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The world is accelerating globalization and urbanization; thus, planning plays an irreplaceable role in the macro development, especially in sustainable development. Planning research is important in turning theories of planning into urban practices. This research based on the theory that planning research is crucial, as it represents that planning-related activities improve processes in urbanization. However, the current understanding of the importance of planning research is limited. There is no research on the interaction between planning research and macro national development to support the importance of planning or its research. This study uses 750,000 articles on urban planning fields from WoS from 1950 to the present. Firstly, the study concludes the investment pattern changes of the global planning research. Over the past 70 years, the total number and diversity of countries engaged in planning research have grown rapidly, and developing countries have gradually integrated into the mainstream research community and become the main contributors. Secondly, the investment intensity and characteristics of planning research are consistent with the speed and characteristics of urbanization, which proves that to some extent, the demand of urbanization development drives the investment of planning research. Then, according to the different characteristics of planning research investment in different countries, this paper summarizes the main investment characteristics of major countries, analyzes the development rule behind the investment characteristics, and predicts the interaction with the international political and economic pattern. By analyzing the relationship between planning research intensity and urbanization, it is found that the investment intensity of planning research has a time rule with urbanization and has different interactions in different stages of urbanization development. It was found that the intensity of planning research was strongly correlated with HDI, and the amount of research was crucial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper-based analytical devices (PADs), including lateral flow assays (LFAs), dipstick assays and microfluidic PADs (μPADs), have a great impact on the healthcare realm and environmental monitoring. This is especially evident in developing countries because PADs-based point-of-care testing (POCT) enables to rapidly determine various (bio)chemical analytes in a miniaturized, cost-effective and user-friendly manner. Low sensitivity and poor specificity are the main bottlenecks associated with PADs, which limit the entry of PADs into the real-life applications. The application of nanomaterials in PADs is showing great improvement in their detection performance in terms of sensitivity, selectivity and accuracy since the nanomaterials have unique physicochemical properties. In this review, the research progress on the nanomaterial-based PADs is summarized by highlighting representative recent publications. We mainly focus on the detection principles, the sensing mechanisms of how they work and applications in disease diagnosis, environmental monitoring and food safety management. In addition, the limitations and challenges associated with the development of nanomaterial-based PADs are discussed, and further directions in this research field are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is currently a lot of interest in the construction of point-of-care devices stemming from paper-based origami biosensors. These devices demonstrate how paper's foldability permits the construction of sensitive, selective, user-friendly, intelligent, and maintainable analytical devices for the detection of several ailments. Herein, the first example of the electrochemical aptasensor-based polyvalent dengue viral antigen detection using the origami paper-folding method is presented. Coupling it with an aptamer leads to the development of a new notation known as OBAs, or origami-based aptasensor, that presents a multitude of advantages to the developed platform, such as assisting in safeguarding the sample from air-dust particles, providing confidentiality, and providing a closed chamber to the electrodes. In this paper, gold-decorated nanocomposites of zinc and graphene oxide (Au/ZnO/GO) were synthesized via the chemical method, and characterization was conducted by Scanning Electron Microscope, Transmission Electron Microscope, UV-Vis, and XRD which reveals the successful formation of nanocomposites, mainly helping to enhance the signal and specificity of the sensor by employing aptamers, since isolation and purification procedures are not required. The biosensor that is being demonstrated here is affordable, simple, and efficient. The reported biosensor is an OBA detection of polyvalent antigens of the dengue virus in human serum, presenting a good range from 0.0001 to 0.1 mg/mL with a limit of detection of 0.0001 mg/mL. The reported single-folding ori-aptasensor demonstrates exceptional sensitivity, specificity, and performance in human serum assays, and can also be used for the POC testing of various viral infections in remote areas and underdeveloped countries, as well as being potentially effective during outbreaks. Highlights: (1) First report on origami-based aptasensors for the detection of polyvalent antigens of DENV; (2) In-house construction of low-cost origami-based setup; (3) Gold-decorated zinc/graphene nanocomposite characterization was confirmed via FESEM/UV-Vis/FTIR; (4) Cross-reactivity of dengue-aptamer has been deduced; (5) Electrochemical validation was conducted through CV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact and implications of ChatGPT and other generative AI technologies within the African context while looking at the ethical benefits and concerns that are particularly pertinent to the continent. Through a robust analysis of ChatGPT and other generative AI systems using established approaches for analysing the ethics of emerging technologies, this paper provides unique ethical benefits and concerns for these systems in the African context. This analysis combined approaches such as anticipatory technology ethics (ATE), ethical impact assessment (EIA), and ethical issues of emerging ICT applications with AI (ETICA) with specific issues from the literature. The findings show that ChatGPT and other generative AI systems raise unique ethical concerns such as bias, intergenerational justice, exploitation of labour and cultural diversity in Africa but also have significant ethical benefits. These ethical concerns and benefits are considered crucial in shaping the design and deployment of ChatGPT and similar technologies responsibly. It further explores the potential applications of ChatGPT in critical domain areas such as education, agriculture, and healthcare, thereby demonstrating the transformative possibilities that these technologies can have on Africa. This paper underscores the critical role of AI governance as Africa increasingly adopts ChatGPT and similar AI systems. It argues that a comprehensive understanding of AI governance is essential not only for maximising the benefits of generative AI systems but also for facilitating a global dialogue. This dialogue aims to foster shared knowledge and insights between the Global North and the Global South, which is important for the development and creation of inclusive and equitable AI policies and practices that can be beneficial for all regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since entering the 21st century, many developing countries around the world have begun to enter a stage of rapid urbanization; large-scale "rural-urban" population migration has become a typical social phenomenon in these countries. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to elucidate the spatial migration characteristics of rural populations and to discuss future rural–urban development strategies. For this purpose, this paper takes China as a case and employs methods such as spatial autocorrelation analysis, hotspot analysis, and network analysis to construct an intercity migration network of rural migrants and analyze its spatial characteristics and internal structure. The results indicate that the migration pattern of the rural population exhibits notable spatial clustering features. Cities in the eastern and central regions are, respectively, hotspots for the inflow and outflow of rural populations, with internal migration dominating in western cities and relatively inactive rural population movements in northeastern cities. Municipalities directly under the central government, sub-provincial cities, and provincial capitals show a significant tendency to attract rural populations, while prefecture-level and county-level cities mainly radiate rural populations outward. Cities nationwide form seven major clusters in the migration network, and these clusters exhibit distinct structural characteristics. Rural population migration is influenced by various factors. In the future, considerations should focus on the county as the primary unit, attracting rural populations for local employment, and promoting rural revitalization and agriculture development. The findings of this paper are of reference significance not only to China but also to many developing countries with similar national conditions in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of sustainability introduced in 1987 has characterised the world of research in the AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction) sector, directing it to try to tackle the problems inherent to the impacts of climate change on buildings. In addition, the advent of COVID-19, disrupting the world and people's habits, has obviously also strongly affected the academic world. Indeed, this paper aims to analyse the changes and differences between the pre- and post-pandemic periods through a two-stage hybrid literature review. First, through a systematic literature review, 90 articles were selected, filtered through different keywords (sustainability, climate, architecture, and buildings). Once the reasoned selection of papers had been made, it was possible to proceed to the second phase, which involved a thematic analysis according to the three classic macro themes of sustainability (Environment, Social, and Economic) and the inclusion of a fourth macro theme (Management and Development), which made it possible to reintroduce a holistic view of the problem. The results of this literature review revealed the presence of a growing interest in the topic analysed and a more homogenous distribution across all continents, with no distinction between developed and developing countries. Economic sustainability interests emerge post-COVID-19 through the deepening of the themes of clean energy and direct control of consumption. At the level of Environmental sustainability, on the other hand, COVID-19 replaced the house at the centre of people's lives. In addition, the Management and Development macro theme highlighted the need for an integrated view of the problem and the unexpected return of researchers preferring new constructions, which, despite alternative green approaches and renovations, can guarantee better performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Territorial spatial planning involves fixability and flexibility in different driving factors related to control and development orientation, and they play an important role in regional sustainable development, especially in developing countries such as China. With rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, China has been impacted by conflicts between development and protection in territorial space. To integrate the contradictions among different territorial spatial planning measures, planners and scholars have started to focus on studies regarding fixability–flexibility relationships and integration. However, the relationship between and integration of fixability and flexibility in territorial spatial planning have yet to be clearly summarised. This paper explores an innovative research direction for the fixability–flexibility relations in territorial spatial planning from a new perspective, the Food–Energy–Water Nexus, which is a dynamic and comprehensive framework for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) studies. This paper covers the existing research on fixability and flexibility in territorial spatial planning. Moreover, after summarising the conflicts of fixability and flexibility, the dialectical relationship between and the integration of fixability and flexibility are researched. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decades, the increase in global industrialization and the consequent technological progress have damaged the quality of the environment. As a consequence, the high levels of hazardous compounds such as metals and gases released in the atmosphere and water, have raised several concerns about the health of living organisms. Today, many analytical techniques are available with the aim to detect pollutant chemical species. However, a lot of them are not affordable due to the expensive instrumentations, time-consuming processes and high reagents volumes. Last but not least, their use is exclusive to trained operators. Contrarily, colorimetric sensing devices, including paper-based devices, are easy to use, providing results in a short time, without particular specializations to interpret the results. In addition, the colorimetric response is suitable for fast detection, especially in resource-limited environments or underdeveloped countries. Among different chemical species, transition and heavy metals such as iron Fe(II) and copper Cu(II) as well as volatile compounds, such as ammonia (NH3) and acetaldehyde (C2H4O) are widespread mainly in industrialized geographical areas. In this work, we developed a colorimetric paper-based analytical device (PAD) to detect different contaminants, including Fe2+ and Cu2+ ions in water, and NH3 and C2H4O in air at low concentrations. This study is a "proof of concept" of a new paper sensor in which the intensity of the colorimetric response is proportional to the concentration of a detected pollutant species. The sensor model could be further implemented in other technologies, such as drones, individual protection devices or wearable apparatus to monitor the exposure to toxic species in both indoor and outdoor environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive chemical substances in agricultural drainage water have serious adverse effects on the ecological environment of the watershed into which they are discharged. Therefore, it has attracted widespread attention from scholars worldwide. In this paper, 282 scientific articles related to agricultural drainage water treatment are selected from the Web of Science Core Collection database, and CiteSpace was used to visualize and analyze the knowledge map of this field. The most productive authors, institutions, and countries in agricultural drainage water research are graphically presented in this paper. Developing countries are becoming the core force in this realm of inquiry. In addition, this paper explains the changes in research topics in this field over time and reveals current research hotspots, including "desalination", "denitrification", and "phosphorus removal". Future research endeavors in using bioreactors and agricultural drainage water ditches for treating agricultural drainage water are implied to become a research focus in this field. This paper also emphasizes that future environmental protection research should increase case studies in developing countries and develop corresponding solutions based on the actual situation of agriculture in rural areas of developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This systematic review synthesised existing research papers that explore the available metadata standards to enable researchers to preserve, discover, and reuse research data in repositories. This review provides a broad overview of certain aspects that must be taken into consideration when creating and assessing metadata standards to enhance research data preservation discoverability and reusability strategies. Research papers on metadata standards, research data preservation, discovery and reuse, and repositories published between January 2003 and April 2023 were reviewed from a total of five databases. The review retrieved 1597 papers, and 13 papers were selected in this review. We revealed 13 research articles that explained the creation and application of metadata standards to enhance preservation, discovery, and reuse of research data in repositories. Among them, eight presented the three main types of metadata, descriptive, structural, and administrative, to enable the preservation of research data in data repositories. We noted limited evidence on how these metadata standards can be used to enhance the discovery and reuse of research data in repositories to enable the preservation, discovery, and reuse of research data in repositories. No reviews indicated specific higher education institutions employing metadata standards for the research data created by their researchers. Repository designs and a lack of expertise and technology know-how were among the challenges identified from the reviewed papers. The review has the potential to influence professional practice and decision-making by stakeholders, including researchers, students, librarians, information communication technologists, data managers, private and public organisations, intermediaries, research institutions, and non-profit organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global move towards a circular economy, as well as that of achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), has necessitated the search for several sustainable solutions in various sectors. Given this, the provision of sustainable waste management and electricity systems constitute a significant part of the SDGs, and the waste-to-energy (WtE) concept has recently become a key topic given that it can potentially help reduce the dependence on fossil fuels for energy generation, as well as minimizing the need to dispose of waste in landfill. However, to date, the sustainability assessments of WtE generation technologies have been limited in scope concerning the three-dimensional sustainability framework (economic, environmental, and social). Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) has been proposed as a potential approach that could comprehensively address these three pillars of sustainability simultaneously based on life cycle thinking. LCSA, as a holistic method, could also potentially deal with the complexity associated with decision-making by allowing for the consideration of a full range of possible sustainability consequences. LCSA is an analytical tool that integrates the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Costing (LCC), and Social Life Cycle Assessment (sLCA) methodologies, which already exist and continue to be developed. Individually, these life-cycle approaches tend to be used to point out particular 'hotspots' in product or service systems, and hence focus on direct impacts in a given sustainability domain, neglecting the indirect ones. LCSA aims for a more holistic sustainability perspective and seeks to address the associated challenge of integrating these three pillars of sustainability into an overall and more comprehensive sustainability assessment. This need for harmonization within the LCSA methodology is a major challenge in its operationalization. In recent years there has been steady progress towards developing and applying LCSA, including for WtE. The aim of this paper is to review the most recent trends and perspectives in developing countries, especially regarding how LCSA could help inform decision-making. The paper also analyses the LCSA literature to set out the theoretical and practical challenges behind integrating the three methods (LCA, LCC, and sLCA). The review was conducted via a search of keywords such as LCSA, waste, and energy in the Web of Science databases, resulting in the selection of 187 publications written in English. Of those, 13 articles operationalized LCSA in specific waste and WtE related case studies. The review provides a review of the application of LCSA for researchers, technological experts, and policymakers through published findings and identifies perspectives on new research. These include uncertainty, subjectivity in weighting, double-counting, the low maturity of sLCA, and the integration of the interconnection between the three dimensions (environmental, economic, and social dimensions) of LCSA results in decision-making. In addition, gaps (such as the integration of the interconnection between the three dimensions) that need to be addressed via further research are highlighted to allow for a better understanding of methodological trade-offs that come from using the LCSA analytical approach to assess the sustainability of WtE generation technologies, especially in developing countries. It is hoped that this study will be a positive contribution to environmental and energy policy decisions in developing countries faced with the dual problems of waste management and electricity supply along with their sustainable development goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public–private partnerships (PPP) have evolved as a choice of infrastructure procurement for numerous developing countries, particularly in the water and power sectors, thereby capturing the interest of researchers. A rich body of literature exists in the field of PPPs, as well as their critical success factors (CSF). Despite the valuable insights garnered from individual studies, a research gap exists in conducting a meta-synthesis of the findings from multiple developing countries and investigating the broader elements and themes of power and water PPP CSF research. This systematic review employed the PRISMA protocol and identified 30 records. We explored the regions, sectors, yearly output, adopted research methods, key authors, and themes of the corpus reviewed. The review recognised four emerging trends in the records, which are identifying, ranking, exploring the interrelationship, or utilising CSFs. The review identified the top 30 frequent CSFs in the corpus, as well as their ranking by importance across multiple settings. The review concludes by addressing geographic and methodological limitations and proposing directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In developing countries, especially China, large-scale commercial complexes are the current trend in commercial real estate. Compared with other similar buildings, scientific site selection is very important for the smooth construction and efficient operation of these complexes. However, there is still a lack of a targeted evaluation index system and quantitative evaluation methods. Therefore, this paper put forward the evaluation index system and method of large-scale commercial-complex location based on a projection pursuit model. First, this paper comprehensively considered the environmental, social, and economic factors, and used secondary and tertiary indicators to systematically establish an evaluation index system. This index system effectively dealt with the complex problem of its site selection. Compared with the traditional multi-attribute evaluation method based on expert advice, the evaluation method of the improved projection pursuit model based on a sparrow search algorithm constructed in this paper was to mine key information from the evaluation data, which could evaluate the site suitability of large commercial complexes more scientifically and objectively. In addition, this paper made a detailed empirical study of the Joy City project in Nanchang, China. The research results found the key factors affecting the site selection of the project and determined that the site-selection evaluation result of the project was medium. The research results of this paper provide the scientific and objective decision-making basis for the development enterprises of large commercial complexes to reduce site-selection risk and improve investment efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital technologies occupy an important place in today's developing world. They are also strongly related to new trends in educational technologies. In this context, the digital accessibility of this new environment for people with various special needs is of particular concern. A novel tool for assessment of the technological ecosystem, designed to provide digital accessibility to people with special needs, is described in the paper. The overall structure and the initial test of the system are discussed in the paper. The conceptual framework of the ecosystem and its ontological model are described. Special attention is paid to the accessibility of digital learning and e-learning for people with special needs from a robotic perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of human society and the production and operation activities of enterprises have brought about global warming, resulting in frequent natural disasters. It has become the consensus of all countries in the world to develop a green and low-carbon economy. Under this background, enterprises, as the main body of economic activities, especially energy industry enterprises, should optimize and upgrade the traditional production and operation mode with high pollution, high consumption, and low output to a high-efficiency and low-pollution mode, and pay attention to the co-ordinated development of economic benefits, social benefits, and ecological benefits. Financial performance evaluation indicators have become the main basis for senior leaders of energy industry enterprises to make decisions and evaluate the low-carbon economic benefits of enterprises. This paper constructs a set of financial evaluation index systems of energy industry enterprises under the background of a low-carbon economy from four dimensions: profitability, asset quality, debt risk, and business growth. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used to measure the comprehensive contribution of financial indicators of low-carbon production and operation. The purpose of this study is to provide scientific financial management decisions for energy enterprises to reduce costs and increase the efficiency and low-carbon operation under the background of a low-carbon economy. The research results show that the comprehensive evaluation index system after the traditional financial evaluation index of energy industry enterprises is integrated with the evaluation index of a low-carbon economy can help enterprises make more correct and effective financial decisions in the process of survival, development, and growth, and, at the same time, the financial evaluation index of a low-carbon economy should pay more attention to the indicators with a higher comprehensive contribution, so as to effectively promote the low-carbon operation efficiency of enterprise production, management, and sales. Compared with other research results, this paper innovatively constructs a financial management decision-making index system for measuring the low-carbon operation of energy enterprises in theory, which has important value in guiding energy enterprises to reduce costs and increase the efficiency and low-carbon operation in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quick and effective point-of-care (POC) devices have the chance to revolutionize healthcare in developed and developing countries since they can operate anywhere the patient is, with the possibility of obtaining and sending the results to the doctor without delay. In recent years, significant efforts have focused on developing new POC systems that can screen for biomarkers continuously and non-invasively in body fluids to prevent, diagnose, and manage diseases. However, one of the critical challenges left to address is how to power them effectively and sufficiently. In developing countries and rural and remote areas, where there are usually no well-established electricity grids or nearby medical facilities, and using batteries is unreliable or not cost-effective, alternative power sources are the most challenging issue for stand-alone and self-sustained POC devices. Here, we provide an overview of the techniques for used self-powering POC devices, where the sample is used to detect and simultaneously generate energy to power the system. Likewise, this paper introduced the state-of-the-art with a review of different research projects, patents, and commercial products for self-powered POCs from the mid-2010s until present day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is one of the biggest threats to human living and health in the 21st century. Whilst a large number of papers have been published addressing the health impact of climate change, there is a lack of comprehensive bibliometric analysis in the crosscutting field. This study evaluated the global scientific output of research in the field of climate change and health between 1990 and 2020, based on the Web of Science Core Collection database. Research themes were identified using a social network analysis technique based on author keywords. Research trends were assessed by the change in overall publication number and the percentage of publications in each research theme. Articles were further categorized by the availability of funding and author affiliation to compare the difference between developed and developing countries. Results showed that the research output in the field of climate change and health has increased dramatically in the past 30 years, mainly dominated by researchers in developed countries. The percentage of research receiving funding was found to be the lowest in those published by developing countries only and the highest in those published by the collaboration of developed and developing countries. A total of nine major research themes was identified. Research related to 'risk assessment and adaptation', 'sustainable development' and 'infectious diseases' were relatively underfunded. A significant research trend was observed between 2006 and 2020, with increased attention on research themes related to 'risk assessment and adaptation', 'sustainable development', 'extreme events' and 'air pollution', and reduced attention on research themes related to 'ocean', 'infectious disease' and 'phenology'. The shift of the research trend was mainly driven by research in developed countries. Suggestions, recommendations and future priorities identified by experts in the field of atmospheric sciences, epidemiology, public health, climate change, environmental sciences, and policy development are also provided to guide future research. It is important to shift our focus from single health aspects to an integrated system (such as One Health framework, which considers environmental health, animal health and human health as a whole), with future research focusing more on the systemic impact of climate change in order to achieve better, more effective and efficient risk governance. More funding should be mobilized to support the research capacity building in developing countries and to support climate change adaptation strategies for sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a summary of a special issue in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences titled "Dietary Bioactive Components in Inflammatory Bowel Disease." The special issue explores the potential of dietary bioactive compounds, particularly those found in fruits and vegetables, for the prevention and management of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). The issue includes seven papers, consisting of five research articles and two reviews, which investigate the effects of various dietary components on IBD, including Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and colorectal cancer. The studies highlight the complex interactions between dietary bioactive compounds, gut microbiota, and immune responses in the context of IBD, and suggest that these compounds may have therapeutic potential in managing the disease. [Extracted from the article]

In the pursuit of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), developing countries with limited resources face significant hurdles. Traditional top-down approaches, spearheaded by governments, often entail lengthy planning periods and substantial costs to reach underserved communities. This paper proposes a bottom-up, cost-effective, and preventive approach aimed at empowering local human resources and using advanced technology. We call it the Micro Healthcare Entrepreneurship (MHE) model. The MHE model comprises four primary components: (1) utilization of local human resources, (2) disruptive healthcare technology, (3) continuous training, and (4) available funds. Extensive testing of the digital health and social business elements across diverse contexts underscores their efficacy. Furthermore, the viability of social business funds has been established. To solicit feedback and refine the MHE concept, three workshops, conducted in phases, engaged 60 community healthcare service providers. This paper elucidates both the potential advantages and the challenges inherent in implementing the MHE model. By shifting the paradigm toward grassroots empowerment and leveraging existing community assets, this approach offers promise in advancing healthcare accessibility and sustainability in resource-constrained settings to achieve UHC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to clean energy remains a major issue in developing countries, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa, despite successive policies and the assistance of international institutions or organizations. The United Nations (UN) launched some of the most ambitious initiatives with the Millennium Development Goals and, more recently, the Sustainable Development Goals and Power Africa, a United States (US) government initiative. Sub-Saharan Africa has an important potential in renewable energy for both biogas and solar photovoltaic energy, but they remain underexploited. This paper presents the challenges of access to clean energy in developing countries and the failure of remedial policies mostly based on public–private partnerships (PPPs) in the context of endemic poverty of rural populations. In addition, the development of modern energy technologies remains very limited. Appropriate reforms should be carried out to change the paradigm and allow universal access to clean energy. This paper also addresses the different structural barriers that hinder access to technology in Sub-Saharan Africa and the consequences of access to clean energy in the context of poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Neurofibromatosis Type 1 is an inherited tumour predisposition syndrome with a varied clinical phenotype. Long-term monitoring through imaging is inconsistent and varies in high- and low-income countries. Implementation of a clinical practice guideline through a multidisciplinary clinic is instrumental to the care of adult Neurofibromatosis Type 1 patients. This systematic review aims to evaluate the association between a country's socioeconomic status and diagnostic modalities and strategies used for adult Neurofibromatosis Type 1 patients. Our results show multiple imaging modalities are used in high-income countries; however, there is limited use in low-income countries. The two most common diagnostic modalities used in developed countries are WB MRI and FDG PET/CT. Background: Neurofibromatosis Type 1 is an autosomal dominant tumour-predisposition condition commonly diagnosed in childhood and fully penetrant by adulthood. Long-term monitoring through imaging is inconsistent and varies between high- and low-income countries. Implementation of a clinical practice guideline through a multidisciplinary clinic is instrumental to the care of adult Neurofibromatosis Type 1 patients. We aim to systematically review international diagnostic modalities and strategies to evaluate any association between a country's socioeconomic status and diagnostic modalities or strategies used for Neurofibromatosis Type 1 patients. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane. Relevant clinical information on the surveillance of adult Neurofibromatosis Type 1 patients worldwide was reviewed, extracted, and synthesised. Results: We identified 51 papers reporting on 7724 individuals. Multiple imaging modalities are actively employed in high-income and upper-middle-income countries for surveying adult Neurofibromatosis Type 1 patients. We did not find any relevant papers from low- and middle-income countries. Conclusions: This systematic review suggests that there is robust data on diagnostic modalities for adult Neurofibromatosis Type 1 patients in high-income countries, but not for low- and middle-income countries. There is a lack of data on consolidated diagnostic strategies from both high- and low-income countries. Efforts should be made to publish data on usual clinical practice in low- and middle-income countries to develop clinical practice guidelines describing best medical practice to fit a local context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2016, a localisation agenda was set across the international aid industry with the understanding that humanitarian interventions need to be led by local actors and local communities. Despite international agreements, the localisation efforts are largely failing. This paper demonstrates the challenges that prevent effective collaboration between international humanitarian agencies and crisis-affected communities. It draws on evaluation reports to highlight an inability to learn lessons or follow recommendations from previous crises. Based on the authors' experiences, we present a novel framework for effectively collaborating with crisis-affected communities. The Communities Framework provides a pathway to establishing effective community collaboration and locally owned and led humanitarian interventions. The importance of local leadership, trust building, and local context are at the heart of the framework. In light of the need for a more localised and decolonial humanitarian response, this framework supports humanitarian actors and the affected communities in moving from a charity-led approach to one of mutual aid. The paper draws on alternative notions of compassion from the Global South of contemporary humanitarian interventions as a philosophical foundation for the framework. Caring for others and the world is central to implementing an appropriate and effective humanitarian response. There remains a largely unexplored scope regarding the outcome of resolving crises when both humanitarian actors and affected communities work as equal partners and how that will shape modern humanitarianism as we understand it today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inscription of properties on the World Heritage List often places restrictions on existing livelihoods. In these contexts, tourism is widely held to be a panacea for the economic and social wellbeing of local communities. Ecotourism, in particular, is regarded as addressing both environmental and social needs of communities. However, existing research demonstrates that tourism seldom delivers benefits to Indigenous peoples or local communities in developing countries. This paper suggests that such limitations are equally problematic for local communities in developed nations such as Australia. Through ethnographic research including participant observation and interviews, this paper describes the impacts of tourism on the local community of Strahan, a small logging, fishing, and mining town that transformed into a tourism village following the World Heritage listing of Southwest Tasmania. We suggest that contrary to the widely held view that tourism created employment and economic growth in the town, locals experience diminished quality of life, limited opportunities, and reduced amenity and services. This suggests that ecotourism overlooks its responsibilities for local communities in developed countries, with profound consequences for social sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of new transformational technology, known as the fourth industrial revolution, has crucially opened a new window to green economic growth. The transition to low carbon, green economy, and green sustainability has gained momentum simultaneously in developed and developing countries. The greening policy echoes the pending climate change and its entrenching disruptions. Financial technology, or FinTech seems to be a promising direction in unlocking the green dilemma; to be concrete, FinTech and the green economy are separately documented in the literature. Against this background, the current study investigates the intersection between green economic growth and FinTech by conducting a systematic-cum-bibliometric analysis of published papers in the Scopus database with the goal of first examining the role and opportunities of implementing green FinTech as a stimulus for transition towards green economic growth in African countries and, second, identifying knowledge gaps and future policy and research directions by developing an integrated framework to help African countries in the transition to green economic growth and green FinTech. The results illustrate an increasing trend in research attention towards the green FinTech concept and its relationship with green economic growth, climate change, and greening rules and standards. A deep inspection of the mined papers indicates that future research trajectories are oriented into five different mainstreams: technology and instruments in digital finance; regulation, policies, and green FinTech; climate risk mitigation through FinTech; FinTech and environmental quality; green finance and climate change mitigation. Based on these research directions, an integrated framework was conceptualised that aims to deliver green economic growth using FinTech as a vehicle of transition for African countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world is warming, and the demand for cooling is increasing. Developing a future green hydrogen economy will also increase the demand for cooling for hydrogen liquefaction. This increase in cooling demand will happen mainly in tropical and developing countries due to their increase in population, improvements in quality of life, and the export of their renewable potential with liquid hydrogen. To solve this increase in demand for cooling, this paper proposes the use of ammonia airship cooling (AAC). AAC extracts cold from the tropopause (−80 °C) with airships and ammonia refrigeration cycles. The liquid ammonia is then transported back to the surface to provide low temperature cooling services (−33 °C). This cooling service is particularly interesting for lowering the electricity consumption in hydrogen liquefaction plants. If all the technological challenges mentioned in the paper are addressed, it is estimated that the cost of cooling with the technology is 8.25 USD/MWht and that AAC could reduce the electricity demand for hydrogen liquefaction by 30%. AAC is an innovative renewable cooling technology that has the potential to complement other renewable energy sources in a sustainable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the different ways that relationships and the relational figure in the integrative approach, relational wellbeing (RWB). These are (1) conceptualising persons as relational subjects; (2) relationships as the means through which people seek to address a wide variety of needs; (3) inter-relations between the experience of wellbeing and the underlying factors within persons and their contexts that either promote or undermine wellbeing; (4) relationships serving as conduits of power and the making of identities; and (5) inter-relations between the concepts and methods of research with representations of (persons and) wellbeing. The main thrust of the paper is theoretical, but it is anchored in long-standing research into wellbeing in the global South and practical experience in applying RWB in the global North. Empirically, it draws, in particular, on a case study from Zambia of a 'meshwork' of relations between birth and foster parents and children moving between households. This places the relational, rather than the individual, at the centre of analysis. It shows how different dimensions of wellbeing may coincide, but there may also be trade-offs between them. Relationships are bearers of power, and it is the interactions of structure and agency that ultimately limit or engender opportunities for sustained individual and collective wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public capital plays a key role in national economic production in developing countries, and it has become the focus of factor reform in China. This paper aims at studying the dynamic characteristics of China's public capital and the return rate. To this end, this paper inventories the public capital stock from 1978 to 2017; constructs a two-sector model to derive the necessary condition for optimal investment related to the return rate, and empirically tests it; estimates the output shares of the two sectors and calculates the rate of return to capital; and illustrates the dynamic evolution of public capital and the return rate from the time and regional dimensions. The study shows that, first, public capital has grown significantly. The portion of public capital held in the form of state-holding is increasing year by year. However, the proportion of public capital to total capital has decreased from 81% to 35%. Second, the growth of public capital has effectively balanced the gap of capital between regions. Third, the rate of return to capital has been decreasing, with two sectors' return rates having converged in 1981 and in 2010–2013. This paper measures the stock of public capital and its return rate, which is beneficial for formulating the policy of public capital in economic production and distribution, as well as exploring the path to achieving common prosperity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arsenic (As) contamination of surface water has become a global concern, especially for the third world countries, and it is imperative to develop advanced materials and an effective treatment method to address the issue. In this paper, iron doped ZIF-8@MXene (Fe-ZIF-8@MXene) was prepared as a potential adsorbent to effectively and simultaneously remove As(III/V) from wastewater. To investigate this, Fe-ZIF-8@MXene was characterized before and after the removal of mixed As(III/V). The results of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), specific surface area (BET) and point of zero charge (pHpzc) showed that Fe-ZIF-8@MXene was prepared successfully and kept a stable structure after As(III) and As(V) adsorption. The particle size of Fe-ZIF-8@MXene was in the range of 0.5 μm to 2.5 μm, where its BET was 531.7 m2/g. For both contaminants, adsorption was found to follow pseudo-second-order kinetics and was best-fitted by the Langmuir adsorption model with correlation coefficients (R2) of 0.998 and 0.997, for As(III) and As(V), respectively. The adsorbent was then applied to remove As from two actual water samples, giving maximum removal rates of 91.07% and 98.96% for As(III) and As(V), respectively. Finally, removal mechanisms for As(III/V) by Fe-ZIF-8@MXene were also explored. During the adsorption, multiple complexes were formed under the effect of its abundant surface functional groups involving multiple mechanisms, which included Van der Waals force, surface adsorption, chemical complexation and electrostatic interactions. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that Fe-ZIF-8@MXene was an advanced and reusable material for simultaneous removal of As(III/V) in wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This scoping review employed the PRISMA-ScR framework to dissect the complexities of technological extension in agriculture within developing nations, where varying socio-economic, cultural, and environmental facets deeply influence extension strategies. Our study aimed to identify and expand upon the existing knowledge of critical factors—both challenges and opportunities—that affect the efficacy of agricultural extension, with a focus on contextual variations. To achieve this, we conducted a comprehensive review of the relevant academic contributions from 2013 onwards. This included articles, reviews, conference proceedings, book chapters, and data papers. Our analysis focused on scrutinizing the interaction dynamics between extension personnel and farmers, the adaptation of technologies to local contexts, and the significance of cross-sector collaboration. Through bibliometric analysis, we provide a synthesis of 32 pertinent records. Our findings advocate for a paradigm shift from the traditional linear knowledge transfer to a more encompassing approach that values bidirectional communication, cultural awareness, and the active involvement of local farming communities. We argue for extension practices that are attuned to environmental dynamics, promote long-term economic sustainability, and are informed by theoretical perspectives that can refine the design of extension systems and models. Our review posits that the enhancement of sustainable agricultural technology adoption lies in a profound reform of extension systems. Such reform should focus on design and operational models that are more inclusive, adaptive, and acutely attuned to the complex realities of farmers in emerging economies. This integrative, systemic, and holistic approach proposes a framework to bolster agricultural sustainability and rural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction sector has been subjected to scrutiny due to its propensity for waste generation and the extensive utilisation of finite natural resources. In response to these concerns, a transition towards a novel conceptual framework known as circular economy (CE) has been advocated. Nevertheless, the integration of CE principles within the construction domain encounters numerous impediments to its advancement. Despite scholarly recognition of these challenges, scant research has been devoted to elucidating the intricacies associated with the planning and execution of large-scale projects, particularly within developing nations such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This paper intends to fill this gap through the identification and ranking of those barriers encountered when trying to implement CE during construction in KSA. To this end, a comprehensive literature review was completed, alongside a survey conducted amongst 239 participants involved in three mega-projects. A statistical analysis of the data collected was carried out based on the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Following this, a relative importance index (RII) was established to rank 24 barriers categorised as major within the sample. The findings revealed the lack of regulation within the construction sector, the lack of education and training, little awareness and guidance on the subject, and the absence of an incentives policy as primary barriers to adopting CE in KSA. The present study endeavours to enhance the comprehension regarding the principles of circular economy (CE) and the attendant challenges encountered during its implementation. The overarching objective is to provide insights that can inform decision-making processes, thereby facilitating the development of robust mitigation strategies and the adoption of best practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transitioning to the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) under the Paris Agreement (PA) from the current measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) arrangements under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) requires developing countries to enhance their national reporting systems in a sustainable way. There are various challenges that developing countries face in preparing national reporting under the existing MRV framework. The objective of this paper is to identify practical solutions as good practices in the short and long term to address the common challenges facing many developing countries as they prepare their national climate reporting. We collected information on practical solutions implemented by developing countries to overcome common challenges during preparation of their national reporting. There were some limitations regarding data collection using a country survey since we received responses from only six countries and two organizations, resulting in a small sample. Good practices for addressing common challenges include developing a national legal framework for transparency-related work, assigning a main coordinating institution, collaborating with domestic institutions for methodology development on emission reduction, and establishing university curricula on transparency. Replicating these solutions as good practices on how to deal with the challenges would be one way for developing countries to enhance their respective reporting systems in a sustainable manner. Furthermore, the paper highlights three underlying factors (efficiency, accountability, and sustainability) behind those practical solutions. These underlying factors should be considered important as guiding principles for building sustainable reporting systems in order to be able to successfully implement the ETF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper addresses the need for an adaptable theoretical framework in the context of sustainable land governance for Water–Energy–Food (WEF) systems, bridging the gap between international guidelines and contextual realities. The novel framework is useful to effectively tackle the intricate challenges of rural and peri-urban revitalisation in the Global South by providing a holistic approach that considers the multi-dimensional interactions of land with water, energy, and food systems. The proposed framework encompasses three main objectives: (1) a top-down approach involving policy review and legal framework analysis to contextualise and inform the decision-making process; (2) a bottom-up approach based on case studies, enabling ground-level insights, stakeholder identification, and participatory mapping to empower rural and peri-urban communities; (3) a geospatial approach utilizing GIS and spatial analysis to study the implications of land within WEF systems. Drawing on mixed methods, including a literature review, a policy review, interviews, surveys, focus group discussions, and participatory action research grounded on case studies, this research emphasises the need to integrate both top-down and bottom-up approaches for comprehensive sustainable land governance. Over the course of 2018 to 2023, 22 master's theses were supervised, each addressing the framework's research objectives in 14 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. Sixteen capacity building workshops in 11 countries engaged 851 participants, fostering knowledge exchange; 6 participatory action research (PAR) projects involved the installation of projects to advance food sovereignty in small communities in the Global South, following needs assessments. We showcase in this paper the PAR successfully implemented in Gitaraga, Rwanda, to validate the practical application of the proposed framework. The methodology has been useful for determining transversality, sustainability, inclusivity, adaptability, evidence-based decision-making, and policy integration as the core principles of sustainable land governance for WEF systems. The research contributes valuable insights to inform future interventions and policies that promote rural and peri-urban revitalization while addressing the ever-evolving challenges of WEF systems in the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bourgeoning of e-commerce in the context of the information era has accelerated the urbanization trend by broaching a new horizon of economic and industrial boosters for rural places, epitomized by a great number of "Taobao Villages" in China. This paper has two objectives: (1) explore the process and mechanism of digitalization enabling rural in-situ urbanization represented by e-commerce; (2) nuance the specific case evidence of Daiji Town, where digitalization enabled in-situ urbanization recently. We build up a theoretical framework for digitalization-enabled in-situ urbanization from the juxtaposition of four interlinked elements: industry, talent, rural governance, and land use. It then analyzed the details and evidence of digitalization enabling rural in-situ urbanization through the case study of Daiji Town. The main conclusions of this paper are as follows: First, digitalization plugs rural areas into production and consumption networks in wider contexts, promoting the transformation and prosperity of rural economies. Secondly, the reverse migration of young generations to rural areas becomes the key to rural in-situ urbanization. Thirdly, digitization materializes the urbanization of rural spaces. Finally, digitalization enables the rural transformation and improvement of urban-rural relations in the Global South, which needs to be further explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given wheat's global significance as a primary food crop, and its importance in providing essential nutrition to millions of people worldwide, reducing on-farm losses is crucial to promoting food security, sustainable agriculture, and economic stability. Wheat plays a critical role in food security in Iran, as it is a staple food consumed daily by a large proportion of the population, and is also a vital component of the country's food self-sufficiency policy. The present study aims to identify the causes and extent of on-farm wheat loss in Fars province, a major wheat-producing area in Iran. Nine experts were interviewed, using open-ended questions, in October 2018. The study revealed that a considerable amount of wheat is lost due to seed overuse, pest infestation, and improper harvesting. The paper discusses the underlying factors associated with these over-arching causes, and highlights their adverse environmental, economic, and societal impacts. The paper also explores potential approaches to take in addressing the issue, and suggests empowering agricultural cooperatives through changes in the government's engagement with wheat production. This study provides valuable insights for policymakers and stakeholders which are useful for developing effective strategies to reduce on-farm loss, particularly in countries where intensified farming is promoted. These strategies may include limiting the government's central control and, instead, empowering agricultural cooperatives, as well as adopting supportive approaches, such as improving farmers' access to proper machinery, and enhancing their sovereignty and freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The developed world has focused on Web preservation compared to the developing world, especially news preservation for future generations. However, the news published online is volatile because of constant changes in the technologies used to disseminate information and the formats used for publication. News preservation became more complicated and challenging when the archive began to contain articles from low-resourced and morphologically complex languages like Urdu and Arabic, along with English news articles. The digital news story preservation framework is enriched with eighteen sources for Urdu, Arabic, and English news sources. This study presents challenges in low-resource languages (LRLs), research challenges, and details of how the framework is enhanced. In this paper, we introduce a multilingual news archive and discuss the digital news story extractor, which addresses major issues in implementing low-resource languages and facilitates normalized format migration. The extraction results are presented in detail for high-resource languages, i.e., English, and low-resource languages, i.e., Urdu and Arabic. LRLs encountered a high error rate during preservation compared to high-resource languages (HRLs), corresponding to 10% and 03%, respectively. The extraction results show that few news sources are not regularly updated and release few new news stories online. LRLs require more detailed study for accurate news content extraction and archiving for future access. LRLs and HRLs enrich the digital news story preservation (DNSP) framework. The Digital News Stories Archive (DNSA) preserves a huge number of news articles from multiple news sources in LRLs and HRLs. This paper presents research challenges encountered during the preservation of Urdu and Arabic-language news articles to create a multilingual news archive. The second part of the paper compares two bilingual linking mechanisms for Urdu-to-English-language news articles in the DNSA: the common ratio measure for dual language (CRMDL) and the similarity measure based on transliteration words (SMTW) with the cosine similarity measure (CSM) baseline technique. The experimental results show that the SMTW is more effective than the CRMDL and CSM for linking Urdu-to-English news articles. The precision improved from 46% and 50% to 60%, and the recall improved from 64% and 67% to 82% for CSM, CRMDL, and SMTW, respectively, with improved impact of common terms as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows that we can use social media data to improve the accuracy of GDP estimates at the country level for developing countries. I use all publicly available image tweets from 2012 and 2013 to estimate GDP at the country level for developing countries. First, I find that one can explain 76% of the cross-country variation in GDP with the volume of tweets sent from each country. I then show that the residuals on these Twitter-GDP estimates are significantly larger for countries with allegedly poor data quality. I then use Nigeria as a case study to show that this method delivers much more timely and accurate estimates than those presented by official statistic agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental protection is an important key to achieving sustainable development. Since humans depend on the environment in countless ways, preserving them contributes directly to the sustaining of people and human societies and hence, to social sustainability. The central question in this dissertation asks why the environmental protection policies enacted in Madagascar are not efficient and how they impact the SDG's achievement at the national level. This paper discusses Madagascar's achievements of the sustainable development target with special emphasis on environmental issues, which is currently a major concern in the country. This review aimed at suggesting improvements in line with the challenges the country is facing by reviewing the indicators provided by the UN SDGs. It also reaffirmed the nexus of poverty and the environment, which is important for setting the development target. In order to conduct this study, journal articles, review papers, working papers, research reports, and books related to environmental management and sustainable development in Madagascar were reviewed. Madagascar has made a little improvement in accomplishing SDGs 12 and 13 in 2021, but achieving all SDGs goals in 2030 remains a big challenge. The country is a party to numerous international environmental conventions, treaties, and agreements. Many policy changes have been implemented to address both conservation and development issues, but these efforts have had little impact. Forest fires and slash-and-burn were on the rise in Madagascar on October 2022, which poses a major concern for the economic and social development of the island. In order to achieve sustainable development, environmental protection shall constitute an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it. The strategies proposed in this paper might be helpful for the Malagasy government and private sector in decision-making. This paper is also useful for researchers in developing countries. As Madagascar did not reach the Millennium Development Goals 2015 and will not achieve the SDGs in 2030, should we not start learning from our mistakes and thinking about the post-SDGs? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A grid blackout is an intractable problem with serious economic consequences in many developing countries. Although it has been proven that microgrids (MGs) are capable of solving this problem, the uncertainties regarding when and for how long blackouts occur lead to extreme difficulties in the design and operation of the related MGs. This paper addresses the optimal design problem of the MGs considering the uncertainties of the blackout starting time and duration utilizing the kernel density estimator method. Additionally, uncertainties in solar irradiance and ambient temperature are also considered. For that, chance-constrained optimization is employed to design residential and industrial PV-based MGs. The proposed approach aims to minimize the expected value of the levelized cost of energy ( L C O E ), where the restriction of the annual total loss of power supply ( T L P S ) is addressed as a chance constraint. The results show that blackout uncertainties have a considerable effect on calculating the size of the MG's components, especially the battery bank size. Additionally, it is proven that considering the uncertainties of the input parameters leads to an accurate estimation for the LCOE and increases the MG reliability level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malnutrition among in-school children is a complex issue influenced by socio-economic, environmental, and health-related factors, posing significant challenges to their well-being and educational trajectories in developing countries. This review synthesized evidence on the multifaceted aspects of child malnutrition within the educational setting in developing countries. This review followed the six steps outlined by Arksey and O'Malley's framework. Four main databases (PubMed, CENTRAL, JSTOR, and Scopus) were searched. Additional searches were conducted in WHO Library, ProQuest, HINARI, Google Scholar, and Google. Reference lists of eligible papers were checked. This review found that low family income, varying family sizes, parental employment status, and educational levels significantly impact malnutrition among in-school children and adolescents. Environmental elements, including rural/urban residence, household sanitation, and living conditions, also influence malnutrition. In addition, nutrition knowledge, dietary habits, nutrient deficiencies, physical activity, and prevalent health conditions compound the risk of malnutrition. This study underscores the extensive health impact of malnutrition on general health, specific nutrient deficiencies, fetal/maternal health concerns, and overall morbidity. Also, malnutrition affects school performance and attendance, impacting cognitive abilities, and academic achievements. Addressing these challenges requires comprehensive policy actions aligned with Sustainable Development Goals, emphasizing poverty alleviation, health literacy, and gender equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most Pentecostals, at least in the global South, believe that Satan and his demonic forces are responsible for much of the carnage and suffering that characterise life on earth. The broader context of the discourse is the challenge theodicy poses to Christian believers: if God is almighty and good, why do believers, just like unbelievers, suffer while living on earth? This paper aims to discuss Pentecostals' response: they blame evil as Satan's strategy to oppose God. They reason that his main goal is to handicap and double-cross creation because God threw him and his followers from heaven following his rebellion against the divine order. Thus, Satan is portrayed as the instigator of the first human couple, tempting them to sin, with all future generations implied by their choice and cursing human beings with a sinful nature at birth. Demonic forces employ human sinful nature to realise their ultimate goal, to separate humankind from the Creator by tempting them to sin while also threatening the rest of creation. This article investigates the Pentecostal theology of demonic forces in explaining the challenges posed by theodicy by comparing it to biblical data, using grammatical-historical exegesis and a comparative literature survey to evaluate their biblical grounding. It concludes that Pentecostals' belief in such forces are justified if the the New Testament narratives are accepted as divine revelation. However, some Pentecostal speculations about demons' origins, scope and reach are not biblically justified and complicates the response to theodicy, such as the origin of evil and its relation to human beings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central European countries are strategic wood exporters in the European and international wood trade. In the context of wood exporters, Czechia, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, and Austria are the important countries providing the development and stability of the forestry and wood sector. The share of these countries' exports in total EU exports represents more than 52% of the volume of wood exported over 5 years. After the Netherlands, the five mentioned countries recorded the highest increase in roundwood production of all EU and EFTA countries in the years 2000–2022 (from 46% (AT)–126% (CZ)), and the European average is 26%. The last decade has been characterised by a significant destabilisation of the Central European timber market as a result of natural disturbances linked to climate change, which also threatens the long-term competitiveness and preservation of this sector in the economic systems of national economies. The article provides an analytical insight into the historical development of natural calamities and their macroeconomic consequences in Central European countries. The data forecast an unfavourable development of the timber market in Europe caused by the ongoing calamity situation, the pricing policy of the timber trade, the oversaturation of the market with lower-quality calamity timber, insufficient processing capacities for primary processing of wood and its use in secondary processing, and, last but not least, the limited stock of timber in the coming years in selected Central European countries (due to an extreme increase in harvesting plans within the last 5 years, with consequences that will be felt in the coming decade). For the continued economic function of forests and the availability of wood supply for future generations, the current evolution of calamities in forest ecosystems is critical, and long-term strategic measures based on empirical data are necessary. The information presented in this paper can serve as a tool for the objectification of strategic decisions in the development of forestry policies in selected countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: With the increasing prevalence of dementia worldwide, there is a growing need for an integrated approach to dementia care. Little is known at present about the benefits of educational interventions for informal caregivers of people living with dementia (PLWD) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This review aimed to identify and synthesise the current research on these interventions. Method: Four databases (PsycINFO, Medline, Web of Sciences and Scopus) were searched, alongside Google Scholar and reference lists. The Downs and Black checklist was used for quality assessment and data relating to intervention characteristics, outcomes, and educational component features were compared. Results: Eighteen papers detailing 17 studies were included. All studies presented found at least one significant outcome/effect. Study comparison was difficult due to diverse methodologies, intervention structures, and outcomes. Study quality was also variable. Four studies had education as the primary focus, and most interventions utilised multicomponent and group-based designs. Interventions that included group delivery tended to find more significant results than individual approaches. Intervention length did not appear to influence efficacy. Regular delivery and an average intervention dosage of around 12 h appeared most effective. Conclusions: Research into educational interventions for caregivers in LMICs appears to be promising and can help guide future interventions towards clinical implementation. A multicomponent group intervention trialled in Egypt provided particularly favourable findings. Future studies should focus on understanding the active mechanisms within such interventions to optimize their effectiveness. Collaboration between LMICs, high-income countries (HICs), and caregivers is crucial in developing interventions tailored to meet caregiver needs whilst accounting for feasibility and equity for dementia care worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has become a hot topic on which eminent researchers are working on a daily basis. A lack of clarity in the fundamental differences between SSCM and green supply chain management (GSCM) is being observed in this field of research. However, it is regrettable to note that there is a huge deficit of research in the oil and gas (OG) industry, mainly in developing countries (DCs), where this sector of activity is the most lucrative and polluting. The purpose of this research is to present the practices of SSCM in the framework of the quadruple helix approach in the oil and gas industry in specific geographical areas of developing countries by conducting a systematic literature review (SLR) of papers published from 2012 to 2024 focused on both the OG industry and DCs. As part of this study's findings, the authors highlight the distinction between SSCM and GSCM by building a conceptual framework that applies the triple bottom line of SSCM to the OG industry and demonstrates that GSCM, which is more related to environmental issues, is a part of SSCM. Therefore, in order to be more efficient and to have a great impact on their performances, OG companies in DCs should apply SSCM practices, which are close to circular business rather than GSCM practices, especially because their implementation can be influenced by certain barriers and pressures that involve the use of the QHC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurship education (EE) plays a vital role in fostering an entrepreneurial culture and promoting the growth of the small- and medium-sized business sector in a nation. Research on EE has advanced extremely rapidly in the last two decades. These changes are evident not only in the quantity of published works but also in the evolving methods of academic communication, the rise of emerging nations as prominent contributors to EE research, and the shifting areas of focus in study themes. This current study aims to provide a comprehensive picture of these processes based on a big-data-centred bibliometric analysis of a corpus of 3787 articles that appeared in the Web of Science literature database. The bibliographic metadata was analysed using Biblioshiny, CitNetExplorer, and VOSviewer. To understand the most significant development trends, researchers employed the triangulation method, which included scientific mapping and epistemological analysis in addition to standard tools of bibliometric analysis. This has led to the identification of some study needs. First, improving EE methods in secondary school curricula; second, EE in adult education and the practicality of the findings for andragogy; third, EE in least developed countries and its unique challenges; fourth, combining EE with internet-based, innovative training and education approaches like gamification and simulations; fifth, EE's role and methodological development in societal economic integration; and sixth, women's unique EE requirements. On top of that, this study provides the basis for policymakers and practitioners to consider incorporating entrepreneurial education programmes, which can help to create a prosperous entrepreneurial ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During 2022 and 2023, Industry 5.0 attracted a lot of attention. Many articles and papers regarding the basics of Industry 5.0, its pillars, and a comparison of Industry 5.0 and Industry 4.0, Society 5.0, and Operator 5.0 have been published. Although the concept of Industry 5.0 is relatively new, companies from developed countries that have a high level of implementation of Industry 4.0 have already started the transition to Industry 5.0. Even though Industry 5.0 enables developing countries to become a part of developed countries' value chains, it is not known which path to Industry 5.0 developing countries are taking. To fill this gap, the authors proposed research questions regarding the key indicators for measuring the levels of implementation of Industry 5.0 approaches in the manufacturing sector of the Republic of Serbia. This research includes insights from 146 manufacturing companies, gathered in 2022 as a part of the European Manufacturing Survey. The main findings of this study show that the most important indicator when it comes to human-centricity is training and competence development of production employees with a task-specific focus; the implementation of measures for improving efficiency in material consumption is significant for achieving sustainability; and the use of standardized and detailed work instructions is crucial in order to become resilient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies a long short-term memory (LSTM)-based coherent mortality forecasting method for developing countries or regions. Many of such developing countries have experienced a rapid mortality decline over the past few decades. However, their recent mortality development trend is not necessarily driven by the same factors as their long-term behavior. Hence, we propose a time-varying mortality forecasting model based on the life expectancy and lifespan disparity gap between these developing countries and a selected benchmark group. Here, the mortality improvement trend for developing countries is expected to converge gradually to that of the benchmark group during the projection phase. More specifically, we use a unified deep neural network model with LSTM architecture to project the life expectancy and lifespan disparity difference, which further controls the rotation of the time-varying weight parameters in the model. This approach is applied to three developing countries and three developing regions. The empirical results show that this LSTM-based coherent forecasting method outperforms classical methods, especially for the long-term projections of mortality rates in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The road transport system is expanding considerably in developing countries. Villages are connecting to major cities for business, education, health, and many other reasons because of road development and smooth transportation. There has been a rise in the number of road accidents observed, caused by abruptly appearing dividers on roads and a lack of required signage systems. This paper discusses scenarios of accidents due to such abruptly appearing dividers and offers a strategy to design appropriate signage to avoid road accidents in the future. It has been observed that permanent or movable arbitrary fixtures, such as a barricade or a small partition block wall, are installed to separate lanes, in addition to white-colored stripes that are typically employed for lane separation on roads. These fixtures, although they are intended as lane-dividing solutions on roads, cause serious, and at times, fatal accidents, due their sudden, uninitiated appearance on the road. To address this problem, alternative signage designs were designed and tested on Indian roads, based on human cognitive responses and visual attention analysis on signage using an eye-tracking method. In addition, the semantic quality and legibility of alternate signage designs were evaluated using a questionnaire to judge their overall efficacy. Hence, the best signage design solution is proposed for implementation near or before occurrences of road dividers to avoid accidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present investigation elaborates on the level of game theory application for the applied and theoretical analyses of climate change and development studies. This editorial shows that the common good character of global climate alongside the increasing internalization of environmental externalities through national regulations and international environmental treaties jointly result in the increasing congruence between the context of climate change problems and the game theoretical method. Furthermore, the adoption of the Paris Accord by the overwhelming majority of developing countries as well as the disproportionate vulnerability of the Global South have led to an increasing shift in focus with regard to international development cooperation, from poverty alleviation and economic growth to green growth and circular economy solutions, within developing countries. The underutilization of game theory in the context of development studies is not satisfactory. This paper underlines the importance of implementing an impetus to researchers for scholarly discussions and applications of game theory in a discourse on the following topics: 1. economic growth; 2. climate change mitigation and adaptation; and 3. a broader socioeconomic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every year, road traffic crashes lead to the loss of 1.35 million lives globally, of which ninety percent happens in developing countries. Moreover, the rapid deterioration of road infrastructure in these countries causes substantial economic losses and exacerbates road safety issues. This paper proposes a practical and safety-incorporated approach to implementing a strategic pavement management system to address pertinent problems. A two-tiered stochastic process of pavement deterioration and repair is modeled using a Markov-based model. The proposed model is suitable for road agencies with limited road condition data. Road safety conditions considering all road user groups are measured and analyzed using the international road assessment program. The paper outlines a process for establishing appropriate pavement and safety performance goals, developing a deterioration prediction model, and analyzing the relative life cycle cost and risk of maintenance strategies to achieve dual performance goals—pavements and safety. A case study of a road network in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach, showing a significant reduction in fatal and serious injuries by up to 60% annually. In this regard, the proposed approach is useful for road agencies to make informed and safety-conscious decisions to manage their assets proactively with relatively less pavement condition data to ensure safe roads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breast cancer poses the greatest long-term health risk to women worldwide, in both industrialized and developing nations. Early detection of breast cancer allows for treatment to begin before the disease has a chance to spread to other parts of the body. The Internet of Things (IoT) allows for automated analysis and classification of medical pictures, allowing for quicker and more effective data processing. Nevertheless, Fog computing principles should be used instead of Cloud computing concepts alone to provide rapid responses while still meeting the requirements for low latency, energy consumption, security, and privacy. In this paper, we present CanDiag, an approach to cancer diagnosis based on Transfer Deep Learning (TDL) that makes use of Fog computing. This paper details an automated, real-time approach to diagnosing breast cancer using deep learning (DL) and mammography pictures from the Mammographic Image Analysis Society (MIAS) library. To obtain better prediction results, transfer learning (TL) techniques such as GoogleNet, ResNet50, ResNet101, InceptionV3, AlexNet, VGG16, and VGG19 were combined with the well-known DL approach of the convolutional neural network (CNN). The feature reduction technique principal component analysis (PCA) and the classifier support vector machine (SVM) were also applied with these TDLs. Detailed simulations were run to assess seven performance and seven network metrics to prove the viability of the proposed approach. This study on an enormous dataset of mammography images categorized as normal and abnormal, respectively, achieved an accuracy, MCR, precision, sensitivity, specificity, f1-score, and MCC of 99.01%, 0.99%, 98.89%, 99.86%, 95.85%, 99.37%, and 97.02%, outperforming some previous studies based on mammography images. It can be shown from the trials that the inclusion of the Fog computing concepts empowers the system by reducing the load on centralized servers, increasing productivity, and maintaining the security and integrity of patient data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]