IntroductionThe importance of nurturing care for child development is well-established, and parents play a central role in providing this care. However, cultural values and traditions can influence child-rearing practices, and there are gaps in child welfare in Ecuador. Two research questions delve into caregivers’ definitions of nurturing care for children aged 0–5 and its alignment with World Health Organization’s concept.MethodsA qualitative methodology was applied to comprehensively explore caregivers’ perspectives and application of nurturing care across diverse cultural contexts in rural areas of Cotopaxi and Loja in Ecuador. Using snowball sampling primary caregivers, healthcare professionals, childcare workers, and community leaders were interviewed and participated in focus groups, examining its congruence with WHO’s Nurturing Care Framework for Early Childhood Development.ResultsWhile there is alignment with the WHO framework, the study reveals challenges such as a lack of awareness of the term “nurturing care” among participants. Findings also indicate issues in health communication, reliance on traditional medicine, and myths around nutritional practices. The role of technology in early learning is explored, noting both its advantages and disadvantages. Notably, preventive health activities were not mentioned, emphasizing a universal need for knowledge.ConclusionThis study urges tailored interventions for nurturing care, emphasizing success tied to robust healthcare and child protection. Urgency lies in cultural sensitivity, local adaptation, and targeted training for implementation. These insights contribute significantly to the global discourse, stressing the importance of context-specific approaches. Implications are crucial for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers dedicated to elevating care quality for vulnerable populations worldwide.

PurposeThis study aims to explore how institutional quality impacts private capital participation in large-scale infrastructure development, particularly in public–private partnership (PPP) projects, aiming to enhance incentives for private sector involvement.Design/methodology/approachBuilding on new institutional theory, a triangular theoretical framework was constructed to analyze the high participation of private capital in PPP projects, focusing on seven key institutional factors. Data from 1,319 PPP projects across 36 Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries from 2015 to 2020 were then analyzed using a combination of necessary condition analysis (NCA) and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to evaluate the combined impact and interactions of these factors.FindingsResults indicate that high private capital participation does not hinge on a single institutional quality factor but results from the synergistic influence of multiple factors. The paths leading to high private capital participation can be categorized as regulatory-led, normative-cognitive synergistic, regulatory-normative synergistic and institutional failure-led. Among these, regulatory quality plays a central role in the regulatory-led; the synergy between political stability and voice and accountability is pivotal in the normative-cognitive synergistic, and the rule of law, in combination with voice and accountability, is essential to the regulatory-normative synergistic.Originality/valueThis research systematically examines the multidimensional impact of institutional quality, revealing how different institutional factors interact to influence private capital’s willingness to participate and behavior. It enriches applied research in institutional economics within PPP projects and provides a new theoretical perspective and methodological framework to the scholarly community.

Abstract Of all the principles in classical Jewish law that stand out from a comparative legal perspective perhaps none is more notable than the ban on self-incrimination in criminal procedures. Contrary to the most basic evidentiary assumptions of other ancient legal systems, this principle differs fundamentally from the right to remain silent that is part of both early modern and modern legal systems. Only rabbinic jurisprudence incorporates an outright exclusion of criminal confessions. Despite receiving much scholarly attention over the centuries, this principle’s fundamental justification relating to the rule of law and the public pursuit of justice has gone unnoticed. This article explores this salient jurisprudential perspective, and sheds new light on this principle by contrasting the Jewish legal approach with the primary modes of criminal adjudication that were adopted in the West. What emerges from this comparative analysis is that this seemingly anomalous principle actually reveals much about the core commitments and values of Jewish law. These, in turn, have substantial implications for certain contemporary legal practices and dilemmas.

Abstract Background Understanding the environmental impacts on root growth and root health is essential for effective agricultural and environmental management. Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) technology provides a non-destructive method for detailed analysis and monitoring of plant tissues and organ development, but unfortunately examples for its application to root systems and the root-soil interface are very scarce. There is also a notable lack of standardized guidelines for image acquisition and data analysis pipelines. Methods This study investigated HSI techniques for analyzing rhizobox-grown root systems across various imaging configurations, from the macro- to micro-scale, using the imec VNIR SNAPSCAN camera. Focusing on three graminoid species with different root architectures allowed us to evaluate the influence of key image acquisition parameters and data processing techniques on the differentiation of root, soil, and root-soil interface/rhizosheath spectral signatures. We compared two image classification methods, Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM) and K-Means clustering, and two machine learning approaches, Random Forest (RF) and Support Vector Machine (SVM), to assess their efficiency in automating root system image classification. Results Our study demonstrated that training a RF model using SAM classifications, coupled with wavelength reduction using the second derivative spectra with Savitzky-Golay (SG) smoothing, provided reliable classification between root, soil, and the root-soil interface, achieving 88–91% accuracy across all configurations and scales. Although the root-soil interface was not clearly resolved, it helped to improve the distinction between root and soil classes. This approach effectively highlighted spectral differences resulting from the different configurations, image acquisition settings, and among the three species. Utilizing this classification method can facilitate the monitoring of root biomass and future work investigating root adaptations to harsh environmental conditions. Conclusions Our study addressed the key challenges in HSI acquisition and data processing for root system analysis and lays the groundwork for further exploration of VNIR HSI application across various scales of root system studies. This work provides a full data analysis pipeline that can be utilized as an online Python-based tool for the semi-automated analysis of root-soil HSI data.

ABSTRACT Transboundary water resources are essential for agricultural sustainability and regional development, and they are intrinsically linked to achieving the United Nations' SDGs and the water-food-energy nexus (WFE-NEXUS) concept. Despite challenges such as conflicting allocation and climate change impacts, effective transboundary water management for irrigation is crucial to meeting the SDGs of eradicating hunger, providing clean water and sanitation, offering affordable and sustainable energy, and taking climate action. This work synthesizes approaches to transboundary water for irrigation optimization, highlighting the significance of a holistic plan that considers both technical and social factors. Remote-sensing technologies, data forecasting, hydrology and hydraulic modelling, and water resource modelling all contribute to maximize water allocation and policy creation, particularly when paired with collaborative government features. This integrated approach to transboundary water for irrigation optimization fosters long-term development by improving livelihoods, resilience, and inclusive growth through efficient resource management.

Background and Aim: Videos are popular in the dissemination of knowledge at scale, which can be seen in various video-based platforms and educational disruption. However, inconsistent results were reported in studies. This research is designed to determine the effectiveness of social cues in self-produced micro video lectures on parasocial interaction, motivational interest, extraneous cognitive load, and concept learning performance and the relationship among them. Materials and Methods: Self-produced videos for learning concepts of morality and the rule of law in junior high schools were used as the treatment. Tests were used to determine concept learning performance and Likert scales were utilized to collect information on the other three variables. 248 students from the eighth grade in a public school were involved in the sample. One-way ANOVA was used to analyze differences among groups, and path analysis as well as was adopted to determine the relationship between variables. Results: There was no significant difference among the four groups on each variable. Parasocial interaction has a significant positive impact on motivational interest, motivational interest has a negative significant impact on extraneous cognitive load, and extraneous cognitive load has a negative significant impact on concept learning performance. Conclusion: The effects of the increment of types of social cues can be ignored in 6-minute self-produced video lectures. Students’ parasocial interaction can influence concept learning performance via the mediation of the cognition process and motivational factors. The extraneous cognitive load decreases with the stimulation of the motivational interest.

The wastewater of Chlortetracycline (CTC) poses a threat to the balance of aquatic ecosystems, promoting the formation and dissemination of antibiotic‐resistant bacterial strains in the aquatic environment. Moreover, such pollution can directly or indirectly affect human health through water sources, exacerbating the issue of antibiotic resistance. In response to this pollution challenge, Amino‐modified salix wood powder membrane(ASPPM) was prepared by phase transition and wet spinning techniques, aimed at removing CTC from water bodies. Adsorption experiment results show that the ASPPM maximum adsorption capacity for CTC is 458.99 mg/g. In the desorption process, the highest desorption rate of ASPPM for CTC was 79.65%. By fitting pseudo‐first‐order and pseudo‐second‐order kinetic models, it is found that the adsorption process of ASPPM on CTC is predominantly chemical adsorption. By fitting three isotherm models, it is found that the adsorption behavior of ASPPM on CTC is more in accordance with the Freundlich isotherm model, indicating multilayer adsorption on heterogeneous surfaces. The preparation of ASPPM study not only transforms renewable biomass materials into effective tools for environmental purification but also offers a cost‐effective new approach for sustainable environmental management, expanding the application of biomass materials in the field of environmental protection.

The issue of environmental waste production has increased substantially, and educational institutions have become initiating agents because of their research and practical activities. This research work has the following objectives: To assess and analyze the environmental aspects and environmental impacts created by the chemistry laboratories at the Institute of Health and Biotechnology (IHB) in Coari, Amazonas, using management methodologies. The FMEA and Cleaner Production (CP) approaches were applied for risk assessment and decision-making to identify risks and propose preventive measures. It becomes clear that the Environmental Risk Index (ERI) guides activities toward managing or reducing risk. In the 67 cases of the process, 32 of them were assessed as priorities, two of which are high risk and require action. The results include the following objectives for a Waste Management System (WMS) suited to the environment in the institution: compliance with current environmental laws or regulations and the creation of a safer environment for students to work and learn.

ABSTRACT After more than five decades of practice, environmental impact assessment (EIA) has failed to convince sceptics that it represents value for money. It increasingly overlaps with constantly emerging sustainability requirements. The completed assessments are extremely long, exceed the cognitive capacities of decision makers to assimilate information, cannot address motivated reasoning, and therefore inevitably lead to trade-offs that threaten the very environmental components EIA was designed to protect. In this paper, for the minority of nations with highly developed existing environmental legislation and management only, we propose three radical approaches that include: (1) the adoption of ‘satisficing’, to deliver a streamlined assessment that is good enough; underpinned by (2) better application of ‘acceptable harmrules’ embedded in existing environmental legislation in many jurisdictions to prevent significant harm to environmental media; and (3) an ‘externalities charge’ on developers (irrespective of whether EIA is required) to force more aggressive scoping through market incentives and to fund a shift towards adaptive environmental assessment and management that manages environmental outcomes. Better environmental protections could be delivered using a far more streamlined EIA process, associated with the creation and maintenance of more accurate and comprehensive datasets that can provide better evidence for emerging artificial intelligence tools.