The current green development in the context of public policy and industrial economy is difficult to fully match the new infrastructure process driven by massive data. Its connotation and exten-sion and the level of rule of law need to be deepened to ensure that data production, processing, circulation, elimination and other activities can get high-quality and sustainable development in the collaborative construction of hard facilities and soft environment in the new era. Based on the practical needs of data industry green development in key areas, we can resolve the legal risk of data industry green development from three aspects: improving the legal level of green public policy, clarifying the green legal benchmark of data industry development, and improving the green legal system of digital society. Then, it considers the design of environmental protection system based on hardware facilities and the structural and readable clean data system innova-tion of soft data industry development framework mode, so as to clarify the legalization scheme of data industry green development under the new infrastructure. Overall, achieving the green development of the data industry requires not only active attempts by China but also joint efforts by China and other countries.

This research aims to enhance scholarly understanding Analysis of potential Value Creation research on managing transit oriented that may arise from Mass Rapid Transit resources through an extensive literature review, analyzing 235 papers from the Scopus database spanning 2011-2024, with a specific focus on value creation managing transit-oriented area. Data collection was conducted on January 1, 2024, using Harzing's Publish or Perish tool. The selected studies are associated with keywords such as 'managing transit orientation (154 papers), Value creation MRT (45 papers), Innovation MRT (36 papers)/ In the filtering process, 235 papers were assessed, excluding those unrelated to the research focus on the cash flow statement. The inclusion of 31 carefully selected articles reflects a targeted approach, ensuring alignment with the research focus on value creation in managing transit orientation a relevant dataset for analysis. This article was created by accessing several scientific articles regarding the application of identification in managing transit orientation using Vos viewer. Value creation research in managing transit oriented is needed to explore the following areas: Long-term sustainability of identified core competencies, Competitive Imitation, Organizational Adaptability, Industry Specific Applications, Performance Measurement, Dynamic Capability Development, Cross-Cultural Perspective. Potential areas for further research include Incorporate additional contingent factors into the model, such as environmental dynamism and competitiveness, to test the validity of the Resource-Based View (RBV) model. Extend the analysis to small and medium-sized businesses to examine how organizational structure and competitive strategy impact performance in this context.

Recognized as key players in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), startups are increasingly poised to leverage Virtual Reality (VR) technology for impactful solutions. This study investigates the synergy between startups and VR in advancing SDG-related challenges, echoing previous assertions on startups' aptitude for SDG endeavors and VR's potential for SDG advancement. Through an exploration of VR's applicability in various domains such as Entertainment, Training, Education, and Tourism, this study unveils compelling use cases aligning with SDG aspects, thus validating the hypothesis on startups' potential to harness VR for SDG contributions. The study employs a customized customer discovery technique, an essential process in the Customer Development methodology, to uncover VR's problem-solution fit, offering practical insights for startup business model development. The implications of these findings extend globally, underlining VR's role in addressing SDG issues and laying a robust foundation for startup ventures. Despite its focus on specific consumer markets and sectors, the study's methodology presents a practical approach applicable to broader technology adoptions.

This study investigates how students' well-being relates to sustainable development and education for sustainability at Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, Saudi Arabia. The authors endeavor to answer the question "How Does Students' Well-Being Relate to Sustainable Development Via Education for Sustainable Development?" and four sub-questions. Primary data were collected by semi-structured interviews exploring the viewpoints of twenty female and male students (n=26) aged between 18 and 26. The content analysis results have identified additional well-being and education for sustainability factors that influence sustainable education and, therefore, sustainable development. These antecedents include workload, transparency, grading criteria, fairness, belonging, work-life balance, mental health support, missing emotional intelligence factors, factors related to Education for Sustainable Development, such as instructors' role models, institutional commitment, leadership, and collaboration with government. In addition, the study developed a theoretical model for the relationship between antecedents for Education for Sustainable Development, Education for Sustainable Development, and Sustainable Development in the Saudi context. Finally, the study answers four research questions: What factors contribute to education for sustainable development? What are the antecedents of education for sustainable development? How do university educators contribute to sustainable education? How do the antecedents of education for sustainable development, education for sustainable development, and sustainable development relate?

For a long time, a company's Product Development Process (PDP) was seen as supporting the operations department, although PDP decisions and mistakes have a considerable impact on market performance. This is critical even in agriculture where bad habits and practices in the PDP can lead rural producers to great losses. Therefore, this research investigated the effect on the market performance of rural products (banana) in the southern region of Brazil, based on two analyses: (i) how sustainability practices support the PDP phases and (ii) how the phases of the Product Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) mediate sustainability practices and PDP phases. This study presents a quantitative analysis using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and hierarchical ordinary least squares (OLS) regression of data obtained from a survey of 110 rural producers who directly participate in the banana production and planning process in southern Brazil. Our results shows that sustainability practices support the PDP, and we confirm that the product development and post-development phase has an effect on market performance. In addition, we identified that in the pre-development phase of the PDP, dealing with rural products (bananas), the maturity stage of the LCA mediates sustainability. In the PDP development phase, we concluded that rural families that develop economic and environmental practices with their products in the market growth phase may have reduced results. As for the post-development phase of the PDP, we conclude that when companies invest in environmental and social practices, there is a complete mediation of the effect, where these practices lose strength if the product is in the introduction and maturity phases in the market. As originality, our study contributed to demonstrate value on the product life cycle for the product development process in agriculture using sustainability practices through a systemic approach, filling the gap in the literature due to the lack of research on these areas seen in an integrated way.

In recent years, there has been a surge of proposals for innovative approaches to public planning. It has become apparent that the traditional emphasis on "economic development" as the predominant objective of public policy is no longer adequate to promote a thriving society. Common Agricultural Policy in Europe faces challenges to adopt and implement the dynamic of culture. However, culture as a pillar of sustainable development is not a new topic. This concept has been incorporated into economic studies with increasing tension. The present study aims to measure scientific interest through published scientific studies and papers related to the contribution of culture in the context of European development programs and strategies. A total of (n=902) published documents during the period 1990-2023 from the Scopus database were explored to identify (n=27) appropriate publications for research analysis based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) approach and flow diagram. Bibliometric analyses using Vos Viewer (Center for Science and Technology Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands) and constructed term co-occurrence network plots based on bibliometric evidence were performed. The results show that there was no scientific interest. The systematic review and bibliometric analysis of the present paper could provide a valuable and seminal reference for the researchers of rural development and the relevant policymakers.

Ethylene is an essential plant hormone critical in various physiological processes. These processes include seed germination, leaf senescence, fruit ripening, and the plant's response to environmental stressors. Ethylene biosynthesis is tightly regulated by two key enzymes, namely 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate synthase (ACS) and 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate oxidase (ACO). Initially, the prevailing hypothesis suggested that ACS is the limiting factor in the ethylene biosynthesis pathway. Nevertheless, accumulating evidence from various studies has demonstrated that ACO, under specific circumstances, acts as the rate-limiting enzyme in ethylene production. Under normal developmental processes, ACS and ACO collaborate to maintain balanced ethylene production, ensuring proper plant growth and physiology. However, under abiotic stress conditions, such as drought, salinity, extreme temperatures, or pathogen attack, the regulation of ethylene biosynthesis becomes critical for plants’ survival. This review highlights the structural characteristics, examines the transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and post-translational regulation of ACS and ACO, and their role under abiotic stress conditions. Reviews on the role of ethylene signaling in abiotic stress adaptation are available. However, a review that delineates the role of ACS and ACO in abiotic stress acclimation is not available.

This study empirically analyzes how R&D expenditures affect firm value using a regression model for listed firms in Shandong Province, China. The dependent variable is measured by To-bin Q, which measures firm value, and the experimental variable among the independent varia-bles is R&D expenditure. In addition, financial leverage and firm size, which have been found to have a significant impact on firm value in previous studies, were selected as control variables. The study sample consisted of 554 data points analyzed over a nine-year period from 2010 to 2018. Without controlling for variables that affect firm value, the correlation analysis shows that R&D expenditures of listed firms in Shandong Province, China have a significant positive impact on firm value at the 1% level. For a more precise analysis, we ran a multivariate regression analysis controlling for other variables that affect firm value and found that R&D expenditure has a significant positive impact on firm value at the 1% level. These findings suggest that man-agers of listed companies in Shandong Province, China, need to actively engage in R&D activi-ties to increase firm value. Companies in Shandong Province, China, are currently experiencing very strong growth, and this study, which shows that R&D is the key to increasing the value of these companies, can help companies in Shandong formulate their business strategies.

This research provides a computationally efficient numerical tool for predicting 3-D turbulent flows over hydrofoils. It addresses a gap in existing numerical methods by extending the capabilities of the laminar VIScous Vorticity Equation (VISVE) solver to handle 3-D turbulent flow scenarios. The implementation integrates the k − ω SST model into the 3-D VISVE solver using the Finite Volume Method (FVM), extending its capability to handle turbulent flows. The turbulence model is also parallelized to improve computational efficiency. The application of the newly developed model to 3-D hydrofoil cases expands its scope and serves as preparatory work for future rotational propeller applications. Rigorous testing includes a convergence analysis concerning grid numbers and time step sizes, and validation against a Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) solver ensures the reliability and accuracy of the enhanced VISVE solver for turbulent flow simulations. The turbulent VISVE solver offers advantages such as reduced computational domain and costs through a vorticity-based approach. Turbulence concentration within boundary layers and free shear flows does not compromise the advantages of the small computational domain. The simplified meshing process, automatically generated by denoting the number of panels on the hydrofoil, makes the solver accessible for researchers and engineers.

Public funding of land consolidation projects is an instrument of the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union (CAP). The execution of systematic land consolidation programmes focused on optimising the spatial structure of agricultural areas presents a possibility to improve agricultural production conditions and maximise the efficiency of agriculture on a local, regional, national and international level. However, due to limited access to financial resources, it is necessary to delimit the priority areas for land consolidation. A contemporary practice based on the assessment of the social support percentage of potential land consolidation projects in individual villages does not represent a real necessity for action. This problem leads to ineffective utilisation of financial resources and reduces the efficiency of the implemented programmes. We proposed a new algorithm for assessing real needs for land consolidation based on a detailed multi-faceted analysis of the spatial structure of agricultural areas. The research method involved factors describing the spatial structure defectiveness of farms as well as those determining land quality in correspondence to investment’s profitability. Another factor verifying the potential economic rationale of land consolidation was transaction prices mostly reflecting the agricultural value of the land. The analysis showed that land consolidation in areas with defective spatial structure and a relatively high market value should be a priority. This approach will contribute to maximising profits by increasing the productivity of areas featuring the highest agricultural suitability.

The conserved MYST proteins form the largest family of histone acetyltransferases (HATs) that acetylate lysines within the N-terminal tails of histone, enabling active gene transcription. Here, we have investigated the biological and regulatory functions of the MYST family HAT Sas3 in the opportunistic human pathogenic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus using a series of genetic, biochemical, pathogenic, and transcriptomic analyses. The deletion of sas3 results in drastically reduced colony growth, asexual development, spore germination, response to stresses, and the fungal virulence. Genome-wide expression analyses have revealed that the sas3 mutant showed 2,402 significant differentially expressed genes; 1,147 up-regulated and 1,255 down-regulated. The representative up-regulated gene resulting from sas3 is hacA predicted to encode a bZIP transcription factor, whereas the UV-endonuclease UVE-1 was significantly down-regulated by sas3. Furthermore, our Western blot analyses suggest that Sas3 likely catalyzes acetylation of H3K9, K3K14, and H3K29 in A. fumigatus. In conclusion, Sas3 is associated with diverse biological processes and can be a potential target for controlling pathogenic fungi.

Adenylosuccinic acid (ASA) is a small molecule dicarboxylate that could be a strong clinical development candidate for inherited myopathies involving dysregulated purine nucleotide metabo-lism. Currently, there are no published pharmacokinetic/dynamic or toxicology data available, albeit 10-year clinical trial data in Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients suggests a chronically safe drug. In this study, we tested the toxicity of ASA to cultured myoblasts in vitro and acute systemic toxicity in mice. ASA is a non-toxic small molecule with an LD50> 5000mg/kg. Some background necrotic foci in the liver, kidney and gastrointestinal tract were shown that are likely incidental but warrant follow-up sub-/chronic oral exposure studies.

Three carbon-chain extension genes associated with fatty acid synthesis in cotton, namely GhKAR, GhHAD, and GhENR, play important roles in oil accumulation in cotton seeds. In the present study, these three genes were cloned and characterized. The expression patterns of GhKAR, GhHAD and GhENR in the high seed oil content cultivars 10H1007, 10H1014, and 10H1041 differed somewhat compared with those of 2074B with low seed oil content at different stages of seed development. GhKAR showed all three cultivars showed higher transcript levels than that of 2074B at 10, 40 and 45 DPA. The expression pattern of GhHAD showed a lower transcript level than that of 2074B at both 10 and 30 DPA but higher transcript level than that of 2074B at 40 DPA. GhENR showed a lower transcript level than that of 2074B at both 15 and 30 DPA. The highest transcript levels of GhKAR and GhENR were detected at 15 DPA in 10H1007, 10H1014, and 10H1041 compared with 2074B. From 5 to 45 days post anthesis (DPA) cotton seed, the oil content accumulated continuously in the developing seed. Oil accumulation reached the peak at 40 DPA to 45 DPA and slightly decreased in mature seed. In addition, GhKAR and GhENR showed different expression patterns in fiber and ovule development processes, in which they showed high expression levels at 20 DPA during fiber elongation stage, but their expression level peaked at 15 DPA during ovule development processes. These two genes showed the lowest expression levels at the late seed maturation stage, while GhHAD showed peak at 10 DPA of fiber development. Compared to 2074B, the oil contents of GhKAR and GhENR overexpression lines increased 1.05~1.08 folds. These results indicated that GhHAD, GhENR and GhKAR were involved in both seed oil synthesis and fiber elongation with dual biological functions in cotton.

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV), a member of the Nairoviridae family and Bunyavirales order, is transmitted to humans via tick bites or contact with the blood of infected animals. It can cause severe symptoms, including hemorrhagic fever, with a mortality rate between 5 to 30%. CCHFV is classified as a high-priority pathogen by the World Health Organization (WHO) due to its high fatality rate and the absence of effective medical countermeasures. CCHFV is endemic in several regions across the world, including Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, and has the potential for global spread. The emergence of the disease in new areas, as well as the presence of the tick vector in countries without reported cases, emphasizes the need for preventive measures should be taken. In the past, the lack of a suitable animal model susceptible to CCHFV infection has been a major obstacle in the development of vaccines and treatments. However, recent advances in biotechnology and the availability of suitable animal models have significantly expedited the development of vaccines against CCHF. These advancements have not only contributed to an enhanced understanding of the pathogenesis of CCHF but have also facilitated the evaluation of potential vaccine candidates. This review outlines of the immune response to CCHFV and animal models utilized for the study of CCHFV and highlights the progress made in CCHFV vaccine studies. Despite remarkable advancements in vaccine development for CCHFV, it remains crucial to prioritize continued research, collaboration, and investment in this field.

Objective: The Asia-Pacific region (APAC) represents a unique environment for the publication of biomedical research, particularly industry-funded research. Awareness and adoption of international guidelines on ethical publication practices continues to increase across APAC, but the reframing and expansion of many of the recommendations in the Good Publication Practice (GPP) 2022 guidelines versus GPP3 published in 2015 have important implications for publishing industry-funded biomedical research in the region. Methods: This manuscript provides practical guidance for stakeholders in APAC on interpreting and applying the recommendations made in the GPP 2022 guidelines. Results: Key focus areas include navigating new opportunities for communicating industry-funded research, such as plain language summaries, social media, and preprints; implementing formal processes to improve the integrity of published research in APAC; and methods of promoting transparency and inclusion when publishing industry-funded research. Key APAC-specific issues, including encore presentations, leadership on publication ethics in the region, access to professional resources, and support for educating regional stakeholders are also discussed. Conclusions: Overall, this review offers a pragmatic guide for stakeholders in industry-sponsored research on applying GPP 2022 in practice with a focus on effectively integrating these guidelines in an APAC context.

Plant reproduction is a very important process on Earth from the perspective of biodiversity, biomass gain and crop productivity. It is therefore important to understand sex determination process and many researchers are investigating the molecular basis of this phenomenon. However, information on the influence of transcription factors (TFs) on this process is limited, although cucumber is a model plant in this regard. In the present study, based on RNA-seq data for differential gene expression (DEG) analyses, we aimed to investigate the regulatory TFs that may influence the metabolomic processes in the shoot apex containing the forming flower buds. Therefore, a robust TF database was established for the B10v3 cucumber genome. Sex-specific interactome network maps were generated, indicating the regulatory TFs by their effects on DEGs and further on processes leading to the formation of different sex flowers. The network analysis identified major families of regulatory TFs. The most abundant families were: MYB, AP2/ERF, NAC and bZIP, and those with the greatest impact on developmental processes were identified, namely the AP/ERF family, followed by DOF, MYB, MADS and others. Thus, the central nodes and key regulators in the networks were identified with respect to male, female and hermaphrodite. Here, we proposed the first model of the regulatory network of TFs that influences the metabolism of sex development in cucumber. These findings may help to understand the molecular genetics and functional mechanisms underlying sex determination processes.

MT4-MMP (or MMP-17) belongs to the Membrane-Type Matrix Metalloproteinases (MT-MMPs), a distinct subset of the MMP family that is anchored to the cell surface by a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) motif. Its expression in a variety of cancers is well documented. However, the molecular mechanisms by which MT4-MMP contributes to tumor development need further investigation. In this review, we aim to summarize the contribution of MT4-MMP in tumorigenesis, focusing on the molecular mechanisms triggered by the enzyme in tumor cell migration, invasiveness, and proliferation, in the tumor vasculature and microenvironment, as well as during metastasis. In particular, we highlight the putative substrates processed and signaling cascades activated by MT4-MMP that may underlie these malignancy processes and compare this with what is known about its role during embryonic development. Finally, MT4-MMP is a relevant biomarker of malignancy that can be used for monitoring cancer diseases progression in patients as well as a potential target for future therapeutic drug development.

Children’s health, development and education cannot be handled separated; they form one process and are profoundly interrelated. This article considers how to ensure children’s physical and mental fitness for school and maintain it once they are there. Rwanda Is a case study of health and development issues which render children unreceptive to education. This is not news to Rwanda’s government, but until recently the donor community was not interested in supporting implementation. The story of Rwanda illustrates the need to think about changes of policy and practice in their context of structures and culture – how they interact and how they are facilitated or constrained by structures and by cultural understandings. To grasp what is going on and for successful implementation of policy, it is necessary to look at situations as a whole and consider human and governmental agency as real influences rather than just consequences of causal mechanisms.

As the era of omics continues to expand, omics-based experiments have become popular in industrial biotechnology. They promise deeper biological understanding, which may be leveraged to develop novel solutions to bioprocess optimization and cell line engineering strategies. Despite this expansion, naivety about what omic data offers and how to best handle such data can challenge the extraction of actionable value. However, the value of omic experiments in biotechnology research and development can be maximized with deliberate application of omic approaches and forethought about analysis techniques. Here we describe important considerations when designing and implementing omic-based experiments, and discuss how systems biology analysis strategies can enhance efforts to obtain actionable insights in biomanufacturing.

Nations of the world have seen unprecedented changes in climate variables in recent decades. But it is unclear to what extent climate change has impacted and will impact food systems in some developing regions, and how policymakers can frame an approach to encouraging adaptation and advancing climate-smart agriculture. Many studies attempting to link agroecology to climate change adaptation do so without understanding the potential of Agroecology not only to mitigate climate change – which is the weak response – but to reverse its impact and ‘climate proof’ our food systems. By modeling the near and far future impacts of climate change on crop production, we showed how climate will impact crop production under two crop production systems (agroecology and non-agroecology production systems). The overarching aim is to derive sustainable development strategies and lessons for policymakers and climate researchers - essential components of environment and Agricultural development. Using case studies from Nigeria, we observed that transitioning to agroecology, even at the farm level also transforms farm designs, thereby affecting their overall food and nutrition status. The result showed that the use of agroecology management practices not only reduces the impact of climate change in the near future but will also lead to increased crop yield in the future. The finding suggests that to feed the over 400 million projected population of Nigeria by 2050, the use of agroecological practices will be a better alternative to the conventional farming methods. To advance the use of agroecological farming methods, governments at every level in Nigeria need to mainstream organic agriculture in national government policies. This is important as it will not only address climate change impacts but also hunger and poverty.

Nowadays molecular and immunological research is essential for the better understanding of tumor cells pathophysiology. The increasing number of neoplasms is taken under ‘the molecular magnifying glass’ therefore it is possible to discover complex relationships between cytophysiology and immune system action. An example could be renal cell carcinoma (RCC) which has deep interactions with immune mediators such as Interleukin 17 (IL-17) - an inflammatory cytokine reacting to tissue damage and external pathogens. RCC is one of the most fatal urological cancer because of its often late diagnosis and poor susceptibility to therapies. IL-17 and its relation with tumors is extremely complex and constitute a recent topic for numerous research. What is worth highlighting is IL-17 dual character in cancer development - it could be pro- as well as antitumorigenic. The aim of this review is to summarize the newest data considering multiple connections between IL-17 and RCC.

The evolution and the emergence of new mutations of viruses affect their transmissibility and/or pathogenicity features, depending on different evolutionary scenarios of virus adaptation to the host. A typical trade-off scenario of SARS-CoV-2 evolution has been proposed, which leads to the appearance of an Omicron strain with lowered lethality, yet enhanced transmissibility. This direction of evolution might be partly explained by virus adaptation to therapeutic agents and enhanced escape from vaccine-induced and natural immunity formed by other SARS-CoV-2 strains. Omicron’s high mutation rate in the Spike protein, as well as its previously described high genome mutation rate (Kandeel et al., 2021), revealed a gap between it and other SARS-CoV-2 strains, indicating the absence of a transitional evolutionary form to the Omicron strain. Therefore, Omicron has emerged as a new serotype and divergent from the evolutionary lineage of other SARS-CoV-2 strains. Omicron is a rapidly evolving variant of high concern, whose new subvariants continue to manifest. Its further understanding and the further monitoring of key mutations that provide virus immune escape and/or high affinity towards the receptor could be useful for vaccine and therapeutic development in order to control the evolutionary direction of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While several studies have examined the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on smallholder rural farmers and possible efforts to scale up their livelihood and food security, the role of consumers’ buying orientation in addressing farmers’ vulnerability in the post-pandemic era has not been explored. The paper, therefore, aims to propose and conceptualize humane buying orientation, and further explore its role in attenuating smallholder rural farmers’ vulnerability in the new normal. The qualitative design approach has been employed in two different studies. Collected data were analyzed using the SPSS 23.0 and following the interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings validate humane buying as an altruistic orientation that will contribute to lessening the vulnerability of smallholder rural farmers in the post-pandemic era. It also shows that an enlarged-stakeholders’ (government, international agencies, corporate bodies, institutions, privileged individuals/consumers, religious organizations, etc.) effort that is rooted in morality and empathy, is required to successfully tackle the vulnerability of smallholder rural farmers, especially in developing countries such as Nigeria. The study is the first to propose, conceptualize and validate humane buying as a post-Covid-19 orientation that is capable of attenuating the vulnerability of smallholder rural farmers which has been worsened by the pandemic. The paper contributes to the understanding of emerging strategic actions required for the attainment of the United Nation’s sustainable development goals - ending poverty and hunger by 2030, and how consumers can play a key role.

With increased participation in telework expected to continue, to support emerging hybrid work models in the aftermath of the Covid-19, it is important to consider the long-term impact this practice could have on sustainability outcomes. This paper describes a systematic review of 113 academic journal articles and identifies associations between telework and sustainability, explored by previous researchers. Those associations were categorized and discussed, based on their contributions to different United Nations Social Development Goals. Most of research was found to focus on countries classified as having a very high human development index status, and regions with a low, medium or high human development index, largely ignored. The SWOT matrix technique was used to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses identified in the current literature as well as threats and opportunities for future work. This can help to ensure policy coherence and that strategies to promote one outcome, such as economic productivity improvements, does not undermine another, such as improved health. Practical implications and potential research opportunities were identified across a range of SDG impact areas, including good health and well-being, gender equality, reduced inequality, climate mitigation, sustainable cities and resilient communities. On the whole, our impression is that increased rates of telework present an important opportunity to improve sustainability outcomes, however, it will be important that integrated and holistic policy is developed that mitigates key risks.

What does the way autistics bypass, learn, and eventually master language tell us about humans’ genetically encoded linguistic ability? In this theoretical review, we argue that autistic non-social acquisition of language, as well as autistic savant abilities, provide a strong argument for an innate, human-specific orientation toward (and mastery of) complex embedded structures. Autistic non-social language learning may represent a widening of the material processed during development beyond oral language. Structure detection and manipulation and generative production of non-linguistic embedded and chained material (savant abilities in calendar calculation, musical composition and interpretation, three-dimensional drawing) may thus represent an application of such innate mechanisms to non-standard materials. Typical language learning through exposure to the child’s mother tongue may represent but one of many possible achievements of the same capacity. The deviation from typical language development in autism may ultimately allow access to oral language, sometimes in its most elaborate forms, but also explains the possibility of the absence of its development when applied exclusively to non-linguistic structured material. Such an extension of human capacities beyond, or in parallel to, their usual limits call into question what we consider to be specific or expected in humans and, therefore, does not necessarily represent a genetic “error”. Regardless of the adaptive success or failure of non-social language learning, it is up to science and ethical principles to strive to maintain autism as a human potentiality to further foster our vision of a plural society.

Mosquitoes are considered one of the most important threats worldwide due to their ability to vector pathogens. They are responsible for the transmission of major pathogens such as Malaria, dengue, Zika or Chikungunya. Due to the lack of treatments or prophylaxis against many of the transmitted pathogens and an increasing prevalence of mosquito resistance to insecticides and drugs available, alternative strategies are now being explored. Some of these involve the use of microorganisms as promising agent to limit the fitness of mosquitoes, attract or repel them and decrease the replication and transmission of pathogenic agents. In recent years, the importance of microorganisms colonizing the habitat of mosquitoes has particularly been investigated since they appeared to play major roles in their development and diseases transmission. In this issue we will synthesize researches investigating how microorganisms present within water habitats may influence breeding site selection and oviposition strategy of gravid mosquito females. We will also highlight the impact, effect of such microbes on the fate of females’ progeny during their immature stages with a specific focus on egg hatching, development rate and larvae of pupae survival.

The main purpose of this paper is to present a comprehensive view of the application mathematical models in the designing and implementing SSCM beside to solving problems and making decision. The research questions are: what mathematical models are used for designing and implementing sustainable supply chain management, how to use them, which industries implemented in, what modules of SSCM depth in and finally finding the gaps of researches. The methodology of research is Systematic Literature review through peer review papers which are published in high ranking journals. In this paper, First, we search all papers through scientific data bases like Scopus, science direct, MDPI, Springer, Google Scholar, then, screening papers based on the criteria such as subject of paper, journals impact factor which is published in-should be peer review journal- and relative content of the papers. Finally, we selected 245 papers with three steps screening through 2806 papers that they have enough quality and relative to our research goals for context analysis. Through context analysis, first we categorized the information of the papers and drew the current situation of researches in the framework of our topic. Then, we evaluate and compare the goals of sustainability and current situation and found the gapes, then, offered new suggestions like implementing SSCMs models in pollutant industries like casting industry, Heavy industry, coal Industry and so on. On the other hand, there are gaps in researches in some modules of SSCM such as packaging, designing products, etc.

What does the way autistics bypass, learn, and eventually master language tell us about human linguistic ability? Here, we argue that non-social acquisition of language, in addition to representing a strong argument for nativist models of human language, may be encompassed within the human-specific orientation and mastery of complex embedded structures, of which language represents one realization. Non-social language learning could thus represent the extension of available linguistic, and non-linguistic material processed by human genetic constraints, allowing language acquisition. This deviation from typical developmental language acquisition may ultimately allow access to language, sometimes in its most elaborate forms, and also explains the possibility of the absence of its development when applied to primarily non-linguistic structured material. However, such enlargement of material-specificity does not cast doubts about its human nature. Regardless of the adaptive success or failure of non-social language learning, it is up to science, legal policies, and ethical principles to strive to maintain autism as a human potentiality to further foster our vision of a plural society.

Multicellular life evolved from simple unicellular organisms that could replicate indefinitely being essentially ageless. At this point, life split into 2 fundamentally different cell types: the immortal germline representing an unbroken lineage of cell division with no intrinsic endpoint and the mortal soma which ages and dies. In this review, we describe the germline as clock-free and the soma as clock-bound and discuss aging with respect to 3 DNA-based cellular clocks (telomeric, DNA methylation, and transposable element). The ticking of these clocks corresponds to the stepwise progressive limitation of growth and regeneration of somatic cells that we term, somatic restriction. Somatic restriction acts in opposition to strategies that ensure continued germline replication and regeneration. We thus consider the plasticity of aging as a process not fixed to the pace of chronological time but one that can speed up or slow down depending on the rate of intrinsic cellular clocks. We further describe how germline factor reprogramming might be used to slow the rate of aging and potentially reverse it by causing the clocks to tick backwards. Therefore, reprogramming may eventually lead to therapeutic strategies to treat degenerative diseases by altering aging itself, the one condition common to us all.

Early education is critical for improving energy efficiency. The purpose of this study is to explore the feasibility of Interactive Cross-Border Classes to increase awareness of energy efficiency among middle school students. We designed and tested an Interactive Cross-Border class between Chilean and Peruvian 8th-grade classes. The classes were synchronously connected and all students answered open-ended questions on an online platform. Some of the questions were designed to check conceptual understanding while others asked for suggestions of how to develop their economies while keeping CO₂ air concentration at acceptable levels. In real-time, the teacher reviewed the students’ written answers and the concept maps that were automatically generated based on their responses. Students peer-reviewed their classmates’ suggestions. This is part of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) STEM Education project on Energy Efficiency using APEC databases. We found high levels of student engagement, where students discussed not only the cross-cutting nature of energy, but also its relation to socioeconomic development and CO₂ emissions, and the need to work together to improve energy efficiency. In conclusion, Interactive Cross-Border classes are a feasible educational alternative, with potential as a scalable public policy strategy for improving awareness of energy efficiency among the population.

Building Country Resilience is a long-term process particularly in the hyper connected world we are living today; and depends on good governance and appropriate equilibrium of respect for people, planet and profits as well as avoiding depleting natural resources that end up affecting the biosphere. Hence represent a most needed Learning ability that may be seeing to be related to the process of Sustainable Development. So, this paper seeks to find best practices and a Ranking of Countries that may help as guides to foster Country Resilience. For this purpose, it was developed a World Resilience Index - WRI based on a Statistical Analysis with updated data from 108 Countries divided into 3 Groups: American Countries – AMER (20 Countries), Advanced Economies - AVECO (22 Countries) mostly from Europe and OTHER (66 Countries); and using a set of Synthetic Variables like the Social Progress Index – SPI, the Environmental Performance Index – EPI, and the Sustainable Development Goals Index – SDGI, besides some related to Governance and the World Risk Index – WRI.

Although traditional automotive development has mainly focused on functional safety, as the number of automotive hacking cases has increased due to the growing Internet connectivity of automotive control systems, security is also becoming more important. Accordingly, various international organizations are preparing cybersecurity regulations or standards to ensure security in automotive development by emphasizing the concept of security-by-design(i.e. security engineering) which emphasizes trustworthiness from the beginning of development. The problem, however, is that no specific methodology has been suggested. In this paper, we propose a specific security-by-design methodology for automotive development based on Secure System Development Life Cycle (secure SDLC) standards and evidence-based standards. Our methodology could be easily used in the actual field as it is more general and detailed than existing secure SDLC standards and research. Also, since it satisfies all requirements of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) regulation, automobile manufacturers could respond to the upcoming cybersecurity regulation with our methodology.

Citizen science has the potential to support the delivery of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through its integration into national monitoring schemes. In this study, we explore the opportunities and biases of citizen science (CS) data when used either as a primary or secondary source for SDG 6.3.2 reporting. We use data from waterbodies that have both CS and regulatory monitoring in England and Zambia to explore their biases and complementarity. A comparative analysis of regulatory and CS data provided key information on appropriate sampling frequency, site selection and measurement parameters, necessary for more robust SDG reporting. The results show elevated agreement for pass/fail ratios and indicator scores for English waterbodies (80%) and demonstrate CS data can improve granularity and spatial coverage for SDG indicator scoring, even when extensive statutory monitoring programmes are present. In Zambia, management authorities are actively using citizen science projects to increase spatial and temporal coverage for SDG reporting. Our results indicate that design considerations for SDG focused citizen science can address local needs as well as provide a more representative indicator of the state of a nation’s freshwater ecosystems for international reporting requirements.

The 2030 Agenda sets out seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The educational goal is to promote the education of citizens on sustainable development, among other things. Educating today's digital citizens on sustainability means training them for justice and social activism, commitment and political engagement. However, research into the subject shows a lack of consistency in the education of university students. This paper presents a study of students of Education, on education on sustainability through the practice of active and critical digital citizenship. A quasi-experimental method was used to learn about the behaviours of digital citizens, and intervention was carried out by means of an SDG-focused workshop and observation of the final level of commitment. The results show a positive level of commitment and digital activism around content related to sustainable development, which can be addressed from the university syllabus in a cross-curricular way.

This study inscribes itself in the global discussion on the nurturing of pro-environmental behaviors among young people for a sustainable future. Here we focus on students' interest in Ecosystem Services and Sustainability to explain their awareness and optimism about the environmental issues of air pollution, water shortage and green gas emission in 50 countries around the world. To this end, we use the cross-sectional survey data of the OECD's Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015, along with seemingly unrelated bi-variate weighted ordered Probit modeling with country specific effects. The results show that in addition to factors such as age, gender, immigration status, and economic, social and cultural status, interest in the biosphere is a significant determinant of students' environmental awareness and optimism. In fact, a one level increase in students' interest in ecosystem services and sustainability raises on average their awareness level by 15.3% for the issue of air pollution, 15.7% for the issue of water shortage, and 24.6% for the issue of green gas emission. Although students' interest in the biosphere seems to not have a significant effect on their expectations about the issue of green gas emission, it does however raise their level of optimism by 0.8% for the issue of air pollution, and 0.2% for the issue of water shortage. Furthermore, every one level increase in students' environmental awareness leads to 17.3% more optimism about the issue of air pollution, 15.8% more optimism about the issue of water shortage, and 17.4% more optimism about the issue of green gas emission. Therefore, relying on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), our results imply that governments and policy makers can successfully leverage young people interests in the biosphere to effectively achieve their goals for sustainability.

The paradigm that assumes the autonomous management of universities involves them in the redefinition of their policies and processes and the training of their staff, designing new formulas that allow them to adapt to a changing environment. In this context, research and sustainable universities can link with society to solve its problems and influence a responsible and sustainable development. Through a Delphi panel, importance to acquire and improve project management (PM) competences by teaching and research staff (TRS) into innovating education and research projects is measured, from the standard of individual competences (ICB4) of the International Project Management Association (IPMA). Also, internal data sources from the flexible structures of two Spanish universities (the University of Cadiz (UCA) and the Technical University of Madrid (UPM)), are investigated, in order to analyze how they are organized. Thanks to the study of cases, an increasing tendency to work by projects is observed, empowering teams, managing properly stakeholders and facilitating their functions towards society. Likewise, after two rounds of experts’ consultation, consensus is reached with an acceptable and stable level of responses, resulting in confirmation that there is alignment between IPMA competences and TRS’ needs for sustained success in education and research, contributing to universities’ development, improvement and sustainability.

Revitalization of open water bodies into recreational areas are becoming widely popular in many parts of Sri Lanka. Understanding community perception and expectation on recreational development have important policy and cost-effectiveness implications. This paper explores the public perspectives on development, conservation and value of the open water recreational development at Diyatha Uyana and surrounding area. Contingent Valuation Method has been applied to estimate peoples’ Willingness To Pay for recreational spaces in the selected area. A total of 300 residents from different socioeconomic backgrounds were selected randomly for the study. Enjoying peace and relaxation, taking children to play and breath clean air were mentioned as most important aspects of open water body areas. More frequent visits occur to enjoy peace and relaxation, breath clean air and enjoy the natural landscape. Almost all the participants were agreed upon conserving open water body areas in urban settings. Willingness to pay was significantly associated with income and occupation status. It yielded a monthly average payment of Rs.446.93 per household for another five years’ time. The limited budget was the main reason for not willing to pay. This paper is significant as there is no contingent valuation method study has been carried on water body development in Sri Lanka.

Considering citizens' perceptions of their living environment is very helpful in making the right decisions for city planners who intend to build a sustainable society. Mental map analyses are widely used in understanding the level of perception of individuals regarding the surrounding environment. The present study introduces Aram Mental Map Analyzer (AMMA), an open-source program, which allows researchers to use special features and new analytical methods to receive outputs in numerical data and analytical maps with greater accuracy and speed. AMMA performance is contingent upon two principles of accuracy and complexity, the accuracy of the program is measured by Accuracy Placed Landmarks (APL) and General Orientation (GO), which respectively analyses the landmark placement accuracy and the main route mapping accuracy. Also, the complexity section is examined through two analyses Cell Percentage (CP) and General Structure (GS), which calculates the complexity of citizens’ perception of space based on the criteria derived from previous studies. AMMA examines all the dimensions and features of the graphic maps, and its outputs have a wide range of valid and differentiated information, which is tailored to the research and information subject matter that is required.

Climate change and environmental degradation are major threats to sustainable agricultural development in Southern Africa. Thus, the concept of sustainable intensification (SI) i.e. getting more output from less input using certain practices such as agroforestry, organic fertilizer, sustainable water management etc. has become an important topic among researchers and policy makers in the region in the last three decades. A comprehensive review of literatures on the adoption of SI in the region identify nine relevant drivers of adoption of SI among (smallholder) farmers. These drivers include (i) age, (ii) size of arable land, (iii) education, (iv) extension services, (v) gender, (vi) household size, (vii) income, (viii) membership in farming organization and (ix) access to credit. We present the results of a meta-analysis of 21 papers on the impact of these determinants on SI adoption among (smallholder) farmers in Southern African Development Community (SADC) using random-effects estimation techniques for the true effect size. While our result suggests that variables such as extension services, education, age, and household size may influence the adoption of SI in SADC, factors such as access to credit is also of great importance. Decision-makers should therefore concentrate efforts on these factors in promoting SI across the SADC. This includes increasing the efficiency of public extension service as well as involvement of private sector in extension service. Furthermore, both public and private agriculture financing models should consider sustainability indicators in their assessment process.

The study is dedicated to analyzing the complex interaction between Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) with institutional structures in the context of sustainable development. This work examines the impact of these technologies on economic and social development, identifying their potential advantages and risks. Methodologically, the research relies on information gathering and case study analysis, assessing the impact of technology in various domains, from smart cities to the manufacturing sector. The findings emphasize the necessity of integrating technological innovations into broader social and environmental initiatives, highlighting the importance of institutional transformations for achieving environmental sustainability.

We have studied Juniperus oxycedrus subsp. badia in the central and southern Iberian Peninsula. Here, the macrobioclimate ranges from Mediterranean-pluviseasonal-oceanic and Mediterranean-pluviseasonal-continental, thermotype from thermomediterranean and supramediterranean. The relevés were taken following the Braun-Blanquet phytosociological methodology. A statistical treatment was applied to establish a separation among Juniperus communities. To understand the presence of Juniperus communities in territories dominated by species of the genus Quercus, we applied the formula of Thornthwaite to calculate potential evapotranspiration. The general cluster analysis clearly separates two groups of plant communities and separates the different associations in each group. All plant communities growing on rocky crests and in steeply extreme sloping areas are significantly influenced by the soil. The Ombroclimatic Index does not explain the presence of plant communities influenced by substrate: so, we propose a new Ombroedaphoxeric Index which explains the presence of the Juniperus communities in territories with a thermotype ranging from the thermo to the supramediterranean belt. The areas of distribution of Juniperus species are expanding due to the spread of rocky areas: this phenomenon causes a rise in edaphoxerophilous areas and a decrease in climatophilous one. We propose four new plant associations and with this update on their structures and floristic compositions, it is possible to make an efficient form of conservation in both territories studied (Spain and Portugal) with specific cross-border-cooperation projects.

Green infrastructure systems are often overdesigned. This may be a byproduct of static sizing (e.g., accounting for a design storm’s runoff volume but not exfiltration rates) or may be deliberate (e.g., buffering against performance loss through time). Regardless, overdesign may compromise plants’ access to water in systems where soil pits are embedded in infiltration beds. It could raise the storm size required for water to reach soil pits, reducing water availability between storms, which could ultimately induce plant physiological stress. This study investigated the hydrological dynamics and water relations of a tree trench system suspected to have been overbuilt and identified factors contributing to, compounding, and mitigating the risk of plant stress. Results provided strong evidence that the abovementioned processes played out. Water in the infiltration bed reached soil pits only once in three years, with that event occurring during a hydrant release. Moreover, minimal water was retained in the soil pit during the event due to the hydraulic properties of the soil media. Through a growing season, one of the two tree types frequently experienced water stress, while the other did so only rarely. These contrasting responses can likely be attributed to roots either being largely confined to the soil pits or reaching a deeper water source. Implications of these results for green infrastructure design are considered.

Our wellbeing is greatly influenced by our childhood and adolescence, and the relationships that we form during those phases of our development. The human-dog bond started thousands of years ago. The higher prevalence of dog ownership around the world, especially in households including children along with the growing number of people studying dogs most likely explain the growing literature focusing on child-dog interactions. We review the potential effects of child-dog interactions on the physical, mental, and social wellbeing of both species. A scoping search of the SCOPUS database found several hundred documents meeting selection criteria. It allowed us to define the numerous ways in which children and dogs can interact, be it neutral (e.g., sharing a common area), positive (e.g., petting), or negative (e.g., biting). Then, we found evidence for an association between interacting with dogs during childhood and an array of health and mental benefits like stress relief and the development of empathy. Walking a dog and playing with one are perfect physical activity opportunities. Additionally, interacting with a dog can help lower stress and may have a role in the development of empathy. Nonetheless, a number of detrimental outcomes have also been identified in both humans and dogs. Children are the most at-risk population regarding dog bites and dog-borne zoonoses, which may lead to a subsequent fear of dogs or even death. Moreover, pet bereavement is generally inevitable when living with a canine companion and should not be trivialized. In terms of dogs, children sometimes take part in caretaking behaviors toward them which include going on walks. They are opportunities for dogs to relieve themselves outside, but also to exercise and socialize. In contrast, a lack of physical activity can lead to the onset of obesity. Dogs may present greater levels of stress when in the presence of children. Finally, the welfare of assistance, therapy, and free-roaming dogs remains underexplored. Overall, the study of the effects, positive as well as negative, on both species still requires further development. We call for more longitudinal studies and hope for cross-cultural research in the future in order to better understand the impact child-dog interactions might have.

Abstract: In the Western of Mekong Delta belong to Vietnam a amount of alluvium sediments flows from upstream China to Vietnam, they are going from the river branches to in the Mekong Delta, then get out the Western Sea of Vietnam. This sediments accumulated gradually elevation the new land. The increase elevation of the land creates a fertile coastal plain where mangrove forests with a rich ecosystem of plants and animals. Over time, these forests change, with different plant species succeeding each other. This aims of this study to finding plant species in the forest, classification of forest types based on ecological regions, assessement the biodiversity of tree species, and compare the abundance communities, measuring the growth of the forest in these regions. In 2023, a comprehensive survey was conducted by using a systematic approach. The number of survey plots have done depend on the density of the forest, Base on the width of the forest range, the number of survey plots from 500m to 1,000m set up 1-2 plots, sub region set up from 10 to 15 plots. In total, 68 plots have done established in the erea, the area of plot is 100 square meters (10m x 10m). Using the statistical software in forestry to survey and analysis data. The result provided a complete picture of the tree species composition, distribution, and community structure characteristics in each ecological sub-region. The result of survey showed in the sub-region 1 have seven species as Sonneracia ovate, Rhzophora apiculata, Excoecaria agallochha, Avicennia officinalis, Avicennia alba, Agricerasvcoculatum, Bruguiera gymnorhiza. In the sub region 2 have eleven species as Sonneracia caseolaris, Annona reticulata, Lumnitzera littorea, Lumnizera racemosa, Rhizophora apiculata, Excoecaria agallocha, Avicennia officinalis, Avicennia alba, Hibiscus tillacerus, Bruguiera gymorhiza, Aericeras comiculatum. In the sub region 3 have eight as Sonratia caseolaris, Rhizophora mucronata, Rhizophora apiculata, Excoecaria agallocha, Avicennia marine, Avicennia alba, Bruguiera gymorhiza. In the region 4 have ten species as Sonneracia caseolaris, Sonneracia ovate, Lumnizera racemosa, Rhizophoa apiculata, Excoecaria agallocha, Avicennia marina, Avicennia officinalis, Aviecnnia alba, Bruguiera gymorhiza, Bruguiera cylindrica The total species of the mangrove forest in the Western Mekong Delta have 16 species from 11 plant families have been identified. Among these species have 6 dominant species include Avicennia oficinali),Avicennia alba, Rhizophora apiculata, Excoecaria agallocha, Someratia caseolaris, and Bruguiera yipamoriza. Two species easy grow on the new land are Avicennia officinalis Avicennia alba this findings show they can develope on the original new land for the shore of the Western Mekong Delta. The surveyed results also calculated the average of the height, diameter (D1.3), canopy, health of the nature mangrove tree for each sub region and total region. From these results showed the division of foresty structure, the structure of height, diameter (D1.3), canopy, vitality of the sub region and total region in the Western Mekong Delta.

This brief communication intends to develop critical thinking on the development at different levels that could be evaluated in the well-being of humans from the local development towards a global scale or planetary point of view. Therefore it was presented and discussed how Artificial Intelligence tools could provide important contributions and influence in the design of critical thinking to develop ideas and insights within Research as well as funding for technology transfer. In this context it should be highlighted that the generation of funding and economy for sustainability that it should be based on critical thinking and analysis of what is need it from the close surrounding towards longer distances as well as in the inversed direction. In this regard, the main axes that support it are based on the importance of entailment of individuals in their close surrounding as well as to longer physical distances and cultural differences. An in this context it should be highlighted the existence of large diversity and varied Multicultural differences. These factors could affect the developments of technology, education; level, and quality of life. Thus the Economical and development indexes could be largely varied and different between them. For this reason it should highlighted the local development within shortened times by interacting to receive or provide materials with aggregated value or non-tangible values. Therefore, it could be accelerated the process of improvement in a targeted field looking for average homogeneous development everywhere. And there, it is where the link-up and transfer strategies of technology and education by creation of varied strategies in communication media. As for example the communication plays an important role to transfer knowledge within the different social status and imagining the development of thinking that later it will be the basis for the next generation of technology. By this manner, it could be coupled different levels of educations degrees by a factor in common related with curiosity and open minds to learn, work, and live together in the context of developments of new smart manners of living where economy and new encrypted currency are involucred and provide by different manners sustainability. In these perspectives the development and education at the University and higher degrees taking into account the transmission of important factors such as; i) entailment , ii) development of knowledge, and iii) transference, is fundamental. Finally, it should be highlighted the particular need of good human relationships, emotional intelligence, and diplomacy to afford from the simplest challenges to the higher ones.

Integrated landscape approaches (ILA) aim to reconcile multiple, often competing, interests across agriculture, nature conservation, and other land uses. Recognized ILA design principles provide guidance for their implementation, yet application remains challenging, and a strong performance evidence-base is yet to be formed. A comprehensive literature review and focus group discussions with practitioners identified considerable diversity of ILA in actors, temporal, and spatial scales, inter alia. This diversity hampers learning from and steering these integrated planning approaches because of its intractable nature. Therefore, we developed a tool—an ‘ILA mixing board’—to structure the complexity of ILA into selectable and scalable attributes in a replicable way to allow planning, diagnostics, and comparative assessment of ILA. The ILA mixing board tool presents seven qualifiers, each representing a key attribute of ILA design and performance such as project flexibility, inclusiveness of the dialogue, and the centrality of the power distribution. Each qualifier has five (non-normative) outcome indicators that can be registered as present or absent. This process in turn guides planners, evaluators and other participating stakeholders involved in landscape management to diagnose the ILA type, and or its performance. We apply the ILA mixing board as a diagnostic tool to three ILA cases in Nicaragua, Madagascar, and the Congo Basin to show some of the many possible configurations of qualifiers on the mixing board. Overall, the tool allows comparative analyses of the complexity of ILA in a structured and manageable way.

Our knowledge on the plastic functions of the serotonin (5-HT) receptor subtype 7 (5-HT7R) in the brain physiology and pathology considerably advanced in the last few years. A wealth of data show that the 5-HT7R is a key player in the establishment and remodeling of neuronal cytoarchitecture during development and in the mature brain, and its dysfunction is linked to neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental diseases. The involvement of this receptor in synaptic plasticity is further demonstrated by data showing that its activation allows to rescue long term potentiation (LTP) and long term depression (LTD) deficits in various animal models of neurodevelopmental diseases. In addition, it is becoming clear that the 5-HT7R is involved in inflammatory intestinal diseases, possibly playing a role in the gut-brain axis, and modulates the function of immune cells. In this review, we will mainly focus on recent findings on this receptor’s role in the structural and synaptic plasticity of the mammalian brain, although we will also illustrate novel aspects highlighted in gut and immune system.

This paper proposes a methodology for the development and its Verification and Validation(V&V) of safety-rated software. The development methodology is based on the structured analysis and structured design methodology, which has been proven in the field of safety software development during long period. The suggested the development and the V&V methodology additionally focuses on the quality attributes 3C+T (completeness, Correctness, Consistency and traceability), which are important criteria in IEC international standards. The software development life cycle is compiled from IEC international standardization, which are of the requirements analysis phase, design phase, implementation phase, testing phase, installation/commissioning phase, and operation & maintenance phases. The activities of the development process method were defined from requirements analysis to implementation, and the activities of the verification and validation were defined to include the scope of the developer's activities and then to include the test phase, installation/commissioning phase, and operation phases additionally. In other words, testing phase performed by the developer was defined as informal testing, and testing performed by the verifier according to test criteria, test plans, and test procedures was defined as formal testing. According to proposed methodology, the requirements phase defines the sequence of Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD)-Context Diagram-Data Flow Diagram (DFD), functional decomposition process and defines operational scenario. In the design phase, module design such as task analysis and task allocation were defined. In the implementation phase, we listed the coding guidelines that must be followed for safety-related system. The test phase defined the test criteria, test plan, test procedure, and test result report activities. In the installation/commissioning and operation phases, recommendations for improving reliability, quality, and safety were proposed for deliverables such as user documentation and technical documentation.

This study focuses on the impact of collaboration on reducing price inflation in renewable energy supply chains. The study utilises in-depth interviews and theme analysis to reveal the complex dynamics of collaboration among stakeholders and the resulting implications for addressing difficulties in the renewable energy sector. Trust is a key factor in successful collaboration, whereas legal frameworks and policy incentives are important in influencing collaborative activities. Collaborative procurement, cooperative research and development, strategic alliances, and collaborative supply chain management are recognised as crucial measures for decreasing expenses, promoting innovation, and improving resilience in renewable energy supply chains. Nevertheless, in order to achieve successful collaboration, it is necessary to overcome obstacles such as lack of trust, uncertainty in regulations, and competitive dynamics. Creating a cooperative environment that prioritises common objectives, openness, and reciprocal advantages is crucial for fully harnessing the potential of renewable energy supply chains in promoting sustainable energy transitions. The report provides practical insights and recommendations for policymakers, industry professionals, and academics who aim to encourage collaboration and reduce price inflation in renewable energy supply chains.

This study analyzed the impact of climate-related natural disasters (droughts, floods, storms/rainstorms) on economic and social variables. As the Africa-specific empirical literature is limited, this study used panel data from 1961–2011 on Africa. The study used a panel data regression model analysis. The results showed that climate change-related natural disasters affected Africa’s economic growth, agriculture, and poverty and caused armed conflicts. Among the disasters, droughts are the main cause of negative impact, severely affecting crops such as maize and coffee and resulting in increased urban poverty and armed conflicts. In contrast, international aid has a positive effect but the impact is insignificant compared to the negative consequences of climate-related natural disasters. Cereal food assistance has a negative crowding-out effect on cereal production. International donors should review their interventions to support Africa’s adaptative capacity to disasters. Government efficiency has reduced the number of deaths, and this is an area that supports Africa’s adaptative efforts.

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is considered vital to the success of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Systems Thinking has been identified as a core competency necessary to incorporate into ESD. Systems Thinking orientated ESD learning tools, established methods of assessment of sustainability skills, and studies to demonstrate effectiveness of such learning tools, are all lacking. There is a wealth of experience in the System Dynamics field regarding the application of Systems Thinking and simulation to environmental problems, sustainability and systems education. Many System Dynamicists regard simulation as essential for teaching Systems Thinking. The substantial body of research into the design of effective simulation-based learning environments (SBLEs) can also inform ESD initiatives. This research describes a randomised controlled trial (n=106) to investigate whether an online sustainability learning tool that incorporates Systems Thinking and System Dynamics simulation increases understanding of a specific problem and supports transfer of knowledge to a second problem with a similar systemic structure. The effects of Systems Thinking and simulation were tested separately and in combination. The learning tool was designed for a single online learning session. Simulation was found to increase ESD learning outcomes significantly, and also to support transfer of skills, although less significantly.

Nigeria's upstream oil and gas sector is extensively contributing to the economic growth of the country, but the sector is plagued with challenges around corporate social responsibility (CSR) and taxation practices. Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) is introduced to tackle these challenges towards promoting sustainable development in Nigeria. The aim of this study is to explore the PIA’s provisions on CSR and taxation, identify the Act’s implementation challenges and improvement opportunities, propose an integrated framework for monitoring and evaluating the PIA’s impact on CSR and taxation over time, and recommend measures for enhancing PIA’s impact on CSR and taxation support for sustainable development in Nigeria's upstream oil and gas sector. This study adopts the qualitative desk review method to analyze existent literature, reports, and documents regarding PIA’s provisions on CSR and taxation. Findings reveal that the PIA’s provisions greatly emphasize CSR initiatives and taxation transparency in improving responsible ethical business behaviour. An integrated framework for monitoring and evaluating PIA’s impact over time is developed. This study concludes that the PIA's provisions can balance CSR and taxation practices for sustainable development. The study’s recommendations include using the integrated framework as a structured strategy for monitoring and evaluating the PIA’s impact. This study contributes to the discussion on the imperatives of ethical business practices and regulatory frameworks for sustainable development drive in the oil and gas sector.

Historical legacy of Eastern European and Balkans’ health systems was mutually interdependent and shaped by local socioeconomic circumstances. Three distinctive systems of risk sharing and health financing to develop since the late XIX century were the Bismarck, Beveridge, and Semashko systems. Modern day healthcare systems in these countries are challenged by population ageing, accelerated innovation in medical technology, growing purchasing power and rising demand for healthcare services. Supply side changes contribute to demand side efficiency bottlenecks in financing, driving the costs of the already expensive medical care up. All of the nations have a large share of citizens experiencing difficulty with affordability and access to medical care, particularly in rural and remote areas. Network of Health technology assessment agencies have mushroomed over the past three decades. Principles of health economics theory and cost-effective resource allocation are slowly gaining ground in governing authorities’ mindset and decision-making process. For many years to come, pharmaceuticals and medical services will remain dependent on out-of-pocket spending. Currently accelerating and spreading 4.0 Industrial Revolution, together with the Belt and Road Initiative, are likely to substantially impact the further economic development of this vast region. Post-Pandemic ‘Green’ Recovery strategies adopted by many of the Eastern European governments shall also make this transition towards sustainable development more difficult and challenging given the large dependency of all these economies upon traditional carbon fuels.

Alcohol and substance addiction is a type of brain disease that damages many areas of life of the individual and has psychological components. Since questioning alcohol use alone is not sufficient in the diagnostic evaluation process, self-awareness and the individual's long-term psychological well-being are important in the rehabilitation process. Since investigating alcohol use alone is not sufficient in the diagnostic evaluation process, self-awareness and the individual’s long-term psychological well-being are important in the rehabilitation process. Primary prevention is used to prevent disease in healthy people, and secondary prevention is used for early diagnosis to people at risk. Tertiary prevention is important to prevent recurrence of the disease in the treated person. In addiction, which is a chronic problem, a need has emerged for tertiary prevention, that is, rehabilitation standards. If people are uncertain about the harm perception and the natural result of their behavior, they easily slip into the substance. Therefore, as a positive psychotherapy technique, harm perception and result awareness levels should be clarified. For this reason, scales were developed. The inclusion of new psychology perspectives and therapy techniques, such as positive psychology, in the treatment process requires setting new standards. In this study, it was aimed to develop result awareness and harm perception scales to determine the awareness levels and rehabilitation standards of alcohol and substance addicted individuals, and to compare awareness in normal and addicted groups. The study group consisted of 1134 participants, 41 of whom were addicts. Among the two scales developed in the study, the Uskudar Result Awareness Scale (USRAS) consisting of 25 items and 6 factor, explained 58.4% of the total variance. The Uskudar Harm Perception Scale (USHPS), consisting of 36 items and 10 factors, explained 56.3% of the total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis of the two scales resulted in acceptable goodness-of-fit values. (X2/df<3; RMSEA<.08; NFI>.90; NNFI>.95; CFI>.95; GFI>.90; AGFI>.85). In the comparisons made, the result awareness of the normal group was moderate (X=3,81); whereas the addicted group had a low result awareness (X=3,20); The effect size of the difference between the two groups was found to be high (d=1,45; >0,8). In the other measure, the harm perception of the normal group was found in the low-risk group (X=3,78); the harm perception of the addicted group was found in the moderate-risk group (X=3,43). According to Cohen d calculations, the effect size of the difference between the two groups is high (d=1,43; >0,8). It has been concluded that the two scales that emerged in the research are valid and safe, can be included in the rehabilitation studies and the creation of self-awareness, and their effectiveness should be tested.

Citizen participation has always been of vital importance in decision-making processes and, likewise, joint work in the formulation and execution of projects that respond to territorial needs. This in order to ensure the best impact of public or private investment, optimizing the result and community articulation. For this reason, this investigation proposes a methodology of evaluation and prioritization of projects based on an approach integrated between the modelling in dynamics systems (SDM) and the Analytical process network (ANP), in which the citizen factors are used as qualitative and quantitative variables inside the posed balance sheet model. This is how the model developed by the Stella Architect software, it offers to the decision makers approximate information about the reality of the community, especially those who were affected by the Colombian conflict and where the expectations of a comprehensive repair could disrupt the socioeconomic system and reveal more pressing interests than those of the central government. The methodology is described by the information gotten through the participatory workshops done in the California county that belongs to the Magdalena region, this is a very affected region by the conflict in Colombia. The investigation results confirm the useful of, first of all, the use of the modelling as an information-generating tool by allowing the simulation of relevant variables in the evaluation and prioritization of projects at different moments of time and, in second place, use the knowledge of the experts that expose the ANP method for establishing the importance of each variable compared with other variables and, likewise of each project compared to the rest of the alternatives in each of the different instants of time in which the evaluation is carried out, given that the results could change in any time, the official ranking is showed after an optimization process with partial results.

The current global business landscape demands an acute commitment of international businesses’ sustainable practices to attain a global sustainability agenda. This paper examines the intricate nexus of Multinational Enterprises' (MNEs) Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices, particularly environmental innovation, business ethics, CSR reporting and their environmental performance, social performance, as well as the influence of their alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Using data from Refinitiv Eikon workspace for 91 MNEs from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region as a point of the study, the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) results underline the potential and significant involvement of MNEs in sustainable development shaping, especially in developing and emerging countries. The harmonization and convergence of MNEs’ CSR practices and their adoption of the SDGs emerges as a pivotal approach to enhance MNEs’ contribution to a global development and sustainability agenda.

Open Education, Open Educational Practices (OEP), and Open Educational Resources (OER) have emerged as significant opportunities for enhancing global sustainability information sharing. However, the creation and sharing of OER, as well as the usage of OEP in Higher Education for Sustainable Development (HESD), remain limited. This study explores the implementation of OEP in HESD, aiming to empower students to co-produce OER on Sustainable Development (SD). This study, drawing on the theoretical approach of the principle of constructive alignment, proposes the development of students’ digital competence in OER production. A two-group pre-test post-test analysis of 409 students (Psychology, Economics, Education, Geography) reveals a significant increase in digital competence over time among students who produced OER on SD, compared to their peers enrolled in courses unrelated to OER content development. We delve into the practical implications for designing OEP in HESD and strategize to support students in their OER production processes.

RANS simulations have been broadly used to investigate turbulence in the oceans and atmosphere. Within these environments there are a multitude of tracers undergoing reactions (eg. phytoplankton growth, chemical reactions). The distribution of these reactive tracers is strongly influenced by turbulent mixing. With a 50 member ensemble of two dimensional Rayleigh-Taylor induced turbulent mixing, we show that the dynamics of a reactive tracer growing according to Fisher’s equation are poorly captured by the mean. A fluctuation-dependent sink introduced by Reynolds averaging Fisher’s equation transfers concentration from the mean to the fluctuations. We compare the dynamics of the reactive tracer with those of a passive tracer. The reaction causes the concentration of reactive tracer to increase thereby increasing Fickian diffusion and allowing the reactive tracer to diffuse into turbulent structures that the passive tracer cannot reach. A positive feedback between turbulent mixing and fluctuation growth is identified. We show that eddy viscosity and diffusivity parameterizations fail to capture the bulk trends of the system and identify a need for negative eddy diffusivities. One must therefore be cautious when interpreting RANS results for reactive tracers.

he paper presents an innovative method for tourist route planning inside a destination. The necessity of reorganizing the tourist routes within a destination comes as an immediate response to the Covid-19 crisis. The implementation of the method inside tourist destinations can bring an important advantage in transforming a destination into a safer destination in times of Covid-19 and post-Covid-19. The existing trend of shortening the tourist stay length has been accelerated while the epidemic became a pandemic. Moreover, the wariness for future pandemics has brought into spotlight the issue of overcrowded attractions inside a destination at certain moments. The method presented in this paper proposes a backtracking algorithm, more precisely an adaptation of the travelling salesman problem. The method presented is aimed to facilitate the navigation inside a destination and to revive certain less-visited sightseeing spots inside a destination while facilitating conformation with the social distancing measures imposed for Covid-19 control.

This paper discusses domestic problem of waiting hot water for the shower use till it reaches satisfactory temperature, which result a lot of wastage in fresh water. The outcome from research survey shows that there is no satisfactory solution till now as all solutions were either expensive or with no effective results. Local small inline electric heater equipped with fuzzy logic controller is proposed in this paper to be installed just before the showerhead to measure the water temperature and flow before the showerhead, as control input-variables, and decide the operating voltage of the heater, as control output-variable (MISO). MATLAB Simulink is used to model the proposed system. Different test cases are simulated to prove the performance and the safe operation of the system. Techno-economic study is carried out to determine the “Direct Benefits” and “Indirect Benefits” that can be achieved if such system is implemented in wide range. Azerbaijan data is taken as an example to calculate the economic benefits. The results show important benefits not only for economy but also for climate and the reduction of CO₂ gas emission. Different economic indices are provided to be an easy reference for decision makers and project managers.

The effective implementation of a sustainable supply chain leadership (SSCL) strategy at each organization’s level, positively impacts on corporation’s competitive advantage and sustainable development. While fears have been acknowledged in previous literature, the benefit of designing Sustainable supply chain models for operational excellence and sustainable development is a noteworthy exploration. The study collected statistical data using an online Survey- monkey questionnaire from 46 of the top 100 JSE-listed companies with the intention to elucidate the large firms’ transition from longstanding linear approaches to sustainable production and consumption to a more circular approach. A bivariate data analysis was used to generate the results in SPSS. The results indicate a positive contribution of SSCL strategy to operational excellence and sustainable development of large corporations if only the entire supply chain system is well-coordinated and implemented. This study makes a vital contribution by proposing a new SSCL model for fast-tracking corporate sustainability and enhancing corporate contributions to sustainable growth.

Context: In Software Engineering, there must be clarity in communication among interested parts to elicit the requirements aimed at software development through frameworks to achieve the behaviors expected by the software. Problem: Lack of clarity in the requirements elicitation stage can impact subsequent stages of software development. Solution: We proposed a case study to achieve the proposed goal focusing on the performance efficiency characteristic expressed in the ISO/IEC/IEEE 25010 Standard using Behavior-Driven Development (BDD). Method: The case study was performed with professionals who use BDD to elicit the non-functional requirements of a company that develops software. Summary of Results: The results obtained were aspects related to the elicitation of non-functional requirements aimed at the performance efficiency characteristic of the ISO/IEC/IEEE 25010 Standard using BDD through the point of view of industry professionals. Contributions and impact: The article’s main contribution is to demonstrate the effectiveness of using BDD to elicit non-functional requirements about the performance efficiency characteristic of the ISO/IEC/IEEE 25010 Standard.

Thanks to several Vitis vinifera backcrosses with an initial V. vinifera L. × V. rotundifolia (previously Muscadinia rotundifolia) interspecific cross, the MrRUN1/MrRPV1 locus (resistance to downy and powdery mildews) was introgressed in genotypes phenotypically close to V. vinifera varieties. To check the consequences of introgressing parts of the V. rotundifolia genome on gene expression during fruit development, we conducted a comparative RNA-seq study on single berries from different V. vinifera cultivars and V. vinifera × V. rotundifolia hybrids, including ‘G5’ and two derivative microvine lines, ‘MV102’ (resistant) and ‘MV32’ (susceptible) segregating for the MrRUN1/RPV1 locus. RNA-Seq profiles were analyzed on a comprehensive set of single berries from the end of the herbaceous plateau to the ripe stage. Pair-end reads were aligned both on V. vinifera PN40024.v4 reference genome, V. rotundifolia cv ‘Trayshed’ and cv ‘Carlos’, and to the few resistance genes from the original V. rotundifolia cv ‘52’ parent available at NCBI. Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) led to classifying the differentially expressed genes into 15 modules either preferentially correlated with resistance or berry phenology and composition. Resistance positively correlated transcripts predominantly mapped on the 4-5 Mb distal region of V. rotundifolia chromosome 12 beginning with the MrRUN1/MrRPV1 locus, while the negatively correlated ones mapped on the orthologous V. vinifera region, showing this large extremity of LG12 remained recalcitrant to internal recombination during the successive backcrosses. Some constitutively expressed V. rotundifolia genes were also observed at lower density outside this region. Genes overexpressed in developing berries from resistant accessions, either introgressed from V. rotundifolia, or triggered by these in the vinifera genome, spanned various functional groups, encompassing calcium signal transduction, hormone signaling, transcription factors, plant–pathogen-associated interactions, disease resistance proteins, ROS and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis. This transcriptomic insight provides a foundation for understanding the disease resistance inherent in these hybrid cultivars and suggests a constitutive expression of NIR NBS LRR triggering calcium signaling. Moreover, these results illustrate the magnitude of transcriptomic changes caused by the introgressed V. rotundifolia background in backcrossed hybrids, on a large number of functions largely exceeding the ones constitutively expressed in single resistant gene transformants.

Small peptides (SPs), ranging from 5 to 100 amino acids, play integral roles in plants due to their diverse functions. Despite their low abundance and small molecular weight, SPs intricately regulate critical aspects of plant life, including cell division, growth, differentiation, flowering, fruiting, maturation, and stress responses. As vital mediators of intercellular signaling, SPs have garnered significant attention in plant biology research. This comprehensive review delves into SPs' structure, classification, and identification, providing a detailed understanding of their significance. Additionally, we summarize recent findings on the biological functions and signaling pathways of prominent SPs that regulate plant growth and development. The review also offers a forward-looking perspective on future research directions in peptide signaling pathways.

Plants are subjected to abiotic stresses throughout their developmental period. Abiotic stresses include drought, salt, heat, cold, heavy metals, nutritional element and oxidative stresses. Improving plant response to various environmental stresses is critical for plant survival and perpetuation. The WRKY transcription factors have special structure (WRKY structural domains), which enable WRKY transcription factors to have different transcriptional regulatory functions. The WRKY transcription factors can not only regulate abiotic stresses response and plant growth and development by regulating phytohormone signalling pathways, but also promote or suppress the expression of downstream genes by binding to the W-box [TGACCA/TGACCT] in the promoters of their target genes. In addition, WRKY transcription factors not only interact with other families of transcription factors to regulate plant defence responses in abiotic stresses, but also self-regulate by recognizing and binding to W-boxes in their own target genes to regulate their defence responses to abiotic stresses. However, in recent years, research reviews on the regulatory roles of WRKY transcription factors in higher plants are scarce and shallow. In this review, we focus on the structure and classification of WRKY transcription factors, as well as the identification of their downstream target genes and molecular mechanisms involved in the response to abiotic stresses, which can improve the tolerance ability of plants in abiotic stress and we also look forward to their future research directions, with a view to providing theoretical support for the genetic improvement of crop abiotic stresses tolerance.

This narrative review critically evaluates the multidimensional impacts of team sports on student wellness through the Wellness Wheel framework, encompassing physical, emotional, intellectual, social, spiritual, occupational, and environmental well-being. Methodologically, the review synthesizes empirical studies, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses from the last 20 years, extracted from databases such as PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, to construct a comprehensive understanding of how team sports contribute to holistic student development. Our findings highlight team sports as a vital component of educational and wellness programs, significantly enhancing not just physical health but also emotional stability, cognitive performance, social skills, spiritual enrichment, and environmental awareness. The review underscores the necessity of integrating team sports into educational curricula to promote a balanced and comprehensive approach to student well-being. It also identifies existing gaps in literature, particularly the need for further research on enhancing inclusivity and accessibility in team sports, ensuring that all students can benefit from their wide-ranging impacts. This study advocates for strategic initiatives to incorporate team sports in educational settings, emphasizing their essential role in cultivating a well-rounded, healthy, and inclusive student body.

Children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) are at high risk of impaired development. Contributing causes include inadequate intake of specific nutrients such as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and lack of adequate stimulation. We conducted a pilot study assessing developmental and nutritional changes in children with SAM provided with a modified ready-to-use therapeutic food and a context-specific psychosocial intervention in Mwanza, Tanzania. We recruited 82 children with SAM (6-36 months) and 88 sex- and age-matched non-malnourished children. We measured child development, using the Malawi Development Assessment Tool (MDAT), measures of family and maternal care for children, and whole blood PUFA levels. At baseline, the mean total MDAT z-score of children with SAM was lower than non-malnourished children; -2.37 (95% confidence interval: -2.92; -1.82) as was their total n-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) levels. After 8 weeks’ intervention, MDAT z-scores improved in all domains, especially fine motor, among children with SAM. Total n-3, and EPA levels increased, total n-6 fatty acids decreased, and DHA remained unchanged. Family and maternal care also improved. The suggested benefits of the combined interventions on developmental and nutritional status of children with SAM will be tested in a future trial.

he paper offers an innovative cooking utensil design for remote, isolated, and even peri-urban communities at a low price, with high reliability and simple construction. It can alleviate energy poverty and improve food security. This utensil uses only local solar energy directly and allows comfortable indoor cooking. This paper provides the design principles of a solar cooker/frying pan or generic heater, based on a PV panel or a plurality of them, which are directly connected to a plurality of Positive Thermal Coefficient (PTC) resistors to match the power. PTCs are nowadays produced in massive quantities and are widely available at low cost. The proposed device does not require an electronic controller or a battery for its operation. The aim is for family use, although the design can be easily scaled to a larger size or power, maintaining its simplicity. Electric heating inside or attached to the cooking pot, plus the temperature self-limiting effect of PTCs, allows for thermally insulating the cooking pot from its outside using ordinary materials. Insulation en-hances energy efficiency during cooking and keeps cooked food warm for a long time. Clean development would receive a significant impulse with its application. A simple mathematical model describes its functioning and states guidelines for adequate design. The results indicate a successful proof of concept and high efficiency both for water and oil as representatives of cooking.

Keywords: Green human resource management1; Green supply chain management2; Regulation and legislation3; Sustainable development goals4.

Rural areas, as a system, face multiple challenges. Among these are population decline and attendant economic and social maladies namely demographic issues considering a scarce population. Pull factors for immigrants to go to other countries are known, nevertheless, to comprehend factors for remaining in rural areas after arriving could support a strategic local policy, and for an informed practice. The purpose of the study is to explore motivations shaping immigrants’ intentions to stay in the Alentejo, a depopulated region in Portugal, using a qualitative approach. Research questions are: What motivates immigrants to remain living in depopulated regions in Portugal? Furthermore, what contributions can practitioners and immigrants give for local policy and practice? Eight practitioners and fifteen non-European Union immigrants living in this region were interviewed between 2020 and 2021. Empirical data were analysed, supported by MaxQDA software. Results point out that the intention to remain in rural areas arise from a progressive construction, it is a process that immigrants experience to become motivated to stay long-term. Factors influencing the process include four components: 1. instrumental and material motivations; 2. emotional and social motivations; 3. motivations based on quality of life; and 4. motivations based on political dimensions. Components are conditioned by the availability of : stable and suitable jobs, access to decent and affordable housing, as well as quality of education and health services for their children; additionally to socio-emotional satisfaction, as family reunification, migrants network, integration and real intercultural living in the host community, close relationships to practitioners from social services; and quality of life, such as lower rents, peaceful and secure living conditions, granted a better future for their children as in any another place in Europe, associated finally to the simplified policy enabling one to become a legal citizen. Conclusions highlight implications for policy and practice, suggesting more investment for rural regions to reverse depopulation reality.

Investigating transportation disasters in Western Asia over two decades (2003-2023), this study provides a meticulous examination of a comprehensive dataset, shedding light on the dynamics and nuances of these catastrophic events in terms of frequency, modality (air, rail, road, and water), and subsequent outcomes. The data reveals a concerning uptrend in mishaps from 2003 to 2010, which fortunately reverses into a notable decline in the subsequent years. Noteworthy is the predominance of road-related incidents, yet an alarming 73.8% of events are ambiguously categorized under "Unknown", hinting at potential gaps or inconsistencies in record-keeping. With Turkey being a significant epicenter, accounting for nearly 45% of all incidents, the regional distribution of these disasters becomes evident. Advanced ANOVA analyses discern marked variations in fatality rates over the years and between nations. However, the contrast in injury rates among different disaster categories did not achieve statistical significance. While the post-2010 era showcases a commendable reduction in calamities, the data punctuates the persistent necessity for robust safety measures, targeted public awareness campaigns, and infrastructural advancements. In synthesis, this study vehemently advocates for heightened regional collaboration and systematic knowledge dissemination as cornerstones for bolstering transportation safety across Western Asia.

This research elucidates the dynamic expression of expansin genes during the wheat grain (Triticum aestivum L.) development process using comprehensive meta-analysis and experimental validation. We leveraged RNA-seq data from multiple public databases, applying stringent criteria for selection, and identified 60,852 differentially expressed genes across developmental stages. From this pool, 28,558 DEGs were found to exhibit significant temporal regulation in at least two different datasets, and were enriched for processes integral to grain development such as carbohydrate metabolism and cell wall organization. Notably, 30% of the 241 known expansin genes showed differential expression during grain growth. Hierarchical clustering and expression level analysis revealed temporal regulation and distinct contributions of expansin subfamilies during the early stages of grain development. Further analysis using co-expression networks underscored the significance of expansin genes, revealing their substantial co-expression with genes involved in cell wall modification. Finally, qPCR validation and grain morphological analysis under field conditions indicated a significant negative correlation between expression of select expansin genes and grain size and weight. This study illuminates the potential role of expansin genes in wheat grain development and provides new avenues for targeted genetic improvements in wheat.

In recent years, intelligent identification and prediction of ore deposits based on deep learning algorithm and image processing technology has gradually become one of the research frontiers in the field of geological and metallogenic prediction. However, this method also has many problems that need to be solved. For example, (1) very few trainable image samples containing mineral point labels; (2) The geological image features are small and irregular, and the image similarity is high; (3) It is difficult to calculate the influence of different geological prospecting factors on ore mineralization. Based on this, this paper constructs a deep learning network model Multiscale Feature Attention Framework (MFAF) based on geo-image data. The results show that MFCA-Net module in MFAF model can solve the problem of scarce mine label images to a certain extent. In addition, the channel attention mechanism SE-Net module can quantify the difference of influence of different source factors on mineralization. The prediction map is obtained by applying the MFAF model in the study of deposit identification and prediction in the research area of the southern section of Qin-hang metallogenic Belt. In the forecast map, many regions have high metallogenic potential. Through observation, it is found that the above predicted area covers 100% of the known ore deposits at present, which has a good prediction effect. Later, we can find out the specific reasons through field verification. The multi-scale feature fusion and attention mechanism MFA Framework in this paper can provide a new way of thinking for geologists in mineral exploration. The research of this paper also provides resource guarantee and technical support for the sustainable exploitation of mineral resources and the sustainable growth of society and economy.

Digital technologies are becoming increasingly relevant in the processes of documenting, surveying, enhancing and preserving Cultural Heritage, also through applications that are increasingly optimized and oriented towards new data management and accessibility processes. This great potential can find significant levels of application in the tourism sector, seeking new strategies to access, discover, understand cultural assets. In this direction, many digital applications have already found interesting outcomes in the tourism sector, but there is large room for improvement in the applications for “minor”, small or neglected cultural sites, not included in conventional tourism routes, which play a key-role in social inclusion and territorial cohesion, and for the development of social, economic and environmental sustainability. The paper presents a conceptual framework or possible outline to foster the use of digital technologies through a set of integrated bottom-up and top-down actions, to facilitate connections of minor sites into larger networks, contributing to search for new forms of active fruition and social participation.

Until now, the literature on Chinese International Online Shopping (CIOS) (B2C export from China) mainly concentrated on the potential income that it constitutes for Chinese international trade. However, regarding International Online Consumers' (IOCs) purchase behaviors, research does not provide insight into the impact of Countries' Level of Economic Development (CLED) on the IOCs' preferences and choices about Chinese brands. Based on 9971 purchases about Chinese mobile phone brands, countries' macroeconomic data, and a multinomial logistics model (MLM), we examined IOCs' preferences and choices about Chinese brands. The result shows that the CLED influences IOCs' preferences and choices. Consequently, accounting of CLED in consumers’ preferences and choices introduces a new dimension in understanding IOCs' behaviors and attitudes towards Chinese mobile phone brands. This work contributes to Chinese brands' globalization research from the perspective of CLED. Such a model can be used to guide e-retailers and brand managers.

This article addresses the question how the religious narrative identity and subjective religiosity change over the course of 15 years. The cases portrayed are deconverts who have changed their religious affiliations multiple times. It will be carved out what led to their deconversion and what remains as a core of their faith after they have turned away from organized religion for good. Interviews have been conducted at three time points and are analyzed using content analysis. It will become clear that the needs and expectations of the two individuals differ highly, as well as the reasons for turning away from a religious community; yet what is a common core in this joint faithful journey is their need to live their religiosity, now in a private setting.

NF-κB is a central mediator of inflammation, response to DNA damage and oxidative stress. As a result of its central role in so many important cellular processes, NF-κB dysregulation has been implicated in the pathology of important human diseases. NF-κB activation causes inappropriate inflammatory responses in diseases including rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and multiple sclerosis (MS). Thus, modulation of NF-κB signaling is being widely investigated as an approach to treat chronic inflammatory diseases, autoimmunity and cancer. The emergence of COVID-19 in late 2019, the subsequent pandemic and the huge clinical burden of patients with life-threatening SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia led to a massive scramble to repurpose existing medicines to treat lung inflammation in a wide range of healthcare systems. These efforts continue and these efforts continue to be con-troversial. Drug repurposing strategies are a promising alternative to de-novo drug development, as they minimize drug development timelines and reduce the risk of failure due to unexpected side effects. Different experimental approaches have been applied to identify existing medicines which inhibit NF-κB that could be repurposed as anti-inflammatory drugs.

A harmful impact of climate change and global warming has concerned various sectors of the international community. Numerous energy policies aiming at climate change mitigation have been implemented on a national and global scale. Renewable Energy Technologies (RET) play a critical role in enhancing sustainable solutions that significantly limit greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. Such innovative technologies can facilitate energy transition through providing e.g. energy security, sustainable development, or effective usage of indigenous resources. However, the commercialization of RET becomes extremely challenging. The barriers can be of a different nature, although in this study the focus has been put on socio-economic and regulatory issues. In fact, there is ample evidence that energy policies play a central role in supporting renewables adoption. It is also claimed that RET require the whole ecosystem to support their successful diffusion. In this study, we explore multifarious barriers for a widespread RET diffusion in two European Union countries: Finland and Poland, indicating the most common barriers existing in the literature as well as analyzing major bottlenecks in the viewpoint of renewable energy companies’ executives. We also present statistics of the most commonly used RET in these countries in order to express the diffusion issues more appropriately. The outcomes of this study provide useful insight for the researchers in the energy transition field as well as practical managerial and regulatory implications aimed at overcoming these challenges.

Development of the central nervous system (CNS) depends on accurate spatiotemporal control of signalling pathways and transcription programs. Forkhead Box G1 (FOXG1) is one of the master regulators that plays fundamental roles in forebrain development, from the timing of neurogenesis to the patterning of the cerebral cortex. Mutations in the FOXG1 gene cause a rare neurodevelopmental disorder called FOXG1 syndrome, also known as congenital form of Rett syndrome. Patients presenting with FOXG1 syndrome manifest a spectrum of phenotypes ranging from severe cognitive dysfunction and microcephaly to social withdrawal and communication deficits with varying severities. To develop and improve therapeutic interventions, there has been considerable progress towards unravelling the multi-faceted functions of FOXG1 in neurodevelopment and pathogenesis of FOXG1 syndrome. Moreover, recent advances in genome editing and stem cell technologies, as well as increased yield of information from high throughput omics opened promising and important new avenues in FOXG1 research. In this review, we provide a summary of clinical features and emerging molecular mechanisms underlying FOXG1 syndrome, and explore disease-modelling approaches in animals and human-based systems to highlight prospects of research and possible clinical interventions.

Target 9.c of the 2015 United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs) specifically addresses increasing access to information and communication technology (ICT) resources, and striving for universal access to the internet by 2020. The present study seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of the youth related national strategies implemented in this regard by a select number of countries in the Middle East region. The study does so, by relying on a spatial bivariate copula regression analysis of data on youth respondents from five countries, extracted from the 2018 Program for international students’ assessment (PISA). Focusing specifically on evaluating the availability of ICT resources to the youth population, and also identifying the impact of ICT resources on youth subjective well-being in the region, we find that except for the UAE and Qatar that have above OECD average youth performance on the ICT resource index, youth from the remaining countries reported below OECD level average access to ICT resources. The within region cross-country comparative analysis of ICT resources availability to the youth population at home, also highlighted significant heterogeneity across the five countries, post 2015 SDG adoption by UN country members. Furthermore, looking at the impact of ICT resources on youth well-being, controlling for not only cross-country spatial correlations, and factors such as home educational resources, cultural possessions at home, parental occupation status, youth expected occupation status, economic and socio-cultural status, age, gender, and grade level in school; we found that every standard deviation increase in ICT resources to the youth population in the region raises their self-expressed sense of belonging in school by 1.88% standard deviations. Given the empowering nature of ICT resources to youth, and the potential of both to support national as well as regional economic development initiatives, a concerted effort to ease ICT resources diffusion by member countries in the middle east region could assist not only each country in its own development path, but also the region as a whole to live up to its growth potential by the 2030.

Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) is a high priority on the agenda of main stakeholders involved in sustainable development and Earth Observation (EO) can provide useful, timely and economical information in this context. This short communication outlines the European Space Agency’s (ESA) specific initiative to promote the use and uptake of satellite data in the global development community: ‘Earth Observation for Sustainable Development (EO4SD)’. One activity area under EO4SD is devoted to Disaster Risk Reduction: EO4SD DRR. Within this project, a team of European companies and institutions are tasked to develop EO services for supporting the implementation of DRR in International Financial Institutions’ (IFI) projects. Integration of satellite-borne data and ancillary data to generate insight and actionable information is thereby considered a key factor for improved decision making. To understand and fully account for the essential user requirements (IFI & Client States), engagement with technical leaders is crucial. Fit-for-purpose use of data and comprehensive capacity building eventually ensure scalability and long-term transferability. Future perspectives of EO4SD and DRR regarding mainstreaming are also highlighted.

There is a need for developmental screening that is easily administered in resource-poor settings. 1) We hypothesized that known risk factors would predict failed developmental screening on an adapted screening tool in East African children living in poverty. 2) The sample included 100 healthy Ugandan children aged 6-59 months. We adapted a parent-reported developmental screener based on the Child Development Review chart. The primary outcome was failure to meet age-appropriate milestones for any developmental domain. Venous blood was analyzed for lead, and caregivers completed a demographics questionnaire. We used multivariate logistic regression models to determine if elevated blood lead and stunting predicted failure on the screener, controlling for maternal education level, age in months past the lower bound of the child’s developmental age group, and absence of home electricity. 3) In the sample, 14% (n=14) of children failed one or more milestones on the screener. Lead levels or stunting did not predict failing the screener after controlling for covariates. 4) Though this tool was feasibly administered, it did not demonstrate preliminary construct validity and is not yet recommended for screening in high-risk populations. Future research should include a larger sample size and cognitive interviews to ensure it is contextually relevant.

Urban areas face daunting economic challenges that have increased in scope in recent years. At the same time, cities provide for opportunities for growth and value creation. The interplay of these challenges and opportunities represents the area of intervention for policymakers and researchers. However, the traditional approach to urban policy, deriving from the managerial and economic policy theories, shows difficulties mainly related to the capacity to counterbalance the interests and expectations of a multitude of stakeholders participating to the value co-creation process and to bring all different components to synergically contribute to the sustainability of the system. The Author proposes an innovative approach to urban public policy, by adopting the theoretical corpus of the Viable Systems Approach ("VSA"). Urban planning will be particularly analysed, as systemic components of urban areas, with the aim to investigate the decision-making processes for an integrated, efficient, effective and sustainable management of the territory as a multidimensional, multisectoral and multi-stakeholder entity. By recovering different settings, the VSA intends the co-creation of value as the capacity of the viable systems to increase its surviving chances in its own context. The value derives, first of all, from the strategic decisions aimed at finding both dyadic and context consonance. Through its strategic decisions, the Governing Body of the territory develops a specific system as the overall synthesis of all possible systems organised within a specific area, identifying pattern of development agreed by the several stakeholders of the territory. In the dynamics of value co-creation in systemic multi-subjective organizations, where the level of complexity is particularly significant, the research for consonance among different stakeholders is particular important in order to achieve the most value for the territory. In this respect, the VSA may constitute a valid tool, helping to find the necessary capacities to imagine evolutionary paths towards new competencies.

In many developing countries, plastic waste management is left to citizens. This usually results in hazardous landfilling or open-air burning, leading to emissions that are harmful to human health and the environment. An easy, profitable, and clean method of processing and transforming the waste into value is required. In this context, this study provides an open-source methodology to transform low-density polyethylene drinking water sachets, into pavement blocks by using a streamlined do-it-yourself approach that requires only modest capital. Two different materials, sand, and ashes are evaluated as additives in plastic composites and the mechanical strength of the resulting blocks are tested for different proportion mix of plastic, sand, and ash. The best composite had an elastic modulus of 169MPa, a compressive strength of 29MPa, and a water absorptivity of 2.2%. The composite pavers can be sold at 100% profit while employing workers at 1.5X the minimum wage. In the West African region, this technology has the potential to produce 19 million pavement tiles from 28,000 tons of plastic water sachets annually in Ghana, Nigeria, and Liberia. This can contribute to waste management in the region while generating a gross revenue of 2.85 billion XOF (4.33 million USD).

This paper provides a study on the development of solar energy, its prospects, and its impacts in Africa. Although the main focus is on technologies adopted for different uses (solar farms, mini-grids, off-grid, solar houses, irrigation, lighting, etc.), we also consider some aspects that increase the adoption of solar energy, such as legislation and business models. Finally, we will examine current and future solar projects managed by NGOs and international companies and how they benefit to leveraging social and economic standards, quality of life as well as capacity building in Africa. This study shows the plethoric interest of institutions outside Africa in the market of solar energy in the continent and that there is no African strategy to increase its independency toward a sustainable development particularly through energy transition.

In order to meet the needs of an increasingly complex research landscape, researchers engage in “collaborative prosumption” through open data sharing and reuse. Although significant gains have been achieved in this regards because of growing requirements from funding agencies, governments and journals, the question of how reuse of openly available data for new research contribute to sustainability is yet to be appropriately addressed in the literature. Therefore, relying on a three stage stratified clustered random sampling of the Journal of Applied Econometrics data archive (JAEDA), the present research provides a case study of the value of research data recycling for sustainable research and economic development. More specifically our analysis show that reformatting from wide to long format, openly shared equity price index data on eleven European countries’ extracted from JAEDA, and augmented with country level geospatial Meta data, provides a new basis for interesting descriptive analytics and spatio-temporal econometric modeling and inference. Given the ever-increasing volume of openly available research data, our study provides a first-hand insight on open data reuse, which should benefit all stakeholders in the research community, as they seek sustainable solutions for scientific productivity and progress.

Building a new-type power system is the key core of the green and low-carbon development of energy, the restructuring of the power system will inevitably have a linked impact on the coordinated development of the economy-energy-environment (3E) system. This paper constructs a "Dual-Triangle" theoretical framework consisting of the “Energy Trilemma” and the "Sustainable Development Triangle", by combining historical statistical analysis with scenario predictive analysis, analyzes the historical characteristics of the "Dual Triangle" and future development trends under different scenarios, and studies the coupled interaction relationship of the "Dual-Triangle" to explore the optimal transformation path of the power system that is most beneficial to the coordinated development of the 3E system. The conclusions are as follows: (1) The energy system gradually inclined towards economy and cleanliness from 2010 to 2022, the level of coordinated development of the 3E system fluctuated upwards, and the operation status of the "Dual Triangle" was stable. (2) Positive coupling relationship between "Dual Triangle" of scenario S1 is close, which can be regarded as the preferred path for the reconstruction of the power system. Due to phased development has clear development priorities, scenario S2 will artificially break the balance of the “Energy Trilemma”, which is a development model that dynamically mitigates the challenges of the “Energy Trilemma”.(3)The contradiction between economy and cleanliness is continuously weakened, and security has become the core contradiction of the "Impossible Triangle". The combination of renewable energy and energy storage is the key to resolving this contradiction. This paper conducts an integrated and innovative application of the "Dual-Triangle" theory, and the results provide a case basis for how to achieve the coupled interaction of the "Dual-Triangle", promote high-quality energy development, and support the sustainable development of the economy and society.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a technique developed to measure possible environmental impacts during the manufacture and use of a given product or service. Additive Manufacturing (AM) has proven to be suitable in several industries, especially wire and arc additive manufacturing (WAAM), offering many advantages such as delivery time and reduction in terms of material waste, energy consumption and equivalent CO₂ emissions (CO₂e). This study aimed to develop a methodology to evaluate environmental indicators during the life cycle assessment, from gate-to-gate, in the production of two low-alloy carbon steel metal parts (flanges) using ER-90 wire and allowed identifying the main stages that most influence environmental indicators. The total energy consumption in the production of flanges 1 and 2 were, respectively, 10,239.0 MJ, 12,754.0 MJ and the total carbon footprint, respectively, 714.1 kgCO₂e kg^-1 and 749.3 kgCO₂e kg^-1.

It is strongly believed that technology can reap the best only when it can be tamed by all stakeholders. Big data technology has no exception for this and even after a decade of emergence, the technology is still a herculean task and is in nascent stage with respect to applicability for many people. Having understood the gaps in the technology adoption for big data in the contemporary world, the present exploratory research work intended to highlight the possible prospects of big data technologies. It is also advocated as to how the challenges of various fields can be converted as opportunities with the shift in the perspective towards this evolving concept. Examples of apex organizations like (IMF and ITU) and their initiatives of big data technologies with respect to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are also cited for a broader outlook. The intervention of the responsible organizations along with the respective governments is also much sought for encouraging the technology adoption across all the sections of the market players.

Concrete is the most commonly used construction material due to its various advantages, such as versatility, familiarity, strength and durability and it will continue to be in demand far into the future. However, with today’s sensitivity to the environmental protection, this material is facing unprecedented challenges due to its high greenhouse gas emission mainly during cement production. This paper investigates one of the promising cement replacement materials, alkali activated cement (AAC) concrete. Being produced mainly from byproduct materials and having a comparable structural performance to conventional concrete, AAC concrete has a potential to transform the construction industry. Mechanical properties such as compressive and flexural strength and the relationship between them are studied. Different source materials such as fly ash (FA), ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), silica fume (SF) and Metakaolin (MK) are used. The effect of the source materials and the activator solutions on the concrete performance is studied. Furthermore, the freeze-thaw resistance of the concrete is studied. The results of the study showed that the behavior of AAC depends highly on the source material combinations as well as type used. The effect of the alkaline solution is also dependent on the source material used. Mixes with higher GGBS content in general showed the highest strength while mixes with MK showed the highest flexural strength. The results from the freeze-thaw test showed that proper design of AAC concrete with a lower water content is critical to achieve a good resistance.

(1) Background: Factors reported in literature associated with inappropriate prescribing of antimicrobials, such as physicians with less experience, uncertain diagnosis, and patient caregiver influences on physicians' decisions. Monitoring antimicrobial resistance is critical for identifying emerging resistance patterns, developing, and assessing the effectiveness of mitigation strategies. Improvement in prescribing `antimicrobials would minimize the risk of resistance and, consequently, improve patients' clinical and health outcomes. The purpose of the study is to delineate factors associated with antimicrobial resistance, describe the factors influencing prescriber’s choice during prescribing of antimicrobial, and examine factors related to consequences of inappropriate prescribing of antimicrobial. (2) Methods: Cross-sectional study conducted among healthcare providers (190) in six tertiary hospitals in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia. The research panel has developed validated and piloted survey specific with closed-ended questions. A value of P &lt;0.05 was considered for statistical significance. All data analysis was performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS version 23.0). (3) Results: 72.7% of the respondents have agreed that poor skills and knowledge are key factors that contribute to the inappropriate prescribing of antimicrobials. All the respondents acknowledged effectiveness and previous experience with the antimicrobial, and reading scientific materials (such as books, articles, and the internet) were key factors influencing physicians’ choice during antimicrobial prescribing. (4) Conclusion: The current study has identified comprehensive education and training needs for healthcare providers about antimicrobial resistance. Using antimicrobials unnecessarily, insufficient duration of antimicrobial use, and using broad spectrum antimicrobials, were reported to be common practices. Further, poor skills and knowledge were a key factor that contributed to the inappropriate use and overuse of antimicrobials and using antimicrobials without physician prescription (self-medication) were the key factors which contribute to AMR from participants’ perspectives. Furthermore, internal policy and guidelines are needed to ensure that the antimicrobials are prescribed in accordance with standard protocols and clinical guidelines.

With the economic recession and the deterioration of the ecological environment becoming more and more prominent in the world, the sustainable operation of enterprises is facing the most difficult choice in history. For each responsible enterprise, it is crucial to choose the market power expansive strategy that can improve the realistic viability or the technological innovation strategy that can improve the future development potential. This is of great significance to reduce the negative external effects of the corporate social environment and ensure their sustainable development. In this paper, we select the data of 18 large listed petrochemical companies from 2003 to 2018 as samples and construct a linear regression model for empirical analysis. Meanwhile, we put forward more practical business management strategies for the sustainable development of petrochemical enterprises in developing countries in further research.

Good health and well-being is one of the essential SDGs that ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages and further entails providing substantial medical services to the public at low cost and with minimal adverse effects on the environment. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have taken on an increasingly important function as significant facilitators of healthcare reform, with the goals of enhancing access to health services, the quality of treatment provided, and the overall productivity of the healthcare system. However, the integration of ever-increasing ICT technologies into the healthcare systems, also referred to as digital transformation, is not a straightforward process, but it comes with different types of challenges from integration level to application design level and security level. Although several studies have been proposed to address the integration of ICT technologies into healthcare systems, there is still a need for a comprehensive research study on the integration and design challenges, security and privacy challenges, application areas, and possible positive and negative impacts. Therefore, this paper contributes as the research literature study covering an important SDG, "Good health and well-being," and its digital transformation, along with summarising our research findings in a detailed and taxonomical way. To start with, firstly, we present a detailed comparison of existing studies on healthcare and well-being, mainly focusing on integrating ICT technologies in healthcare in terms of sustainable aspects, security and privacy challenges, design and integration challenges, E-health-related applications, and future directions. We also present an overview and the need for digital transformation in healthcare, discuss its significant components, highlight E-health's importance and benefits, explore its integration and design challenges, and categorise the security and privacy challenges. Next, we present an in-depth discussion on the role of Blockchain technology as today's leading technology in E-health, discussing Blockchain technology and its characteristics, highlighting its benefits, and describing the possible types of Blockchain-based E-health use cases. Furthermore, we discuss the positive and negative impact of ICT integration along with identifying open issues and challenges of integrating ICT technologies into the healthcare systems and discuss future research directions, which provide the strength for researchers to address the issues in future solutions.

Although various vaccines are now commercially available, they have not been able to stop the spread of COVID-19 infection completely. An excellent strategy to quickly get safe, effective, and affordable COVID-19 treatment is to repurpose drugs that are already approved for other diseases as adjuvants along with the ongoing vaccine regime. The process of developing an accurate and standardized drug repurposing dataset requires a considerable level of resources and expertise due to the commercial availability of an extensive array of drugs that could be potentially used to address the SARS-CoV-2 infection. To address this bottleneck, we created the CoviRx platform. CoviRx is a user-friendly interface that provides access to the data, which is manually curated for COVID-19 drug repurposing data. Through CoviRx, the data curated has been made open-source to help advance drug repurposing research. CoviRx also encourages users to submit their findings after thoroughly validating the data, followed by merging it by enforcing uniformity and integ-rity-preserving constraints. This article discusses the various features of CoviRx and its design principles. CoviRx has been designed so that its functionality is independent of the data it dis-plays. Thus, in the future, this platform can be extended to include any other disease X beyond COVID-19. CoviRx can be accessed at www.covirx.org.

Specific climate adaptation and resilience measures can be efficiently designed and implemented at the regional and local level. Climate and environmental databases are of critical importance to achieving sustainability goals (SDGs) and for the efficient planning and implementation of suitable mitigation measures: Available databases can serve municipalities as a vital starting points to determine requirements, prioritize resources and allocate investments under consideration of commonly tight budget restrictions. High-quality geo, climate and environmental data are now available – data from remote sensing, i.e. Copernicus services will be of crucial importance. Forward-looking approaches exist to using such data to derive forecasts for urban planning process optimization for municipal administrations. On municipal level, however, the existing data have so far only been used to a limited extent, since there are no practical tools for urban planning that can be used to merge and meaningfully combine remote sensing data with local data and to further process and apply in municipal planning processes. Therefore, our project CoKLIMAx aims at the development of new digital products, advanced urban services and procedures, such as the development of practice-oriented technical tools that acquire various remote sensing and in-situ data sets for validation and further processing.

In an epoch characterized by the swift pace of digitalization and urbanization, the essence of community well-being hinges on the efficacy of urban management. As cities burgeon and transform, the need for astute strategies to navigate the complexities of urban life becomes in-creasingly paramount. This study employs time series analysis to scrutinize citizen interactions with the coordinate-based problem mapping platform in the Municipality of Patras in Greece. The research explores the temporal dynamics of reported urban issues, with a specific focus on identifying recurring patterns through the lens of seasonality. The analysis, employing the sea-sonal decomposition technique, dissects time series data to expose trends in reported issues and areas of the city that might be obscured in raw big data. It accentuates a distinct seasonal pattern, with concentrations peaking during the summer months. The study extends its approach to forecasting, providing insights into the anticipated evolution of urban issues over time. Projec-tions for the coming years show a consistent upward trend in both overall city issues and those reported in specific areas, with distinct seasonal variations. This comprehensive exploration of time series analysis and seasonality provides valuable insights for city stakeholders, enabling informed decision-making and predictions regarding future urban challenges.

Assessment of the genetic distinctiveness of a cultivar through morphological descriptors is an important tool for both the registration and the protection. New mango genotypes have been improved using valuable diverse germplasm resources to ensure food security. DNA fingerprinting based simple sequence repeats (SSR)-markers have been the most broadly used, effective and accurate in evaluation of genetic characterization of a cultivar. Molecular breeding is an effective source of genetic gain after improvement of fruit trees using marker assisted genomic selection. Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is an allotetraploid (2n = 4X= 40) drupe fruit and has high nutritional value belongs to genus Mangifera and family Anacardiaceae. Mango cultivars are used with worldwide acceptance to pharmacological, ethnomedical, and phytochemical industries. This study investigated the molecular evaluation of a new mango cultivar ‘Azeem Chaunsa’ using a set of the most effective 50 hyper-variable polymorphic SSR markers. Highly specific DNA fingerprints were identified in the genome of this mango cultivar, ‘Azeem Chaunsa’ compared with three standard cultivars such as Sindhri, Samar Bahisht (S.B) Chaunsa and Sufaid Chaunsa. Our results showed that SSR markers could efficiently assess genetic diversity in mango. An agglomerative hierarchical clustering method was used to construct dendrogram based on the ‘Unweighted Pair- Group Method with Arithmetic Mean’ (UPGMA). The genetic similarity coefficients were recorded between the mangos cultivars ranged from 0.49 to 0.67. Cultivar identification (CID) evaluates association among standard cultivars and Azeem Chaunsa and further concludes significant variations. CID results concluded that cultivar ‘Azeem Chaunsa’ varied significantly from the check cultivar, Sindhri (46.2%), S.B Chaunsa (45%) and Sufaid Chaunsa (46.7%). The results obtained in this study will orient cultivar identification strategies for a successful future mango breeding programmes in the context of climate change.

This review documents an emerging body of evidence concerning the neurological effect of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure, with regard to cognitive function and increased risk of neurodegeneration. Two electronic databases PubMed and Web of Science were systematically searched. The 37/428 studies selected included outcomes measuring cognitive function, neurobehavioral symptoms of impaired cognition, and pathologies associated with neurodegeneration from prenatal (21/37 studies), childhood (14/37 studies), and adult (8/37 studies) PAH exposure. Sufficient evidence surrounding prenatal exposure negatively impacting child intelligence, mental development, average overall development, verbal IQ, memory impairment, externalizing, internalizing, anxious, depressed behaviours, behavioural development and child attentiveness was found. Evidence concerning exposure during childhood and as an adult was scarce and highly heterogeneous, however presence of neurodegenerative biomarkers and increased concentrations of cryptic “self” antigens in serum and cerebrospinal fluid samples suggest a higher risk of neurodegenerative disease. Associations with lowered cognitive ability, and impaired attentiveness were found in children and memory disturbances, specifically auditory memory, verbal learning and general memory in adults. Although evidence is not yet conclusive and further research is needed the studies included supported the hypothesis that PAH exposure negatively impacts cognitive function and increases the risk of neurodegeneration in humans, and recommends considering the introduction of a variable “rural vs. urban” as covariate for adjusting analyses where the neurological functions affected (as result of our review) are outcome variables.

Resource conflicts represent a significant global challenge in regions abundant with natural re-sources. Modelling the myriad factors driving natural resource-based conflicts (NRBCs), spanning environmental, health, socio-economic, and political dimensions, is a complex endeavor exacer-bated by data scarcity. Furthermore, existing quantitative studies often focus solely on large-scale conflicts. This article introduces a novel algorithm, the Spatially Explicit Fuzzy Logic-Adapted Model for Conflict Management (SEFLAME-CM), which integrates the local knowledge of stakeholders into spatial decision-making technologies to support sustainable peace efforts. The results are validated with spatial multi-criteria evaluation (SMCE) using spatial statistics. The Moran’s I scatter plots for the overall conflicts reveal significant values of 0.99 and 0.98 for both the SEFLAME-CM and SMCE, respectively, with significant spatial autocorrelation. While there re-mains room for improvement in enhancing the model's quality, SEFLAME-CM demonstrates its capacity to transparently model complex real-world problems. The findings underscore the im-perative for a holistic approach to addressing environmental degradation, socio-economic, and political drivers of resource conflicts at the community level. Our paper demonstrates the signif-icance of spatial information technologies and knowledge exchange between experts and local stakeholders in effectively managing resource conflicts. These insights should inform national policies and international interventions, ensuring that the complex underlying issues are ad-dressed while prioritizing the knowledge and needs of affected communities.

The Fergana Valley, a strategically significant and culturally rich region in Central Asia, exemplifies the complex interplay of modern international relations amidst geopolitical and ethno-cultural integration. This paper explores the fundamental principles guiding international interactions in the valley, considering the historical context, current geopolitical dynamics, and the unique cultural mosaic of its population. Key themes include the impact of regional power shifts, the role of transnational organizations, and the influence of ethno-cultural identities on diplomatic engagements. By analyzing case studies of cooperation and conflict, the paper highlights how integration efforts shape political stability, economic development, and social cohesion in the Fergana Valley. This study aims to provide a nuanced understanding of the region's international relations framework, offering insights into effective strategies for fostering harmonious and sustainable integration in a geopolitically sensitive and culturally diverse landscape.