Annelids are well-known for their ability to regenerate. The morphological development in terms of regeneration physiology, involves several cellular factors which play crucial roles in the developmental phenomena. The physiological process of regeneration involves critical biomechanical processes which is effectively regulated by the cellular factors. In today’s biological research, the fundamental analysis of regeneration is necessary for the scientific assessment of cellular-biomechanical advancements, which eventually helps to develop adequate insight in the biomedical research in regenerative sciences. In this review we have elucidated the recent research on explaining the developmental physiology of regeneration in annelids.

Part 1 of this 2-paper series identified a wide and deep network of context, generative mechanisms and outcomes responsible for psychosocial development in a performance basketball club. In this – part 2 – study, the stakeholder’s programme theories were tested during a full-season ethnography of the same club. The findings confirm the highly individualised nature of each young person’s journey. Methodologically, immersion in the day-to-day environment generated a fine-grain analysis of the processes involved, including: i) sustained attentional focus; ii) structured and unstructured skill building activities; iii) deliberate and incidental support; and iv) feelings indicating personal growth. Personal development in and through sport is thus shown to be conditional, multi-faceted, time-sensitive and idiosyncratic. The findings of this two-part study are considered to propose a model of psychosocial development in and through sport. This heuristic tool is presented to support sport psychologists, coaches, club administrators and parents to deliberately create and optimise developmental environments.

The striving for sustainable development has become the goal of actions undertaken not only by representatives of public authorities and institutions representing this sector, but also representatives of private entities who are increasingly recognizing the benefits and sources of long-term development based on the principles and objectives of sustainable development. These are mainly based on the pursuit of synergy in the three basic areas of activities, i.e., in the economic, social, and environmental dimensions as well as in the maintenance of natural resources. The implementation of these activities is connected with the necessity of incurring financial expenditures, which the government (public sector) does not have in the required value. Therefore, in the process of sustainable development for which the government is responsible, the active participation of the financial sector (banks) is necessary. Achieving results within the alliance of the concept of sustainable development requires the setting of a kind of contract, the parties of which are the government, society, and financial institutions. The purpose of the conducted research is to indicate by which means the government can stimulate economic growth towards its sustainable development.

Lead optimization in drug discovery is a crucial phase where initial hits are refined into compounds with improved pharmacological properties. While traditional methods rely on manual experimentation and modifications, AI-driven techniques have revolutionized this process by leveraging big data and predictive modeling. This review explores how AI-driven approaches accelerate lead optimization, showcasing examples like deep neural networks and reinforcement learning. Integration of multi-omic data and experimental validation further enhances AI-driven strategies. The future lies in refining these AI methods, democratizing tools, and interdisciplinary collaboration to streamline drug discovery and address medical needs efficiently.

“Sustainable development” (SD) is a term that has gained prominence in the international dia-logue around development. Many, however, continue to misunderstand the concept, its principles, its development, and its operationalization. The wide variety of definitions and interpretations of SD lean toward institutional and social prerogatives rather than unifying the essence of the con-cept, which is rooted in conventional ideas and values. By delving deeper into the paradigm, its history, and its potential, this research sought to contribute to ongoing discussions about sus-tainable development. The literature was thoroughly analyzed using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020. This historical and conceptual analysis sought to update the body of knowledge on sustainability and sustainable development by examining the metaphorical and epistemological underpinnings of SD’s various definitions, evolutions, and principles. The research concludes and argues that intergenerational justice, based on the environment, economy, and society, is the central tenet of the entire sustainable develop-ment argument. The focus and consideration of interested parties are moving from the protection of the environment to social sustainability. The future of SD is likely to continue to focus much more on the social pillar and integrate digitalization in implementing the SD concept, especially in the fourth industrial revolution. To promote ethical human behavior and activities worldwide, at national and local levels, decision-makers must be continuously cognizant of the interdepend-encies, direct interactions, and balance between the three core constructs of SD.

That form and function relates, is the maxim to anatomy and physiology. Yet form-function relations can be difficult to establish. Human subjects with excessive trabeculated myocardium in the left ventricle, for example, are diagnosed with non-compaction cardiomyopathy, but the extent of trabeculations may be without relation to ejection fraction. Rather than rejecting a relation between form and function, we may ask whether the salient function is assessed; is there a relation to electrical propagation, mean arterial blood pressure, propensity to form blood clots, or all? And how should extent of trabeculated muscle be assessed? While reviewing literature on trabeculated muscle, we applied Tinbergen’s four types of causation - how does it work, why does it work, how is it made, and why did it evolve - to better parse what is meant by form and function. The paper is structured around cases that highlight advantages and pitfalls of applying Tinbergen’s questions. It further uses the evolution of lunglessness in amphibians to argue lung reduction can impact on chamber septation, and it considers the evolution of an arterial outflow in fishes to argue that reductions in energy consumption may drive structural changes with little consequences to function. Concerning trabeculations, we argue they relate to pump function in the embryo in the couple of weeks before the onset of coronary circulation. In fetal and postnatal stages, a spectrum of trabeculated-to-compact myocardium makes no difference to cardiac function and in this period form and function may appear unrelated.

This study examines the dynamics of failure development in marginalized communities, investigating the interplay of socioeconomic, environmental, and community engagement factors. The research aims to uncover underlying causes, provide policy recommendations, and elucidate the challenges faced by these communities. However, limitations include a restricted focus on marginalized areas, data limitations, and an exclusive emphasis on socioeconomic factors. The analysis reveals gaps in addressing political influences, limited coverage of success stories, and potential biases in the methodology. The conclusion emphasizes the transformative power of community-led initiatives to address challenges, foster inclusivity, and create sustainable change. These initiatives prioritize capacity building, social cohesion, economic development, and access to education and healthcare. Implications for policy and practice underscore the need for comprehensive interventions, collaboration, empowerment, and sustainable development. Future research directions include exploring the long-term impact of historical failures, intersectionality, the role of technology, mental health implications, and comparative analysis.

This qualitative research study explores the experiences of three Emirati women who have achieved significant success in their higher education institutes in the (UAE). The study aims to understand how childhood and adolescent experiences shape the leadership development of these women, both positively and negatively. The study also includes interviews with family members and close colleagues of the participants to gain additional perspectives. The findings the importance of family support, role models, and mentors in shaping the leadership development of women in the UAE. The study also sheds light on the challenges and barriers that women face in leadership positions, including gender bias and discrimination. Overall, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of the experiences of Emirati women in leadership positions and provides insights into how to support their leadership development.

The paper presents a theoretical and empirical assessment of this social phenomenon. The achieved scientific solution-result (Main Finding) is presented a theoretical model of the develop-ment of public citizenship in a sustainable environment has been created for the case of Lithuania. First of all, the paper discusses the conceptual issues of the expression of modernisation of civil society, highlighting and justifying the interaction of social changes and sustainable environment in economic, social, political, environmental and cultural aspects, presenting the case of Lithuania (The Case of Lithuania). On the other hand, following the United Nations Sustainable Development Strategy document, the field of progress and resilience of Lithuanian society in modern society is discussed, identifying and analysing various criteria that have been empirically tested. The authors noted that the democratic cube model was used to create a theoretical model of the development of public citizenship in a harmonious environment, and the HDI (human development index model) was also integrated. The model created by the authors systematically explains the analysis of the relationship between the expression of modernisation changes identified in the research and the formation of civil society; secondly, it substantiates the process of interaction between modernisation changes and public citizenship, discussing four fields of expression. Practical applicability of the model: it will help researchers to conceptually analyse and empirically study public citizenship; will help public policymakers and implementers to manage effectively, ensuring quality changes in society and managing new challenges, and it will also contribute to the conceptual formation of the country's long-term development strategy.

The majority of the population in developing countries resides in the rural area. Development itself cannot address the challenges of the rural area since its economic, political and environmental landscape is different from an urban area. The paper attempts to assess the rural dimension aspect of Nepali Agriculture Policy since rural development and agricultural development is closely resembled due to an agrarian-based economy of the country and a large rural population. Therefore, a critical review of National Agriculture Policy, 2004 (NAP-2004) was carried out under “Commercialization of Agriculture”, “Food Security”, “Rural Infrastructure”, “Gender”, “Climate Change” and “Social Inclusion” thematic area. The results showed that NAP-2004 satisfactorily address rural development albeit ample space for improvement. The findings of the paper could be beneficial to policymakers and development workers in the field of rural development and agriculture along with academicians having interest in it.

This paper provides an overview of current literature on community-led development initiatives in urban contexts, their role in addressing urban inequality, and the challenges they face. This study examines effective strategies of community-led initiatives, such as empowering communities, building partnerships, mobilizing resources, focusing on local needs, and participatory design methods. Case studies from around the world demonstrate how successful community-led development initiatives have been able to overcome obstacles to create more inclusive and equitable urban environments. Institutional support, including technical assistance, capacity building, and regulatory frameworks, are crucial for promoting the success and sustainability of these initiatives. Challenges to community-led initiatives include limited resources, capacity building needs, inadequate infrastructure, lack of institutional support, and lack of trust among community members. Therefore, the paper suggests that it is essential to address these challenges to enable the success of community-led development initiatives. Furthermore, this study recommends that future research should explore how emerging technologies and innovative approaches can effectively support community-led development initiatives and advance more just and sustainable urban development.

By reviewing the research of development economics in recent years, five key terms of ‘innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing’ are extracted, corresponding to the five dimensions of the New Development Concept advocated by China. Based on this, an evaluation index system of the development quality of China's fishery industry is constructed. The spatio-temporal characteristics of China's fishery industry development quality were analyzed by using the provincial panel data from 2007 to 2017. The results show that: i) China's fishery industry overall development quality continues to grow, while the variation of provincial quality is also increasing, and the contribution of innovation quality and sharing quality is increasing, becoming an important sub-dimension leading the overall development quality.ii) there is a significant spatial dependence among provincial quality, and the significance is further strengthening. The Hangzhou Bay area and Bohai Bay area have gradually become a dual-core area where the high-quality development of China's fishery industry agglomeration, and the radiation from the dual-core area to the peripheral areas may still be in the process of enhancement. The spatial and temporal distribution of China’s fishery industry development quality keeps the trend of ‘from northeast to southwest’, which is almost parallel to Hu Huanyong line. The gravity center of its distribution is close to the gravity center of Chinese population and economy, and the development quality experienced a process from relatively concentrated to dispersed and then returned to concentrated, and the development speed in the later period was higher than that in the earlier period. iii) Capital accumulation level is the dominant positive influencing factors, while government support level is the dominant negative influencing factors respectively, and both have significant spatial differentiation among provinces.

The rise in cannabis use has caused significant concerns pharmacy students’ abilities to counsel patients over cannabis. This study aims to understand pharmacy students’ preparedness to counsel patients with cannabis use disorder (CUD) and evaluate the relationship between knowledge, attitudes towards medical cannabis (MC) and recreational cannabis (RC), and behavior intention (BI) to counsel over CUD. A cross-sectional survey was administered to pharmacy students. Descriptive analysis of sample characteristics were assessed with T-test and one-way ANOVA test. Pearson correlation and linear regression were conducted measuring the strength and direction of relationships. The average scores for knowledge, attitudes towards MC use and RC, and BI were 81% (SD 16%), 4.13 (SD 0.75), 3.28 (0.80), and 2.74 (1.00). Significant correlations were observed between knowledge-attitudes toward MC, knowledge-attitudes towards RC, and attitudes towards RC-BIs. Linear regression indicated attitudes towards MC use and RC, academic year, awareness of MC use legality, obtained knowledge, and past patient interaction were significantly associated with BI on confidence in counseling over CUD. There is a gap in students’ BI to counsel. These findings emphasize the importance of a comprehensive curriculum and state policy and practice changes, enabling future pharmacists to address patient needs related to cannabis use confidently.

Humanity, culture, societal development and language issues are mutually reinforcing much as they are intricately interwoven in a non-ceasing dynamic interrelationships within the matrix defined by language standardization or development, acquisition and use that mostly take up central place as unifying and propelling forces in language discourse. Within the confines of globalization which is neither homogenization nor convergence; but the beginning of drawing on the strength of indigenous capabilities to create knowledge ecology that would enliven socio-economic and scientific development of the world in far reaching interconnectivities and relationships across every clime, issues pertaining to language development, acquisition and use become imperative. It is against this background that this paper examines the development/standardization, acquisition and use of Esan language as one of several Nigerian indigenous languages to promote scientific and technological development through knowledge creation, preservation and dissemination. The obsession of using western model and epistemological outlook to achieve appropriate scientific and technological development to the utter neglect of home grown and culturally distilled efforts were also examined. In the light of the dare consequences and the harsh conditions globalization imposes on developing nations, this paper highlights standardization and use of indigenous languages in chatting appropriate trajectory for effectual developmental efforts in fast shrinking contemporary world.

This article investigates if public investments in rural basic infrastructure represent the best strategy for boosting the local economy of rural communities from Romania. The article focuses on one specific program implemented under the Cohesion policy in the framework of the National Plan for Rural Development called Measure 322. Geographically, the research included a sample of rural communes from the North-Western Region of Romania. Moreover, the study also looks at other determinants of local economic development (LED) than infrastructure investments, with a focus on certain feature characterizing Romanian rural communities such as population size, isolation from urban centers, connection with European and national roads networks, educational stock, etc. The research included three steps, namely the construction of the LED Index, a cvasi-experimental research, and a regression model. Our main findings seem to suggest that while investments in infrastructure help the development gap between beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries remains relatively the same. In terms of determinants of LED, percentage of population with a university degree and connection to a European road are the most significant in the Romanian rural context.

This paper presents a theoretical analysis of an International conflict, i.e. East Pakistan Crisis, 1971, and reveals that unequal development creates conflict in society. Natural resource scarcity and environmental degradation can also become a source of conflict, so marginalised and excluded people fight for their rights through non-peaceful means. This essay supports the theoretical approaches of poverty, environment, and conflict nexus and reveals that unequal development and resource scarcity deepens the poverty and creates conflicts in the society, causing harm to the environment. The degraded environment increases the poverty as environment and poverty are interlinked, and the poor have limited choices other than to degrade the environment for their survival. This vicious downward spiral link between poverty and degradation of the environment requires working extensively for poverty alleviation to reverse the environmental decline.

This paper aims to argue the fundamental significance of education in addressing notable gaps in the constitutive, performance, and evaluation criteria for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and endeavours to showcase the complementarity between education, human security, sustainable human development, and the pursuit of CSR as an ideal normative paradigm. An abstractive approach to studying CSR engages with corporate philanthropy, which has not been helpful outside traditional CSR paradigms without looking at key dynamics that can robustly underpin successful CSR. It relies on the systematic analysis of written data sources to theoretically explore the central significance, and complementarity between human security, education, and human dignity and how they can orchestrate a holistic CSR paradigm. In 1994, the UNDP in formulating the human security doctrine recognised the syncretic correlation between human security, education, and sustainable human development as fundamental elements that should underpin CSR. This paper contends that these are necessary intrinsic components of human dignity as the central factor that justifies a multi-dimensional and proactive approach to CSR. Despite the criticisms against human security, this paper identifies it as an important concept that could instrumentally orchestrate a model of CSR that uniformly mainstreams sustainable human development and human dignity that leverages education which has routinely and traditionally been seen as a constitutive component of CSR. It reveals how a holistic path to CSR can reinvigorate the central pillars of human security and human dignity using education as a springboard and makes a compelling case for supporting explicit references to education in company law with appropriate human security informed constitutive, performance, and evaluation criteria which are absent in existing legally orchestrated CSR.

The allocation for the use of Deconcentration Funds focuses on the seven priority health programs listed in the Regulation of the Minister of Health for the Republic of Indonesia. Therefore, this study aims to formulate a budget allocation for deconcentration funds in the health sector. Secondary data were analyzed using reports from the Ministry of Health for five years (2014-2018) on the Human Development Index (HDI), population, area, number of health workers, as well as amount and percentage for the realization of deconcentration funds. The results showed that the variables which had a significant effect were the number of districts/cities, the area, and HDI, while those without a significant effect were population, the number of health workers, and the percentage of budget realization. Political factors and regional commitment to implementing as well as using the budget were shown to also affect the deconcentration of funds both from the central and regional sources. Generally, deconcentration funds are used for non-physical tasks, including coordinating and synchronizing planning, facilitation, technical guidance, training, outreach, supervision, investigations and surveys, direction, and control. Based on the results, the budget allocation for deconcentration funds for health development needs to be calculated according to regional capacities by considering the number of districts/cities, land area, and the HDI.

This article focuses on the issue of urban development of cities and their residential development from the perspective of spatial planning. Spatial planning fundamentally determines, what kind of construction is feasible in cities. However, spatial plans often do not consider spatial limits, which often go against the proposed ways of using of the given sites, or make their use fundamentally difficult, for example by disproportionately increasing of the costs of residential construction, when it is necessary to remediate old burdens in the defined locality. The subject of the presented research was to examine the possibility of establishing an Index of Residential Development (IoRD), which evaluates the possibilities of residential development in the territory of urban agglomerations. The aim of the research, in the form of establishing of an Index of Residential Development (IoRD), was to assess, how it is possible to consider spatial limits associated with residential construction in urban intravilanes in order to identify the objectives of further spatial development planned by cities. Subsequently, the partial aim of the research was also to create a usable tool for support in the decision making of development organizations on the location of their project in a given space. Based on the results of the research, it was deduced that the limits associated with the residential development in intravilanes based on the IoRD could be considered. Clear links were also shown between the limits in the territory and the impaired possibility of construction in cities with zoning plans, which did not respond to the limits in the territory by adding other design zones, or completely ignored them. Although the methodology for determining of the Index of Residential Development (IoRD) was verified due to the availability of data in the case study carried out in the Czech Republic – the city of Brno, the methodology is applicable to any urban agglomeration even outside the Czech Republic when fulfilling the conditions defined in the article.

The objective of this research is to propose archetypes of accessible design with a neuroarchitec-ture approach for the design of initial level educational centers, in Peru, especially in areas of ur-ban growth, many children do not manage to access initial education, there is even school drop-out. . At this educational level, with an increase of 4.4% in recent years, the process of developing mental abilities such as memory, perception, thinking, reactions, attention, language, among oth-ers, is of the utmost importance. in the first years of life. As a methodology, sensory design strate-gies were applied, likewise through instruments such as interviews, observation, photographic taking and measurement carried out during the field visit for the analysis of the space-child in-teraction and spatial stimuli, supported by digital tools (Autocad, Google Earth, Andrés Marsh). As results, accessible design archetypes were obtained based on neuroarchitecture based on 10 spatial indicators (Lighting; Green area; roofs; shape; size; distribution; accessibility; scale; colors; materiality). In conclusion, the provision of adequate spaces that provide exploratory facilities greatly contributes to cognitive development in early childhood. The environment where these cognitive activities take place needs to be conditioned to allow children to develop, bond and ap-propriate the space.

Early marriage is a phenomenon that has an impact on various aspects of life which then affects human development. This study aims to conduct a literature review on the implications of early marriage on human development. The method used in this study is the SLR (Systematic Literature Review) method. Data collection was carried out by documenting all literature that met the research inclusion requirements. The literature obtained as many as 25 articles from the Google Scholer database with the help of Harzing's Publish or Perish application. From this literature study, it was found that the phenomenon of early marriage has implications for the human development index based on health indicators and life expectancy, education, and welfare. Another finding is that women are the most disadvantaged from the impact of early marriage. Things that can be done to deal with the phenomenon and impact of early marriage include formal and non-formal education, strengthening access to health and education services, creating empowerment programs, and strengthening regulations and legal protection.

Background: As a result of the pandemic, families and children have faced physical, emotional, and mental challenges. However, there has been little attention given to the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and child development. This systematic review aims to identify the impact of the pandemic on child development, globally. Methods: This study follows the PRISMA guidelines for the systematic review of 16 quantitative and qualitative studies conducted between 2020-2023. Results: This systematic review suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic played a crucial role in hindering child development in early childhood. Conclusion: Therefore, it is important to promote and implement the use of policies and strategies to overcome these obstacles.

This paper aims to suggest an integration of dimensions, especially economic, social, environmental, and politics that are embedded in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within a framework called Umran. This Umranic framework hails from the idea of distinguished Muslim philosopher, historian and sociologist Ibn Khaldun, that is based on Islamic doctrines. As the present integration of the dimensions seems to be problematic, an exploration into the integration within Umranic framework is believed to be potentially a contributive endeavor. Based on an overview of literatures and a content analysis, this paper found that integrating dimensions of SDGs within the Umranic framework appears in the triangle of relationship between God, humans, and environment. This triangle exists in the form of an Islamic economic system. In this system, economic activities of natural resource utilization in various types of ownership undertake the sustainability dimension, that is the environmental protection and the promotion of equitable distribution, followed by the implementation of management of ownership and distribution rights according to Islamic rules. The pre-requisite on the part of the players is the high levels of spirituality. The application of this Islamic economic system followed by its political dimension will guarantee the achievement of SDGs even though it needs adjustment to a number of SDGs’ indicators that are not in accordance to Islamic teachings.

This study reviews how policy and agricultural laws relate to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2 and 12, sustainability and rural development, in Ecuador. Policy aligns itself with goals 2 in terms of increased productivity and income (target 2,3) to interna-tional markets (targets 2b y 2c), rural infrastructure, research, agricultural extension and technological development (target 2a), agrobiodiversity and traditional knowledge (target 25). It is related with SDG 12 to sustainable production and consumption targets 12.1, 12.2 and 12a). Laws highlight public procurement, research, seeds, and efficient resource management through sustainable practices. It is concluded that policy is aligned with SDGs 2 and 12 but is necessary to establish others that surpass the emphasis on produc-tivity towards export markets that leave AFC production and achieve a transition to sus-tainable production and consumption. The study of laws indicates that it is necessary to strengthen local governance for food sovereignty, including the peasant sectors within the framework of existing laws with participation in spaces of debate and formulation of ac-tions.

EuAP2 genes are famous for their role in flower development. A legacy of the founding member of this subfamily of transcription factor, whose mutants lacked petals in Arabidopsis. However, studies of other euAP2 genes in several species have accumulated evidence highlighting the diverse roles of euAP2 genes in other aspects of plant development. Here, we emphasize other developmental roles of euAP2 genes in various species and suggest a shift from regarding euAP2 genes as just flowering genes to consider the global role they may be playing in plant development. We hypothesize that their almost universal expression profile and pleiotropic effects of their mutation suggest their involvement in fundamental plant development processes.

Despite continued efforts by educators, UN declarations and numerous international agreements, progress is still limited in handling major global challenges such as ecosystem collapse, accelerating climate change, poverty and inequity. The capacity to collaborate globally on addressing these issues remains weak. This systematic review of research on global learning for sustainable development (GLSD) aims to clarify the diverse directions research on GLSD has taken, to present the historical development of the research area, and highlight emerging research issues. The review summarises key findings of the English language literature in the period 1994-2020 identified with the search terms “global learning” and “sustainable development”, sustainability or GLSD, respectively. The review documented a gradually growing knowledge base, mostly authored by scholars located in the global North. Conclusions point to what we might achieve if we could learn from one another in new ways, moving beyond Northern-centric paradigms. It is also time to re-evaluate core assumptions that underlie education for sustainable development more generally, such as a narrow focus on formal learning institutions. The review provides a benchmark for future reviews of research on GLSD, reveals the emerging transformative structure of this transdisciplinary field, and offers reference points for further research

Uganda is one of the poorest nations in the world. To address the developmental challenges and understand social and economic status, it is important to obtain accurate data in a timely manner. Many studies have demonstrated that nighttime lights (NTL) can be used to measure human activities. Nevertheless, methods developed from these studies (1) suffer from coarse resolutions, (2) fail to capture the nonlinearity and multi-scale variability of geospatial data, and (3) perform poorly for agriculture-dependent regions. This study proposes a new enhanced light intensity model (ELIM) to estimate the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at sub-national scales for Uganda. This model is developed by combining the NTL data from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (NPP-VIIRS), the population data from the Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL), and information on agricultural production and market prices across several commodity types. This resulted in a gridded dataset for GDP and GDP per capita for Uganda at 1 km spatial resolution and district level to capture the spatial heterogeneity in economic activity.

Volunteer tourism or ‘voluntourism’ packages development and poverty as culturally exotic and ethical experiences for tourists from industrialized countries. In the university sector study abroad tours network voluntourism agencies, local actors, e.g. NGOs, universities and government funding to offer students ‘life changing’ experiential and community development learning. Recent criticism of the commodification of development and poverty through such tours points to multiple pernicious effects of such travel, especially the failure to deliver community impact. Following review of current criticism of voluntourism, this illustrative case study of a purported sustainable housing project in rural Maharashtra employs multiple data sources and covert research to explore the multiple gaps between participatory community sustainable development and voluntourism. The study finds signal lack of financial transparency, incompetent assessment of material needs, and limited local participation and control, failure to deliver on objectives, and recommends that socially responsible short term international exchanges should be carefully monitored and prefer knowledge exchange.

The paper makes a critical assessment of urban development in Nigeria against the backdrop of a rapidly changing population and growth rate. The Authors interrogated the effects of development control- mechanisms through the lenses of identified social anomalies in three selected pilot cities of Nigeria (Kaduna, Abuja FCT, and Lagos). Thematic areas examined include, the state of critical infrastructure, population dynamics, urban sprawl, city polarization, transportation, waste management systems, security/crime and economics. The Authors identified structural transformation of three Nigerian cities with focus on the causes and attendant consequences on urban development. The study found that urban growth has over-stretched the state of critical infrastructure in the cities and the mechanisms of development control seem ineffective in stemming unregulated growth, compromises and unplanned ‘development’. The paper noted that the impact of these developments has overstretched the state of critical infrastructure with far-reaching consequences. The authors conclude with some recommendations for strategic planning and sustainable development strategies aimed at mitigating the problems of urban development in Nigeria.

The economic activities in the romanian rural areas have started to know new horizons with Romania's accession to the European Community. The rural society was and is focused on the level of entrepreneurial behavior strictly on agriculture, with all its derivatives. At present there is a variety of sectors of activity that are found in the rural society, which are waiting to know new dimensions. The higher the number of entrepreneurs, the more job vacancies will be created across different fields of activity. In these circumstances, the number of jobs will increase, and the society in the romanian rural area can enjoy a diversity of the population determined by the various professions of people, but also by the new dimension offered by the entrepreneurial area. This way, it will be done later the repopulation of the Romanian countryside, a national interest issue, after the great majority of the population went to work in the countries of the European Community, having to be forced by the poverty of the romanian rural area, determined by the lack of jobs to ensure a decent standard of living.

The existence of insecurity in a state necessitates immediate government attention and action as it poses a risk to human life and property and impedes socio-economic development. The study aims to evaluate insecurity and its impact on socio-economic development in Oyo state. It will also determine the major causes of insecurity problems and offer data that can help develop effective security strategies and policies. The study population consisted of residents who were randomly selected from the Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria. The descriptive survey method was adopted and analyzed with the Chi-square technique. According to this research, there is a negative correlation between insecurity and the state's socio-economic development. The study recommends good governance and inclusive government policies to curb insecurity and ensure the state's socio-economic development.

The paper will examine in detail (a) the norms that can be featured under the category "Green Deal" connected to the European Commission, (b) their application to Spain and (c) the different patterns of action and development models that have been shaped by this framework over the last 20 years. These patterns are particularly relevant currently, as the Covid crisis has highlighted the importance of advancing towards new patterns of local sustainability endowed with higher resilience. The notion of cognitive sustainability will be one of the added value to current reflections on sustainability in general and energetic sustainability in particular.

There is a growing recognition of the need to incorporate sustainability considerations early-on in the product development (PD) process (PDP). As part of a case study at an engineering consultancy firm, this paper identifies considerations that influence the integration of sustainable design practices into real-world PD practices. This is informed by the first author getting embedded in the firm as an intern, and closely observing the PD workflow across various projects, conducting interviews and group discussions with a wide range of practitioners, and iteratively designing and testing various potential interventions. From literature and observation, we find that designers and engineers often struggle to identify and apply the right sustainable design methods and tools (SDMTs) to tackle the environmental impacts associated with their products. Through a human-centered design process, we co-created a reusable, modular framework of practices that aids the selection of relevant strategies, based on the environmental hotspots, stage of the PD process, and the client’s sustainability priorities. The paper further presents insights related to the framework’s real-world application and impacts in the firm, based on results of longitudinal engagement with the firm.

Background: Maternal mortality (MM) is a matter of serious concern in low income developing countries (LDCs). Perspective: A great reduction has been observed regarding the maternal deaths globally after huge efforts since 1990 todate. However, the situation continues to be either stagnant or worsening in developing countries, suggesting that the efforts to cope with this issue are either insufficient or not properly implemented. We need to first diagnose the problem areas that are a great hurdle in the road to success towards the reduction of MM. Postpartum haemorrhage and preeclampsia are one of the most common causes of MM. Malnutrition, neurological dysfunction and cancer are among the non-obstetric causes. Trained medical and paramedical staff can be of great help in this regard by increasing awareness among masses at grass root level. Target set by Millennium Development goal has minimized the MM by 44%. But it has not met the target set by Millenium Development Goals 5 and a lot of measures need to be taken in this regard. Conclusions: Majority of the MDs are preventable and can be avoided by adopting appropriate frameworks, linked data sets, surveillance, birth attendants training, preparation for births, etc. Delay in decision to get healthcare, access to healthcare center and receiving these facilities are the main factors in MM.

With growing urbanisation the sustainability of cities has become increasingly important. Although cities have been using indicators for a long time it is only in the last decades that attempts have been made to collate indicators into indicator sets with the aim of reflecting the many different aspects that need to be covered to assess the sustainability of a city. The aim of this paper is to review how indicators for monitoring sustainable urban development have evolved over time and compare them to the indicators suggested by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The review reveals that previous indicator sets emphasised environmental sustainability, health and economic growth. It is also shown that indicator sets that pre-date the SDGs lacked dimensions such as gender equality and reduced inequalities. In all, the SDG indicators provide the possibility of a more balanced and integrated approach to urban sustainability monitoring. At the same time, a methodology is needed to facilitate the adaptation process of localising the SDGS, targets and indicators. Challenges of local application include their large number, their generic characteristics and the need to complement them with specific indicators that are more relevant at the city level.

Malaria is a parasitic infection that is a great public health concern and is responsible for high mortality rates worldwide. Different strategies have been employed to improve disease control, demonstrating the ineffectiveness of controlling vectors, and parasite resistance to antimalarial drugs requires the development of an effective preventive vaccine. There are countless challenges to the development of such a vaccine directly related to the parasite's complex life cycle. After more than four decades of basic research and clinical trials, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended the pre-erythrocytic Plasmodium falciparum (RTS, S) malaria vaccine for widespread use among children living in malaria-endemic areas. However, there is a consensus that major improvements are needed to develop a vaccine with a greater epidemiological impact in endemic areas. This review discusses novel strategies for malaria vaccine design taking the target stages within the parasite cycle into account. The design of the multi-component vaccine shows considerable potential, especially as it involves transmission-blocking vaccines (TBVs) that eliminate the parasite's replication towards sporozoite stage parasites during a blood meal of female anopheline mosquitoes. Significant improvements have been made but additional efforts to achieve an efficient vaccine are required to improve control measures. Different strategies have been employed, thus demonstrating the ineffectiveness in controlling vectors, and parasite resistance to antimalarial drugs requires the development of a preventive vaccine. Despite having a vaccine in an advanced stage of development, such as the RTS, S malaria vaccine, the search for an effective vaccine against malaria is far from over. This review discusses novel strategies for malaria vaccine design taking into account the target stages within the parasite’s life cycle.

In August 4 2011, United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) submitted an unprecedented, scientific, groundbreaking Environmental Assessment Report (EAR) of Ogoniland, to the Nigerian government. This was the outcome of a 14–month intensive evaluation of the extent of pollution. It was intended that UNEP’s recommendations would be implemented to restore the devastated environment, on the one hand, and on the other, counteract the numerous environmental health issues that have for decades, plagued Ogoniland. However, five years post EAR, and, despite the seriousness of the situation, no significant resolution has occurred, both on the part of the government, and on the part of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) or Shell. To date, millions of Niger Delta residents, particularly those living in the oil-bearing communities, continue to suffer severe consequences. Although, the assessment was conducted in Ogoniland, other communities in the Niger Delta are also affected. This article explores prevailing issues, using Ogoniland (a microcosm of the Niger Delta) as an example. A multidisciplinary approach for sustainable mitigation of environmental health risks in the Niger Delta is paramount, and Environmental Management tools offer valuable strategies. Adopting UNEP’s recommendations for addressing environmental health problems requires implementing the Environmental Management/Environmental Management System (EM/EMS) model.

In the following article, we estimate the Renunciation of Healthcare Services-RHS in Italian regions in the context of the Environmental, Social and Governance-ESG model during the period 2004-2022. The data were acquired from the ISTAT-BES dataset. The data were analyzed using the following econometric techniques: Panel Data with Fixed Effects, Panel Data with Random Effects, Pooled Ordinary Least Squares-OLS, Weighted Least Square-WLS,. Results show that RHS tends to growth with the E-Component, is negatively associated to the S-Component, and positively associate with the G-Component within the ESG model. Furthermore, a clusterization with the unsupervised k-Means algorithm is presented and the results are discussed with a confrontation between optimal and suboptimal k values optimized with the Silhouette Coefficient. Finally, a confrontation among eight different machine-learning algorithms is performed to predict the future value of RHS. Outcomes show that the Simple Regression Tree is the best predictive algorithm and that the level of RHS is predicted to growth on average of 4.4% for the Italian regions. Results are critically discussed.

Livestock is an integral part of agriculture which significantly contributes to the economic and socio-economic development. Based on its potential in natural resources and human resources, East Kalimantan Province has opportunity to become a beef cattle development area. The development of a corporate-based beef cattle breeding area is an approach which taken toward industrial and business-oriented beef cattle breeding. The concept of breeder corporation will create new strengths such as strengths in human resources, capital, and banking in business development, which can more open the opportunities for the success and growth of the breeder's business. The development of a corporate-based beef cattle breeding area provides opportunities, including: 1) improving the competitiveness and added value of the region and beef cattle commodities in order to support national sustainable food security; 2) strengthening the livestock business system in one area management in a holistic manner; and 3) strengthening breeders institutions in accessing information, technology, public facilities and infrastructure, capital, processing and marketing, so that the concept is expected to be applied in East Kalimantan Province.

Excretion and osmoregulation are fundamental processes of the organism, as they prevent the accumulation of toxic waste products in the body and control the osmotic differences between the cells and the environment. In most of the animals these phenomena are taking place through specialized organs, namely excretory organs, composed of diverse cell types that are performing tasks such as secretion and ultrafiltration. Although the morphology and embryology of excretory organs can differ dramatically, the common spatial arrangement of structural proteins and transporters as well as the similar transcriptional developmental programs underlying their formation suggests the homology of their cell types. In this chapter we discuss the current understanding of the evolution of excretory organsfrom a comparative morphological, developmental and functional perspective, flanked by an additional, cell-type perspective. We argue that a putative homologization of certain excretory cell types does not necessarily reflect the homology of the resulting organs, and that integrating all different levels of comparison is crucial for addressing evolutionary questions.

This transdisciplinary review of research about international cooperation on social and environmental change builds the case for replacing Sustainable Development as the dominant framework for an era of increasing crises and disasters. The review is the output of an intentional exploration of recent studies in multiple subject areas, based on the authors’ decades of work in related fields since the Rio Earth Summit 30 years ago (rather than a keyword search of databases). It summarizes the research which documents failure to progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Consequently, the extensive scholarship critiquing the conceptual framework behind those ‘Global Goals’, and the economic ideology they arose from and support, is used to explain that failure. Although the pandemic set back the SDGs, it further revealed the inappropriate strategy behind those goals. This suggests the Global Goals constitute an ‘own-goal’ scored against people and nature. From this conclusion, alternative frameworks for organizing action on social and environmental issues become more important and are therefore briefly reviewed. It is argued that such a future framework must relate a new eco-social contract between citizen and state, and engage existing organizations and capabilities that are relevant to an increasingly disrupted world. Therefore, the case is made for considering an upgraded form of Disaster Risk Management (DRM) as an overarching framework. The proposed upgrades include detaching from economic ideologies, and recognizing that a wider metadisaster from climate chaos may reduce the future availability of external support. Therefore, self-reliant resilience and locally-led adaptation are identified as important to the future of DRM. Some options for professionals continuing to use the term sustainability, such as this journal, are discussed.

Plastics are extensively used due to their versatility, durability, and low cost. PET stands for Polyethylene terephthalate. PET plastic is widely used all over the world and has many applications ranging from water bottles to fabrics like polyester and many things in between. But its unrestrained use in every field is resulting in heaps and piles of non-biodegradable materials causing damage to the environment and causing pollution. The idea being proposed is to degrade the PET plastic biologically using different bacteria. The bacteria used in this process are Ideonella sakaiensis, Acetobacterium woodii, Pelotomaculum and Methanospirillum hungatei. PET plastic is degraded, yielding Terephthalic Acid (TPA) and Ethylene Glycol (EG) by the action of the bacterium I. sakaiensis. Degradation of EG by A. woodii results in the formation of acetate and ethanol. TPA is degraded by the action of the coculture of Pelotomaculum and M. hungatei thereby yielding methane and acetate. All these products formed have significant commercial uses in various industries. The complete process that is to be carried out can help in achieving sustainability by fulfilling various Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations.

The Societal Patterns Evolution Model (SPEM) (Gakh, 2023a) has been developed to apply to socio-technical systems. It contains patterns representing stages of societal development. Mapping of these patterns to the development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Information Systems was presented at FedCSIS 2022 conference (Gakh, 2022c). This paper discusses the application of SPEM to model the development of three pillars of sustainability: economic, social, and environmental (Purvis, et al., 2019; United Nations, 2023).

The research study examines the Digital government strategies of different countries and compare it with the Digital Pakistan Policy 2018. Different countries focus on the different factors/themes as per requirement of their countries and need of their citizens. Therefore, a requirement for re-search that compares the different digital government strategies has been identified. Secondary data on eGovernment strategies of different governments have been examined to investigate best practices in other countries. The qualitative data analysis software program NVivo has been used to facilitate code-based analysis of different digital government strategies. The findings and recommendations can be successfully utilized for the improvement of digital government strate-gies and its alignment with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030.

After World War II, the economic recovery of Western Europe implied a swift economic transition for all regions, including the area of the Alps, although affecting various parts at different pace and stages. The resulting out-migration led to population decline in some mountain valleys and regions already since the 1950s. A similar out-migration movement began in China after its rural reform started in the 1970s. The effect was in some cases even more significant than in the Alps, with the first village being deserted in the 1980s. Current estimations report of about 380,000 abandoned rural villages in China between 2000 and 2016, particularly in its mountain regions. While lower population densities might alleviate the pressures on ecology and contribute to environmental benefits, these movements aggravate a spiraling-down process of local economies and culture. In the Alps many regions facing challenges of out-migration and economic changes elaborated agritourism schemes that provided both economic incentives and stability to involved mountain farmers, and continuation of local land management systems. In contrast, in China hardly any comparable trends of rural tourism developed. However, in recent years China's interest for tourism-oriented farm diversification increased and a range of rural tourism and agricultural tourism initiatives emerged. This paper focuses on the analysis of successful initiatives, problems and development prospects in the Alps and China's rural areas, redefining agritourism as a systematic integrated activity. Agritourism might therefore be assessed as a core element of the future sustainable development of the Alps and the Chinese countryside.

The development of transversal competences, in interaction with professional competences, is essential for individuals to adapt to change and live meaningful and productive lives. The aim of this study was to explore the mutual interaction of six transversal competences—civic, digital, entrepreneurial, global, innovation, and research, as well as their respective sub-competences—and propose possible approaches to how this dynamic of interaction can be applied to facilitate the development of transversal competences. A sample of students (N = 1575) from 21 universities in Latvia completed a self-assessment survey evaluating multiple behavioural indicators for each transversal competence and sub-competence. The results revealed that civic competence was evaluated significantly lower than other competences, and, for most transversal competences, sub-competences associated with active and systematic collaboration and networking received lower evaluations. A network analysis showed that the community involvement sub-competence of the civic competence and the initiative and critical thinking sub-competences of the innovation competence had the strongest links to the other measured sub-competences on average. The results suggest that the development of initiative and cooperation-and-collaboration-related and network-building skills are likely to have a systematic positive effect on the development of a wider set of transversal competences and the professional autonomy of students in the long term.

How important are institutions for the development of nations? Are there any existing measures which quantify the behavior of institutions? Is there any theoretical justification for measuring their behavior? This paper introduces a framework influenced by Plato’s needs theory to provide justification for measuring the behavior of institutions. This involves introducing the humanization hypothesis which states that the behavior of institutions can be measured as they, similar to human beings, are living entities with similar hierarchical needs which are essential for their survival. The paper employs an explanatory and descriptive research design which is highly theoretical in nature.

Notch signaling is a highly conserved pathway which occurs between adjacent cells to distinguish them. The Notch signaling cascade operates in a simple mechanism, yet Notch plays remarkably diverse roles in development to regulate cell fate determination, organ growth and tissue patterning. Originally isolated and characterized in the model insect Drosophila melanogaster, recent studies in various insect species have revealed that Notch signaling is broadly involved in the construction of insect tissues. This review focuses on providing a molecular mechanistic and developmental picture regarding the roles of Notch pathway in insects. The functions of Notch in the formation and patterning of insect embryo, wing, leg, ovary and several specific structures as well as in stress responses are summarized. These results are discussed in developmental context with an eye toward understanding the functionality of Notch signaling pathway in different insect species.

A Digital marketing allows brands to disseminate information in a targeted way towards their clients and consumers, making bidirectional communication and interactions between organizations and audiences feasible. This reality not only allows companies to pass on messages about sustainability associated with processes and products with the aim of launching trends and shaping behaviour, but also allows consumers to share their experiences, needs, preferences and expectations. In this sense, the techniques used in the context of digital marketing make it possible not only to communicate products and services but also to show that brands are working to be more sustainable and to disseminate new sustainable trends that help to change consumer mindsets. This research paper employs a Systematic Literature Review with Bibliometric Analysis (SLBA) methodology to explore and synthesize data about how digital marketing can be used to promote and communicate sustainability. In this study, the results show that digital marketing strategies contribute to promoting sustainable development by encouraging sustainable consumption patterns. This scenario is possible by understanding consumer behavior, communicating key messages through the best channels and effectively evaluating green marketing campaigns on consumer attitudes and purchasing decisions.

Postdocs who land faculty jobs at research-intensive institutions need to juggle several new large-scale tasks: identifying space and equipment needs for their lab, negotiating the hiring package, outfitting the lab with supplies, building a team, and learning to manage time in ways that can promote productivity and happiness. Here we share tips to help new hires think clearly about each of these tasks.

Green development ensures the socioeconomic development that incorporates environmental issues while remaining economically viable for owners and tenants. Government as the authority of the state should provide favorable incentives, policy and regulatory pressure for green development. The present study aims to investigate the government policies and regulations for green development in Bangladesh and make a critical discussion of the initiatives. The study is descriptive in nature and collects secondary information. Evidence suggests that environmental degradation and climate change related risks and vulnerabilities have intensified in Bangladesh. The government of Bangladesh (GOB) is concerned about green development and formulates various Acts, regulations and policy initiatives since 2010. Major green development initiatives observed in the financial institutions due to the mandatory requirements by Bangladesh Bank but green bond and green insurance in capital market are yet to be developed. The GOB required taking proper policy initiatives for the garments and leather industries to ensure pollution free production system which ensures green trade initiatives. The environmental taxes and ecological compensation mechanisms should be revised. Urban green space and Government green procurement are still less concerning matter. The GOB should make effective collaboration with all related stakeholders to ensure the green development.

We present three studies which investigated the relations between cognition and personality from 7 to 20 years of age. All three studies showed that general cognitive ability and the general factor of personality are significantly related throughout this age span. This relation was expressed in several ways across studies. The first investigated developmental relations between three reasoning domains (inductive, deductive, and scientific) and Eysenck’s four personality dimensions in a longitudinal-sequential design where 260 participants received the cognitive tests three and the personality test two times, covering the span from 9-16 years. It was found that initial social likeability significantly shapes developmental momentum in cognition and vice-versa, especially in the 9 to 11 years period. The second study involved 438 participants from 7 to 17 years, tested twice on attention control, working memory, reasoning in different domains, and once by a Big Five Factors inventory. Extending the findings of the first, this study showed that progression in reasoning is affected negatively by conscientiousness and positively by openness, on top of attention control and working memory influences. The third study tested the relations between reasoning in several domains, the ability to evaluate one’s own cognitive performance, self-representation about the reasoning, the Big Five, and several aspects of emotional intelligence, from 9 to 20 years of age (N=247). Network, Hierarchical Network, and Structural Equation modeling showed that cognition and personality are mediated by the ability of self-knowing. Emotional intelligence was not an autonomous dimension. All dimensions but emotional intelligence influenced academic performance. A developmental model for mind-personality relations is proposed.

Sustainability is a concept shrouded in abstraction. While we have definitions in existence, it is often difficult to explain the concept itself. The current definition of ‘sustainable development’ was given by the Brundtland Commission’s report in 1987. The Earth Summit at Rio in 1992 gave us Agenda 21, an action plan to achieve sustainable development. Now in the 21^st century, philosophers, academicians, and researchers across the globe are paving the way for a new understanding of the term ‘sustainability’, its contextual nature, and its relation to humans, politics, and ecology. This article investigates the origins of the term ‘sustainability’, its derivatives, and the concept of sustainable development. A semantical analysis is carried out to understand the differences between ‘sustainability’ and ‘sustainable development’. Next, the development of the three pillars of sustainability and the application of these concepts in the field of architecture and design is also investigated.

The teaching of the lunge technique in fencing is critical in the developmental age. The relations of anthropometrics with kinematics of lunge was studied only in adult fencers, and no study exist in young considering the different level of experience. Our aims were to assess, in young fencers, which factors, between the anthropometric and the kinematics, were mostly connected with lunge performance (speed and excursion) in different genders and expertise levels. Fifteen young fencers participated in this study. Lunge kinematics, anthropometric characteristics and force expressed in vertical jump tests were collected. Maximal lunge velocity resulted mainly correlated with the posterior knee’s extension ((r=0.56, p=0.031). The lunge distance and mean hip velocity were mostly correlated with fencers’ height (r=0.85, p=0.000 and r=0.76, p=0.001) and FFM (r=0.8, p=0.000 and r=0.73, p=0.002). Experts and non-experts show significant differences in fat free mass, area of upper arm, and of thighs (Effect Size = 1,27 – 1,33, p= 0,021-0,035). From our results it emerges that, in this age range, the analysed aspects of lunge performance are mainly correlated with participant’s anthropometry. Moreover, it is already possible in this age span, to find technical differences linked to the experience.

In resettlement planning literature, much has been written on economic, land valuation and compensation, infrastructure and services aspects of the land. Psychological risks and stresses of resettled communities, however, have been under-researched. The current research looks at the psychological risks of resettlers in a Development-Induced Displacement and Resettlement (DIDR) project in Sri Lanka. Focusing on the stages of resettlement planning process discussed by Scudder and Colson four-stage model (1980) and the psychological risks discussed by Cernea’s (1990) impoverishment risks and reconstruction (IRR) model. This study evaluates the significant level of the psychological risks faced by the communities in DIDR projects in Sri Lanka relating to before and after resettlement. Moragahakanda Resettlement Project (MRP) was selected as the case study which is located in Naula DS division of Matale District, Central Province, Sri Lanka. A questionnaire survey, documents and field observations were used to evaluate the current psychological risks. The responses received from multiple choice questions were analyzed by Significant Point (SP) index. The research findings point that there are no conspicuous changes of psychological risks related to before/after resettlement has occurred in re-settlers. The findings highlight that the psychological risk levels in transition stage have remained the same level in the potential development stage. This research provides a systematic guidance enabling the physical planners to prioritize the most significant psychological risks which should be considered in the decision-making process of DIDR projects.

One of the major steps toward the industrialization of microbial product(s) is to optimize the cultivation conditions at the large scale bioreactor and successfully control the microbial behavior within large scale production environment. Statistical Design of Experiment was proven to optimize a vast number of microbial processes to achieve robustness and explore possible interactions among the variables. In this research, Taguchi Orthogonal Array was applied to optimize the cultivation condition of a newly isolated Prodigiosin-producing marine bacterial strain, Serratia AM8887, at bioreactor level. Two steps fermentation process was applied; as the productivity was scaled up from shake flask level to a bench top bioreactor (5L) and subsequently to an in-situ sterilization bioreactor system (20L) leading to a yield of 7g/L compared to 100mg/L prior to optimization confirming that; applying Taguchi experimental design is a reliable and good positive option for the optimization of biotechnological processes.. The produced pigment was purified and the chemical structure was revealed by means of Spectrophotometric, Maas Spectrum (MS), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) spectroscopy analysis. The biological activity including antibacterial, antioxidants and cytotoxicity to cancer cells line of the pigment were explored. The pigment showed very characteristic features that could helpful in food, pharmaceuticals and/or textile industries.

Accessing energy in the world is crucial nowadays. Energy is an essential factor to achieve other SDGs including SDG7. However, the determination and evaluation of the relationship between different energy scenarios to achieve SDG 7 and other SDGs have not done yet. This paper seeks to fill this gap by investigating how energy seniors can contribute to achieving SDG 7 and other SDGs. Web of Science, ScienceDirect and Scopus databases were utilized for conduction a systematic review. A total finial 25 from 249 papers were filtered from 2015 to December 2020 via inclusion and exclusion criteria. This review involves six seniors of energy which primary linked to achieving the SDG 7 and other SDGs: modern energy 20% (n = 5/25), energy access 16% (n = 4/20), energy efficiency 8% (n= 2/16), renewable energy 28% (n= 7/14), energy services 8% (n= 2/7), and miscellaneous energy 20% (n= 5/5). This systematic review explores the opportunities, constraints and limitations, recommendations, and new directions. The results show that different energy scenarios contribute to achieving mainly (SDG7) and other SDGs. The outcomes from this systematic review provide a sense of direction for future researchers for future studies in this domain.

The present research is embedded in the professional development and research line and in the needs of secondary education and first-year university teachers. We focussed on evidencing the importance of teachers’ professional training to include some specific adaptation and skills in intercultural dialogue and understanding -often called Intercultural Competence- because of its direct impact on the sustainable development of human beings, groups, and ecosystems. We investigated the role played by each of the main competencies linked to the following intercultural dimensions: Professional Identity, Ethics and Axiology, Methodology, and Inclusive Education. We used an integrated methodology and a cross-study of data, performed after the obtention of a three-cornered evaluation of results collected in focus groups, interviews, and questionnaires. We were able to show the impact of intercultural dialogue and understanding in the education for a sustainable development pattern. This is fundamental to set up a new ecology of forms, knowledge, attitudes, and educational meanings, further used to update teachers and students’ training in sustainable ecology and cultural diversity. Progress made in these complementary competencies -Professional Identity, Ethics and Axiology, Methodology- were appraised by teachers participating in the present study; the latter showing an increased interest and demand for the intercultural competence, after increasing their proficiency in the other complementary competencies.

Does the choice of proxy for stock market development matter? This paper suggests that the growth effect of stock market development is sensitive to the choice of proxy and using alternative financial development indicators have practically no influence on the results. We found that using either the stock market capitalization to GDP ratio or the stock market returns; have a positive and significant effect on growth. However, we cannot make same conclusion when one uses either the ratio of total value of trades on the major stock exchanges to GDP or stock market turnover ratio to proxy for stock market development as the coefficient on these variables were found to be statistically insignificant. The indexes extracted from principal component analysis confirm the sensitivity of the effect to the choice of proxy. This finding suggest that stock market development is a conceptual terms, thus, representing it with single indicators make it impossible to identify which stock market development indicators have a significant positive growth effects.

This paper presents an experimental scenario aimed at bridging the gap between the cities we have and the cities we need, not only in the 21^st century but also beyond, using the integrated tools of development control and holistic land development model to achieve a planner-led vision of city sustainability. Due to scathing criticisms against the development control system, the paper contends that planners as development approving officers and public interest specialists are better positioned than allied professionals to increase city sustainability through a holistic development process that benefits from the concept of strong sustainability posited by ecological economists. The paper adopts a seven-stage, 56-cell land development matrix (model) to simulate the development of the typical high-rise residential condominium in Ontario, supported with secondary data and the author’s ground experience as a planner and realtor with condominium customer service experience across Toronto and Mississauga cities between 2008 and 2017. Findings reveal that planners can seize the opportunity of being leaders of the development team to synergize the risks and value creation in land development that are key drivers of strong sustainability. The paper suggests some policy implications for averting disasters like fire hazards and terror attacks in high-rise residential buildings.

The governance of public sector infrastructure projects became an important topic of interest in the project, programme and portfolio management literature during the last decade. Today, it is becoming a central focus for policymakers seeking to ensure success in selecting, designing and implementing government-sponsored programme of multi-projects. Due to the multiple underlying risks and complexities, the governance of infrastructure programme constitutes a critical element in strategic planning in developing countries. This paper has analyzed infrastructure development programme and revealed shortcomings in the areas of appraisal, decision-making, quality assurance and stakeholder management. Approaches to remedy these shortcomings have been proposed.

Ethylene, a gaseous phytohormone, is emerging as a central player in the intricate web of plant developmental processes from germination to senescence under optimal and stressed conditions. It is present in different plant parts, encompassing the stems, leaves, flowers, roots, seeds, and fruits. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of ethylene's fascinating roles in shaping various plant growth and adaptation aspects. It intricately examines the multifaceted impact of ethylene on pivotal aspects of plant development, including but not limited to cell division and elongation, senescence, abscission, fruit and flower development, root hair formation, chloroplast maturation, and photosynthesis. This comprehensive assessment encompasses the intricate pathways of ethylene biosynthesis and signaling, providing a snapshot of the regulatory mechanisms governing ethylene production. Understanding ethylene's multifaceted functions has significant implications for agriculture, biotechnology, and our fundamental comprehension of plant biology. This review underscores the need for continued investigation into ethylene's intricate mechanisms and its potential to revolutionize plant development and crop management.

Among phosphorylated derivatives, phosphinates occupy a prominent place due to their ability to be bioisosteres of phosphates and carboxylates. These properties imply the necessity to develop efficient methodologies leading to phosphinate scaffolds. For the past years our team have explored the nucleophilic potential of silylated phosphonite towards various electrophiles. In this paper, we propose to extend our study over other electrophiles. We describe here the implementation of a cascade reaction between (trimethylsilyl)imidates and hypophosphorous acid mediated by a Lewis acid allowing the synthesis of aminomethylenebisphosphinate derivatives.

Experiential learning can facilitate the development of transferrable skills necessary for success in attaining tenure and promotion in academia. In this article, we discuss the benefits of designing and implementing an individualized professional development experience or practicum. By doing this, we describe the experiential learning component of the Accomplishing Career Transitions (ACT) Program of the American Society for Cell Biology. The ACT program aims to assist postdoctoral trainees and junior faculty from backgrounds underrepresented in STEM as they strive to transition into tenure-track positions and ultimately attain tenure at research-intensive or teaching-intensive academic institutions.

Nowadays, higher education students play an active role in the realization of sustainable development goals (SDGs) for global citizenship. However, some important issues such as how much students know about these goals can play a role in achieving these goals are not yet clear. The aim of this study is to establish a fundamental study for determining the level of knowledge on the higher education students about SDGs. An open-ended questionnaire was conducted with the qualitative research methods on 54 higher education students after pandemic of COVID-19. As a result of the research, the goals of quality education, gender equality, health and quality of life, reduction of inequalities and peace, justice and strong institutions are the most frequently mentioned by the students. In addition, the opinions of the students on the subject of “sustainable cities and communities” are sequentially; the themes include ensuring socio-economic development, preserving cultural heritage identity, safe environment and durable buildings, as well as modern irrigation and waste methods, and reducing air pollution. On the other hand, they agreed on the need for global citizenship to have universal qualifications. In conclusion, global citizenship contributes directly to the SDGs and human-oriented production should be given more importance.

MIGAL – Galilee Research Institute is a regional R&D center in the northeast peripheral region of Israel. An internationally recognized applied research institute, MIGAL specializes in biotechnology and computational sciences, plant sciences, precision agriculture and environmental sciences, as well as food, nutrition and health. Most of MIGAL’s researchers serve as the core faculty at Tel Hai Academic College (TH). Despite the country’s small surface area, socioeconomic inequality in Israel is high by OECD standards, with wage differences between rich and poor regions reaching up to 400%. The aims of this study are to identify possible socioeconomic impacts of MIGAL–TH on the peripheral northeast’s development. We discuss the effects of academic research and institutions of higher education on mitigating differences between the center and periphery of the country. Data for MIGAL, TH and the northeastern peripheral region were collected from the yearly reports of the two institutions and the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. MIGAL was found to serve as a link between research, academic teaching and socioeconomic development in the northeast periphery. Several variables related to this link and describing MIGAL–TH and northeastern periphery development were analyzed over time: MIGAL’s budget, total number of employees and number of employees with PhDs; number of TH graduate students; socioeconomic index (SEI) of the northeastern periphery and its position on the Israeli list of regional SEIs. The signs and significance levels of their trends indicate a potential socioeconomic impact of academic research and higher education on peripheral development in the northeast of the country. Research budgets and the creation of jobs for academics living in the region are just a few examples of this impact.

The paper comes from the need to search for criteria useful for the valorization of heritage towns, located in rural and/or inland areas of Italy, now affected to depression and depopulation process. To this end, the authors point out how territorial identity can constitute the theoretical foundation to influence the development policies and, in particular, the tourism development for sustainability process It was therefore decided to interview a number of stakeholders who could contribute with their professionalism and expertise to identify possible paths and processes for the enhancement of these areas for tourism development. The methodology was based on be to be interviews with open questions, which allowed to identify a SWOT analysis, offering a guideline for a correct governance of these rural areas for their tourist enhancement, in terms of sustainability of development and tourist attractiveness. The study is an observatory that will monitor the implementation of sustainable tourism enhancement of the borghi, heritage town

Demographic and socio-economic developments couple with other requirements to satisfy human needs result in rapid urban expansion sometimes with increasing rate of surface extent greater than the rate of growth of population, that result in continuous sealing of ground surface thereby affecting ecosystem services. This study applied remote sensing toward achieving the progress of SDGs and stage to determine the ratio of the rate of land consumption to the rate of population growth of Gombe metropolis. QGIS 2.18 was used for the image processing and classification analysis for the key Landsat ETM+ (Enhanced Thematic Mapper), Impervious Surface Indices and population data to inform on the urban trend and LCR/PGR for the periods 2000-2005, 2005-2010, and 2010-2015. The result appears that the LCR/PGR for the periods of study show split trends. During 2000-2005 the result shows that the study area expanded outward with LCR/PGR of 1.2. The result also indicate that during 2005-2010, the study area densified with little expansion with the LCR/PGR of 0.8. The result further reveals that during 2010-2015 the LCR/PGR reached 1.8. Pointing that the study area expanded outward with the rate of ground sealing getting high.

In the world city theory, most researchers focus on the service sector in the urban economy and less discuss the role of manufacturing. However, the path of only emphasizing financial and corporate service could not fit the sustainability concept. Compared to Anglo-American world city, Global South’s world cities have distinct pathway to be industrialization, tertiarization and globalization. This paper adopted dynamic historic perspective with first-hand materials including in-depth interviews with managers and government officers and second-hand data including yearbook statics and economic census to closely examine the emerging world city-- ‘World Factory’ in Global South, Guangzhou in China, from 1949 to 2015, to emphasize how manufacturing affects the urban globalization through three dimensions, economic, social and spatial dimensions. To make the confirmation of the role of manufacturing in Guangzhou as sustainable world city, we find manufacturing in Guangzhou builds up the basic foundation of export-oriented economy and makes positive effects on urban economic transformation. In addition, manufacturing remains important source of employment and foreign immigration. Along with urbanization and industrialization, urban spatial expansion and aggregation changes with different urban development concept. We provide new insights on multiple globalization on manufacturing for sustainable world city.

Temperature is a crucial environmental factor that affects embryonic development, particularly for marine organisms with long embryonic development periods. However, the sensitive period of embryonic development and the role of autophagy/apoptosis in temperature regulation in cephalopods, enigmatic creatures, remain unclear. In this study, we cultured embryos of Sepiella japonica, a typical species in the local area of the East China Sea, at different incubation temperatures (18 ℃, 23 ℃, and 28 ℃) to investigate various developmental aspects, including morphological and histological characteristics, mortality rates, the duration of embryonic development, and expression patterns of autophagy-related genes (LC3, BECN1, Inx4) and apoptosis marker genes (Cas3, p53) at 25 developmental stages. Our findings indicate that embryos in the high-temperature (28 ℃) group had significantly higher mortality and embryonic malformation rates than those in the low-temperature (18 ℃) group. Furthermore, high temperature (28 ℃) shortened the duration of embryonic development by 7 days compared to the optimal temperature (23 ℃), while low temperature (18 ℃) caused a delay of 9 days. Therefore, embryos of S. japonica were more intolerant to high temperatures (28 ℃), emphasizing the critical importance of maintaining an appropriate incubation temperature (approximately 23 ℃). Additionally, our study observed, for the first time, that the Early blastula, Blastopore closure, and Optic vesicle to Caudal end stages were the most sensitive stages. During these periods, abnormalities in the expression of autophagy-related and apoptosis-related genes were associated with higher rates of mortality and malformations, highlighting the strong correlation and potential interaction between autophagy and apoptosis in embryonic development under varying temperature conditions.

The calmodulin-binding transcription activators (CAMTAs) mediate transcriptional regulation of development, growth, and responses to various environmental stresses in plants. To characterize the biological processes of soybean CAMTA (GmCAMTA) family members in response to abiotic stress, we identified 15 GmCAMTA genes from soybean (Glycine max L.) and investigated their roles in the abiotic stress response. The transcriptions of GmCAMTAs exhibited distinct circadian regulation patterns and were expressed differently in response to salt, drought, and cold stresses, except ABA. Interestingly, the expression levels of GmCAMTA2, GmCAMTA8, and GmCAMTA12 were higher in stem tissue than in other soybean tissues. To determine the roles of GmCAMTAs in the regulation of developmental processes and stress responses, we isolated GmCAMTA2 and GmCAMTA8 cDNAs from soybean and generated Arabidopsis overexpressing transgenic plants. The GmCAMTA2-OX and GmCAMTA8-OX plants showed hypersensitivity to drought stress. The water in the leaves of GmCAMTA2-OX and GmCAMTA8-OX plants was lost faster than that in WT plants under drought stress conditions. In addition, stress-responsive genes in the GmCAMTA2-OX and GmCAMTA8-OX plants were down-regulated under drought stress conditions. Our results suggest that GmCAMTA2 and GmCAMTA8 genes are regulated by circadian rhythms and function as negative regulators in development and drought stress responses.

This work aims to describe the early life history and the length frequency distribution of larval stages of three mesopelagic species collected near coral reef areas in the Red Sea. Larvae were collected monthly using a plankton net (500 µ) from three coastal coral reef areas surrounding Sharm El-Shekikh on the Egyptian Red Sea coast between January and December 2015. The identification of larvae was based on the author’s experience and other literature. The larvae of this species were divided into preflexion, flexion, and postflexion based on the flexion of the notochord and they were also categorized according to their size into relevant size classes. Mesopelagic fishes were represented in the collection by four species belonging to four families; Vinciguerria mabahiss (Family: Phosichthyidae), Benthosema pterotum (Family: Myctophidae), Astronesthes martensii (Family: Stomiidae; subfamily: Astronesthidae) and Trichiurus sp. (Family Scombridae). In general, a total of 3678 larvae were collected, of which 1191 belonged to mesopelagic species. The most abundant species was V. mabahiss with 677 larvae that constituted 18% of total larvae collected. The second most abundant species was B. pterotum that was represented by 485 larvae (13%). A. martensii was represented by the lowest number of larvae (29 larvae, 2%). Most larvae of the three species were in preflexion stage and more abundant in the cooler months of the year between November and April. The high number of preflexion larvae at the time may indicate the spawning of the three species in the colder times of the year.

Forest vegetation plays a key role in the cycling of mercury (Hg) and organic matter (OM) in terrestrial ecosystems. Litterfall has been indicated as the major transport vector of atmospheric Hg to forest soils, which is eventually transported and stored in the sediments of forest lakes. Hence, it is important to understand how changes in forest vegetation affect Hg in soil and its biogeochemical cycling in lake systems. We investigated the pollen records and the geochemical compositions of sediments from two lakes (Schurmsee and Glaswaldsee) in the Black Forest (Germany) to evaluate whether long-term shifts in forest vegetation induced by climate or land use influenced Hg accumulation in the lakes. We were particularly interested to determine whether coniferous forests were associated with a larger export of Hg to aquatic systems than deciduous forests. Principal components analysis followed by principal component regression enabled us to describe the evolution of the weight of the latent processes determining the accumulation of Hg over time. Our results emphasize that the in-lake uptake of Hg during warm climate periods, soil erosion after deforestation and emissions from mining and other human activities triggered changes in Hg accumulation during the Holocene stronger than the changes caused by forest vegetation alone.

Metabolic and ionic changes during ischaemia predispose the heart to the damaging effects of reperfusion. Such changes and the resulting injury differ between immature and adult heart. Therefore, cardioprotective strategies for adults need to be tested in immature heart. We have recently shown that simultaneous activation of PKA and EPAC confers marked cardioprotection in adult hearts. The aim of this study is to investigate the efficacy of this intervention in immature hearts and determine whether the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MPTP) is involved. Isolated perfused Langendorff hearts from both adult and immature rats were exposed to global ischaemia and reperfusion injury (I/R) following control perfusion or perfusion after an equilibra-tion period with activators of PKA and/or EPAC. Functional outcome and reperfusion injury were measured and in parallel, mitochondria were isolated following 5 min reperfusion to determine whether cardioprotective interventions involved changes in MPTP opening behaviour. Perfusion for 5 minutes preceding ischaemia of injury- matched adult and immature hearts with 5 µM 8-Br (8-Br-cAMP-AM), an activator of both PKA and EPAC, led to significant reduction in post-reperfusion CK release and infarct size. Perfusion with this agent also led to a reduction in MPTP opening propensity in both adult and immature hearts. These data show that immature hearts are innately more resistant to I/R injury than adults, and that this is due to a reduced ten-dency to MPTP opening following reperfusion. Further, simultaneous stimulation of PKA & EPAC causes cardioprotection which is additive to the innate resistance.

This article explores the question of the rate of digital progress in the context of the labor market. Specific features of the current situation are indicated: temporality of socio-technological transformations, which is becoming less and less compatible with the harmonious development of man and society; the pace at which machines acquire intelligence; total devaluation of mental labor; unresolved issue of the role of man in the world of intelligent machines; the criticality of the problem of the labor market, due to its global nature, social significance and the rate of socio-technological changes. It is emphasized that these circumstances in the short term threaten the sustainable development of the global society, whose reactions to the transformation of technological and socio-economic infrastructure are significantly lagging behind. It is concluded that there is an urgent need to strengthen social responsibility, determined by the new ethics of relations between humans and machines with AI, supplemented by the primacy of the dignity of the social role of humans. The authors point out the urgent need to revise ideas about work as the main purpose of a person and about realization in the profession as the main factor that determines the self-esteem of an individual and his social status.

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 Corona Virus (COVID-19) pandemic situation has posed significant effect on tourism industry. Tourism destinations have embraced emergency health care measures and restrictions imposed on human movement around the world. Beaches and resorts are empty, peoples’ movements are stopped and travelling between territories is strictly controlled. The COVID-19 lockdown around the world has imposed negative impact on the livelihood of people and world economy as well. The present study attempts to find out the scopes for sustainable tourism development in near future from the consequences of social, economic, and environment in COVID-19 pandemic situation.

As many if not most ligands at G protein-coupled receptor antagonists are inverse agonists, we have systematically reviewed inverse agonism at the nine adrenoceptor subtypes. Except for β3-adrenoceptors, inverse agonism has been reported for each of the adrenoceptor subtypes, most often for β2-adrenoceptors, including endogenously expressed receptors in human tissues. As with other receptors, detection and degree of inverse agonism depends on the cells and tissues under investigation, i.e. is greatest when the model has a high intrinsic tone/constitutive activity for the response being studied. Accordingly, it may differ between parts of a tissue, for instance atria vs. ventricles of the heart, and within a cell type between cellular responses. The basal tone of endogenously expressed receptors often is low, leading to less consistent detection and smaller extent of observed inverse agonism. The extent inverse agonism depends on specific molecular properties of a compound but clusters by chemical class. While inverse agonism is a fascinating facet in attempts to mechanistically understand observed drug effects, we are skeptical whether an a priori definition of extent of inverse agonism in the target product profile of a developmental candidate is a meaningful option in drug discovery and development.

CuO-ZnO-Al2O3 catalysts are designed for the low-temperature shift conversion in the process of hydrogen and ammonia synthesis gas production. The paper presents the results of research on recovery of copper and zinc from spent catalysts using pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical methods. Under reducing conditions, at high temperature, having appropriately selected the composition of the slag, more than 66% of copper in metallic form and about 70% of zinc in the form of ZnO can be extracted from this material. Hydrometallurgical processing of the catalysts was carried out using two leaching solutions: alkaline and acidic. Almost 62% of the zinc contained in the catalysts has been leached to the alkaline solution and about 98% of copper has been leached to the acidic solution. After the hydrometallurgical treatment of the catalysts, insoluble residue was also obtained in the form of pure ZnAl2O4. This compound can be reused to produce catalysts, or it can be processed under reducing conditions at high temperature to recover zinc. The recovery of zinc and copper from such a material is consistent with the policy of sustainable development and helps to reduce the environmental load of stored wastes.

In the empirical dimension, the authors' intention was to define the criteria that should be taken into account by universities to meet the requirements of sustainable university development - in terms of activities and reporting through the analysis of good practices developed by top Polish universities. The aim was also to select activities that, based on benchmarks, could be used by universities at every stage of implementing SDG goals. This is not an easy task, considering that for educational institutions the priority is the educational process, and the implementation of the principles of sustainable development is only possible through an intensive educational process combined with the application of knowledge in practice. This is a challenge for the university because it requires remodeling the current culture, changes in processes and the perception of certain cultural and social phenomena, and will involve a change in the teacher-student relationship, a change in the traditional education process to practice-based education, and will also require an interdisciplinary context. in the content provided. But this is precisely the challenge for outstanding educators. The authors compared three significant world rankings to which Polish universities also report. They collected information and data mainly regarding the activities undertaken by the reporting Polish universities in the area of ​​developing good practices. Many ideas and tips will enable the preparation of further material, which the authors plan to deepen with a detailed analysis of SD indicators.

This paper argues that the neoliberal consensus about education finance has broken down due to growing economic inequality. First, I use a comparative historical analysis of political alliances to examine patterns of world trade and nations’ policies for economic and educational development since World War II. The United States emphasized STEM-collegiate preparation for all students, while most countries continued the dual emphasis on technical-tertiary and higher education. Educational policy in the US and Pacific region also shifted to reliance on markets and student loans resulting in worsening economic inequality in access. Nations with dual technical and academic pathways in secondary and postsecondary education systems expand college enrollment rates more rapidly than the US. They also experience class conflict between the working-middle class and the new technology elite. Next, I examine how education policy shifted from national planning aligned with public funding to market-based incentives for institutional development, further exposing gaps in opportunity within nations. Finally, recognizing the variations in systemic causes of inequality, I argue that governments, education agencies, and civic activists can best promote equity by organizing to address barriers to opportunity for groups left behind in the wake of withering neoliberal education policy.

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) play an significant role in financial inclusion and poverty alleviation activities. A critical challenge facing MFIs is how on all to build its own capacity for sustainable and healthy development. By using the data from the pilot survey of 65 microcredit companies in Zhejiang of China, this paper explores the factors affecting MFIs activities by principal component analysis and analyzes the key Influencing factors and sustainable development performance with the analysis of variance and multi-regression model.The results indicate that four key factors of operational technology, external environment, financial condition and institution size have a significant positive effect on the economic sustainability performance of MFIs, while the adjusted institution size is insignificant positive effect on operational sustainability performance,which means that key factors of MFIs sustainability have a greater impact on economic sustainability performance than operational sustainability performance.

In this paper, we have analysed the level of advancement in circular economy (CE) in the EU-28 countries. Firstly, we used a synthetic measure to examine CE advancement in EU countries in each of the Eurostat CE distinguished areas, i.e. production and consumption, waste management, secondary raw materials, and competitiveness and innovation. For the empirical analysis, we applied 17 Eurostat indicators to the CE areas. To find the synthetic measure in 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016, we used multidimensional comparative analysis, i.e. a zero unitarisation method. Secondly, based on the synthetic measures of the CE areas, we created a general synthetic measure of the CE advancement of the EU-28 countries as well as the countries’ rankings. Thirdly, we classified the countries into groups according to their level of advancement in CE, i.e. high level, medium-high level, medium-low level, and low level groups. Finally, we applied a similarity measure to evaluate the correlation between obtained rankings in two most extreme moments in the period of analysis (2010, 2016). Our analysis covers all EU member states, as well as "old" and "new" EU countries separately. Our results confirm that highly developed Benelux countries, i.e. Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Belgium, have the highest CE advancement level. Malta, Cyprus, Estonia, and Greece are the least advanced in CE practice. Apart from that, on average, there is some progress in CE implementation, significant disproportions between the EU countries were observed, especially among the "new" member states.

The focus of research has mainly been on the life cycle approach to project development, while limited attention has been given to the ageing construction companies that make all these activities/processes happen. This paper examines the organisational factors determining the sustainability and growth of building and civil engineering contractors in South Africa. The paper explores whether there are specific organisational factors that aid the sustainable development and growth of contractors in the South African construction industry. The paper analyses data gathered from face-to-face interviews conducted with four established and twelve upgraded and successful building and civil engineering contractors listed on the Construction Industry Development Board’s (cidb) Register of Contractors. The aim of the study is to identify the organisational factors critical for sustainable contractor development and growth in South Africa. The study found that organizational factors responsible for the sustainable development and growth of construction contractors include the size of the founding team members, management capabilities, strategic decisions made by founders/leaders and the ability of the company to constantly evolve, adapt and respond effectively to threats/challenges whenever they surface, amongst other findings. Capacity to generalise the results of the study to the large cidb registered contractor group is limited by the smallness of the sample size. Future research should make use of a larger sample size to obtain more general findings. The results of the study imply that the founding team size, experience, entrepreneurial and managerial capabilities, capacities and organisational structures that enable the efficient response of companies to external and internal challenges are key components of the definable arrangements that will support the sustainability and growth of construction organisations. The paper is of value to government departments and agencies such as the cidb and contracting firms in the construction industry.

Adapted and personalized motor activities prove to be effective for meeting the specific needs of children with SEN, tailoring to their unique limitations and abilities. Our focus was to craft and apply a structured program for psychomotor abilities development, targeting balance and motor-cognitive skills. The study aims to enhance the behavior and psychomotor manifestations of 28 students with SEN (aged 12-14) from two institutional centers in Romania. The "Sfântul Ștelian" Inclusive Education School Center of Costesti, Arges (CC-12 subjects), and the "Sfânta Filofteia" Inclusive Education School Center of Ștefănești (CS-16 subjects). Across a 36-week training regimen, participants engaged in sessions lasting 30 minutes, twice weekly. Evaluation of their psychomotor skills involved a battery of tests: assessing balance, both with eyes open and closed, brain processing speed, upper limb motor laterality. Initial and final data were gathered to assess their motor development and physical state. Instruments utilized included the Optojump Next optical system for movement analysis, Witty SEM intelligent semaphore, Sensamove balance miniboard. Statistical analysis compared the initial and final assessments using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and Wilcoxon Z test. Out of the total comparisons made between the initial and final assessments for the evaluation of the psychomotor component, statistically significant differences were found in only 37.5% of these comparisons.

A better study of the postnatal retinal development is not only essential for the in-depth understanding of the nature of the vision system but also may provide insights for treatment developments of eye conditions, such as retinopathy of premature (ROP). To date, quantitative analysis of postnatal retinal development is primarily limited to endpoint histological examination. This study is to validate in vivo optical coherence tomography (OCT) for longitudinal monitoring of postnatal retinal development in developing mouse eyes. Three-dimensional (3D) frame registration and super averaging were adopted to investigate the fine structure of the retina. Interestingly, a hyporeflective layer (HRL) between the nerve fiber layer (NFL) and inner plexiform layer (IPL) was observed in developing eyes and gradually disappeared with aging. To interpret the observed retinal layer kinetics, a model based on eyeball expansion, cell apoptosis, and retinal structural modification was proposed.

The agriculture and rural areas perform a new function which requires the delivery of public goods to the society. In turn, a comprehensive identification and analysis of agricultural externalities (external economies) involves a need for developing a dedicated valuation methodology. This paper presents the assumptions of the public goods theory and puts them in the context of agriculture. The study focuses on analyzing the valuation methods for external economies, and proposes a methodology for the valuation of some illustrative positive externalities of agricultural production and of natural environment resources regarded as public goods (the agri-tourist value of a farm and the value of a natural waterhole).

Neurotrophins play a principal role in neuronal survival and differentiation during development, but also in the maintenance of appropriate adult neuronal circuits and phenotypes. In the oculomotor system, we have demonstrated that neurotrophins are key regulators of developing and adult neuronal properties, but with peculiarities depending on each neurotrophin. For instance, the administration of NGF, BDNF or NT-3 protects neonatal extraocular motoneurons from cell death after axotomy, but only NGF and BDNF prevent the downregulation in ChAT. In the adult, in vivo recordings of axotomized extraocular motoneurons have demonstrated that the delivery of NGF, BDNF or NT-3 recovers different components of the firing discharge activity of these cells, with some particularities in the case of NGF. All neurotrophins have also synaptotrophic activity, although to different degrees. Accordingly, neurotrophins can restore the axotomy-induced alterations acting selectively on different properties of the motoneuron. In this review we summarize these evidences and discuss them in the context of other motor systems.

Sustainable development is inconceivable without healthy real estate market. A housing project can be regarded as sustainable only when all the dimensions of sustainability (environmental, economic, and social) are dealt with. There has been an increased interest in using sustainability indicators for evaluating the impacts of the new development projects. Past and recent experiences have shown that sustainability indicators can be useful tools for measuring the outcomes of new construction, when used appropriately and adequately. The aim of this article is to propose an integrated, hierarchically structured system of sustainability indicators to be used for assessment of the new housing development projects in the Baltic States. This aim is achieved through accomplishing three objectives. First, based on a review of literature related to assessing building project performance and sustainable development in construction, the paper proposes a hierarchically structured system of sustainability indicators. Second, based on a survey of experts from the Baltic States, significances of criteria are estimated by the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. Finally, paper proposes recommendations to government authorities and real estate developers as to how to enhance the performance of new residential projects according to the principles of sustainability.

AI-based approaches are increasingly being used to revolutionize vaccine development for COVID-19. Small molecules, peptides, and epitopes are being collected for therapy discovery, which could also direct AI-based models, screening, or generation [1]. AI-based models are being used for drug discovery and vaccine development, and pre-existing data is being leveraged through machine learning approaches for COVID-19 drug discovery and vaccine development [1]. The best candidate targets for future treatment development are being identified and evaluated using AI-based models [1]. AI-based approaches can be used to overcome challenges in manufacturing, storage, logistics, and safety and efficacy issues related to different vaccine candidates for COVID-19 [2]. AI algorithms can help identify the best vaccine candidates for COVID-19 while considering the efficiency of antigenic peptides for immune response generation [2]. The presentation of antigenic peptides by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules is the first step after COVID-19 vaccine administration for any vaccine-induced immune response [2]. Thus, AI-based models are being used to identify the best vaccine candidates for COVID-19 and to ensure that the vaccine-induced immune response is efficient and safe. The utilization of AI-based methods to address logistical, manufacturing, storage, safety, and efficacy issues regarding several COVID-19 vaccine candidates will be examined in this study. Additionally, while considering the effectiveness of antigenic peptides for the induction of an immune response, we will determine the best potential targets for the next treatment development and assess how AI-based models can help discover the best vaccine candidates for COVID-19. This research ultimately intends to offer insights into how AI-based techniques can transform COVID-19 vaccine development and how they can be applied to address vaccine development issues. In this paper, we focus on recent advances in using artificial intelligence to develop COVID-19 drugs and vaccines, as well as the potential of intelligent training in discovering COVID-19 therapeutics, highlighting potential challenges and solutions.

The demand for renewable energy is increasing globally due to concerns about climate change, pollution, and the finite nature of fossil fuel resources, as renewable energy has been recognized as a significant factor in realizing sustainable development. The government of Saudi Arabia adopted the reduction of fossil fuel subsidies policy as a financial motivation for supporting both the production and consumption of fossil fuels. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the influence and shocks of Saudi’s financial development indicators on renewable energy consumption (REC). And to examine the track of causality between financial development indicators and REC. The study covers the annual data period of 1990-2021 and applies the Basic Vector Autoregressive model (VAR), Granger causality test, forecast error variance decomposition (FEVD), and impulse response function (IRF). The results imply that the financial development indicators have a significant positive impact on REC. The results of causality between REC and financial development indicators were conflicting. The results reveal that REC variation is explained by its innovative shocks and has a positive response to shocks in financial development. Authorities can encourage investment in renewable energy consumption by providing financial incentives also the governments can foster national and international partnerships between investors, policymakers, and industry stakeholders. Employing different determinants of financial development indicators and incorporating population factors in the REC function will be highly recommended for forming the renewable energy demand in Saudi Arabia.

Childhood obesity is one of the most prevalent public health challenges in the United States and although rates are declining overall, rates among children living in underserved neighborhoods are increasing. This five-year intervention project seeks to empower teachers (n=92) to invest in their own health and then to integrate nutrition concepts into core subjects’ lessons in elementary schools. The professional development sessions reflect the concepts in the Whole Child, Whole School, Whole Community model. Results indicate that teachers who attended professional development sessions were more likely to implement nutrition lessons in the classroom (r = 0.54, p<0.01) and students demonstrated a significant increase in nutrition knowledge (p < .001, df = 2, F = 9.66). Investing in school-based programs that ensure teacher well-being and professional development can yield positive benefits for both teachers and students.

The fact that Thailand’s energy policy has set a new renewable energy target of 30% of total final energy consumption by 2036. It also has the potential of solar energy and community demands in remote areas. However, most of the renewable energy technology will still be able to achieve renewable energy goals, similar to the case of the national policy that promotes Solar Home System (SHS) in remote areas, lack of good handling. Therefore, achieving the goal of the renewable energy policy should be in position using the right strategy. This article presents the result of a case study in the Akha upland community, northern Thailand, where we used the mixing method and factor analysis to analyze strategies for SHS related criteria. The key scopes and challenge included bottom-up planning concepts and subsidies from expert persons, while contributions to factors have an impact on developing sustainable SHS, include the creating approval of SHS technologies, developing of SHS management, promoting of SHS technologies, and supporting of SHS policies, respectively. Mainly, social factors provide positive effects, which thus influence the sustainable development of process SHS in terms of the creation of approval. Furthermore, there should be managed appropriately for each community, for the positive imagery of solar power.

The year 2021 marks the 70th anniversary of establishing the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) within the People’s Republic of China. As with China as a whole, Tibet has experienced a tumultuous history over these past seventy years. Especially since the 1980s, the region has witnessed significant economic development, poverty alleviation, and increased social indicators such as life expectancy and healthcare. At the same time, substantial disparity within Tibet, as well as between Tibet and the rest of China, persists. This article tracks 16 social, economic, and ecological indicators for the past several decades, as well as levels of economic assistance provided to Tibet by other Chinese provinces and the Chinese central government in an attempt to narrow the development gap between Tibet and the rest of the country. The results show that since 1951, despite progress in many aspects, there remains a substantial gap between Tibet’s indicators and the average level of China, with the biggest gap being the illiteracy rate. Uneven development between regions within Tibet, especially between urban and rural areas, also persists.

The study aimed to evaluate the impact of community policing on maintaining community safety and security by measuring the rate of crime prevention. Specifically, it sought to find out how the city administration of Addis Ababa demonstrated and promoted understanding of the community policing effort, information sharing, and community members' opinions regarding community policing in relation to local security procedures. Law enforcement initiatives to improve quality of life and reduce crime are also included. In order to be successful, community policing requires concrete actions and projects, and given the pervasive mistrust in today's public, both police departments and individual officers must take the lead. The findings demonstrated the influence of community policing, information sharing, and their results on local security practices as well as community policing among community members. According to one suggestion, the police should make sure that they interact positively with the community and that people are aware of their involvement in community policing. This way, people will be happy to provide the police with information that could help prevent crime. The public should be encouraged to maintain good connections with the police, as they can enhance community policing. Because it were obvious that doing so will improve society's peace and security, this study showed the need for additional efforts to further cement relationships of collaboration between the police and the community.

The importance of agricultural programs in reducing poverty, improving livelihoods, and increasing productivity cannot be overstated. Poverty and unemployment remain the most pressing developmental concerns in rural communities of Africa in general and South Africa in particular. The study was derived from the contribution of the agricultural development programs and sought to discover how the Fortune 40 initiative impacted rural livelihoods of youth in Bushbuckridge Local Municipality. Primary data using cross-sectional research design was collected from beneficiaries of the Fortune 40 program, through use of a questionnaire. An ordered probit model was used to analyse the impact of Fortune 40 initiative to rural livelihoods. Empirical results revealed that age of beneficiaries, household size, type of farming, credit access and land size were the factors with the likelihood to influence the impact of the Fortune 40 program. Therefore, it can be concluded that the land size for production should increase or expanded to enhance production of vegetables; provision of credit facilities for youths in agriculture through micro-finance and rural commercial banks is essential; also, youth, such as agricultural graduates looking for practical experience and on-farm training, should be considered in the program.

Stunting, during the Covid-19 pandemic, is increasingly becoming a big problem in the world, especially in poor and developing countries. Observational studies have shown that stunting is associated with poor nutrition, especially a plant-based diet, inflammation, caused by infection, enteric dysfunction, an environment with clean water, inadequate sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and endogenous inflammation associated with excess adiposity. This causes nutritional interventions to be often unsuccessful (Kemenkes RI, 2018).The government intervenes to reduce stunting to the target party, which is divided into two categories. The first category is specific nutrition intervention, namely monitoring children under five at the posyandu, giving immunizations, giving vitamin A, giving Supplementary Foods (PMT), and others. The second category is sensitive nutrition interventions, namely the provision of drinking water and proper sanitation, postnatal family planning (KB) services, providing information related to stunting, food social assistance, conditional cash assistance, and others. (KEMEN-PMK, 2018). WHO states, that the impact of stunting can be divided into short-term and long-term impacts. The short-term impacts are; increased incidence of morbidity and mortality; cognitive, motor, and verbal development in children is not optimal; and increased healthcare costs. While the long-term impact; Posture that is not optimal as an adult (shorter than usual); Increased risk of obesity and other diseases; The decline in reproductive health; Less than optimal learning capacity and performance during school years; and Low productivity and work capacity (Kemenkes RI, 2018). The nursing goal is to help people achieve quality, holistic health. Implementation of Modeling and Role Modeling Theory is an option in implementing nursing care for children with stunting. “Modeling” is gaining an understanding of the client’s world from the client’s perspective. That is to build a “model” of the client’s worldview. “Role‑Modeling” is based on the assumption that all humans want to interact with others, they want to carry out selected roles in society. Role-Modeling is using the client’s model of the world to plan interventions that meet his or her perceived needs, grow, develop and heal. Role-Modeling requires that we aim to build trust, promote a positive orientation and a sense of control, affirm strengths and set specific mutual goals.

An increasing amount of evidence indicates the critical role of the cutaneous nervous system in the initiation and maintenance of psoriatic skin lesions by neurogenic inflammation. However, molecular mechanisms affecting cutaneous neurons are largely uncharacterized. Therefore, we reanalyzed a psoriatic RNA sequencing dataset from published transcriptome experiments of nearly 300 individuals. Using the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis software, we associated several hundreds of differentially expressed transcripts (DETs) to nervous system development and functions. Since neuronal projections were previously reported to be affected in psoriasis, we performed an in-depth analysis of neurite formation-related processed. Our in silico analysis suggests that SEMA-PLXN and ROBO-DCC-UNC5 regulating axonal growth and repulsion are differentially affected in non-lesional and lesional skin samples. We identified opposing expressional alterations in secreted ligands for axonal guidance signaling (RTN4/NOGOA, NTNs, SEMAs, SLITs) and non-conventional axon guidance regulating ligands, including WNT5A and their receptors, modulating axon formation. These differences in neuritogenesis may explain the abnormal cutaneous nerve filament formation described in psoriatic skin. The processes also influence T cell activation and infiltration, thus highlighting an additional angle of the crosstalk between the cutaneous nervous system and the immune responses in psoriasis pathogenesis, in addition to the known neurogenic pro-inflammatory mediators.

Rural tourism has been proved as an effective approach in many rural areas in China, and during the development processes, local institutions play significant roles in the context of China. This paper is to explore various roles of local institutions in the development of rural tourism in a typical community, Dazhai, in Guilin City. Within its limitations, it examines the roles by identifying the current situations of the community, formal and informal institutions that affect the rural tourism development.Obstacles still exist because of the “top-bottom”political system.

: This study aims at examining how B Corporations advance Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their practices by analyzing the socioenvironmental problems they address and the solutions they provide to those problems. All Argentinian B corporations, certified by early 2023 (135 companies), were investigated using a mixed approach, combining social network analysis with textual data analysis. The results showed that the environmental practices are primarily linked to waste, water, energy and chemical management, as well as product innovation. In turn, the social practices address the training, education, and well-being of employees and other stakeholders, diversity, equity and inclusion management, and the creation of an inclusive and fair environment, integrating local communities. Thus, in the flow of their sustainability practices, Argentinian B Corporations contribute to SDGs 8, 12, 13, 9, 6, 7, 5, 10, 11, 4, and 17, in line with the SDGs declared by these companies. Our findings contribute to the theoretical knowledge of the B Corp movement and have practical implications by providing inputs to improve the management of B Corporations and to guide public policies encouraging these companies to advance sustainable development dimensions lacking attention.