighting energy consumed. While technological advances have improved the energy efficiency of VF lighting systems, there has been insufficient research into biostimulation as an approach to reduce energy needs. We conducted a controlled trial to investigate the application of a phycocyanin-rich Spirulina extract (PRSE) as a biostimulant in hydroponically grown, vertically farmed lettuce (Lactuca sativa and Salanova®). PRSE application reduced the time from seeding to harvest by 6 days, increased yield by 12.5%, and improved quality including color, taste, texture, antioxidant flavonoid levels and shelf life. Metagenomic analysis of the microbial community of the nutrient solution indicated that PRSE increased the overall bacterial diversity including raising the abundance of Actinobacteria and Firmicutes and reducing the abundance of potentially pathogenic bacteria. This preliminary study demonstrates that microalgae-derived biostimulants may play an important role in improving the economic and environmental sustainability of VF.

The study provides a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the existing key policies and considerations in Taiwan's Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs), with the objective of providing useful evidence-based insights for formulating new effective environmental-friendly policies and promoting the existing policies. The study adopts a mixed research methodology that entails the combination of qualitative and quantitative research methodological frameworks. The primary source of the quantitative data for the study is the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) which provides variable data on OECMs and a component of databases of the Protected Planet Initiative (PPI) which is the joint product of UNEP and IUCN, managed by UNEP-WCMC and the IUCN working with governments, communities and collaborating partners. The qualitative methodological framework for the research adopted a technical systematic review approach based on the three-step framework for systematic reviews that involved planning, conducting and reporting the review. The review was based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The sources that were included in the review included scientific research materials that focused on the policies related to OECMs. Taiwan has a total of 92 individual areas that are designated as national protected areas (PAs) and OECMs and formally recognized by the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA). Out of the 92 designated areas, only seven are managed by the Construction and Planning Agency while the remaining 85 areas are managed by the Forestry Bureau. In terms of designation, 37 areas are designated as major wildlife habitats, 21 areas are designated as nature reserves, 20 areas are designated as wildlife refuges, eight areas are designated as national parks and six areas are designated as forest reserves. The primary themes that were identified were associated with marine spatial planning, environmental impact assessment (EIA) and marine scientific research and included biodiversity, protected area consideration, geographically defined areas, coastal resources and marine ecosystems. Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs) have not been widely implemented yet, but most countries, including Taiwan, are increasingly aligning their existing policies with the strategies outlined in the OECMs policies to achieve large area-based conservation targets and reduce biodiversity loss.

Mechanical recycling of solid plastic wastes on a small-scale level can be accomplished with the correct approaches. Thermoplastics are mostly considered for mechanical recycling because of their physical properties and ease of reprocessing. This paper reviews the mechanical reprocessing techniques of selected thermoplastics (polyethylene terephthalate and polyolefins) since they constitute a significant proportion of plastics used commercially. Furthermore, necessary considerations for effective operation of small-scale plants, including energy requirements of machinery and optimisation in order to improve efficiency and product quality, are discussed. A clearer understanding and addressing of the process-related challenges will lead to successful establishment and management of small-scale mechanical recycling facilities to benefit communities. Efficient small-scale mechanical reprocessing establishments have become essential in reducing the environmental impacts of solid plastic wastes and for energy conservation.

In this paper we take China’s one child policy as an example and investigate its environmental impact. We develop a model for an economy using a standard overlapping generation model extended with human capital, endogenous fertility, and changing life expectancy. To model the environmental impact of economic activities, we use a modified IPAT model. We show that China’s one child has a very strong positive impact on the environment, particularly if we consider the whole human legacy.

Among others, road traffic, industrial emissions, commercial activities, smoking and cooking are considered as major contributing factors for the increasing levels of pollutants in atmosphere. High levels of potentially toxic metals and microbes in atmosphere, especially in indoor air, may pose serious threat to human health. Therefore, concentration and associated health risks of potentially toxic trace metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, and Zn) and their risk to human health, and microbial load in indoor air was assessed using air condition (AC) filter dust samples collected from 5 locations representing residential, agricultural and industrial settings of Eastern Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The levels of trace metals varied considerably among sampling areas, with the highest levels of Cr and Cd recorded in the Industrial-area sites followed by the Agricultural and Urban-Residential sites. The highest levels of Pb and Fe were found in the Agricultural area sites followed by the Industrial and Urban-Residential area sites. The metals in dust sample, especially Cd, Cr and Pb, showed a considerable health risk through dermal pathway. Among the sites, the highest hazard quotient for these metals was found for Al-Qatif-Industrial areas sites and among the metals it was the highest for Cd. The cancer risk from the metals contained in AC filter dust was negligible. Samples collected from Agricultural and Industrial area sites were substantially contaminated with bacteria and fungi, respectively. Bacterial contaminants were mostly Gram Negative, with considerable antibiotic resistance and haemolytic activity. Thus, indoor air quality as assessed by AC filter dust depicted that a considerable health risk could be posed by the trace heavy metals and microorganisms for a long-term exposure. Furthermore, this study demonstrated that AC filters dust could be a unique and reliable test sample for the assessment of indoor environment.

The drought response index (DRI) is an indicator of drought tolerance after adjustment for variation in flowering date and potential yield under well-watered conditions. Using a temperate japonica mapping population of 97 recombinant inbred lines from a cross between Otomemochi (OTM) and Yumenohatamochi (YHM), we evaluated DRI during the reproductive stage under very severe drought in one year and under severe drought in the next year. DRI under very severe drought (−6.4 to 15.9) and severe drought (−3.9 to 8.3) positively correlated with grain dry weight under drought. Three QTLs for DRI were identified: RM3703–RM6911–RM6379 and RM6733–RM3850 both on chromosome 2 in both years combined;. and RM8120–RM2615–RM7023 on chromosome 6 in the second year. The latter collocated with putative genes for signaling and defense mechanisms (e.g., PIN1B, BZIP46) revealed by database analysis. Top-DRI lines retained root dry weight and had bigger steles. QTL-by-environment interaction had a greater relative contribution than the main effects of QTLs. Comparison with three previous studies revealed that the QTLs for DRI were unique to each experiment and/or population; most of them closely colocalized with reported drought-yield QTLs.

Riparian zones represent ecotones between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and are of utmost importance to biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Modelling/mapping of these valuable and fragile areas is needed for an improved ecosystem management, based on an accounting of changes and on monitoring of their functioning in time. In Europe, the main legislative driver behind this goal is the European Commission’s Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, on one hand aiming at reducing biodiversity loss, on the other hand enhancing ecosystem services by 2020, and restoring them as far as feasible. A model, based on Earth Observation data, including Digital Elevation Models, hydrological, soil, land cover/land use data, and vegetation indices is employed in a multi-modular and stratified approach, based on fuzzy logic and object based image analysis, to delineate potential, observed and actual riparian zones. The approach is designed in an open modular way, allowing future modifications and repeatability. The results represent a first step of a future monitoring and assessment campaign for European riparian zones and their implications on biodiversity and on ecosystem functions and services. Considering the complexity and the enormous extent of the area, covering 39 European countries, including Turkey, the level of detail is unprecedented. Depending on the accounting modus, 0.95%–1.19% of the study area can be attributed as actual riparian area (considering Strahler’s stream orders 3-8, based on the Copernicus EU-Hydro dataset), corresponding to 55,558–69.128 km². Similarly depending on the accounting approach, the potential riparian zones are accounted for about 3-5 times larger. Land cover/land use in detected riparian areas was mainly of semi-natural characteristics, while the potential riparian areas are predominately covered by agriculture, followed by semi-natural and urban areas.

Developing novel wound dressings containing medicinal plant extracts can have several potential benefits, including improving the therapeutic value of the dressings and reducing the cost of producing wound dressings. In this study, we prepared foam dressing containing Eclipta prostrata leaf extract and gelatin (Eclipta prostrata dressing). Chemical composition was verified using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and pore structure was obtained by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The physical properties, including absorption and dehydration properties, were also evaluated. The chemical properties were measured to determine the pH environment after being submerged with Eclipta prostrata dressings. The results revealed that the Eclipta prostrata dressing had a pore structure with an appropriate pore size (313.25 ± 76.51 µm and 383.26 ± 64.45 µm for the Eclipta prostrata A and Eclipta prostrata B dressings, respectively). The Eclipta prostrata B dressing was more consistent porosity, resulting in a higher absorption capacity and faster dehydration rate. According to physical properties, the Eclipta prostrata B dressing is best used on low-exuding wounds. Furthermore, the Eclipta prostrata A and B dressings make a slightly acidic environment. Therefore, our foam dressing will not interfere wound healing process.

This paper introduces an advanced method that integrates contingent valuation and machine learning (CVML) to estimate residents’ demand for reducing or mitigating environmental pollutions and climate change. To be precise, CVML is an innovative hybrid machine-learning model, and it can leverage a limited amount of survey data for prediction and data enrichment purposes. The model comprises of two interconnected modules: Module I, an unsupervised learning algorithm, and Module II, a supervised learning algorithm. Module I is responsible for grouping the data into groups based on common characteristics, thereby grouping the corresponding dependent variable, whereas Module II is in charge of demonstrating the ability to predict and the capacity to appropriately assign new samples to their respective category based on input attributes. Take a survey on the topic of air pollution in Hanoi in 2019 as an example, we found that CVML can predict households’ willingness– to– pay for polluted air mitigation at a high degree of accuracy (i.e., 98%). We found that CVML can help users reduce costs or save resources because it makes use of secondary data that is available on many open data sources. These findings suggest that CVML is a sound and practical method that could be widely applied in a wide range of fields, particularly environmental economics and sustainability science. In practice, CVML could be used to support decision-makers in improving the financial resources to maintain and/or further support many environmental programs in years to come.

Purpose: This paper extends previous works to include the role of therapeutic gardens in the healing environment as an intervention for bettering the clinical outcomes of Alzheimer’s and dementia patients, the positive impact of healing gardens and the innovative application of technologies with nature, for promoting cognitive rehabilitation in this particular patient population.Methods: Using ISI Web of Science, PubMed, ProQuest Central, MEDLIN, Scopus and Google Scholar, a relevant literature search on the positive health implications of therapeutic gardens on Alzheimer’s and dementia patients’ in the healthcare milieu was conducted.Results: Health implication of therapeutic gardens on Alzheimer’s and dementia patients’ spans across physical, social, psychological and cognitive effects. Virtual reality (VR) technologies offer positive cognitive outcomes to Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia patients.Conclusion: Therapeutic gardens should be extended for speedier recovery of other patient populations. Future directions in the design of healthcare gardens with a focus on patient experience are inferred.

Recently, environmental degradation has become an international issue due to the extensive economic activities around the globe. This aspect demands the policymakers' and new researchers’ emphasis. Hence, the present article examines the impact of corporate social responsibilities (CSR) to community and environment on the environmental performance (ENP) of the manufacturing industry in China. The article also investigates the mediating role of green innovation and environmental strategy among CSR to community, CSR to environment and ENP of manufacturing industry in China. The article gets the primary data from the selected employees of the manufacturing industry using questionnaires. The article also tests the data's validity and reliability, and association among variables using smart-PLS. The outcomes indicated that CSR to environment has a positive association with ENP. The outcomes also revealed that green innovation and environmental strategy significantly mediate among CSR to community, CSR to environment and ENP. The article guides the policymakers in making policies related to improve ENP using CSR to environment and green innovation.

Building on swampy land is a major challenge due to the soft and waterlogged soil properties. Traditional approaches using wooden pile foundations have long been used but new technology with a more environmentally friendly and efficient approach needs to be applied to swampy land. The objectives of this research are: to obtain a conceptual model of modified wooden pile foundation construction combined with concrete, to identify the impact of soil condition changes due to foundation implementation and the swampy groundwater environment, and to determine the application of the 'constructed wetland' and rain garden adaptation methods to the foundation model concept.In this research, a qualitative method was used with a descriptive approach based on literature studies and data collection through surveys/field observations. There is interdisciplinary collaboration from architectural, material, and environmental fields. The method conducted includes experimental testing of the foundation model concept. The research stages are: identifying variations in foundation design on wetland, survey/field study observation of foundations in Banjarmasin, architectural-material-environmental analysis of the foundation model concept with rain garden adaptation, and finally, conclusions and suggestions.The rain garden concept is an innovation that can help address waterlogging issues by enhancing the improvement of foundation construction and drainage in swampy soils. In this paper, the use of galam wood, wooden pile foundations, and construction technology innovations to improve swampy soil conditions are discussed in detail.

Earthquake events present a high risk in urban areas. Nador City is a Mediterranean city located in a dynamic zone with seismologic movement and a frequency of earthquake events per year. This worrying rate shows that earthquake risks can hinder the urban area and damage citizens and goods if urban risk management is not taken. This study defines the areas most threatened by seismic events to protect them as a priority. Using Geographic Information System, Corine Land Cover, seismic intensity, and socioeconomic vulnerability index, we mapped the urban vulnerability index. The adopted model determines urban vulnerability levels from urban land cover, topography, geologic factors, and geomorphologic factors. These approaches reveal that $70\%$ of Nador is under the damage of a seismic disaster. In addition, the main objective is to apply a new set of guidelines to map the intensity of risks and explain the distinct risk exposure level in Nador’s urban context.

Marine industries are dependent on the ocean and often have a direct impact on the marine environment. Although previous studies have talked about pollution from marine industries, it is not known to what extent and to what extent these behaviors affect the ocean. Therefore, this study examines the impacts of major marine industries on the marine environment, using China as an example. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People's Republic of China categorizes the quality of seawater into Class I, Class II, Class III, Class IV, and Inferior Class IV in descending order according to the quality from good to poor. In this study, water quality of Class I and Class II are defined as good quality seawater, Class III as average quality, Class IV and Class IV as poor quality, and the proportion of the area of seawater with different water quality to the total area of the sea area symbolizes the overall quality of the marine environment. We use panel data from 11 provinces and cities along the coast of mainland China from 2006 to 2020, estimated by the full feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) method, to study the impacts of the development of coastal tourism, marine transportation, marine shipbuilding, marine salt, mariculture, and marine fishing on the marine environment. The empirical results show that, in descending order of the degree of influence, the marine industries that cause a decrease in the area of good quality seawater are coastal tourism, mariculture and shipbuilding, and the marine industries that cause an increase in the area of poor quality seawater are marine transportation and shipbuilding, while the marine salt industry has no obvious influence on the marine environment, and the development of the marine fishing industry indirectly contributes to the improvement of the marine environment.

Creating environmentally sustainable oral healthcare culture requires embedding contents in dental curriculum. This study aimed to explore the current knowledge and drivers among dental students and educators regarding environmentally sustainable dentistry (ESD) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and identify barriers and enablers to embrace it. A cross-sectional survey using online questionnaire was carried out in undergraduate dental educational institutes. Data analysis included descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Most students and educators were not aware of ESD content in their curriculum. However, the majority of educators were familiar with ESD concept, while students were mostly unfamiliar. Nonetheless, students largely agreed on its im-portance and their interest in learning it, as they view it relevant to their future practice. Educators agreed that the dental profession has a responsibility to be environmentally friendly and expressed desire in introducing ESD content into the curricula. Several barriers were reported such as lack of knowledge, curriculum space, educational resources, and time. Meanwhile, enablers included providing training and resources. There is no explicit presence of ESD content in the dental curricula. Regardless of the lack of in-depth knowledge among educators and more so with students, they both have positive views toward incorporating ESD into dental curricula.

Advancements in computing technology have resulted in significant changes in education, healthcare, and manufacturing fields. Thus, personnel training in computer-related fields is directly related to national competitiveness. Therefore, the importance of programming education has been emphasized worldwide. Programming education has been conducted since the 1980s, however beginners often find programming tedious and difficult because of the cognitive burden of using text commands. Therefore, block-based programming environments, such as Scratch and Code.org, and beginner-oriented programming environments, such as Blockly and Pencil Code, have been de-veloped. However, they have limitations when transitioning from block to text-based programming. In this study, we conducted one semester of classes for 128 middle school, high school, and uni-versity students to determine whether an environment that allows using a text-based programming language in a block-based programming environment aids beginners’ understanding of program-ming instructions, command usage confidence, and programming usefulness. The results confirm that the usability of a block-based environment positively influences programming perception. This study is significant because it verifies the necessity and effectiveness of a block-based environment that employs a text-based programming language in programming education for beginners.

Plant community assembly is the central issue in community ecology. As plant traits differ in different life history stages, the form, intensity and mechanism of interspecific interactions may change with the ontogenetic process of plants. However, our understanding of interspecific interaction mechanisms during germination is still limited. Here, we conducted a laboratory germination experiment using 5 dominant species in Chongming Dongtan (Spartina alterniflora, Scirpus mariqueter, Phragmites australis, Suaeda glauca and Tripolium vulgare) to assess their germination performance in control (monoculture), allelopathy and mixture treatments. The results indicated that seeds could affect germination performance of neighbours through both allelopathy and microenvironment modification. Salinity of the solution in petri dishes after germination decreased in all treatments, and was negatively correlated with the number of total germinated seeds. Seed leachate of invasive Spartina alterniflora inhibited the germination of native Scirpus mariqueter and Phragmites australis, but not the two halophytes Suaeda glauca and Tripolium vulgare. The salt absorption by Spartina alterniflora seeds had the opposite effects compared with that of its seed leachate. On the other hand, seed leachate of native species promoted the germination of invasive Spartina alterniflora. The effect of microenvironment modification of Scirpus mariqueter and Phragmites australis was positive, whereas that of Suaeda glauca and Tripolium vulgare was neutral or negative. Considering seed-to-seed interactions is an important perspective to understand the underlying mechanisms of community dynamics, species diversity maintenance and invasion of alien species, and can improve the effectiveness in the management of invaded coastal wetlands.

Rural environment has experienced changes as a result of Covid-19, which encourage the introduction of sustainability in education. However, the representation of rurality in school geography and in the 2030 Agenda are factors that continue to present rurality as a concept opposed to urban spaces. The objective was to investigate the perception that the student has about the rural environment from an instrument and his drawings to understand if the explanation of it allows to introduce elements related to sustainability in educational projects. The quantitative research approach allows analyzing the psychometric properties of an instrument to measure the perception of the rural environment of a sample of 300 fifteen-year-old students from Brazil, Colombia and Spain. Those school knowledges that idealize rurality warn of the pedagogical difficulties to promote the teaching of rurality from sustainability criteria and condition the formation of students from a citizenship committed to social problems. This study is important because it diagnoses the elements that intervene in the teaching of rurality from school geography and provides some suggestions to include sustainability in educational projects.

The efficiency of rice cum fish culture study was conducted in different areas of Tangail district with those farmers who cultivate rice and fish together at a time. The study was conducted along 60 farmers of different areas in Ghatail upazilla. The primary data were collected through face-to-face interviews and secondary data were collected through different reputed journals, newspapers, authentic portals and so on. Data collection was carried out during the period from November 2021 to May 2022. Both tabular and functional analyses were performed to achieve the specific objectives of the study. NPV, BCR and IRR method was used to estimate the profitability and a multiple regression model was used to find out the factors motivating farmers' decision on rice cum fish cultivation. SWOT analysis was done to find out the internal and external-positive and negative factors faced by the farmers in rice cum fish cultivation. About 40% of farmers are under the age of 30 and most of them got at least primary education. Agriculture was the main occupation of the respondents and fish cultivation was the secondary. The highest annual income among the sample growers came from the production of rice cum fish culture. The BCR of the production is upbeat and 2.09 which indicates that the cultivation is profitable.

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) continue to provide essential services for various applications such as surveillance, data gathering, and data transmission from the hazardous environments to safer destinations. This has been enhanced by the energy-efficient routing protocols that are mostly designed for such purposes. Gateway-based Energy-Aware Multi-hop Routing protocol (MGEAR) is one of the homogenous routing schemes that was recently designed to more efficiently reduce the energy consumption of distant nodes. However, it has been found that the protocol has a high energy consumption rate, lower stability period, less data transmission to the Base station (BS). In this paper, an enhanced Heterogeneous Gateway-based Energy-Aware multi-hop routing protocol ( HMGEAR) is proposed. The proposed routing scheme is based on the introduction of heterogeneous nodes in the existing scheme, selection of the head based on the residual energy, introduction of multi-hop communication strategy in all the regions of the network, and implementation of energy hole elimination technique. Results show that the proposed routing scheme outperforms two existing ones.

Theoretic and empirical studies show that social surroundings experienced by male insects during their larval or adult stage can influence their testicular investment in diverse ways. Although insect pupae do not feed and crawl, they can communicate using sex-specific and/or non-sex specific cues. Yet, it is unknown, in any insect, whether and how male pupae can fine-tune their resource allocation to sperm production and testis size in response to socio-sexual environment. We investigated this question using a moth, Ephestia kuehniella, which produces fertile eupyrene sperm and unfertile apyrene sperm. We held male pupae individually or in groups with different sex ratios, and dissected adults upon eclosion, measured their testis size, and counted both types of sperm. We demonstrated that after exposure to conspecific pupal cues regardless of sex, male pupae increased production of eupyrenes and apyrenes at the same rate but kept testis size unchanged. We suggest that testis size is fixed after pupation because most morphological traits are formed during the larval stage, allowing little room for pupae to adjust testis size. Like adults, male pupae with fully grown testes have sufficient resources to produce more sperm of both types according to the perceived increase of sperm competition risk.

Progressive technologies and practices are shifting the possibilities of building design and improving work efficiency. Constantly changing site conditions require different procedures and designs that take into account these changing conditions, whether it is a design solution, a change in environmental conditions, or just sustainability factors. Adaptive building design offers opportunities to cope with changing factors to achieve the highest possible level of building quality. This case study deals with the topic of adaptive formwork design for building renovation, taking into account sustainability. Aim of the article is an investigation and demonstration of the building information modelling (BIM) environment used for the adaptive design of formwork elements for the building renovation in the context of sustainability. The object of the case study is a building in the center of Kosice, Slovakia. BIM environment allows prompt and correct adaptation of the formwork design to changing conditions of lighting, ventilation, heating and temperature during the design of the building.

This research described the fundamental inspiration behind the implementation of a humanistic approach to the principal's leadership and the steps of the principal's humanistic approach that have an impact on optimizing the implementation of the program for strengthening character education. This research used a qualitative approach, a case study design. The data collection was performed through in-depth interviews, participant observation, and documentation studies to achieve the research objectives. Data analysis used a modified analytic analysis method. The level of credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability was the basis of data validity. The research findings explained that personal excellence (integrity, wholeness, and self-authenticity) and the humanistic spirituality of inspirational figures inspired the principal’s humanistic approach. In addition, the application of the principal's humanistic approach had adequate impacts on optimizing the implementation of a program for strengthening character education and influenced the strengthening of the student's character. Through the principal's humanistic approach, school becomes an environment for empowering the character of the students.

Since World War I, the commercial aviation industry has seen many improvements that now allow people and goods to reach the other side of the world in few hours, consuming much less fuel than in recent decades. Improvements in cargo capacity and energy efficiency were significant and, in this scenario, commercial airlines were able to thrive and bring great benefits to world economy. However, this sector is facing environmental challenges due to the intensive use of aviation fuel. Brazil is one of the largest domestic air passenger markets in the world and still has great growth potential, considering its economic potential and territorial dimensions: roughly the same size as the US and twice the size of the European Union. This paper discusses partial productivity of jet fuel in Brazilian domestic aviation and proposes an econometric method to support public regulators and airlines decisions. The proposed model uses variables such as aircraft size, route characteristics and idle flight capacity in a panel data analysis. The results show that reducing idle capacity is one of the best ways to achieve better short-term fuel efficiency and therefore will reduce environmental impacts and have positive economic effects on commercial air transport activities.

During the exploration of the surrounding environment, the brain links together external inputs, giving rise to perception of a persisting object. During imaginative processes, the same object can be recalled in mind even if it is out of sight. Here, topological theory of shape provides a mathematical foundation for the notion of persistence perception. In particular, we focus on ecological theories of perception, that account for our knowledge of world objects by borrowing a concept of invariance in topology. We show how a series of transformations can be gradually applied to a pattern, in particular to the shape of an object, without affecting its invariant properties, such as boundedness of parts of a visual scene. High-level representations of objects in our environment are mapped to simplified views (our interpretations) of the objects, in order to construct a symbolic representation of the environment. The representations can be projected continuously to an environmental object that we have seen and continue to see, thanks to the mapping from shapes in our memory to shapes in Euclidean space.

Based on the deployment of global innovation value chain, the article analyzes the existing independent innovation capability of Guangzhou, and analyzes in detail from innovative talents, innovation system, innovation culture and innovation environment. The role of the central city of Guangzhou has led to research on issues such as the common development of cities in Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta. Using the combination of qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis, we can find out the shortcomings of Guangzhou's independent innovation capability, explore the causes of problems, and seek solutions to the main problems.

The new WHO Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region have recommendations for limiting noise exposure associated with adverse health effects. The limits are said to be based on a systematic review of existing evidence. This paper gives a systematic assessment of the presented evidence with respect to aircraft noise annoyance and demonstrates that the new guidelines are based on an arbitrary selection of existing studies comprising an imperfect and faulty set of data not representative for the general airport population.

In the field of agricultural food production, the transition between organic and inorganic farming methods has been an issue of much debate. The debate, on one hand, stresses the urgency for the transition in order to preserve environment and health; and, on the other hand, emphasizes the pressure of maintaining food production for a large growing population. Thus, the dilemma is how to find an agricultural system that would balance between obtaining food security and ensuring a safe sustainably environment-friendly food production system. This article focuses on the debate, in the context of Bangladesh, and questions whether it is the proper time, and stage in the development process, to attempt the transition from inorganic conventional food production methods to organic food production methods. This article contemplates why the organic rice market is not expanding in Bangladesh, and attempts to explain the slow growth of the market through the two main factors of income constraint and lack of awareness among people about the environmental and health detriments of inorganic farming methods. The study is exploratory in nature, and finds that it is not mainly the lack of awareness but the income constraint that can be principally attributed to the slow expansion of the organic rice market in Bangladesh. Through exploring consumers’ awareness about organic farming methods and their demand for organic products, this study shows how income as the major constraint, besides price, affects consumers demand for organic and inorganic rice in Bangladesh. Income being identified as the major barrier reveals the potential of the organic rice market to grow in the future, as Bangladesh continues its journey towards becoming a middle-income country.

The current study was formulated with the aim of assessing the impact of the Extent of Drug addiction on the Family environment and interventions for drug-addicted youth in rural areas of Dir Lower Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The study comprised a dependent variable (Extent of Drug addiction) and an independent variable (Family Environment). A sample size of 266 was randomly selected for primary data collection through structured interviews. The collected information was evaluated through descriptive analysis (frequency and percentage distribution) and inferential analysis, specifically utilizing the Chi-square Statistical Test. The study concluded that drug addiction among youth has an adverse impact on the family environment, leading to instability and violent behavior. Further, families of drug-addicted youth experience a high level of dissatisfaction in relationships, often culminating in divorce. Similarly, the families of drug-addicted are characterized by low cohesion, role conflict, and tolerance. Thus, the government should formulate polices and strategies for the prevention of drug addiction, with speedy implementation across all institutional dynamics, including family. Moreover, It is also crucial to rehabilitate the lifeblood of a nation (youth) in terms of socio-economic, emotional and psychological growth. These recommendations were put forward in the light of the current study.

The School Fruit and Vegetables Scheme (SFVS) implemented by the European Union during 2009/10 aims to improve the diet of school children and to support agricultural markets and environmental sustainability. The objective of this study was to characterize the SFVS implementation in Spain (2009-2017). A descriptive, longitudinal, observational and retrospective study was carried out based on document analysis of annual strategies of the SFVS. We studied the average budget for the EU, the number of students enrolled, the cost of the SFVS by student and by day, the duration of the SFVS, the quantity of fruits and vegetables (FV) per student, the variety of FV, the inclusion of local, seasonal and organic foods, and the education activities (EA). The results were studied by autonomous community (AC). The budget increased from 7.4 million euros in 2009/10 to 14.4 in 2016/17. Since 2014/15, the increase came from EU funds, the number of students increased from 18% in 2009 to 20% in 2016. The quantity of FV went from 2,579 to 4,000 tons, duration increased from 9.8 to 19.6 days and the variety of fruits and vegetables increased from 20 to 21 and from 5 to 6 respectively. In AC there were important variations in EA, in the number of enrolled students (7.4% to 45.6%), in the cost per student (2.3€ to 28€) and in the duration in days (5.6 to 70 days). The inclusion of local, seasonal and organic foods was identified in 5 of the 8 years studied. The development and reach of the SFVS in Spain is still insufficient to influence dietary patterns and health in the school population. However, the SFVS has generated an economic market for agricultural production.

This study focuses on land cover and land management changes in relation to food security and environmental services in a semi-arid area of East Nusa Tenggara (ENT) – Indonesia. The study was conducted in Central Sumba District of ENT Province. Classification and regression tree (CART) for land cover classification has been analyzed using machine learning techniques using Google Earth Engine. A survey with Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and followed with in-depth interviews were conducted for primary data collection involving a total of 871 respondents. The Socio-economic data analyzed statistics descriptively and non-parametric tests. The study showed that: 1). There has been a substantial land use change during the devo-lution era that has both positive and negative implications for food security and envi-ronmental services. 2). There has been population pressure in the fertile or agricultur-al land as the direct impact of the development of city infrastructures; and 3). Nation-al intervention through the Food Estate program has fostered and shaped land use change and land management in Central Sumba District. The study highlights the importance that the devolution spirit should help to well manage the limited ara-ble/agricultural land in dominated semi-arid to ensure food security and environment services.

Abstract: The marketing of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) within grocers is an obesogenic factor that negatively impacts children’s nutritional behavior, specifically regarding people from racial and ethnic minority groups. We aimed to develop and employ a methodology that more precisely assesses the availability, price, and promotion of SSBs to young immigrant children within independently owned grocery stores. A case comparison design was used to explore the differences in the grocery store landscape of SSB marketing by conducting an enhanced Nutrition Environment Measures Survey-SSB (NEMS-SSB) within 30 grocery stores in the Hispanic and Latino enclaves in Southwest Detroit, in the Arab and Chaldean enclaves in North-central Detroit, and in Warren, Hamtramck, and Dearborn, in comparison with 48 grocers in Metro Detroit. Organic, plant-based, and unsweetened toddler and infant beverages, as well as questions about marketing, were added to the original NEMS-S to capture the promotion tactics used in marketing SSBs. NEMS-SSB scores revealed in the immigrant enclaves there was a significantly higher availability of SSBs in grocery stores (−2.38), and they had lower prices than those in the comparison group (−0.52). Availability of unsweetened and organic beverages was zero in 97% of all participating grocery stores. Signage featuring cartoon characters was the most frequent in-store SSB marketing tactic. Widespread SSB marketing towards toddlers within the grocery stores in immigrant enclaves could be linked with the higher childhood obesity prevalence among this population. Our findings can assist local and national organizations in developing and implementing healthy eating interventions. This study can be repeated in other states to provide comparable results.

Introduction The climate crisis is essentially a public health crisis. Response is imperative to prevent economic and social crises associated with the growing burden of climate impacts on human health and the health care sector. Green Podiatry Pillars By adopting the three pillars of Exercise, Evidence, and Everyday changes, podiatrists can contribute to more sustainable health and health care. Discussion Educating our patients to use their feet for low carbon active transport, eliminating interventions not supported by evidence, and reducing fossil fuel driven supply chains and energy use, are three impactful measures that all podiatrists, and indeed, all health and medical personnel, need to adopt. The avoidable suffering, enormous and costly use of resources for diabetic foot disease, is a scourge that must realise its preventable potential. It is too late, too costly, too polluting, and too sad, to continue to direct health care and research efforts and budgets, to an expensive modifiable diabetes disease process, potentiated by poor food and physical inactivity. Affected patients require skilled support, to avert such chronic disease processes, often not of their making. Conclusions Healthcare contributes 5 to 8% of green house gases (GHG), and non-communicable diseases (NCD) are increasing, so healthcare must lead on primary health. As citizens and health professionals, we must advocate for better community health, and educate our patients. Future Directions All health and medical personnel need to consider planetary health and sustainable healthcare within their daily work. Healthcare must act to address climate change, and realise benefits for people and planet.

The devastating growth in the worldwide frequency of neurocognitive disorders and its allied difficulties such as decline in memory, spatial competency, and ability to focus poses a significant psychological public health problem. Inhibitor of Differentiation (ID) proteins are members of a family of helix-loop-helix (HLH) transcription factors. ID proteins have been demonstrated to be involved in neurodevelopmental & depressive diseases and thus may influence neurocognitive deficiencies due to environmental exposure. Previously, it has been demonstrated that environmental factors such as estrogenic endocrine disruptors (EEDs) have played an essential role in the influence of various neurocognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Dementia, and Parkinson’s disease. Based on this increasing number of reports, we consider the impact of these environmental pollutants on ID proteins. Better understanding of how these ID proteins by which EED exposure can affect neurocognitive disorders in populations will prospectively deliver valuable information in the impediment and regulation of these diseases linked with environmental factor exposure.

In Korea, substantial disparities exist in physical environments across regions, exacerbating the polarization between metropolitan and provincial areas, and urban and rural regions. This study examines the differences in physical activity and self-rated health of local communities in relation to satisfaction with the physical environment. By identifying and addressing these underlying causes of health disparities, the study provides foundational data to inform policy efforts. The study utilized data from the 2023 Community Health Survey conducted by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. It included 231,752 individuals aged 19 and older (105,754 men and 125,998 women) selected through a two-stage probability proportional systematic sampling method. One-on-one online interviews were conducted from May 16 to July 31, 2023. Physical environment was assessed based on public satisfaction with safety, natural and living environments, public transportation, and medical services. Study variables included subjective health status and physical activity, with sub-variables for physical activity encompassing the duration of vigorous and moderate physical activity, walking, and flexibility exercises. For data analysis, MANOVA and ANOVA were conducted, with Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. Considerable variations in physical activity were observed based on satisfaction with the local community environment. Regarding self-rated health, significant differences were found in safety levels, living environment, and medical services. Satisfaction with the physical environment positively influenced physical activity and self-rated health. Therefore, it is imperative to reduce disparities in the physical environment between regions and enhance residents' satisfaction.

Shelter-in-place aimed at slowing COVID-19 transmission has altered nature accessibility patterns, creating quasi-experimental conditions to assess if retracted nature contact and perceived nature deprivation influences physical and emotional wellbeing. We measure through survey methods how pandemic mandates limiting personal movement and outdoor nature access effect self-assessed nature exposure, perceived nature deprivation, and subsequent flourishing as measured by the Harvard Flourishing Index. Results indicate that perceived nature deprivation strongly associates with neighborhood nature contact, time in nature and access to municipal nature during the pandemic, after controlling for shelter-in-place mandates, job status, household composition, and sociodemographic variables. Our hypothesis that individuals with strong perceived nature deprivation under COVID-19 leads to diminished wellbeing proved true. Interaction models of flourishing showed positive modification of nature affinity with age and qualitative modification of nature deprivation with race. Our results demonstrate the potential of local nature contact to support individual wellbeing in a background context of emotional distress and social isolation, important in guiding public health policies beyond pandemics.

This paper attempts to alter a prevailing assumption that buildings use energy to an understanding that in fact, people use energy. Therefore, to successfully accelerate the transition to a low-carbon society and economy more emphasis should be on motivating people and increasing their awareness by making them energy conscious building users and therefore active players in the energy transition process. In this context, this paper provides insights from the Horizon 2020 MOBISTYLE project. It demonstrates research and development approaches, highlights the main project objectives, and presents findings of an ethnographic (qualitative) study of users’ habits, practices, and needs. The aim of the project is to motivate behavioural change by raising consumer awareness through the provision of attractive personalized information on user’s energy use, indoor environment and health, all enabled by an integrated information and communication technology (ICT) service. In this context, the anthropological people-centred approach is integrated into the MOBISTYLE approach putting users at the centre of the ICT tools development process. The main quantitative objective of the project is a reduction of energy use for at least 16 % prompted by the provision of combined information and feedback systems on energy, indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and health. The most relevant motivational factors and key performance indicators (KPIs) for encouraging a more energy conscious and healthy lifestyle were defined by means of a people-centred approach, adopting anthropological inquiries in different settings. Information about users’ lifestyles and their needs was collected in focus groups with potential users in five case studies, located in different European Union (EU) countries. Behaviour change is achieved through awareness campaigns, which encourage users to be pro-active about their energy consumption and to simultaneously improve health and well-being.

The article discusses determinants of living environment in Central and Eastern Europe. As an example, the city of Radzionkow was chosen, with 16 thousand inhabitants, located in the Silesia agglomeration in southern Poland, in the area where hard coal has been mined for almost two hundred years, which largely serves as a source of heating for houses and flats. 360 buildings in 6 groups of 60 buildings were examined in the selected city, which allowed to distinguish 3 different areas in terms of the quality of the living environment depending on the technical condition of buildings, the method of heating and location. To a large extent, determinants are the existing spatial and geophysical conditions of a given location. Many research and reports on the living environment do not take into account the factors mentioned, focusing only on the statistical data of pollution, excluding spatial factors. In the research presented, the author, taking into account location variables, shows differences in the measurements of air pollution in relation to the designated location zones depending on the morphological structure of the building, the degree of its modernization and the types of heating used in buildings.

Safety and the apprehension of crime persist as significant concerns in both urban and rural locales. Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) guidelines, an architectural approach to crime deterrence, mitigate the likelihood of criminal activity by implementing strategic defensive design plans, particularly through effective lighting schemes within urban settings, thereby alleviating fear of crime. This comprehensive set of principles serves to enhance overall quality of life. Additionally, within the realm of environmental crime prevention, enhanced street lighting has been identified as a crucial factor in diminishing both actual crime rates and the perceived risk of criminal activity in built environments. While current recommendations advocate for the installation of lighting in poorly lit areas for safety reasons, evaluating visibility solely based on the presence of existing streetlights proves insufficient for analyzing road surface luminance comprehensively. Thus, this study proposes establishing standardized illumination levels specifically tailored for facial recognition of potential criminal offenders. Furthermore, we advocate for defining specific thresholds for color temperature and colorimetric criteria to aid in distinguishing characteristics of individuals' attire. To analyze photometric safety and crime frequency in Seoul, Korea, new primary evaluation indicators were developed, including the Brightness index, Informatization index, and Safety index. By incorporating quantitative data into lighting design strategies, particularly within the framework of CPTED, there exists the potential to mitigate fear of crime during nighttime hours. These strategies facilitate the creation of well-lit environments conducive to the swift recognition and identification of potential perpetrators, thereby presenting a proactive approach to crime prevention. Consequently, this study introduces quantitative lighting standards to augment the efficacy of CPTED guidelines, ultimately contributing to the reduction of crime incidence.

Microplastics have been detected as widespread in an aquatic environment at the microscale, also known as plastic debris. They have continuously increased due to the increase in population, production of synthetic plastics and poor waste management. They are ubiquitous and slowly degrade in soil and water. They are emerging contaminants that have received attention from research communities and public audiences over the last few years. They have high stability and can absorb several other pollutants like heavy metals, pesticides, etc. After entering the environment, they can accumulate and persist for a long time. They can create a serious threat to freshwater ecosystems and human health. These particles can cause physical damage to freshwater organisms. Raman spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, visual identification, density separation, microscopic method, chemical method, thermos-analytical method and hyperspectral imaging method are the commonly known approaches for identification and quantification of microplastics. The noticed concentration of microplastics depends on the analysis method, sampling location and technique. The authors reviewed the sources, health impact, transport and treatment of microplastics in freshwater environments in detail. This study will provide the baseline data for the researchers to do more research on microplastic pollution in the future.

Sorghum in Australia is grown in water-limited environments of varying extent, generating substantial genotype × environment interaction (GEI). Much of the yield variation and GEI results from variations in flowering time and tillering through their effects on canopy development. The confounding effects of flowering and tillering complicate the interpretation of breeding trials. In this study, we evaluated the impacts of both flowering time (DTF) and tillering capacity (FTN) on yield of 1741 unique test hybrids derived from three common female testers in 21 yield testing trials (48 tester/trial combinations) across the major sorghum production regions in Australia in three seasons. Contributions of DTF and FTN to genetic variation in grain yield were significant in 14 and 12 tester/trial combinations, respectively. The proportion of genetic variance in grain yield explained by DTF and FTN ranged from 0.2% to 61.0% and from 1.4% to 56.9%, respectively, depending on trials and genetic background of female testers. The relationship of DTF or FTN with grain yield of hybrids was frequently positive, but varied across the genetic background of testers. Accounting for the effects of DTF and FTN using linear models did not substantially increase the between trial genetic correlations for grain yield. The results suggested that other factors affecting canopy development dynamics and grain yield might contribute GEI and/or the linear approach to account for DTF and FTN on grain yield did not capture the complex non-linear interactions.

Nicotiana benthamiana plants infected with a potato virus Y isolate (PVYO) under ambient conditions of 25 °C and ~405 parts-per-million (ppm) ambient CO2 display symptoms of chlorosis, leaf curling, and stunting. However, under elevated temperature and CO2 levels (30 °C, 970 ppm), systemic viral titers decrease several-fold, and plants appear asymptomatic. Under the latter conditions we have studied how infection, drought, or both combined affect infection, drought-driven loss of leaf turgor, plant water content, stomatal conductance, metabolome, and hormone (ABA, SA, and JA) levels. We found that drought did not affect viral titers. As expected, drought decreased plant water content and stomatal conductance. Under drought conditions, infection did not alter significantly final water content or loss of leaf turgor progression, but it increased the levels of some sugars and other osmo-protectants. Infection and drought altered the levels of many components of the metabolome. Some components altered by infection were not altered by drought, but most of those altered by drought were also altered by infection. Drought increased the levels of ABA, infection increased the levels of ABA, SA, and JA, and altered their relative balance. The effects of drought and of infection on hormone levels were cumulative when combined. Thus, under ambient conditions that turn a severe infection into an asymptomatic one both, plant physiology parameters and the interplay with drought are affected.

Competition over environmental and natural resources characteristically lies at the heart of armed conflicts in Africa. It is also common knowledge that some companies dealing in products such as laptops, smart phones and jewellery; import minerals from conflict-affected areas, thereby indirectly fuelling conflicts in these areas or undermining human rights. For a continent endowed with natural resources including minerals, Africa has suffered the brunt of this predicament. This state of affairs has lent impetus to the adoption of several regulations geared towards curbing irresponsible business practices by companies relying on such minerals, the goal being, amongst others, to guarantee the protection of human rights. In May 2017, the European Union adopted Regulations intended to stop the importation of conflict minerals in Europe, debatably making giant strides in the direction of protection of human rights. These Regulations are to come into force in 2021. However, can these regulations advance the much-desired goal of protection of human rights in Africa on issues pertaining to conflict minerals? By analyzing the 2017 EU Regulations in light of previous regulations of a similar nature, the paper concludes that the said regulations constitute a weak normative framework and could in fact have unintended consequences on the fundamental rights of civilians in natural resource-rich conflict areas of Africa.

Calcretes are indurated terrestrial carbonates that are widespread in arid and semi-arid settings and serve as important archives of present and past environments. Here we use geochemical tools to explore the nature and origin of calcretes documented from tropical Niue Island in the Southwest Pacific. The study recognizes two types of calcretes that differ in their mineral assemblage, microfabrics, elemental chemistry and carbon and oxygen isotopes. The calcretes common in the paleo-lagoon soils consist of 90% low-Mg calcite and ~10% highly weathered Mg-Al silicates. These pedogenic calcretes formed in the soil profiles within the vadose zone and bear the following distinctions: (i) Fe/Al ratio of 0.75, identical to the ratio in soils (Fe/Al=0.76 ±0.5), substantiates the link between the calcretes and soils; (ii) presence of rhizoliths, root voids, micritic nodules and clasts are consistent with a pedogenic calcrete fabric, and (iii) 13C and 18O depletions of -10.6‰ and -5.3‰, respectively, are compatible with carbon sources from microbial and roots respiration, and formation in oxygen isotope equilibrium with vadose waters. Unlike the pedogenic calcrete, a rare calcrete from the coastal terrace contains an exceptionally rare hydrotalcite mineral (65%) coated by microbial films. We contend that the hydrotalcite-rich calcrete was deposited through interaction of dolomite with seawater, similar to the method of producing hydrotalcite in the laboratory. 13C and 18O enrichments of 0.8 to 1.7‰ and -1.0 to -1.6‰, respectively, are in agreement with (i) mixed carbon sources consisting of microbial CO2 degassing, seawater HCO3 and dolomite dissolution, and (ii) oxygen isotope equilibration with a seawater-derived fluid.

This research investigates the alignment of soft power and institutional skills in Montenegro's journey towards accession to the European Union (EU), with a particular focus on the environmental sector. An online survey targeting individuals employed in state institutions directly engaged in negotiation processes, notably the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism and the Agency for Nature and Environmental Protection, was conducted. The research conducted an online survey, distributed before and after the summer recess to accommodate the transition of power following parliamentary elections, aimed at assessing the effectiveness of current personnel and identifying areas for improvement in staffing and negotiation strategies within Montenegro's environmental sector. Employing diverse methodologies, the survey's analysis delved into the demographic, social, and professional backgrounds of respondents. It explored their roles within institutions, involvement in environmental negotiations, and possession of relevant skills and expertise. Furthermore, respondents' knowledge of environmental issues, legislation, and challenges facing the country was assessed to gauge institutional capacity for environmental governance. Demographic data, including gender, age, education and regional origin, were collected to understand gender-specific attitudes and regional disparities in environmental perspectives. The sample of 84 individuals, comprising executives and employees from both institutions, provided insights into the age structure and regional diversity of personnel involved in negotiation tasks for Chapter 27. The selection of the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism and the Agency for Nature and Environmental Protection reflects their pivotal roles in shaping Montenegro's environmental policies and addressing climate change challenges. This study aims to illuminate the dynamics of environmental governance within Montenegro's state administration, contributing to the country's path towards EU accession. The research findings highlight the critical need for Montenegro to prioritize strategic initiatives in personnel management, skill development, and institutional capacity-building within its environmental sector. The implications of this research extend beyond academia to inform policymaking and societal action, emphasizing the urgency for Montenegro to bolster its environmental sector capabilities, fostering both EU alignment and sustainable governance practices for the benefit of present and future generations.

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19, working from home has become the norm for millions of workers worldwide. The current research focuses on the benefits and challenges of teleworking in the administrative sectors of greek healthcare units, with a view to harnessing the knowledge gained through experience, in order to create the frame for sustainable behaviors. Anyways, the implementation of teleworking requires complex and dynamic changes in technical and behavioral aspects. Therefore, a systematic review was also conducted to identify the relationships between telecommuting and organizational behavior, with the aim of achieving sustainable development in businesses. Moreover, an important positive aspect of telework that emerged from this literature review appears to create opportunities for potential direct or indirect linkages between telework and many SDGs areas, based on the fact that telework appears to be a community-friendly form of work. In summary, this research strongly suggests that leaders facilitate telecommuters to adopt green practices and volunteerism that can consequently contribute to the SDGs. However, in order to meet the challenges arising from unprecedented times, the leaders of the organizations will have to redesign their policies, while the states will have to focus on guaranteeing the rights and freedoms of the workers.

The important characteristic that could assist in autonomous navigation is the ability of a mobile robot to concurrently construct a map for an unknown environment and localize itself within the same environment. This computational problem is known as Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM). In literature, researchers have studied this approach extensively and have proposed a lot of improvement towards it. More so, we are experiencing a steady transition of this technology to industries. However, there are still setbacks limiting the full acceptance of this technology even though the research had been conducted over the last 30 years. Thus, to determine the problems facing SLAM, this paper conducted a review on various foundation and recent SLAM algorithms. Challenges and open issues alongside the research direction for this area were discussed. However, towards addressing the problem discussed, a novel SLAM technique will be proposed.

With the rapid spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that results in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), corporate entities, federal, state, county and city governments, universities, school districts, places of worship, prisons, health care facilities, assisted living organizations, daycares, homeowners, and other building owners and occupants have an opportunity to reduce the potential for transmission through built environment (BE) mediated pathways. Over the last decade, substantial research into the presence, abundance, diversity, function, and transmission of microbes in the BE has taken place and revealed common pathogen exchange pathways and mechanisms. In this paper, we synthesize this microbiology of the BE research and the known information about SARS-CoV-2 to provide actionable and achievable guidance to BE decision makers, building operators, and all indoor occupants attempting to minimize infectious disease transmission through environmentally mediated pathways. We believe this information is useful to corporate and public administrators and individuals responsible for building operations and environmental services in their decision-making process about the degree and duration of social-distancing measures during viral epidemics and pandemics.

Aiming at the problem that dynamic targets in indoor environments lead to low accuracy and large errors in the localization and position estimation of visual SLAM systems and the inability to build maps containing semantic information, a semantic visual SLAM algorithm based on the semantic segmentation network DeepLabV3+ and LK optical flow is proposed based on ORB-SLAM2 system. First, the dynamic target feature points are detected and rejected based on the lightweight semantic segmentation network DeepLabV3+ and LK optical flow method. second, the static environment occluded by the dynamic target is repaired using the time-weighted multi-frame fusion background repair technique. Lastly, the filtered static feature points are used for feature matching and position calculation. Meanwhile, the semantic labeling information of static objects obtained based on the lightweight semantic segmentation network DeepLabV3+ is fused with the static environment information after background repair to generate dense point cloud maps containing semantic information, and the semantic dense point cloud maps are transformed into semantic octree maps using the octree spatial segmentation data structure. The localization accuracy of the visual SLAM system and the construction of the semantic maps are verified using the TUM RGB-D widely used dataset and real scene data, respectively. The experimental results show that the proposed semantic visual SLAM algorithm can effectively reduce the influence of dynamic targets on the system, has a higher localization accuracy, and compared with other advanced algorithms, such as DynaSLAM, has the highest performance in indoor dynamic environments while considering both localization accuracy and real-time performance. In addition, semantic maps can be constructed so that the robot can better understand and adapt to the indoor dynamic environment.

Indoor crop cultivation systems such as vertical farms or plant factories necessitate artificial lighting. Light spectral quality can affect plant growth and metabolism and, consequently, the amount of biomass produced and the value of the produce. Conflicting results on the effects of light spectrum in different plant species and cultivars make it critical to implement a singular lighting solution. In this study we explored the response of green and red leaf lettuce cultivars (’Aquino’, CVg, or ‘Barlach’, CVr, respectively) to long-term blue-enriched light application (WB). Plants were grown for 30 days in a growth chamber with optimal environmental condi-tions (temperature: 20°C, relative humidity: 60%, ambient CO2, Photon Flux Density (PFD) of 260 µmol m-2 s-1 over an 18-h photoperiod). At 15 days after sowing (DAS) white spectrum LEDs (WW) were compared to WB (λPeak = 423 nm) maintaining the same PFD of 260 µmol m-2 s-1. At 30 DAS, both lettuce cultivars resulted adapted to the blue light variant, though the adaptive re-sponse was specific to the variety. Rosette weight, light use efficiency and maximum operating efficiency of PSII photochemistry in the light, Fv/Fm’, were comparable between the two light treatments. Significant light quality effect was detected on stomatal density and conductance (20% and 17% increase under WB, respectively, in CVg) and, on the modified anthocyanin re-flectance index (mARI) (40% increase under WB, in CVr). Net photosynthesis response was gen-erally stronger in CVg compared to CVr; e.g. net photosynthetic rate, Pn, at 1000 µmol m-2 s-1 PPFD increased from WW to WB by 23% in CVg, compared to 18% in CVr. Results obtained suggest the occurrence of distinct physiological adaptive strategies in green and red pigmented lettuce cultivars to adapt to the higher proportion of blue light environment.

Urban development and planning are increasingly centered on matters of sustainability, balancing economic development with ecosystem services and biotic structures within urban environments. In addition to these institutional and structural factors, the decision-making process within individual households must be understood to address rising concerns about water use. Therefore, individual characteristics and preferences that influence the use of water also warrant examination. In response to a survey of occupants of single-family residences in the Fresno Clovis Metropolitan Area of California, contextual interviews and focus group interviews with a homeowner sub-sample, we find evidence of an interplay of social-structural, institutional, and cultural factors involved in influencing individual water use behaviors and landscape decision making. The complexity of residential behaviors and decision-making poses some potential issues with regards to the interactions between individual households and institutional actors in matters of water usage and landscaping, as survey respondents indicate relatively little confidence in institutions and groups to make wise water policy decisions. We conclude that the promotion and implementation of sustainable water use practices will require not only environmental education for the citizenry, but also a tailoring of information for environmental educational initiatives that address the particularities of individual neighborhoods and communities.

With the increase in mercury pollution around the world, several bacteria have been identified that are capable of resisting mercury toxicity. With this in mind, the aim of this review was to determine which genes are involved in mercury resistance, which bacterial genera exhibit this resistance and which bacterial isolation sources have been most reported. To answer these questions, the PICO method (population, intervention, comparison and outcome) was used, three databases were searched and 17 relevant articles were included. As a result, resistance is due to a set of mer genes that transcribe mer proteins. The most important genes identified were merA and merR, and their proteins confer resistance by reducing Hg to Hg+2 or Hg0. Among the bacteria studied, those of the genera Pseudomonas, Escherichia and the phylum Cyanobacteria stand out, the most important being Escherichia coli and Synechocystis sp. which are highly efficient and fast at reducing Hg. Based on the results, Escherichia coli and Synechocystis sp. are promising candidates for reducing environmental Hg, especially in aquatic environments. However, there is a lack of studies on the mechanism of bioremediation carried out by cyanobacteria and the influence of abiotic factors on the presence and/or expression of mer genes.

The genotype by environment interaction (G×E) might have crucial impacts on the performance and fitness of agricultural species, such as Pacific white leg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei). This study explores how enhancements in management practices can counteract G×E effects on growth traits. We analysed a selectively bred population of white leg shrimp spanning the latest two generations, encompassing 259 full-sib and half-sib families with 40,862 individual shrimp measured for body weight and total length. Our analysis revealed moderate genetic correlations (0.60 – 0.65) between trait expressions in pond and tank environments, a significant improvement compared to earlier generations. Employing the average information-restricted maximum likelihood (REML) approach in mixed model analysis showed significant differences in heritability (h2) estimates between the two environments; however, the extent of these differences varied by trait (h2 = 0.68 in pond vs. 0.37 in tank for weight, and 0.41 vs. 0.67 for length). Our results indicate that G×E effects on growth traits in this population of L. vannamei were moderate but biologically significant. Consistent with our previous estimates in this population, genetic correlations between body weight and total length remained high (close to one) in pond and tank environments. Our findings collectively demonstrate that management improvements targeting stocking density, aeration, water quality, feeds, and feeding regimes mitigated the G×E effects on two economically significant traits in this population of white leg shrimp.

The intersection of pedagogy and business models offers a compelling framework for enhancing educational outcomes through strategic innovation and operational efficiency. This is the first study that explores integrating value-based business models into pedagogy, proposing four models: Value Positioning (critical thinking, AI-oriented), Value Delivery (actionable thinking, inquiry-oriented), Value Capture (analytical thinking, sustainability-oriented), and Value Propo-sition (creative thinking, project-oriented). These models aim to foster student engagement, op-timize resource allocation, and drive institutional growth, aligning educational objectives with market demands to prepare learners for future workforce challenges. For instance, Business An-alytics courses, under the Value Delivery category, emphasize actionable thinking. It secures low to middle-level jobs but lacking global decision-making power in value positioning for Finland and the UK. Integrating principles of customer-centric design, continuous improvement, and competitive differentiation, educational leaders can create responsive and impactful learning environments. Value-based business models enhance educational practices by providing a structured and quantifiable approach to improving teaching and learning outcomes. A symbiotic relationship between pedagogical theories and business strategies can lead to innovative educa-tional practices, improved student graduation outcomes, and sustainable success for institutions and countries. This alignment ensures educational programs remain relevant to current market needs and adaptable to future challenges and opportunities.

Drone technology has undoubtedly become an integral part of our everyday life these days. The business and industrial use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) can provide advantageous solutions in many areas of life, and they are also optimal for emergency situations and for accessing hard-to-reach places. However, their application poses numerous technological and regulatory challenges to be overcome. One of the weak links in the operation of UAVs is the limited availability of energy. In order to address this issue authors developed a novel trajectory planning method for UAVs to optimize the energy necessity during flight. First, an “energy map” was created, which was the basis for trajectory planning, i.e., determining the energy consumption of the individual components. This was followed by configuring the 3D environment including partitioning of the work space (WS), in fact, defining the free spaces, occupied spaces (obstacles) and semi-occupied/free spaces. Then the corresponding graph-like path(s) were generated on the basis of the partitioned space, where a graph search-based heuristic trajectory planning was initiated, taking into account the most important wind conditions including velocity and direction. Finally, in order to test the theoretical results, some sample environments were created to test and analyse the proposed path generations. The method eventually proposed was able to determine the optimal path in terms of energy consumption.

This study explores the elements that influence consumer vegetarian diet choices in parts of South Korean provinces. The study examines these explanatory variables: ethical-animal-welfare, health, environment, social issues , mood-emotion, and religious-beliefs with vegetarianism serving as the dependent variable. The Likert scale data from 264 respondents were analyzed using logistic regression analysis. Results show that health, ethical-animal-welfare ideals as well as environmental concerns emerge as significant variables influencing the decision to embrace a vegetarian diet. This shows that consumers (international students) in Korea are becoming more aware of and concerned about health, ethical and sustainable dietary choices. Secondly, health plays a crucial role in the vegetarian diet selection, indicating that health-conscious people are more inclined to choose a vegetarian lifestyle. Religious belief and mood have various degrees of influence on the vegetarian diet decision. The findings of this study have consequences for consumer behavior, marketing managers, and decision-makers. Businesses in the food industry, in particular, can gain from catering to the needs and tastes of consumers that prioritize ethical-animal welfare ideals, as well as those that value health and environmental sustainability. Creating and advertising vegetarian and vegan choices in local restaurants can effectively attract and serve this specific target demographic.

Keywords: green spaces, NDVI, level of greenness, urban environment, Aktobe

Floating wind is becoming an essential part in terms of renewable energy. Therefore, highlighting the perspectives in developing the floating wind platforms is very important. In this paper, we focus on floating wind concepts and projects around the world. This will give a taste to the reader about what is going on in terms of the projects around the world. The main aim of this work is to further explain the collected data regarding the floating wind concepts and projects, and further classify them in terms of cost, power capacity, wind speed, water depth, and distance to shore.

The paper in question explores the connection between green areas and urban well-being in an effort to give readers a comprehensive grasp of the topic. The major goals of this study are to evaluate how green spaces affect urban residents' physical and mental health, sense of community, and general quality of life. This research presents numerous major conclusions through a thorough investigation of the current literature and empirical analysis of urban environments across various areas. First of all, it shows that being close to green spaces is associated with better physical health, including a decline in obesity and cardiovascular disease rates. Second, green areas are linked to better mental health, with residents of greener neighbourhoods reporting reduced levels of stress, anxiety, and sadness. However, neighbourhoods having green open grass areas have greater levels of social interaction, and cohesion, which encourages residents to feel a sense of belonging. Lastly, this study highlights the positive impact of green spaces on overall urban quality of life, as they contribute to cleaner air, lower noise pollution, and increased property values. The implications of these findings are significant for urban planning and policy development. They underscore the importance of prioritizing green spaces in urban design, as investments in such areas not only promote physical and mental health but also enhance social bonds and elevate the overall liveability of cities. This research provides a foundation for evidence-based decision-making in urban development to create healthier, more vibrant, and sustainable urban environments.

Aims: This systematic review aims to evaluate the influence of Environmental Enrichment (EE) on oncological factors in experimental studies involving various types of cancer models. Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted in three databases: PubMed (161 articles), Embase (335 articles), and Scopus (274 articles). Eligibility criteria were applied based on the PICOS strategy to minimize bias. Two independent researchers performed the searches, with a third participant resolving any discrepancies. The selected articles were analyzed, and data regarding sample characteristics and EE protocols were extracted. The outcomes focused solely on cancer and tumor-related parameters, including cancer type, description of the cancer model, angiogenesis, tumor occurrence, volume, weight, mice with tumors, and tumor inhibition rate. Key-findings: A total of 770 articles were identified across the three databases, with 12 studies meeting the inclusion criteria for this systematic review. The findings demonstrated that different EE protocols were effective in significantly reducing various aspects of tumor growth and development, such as angiogenesis, volume, weight, and the number of mice with tumors. Furthermore, EE enhanced the rate of tumor inhibition in mouse cancer models. Findings: This systematic review highlights the significant impact of EE protocols on multiple parameters associated with tumor growth and development, including angiogenesis, occurrence, volume, weight, and tumor incidence. Moreover, EE demonstrated the potential to increase the rate of tumor inhibition. These findings underscore the importance of EE as a valuable tool in the management of cancer.

Vasoreactivity is relatively well documented in terrestrial snakes, but has previously been investigated in only one semi-arboreal snake species. Consequently, the extent to which vasoreactivity is common across snake taxa, or varies by habitat is unclear. The Tokara habu (Protobothrops tokarensis) is a semi-arboreal snake endemic to only two small adjacent Japanese islands, and hence a useful species for further investigation of vasoreactivity. We evaluated responses to known vasoactive substances in thoracic aortas isolated from Tokara habu. Under resting tension, noradrenaline and angiotensin II induced concentration-dependent contraction, but acetylcholine, serotonin (5-hydroxytriptamine; 5-HT), and isoproterenol induced relaxation followed by contraction. Histamine and rattlesnake bradykinin had no effect. Experiments with receptor-specific antagonists suggest that M1 and M3 receptors are involved in the acetylcholine-induced response, 5-HT1, 5-HT2 and 5-HT7 receptors in the serotonin-induced response, and β1 and β2 receptors in isoproterenol-induced relaxation. NO may be involved in acetylcholine-induced relaxation, but not the responses to serotonin or isoproterenol. In contrast to the uniform vasoreactivity observed in terrestrial snakes, the vasoreactivity of semi-arboreal snakes may be governed by diverse regulatory mechanisms.

L-asparaginase from bacterial sources have been used in antineoplastic treatments and the food industry. A novel type II L-a sparaginase encoded by the N-truncated gene ansZP21 of halotolerant Bacillus subtilis CH11 isolated from Chilca salterns in Peru was expressed using a heterologous system in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3)pLysS. The recombinant protein was purified using one-step nickel affinity chromatography and exhibited activity of 234.38 U mg-1 and a maximum catalytic activity at pH 9.0 and 60 °C. The enzyme shows a homotetrameric form with an estimated molecular weight of 155 kDa by gel filtration chromatography. The enzyme half-life at 60 °C was 3 h 48 min, and L-asparaginase retained 50% of initial activity for 24 h at 37 °C. The activity was considerably enhanced by KCl, CaCl2, MgCl2, mercaptoethanol, and DL-dithiothreitol (p-value &lt; 0.01). Moreover, the Vmax and Km were 145.2 µmol mL-1 min-1 and 4.752 mM, respectively. These findings evidence a promising novel type II L-asparaginase for future industrial applications.

This manuscript reviews the relationship between customer perception factors and AI-enabled customer experience in the Ecuadorian banking industry. The study employs a self-designed online questionnaire with five factors for customer perception (convenience in use, personalization, trust, customer loyalty, and customer satisfaction) and two categories for AI-enabled customer experience (AI-hedonic customer experience and AI-recognition customer service). The final valid dataset consisted of 226 questionnaires. The data analyses and the hypotheses tests were done using SPSS 26 and structural equation modeling, respectively. The main findings displayed that all five customer perception factors have a positive and significant effect on AI-enabled customer experience in the Ecuadorian banking industry. Study results are aligned with previous findings from other countries, particularly the banking environment in the United Kingdom, Canada, Nigeria, and Vietnam. The AI techniques involved in the financial sector increase the valuation of customer experience due to AI algorithms recollecting, processing, and analyzing customer behavior. This study contributes with a complete statistical and econometric model for determinants of AI-enabled customer experience. The main restriction of the study is the particular analysis of the most demanded AI financial services (not all services and products are included) and the inexistence of a customer perception index. For upcoming research, the authors recommend performing a longitudinal study using quantitative data to measure the effect of AI-enabled customer experience on the Ecuadorian banks’ performance.