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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 discusses the problem of missing datasets for analysing and exhibiting the role of women in STEM with a particular focus on computer science (CS), artificial intelligence (AI) and data science (DS). It discusses the problem in a concrete case of a global south country (i.e., Mexico). Our study aims to point out missing datasets to identify invisible information regarding women and the implications when studying the gender gap in different STEM disciplines. Missing datasets about women in STEM show that the first step to understanding gender imbalance in STEM is building women's history by "completing" existing datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is striving to build a new dual-circulation development pattern with the aim of leading the coupling of science, technology, and innovation through the active role of financial factors, ultimately promoting the country's optimal economic development. As a result, this paper constructs a coupled dual-circulation-STI (scientific and technological innovation) relationship model. The domestic and foreign components of the input–output relationship are used to portray the extent of the dual circulation, combined with Index DEA to measure the quality of science and technology innovation under the role of financial factors and the coupled coordination model to analyze the intrinsic correlation between the two. The study used an Index-DEA and value chain analysis model to measure each industry's technological effectiveness and the degree of internal and external circulation, respectively. The coupled coordination model approach was used to measure the coordination relationship between the double-loop model and technological innovation. Based on the coordination assessment table, the degree of coupling and the natural state of science and technology innovation and dual cycle in each industry were assessed. The study found that the country's dual-circulation pattern gradually strengthened from 2015–2019, with the financial element also driving an increase in STI. However, due to the twists and turns of the external environment, the coupling power of the dual-circulation STI weakened in some years. On this basis, the paper concludes that the quality of STI, driven by financial factors, has been increasing year on year, and the coupling with dual circulation has been trending upwards. Regarding policy implications, developing countries such as China should continue to invest more financially to create a healthy and sustainable innovation model. Through the innovation-dual-circulation development model, the country should eliminate the sloppy development model in construction and use the power of science and technology to lead social progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the past decade, there has been a surge of interest in investigating the dynamics of informal street vending, motivated by the need to address economic, social, and political inequalities. We take stock of this literature, bringing together the various streams of research in which informal street vending is integral to how cities work, particularly in the context of what is considered as the global South. The review of the related literature in this paper is structured into eight key themes, including (1) gender, (2) typology/types, (3) spatiality of street vending and public space design, (4) health and well-being, (5) individual/collective agency, (6) policy environment, (7) use of technology, and (8) links to other forms of informality. The paper concludes by outlining certain research themes that are in the process of development, identifying some understudied areas, reflecting on existing gaps, and pointing to future research directions to enable further engagement with those aspects of informal street vending research that have remained underexplored. [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]

Rising income inequality has become a defining global challenge that hinders the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The paper investigates the effect of fiscal policy and institutional capacity on income inequality among developed and developing countries. Applying the system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) to control potential endogeneity for countries from 2000 to 2019, the following results have been established. The dynamic effect captured by the first lag of inequality suggests that the widening income gap is persistent in both developed and developing countries. We also find evidence that income tax is more progressive and may abate income inequality in developing countries and not in developed countries. However, taxes on goods and services were found not to impact income equalization globally. Furthermore, the findings reveal that government size, education expenditure, and health expenditure are negatively associated with income inequality in developed countries only. Public debt was observed not to influence income distribution across the world. We observed that corruption and government effectiveness do not significantly impact income distribution in developed and developing countries for institutional capacity. However, in most cases, the coefficients of the interactions between fiscal policy and institutional capacity bear the expected signs, albeit insignificant. Some policy recommendations have been offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Incorporating technology into virtual education encourages educational institutions to demand a migration from the current learning management system towards an intelligent virtual educational system, seeking greater benefit by exploiting the data generated by students in their day-to-day activities. Therefore, the design of these intelligent systems must be performed from a new perspective, which will take advantage of the new analytical functions provided by technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, educational data mining techniques, and web analytics. This paper focuses on primary education in developing countries, showing the design of an intelligent virtual educational system to improve the efficiency of primary education through recommendations based on reliable data. The intelligent system is formed of four subsystems: data warehousing, analytical data processing, monitoring process and recommender system for educational agents. To illustrate this, the paper contains two dashboards that analyze, respectively, the digital resources usage time and an aggregate profile of teachers' digital skills, in order to infer new activities that improve efficiency. These intelligent virtual educational systems focus the teaching–learning process on new forms of interaction on an educational future oriented to personalized teaching for the students, and new evaluation and teaching processes for each professor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional climate change is affected by global warming, large-scale inter-regional circulation, and land use/cover. As a result of different ecological, economic, and social conditions, climate adaptation actions vary from region to region, including community-based adaptation in small island developing states, enhancing flood resilience in Europe, weather index insurance promotion in Africa, climate change adaptation based on traditional knowledge in the Polar Regions, and global joint decision-making in terms of regional issues of the Ocean. This paper takes the above five typical cases as the research objects, and the multi-case comparative research method is adopted to discuss regional climate change adaptation based on the pressure–state–response framework. It found that: (1) regional climate change adaptation faces significant pressure from cross-regional flows of finance, population, and species under climate change; (2) climate change hotspot maps based on climate change projections show regional climate vulnerability; (3) responses for regional climate change adaptation require active promotion of multi-level governance with horizontal and vertical cooperation. In the future, regional climate change adaptation should focus on inter-regional climate justice and equality, regional climate change adaptation pathways optimization, and how to effectively learn from typical regional climate adaptation cases. [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]

The introduction of intelligent devices in buildings has brought about tremendous changes into the construction industry. The use of automation is also gradually gaining interest from the stakeholders involved in the built environment. This paper presents the perception of property stakeholders (property valuers/real estate developers and service users) regarding the acceptability of smart buildings as a future built environment in Nigeria, using Benin City a case study. A total of 159 structured questionnaires were administered with 108 retrieved and valid for analysis. The information sourced from the respondents includes smart building awareness, the support for, drivers to, and limitations of its implementation, the willingness to develop smart buildings, and the willingness to pay proportionate rent to occupy smart properties. The findings showed that the poll of respondents for the property valuers and the real estate developers, as well as the service users, claimed to be aware of the concept, and they also support its development in the country. The drivers and limitations were ranked based on their perceived level of significance. This study recommends the promotion of awareness to accelerate its acceptance and implementation. This will help propagate the process of creating a smart city in developing nations such as Nigeria and prepare property valuers professionally for its management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The regeneration of old residential communities in China is one of the most important tasks in urban renewal. In recent years, distinctive models and pathways have emerged in the emerging practice of participatory community regeneration, all of which can be seen as applications of collaborative governance theory at the community level. Collaborative governance is considered an effective way to achieve multiple goals in urban regeneration, but there has been relatively little research on collaborative governance in small-scale regeneration projects. This paper summarizes three nuanced pathways in the collaborative governance model through case studies, which are led by different initiators, resulting in collaborative models, rights dynamics, and implementation pathways that are applicable to different scenarios, effectively resolving community conflicts and producing sustainable practical results. This study compares how the three models achieve their respective objectives in participatory regeneration projects by coordinating the different stakeholder participation processes. These three models complement and extend international experience and will provide a vivid Chinese example for other developing countries around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In examining the effect of membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the amounts of Aid for Trade (AfT) that accrue to developing countries, Lee et al. (2015) (The World Economy, 38, 2015 and 1462) have found that developing country members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) received higher AfT flows than non-WTO developing members. The present paper deepens the analysis by Lee et al. (2015) by investigating the effect of the duration of WTO membership on the amounts of AfT flows that accrue to recipient countries. The duration of membership in the WTO captures both the membership in the WTO and the time spent by a country in the organization. The main argument in this analysis is that the duration of WTO membership matters more than the mere WTO membership for the degree of liberalization in AfT recipient countries' trade regimes and their participation in international trade, the latter being a critical determinant of the AfT flows supplied by donors. This analysis has relied on a panel dataset of 136 countries over the period from 2002 to 2019, and the two-step generalized method of moments estimator. It has established that countries receive higher AfT flows as their membership duration increases, and the amounts of these resource inflows increase as recipient countries further liberalize their trade regime and further participate in international trade. Additionally, the effect of the duration of WTO membership on total AfT flows depends on donor-countries' commercial self-interest in recipient countries, including the latter's economic growth performance and endowment in natural resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an infectious agent spread by mosquitos, that has engendered endemic or epidemic outbreaks of Chikungunya fever (CHIKF) in Africa, South-East Asia, America, and a few European countries. Like most tropical infections, CHIKV is frequently misdiagnosed, underreported, and underestimated; it primarily affects areas with limited resources, like developing nations. Due to its high transmission rate and lack of a preventive vaccine or effective treatments, this virus poses a serious threat to humanity. After a 32-year hiatus, CHIKV reemerged as the most significant epidemic ever reported, in India in 2006. Since then, CHIKV-related research was begun in India, and up to now, more than 800 peer-reviewed research papers have been published by Indian researchers and medical practitioners. This review gives an overview of the outbreak history and CHIKV-related research in India, to favor novel high-quality research works intending to promote effective treatment and preventive strategies, including vaccine development, against CHIKV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) refers to a country's climate action plan to limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and adapt to climate change hazards. Each country is obliged to submit its NDCs to the UNFCCC, adhering to a guideline for increasing clarity and transparency. Nonetheless, few studies have employed this guideline to assess countries' contributions, particularly the NDCs of developed countries. Our article centers on the case of The Arab Republic of Egypt (hereafter Egypt), which is extremely susceptible to climate change impacts due to its geographic location and economic structure. Using desk research and a systematic NDC analysis, this paper reviews recent measures Egypt has taken to build national resilience against climate change. We also assess Egypt's planned mitigation and adaptation measures until 2030, documented in its updated NDC according to four criteria: mitigation ambition level, comprehensiveness, implementation plan, and transparency. The results show that Egypt's 2022 NDC is more advanced on different fronts than the 2015 submission, focusing on fewer sectors and specific quantified targets for mitigation and adaptation. However, the updated NDC only partially meets the essential criteria for mitigation ambition level, implementability, and transparency. We provide a set of methodological and policy recommendations for improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many earlier development finance studies have attempted to assess the relationship between financial inclusion and economic growth. However, the findings of these studies vary from economy to economy and region to region due to various social and economic factors. We, therefore, deemed it pertinent to examine the relationship between financial inclusion and economic growth while further identifying the direction of causality between the two variables in twenty-six (26) Sub-Saharan African (SSA) economies using annual secondary data over the 2000–2019 period. In our paper, we used the principal component analysis (PCA) technique to develop a single composite index to proxy financial inclusion while adopting panel unit root, system generalised method of moment (GMM), and ARDL cointegration tests to assess the stationarity properties, assess the factors that affect economic growth, and examine the long-run relationships between financial inclusion and economic growth, respectively. In addition, a Granger non-causality test is used to verify the direction and magnitude of causality. Our study revealed that financial inclusion and economic growth share a strong long-run relationship and that there is bi-directional causality, indicating synergy between these two variables. In order to ensure sustainable economic growth, we thus recommend that developing countries develop macroeconomic policies that will promote financial inclusion while enhancing the functioning and regulation of the domestic financial markets to ensure that all citizens are catered for in the available instruments, products, and service offerings. Within the same policy framework, efforts must be made to further support productive sectors of the economy to ensure economic growth. [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]

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]

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]

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an increasingly important role in global economic development, and they have encountered many unique problems (such as resources and strategic choice). Strategic management accounting (SMA) techniques can help SMEs allocate limited resources rationally and integrate internal and external information to help managers make strategic decisions. However, how and what is the SMA applied in the reality of SMEs, especially in developing countries today. This paper aims to explore the extent to which SMEs of developing countries use SMA. This article used the qualitative research method and the data were collected by interviewing five managers and two employees in M company. The findings indicated that: (1) The senior managers of SMEs do not have an understanding of accounting nor pay enough attention to it, and the role of SMA is even worse; (2) Although the chief financial officers obtain the knowledge of SMA, they cannot fully involve it in their strategic decision making. (3) SMEs have realized that enterprise culture is very important for a company to achieve strategic goals, but it is far from enough to attach importance to and create it. (4) The general managers of SMEs believe that the operating department is the core of the company and all resources should be prioritized to meet their needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has a wetland area of 53.42 million hectares, the fourth largest in the world; it includes all types of wetlands defined by the Ramsar Convention and has a carbon sink capacity of more than 1.71 million metric tons per year. Inland wetlands in China are mainly distributed in 10 major catchments, among which the Yellow River, the Yangtze River, the rivers in the northwest, and the rivers in the northeast each have more than 8 million hectares of wetlands. There are 4220 species of plants and 4015 species of animals in China's wetland ecosystem. The wetland resources that have been developed and utilized include edible products, reeds for paper making, peat for fertilizer, fuel for power generation, and chemical, pharmaceutical, ceramic, and building materials. However, wetland areas in China have shrunk by about 54% since 1980. In recent years, China's central government has set great store by Chinese wetlands, and although 49.03% of wetland area is now officially protected, many issues have confounded the implementation of that protection. It is imperative that knowledge gained from scientific research be used to formulate a sound wetland protection and management plan that takes into consideration social, economic, and ecological issues in a way that facilitates the sustainable use of wetland resources and informs decision-makers of the paths that must be followed to achieve that goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite apparent significance, innovation in low-technology (LT) and low-to-medium technology (LT/LMT) sectors has enticed relatively less consideration from scholars and policy-makers than high-technology (HT) sectors, thus, earning the label 'the forgotten sector'. In this paper, we critically review the extant research on this forgotten sector, with the vital objective of proposing an integrated research framework from a diffuse literature base. We believe our findings can be utilized by innovation scholars to do more coherent research on the LT/LMT sector in the future. Our research presents important contributions and implications for scholars, business, and policy-makers as we propose a multi-level, integrated thematic framework that highlights the importance of LT/LMT sectors in innovation ecosystems (NIS) and offers avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the influence of economic globalization, the internationalization trend of energy security issues has become increasingly prominent. This paper adopts the natural discontinuity grading method to classify the energy security status of 102 countries into five categories: Best, Better, Good, Poor and Worse types; reveals the dynamic evolution characteristics and main formation mechanisms of world energy security; and puts forward the game focus of future energy geopolitics. The results show that: (1) during 1995-2019, global energy security presents local turbulence and an overall "J" shaped trend; (2) the global energy security pattern coincides with the international geopolitical order. The countries with the "Best" energy security are found in Western Europe and North America while the countries with "Poor" or "Worse" energy security are located in Asia and the less developed regions of Africa; (3) the main reason why developed economies have better energy security is due to their high energy use efficiency, while developing countries lag behind mainly because of their lower innovation capacity, lower productivity and lower disposable income; and (4) the global energy security landscape is expected to be affected by the changing US-China relationship, coercive energy transition and the uncertainty of the political environment.

Aims and Scope This Special Issue aims to better understand the response of air quality to climate change and environmental/climate policies from a global perspective. Air pollution is one of the most concerning environmental threats to human health. By using various techniques (including routine monitoring networks, city campaigns, and modeling), these studies discuss how air quality responds to climate/meteorological changes and emission mitigation policies. [Extracted from the article]

The role of agricultural sectors in the economic development of a country is undeniable, especially in developing and least-developed ones, ensuring food supply, increasing national income, export earnings and poverty reduction. Vietnam is known as an emerging market, depending directly on agriculture-related activities for their livelihood, in which the issue of rural credit access still remains a confounding problem. The paper focuses on identifying the determinants of credit access in rural areas of Vietnam using Haiphong city as a case study, including formal and informal credit. The paper uses data collected from a survey of 180 rural households in a district of Haiphong city. The probit and linear regression models are applied to investigate the factors that determine household credit accessibility, i.e., the household’s decision to borrow and borrowing amounts. Results of this analysis reveal the different significant determinants of formal and informal credit market access. Group membership and connection are found to have significantly strong impacts on formal credit accessibility while informal credit access is strongly influenced by agriculture income and dependency ratio. The implications of these findings for enhancing formal credit accessibility and decreasing the dependence on informal markets are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological thought and practice have a longstanding presence in the Daoist tradition, yet these principles are not adequately upheld in contemporary times. This can be attributed to two primary factors: firstly, adverse environmental conditions due to economic reasons have hindered the maintenance of a viable interconnection between humans and nature. Secondly, intense competition has impeded the preservation of human-to-human interconnections. In this regard, it is inappropriate to place the blame for ecological threats solely on the Daoist cultural sphere. Prior research has predominantly focused on Daoist ecological thought, often neglecting the real problems concerning ecological responsibilities and potential solutions. To address this, two theoretical bases were proposed. First, attention was given to the Daoist concept of "connection", which emphasizes the relationship between humans and nature, and among humans themselves. As "connection" is a universal human concept, it carries significant weight even when discussed from a Daoist perspective. Second, through a critical reflection on "the myth of meritocracy" prevalent in Western discourse and the application of a "social model of disability", understanding and assistance from developed countries were solicited. These theoretical underpinnings form the basis for advocating improvements within the fragile ecology of the Daoist sphere. Before criticizing the Daoist cultural sphere—often perceived as a global factory—it is crucial to confront the realities faced by both developed and developing countries and the disparities between corporate headquarters and impoverished factories. This study suggests that a portion of excessive profits should be invested in ecological improvement initiatives. This would enable entities within the Daoist cultural sphere to uphold its ecological thoughts and practices independently—an ethos deeply rooted in their long-standing practice of being one with nature. This philosophy is increasingly vital given our interconnected existence on Earth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the role of digital financial inclusion in mitigating poverty and bolstering economic growth, with a special focus on developing nations during the COVID-19 era. Centering on Jordan, it seeks to identify key influencers of financial access by analyzing data from 260 participants using a non-linear probit regression model. The research uncovers a significant disparity in financial inclusion between Jordanian adult males and females, attributable to differences in education, wealth, employment, and income levels. These findings point to the necessity of prioritizing financial accessibility for marginalized groups such as women, the elderly, and those with lower income to effectively combat poverty and facilitate economic advancement and sustainable development in emerging markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As far as we know, for large manufacturing enterprises, there is often a community of labor gathered around such enterprises, which is especially used as a place for the enterprise to place the labor force. This paper aimed to update the industry model of Chinese Manufacturing Enterprises (CMEs) to improve workers' health management. This work first discusses the value, mode, and process of Enterprise Digital Transformation (EDT) and Worker Health and Safety Management (WHSM). Then, it proposes the CMEs-oriented EDT model and WHSM system based on Big Data Technology (BDT) and the Internet of Things (IoT). The proposed model and system are verified through a case study on the Shanghai BYD manufacturing enterprise (short for BYD) using the Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation Method (CFEM). The EDT model verification considers the adaptation and performance of enterprises after EDT. The WHSM system considers workers' oxygen inhalation status to evaluate their heart and cardiovascular health. The results show that EDT improves the enterprise's revenue and reshuffles the revenue structure. The EDT model has absolute adaptability to BYD. It has greatly improved BYD's indexes, especially financial performance, market capability, and technical capability.

Facing the increasingly deteriorating climate, carbon emission reduction has become a global consensus. In particular, as an industry with very serious pollution emissions, the manufacturing industry is under enormous pressure to reduce environmental consumption. At the same time, against the background of rapid digitization development, the production and organization of the manufacturing industry have greatly changed, which also provides new research ideas for global carbon emission reduction. Based on the panel data of 40 major economies in the world, this paper calculates the degree of input digitization of the manufacturing industry using the input-output method and constructs a triple fixed effect model to analyze the impact of manufacturing's input digitization on its carbon emission intensity from the perspective of the world and developing countries. The research finds that, first, on the global level, input digitization significantly reduces the carbon emission intensity of manufacturing, and the effect of carbon reduction increases gradually over time, with a noticeable industry spillover effect. Second, the test results from developing countries show that the relationship between digital input from developed countries and manufacturing's carbon intensity in developing countries presents an inverted U shape. Third, heterogeneity analysis shows that digital input has the most obvious effect on carbon reduction in the pollution-intensive manufacturing sector. Tracking the sources of digital input, it is found that digital input from high-tech economies has the most obvious effect on carbon reduction. The paper takes the lead in clarifying the impact of digitization on carbon emissions from the manufacturing sector, expands the existing research on the digital economy and the environment, and also makes a theoretical contribution to global carbon emission reduction.

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]

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]

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]

Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (SMEs) have been adopting corporate governance and international strategies to improve performance. However, little is known about the success of corporate governance practices and the international orientation of SMEs, especially in developing countries. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to examine the influence of corporate governance practices and international orientation on the performance of SMEs in a developing country. We used a survey to hand-collect data from 270 SMEs in Ghana in 2022. Consistent with prior studies, we perform robust reliability tests, including confirmatory factor analysis and the Cronbach alpha test. Further, we use the structural equation modelling to test the hypothesis of whether corporate governance and international orientation affect firm performance in SMEs. Our results are as follows. First, we found that international orientation drives good corporate governance practices, and this exerts a positive influence on firm performance. Second, we established that international orientation positively and significantly moderates the relationship between corporate governance and firm performance. The results imply that engaging in the international market offers new knowledge to SMEs in developing countries. Therefore, investors and the government should develop strategies and policies that support the internationalization of SMEs in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flood early warning systems (FEWS) are crucial for flood risk management; however, several catchments in the developing world are still far behind in all aspects of FEWS and thus, they encounter devastating damage recurrently due to limitations in data, knowledge, and technologies. This paper presents a catchment-scale integrated flood information system by incorporating present-day multi-platform data and technologies (e.g., ground and satellite rainfall observation, ensemble rainfall forecasts, and flood simulation) and evaluates their performance in a poorly gauged prototype basin (i.e., the Kalu River basin). Satellite rainfall products obtained in real time (GSMaP-NOW) and near-real time (GSMaP-NRT) can detect heavy rainfall events well and bias-corrected products can further improve rainfall estimations and flood simulations. Particularly, GSMaP-NRT, which outperformed GSMaP-NOW in both rainfall and discharge estimations, is suitable for near-real-time flood-related applications. Ensemble rainfall forecasts showed good performance in predicting alarming signals of heavy rainfall and peak flow with uncertainties in the amounts and timings of the events. Information derived from both satellite and ensemble forecasts on heavy rainfall, simulated flood signals, and their possible range of probabilities is promising and can help minimize the data gaps and improve the knowledge and technology of experts and policy-makers in poorly gauged basins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The valuation of time is one of the most important public policy issues in project cost-benefit analysis. This paper estimates the value of airport access time and time variability in developing countries with a case study of Nanjing, China. An international meta-analysis is being used to identify the factors that may affect heterogeneity in the value of travel time. Regression models are then established for the prediction of the value of travel time. The results provide some new insights into the impacts of survey region, traffic mode, and trip purpose on the value of travel time. Considering the significant influencing factors that were obtained, stated preference surveys are designed and used to collect data on preferred arrival time and decision choice under various hypothetical situations. A multivariate regression model is used with the data to explore the significant factors that influence the travelers' preferred arrival time. Mixed logit models are developed to estimate the value of airport access time, value of schedule delay early, and value of schedule delay late by incorporating the effects of travel delay variability on users' scheduling costs. The tax system is being used to illustrate the contribution of different income groups to social funds, which also calculates the social value of airport access time, social value of schedule delay early, and social value of schedule delay late. The results identify the significant factors that may affect the valuation of airport access time and provide reasonable estimates for these values. The findings also bring new enlightenment on the effects of the variation of airport access time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In residential buildings, air infiltration impacts energy, indoor air quality, and thermal comfort considerably. While air infiltration in residential buildings has been the focus of many studies, most published field-testing results pertain to developed countries, with little or no data on air infiltration in developing nations. This paper presents the results of one of the first field investigations into envelope infiltration in the residential buildings of the hot-arid climatic area of Egypt. To analyze the air permeability of the building envelope, the fan pressurization method, often known as the blower door test (BDT), is used, following ISO 9772. The study focuses on 20 residential dwellings built with heavy construction materials and subjects them to extensive characterization and testing. The average air leakage and the air permeability rate for the tested sample were 6.14 h−1 and 17.3 m3/(h∙m2), respectively. However, significant variations in airtightness were observed across the dwelling, leading the team to test several building-related parameters statistically to study their impact on airtightness. Fenestration quality appeared to be a critical factor in determining air infiltration, showing a strong correlation with the air change and leakage. A further investigation underscored that the specific aperture factor and the fenestration quality can predict the infiltration rates to a large degree. Thus, we recommend further investigation of these characteristics in heavy construction material building. Finally, we strongly recommend that building codes in developing countries such as Egypt include minimum performance requirements for fenestration. [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 paper proposes a geo-hazard risk assessment technique to analyze the impacts of surface subsidence monitored in a major coal mine in Nigeria. In many developing countries, disaster risk management schemes have mainly focused on traditional singular hazard assessment, vulnerability assessment, or risk assessment. However, it is difficult to use a singular application to adequately address hazard assessment due to the variation in data requirements, factors associated with the hazards, and the various elements at risk. Most times, hazard assessment schemes heavily rely on data and techniques from different global organizations that collate data on disasters, using various scales and objectives to make informed decisions. Several challenges seemingly arise from total reliance on these kinds of data due to standardization, the exact number of potential victims, and the purpose of the data collection. This makes disaster information collected at the local level unique and assessment schemes more complete; however, the coverage is limited worldwide. The proposed approach combines the spatial relationship between vulnerability assessment and elements at risk to highlight the grave consequences of potential disasters. Thus, the aim is to underscore the importance of integrating local-level inputs in analyzing risk factors and vulnerability indicators for hazard assessment. This study was conducted at the Onyeama coal mine in South East Nigeria. This area has experienced severe negative impacts of subsidence over the years. We exploit data from Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Satellites and Small-Baseline Subset Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SBAS-DInSAR) technique to map the study area. The results generate an elements-at-risk database with a particular focus on population density, road networks, and building networks identified as indices for loss estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current wave of technological development globally necessitates certain entrepreneurial abilities for most professionals to succeed in the job market. This paper explores the factors influencing entrepreneurial skills acquisition amongst rural university students in Nigeria and South Africa. The strategic goal of setting up rural universities is to enhance the human capital of the host communities. As a result, an attempt is made to pinpoint challenges that stand in the way of achieving this objective. Data was gathered using a quantitative research methodology. A self-designed questionnaire was used to obtain primary data from 1088 randomly selected third-year students. The study's outcome indicates that the acquisition of entrepreneurial competencies amongst undergraduates in the two higher education institutions was impacted by a number of similar factors, such as the university support system, campus entrepreneurial network, family background, availability of mentors, and entrepreneurship education curriculum. The study focuses on the necessity for universities to address skill shortages among undergraduates. Thus, the results could serve as a guide for policymakers on how to motivate rural university students to obtain globally relevant skills. [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]

Climate change is more likely to have a detrimental effect on the world's productive assets. Several undesirable conditions and practices, including extreme temperature, drought, and uncontrolled use of agrochemicals, result in stresses that strain agriculture. In addition, nutritional inadequacies in food crops are wreaking havoc on human health, especially in rural regions of less developed countries. This could be because plants are unable to absorb the nutrients in conventional fertilizers, or these fertilizers have an inappropriate or unbalanced nutrient composition. Chemical fertilizers have been used for centuries and have considerably increased crop yields. However, they also disrupt soil quality and structure, eventually impacting the entire ecosystem. To address the situation, it is necessary to develop advanced materials that can release nutrients to targeted points in the plant-soil environment or appropriate receptors on the leaf in the case of foliar applications. Recently, nanotechnology-based interventions have been strongly encouraged to meet the world's growing food demand and to promote food security in an environmentally friendly manner. Biological approaches for the synthesis of nanoscale agro-materials have become a promising area of research, with a wide range of product types such as nanopesticides, nanoinsecticides, nanoherbicides, nanobactericides/fungicides, bio-conjugated nanocomplexes, and nanoemulsions emerging therefrom. These materials are more sustainable and target-oriented than conventional agrochemicals. In this paper, we reviewed the literature on major abiotic and biotic stresses that are detrimental to plant growth and productivity. We comprehensively discussed the different forms of nanoscale agro-materials and provided an overview of biological approaches in nano-enabled strategies that can efficiently alleviate plant biotic and abiotic stresses while potentially enhancing the nutritional values of plants. [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]

After almost two decades of continuous development in bio, circular, and green economy, it is time to assess the major achievements and challenges that private and public enterprises face today for further enhancing global sustainability concepts. To this end, the present thematic issue accommodates twenty articles on different topics related to circular economy development and green growth, proposing a contribution to the field of environmental economics and policy. The central feature of this Special Issue is the focus on the best practices and challenges in terms of green growth and eco-innovation in developing and transitioning structurally challenged areas. Hence, the study elaborates on the pathways of bio, circular, and green growth and eco-innovation in the context of countries with relatively low per capita income. By doing this, the collection shows that the empirically established environmental Kuznets curve—i.e., the inverted U-shaped income-environment nexus—can and must be critically questioned, at least in the contexts mentioned within the framework of our Special Issue. Hence, the geographic frontiers of environmental upgrading, carbon-saving bioeconomic development, and green growth are not limited to the economically advanced areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the non-linear effects produced by the main determinants of the sovereign ratings issued by Moody's agency. Using a sample of 29 countries observed over the 2000–2019 period, we identify the factors leading a country to be classified, respectively, in the speculative, moderately speculative, and highly speculative grades. The fixed effect logit estimates reveal that the effects produced by the independent variables on the ratings are largely different from one class of assets to another. The second and main contribution of this study is that it highlights the non-linear effects produced by macroeconomic variables on the probability of downgrading a country from the investment to the speculative grade and from the moderately speculative to the highly speculative grade. Panel threshold regression (PTR) results reveal that control of corruption, external debt, government effectiveness, and domestic credits are the main variables producing such non-linear effects. [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]

Purpose: This paper empirically investigated the impact of high government debt on economic growth, using a panel data of 12 developing countries in Africa for the period between 1991 and 2020. Furthermore, it sought to find the existence of nonlinearity between government debt and economic growth. The study used a cross-country panel data approach estimated through the panel smooth transition regression to find the threshold effect. The results reveal a threshold of 60.5% of government debt on economic growth, suggesting an inverted U-shaped relationship between government debt and economic growth for the whole sample. After this threshold, additional government debt starts impeding economic growth. The estimated slope parameter of 18.11 supports the smoothness of government debt from a low regime to a high regime of debt. In the lower debt regime, government debt boosts economic growth; however as the level of debt growth surpasses the peak point, economic growth decreases. By implication, policymakers should have strict debt management policies in place to keep the level of government debt low, and be able to respond robustly to an economic shock. While resorting to borrowing to finance public spending, especially during economic crises, may be an imperative, it should be done in a circumspect manner so that the borrowings are kept at tolerable levels and reduced and/or repaid when there is a recovery in the economy. [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]

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]

Despite the voluminous literature on the effect of aid-for-trade (AfT) flows on recipient countries' trade performance, little is known about the relationship between AfT flows and other capital flows to developing countries. This paper contributes to the literature by exploring the effect of AfT inflows on investment-oriented remittance inflows, notably through the channel of trade costs. Using an unbalanced panel data set of 106 countries over the period 2002–2019 and the two-step system generalized method of moments, the empirical analysis establishes several outcomes. AfT flows exert a positive effect on investment-oriented remittance flows, where the magnitude of this positive effect is higher in least-developed countries and in remittance-dependent countries than in other countries. AfT flows stimulate investment-oriented remittance flows in countries that face higher trade costs. The analysis shows that AfT flows could be important leverages for stimulating investment-oriented remittance flows and could promote the development of the private sector in beneficiary countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various strategic plans compiled by the local levels of government seek to advance the need to integrate strategic planning frameworks and improve service delivery and related content through the application of performance management tools. From the perspective of municipalities, all policies and plans at all levels of government need to be articulated with empirical based plan-level formulation and in compliance with set performance assessment criteria. Using South Africa as a case study, the methodology of the paper included a theoretical analysis of available (but applicable) performance management tools and processes. The focus and outcome were the development of a simplified performance management tool that supports elementary prioritization of projects and the setting of standards to address the growing needs, service backlogs, and informality challenges, thereby enhancing sustainable planning and development applicable to developing countries. The study findings highlight, firstly, the prevalence of persistent service delivery gaps in local government. Secondly, local government performance management and strategic plan implementation is constrained by measurement data, standards, and information gaps. Thirdly, inadequate legislative frameworks and strategic instruments applicable to local government in developing countries adds another layer of performance management gap dimensions. Fourthly, there is misalignment between policies, legislative provisions, and local needs in terms of a set of applicable measurement tools and standards relevant in a developing country. Fifthly, an oversight role gap exists in terms of clearly defining the roles and scope of responsibilities concerning performance management. These above-mentioned shortcomings read together constitute a service delivery performance management tools gap that needs to be overcome if improved service delivery is to be achieved. In view of the above-stated considerations, a simplified performance management tool to enhance service delivery in local government had to be developed. The developed simplified performance management tool assumes that the application of performance management assessment processes is to be aligned throughout all spheres of government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building Information Modeling (BIM) has gained a lot of traction in Nepal lately due to many AEC firms' desire to improve their productivity. This research explores the current state and potential of Building Information Modeling in the Nepalese context. The main objective of this research was to gain a holistic view of the digital design and construction approach in the AEC sectors and identify the current state of practice, future trends and opportunities, and challenges for the wider adoption of BIM in the AEC sector. A systematic survey was conducted among various AEC stakeholders; based on their responses, the status of BIM maturity is presented in this paper. We found that the lack of standards and guidelines slows stakeholders' efforts to unify BIM implementation in projects. However, the survey results show that AEC stakeholders are eager to learn, explore, and implement BIM in their workflows of design and construction practices. The wider implementation of BIM can improve the productivity of design and construction in developing countries such as Nepal. The contributions of this research are methodological and practical. It is demonstrated in this study that qualitative and quantitative data can be integrated in different ways to allow for different avenues of analysis. The logistic regression model deployed in this study identifies the determinants of BIM use and the intensity of their effects on the future use of BIM in the Nepalese AEC industry. The findings of this study can help to formulate BIM standards and training materials that are specific to the Nepalese AEC industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]