Abstract Abiotic stresses such as extreme temperatures, drought, salinity, heavy metal toxicity and ultraviolet radiation significantly impact plant growth and development, causing major yield losses globally. In the face of climate change and soil degradation, these stresses are becoming increasingly detrimental, particularly to essential crops like wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Wheat is a staple food for over one-third of the world population, supplying more calories and protein than any other cereal. It also serves a wide range of industrial purposes including use in animal feed, brewing, ethanol production and cosmetics. A rapidly evolving field, nanotechnology offers innovative solutions to modern agricultural challenges. One promising application is seed nanopriming which involves pre-treating seeds with nanoparticles. This technique enhances germination, seedling vigor, stress tolerance and ultimately crop yield. Nanoparticles smaller than 100 nm such as ZnO, SiO2, Ag, Au and Cu are particularly effective. They can penetrate seed coats and plant tissues in turn accelerating early metabolic activity and triggering beneficial physiological and biochemical responses. In wheat, nanopriming overcomes stress induced disruptions to key functions such as photosynthesis, nutrient uptake and reproductive development. It reduces seed dormancy, improves germination rates and promotes stronger seedling growth. By inducing favorable molecular responses, the priming enhances the plant ability to tolerate recurring and moderate stress conditions. These internal changes also manifest as visible anatomical adaptations that support survival under adverse environments. Additionally, the priming contributes to micronutrient biofortification for improving the nutritional quality of wheat grains. This dual benefit of stress tolerance and enhanced nutrition not only increases productivity but also supports resource conservation. As a result, nanopriming presents a sustainable and effective strategy to strengthen wheat cultivation against mounting environmental pressures and growing food security concerns worldwide.
ABSTRACT This paper provides an expanded analytical framework on the effects of financialisation on the finance wage premium. Current analyses focus on how financial deregulation has increased employee compensation in the financial sectors via rent‐sharing. We argue that rising financial payments—the source of financial rents—also induce wage suppression in the rest of the economy. First, nonfinancial corporations pass increases in their financial payments to workers through wage reductions. Second, simultaneously, indebted workers lower their wage demands to avoid unemployment and personal default. Thus, understanding the growth of the finance wage premium requires scrutinising the impact of business and household indebtedness. To evaluate this argument, we use quarterly data from Eurostat for Greece over the period 1999Q1–2021Q3, and we show that increases in all components of private debt are strongly associated with positive changes in the finance wage premium.
IntroductionSustainable economic development is a cornerstone of rural development, aiming to enhance the quality of life and increase the income of rural communities. This concept emphasizes a balanced integration of economic, social, and environmental dimensions, seeking to meet present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. In rural settlements, sustainable development encompasses the efficient use of natural resources, infrastructure improvement, increased agricultural and livestock productivity, and access to new markets. Importantly, it extends beyond agriculture to include support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the development of rural tourism, and digital-based economic activities. This holistic approach not only mitigates rural-to-urban migration but also promotes environmental sustainability, social equity, and local economic empowerment. Sustainable rural economic development involves a set of coordinated policies and actions designed to improve socioeconomic conditions. Sustainable agriculture—leveraging modern technologies and resource-efficient practices—plays a central role, while tourism and handicrafts contribute to income generation and cultural preservation. This study analyzes and ranks the key economic factors influencing sustainable development in rural settlements of Fars Province, Iran, providing critical insights for evidence-based decision-making and strategic planning by provincial authorities. MethodologyThis descriptive-analytical study employed a mixed-methods approach, integrating documentary analysis, library research, and expert surveys. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire administered to 30 domain experts with extensive experience in rural development, including specialists in agriculture, geography, rural planning, sociology, and relevant government agencies. In the first phase, a comprehensive set of economic indicators was identified from the literature and validated by experts. For the TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) method, experts rated the importance of each indicator on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = very low to 5 = very high). For the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), pairwise comparisons were conducted using a 1–9 Saaty scale to determine relative weights. Data analysis and prioritization were performed using Expert Choice software, which facilitated the calculation of weights, consistency checks, and final ranking of indicators and economic sectors. FindingsTwelve key indicators influencing sustainable economic development in rural settlements of Fars Province were identified and evaluated:Access to markets (transport infrastructure and fair pricing)Education and skill developmentAvailability of natural resources (water, soil, climate)Support for sustainable agricultureEstablishment of production and distribution cooperativesUse of technology and innovationInvestment and financingGovernment support policiesCultural and social awarenessEconomic diversificationEssential infrastructure and public servicesQuality of human resourcesThese were grouped into five economic sectors: agricultural, industrial, service, tourism, and digital activities. Using Shannon’s entropy method, weights were assigned to reflect each indicator’s relative importance. The results revealed that developing agricultural activities achieved the highest performance score (0.853), ranking first, while digital and internet-based activities scored the lowest (0.307). In the AHP analysis, natural resources (water and soil) emerged as the most influential factor, with a weight of 0.255, followed by essential infrastructure (0.187) and capital attraction (0.163). The consistency ratio (CR = 0.09) was below the acceptable threshold of 0.10, confirming the reliability and logical consistency of the pairwise comparisons. Discussion and ConclusionThis study applies two complementary multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques—AHP and TOPSIS—to analyze and rank factors affecting sustainable economic development in rural Fars Province, yielding highly consistent results. Experts identified natural resources, particularly water and soil, as the most critical determinant, reflecting their foundational role in the livelihoods and identity of rural communities. Basic infrastructure and public services (e.g., electricity, water, internet) were ranked second, underscoring their enabling role in development. Access to investment and financing was also deemed vital for stimulating job creation and entrepreneurial activity. Lower-ranked factors such as cultural aspects and cooperatives indicate that while these areas are relatively strong, they require less immediate intervention. Sectoral prioritization shows agriculture as the top priority, followed by tourism and digital activities, highlighting the continued centrality of agriculture in the rural economy. These findings call for policy strategies that prioritize investment in natural resource management, infrastructure, and financial support systems. Ultimately, achieving sustainable rural development requires an integrated, balanced approach across economic, social, and environmental dimensions. This research provides a robust analytical framework for policymakers to design targeted, effective interventions that enhance rural welfare and long-term sustainability.
Matyas Lukacs, Fruzsina Toth, Roland Horvath
et al.
The rapid growth of the human population, the increase in consumer needs regarding food authenticity, and the sub-par synchronization between agricultural and food industry production necessitate the development of reliable track and tracing solutions for food commodities. The present research proposes a simple and affordable digital system that could be implemented in most production processes to improve transparency and productivity. The system combines non-destructive, rapid quality assessment methods, such as near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and computer/machine vision (CV/MV), with track and tracing functionalities revolving around the Internet of Things (IoT) and radio frequency identification (RFID). Meanwhile, authenticity is provided by a self-developed blockchain-based solution that validates all data and documentation “from farm to fork”. The system is introduced by taking certified Hungarian sweet potato production as a model scenario. Each element of the proposed system is discussed in detail individually and as a part of an integrated system, capable of automatizing most production flows while maintaining complete transparency and compliance with authority requirements. The results include the data and trust model of the system with sequence diagrams simulating the interactions between participants. The study lays the groundwork for future research and industrial applications combining digital tools to improve the productivity and authenticity of the agri-food industry, potentially increasing the level of trust between participants, most importantly for the consumers.
Kwangryul Baek, Duk-Hyoung Kim, Jooyeon Jeong
et al.
Microalgae are versatile organisms capable of converting CO2, H2O and sunlight into fuel and chemicals for domestic and industrial consumption. Thus, genetic modifications of microalgae for enhancing photosynthetic productivity and biomass and bio-products generation are crucial for both academic and industrial applications. However, targeted mutagenesis in microalgae with CRISPR-Cas9 is limited. Here we report, a one-step transformation of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii by the DNA-free CRISPR-Cas9 method rather than plasmids that encode Cas9 and guide RNAs. Outcome was the sequential CpFTSY and ZEP two-gene knockout and the generation of a strain constitutively producing zeaxanthin and showing improved photosynthetic productivity.
Purpose: The objective of this research was to ascertain if the portion of the automotive industry that engages in non-tradable goods or export goods is the principal driving force behind the industry's expansion. The purpose of this paper is to fill the gap by focusing on the automotive industry as its principal area of investigation.Methodology: Productivity growth in the automotive industry was estimated utilizing an innovative hypothetical extraction method (HEM) for both the non-tradable goods sector and the export goods sector. Following that, the weighted multipliers approach is employed to allocate the productivity across the non-tradable goods and export goods of the automotive industry.Findings: The findings indicate that the automotive industry maintains a strategy of development driven by exports. Production targeted for the domestic market is subject to significant limitations. Multinational automobile corporations tend to employ the strategy of exporting. The growth model of the automotive industry is significantly influenced by various institutional elements, including the Customs Union, taxes, and vertical integration. Originality: Although the automotive industry is an essential industry for exports, its growth model has not been comprehensively scrutinized. This study primarily focuses on investigating the growth model of the Turkish automotive industry and the institutional factors that influenced its strategic decisions.
The rising demand for advanced energy systems requires enhanced thermal management strategies to maximize resource utilization and productivity. This is quite an important industrial and academic trend as the efficiency of energy systems depends on the cooling systems. This study intends to address the critical need for efficient heat transfer mechanisms in industrial energy systems, particularly those relying on pool boiling conditions, by mainly focusing on Critical Heat Flux (CHF). In fact, CHF keeps a limit in thermal system design, beyond which the efficiency of the system drops. Recent research materials have highlighted nanofluids’ superior heat transfer properties over conventional pure fluids, like water, which makes them a considerable substitution for improving CHF in cooling systems. However, the broad variability in experimental outcomes challenges the development of a unified predictive model. Besides, Machine Learning (ML) based prediction has shown great accuracy for modeling of the designing parameters, including CHF. Utilizing ML algorithms—Cascade Forward Neural Network (CFNN), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), Extra Tree, and Light Gradient Boosting Method (LightGBM)— four predictive models have been developed and the benchmark shows CFNN’s superior accuracy with an average goodness of fit of 89.32%, significantly higher than any available model in the literature. Also, the iterative stability analysis demonstrated that this model with a 0.0348 standard deviation and 0.0268 mean absolute deviation is the most stable and robust method that its performance minorly changes with input data. The novelty of the work mainly lies in the prediction of CHF with these advanced algorithm models to enhance the reliability and accuracy of CHF prediction for designing purposes, which are capable of considering many effective parameters into account with much higher accuracy than mathematical fittings. This study not only explains the complex interplay of nanofluid parameters affecting CHF but also offers practical implications for the design of more efficient thermal management systems, thereby contributing to the broader field of energy system enhancement through innovative cooling solutions.
The chemical industry is directly or indirectly connected with almost every industrial process and holds a crucial place in the economic and social advancement of India. At the same time it is however, the second highest energy intensive industry in the country. Thus, we attempt to look into the factors that affect the energy intensity of Indian chemical industry. We collect a panel dataset including a total of 2613 chemical firms for the period 2010 to 2021 for our analysis. We carry out our empirical testing under both linear and non-linear framework by employing fixed effect regression and panel quantile regression methods respectively.We find that energy intensity for the sample chemical firms increases due to poor labour productivity, huge plant and machinery, outsourcing operations, and more use of IT-enabled services. On the other hand, use of better quality raw material and advanced technology can help optimising the energy intensity. We also discover that profitable firms and firms larger in size are energy efficient. Based on the findings, we suggest professional training programs and vocational skill development programs for enhancing labour productivity. Profitable firms are suggested to invest in technological up-gradation and energy saving technology. We believe the findings of the study can provide a portfolio of variables to the managers and policy makers in order to diversify their attention to find all possible ways to reduce energy intensity of the Indian chemical firms.
After being among the earliest countries to embark on the East Asian path, Pakistan fell away but was still among the ten fastest growing economies of the world during 1960–90. However, the seeds for the subsequent economic and technological malaise were also sown in that period. This paper provides an overview of recent theoretical and empirical work on industrial policies – more
accurately labeled learning, industrial and technology (LIT) policies – and examines their implications for Pakistan. These include a selective, more sharply focused approach than the comprehensive agendas of reforms that have become common. Substantial islands of success with industrial policies have emerged in a variety of institutional and governance settings, different from those of the original East Asian developmental states. They offer valuable lessons. Raising the abysmally low level of investment in Pakistan is a requirement as well as an outcome and an instrument of industrial policies. This argues for a revival of development finance to
stimulate investment as well as to direct it towards selective targets. How to mitigate the risks of this and other instruments of industrial policy to get the risk– reward ratio right is another concern of the paper. An important target of such policies should be the technological upgrading of existing industries. There is enormous scope for doing so, with international comparisons suggesting that
Pakistani manufacturing does poorly – both in terms of variance in productivity between firms within an industry as well as in introducing new technologies and products. Whilst the constraints of the politics–governance–security/terrorism nexus are beyond the scope of the paper, their salience cannot be underestimated.
The article presents an idea of the project that defines the development of a geothermal power plant methodology based on a single isolated well. It is planned to develop a technical and economic rationale and geological and geophysical aspects of the development of geothermal energy and to obtain data on deposits of geothermal water in the deep.
Extraction of heat from hot rocks at the pits is to be carried out using a special energy carrier, construction of the operating column, and circulation mode.
To create a model in the project, a well is needed with a depth of 4,702 m, temperature at the bottom of 130 °С, an unperforated casing string with a diameter of 245 mm to a depth of 4,500 m, and no formation fluids.
The transfer and transformation of the energy carrier by the working body into electric and hydrogen energy is maintained by ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle).
The development of the methodology includes two stages:
The first stage of the project involves legal preparation at the local and state levels for the use of the land plot and technical means of the drilled well and obtaining licenses and permits for the implementation of the project. It is planned to develop a technical and economic feasibility study for the construction of a geothermal electric station that will generate electricity and hydrogen energy for consumers.
The second stage of the project involves the technical preparation of the well for its use as part of a geothermal power station. Remediation of the well to a depth of 4,500 m is foreseen, as well as the implementation of industrial geophysical studies of the technical condition of the unperforated casing string; conducting preliminary geothermal studies on the stability and thermal productivity of hot rocks.
The authors intend to use results in the oil-and-gas industry, which has deep wells that have completed their purpose for hydrocarbon extraction, as well as in the nuclear, metallurgical, chemical, and many other fields.
Germacrene A (GA) is a key intermediate for the synthesis of medicinal active compounds, especially for β-elemene, which is a broad-spectrum anticancer drug. The production of sufficient GA in the microbial platform is vital for the precursors supply of active compounds. In this study, Escherichia coli BL21 Star (DE3) was used as the host and cultivated in SBMSN medium, obtaining a highest yield of FPP. The GA synthase from Lactuca sativa (LTC2) exhibited the highest level of GA production. Secondly, two residues involved in product release (T410 and T392) were substituted with Ser and Ala, respectively, responsible for relatively higher activities. Next, substitution of selected residues S243 with Asn caused an increase in activity. Furthermore, I364K-T410S and T392A-T410S were created by combination with the beneficial mutation, and they demonstrated dramatically enhanced titers with 1.90-fold and per-cell productivity with 5.44-fold, respectively. Finally, the production titer of GA reached 126.4 mg/L, and the highest productivity was 7.02 mg/L.h by the I364K-T410S mutant in a shake-flask batch culture after fermentation for 18 h. To our knowledge, the productivity of the I364K-T410S mutant is the highest level ever reported. These results highlight a promising method for the industrial production of GA in E. coli, and lay a foundation for pathway reconstruction and the production of valuable natural sesquiterpenes.
The industrial revolutions and their impact on production systems have increased productivity and quality in manufacturing over time. Lean methods have been the driver of the development of production systems from the 1990s to the rise of the fourth industrial revolution, or Industry 4.0. However, many different approaches and methodologies have been described, applied, and discussed for achieving improvements in production systems. As a result, organizations are often confused in regard to the order, the convenience, and the outcomes intended by the different improvement strategies and techniques. This paper provides a systematic sequence of process optimization steps that can be applied to any organization. A conceptual model was built based on the systematic sequence. In addition, a simulation model was built with the goal of representing and quantifying the sequential steps of the conceptual model. The results of the simulation model show a clear improvement in quality, performance, and economic indicators, with the first two steps in the optimization sequence providing critical initial information, while the three last steps served as net contributors to a global production system improvement for demanding market scenarios. Finally, we analyzed the impacts of Industry 4.0 on production systems and developed a methodological sequence to design, select, implement, and control projects, even those that include Industry 4.0 technologies.
Daisy A. Martinez, Ulrich E. Loening, Margaret C. Graham
et al.
The challenge of maximising agricultural productivity encourages growers to apply high volumes of nitrogen (N) fertilisers and pesticides in order to promote and protect yields. Despite these inputs, pests and pathogens (P&Ps) continue to cause economic losses and challenge food security at local, national, and global scales. P&Ps are a particular problem in industrial agricultural environments, where large-scale monocultures facilitate rapid growth of crop-adapted P&P populations. P&P population growth is strongly dependent upon acquisition of N-resources (e.g., amino acids) from crop tissues, and concentrations of these compounds depend on the metabolic state of the crop which, in turn, is influenced by its growth stage, by environmental conditions, and by agrochemical inputs. In this study we demonstrate that routine applications of pesticides and/or N-fertilisers may inadvertently reinforce the problem of P&P damage in agriculture by enhancing the nutritional quality of crops for these organisms. N-fertilisation has diverse influences on crops' susceptibility to P&P damage; N-fertilisers enhance the nutritional quality and “attractiveness” of crops for P&Ps, and they can also alter crops' expression of the defensive traits (both morphological and chemical) that serve to protect them against these organisms. Exposure of crops to pesticides (including commonly used insecticide, fungicide, and herbicide products) can result in significant metabolic disruption and, consequently, in accumulation of nutritionally valuable amino acids within crop tissues. Importantly, these metabolic changes may not cause visible signs of stress or toxicity in the crop, and may represent an “invisible” mechanism underlying persistent P&P pressure in the field. Given the intensity of their use worldwide, their far-reaching and destructive consequences for wildlife and overall ecosystem health, and the continued prevalence of P&P-associated crop damage in agriculture, we recommend that the impacts of these cornerstone agricultural inputs on the nutritional relationship between crops and their P&Ps are closely examined in order to inform appropriate management for a more secure and sustainable food system.
Nutrition. Foods and food supply, Food processing and manufacture