Abstract: Climate change is one of the main barriers for agricultural production and productivity globally. Hence, understanding farmers’ adoption level of CSA practices and determinants is of highly important for policy decisions. Consequently, the study's purpose was to assess adoption level of multiple CSA practices and determinants of climate-smart agriculture practices in the study area. The study was conducted in Welmera Woreda, Oromia Region, Ethiopia. From the Woreda, three kebeles were identified, and 306 respondent farmers were selected. A cross-sectional household survey, focus group discussion, and key informant interviews were used. Multivariate probit model was used to examine adoption determinants of multiple climate-smart agriculture practices. According to the result, Conservation agriculture, integrated soil fertility management, and crop diversification are the most commonly practiced CSA techniques in the study area. Demographic factors result indicated that being male as compared with female farmers, has positive and significant effect on crop diversification and improved livestock feed and feeding practices. Age of farmers significantly and negatively affecting the probability of adoption of improved soil fertility management practices and crop diversification. However, it affects the adoption of agroforestry practices positively and significantly. Based on the result of economic factors, having relatively large farm land size significantly increases the adoption of conservation agriculture, improved soil fertility management, crop diversification, improved livestock feed and feeding practices, and postharvest technology practice. Better farm income increases the likelihood of uptake of improved livestock feed and feeding. Having a large number of livestock positively influences adoption of conservation agriculture and having access to credit services positively influences the implementation of agroforestry, crop diversification, and postharvest technology. In addition, institutional factors such as access to agricultural extension service and training found that significantly and positively influences the adoption of crop diversification; access to participation on farmers’ field day similarly significantly and positively influence the adoption of both conservation agriculture and improved soil fertility management practice. Awareness creation for farmers and experts about climate change and including location specific CSA practices in to agricultural program is crucial.

Concerns of food and environmental security have increased enormously in recent years due to the vagaries of climate change and variability. Efforts to promote food security and environmental sustainability often reinforce each other and enable farmers to adapt to and mitigate the impact of climate change and other stresses. Some of these efforts are based on appropriate technologies and practices that restore natural ecosystems and improve the resilience of farming systems, thus enhancing food security. Climate smart agriculture (CSA) principles, for example, translate into a number of locally-devised and applied practices that work simultaneously through contextualised crop-soil-water-nutrient-pest-ecosystem management at a variety of scales. The purpose of this paper is to review concisely the current state-of-the-art literature and ascertain the potential of the Pfumvudza concept to enhance household food security, climate change mitigation and adaptation as it is promoted in Zimbabwe. The study relied heavily on data from print and electronic media. Datasets pertaining to carbon, nitrous oxide and methane storage in soils and crop yield under zero tillage and conventional tillage were compiled. Findings show that, compared to conventional farming, Pfumvudza has great potential to contribute towards household food security and reducing carbon emissions if implemented following the stipulated recommendations. These include among others, adequate land preparation and timely planting and acquiring inputs. However, nitrous oxide emissions tend to increase with reduced tillage and, the use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides is environmentally unfriendly.

This literature review paper delves into the synergies between Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) and the effective management of food losses. With the escalating challenges posed by climate change and the pressing need to address food security concerns, the intersection of these two critical domains becomes paramount for sustainable agricultural practices. The review explores existing research on the implementation of climate-smart agricultural techniques and their impact on mitigating food losses throughout the agricultural value chain. The paper synthesizes findings related to climate-resilient crop varieties, precision farming, water-use efficiency, and sustainable soil management, highlighting their contributions to reducing post-harvest losses and enhancing overall food security. In addition to summarizing current knowledge, this paper identifies gaps in the literature and proposes avenues for future research. This review serves as a foundation for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners seeking to contribute to the advancement of climate-smart agriculture and the reduction of food losses, paving the way for a more sustainable and resilient global food system.

This academic paper explores the synergistic potential of Agroforestry systems and Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) in enhancing climate change adaptation strategies. Focusing on Australia and Pacific Island Countries, the study delves into the pivotal role of these approaches in mitigating the impacts of changing climate variables on agricultural production. By analysing important climate variables, their potential alterations, and their subsequent effects on crop production, the paper advocates for a holistic and forward-thinking approach to sustainable agriculture in the face of climate change.

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is a new and emerging concept in climate discourse to address the issues of climate change impacts in agriculture. Few researchers and organizations have concentrated on CSA policies and practices in Nepal. This study aims to review and analyze the policies and practices in relation to CSA and define local level CSA indicators in the Central and Western Nepal. This study adopted the scoping review of climate policies and practices in Nepal and also utilized the household survey information particularly focusing on climate adaptation relating to agriculture. Through the scoping review, it is recognized that the number of climate policies in Nepal has specifically prioritized agriculture and food security as an important thematic area. Among those policies, National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA), National Framework for Local Adaptation Plan of Action (LAPA) and National Adaptation Plan (NAP) have specific sections on CSA practices, however, these policies/plans lack specific indicators. Different categories of CSA practices are common in Nepal, but many of these practices are popular as agricultural and environmental practices prior to the CSA concept and approach. The output indicators specific to CSA practices help the communities and policymakers to measure and monitor the progress of its implementation. Additional researches are required in this field to better understand the CSA concept, approaches, and mechanisms in the Nepalese context.

Agriculture contributes towards South African economy, but this sector is highly vulnerable to risks imposed by climate change. Smallholder maize farmers are specifically susceptible to climate change impacts. Maize crop plays a crucial role in the country's food security as it is considered a stable food for households and source of feed for livestock. The study aimed to analyze the socio-economic factors influencing smallholder maize farmers’ willingness to adopt climate-smart agriculture. It was conducted in three different areas due to their specific agro-ecological zones. Multipurpose research design was used to gather data, and multistage random sampling to choose the study areas. Subsequently, 209 purposively selected farmers were interviewed face-to-face using structured questionnaires and focus discussion groups. Descriptive statistics and Double-hurdle regression model were used to analyze the data. Descriptive results indicated that 81%, 67%, and 63% farmers were willing to adopt CSA in Ga-Makanye, Gabaza, and Giyani, respectively. Empirical results from the first and second hurdles of the regression analysis showed that farmers’ education, crop diversification, information about CSA positively influenced the decision to adopt CSA while household size and agricultural experience negatively influenced the decision to adopt CSA. It is recommended that the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform, and Rural Development should provide CSA workshops and educational programs to farmers to enhance their knowledge and decision-making processes regarding adaptation strategies.

This study assessed stakeholders’ perception on the prospects and challenges of practising Climate–Smart Agroforestry in the Asunafo North Municipal Assembly in the Ahafo Region in Ghana. Interviewer administered questionnaires were used to collect cross-sectional data from 250 cocoa, food and cash crop farmers drawn from four (4) communities using simple random sampling. And nine (9) in-depth interviews were also conducted to elicit key stakeholder perspectives. Stakeholders also held the view that Climate-Smart Agroforestry encourages the use of stress-tolerant crop varieties, increase income, improve soil productivity, diversify farm produce, urges the reduction of input supply and recommends the timely usage of the inputs, ensures better market system for farm produce, cost of production decreases during the practice of Agroforestry, agro-ecological functions and Climate-Smart Agroforestry can best help adapt to the threats of climate change in the agriculture sector. The challenges included insecure tree ownership right, fast-declining soil fertility and long maturity period of Agroforestry trees, land tenure issues, illegal tree logging (chainsaw operators) on farms, lack of practical understanding of the approach, inadequate knowledge and information and inadequate supportive facilities in the study area. The study recommends further studies on the existing forest policy and legislations and its implications on the practice and adoption of Climate-Smart Agroforestry in respond to climate change in the area.

This article concerns the adoption of small-scale irrigation farming as a climate-smart agriculture practice and its influence on household income in the Chinyanja Triangle. Chinyanja Triangle is a region that experiences mid-season dry spells and an increase in occurrences of drought due to low and erratic rainfall patterns which is attributed largely to climate variability and change. This poses high agricultural production risks, which aggravate poverty and food insecurity. For this region, adoption of small-scale irrigation farming as a climate-smart agriculture practice is very important. Through a binary logistic and ordinary least squares regression, the article determines factors that influence the adoption of small-scale irrigation farming as a climate-smart agriculture practice and its influence on income among smallholder farmers. The results show that off-farm employment, access to irrigation equipment, access to reliable water sources and awareness of water conservation practices, such as rainwater harvesting have a significant influence on the adoption of small-scale irrigation farming. On the other hand, the farmer’s age, distance travelled to the nearest market and nature of employment negatively influenced the adoption of small-scale irrigation farming decisions. Ordinary least squares regression results showed that the adoption of small-scale irrigation farming as a climate-smart agriculture practice has a significant positive influence on agricultural income. We therefore conclude that to empower smallholder farmers to quickly respond to climate variability and change, practices that will enhance adoption of small-scale irrigation farming in the Chinyanja Triangle are critical as this will significantly impact on agricultural income.

: The agriculture sector is one of the backbones of many countries’ economies and its processes have been changing in order to enable technological adoption to increase productivity, quality, and sustainable development. In this research, we present a theoretical reflection through a scientific mapping of the adoption of precision techniques and breakthrough technologies in agriculture, the so-called Precision Agriculture (PA) and Agriculture 4.0 (A4.0). To do this, we used 4,694 documents from the Web of Science database to perform a Bibliometric Performance and Network Analysis (BPNA) of the literature with the support of the PICOC protocol and the SciMAT software. Our findings present 22 strategic themes related to Digital Agriculture (DA) such as Internet of Things (IoT) and Climate-smart Agriculture (CSA) among others, and the thematic network structures of the motor themes and the thematic evolution structure of the field of the study over time. In addition, our results discuss the main challenges and opportunities of DA. Our findings have the potential to provide insights for practitioners and researchers in decision-making and pave the way for future works.

Multi-cropping can solve the energy and GHG balance problems, but the emergence, development and productivity of such mixed crops are at risk due to increasing drought periods. For this reason, single maize crops with inter-row mellowing and weed-mulching practices were compared with faba bean, crimson and Persian clover, and alfalfa intercropped maize cultivations. Tests were performed at the Experimental Station of Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania. Results showed that by the 30% higher energy inputs were calculated in technologies with intercropped crimson, Persian clover, and alfalfa than in monocropped maize. Single maize crops produced by the 23-40% higher biomass yields compare to clover and alfalfa intercropped maize because, due to the drought periods, intercrops weakly sprouted and developed. Lower harvests reduced the energy output by up to 38%, energy efficiency ratio - by up to 2.5 times and net energy - by up to 42%. All tested technologies were environmentally friendly and similar according to the CO2 equivalent. Long-term drought periods during vegetative season due to climate change make us think about the improvement of intercropping technologies. Sowing intercrops at the same time with maize could solve the problem of its germination but highlight the problem of abundant weed spread. Therefore, this takes us to another sphere of agrotechnologies - the effective non-chemical weed control.

An opinion dependent cross sectional survey was conducted among charland peoples of Noakhali, Bangladesh with a view to identify the factors that affect green economy. Nijhumdwip Island and Tamaruddi union are highly affected by cyclone and soil salinity. Unpredictable rainfall is the most acute in Nijhumdwip. Lack of information the main problem in Nijhumdwip Island. Farmers are found less interest in integrated farming and crop diversification. Few farmers from Sonadia Union are involved in homestead gardening. Regression analysis have shown a negative relationship (p<0.001) between education of stockholders and decrease of crop production. On the other hand education level of stockholders is to be found positively (p<0.05) varied with decrease of food insecurity. So it can be said that educated farmers are more adaptive against climate change.

The agricultural sector provides employment and income to the majority of Myanmar's population. The sector, however, is extremely susceptible to severe weather, rising temperatures, and changes in precipitation. This paper aims to analyze how vulnerable Myanmar's agricultural sector is to climate change and highlights the key sectors that are most at risk. This report also examines historical climate information, and the anticipated effects of climate change on Myanmar's agricultural sectors. In-depth literature reviews and summaries of Myanmar's climate change adaptation efforts are included in the report, along with recom-mendations for targeted, locally appropriate actions to strengthen the country's agricultural sector's resilience. Additionally, the study reviews Myanmar's in-stitutional framework for climate action and government priorities for adaptation measures, emphasizes the urgent need for climate action in Myanmar's agricul-ture sectors and calls for more research and development efforts on the effects of climate change on rural livelihoods and agriculture.

Smart livestock farming leverages technology to boost production and meet food demand sustainably. This study delves into smart technologies in animal production, covering opportunities, challenges, and solutions. Smart agriculture employs modern technology to enhance efficiency, sustainability, and animal welfare in livestock farming. It includes remote monitoring, GPS-based animal care, robotic milking, smart health collars, predictive disease control, and other innovations to achieve these goals. While smart animal production holds great promise, it does face challenges related to cost, data management, and connectivity. To address these challenges, potential solutions include remote sensing, technology integration, and farmer education. Smart agriculture offers opportunities for increased efficiency, improved animal welfare, and enhanced environmental conservation. A well-planned approach is crucial to maximize the benefits of smart livestock production while ensuring its long-term sustainability. This study confirms the growing adoption of smart agriculture in livestock production, with the potential to support sustainable development goals and deliver benefits such as increased productivity and resource efficiency. To fully realize these benefits and ensure the sustainability of livestock farming, it is essential to address cost and education challenges. Therefore, this study recommends promoting a positive outlook among livestock stakeholders and embracing smart agriculture to enhance farm performance.

Climate change and food security are the most relevant issues to be considered in sustainable agricultural development. The FAO’s initiative of climate-smart agriculture has attracted international attention. Since then, the smart agriculture (SA) has been recognized as the most influential trends in contributing to agricultural development. Therefore, encouraging farmers to adopt digital technologies and mobile devices into farming practices becomes a policy priority worldwide. However, there is limited literature available on psychologic factors that drive farmers’ intentions to adopt SA technologies. The purpose of this study is to investigate how farmer’s knowledge and attitude toward SA affects their adoption of smart technologies in Taiwan. A total of 321 farmers participated in the project’s survey in 2017 and 2018, from which the data was used to perform an OLS regression model of SA adoption. This study contributes to a preliminary understanding of relationship between innovation and adoption of SA technologies in a small-scale farming economic context. The findings suggest that the policy makers and R&D institutes need to concentrate on improving market access for well-known and high important SA technologies.

Climate change is a major development challenge to Ethiopia. Unless adaptation measures are widely implemented, climate change can set back development efforts and achievements by years. Recognizing this, the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) and civil society organizations have since recently been making considerable efforts to tackle the climate change problem. This paper documents the experience of CARE International in Ethiopia in facilitating bottom-up approaches to promote community-led disaster risk management and climate change adaptation planning through a participator scenario planning (PSP) methodology. PSP is a coordinated approach which leverages a variety of stakeholders' skills and mandates to explore potential climate change risks and their impacts, and then develop locally relevant and shared adaptation action plans that support livelihoods, social capital and ecosystem resilience. The approach has facilitated timely access to and communication of seasonal climate advisories which in turn is empowering communities to take advantage of opportunities that climate presents, which is a key part of adapting to climate change. The institutionalization of the approach by district and regional disaster prevention and food security coordination offices in the southern pastoral regions of Ethiopia encouraged integration of PSP into community livelihood adaptation and local government development planning, hence continuity of the process. Sustainability is expected to be fully achieved when local government planning processes recognize the importance of and provides resources for the participation of meteorological services and community forecasting experts to help refine plans on a seasonal basis, and for systems for dissemination of advisories. Key words: Climate Change, Disaster Risk Reduction, Adaptation, Pastoralism, Ethiopia,

In the last few decades, a lot has been written on the use of sustainable agriculture to improve ecosystem services for resilience to climate change. However, no tangible and systematic evidence exists on how this would participate in alleviating impacts on vulnerable rural communities. This paper provides a narrative systematic review (SR) integrated with a bibliometric analysis and a concept network analysis to understand how, in a changing climate, sustainable agriculture builds the resilience of agro-systems. The search was set from the date of the first relevant article until the end of 2018. Results generated have demonstrated that: a. Only single practices and methods have been studied to assess impacts on single ecosystem services. b. Soil quality and health are considered a key indicator of sustainable agriculture. c. Albeit the assessed practices and methods have shown to improve the biodiversity of agro-systems, which makes them more resilient to extreme climate events, we are still far from reaching interdisciplinary and multi-dimensional agriculture which integrates all management aspects and generates a full range of ecosystem services. In conclusion, the study addressed the following recommendations for the scientific community and for decision-makers to orient future research strategies and efforts: a. Integration of all agro-systems services into sustainable management using an ecosystem-based approach on a life-cycle basis using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method; b. Improving the scientific understanding of traditional knowledge for higher synergies and for further integration; c. Unification of assessment methods and indicators for the quantification of impacts; d. Creation of a platform to share, monitor, screen, and approve assessments and evaluations of sustainable agriculture by region.

Climate change is a big challenge for agriculture since it affects crop productivity and yield. The increase of droughts, salinity, and soil degradation are some of the main consequences of climate change. The use of microorganisms has emerged as an alternative to mitigate them. Among these microorganisms, dark septate endophytes (DSEs) have garnered more attention in recent years. Various studies show that their association with plants helps reduce the harmful effects of abiotic stresses and increases nutrient availability, allowing plants to thrive under adverse conditions. This work reviews the effect of DSEs and the subjacent mechanisms that will help plants develop a higher tolerance to climate change.

Both globally and in Hungary, agriculture is one of the industries that is most vulnerable to weather and climate extremes. Intense temperature rises, spatial and temporal variations in precipitation, and significant changes in extreme climatological and weather parameters have contributed to changes in the conditions of cropland, crop losses, and impacts on crop quality in recent years. This paper depicts the transformation of the domestic agricultural sector due to the extreme drought shock of 2022, as well exploring the adaptation strategies applied. The research is based on official agro-climate database and crop data, and the temperature, precipitation, and radiation during the growing season are all examined. The agro-meteorological properties in Hungary had to be investigated for the entire year and all four of its seasons, with indicator analysis projected onto the ever-increasing and dormant seasons. Long-term climate analysis is necessary to understand the historic drought of 2022 and the success of future adaptation and mitigation techniques. The results can help smallholders effectively reduce the adverse impacts of drought conditions, thereby increasing their adaptation to similar shocks.

In recent days, the adverse effect of climate change on soil properties in the agriculture sector is a dreadful reality worldwide. Climate change-induced abiotic stresses such as salinity, drought and temperature fluctuations are devastating the crops’ physiological responses, productivity and overall yield which is ultimately posing a serious threat to global food security and agroecosystems. The applications of chemical fertilizers and pesticides contribute towards further deterioration and rapid change in climate. Therefore, more careful, eco-friendly and sustainable strategies are required to mitigate the impact of climate-induced damage on agriculture sector. This paper reviews the recently reported damaging impacts of abiotic stresses on various crops along with two emerging mitigation strategies; biochar and biostimulants, in light of recent studies for combating the worsening impact of deteriorated environment and climate change on crops physiological responses, yields, soil properties, and environment. Here we highlighted the impact of climate change on agriculture and soil properties along with recently emerging mitigation strategies applying biochar and biostimulants, towards protecting the soil, agriculture and environment.

In wireless sensor networks (WSNs) deployed in smart agriculture systems, accurately determining the locations of sensor nodes is crucial for efficient monitoring and control. However, in many cases, the exact positions of certain sensor nodes may be unknown. To address this challenge, this paper presents a novel method for localizing unknown sensor nodes in WSN-based smart agriculture systems using range measurements. The proposed method utilizes the Levenberg-Marquardt optimization algorithm to solve a nonlinear least squares problem and minimize the error in estimating the unknown node locations. By leveraging the known positions of a subset of sensor nodes and the inexact distance measurements between pairs of nodes, the localization problem is transformed into a nonlinear optimization problem. To validate the effectiveness of the approach, extensive simulations and experiments were conducted. The results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves accurate localization of the unknown sensor nodes, effectively enhancing the overall performance of the WSN-based smart agriculture system. Furthermore, the method demonstrates robustness against measurement noise and scalability for large-scale networks. The practical implications of this research extend beyond smart agriculture systems, as the proposed method can be applied to various WSN applications where precise node localization is essential.

Sustainable agriculture has become increasingly important in Tunisia due to the drought that has been affecting the country's climate in recent years. This has become a major threat to the economy, making it necessary to explore alternative methods of agriculture that are more sustainable. Moreover, smart hydroponic cultivation based on renewable energies has become increasingly widespread, promoting the quality and efficiency of agricultural production despite weather parameters variations and global warming. This work aims to create a sustainable agriculture system in Tunisia through the design and implementation of a smart photovoltaic (PV) hydroponic greenhouse. The greenhouse will utilize advanced technology to optimize plant growth and reduce water usage, while also incorporating solar panels to generate renewable energy. The end goal is to create a self-sufficient and eco-friendly agricultural system that can provide fresh produce to local communities year-round. In this work, we are interested to the automation of the hydroponic greenhouse (HG)’s thermal conditioning system based on an asynchronous motor pump and powered by a PV generator. In the first stage, we analyzed the mathematical modeling of a stand-alone PV-HG system that consists of a PV generator, a three-phase inverter, an asynchronous motor pump, and a hydroponic system. After that, we developed a Field Oriented Control based on proportional integral (PI) regulators to adjust the rotation speed of the asynchronous motor pump, which aimed to provide the cooling and heating needs of the plant. The simulation results demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed system . Additionally, we designed and implemented a smart system based on the internet of things (IoT) to enable remote control of internal and external parameters of the HG. This intelligent solution utilizes sensors, microcontrollers, and other devices and ensures the monitoring and the maintaining of the ideal growing conditions for our plants, guaranteeing that they receive the proper amount of temperature, humidity, and lighting. This type of system can be an invaluable tool for maximizing yields and achieving optimal results. With the right approach and attention to detail, we can create a sustainable and efficient growing environment that will help our plants flourish year-round.

The human landscape transforming activity contributes to the global change of vegetation in different forms. Hunting is one of the most ancient human landscape-shaping activities. Feeders for hunting are particularly disruptive to vegetation. In the present study, we conducted a vegetation survey in these highly disturbed places. We are investigating the vegetation dynamics over several years in in the turkey oak–sessile oak zone, in two areas with different moisture and shade conditions (forest and clearing). One important background factor is changes in precipitation and temperature. The novelty of our present study lies in the fact that the observation takes place with continuous disturbance, where the human influence is very large. Our results confirm that the weed infestation be detectable at bait sites over a long period, and the interannual changes were typical in every year, according to the fact that in August, more weed species are usually present with a greater cover at the bait sites. The main meteorological factors played a role in the degree of weed infestation in each year. There was a higher proportion of vegetation regeneration in wetter years, while dry periods do not favor successional processes. With the drying of the climate, the disturbed areas are constantly losing their natural value, but wetter weather is not an automatic solution either. A more precise understanding of vulnerable systems and careful planning of treatment interventions is necessary.

In recent years, the integration of sensors in agriculture has emerged as a pivotal catalyst for transforming conventional farming practices into precision agriculture. Sensor application is impacting the everyday objects that enhance human life. In this special issue, the main objective was to address recent advantages of sensor application in agriculture covering a wide range of topics in this field. This provides overview of diverse application of sensors in agriculture, highlighting their role in enhancing productivity, sustainability, and resource management. sensors are instrumental in monitoring various agriculture parameter such as soil condition, weather, crop health and livestock wellbeing. By collecting real-time data and providing valuable insight, sensors enable precision farming, optimize resource allocation, and minimize environmental impacts. we have to explore the key sensor types used in agriculture, their applications, benefits, and future prospects, emphasizing their crucial roles in the modernization of agriculture and global quest for food security and crop production.

Climate change from anthropogenic activities represents a serious threat to life in earth. Agriculture releases significant emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), but also offers low-cost opportunities to mitigate GHG emissions. This paper assesses agricultural GHG emissions in Aragon, one important and representative region for agriculture in Spain. The Marginal Abatement Cost Curve (MACC) approach is used to analyze the abatement potential and cost-efficiency of mitigation measures under several scenarios, with and without taking into account the interaction among measures and their transaction costs. The assessment identifies the environmental and economic outcomes of different combinations of measures. Moreover, we develop future mitigation scenarios for agriculture toward the year 2050, in order to assess the impacts on GHG emissions. Results highlight the importance of assessing biophysical processes in mitigation measures, and the significant effects of interactions between measures that reduce the abatement potential and worsen the cost-efficiency. The inclusion of transaction costs provides a better ranking of measures and a more accurate estimation of implementation costs. The scenario analysis shows how the combinations of measures could reduce emissions and promote sustainable agriculture in the future. Keywords: Climate change; mitigation measures; biophysical processes; cost-efficiency; abatement costs; transaction costs; policy scenarios.

The brief paper utilises Zimbabwe as a case study to discuss the effects of El Nino in Southern Africa. It offers potential adaptation and mitigation measures for farmers to prepare for the forecasted El Nino-influenced rainy season 2023/24 and the future. To reduce climate and weather hazards connected with El Nino, the brief report suggests anticipatory action methods be applied in southern Africa, using Zimbabwe as a case study. To protect farmers' livelihoods and enhance drought readiness for the forthcoming agricultural seasons, the paper suggests a degree of strategic, tactical, and operational decision-making that the agriculture industry should adhere to. It emphasised the significance of providing farmers with knowledge and advice regarding drought and heat stress, including cultivating crop varieties and livestock and sufficient fire safety precautions. The brief paper calls to advocate for anticipatory action to avert El Nino in Southern Africa.

Development of agriculture in Russia and Belarus is based on the practical implementation of "smart" systems in agriculture based on the use of modern wireless, intelligent technologies and Internet of Things. This review presents research articles (mainly, in Russian) published in the period of 2013 – 2022 on the use of cloud technologies and Internet of Things for the development of agriculture in Russia and Belarus. An analysis of the use of cloud technologies and Internet of Things in the modern world is given on the basis of research articles and reviews published in English in the period of 2017 – 2022. The main directions of digitalization of modern agriculture are listed. The uses of cloud technologies and Internet of Things in agriculture are described along with promising directions for further research and applications.

Climate risk is one of the confronting factors in Indian agriculture. To overcome this distrust, a large number of sensors can be installed in the fields,The extensive IoT platform can process the data sent by these sensors.The Data stream can be processed in real-timeusing Fuzzylogic, to offer smart solution. Network coding can enhance throughput and security. Thus reducing human interaction and improve efficiency.

Climate risk is one of the confronting factors in Indian agriculture. To overcome this distrust, a large number of sensors can be installed in the fields,The extensive IoT platform can process the data sent by these sensors.The Data stream can be processed in real-timeusing Fuzzylogic, to offer smart solution. Network coding can enhance throughput and security. Thus reducing human interaction and improve efficiency.

Our planet faces several serious and urgent challenges to sustainability, not just climate change. Most researchers argue that technological solutions can solve these problems. This review paper first examines the prospects for decoupling environmental damages in general from economic growth, considered at the global level, then looks at whether the recent advances in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can help. It is argued that although absolute decoupling might have occurred in some countries, even after accounting for energy-intensive imports, it has not occurred at the global level, which is the relevant level for global sustainability problems. This conclusion is strengthened by the very high correlation over the past three decades found between GDP and several parameters relevant for sustainability, particularly for atmospheric CO2 ppm and ecological footprint as a function of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). ICT innovations relevant to energy use include smart grids and smart cities, especially smart urban transport. A review of recently published papers shows no definite findings of energy or carbon reduction, although some innovations show energy/carbon reduction potential, if given strong policy support. However, the needed policies could well give marked reductions even without ICT approaches. Overall, it is concluded that Earth’s sustainability challenges will necessitate deep energy reductions, which in turn require profound sociopolitical changes.

Nanotechnology has become a popular topic in agricultural and animal research, generating sig-nificant global interest. Nanoparticles (NPs)-enabled agriculture and animal husbandry (AHs) products have three main principles: crop production, protection, and nutrient enrichment. Re-search on this topic has grown exponentially in recent years, with an increasing number of peer-reviewed literature and patents on NPs-enabled agriculture and AH products. This study examines and collects data on the various applications of NPs-enabled agricultural products for crop production, protection, and livestock improvement from the core nanotechnological database. The search returned several types of NPs and products used in agriculture and AH, countries that utilize these products at a commercial level, and analysis of these data by phyton, R-statistical software. Our findings show remarkable growth of nanotechnology in agriculture, AH, and re-search fields for future sustainability goals in the era of climate change

This essay review explores the concept of climate-smart forestry as an approach to mitigating and adapting to climate change. It highlights the need for a holistic approach to forestry that considers regional differences and synergies between ecosystem services. The essay discusses various management strategies at different scales, including species selection, mixed species cultivation, and the promotion of the bioeconomy. It also examines the trade-offs and synergies between different forest uses and the effects of forest management on ecosystem services. Furthermore, the review addresses major abiotic and biotic damage risks to forests, such as wildfires, windstorms, and bark beetle attacks, and proposes risk management strategies. Lastly, the review delves into the management of peatland forests, discussing the role of drainage, the impact of ditch network maintenance, and the challenges of peat ash fertilization. Overall, the review provides valuable insights into climate-smart forestry and its potential to contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Môle Saint-Nicolas, like all other communes in the Republic of Haiti, faces increasing climate variability, impacting agricultural production and water resources. Consequently, there is a pressing need for adaptation to these climatic changes. This research aims to showcase the adaptation strategies deployed by farmers to cope with the increasing climate variability. Surveys were conducted through group and individual discussions with a randomly selected cohort of 150 farmers. Two types of analysis were performed: quantitative and qualitative. The quantitative data analysis was conducted using SPSS software. The findings reveal that farmers have perceived changes in rainfall patterns, temperature, wind, and their environment. These changes manifest as irregular rainfall, higher temperatures, prolonged drought periods, violent winds accompanied by rain, premature cessation of rains, and reduced flow from water sources. In response, the most common adaptation strategies developed include selecting new cultivars, early-maturing varieties, crop rotation and diversification, canal dredging, new soil preparation methods, upstream water source protection, and micro-watershed management. The significance of this research lies in its contribution to enhancing farmers' adaptive capacities by alerting stakeholders in the irrigated perimeters about the consequences of climate change, thereby incorporating the real needs of farmers in future projects.

Rain-fed agriculture remains the source of employment for a majority of Ethiopian population, particularly in Dorebafana District, where annual rainfall is low. Perception of climate change and variability supported by local knowledge has helped to advance understanding of climate change and its impacts on agricultural land-use systems. Thus, the overall objective of this study was assessing farmers’ perception of climate change and variability and its impact on agriculture in Umbulo Kajima and Lebu Koromo kebeles of Dorebafana, Sidama region of Ethiopia. A total of 88 sample households from the two kebeles, farmers’ perception were compared with historical climatic data from the closest weather station of the study area. The household survey, focus group discussions and field observation were used as primary data sources in the study area. The data was analyzed by using descriptive statics in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and multinomial logistic regression model. As data showed, there was the declining and high variability of rainfall in the last three decades In addition, the maximum annual rainfall was observed in 1998, 1755.4 mm and the lowest annual rainfall was recorded in 2015, 537.4 mm in the study area. The focus group discussions and key informant interviews further supported the idea that rainfall in the research area has been falling and very variable over the previous three decades. The finding showed that, temperature increased by 0.1oC over the previous three decade, and socioeconomic factors such sex, age, farming experience, knowledge of the climate, market access, and agro-ecology had an impact on farmers' perceptions of climate change and its impact in agriculture. Therefore awareness creation, increase educational level, sharing experience, scaling up best practice and using new technologies are the best alternatives to minimize the adverse effects of climate change.

The Internet of Things (IoT) technology and devices constitute an exciting field in computer science that is rapidly emerging worldwide. IoT devices function by connecting real-world objects to the internet, resulting in a higher number of interconnected devices than ever witnessed in history. Through internet connectivity, these devices can be utilized in various ways, such as monitoring and tracking. Their prevalence is increasing exponentially, coinciding with advancements in wireless networking technologies. The internet’s enhanced connectivity has played a vital role in fostering the proliferation of IoT devices. Presently, almost any everyday object can be network-connected. The demand for automation and efficiency has also been a contributing factor to the advancements in this technology. This paper aims to review the emergence of IoT devices, analyze their common applications, and explore the future prospects in this promising field of computer science. The examined applications encompass healthcare, agriculture, and smart cities. Although IoT technology exhibits similar deployment trends, this paper will explore different fields to discern the subtle nuances that exist among them. IoT technology can be applied to nearly any domain, and each use case has unique requirements. To comprehend the future of IoT, it is essential to comprehend the driving forces behind its advancements in various industries. By gaining a better understanding of the emergence of IoT devices, readers will develop insights into the factors that have propelled their growth and the conditions that led to technological advancements. Moreover, a comprehensive understanding of the prevalent methodologies will enable readers to distinguish between current practices and future methods. Given the rapid rate at which IoT technology is advancing, this paper aims to provide researchers with an understanding of the factors that have brought us to this point and the ongoing efforts to shape the future of IoT.

In Bangladesh, climate change is a major concern because of its geophysical location and climate dependent agriculture. As sessile organisms, crops plants have to face difficulties often in this environmentally vulnerable country. Therefore, this study examines the seasonal trend of two climatic parameters viz. temperature (maximum and minimum) and rainfall over a period of 1983 to 2013. Besides, this study provides insight into the relationship between climatic parameters and crop yield of two major crops viz. rice and wheat during 1997-2013. To assess the relationship of climatic parameters with time and yield using Pearson correlation analysis, time series data used at an aggregate level. SPSS software utilized for this analysis. The cropping seasons such as rice growing seasons Aus (summer rice), Aman (autumn rice) and Boro (winter rice) exhibited a significant increase in maximum and minimum temperature. Rainfall found to have a decreasing trend for all the seasons. This study also revealed that the climatic parameters had significant effects on rice yield, but these results varied among three rice crops. Maximum temperature had positive effects on all rice yields, especially on Aus and Aman. Minimum temperature had a negative effect on Aman rice yield but a positive effect on Aus rice yield. Wheat yield negatively associated with temperature. Rainfall exhibited negative relation with both rice and wheat yield.

Brinjal is a beautiful vegetable crop with strong nutritional properties specifically folate concentration and total chlorogenic acid content. These vitamins and minerals are very much effective in building up the immune system, whilst chlorogenic acid content protects the human body against heart illnesses, liver issues and diabetes. The quantity of these chemicals changes from cultivar to cultivar largely based upon the location of growth and changing environmental circumstances. Many plant breeding strategies are used to alleviate the losses but have proved to be less successful. Whereas the use of molecular markers and other biotechnology technologies have created a road for creating climate smart brinjal with maximum yields and nutritious contents.

Sado Island in Niigata prefecture, Japan is one of the first Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) among developed countries and has since been involved in environmental conservation agriculture (ECA). While ECA is still in its early stage in Japan, it has proven to be effective in mitigating climate change in the agricultural sector; hence, this study analyzed the factors which could contribute to the ECA continuation among Sado Island farmers. The data revealed the prevalence of farmers’ cognitive dissonance between ECA and its mitigating effects on climate change. Exploratory factor analysis and ordinal regression confirmed the importance of perceived GIAHS involvement in the continuation of ECA. In addition, other identified factors affecting ECA continuation fall either on a macro-level (i.e., farmers’ awareness of their role in improving their environment) or micro-level (i.e., farmers’ differing farm optimizations). These perspectives highlighted the altruistic nature of the Sado Island ECA farmers by valuing the improvement of their local and global environment as their main reason to continue ECA, whereas their various farm management optimizations support this observed farmer altruism by providing avenues to increase yield with only a moderate paddy land area. This study thereby highlights the need to continuously develop sustainable strategies to maintain and improve a positive farmer mindset towards ECA.

El Niño is warming of the sea surface temperature of the Pacific Ocean. Extreme flooding, drought, lack of potable water for livestock and domestic use, food insecurity and market imbalance are associated with El Niño and La Niña in Ethiopia. Drought following El Niño caused 50 to 90% crop failure, in the eastern parts of Ethiopia. El Niño episodes are detected using different statistical indices such as Oceanic Nino Index (ONI), Agricultural Stress Index System (ASIS) and the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), with magnitude ranging from weak to strong. Identifying the El Niño and La Niña seasons it is very important to adopt suitable adaptation strategies, which can resolve and/or reduce the negative impacts. Early warning and immediate support to the impacted areas have been carried out to minimize risks from El Niño animal feed for livestock from other areas has been transported to the vulnerable areas. Planting early maturing and drought resistant crops, supplementary irrigation, early waning information on weather and climate have been exercised as climate change adaptation strategies, early warning mechanisms by the government of Ethiopia. El Niño and La Niña are natural phenomena; however, it is necessary to study the occurrence and distribution of El Niño and La Niña episodes to enable early warning and identify suitable adaptation strategies and policy implications in the country.

Ethiopian agriculture is not only affected by precipitation declines (meteorological droughts) but also soil dryness caused by temperature increases and associated long-term hydrological changes. Meteorological drought indicators (e.g., SPI), do not fully capture the water deficits in agricultural systems (i.e., agricultural droughts). An Ethiopia-wide assessment of meteorological and agricultural drought trends was carried out to characterize century-scale (1902 – 2016) changes in droughts. SPI and SPEI calculated using two-month accumulation and the Palmer Z-index were used for assessing intra-season drought trends. SPI and SPEI at six-month accumulations and PDSI were used to define full season droughts. Detrended variance corrected Mann-Kendall test was used for trend analysis during Bega (dry), Belg (short-rainy) and Meher (long-rainy) seasons. The SPEI-2 and PDSI were most aggressive in characterizing intra-season and seasonal-drought trends. There is on average 1% - 6% annual increase in dryness with the lower estimate based on precipitation declines and the upper end accounting for seasonal soil moisture dynamics. The area between 37.5° E – 42.5° E denotes a climate hot-spot. Precipitation declines in Belg along the Ethiopia-South-Sudan/Sudan border during Belg and along Eretria-Ethiopia border during Meher have the potential to exacerbate transboundary water conflicts and further threaten the food security of the region.

Abstract: Establishing carbon neutrality (or Net Zero) in cities appears to be an ambitious challenge, which drives urban transformation efforts around the world to enhance people-centric living. Cities launch corresponding strategies focusing mainly on the United Nations 2030 goals to form their climate-neutral future. This paper provides practical guidance on city digital transformation to achieve carbon net zero. These guidelines illustrate actionable recommendations to reduce their carbon footprint using digital technologies. Following a multi-method research approach, findings from a bibliometric literature and a standards’ gap analysis were combined with practical evidence and circulated with focus group experts to conclude to these guidelines, which are the foundation for further standardization. The outcomes provide concrete guidelines to policymakers, planners, and other stakeholders for city digital transformation to establish carbon neutrality, via emphasizing the need for digital technologies to enhance efficiency in several areas and via leveraging green ICTs for city economic growth while also transforming citizen behavior.

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the world's most important staple food crop providing 20% global energy and dietary proteins. It is widely grown in sub-tropical and tropical areas and as such exposed to heat-stress especially at grain filling period (GFP). Global warming has further affected its production and productivity in these heat-stressed environments. We examined the effect of heat-stress on 18 morpho-physiological and yield-related traits in 96 bread wheat accessions. Heat susceptibility index (HSI <0.60) and yield stability (i <0.55) used as criteria for selecting the tolerant accessions. Heat-stress, imposed by delayed sowing, decreased crop growth and GFP, and as a result reduced morphological and yield-related traits, namely days to 50% anthesis, plant height, peduncle length, flag-leaf area, spike length, spikelets per spike, grain length and width, thousand grain weight (TGW), harvest index and yield. The reduction in the trait values was severe in susceptible accessions (48.2% yield reduction in IC277741) than the tolerant. Physiological traits like chlorophyll content, canopy temperature depression (CTD), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), plant waxiness and leaf rolling showed higher expression in the tolerant accessions under heat-stress. Scanning electron microscopy of matured wheat grains revealed ultrastructural changes in endosperm and aleurone cells caused due to heat-stress. The reduction of size and density of large starch granules is the major cause of yield and TGW decrease in the heat-stress susceptible lines. The most stable and high-yielding accessions namely IC566223, IC128454, IC335792, EC576707, IC535176, IC529207, IC446713 and IC416019 were identified as the climate-smart germplasm lines. Germplasm lines possessing desirable traits were selected as po-tential parents for the development of bi-parental and multi-parental populations.

Due to an increase of the monocrystalline PV systems installations, for a drive towards the sustainable smart cities in the hot arid developing country such as Pakistan, pose challenges of the performance and degradation issues. Monocrystalline PV module efficiencies are declining and damaging under the continuous exposure to higher surface day-time temperatures in the different parts of the country. A MATLAB simulations were performed based on the validated mathematical approach. This paper investigates the hot arid surface temperature impacts on the performance of PV modules during the summer and winter seasons in Pakistan. The investigations are performed examining the power generating efficiency of the PV system. This paper also investigates the influence of installations of PV-system in the North, South, East and West regions of Pakistan. It was examined that the northern areas of Pakistan are more suitable for maintaining the long-term durability of the PV system. Investigations are performed for the peak summer and peak winter days. During summer months, cooling strategies have to be implemented to overcome the heating effects whilst reducing degradation effect on installed PV-system.

The impact of the climate crisis on urban environments and life within them is evident. In the face of challenges like heatwaves, floodings and other extreme events, pollution, and declining quality of life in cities, there is a growing demand for the preservation and expansion of urban green spaces, often driven by citizen-led transformations. This paper examines 100 urban greening projects initiated or supported by citizens globally, categorizing them according to the type of greenery, the stakeholders involved, the mode of implementation and the use of smart technologies incorporated. We notice variations in green endeavors based on the stakeholders spearheading them, however most of entirely citizen-led initiatives aimed at the creation of urban farms and food growing, demonstrating the pressuring needs for food securing and self-determination in communities. More than half of the assessed initiatives that managed to scale up and multiply had public authorities providing a framework or a type of support for their development or an NGO or other organization providing expertise and mobilize citizens at various stages. In terms of technological use, we find mostly websites and social media platforms easing participatory endeavors and knowledge sharing of best practices, accelerating scaling efforts, while there is a low integration of more advanced digital technologies, which if used, could enable real-time monitoring of green spaces, inform evidence-based decision-making, and streamline processes in scaling up green initiatives.

Purpose: The study investigates soil pores' impact on carbon dynamics and sequestration processes, examining their physical and chemical characteristics and their mechanisms for carbon sequestration.Research Method: Existing literature and research on soil pores, carbon dynamics, and carbon sequestration are analyzed. The interrelationships between soil pore structure, water movement, microbial activity, root penetration, carbon input, soil aggregation, and gas exchange are examined. Traditional techniques and advanced imaging methods are used to quantify and characterize soil pores.Findings: Soil pores play a critical role in facilitating carbon sequestration through various mechanisms. They affect water movement, microbial activity, root penetration, carbon input, soil aggregation, and gas exchange. Understanding these relationships is crucial for sustainable soil management.Research Limitations: This study relies on existing literature and research, which may have limitations and uncertainties. Further research is needed to address these gaps and enhance understanding.Originality Value: This research enhances the existing knowledge by comprehensively examining the significance of soil pores in carbon dynamics and sequestration. It incorporates both traditional and advanced methods, providing insights for soil management and contributing to climate change mitigation efforts.

Following the development and dissemination of new climate-smart agricultural technologies to farmers globally, there has been an increase in the number of socio-economic studies on the adoption of climate-smart integrated pests’ management (CS-IPM) technologies over the years. In this study, we review empirical evidence on adoption determinants of CS-IPM technologies and identify possible science-policy interfaces. Generally, our review shows that socioeconomic and institutional factors are influential in shaping CS-IPM adoption decisions of farmers. More specifically, income was found to positively influence the adoption of CS-IPM technologies while land size owned influences CS-IPM adoption negatively. Registered land tenure (registered secure rights) positively influences CS-IPM technologies’ adoption, implying that efficient land markets that enable competitive and fair distribution and access to land, more so by the vulnerable but efficient smallholder producers do indeed increase the adoption of CS-IPMs technologies. Social capital, achieved via farmers’ organizations is also central in fostering CS-IPM technologies’ adoption, just as markets reforms that minimize market failures regarding access to credit, labor, and agricultural information, which could indirectly hinder farmers’ use of CS-IPM practices. Functional extension systems that improve farmers’ awareness of CS-IPM do also improve CS-IPM technologies’ adoption. However, the adoption of CS-IPM technologies in Ghana and Benin is slow-paced because of factors like lack of access to farm inputs that facilitate uptake of these technologies, lack of credit facilities, and limited extension services among others. Interestingly, our review confirms that CS-IPM technologies do indeed reduce and minimize the intensity of pesticide usage and foster ecosystem (environmental and human) health. Therefore, this review unearths strategic determinants of CS-IPM adoption and makes fundamental guidance around climate-smart innovations transfer and environmental policies that should be prioritized to curb environmental pollution and ensure agricultural ecosystems’ sustainability.

The manuscript wants to investigate the debate on urban resilience and climate change linking theory and practice, describing the possible innovations that concern urban design, urban normative and regional laws developing in different countries. The approach pursued would encourage resilience and flood protection through smart planning and through the architectural and urban project; considering public space as strategic soil where developing the resilient city, using engineering technical climate defence as new space for citizens and communities. Resilience themes are included in all levels of government and in spatial and strategic development policies such as in some project concerning public and private space and in municipal plans; the urban defense structures has to become new pleasant space for the city; these actions will not only contribute to making cities more resilient but will contribute to the creation of a more pleasant and attractive urban environment. The Resilience is the main keyword of some strategic vision of the Netherlands and of Italian laws and the concept is tested in some best practice such as in Rotterdam, in Bordeaux, in London and in the research carried out by "Arquitectos de Cabecera" in Barcelona. Resilience is seen as a new paradigm of smart planning.

Information and communication technologies play an increasingly important role in the process of knowledge and management of places at different scales. ICTs allow a rapid diffusion of data not only through institutional channels but also through social networks where the smart community share experiences and perceptions. In this sense, ICTs become strategic tools to support the promotion of sustainable tourism development of territories, especially if the digital data are organised within a circular smart dashboard. This research focuses on the case study of the Santa Barbara Walk (SBW), an ancient mining route in the Sulcis Iglesiente region (Sardinia, Italy), where the authors have recognized a state of disorganization in slow tourism promotion activities. In fact, if the SBW represents a network - material infrastructure - which connects the main points of interest along the Walk, its digital network - intangible infrastructure - is fragmented in terms of policies and contents. The goal of this study is to provide a comprehensive set of data and to propose the architecture and design for a circular dashboard of the SBW, capable of organizing information concerning the main features of the walk, in order to facilitate a shared governance for an effective tourism promotion.

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

Fundamental principles of modern cities and urban planning are challenged during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the advantages of large city size, high density, mass transport, free use of public space, unrestricted individual mobility in cities. These principles shaped the development of cities and metropolitan areas for more than a century, but currently, there are signs that they have turned from advantage to liability. Cities Public authorities and private organisations responded to the COVID-19 crisis with a variety of policies and business practices. These countermeasures codify a valuable experience and can offer lessons about how cities can tackle another grand challenge, this of climate change. Do the measures taken during the COVID-19 crisis represent a temporal adjustment to the current health crisis? Or do they open new ways towards a new type of urban development more effective in times of environmental and health crises? We address these questions through literature review and three case studies that review policies and practices for the transformation of city ecosystems mostly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic: (a) the central business district, (b) the transport ecosystem, and (c) the tourism-hospitality ecosystem. We assess whether the measures implemented in these ecosystems shape new policy and planning models for higher readiness of cities towards grand challenges. And how, based on this experience, cities should be organized to tackle the grand challenge of environmental sustainability and climate change.

As digital technology has become an integral part of urban’s daily operations; the urban landscape is constantly evolving with the needs of its society. This new reality allowed Municipalities to exert a higher influence in the national and local economy. Through deliberate planning and executing initiatives, they can ignite the local financial ecosystem to growth. In line with this, the paper aims to understand the possibilities available to the Greek Municipalities to exploit the smart city benefits to foster economic development. It is essential to understand the role of different factors including the strategy during the planning and implementing phases of initiatives concerning economy and innovation in a smart city. To achieve this, a tailor-made questionnaire and advanced statistical techniques are applied. The main findings highlight the importance to plan initiatives aligned with the needs of the municipality and the business environment. The existence of a smart city strategy has a catalytic effect on the final impact of the implemented initiatives on the urban environment. A systematic analysis of the smart cities’ dynamics and the new state of the urban environment can help the local actors focus on the value creation and public service provision, fostering innovation and profitability.

Walnut trees are grown worldwide for their edible fruits of high nutritional value. To address climate change, researchers have studied walnut phenology to create cultivars adapted to warmer climates. The standardisation of walnut phenological observations is needed and the Biologische Bundesanstalt, Bundessortenamt und CHemische Industrie (BBCH) scale is the most accurate and internationally accepted for this purpose. Here, the principal growth stages (PGS) of Persian walnut (Juglans regia L.) are described using stages from a previously available alphanumerical scale. This standardised phenological scale describes Persian walnut growth from the dormant vegetative state through reproductive budding to senescence. This phenological scale is expected to increase the efficiency of walnut phenological monitoring. Fifty-seven stages were used to describe the life cycle of Persian walnut in this BBCH scale. Of these 57 stages, 3 stages are dedicated to seed germination (PGS-0), 4 stages to bud development (PGS-0), 7 stages to leaf development (PGS-1), 4 stages to stem elongation (PGS-3), 8 stages to inflorescence emergence (PGS-5), 5 stages to male flowering (PGS-6), 5 stages to female flowering (PGS-6), 5 stages to fruit development (PGS-7), 12 stages to fruit ripening (PGS-8) and 4 stages to leaf senescence (PGS-9).

Universities, like cities, have embraced novel technologies and data-based solutions to improve their campuses with ‘smart’ becoming a welcomed concept. Campuses in many ways are small-scale cities. They increasingly seek to address similar challenges and to deliver improved experiences to their users. How can data be used in making this vision a reality? What can we learn from smart campuses that can be scale up to smart cities? A short research study was conducted over a three-month period at a public university in the United Kingdom employing stakeholder interviews and user surveys, aiming at gaining insight into these questions. Based on the study, the authors suggest that making data publicly available could bring many benefits to different groups of stakeholders and campus users. These benefits come with risks and challenges such as data privacy and protection and infrastructure hurdles. However, if these challenges can be overcome, open data could contribute significantly to improving campuses and user experiences, and potentially set an example for smart cities.

The introduction of non-conventional renewable energies (photovoltaic and wind, in the residential case) demand new proposals and opportunities to obtain a domestic energy management system (HEMS), which allows reducing the use of electrical energy. The HEMS incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to respond to energy demand (DR), which can control, switch, turn on and off, modifying the consumption profile, reducing monthly billing, which as a consequence brings improvement. of the quality of life at home. Based on what has been described, a model for identifying electrical appliances and determining consumption patterns for the home is proposed, using intrusive measurement/actuator equipment called Smart Socket. The Smart Socket measures the electrical variables of voltage and current in real time, calculating the powers and active-reactive-apparent energies of each household appliance (or the most relevant ones). The information provided by the Smart Socket is used as a basis to configure the HEMS, with the aim of optimizing energy use using artificial intelligence techniques and tools, thus reducing energy consumption, CO2 emissions and the user's monthly billing. residential.

The complexity and interconnection of smart cities provide huge political, technical, and socioeconomic challenges for the designers, integrators, and organisations who are responsible for the administration of these new entities. A growing number of studies are concentrating their attention on the safety, privacy, and potential dangers that exist within smart cities. These studies are drawing attention to the dangers that are associated with information security as well as the challenges that smart city infrastructure faces in the management and processing of personal data. This state of the art review of the literature analyses a number of issues pertaining to smart homes, offers a helpful synthesis of the important information found in the primary research, and creates a model for the interaction between smart cities. An overview of smart home research incorporating machine learning, including everything from definition to current research state. The state of art begins with a smart home definition, followed by descriptions of smart home elements, typical research projects, smart home network research status, smart home appliances, and difficulties. The term "smart home" refers to a subcategory of "everyday computing" that includes "smart technology" in order to improve a person's level of convenience, health, safety, and security while also reducing their When controlled by artificial intelligence, the applications for the smart home provide users with context-aware settings, services, and remote control, which significantly increases the level of user satisfaction.

Over the recent decades people’s (rural and urban) communities are facing numerous social and economic changes and challenges. Some of those challenges have been increasingly addressed through the lenses of technological developments and digitalization. In this paper we have made a review of already existing practices while focusing on the existing implementations of the smart village concept and the importance of digital transformation for rural areas. We give special attention to EU policies which we are using as an already existing framework for understanding our own forthcoming examples. We have shown the parallels between the findings and insights from different regions and made an evaluation of presented practices. Our main argument stems from our own previous experiences and experiences of other research approaches, and is grounded on the argument that rural areas are not uniform, and that smart rural development has to be applied in combination with place-based approach. We present the cases of Slovenian pilot practices and support our argument by proposing the FabVillage concept.

The article describes the application of the Smart City concept and the economic opportunities it creates, infrastructure and services, and opportunities to improve governance. The main features of the Smart City concept, development directions and evolution, standards and solutions, factors and obstacles to its implementation have been analyzed by the author. The experience of different countries in the application of digital technologies is discussed. The article provides the scope and structure of the "smart" market, application stages and scenarios. International experience in this field was widely analyzed and examples were given, comparisons were made and suggestions were made. The article talks about smart cities, the construction of which has already begun in Azerbaijan. The application of the smart city concept in Azerbaijan has been studied. It is stressed that the spread of digital technologies for the construction of a smart city in Azerbaijan is a prerequisite. The Network Readiness Index (NRI) identifies the indicators that are holding back Azerbaijan in the ranking for 2021. In our study, based on the growth dynamics for 2017-2020, the forecast was calculated by analyzing the trend in the ICT development index in Azerbaijan for 2022-2025.

Background: Smart transport plays a crucial role in urban planning and the transition from traditional to smart cities in developing countries with sustainability requirements.Traditional cities in developing countries often suffer from traffic congestion,air pollution, and inadequate public transportation systems,which can impede economic growth and negatively impact the quality of life for residents. Smart transport solutions can address these challenges by providing more efficient, sustainable.Here is a possible business model for an ITS system in a high-potential city in Iran,Based on IoT analysis, Mashhad city in Iran selected as a high-potential city to be changed to a smart city in the transportation sector.In the localization business model,the Uber smart transportation business model as a successful world experience is considered the base model. Methods: Based on the literature review,various criteria and sub-criteria were identified and determined in designing a new localized transportation business model.A questionnaire was prepared and filled with the help of 11 experts,method IAHP technique; Results:The present study showed the possibility of monthly payments for customers,software development, and the addition of luxury cars are among the most important sub-criteria with high weights;Conclusions: Working with transport companies,schools and universities as key partners solves reaching a strong and sustainable smart transportation system.

In the smart city, information and communications technologies (ICTs) are proposed as solutions to urban challenges, including sustainability concerns. While sustainability commonly refers to economic and environmental dimensions, the concept also contains a social component. Our study asked how smartphone applications (apps) address social sustainability challenges in urban transport, if at all. We focused on transport disadvantages experienced due to low income, physical disability, and language barriers. A review of 60 apps showed that transport apps respond to these equity and inclusion issues in two ways: (a) by employing universal design in general-use apps; including cost-conscious features; and providing language options (b) by specifically developing smartphone apps for persons with disabilities. The article discusses the study by positioning it in the literature of smart cities as well as socially sustainable transport.

The construction industry has witnessed the increasing use of digital tools and smart solutions, particularly, in the realm of buildings energy automation within the concept of smart cities. While to truly realize the potential benefits of smart cities, a broader scope of smart initiatives is required to support the transition from smart buildings towards smart neighbourhoods, appreciated as the critical unit of urban development. To support this interplay of smart solutions between buildings and neighbourhoods, this article aims to collect and review all smart solutions presented in existing scientific articles, technical literature, and realized European projects. These solutions are classified under two main sections of buildings and neighbourhoods, which are investigated through five domains: buildings energy-related uses, renewable energy sources, water, waste, and open space management. Showcasing the quantitative outcomes demonstrates the potential benefits of implementing smart solutions from buildings to neighbourhoods. Moreover, this research concludes that the true enhancement of energy conservation goes beyond the buildings’ energy component and can be genuinely achieved by integrating intelligent elements of the neighbourhood, due to their strong interdependencies. Future research is recommended to focus on assessing the effectiveness of these solutions towards resource conservation.

During the last decade, smart materials have increasingly impacted on several niches, among which that of one-off/limited edition experimental fashion. Thanks to their performativity, due to the implementation of Smart Materials Systems, they have reached indeed catwalks as well as museums and galleries. As boundaries between what-is-art and what traditionally was not supposed to be art are now turning into osmotic membranes, zooming on how smart materials are highly contributing to outline the new creative landscape can provide with interesting and compelling issues. Introducing three different areas of experimental fashion, named Multi-sensory dresses, Empathic dresses, and Bio-smart dresses and accessories, respectively covering the world of in-Lab experiments and design collaborations in relation to the application of advanced smart materials systems, the article discuss some of the implications in term of Design Thinking and Design Aesthetics.

Achieving and sustaining stability for economic growth remain the greatest and most immediate development challenge for Ethiopia. For natural resource-based economies especially maintaining stability and growth depends fundamentally upon climate change adaptation and mitigation. The close links between climate and Ethiopia’s economy are reflected by the strong relationship between GDP growth rate and rainfall variability. A study by the World Bank projects that unless steps to build resilience are effective, climate change will reduce Ethiopia’s GDP growth by between 0.5 and 2.5% each year. Along with the challenges posed by climate change, a number of development opportunities are emerging in response to climate change which includes access to international climate finance. The international response to climate change in the form of external development finance plays a key role to support developing countries in their transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient and sustainable development pathway. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the flow and the overall contribution of climate finance to sustainable development in Ethiopia. Specifically, focused on outlining how climate finance is currently reconciled in the existing Ethiopian climate change governance and its contribution to sustainable development. In order to achieve these objectives, data were collected from different sources. The Rio Marker methodology applied to review climate financial flow over the 5 year period. The result reveals that, climate change is central to development agendas despite its recent emergence in the mainstream, with various initiatives under way to combat or reduce its impacts in Ethiopia. In addition, the amount of climate finance from the developed countries to Ethiopia shows some fluctuation for the past five years. In general, the overall flow of climate finance mostly targeted climate adaptation actions which spur and enable the transition towards climate-resilient growth and sustainable development.

Rice provides ~20% of human dietary energy and, for many people, a similar share of their protein. Rice cultivation, however, produces significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, comparable to those from the aviation sector. The main GHG from rice production is methane, mostly a result of conventional rice cultivation (CRC) keeping rice fields continuously flooded during the crop cycle. There is extensive evidence that alternate wetting and drying (AWD) of rice fields substantially reduces methane emissions. AWD is one component of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), an agroecological approach to the management of plants, water, soil and nutrients practiced by millions of farmers in both lowland irrigated rice and upland rainfed cultivation. Thirteen countries have included SRI in their Nationally Determined Contributions to GHG reduction or climate change mitigation. This article reviews 16 field studies of the net reduction in GHG emissions from the adoption of AWD, eight from the adoption of SRI, and two that compared SRI and AWD. Where available, the review includes data on yield and therefore on carbon dioxide-equivalent GHG emissions per kilogram of rice produced. The evidence indicates that AWD and SRI offer a similar and substantial reduction (~35–41%) in GHG emissions per hectare compared with conventional rice cultivation. However, SRI offers ~66% greater yield than CRC, and therefore greater reduction in emissions per kilogram of rice, ~54% more than AWD. The limited data directly comparing SRI and AWD support this finding. SRI also appears to have greater potential to sequester carbon in the soil. SRI lowers rice farmers’ costs of production, adds to their income and can make climate-friendly methods more attractive. Both AWD and SRI are greatly preferable to current conventional practices, but SRI offers opportunities to contribute to food security while directly addressing the drivers of climate change.

The paper is a follow-up of a previous investigation and effort to develop the ontology of the smart city (Komninos, N., Bratsas, C., Kakderi, C., and Tsarchopoulos, P. "Smart city ontologies: Improving the effectiveness of smart city applications". Journal of Smart Cities, vol. 1(1), 1-17. https://www.komninos.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/2015-Smart-City-Ontologies-Published.pdf). Since the publication of this article in 2015, research and literature on smart cities have evolved significantly, as have the technologies for digital spaces and applications that support city functions. These developments are reflected in the present form of the smart city ontology 2.0 we propose. It depicts the building blocks of the smart city ontology (technologies, structure, function, planning), and the object properties and data properties that connect structural blocks and classes. The aim of the SCO 2.0 is to provide a better understanding and description of the smart/intelligent city landscape; identify the main components and processes, the terms used to describe them, their definition and meaning; clarify key processes related to the integration of the different dimensions of the smart city, mainly the physical, social, and digital dimensions. The paper is accompanied by an owl file, developing the ontology through the editor Protégé.

The present work proposed a low-cost portable device as an enabling technology for Smart Farms using multispectral imaging and Machine Learning in soil texture. Clay is an important factor for the verification and monitoring of soil use due to its fast reaction to chemical and surface changes. The system developed uses the analysis of reflectance in wavebands for clay prediction. The selection of each wavelength is performed through an LED lamp panel. A NoIR microcamera controlled by a Raspberry Pi device is employed to acquire the image and unfold it in RGB histograms. Results showed an good prediction performance with R2 of 0.96, RMSEC of 3.66% and RMSECV of 16.87%. The high portability allows the equipment to be used in a field providing strategic information related to soil sciences.

The goal of the paper is to investigate the expected participation and mentality of smart citizens in smart cities. The key question is the role of the human factor in smart environments globally studied through a research corpus of the mainstream summaries, trend reports, white papers and visions of business – governmental – university research co- operations. Foremost, a short review of the changing scholarly trends is presented as a theoretical framework. Concerning its key ideas, the corpus based findings are recapped and analysed by content networks and the most referred city strategies. Besides, a critical approach reveal further required factors and risks to investigate. The ultimate goal is to understand how the smart city landscape is shaped by citizen-based strategies, open data, empowerment and responsibility. Accordingly, the paper closes with theoretical, practical and metaphor-based recommendations to support the business and political decision making, and also, the emerging scholarly trends in the context of upcoming technological-structural changes.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) recommends that the most recent 30-year period, i.e. 1991-2020, shall be used to compute climate normals of geophysical variables. A unique aspect this recent 30-year period is that the satellite-based observations of many different essential climate variables are available during this period, thus opening up new possibilities to provide a robust, global basis for the 30-year reference period in order to allow climate monitoring and climate change studies. Here, using the satellite-based climate data record of cloud and radiation properties, CLARA-A3, for the month of January between 1981 to 2020, we illustrate the difference between climate normal, as defined by guidelines from WMO on calculations of 30-yr climate normals, and climatology. It is shown that this difference is strongly dependent on the climate variable in question. We discuss the impacts of the nature and availability of satellite observations, variable definition, retrieval algorithm and programmatic configuration. It is shown that the satellite-based climate data records show enormous promise in providing climate normal for the recent 30-year period (1991-2020) globally. We finally argue that the holistic perspectives from the global satellite community should be increasingly considered while formulating the future WMO guidelines on computing climate normals.

This publication aims to create 4K UHD video sequences with a specific focus on smart cities and transport. The created database will be accessible to all experts in the field and can be further used for research purposes. All reference video sequences will be transcoded into different quality settings. The resolution, compression standard, and bitrate will be changed. The work will aim to find out the best combination of video parameters from the measured values. Thanks to the overall evaluation, we will ensure for each single video sequence the quality with the best experience for the providers that will offer the service. The database will also be available with its objective and subjective ratings, with dynamicity information characterized by spatial and temporal information. After, It will be possible to compare the results of the subjective evaluation of a selected sample of our respondents with the work of other researchers who can evaluate with a different sample of evaluators.

There are limited research articles focusing on Smart City Assessment (SCA) applications since it is a relatively new field of research and practice. However, numerous studies have been conducted and published to date, particularly in developing countries, with the broad objective of building theoretical frameworks that are centered on smart city assessments. This scoping review systematically provides an examination on the available literature on SCA, with a goal of synthesizing smart city assessments in developing economies. In order to improve the quality and transparency of the reviews and meta-analysis, as well as to reduce the risk of bias, this paper adopted the PRISMA scoping review research design to analyze 25 journal articles. Results showed that conceptual modeling appears to be the most common method identified while industrial development emerged as the most common objective identified in the MFO Model. On the other hand, ISO 37122:2019 was the most prevalent framework used in the collected sample size with 6 journal articles followed by IoT-Enabled Smart City Framework with 5 journal articles while Smart Cities Index Framework obtained 3. Meanwhile, India emerged as a leader in the global Smart City movement followed by Malaysia and Africa. The Qualitative Research Design approach was the most common among the literatures while social science was the most common subject area among the 25 journals being studied. More so, sustainability and renewable energy are the two most important assessment categories in SCA tools. By collating and evaluating different criteria and metrics in existing SCA, cities can learn from their successes and failures, adjust their strategies, and share best practices with other cities. This can foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation in urban governance, and ultimately lead to more livable, resilient, and prosperous cities for all.

This research seeks to understand the impact of digital platforms on the governance of smart cities. It uses the Scaffold of Popular Participation to classify digital platforms and better understand participatory governance in cities, its benefits and complications, correlating them with the SDGs of the 2030 Agenda. It was also possible to list points of attention for the development of digitization in the public sector, including in Brazil. It concluded that the digitization of public services is in progress, pressured by the civil body for greater transparency and participation. In addition, the platforms must be guided by civil inclusion in the discussion of public policies, by the training of intelligent citizens and by sustainable guidelines that guide the themes addressed. In contrast, platforms can also facilitate deception and popular manipulation, which represents a high risk if used for this purpose.

In this paper we designed system for smart university building based on artificial intelligence (AI) and internet of things (IOT). Our idea can be summarized in smart security system that has different sensors to detect the surrounding environment of the class room in campus which keep everyone and everything on campus safer. By using (IOT), (AI) technologies and applications and by using microcontroller programming we can make the university building safer, secure and more energy saves.

Objects recognition is a necessary task in smart city environments. This recognition can be used in processes such as the reconstruction of the environment map or the intelligent navigation of vehicles. This paper proposes an architecture that integrates heterogeneous distributed information to recognize objects in intelligent environments. The architecture is based on the IoT / Industry 4.0 model to interconnect the devices, called Smart Resources. Smart Resources can process local sensor data and send information to other devices. These other devices can be located in the same operating range, the Edge, in the same intranet, the Fog, or on the Internet, the Cloud. Smart Resources must have an intelligent layer in order to be able to process the information. A system with two Smart Resources equipped with different image sensors has been implemented to validate the architecture. Experiments show that the integration of information increases the certainty in the recognition of objects between 2\% and 4\%. Consequently, in the field of intelligent environments, it seems appropriate to provide the devices with intelligence, but also capabilities to collaborate closely with other devices.

Can the smart city provide a new perspective for public and academic libraries? How does the smart city impact the libraries as cultural and scientific assets? And how can libraries contribute to the development of the smart city? An overview of recent library models, like the learning center or the green library, reveals affinities with the concept of the smart city, especially regarding the central role of information and the integration of technology, people and institution. From this observation, the paper develops the outline of a new concept of the smart library which can be described on four dimensions, i.e. smart services, smart people, smart place and smart governance. However, the smart library concept does not constitute a unique model or project but a process, a way how to get things done, less linear, less structured, more creative and innovative. Also, smartness may not be a solution for all library problems.

Ever-increasing need for improving the livability of a city and improve outcomes for its residents, over the last decade, the adoption of technology to develop urbanised societies around the world has given rise to the need for developing smart cities. The speed at which the world population is growing, the use of Internet of Things in smart cities have really advanced the quality of life. One significant area of concern within the smart city framework is waste management. If the waste within a city is not adequately managed, then it leads to issues in the health of the citizens. Additionally, the waste management has such a high impact on the environmental footprint, hence the need to have a smart way of managing waste is of critical importance. Through our research, we analyse the challenges of waste management within a city to understand the impact of the problem on to the citizens and overall city operations. We then investigate ways in which we can solve these problems using the emerging technologies, such as the Internet of Things, to collect valuable data of large volumes arriving at an astronomical rate, then apply multi-agent deep reinforcement learning algorithms to harness the power of big data to extract meaningful information and actionable insights. We ingest data generated by our Internet of Things into our algorithm for three main purposes including providing the notifications to an external system, for example, a map navigation engine out of the scope for this project but a future extension for route optimisation and waste vehicle tracking; extracting and reporting the actionable insights from the underlying data; and consuming the extracted data for predictive forecasting to draw out the unknown patterns of waste fill levels within various geographical locations and again send out triggers and notification to external systems for example a waste collection authority who can efficiently schedule the waste collection vehicles and optimise the route. To achieve the above mentioned outcomes, we propose a framework that is agnostic of the hardware that it connects to and can effectively interface with a wide variety of hardware keeping a level of abstraction in the architecture.

Addressing the urgent sustainability challenges in the wine industry, this study explores the efficacy of sustainability-oriented innovations (SOIs) and smart farming technologies (SFTs) across wine value chains in Cyprus and Italy. Employing KPIs for a rigorous assessment, the research delves into the environmental, economic, and social impacts of these technologies. In Cyprus (SIP7), the integration of digital labelling and smart farming solutions led to a substantial reduction in pesticide usage by up to 75% and enhanced the perceived quality of wine by an average of 8%. Italy's SIP10 witnessed a 33.4% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions, with an additional benefit of a 5.3% improvement in intrinsic product quality. Notably, SIP10 also introduced a carbon credit system, potentially generating an average annual revenue of €4,140 per farm. These findings highlight the transformative potential of SOIs and SFTs in promoting sustainable practices within the wine industry, demonstrating significant advancements in reducing environmental impact, improving product quality, and enhancing economic viability. The study underscores the critical role of innovative technologies in achieving sustainability goals and provides a compelling case for wider adoption within the agricultural sector.

The final assembly of appliances and automotive industries is a rigorous process, that has limited capabilities of full traceability associated with: (1) the parts installed, (2) their fabrication processes, and (3) the assembly work. This is also the case for each of its sub-assemblies The many parts and sub-assemblies that compose the final assembly, make full traceability a challenging fit, that is almost unsurmountable. Such full traceability along the entire supply-chain is not existent today and must be based on documentation of most assembled parts, assembly tasks, and inspection tasks that compose the full assembled product. In addition, security measures are needed to prevent hostile hacking and unauthorized approach to the assembly documentation throughout the entire supply chain. The related documentation and repeated verifications require considerable effort and have many chances for human errors. So, automating these processes has a great value. This article expounds a framework that harnesses block-chain and smart-contract technology to offer traceable and protected documentation of the assembly process. We expand the concept of a Bill-Of-Assembly (BOA) to incorporate data from the bill of materials (BOM), the associated assembly activities, the associated activities’ specification parameters and materials, and the associated assembly resources (machines and/or operators). The paper defines the operation of the BOA with blockchain and smart-contract technology, for attaining full traceability, safety, and security, for the entire assembled product. Future research could extend the proposed approach to facilitate the usage of the BOA data structure in constructing a digital twin of the entire simulated system.

Smart Living, an increasingly prominent concept, entails incorporating sophisticated technologies in homes and urban environments to elevate the quality of life for citizens. A critical success factor for Smart Living services and applications, from energy management to healthcare and transportation, is the efficacy of human action recognition (HAR). HAR, rooted in computer vision, seeks to identify human actions and activities using visual data and various sensor modalities. This paper extensively reviews the literature on HAR in Smart Living services and applications, amalgamating key contributions and challenges while providing insights into future research directions. The review delves into the essential aspects of Smart Living, the state of the art in HAR, and the potential societal implications of this technology. Moreover, the paper meticulously examines the primary application sectors in Smart Living that stand to gain from HAR, such as smart homes, smart healthcare, and smart cities. By underscoring the significance of the four dimensions of Context Awareness, Data Availability, Personalization, and Privacy in HAR, this paper serves as a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners striving to advance Smart Living services and applications.

Smart living, a concept that has gained increasing attention in recent years, revolves around integrating advanced technologies in homes and cities to enhance the quality of life for citizens. Sensing and human action recognition are crucial aspects of this concept. Smart living applications span various domains, such as energy consumption, healthcare, transportation, and education, which greatly benefit from effective human action recognition. This field, originating from computer vision, seeks to recognize human actions and activities using not only visual data but also many other sensor modalities. This paper comprehensively reviews the literature on human action recognition in smart living environments, synthesizing the main contributions, challenges, and future research directions. This review selects five key domains: Sensing Technology, Multimodality, Real-time Processing, Interoperability, and Resource-Constrained Processing, as they encompass the critical aspects required for successfully deploying human action recognition in smart living. These domains highlight the essential role that sensing and human action recognition play in successfully developing and implementing smart living solutions. This paper serves as a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners seeking to explore further and advance the field of human action recognition in smart living.

Infrastructure and urban network operators, city users and industrialists are faced with complex issues to ensure the sustainability of the service, maintain, operate and develop their urban sys-tems, while integrating environmental, economic and societal impacts and being resilient to un-expected geopolitical and climatic upheavals. Urban Digital Twins (UDTs), i.e., digital twins for smart cities and territories are considered as promising tools that can enable all stakeholders to collaborate across disciplinary silos and foster digital transformation in urban and territorial pro-jects to ensure sustainability, resilience and increased inventiveness. However, a widely acknowledged challenge to address in the application of UDTs is the lack of interoperability. One significant barrier is the difficulty that stakeholders have in understanding the level of complexity hidden behind this challenge, and thus the adoption of an adequate interoperability technique. This paper proposes a conceptual framework, which is unique for understanding the various lev-els of interoperability required in deploying and using the full potentials of UDTs. We show how such a high-level modeling approach supports the symbolic manipulation of UDTs interoperabil-ity notions and requirements, and thus eases the design of appropriate solutions for large-scale in-teroperable UDTs.

Due to the irruption of new technologies in cities such as mobile applications, geographic infor-mation systems, Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT) or Artificial Intelligence (AI), new approaches to citizen management are being developed with the aim of adapting citizen services to this new en-vironment. These new services can enable city governments and businesses to offer their citizens a truly immersive experience that facilitates their day-to-day lives and ultimately improves their quality of life. In this sense, it is important to emphasize that all investments in infrastructure and technological developments in smart cities will be wasted if the citizens for whom they have been created eventually do not use them for whatever reason. To avoid these kinds of problems, the citizen's level of adaptation to the technologies should be evaluated. However, although much has been studied about new technological developments, studies to validate the actual impact and user acceptance of these technological models are much more limited. This paper tries to fill this gap presenting a new model of recommender system based in the most cited and used model in the scientific and academic literature: the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and using the most cited and agreed upon criteria in the existing literature. To accomplish the objective, this study in-troduces a novel recommender system that utilizes a fuzzy 2-tuple linguistic model in conjunction with the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method to prioritize and personalize the relationship between tourists and smart cities. The methodology proposed in this paper was tested and validated in a case of study through different clusters to derive global recommendations tailored to each specific cluster. The main findings reveal that the use of technology is closely linked to the ability to enjoy personalized experiences in the realm of Smart Cities and Smart Tourism. As future works, authors recommend extending the recommender system model to any cluster of tourists using the proposed methodology and evaluate also other kind of disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) in supporting the citizens.

Developing a low-cost wireless energy meter with power quality measurement for smart grid applications represents a significant advancement in efficient and accurate electrical energy monitoring.In increasingly complex and interconnected electrical systems, this device is essential in various applications, such as smart grids, enabling real-time energy usage monitoring. In such a context, smart meters expand the possibilities for sustainable and efficient energy use and promote better utilization of energy sources, especially non-renewable ones. According to the 2020 International Energy Agency (IEA) research, non-renewable energy sources represent 65% of the global total. The smart meter developed in this work is built based on the ESP32 microcontroller and easily accessible components, using a user-friendly development platform that offers a cost-effective solution while ensuring reliable performance. The main objective of the smart meter development was to enhance the software and simplify the hardware. Unlike traditional meters that perform electrical parameter calculations using complex hardware circuits, this project performed the calculations directly on the microcontroller. This approach reduced the complexity of the hardware, simplifying the meter’s design. With the high-performance processing capability of the microcontroller, efficient and accurate calculations of electrical parameters were achieved without the need for additional circuits. This software-driven approach with simplified hardware brought benefits such as reduced production costs, lower energy consumption, and increased meter development and updates flexibility. Furthermore, the integrated wireless connectivity in the microcontroller enables the transmission of collected data to remote monitoring systems for later analysis. The developed smart meter offers cost, energy efficiency, and flexibility benefits. It represents an innovative, efficient, and versatile solution for smart grid applications.

Climate change and global warming are becoming important problems around the globe. To prevent these environmental problems, many countries try to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) and manage the consumption of energy. In Korea, Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) has introduced Smart Grid (SG) technologies to its branch office in 2014. This was the first demonstration of smart grid on a building called Smart Grid Station. This paper treats the achievements of the Smart Grid Station (SGS) by its early target in three aspects. The things are peak reduction, power consumption reduction and electricity fee saving. The authors analyzed the achievements by comparing the data of 2015 with the data of 2014. Through the evaluation, the authors studied the case, proved the advantages of SGS, and suggested the requirements to improve and the direction to go of the system.

Storm Ophelia made landfall over Ireland as an extra-tropical storm on the morning of the 16th of October 2017. The storm caused major power outages, lifted roofs, caused coastal flooding in Ireland, and resulted in the loss of three lives. A model’s capability to forecast extreme weather events such as Storm Ophelia is of utmost importance and now with a changing climate, it becomes more important to improve and enhance model forecasting capability. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model V3.9 has been configured for the Irish domain and this study presents a preliminary evaluation of the Model during Storm Ophelia. Simulated wind speed and direction were compared with hourly remote sensing (lidar) and in-situ (wind speed and wind direction at 10m) observations at the coastal site of Mace Head Atmospheric Research Station on the West coast of Ireland (53.33◦ N, 9.90 49 ◦ W). The model simulation has generally small biases in the simulated wind speed and wind direction during this case study. The model also realistically simulated the magnitude and geographical distribution of the wind speed and wind direction observed during Ophelia.

We revisit the notion of climate, along with its historical evolution, tracing the origin of the modern concerns about climate. The notion (and the scientific term) of climate has been established during the Greek antiquity in a geographical context and it acquired its statistical content (average weather) in modern times, after meteorological measurements had become common. Yet the modern definitions of climate are seriously affected by the wrong perception of the previous two centuries that climate should regularly be constant, unless an external agent acted. Therefore, we attempt to give a more rigorous definition of climate, consistent with the modern body of stochastics. We illustrate the definition by real-world data, which also exemplify the large climatic variability. Given this variability, the term “climate change” turns out to be scientifically unjustified. Specifically, it is a pleonasm as climate, like weather, has been ever changing. Indeed, a historical investigation reveals that the aim in using that term is not scientific but political. Within the political aims, water issues have been greatly promoted by projecting future catastrophes while reversing the true roles and causality directions. For this reason, we provide arguments that water is the main element that drives climate and not the opposite.

Even though Greece is considered a vulnerable region in terms of climate hazards, public perception and attitude do not always identify climate change as an important environmental area of concern, especially when compared to socio-economic issues. The key issue of this paper is to investigate and analyse public perception in Greece as regards to climate change risk. Through a questionnaire survey this paper analyses trends that exist, peoples’ opinion and awareness with regards to climate risk and how willing they are to change current lifestyle, to pay or to act to minimize or to prevent the risk. Conventional wisdom of this paper is to highlight factors that influence individual perception and point out drivers of behavior change that can support efficiently future adaptation plans.

Smart Grid systems have become popular and necessary for the development of a sustainable power grid. These systems use different technologies to provide optimized services to the users of the network. Regarding computing, these systems optimize electrical services by processing a large amount of data generated. However, privacy and security are essential in this kind of system. With a large amount of data generated, it is necessary to protect the privacy of users, because this data may reveal users’ personal information. Today, blockchain technology has proven to be an efficient architecture for solving privacy and security problems in different scenarios. Over the years, different blockchain platforms have emerged, attempting to solve specific problems in different areas. However, the use of different platforms fragmented the market, which was no different in the smart grid scenario. This work proposes a blockchain architecture that uses sidechains to make the system scalable and adaptable. We used three blockchains to ensure privacy, security, and trust in the system. To universalize the proposed solution, we used the OSGP protocol and smart contracts. The results show that architecture security and privacy are guaranteed, making it feasible for implementation in real systems. Although scalability issues regarding the storage of data generated still exists.

Electricity sector is among the main carbon emissions contributors. This sector has the potential to reduce its carbon emissions through producing electric energy from zero emitting facilities and through the optimization of the consumption in a way to better accommodate low carbon emissions. Hydrogen society per se combined with smart grids, as this is analyzed in this manuscript, can present substantial contribution towards climate change mitigation.

The main objective of this paper is to assess pro-environmental behavior, climate change perception, anxiety, hope and despair in different political orientations. Specific aims included to validate all the instruments; to assess whether the factor structure of the scales were valid across political orientations; to evaluate their reliability; to assess differences concerning age, gender and political orientation; to know the variables that explain pro-environment behavior; and to evaluate the moderating role of climate change perception, despair and hope in the relationship between climate change anxiety and pro-environmental behavior. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFAs), multi-group CFAs (to measurement invariance), multiple linear regressions and moderations were performed. Results showed that pro-environment behavior and climate change hope achieved the four levels of invariance across different political orientations; climate change anxiety achieved the three first levels of invariance; climate change perception and climate change despair achieved configural invariance. Climate change anxiety personal experience, climate change perception total, reality and consequences present higher values in left political orientation that in right or center. Climate change anxiety variables contribute most to explaining pro-environmental behaviors. Hope, despair and climate change perception consequences moderate de relationship between climate change anxiety and pro-environment behavior. These results open up new avenues of investigation, namely, to understand why high levels of anxiety lead to more pro-environment al behaviors.

Enhanced food and nutrition security remains a primary goal for every community. Several interventions have been promoted in dry areas to improve issues on food and nutrition security. However, studies on the level of knowledge, cultural norms, perceptions and attitudes that are key drivers in adoption and uptake to highlight gaps and provide evidence for improvement are limited. This study investigated variables influencing the adoption and implementation of an integrated crop-dairy goat farming system in Elgeyo Marakwet. A descriptive cross-sectional survey entailing qualitative and quantitative approaches among farmers practicing integrated farming was undertaken. A thematic questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data, while key informant interviews and focus groups discussions were used in qualitative research. This study utilized the multi-stage sampling procedure to sample the farmers and sample size was calculated based on Krejcie and Morgan table. Data analysis for quantitative data was done using SPSS software while qualitative data utilized N-vivo software The findings show that farmers have knowledge on the integrated farming system. Age, level of education, land size, gender, perceptions and attitudes influence adoption. Small animals like dairy goats are associated to women in this community hence increasing their participation in access, control and decision making of agricultural resources. The key findings of this study provide baseline data that can form evidence to help inform policy on the indicators contributing to adoption of integrated crop-dairy goat systems to enhance food and nutrition security

This research presents a novel approach for estimating soil organic carbon (SOC) content in agricultural soils using a photocatalytic Chemical Oxygen Demand (PeCOD) analyzer integrated with Geographic Information System (GIS) technology for spatial analysis. The PeCOD method, which relies on photochemical oxidation of organic carbon, demonstrated an uncanny correlation between its values and SOC content, making it a quick and accurate way to estimate SOC levels. Finer materials, such as clayey soils, demonstrated higher SOC content compared to coarser ones and decreased with increasing soil depth. GIS georeferencing enabled precise mapping of SOC distribution and identification of hotspot areas with high SOC content. This study highlights the significance of soil texture and depth on SOC distribution and emphasizes its significance within geological context when studying soil properties. Research results have practical ramifications for sustainable agriculture, climate change mitigation and soil health management - providing farmers and land managers with strategies that increase carbon sequestration while simultaneously improving soil health. Integrating PeCOD analyzer technology with GIS technology offers promising avenues for advanced soil carbon monitoring practices that promote climate-smart agricultural practices.

The mHealth is a term that is used for mobile health supported by smart devices such as mobile phones, tablets, and wearable smart devices, etc. The smart devices strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of interaction with patients, physicians, and specialists. Patients nowadays would like to be intimately involved in their diagnosis as well as to make more informed decisions concerning their care. It has begun to measure the success of the quality of treatment. This was a reason that patients trust mHealth to provide them with consistency in their communications with the physicians. Most wireless strategies do not measure up to this standard so that patient engagement ultimately ended up decreasing. The blockchain can boost mHealth through storing and sharing electronic data securely and transparently. It can enhance the accessibility of patient information in real-time. The Internet of Things (IoT) provides a unique identification number to every connected device such as mobile devices, medical devices, and wearable devices. This framework uses the blockchain and IoT technologies together to provide quick help to the patients, monitor remotely, reduce the cost and unnecessarily hospitalization physically and find the real diagnosis. In order to increase patient involvement, mHealth framework with blockchain and IoT technologies has built with the key objective of providing patients with full information on their treatment and diagnosis.

Because of the significant enabling role smart meters can play in securing the transition towards sustainable energy distribution, the paper provides insights to support smart meters implementation projects. Energy utilities must propose adequate solutions to manage grid-upgrading projects and, in the meantime, increase efficiency levels. Based on empirical data analysis the paper provides insights aimed at maximize probability of success of smart meters projects. Results show common patterns of variables that may support project undertakers, policymakers and scholar when it comes to analyze projects to predict to maximize opportunities. For smart meters projects to succeed, regulatory stability is essential as long-period investments grids produce benefits for energy utilities, and for society.

Climate change poses a significant threat to global food security, necessitating a thorough examination across multiple dimensions. Establishing appropriate food security evaluation indicators that align with the evolving concept of food security is imperative. This study enhances food security evaluation by refining a multi-dimensional framework and analyzing the impact of climate change across various regions from 2002 to 2021. By constructing an Food Security Index system composed of a three-tier indicator system and employing the entropy method for weighting, we assess the impacts of climate change on food security using a climate-economic model. Regression analysis reveals a negative linear relationship between mean temperatures and food security (p&lt;0.01), while precipitation impacts food security non-linearly, particularly exhibiting inverse U-shaped patterns in major grain-producing and grain-consuming areas. Extreme high temperatures consistently reduce food security, whereas extreme precipitation displays a complex, statistically significant inverse U-shaped association. In regions where production and consumption are balanced, mean temperatures have a negative effect on food security, while precipitation exhibits a positive correlation, but excessive precipitation can have adverse effects. These findings highlight the intricate interplay between climate change, regional disparities, and food security in China, emphasizing the need to consider multi-dimensional factors and regional variations in addressing food security challenges. These insights are invaluable for policy-making and planning aimed at enhancing food security in China.

In the recent century, the tourism industry and within it the tourism economy are one of the most important and fundamental sectors of engaged business. E-tourism can be used as a dynamic tool in up to date areas of informative information and tourism marketing will be considered as a suitable field for the tourism industry. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between climate change and the amount of revenues from the tourism industry relying on a tool called e-tourism, and informing and providing services through this way so that Iran can achieve a greater share of export of a single-product oil economy combined with economic growth and sustainable development goals. The method of this research is descriptive-analytical.

This study assessed the impact of climate change on water availability and variability in two subbasins in the Upper Blue Nile Basin of Ethiopia. Downscaled future climate data from HadCM3 of A2 (medium-high) and B2 (medium-low) emission scenarios were compared to the observed climate data for a baseline period (1961 to 1990). The emission scenario representing the baseline period was used to predict future climate and as input to a hydrologic model to estimate the impact of future climate on the streamflow at three future time horizons 2020 - 2045, 2045 - 2070 and 2070 - 2100. Results suggest that medium-high emission scenario best represents the local rainfall and temperature pattern. With A2 scenario, daily maximum/minimum temperature will increase throughout the future time horizons. The minimum and maximum temperature will increase by 3.6^oC and 2.4^oC, respectively, towards the end of the 21st century. Consequently, potential evapotranspiration is expected to increase by 7.8%, though trends in annual rainfall do not show statistically meaningful trends between years. A notable seasonality was found in the rainfall pattern such that dry season rainfall amounts are likely to increase and wet season rainfall to decrease. The hydrological model indicated that the local hydrology of the study watersheds will be significantly influenced by climate change. Overall, at the end of the century, streamflow will increase in both rivers by up to 64% in dry seasons and decrease by 19% in wet seasons.

The government of Nepal (GoN) has developed and implemented climate policies, plans and frameworks such as NAPA, National Climate Change Policy, LAPA and currently in the process of developing National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). These policies and plans are in different states of its implementation with diverse opinions and perceptions of the stakeholders. The paper has explored these opinions and experiences of climate experts in Nepal on state of climate policies, inter-linkages, roles and responsibilities of ministries/departments, important factors and subjective indicators for effective implementation of the policies. Altogether 30 experts responded the questionnaire sent via the email, LinkedIn and Skype Interview in the 1^st phase of Delphi research technique. The experiences of these experts range from 2-30 years representing government, non-government sectors, media and independent experts. As per most of the experts interviewed, the policies and plans are progressing in strategic direction with national and local priorities. The LAPA is the pioneer framework to address the local climatic issues, originated in Nepal. However, lack of clarity on roles/responsibilities and coordination among the ministries/departments; clear mechanisms for implementation of these policies; lack of sensitization, decentralization and delegation of finance and technologies; capacity of the stakeholders are the major challenges identified.

This article presents and discusses analytical data on the scientific publication record from 1910 to 2020 on two topics: "climate" and "climate change/global warming/climate emergency". The goal is to visualize how the publication record on these two topics has evolved over time, from different classification perspectives (year, country, source and organization). Three hypotheses are tested using data collected from Web of Science and various graphical representations of the data. It is found that research output related to the Earth’s contemporary changing climate overtook that of general climate research in 2011, and the publication ratio has been expanding in the last decade. There are significant differences in the publication countries and sources between the two topics, and conversely less significant differences in terms of organizations publishing these works. Differentiation factors that affect the level of research output and engagement on the climate challenge include: island versus landlocked nations, specialized versus general scientific journals, academic versus institutional organizations. The future of the publication records is discussed, such as the emergence of new terms to refer to the climate challenge, such as “climate emergency”.

The German Constitutional Court’s climate verdict provides a re-interpretation of liberal- democratic core concepts and is highly relevant for liberal constitutional law in general – including EU and international law. The verdict accepts human rights as intertemporal and globally applicable; it applies the precautionary principle to these rights and frees them from the misleading causality debate. However, the court fails to address the most important violations of human rights, and it categorised climate policy as a greater threat to freedom than climate change. And the court does not make it clear that the Paris 1.5-degree limit implies a radically smaller carbon budget. Furthermore, little attention has so far been paid to the fact that the ruling implies an obligation for more EU climate protection, especially since most emissions are regulated supranationally. To be effective, the EU emissions trading system demands a reform, which should go well beyond the existing EU proposals to enable societal transformation to sustainability.

The background of this work is related to the scheduling of household appliances, taking into account variations in energy costs during the day, due to official Brazilian domestic tariffs: constant and white. The white tariff can reach an average price of around 17\% lower than the constant, but charges twice its value at peak hours. In addition to cost reduction, we propose a methodology to reduce user discomfort due to time shifting of controllable devices, presenting a balanced solution through the analytical analysis of a new method here called tariff space, derived from white tariff posts. To achieve this goal, we explore the geometric properties of the movement of devices through the tariff space (geometric locus of the load), over which we can define a limited region in which the cost of a load under the white tariff will be equal to or less than the constant tariff. As a trial for the efficiency of this new methodology, we collected some benchmarks (such as execution time and memory usage) against a classic multi-objective algorithm (Hierarchical) available in the language portfolio in which the project has been executed (Julia language). As a result, both methodologies achieve similar results, but the one presented in this article shows a significant reduction in processing time and memory usage, which could lead to the future implementation of the solution in a simple, low-cost embedded system like an ARM cortex M.

- Power grids of the future will likely incorporate more renewable energy distributed generation (REDG), also known as alternative energy systems. REDG units are increasingly being used in electrical transmission networks because to the overall positive effects they have on power networks. REDG systems are the backbone of smart electric networks and are essential to the operation of the smart grid. These REDG systems can additionally improve system reliability by providing some customers with a backup generator in the event of power interruptions. The report offers a thorough evaluation of the existing body of information on the topic of electric vehicles' (EVs') future interactions with the smart grid. The combination of the EVs' potential deployment and the smart grid's conceptual goal presents challenges in electric grid infra-structure, communication, and control. The proposal for connecting EVs to the grid is based on research into cutting-edge smart metering and communication systems. In the context of the vehicle-to-grid (V2G) phenomenon, the possibilities, benefits, and limitations of various EV smart charging systems are also fully examined. There is a fast growing percentage of distributed energy that is wind and solar photovoltaic. Their variable power output, however, introduces fresh challenges for those responsible for organizing, operating, and controlling the power grid. While fluctuations in the electric grid are problematic, they may be mitigated by the entry of EVs into the energy market. As such, we do a comprehensive literature search to learn more about the exciting research gap that needs to be filled and the most recent possible answer that involves EVs. Additionally, we take a close look at the practicality of the sophisticated V2G technology. The smart grid is a developing concept for the world's energy infrastructure, and this study analyzes in depth how EVs interact with it.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put lifestyles in question, changed daily routines and limited citizen freedoms that seemed inalienable before. A human activity that was greatly affected since the beginning of the health crisis is mobility. Focusing on mobility, we aim to discuss the transformational impact that the pandemic brought on this specific urban domain, especially with regards to the promotion of the smart growth agenda and the acceleration towards the smart city paradigm. We collect 60 initial policy responses related to urban mobility from 86 cities around the world and analyse them based on the challenge they aim to address, the exact principles of smart growth and sustainable mobility that they encapsulate and the level of ICT penetration. Our findings suggest that emerging strategies, although mainly temporary, are transformational, in line with the principles of smart growth. As a result the pandemic becomes an opportunity for shifting towards more sustainable urban planning and mobility practices. However, most policy responses adopted during the first months of the pandemic fail to leverage advancements made in the field of smart cities, and to adopt off-the-shelf solutions such as in monitoring, alerting and operations management.