Tekelab Cherent, Fekadu Beyene, Million Sileshi
et al.
Rural Ethiopian women play a critical yet under-documented role in farm production and household welfare, but entrenched socio-economic and cultural barriers persistently hinder their empowerment. This study examines the determinants of empowerment among 415 women farm households in Arsi Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia, using a mixed-methods approach that combines the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI), binary probit regression, structured surveys, and focus group discussions via multi-stage sampling (purposive selection of four districts, random selection of eight farmer associations, and stratification into microfinance participants and non-participants). Findings reveal that only 18% of women exceed the empowerment threshold, highlighting severe disempowerment driven by excessive workloads, lack of leisure time, limited social group involvement, and nervousness in public speaking a WEAI leadership indicator reflecting constrained agency amid cultural norms. Probit analysis identifies age, education, landholding size, livestock ownership, total assets, savings, aspirations, social capital, and dependency ratio as significant positive influencers, with education boosting empowerment probability by 19.2% and total assets by 30.9%. These results underscore the need for integrated, context-specific policies to enhance access to education, economic resources, and social networks, thereby fostering women's agency, inclusive rural development, and amplified agricultural contributions.
The transformation to Industry 4.0 has significantly revolutionized manufacturing and production processes, raising important questions about their impact on sustainability. This study aims to explore the interplay between Industry 4.0 and the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainability. The methodological approach includes advanced text-mining, sentiment analysis, and association rule-mining techniques to examine 6,759 abstracts from the Scopus database. The text mining highlighted frequent keywords related to Industry 4.0 and the three sustainability dimensions, characterized by “economic growth,” “circular economy,” “social responsibility,” “education 4.0,” “energy efficiency,” and “waste management.” Sentiment analysis revealed a predominantly positive perspective, with 2,608 positive sentiments out of 2,761 in the economic dimension, 1,604 out of 1,728 in the social dimension, and 1,352 out of 1,527 in the environmental dimension. The association rule mining uncovered the associations between Industry 4.0 and each sustainability dimension. The highest support was observed between Industry 4.0 and economic sustainability, with a support value of 0.444, confidence of 0.855, and a lift of 1.060. These findings highlight the role of Industry 4.0 in promoting resource efficiency and reducing waste through circular economy principles and advanced manufacturing technologies. For the social dimension, the analysis revealed a strong association with Industry 4.0 (support: 0.430, confidence: 0.831, lift: 1.030), emphasizing its role in enhancing worker safety and job satisfaction by automating hazardous tasks and creating new high-tech job opportunities. In the environmental dimension, a significant association was found (support: 0.380, confidence: 0.827, lift: 1.024), showing Industry 4.0′s contribution to sustainability through optimized energy consumption and emissions reduction as the integration of big data and IoT enables real-time monitoring of environmental impacts. The rule combining economic and social aspects with Industry 4.0 (support: 0.219, confidence: 0.87, lift: 1.078) highlights the interconnected nature of these dimensions, suggesting many studies consider economic and social dimensions together in the Industry 4.0 context.
Predictions on stock market prices are a noble task owing to huge complex, dynamic, and chaotic surroundings. Fast ups and downs arise in the stock market due to influences from foreign merchandise, such as sensitive political, stockholder, economic, and emotional behaviour. In the stock market, incessant unsettlement is the main reason why financiers give away at the wrong time and frequently fail to get a profit. While financing in the stock market, the stakeholders should not disremember the gamble of payment rule and reveal their assets to greater dangers. Discovering economic time series data and exhibiting the relationship between the stock trend and past data is the main method to resolve the issue. Machine learning (ML), a conventional technique, has also been considered for its ability to predict financial markets. This manuscript proposes a new Predicting Stock Price Movements with Combined Deep Learning Models and Two-Tier Metaheuristic Optimization (PSPMCDL-TTMO) method. The PSPMCDL-TTMO methodology employs an optimal deep learning model to forecast stock price movements, determining whether prices will rise or fall. At the primary stage, the PSPMCDL-TTMO model utilizes data pre-processing using Z-score normalization to ensure that the input features are standardized for consistent performance. For feature selection (FS), the dingo optimizer algorithm (DOA) is employed to optimize the most relevant and impactful features from historical stock data. In addition, the multi-head attention bi-directional gated recurrent unit (MHA-BiGRU) model is used for stock price movement prediction. Finally, the hyperparameter range of the MHA-BiGRU model is implemented by the design of the equilibrium optimizer (EO) model. The experimentation outcome analysis of the PSPMCDL-TTMO approach takes place, and the results are inspected using various features. The investigational validation of the PSPMCDL-TTMO technique attained a superior CORR value of 0.9999 over existing models.
Medical physics. Medical radiology. Nuclear medicine, Nuclear engineering. Atomic power
Osmanthus fragrans is an evergreen shrub with a pleasant fragrance and a wide range of applications in many fields. The condensed hydrolat obtained during the drying process of its fresh flowers was collected in a low-temperature vacuum environment and its sensory evaluation and volatile components were studied. The main aroma compounds in Osmanthus fragrans were dihydro-β-ionone, nonanal, β-cyclocitral, β-ionone, benzaldehyde, α-ionone, and 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, whose contents were used as the main evaluation criteria, and the hydrolats obtained under different scenting and drying times were compared. This process can effectively collect the aroma components in Osmanthus fragrans and the optimal drying conditions were 50 °C for 5 h. The hydrolat was used to provide the scent of osmanthus black tea, which had a fresher and mellower taste, while the fragrance of osmanthus was abundant. These results show that osmanthus hydrolat can be used to provide the scent of floral black tea. Chemical compounds studied in this article: (−)-Catechin (PubChem CID: 1203); (−)-epigallocatechin gallate (PubChem CID: 65064); (−)-epicatechin gallate (PubChem CID: 367141); (−)-epigallocatechin (PubChem CID: 72277); (−)-epicatechin (PubChem CID: 72276); (−)-gallocatechin gallate (PubChem CID: 199472); (−)-catechin gallate (PubChem CID: 6419835); (−)-gallocatechin (PubChem CID: 9882981).
Nutrition. Foods and food supply, Food processing and manufacture
Ayelén A. Hugo, María Delos Ángeles Serradell, Pablo L. Peri
et al.
Nothofagus antarctica (NA) is a native tree of Patagonia. Since ancient times, NA leaves were used in infusions for medical and food purposes, but there are no deep insights on its toxicity. The aim of this work was to assess the safety and antioxidant activity of NA leaves infusion. Mice were used to determine acute and subacute oral toxicity. Total polyphenols, flavonoids and the antioxidant activity of the infusion were assessed, as well as the antioxidant activity in biological samples. Toxicity tests revealed no death or signs of toxicity. No significant differences in biochemical parameters/histological structure were registered. NA infusion exhibited a high content of polyphenols and flavonoids, contributing to its remarkably antioxidant activity. The periodic administration of NA infusion could increase the antioxidant capacity in mice at intestinal level. The results support the safe of consuming NA leaves infusion and suggest their contribution for modulating the intestinal oxidative stress.
Nutrition. Foods and food supply, Food processing and manufacture
Muhammad, E. Elsorady, Elsayed, A.A. Hendawy, Sahar, S. El-Gohery
The main objective of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of flaxseed and to investigate the effects of using different levels of flaxseed cake mucilage (FCM) as a substitute for bread improver (0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5%) or as a replacement for oil (33.33%, 66.66%, and 100%) on the sensory attributes, physical characteristics, color, texture profile, and freshness of pan bread. The results indicated that the Sakha 5 flaxseed variety had an oil content of approximately 33.37%, with linolenic acid as the primary fatty acid, comprising about 57.47% of the total. Flaxseed cake mucilage (FCM), extracted from the by-product of flaxseed oil production, is composed of natural and acidic sugars, and it exhibits excellent water-binding and rheological properties. Sensory evaluation data revealed that the complete replacement of bread improver with FCM at the 1.0% level enhanced the color, texture, taste, general appearance, and overall acceptability of the pan bread, compared to samples using FCM at 0.5% and 1.5% levels. Additionally, partial replacement of oil with FCM at the 66.66% level improved crumb color and texture without a significant difference in overall acceptability when compared to the control pan bread. The physical characteristics of the bread showed a reduction in volume and specific volume in samples containing FCM compared to the control. However, the inclusion of FCM in pan bread formulation delayed staling and improved freshness due to its ability to retain moisture in the crumb. In conclusion, FCM shows potential as a functional ingredient in pan bread production. Further studies are recommended to explore additional applications of FCM in various baked products.
Food processing and manufacture, Nutrition. Foods and food supply
Kaori Sánchez-Carrillo, David Quintanar-Guerrero, Miguel José-Yacamán
et al.
L-lysine functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs-Lys) have been widely used for the detection of worldwide interest analytes. In this work, a colorimetric assay for the detection of the carcinogen aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) based on the aggregation of AuNPs-Lys in the presence of copper ions was developed. For this purpose, AuNPs were synthesized in citrate aqueous solution, functionalized, and further characterized by UV–Vis, fluorescence, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In general, AuNPS-Lys (~2.73 × 1011 particles) offered a clear colorimetric response in the presence of AFB1 and Cu2+ ions showing linearity in the range of 6.25 to 200 ng AFB1/mL, with a detection limit of 4.18 ng AFB1/mL via photometric inspection. Moreover, the performance of the proposed methodology was tested using the 991.31 AOAC official procedure based on monoclonal antibodies in maize samples artificially contaminated with AFB1. There was a good agreement between the measured AFB1 concentrations in both assays, the average recoveries for the colorimetric and immunoaffinity assays were between 91.2–98.4% and 96.0–99.2%, respectively. These results indicated that the colorimetric assay could be used as a rapid, eco-friendly, and cost-effective platform for the quantification of AFB1 in maize-based products.
The article relates to the formation of an original approach to the creation of a monitoring system for the scientific and technological sphere based on expert methods and ranking. The relevance of the topic is confirmed by the formation in the Russian Federation of a number of local monitoring subsystems that are difficult to connect with each other and do not provide in the aggregate the completeness of coverage of the scope of scientific research, development and technological work. The core element of this approach is the creation of a subsystem for monitoring scientific and technological results, evaluated by experts and organizations – recognized authorities in this field of science. The work of all other subsystems associated with the actors of scientific and technological activities, researchers, including experts, branches of science, regions of its placement, scientific journals, etc. is based on data samples presented in the central subsystem of positively evaluated scientific and technological results. The article also shows that such a system can provide not only the comparability of data from all subsystems of the R&D monitoring system, but also its completeness, transparency and resistance to voluntary and involuntary distortions. The proposed approach makes it possible to systematize attempts to digitalize the R&D sphere to ensure its full monitoring, as well as to increase the efficiency of each of its components.
The assessment of ecological assets is of great significance for protecting and using ecological resources. Traditional methods of ecological assets assessment, which adopt the planar area as the standard, often ignore the impact of the surface area, resulting in a large difference between the evaluation and the actual result. To fill this gap, this paper conducted research on ecological assets assessment based on surface area. Taking mainland China into consideration, this paper constructed a triangulation network based on 30 m resolution DEM data to simulate the real land surface form and calculate its surface area. Then, land use/cover data from 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015 were used to estimate the ecosystem service value (ESV) and analyze its spatial variation. This paper found that: (1) The surface area of mainland China is 1.04 × 107 km2, which is 8.2 × 105 km2 larger than the planar area; (2) A huge difference was found between the total ESV based on the surface and planar area, with an absolute difference of ∼$141.66-$144.14 billion and a relative difference of ∼ 10%. For different ecosystem types, the largest difference was found in the forest ecosystem, followed by the grassland ecosystem, while the wetland ecosystem showed the smallest difference; (3) The high value of absolute difference between the ESV based on the surface and planar area was concentrated in Tibet and Northeast China. The high value of relative difference was mainly distributed in Central and Southern China. On the provincial level, the absolute difference in Tibet ranked in the first place. There was a total of 14 provinces showing a relative difference above 10%; (4) The total ESV based on surface area was basically unchanged, while various ecosystems underwent significant changes. The ESV of wetland increased by nearly 50%, while the ESV of grassland decreased by more than 10%; and (5) Change in the ESV based on surface area showed obvious spatial heterogeneity. High-High cluster was located in Tibet and the Northeast China while the Low-Low cluster was distributed in the North China Plain and Xinjiang. This paper emphasized the importance of the surface area in resource survey and asset estimation and gave more effective suggestions for ecological protection.
This study examines the relationship between board independence and CSR expenditures on education, health and human and disaster relief for the case of Islamic banks in Bangladesh, Using unbalanced panel data from 2010 to 2020, the results indicate that board independence is positively and significantly associated with CSR expenditures on education and human and disaster relief sectors but is insignificantly related to the CSR expenditure on health. Thus, in forming the governance framework of Islamic banks, there is a need to have board independence to promote the social responsibility of Islamic banks. Indeed, our results suggest that it should be a regulatory requirement.
Roberta Calone, Simone Bregaglio, Rabab Sanoubar
et al.
Owing to the high interspecific biodiversity, halophytes have been regarded as a tool for understanding salt tolerance mechanisms in plants in view of their adaptation to climate change. The present study addressed the physiological response to salinity of six halophyte species common in the Mediterranean area: <i>Artemisia absinthium, Artemisia vulgaris, Atriplex halimus, Chenopodium album, Salsola komarovii</i>, and <i>Sanguisorba minor</i>. A 161-day pot experiment was conducted, watering the plants with solutions at increasing NaCl concentration (control, 100, 200, 300 and 600 mM). Fresh weight (FW), leaf stomatal conductance (GS), relative water content (RWC) and water potential (WP) were measured. A principal component analysis (PCA) was used to describe the relationships involving the variables that accounted for data variance. <i>A. halimus</i> was shown to be the species most resilient to salinity, being able to maintain FW up to 300 mM, and RWC and WP up to 600 mM; it was followed by <i>C. album</i>. Compared to them, <i>A. vulgaris</i> and <i>S. komarovii</i> showed intermediate performances, achieving the highest FW (<i>A. vulgaris</i>) and GS (<i>S. komarovii)</i> under salinity. Lastly, <i>S. minor</i> and <i>A. absinthium</i> exhibited the most severe effects with a steep drop in GS and RWC. Lower WP values appeared to be associated with best halophyte performances under the highest salinity levels, i.e., 300 and 600 mM NaCl.
How students with dyslexia are positioned by their language teachers and what roles teachers assume when working with this group of students have rarely been investigated. In this study, using positioning theory as a theoretical framework and collecting data by means of an in-depth semi-structured interview and lesson observations, which were subsequently coded, we enquired about the positioning of 10 in-service Croatian primary and secondary school teachers. We wanted to know how teacher participants positioned students with dyslexia and how they positioned themselves towards this group of students. The analysis revealed that participants expressed positive attitudes, whereas their positioning was diverse. Participants positioned themselves as caring teachers and teachers of all learners. By recognising various learner needs, they created an inclusive learning environment by adapting teaching approaches and providing accommodations. However, this caring resulted in emotion labour, with both emotional costs and rewards. These results imply that teaching students with dyslexia may be challenging, and we hope that discussing teacher positioning in this context can help educators better understand teacher agency when working with students with SpLDs.
The Inequality of production efficiency is one of the main factors contributing to inequalities in economic growth among different regions. This study examines the factors affecting production efficiency by using province-level data for the period 2006-2015 by applying spatial Tobit model and translog production function approach. Results show that Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari and Khorasan Razavi Provinces, have the highest and lowest efficiency 0.63 and 0.09 respectively. Also, the results of spatial Tobit model estimation show that industrialization with a coefficient of 0.0018 has a positive and significant effect and increase of ratio of credits to production with a coefficient of 0.0013 has a negative and significant effect on the production efficiency of provinces. In addition, the spillover effects of industrialization and the ratio of credits are -0.0104 and 0.0042 respectively. Therefore basic development of industry and allocation of resource on the relative advantage is one of the most important factors for improving the production efficiency and increasing economic growth.
Introdaction. The article uncovers the state of the institute of administrative liability in the field of urban planning considering current situation. The attention is focused on the main directions of transformation of development of administrative liability, the problems are described and the ways of their solution are proposed.
In connection with the implementation of various reforms, the existing urban construction relationships has radically changed and the new ones has emerged in the society, which are characterized by a tendency of growth. Therefore, considering new conditions and requirements, these relations require the introduction of new effective administrative and legal regulation. One of the important tools of this regulation is administrative liability in the field of urban planning, which helps to ensure compliance with the norms provided by law, state standards, construction codes, and rules.
The perspective directions of the evolution of the institute of administrative liability are the improvement of the system of administrative penalties by expanding their number and size and improving the system of subjects of responsibility.
Purpose and tasks. The purpose of the work is to determine the current state of scientific understanding of administrative liability in the field of urban planning on the basis of the analysis of theoretical foundations, regulatory system and practice, as well as to focus on the actual issues of its application in practice.
Results. It is proven that the institute of administrative liability in the field of urban planning undergoes transformation, but the scientific understanding of this process is not at the proper level.
Conclusions. In general, the institution of administrative liability in the field of urban planning requires substantial modernization, but not at the expense of making changes and additions to the current legislation, but on the basis of the creation of a new doctrine of understanding of administrative liability combined with the application of a systematic approach. All of the above will provide an opportunity for the creation of effective mechanisms for applying the institute of administrative liability in practice.
Deregulation of air transport has had major global impacts on the domestic air transport markets, with effects ranging from stimulation to changes in the structure and functioning of these markets. In South Africa, deregulation has had wide-reaching effects on the domestic market. The purpose of this article
was to investigate the impacts of deregulation on the airline industry in South Africa. A literature review was performed to examine the effects of deregulation in the domestic air transport market in South Africa. The study showed that deregulation has benefited passengers by including a wider variety of airlines to choose from and more frequencies throughout the day, making connecting flights to hubs more accessible. However, deregulation has also resulted in the entry of a lot of LCCs which has
resulted in overcapacity in the South African domestic market and negatively affected the performance of airlines. Although deregulation broke the monopoly held by the state-owned carrier and reduced its market share, state-funded support for SAA is seen by many to have skewed the market and to have
provided the airline with a competitive advantage. Partial and selective deregulation, designed to maintain the protection of national carriers, represents a considerable threat to private operators, thereby rendering the aviation business unprofitable, something that stifles the region’s tourism prospects.
Hospitality industry. Hotels, clubs, restaurants, etc. Food service, Business
Drago Pupavac, Helga Pavlić Skender, Aleksandar Skendžić
In Croatia, distributive trade is one of the most important economic sectors. The direct contribution of distributive trade to GDP in Croatia was 9,6% of total GDP in 2013. Another important fact is that distributive trade is a labor intensiveindustry. In Croatia, where problems such as high rate of unemployment, public debt, unfavorable trade balance systematically and cautiously planned distributive trade development plays an important role in the country's economy. It employs 205,849 people or 15,3% of the total labor force in Croatia. Economic crisis has diminished the importance of distributive trade in the creation of new jobs.Number of employees in this industry so decreased by 23.8 percent compared to 2008. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between the Gross Domestic Product(GDP), number of total employment and the number of distributive trade employees of the Republic of Croatia for periods 2000-2014. The methods of correlation and regression analyses are used to determine the possible contribution of trade sector as an economic activity in solution of the unemployment problem in Croatia by 2030. Data analysis and numerical calculations are performed using Statistical software.
In the context of the regionalization of the economy and globalization of world markets of goods and services the regions act as independent subjects of competition. In the market conditions regions competing with each other for investment resources (public, private and foreign), attracting businesses, taxpayers, as well as all sources of resources and markets. In article basic indicators of social and economic development of regions of Kazakhstan are analyzed, methodological approaches to measurement of regional competitiveness by calculation of traditional indicators and integrated indicators are systematized. Negative consequences of the advancing development of raw sector which are reduced to the following are revealed: social and economic differentiation of regions increases; there is an exhaustion of a source of raw materials.The advancing development of raw sector leads to emergence of the problem non-oil regions which are characterized by rather low level of the real monetary income of the population, low budgetary supply at the expense of own sources of the income.
Economic growth, development, planning, Economics as a science