Many businesses, including finance, want to both understand and utilize blockchain technology. However, there is no detailed systematic literature review (SLR) analyzing blockchain technology in finance in order to understand it. This study emphasizes in detail the possible applications of blockchain in finance, its technical features, benefits and challenges. According to the literature review, blockchain technology has the potential to improve the efficiency of the financial sector, reduce costs and increase transparency and security. Regulatory constraints as well as concerns over scalability and interoperability are barriers that need to be resolved. In order to fully understand the potential of blockchain technology, this SLR explores the current state of research on blockchain in finance. In addition to analyzing the technical features of blockchain, the study also details its current and potential application areas, benefits and challenges. This research analyses the use of blockchain in finance in view of its infrastructure, technology, benefits and challenges for further research and application areas. In the study, 54 articles were evaluated and 34 of them were used for SLR questions. The usage of blockchain in finance is examined from a variety of aspects in this SLR. The study provides answers to nine questions about its application areas, benefits, infrastructure, technology, consensus methods, permission types, and challenges. In some cases, it also gives the correlation relationship between the answers.

Objective: To map the literature pertaining to adult Person-Centered Rehabilitation (PCR).Data Sources: Following our previously published scoping review protocol, data were identified through: three major databases, snowball searches and expert consultation.Study Selection: Two independent reviewers identified English-language papers which addressed adult physical rehabilitation and met one or more of the six pre-defined inclusion categories for PCR content. Data Extraction: Two independent reviewers extracted key characteristics of included papers (e.g. aims, methods, participants). Quantitative methods (descriptive statistics, regression analysis) and qualitative content analyses were used to synthesize the results. Data synthesis: Of 5084 unique records initially screened, 145 papers were included: 111 empirical, including 11 systematic reviews. Empirical papers had data from 13498 clients and 3849 providers, in total. Yearly publications grew exponentially from 2000 to 2017 (r²= 0.65; p<0.01). Publications were unevenly distributed by countries (e.g. United States’ publications per population size was 45 times lower than New Zealand’s). Most papers focused in more than one profession, setting-type or health conditions, respectively 57.2%, 66.2%, and 60.7%. Finally, more than half of the empirical papers (53.2%) studied implementation of PCR approaches, including its effect. Conclusion: This scoping review synthesizes key characteristics and publication trends in the PCR literature, which is mainly empirical and growing exponentially over time. Stakeholders can use the identified trends, gaps, and literature map to guide further PCR research, and both clinical and organizational practices. The high prevalence of papers focused on multiple professions, settings-type, or health conditions reinforces the need for developing a transdisciplinary, trans-service model of PCR, which will be derived from a thematic analysis of this body of literature.

Security patterns encompass security-related issues in secure software system development and operations that often appear in certain contexts. Since the late 1990s about 500 security patterns have been proposed. Although the technical components are well investigated, the direction, overall picture, and barriers to implementation are not. Here, a systematic literature review of 240 papers is used to devise a taxonomy for security pattern research. Our taxonomy and the survey results should improve communications among practitioners and researchers, standardize the terminology, and increase the effectiveness of security patterns.

Knee osteoarthritis is the most popular type of osteoarthritis that causes extreme pain in elderly. Currently there is no cure for osteoarthritis. To lessen clinical symptoms, glucosamine was suggested. The primary goal of our study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of glucosamine from recent studies. Electronic databases such as PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane were used to assess RCT. From the beginning through March 2023, the papers were checked, and if they fulfilled the inclusion criteria, they were then examined. WOMAC and VAS scales were considered as main outcome measure. A total of 15 studies were selected. Global pain was significantly decreased in comparison to placebo, as measured by the VAS index, with an overall effect size SMD of -7.41 ([95% CI] 14.31, 0.51). The WOMAC scale confirmed that pain, stiffness, and physical function had improved, however the effects were insufficient. A statistical update also revealed that there were no reports of serious medication interactions or significant adverse events. To summarize, glucosamine is more effective than a placebo at reducing pain in knee osteoarthritis patients. In long-term treatment, oral glucosamine sulfate 1500 mg/day is believed to be well tolerated.

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to individuals organizing themselves and managing food systems in an ‘alternative’ and more sustainable way. Such emerging food initiatives are most commonly known as ‘Alternative Food Networks’ (AFNs). However, there is an ongoing debate concerning the extent to which AFNs facilitate social, economic and environmental change. There are criticisms of the overall sustainability promise of AFNs related to sufficiency of impact, possible counter effects and relevance of impacts. Because often empirical studies only focus on specific sustainability issues or AFNs, it has been difficult to develop more robust theories about the relations between diverse AFNs arrangements and sustainability. Thus, the aim of this paper is to contribute towards reducing this knowledge gap through a systematic literature review on AFNs in relation to sustainability. We summarize main methodological approaches, types of AFNs studied and sustainability dimensions addressed in literature to date. Findings serve as reference to propose opportunities for future research regarding sustainability in AFNs.

Drive tourism (DT) have become an attractive way of tourist destination for an increasing number of visitors along driving routes. This flow of visitors has made sustainability a major issue that is, the way by which tourism development ensure economic benefits for local communities and preserves local identity, along the route, without compromising the environmental resources. Many studies focused the topic of DT, mainly the analysis of a particular angle, either be economic sustainability, e.g., advantages of the ones related to economic and environment sustainability [e.g., 2,4,5,10], such as the impact of tourists along the route environment. Nevertheless, little attention has been paid to the social consequences of DT in the local entrepreneurial environment and ensuing over enhancing of their cultural representativeness in terms of authenticity. Our aim is to summon these points of view and achieve, through a systematic literature review, a clear and integrative picture of the driving tourism impacts in terms of sustainability along the routes throughout local communities. A systematic literature review was performed using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) methodology. This systematic literature review sought to consolidate knowledge on the subject. In order to illustrate the link between major categories and their corresponding trends, authors used VOSviewer scientific software. The gathering of existing knowledge around the three components of sustainability highlighted the importance of community involvement and collaboration among DT stakeholders to ensure a trade-off between the protection and promotion of DT routes. Opportunities for future studies are suggested.

Anonymous communications networks were born to protect the privacy of our communications, preventing censorship and traffic analysis. The most famous anonymous communication network is Tor. This anonymous communication network provides some interesting features, among them, we can mention user’s IP location or Tor Hidden Services (THS) as a mechanism to conceal the location of servers, mainly, web servers. THS is an important research field in Tor. However, there is a lack of reviews that sump up main findings and research challenges. In this article we present a systematic literature review that aims to offer a comprehensive view on the research made on Tor Hidden services presenting the state of the art and the different research challenges to be addressed. This review has been developed from a selection of 57 articles and present main findings and advances regarding Tor Hidden Services, limitations found, and future issues to be investigated.

Cultural tourism in Tanzania presents a diverse tapestry of traditions, varied ethnic groups, and historical accounts. This article aims to pinpoint areas for further exploration in the cultural tourism sector of Tanzania and analyze their potential impacts. The study conducted a systematic review of the literature following established inclusion criteria as well as the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and meta-analysis guidelines. A total of 21 articles focused on Tanzania Cultural Heritage Tourism from sources such as Google Scholar and web databases were examined, revealing several research gaps, including theoretical, contextual and methodological aspects. Furthermore, the research offers insights into theoretical implications and recommends avenues for future studies that could advance the field by addressing these knowledge gaps providing valuable direction to new researchers interested in exploring these specific areas as well as practitioners seeking a comprehensive understanding of various aspects related to Tanzania's cultural heritage tourism

This study aims to understand the contents of debriefing performance in simulation education and its results by comprehensively examining the learning performance of the education ac-cording to the difference in the debriefing methods employed in domestic and overseas nursing simulation training. This is a literature review conducted to identify the effect of debriefing of simulation nursing practice education. The existing literature was found in electronic databases using Pubmed, Embase, MEDLINE complete, PsycINFO, Web of Science, CINAHL, the Cochrane Library, KoreaMed, National Discovery for Science Leaders, and Research Information Sharing Service and the key words were “nurse,” “nursing student,” “simulation,” “simulator,” “stand-ardized patient,” “debriefing.” Finally, 32 studies were analyzed. All the studies were conducted from 2012 to 2021. A total of 11 RCT, 17 quasi-experimental studies, 3 mixed method studies and 1 pilot study were identified. The debriefing process used media, structured questionnaires, and a method of teaching or peer-led debriefing. The outcome variables that were statistically significant were skill, performance, knowledge, problem-solving competency, critical thinking disposition, clinical judgement, self-confidence, satisfaction, and debriefing quality evaluation. It is necessary to educate the debriefers who are responsible for strategy development and meeting effective debriefing goals.

The oral cavity is environment to a diverse range of organisms that make up an essential element of the human microbiota. There are 50-1000 kinds of microorganisms capable of colonizing the mouth. The entamoeba parasites have at minimum 7 species (E. histolytica, E. dispar, E. moshkovskii, E. coli, E. polecki E. hartmann, E. gingivalis). These parasites are parasitic single-celled organisms and Entamoeba gingivalis was the first amoeba to be described in 1849 that was capable of existing in humans. It was shown that only Entamoeba gingivalis is able to colonize the oral cavity. The aim of this study was to evaluate prevalence of E. Gingivalis in periodontal disease using two electronic database search engines. In order to have a broader view of the subject, a comprehensive manual search was conducted on these content aggregators and the initial search resulted in 277 articles using the keywords „Entamoeba gingivalis”, „periodontitis”, „E. gingivalis”, „periodontal disease”, „prevalence”, and „incidence”, in different combinations. The results showed that 755 cases were infected with Entamoeba gingivalis out of a total number of 1,729 patients diagnosed with periodontal disease indicating a global prevalence of 43%. When comparing different stages of periodontal diseases results revealed that the prevalence in patients with gingivitis was 58% while in periodontitis group the prevalence was 44%. Overall prevalence of Entamoeba Gingivalis based on gender was 43 % in female patients whilst in male patients was 47%. Based on the results it can be concluded that the higher incidence of Entamoeba Gingivalis in people with periodontal disease compared to healthy people is more than just a sign of the disease; it may also be linked to the severity of the condition and its propensity to progress.

The paper's objectives are to identify the main benefits, limitations, and challenges facing using Blockchain technology in the Supply Chain Management (SCM). To explore the factors that affect the adoption and application of Blockchain technology in SCM. The study uses a systematic literature review methodology to analyze and compare selected related articles published between 2016 and 2022 on the usage of Blockchain technology in the SCM. Several studies showed that there are many benefits to using Blockchain technology in SCM such as enhanced security, confidentiality, traceability, transparency, data accuracy, privacy, efficiency, accountability, and trust. At the same time, there are many limitations and challenges like scalability, interoperability, legal (regulatory) issues, high implementation and maintenance costs, standardization and information, lack of trust in technology, high energy consumption, limited awareness, integration with current systems, and privacy. Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize various industries, but there are still several issues that need to be addressed to fully realize its potential. Understanding the benefits and difficulties of applying Blockchain technology in different industries, including the SCM, is essential in determining its effectiveness and the different strategies needed to assess its application and implementation.

Copernicus is Europe's space-based Earth monitoring asset, which consists of a complex set of systems that collect data from different sources: remote sensing satellites (RS) and in-situ sensors such as ground stations, airborne and marine sensors. This study was originally prepared for the needs of the Czech agricultural community, where we provided an in-depth analysis of articles related to Earth observation in precision agriculture. At a later stage, we extended this study by comparing the recommendations of the European EO4Agri project and scientific articles published in MDPI. We had two important objectives, one was to validate the results of the EO4Agri project and the other was to look for gaps in current research and community needs. To recognize the importance of using Sentinel 1 data, we also added a specific analysis of methods for data fusion of Sentinel 1 and Sentinel 2 data.

Circular Economy (CE) is a growing topic among scholars, industry and government aiming at decoupling economic growth and development from the consumption of finite resources. CE incorporates different meanings, from reduce, reuse and recycle activities to environmental degradation or resource scarcity, and supported by specific indicators to attain sustainable development. However, so far, there has been no agreement to measure how effective an industry/product is in making the transition from linear to circular approaches, particularly those affected the society. This research work aims to perform a systematic literature review (n=60) to analyze and discuss how social aspects have been considered and integrated in the CE research so far. Moreover, this review provides and overview of the literature on social impact within CE, that resulted in three main outputs: a knowledge map of the CE, an analysis of social aspects within CE, and the theories/frameworks used to evaluate social impact of CE. Finally, this study brings to light how CE implementation can affect society and highlights the importance of social dimension in the domains of CE and policy-making community, which could help moving CE towards a sustainable development.

In this systematic review of the literature on using Machine Learning (ML) for credit risk prediction, we raise the need for financial institutions to use AI and ML to assess credit risk, analyzing large volumes of information. We posed research questions about algorithms, metrics, results, data sets, variables, and related limitations in predicting credit risk. We searched renowned databases to answer them and identified 52 relevant studies with the credit industry microfinance. Challenges and approaches in credit risk prediction using ML models we identified, difficulties with the implemented models such as the black box model, the need for explanatory artificial intelligence, the importance of selecting relevant features, addressing multicollinearity, and the problem of the imbalance in the input data. By answering the questions, we identified that the Boosted Category is the most researched family of ML models; the most commonly used metrics for evaluation are Area Under Curve (AUC), Accuracy (ACC), Recall, precision measure F1 (F1), and Precision; Research mainly uses public data sets to compare models, and private ones to generate new knowledge when applied to the real world. The most significant limitation identified is the representativeness of reality, and the variables primarily used in the microcredit industry are related data to the demographic, the operation, and payment behavior. This study aims to guide the developers of credit risk management tools and software towards the existing offer of ML methods, metrics, and techniques used to forecast it, thereby minimizing possible losses due to default and guiding risk appetite.

Distance learning has assumed a relevant role in the Educational scenario. The use of Virtual Learning Environments contributes to obtain a substantial amount of educational data. In this sense, the analyzed data generate knowledge used by institutions to assist managers and professors in strategic planning and teaching. The discovery of students’ behaviors enables a wide variety of intelligent services for assisting in the learning process. This article presents a literature review in order to identify the intelligent services applied in distance learning. The research covers the period from January 2010 to May 2021. The initial search found 1,316 articles, among which 51 were selected for further studies. Considering the selected articles, 33% (17/51) focus on learning systems, 35% (18/51) propose recommendation systems, 26% (13/51) approach predictive systems or models, and 6% (3/51) use assessment tools. This review allowed to observe that the principal services offered are recommendation systems and learning systems. In these services, the analysis of student profiles stands out to identify patterns of behavior, detect low performance and identify probabilities of dropouts from courses.

This paper aims to provide a systematic review of the literature on school effectiveness, with a focus on identifying the main factors that contribute to successful educational outcomes. The research question that this paper aims to address is: What are the main factors of school effectiveness? The research was interested in several descriptors such as school, effectiveness/efficiency theories, effectiveness/efficiency research, and factors. Studies were reviewed through two databases: JSTOR and ERIC (published within the 2016-2022 period). The paper defines several categories that are exposed within school effectiveness research. Within these categories, various factors that affect the students’ outcomes and the defined effectiveness at school are listed. As the results show, the issue of school effectiveness is a multifaced challenge as the effectiveness of schools is a complex concept that can be measured through various indicators such as academic achievement, student engagement and teacher satisfaction. The review of school effectiveness has revealed that several factors contribute to effective schools, such as strong leadership, effective teaching practices, a positive school culture and parental involvement. Additionally, school resources, such as funding and facilities, can impact school effectiveness, particularly in under-resourced communities.

Dengue virus (DENV) is the most common arbovirus disease, with wide spectrum of presentation. Spinal cord involvement in dengue infection (DF) is rare. However, the risk of transverse myelitis (TM) following Dengue has not been systematically assessed. Methods: We undertook a systematic review of the English literature published from January 1974 to December 2017 to assess risk of TM and outcomes following DF. Data sources included MEDLINE, EMBASE Cochrane library, and references within identified articles. Results: We identified 242 potential studies, 62 were duplicates. A further 136 were excluded on the basis of title and abstract and 19 studies did not meet the eligibility criteria on full text screening. We included 25 publications involving 2672 cases of DF. 10.8% (289/2672) had neurological complications, of which 2.3% (61/2672) was TM. For articles reporting epidemiological data, the neurological complication was twice in males compared to female 67.7% (130/192) vs 32.7% (62/192) and 1.5 fold increase TM for males 59.3% (32/54) vs 40.7% (22/54). The mean age at presentation was 33.1years (Range 0.75 – 61), with onset at 11.7days. The method of diagnosing TM due to DF was mainly IgM seropositivity 92% (n=23/25) and the commonest treatment modality was steroid 78.3% (n=18/23). Only half had full recovery 50.8% (n=31/61). There was no mortality following dengue, however, the crude case fatality rate following TM was 3.3% (n=2/61). Conclusion: This review highlights the risk of TM following dengue. Although neurological complications are rare, especially TM, once set in, it is associated with a significant morbidity.

The Industry 4.0 represents new era of production, characterized by a deep integration between digital technologies and physical systems. Cyber physical systems, cyber resilience protection and workers' safety are key elements of this transformation. To ensure the benefits of Industry 4.0 realized in a secure way, it is crucial to focus on workers' safety, cyber resilience protection and human-centric and CPS systems security and privacy. However, to fully realize the potential of Industry 4.0, it is important to address these challenges and ensure that the benefits of digitalization are balanced with the needs of workers and the protection of critical infrastructure. The concept of Industry 5.0 is emerging as the next step in this evolution, emphasizing the importance of sustainability, human-centered design, and a focus on creating a better future for all.

The growing global interest in Circular Economy (CE) adoption by organizations has received considerable attention in academic literature. This review delves into the multifaceted aspects of CE transformation, assessing barriers, drivers, and potential research directions. It encompasses three main clusters: frameworks and definitions, barriers and drivers, and industry-specific research. Existing studies significantly contribute by unveiling strategies, frameworks, and innovative ap-proaches aiding CE transition. However, there's a notable focus on identifying barriers hindering CE implementation, revealing a critical need for effective solutions. Moreover, the review highlights the lack of CE frameworks in the service sector and insufficient awareness among Small and Me-dium Enterprises, necessitating deeper exploration. Despite the potential of digital technologies like Industry 4.0 in expediting CE transformation, comprehensive implementation strategies remain lacking. Noteworthy frameworks, such as circular business models and two-stage transformation models, offer practical pathways for CE adoption. Dynamic capabilities emerge as a crucial yet underexplored factor facilitating CE transition. Future research should delve into country-specific contexts, integrate digital technologies into industries, and explore the relationship between dy-namic capabilities and CE transformation, especially within small and medium-sized enterprises. While progress has been made in understanding CE principles' adoption, this review highlights research gaps that require attention for global sustainability and widespread CE practice imple-mentation.

The interest in spatial analysis has been growing in recent years, mainly due to communication technology advance, economic globalization, and the development of new statistical and econometric methods. The main aim of this article is to contribute to the dissemination of spatial econometric applications by presenting some basic theoretical aspects and a literature review of articles that address the socio-economic drivers that lead to environmental pollution. Three spatial regression models are reviewed here: the spatial lag model (SLM), the spatial error model (SEM), and the spatial Durbin model (SDM). A literature search was conducted using specific terms of interest in eight databases, from 1996 to February 2021, where 22 articles were considered for analysis. The results showed that most articles studied environmental problems in China. The most used exploratory spatial analysis model was Moran Index and the most used explanatory spatial analysis models were SDM and SLM.

Building facade design plays an essential role in enhancing energy efficiency and reducing environmental impact in high-performance building design. Balancing the conflicts among various building facade design parameters to satisfy different optimization objectives constitutes a highly complex optimization problem. The rapidly increasing number of studies demonstrates a significant interest in implementing multi-objective optimization methods to tackle building facade optimization problems. This study conducts a systematic review of optimization methods for building facade optimization (BFO). The optimization objectives and design variables are categorized based on their characteristics. The efficiency and effectiveness of optimization algorithms in addressing BFO problems are compared. Building optimization techniques and tools are showcased, along with their functions and limitations. Key findings highlight the robust feasibility and effectiveness of optimization algorithms, methods, and techniques in resolving a diverse range of BFO challenges. The limitations, challenges, and future potential of these methods are summarized and proposed.

Agricultural Big Data is a set of technologies that allows responding to the challenges of the new data era. In conjunction with machine learning, farmers can use data to address different problems such as farmers' decision-making, crops, weeds, animal research, land, food availability and security, weather, and climate change. The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the evidence regarding the challenges involved in implementing machine learning in Agricultural Big Data. We conducted a Systematic Literature Review applying the PRISMA protocol. This review includes 30 papers, published from 2015 to 2020. We develop a framework that summarizes the main challenges encountered, the use of machine learning techniques, as well as the main technologies used. A major challenge is the design of Agricultural Big Data architectures, due to the need to modify the set of technologies adapting the machine learning techniques, as the volume of data increases.

The runtime environment is an important concern for self-adaptive systems (SASs). Although researchers have proposed many approaches for developing SASs that address the issue of uncertain runtime environments, the understanding of these environments varies depending on the objectives, perspectives, and assumptions of the research. Thus, the current understanding of the environment in SAS development is ambiguous and abstract. To make this understanding more concrete, we describe the landscape in this area through a systematic literature review (SLR). We examined 128 primary studies and 14 unique environment models. We investigated concepts of the environment depicted in the primary studies and the proposed environment models based on their ability to aid in understanding. This illustrates the characteristics of the SAS environment, the associated emerging environmental uncertainties, and what is expressed in the existing environment models. This paper makes explicit the implicit understanding about the environment made by the SAS research community and organizes and visualizes them.

External audit reliance issues on the internal audit function (IAF) are increasingly important in financial auditing, yet its application in audit engagements lags behind other applications. Despite the belief that audit reliance will shape auditing in the future, limited and intervalley publications explore this transformative potential. This paper investigates the increasing importance of external audit reliance issues in financial auditing. It investigates the use of the IAF in external audit reliance decisions and its potential to enhance audit quality, process transparency, and stakeholders' credibility. Through a systematic literature review of 68 scientific articles from 1984 to 2022, factors influencing external auditors' dependence on the IAF are analyzed, including IAF work quality, assistance type, organizational factors, customer pressure, and business risk. The review highlights the IAF's crucial role in improving financial reporting integrity and external audit effectiveness. However, the challenges that allowed external auditors to decide whether to rely on the works of IAF like limited disclosures and accessible data hinder assessing IAF reliance effects, leading to information asymmetry that may impact stakeholder confidence. The paper discusses implications, limitations, and future research directions to explore technology adoption and optimize audit practices, promoting transparency in the audit process.

Buildings consume 30% of the total energy consumption around the globe and 29% of the energy consumption in Egypt which in 2022 had a total population of 102 million, out of which 43 % live in urban areas . The operation of buildings contributes to around 30% of global CO2 emissions due to their high energy consumption (IEA, 2022a). Among the efforts made towards improving the energy efficiency of buildings are Advanced Energy Design Guides (AEDGs), building rating systems, codes, and standards. Furthermore, numerous research studies that are either literature review studies, experimental studies, or computational studies addressed the topic of energy efficiency in buildings. These are all examined in this literature review with the purpose of identifying the research gap in available research with a focus on Egypt. The identified gap is the development of a prescriptive path for the GPRS energy efficiency category based on whole building energy simulations.

Climate change is currently one of the main problems facing agriculture to achieve sustainability. It causes situations such as drought, increased rainfall, and increased diseases, causing a decrease in food production. In order to combat these problems, Agricultural Big Data contributes with tools that allow improving the understanding of complex, multivariate, and unpredictable agricultural ecosystems through the collection, storage, processing, and analysis of vast amounts of data from diverse heterogeneous sources. This research aims to discuss the advancement of technologies used in Agricultural Big Data architectures in the context of climate change. The study aims to highlight the tools used to process, analyze, and visualize the data and discuss the use of the architectures in the crop, water, climate, and soil management, especially to analyze the context, whether it is in Resilience Mitigation or Adaptation. The PRISMA protocol guided the study, finding 33 relevant papers. Despite the advances in this line of research, few papers were found that mention the components of the architectures, in addition to the lack of standards and the use of reference architectures, which allow the proper development of Agricultural Big Data in the context of climate change.

Diabetes mellitus, a metabolic disorder that is persistent in nature, is identified by an elevated concentration of glucose in the bloodstream. The disease has become a major public health problem, affecting millions of people globally, and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The increasing prevalence of diabetes and the lack of effective therapeutic interventions have led to the exploration of alternative and complementary forms of therapy, including ethnomedicine. Ethnomedicine is the study of traditional medical systems and the medicinal plants used by Indigenous communities. In other words, Ethnomedicine refers to the traditional medical practices and beliefs of a particular cultural or ethnic group. The most popular example of traditional medicine is the use of Aloe vera for the treatment of various diseases such as sunburn, cuts, burns, hypertension, diabetes, and jaundice for thousands of years [1]. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the potential role of ethnomedicine in the management of diabetes, given its widespread use in many communities and its potential to offer cost-effective and culturally acceptable treatment options. It encompasses a range of traditional healing practices, including herbalism, acupuncture, and massage therapy. Despite the inconsistencies, there is growing evidence to suggest that certain ethnomedical practices may be effective in the management of diabetes [2,3]. For example, several studies have shown that certain herbal remedies, such as cinnamon, ginseng, and bitter melon, may have potential benefits in terms of improving glucose control and reducing the risk of complications associated with diabetes. Evidence-based ethnomedicine is an approach that applies scientific principles and methods to evaluate the efficacy and safety of traditional medical practices. This approach is crucial in the development of effective and safe ways to treat diabetes. To date, there have been numerous studies conducted to examine the efficacy and safety of various ethnomedical interventions for diabetes, including herbal remedies, dietary changes, and physical activity [4]. However, it is important to note that not all ethnomedical interventions for diabetes have been thoroughly evaluated, and many remain unproven. Furthermore, some interventions may be associated with significant risks, particularly in terms of drug interactions and adverse effects. As such, it is crucial that any ethnomedical interventions for diabetes be carefully evaluated using rigorous scientific methods and that patients be advised to consult with their healthcare provider before using any such interventions. It is important to note that the results of these studies have been mixed, with some showing promising results, while others have failed to demonstrate significant benefits. In this chapter, the evidence-based current state of ethnomedicine for diabetes was reviewed. We first provide an overview of diabetes and its pathophysiology, followed by a discussion of traditional medicinal practices used to treat the disease. We then present a systematic review of the scientific literature on the use of ethnomedicine for diabetes, focusing on herbal remedies and dietary interventions. Our review found that several medicinal plants offered promising results to treat all types of diabetes. For example, Gymnema sylvestre, a traditional Indian herb, has been shown to reduce blood glucose levels and improve insulin sensitivity [5]. Additionally, the use of bitter melon (Momordica charantia) has been shown to reduce fasting blood glucose levels and improve glucose tolerance in individuals with type 2 diabetes [6]. Another important aspect of ethnomedicine for diabetes is the use of dietary interventions [7]. Traditional diets, such as the Mediterranean diet, have been shown to have beneficial particularly in terms of improving glycaemic control, reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, and insulin sensitivity [8]. Additionally, the use of low-carbohydrate diets, such as the ketogenic diet, has been shown to improve glycaemic control in individuals with type 2 diabetes [9]. Traditional medicine has a long history of treating the symptoms and managing the condition. However, the efficacy and safety of these traditional practices have not always been scientifically tested, and there is a lack of standardization and regulation in the production and use of traditional remedies for diabetes. This creates a challenge for healthcare providers and patients, who need to ensure that the treatments they use are safe and effective. Additionally, there is a need for further research to understand the mechanisms by which traditional remedies may be effective in managing diabetes and to determine the optimal dosage and administration methods [9]. Finally, it is also important to understand that the use of traditional remedies may interact with conventional medications, leading to adverse effects; for example, the use of Chinese traditional medicine, known as “herb ginseng,” for the treatment of various health conditions, including diabetes sometimes cause the side effect such as dizziness, confusion, and fainting while interacting with the anti-diabetic medications [10]. Therefore, it is important to approach the use of ethnomedicine for diabetes with caution and under the guidance of a qualified healthcare professional. In conclusion, evidence-based ethnomedicine offers a promising approach to the treatment of diabetes. While further research is needed to fully understand the mechanisms and safety of these interventions, the results to date suggest that traditional remedies and dietary interventions have the potential to be effective in the management of this disease. However, it is important to approach the use of ethnomedicine for diabetes with caution and under the guidance of a qualified healthcare professional and to continue to conduct rigorous scientific research to fully understand the benefits and risks associated with these interventions.

Increasing the metacognitive abilities of chemistry students is an indisputable output of the teaching and learning process today. Collaborative problem based learning is a learning method that has been tested and proven to be applied, especially in Western countries in increasing the metacognitive abilities of students, but it is still very minimal applied in Asian countries, including Indonesia. Thus, this study was conducted to explore previous studies that examined collaborative problem-based learning in improving students' metacognitive abilities. The research design used in this study is a Systematic Literature Review with the requirements of the inclusion of articles on collaborative problem-based learning in improving the metacognitive abilities of chemistry students, accredited national and international publications between 2010 and 2020, full text, journal articles, and open access. The results of the exploration that were carried out found 102 articles, then the title and abstract were read into 20 articles, and 4 articles were read in full, which fulfilled all the stipulated inclusion requirements. The results of the systematic literature review conducted in this study provide empirical evidence of literacy that problem based learning improves the metacognitive abilities of chemistry students. However, most of research conducted still uses various instruments, which are not standardized and validated.

The shipbreaking industry is located predominantly in South Asian countries, and dismantles end-of-life ships to meet national steel demand. There are charges that this industry exploits local environmental, economic and social conditions to boost profits. The majority of this previous research often draws from a single disciplinary point of view that ignores or downplays complexities and trade-offs, precluding realistic policy improvement. Here we review 110 shipbreaking papers published in international peer reviewed journals that are indexed in SCOPUS, Science Direct and Google Scholar. We found that to date, shipbreaking research revolves around the coastal contamination of end-of-life ships waste over many other topics, and lacks critical interdisciplinary studies that explain trade-offs between environmental, social and economic factors that would better inform policy formulations for improvement of worker safety and environmental conditions. We propose a Life Cycle Sustainability assessment (LCSA) framework that could incorporate these trade-offs in a single analysis. We hope this review guides future studies towards more comprehensive sustainability measurement of shipbreaking activities.

With the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), many aspects of our lives, from how we work to how we interact with each other and the world around us is showing dramatic changes. Education is one of the key areas that may be impacted by the rise of AI. Although a large number of studies have been conducted in recent years to shed light on how AI may influence various dimensions of education, a very little work has been carried out to consolidate and synthesis empirical studies on the application of AI in higher education. The present study reviewed empirical studies published between 2013 and 2022 to 1) examine the characteristics of published research in the field, and 2) to present thorough insights on the promises and challenges of this dramatic technology in higher and professional education. This review included 44 empirical studies published as peer-reviewed journal articles. The results indicated that there is rapid increase in the publications focusing on AI in higher education in last a few years. However, a big proportion of these publications are technically theoretical and conceptual proposals for AI intervention. The areas of AI applications in higher education that are supported by evidence based research are presented. Imperative implications are also highlighted for future research and implementation of AI based interventions in higher education.

Bacteriophages, viruses that are widespread throughout the world, are highly specific for bacteria, usually of a single species and often of a particular strain. After being discovered and isolated 100 years ago, their use, called phage therapy, was instituted in medicine two years later and quickly used around the world to treat various bacterial infections. In the West, phage therapy was overshadowed in the second half of the 20th century by antibiotic therapy, which was then thought to be the definitive solution. But because of the increase in bacterial resistance to antibiotics, the idea of using bacteriophages in medicine has been reawakened. The innumerable observations reported over the years in the literature constitute an invaluable experience. We and some of our colleagues have, in the last decade treated some patients compassionately. With the available documentation and our own experience we discuss the potential indications and limitations of phage therapy. The observation of the increasing number of therapeutic failures in the announced perspective of a post-antibiotic era, we believe, that the introduction of bacteriophages into the therapeutic arsenal seems conceivable today to two preconditions: that their production as biologic drug meets current regulatory standards and that the benefit-risk assessment was conducted in a modern setting. Phage therapy could be applied as a substitution or supplement to antibiotic therapy under multiple circumstances in different modes, precise indications and limits.

Academic publishing is undergoing a highly transformative process, and many rules and value systems that were in place for years are being challenged in unprecedented forms leading to the evolution of novel ways of dealing with new pressures. One of the most important aspects of an integrated and valid academic literature is the ability to screen publications for errors during peer review to weed out mistakes, fraud and inconsistencies, such that the final published product represents a product that has value, intellectually, and otherwise. It is difficult to claim the existence of perfect manuscripts. The level of errors that exist in a manuscript will depend on the rigor of the research group and of the peer review process that was used to screen that paper. When errors slip into a final published paper, either through honest error or misconduct, and are not detected during peer review and editorial screening, but are spotted during post-publication peer review, an opportunity is created to set the record straight, and to correct it. To date, the most common forms of correcting the literature have been errata, corrigenda, expressions of concern, and retractions. Despite this range of corrective measures, which represent artificially created corrals around pockets of imperfect literature, certain cases do not quite fit this mold, and new suggested measures for correcting the literature have been proposed, including manuscript versioning, amendments, partial retractions and retract and replace. In this commentary, a discussion of the evolving correction of the literature is provided, as are perspectives of the risks and benefits of such new measures to improve it.

Children’s learning of place value is critical to their future study of mathematics. However, its learning presents a huge challenge for many learners. As result they develop misconceptions and thencommit errors that become an encumbrance to their understanding of place value. It is therefore important to identify these misconceptions and their associated errors early and help children to overcome them. This article reports the findings from literature on what misconceptions learners display in the learning of place value and how they can best be supported to overcome them. The results show that despite the importance of this topic there are limited studies devoted to its research. The dearth of these studies creates a gap in the study of place value.

In recent years, many cities throughout the world are facing the impact of last-mile logistics and the resulting rise in urban traffic and pollution: effects on the environment have been curbed by these dynamics. Urban traffic has a considerable impact in terms of noise emissions, road safety and air pollution: hence, both public and private parties shall undertake innovative solutions for reducing the negative effects of last-mile logistics and improving their operational effectiveness. This study aims to provide a systematic literature review on environmentally sustainable last-mile logistics. The main contributions of this paper are as follows: (1) exploring and analysing the existing literature on last-mile logistics, with a focus on various types of sustainable measures implemented by companies, governments (mainly local) and supra-national institutions; (2) clustering existing studies into five categories (i.e., agents’ preference and choices, shared logistics, stakeholders, studies on vehicles, and policy and decisions) clarifying the implications of the public economics analysis; (3) identifying the gaps and limitations of the existing literature and proposing potential issues for future research insights. The review of the literature reveals that the majority of recent studies have been based on engineering and urban planning approaches. Costs and benefits of last-mile logistics are researched with a public economics focus, gathering details from the different papers, starting from the business studies to the technology-oriented ones. This study aims at detecting the different topics and policies discussed in the literature and suggests how to incorporate them in creating new measures and policies or revamping current ones. Although the initial corpus was 583, only 108 papers were ultimately chosen for the review, since public economics studies were not thoroughly explored: following the results of this work, the topic has significant scope for further study.

The videofluorographic study is indicated for diseases potentially causing dysphagia and aspiration, such as gastrointestinal reflux disease, cancers of the oropharynx and esophagus, and certain neurologic diseases needing swallowing assessment. The study is designed to survey the anatomy and physiology of swallowing to diagnose any swallowing impairment and is standardized using scales such as the Modified Barium Swallow Impairment Profile (MBSImP). The procedure requires the patient to swallow a barium contrasted bolus which helps to visualize and obtain a real-time result. There are certain complications of the procedure including radiation exposure which requires necessary safety protocols to be followed.

Climate change presents an urgent and impending threat to virtually all global biological systems. In recent years, there has been a surge in research endeavors aimed at investigating the potential relationship between changes in climate patterns and the spread of infectious diseases. This scoping review included studies on global warming and infectious diseases from 2019 to 2023, The studies included in this research were obtained from reputable academic databases such as Web of Science and google scholar. A systematic keyword search was conducted to identify relevant studies, and a predefined set of inclusion criteria was applied to review and select the appropriate studies for analysis. This review found that climate change has a remarkable impact on the dissemination and incidence of many infectious diseases, it increases microbial resistance and may increase the prevalence the arthropods-borne diseases with mild effect on fungal infections, also, the low to middle income countries may be affected more than other countries from these virulent pathogens, this study concluded that a future research in the field of climate change and infectious diseases should involve a thorough examination of the transmission of diseases, considering both direct and indirect modes of transmission

Abundant of preparatory works have recognized that fluorescent sensors based on 8-aminoquinoline are popular tools to detect Zn2+ ions in environmental and biological applications. Along with these studies, researchers started to introduce a variety of carboxamido group into an 8-aminoquinoline molecule in forming 8-amidoquinoline derivatives. Therefore, this systematic review aims to introduce a general overview of the fluorophore 8-aminoquinoline as Zn2+ receptors and to provide comparisons of collected studies that related to 8-amidoquinoline derivatives as fluorophore probe of the sensor. According to PRISMA systematic searches strategy, 13 articles were analyzed for trends, research designs, results and discussion, subject samples, and remarks or conclusions. We found cross-sectional studies with four aspects in zinc sensing that have been targeted; binding studies via titration, detection's limit, interferences studies, and validation of the study. Hence, this paper also included assessments of those criteria and the trends of development of 8-amidoquinoline derivatives based-zinc fluorescent chemosensor. It also showed that most of the researches conducted in China. In conclusion, this study identified various research designs of fluorescent chemosensors based on 8-amidoquinoline prolong with the effectiveness and potential as a recognition probe to assist the detection of zinc. Hence, elucidation of those derivatives essential to be explored because more studies are needed to improve the sensing criteria of the zinc sensor

Food insecurity is an economic and social condition that involves individuals having limited or uncertain access to healthy food. Despite the well-intentioned efforts of both governmental and not-for-profit organizations in addressing food insecurity, well over one-in-ten households in the U.S., the wealthiest nation in the world, experience food insecurity every year. This literature review covered several government programs and research interventions designed to address food insecurity. Results from the review highlight how the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), and not-for profit food banks have demonstrated success in improving food insecurity. However, the prevalence of food insecurity among U.S. households has fluctuated without any sustained decreases that achieve a food insecurity rate that remains below 10 percent of the population. Food waste, which refers to food that is edible yet discarded at the retail or consumption phases, is rampant in the U.S., as approximately 30 percent (66.5 million tons) of edible food is wasted after leaving the farm every year. Food waste prevention efforts that involve rescuing edible, nutritious food and redistributing it to individuals who are food insecure can promote both environmental- and public health through simultaneous reductions in food waste and food insecurity.

Bus services play a significant role as the main public transportation, especially in urban areas throughout the years. Since bus services compete greatly with other types of public transportation, such as e-hailing service and private vehicles, they have recently attracted scholars to conduct many relevant studies. However, most past research studies in the Asian region were not focused on engineering, social science, and Internet of Things (IOT). This present study concentrated on the service quality of bus services in Asia by using systematic literature review of articles. This study conducted a review based on previous studies, specifically on the service quality of performance. Several previous studies were selected by using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRIMSA) approach. SCOPUS and Science Direct were chosen as the main journal database. By using this method, 41 articles were selected for further analysis. This study was merely focused on three primary themes, such as study approach, stakeholder, and service quality attributes. Advanced analysis on these primary themes was used to formulate another 18 sub-themes. All themes and sub-themes which reflected the significant impacts of service quality towards bus services were discussed in detail. This study had addressed several qualities of bus services of bus performance towards improvement of urban transportation polices. Lastly, several recommendations that could provide necessary knowledge and information for future research were presented.

The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is an ongoing pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Although COVID-19 pandemic is not a direct surgical problem, its impact on the surgical units has been substantial. Many operations have been cancelled or deferred due to risk of disease spread and staff shortages. Operating theatres are identified as areas of high risk of disease transmission due to aerosol generation during the surgical procedures and prolonged patient contact. Resource limitations, including lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and limited availability of testing, continue to expose the surgical community to COVID-19. In this review, evidence and consensus guidelines on surgical practice during the COVID-19 pandemic are summarised and described. Immediate action is deemed essential to ensure unhindered provision of surgical care while optimizing the use of limited resources and ensuring staff safety.

This study presents a critical literature review on the models of users' adoption of blockchain applications in supply chains. This review pertaining to blockchain technology adoption by supply chain stakeholders is significant as it is a pre-requisite for the technical sustainability of blockchain technology in supply chains. Through a critical literature review, the previous studies related to technology adoption models were analyzed to explore practices brought about by blockchain applications for supply chain management. This study examined the suitability of the existing models (e.g., the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework, task technology fit (TTF), unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT)) of technology adoption for blockchain applications in supply chains and came up with a new unified model, namely, TOE-TTF-UTAUT. This review provides implications for a more appropriate research design using mixed methods. When adopting the TOE-TTF-UTAUT model in a study, two phases of research using mixed methods can be performed. The first phase is an exploratory sequential design in which a qualitative approach to explore the TOE and supply chain task constructs is followed by a quantitative approach using a survey and quantitative analyses to investigate the factors affecting blockchain adoption in supply chains. The second phase adopts explanatory sequential design in which the quantitative findings from the first phase are reviewed for follow-up by qualitative interviews to obtain explanations.

Recent years have witnessed significant advances in reinforcement learning (RL), which has registered remarkable success in solving various sequential decision-making problems in machine learning. Most of the successful RL applications, e.g., the games of Go and Poker, robotics, and autonomous driving, involve the participation of more than one single agent, which naturally fall into the realm of multi-agent RL (MARL), a domain with a relatively long history, and has recently re-emerged due to advances in single-agent RL techniques. Although, typically, the communication protocol between agents is manually specified and not altered during training, recently, some papers have shown signs of trying to emerge a communication between agents on the one hand and, on the other hand, to understand what is exchanged between agents. So, there is a growing body of literature on this topic which includes qualitative and quantitative studies and the ones that apply mixed methods. This study presents the scoping review of the methodological strategies undertaken in a total of 16 research articles. The results present the critical appraisal of quantitative methods in terms of validity and reliability and for qualitative methods considering four trustworthiness factors. In the end, relevant insights are further explored with implications and reflections on how they can benefit one's research in the field.

The modern technologies require the need to analyze the opportunities for improvement the integration of digital technologies in CSR activities in the context of added values be-tween business and science in perspective, incl. the future digital society. The main goal of this article is to identify the current state of research on the integration of digital technolo-gies in CSR activities in business, as well as to prepare recommendations for further re-search and practice. A systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis of 129 scien-tific articles published between 2014 to 2023 was performed. The bibliometric analysis was organized in two directions: descriptive and performance analysis, through which we can study the contribution of the analyzed objects to the given scientific area, and science mapping, which studies the relationships among them. The results indicate that the com-panies use more frequently artificial intelligence, blockchain, the Internet of Things and other technologies to increase the efficiency and impact of their CSR activities. In addition, this research reveals the basis of bringing forward the new trends for future publications, which shall upgrade and enrich the theory and practice.

Coronaviruses are an extensive family of viruses that can cause disease in both animals and humans. The current classification of coronaviruses recognizes 39 species in 27 subgenera that belong to the family Coronaviridae. From those, at least seven coronaviruses are known to cause respiratory infections in humans. Four of these viruses can cause common cold-like symptoms, while others that infect animals can evolve and become infectious to humans. Three recent examples of this viral jumps include SARS CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS CoV-2 virus. They are responsible for causing severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and the most recently discovered coronavirus disease during 2019 (COVID-19).COVID-19, a respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020. The rapid spread of the disease has taken the scientific and medical community by surprise. Latest figures from 14 April 2020 show more than 2 million people had been infected with the virus, causing more than 120,000 deaths in over 210 countries worldwide. The large amount of information we receive every day concerning this new disease is so abundant and dynamic that medical staff, health authorities, academics and the media are not able to keep up with this new pandemic. In order to offer a clear insight of the extensive literature available, we have conducted a comprehensive literature review of the SARS CoV-2 Virus and the Coronavirus Diseases 2019 (COVID-19).

The 2019-nCoV has been identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China beginning in December 2019. This epidemic had spread to 19 countries with 11,791 confirmed cases, including 213 deaths, as of January 31, 2020. The World Health Organization declared it as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. This study analyzed and discussed 70 research articles published until January 31, 2020 for a better understanding of the epidemiology, causes, clinical diagnosis, prevention and control of this virus. Studies thus far have shown origination in connection to a seafood market in Wuhan, but specific animal association has not been confirmed. The reported symptoms include fever, cough, fatigue, pneumonia, headache, diarrhea, hemoptysis, and dyspnea. Preventive measures such as masks, hand hygiene practices, avoidance of public contact, case detection, contact tracing, and quarantines are effective for reducing the transmission. To date, no specific antiviral treatment is proven effective, hence, infected people primarily rely on symptomatic treatment and supportive care. Although these studies had relevance to control a public emergency, more research need to be conducted to provide valid and reliable ways to manage this kind of public health emergency in both short- and long- term.

Hallux valgus deformity (HVD) involves subluxation of the first metatarsophalangeal joint. While HVD is primarily considered a forefoot condition, midfoot instability may play a significant role in its development and severity. Therefore, this review had a particular focus on understanding midfoot instability based upon weightbearing imaging assessments of the TMT joint. This review followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and searched five databases for studies on midfoot instability in HVD patients. Severity of HVD was defined by hallux valgus angle (HVA) and distal metatarsal articular angle (DMAA). Data was extracted, and articles were graded using the Methodological Index for Non-Randomized Studies (MINORS). Of 547 initially retrieved articles, 23 met inclusion criteria. Patients with HVD showed higher HVA and DMAA on weight-bearing radiographs (WBRG) and weight-bearing computed tomography (WBCT) compared to healthy individuals. Midfoot instability was assessed through intermetatarsal angle (IMA) and tarsometatarsal angle (TMT angle). Patients with HVD exhibited greater IMA and TMT angles on both WBRG and WBCT. This review highlights the importance of weight-bearing imaging assessments for midfoot instability in HVD. IMA and TMT angles can differentiate between healthy individuals and HVD patients, emphasizing the significance of midfoot assessment in understanding HVD pathology.

Background and introduction: Lung cancer is a prevalent and deadly disease globally. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common subtype, comprising 85% of cases; Case report: A 65-year-old ex-smoker man presented to our facility with nocturnal cough. Various investigations revealed that he had metastatic NSCLC, for which he underwent chemotherapy with cisplatin and gemcitabine, followed by immunotherapy with Nivolumab. He achieved a complete response to the therapy and has remained free from recurrence for over 7 years since the initial diagnosis; Discussion and Conclusion: The treatment of metastatic NSCLC remains a significant therapeutic challenge, but the implementation of new therapeutic techniques has expanded the possibilities of achieving complete and durable eradication of the disease.

Background: In the functional data analysis (FDA), the hybrid or mixed data are scalar and functional datasets. The semi-functional partial linear regression model (SFPLR) is one of the first semiparametric models for the scalar response with hybrid covariates. Various extensions of this model are explored and summarized. Methods: Two first research articles, including “semi-functional partial linear regression model”, and “Partial functional linear regression” have more than 300 citations in Google Scholar. Finally, only 106 articles remained according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria such as 1) including the published articles in the ISI journals and excluding 2) non-English and 3) preprints, slides, and conference papers. We use the PRISMA standard for systematic review. Results: The articles are categorized into the following main topics: estimation procedures, confidence regions, time series, and panel data, Bayesian, spatial, robust, testing, quantile regression, varying Coefficient Models, Variable Selection, Single-index model, Measurement error, Multiple Functions, Missing values, Rank Method and Others. There are different applications and datasets such as the Tecator dataset, air quality, electricity consumption, and Neuroimaging, among others. Conclusions: SFPLR is one of the most famous regression modeling methods for hybrid data that has a lot of extensions among other models.

Sleep disorders have become a public health problem for many reasons. The aim of this systematic review is to describe social, economic, and environmental determinants of sleep disturbances in Australia and New Zealand. A total of 22 studies, 14 from Australia and 8 from New Zealand involving children, adolescents and adults are included in the review. In summary, we found that sleep health disparities among children and adolescents in both countries are strongly associated to parental SES. Overall, lower family SES such as low parental income, low parental education, low SES area index are associated with higher sleep disturbances among children and adolescents. In adults, results revealed that SES determinants such as low income, lower education, unemployment, and night work were associated with sleep disturbances. Specifically, unemployment was associated with poor sleep quality, insomnia, and increased likelihood of suboptimal sleep efficiency. Low income and lower education were associated with high risk of OSA, longer sleep duration, insomnia, higher odds of suboptimal sleep duration and sleep onset latency.

Many pilot-based initiatives have been developed to promote awareness and use of climate information services among vulnerable smallholder farmers in Africa through million-dollar investments. However, despite their experimental nature, these pilot projects have been successful in raising participating farmers’ awareness and use of climate information services and they can inform transferrable good practices. Through a systematic literature review approach, this review sought to understand ways in which these past pilot projects have contributed to climate risk management in the context of smallholder farming and the factors that led to their success. Results showed that climate information services main contribution to climate risk management has been through facilitating farm level decision making. Factors that led to success of the pilots include: use of downscaled information; building institutional partnerships to add value to climate information; involving farmers through the co-designing and co-developing process; face-to-face way of communication; embedding pre-seasonal workshops in the activities of local institutions for sustainability; using diversity of communication channels to enhance reach among others. These factors can be borrowed as good practices to inform future efforts focused on increasing adoption of climate information services among a wider population beyond pilot project reach.

Background: Shared value creation in Base of the Pyramid (BoP) communities is a crucial process towards building sustainable societies. BoP communities in developing countries represent more than four billion people who live on low incomes with limited access to basic products and services. Current or emerging technologies offer promising solutions for organisations pursuing manufacturing opportunities in BoP communities. This study seeks to explore the literature on how BoP communities may become active participants in sustainably manufacturing products using micro-manufacturing factories. The research question posed is: What are the core concepts that need to be taken into consideration for creating shared value through micro-manufacturing factories in BoP communities? Method: A Systematised Literature review (SLR) was completed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) method for data selection criteria and analysis. The SLR is used to explore the state of literature with regards to creating manufacturing shared value in BoP communities with the objective to identify study gaps and to explore shared value creation concepts. Results: Literature indicates BoP initiatives that have pursued to engage BoP communities through various innovation strategies. The findings of the review is organised under three strategic pillars: Capability building strategy, Implementation process, and Growth strategy. The capability building strategy defines the users’ intention to create shared value in BoP communities with Micro-manufacturing factories (MMF). It is followed by the implementation process which guides the users to create manufacturing shared value in BoP communities. This is followed by a growth strategy to scale for impact.

In the dynamic landscape of the telecommunications industry, understanding and mitigating customer churn is paramount for maintaining competitive advantage and sustaining revenue streams. This comprehensive literature review delves into the intricacies of customer churn prediction, a crucial aspect in fortifying the bond between telecom businesses and their customers. The review methodically analyzes 11 articles published between 2000 and March 2024, spotlighting the strategic role of Customer Relationship Management and the prevalence of high churn rates that necessitate a shift from customer acquisition to retention strategies. Furthermore, the review navigates through the challenges inherent in churn prediction, including the complexities of managing large, imbalanced, and noisy datasets and the intricacies involved in model selection and optimization. Despite these challenges, the paper highlights the superior capability of machine learning techniques in handling complex datasets to provide accurate predictions, albeit acknowledging their practical complexities. The main aim of the study is to provide an overview, serving as a knowledge base for researchers interested in machine learning techniques within the realm of telecommunications.

Remittances are essential to economies in mountainous regions that face massive labour migration due to limited income generation and employment opportunities. In 2021, the share of remittances to GDP in the top 10 mountainous economies in the world was over 20%. Nonetheless, most are characterized by relatively lower GDP per capita and high poverty levels. Drawing a comparison with other mountainous areas, Phuthadjthaba, an emerging mountainous and border city of South Africa with Lesotho, faces similar out-migration and inferior socio-economic parameters. A global systematic literature review on the impact of remittances on livelihoods specifically targeting mountainous areas is missing. We, therefore, interrogate the role remittances can play in Phuthadijthaba. To inform our intended research, we seek to draw lessons from evidence on how migration and remittances affect mountainous communities globally. Accordingly, we carry out a systematic literature review (SLR) based on an updated Preferred Reporting Item for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) 2020 statement supported by Bibliometric (co-word) Analysis (BA) in VOSViewer. We collected data from Scopus and Dimensions websites and drew 165 publications, of which only 88 were included after exclusion and inclusion assessments. PRISMA results show that Mountain Research and Development, King Russell, and Nepal is the most productive and cited journal, the most productive and cited author, and the most researched country, respectively. Bibliometric analysis on keyword co-occurrences reveals women, agriculture, labour migration, land management, forest, and poverty, to be the research hotspots. In light of these findings, we proffer important recommendations to future researchers and policymakers.

We reviewed the association between seasonal influenza vaccination and the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection or complicated illness or poor outcome (e.g. severe disease, need for hospitalization or ventilatory support, or death) among COVID-19 patients. None of the studies that were reviewed (n=12) found a significant increase in the risk of infection or in the illness severity or lethality, while some reported significantly inverse associations. Our findings support measures aimed at raising influenza vaccination coverage in the coming months.

The state of community lock-down due to COVID-19 pandemic caused restricted movements of people. There are existing evidence of the negative impact of quarantine and isolation to the mental health of a person in different contexts. A scoping review of literature using Google Scholar was conducted to discover records about the public mental health while in a community quarantine due to COVID-19 pandemic. A methodological approach suggested by Arksey and O’Malley was utilized. It comprised (a) identifying the research questions, (b) identifying relevant literatures, (c) selecting literature, (d) charting the extracted data, and (e) summarizing, analyzing, and reporting the results. As of April 17, 2020, there were only 4 original articles found that discuss psychosocial aspect of the COVID-19 crisis. After an online survey, they present evidence that (1) there is an outward change in the people’s behavior toward self-care during the pandemic and (2) trusting the community governing bodies can minimize the level of anxiety and stress. Other literatures found are original articles in preprint (n=8), letters, commentaries, editorial (n=6), review paper (n=4), and WHO guideline (n=1). It is evident that the psychosocial aspect of COVID-19 crisis needs more attention from the scholars and a large research gap can be lessened trough expansion of online platforms.

There is an increased interest in the district-scale energy transition within interdisciplinary research community. Agent-based modelling presents a suitable approach to address variety of questions related to policies, technologies, processes, and the different stakeholder roles that can foster such transition. This state-of-the-art review focuses on the application of agent-based modelling for exploring policy interventions that facilitate the decarbonisation (i.e., energy transition) of districts and neighbourhoods while considering stakeholders’ social characteristics and interactions. We systematically select and analyse peer-reviewed literature and discuss the key modelling aspects, such as model purpose, agents and decision-making logic, spatial and temporal aspects, and empirical grounding. The analysis reveals that the most established agent-based models’ focus on innovation diffusion (e.g., adoption of solar panels) and dissemination of energy-saving behaviour among a group of buildings in urban areas. We see a considerable gap in exploring the decisions and interactions of agents other than residential households, such as commercial and even industrial energy consumers (and prosumers). Moreover, measures such as building retrofits and conversion to district energy systems involve many stakeholders and complex interactions between them that up to now have hardly been represented in the agent-based modelling environment.

The prolonged exposure to nicotine and the development of nicotine dependence have significant implications for cancer risk. Tobacco use, driven by nicotine addiction, is a major contributing factor to the development of various types of cancer. Smoking tobacco, in particular, has been strongly associated with an increased risk of lung cancer, as well as other malignancies. The harmful chemicals present in tobacco products, including carcinogens, can cause DNA damage and promote the initiation and progression of cancerous cells. This article presents a comprehensive literature review on the neurobiology of nicotine dependence and its implications for tobacco use treatment. Nicotine dependence is a complex phenomenon involving various neurobiological mechanisms. When nicotine enters the body, it binds to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the brain's reward circuitry, triggering the release of neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. Over time, repeated nicotine exposure leads to neuroadaptive changes in the brain, resulting in increased motivation to seek and use the drug. Understanding the neurobiology of nicotine dependence is crucial for developing effective treatment strategies. Pharmacological interventions, such as nicotine replacement therapy and medications like bupropion and varenicline, can help individuals manage cravings and withdrawal symptoms. Additionally, behavioral therapies and counseling play a vital role in enhancing self-efficacy and providing support for smoking cessation efforts. By reviewing the existing literature, this article sheds light on the intricate neural pathways and processes involved in nicotine addiction. It emphasizes the importance of a multidimensional approach that combines pharmacological treatments and behavioral interventions to address the physiological and psychological aspects of nicotine dependence. This knowledge can inform the development of more targeted and personalized treatment approaches to help individuals overcome tobacco addiction and improve their chances of successful smoking cessation.

The artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT can answer questions and solve tasks posed by the user within seconds. Using an exemplary task, this study investigates the reliability and con-sistency of the answers given by ChatGPT. For this purpose, it was analyzed whether the an-swers differ when a question is asked repeatedly and whether selected content categories and associated word combinations coincide with those from scientific literature. ChatGPT was asked 400 times, how the connectedness between humans and nature can be increased. The responses were classified into a categorization system and the most frequently occurring word combina-tions for each category were extracted. These word combinations were used for a search of re-lated scientific literature. In addition, the Normalized Mutual Information (NMI) between the 400 individual responses was calculated. The results show that the phrases used by ChatGPT within the categories are also found in the scientific literature, however, the number of mentions between scientific literature and ChatGPT differs. In addition, the NMI suggested that there are large differences between the categories mentioned in the individual answers. These results in-dicate that ChatGPT currently still has difficulties in answering complex questions and cannot yet replace scientific literature research or academic writing.

As the increase threat of flood risk and environmental safety due to the urbanization, Sponge city research has been attracting extensive attention both in practical and theoretical research field. To date, there are only scattered studies about Sponge city. Moreover, vary names of Sponge city prevalent in different countries, which leads to disconnection of literature in the same field of Sponge city. In this paper, a thorough systematic literature mining of Sponge city is presented. A literature analysis system is created, which includes literature export from Web of Sciences and systematic analysis via NoteExpress and CiteSpace. Some literature statistical results are derived. Challenges and opportunities for future research are anticipated. Our goals are to promote this promising thought, summarize past research, and identify issues for future research to create impacts on the practice of Sponge city.

We present a discussion and analysis regarding the benefits and limitations of open and non-anonymized peer review based on literature results and responses to a survey on the reviewing process of alt.chi, a more or less open-review track within the CHI conference, the predominant conference in the field of human-computer interaction (HCI). This track currently is the only implementation of an open-peer-review process in the field of HCI while, with the recent increase in interest in open science practices, open review is now being considered and used in other fields. We collected 30 responses from alt.chi authors and reviewers and found that, while the benefits are quite clear and the system is generally well liked by alt.chi participants, they are reluctant to see it used in other venues. This concurs with a number of recent studies that suggest a divergence between support for a more open review process and its practical implementation. The data and scripts are available on https://osf.io/vuw7h/, and the figures and follow-up work on http://tiny.cc/OpenReviews.

Home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic has been accompanied by dramatic changes in household food dynamics that can significantly influence health. This systematic literature review presents parental perspectives of the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on food preparation and meal routines, as well as other food-related behaviors, capturing both favorable and unfavorable changes in the family food environment (FFE). Themes and trends are identified and associations with other lifestyle factors are assessed. In overall, families enjoyed more time together around food, including planning meals, cooking, and eating together. Eating more diverse foods and balanced meals was combined with overeating and increased snacking, as parents became more permissive towards food; however, food insecurity increased among families with the lowest income. Adoption of meal planning skills and online shopping behavior emerged alongside behaviors aimed at self-sufficiency, such as bulk purchasing and stockpiling. These results are an important first step in recognizing how this pandemic may be affecting the FFE, including low-income families. Future obesity prevention and treatment initiatives, but also ongoing efforts to address food management, parental feeding practices, and food insecurity, can account for these changes moving forward.

(1) In an era where sustainable behavior is increasingly crucial, understanding the discrepancy between individuals' sustainability-oriented values and their actual behaviors, known as the inner-outer gap, is vital. This study explores the potential of the Tripartite Structure of Sustainability (TSS) framework to address this gap within the context of sustainable education. By reviewing literature from the databases APA, ERIC, and Web of Science, we systematically examined factors influencing sustainable actions. (2) Employing a qualitative content analysis approach, we analyzed 56 articles over a 15-year period, identifying 83 factors that either bridge or reinforce the inner-outer gap. These factors were categorized within the TSS framework, which segments sustainability-oriented actions into individual, social, and self-transcendent domains, alongside their activation points: stable, situational, or automated. (3) Our analysis revealed that self-focused factors often reinforce the gap, suggesting a hindrance to sustainable behavior. Conversely, self-transcendent factors consistently bridged the gap, promoting sustainability. Social factors showed variable impacts based on the ethical and sustainable context they were placed in, suggesting that the social environment's orientation significantly influences sustainable behavior. (4) The study concludes that the TSS framework offers a promising approach to advancing sustainability in education by facilitating a paradigm shift towards holistic and interconnected perspectives. This shift is critical for fostering sustainable behaviors, thereby contributing to the field of educational psychology and offering practical implications for educators aiming to nurture a sustainable future.

With the integration of small unmanned aircraft systems into the U.S. National Airspace System, low altitude regions are being stressed in historically new ways. The FAA must understand and quantify the risk of collision between unmanned and manned aircraft during desired low altitude unmanned operations in order to produce regulations and standards. It is increasingly important to characterize how manned aircraft operate at these low altitudes, as historical assumptions are insufficient for modeling and simulation to support standards development. Yet technical challenges such as poor low altitude radar coverage and lack of required transponder equipage are significant barriers to characterizing the low altitude environment. In response, we conducted an extensive review of fixedwing and rotary-helicopter manned operations to characterize the low altitude environment.

Community peer review is a method that extends the ethics of consent into scientific practices. It gives communities affected by scientific research the ability to determine whether research may cause them harm and be part of determining how knowledge should best circulate to reduce or eliminate that harm. This paper introduces the method of community peer review by first looking at the concepts of consent and refusal, then outlining the steps to community peer review, using a case study of community meetings on a study of plastic ingestion by fish to elucidate the details of each step. Steps include: hiring a community member to the team; researching the social, cultural, and economic contexts of the community; identify the community; ensure skills for community conversation are in place; call the community meeting; conduct the community meeting; and analyze feedback for consent and refusal. Community peer review is premised on the idea that research is not inherently good and can cause harm, and that the best people to know whether and what kinds of harms are likely to occur are community members rather than researchers. The second premise is that the researcher’s “right” to research never supersedes a community’s right to not be harmed.

Due to breakthroughs in embedded system development, sensing technologies, and ubiquitous connectivity in recent years, technologies such as Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) and Internet of Things (IoT) have captured the imagination of researchers, businesses, and general public. That resulted in the emergence of an enormous, difficult-to-navigate body of work related to WSN and IoT. To highlight trends and developments in these technologies and to see whether they are actually deployed rather than subjects of theoretical research with presumed potential use cases, we gathered and codified a dataset of scientific publications from a 5-year period from 2013 to 2017 involving actual sensor network deployments. In the first iteration, 15010 potentially relevant articles were identified in SCOPUS and Web of Science databases; after two iterations, 3059 actual sensor network deployments were extracted from those articles and classified in a consistent way according to different categories such as type of nodes, field of application, communication types, etc. We publish the resulting dataset with the intent that its further analysis may identify prospective research fields and future trends in WSN and IoT.

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder that affects women of reproductive age representing the primary cause of anovulatory infertility. The nonapeptide oxytocin (OT) plays an important role in cognitive, emotional, and reproductive functions in human beings. Oxytocin receptors are expressed in several body parts including the ovaries. Despite this, the possible role played by oxytocin in symptoms of PCOS is not clear. The present systematic review aimed at understanding, the presence of possible oxytocin level alterations in PCOS, the connection between alterations of OT levels and the symptoms of PCOS, and the effect of oxytocin administration in PCOS. After a systematic search in the principal databases, seven studies, five human and two animal, were included. Most of the studies highlighted the role played by oxytocin in fertility issues related to PCOS. Studies that analyzed oxytocin basal levels in PCOS women agreed that PCOS is associated with a reduction in the serum level of oxytocin. Two studies found that in PCOS the serum levels of oxytocin were lower than healthy controls. One human and one animal study agreed about lower levels of PCOS, confirming a possible implication of a dysfunction of OT, in the pathogenesis of PCOS.

Objective: To summarize the prevalence of PASC/Long COVID symptoms among the general population reported in published articles. This narrative review examined 21 PASC symptoms. Methods: A PubMed/manual search returned 114 articles on general PASC/Long COVID symptoms. Manuscripts were excluded if they were not research studies, didn’t report symptom prevalence, or used a pediatric population. Ninety-eight studies were selected for review and 59 met criteria for inclusion. Risk of bias was assessed with the Hoy critical appraisal tool. Results: After excluding studies with high risk of bias, meta-analysis of prevalence for 21 symptom categories ranged from 2.6-28.7% in studies based on surveys to 0.3%-7.1% in studies based on EHR data. Conclusions: PASC symptom studies are limited by variability in study design and representation of the general population. Further research is needed to effectively cluster symptoms in meaningful ways that enable focused treatment.

Background: Sarcopenia, a subject of extensive research, has led to numerous clinical trials and systematic reviews (SR). These reviews aid healthcare professionals by summarizing results and conducting meta-analyses, enhancing reliability. However, the abundance of reviews complicates decision-making on sarcopenia management. To address this, SR of SR have emerged, consolidating data from various sources into comprehensive documents. Objective: to assess the isolated impact of dietary interventions on sarcopenia's diagnostic criteria for older individuals. Methods: a study protocol for a SR of SR, following Cochrane and PRISMA recommendations. The search strategy includes the MeSH ‘sarcopenia’ and its subheadings; ‘aged’ and its subheadings; ‘nutrition’ and its subheadings; and filter ‘systematic review’, performed at main databases. Selected studies must include older adults, submitted to nutritional interventions compared to control groups. Quantitative analyses will use inverse variance statistic method (random effects); the effect measures mean difference. Heterogeneity measured with Q-Test. Results: The results of this SR of SR will may provide valuable information about the sarcopenia treatment, deepening the knowledge about. Conclusion: this protocol is reproducible, requires low cost and personnel, and may allow a higher understanding on sarcopenia treatment and management on older people.

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the factors influencing the voluntary adoption of IFRS by examining, analyzing, and synthesizing findings from empirical studies conducted worldwide. The research scrutinizes 185 relevant studies on the voluntary adoption of IFRS published before August 2023. Our assessment reveals that, in prior research, the factors influencing the voluntary adoption of IFRS are categorized into seven main factors, including corporate operations, capital structure, ownership structure, internationalization, financial performance, corporate governance, and several other factors. These studies employ various methodologies, including data surveys, and cross-sectional data, to estimate the relationships between these factors and the voluntary adoption of IFRS. In addition to providing an evaluation of the research in this field, this study can serve as a framework for future researchers to link and compare the results of different studies. We anticipate that this research will be beneficial for future scholars interested in the factors influencing the voluntary adoption of IFRS. Furthermore, the study proposes essential guidance for future research considerations.

Clinical pharmacists are employed at many hospital departments in Denmark, but not yet on the Faroe Islands. The purpose of this study was to test feasibility of a clinical pharmacist-led medication review service at the surgical ward of the National Hospital on the Faroe Islands. Hospitalised surgical patients were offered a medication review service by a clinical pharmacist. Identified drug related problems (DRPs) were classified according to the Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe (PCNE) model. The qualitative inputs from the ward’s staff were collected. In total, 42 patients with 171 identified DRPs were included. The majority of the DRPs concerned suboptimal effect and the safety of the drug treatment. The 49.6 % of the proposed medication changes were accepted by the ward physicians. According to the qualitative inputs, the interest for the service was greater among the younger physicians compared to the older ones, and among nurses compared to physicians. Identified barriers for the optimal service implementation were an absence of medication ordinations and poor visibility of pharmacist’s notes in electronic health records. For a successful implementation of the service, work on the physicians’ interest in an interdisciplinary cooperation and optimization of the electronic health records are warranted.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a breakthrough technology that has been widely applied in many fields and its use in pharmacy is also gaining increasing attentions. Recently, ChatGPT, a newly developed virtual assistant and large language model, is showing strong ability in writing, which makes it a potential tool for review writing. Here in our study, we employ the public available ChatGPT and try to instruct it to generate a mini review on the topic of “lipid-based drug delivery systems” by conversation. Our results showed that ChatGPT can give reasonable outline for this topic and give seemingly sentences with concluding wording, which can give useful information to the readers. However, the accuracy and consistence of the review are not fully guaranteed and there is lack of reliable citations. Therefore, it is concluded that ChatGPT can only give general knowledge on the selected topic, but not capable of giving in-depth discussion. The generated review article can be a useful but occasionally unprecise electronic encyclopedia instead of rigorous scientific literature, which can give benefit for pharmaceutical education and interchange to some extent.

Framed experiments and games are a useful medium to understand how context affects individual and group decision-making. They are particularly relevant for field research in agriculture, where alternative experimental designs can be costly and unfeasible. After a systematic review of the literature, we found that the volume of published studies employing coordination and cooperation games increased during the 2000-2020 period. In recent years, there has been greater attention given to natural resource management, conservation, and ecology areas, especially in strategic regions for agriculture sustainability. Other games, such as trust and risk games, have come to be regarded as standards of framed field experiments in agriculture. Regardless of sectoral focus, most games' results are subject to internal and external validity criticism. In particular, a significant portion of the games showed potential recruitment biases against women and no opportunities for a continued impact assessment. However, games' validity should be judged on a case-by-case basis. Specific cultural aspects of games might reflect the real context, and generalizing games' conclusions to different settings is often constrained by cost and utility. Overall, games in agriculture could benefit from more significant, frequent, and inclusive experiments and data – all possibilities offered by digital technology. Present-day physical distance restrictions may accelerate this shift. New technologies and engaging ways to approach farmers might represent a turning point for games in agriculture in the 21st century.

Background: Alcohol is a psychoactive substance that leads to dependence and harmful drinking in worldwide. Alcohol use is the most prevalent among age from 13 to 29 year particularly in high school, college, and university students. It affected students mentally, physically, economically and their social issues. In low and middle-income countries particularly in Ethiopia, there is lack of data in systematic review and meta-analysis regarding the prevalence of alcohol use and associated factors among students. Methods: We will search studies using computerized search engine, main electronic databases and other applicable sources. PubMed/Medline, Global Health, Africa-wides, PsycINFO, Google Scholar, EMBASE, and direct Google search will be searched to retrieve studies written in English language from 2010 to 2017. Observational studies (case control, cross-sectional, cohort or longitudinal survey, and surveillance reports) on the prevalence of alcohol use and associated factors among students in Ethiopia will be eligible. Data will be extracted by two authors independently. Data synthesis and statistical analysis will be carried out. Pooled estimate will be done to determine the prevalence of alcohol use by using comprehensive meta-analysis software. Protocol registration PROSPERO: 2017: CRD42018083222.

Reflection in healthcare education is an emergent topic with many studies and reviews being published. The purpose of the present review is to map the literature in this field by performing a systematic review of reviews (umbrella review) and to explore which definitions and models are currently in use, how reflection impacts on design, evaluation and assessment and future challenges. Nineteen reviews were identified that satisfied inclusion criteria. Emerging themes were: reflection is currently portrayed as self-reflection and critical reflection with the epistemology-of-practice notion not being as much as expected in tandem with the evidence-based-medicine paradigm modern science advocates. Reflective techniques were recognised in multiple settings (e.g. summative, formative, group vs individual etc.) and have been associated with learning but assessment remains a research topic with issues of validity, reliability and replicability. Future challenges involve the epistemology of reflection in healthcare education and how to practice and assess reflection without losing its theoretical background.

Background: Health inequity (HI) remains a major challenge in public health. Improving the health of children with low socioeconomic status (SES) can help to reduce overall HI in children. Childhood obesity is a global problem, entailing several adverse health effects. It is crucial to assess influencing factors for adoption, implementation and sustainment of interventions. This review aims to identify articles reporting about influencing factors for the implementation of school-based interventions promoting obesity prevention behaviors in children with low SES. It aims to critically appraise the articles’ quality, assess influencing factors, categorize and evaluate them, and to discuss possible implications. Methods: A systematic search was conducted in 7 databases with the following main inclusion criteria: 1) school-based interventions and 2) target group aged 5–14 years. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, its five domains (intervention characteristics, inner setting, outer setting, characteristics of individuals, process) along with 39 constructs within these domains were used to deductively analyze the data. We grouped the articles with regard to the characteristics of the interventions in simple and complex interventions. For each domain, and for the groups of simple and complex interventions, the most commonly reported influencing factors are identified. Results: 6452 articles were screened, and 16 met all eligibility criteria. Included articles applied mixed methods (n=10), qualitative (n=5) and quantitative design (n=1). Of these, five were considered to report simple interventions and eleven were considered to report complex interventions. In total, 295 influencing factors were assessed. Aspects of the inner setting were reported in every study, aspects of the outer setting were the least reported domain, and in the group of simple interventions not reported at all. In the inner setting, most reported influencing factors were time (n=7), scheduling (n=6) and communication (n=6). Conclusion: This review found a wide range of influencing factors for implementation. Most important influencing factors need to be assessed for every setting. Including all stakeholders involved in the implementation process enhances the prioritization of the most important influencing factors for the specific setting. More empirical research and practical guidance are needed to promote obesity prevention behaviors among children with low SES.

Aim: this scoping review was designed to identify studies that assess the adverse drug reactions (ADRs) for older people in Australian aged-care facilities. This review critically evaluated each published study to identify the risk of, or actual adverse drug events in older people. Inclusion criteria: This review considered any clinical studies that examined the adverse effects of medications in older people who were living in aged-care facilities. This review considered qualitative studies, analytical studies, RCTs, descriptive cross-sectional studies, and analytic observational studies that explored the use of medications and their adverse effects on older people in clinical settings (including aged care facilities). Methods: An initial search of the PubMed, OvidSP, EBSCOHost, MEDLINE, ScienceDirect, Wiley Online, SAGE, and SCOPUS databases, with full text was performed, followed by an analysis of the article’s title and abstract. Additionally, MeSH was used to describe the article. The initial round of the database search was based on inclusion criteria from studies that assessed tools or protocols aiming to identify the adverse effects of medications on the elderly population suffering chronic conditions or multiple co-morbidities. Two reviewers screened the retrieved papers for inclusion. The data presented in this review are in tabular forms and a narrative summary which aligns with the review’s objectives. Results: Seven studies were identified, and the extracted data from these studies were grouped according their characteristics and the auditing results of each study. Conclusion: There was no comprehensive or broadly adverse drug reaction assessment tool derived from Australian data that has been used on the elderly in an Australian healthcare setting.

Natural language Processing (NLP) has significantly transformed in the last decade, especially in the field of Language Modeling. Large Language Models (LLMs) have achieved SOTA performances on Natural Language Understanding (NLU) and Natural Language Generation (NLG) tasks by learning language representation in self-supervised ways. This paper provides a comprehensive survey to capture the progression of advances in Language Models. In this paper, we examine the different aspects of Language Models, which started with a few million parameters but have reached the size of a trillion in a very short time. We also look at how these LLMs transitioned from task-specific to task-independent to task-and-language-independent architectures. This paper extensively discusses different pre-training objectives, benchmarks, and transfer learning methods used in LLMs. It also examines different fine-tuning and In-Context learning techniques used in downstream tasks. It also explores how LLMs can perform well across many domains and datasets if sufficiently trained on a large and diverse dataset. Next, it discusses how, over time, the availability of cheap computational power and large datasets have improved LLM’s capabilities and raised new challenges. As part of our study, we also inspect LLMs from the lens of scalability to see how their performance is affected by the model’s depth, width, and data size. Lastly, we provide an empirical comparison of existing trends and techniques and a comprehensive analysis of where the field of LLM currently stand.

: Background: Since the consensus of ISAPP on the definition of the term “postbiotic” there has been an enthusiasm for publications, in review form - their number being disproportionate to the primary research. The aim of this bibliometry is to analyze the perspectives of the first and the last authors of such reviews; and, specifically, to note the connection of these authors with the broader subject of microbiome and probiotics. Methods: Search of the PubMed database for review articles on post-biotics, published between November 2021 and December 2023. Results: Analysis was performed on 76 review articles, the number corresponding to 2.9 reviews per month. Poland, China, Italy, Argentina and Iran had the maximum productivity among the 30 countries involved; 39 articles were published in 12 high-impact journals, while 31 were in journals with an IF between 5 and 5.9. The authors were mainly affiliated to universities with specialization in both basic research and technology, as well as food science. Eighteen first authors and six last authors had zero previous publications on the related topic of the microbiome and probiotics; and another 7 last authors had only one publication each. There were, however, 5 authors with 142, 92, 76, 71 and 41 related publications. Conclusions: It is clear that a part of this productivity is written by first authors with no previous engagement with related research and lacking colleagues or mentors involved with microbiome/probiotics research to support them as senior authors.

(1) Background: In Eugenia Stipitata Mac Vaugh (Arazá), there is an abundance of flavonoids, carotenoids, and phenolic acids, which are bioactive compounds with antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, antiulcer, and cardiovascular disease prevention benefits. Therefore, the aim of this review is to compile the compounds that have been identified in the fruit and gather information about secondary metabolites to establish their potential preventive and therapeutic effects; (2) Methods: a literature search was conducted in repositories and databases such as Science Direct, Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, Agriculture Collection Gale, SAGE, OXFORD University, DOAJ, among others. Articles identifying and quantifying bioactive compounds present in Arazá were included; (3) Results: Five studies meeting the inclusion criteria were incorporated, resulting in the compilation of 82 compounds, of which 24 were identified and quantified, while 58 were solely identified. This review was able to identify and report the concentration, and in some cases, the quantity, of phenolic compounds with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capabilities present in Arazá; (4) Conclusions: With this scope, it was possible to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the fruit's potential to potentially enhance health aspects, thereby providing greater prominence and added value to this product, allowing for more frequent inclusion in the diets of consumers, and even enabling exportation.

The performance of recycled aggregate concrete deteriorates due to the defects of adhesive mortar, pores and cracks on the surface of recycled aggregate. It is of great engineering significance to modify the reclaimed aggregate to improve its performance and adaptability. In this paper, the physical and chemical properties of waste concrete recycled aggregate are reviewed. Then, the existing modification methods and technologies of recycled aggregate, including physical, chemical and biological methods, are reviewed. Finally, the existing problems of the current modification technology are summarized, and the future research direction is proposed. It is expected to provide a new idea and method for the modification of waste concrete recycled aggregate.

Conservation agriculture and conservation tillage have drawn the attention not only of scientists but of politicians and societies worldwide. This paper aims to present a method for selecting re-search studies on conservation agriculture, conservation tillage, and the role of straw residues on soil health and soil stability against climatic hazards. VOSviewer version 1.6.18 free software tool was used in this study to achieve the bibliometric and mapping approach for studies on the effects of climate change in terms of conservation, tillage, soil health, and straw and microbe or straw and climate interaction or other paradigms. Scopus database (accessed July 7, 2023) indexed a total of 752.2018 bibliographic items classified into 15 paradigms e.g., Carbon (AND Straw) or Microbes (AND Straw). From the examination of the selected papers, it was concluded that straw residue has an impact on soil's physical, chemical, and biological properties and the environment in general.

The aim of this systematic review was to describe clinical and genetic features of syndromes showing oligodontia as a sign. The review was performed according to the PRISMA 2020 checklist guidelines, and the search was conducted using PubMed, Scopus, Lilacs, Web of science, Livivo and EMBASE and supplemented by a gray literature search on Google Scholar and ProQuest, applying key terms relevant to the research questions. The systematic review identified 49 types of syndromes in 91 studies, and the most common was hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia, which was reported in 24 patients in 22 studies. Other commonest syndromes that reported oligodontia included Axenfeld-Rieger syndrome, Witkop’s syndrome, Ellis-van Creveld syndrome, blepharocheilodontic syndrome and oculo-facio-cardio-dental syndrome. The X-linked mode of inheritance was the most reported (n=14 studies), followed by the autosomal dominant (n=11 studies). The review describes the main syndromes that may have oligodontia as a clinical sign and reinforce the need of oro-dental-facial examining for adequate diagnosis and treatment of the affected patients. Molecular analysis in order to better understand the occurrence of oligodontia is imperative.

Treatment of the ADHD types (hyperactive-impulsive, inattentive, and combined) in children has rarely been studied separately, although their prognostic courses differ widely. In addition, data show that improvements in hyperactivity/impulsivity are hard to achieve. Thus, we focused on treatments tailored for hyperactivity/impulsivity. We examined meta-analyses and systematic reviews within the inter- and intra-individual treatments and found that psychoeducation and training for parents, school-based interventions, reinforcement strategies, and neurofeedback consistently showed small to moderate effect sizes in reducing hyperactivity/impulsivity in children. Conversely, emotional self-regulation, social skills, and cognitive trainings showed unsatisfactory results. In summary, we found that the quality of usual care can be surpassed when the designated interventions are purposefully combined into a multimodal treatment program.

The Lightning Network (LN), a second-layer protocol built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain, is an innovative digital payment solution that offers increased convenience, speed, and cost-effectiveness to consumers and businesses alike. However, there is limited literature available on the characteristics of this nascent technology, the depth and breadth of the various business LN-related applications as well as relevant adoption/implementation challenges. This study aims to contribute to the understanding of the LN’s characteristics, its potential in enhancing business operations and its applicability across different sectors, while taking into account adoption and implementation challenges. We apply a narrative review methodology using a semi-systematic approach to examine new and emerging business models empowered by the LN and its characteristics, topology, performance, privacy, and security. We analyze the data to identify key themes and trends in the literature, offering a critical analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the existing literature. Based on the findings, we provide several clusters of fruitful areas for future research directions. The findings of this study will help businesses make more informed decisions about adopting and leveraging the LN to improve their operations and enhance customer experience.

The primary objective of this systematic review was to analyze the main physical agents representing risk factors for commercial aircrew, together with their consequences. The secondary objective was to identify the countries in which studies on the topic were conducted, as well as the quality of the publications available. Thirty-five articles, published between 1996 and 2020, were selected for the review, having met all inclusion criteria. The majority of studies were conducted in the United States, Germany and Finland and had moderate or low methodological quality of evidence. The main risk factors for aircrew identified in publications were exposure to abnormal air pressure, cosmic radiation, noise, and vibrations. Hypobaric pressure was explored in response to demands for studies on this agent, a factor which may lead to otic and ear barotraumas, as well as acceleration of atherosclerosis of the carotid artery. However, there is a dearth of research exploring this phenomenon.

Background: Transient Hypogammaglobulinemia of Infancy (THI) is a primary immunodeficiency caused by a temporary decline of serum levels of immunoglobulin G (IgG) greater than 2 standard deviations below the mean age-specific reference values in an infant between 5 and 24 months of age. Preterm infants are particularly susceptible to THI, as, in the third trimester of pregnancy, IgG is transferred across the placenta from mother to infant.Objective: To systematically review the diagnostic criteria of Transient Hypogammaglobulinemia of infants.Design & Methods: Systematic Review. Manual searching of 3 electronic databases (PubMed, Medline, & Google Scholar) from September 2021 – April 2022. Abstracts were screened to assess fit to the inclusion criteria. Data was extracted from the selected studies by using an adapted extraction tool from Cochrane.org. Studies were then assessed for bias by using an assessment tool also adapted from Cochrane.org.Results: Of the 215 articles identified, 16 were eligible for examining the diagnostic criteria of THI. These studies were also assessed for bias in 6 domains. 5 studies (31%) had a low risk of bias, while 4 studies (25%) had a high risk of bias, & 7 studies (44%) were unclear for bias.Conclusion: We can conclude that THI is only definitively diagnosed after the abnormal IgG levels have normalized, hence THI is mostly a benign condition, but must be monitored for subsequent recurrent infections. The diagnostic criterion also includes vaccine & isohaemagglutinin responses to differentiate against other immunological disorders in infants.

Bunyaviruses represent the largest group of RNA viruses, and are the causative agent of a variety of febrile and hemorrhagic illnesses. Originally characterized as a single serotype in Africa, the number of described bunyaviruses now exceeds over 500, with its presence detected around the world. These predominantly tri-segmented, single-stranded RNA viruses are transmitted primarily through arthropod and rodent vectors, and can infect a wide variety of animal and plants. Although encoding for a small number of proteins, these viruses can inflict potentially fatal disease outcomes, and have even developed strategies to suppress the innate antiviral immune mechanisms of the infected host. This short review will attempt to provide an overall description of the order Bunyavirales, describing the mechanisms behind their infection, replication and their evasion of the host immune response. Furthermore, the historical context of these virus will be presented, starting from their original discovery almost 80 years ago, to the most recent research pertaining to viral replication and host immune response.

The rapid development of transportation infrastructure in Malaysia had changed the mobility landscape of the country. While it would be a welcome advancement for many, older adults might find it difficult to keep up with their transportation uses and remain active. This study reviewed published articles on the travel behavior of older adults and its associated transportation determinants to explore how sustainable the transportation system is for this vulnerable cohort. Four databases were searched: PubMed, Scopus, ProQuest, and EBSCOhost. Inclusion criteria were older respondents, living in a community in Malaysia, addressing any travel behavior characteristics and written in English language. Review paper, letters, book citations, comments, editorials, and experimental and animal studies were excluded from this study. All in all, this review included seven studies extending from the year 2007 to 2020. The result showed that transportation use of older adults had shifted from relying on public transports to driving their own vehicle to move around. According to the finding of this study, besides personal and health factors, transport use of older adults was affected mainly by cost, public transport availability, road traffic and safety, the complexity of the transportation system, distance to public transit, availability of parking space, road condition and signage. It is concluded that an effective strategy to improve the transportation system is lauded to prevent unmet travel needs among the older adults in Malaysia.

The aim of this scoping review is to conduct a systematic search of the literature as it pertains to interventions delivered by peers to refugees and asylum seekers during the resettlement process. A PRISMA-compliant scoping review based on Arskey and O'Malley's (2006) five steps was used. Four databases, Scopus, Embase, Ebsco, and ScienceDirect were searched for peer-reviewed articles published in English from 2000-2021. Studies were included if they reported on interventions, outcomes or the training received by adult peers to support refugees and asylum seekers during the resettlement process. Of an initial 632 journal articles retrieved, 14 met the inclusion criteria for this review. Most included studies were conducted in Western high-income countries, with the exception of one. Studies were heterogeneous in terms of the nationalities of peers and those receiving peer interventions; the outcomes reported on; the content of interventions, and the methodologies used. Findings suggest that peer interventions seem to be effective in addressing many of the challenges faced by refugees and asylum seekers. Community integration, acculturation and psychological distress are some of the key benefits. When such interventions are co-produced in participatory research involving refugees, asylum seekers and the civil society organisations that support this population, they are naturally culturally responsive and can therefore address issues relative to different ethnic needs during the resettlement process. This is the first scoping review to be conducted in this area and adds to what is a very limited body of research. Refugee, Asylum seeker, resettlement, scoping review

Chronic diseases (e.g., heart disease, cancer, diabetes) are of major public concern. Such chronic diseases are often caused by a dietary pattern characterized as relatively high in fat, refined sugar, salt, and cholesterol. Societal interest in consuming healthy foods and the demand for healthy food products has increased significantly. As a result, functional foods have gained significant research attention in the food health and technology innovations field. To date, many studies have investigated the factors that may predict consumer acceptance of functional foods, and a wide range of influential factors have been reported. However, studies conducted in different contexts pose challenges to gaining a clear understanding of the factors influencing consumer acceptance. This scoping review identified 75 articles published with varying populations around the globe that empirically investigated consumers’ acceptance of functional foods. We identified and categorized a wide range of determinants related to consumer acceptance of different types of functional foods. The five categories of determinants were product characteristics, socio-demographic characteristics, psychological characteristics, behavioral characteristics, and physical characteristics. Each of the determinants were more fully described by sub-determinants in our scoping review. These determinants should be considered and used by leaders and scientists in product development to aid decision making and, ultimately, the successful launch of novel functional foods.

Misinformation research has grown to become a critical topic in all disciplines. Since the expanding of online media, misinformation has been spreading rapidly across the globe through social media and other information systems. Paralleling the rise of academic interest in misinformation, is the emergence of online education scholarship. Interest in the online educational implications of misinformation and its impact attracts an increase in scholarship on misinformation. This article presents the results of a review of 1172 publications with “Misinformation” across disciplines and a subset of 174 misinformation literature in online education that were published between 2009 and 2021. This review answers three questions: (1) What is the overall distribution of publication activity with "misinformation" publications? (2) What methodologies have scholars used to investigate misinformation involving online education? (3) What have scholars reported about the results of studies involving misinformation in online education? The review reveals that various methodologies were used in literature focusing on misinformation online education with leading numbers of content analysis and quantitative studies. This systematic review is particularly relevant to those online educators in various disciplines who are interested in learning what scholars from their own academic disciplines are writing about misinformation.

As the incidence and prevalence of diabetes increases, intervention through dietary education is becoming more important for diabetes control. This systematic review aimed to confirm the ef-fect of dietary intervention education on diabetes control. The study subjects were type 2 diabet-ic patients, and the main outcome variable was glycosylated hemoglobin level (HbA1c). The target studies were randomized controlled trials. Thirty-six studies were included in the analysis, of which 33 were included in the meta-analysis. The effect size between the dietary education and general intervention, was -0.42 (n=5,639, MD=-0.42; 95% CI -0.53 to -0.31) and was signifi-cantly different (Z=7.73, P<.001). When subgroup analyses were performed following the appli-cation periods, intervention methods, and intervention contents, the mean differences in 4–6-month application, individual education, diet-exercise-psychosocial intervention were -0.51, (n=2,742, 95% CI -0.71 to -0.32), -0.63 (n=627, 95% CI -1.00 to -0.26), and -0.51 (n=3.244, 95% CI -0.71 to -0.32), respectively. Dietary education interventions provided for at least 3 months were highly effective in controlling blood sugar levels. Regarding the education method, individual-ized education was more effective, and for this, contact or non-contact education may be applied. Combining diet, exercise, and psychosocial intervention is more effective than diet education alone.

Microbe laden air particles, known as bio-aerosols, are routinely generated, in clinical dentistry due to the operative instrumentation within a milieu rich in salivary organisms. As the major mode of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 appears to be airborne aerosols and droplets, there has been an intense focus on such aerosol generating procedures (AGP). As there has been no systematic reviews on the efficacy of bio-aerosol reducing measure in dentistry, the objective of this systematic review was to evaluate the literature on three major AGPs, rubber dam application, pre-procedural oral rinse, and high-volume evacuation (HVE) aimed at reducing dental bio-aerosols. Method: PubMed via Ovid MEDLINE, EBSCO host, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases between January 01, 1985, and April 30, 2020, were searched.Results: A total of 156 records in the English language literature were identified, of which 17 clinical studies with 724 patients were included in the final analyses. The eligible reviewed articles revealed the inadequacy of the afore mentioned three principal AGPs used in contemporary dental practice to minimise bio-aerosols. HVE appears to be the most efficacious method, although no single approach provides total elimination of bio-aerosols. Conclusion:This, the first systematic review on methods of controlling bio-aerosols in dental operatory settings, indicates that employing combination strategies of rubber dam, with a pre-procedural antimicrobial oral rinse, and HVE can significantly minimize bio-aerosols. As the quality of the currently available data on dental bio-aerosols are rather poor, further, controlled, multi-centre studies are essential to address this critical issue.

In 2016–2017, we conducted and published a systematic review on caffeine safety [1] that set out to determine whether conclusions presented in the heavily cited Health Canada assessment, Nawrot et al. [2], remain supported by more recent data. To that end, we reviewed data from 380 studies published between June 2001 and June 2015, which were identified from an initial batch of over 5,000 articles through a stringent search and evaluation process [1]. In the current paper, we use plain language to summarize our process and findings, with the intent of sharing additional context for broader reach to the general public. We addressed whether caffeine doses previously determined not to be associated with adverse effects by Health Canada (400 mg/day for healthy adults, 300 mg/day for pregnant women, 2. 5 mg/kg body weight/day for adolescents and children, and 10 g/day for acute effects) remain appropriate for five outcome areas (acute toxicity, cardiovascular toxicity, bone & calcium effects, behavior, and development and reproduction) in healthy adults, pregnant women, adolescents, and children. We used a weight-of-evidence approach to draw conclusions for each of the five outcomes, as well as more specific endpoints within those outcomes, which considered study quality, consistency, level of adversity, and magnitude of response. In general, updated evidence confirms the levels of intake put forth by Nawrot et al., as not being associated with any adverse health effects, and our results support a shift in caffeine research from healthy to sensitive populations.

The purpose of this study was to systematically review forest therapy programs designed to decrease the level of depression among adults and subsequently identify the gaps in the literature. This systematic review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The authors independently screened full-text articles from various databases using the following criteria: 1) intervention studies assessing the effects of forest therapy on depression in adults aged 18 years and over; 2) studies including at least one control group or condition; 3) been peer-reviewed; and 4) been published either in English or Korean before July 2016. The Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network (SIGN) measurement tool was used to assess the risk of bias in each trial. In the final sample, a total of 28 articles (English: 13, Korean: 15) were included in the present systematic review. This review concluded that forest therapy is one of the emerging and effective interventions for decreasing the level of depression in adults. However, the studies included in this review lacked methodological rigor. Future studies assessing the long-term effect of forest therapy on depression using rigorous study designs are needed.

The range of rating instruments in depression measurement and the depth of their analytical relevance constitutes a major development in this psychiatric and psychotherapeutic field of mental health. Though the competition is acute amongst these various instruments, the results for the public have been outstandingly positive. A depression rating scale is essentially a psychiatric measuring instrument utilized in the identification and ranking of depression severity within the patient. The scale provides the practitioner, psychiatrist or psychotherapist, with sufficient information to assess the severity of the depression plotted on the scale. Not used as a “diagnostic tool” itself, nevertheless, the depression rating scale does function as an effective device for designating and assigning a behavioral score which may, then, be used in establishing the severity of depression of value in the designation of a diagnosis and treatment formula. In this paper, we will take a close look at the leading depression rating scales and briefly summarize their scope of assessment value in rating depression.

This article challenges the assumption that journals and peer review are essential for developing, evaluating and disseminating scientific and other academic knowledge. It suggests a more flexible ecosystem, and examines some of the possibilities this might facilitate. The market for academic outputs should be opened up by encouraging the separation of the dissemination service from the evaluation service. Publishing research in subject-specific journals encourages compartmentalising research into rigid categories. The dissemination of knowledge would be better served by an open access, web-based repository system encompassing all disciplines. There would then be a role for organisations to assess the items in this repository to help users find relevant, high-quality work. There could be a variety of such organisations which could enable reviews from peers to be supplemented with evaluation by non-peers from a variety of different perspectives: user reviews, statistical reviews, reviews from the perspective of different disciplines, and so on. This should reduce the inevitably conservative influence of relying on two or three peers, and make the evaluation system more critical, multi-dimensional and responsive to the requirements of different audience groups, changing circumstances, and new ideas. Non-peer review might make it easier to challenge dominant paradigms, and expanding the potential audience beyond a narrow group of peers might encourage the criterion of simplicity to be taken more seriously - which is essential if human knowledge is to continue to progress.

Among natural disasters, earthquakes have a considerable impact and are among the ten deadliest, with an extreme impact on the healthcare sector. This study aimed to analyze best practices in nursing care for earthquake victims. An in-depth analysis was carried out by using a scoping review, a method used in accordance with the PRISMA-ScR recommendations to identify best nursing practice in these circumstances based on searches of eight databases: MEDLINE via PubMed; Cochrane Library; Embase; VHL; PDQ-Evidence; Scopus; ProQuest; Google Scholar. Twenty-one studies were selected. The nursing practices identified were grouped into two distinct dimensions, each subdivided into four subcategories: (i) care practices: a) immediate care, b) intermediate care, psychosocial care and d) ethical care; (ii) care management and coordination practices, which cover (a) care coordination, (b) victim care network organization, (c) teamwork and (d) training. By analyzing these nursing practices during care and relief operations for earthquake victims, this study identified the various actions carried out, the nursing skills to be developed and the reinforcement of these advanced practices through the systematization of nurses’ skills, in order to promote victims’ rehabilitation, minimize their suffering and improving their quality of life during and after an earthquake.

Escape room’s games are educational gamification technologies that consist of introducing a team of players into a physical or digital space to solve a mystery or a problem in search of clues to solve puzzles, riddles, or enigmas. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of escape room’s games on the training of nurses and nursing students. A systematic review was carried out in MEDLINE, WOS, SCOPUS, CINAHL and LILACS databases using the MeSH terms: "Education, Nursing" and "Educational Technology", and the free term "Escape room", combining with Boolean operators AND/OR. Intervention studies in Spanish, English and Portuguese were included, without limitation for the year of publication. Selection and critical appraisal were conducted by two independent reviewers. A total of n=15 interventional studies were included (n=2 Randomized Clinical Trials and n=12 quasi-experimental). Escape rooms are a recent and booming educational methodology, which is increasingly used in academia and training of nurses and nursing students; however, it is necessary to expand their use to more countries, as well as the number and quality of interventional studies, being necessary to homogenize and standardize criteria and to use validated instruments to evaluate the effectiveness of escape rooms in the field of nursing.

Polyurethane is used extensively in the furniture industry, primarily in beds and sofas. There is a significant volume of research pertaining to the flammability of polyurethane materials, but very little regarding smoke toxicity. Given toxic fire effluents are a primary cause of injury and fatalities, more work needs to be done to test the toxicity of polyurethane materials and the fire retardants they are coated/bound with. The aim of the review is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the decomposition of polyurethane and discuss the development and application of modern fire retardants and their effect on smoke toxicity. This work then provides discussion on the challenges faced when attempting to quantify the toxicity of the effluent produced during combustion. Future work should aim to reduce the toxicity and flammability of polyurethane simultaneously by; reducing the pyrolysis of the polymer, preventing the escape of volatile products, reducing radicals within the system and lowering the temperature of the system. Before this can be achieved, a better understanding of smoke toxicity and the ability to test materials is needed.