Electrification coverage in Sarawak is the lowest at 78.74%, compared to Peninsular Malaysia at 99.62% and Sabah at 82.51%. Kapit, Sarawak with its 88.4% populations located in rural areas and mostly situated along the main riverbanks has great potential to generate electrical energy by hydrokinetic system. Yearly water velocity data is the most significant parameter to perform hydrokinetic analysis study. Nevertheless, the data retrieved from local river databases are inadequate for river energy analysis, thus hindering its progression. Instead, flow rates and rainfall data had been utilised to estimate the water velocity data. This signifies no estimation of water velocity in an unregulated river by using water level data had been made. Therefore, a novel technique of estimating the daily average water velocity data in unregulated rivers is proposed. The modelling of regression equation for water velocity estimation was performed and two regression model equations were generated to estimate both water level and water velocity on-site and proven to be valid as the coefficient of determination values had been R² = 87.4% and R²=87.9%, respectively. The combination of both regression model equations can be used to estimate long-term time series water velocity data for type-C unregulated river in remote areas.

This paper explores the influence of GenAI chatbot (ChatGPT) and AI-based simulation (SimVenture) on the start-up intention through the mediating roles of entrepreneurship educational outcomes; entrepreneurship cognition, entrepreneurship competencies, and innovation spirit of students in higher education institutions in the Middle East. The proposed conceptual framework was empirically tested with partial least squares structural equation modeling using 166 survey responses from fourth-year undergraduate students enrolled in business administration programs in four higher education institutions in the Middle East region. The findings reveal that ChatGPT significantly promotes start-up intention, while ChatGPT has insignificant influence on entrepreneurship educational outcomes. Conversely, the SimVenture platform negatively influences start-up intention. Additionally, the SimVenture platform significantly improves entrepreneurship educational outcomes; thereby entrepreneurship educational outcomes directly influence start-up intention. Furthermore, the mediation paths show ChatGPT has an insignificant indirect influence on start-up intention through the mediating roles of entrepreneurship educational outcomes, while the SimVenture platform exhibits a notable indirect influence on startup intentions through improved entrepreneurship educational outcomes. These findings seek to provide insights for higher education institutions in the Middle East region in leveraging GenAI chatbot (ChatGPT) and AI-based simulation (SimVenture) to enhance entrepreneurial knowledge, awareness, competencies, and the spirit of innovation, which leads to promoting students’ intentions to start their businesses. Theoretically, the study contributes to filling the gap in the existing literature between AI tools and entrepreneurship education. This study is among the first to empirically explore the influences of GenAI chatbot (ChatGPT) and AI-based simulation (SimVenture) on entrepreneurship educational outcomes and the intention of students to embark on entrepreneurial ventures. It highlights the need for understanding AI technologies as distinct pedagogical tools.

Antarctica is one of the harshest environments on the planet. Despite this, fungi have been reported in the area for over 150 years. However, no fungi had been reported from the Inhovde area in East Antarctica until now. In this study, we investigated the fungal diversity in the Inhovde area and examined the growth of these fungi at -3°C. We isolated 148 fungal strains from ice and snow samples from the Inhovde area, of which 132 were successfully extracted and analyzed by DNA sequencing. Based on the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and 26S rDNA D1/D2 domain sequence similarity, these strains were classified into 6 genera and 10 species of basidiomycetes and 4 genera and 4 species of ascomycetes. A representative strain from each species was selected and evaluated for its ability to grow at -3°C in amino acid-free and vitamin-free media. All strains investigated in this study were able to grow at -3°C in both amino acid-free and vita-min-free media. These results indicate that the fungi in the Inhovde area are well adapted to the oligotrophic environment of Antarctica and play an important role in nutrient cycling at near-freezing temperatures in this area.

Purpose: This study aimed to describe the molecular epidemiology and seasonality of human rhinovirus (HRV) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and its association with COPD exacerbations in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Methods: Sputum specimens were collected for analysis from all COPD patients who visited a medical center from November 2021 to October 2022. The real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) test was used to detect HRV. Results: Of the 78 COPD patients included in the study, 58 (74%) pa-tients presented with one or more exacerbation episodes. The incidence of COPD exacerbation peaked over the winter and substantially decreased during the summer. HRV positivity in pa-tients during exacerbation (E1) was 11/58 (19%) and 15/58 (26%) two weeks after the exacerbation episode (E2). There was no significant difference in the HRV load in these patients. No statistically significant difference was observed in the detection of HRV during exacerbation compared to patients with stable COPD. Conclusion: This is the first study to assess the association between HRV detection by qPCR and COPD exacerbations in the UAE. The high sensitivity of the detec-tion technology helped collect reliable epidemiologic data. Few studies have provided similar Middle East data. This study's pattern of COPD exacerbations and HRV detection parallels that of temperate countries. This information can help with future, more extensive surveillance of res-piratory viruses in the UAE and the Middle East and their association with COPD exacerbations.

In modern times like today, technology and science are developing very fast. This has resulted in a condition known as globalization. This era has had a significant impact on every country globally, including in Indonesia, such as the spread of culture is solid. This flow has many benefits and advantages. However, this globalization can also have a negative impact. One of them is the erosion of native Indonesian culture compared to foreign cultures. Therefore, this research to find the origin, causes, and impacts of the influx of cultural globalization on the current culture of East Java because it is the province of origin of the researchers. Here the researchers asks about the impact of this modern culture and how influential culture is to the people of East Java. The method used by the researchers in making this paper is Literature Review using qualitative descriptive writing with quantitative data. The researchers findings as material in this paper amounted to 24 materials with the provisions of 20 journal article materials, 2 article materials online provided that they were published in the last three years, and 2 E-books for methods on this paper. This study's boundaries are a modern culture that the researchers takes about western culture (western) and South Korean culture (Hallyu). In addition, this study only discusses cultures originating in East Java, such as Javanese.

This study employed 15 CMIP6 GCMs and evaluated their ability to simulate rainfall over Uganda during 1981-2019. The models and the ensemble mean were assessed based on the ability to reproduce the annual climatologyseasonal rainfall distribution, trend, and statistical metrics, including mean bias error, root mean square error, and pattern correlation coefficient. The Taylor diagram and Taylor skill score (TSS) were used in ranking the models. The models performance varies greatly from one season to the other. The models reproduced the observed bimodal rainfall pattern of March to May (MAM) and September to November (SON) rains occurring over the region. Some models slightly overestimated, while some slightly underestimated, the MAM rainfall. However, there was a high rainfall overestimation during SON by most models. The models showed a positive spatial correlation with observed dataset, whereas a low correlation was shown interannually. Some models could not capture the rainfall patterns around local-scale features, for example, around the Lake Victoria basin and mountainous areas. The best performing models identified in the study include GFDL-ESM4, BCC-CMC-MR, IPSL-CM6A-LR, CanESM5, GDFL-CM4-gr1, and GFDL-CM4-gr2. The models CNRM-CM6-1 and CNRM-ESM2 underestimated rainfall throughout the annual cycle and mean climatology. However, these two models better reproduced the spatial trends of rainfall during both MAM and SON. The model spread in CMIP6 over the study area calls for further investigation on the attributions and possible implementation of robust approaches of Machine learning to minimize the biases.

Purpose: This study was designed to investigate the ability of telemonitoring involving a secure elec-tronic database called “Alsayed System for Applied Medical-Care Improvement” (ASAMI) to detect at least 95% of acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). Methods: This prospective observational study, which took place over 16 months in 2022-2023, was based at a medi-cal center in Jordan. The study group participants were patients with COPD (from seven countries) with mixed levels of airflow limitation severity, and every participant was followed for six months. A customized, password-protected version of ASAMI was used to collect data during the study. The implemented diary included questions on daily symptoms such as cough, dyspnea, sputum, and daily physical activities. The detection of AECOPD events was initially based on daily questionnaires com-pleted by patients, followed by the assessment of a healthcare practitioner. Results: 87 participants were monitored for AECOPD. During the study, 78/87 (89.7%) patients presented with one or more exacerbation episodes. The mean (range) age was 59.7 (45-81) years, predominantly male (66%), with moderate airflow limitation (n=42, 48%). Compliance with the provision of daily symptom data was very high, 98% over the entire study period. A total of 189 confirmed AECOPD episodes were reported. Almost all patients and practitioners showed favorable satisfaction with the role of the ASAMI-related service (96% reported a score of 10 satisfaction). The telemonitoring tool was able to detect 99% of AECOPD episodes. Conclusion: The novel ASAMI software was effective as a telemonitoring tool to detect the episodes of AECOPD. The tool was suggested for daily, continuous reporting of respiratory symptoms, with the key benefits being ease of use, patient acceptance, and collation of supplementary data when exacerbations occur. The effects of its widespread use on decision-making can be clarified by evaluating its impact on routine clinical decision-making.

The Indian Himalayan Region (IHR), due to its topography, geography, and active tectonics, a rough mountain zone, is among the most vulnerable zones to the landslip danger. The most cutting-edge and accurate ways for creating a landslip susceptibility model (LSM) are advanced statistical techniques. The goal of the current work was to use advanced statistical techniques to analyse and evaluate the updated landslip susceptibility for East District in the NE Himalayas of Sikkim, India. The spatiotemporal landslip inventory for the years are produced using literature surveys, historical satellite imageries and on-site observations. Slope, aspect, elevation, curvature, plane curvature, profile curvature, topographic wetness index (TWI), lithology, distance to faults, distance to streams, distance to roads, normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), rainfall, drainage density and land use/ land cover (LULC) are some of the topographic, environmental, geologic, and anthropogenic factors that were included in the spatial database. These LCFs were chosen to study the area's periodic landslip vulnerability. An inventory of 151 landslides from historical published records, field visits and Imagery interpretations, respectively, were used in the experimental design. Information Value Model (IVM), was used to evaluate the vulnerability to landslides as determined by fifteen LCFs. The goal of the study is to reduce the number of fatalities and possible economic harm caused by the region's frequent slope instabilities. It is expected that the application of statistical algorithms would assist relevant authorities and organisations in properly planning for and managing the region's landslip threat.

East Lake in Wuhan, China, harbors a high number of freshwater fish species of great conservation value, concurrently serving as vital resources for local livelihoods. However, the ecosystem is threatened by an array of anthropogenic activities, thus requiring consistent monitoring of the local fish community to enable more efficacious conservation management. In place of conventional surveying methods, we undertook the first analysis of the fish distribution within East Lake via metabarcoding of environmental DNA (eDNA). The accuracy and efficacy of eDNA metabarcoding relies heavily upon selecting an appropriate primer set for PCR amplification. Given the varying environmental conditions and taxonomic diversity across distinct study systems, it remains a challenge to propose an optimal genetic marker for universal use. Thus, it becomes necessary to select PCR primers suitable for the composition of fish in the East Lake. Here, we evaluated the performance of two primer sets, Mifish-U and Metafish, designed to amplify 12S rRNA barcoding genes in fishes. Our results detected a total of 116 taxonomic units and 51 fish species, with beta diversity analysis indicating significant differences in community structure diversity between the 6 sampling locations encompassing East Lake. While it was difficult to accurately compare the species-level discriminatory power and amplification bias of the two primers, Mifish outperformed Metafish in terms of taxonomic specificity for fish taxa and reproducibility. These findings will assist with primer selection for eDNA-based fish monitoring and biodiversity conservation in the East Lake and other freshwater ecosystems.

This paper presents an analysis of precipitation extremes over the East African region. The study employs six extreme precipitation indices defined by the Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI) to evaluate possible climate change. Observed datasets and CMIP6 simulations and projections are employed to assess the changes during the two main rainfall seasons of March to May (MAM) and October to December (OND). The study evaluated the capability of CMIP6 simulations in reproducing the observed extreme events during the period 1995 – 2014. Our results show that the multi-model ensemble (herein referred to as MME) of CMIP6 models can depict the observed spatial distribution of precipitation extremes for both seasons, albeit with some noticeable exceptions in some indices. Overall, MME's assessment yields considerable confidence in CMIP6 to be employed for the projection of extreme events over the study area. Analysis of extreme estimations shows an increase (decrease) in CDD (CWD) during 2081 – 2100 relative to the baseline period in both seasons. Moreover, SDII, R95p, R20mm, and PRCPTOT demonstrate significant OND estimates compared to the MAM season. The spatial variation for extreme incidences shows likely intensification over Uganda and most parts of Kenya, while reduction is observed over the Tanzania region. The increase in projected extremes during two main rainfall seasons poses a significant threat to the sustainability of societal infrastructure and ecosystem wellbeing. The results from these analyses present an opportunity to understand the emergence of extreme events and the capability of model outputs from CMIP6 in estimating the projected changes. More studies are encouraged to examine the underlying physical features modulating the occurrence of extremes incidences projected for relevant policies.

Presentation of case: A 20 year old men from Simanjiro district in northern Tanzania presented with a 3 year history of splenomegaly, fatigue, cachexia, skin maculae and recent onset of watery diarrhea at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) in Northern Tanzania. Due to laboratory findings of pancytopenia, diagnostic workup included bone marrow aspiration cytology and biopsy. Although the rapid test (IT LEISH, rK39 RDT) was negative, blood smear showed amastigote forms of Leishmaniasis in macrophages. Repeat bone marrow aspiration and PCR eventually confirmed VL. The patient denied travel to known endemic areas of visceral leishmaniasis (VL). Treatment was initiated with Amphotericin B, but the patient died on the fourth day of treatment from respiratory insufficiency. An autopsy revealed massive organ manifestations of VL. Case discussion: This is the first reported autochthonous case of VL in Tanzania. Clark et al. detected the vector Phlebotomous martini in Northern Tanzania in 2013, in a region boardering the district of our patient. The negative rapid test draws attention to the fact that sensitivity and specificity was found to be low in East African VL patients as displayed earlier by a Kenyan study. Therefore, tissue samples (spleen or bone marrow) remain necessary for diagnosis. The variety of symptoms in this presented case was remarkable, including the occurrence of Post Kala Azar Dermal Leishmaniasis (PKDL) and VL at the same time. This has been described in East African VL cases before as well as the occurrence of chronic diarrhea. An elongated undiagnosed period likely led to a mixed clinical picture that included: hepato-splenomegaly, PKDL, cachexia, and diarrhea.

Here we describe the genome of an Echovirus 7 isolate of South-East Asian ancestry recovered from a child with acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) in Nigeria. The genome has 7,295nt and an open reading frame with 2,195 amino acids.

The forming of large rivers are the integral consequences of the deep earth process and the surface. In contrast to the hot topics for rivers related to orogenic domains, rift-related large rivers are largely ignored especially in deep time studies. The Cenozoic East Asia margin provides very good opportunity to observe this kind of rivers. It has been believed that basin-and-swell physiography dominated the East Asia margin and impeded the forming of large rives in the early Cenozoic. In this paper, we combined provenance analysis of East China Sea Basin, where is a crucial place to trace the river evolution in East Asia margin, and regional geologic constraints to reveal drainage reorganizations. Detrital zircon U-Pb ages from the Early Eocene sediments of the East China Sea Basin are firstly reported. Our results together with literature data demonstrate that regional provenance changes occurred at the middle Eocene from one singe age peak at ~110 Ma of proximal sources to multiple age spectrum derived from far inland. Source to sink analysis indicated that the North China Block and Korea Peninsular provided the most detritus. Sedimentation and tectonic features of rift basins in the potential source areas indicated that rivers flowed into Bohai Basin and Jianghan Basin cannot provide terrigenous clasts for the lower reaches in the Eocene. Contrastingly, the dominantly fluvial sediments across the Subei-South Yellow Sea Basin suggested external river system and a bypassing region since the middle Eocene, coinciding with provenance change in ECSB. All these demonstrated that a large river (East Asia River) established in east Asia margin in the middle Eocene and flowed southwestward approximately 1500km to the sea in southern ECSB. This river might last to the middle Miocene. The deep earth processes driven by Izanagi-Pacific ridge subduction resulted in the overfilled stage of Subei-South Yellow Sea Basin and the post-rift subsidence in west depression of ECSB, and thus facilitated the initiation of the EAR. Our finding shed new light on the evolving landscape in East Asia and showed how subduction of deep earth process controlled the initiation of rift-related large rivers.

This study examines the improvement in coupled intercomparison project phase six (CMIP6) models against the predecessor CMIP5 in simulating mean and extreme precipitation over the East Africa region. The study compares the climatology of the precipitation indices simulated by the CMIP models with the CHIRPS dataset using robust statistical techniques for 1981 – 2005. The results display the varying performance of the general circulation models (GCMs) in the simulation of annual and seasonal precipitation climatology over the study domain. CMIP6-MME shows improved performance in the local annual mean cycle simulation with a better representation of two peaks, especially the MAM rainfall relative to its predecessor. Moreover, simulation of extreme indices is well captured in CMIP6 models relative to its predecessor. The CMIP6-MME performed better than the CMIP5-MME with lesser biases in simulating SDII, CDD, and R20mm over East Africa. Remarkably, most CMIP6 models are unable to simulate extremely wet days (R95p). A few CMIP6 models (e.g., NorESM2-MM and CNRM-CM6-1) depicts robust performance in reproducing the observed indices across all analyses. Conversely, OND season shows the overestimation of some indices (i.e., R95p, PRCPTOT), except for SDII, CDD, and R20mm. Consistent with other studies, the mean ensemble performance for both CMIP5/6 shows better performance due to the cancellation of some systematic errors in the individual models. Generally, the CMIP6 depicts improved performance in the simulation of MAM season akin CMIP5 models. However, the new model generation is still marred with uncertainty, thereby depicting substandard performance over the East Africa domain. This calls for further investigation of attribution studies into the sources of persistent systematic biases and a prerequisite for identifying individual models with robust features that can accurately simulate observed patterns for future usage.

This study evaluates the historical mean surface temperature (hereafter T2m) and examines how T2m changes over East Africa (EA) in the 21^st century using CMIP6 models. An evaluation was conducted based on mean state, trends, and statistical metrics (Bias, Correlation Coefficient, Root Mean Square Difference, and Taylor skill score). For future projections over EA, five best performing CMIP6 models (based on their performance ranking in historical mean temperature simulations) under the shared socioeconomic pathways SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 scenarios were employed. The historical simulations reveal an overestimation of the mean annual T2m cycle over the study region with fewer models depicting underestimations. Further, CMIP6 models reproduce the spatial and temporal trends within the observed range proximity. Overall, the best performing models are as follows: FGOALS-g3, HadGEM-GC31-LL, MPI-ESM2-LR, CNRM-CM6-1, and IPSL-CM6A-LR. During the three-time slice under consideration, the Multi Model Ensemble (MME) project many changes during the late period (2080 – 2100) with expected mean changes at 2.4 °C for SSP2-4.5 and 4.4 °C for the SSP5-8.5 scenario. The magnitude of change based on Sen’s slope estimator and Mann-Kendall test reveal significant increasing tendencies with projections of 0.24°C decade-1 (0.65°C decade-1) under SSP2-4.5 (SSP5-8.5) scenarios. The findings from this study illustrate higher warming in the latest model outputs of CMIP6 relative to its predecessor, despite identical instantaneous radiative forcing.

Available water resources in the Middle East, as one of the most water-scarce regions of the world, have undergone extra pressure due to climatic change, population growth, and economic development during the past decades. The objective of this study is to detect the trends and quantify the changes in aridity with respect to precipitation and potential evapotranspiration in 20 countries of the Middle East and the adjacent area. A Pixel-wised trend analysis was conducted on precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, and aridity index for 71 years from 1948 to 2018. A nonparametric Mann-Kendall test was used over 14106 points in the study area to detect the trends at monthly and annual time scales. Results showed statistically significant (|Z| >1.96) upward trends in aridity (a downward trend in aridity index) up to 96 percent from December through September in most parts of the region. Aridity in October and November had a downward tendency in most parts of the study area. At the annual time scale, 62.5 percent of the statistically significant trends in aridity were found to be upward (up to 96 percent increase in aridity) due to the combined effects of the decrease in precipitation and the increase in potential evapotranspiration and 37.5 percent of the detected trends were downward (up to 61 percent decrease in aridity). The highest and the lowest trends in aridity were found in the north of Sudan (96 percent increase in aridity) and Eastern Arabia (61 percent decrease in aridity), respectively.

The Middle East spans the transition between temperate Mediterranean climate in the Levant to hyper-arid sub-tropical deserts in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula, with the complex alpine topography in the northeast feeding the Euphrates and Tigris rivers which support life in the southeastern Fertile Crescent (FC). Climate projections predict severe drying in major parts much of the ME in response to global warming, making it important to understand the controls of hydro-climate perturbations in the region. Here we discuss 23 ME speleothem stable oxygen isotope (δ¹⁸Occ) records from 16 sites from the SISAL_v1 database, which provide a record of past hydro-climatic variability. Sub-millennial changes in ME speleothem δ¹⁸Occ values primarily indicate changes in past precipitation amounts superimposed on variations of the main synoptic pattern in the region, specifically Mediterranean cyclones. The coherency (or lack thereof) between regional records is reviewed from Pleistocene to present, covering the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), prominent events during deglaciation, and transition into the Holocene. The available speleothem δ¹⁸Occ time-series are investigated by binning and normalizing at 25-year and 200-year time windows over the Holocene. Important Holocene climatic oscillations are discussed, such as the 8.2 ka, 4.2 ka and 0.7 ka (the Little Ice Age) Before Present events. Common trends in the standardized anomalies are tested against different climate archives. Finally, recommendations for future speleothem-based research in the region are given along with comments on the utility and completeness of the SISAL database.

The impact of interaction SS with MJO on rainfall along Java Island to East Nusa Tenggara has been studied using daily rainfall observation data from 2140 weather observation stations, which are also equipped with GSMaP, OLR, and ERA5 data. There were 61 SS events found, 17 during active MJO and 44 in inactive MJO. Rainfall increases more in the western study area when the active MJO and more in the eastern study area when the inactive MJO is due to SS. SS reduces rainfall in the Jakarta region, regardless of the activity or inactivity of the MJO. SS causes extreme rainfall to only occur in a small part of certain areas, so it tends to significantly reduce the possibility of extreme rainfall. In the southern part of the IMC, SS predominates over MJO in supporting increased water vapor transport. Large-scale synoptic circulations like the monsoon, SS, and MJO can interact with local land-sea wind circulation to produce spatiotemporal variability in rainfall on Java Island. Rainfall mostly increases in the afternoon and decreases in the morning when SS occurs, whether there is MJO or not. Convective instability analysis indicates that SS increases precipitation, most likely by lowering CIN and raising VIMFC.

The increasing cancer burden is a major health concern in Arab countries with variations in cancer profiles. Given the limited oncology research output and scarce data on cancer trial participation in the Arab region, this study explored the therapeutic cancer trial landscape in Arab countries over the past 20 years. A bibliometric analysis of the PubMed database was conducted on primary publications of therapeutic trials with a participating Arab center. Arab countries participated in 320 published cancer-related therapeutic trials (2000‒2021). There was a consistent increase in the number of trials, sample size, multiregional site participation, and number of randomized trials. However, most trials were small, did not receive external funding, and included a single Arab site. Compared with Arab-only trials, trials with joint non-Arab sites were larger (p = .003) and more likely to be externally funded (p < .001). Citation numbers and journal impact factors were higher in trial publications with joint non-Arab authorship than those without (p < .001, for both). Despite improving conduct and publication records of oncology trials with Arab centers, cancer trial participation remains limited in Arab countries. Concerted efforts are required to encourage sponsorship and international collaboration in this region.

In late/early 2019/2020, unprecedented high-water-levels were observed in Lake Victoria causing massive flooding in the low-lying lake-adjacent areas and disrupting human and natural systems in the Lake Victoria Basin (LVB). The high lake water-level coincided with unusually heavy and prolonged 2019 June to December precipitation in the LVB. The current study estimates future precipitation patterns over the LVB using HighResMIP and ScenarioMIP general circulation model (GCM) simulations from the 6^th phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6). Results show that HighResMIP and ScenarioMIP simulations can adequately reproduce LVB’s precipitation patterns – albeit with location-specific biases. Generally, the GCM simulations tend to over-estimate precipitation patterns over Lake Victoria while under-estimating precipitation patterns over the lake-adjacent areas. Projections show significant future precipitation changes over the LVB relative to the 1970-1999 baseline, with more pronounced changes over the lake than in lake-adjacent areas. Overall, mean annual precipitation is projected to increase by about 18% and 31% by the end of the century, under SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 scenarios, respectively. Additionally, mean daily precipitation intensity (SDII) is projected to increase by up-to 14% while the maximum 5-day precipitation values (RX5Day) increase by up-to 71% under the SSP5-8.5 scenario. Heavy precipitation events, represented by the width of the right tail distribution of precipitation (99p-90p), are projected to increase by 50% and 94% under SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5, respectively. Given that direct precipitation accounts for about 80% of Lake Victoria’s water budget, the lake’s future water-level fluctuations are likely to be more rampant and unpredictable under the changing climate. Hence, enhanced production and use of climate services is recommended to minimize the risk posed by potentially high water-level fluctuations in Lake Victoria and, ultimately, enhance the socio-economic safety of communities in the LVB.

Electric mobility begins to enter East-African markets. This paper aims to investigate what policy level solutions and stakeholder constellations are established in the context of e-mobility in Dar es Salaam, Kigali, Kisumu and Nairobi and in which ways they attempt to tackle implementation of electric mobility solutions. The study employs two key methods including content analysis of policy and programmatic documents as well as interviews based on purposive sampling ap-proach with stakeholders involved in mobility transitions. The study findings point out that transport operators and their representative associations are less recognized as major players in the transition, far behind new e-mobility players (start-ups) and public authorities. The study further indicates that a set of financial and technical barriers persist such as high upfront invest-ment costs in vehicles and infrastructure, or anxieties regarding competitiveness with fossil fuel vehicles, that constrain the uptake of such private e-mobility initiatives. This study concludes by identifying current gaps that need to be tackled by policy makers and stakeholders in order to implement inclusive electric mobility in East-African cities, considering modalities that include transport providers and address their financial constraints.

Background: Human papillomavirus is a common pathogen that infects the skin and mucosal epithelium, is transmitted sexually; causes condylomas or squamous cell carcinomas. Two (16 and 18) of the 150 HPV serotypes are oncogenic types. Studies have been done on the infection by oncogenic human papillomavirus 16/18 and associated factors are found to be very limited in Ethiopia. Objective: This study aimed to assess the prevalence of oncogenic human papillomavirus infection (HPV 16/18) and associated factors among women. Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 337 women screened for cervical cancer in two hospitals in East Gojjam Zone from February to April 2021 G.C. Four BSc-qualified nurses who worked in the chosen hospitals collected the data using pretested questionnaire and an HPV test (OncoE6TM Cervical Test) specific to HPV16/18 in cervical swabs. Descriptive analysis was performed to determine the prevalence and a multivariate logistic regression model was used to identify the associated factors of HPV16/18 infection. Finally, statistical significance was declared at P < 0.05.Results: The prevalence of HPV infection was 14.2% (95% CI: 10.7% -18.1%). The mean age of the respondents was 36.7±9.1 years. Women with the age group of 55-65 years (AOR = 7.91, 95% CI: 1.95-32.09), early initiation of sexual intercourse (AOR = 5.36, 95% CI: 1.58-18.13), history of sexually transmitted infection (STI) (AOR = 3.52, 95% CI: 1.27-9.72), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive status (AOR = 6.8, 95% CI: 1.99-23.54), and number of lifetime sexual partners (AOR = 4.37, 95% CI: 1.15-17.3) were important independent factors associated with the presence of oncogenic HPV infection. Conclusion and Recommendation: We found a relatively low prevalence of high-risk HPV infection. Age, early initiation of sexual intercourse at less than 18 years, STI of women, being HIV seropositive, and a number of sexual partners were important factors for high-risk HPV infection. Women aged > 46 years, women with early initiation of sex, a history of STI, being HIV positive, and a history of multiple sexual partners should be encouraged to be screened and vaccinated for HPV infection. Wider-ranging studies are also needed in HPV-infected women in association with the cervical lesion.

Nowadays, the demand of agricultural production increase, Moreover, the rapid increase of the population in Egypt led to an increase in the demand for food, prompting the government to reclaim more desert lands. Such a study contributes to providing information that contributes to the promising optimization of land resources. This study carried out in an area south Egypt covering 386,171.04 hectares (ha). Remote sensed data were manipulated for defining the land cover/use features. Setting up DEM configures the network of natural drainage flows via the descending slopes. It was a guide for allocating micro dams as water harvesting sites as well as minimizing the runoff hazards and managing the priority of land use suitability versus flood hazards. Land cover/use units were defined as terrestrial irrigated areas of sequentially herbacous crops and permanent trees covering 1387.83 ha in levees; 1608.82 ha in point bar; 718.89 ha in bow bar and 23938.29 ha in alluvial plain. Terrestrial natural vegetation is dominated by xerophytes herbaceous in wadis (123533.56 ha). Terrestrial non-vegetated areas includes bare areas of rock land (98102.59 ha) and 67201.57 in bajada. Artificial non linear surfaces include buildings (5403.59 ha) and linear features include roads and railways (875.78 ha). Aquatic areas include artificial irrigation and drainage canals (1062.15 ha) and natural water body of River Nile course (2785.92 ha). Current land suitability for specific Land Utilization Types (LUTs) was assessed by matching soil attributes with the growth requirement of each LUT. Current land suitability can be improved by decreasing of salinity and framing practices. Accordingly, the land units can be potentially more profitable for increasing the ability of extra crops to be more productive. Old cultivated areas are the most profitable land cover/use units highly suitable (S1) for all LUTs comparing with other land cover categories.

Turkey is located in the heart of complex transition geography between Eurasia and the Middle East. In the grand scheme, the so-called Eastern Mediterranean Basin is almost amidst the dusty belt and a hot spot of climate change. The downstream location of dust carrying winds from the closer desert sources reveals Turkey as an open plane to particulate matter exposure throughout the year. In order to clarify this phenomenon, it is aimed to find out the desert dust climatology of Turkey via CALIPSO onboard Lidar. This prominent instrument enables us to understand clouds, aerosols and their types and relatedly climatic systems with its valuable products. In this study, 9-year CALIPSO derived pure dust product is formed to explain horizontal and vertical distributions, transport heights and case incidences. Results indicated mass and conditional abundancy are higher with the location shifts from west to east. In the same direction, dominant spring months change to summer and autumn. Mountain range systems surrounding Anatolia are the main obstacles against lofted and buoyant dust particles travelling to northern latitudes. Even if high ridges accumulate mass load on the southern slopes, it also enables elevated particles to reach the ground level of the inner cities.

PM_0.1 (particles diameter ≤ 0.1 µm), nanoparticles (NPs), and ultrafine particles (UFPs), were interchangeably used in the scientific communities. PM_0.1 originated from both natural and human sources. However, investigations of PM_0.1 and its effects on the environment, visibility, and human health risk to understand the levels of air pollution, sources, and impacts in South East Asia (SEA) countries continue to be lacking. The concentration of PM_0.1 in most SEA countries are much worse than those in western countries environment. A further motivation of this reviewed article is to provide a critical synthesis of the current knowledge and study of ambient PM_0.1 in SEA cities. The main influence of characteristics of PM_0.1 appears to be local sources including biomass burning and motor vehicles. Continuous monitoring of PM_0.1 in terms of both mass and number concentration should be further understood. A critical review is of great importance to facilitating air pollution control policies and predicting the behavior of PM_0.1 in SEA.

This paper examines the dynamic dependence structure of crude oil and East Asian stock markets at multiple frequencies using wavelet and copulas. We also investigate risk management implications and diversification benefits of oil-stock portfolios by calculating and comparing risk and tail risk hedging performance. Our results provide strong evidence of time-varying dependence and asymmetric tail dependence between crude oil and East Asian stock markets at different frequencies. The level and fluctuation of their dependencies increase as time scale increases. Furthermore, we find the time-varying hedging benefits differ at investment horizons and reduced over the long run.

Accurate and consistent rainfall observations are vital for climatological studies in support of better planning and decision making. However, estimation of accurate spatial rainfall is limited by sparse rain gauge distributions. Satellite rainfall products can thus potentially play a role in spatial rainfall estimation but their skill and uncertainties need to be under-stood across spatial-time scales. This study aimed at assessing the temporal and spatial performance of seven satellite products (TARCAT (Tropical Applications of Meteorology using SATellite and ground-based observations (TAMSAT) African Rainfall Climatology And Time series), Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS), Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM-3B43), Climate Prediction Center (CPC) Morphing (CMORPH), the Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks- Climate Data Record (PERSIANN-CDR), CPC Merged Analysis of Precipitation (CMAP) and Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) using gridded (0.05o) rainfall data over East Africa for 15 years(1998-2012). The products’ error distributions were qualitatively compared with large scale horizontal winds (850 mb) and elevation patterns with respect to corresponding rain gauge data for each month during the ‘long’ (March-May) and ‘short’ (October-December) rainfall seasons. For validation only rainfall means extracted from 284 rain gauge stations were used, from which qualitative analysis using continuous statistics of Root Mean Squared Difference, Standard deviations, Correlations, coefficient of determinations (from scatter plots) were used to evaluate the products’ performance. Results revealed rainfall variability dependence on wind flows and modulated by topographic influences. The products’ errors showed seasonality and dependent on rainfall intensity and topography. Single sensor and coarse resolution products showed lowest performance on high ground areas. All the products showed low skills in retrieving rainfall during ‘short’ rainfall season when orographic processes were dominant. CHIRPS, CMORPH and TRMM performed well, with TRMM showing the best performance in both seasons. There is need to reduce products’ errors before applications.

Trade liberalization is commonly pursued to improve welfare of households in a country. However, the effects of liberalization are not evenly distributed. Certain households and sectors may benefit more than others. This study focuses on the East African Community Common External Tariff (EAC-CET), to analyze the distributional effects of trade liberalization in Kenya. The study utilizes two household budget surveys capturing pre- and post-trade liberalization scenarios. The paper examines changes in consumer prices, labor incomes, and consumption patterns to assess the effects of liberalization. A pass-through equation for prices and a negative compensation variation equation are estimated. The findings indicate that the EAC-CET had a significant pass-through effect on prices of manufactured goods, but incomplete pass-through for agricultural goods. This suggests a lack of competitiveness in domestic value chains. The distributional effects differ across worker categories, favoring skilled and formal workers over unskilled and informal workers. The income effect outweighs the negative expenditure effect for households in the middle- and upper-income deciles. However, the study reveals negative welfare effects for the poorest households in the lowest income deciles. Furthermore, the study identifies the EAC-CET to be pro-poor, with households in rural areas benefiting more than those in urban areas.

Morphological study of lakes defines the sensitivity of their watershed. Moreover, it plays important role in safeguarding the lake’s ecosystem services through proper planning and utilization of the lakes’ resources. In the last few decades, the morphology of lakes in Ethiopian and Kenyan Rift (EKR) valley are experiencing contradicting morphological changes. Being in the same system, some are shrinking and others are expanding beyond their natural boundaries. The objective of this review is to shed light on the trends in spatio-temporal water level fluctuation and their contributing factors for lakes to the academia and decision makers. Peer reviewed article journals, conference proceedings, thesis, and book chapters collected from online sources and supplied by authors on request formed a database of 346 documents where 226 are critically assessed. The review indicated that lakes in Ethiopian rift are shrinking and expanding, while Kenyan lakes are expanding. The en-dorheic lakes suffered the most fluctuations due to anthropogenic factors at the expense of loss of forest and woodlands in their watershed. While the lakes’ water quality related to the morphological changes are given less attention, the predicted 12 m drop of Lake Turkana due to projects in the Omo catchment did not materialize.

BACKGROUND G6PD deficiency is an inherited an X-linked recessive condition leading to insufficient levels of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, thus causing hemolytic anaemia under certain conditions. METHODS Our study is explorative for cases admitted to Jordan University Hospital. The studied parameters include demographics, clinical manifestations, biochemical markers including Hb level, WBC count, liver enzymes, and blood grouping. RESULTS Most of the patients were admitted to the emergency unit (53.13%). Individuals who were Rh-positive represented 57.81%, while patients of AB blood group accounted for 75%. The mean values were 4.81 years (age), 29.06 hours (time-to-hospital admission), 38.10 degree Celsius (temperature), 6.11 gm/dl (Hb), 13242.19 (WBC count), 343.20 U/L (S. ALP), and 50.98 IU/L (S. ALT). There was no significant difference between males and females or between favism-induced versus drug-induced hemolytic episodes. AB and Rh positive blood groups are of protective effect in relation to liver enzymes. Patients who were admitted to the hospital within 24 hours from having clinical manifestations had a better prognosis. CONCLUSION This study is the first inferential research on G6PD deficiency from the Middle East to explore cases from one of the largest healthcare centres in Jordan. The role of blood grouping should be investigated prospectively.

Advances in remote sensing have led to use of satellite-derived rainfall products to complement the sparse rain gauge data. Although globally derived and some regional bias corrected, these products often show large discrepancies with ground measurements attributed to local and external factors that require systematic consideration. Decreasing rain gauge network however inhibits continuous validation of these products. We propose to deal with this problem by the use of Bayesian approach to merge the existing historical rain gauge information to create a consistent satellite rainfall data that can be used for climate studies. Monthly Bayesian bias correction is applied to the Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS v2) data to reduce systematic errors using a corresponding gridded (0.05°) rain gauge data over East Africa for a period of 33 (1981–2013) years of which 22 years are utilized to derive error fields which are then applied to an independent CHIRPS data for 11 years for validation. The bias correction is spatially and temporally assessed during the rainfall wet months of March-May (MAM), June-August (JJA) and October–December (OND) in East Africa. Results show significant reduction of systematic errors at both monthly and yearly scales and harmonization of their cumulative distributions. Monthly statistics showed a reduction of RMSD (29–56)% and MAE (28–60)% and an increase of correlations (2–32) %, while yearly ones showed reductions of RMSD (9-23)%, and MAE (7–27)% and increase of correlations (4–77)% for MAM months, reduction of RMSD (15–35)% and MAE (16–41)% and increase in correlations (5–16)% for JJA months, and reduction of RMSD (3–35)% and MAE (9–32)% and increase of correlations (3–65)% for OND months. Systematic errors of corrected data were influenced by local processes especially over Lake Victoria and high elevated areas. Large-scale circulations induced errors were mainly during JJA and OND rainfall seasons and were reduced by the separation of anomalous years during training. The proposed approach is recommended for generating long-term data for climate studies where consistencies of errors can be assumed.

Epiphytic lichens are well-known indicators of air contamination. The chemical composition of lichens is affected by the concentration of pollutants in the environment. Usually, researchers assess long-term variations in trace elements or other pollutants in the study area or identify the spatial features of air contamination. The aim of this study is to create a database of trace element concentrations in the samples of the epiphytic lichen Hypogymnia physodes growing in the Kaliningrad region. The database can be used as a ‘reference point’ for monitoring studies. Another objective is to identify the spatial patterns of iron, manganese, nickel, cadmium, silver, lead, strontium, rubidium, and calcium in the Kaliningrad region. The samples of wild lichens were collected from pine and birch trees 1.2-1.8 m from the bases of the threes, using a regular grid, in August 2010. One-two-year-old thalli were used in the chemical analysis. The metals Ag, Cd, Cu, Pb, Ni, Fe, Mn, and Zn were determined by AAS (Mn, Fe by flame AAS and the others by ETA-AAS) and the elements Sr, Rb, and Ca by X-ray fluorescence. The concentration of metals in the western coastal area (the Sambian or Kaliningrad Peninsula) is higher than it is in the central and eastern parts of the region. Principal component factor analysis was carried out to detect and characterise different pollution sources and to identify the most polluted areas. The factors of metal emission were described. The authors examined the features of the spatial distribution of trace elements. Prevailing winds are form south-west. Therefore, the highest concentrations of trace elements were found on the Sambian peninsula and on the coasts of the Vistula and Curonian Lagoons. The high concentrations of trace elements in the samples of the lichen H.physodes, which were observed in the coastal part of the region, are associated with human impact and subsequent pollution. The chemical composition of lichens on the Sambian peninsula may have developed under the impact of both local pollution sources – vehicles, thermal energy facilities, and ports – and such factors as transboundary traffic and sea spray.

Numerous varieties of Capsicum annuum L. with multiple valuable traits, such as adaptation to biotic and abiotic stress factors, can be found in south-east Romania, well known for vegetable cultivation and an important area of biodiversity conservation. To obtain useful information toward a sustainable agriculture, management and conservation of local pepper varieties, we analyzed the genetic diversity and we did deep molecular characterization using Whole Genome Resequencing (WGS) for variant/mutation detection. The pepper varieties used in the present study were registered by VRDS in the ISTIS catalog between 1974 and 2019 and maintained in conservative selection, however, no studies have been published yet using WGS analysis in order to characterize this specific germplasm. The genome sequences, annotation and alignments provided in this study offer essential resources for genomic research as well as for future breeding efforts using the C. annuum local varieties.

Land surface temperature (LST) variations and anomalies associated with tectonic plate movements are common precursors to earthquakes. Spatially extended and dynamic linear zones of high temperature anomalies at the Earth's surface coinciding with faults in the Earth's crust can be used as a predictor of an approaching earthquake. LST contrast boundary concentration maps are proposed as an indicator for analyzing temperature changes before and after a series of earthquakes. The concentration of LST contrast boundaries is estimated from Landsat 8 data for the East Anatolian Fault zone in the vicinity of epicenters of the destructive earthquakes with magnitudes up to 7.8 Mw on the moment magnitude scale occurred in February 2023. A spatial relationship between earthquake epicenters and the maximum concentration of LST boundaries at azimuths of 0° and 90° was found to strengthen as the earthquake approaches and weaken after it. It was found that 92% of epicenters are located at up to 5 km distance from zones of maximum LST boundary concentration. The found regularity allows to conclude the possibility of using the proposed indicator as additional data for seismic hazard risk assessment.

The arguments on the origin and evolution of the evergreen broad-leaved forest in eastern Asia, especially in the evolutionary process, exist generally, even contrary in some cases. The origin and evolution of the flora of eastern Asia, the formation time of Asian monsoon, and the implications from phylogenetic and molecular biogeographic studies in some important taxa, as well as in palaeobotanical evidences, are debatable. Most researches from different disciplines suggested that the monsoon in Miocene is a key to diversification of eastern Asian flora and its evergreen broad-leaved forest. The common view is that the evergreen broad-leaved forest of East Asia is closely related to the monsoon intensity and developments, which are caused by the uplift of Himalaya-Tibet, during or after the mid-Miocene. The analysis on the floristic elements show that the present subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest in eastern Asia could have an early or ancient tropical origin and a tropical Asian affinity, but their species are dominated by the Chinese endemic or eastern Asian distribution, many of which are the tropical sister ones. The time of Himalayan uplift and intensity of monsoon climate is believed the key for the formation of the evergreen broad-leaved forest in eastern Asia. Combined existing palaeobotanical findings, the uplift of Himalayas and the formation of monsoon climate, as well as floristic elements of the subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest, we believe that it was evolved from a Asian tropical rain forest after mid-Miocene in southeastern region of eastern Asia, while the ancient subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests in southwestern region continuously evolved into the present subtropical ones.

In response to the fire protection design challenges faced by the integrated station-city engineering under the new model of station-city fusion, such as large building volume, diverse traffic types, functional integration, spatial complexity, and inapplicable standards, this paper selects Chongqing East Station as a typical engineering case. The fire safety engineering methods and performance-based fire protection design ideas were used. The paper summarized the fire protection difficulties, such as multifunctional combination construction, large fire protection distance, large fire protection zoning area, long evacuation distance, and design of evacuation (quasi) safety zones. Combining with the actual situation of the engineering, this paper analyzed the basic technical measures taken to address these design challenges. By adopting the method of fire safety engineering, the safety of the design scheme is verified, which can provide a solution approach for the current fire protection design challenges in the integrated station-city engineering.

Astroviruses (AstVs) are occurs globally and are common causes of gastroenteritis in human and animals. The genetic diversity and epidemiology of AstVs in Africa is not well known, hence, we aimed to genetically characterize astroviruses in asymptomatic smallholder piglets in East Africa. Twenty-four samples randomly selected from 446 piglets (<6 months old), initially collected for rotavirus study, was sequenced for metagenomic analysis. Thirteen (13/24) samples had contigs with high identity to genus Mamastrovirus. Analysis of 7 strains with complete (or near complete) genome revealed variable nucleotide and amino acid sequence identities with known PoAstV strains. The U083 and K321 strains had nucleotide sequence similarities ranging from 66.4 to 75.4 % to the known PoAstV2 strains, nucleotide sequence similarity of U460 strain with known PoAstV3 ranged 57.0 to 65.1 % to the, while K062, K366, K451, and K456 strains showed nucleotide sequence similarities of 63.5 to 80 % to the known PoAstV4 strains. The low sequence identities (<90 %) indicate that novel genotypes of PoAstVs are circulating in the study area. Multiple recombination events were detected in our PoAstV4 strains, indicating that the genetic diversity observed in these strains may be due to recombination. Importantly, we identified potential candidate epitopes with conserved peptides in our PoAstV strains that could aid in the design of immune diagnosis tools and subunit vaccines. Our data provide new intuitions into the genetic structure of porcine astroviruses in East African.

Evidence regarding the effect of psychological factors and evacuation on cardiovascular disease occurrence after large-scale disasters is limited. This prospective study followed up a total of 37,810 Japanese men and women aged 30–89 years from the Fukushima Prefecture with no history of stroke or heart disease at baseline (2012), until 2017. This period included 3000 cardiovascular events recorded through questionnaires and death certificates. The participants’ psychological distress, trauma reaction, and evacuation status were defined, and divided into four groups based on combinations of psychological factors and evacuation status. We calculated the hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for only psychological, only evacuation, or both of them compared with neither using Cox proportional hazard models. Psychological factors along with evacuation resulted in approximately 5% to 25% higher magnitude of stroke and heart disease risk than psychological factors only among men. Compared to neither, the multivariable hazard ratios of those with both psychological distress and evacuation were 1.75 for stroke and 1.49 for heart disease, and those of both trauma reaction and evacuation were 2.01 and 1.57, respectively, among men. Evacuation combined with psychological factors increased the risk of stroke and heart disease risks especially in men after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Pyrochlore group minerals are the main raw phases in granitic rocks of the Katugin complex-ore deposit that stores Nb, Ta, Y, REE, U, Th, Zr, and cryolite. They are of three main generations: primary magmatic (I), early postmagmatic (II), and supergene (III) pyrochlores. The primary magmatic phase (generation I) is fluornatropyrochlore with high concentrations of Na2O (to 10.5 wt.%), F (to 5.4 wt.%) and REE2O3 (to 17.1 wt.%) but low CaO (0.6-4.3 wt.%), UO2 (to 2.6 wt.%), ThO2 (to 1.8 wt.%), and PbO (to 1.4 wt.%). Pyrochlore of this type is very rare in nature and limited to a few occurrences, such as rare-metal deposits of Nechalacho in syenite and nepheline syenite (Canada) and Mariupol in nepheline syenite (Ukraine). It may have crystallized synchronously with or slightly later than melanocratic minerals (aegirine, biotite, and arfvedsonite) at the late magmatic stage when Fe from the melt became bound making impossible the formation of columbite. Second generation pyrochlore formed at the early postmagmatic stage of the Katugin deposit. It differs from that of first generation in lower Na2O concentrations (2.8 wt.%), relatively low F (4 wt.%), and les occupancy of the A and Y sites at similar contents of other components. Generation III pyrochlore is a product of supergene alteration processes. It is compositionally heterogeneous and contains K, Ba, Pb, Fe, and significant Si concentrations but low Na and F. Its compositions mostly fall within the filed of hydro- and kenopyrochlore.

The human coronaviruses (CoV) include HCoV-229E, HCoV-OC43, HCoV-NL63 and HCoV-HKU1, some known for decades. The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) CoV briefly emerged into the human population but was controlled. In 2012 another novel severely human pathogenic CoV – Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)-CoV was identified in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where 80% of over 2,000 human cases have been recorded across five years. Targeted research remains key to developing control strategies for MERS-CoV, a cause of mild illness in its camel reservoir. A new therapeutic toolbox being developed in response to MERS is also teaching us more about how CoVs cause disease. Travel-related cases continue to challenge the world’s surveillance and response capabilities and more data are needed to understand unexplained primary transmission. Signs of genetic change have been recorded but it remains unclear whether any impact on clinical disease. How camels came to carry the virus remains academic to the control of MERS. To date, human-to-human transmission has been inefficient, but virus surveillance, characterisation and reporting are key to responding to any future change. MERS-CoV is not currently a pandemic threat; it is spread mainly with the aid of human habit and error.

A checklist of parasitic cymothoids from Malaysian waters is presented based on available literature and material collected from 2010 to 2020. Most of the collected specimens were recorded from waters of Terengganu, east coast of Peninsular Malaysia (facing South China Sea), whereas literature records were represented from Sarawak, along the Miri coast of northwest Borneo. The checklist comprises 18 species under 10 genera, seven of which are new records from Malaysia, which includes Anilocra nemipteri Bruce, 1987; Ceratothoa barracuda Martin, Bruce and Nowak, 2015; Ceratothoa carinata (Bianconi, 1869); Cymothoa epimerica Avdeev, 1979; Elthusa sigani Bruce, 1990; Joryma engraulidis (Barnard, 1936) and Renocila richardsonae Williams and Bunkley-Williams, 1992. Eight new host records are based on collected specimens: Anilocra nemipteri was dorsally attached on Nemipterus nemurus (Bleeker 1857), Nemipterus nematophorus (Bleeker 1854), Nemipterus tambuloides (Bleeker 1853), and Nemipterus thosaporni Russell 1991 (family Nemipteridae); Ceratothoa carinata was found in the buccal cavity of Decapterus macrosoma Bleeker 1851 (family Carangidae); Cymothoa eremita (Brunnich, 1783) was attached in the buccal cavity of Nemipterus tambuloides and Nemipterus furcosus (Valenciennes 1830); Elthusa sigani was found attached on Pterois russelli Bennett 1831 (family Scorpaenidae); and Renocila richardsonae was attached on the caudal fin of Upeneus japonicus (Houttuyn 1782) (family Mullidae). All cymothoid species listed here are known to have a Central Indo Pacific distribution, with some ranging as far as the western Indian Ocean. The cymothoid-host association is here listed from 28 fish families, with the most common reported from Carangidae (pompanos, jack mackerels, runners, scads), Engraulidae (anchovies) and Leiognathidae (ponyfishes, slipmouths). This paper is the first comprehensive treatment to update both verified literature data and deposited specimens, with a key for the family Cymothoidae in Malaysian waters.

This commentary is focused on radioactive contaminations in the Urals, where the consequences were more severe in the long term than those after the Chernobyl accident. The difference is that the latter was a technogenic catastrophe, but the former - a radioactive contamination tolerated since 70 years with several accidents in between. In earlier publications of Russian researchers no cancer frequency elevation was reported after exposures below 0.5 Sv or generally in the populations exposed to low doses. Later on, the same scientists started to claim similar relative risks for cancer and other diseases among exposed people in the Urals and in atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Apparently, an unofficial directive has been behind this ideological shift noticed around the year 2005. Trimming of statistics has been not unusual in the former Soviet Union. Potential motives included fostering radiophobia, stirring anti-nuclear protests in other countries and strangulation of nuclear energy aimed at the boosting of fossil fuel prices. Recent publications claiming cardiovascular risks after low-dose low-rate exposures and recommending more stringent standards of radiological protection are discussed here in some detail. Such recommendations for dose rates compatible with the natural radiation background are obviously nonsensical.

: The ichthyofauna of Lake Tanganyika consists of 12 families of fish of which five belong to Siluriformes (catfishes). Studies on siluriforms and their parasites in this lake are very fragmentary. The present study was carried out to help fill the knowledge gap on the monogeneans parasitizing the siluriform fishes of Lake Tanganyika in general and more particularly Clarias gariepinus. The gills of a specimen of Clarias gariepinus (Clariidae) were examined for ectoparasites. We identified the monogenean Gyrodactylus transvaalensis (Gyrodactylidae). This is the first time this parasite was found infecting gills. We are the first to observe a large spine in the male copulatory organ of this species, and to provide measurements of its genital spines; this completes the description of the male copulatory organ which is important in standard monogenean identification. This is the first monogenean species reported on C. gariepinus at Lake Tanganyika and the third known species on a representative of Siluriformes of this lake. It brings the total number of species of Gyrodactylus recorded in Lake Tanganyika to four. Knowing that other locations where this species has been reported are geographically remote from Lake Tanganyika, we propose a “failure to diverge” phenomenon for G. transvaalensis.

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

Scrub typhus is a life-threatening infectious disease and always creating a diagnostic dilemma in terms of rapid turnaround time and accuracy, qRT PCR can become a very good option to achieve the desired result with the molecular level of accuracy and boost up the rapid patient management. This study was performed to evaluate the performance of qRT PCR in comparison to commonly used IgM ELISA and Weil-Felix tests to diagnose scrub typhus, as well as to look for the demographic and clinical profile of the disease in North-East India. It was a hospital-based prospective study conducted in a tertiary care hospital of north-east India, over a period of 1 year, in which all the samples from suspected scrub typhus cases were screened by Weil-Felix test as per institute’s diagnostic protocol after which IgM ELISA for Scrub Typhus was performed. All the IgM positive samples and 20 highly suspected but ELISA negative samples were subjected to qRT PCR, targeting 56 kDa type-specific gene of O. tsutsugamushi. Statistical analysis was done by MS-Excel for Windows v2013® and MedCalc® v17.9 for Windows (MedCalc Software, Acacialaan 22, B-8400 Ostend, Belgium). In this study, we have successfully evaluated the performance of qRT PCR kit for diagnosis of scrub typhus. Out of 54 samples tested, 24 IgM ELISA positive samples and 3 IgM ELISA negative samples have shown the presence of bacterial DNA with quantification of DNA copies. It has also been observed that 21 out of 27 PCR positive samples (77.8%) were detected within the 1st 7 days of illness. All the demographic, as well as clinical data, were also analysed. The performance of the commercial qRT PCR kit used in our study is satisfactory, which provides the extra advantage of quantification of DNA copies and increases diagnostic accuracy within the 1st week of fever.

Organic farming has positive, impact on environment, soil health, and healthy food quality. Worldwide demand for organic foods is increasing by leaps and bounds in recent years. The present investigation was undertaken during 2014 to 2018 to evaluate the effect of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) co-culture with maize (Zea mays L.) on productivity enhancement over prevailing maize-fallow system, and to assess the feasibility of inclusion of short duration winter crops after maize with appropriate residue management practices on productivity and soil health. The experiment comprised of six cropping systems in main plot and three soil moisture conservation (SMC) measures options in sub plot. Results indicated that the inclusion of second crop in place of fallow and cowpea co-culture with maize increased average maize grain yield by 6.2 to 23.5% as compared to that of maize-fallow (MF). Use of maize stover mulch (MSM) + weed biomass mulch (WBM) increases maize grain yield by 19.1 and 6.5% over those of MSM and no mulch (NM), respectively. Various soil moisture conservation (SMC) measures had significant (p=0.05) effect on crop yields and water productivity. Double cropping system had significantly (p=0.05) higher amount of soil available NPK, soil organic carbon (SOC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and dehydrogenase activity (DHA) at 0-15 cm and at 15-30 cm depth than those under MF. The SWC measures of MSM+WBM had significantly higher available N, SOC, and MBC by 5.5, 4.8 and 8.1% than those under NM, respectively. Correspondingly, soils under MSM and MSM+WBM had 2.24 and 2.99% lower bulk density (ρb) in 0-15 cm and 2.21 and 2.94% lower ρb in 15-30 cm than that of NM. The energy use efficiency (EUE) was significantly higher under MCV (7.90%) over rest of the cropping sequences. MSM+WBM and MSM recorded 25.1 and 16.6% higher net energy over NM, respectively. The net return (INR 159.99×103/ha) and B:C ratio (2.86) were significantly higher with MCV system followed by MCR cropping sequence. MSM+WBM had significantly higher net return (INR 109.44×103/h), B:C ratio (2.46) over those under MSM (INR 97.6×103/h) and NM (INR 78.61×103/h). Overall the cowpea co-culture with maize and inclusion of short cycle winter crops along with MSM+WBM in maize-based cropping systems was found productive in terms of crop and water, profitable, energy efficient and sustained the soil health.

It has been an outstanding challenge for global climate models to simulate and predict East Asia (EA) summer monsoon (EASM) rainfall. This study evaluates the dynamical hindcast skills with the newly developed Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology Earth System Model version 3.0 (NESM3.0). To improve the poor prediction of an earlier version of NESM3.0, we have modified convective parameterization schemes to suppress excessive deep convection and enhance insufficient shallow and stratiform clouds. The new version of NESM3.0 with modified parameterizations (MOD hereafter) yields significantly improved rainfall prediction in the northern and southern China but not over the Yangtze River Valley. The improved prediction is primarily attributed to the improvements in the predicted climatological summer mean rainfall and circulations, seasonal march of the subtropical rain belt, Nino 3.4 SST anomaly, and the rainfall anomalies associated with the development and decay of El Nino events. However, the MOD still has notable biases in the predicted leading mode of interannual variability of precipitation. The leading mode captures the dry (wet) anomalies over the South China Sea (northern EA) but misplaced precipitation anomalies over the Yangtze River Valley. The model can capture the interannual variation of the circulation indices very well, but the bias in the circulation-rainfall connection caused predicted rainfall errors. The results here suggest that over EA land regions, the skillful rainfall prediction relies on not only model’s capability in predicting better summer mean and seasonal march of rainfall and ENSO teleconnection with EASM, but also accurate prediction of the leading modes of interannual variability.

The results of an LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating and Hf isotope study of zircon crystals separated from small eclogite xenoliths found in Devonian kimberlites within the Prypyat horst, Ukraine, are reported. The studied area is located in the Central Belarusian Suture Zone, which represents a Paleoproterozoic belt extending along the boundary between the Sarmatian and Fennoscandian segments of the East European Platform. Four laser ablation sites on two zircon grains yielded Paleoproterozoic U-Pb ages between 1954 ± 24 Ma and 1735 ± 54 Ma. In contrast, three of four Hf sites revealed negative εHf values and Paleoarchean to Mesoarchean model ages, excluding the possibility that the eclogite xenoliths represent segments of a Paleoproterozoic subducted slab or younger mafic melts crystallized in the subcontinental lithospheric mantle. A single laser ablation Hf spot yielded a positive εHf value (+3) and a Paleoproterozoic model age. Two models for eclogite origin can be proposed. The first foresees the extension of the Archean lower-crustal or lithospheric roots beneath the Central Belarus Suture Zone for over 200 km from the nearest known outcrop of Archean rocks. The second model is that the Central Belarus Suture Zone represents a rifted-out fragment of the Kola-Karelian craton that was accreted to Sarmatia before the actual collision of these two segments of Baltica.

The Pannonian basin major heat system in Central Europe. Their peripheral basins like the East Slovakian basin is a example of a geothermal structure with a linear directed heat flow ranging from 90 to 100 mW /m2 from west to east. However, the use of the geothermal source is limited by several critical tectono-geologic factors: (a) tectonics, and the associated disintegration of the aquifer block by multiple deformations during the pre-Paleogene mainly Miocene period. The main discontinuities of NW-SE and N-S direction negatively affect the permeability of the environment. On the contrary, for utilization are important the secondary minor NE-SW dilatation open fractures which have developed by sinistral transtension on N–S faults and accelerated normal movements to the southeast in the present. (b) hydrogeological conditions, the geothermal structure accommodated three water types, namely Na-HCO3 with 10.9 g.l-1 mineralization (in the north), the Ca-Mg-HCO3 with 0.5 – 4.5 g.l-1 mineralization (in the west), and Na-Cl water type containing 26.8-33.4 g.l-1 (in the southwest) mineralization. The chemical composition is influenced by the Middle Triassic dolomites aquifer as well as by infiltration of saline solutions and meteoric waters along open fractures/faults. (c) geothermally anomalous heat 123 – 129 °C close to volcanic chain with 170 l/s total flow seems to be the perspective for heat production.

The spatiotemporal variability of vegetation in the Middle East was investigated for the period 2001–2019 using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) 16-day/500 m composites of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI; MOD13A1). The results reveal a strong increase in the NDVI coverage in the Middle East during the study period (R = 0.75, p-value = 0.05). In Egypt, the annual coverage exhibits the strongest positive trend (R = 0.99, p-value = 0.05). In Turkey, both the vegetation coverage and density increased from 2001 to 2019, which can be attributed to the construction of some of the biggest dams in the Middle East, such as the Atatürk and Ilisu dams. Significant increases in the annual coverage and maximum and average NDVI in Saudi Arabia are due to farming in the northern part of the country for which groundwater and desalinated seawater are used. The results of this study suggest that the main factors affecting the vegetation coverage in the Middle East are governmental policies. These policies can have a positive effect on the vegetation coverage in some countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Iran, and Turkey.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) gained and will continue to gain a lot of global attention over the coming months (and maybe the coming few years). Since its outbreak in Wuhan (China), it has turned into one of the major challenges affecting the whole world. In a comparatively short time, the virus outbreak turned into a pandemic that led to massive negative impacts not only on people health and well-being, but also on the global economy, travel industry, pharmaceutical industry, tourism industry, and many other industries. This research paper aims to investigate the different effects of coronavirus on the global Halal tourism and Halal hospitality industry and whether the coronavirus pandemic is the end of Halal tourism and hospitality as we know it or not. The paper offers an in-depth theoretical examination of the different aspect of the pandemic on Halal tourism and hospitality industry and provides guidance on how to address these different aspects. The current paper is one of very few research papers addressing coronavirus on the tourism and hospitality industry.

1) Landsat operational land imager (OLI) data and consequent laboratory measurements were used to predict Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration and the trophic states for an inland lake within the East Kolkata Wetland, India; 2) The most suitable band ratio was identified by performing Pearson correlation analysis between Chl-a concentrations and possible OLI band and band ratios from the study points; 3) The results showed highest correlation coefficient from the band ratio OLI5/OLI4 with an R value of 0.85. The prediction model was then developed by applying regression analysis between the band ratio OLI5/OLI4 and Chl-a concentration of the study points. The reflectance ratios of the validation points were given as input on the prediction model and the model output was considered as predicted Chl-a values of the validation points to check the efficiency of the prediction model. The regression model between laboratory-derived Chl-a value and model-fitted Chl-a value of the validation points revealed a high correlation with an R² value of 0.78. Trophic State Index (TSI) of the lake was also calculated from laboratory-derived Chl-a value and model-fitted Chl-a value of the validation points. The study presented a high correlation of TSI determined from predicted data with TSI from laboratory reference data (R = 0.88). The TSI values of the lake ranged from 65 to 75 which indicate that the lake is appeared to be eutrophic to hypereutrophic conditions. 4) This empirical study showed that Landsat 8 OLI imagery can be effectively applied to estimate Chl-a levels and trophic states for inland lakes.

Trichiurus japonicus is the most productive fish caught in our country. In order to understand the seasonal distribution of Trichiurus japonicus in the central and southern parts of the East China Sea and Yellow Sea, three species distribution models were adopted, namely Random Forest Model, K-nearest neighbor algorithm and gradient ascending decision Tree model, based on the data of trawling surveys in the central and southern parts of the East China Sea and Yellow Sea from 2008 to 2009. Combined with variance inflation factor and cross-check, the distribution model of Trichiurus japonicus was screened and constructed to analyze the influence of environmental factors on the distribution of Trichiurus japonicus in the central and southern parts of the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea. The results showed that the random forest model had the advantages of fitting effect and prediction ability among the three models. The analysis of this model showed that the water depth, bottom water temperature and surface salinity had a great influence on the habitat distribution of Trichiurus japonicus. The relative resources of Trichiurus japonicus increased with the increase of bottom water temperature and reached the maximum at 23.8℃, and first increased and then decreased with the increase of water depth and surface salinity, reaching the maximum at 72 m and 31.2‰, respectively. The random forest model was used to predict the spatial distribution of Trichiurus japonicus in the East China Sea and the central and southern Yellow Sea during 2008-2009, and the results showed that the predicted results were close to the actual situation. The research results can provide reference for the exploitation and protection of Trichiurus japonicus resources in the East China Sea and the central and southern Yellow Sea.

Building fires are preventable incidents that have proven to be both deadly and costly. Addressing their root causes will lead to safer neighbourhoods for families and businesses to live and operate in. Multiple studies have established the effect of residents’ socioeconomic compositions on an area’s building fire rates; however, the existing model based on the classical stepwise regression procedure has several limitations. This paper aims to construct a more accurate predictive model of building fire rates based on a set of explanatory socioeconomic variables. In building the socioeconomic model, a backward elimination by Robust Final Predictor Error (RFPE) criterion is proposed to enhance the forecasting capability of the model. The proposed method has been implemented on the census data and the fire incident data of the South East Queensland region in Australia. A cross-validation was then conducted to assess the model’s accuracy. In addition, comparative analyses of other elimination criteria, such as p-value, adjusted R-squared, Akaike’s Information Criterion (AIC), Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) and predicted residual error sum of squared (PRESS), were conducted. The cross-validation analyses demonstrate that the proposed criterion is a more accurate predictive model based on a couple of goodness-of-fit measures. All in all, the RFPE equation was found to be a suitable criterion for the backward elimination procedure in the socioeconomic modelling of building fires.

The coastline in the Ca Mau and the Kien Giang provinces of the Vietnamese Mekong Delta has been severely eroded in recent decades. Pile-Rock Breakwaters (PRBW) are one of the most widely adopted structures for controlling shoreline erosion in this region. These structures are effective for wave energy dissipation, stimulating sediment accumulation, and facilitating the restoration of mangrove forests. These breakwaters are generally considered to be best-engineering practice however there is currently insufficient scientific evidence with regard to specific structural design aspects. This can lead to PRBW structures being compromised when deployed in the field. This study uses a physical model of a PRBW in a laboratory to investigate several design parameters, including crest width and working states (i.e. submerged, transition, and emerged), and investigates their relationship with the wave transmission coefficient, wave reflection coefficient, and wave energy dissipation. To investigate these relationships further, empirical formulas were derived for PRBWs under different sea states and crest widths to aid the design process. The results showed that PRBW width had a significant influence on the wave energy coefficients. The findings revealed that the crest width of the breakwater is inversely proportional to the wave transmission coefficient (K_t) under the emerged state. The crest width is also proportional to the wave reduction efficiency and wave energy dissipation in both working states (i.e., submerged and emerged states). The front wave disturbance coefficient (K_f) was found to be proportional to the wave reflection coefficient, and the wave height in front of the structure was found to increase by up to 1.4 times in the emerged state. The wave reflection coefficient requires special consideration to reduce the toe erosion in the structure. Lastly, empirical equations including linear and non-linear formulas were compared with previous studies for different classes of breakwaters. These empirical equations will be useful for understanding the wave transmission efficiency of PRBWs. The findings of this study provide important guidance for PRBW design in the coastal area of the Mekong Delta.

This study considers the features of the chemical composition, internal structure, and oscillatory zoning of sulfides, sulfosalts and sulfates in the epithermal high-intermediate sulfidation type Au-Ag-Te Emmy deposit (Khabarovsk Territory), Russia. In this deposit the most widespread sulfide is pyrite occurring in two generations: pre-ore pure pyrite (I) with cubic crystal habit and dimensions from 20 μm to 0.5 mm from the early barren pre-ore hydrothermal stage, and pyrite (II) of the ore stage, which is represented by (a) colloform aggregates (IIa) formed as a result of rapid precipitation from the solution, and (b) crystalline pyrite (IIb), which is precipitated due to continuous decrease in temperature. Both pyrite (II) morphological varieties contain copper (0.06-6.03 wt.%). The crystalline variety of pyrite is associated with goldfieldite, hemusite and kawazulite which were deposited during the early mineralizing event in the deposit.

Herein, we examined the effects of weather parameters and individual clinicodemographic risk factors on hemorrhagic stroke (HS) incidence, severity on admission, and disability at discharge in a harsh desert climate. In a retrospective design we studied patients admitted to a stroke unit in Arab Emirates in 2016-2019. With a distributed lag nonlinear model we explored immediate and delayed effects of weather on stroke incidence. Supervised machine learning was used to build models predictive of scores in NIHSS and mRS scales. We assessed model performance by calculating ROC AUC, F1 scores, specificity, and sensitivity. HS risk increased after a significant change in any weather parameter. The risk was reduced below baseline after 1-week adjustment to environmental changes. Climate input from the previous 3 days yielded reliable classification models. Humidex was a better predictor of severity than air temperature, whereas body mass index, age, and time of day at stroke onset were the strongest clinical predictors. Weather parameters before admission were stronger predictors of disease severity than individual clinical factors. We addressed limitations of previous studies by analyzing a full set of climate parameters: ambient temperature, relative humidity, humidex, atmospheric pressure, and wind speed. Predictive models may help to optimize patient management and develop preventative strategies.

Chikungunya virus is an Alphavirus belonging to the family Togaviridae that is transmitted to humans by an infected Aedes mosquito. Patients develop fever, inflammatory arthritis, and rash during the acute stage of infection. Although the illness is self-limiting, atypical and severe cases are not uncommon, and 60% may develop chronic symptoms that persist for months or even for longer durations. Having a distinct periodical epidemiologic outbreak pattern, chikungunya virus reappeared in Thailand in December 2018. Here, we describe a cohort of acute chikungunya patients who had presented to the Bangkok Hospital for Tropical Diseases during October 2019. Infection was confirmed by real-time RT-PCR using serum collected at presentation to the Fever Clinic. Other possible acute febrile illnesses such as influenza, dengue, and malaria were excluded. We explored the sequence of clinical manifestations at presentation during the acute phase and associated the viral load with the clinical findings. Most of the patients were healthy individuals in their forties. Fever and arthralgia were the predominant clinical manifestations found in this patient cohort, with a small proportion of patients with systemic symptoms. Higher viral loads were associated with arthralgia, and arthralgia with the involvement of the large joints was more common in female patients

Threat assessment is important to prioritize species conservation projects and planning. The taxonomic resolution regarding the status of the “Dryophytes immaculatus group” and the description of a new species in the Republic of Korea resulted in a shift in ranges and population sizes. Thus, reviewing the IUCN Red List status of the three species from the group: D. immaculatus, D. suweonensis and D. flaviventris and recommending an update is needed. While the three species have similar ecological requirements and are distributed around the Yellow sea, they are under contrasting anthropological pressure and threats. Here, based on the literature available, I have applied all IUCN Red List criteria and tested the fit of each species in each criteria to recommend listing under the adequate threat level. This resulted in the recommendation of the following categories: Near Threatened for D. immaculatus, Endangered following the criteria C2a(i)b for D. suweonensis and Critically Endangered following the criteria E for D. flaviventris. All three species are declining, mostly because of landscape changes as a result of human activities, but the differences in range, population dynamics and already extirpated sub-populations result in different threat levels for each species. Dryophytes flaviventris is under the highest threat category mostly because of its limited range, segregated into two sub-populations and several known historical sub-populations are now extirpated. Immediate actions for the conservation of this species are required. Dryophytes suweonensis is present in both the Republic of Korea and the Democratic Republic of Korea and is under lower ecological pressure in DPR Korea. Dryophytes immaculatus is present in the People’s Republic of China, on a very large range despite a marked decline. I recommend joint efforts for the conservation of these species.

A short review of the important studies was conducted to evaluate the potential of aerosol transmission of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The minimum size of droplets potentially carrying the SARS-CoV-2 was newly estimated and discussed in this review.

The clustering methods of Software Defined Networking (SDN) gained popularity due to their ability to offer improved scalability, consistency, dependability, and load balancing within overlay networks and SDN partitions. This paper delved into the effects of increasing the number of OpenFlow-enabled southbound devices on the establishment and coordination of SDN-Controller clusters. Specifically, we examined the volume of east-west cluster packet communication concerning the number of southbound devices within the topology. Many research studies focused on bandwidth and the number of bytes in East-West communication. While bandwidth referred to the maximum rate at which data could be transferred, and the number of bytes reflected the volume of data being transmitted, the number of packet communications directly influenced the efficiency and responsiveness of network operations. Our investigation encompassed the impact of SDN controllerto- controller communication within the cluster concerning the rising number of OpenFlow switches connected to various topologies, including tree (star-bus network), linear, and torus configurations. This study presented data on communication patterns within Open Network Operating Systems (ONOS) and OpenDaylight (ODL) clusters, revealing differing levels of controller communication with southbound network expansions. We evaluated the scalability of ODL and ONOS controllers by scrutinising the effect of increasing the number of southbound devices on control communication volume. Our analysis revealed varied communication patterns within ONOS and ODL clusters, resulting in different volumes of control communication with southbound expansions. The findings indicated that in small to medium-sized SDNs, ODL outperformed ONOS, notably with faster cluster discovery. Conversely, ONOS demonstrated greater efficiency in larger networks owing to its centralised communication architecture. Finally, we provided recommendations for selecting the most suitable controllers based on the size of southbound networks, aiming to provide practical guidelines for optimal network performance.

Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) was recently detected in Mozambique and appears to be limited to the provinces of Gaza, Maputo and Zambezia, but it has great potential to spread to other provinces. Despite its importance, nothing is known about the BBTV isolates that occur in Mozambique. In this study, the sequences of the S and R genes of 40 isolates chosen as representatives of samples collected previously from eleven farms of the four administrative posts of the district of Chóckwè, Gaza province, were sequenced and analyzed. The S-DNA nucleotide sequences of the analyzed isolates were highly conserved, with identity ranging from 97% to 100%. The same was observed for the R-DNA sequences, with most identities ranging between 98% and 100% among the isolates from Chókwè and above 90% when compared to the isolates from GenBank. The phylogenetic analysis showed that the Mozambican BBTV isolates belong to the Pacific-Indian Oceans (PIO) group, showing greater proximity to the isolate JQ820453 from Malawi than to the isolates from sub-Saharan countries, which were grouped in a distinct subclade. This is the first study conducted to determine the molecular characteristics of BBTV isolates present in Mozambique.

Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) presents an enormous global healthcare challenge, especially among rural communities due to limited access. To overcome this, many low- and middle-income countries are resorting to task shifting, using community health workers (CHWs) for diabetes management. However, its successful implementation depends on the practice behaviours and knowledge of these workers. This cross-sectional study from rural South India aimed to evaluate the proficiency of 275 CHWs in diabetes screening and management. A customized questionnaire, developed through experts and government was used to evaluate the practice behaviours and knowledge. Analytical methodologies consisted of descriptive statistics, logistic regression, and mosaic plots for comprehensive data interpretation. Results showed significant deficiencies of mean correct practice behaviours at 48 and 50% respectively. The identified gaps included diabetes diagnosis, HbA1c testing, diet, self-management, complications screening and risk assessment. In several areas, correct practice behaviour was reported by a relatively large number of CHWs despite incorrect answers to the related knowledge questions such as referral to the health centres, self-management and calculation of diabetes risk assessment. Addressing these deficiencies requires a thorough needs assessment and tailored training for improved diabetes management by CHWs. Training of CHWs, should not only identify prior knowledge and/or behaviour but also their interrelationship to help create a robust and flexible set of practice behaviours.

Emerging pollutants pose significant threats to Uganda's ecosystems and public health amidst rapid urbanization, industrial growth, and intensified agriculture. This systematic review comprehensively assessed these pollutants by analyzing existing Ugandan literature and research studies, revealing various types in different environmental compartments. These pollutants, including pharmaceuticals, personal care products, pesticides, industrial chemicals, heavy metals, radionuclides, biotoxins, disinfection byproducts, hydrocarbons, and microplastics, originate from urban, industrial, and agricultural regions. Wastewater and improper waste disposal are major contributors. From an initial search of 794 articles across multiple databases such as PubMed, African Journal Online (AJOL), Web of Science, Science Direct, and Google Scholar, 138 were found relevant. The review underscores potential ecological and health impacts, including antibiotic resistance, endocrine disruption, and carcinogenicity. Existing monitoring and regulation efforts are discussed, alongside the need for specific regulations, improved data collection, and public awareness campaigns. Recommendations include advanced wastewater treatment, sustainable agriculture, and source control measures. Emphasis is placed on further research to address knowledge gaps and develop effective policies and interventions. Uganda can mitigate these risks by implementing comprehensive monitoring, robust regulations, and sustainable practices, safeguarding the environment and public health.

The purpose of this article is to disclose the strenuous efforts of Laszlo Hudec in China and Antonin Raymond in Japan and India to create a modern architectural stance by heralding an incipient space syntax. In the turn of the 19th Century, for dynastic, politic and economic reasons, Eastern Asia had very little modern Architecture. It is a surprising fact that, out of happenstance, two European architects Antonin Raymond and Laszlo Hudec, had to intervene to remedy this situation, to the point of becoming 20th Century icons in Japan and China. Their fruitful careers spanned over thirty years and included locations, like Tamil Nadu or the Philippines. The Oriental territories were not an easy ground for the bold architectural achievements that they produced. Despite of faraway strangeness and uncountable personal losses, in revolutions and wars, which eventually forced them both to leave for the United States of America and never to return, they were successful in the manner of establishing a broad avenue for Modern Asian Architecture which is still recognisable today thanks to their systematic approach. However, theirs is an endangered heritage and the intention of this article is to be a just remembrance of in which way such actions could be performed, how they predated by many years a syntactic approach to architectural composition and why their legacy should be preserved.

Although numerous articles have been published to address drivers or barriers of corporate social responsibility (CSR), some parts of the world have received less attention. In this study, I reviewed the literature, from 2010 to 2021, to identify drivers and barriers of CSR in the the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and compare them with the findings in western countries. (2) Methods: For this study, I used a structured literature review method. By setting the inclusion and exclusion criteria, only 28 articles remained from selected database; (3) Results: The findings revealed some CSR drivers, such as leadership styles, profitability, reputation, moral commitment, and environmental conservation are common in both regions. There are also some differences between CSR drivers, for example religious beliefs, low concentration of ownership, and company characteristics are some of the drivers in the MENA region. Maintaining social license to operate, avoiding the risks of community opposition, pressure from the government, and consumer demand tend to be more important in western countries. Common barriers in both regions are lack of financial resources, cost, lack of CSR knowledge and awareness, and ownership concentration. This review also highlighted that lack of law enforcement, lack of stakeholder communication, lack of management commitment, lack of interests, corruption, and financial debts are some of the addressed barriers of CSR in the MENA region, while cost/benefit ratio, lack of customer interest, and lack of scientific frameworks are the special barriers in western countries. (4) Conclusions: While researchers in western countries have more focus on energy sector, there is a lack of research about drivers and barriers of CSR in the MENA region in several industries, including oil and gas.

A typhoon-induced storm surge is considered one of the most severe coastal disasters in Taiwan. However, the combination of the storm surge and the astronomical tide called the storm tide can actually cause extreme flooding in coastal areas. This study implemented a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model to account for the interaction between tides and storm surges on the coast of Taiwan. The model was validated with observed water levels at Sauo Fish Port, Hualien Port, and Chenggong Fish Port under different historical typhoon events. The model results are in reasonable agreement with the measured data. The validated model was then used to evaluate the effects of the typhoon's intensity, bathymetric change, and the combination of the typhoon’s intensity and bathymetric change on the maximum storm tide and its distribution along the east coast of Taiwan. The results indicated that the maximum storm tide rises to 1.92 m under a typhoon with an intensity of a 100-year return period. The maximum storm tide increased from a baseline of 1.26 m to 2.63 m for a 90% bathymetric rise at Sauo Fish Port under the conditions of Typhoon Jangmi (2008). The combination of the intensity of a typhoon with a 100-year return period and a 90% bathymetric rise will result in a maximum storm tide exceeding 4 m, 2 m, and 3 m at Sauo Fish Port, Hualien Port, and Chenggong Fish Port, respectively. We also found that the distribution of the maximum storm tide on the east coast of Taiwan can expand significantly subject to the bathymetric rise.

A better understanding of the expected future cyclonic activity, especially in the Mediterranean Basin in winter, is essential for developing scientifically based adaptation and mitigation methods to extreme precipitation and wind anomalies. The aim of this study is to analyze the change of winter cyclonic activity in the Mediterranean-Black Sea region, within the Atlantic–European region, at the beginning (as the recent historical period), middle and end of the 21st century. The projections are based on an ensemble of seven CMIP6 models, which showed the best consistency with NCEP/NCAR and ERA5 reanalysis, under the intermediate SSP2-4.5 and highest-emission SSP5-8.5 scenarios. The results show a consistent increase of the frequency of cyclones over Central Europe and the British Isles associated with the shift of cyclone tracks: norward from the Western Mediterranean region and southward from the Iceland Low. The latter leads to a decrease of the frequency in the north of the Atlantic–European region. At the same time, there is a reduction of the frequency of cyclones over the east of the Mediterranean Sea consistent with the decrease of cyclogenesis events. Area-averaged cyclone numbers in the Western and Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea subregions reduce to the end of the century under the highest-emission scenario, but not constantly and with a raise in the middle of the 21st century under both scenarios, which may be linked to the long-term multidecadal variability or regional features. In general, our study shows that the future winter cyclonic activity in the Mediterranean-Black Sea region responds unevenly to global climate changes, because regional and monthly features are important, as well as accounting for the long-term quasiperiodic variability.

In recent years, the focus of disease resistance and susceptibility studies in cattle have been on determining patterns in the innate immune response of key proteins, such as Toll-like receptors (TLR). In the bovine genome, there are 10 TLR family members and, of these, TLR2, TLR4 and TLR6 are specialized in recognition of bacterial ligands. Indigenous cattle breeds of Anatolia have been reported to show fewer signs of clinical bacterial infections, such as bovine tuberculosis and mastitis, and it is hypothesized that this might be due to a less stringent genetic selection during breeding. In contrast, Holstein-Friesian cattle have been under strong selection for milk production, which may have resulted in greater susceptibility to diseases. To test this hypothesis, we have compared the TLR2, TLR4 and TLR6 genes of Anatolian Black (AB), East Anatolian Red (EAR), South Anatolian Red (SAR), Turkish Grey (TG), and Holstein (HOL) cattle using Next Generation Sequencing. The SAR breed had the most variations overall, followed by EAR, AB, TG and HOL. TG had the most variations for TLR2 whereas SAR had the most variations in TLR4 and TLR6. We compared these variants with those associated with disease and susceptibility traits. We used exon variants to construct haplotypes, investigated shared haplotypes within breeds and determined candidate haplotypes for disease resistance phenotype in Anatolian cattle breeds.

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), the most crowded city and economic hub of Viet Nam, has been experiencing land subsidence over the past decades. This effort aims to contribute the spatial distribution of subsidence in HCMC in its horizontal and vertical components using synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) time series. To this purpose, an advanced Persistent Scatterers and Distributed Scatterers (PSDS) InSAR technique was applied to two European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel-1 datasets consisting of 96 ascending and 202 descending images, acquired from 2014 to 2020 over the HCMC area. A time series of 33 COSMO-SkyMed ascending images was also used for comparison. The combination of ascending and descending satellite passes is used to decompose the light of sight velocities into horizontal east-west and vertical components. Taking into account the presence of east-west horizontal motion, our findings indicate that the accuracy of the decomposed vertical velocity can be improved by up to 3 mm/year for Sentinel-1 data. The obtained results revealed that subsidence is most pronounced in the areas along the Sai Gon River, in the northwest-southeast axis, and in the southwest of the city, with a maximum value of 80 mm/yr, which is in accordance with the findings of the literature. The amplitude of east-west horizontal velocities is relatively small and large-scale eastward movement can be observed in the west of the city at a rate of 3-5 mm/yr. This confirmed that the displacement in Ho Chi Minh City area is mainly vertical downward. Together, these results reinforced the remarkable suitability of ESA's SAR Sentinel-1 for subsidence applications, even for non-European countries such as Vietnam and Southeast Asia.

Climate change-induced Sea level rise, shoreline changes, and coastal erosion are projected to drive massive population displacement and mobility in Africa. This study was conducted to examine the pattern of shoreline changes, coastal erosion, land use/Land cover dynamics their projections, and its implications on internal migration in Senegal, Kenya and Tanzania representing West and East Africa. The digitized shoreline was mapped into both erosion, accretion and trend analysis which further explains the vulnerability and physical processes that could trigger human displacement within the context of environmental/climate migration. Analysis of landuse and land cover dynamics was obtained from Landsat 5 TM of 1986, Landsat 7 ET of 2006, Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS of 2016 and Landsat 9 OLI/TIRS 2022 and computed using ArcGIS 10.7 for Land-use change and percentage change in square kilometers was conducted to examine landuse/landcover dynamics and their contributions to the risk of coastal erosion in the study regions. The outcome of the shoreline analysis reveals that 972.03sqkm of land has been lost to coastal erosion in Senegal from 1986-2022 with 2016-2022 described as the period with the highest in terms of land loss. In Kenya, -463.30sqkm of land has also been lost to coastal erosion and agents of wave processes with 1986-2006 recording the highest share of -87.74% loss of valuable land while In Tanzania, -1033.35sqkm of valuable land has been lost from 1986-2022 to coastal erosion with 2006-2016 alone recording -10.4634% of land loss. The result of the land use/land cover percentage change analysis indicates a massive loss of vegetation cover with a significant increase in settlement representing urbanization. The scenario modeling of the shoreline on 10,20 and 30ms indicates that 567 persons per sq, 25904.5 persons per sqm and 25904.5 persons per sq km for both 20 and 30ms will be displaced in Senegal while in Kenya 577.5 persons per sq km will be displaced at 10m followed by 1210.3 persons per sq km at 20m and 7737.3 sq km at 30m. In, Tanzania, 702001.9 persons per sq km are projected to be displaced at 10m shift in the shoreline. Structured Questionnaires were administered to elicit responses from coastal dwellers on their perception of coastal erosion and environmental migration as part of ground truthing and the result of the survey affirms that coastal erosion and its exposure are the major drivers of environmental migration in the study area.

High-resolution (2 km) high-frequency (hourly) SST data from 2015-2020 provided by the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) onboard the Japanese Himawari-8 geostationary satellite positioned over 140.7°E were used to study spatial and temporal variability of the China Coastal Front (CCF) in the East China Sea. The hourly SST data were processed with the Belkin and O’Reilly (2009) algorithm to generate long-term mean monthly maps of SST gradient magnitude (GM) and frontal frequency (FM) using a GM threshold of 0.1°C/km. Horizontal structure of SST field in the vicinity of the CCF was investigated from cross-frontal distributions of SST along 8 parallels from 31°N to 24°N. The high resolution (2 km) monthly distributions of SST along these 8 parallels were used to determine inshore and offshore boundaries of the CCF and calculate the CCF strength defined as the total cross-frontal SST step dSST=Offshore SST – Inshore SST. The CCF emerges in November, fully develops in December and peaks in strength in January-February. The front’s fragmentation and shrinking/weakening begins in February and March, respectively. In winter (December-February), the front’s strength dSST exceeds 5°C offshore the Zhejiang-Fujian coast and could be as high as 7.5°C when nearshore waters cool down to 7°C. In winter, the front’s strength decreases downstream from 31°N to 24°N. The CCF changes its physical nature as the seasons progress. In winter, the CCF is a water mass front between cold and fresh water coming from the north and warm and salty water coming from the south. In summer, the CCF becomes a coastal upwelling front maintained largely by southerly winds. In winter, the CCF’s cross-frontal structure in the SST field is ramp-shaped, with SST increasing monotonously in the offshore direction. In summer, the CCF’s cross-frontal structure in the SST field is V-shaped or U-shaped, featuring a minimum SST formed by cold upwelled water at some distance from the shore. Thus, the summer SST structure effectively consists of two fronts, a nearshore and offshore, with a minimum SST in-between. Across the inshore/offshore front, the SST decreases/increases in the offshore direction. The local bathymetry, especially the relatively steep shelf slope between 20-m and 50-m isobath, steers the front, which does not meander in winter offshore the Zhejiang-Fujian coast. As the cold season progresses, the front’s axis gradually shifts into deeper waters, from ~20 m to ~50 m.

Background: Youth experiencing homelessness (YEH) in East Asia Pacific (EAP) represent one of the most at-risk populations due to cultural and geographical factors. Effective mental health interventions, primarily researched in Western contexts, may not fully apply to YEH in EAP. Their lack of stable shelter, disrupted social networks, and limited access to mental health services elevate their susceptibility to adverse mental health, making urgent interventions essential to address their needs. Objective: To explore and provide systematic evidence on the types of mental health services and interventions for YEH in EAP and their impact on overall quality of life and wellbeing. Methods: Electronic databases(e.g., Medline, PsychInfo, PubMed, Scopus) were systematically searched(publication dates between 01/01/1990-13/05/2023), as well as additional online resources specific to homelessness. Articles were screened, and a critical appraisal assessed the quality of the included studies. Results: Eight studies with different interventions were identified in Indonesia(n = 2), Malaysia(n = 1), South Korea(n = 3), and The Philippines(n = 1). These were thematically clustered into six categories: art, cognitive behavioural therapy, life skills education, resilience enhancement, family strengthening and government interventions/services. Conclusion: This review highlights effective mental health interventions’ positive impact on YEH mental health outcomes and quality of life in EAP, stressing the urgent need to implement socio-culturally sensitive services. Future research should address knowledge gaps through comprehensive studies covering diverse EAP regions and populations, prioritising socio-culturally specific psychological measures.

Earth Observation (EO) techniques have significantly evolved over time, covering a wide range of applications in different domains. The scope of this study is to review the research conducted on EO in the Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East, and North Africa (EMMENA) region and to identify the main knowledge gaps. We searched through the Web of Science database for papers published between 2018 and 2022 for EO studies in the EMMENA. We categorized the papers in the following thematic areas: Atmosphere, Water, Agriculture, Land, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), Cultural Heritage, Energy, Marine Safety and Security (MSS) and Big Earth Data (BED); 6647 papers were found with the highest number of publications in the thematic areas of BED (27%) and Land (22%). Most of the EMMENA countries are surrounded by sea, yet there was a very small number of studies on MSS (0.9% of total number of papers). This study detected a gap in fundamental research in the BED thematic area. Other future needs identified by this study are the limited availability of very high resolution and near real time remote sensing data, the lack of harmonized methodologies and the need for further development of models, algorithms, early warning systems and services.

The phenomenon of pathogens co-infection detected in the half fed on humans I. persulcatus tick in the south of the Far East was studied. Researchs were carried out on PEK, Vero, Vero-E6 cell lines, outbred mice, chicken embryos, using ELISA, PCR, IMFA, plaque formation, and electron microscopy. The tick contained an antigen and a genetic marker of the tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV). The patient had post-vaccination antibodies in a titer of 1:200, as a result of which, obviously, an antibody-dependent elimination of TBEV occurred. The tick-borne co-isolate also contained an unknown pathogen (Kiparisovo-144 virus), which, in our opinion, was a trigger for the activation of chronic infection in suckling white mice. In the laboratory coisolate, ectromelia virus was present, as evidenced by paw edema during intradermal infection of mice, characteristic rashes on the chorion-allantoic envilope of chicken embryos, and typical plaques on Vero-E6. The Kiparisovo-144 virus was not pathogenic for white mice and chicken embryos, but successfully multiplied in the PEK, Vero, and Vero-E6 lines. Viral co-infection was confirmed by electron microscopy. Passaging on mice contributed to an increase in the virulence of the co-isolate, whose titer increased by 10,000 times by the 5th passage, which poses a serious epidemiological danger.

The identification of a new virus Kiparis-144 (KiparisV) in a half-fed tick I persulcatus, removed from a person in the south of the Russian Far East, determined the goal of further research - to study its role in human pathology and the characteristics of its behavior in the tick microbiome. An ELISA study of 439 blood samples from people affected by tick bites indicated a fairly frequent (up to 16.4±1.7%) encounter of people with the KiparisV virus in the territory of natural foci of the Primorsky Territory. It has been shown that this virus, when mono-infected, can cause clinical symptoms characteristic of acute respiratory diseases. During co-infection under the influence of the KiparisV, there was an increase in the activity of Borrelia spp. with the constant production of antibodies to them only of the IgM class and clinical symptoms of Lyme disease for one year (observation period). Electron microscopy of the KiparisV found in a tick removed from a patient showed a picture of the relationship of the KiparisV (up to 100 nm in size) with unknown representatives of the tick microbiome - pathogens of a viral or bacterial nature. In a comparative aspect, a similar electron microscopic picture of the interaction of the KiparisV virus with a known pathogen of viral nature, the ectromelia virus (ECTV), is presented. The importance of the electron microscopy method in describing the tick microbiome is shown. Thus, it has been established that when co-cultivated in the system the helper-virus KiparisV probably tends to use another pathogen of the tick microbiome for its reproduction, influencing its pathogenicity.