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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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

In response to the call of the New Urban Agenda—Habitat III for a reinvigoration of long-term and integrated planning towards sustainable urban development, this paper presents an empirical comparative study of planning practices based on the "satellite city" and "new town" concepts in Tokyo and Shanghai to examine from a long-term perspective how well they have guided polycentric urban development at a time of massive population growth. We aim to deliver evidence-based contributions to boost the knowledge transfer between the Global North and the Global South. The paper adopts a multi-dimensional framework for the comparative analysis, including a review of long-term urban development policies and an inspection of the population distribution and extent of built-up areas using time-specific categorizations to map the spatiotemporal changes based on GHSL data. The comparative analysis shows that urban plans in Tokyo and Shanghai based on satellite cities and new towns as steering instruments for polycentric urban growth management have not lived up to the original aspirations. In fact, the intended steering of population distribution has essentially failed, despite the practical steps undertaken. [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]

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]

Urban settlements located in high-seismicity areas should benefit from comprehensive vulnerability analyses, which are essential for the proper implementation of vulnerability modelling actions. Alas, many developing countries face a shortage of knowledge on seismic vulnerability, particularly concerning its systemic component, as a consequence of a combination of data scarcity and a lack of interest from authorities. This paper aims to identify primary time-independent spatial patterns of earthquake systemic vulnerability based on the accessibility of key emergency management facilities (e.g., medical units, fire stations), focusing on the urban settlements located in the high-seismicity area nearby the Vrancea Seismogenic Zone in Romania. The proposed methodological framework relies on open source data extracted from OpenStreetMap, which are processed via GIS techniques and tools (i.e., Network Analyst, Weighted Overlay Analysis), to compute the service areas of emergency management centres, and to map earthquake systemic vulnerability levels. The analysis shows that accessibility and systemic vulnerability patterns are significantly impacted by a synergy of factors deeply rooted in the urban spatial layout. Although the overall accessibility was estimated to be medium-high, and the overall systemic vulnerability to be low-medium, higher systemic vulnerability levels in certain cities (e.g., Bacău, Onești, Tecuci, Urziceni). The presented findings have multi-scalar utility: they aid in the development of improved, locally tailored seismic vulnerability reduction plans, as well as the allocation of financial and human resources required to manage earthquake-induced crises at regional scale. Further to that, the paper provides a transparent methodological framework that can be replicated to put cities in high-seismicity areas on the map of systemic vulnerability assessments, laying the groundwork for positive change in countries where the challenges associated with high-level seismic risk are often overlooked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates relative aggregate energy efficiency for a panel of 39 developing countries by econometrically estimating an energy-demand function (EDF) using the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) approach to provide relative energy efficiency scores over the period 1989 to 2008. Energy efficiency is arguably difficult to define or even conceptualise with several interpretations in the literature but here it is based on an economists' perspective of efficiency. Hence, the estimates of 'true' energy efficiency found in the paper using this approach approximate the economically efficient use of energy capturing both technical and allocative efficiency and the results confirm that energy intensity should not be considered as a de facto standard indicator of energy efficiency. While, by controlling for a range of socio-economic factors, the measurements of energy efficiency obtained by the analysis are deemed more appropriate and hence it is argued that this analysis should be undertaken to avoid potentially misleading advice to policy makers. This study contributes to the literature since it is, as far as is known, the first attempt to apply the benchmarking parametric stochastic frontier technique to econometrically estimate energy efficiency for a large panel of only developing counties around the world. Moreover, the results from such analysis are arguably particularly relevant in a world dominated by environmental concerns, especially in the aftermath of energy price increase as a result of the unrest in Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the impact of national governance quality on clean energy supplies in developing countries. We used a large sample of 103 developing countries over 21 years. We employ pooled ordinary least squares as the primary estimator. Additionally, we apply a Fixed Effect and the Two-Step System-Generalized Method of Moments to mitigate contemporaneity bias. Following prior studies, we construct national governance quality from the six World Governance Indicators. Consistent with our expectations, we find a positive and significant association between national governance quality and clean energy supplies. The results show that countries with high national governance quality are more likely to generate high amounts of clean energy than low-governed countries and to experience a high green economy. The results are also significant when the governance indicator is disaggregated into individual components. However, in a continental analysis, we found that the link between national governance quality and clean energy supplies is stronger in Africa than on other continents. Our results are robust to alternative measurements and econometric identification strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green and decent work in the Global South is inextricably linked to sustaining rural livelihoods especially in agriculture that has undergone significant deskilling under the top-down, technocentric assemblages of the Green Revolution. Additionally, agrarian communities are also seeing youth quitting farming occupations in search of better livelihood options. Scholarly attention to green transitions though has been largely limited to the ecological dimensions. Enacting futures with a focus on ecologically responsible livelihoods need to go beyond existing narratives of technocentric and economic change and foreground the diverse micro institutional innovations that offer newer framings of reskilling. The growing evidence of agroecological initiatives across India indicates less discussed stories of transformation and innovations. Recognising the processes and linkages that allow for, and hinder, transformations at multiple scales and organisational levels is crucial for designing transformative initiatives and policies. Using two illustrative case studies, this paper explores opportunities for green work and the newer skills that might be required to enable sustainable agri-food systems. The case of Natural Farming Fellows (NFFs), a unique programme to encourage young agri-graduates to pursue Natural Farming is presented to understand enabling processes at the grassroots level. The second study explores institutional initiatives to engage rural youth through discussing the pedagogy and curricular approach of a Gandhian university along with opportunities to intern with field organisations. Together, these cases illustrate possible pathways and complexities underlying the process of nurturing sustainable livelihoods, the conception of which needs a broader idea of skilling based on personal aspirations and institutional support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the negative effect of anthropological activities on climate in recent decades, all countries entailed a universal commitment to fight against climate change by boosting innovation and introducing new technologies. In this context, our paper aimed to investigate the impact of innovation input in terms of research and development (R&D) costs and technology expressed as technical equipment and machinery (TEM) on the reported greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in chemical industry companies in five Central and Eastern European countries. This study employed a panel regression model with fixed effects and covered data from 2015 to 2020. The empirical results emphasize a negative relationship between R&D costs and GHG emissions, indicating the companies' commitment to developing innovative solutions that contribute to lower destructive emissions. Additionally, the findings related to the influence of TEM on GHG emissions reveal a positive impact, highlighting the need to improve manufacturing technologies. The practical implications of our findings can be meaningful for both policymakers and businesses operating in the chemical industry in developing countries. Policymakers should offer financial incentives to support research and investments in clean technologies, while businesses should prioritise such investments to mitigate GHG emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. The incidence of this cancer continues to rise, especially in developing countries. Alternative splicing is a normal cellular process that results in the generation of proteins with different structures and functions from a single gene. Colorectal cancer can cause dysregulation of alternative splicing processes to promote its development and growth until it spreads. Dysregulated alternative splicing processes have been shown to promote cancer survival by producing proteins that activate genes known to promote cancer development or deactivate those that inhibit cancer development. It is therefore important that dysregulated alternative splicing genes in colorectal cancer are identified for diagnosis and development of treatments that can specifically target these genes in order to stop them from promoting cancer development and progression. Colorectal cancer (CRC) ranks as one of the top causes of cancer mortality worldwide and its incidence is on the rise, particularly in low-middle-income countries (LMICs). There are several factors that contribute to the development and progression of CRC. Alternative splicing (AS) was found to be one of the molecular mechanisms underlying the development and progression of CRC. With the advent of genome/transcriptome sequencing and large patient databases, the broad role of aberrant AS in cancer development and progression has become clear. AS affects cancer initiation, proliferation, invasion, and migration. These splicing changes activate oncogenes or deactivate tumor suppressor genes by producing altered amounts of normally functional or new proteins with different, even opposing, functions. Thus, identifying and characterizing CRC-specific alternative splicing events and variants might help in designing new therapeutic splicing disrupter drugs. CRC-specific splicing events can be used as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. In this review, alternatively spliced events and their role in CRC development will be discussed. The paper also reviews recent research on alternatively spliced events that might be exploited as prognostic, diagnostic, and targeted therapeutic indicators. Of particular interest is the targeting of protein arginine methyltransferase (PMRT) isoforms for the development of new treatments and diagnostic tools. The potential challenges and limitations in translating these discoveries into clinical practice will also be addressed. [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]

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]

Some of the current economic, social and environmental challenges could potentially be addressed by Precision Agriculture (PA) introduction. However, the pace of PA introduction is found to be slower than expected in developed, transitioning and developing countries, with the PA adoption literature is predominantly been focused on research on PA adoption in developed world. This paper addresses these shortcomings by identification and explanation of PA adoption factors and compilation of the regional ranking of PA adoption potential for 16 Polish voivodships. It contributes to the PA adoption factors' literature by filling the gap on under-researched transitioning economies using Poland as a case-study. The key PA adoption factors were identified by Systematic Literature Review (SLR) based on the final sample of 21 papers from journals indexed in Scopus or Web of Science databases and were organized in 5 groups (socio-economic, agro-technological, financial, technological, and informational factors). These factors formed the conceptual framework for the ranking of PA adoption potential of 16 Polish voivodships based on the application of Sturgess rule. The analysis of PA adoption potential of 16 Polish voivodships shows the clear "core-periphery" divergence: i.e., well-developed metropolitan areas got the highest ranking and less developed peripheral regions were ranked low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Catadromous species are a common component of riverine ecosystems in island nations in the South Pacific; however, the bulk of these species remain poorly explored. This study sought to offer a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the scientific literature on endemic and catadromous fishes using the PRISMA approach. We examined 317 documents from 106 sources between 1952 and 2022. These documents were written by a total of 595 authors with an average citation per document of 22.95. During this time span, 66 of 106 journal sources produced fewer than one article. Growth was slowest in the first 20 years (1952–1972) and peaked in 2005, accounting for 5.68% (18 documents) of the total of research papers across the study period. Our study documents a rise in scientific research on endemic and catadromous fishes in developing nations and regions. The data can be used by researchers, policymakers, and conservation managers to identify study gaps and trends in the field of endemic and catadromous fish studies. This study's primary contribution is a comprehensive analysis of the available literature that indicates research trends and gaps and potential future research pathways. The implementation of the bibliometric approaches utilized in this analysis can serve as a model for various research fields globally, including countries in the South Pacific. This broadened scope allows for a more comprehensive understanding of the research environment, ultimately leading to enhanced management and conservation of various biological groups. While the focus of this study was on endemic catadromous fish species, the application of this methodology extends beyond this group, providing valuable insights into a wide range of taxa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural heritage is under tremendous pressure in the rapidly growing and transforming cities of the global south. Historic cities and towns are often faced with the dilemma of having to preserve old monuments while responding to the pressure of adapting itself to a modern lifestyle, which often results in the loss of cultural heritage. Indian cities such as Delhi possess a rich legacy of tangible heritage, traditions, and arts, which are reflected in their present urban form. The creation of temporal 3D models of such cities not only provides a platform with which one can experience the past, but also helps to understand, examine, and improve its present deteriorating state. However, gaining access to historical data to support the development of city-scale 3D models is a challenge. While data gaps can be bridged by combining multiple data sources, this process also presents considerable technical challenges. This paper provides a framework to generate LoD-2 (level-of-detail) 3D models of the present (the 2020s) and the past (the 1970s) of a heritage mosque surrounded by a dense and complex urban settlement in Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi) by combining multiple VHR (very high resolution) satellite images. The images used are those of Pleiades and Worldview-1 and -3 (for the present) and HEXAGON KH-9 declassified spy images (for the past). The chronological steps are used to extract the DSMs and DTMs that provide a base for the 3D models. The models are rendered, and the past and present are visualized using graphics and videos. The results reveal an average increase of 80% in the heights of the built structures around the main monument (mosque), leading to a loss in the visibility of this central mosque. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of agricultural technologies in developing economy countries has the potential to reduce poverty through sustainable intensification. Mechanized farming can also improve perceptions of farming and mitigate rural out-migration. However, many traditional farmers do not have access to machinery and/or machinery is cost prohibitive. The objective of this paper is to quantify how the use of machinery affects costs, revenue, net-profits, and returns on investment for a case study of farmers in Sudan, Africa. A treatment control study (N = 36) was performed across the 2019 (baseline), 2020, and 2021 farming seasons, where the treatment group was provided tractors. ANOVAs and t-tests were used to compare financial values between these groups across the farming seasons, to quantify economic differences associated with farming machinery. We show that all farmers had similar net-profits when farming without machinery, while mechanized farming yielded significantly higher net-profits (USD 16.61/acre more in 2020, USD 27.10/acre more in 2021). Our study also finds that the volatility of the black-market exchange rate and labor shortages have a significant impact on farming net-profits. These results provide a quantified difference between farming with and without machinery, which can provide a financial basis for purchasing and borrowing models, machinery design requirements, and educational value to farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Wilms tumor (WT) is a rare form of cancer that typically affects children and is usually confined to the kidneys. Extra-renal Wilms tumor (ERWT) is even rarer and develops in other areas of the body, such as the retroperitoneum and inguinal regions, and occasionally at the level of the spinal cord. We present a case report of a 4-year-old boy diagnosed with spinal ERWT, who was also affected with a spinal dysraphism. Our case-based systematic review of pediatric ERWT showed that a multimodal therapeutic approach (including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy) is important, but an international standardization of the staging approach and therapeutic protocols is needed to define the best clinical management in these children: indeed, there is a lack of clinical studies focused on pediatric ERWT and international trials are needed to achieve these objectives. Our research emphasizes the importance of timely diagnosis and treatment and, possibly, standardized medical approach, in order to improve the outcome of these very rare pediatric malignancies, whose clinical management is even more problematic in developing countries. Wilms Tumor (WT) is one of the most common renal tumors in the pediatric population. Occasionally, WT can primarily develop outside the kidneys (Extra-Renal Wilms Tumor, ERWT). Most pediatric ERWTs develop in the abdominal cavity and pelvis, whereas the occurrence of this tumor in other extra-renal sites represents a minor part of ERWT cases. In addition to describing a case of spinal ERWT (associated with spinal dysraphism) in a 4-year boy (to add a further clinical experience on this very rare pediatric tumor), we performed a case-based systematic literature review on pediatric ERWT. We retrieved 72 papers providing enough information on the diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes of 98 ERWT pediatric patients. Our research highlighted that a multimodal approach involving both chemotherapy and radiotherapy, after partial or complete tumor resection in most cases, was typically used, but there is no standardized therapeutic approach for this pediatric malignancy. However, this tumor may be potentially treated with a better success rate if the diagnostic confirmation is not delayed, the mass can be totally resected, and an appropriate and, possibly, tailored multimodal treatment can be promptly established. In this regard, an international agreement on a unique staging system for (pediatric) ERWT is definitely needed, as well as the development of international research, which may be able to gather several children diagnosed with ERWT and, possibly, lead to clinical trials which should also include developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses opportunities to use remote sensing (RS) technologies in addressing the persistent global challenges related to the artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) sector. The paper uses a systematic literature review to identify, analyze, and synthesize various uses of RS on the detection and monitoring of ASGM activities across the globe. The study covers the use of spaceborne sensors and available opportunities for data access and processing and emphasizes the important role that freely-available data has played in understanding ASGM activities. It discusses applications and opportunities offered in assessing the geospatial and temporal characteristics of ASGM and its impacts on the surrounding environment. Furthermore, it examines different indicators for the detection of ASGM in the landscape. Finally, technological capabilities described in the study are illustrated with case studies in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Colombia using cloud computing with the Open Data Cube. The case studies demonstrate the identification and quantification of impacts of ASGM activities on land degradation and water turbidity in remote areas and results are dissiminated using the MapX platform. This facilitates policy development, implementation, and evaluation in the ASGM context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the impacts of a backup agreement contract on the performance of a small agricultural producers' citrus supply chain. A backup agreement contract, which ensures for each echelon that a quantity of products will be bought independently of real demand, is proposed to coordinate a three-echelon supply chain, aimed at improving income. After presenting an overview of the literature that shows various coordination mechanisms but no backup agreement proposals for supply chain coordination, this paper develops a decentralized three-echelon supply chain facing stochastic customer demand and includes the backup agreement as a coordination mechanism to guarantee a balanced relationship between the chain members. The model is tested in a real case study in Colombia, and a sensitivity analysis is provided. Results show that a backup agreement contract coordinates the small agricultural producers' supply chain and improves income for each echelon, especially for the small producer. However, the economic mechanism complexity can limit coordination among echelons, mainly because of a lack of trust and consolidated supply capacity from small farmers. The foregoing requires the development of an associative structure by small producers, which is proposed as future research work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Each practical action in rural areas should be based on a comprehensive, new, and innovative theoretical paradigm. For nearly three decades, the global economic system has embraced rural entrepreneurship as a "productive" and innovative strategy in rural development in many countries, including both underdeveloped and developed countries. At present, we have large companies, which due to government development interventions, are replaced with small- and medium-sized businesses under inflexible and extreme entrepreneurialism. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to shed light on the prevailing entrepreneurship practice and discourse, criticize them, and finally introduce a new paradigm known as "paradigm of rural prosperity" (PRP). In this work, Aram Ziai's theory of skeptical post-development was used, along with Campbell Jones and André Spicer's critical theory of entrepreneurship and Rosenqvist's theory of the conceptualization of rurality and rural environment called "hermeneutical realism". The present paper attempts to base the paradigm of rural prosperity on three pillars of analysis and explanation: (a) rural embodiment, (b) neoliberalism, and (c) concept of sustainability. Although some case studies in Iran have been used as empirical evidence, this paper argues that the paradigm of rural prosperity is universal in nature and can be used in any geographical and cultural context to provide new rural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliable and accurate flood prediction in poorly gauged basins is challenging due to data scarcity, especially in developing countries where many rivers remain insufficiently monitored. This hinders the design and development of advanced flood prediction models and early warning systems. This paper introduces a multi-modal, sensor-based, near-real-time river monitoring system that produces a multi-feature data set for the Kikuletwa River in Northern Tanzania, an area frequently affected by floods. The system improves upon existing literature by collecting six parameters relevant to weather and river flood detection: current hour rainfall (mm), previous hour rainfall (mm/h), previous day rainfall (mm/day), river level (cm), wind speed (km/h), and wind direction. These data complement the existing local weather station functionalities and can be used for river monitoring and extreme weather prediction. Tanzanian river basins currently lack reliable mechanisms for accurately establishing river thresholds for anomaly detection, which is essential for flood prediction models. The proposed monitoring system addresses this issue by gathering information about river depth levels and weather conditions at multiple locations. This broadens the ground truth of river characteristics, ultimately improving the accuracy of flood predictions. We provide details on the monitoring system used to gather the data, as well as report on the methodology and the nature of the data. The discussion then focuses on the relevance of the data set in the context of flood prediction, the most suitable AI/ML-based forecasting approaches, and highlights potential applications beyond flood warning systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

E-learning is an innovative strategy for enhancing teaching and learning in digital environments with the goal of enhancing education. In the same context, recommendation models have been developed for predicting the user's learning preferences. A task that has become urgently necessary is enhancing the learning process by designing recommendation models for e-learning software that then helps users choose the most pertinent learning materials (contents) from a wide number of sources. The general consensus is that designing a recommendation model for e-learning is influenced by parameters that are related to e-learning, and much effort has been exerted to determine those parameters. However, no agreement has been reached as to what constitutes such parameters. Keeping this issue in mind, this study aims to identify the parameters that should be considered when generating e-learning recommendations in developing countries. On the basis of the relevant literature, with the use of the Delphi method and with aid from e-learning experts, this paper identifies ten critical parameters related to e-learning. The results show that perceived ease of use is the most critical parameter out of the ten e-learning-related parameters, while user preference is the parameter that contributes least to e-learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the extent to which electricity shortage influences technical efficiency using data of 805 listed manufacturing companies in China from 2009 to 2020 collected from the CSMAR database. To achieve the objectives of this paper, first, a stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) is used to estimate the technical efficiency (TE) score of manufacturing companies. Subsequently, the TE score is used to evaluate the electricity shortage index and other factors that are postulated to affect enterprise productivity. Two estimation methods have been adopted including ordinary least squares (OLS), which is less robust to endogeneity and instrumental variable (IV) estimation, which turns out to be more robust to endogeneity in the data. The empirical results show that, under OLS estimation, electricity shortage has a significantly negative impact on the technical efficiency of the listed manufacturing companies. However, when IV regression is implemented to address endogeneity issues in the data, electricity shortages tend to have a significantly positive impact on the technical efficiency, underscoring the importance of capturing endogeneity in the data. Extending the baseline results, this study also finds that, while the size of an enterprise may have no bearing, state-owned companies are more likely to be negatively affected by electricity shortages compared to privately owned companies. These results have significant implications for industrial policy design in China in particular, and developing countries in general. Most importantly, the results of this study underscore the importance of policies and measures to promote a shift in the ownership structure towards the private sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The six Gulf monarchies—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates (UAE)—are more politically stable than their peers in the Middle East and North Africa. Explanations for governance resilience range from repression to neopatrimonial and instrumental legitimacy, hydrocarbon-based rentierism, and permissive regional and international environments. This paper considers, in view of the proliferation and uptake of renewable energy in the Gulf, how governance resilience may be affected as a result of changes in state-society relations during the energy transition away from a fossil-fuel-based energy system. It offers a qualitative analysis of the impact of renewable energy deployment in the Gulf, supported by a rich array of secondary literature and data. It also offers a deep, if brief, dive to highlight intra-regional nuances. The authors conclude that in the short term, renewable energy deployment has a very modest impact given its limited share of power generation. In the longer term, even assuming that stated ambitions for renewable energy are fulfilled, no negative impact on monarchial resilience is expected thanks to gains in legitimacy and revenue streams, as well as purposeful alignment with an external environment supportive of renewable power in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metropolitan areas worldwide have grown rapidly and are usually surrounded by peri-urban zones that are neither urban nor rural. Despite widespread use of the term 'peri-urban', physical determination of these spaces is difficult due to their transient nature and multiple definitions. While many have identified peri-urban areas regionally or globally, questions persist on where exactly the peri-urban is located, and what are the most apt methods to delineate its boundaries. The answers are pertinent towards framing targeted policies for governing the dynamic socio-spatial transformations in these zones. This paper reviews peri-urban research over the last 50-plus years to discern the existing methodologies for its identification/demarcation and their applications. For this, a total of 3124 documents on peri-urban studies were identified through keyword searches in Scopus and Google Scholar databases. Thereafter, 56 documents were examined that explicitly dealt with demarcating peri-urban zones. Results reveal that there is no standout/generalized method for peri-urban demarcation. Rather, these approaches are geographically specific and vary across developed and developing countries, due to differences in land-use patterns, socioeconomic drivers, and political systems. Thus, we recommend developing a 'pluralistic' framework for determining peri-urban boundaries at the regional–global scale to enable better framing of relevant policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social structure is based on the availability of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus. To cover these needs of society, several solutions of different scales of infrastructures coexist. The construction of infrastructure is capital-intensive; therefore, investment risk is always a consideration. In this paper, we try to evaluate the investment risk by interest rates (IR). We show that IR is a key indicator, which includes multiple parameters of prosperity expressing the political and economic status quo of the society. The selection of a particular scale influences the required capital and is thus one of the most critical decisions. Water supply infrastructure is one of the foundations of society, and the selection of the optimal scale of such infrastructure is often a great challenge in civil engineering. As a case study, we analyse three different scales of water supply infrastructures for the area of West Mani (Greece), i.e., dam, water ponds, and seawater desalination. We evaluate each case by the capital intensity by performing stochastic simulations of interest rates and identify the optimal solution as the one with the smallest median unit cost, in this case, the water ponds. In order to assess the impact of the development level of a country on the resulting unit cost stochastic properties we apply the optimal solution to various countries with different development levels and IR. We show that IR in the least developed countries, being generally higher and more variable, increases the unit cost, including its variability, which ultimately indicates higher investment risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to assess the barriers impeding cloud computing (CC) applicability in sustainable construction. A total of 11 barriers in the use of CC were identified for the literature review. A questionnaire survey was used to collect the data from construction stakeholders. In total, 101 valid responses were obtained and analyzed using mean ranking, normalized value (NV), overlapping analysis, Kruskal–Wallis H test, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE). The EFA extracted four interrelated components: social, economic, expertise, and connectivity. These components were exported for mathematical analyzing using the FSE technique. As a result, the FSE indicated that connectivity is the highest-impacted component, while the overall impact level of barriers is inclined to high regarding CC applicability in sustainable construction. This is due to other components having an average to high impact level. In this regard, the findings reflect the actual current status of developing countries in using CC in sustainable construction. These research findings will allow construction stakeholders to take proactive steps toward increasing the use of CC in their current and future sustainable construction. Decision-makers could also make accurate decisions that are well-informed in managing CC barriers. This paper provides stakeholders, researchers, and decision-makers with a list of CC barriers that hinder developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wheel was the first form of transportation developed by early people. Increasing population, longer distances, and shorter travel times need more cheap, faster modes of transportation. Environmental issues were never taken into account when choosing the most cost-effective mode of public transportation. Consequently, in the face of global pollution and warming restrictions, all stakeholders choose modes of transportation with little environmental impact. This has led to the development of sustainable transportation infrastructure, particularly in a country as rapidly developing as India. This paper examines the present situation, legislation, and grading systems for sustainable transportation in India and other developing nations. Furthermore, comparisons of India with developing nations of various continents in different aspects are also present. The difference in cost between a private car and a public vehicle indicates which form of transportation should be chosen. The challenges linked with urban and rural Indian roadways are explored, as well as their respective solutions. In order to accomplish sustainable transportation, traffic density and driver conduct are also considered. This study emphasises that sustainability is not just achieved through the use of cleaner fuel or the modification of road materials, although these are vital. Road design, regulatory changes, psychological behaviour, and transit safety are also crucial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today's world faces a serious public health problem with cancer. One type of cancer that begins in the breast and spreads to other body areas is breast cancer (BC). Breast cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers that claim the lives of women. It is also becoming clearer that most cases of breast cancer are already advanced when they are brought to the doctor's attention by the patient. The patient may have the evident lesion removed, but the seeds have reached an advanced stage of development or the body's ability to resist them has weakened considerably, rendering them ineffective. Although it is still much more common in more developed nations, it is also quickly spreading to less developed countries. The motivation behind this study is to use an ensemble method for the prediction of BC, as an ensemble model aims to automatically manage the strengths and weaknesses of each of its separate models, resulting in the best decision being made overall. The main objective of this paper is to predict and classify breast cancer using Adaboost ensemble techniques. The weighted entropy is computed for the target column. Taking each attribute's weights results in the weighted entropy. Each class's likelihood is represented by the weights. The amount of information gained increases with a decrease in entropy. Both individual and homogeneous ensemble classifiers, created by mixing Adaboost with different single classifiers, have been used in this work. In order to deal with the class imbalance issue as well as noise, the synthetic minority over-sampling technique (SMOTE) was used as part of the data mining pre-processing. The suggested approach uses a decision tree (DT) and naive Bayes (NB), with Adaboost ensemble techniques. The experimental findings shown 97.95% accuracy for prediction using the Adaboost-random forest classifier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: p16 IHC is the HPV detection method suggested by the current version of the TNM (AJCC 8th edition) for oropharyngeal squamocellular carcinoma. However, its reliability has been extensively discussed, and its applicability in every context, especially the enrollment of patients in de-intensification protocols, is debatable. Here, we discuss its limits, especially in populations with a low prevalence of HPV-driven oropharyngeal squamocellular carcinoma, and suggest the possible actions to be taken to overcome such limitations. High-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a defined etiopathogenetic factor in oropharyngeal carcinogenesis with a clear prognostic value. The P16 IHC (immunohistochemistry) is a widely accepted marker for HPV-driven carcinogenesis in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC); in the present paper, we discuss its reliability as a standalone marker in different populations. The literature suggests that rates of p16 IHC false positive results are inversely correlated with the prevalence of HPV-driven carcinogenesis in a population. We propose a formula that can calculate such a false positive rate while knowing the real prevalence of HPV-driven OPSCCs in a given population. As it has been demonstrated that p16 positive/HPV negative cases (i.e., false positives at p16 IHC) have the same prognosis as p16 negative OPSCC, we conclude that despite the valuable prognostic value of p16 IHC, relying only on a p16 IHC positive result to recommend treatment de-intensification could be risky. For this aim, confirmation with an HPV nucleic acid detection system, especially in areas with a low prevalence of HPV-related OPSCCs, should be pursued. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increase in consumption and inefficiency, fluctuating trends in demand and supply, and a lack of critical analytics for successful management are just some of the problems that the energy business throughout the world is currently facing. This study set out to assess the potential contributions that AI and ML technologies could make to the expansion of energy production in developing countries, where these issues are more pronounced because of the prevalence of numerous unauthorized connections to the electricity grid, where a large amount of energy is not being measured or paid for. This study primarily aims to address issues that arise due to frequent power outages and widespread lack of access to energy in a wide range of developing countries. Findings suggest that AI and ML have the potential to make major contributions to the fields of predictive turbine maintenance, energy consumption optimization, grid management, energy price prediction, and residential building energy demand and efficiency assessment. A discussion of what has to be done so that developing nations may reap the benefits of artificial intelligence and machine learning in the energy sector concluded the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nepal possesses a good solar resource, and there has been increasing interest in the use of photovoltaic systems. About 1.1 million solar home systems, rated at nearly 30 MWp, have been installed across Nepal. With the introduction of net metering by the Nepal Electricity Authority, an increase in rooftop photovoltaics (RPV) is expected. However, to inform any policy developments around increased electricity generation, and the uptake of RPV, there is a need to quantify the potential of such systems (a situation mirrored in many developing countries). To this end, this study utilized a hierarchical geospatial technique based on open-source data to estimate the potential output from RPV in several cities in Nepal (Kathmandu, Pokhara, Butwal, Nepalgunj, and Biratnagar). It was found that the potential theoretical output of RPV ranged from 637 GWh per annum, in Kathmandu, to 50 GWh per annum in Butwal. Moreover, the total RPV potential from urban households of Nepal was estimated to be in the order 6.5 TWh per annum. As such, the findings of this paper can be used to make informed policy decisions about the future of Nepal's energy mix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sixth Assessment Report of Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has highlighted the urgency of accelerated climate actions harnessing synergies and minimizing trade-offs with various SDG. This calls for a clear understanding of linkages between climate goals and other SDGs at national level for formulating synergistic policies and strategies and developing different sectoral programs and coherent cross-sectoral policies. This is even more important for least developed countries such as Nepal where these linkages are less understood and development challenges are multifaceted. In this context, this paper aims to evaluate potential synergies and trade-offs among selected SDGs and their associated targets in Nepal in a linear pairwise comparison. Synergies and trade-offs related to climate action (SDG 13), access to energy (SDG 7), sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12), and life on land (SDG 15) have been evaluated using historical data for the period from 1990 to 2018 employing a mixed methods approach. Network analysis to map the conceptual linkages between the SDGs and their targets was combined with the advance sustainability analysis (ASA) to quantitatively evaluate the synergy and trade-offs between SDGs. The results illustrate the presences of a continual trade-off between emission reductions targets of SDG 13 with per capita energy consumption and share of renewable energy of SDG 7, land use for agricultural production target of SDG 12, and forest area target of SDG 15. This indicates that climate action is strongly interlinked with GHG emissions from economic activities and energy consumption. The results of the study represent a valuable input for the policy makers, supporting coherent and sustainable development planning as Nepal plans to graduate to a middle-income country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explored the contribution of TVET skill development in the transformation of the informal sector in the Kampala urban area of Uganda using qualitative research with a systematic literature review. The included articles in this study were based on four criteria: (i) focus on informal sector in developing countries like Uganda, (ii) linked informal sector with TVET (skill training), (iii) published in English language, (iv) downloadable article. The Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework was used to retrieve 40 articles at step one. In step two, reading and screening articles by titles and abstracts, 26 articles were excluded (16 for duplication, and 10 articles had no clear connection with IS and TVET). In the final step, 14 articles were retained for in-depth reading guided by research questions with content analysis used in data analysis. It was found that the informal sector is not fast-growing and large, but it contributes over 50% of Uganda's GDP and 20% comes from Kampala, which is the second-largest employer after agriculture providing over 70% of non-farm employment opportunities to vulnerable urban dwellers. Suggestions were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyses of the spatial and temporal patterns of 26 years of stranding events (1995–2011 and 2012–2021, n = 568) in Indonesia were conducted to improve the country's stranding response. The Emerging Hot Spot Analysis was used to obtain the spatial and temporal hotspot patterns. A total of 92.4% events were single stranding, while the remaining were of mass stranding events. More stranding events were recorded between 2012 and 2021 in more dispersed locations compared to the previous period. Within the constraints of our sampling limitations, East Kalimantan and Bali were single stranding hotspots and consecutive hotspots. East Java and Sabu-Raijua in East Nusa Tenggara were mass stranding hotspots. Temporally, Raja Ampat (West Papua) experienced a significant increase in case numbers. The presence of active NGOs, individuals or government agencies in some locations might have inflated the numbers of reported cases compared to areas with less active institutions and/or individuals. However, our results still give a good understanding of the progression of Indonesia's stranding responses and good guidance of resource allocation for the stranding network. Several locations in Indonesia that need more efforts (e.g., more training workshops on rescue and necropsies) have been identified in this paper. Suggestions to improve data collection (including georeferencing tips) have also been included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Bovine tuberculosis is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium bovis characterized by the formation of tubercles in any organ or tissue. This disease affects various animal species and humans; therefore, it represents a significant veterinary and public health problem. Bovine tuberculosis control is based on the tuberculin test and the disposal of reactor animals. In underdeveloped countries, this strategy has not been successful due to the lack of economic resources to compensate producers for their slaughtered animals. Recently, it has been suggested to incorporate the Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine to reduce the disease prevalence by reducing the number of animals with lesions, the number of lesions per animal and bacterial load. Several experiments have shown the efficacy of different vaccine formulas against bovine tuberculosis. In Mexico, there is a growing interest, both from producers and authorities, to integrate the vaccine into current control programs, especially in dairy cattle, where the prevalence of the disease is high, and overcrowding favors the dissemination. Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a disease of cattle that represents a risk to public health and causes severe economic losses to the livestock industry. Recently, one of the strategies recommended for reducing the prevalence of the disease in animals is the use of the BCG vaccine, alone or in combination with proteins. It has been shown that the vaccine elicits a strong immune response, downsizes the number of animals with visible lesions, and reduces the rate of infection as well as the bacillary count. This paper, based on scientific evidence, makes suggestions about some practical vaccination alternatives that can be used in infected herds to reduce bTB prevalence, considering BCG strains, vaccine doses, routes of application, and age of the animals. Our conclusion is that vaccination is a promising alternative to be included in current control programs in underdeveloped countries to reduce the disease burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]