Global Capacity Research Articles

The Role of Global Physical Capacity Score in Key Parameters of Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD)

Background: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is linked to metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. This study investigates the relationship between physical capacity, assessed by the Global Physical Capacity Score (GPCS), and MASLD-related parameters, including hepatic steatosis (CAP score), insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and body mass index (BMI). Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was performed on 204 individuals with MASLD (mean age: 50 years; 57.6% males). Participants underwent physical tests to determine their GPCS. Hepatic steatosis was assessed using FibroScan® (Echosens, Paris, France), and metabolic markers were collected from fasting blood samples. Statistical analyses included linear and logistic regression models adjusted for potential confounders. Results: A higher GPCS was inversely associated with CAP (β = −5.30; p < 0.05), HOMA-IR (β = −0.28; p < 0.001), and BMI (β = −0.96; p < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis confirmed a lower risk of severe hepatic steatosis (OR = 0.44; p < 0.05), obesity (OR = 0.39; p < 0.05), and insulin resistance (OR = 0.32; p < 0.001) in individuals with higher GPCS values. Conclusions: The GPCS may indicate MASLD severity and reflect metabolic and hepatic health. Our findings support the promotion of physical activity and suggest a potential role for GPCS in risk stratification and personalized interventions for patients with MASLD.

Linking Evaluation Theory and Practice: Exploring Ray Rist’s Enduring Legacy

Background: Over the course of his career, Ray C. Rist made substantial contributions to advancing evaluation theory and practice globally. This includes leading the International Research Group for Policy and Program Evaluation (INTEVAL) for nearly forty years, overseeing the publication of approximately forty books in the Comparative Policy Evaluation series. Purpose: This special edition explores Ray Rist's influence and legacy over his career, and specifically through INTEVAL, examining how his achievements have impacted the domains of evaluation, audit, and learning. The aim is to identify enduring lessons for evaluators, auditors and policy makers regarding some of the issues addressed by Ray and INTEVAL. Setting: The special edition encompasses the influence and legacy of Ray throughout his career spanning academia, government, international institutions, and voluntary service. Intervention: Not applicable. Research Design: Not applicable. Data Collection and Analysis: Contributors analyzed Ray's publication record, citation impacts, leadership approach, and collaborative methodologies. They also examine the influence of some of INTEVAL’s publications under the leadership of Ray and their influence on evaluative thinking and practice. The special edition draws on historical analysis, case studies, and theoretical frameworks to examine Ray's contributions to evaluation theory and practice, with particular focus on his collaborative work within INTEVAL and other organizations. Findings: Ray Rist's nearly 200 publications have been cited almost 13,000 times, with significant impact both in his early academic work and later evaluation publications. His leadership style created a productive voluntary network of evaluation professionals that has sustained itself for four decades. Key contributions include pioneering work on policy instruments, results-based monitoring and evaluation systems, evaluation in accountability structures, and global evaluation capacity development. This special edition documents how Ray's collaborative approach advanced evaluation theory while maintaining strong connections to practice across diverse global contexts.

A new tool to screen biodegradable polymers as technically and commercially viable fertiliser coatings.

A new tool to screen biodegradable polymers as technically and commercially viable fertiliser coatings.

Maternal Emotion Regulation and Parenting: A Physiological Perspective.

The psychological capacity for emotion regulation (ER) facilitates sensitive caregiving and fosters positive child outcomes. Parasympathetic regulation, indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), is an important physiological component of ER. While growing evidence supports the link between parents' physiological ER and parenting behaviors, few studies distinguish parents' global ER capacity from ER in parenting-specific contexts, which can provide important insights for intervention. The current study examines the links between parenting behaviors, global ER (operationalized as resting RSA, measured during a baseline task), and parenting-specific ER (operationalized as phasic RSA change, measured during responses to the child-related questions for the Adult Attachment Interview [AAI]). Mothers (N=169) and their toddlers participated in this study. Parenting behaviors were assessed through a standardized parent-child interaction task, yielding scores for overall parenting behaviors, overall parenting contingency, and specific parenting behaviors. Regression models suggested that resting RSA was positively associated with overall parenting behaviors and contingency, sensitivity to cues, and cognitive growth-fostering. Positive phasic RSA change (i.e., RSA augmentation) was significantly associated with overall parenting behaviors and social-emotional growth-fostering over and above resting RSA. Both global ER and parenting-specific ER may be promising targets for interventions to improve parenting behaviors.

Global readiness for carbon neutrality: From targets to action.

Global readiness for carbon neutrality: From targets to action.

The one health paradigm: a review

The One Health paradigm aims to achieve optimal health outcomes by recognizing the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment. The increasing emergence of zoonotic diseases, environmental disruptions, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) calls for an integrated and transdisciplinary approach. This review explores the origin and evolution of the One Health concept, its core principles, its alignment with primary health care strategies, and its role in combating zoonotic diseases and AMR. Special attention is given to the Indian context, highlighting significant national initiatives that illustrate the implementation of One Health. By analyzing current frameworks, we also emphasize the necessity of intersectoral collaboration, policy integration, and sustainable practices. The review concludes with recommendations for future directions, including global surveillance, community participation, and capacity building. Overall, the One Health approach presents a comprehensive strategy to confront global health challenges through unified efforts in human, animal, and environmental health sectors.

Overview of global governance, capacity, and health systems implication of pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response: A narrative review and descriptive analysis of open-source data.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response (PPPR) in global health. This review first examined global health governance (GHG) for PPPR, identifying its core-satellite structure. Key GHG functions include rule-setting, resource mobilization, medical countermeasures (MCMs) supply, surveillance and data/pathogen sharing with rapid response, and One Health. Major gaps exist in global collaboration, enforcement of the International Health Regulations (IHR), and the World Health Organization's (WHO) capacity. The most urgent issue is pathogen access and benefit-sharing (PABS). Second, the PPPR capacity across world regions were assessed using two public datasets: eSPAR and GHS Index. Sub-Saharan Africa requires urgent support to strengthen most PPPR aspects, while epidemiological and laboratory surveillance, infection prevention and control (IPC), and regulatory functions need improvement in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in various regions outside Europe. Japan, with its strong PPPR capacity, is well-positioned to assist. Lastly, the review explored the link between PPPR and health systems strengthening (HSS). PPPR must be firmly integrated into HSS to ensure resilience, equity, inclusiveness, continuity of care, and sustainability. Core health system components - service delivery, workforce, health information systems, MCMs access, and governance - along with communication and trust-building, effectively contribute to PPPR. However, pandemic exceptionalism and the over-securitization of PPPR and health security may hinder coordination. The enhanced GHG for PPPR, led by the empowered WHO, should effectively facilitate and coordinate technical assistance to LMICs to strengthen their PPPR capacities and promote PPPR-HSS integration by bringing together the often-divided health security and HSS communities.

Angiotensin II-induced cardiac fibrosis and dysfunction are exacerbated by deletion of cGKI in periostin+ myofibroblasts.

Differentiation of cardiac fibroblasts (CF) into myofibroblasts (CMFs) is considered a critical event in response to the maladaptive cardiac remodeling triggered by angiotensin II (Ang II). Active CMFs are proliferative and contribute to the production of extracellular matrix and matricellular proteins such as periostin, to myocardial fibrosis and thus muscle stiffness. Although previous studies provided substantial evidence for the antifibrotic signaling elicited by NO/NP-cGMP-cGKI, the role of this axis in modulating CMF function(s) in vivo remains unclear.To address this, Ang II was delivered through osmotic minipumps into tamoxifen-induced CMF-specific cGKI knockout (cmfKO) and littermate control (CTR) male mice. CMF-restricted Cre activity in periostin+ cells resulted in an effective depletion of the cGKI protein observed in myocardial sections and in primary CF/CMF protein lysates obtained from Ang II-and tamoxifen-treated cmfKO. Although both genotypes responded identically to Ang II in terms of blood pressure and cardiac enlargement, cmfKO hearts showed significantly increased cardiomyocyte cross-sectional areas and developed a marked increase in myocardial fibrosis. Moreover, non-invasive echocardiography revealed a structure-related distortion of global systolic function and longitudinal deformation capacity in cmfKO versus CTR. Consistent with the results obtained in vivo, we observed a higher proliferation rate of CF/CMF derived from Ang II-treated cmfKO hearts compared to respective CTR cells as well as an increase in cardiomyocyte apoptosis in the absence of cGKI in periostin+ CMF. Our data confirm that endogenous cGKI function in periostin+ CMFs counteracts the Ang II-induced morphologic and structural changes that impair cardiomyocyte survival ultimately causing loss of heart function in male mice.

Detecting and calibrating large biases in global onshore wind power assessment across temporal scales

The global capacity for wind power has grown rapidly in recent years, yet uncertainties in wind power density (WPD) assessments still hinder effective climate change mitigation efforts. One major challenge is the significant underestimation of WPD when using coarser temporal resolutions (∆t) of wind speed data. Here, we show that using daily ∆t results in an average underestimation of 35.6% in global onshore WPD compared to hourly ∆t. This discrepancy arises from the exponential decay of WPD with increasing ∆t, reflecting the intrinsic properties of wind speed distributions, particularly in regions with weaker winds. To address this, we propose a calibration method that introduces a correction coefficient to reduce biases and harmonize WPD estimates across temporal resolutions. Applying this method to future wind energy projections under the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway 585 scenario increases global onshore WPD estimates by 25% by 2100, compared to uncorrected daily data. These findings highlight the effectiveness of calibration in reducing uncertainties, enhancing WPD assessments, and facilitating robust policy action toward carbon neutrality.

A Collaborative Policy Study on the Low-Carbon Transition of the Shipping Industry Based on a Tripartite Game Model

The global shipping industry is under urgent pressure to achieve a low-carbon transition. The implementation of the European Unions carbon tax policy, combined with the ambiguity of Chinas domestic regulations, has placed shipping enterprises under dual pressures of emission reduction compliance and rising operational costs. This study constructs a tripartite dynamic game model involving shipping enterprises, the Chinese government, and the European Union. Using backward induction and Python-based numerical simulation, it quantitatively analyzes the impacts of carbon tax and subsidy policies on enterprises low-carbon investments, route capacity allocation, and expected returns. The findings reveal that a combination of high carbon taxes and high subsidies can promote an increase in the proportion of low-carbon investments by enterprises, albeit at the cost of a sharp decline in short-term profits. The EUs carbon tax policy transmits regulatory pressure through adjustments in route capacity, forcing enterprises to optimize their global capacity networks. However, technological bottlenecks in emission reduction limit the effectiveness of policy incentives, requiring technological innovation to break through marginal abatement constraints. This study proposes a dynamic investmentflexible capacitydata-driven decision-making framework, offering strategic support for enterprises to cope with international carbon regulations and providing a theoretical basis for government policy design.

The Role of Renewable Energy in Achieving Sustainable Energy Goals

The global energy transition is being driven by the urgency to address climate change, reduce energy poverty, and create a more sustainable energy system. Renewable energy, with its potential to provide affordable, clean, and abundant power, plays a central role in achieving these objectives. Renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and biomass, are integral to meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7), which calls for universal access to modern, reliable, and sustainable energy. This paper explores the current state of renewable energy, its technological advancements, and the challenges that need to be overcome for large-scale deployment, with a focus on how renewable energy can contribute to achieving global sustainability targets. The transition to renewable energy is pivotal in addressing climate change, promoting economic growth, and ensuring sustainable development. In 2024, renewable energy sources accounted for 92.5% of new electricity generation globally, with China contributing nearly 64% of this capacity, primarily through solar installations. Despite this progress, the global renewable energy capacity reached 4,448 GW, falling short of the 11.2 TW target set for 2030, indicating the need for accelerated efforts to meet sustainable energy goals.

Modeling the Knowledge Production Function Based on Bibliometric Information

An integral indicator of the development of society is the amount of knowledge, which can be measured by the number of accumulated publications in the form of patents, articles, and books. Knowledge production is examined on a global scale. We analyze existing econometric models and develop a generalized model that expresses the per capita knowledge production rate (called productivity) as a function of the amount of accumulated knowledge. The function interpolates two extreme cases, the first of which describes an underdeveloped society with very little knowledge and non-zero productivity, and the second, a highly developed society with a large amount of knowledge and productivity that grows according to a power law as knowledge accumulates. The model is calibrated using literature data on the number of patents, articles, and books. For comparison, we also consider the rapid growth in the global information storage capacity that has been observed since the 1980s. Based on the model developed, we can distinguish between two states of society: (1) a pre-information society, in which the knowledge amount is below a certain threshold and productivity is quite low, and (2) an information society with a super-threshold amount of knowledge and its rapid accumulation due to advanced computer technologies. An analysis shows that the transition to an information society occurred in the 1980s.

Enhancing human and animal health data integration and informed actions for pandemic preparedness at the primary healthcare level: a multisectoral conceptual framework.

A key priority for strengthening global health capacity for pandemic response is rapid risk assessment for timely, context-specific decision-making. However, integrating human and animal health data for preparedness remains a challenge, especially at the primary healthcare (PHC) level. Here we review Vietnam's pandemic response and propose a conceptual framework for improving data integration across sectors in low- and middle-income countries. Despite the country's progress in health information systems and telehealth, disparities in data use and coordination between human and animal health sectors hindered effective responses. Existing mechanisms between healthcare and veterinary professionals lack integrated data-sharing, delaying risk communication and crisis management, particularly in rural areas with limited IT access and infrastructure. The proposed model includes five components: data interoperability with standardised indicators for real-time synthesis; robust digital health infrastructure and telehealth expansion; capacity building in data management for health and veterinary professionals; epidemic intelligence tools for risk assessment; and evidence-driven decision-making for coordinated epidemic responses. This model offers a pathway to strengthen health systems and improve pandemic preparedness at the PHC level in Vietnam and similar settings.

Global production capacity of seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccines in 2023.

Global production capacity of seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccines in 2023.

The future of Global Surgery amidst funding cuts

The landscape of Global Surgery is facing a huge challenge due to significant cuts in overseas aid from major donors, particularly the United States and the United Kingdom. Historically, these two nations have provided essential funding for care and research programmes in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, recent policy shifts have seen drastic cuts in international health funding, with the UK government reducing its overseas aid budget from 0.7% to 0.5% of Gross National Income, a reduction amounting to over £4 billion annually. The US has also implemented substantial funding reductions, with USAID’s global health budget cut by approximately 20% and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) facing a 9% reduction in funding for international collaborations. These cuts directly impact programmes under USAID and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which have historically played a crucial role in global surgical capacity building.

Enhancing rapid response mechanisms for global health emergencies: Challenges, innovations and the path forward: A review

Global health emergencies, such as pandemics, natural disasters, and bioterrorism, highlight the importance of rapid response mechanisms (RRMs) in mitigating health crises. This study examines the current practices, challenges, and emerging innovations in RRMs, drawing on qualitative analyses of case studies, literature, and stakeholder interviews. The findings reveal significant disparities in resource allocation, coordination challenges, and inequities in global response capabilities. Advancements in artificial intelligence, telemedicine, and policy frameworks offer promising solutions, but persistent gaps in equity and preparedness remain. The study concludes with actionable recommendations to enhance RRMs, emphasizing the need for integrated global efforts, capacity building, and equitable resource distribution to strengthen health system resilience.

A Data-Driven Decision Support System for Wave Power Plant Location Selection

Vietnam has a coastline of over 3260 km and an exclusive economic zone extending 200 nautical miles, providing favorable conditions for the development of wave energy. Exploring and harnessing this endless energy source to maximize the use of the available resources is essential for sustainable economic development. According to research conducted by the Institute of Marine and Island Research, the total global exploitable wave energy capacity is 212 TWh per year, accounting for nearly 1% of the global total and 90% of Vietnam’s annual electricity consumption needs. However, selecting the optimal location to construct wave energy production plants requires the consideration of various criteria, including efficiency potential, economic and social, technological, transport and environment factors. In this research, the authors propose a hybrid MCDM model including a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) and Interactive Multi-Criteria Decision-Making method (TODIM) under a fuzzy environment for wave power plant location selection in Vietnam. A real-world application of the approach is given to showcase the effectiveness of the proposed method, where three potential locations are assessed based on 14 criteria. The research results propose priority locations for project implementation, while providing a scientific basis for policymakers and investors in the decision-making process. This study contributes to promoting the development of renewable energy and efficiently utilizing Vietnam’s marine resources.

Geological resource production constrained by regional water availability.

Although the global economy requires geological resource mining, production has substantial environmental impacts, including the use of regional available water. In this study, we shed light on the global production capacity of 32 mined geological resources, considering regional water availability as a constraint. We found that current resource mining greatly exceeds regional water constraints for several, notably copper (37% of current production exceeds available water capacity) in 2010. Changing the location of production to regions of lower water stress would alleviate current exceedances of water constraints; however, considering economic factors shows that this is not always feasible. Future demand for geological resources is expected to require a considerable increase in water consumption. Considering the constraints of water resources in geological resource production is crucial for sustainability.

Efficient deep learning-based tomato leaf disease detection through global and local feature fusion

In the context of intelligent agriculture, tomato cultivation involves complex environments, where leaf occlusion and small disease areas significantly impede the performance of tomato leaf disease detection models. To address these challenges, this study proposes an efficient Tomato Disease Detection Network (E-TomatoDet), which enhances tomato leaf disease detection effectiveness by integrating and amplifying global and local feature perception capabilities. First, CSWinTransformer (CSWinT) is integrated into the backbone of the detection network, substantially improving tomato leaf diseases’ global feature-capturing capacity. Second, a Comprehensive Multi-Kernel Module (CMKM) is designed to effectively incorporate large, medium, and small local capturing branches to learn multi-scale local features of tomato leaf diseases. Moreover, the Local Feature Enhance Pyramid (LFEP) neck network is developed based on the CMKM module, which integrates multi-scale features across different detection layers to acquire more comprehensive local features of tomato leaf diseases, thereby significantly improving the detection performance of tomato leaf disease targets at various scales under complex backgrounds. Finally, the proposed model’s effectiveness was validated on two datasets. Notably, on the tomato leaf disease dataset, E-TomatoDet improved the mean Average Precision (mAP50) by 4.7% compared to the baseline model, reaching 97.2% and surpassing the advanced real-time detection network YOLOv10s. This research provides an effective solution for efficiently detecting vegetable pests and disease issues.

Injective capacity and cogeneration

Let M M and N N be modules over a commutative ring R R with N N Noetherian. We define the injective capacity of M M with respect to N N over R R to be the supremum of the values t t for which N ⊕ t N^{\oplus t} embeds into M M . In a dual fashion, we deem the number of cogenerators of N N with respect to M M over R R to be the infimum of the numbers t t for which N N embeds into M ⊕ t M^{\oplus t} . We demonstrate that the global injective capacity is the infimum of its local analogues and that the global number of cogenerators is the supremum of the corresponding local invariants. We also prove enhanced versions of these statements and consider the graded case.