Ali Abdelaal, Abdelgalil Ahmed, Huifeng Wang
et al.
Abstract Over the past decade, pharmaceuticals have emerged as a significant class of environmental contaminants due to their adverse impacts on natural ecosystems. The removal of pharmaceuticals from aquatic environments, soils, and wastewater treatment systems using techniques such as adsorption, advanced oxidation, biological degradation, and membrane filtration has been widely investigated. Among these approaches, adsorption attracted considerable attention due to its simplicity, high removal efficiency, and low energy requirements. Date palm waste biomass is abundant biomass source what makes it a promising precursor for biochar and activated carbon adsorbents production for water treatment. This review critically evaluate the impact of the different date palm components, pyrolysis conditions, and activation methods on biochar properties and its performance as an adsorbent of emerging contaminates, particularly pharmaceuticals, from wastewater. Moderate pyrolysis temperatures (400–600 °C) found to generally enhance adsorption performance, while higher temperatures (≥ 700 °C) increase surface area but reduce surface polarity and affinity towards polar pharmaceuticals. Moreover, chemically activated biochars (H3PO4, KOH, or ZnCl2) exhibit an improved porosity and adsorption capacities, reaching 400 mg/g, that is comparable to commercial activated carbons. In contrast, physical activation (steam, CO2) is a more environmentally friendly approach that relatively increases surface area and pore volume, but shows limited improvement in adsorption capacity. Despite these advances in the literature, the relationship between specific date palm feedstock and adsorption performance remains insufficiently explored, highlighting the need for systematic comparative studies. Graphical abstract
آیدین ابوطالبی, کامبیز پیکارجو, ابراهیم رضایی
et al.
رمزارزها، بهویژه بیتکوین، بهعنوان داراییهای دیجیتال مبتنی بر فناوری بلاکچین، به دلیل ویژگیهایی همچون غیرمتمرکز بودن، شفافیت تراکنشها و سرعت انتقال، توجه روزافزون سرمایهگذاران و پژوهشگران مالی را به خود جلب کردهاند. با این حال، این بازار ذاتاً با نوسانات شدید همراه است و تحتتأثیر عوامل اقتصادی، سیاسی و فناوری قرار دارد. این موضوع در شرایط بحران اقتصادی ایران، ناشی از تحریمهای بینالمللی، نوسانات نرخ ارز و تورم بالا، اهمیت توسعه مدلهای پیشبینی دقیقتر را دوچندان میسازد. هدف این پژوهش امکان سنجی و ارزیابی عملکرد الگوریتمهای فراابتکاری در بهینهسازی شبکههای عصبی مصنوعی جهت پیشبینی روند قیمتی بیتکوین است. در این راستا، الگوریتم ترکیبی شاهین آتشین- ساخت اهرام جیزه (FHO–GPC) با الگوریتم بهینهساز گاومیش مشکی (MO) مورد استفاده قرار گرفت و داده ها به دو بخش آموزش (۸۰ ) و آزمون (۲۰ ) تقسیم شدند. پارامترهای شبکه عصبی پرسپترون چندلایه (MLP) توسط این الگوریتمها بهینهسازی شدند؛ بهگونهای که FHO جستجوی سراسری را انجام داده و GPC بهینهسازی موضعی را بر عهده داشت. یافتهها نشان داد که الگوریتم MO با کاهش معنادار شاخصهای خطا (RMSE) و (MAE) و افزایش ضریب تعیین (R²)، عملکرد دقیقتری نسبت به مدل ترکیبی ارائه کرده است. این برتری بهویژه در شرایط پرنوسان و بحرانی اقتصاد ایران برجستهتر بود. نتایج این پژوهش بیانگر آن است که الگوریتم MO میتواند بهعنوان رویکردی کارآمد برای بهبود دقت پیشبینی و کاهش ریسک سرمایهگذاری در بازارهای مالی نوظهور و پرریسک مورد استفاده قرار گیرد.
Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world and is projected to surpass Christianity as the most widely practiced faith within the coming decades. Despite Islam’s presence as the majority religion in nearly one quarter of the world’s nations, misconceptions persist in Western discourse regarding Islamic law and its treatment of women, particularly in the context of sport. Highly visible restrictions imposed on female athletes in certain Muslim majority countries have fueled the perception that Islam uniformly limits women’s participation in athletics. This perception, however, overlooks the significant variation in how sharia law is interpreted, implemented, and enforced across national legal systems. This paper examines the effects of sharia law on women athletes through a comparative analysis of Iran and Nigeria, two Muslim majority nations that exemplify distinct approaches to Islamic law within domestic governance. Iran operates under a classical Islamic legal system in which sharia law governs nearly all aspects of public and private life, resulting in centralized and often severe restrictions on women’s participation as athletes, coaches, and spectators. Nigeria, by contrast, employs a mixed legal system in which sharia law applies regionally and only to Muslims, producing a fragmented landscape in which access to sport for women varies widely by state and locality. While some Nigerian women experience relative freedom to participate in sport, others face restrictions that rival those imposed under Iran’s national laws. By situating these legal regimes within their historical, religious, and political contexts, including the Sunni-Shia divide, colonial legacies, and modern constitutional structures, this paper demonstrates that limitations on women’s participation in sport are not inherent to Islam itself but instead reflect specific legal and political choices. The paper further explores how international sports governing bodies influence access for Muslim women through eligibility rules, dress regulations, event hosting decisions, and public messaging, particularly amid growing concerns over Islamophobia and accusations of sportswashing. Ultimately, this paper argues that international sports governing bodies must adopt proactive and culturally informed policies that accommodate religious observance while expanding meaningful access to sport for Muslim women and girls. Through engagement rather than exclusion, sports institutions can promote gender equity, protect athlete autonomy, and strengthen sport’s role as a tool for inclusion in an increasingly diverse global community.
The growth of wafer-scale van der Waals (vdW) thin films and heterostructures by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is important for future applications in quantum technologies, next generation optoelectronic devices, and fundamental physics investigations. When grown using co-deposition methods that are typically used for compound semiconductor MBE, vdW materials typically show a high density of structural defects including twin or antiphase domains, spiral growth, and pyramidal growth. These defects are caused by the relatively weak film/substrate interaction and/or the poor wettability of typical substrates by many vdW materials. These difficulties can be mitigated using a multi-step growth procedure in which growth stages including nucleation and coalescence can be rigorously controlled, resulting in high-quality deposition of vdW thin films. This article will describe a general recipe for the growth of highly-crystalline wafer-scale vdW thin films by MBE.
Newtons Laws of Motion form the basis of classical mechanics, but misconceptions about their interrelationships persist in pedagogy. A prevalent misunderstanding is that Newtons First Law is a trivial consequence of the Second Law. This paper argues that the First Law serves a logically distinct foundational role that defines the context in which the Second Law is valid. This conceptual distinction is clarified through classical thought experiments and further supported by insights from relativistic mechanics. Furthermore, the paper discusses the notion of the zeroth Law. It evaluates several candidates, including the absoluteness of space and time, the conservation and additivity of mass, and the locality of force in time. By articulating the details of the logical structure of Newtons Laws, this article offers theoretical clarity and pedagogical value for the teaching and interpretation of Newtonian mechanics.
In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, quantum technology is entering the scene with the promise of radically changing the technological paradigm. Quantum computing, simulation, quantum communications and the combination of this technology with artificial intelligence are opening up new horizons of innovation that could revolutionize various industries. Along with its enormous potential, this technology brings legal, ethical and social challenges that require detailed analysis and an interdisciplinary approach. The industrial deployment of quantum technology entails dilemmas regarding human rights, cyber security and national security, as well as the risk of exacerbating inequality, technological exclusion and algorithmic discrimination. With regard to artificial intelligence enhanced by quantum computing technology, we can speak of a completely new facet of the problem of the opacity of algorithms, which is determined not only by the cognitive limitations of the human mind, but stems from the indefinability of the world described by the laws of quantum mechanics. In light of the above, the thesis can be advanced that the classical approach to the principle of transparency and the postulates of creating algorithms that will clearly present the path to the final result, which are part of the broad current of creating ethical and explainable artificial intelligence, may prove difficult to realize in relation to Quantum AI. In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we are therefore faced with the challenge of implementing new instruments for testing, certifying and inspecting algorithms, such as tools for analyzing and visualizing the results of quantum algorithms, which will be suited to the specifics of Quantum AI and ensure the ethical correctness of the systems. This article will identify selected areas of application of quantum technology, and thus the potential benefits and risks of quantum technology, and also analyze the need to develop ethical and legal standards that allow for the sustainable and socially responsible development of these disruptive technologies.
Next Generation EU, specifically its Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), has been a groundbreaking new experiment for the EU. From the speed of the reaction at the EU level with an agreement between leaders a few weeks after the COVID-19 crisis erupted, the size of the instrument (being the largest EU fund ever created), to the RRF's design features (including the performance nature of the instrument, its leverage on reforms, and its method of financing), it is a fundamentally novel EU instrument. Aimed at both recovery and resilience, it first led to a firm common response to a simultaneous economic downturn across the EU, ensuring rapid macroeconomic stabilization and preservation of public investment levels, in contrast with previous crises. It has also planted the seeds of a significant increase in the resilience of the EU economy by fostering the implementation of major structural reforms in line with the common priorities of the EU. Lessons about absorption capacity, incentives, flexibility, and governance will all advance future program design in the EU and beyond.
Comparative law. International uniform law, Private international law. Conflict of laws
Large plume-like features within the Greenland Ice Sheet disrupt radiostratigraphy and complicate the use of isochrones in reconstructions of past ice dynamics. Here we use numerical modeling to test the hypothesis that convection is a viable mechanism for the formation of the large (>1/3 ice thickness) englacial plume-like features observed in north Greenland. Greater horizontal shear and snow accumulation impede formation of convection plumes, while stable and softer ice encourages them. These results potentially explain the dearth of basal plumes in the younger and higher-accumulation southern ice sheet. Leveraging this mechanism to place bounds on ice rheology suggests that -- for north Greenland -- ice viscosity may be ~9-15 times lower than commonly assumed. Softer-than-assumed ice there implies significantly reduced basal sliding compared to standard models. Implementing a softer basal ice rheology in numerical models may help reduce uncertainty in projections of future ice-sheet mass balance.
This Article puts forward a novel analogy between animal welfare law and international humanitarian law—two seemingly unrelated bodies of law that are both marked by the aporia of humanizing the inhumane. Through the comparative lens of the international laws of war and peace, this Article argues that existing animal welfare law is best understood as a kind of warfare law that regulates violent activities within an ongoing “war on animals.” It further submits that this animal warfare law needs to be complemented and counterbalanced by an animal law of peace, consisting of a jus animalis contra bellum and peacetime animal rights.
Introduction: the article analyzes the conceptual problem of the formation of the ‘law on laws’, evaluates different approaches to the study of the system of normative legal acts, formulates the prerequisites for the uniform legal regulation of the hierarchy of sources of law. Purpose and objectives: the aim of the study is a legislative and doctrinal analysis of Russian and Bulgarian law from the perspective of the development of the law on normative legal acts. To this end, the authors set the following research tasks: firstly, to study the hierarchy of law as a conceptual problem and object of legal regulation; secondly, to study the problem of the status of judicial sources; thirdly, to research the place of doctrine in the hierarchy of law; fourthly, to analyze legislative regulation of the hierarchy of law through the prism of application of doctrinal developments. Results: the article discusses various bills aimed at legal regulation of sources of law (1996, 2014, 2021). The authors analyze the Bulgarian law of 1973 ‘On Normative Legal Acts’, which is one of the earliest and most famous ‘laws on laws’ in Eastern Europe, as a positive experience of legal regulation of the hierarchy and system of normative legal acts. The paper describes the general characteristics of the systems of normative legal acts in Russia and Bulgaria. Similar features include the priority place of constitutional acts in the system of normative legal acts, the problem of interaction between international and domestic law, the essential importance of judicial practice for the development of legal systems, the secondary position of legal doctrine, discrepancies in the principles of law, controversial issues of the recognition of legal custom, etc. The authors analyze related problems of sources of law, the role of legal doctrine, the relationship between domestic and international law.
Abstract Where the parties to an international contract fail to specify the choice of law, a forum selection agreement is one of the most, if not the most, significant factors to consider in implying the choice of law in many international, supranational, regional instruments, and national jurisdictions. However, it is an ill-defined, notoriously complex, and hotly debated issue as to the weight that should be attached to a forum selection agreement in implying the choice of law. Hence, this article is devoted to discussing this topic from a comparative perspective, in order to propose a guide to global uniform criteria. To achieve this, the article covers all relevant international, regional, and supranational instruments, and selected legal systems in Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America. The legal systems compared include those from the global North and global South, including common law, civil law, and mixed legal systems. The article’s core proposal is that an exclusive forum selection agreement should be a key factor in implying the choice of law. However, except in such cases as where a forum is chosen on a neutral basis, there should be a general requirement of corroboration with at least one other factor of significance. The aim of the proposal is to contribute to greater uniformity, predictability, and certainty in the global community in this field of law.
We prove a recursive formula for plethysm coefficients of the form $a^μ_{λ,(m)}$, generalising results on plethysms due to Bruns--Conca--Varbaro and de Boeck--Paget--Wildon. From this we deduce a stability result and resolve two conjectures of de Boeck concerning plethysms, as well as obtain new results on Sylow branching coefficients for symmetric groups for the prime 2. Further, letting $P_n$ denote a Sylow 2-subgroup of $S_n$, we show that almost all Sylow branching coefficients of $S_n$ corresponding to the trivial character of $P_n$ are positive.
Illegal, Unregulated, and Unreported Fishing (IUU Fishing) has grown significantly in the last few decades. This practice certainly has and will undermine global fisheries resources even further. As a result, the international community needs to establish measures to prevent the IUUF through international agreements. Presently, the international communities have formed various organizations, both regional and international (regional fisheries management organizations or RFMO), which shows its attention to the need for sustainable fisheries resources management and to prevent any illegal IUU fishing activity. Therefore, every country is currently seeking the law enforcement model to secure its maritime jurisdictions from any IUUF activity. However, each country has a separate law enforcement model, adjusting to their geographical and geopolitics condition. This article will examine the law enforcement model’s comparison in several countries and seek the best law enforcement model and a lesson learned for Indonesia.
Проблема законодательного регулирования процедуры примирения потерпевшего с подозреваемым, обвиняемым до определенного времени была лишь предметом обсуждения в научной литературе. В то же время потребность государства в поиске мер, способных устранять последствия преступлений без применения ординарных уголовно-процессуальных процедур, актуализировала работу по внедрению в уголовное судопроизводство альтернативных способов урегулирования уголовно-правового конфликта. Учитывая настоятельную необходимость применения указанной процедуры на практике, Межрегиональный общественный центр «Судебно-правовая реформа» разработал и разместил на своем сайте проект федерального закона «О внесении изменений в отдельные законодательные акты Российской Федерации для обеспечения потерпевшему, подозреваемому, обвиняемому возможности примирения». Для реализации процедуры примирения в уголовном судопроизводстве разработчики законопроекта предлагают включить в УПК РФ новую главу. Автор статьи критически оценивает предпринятую попытку в силу противоречивости ряда новелл, их неопределенности и несогласованности с нормами уголовнопроцессуального закона. Для устранения существующих недостатков предлагается предусмотреть отдельную статью, определяющую процессуальный статус примирителя, и включить указанную норму в гл. 8 УПК РФ. В качестве гарантии права потерпевшего, подозреваемого, обвиняемого на примирение рассматривается внесение соответствующего дополнения в уголовно-процессуальные нормы, регламентирующие правовой статус названных участников уголовного судопроизводства.
The goal of Inductive Logic Programming (ILP) is to learn a program that explains a set of examples in the context of some pre-existing background knowledge. Until recently, most research on ILP targeted learning Prolog programs. Our own ILASP system instead learns Answer Set Programs, including normal rules, choice rules and hard and weak constraints. Learning such expressive programs widens the applicability of ILP considerably; for example, enabling preference learning, learning common-sense knowledge, including defaults and exceptions, and learning non-deterministic theories. In this paper, we first give a general overview of ILASP's learning framework and its capabilities. This is followed by a comprehensive summary of the evolution of the ILASP system, presenting the strengths and weaknesses of each version, with a particular emphasis on scalability.
Many researchers have explored tools that aim to recommend data insights to users. These tools automatically communicate a rich diversity of data insights and offer such insights for many different purposes. However, there is a lack of structured understanding concerning what researchers of these tools mean by "insight" and what tasks in the analysis workflow these tools aim to support. We conducted a systematic review of existing systems that seek to recommend data insights. Grounded in the review, we propose 12 types of automated insights and four purposes of automating insights. We further discuss the design opportunities emerged from our analysis.
This chapter discusses comparative law within the framework of legal education in North America and Europe. It first considers some of the key debates surrounding the teaching of comparative law before providing a historical overview of major developments on both sides of the Atlantic since the nineteenth century. It then examines the post-World War II resurgence of comparative law in US legal education and the ascent of comparative law teaching in Europe, as well as the place of comparative law in legal education today. It also analyzes the present role of comparative law teaching in the European Union, the impact of international and transnational law on comparative legal education in the United States, and comparative law in Australia and Canada. The chapter concludes with a review of some of the current challenges to comparative law as a subject of teaching and scholarship and how comparative law fits into legal education more generally.
This Special Issue on the State of Comparative Law and its Teaching in Asia is the result of a two-day conference organized and financed by the Centre for Asian Legal Studies (CALS), National University of Singapore (NUS), and the Asian Law Institute (ASLI), with the support of the International Academy of Comparative Law (IACL). Both ASLI and CALS have as their main objective the promotion of Asian comparative law. ASLI was established in at the initiative of NUS by leading Asian law schools to foster Asian legal scholarship and to facilitate greater interaction amongst legal scholars in Asia. ASLI now has more than member schools. It publishes this Journal. CALS was established in to facilitate research on Asian law at NUS, again in collaboration with scholars from the whole region and beyond. The IACL, headquartered in Paris, was founded in The Hague in . It has extensive membership in Europe and North America and wants to expand its membership in Asia. Sponsoring this event was part of current efforts by IACL to reach out to Asia. The conference which led to this Special Issue was held at the NUS Faculty of Law on and September . The first day of the conference, sponsored by CALS, was on The State of Comparative Law in Asia; and the second day of the conference, sponsored by ASLI, was on Teaching Comparative Law in Asia. Hence, the two parts in this Special Issue. The conference saw twenty-seven colleagues present their papers. Some of the papers have been or will be published elsewhere, but we were able to assemble eleven of the papers presented at the conference in this special issue. A collective reflection on comparative law and its teaching in Asia was long overdue. Of course, there have been comparisons and even competition between the different legal traditions of Asia long before Western legal traditions were imposed or