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Previous research on solar box cookers focusing on the bulk usage of energy storage materials is a costly technique for performance enhancement. Bulk energy storage materials take much time to charge and, thus, result in a low rate of cooking at the start. Therefore, a hot box solar cooker has been developed and experimentally studied for thermal performance enhancement in a hilly region of Uttarakhand, India. A bed of phase change material (paraffin wax) filled with small capsule-shaped containers was prepared (detachable) and placed over the cooking tray of the tested cooker. These containers were vertically positioned over the bed to enhance the heat transfer rate inside the cooker to attain a fast-cooking response. Notably, the combined effect of extended geometry with PCM is an excellent method to increase the efficiency of a solar cooker. As per the author's knowledge, likely techniques have not been studied for a box cooker to achieve a fast-cooking rate in any hilly region up to date. The results of cooking tests show that the cooking plate attained a maximum temperature of about 150 °C. It is because of the combined effect of extended fins (vertical capsules) and PCM filled inside them. The results of the experimental study show that the thermal efficiency of the cooker was found to be about 45.7%, the cooking power was calculated about 54.71 W, the heat transfer coefficient was estimated about 311 W/m 2 °C, and the overall heat loss coefficient was computed about 5.71 W/m 2 °C. This modified cooker costs about $48.19, and the payback period is about 03 years and 11 months. Cooking trials also showed that the present SBC could cook almost all the dishes commonly cooked in Uttarakhand., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Purpose: To evaluate the possible outcomes of fetuses diagnosed with short femur length (FL) and to guide diagnosis through a step-wise imaging algorithm., Methods: This was a prospective cohort study of 42 pregnancies with fetal femur length (FL) below the 5th centile for gestational age. The cases were divided into two categories of isolated short FL & non-isolated short FL and followed up to determine the etiology., Results: There were 11 cases of non-isolated short FL with skeletal dysplasia observed in 7 and chromosomal abnormalities in 4 cases. There were 31 cases with isolated short FL in which fetal growth restriction (FGR) occurred in 14/31 (45%) cases; 13 out of 31 (42%) were constitutional (short for gestational age, SGA) whereas 4/31(13%) showed normal interval growth on follow up (false positive)., Conclusion: Short femur can be isolated or non-isolated. Short femur length can be a good predictor and early sign of FGR. Serial follow up scan of the all cases of isolated short FL is important since a majority of them are normal and not require any further intervention. Cases of non-isolated short FL require step-wise approach to differentiate into dysplasia or aneuploidy., (© 2023. Società Italiana di Ultrasonologia in Medicina e Biologia (SIUMB).)

All around the world, but particularly in developing nations, carbon dioxide emissions are on the rise, and climate change and global warming are brought on by an increase in CO 2 emissions. This article provides an overview of the technological effect on energy consumption in the residential, transport, and industrial sector and its ultimate effect on the environment. Using the STIRPAT-Kaya-EKC model for the years 1990 to 2020, this study looked at the threshold impact of technological advancements on the link between disaggregated energy use and CO 2 emissions for a panel of 10 Asian countries using the panel threshold regression. Findings demonstrate that the EKC phenomenon is present in the chosen Asian region. Findings also suggest that technology has a threshold influence on the relationship between energy use and carbon emissions; however, this effect varies across sectors., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of green tax incentives such as investment tax credit and taxable income deductions related to the environmental sustainability and climate change which are becoming more popular in developing countries, whereas introducing green tax incentives related to the environment and climate change helps and meets the sustainability objectives of growth and development. For this purpose, we selected the top 100 listed companies on the Swedish stock market (SSM), Nasdaq Stockholm (SN), in order to better understand the real facts and figures of green tax environment. This study uses a longitudinal research design because sample observations vary across firms and over a short time and conducts probit and logistic regression to identify the beneficiaries of the tax incentives. The findings show that different firm-level characteristics significantly impact the probability of being an ITC beneficiary., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Apart from reducing the circulating LDL-c and the number of cardiovascular cases as well as fatalities, statins have auxiliary non-lipid-related or cholesterol independent effects, the pleiotropic effects. The aim of the present review is to understand the pleotropic effects of statins., Main Body: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is presently the major cause of patient misery as well as mortality among non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the world. Despite the fact that statins are the most extensively affirmed, prescribed and evidence-based lipid-lowering medicine worldwide that curtail low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) levels and the number of cardiovascular cases as well as deaths, statins also elicit auxiliary non-lipid-related or cholesterol independent effects, the pleiotropic effects. Improved endothelial function, significantly lowered oxidative stress, atherosclerotic plaque stabilization, immunomodulatory, cessation of vascular smooth muscle proliferation, effects on bone metabolism, anti-inflammatory, antithrombotic effects, and reduced risk of dementia are among these pleotropic effects. Statins have also been explored for its uses in life threatening diseases like cancer and inflammatory bowel disease. They have been demonstrated to revamp vascular tone. Many research and review articles have been thoroughly studied for this systematic review., Conclusions: Statins have not only shown to be benefitial in lowering the levels of LDL-C but have also been established to be advantageous in the treatment of cancer, neurological conditions like dementia, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease. Future high-quality trials are needed to include statins in the treatment of these conditions as per guidelines., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

In light of increasing concerns about climate change and energy security, renewable energy has been seen as the most promising solution to fulfil future energy needs. This study examines the drivers of renewable energy consumption (REC) and the nexus between GDP growth, technological innovation, gross fixed capital formation, CO2 emissions, income inequality, and renewable energy consumption (REC) using annual data from BRICS countries. To this end, the study uses the augmented mean group (AMG) estimator, a second-generation estimator that takes slope homogeneity and cross-sectional dependence into consideration. For robustness, the pooled mean group (PMG) estimator has also been utilized. The findings of both estimators indicate that carbon emissions, technological innovation, and gross fixed capital formation exert adverse and significant impacts on REC. The findings also show that the use of renewable energy will rise as income inequality declines. We also employ the Dumitrescu and Hurlin (DH) granger causality test. The results of the analysis demonstrate a one-way causal association between income inequality and REC. This finding confirms that a reduction in income inequality will have a major impact on the adoption of renewable energy sources., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

This study investigates the impact of carbon emissions, real oil prices, income inequality, economic growth, and trade openness on renewable energy consumption (REC) in twenty-three (23) OECD economies. The study employs the Westerlund panel cointegration technique to verify the existence of long-run equilibrium and the Augmented Mean Group (AMG) estimator to assess the long-run relationship between the variables, which allows for slope heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependency. Moreover, the panel causality test of Dumitrescu and Hurlin (DH) is utilized to gauge the causal relationship between the variables. The findings of our study reveal that REC is positively related to economic growth, real oil prices, income inequality, and trade openness, but negatively related to CO 2 emissions in OECD countries. In addition, there is one-way causality from GDP per capita to renewable energy consumption and a bidirectional causality between income inequality and REC. Furthermore, the results indicate that OECD policymakers and governments should regard foreign trade as a "clean energy fostering mechanism" while developing energy demand policies that are environmentally friendly., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The agriculture sector is a key driver of economic growth and provides employment opportunities across the globe generally. However, in today's world, agricultural product demand is more influenced by taste, prices, and nutritional value due to climatic variation. The study has analyzed the current situation grain productivity by using the data of farm inputs and major grain crops of Pakistan from (1960-2020). The study consists of a two-stage analysis in the first stage, the total factor productivity (TFP) variable is obtained by using the parametric Tornqvisit-Theil index output-input-aggregation method separately for each crop; rice, maize, and wheat. After that, the unit root test is used to check the stationarity and trend of the variables in the long run. Subsequently, the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model is applied to check the existence of cointegration in the long run and short run among the variables. The results of the study disclosed that the consumption of rice has a positive relationship with its total factor productivity, but, wheat and maize have a negative long-run cointegration relationship with the respective productivities. The study results have shown that the consumption pattern of staple crops has substantially changed, due to climatic variation, and the current food consumption trend is revealing new dimensions and trends owing to variation in climate change and anthropogenic pressure which demands to adapt climate resilient farm practices., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

To assess the effect of septoplasty on pulmonary function test (PFT). 50 cases were chosen between the age group 18-50. All cases had nasal obstruction due to nasal septum deviation. Demographic data, detailed clinical examination including anterior and posterior rhinoscopy was performed. PFT values (fvc, fev1, fev1/fvc, fef25%, fef50%, fef75%, fif25%, fif50%, fif75%) were taken pre operatively and 1 month after the surgery by using Helios 401 spirometer. All the data were recorded and spss version 20.0 was used to analyse the data. Among 50 patient, most of the patients were males 78% (n = 39) and the rest were females (n = 11) 22%. The patient were in between 18 and 50 age group. The maximum patient belonged to age group 18-27 years (n = 25) 50% of the total patients. 38% (n = 19) were in the age group of 27-37 years. 12% (n = 6) of the patients were in age group of 37-50. Nasal obstruction was present in all patients (n = 50) followed by sneezing (56%), nasal discharge (42%), and headache (26%). Maximum number of patient had deviation of septum to the left (n = 28) 56% and the rest had to the right (n = 22) 44%. After the surgery there was improvement in PFT values in all types of patient with DNS, but statistical significance was seen in type II in fef25% and fif75% values ( p  < 0.05). In rest of the patients there was no statistical significant improvement seen. A favorable outcome was seen in PFT values after Septoplasty, thus signifying the effect of deviated nasal septum on lower airway., (© Association of Otolaryngologists of India 2020.)

This study examines the association among the green energy production (GEP), green technological innovation (GTI), and green international trade (GIT) on the ecological footprints (EFP). In addition, this research applies fully modified least square (FMOLS) to estimate the empirical outcomes, while dynamic least square (DOLS) is used to check the robustness of the outcomes. Although, the selection of the assessment technique depends on the order of integration of the selected series. Before estimation, some diagnostic tests are also performed to ensure the reliability of the data set. Furthermore, the empirical outcomes of the present analysis are twofold: at begin, this research discovered a negative relationship between GEP and EFP. Secondly, this research reveals that GTI has also an adverse impact on EFP along with GIT, which is unsurprising. Results imply that advancement in green technological innovations tends to improve the EQ by reducing the level of EFP., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The debate on technological innovation shocks and its effect on the environment are of great interest to academicians and environmentalists worldwide. At present, primary focus of this research is to investigate the asymmetric technology shocks and its impact on CO 2 emissions for BRICS economies. The linear and non-linear panel ARDL models are applied to compute both short-run and long-run dynamics of technology shocks and CO 2 emissions. Asymmetric estimates confer that a positive shock in patents reduces the CO 2 emissions by 0.418%, whereas negative shock increases the CO 2 emissions by 0.854%. Contrariwise, the trademark positive shock increases the carbon emissions by 0.416% and vice versa. The non-linear analysis provides an opportunity to measure the direction and magnitude of positive and negative shocks in technology on the environmental quality of BRICS economies. Hence, policymakers and environmentalists should devise their strategies by keeping in mind the impacts of positive and negative shocks., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The "environment" has become one of the important and debatable topics of the world and policymakers identifying the new predictors of CO2 emissions. Therefore, some economies have been promoting fiscal decentralization to encourage environmental quality by granting more financial autonomy to provincial and sub-national governments. Therefore, this study evaluates the dynamic effect of fiscal decentralization on CO2 in selected nine Asian economies using a fresh dynamic panel ARDL model from 1984 to 2017. The empirical findings show that fiscal decentralization has asymmetric effects on CO2 emissions because a positive change in revenue and expenditure decentralization reduced CO2 emissions in Asia. Moreover, a negative change in expenditure decentralization has also enhanced CO2 emissions in the long run. Thus, clean environmental policies and recommendations can be revised and proposed based on nonlinear findings in the modern era., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)