Global Management Research Articles

GenAI’s Impact on Global IT Management: A Multi-Expert Perspective and Research Agenda

ABSTRACT Generative AI (GenAI) is disrupting global IT management and challenging established practice. The increasing use of GenAI technology is redefining localization, transforming existing workforce roles, outsourcing strategy, and team dynamics. Simultaneously, GenAI’s security complexities have prompted the rethinking of existing risk frameworks to meet a new set of challenges from GenAI enhanced cyber threats. This article explores these complex and converging factors, providing a roadmap to address GenAI’s significant impact on global IT management. We advocate the responsible adoption of GenAI and importance of building resilient, value-driven, globally consistent IT ecosystems able to adapt to the significant challenges and opportunities from the use of GenAI.

Beyond Compliance: Leveraging Regulatory Compliance to Drive Innovation in Food Supply Chain Traceability

Purpose: The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) 204, effective January 2026, represents a transformative shift in global food supply chain management, emphasizing proactive over reactive traceability. This research investigates FSMA 204's regulatory framework, associated challenges, and its potential to drive innovation. Methodology: Through qualitative analysis and case studies of Trustwell and Campbell Soup Company, the study identifies the dual role of FSMA 204 as both a compliance mandate and a catalyst for operational advancements. Key challenges include high compliance costs, technological integration barriers, and limited timelines. However, the regulation incentivizes the adoption of advanced technologies such as blockchain for secure record-keeping, IoT for real-time monitoring, and AI/ML for predictive analytics, which collectively enhance transparency, efficiency, and competitive differentiation. These innovations turn regulatory obligations into opportunities for businesses to optimize supply chain processes, improve consumer trust, and achieve sustainability. Case studies demonstrate how strategic planning and the use of traceability technologies enable compliance while promoting ESG goals. Findings: The findings underscore the importance of proactive strategies and technological investments to navigate FSMA 204's requirements effectively. Unique Contribution to Theory, Policy and Practice: This research contributes to the discourse by framing FSMA 204 compliance as a strategic enabler for businesses to foster growth and sustainability, positioning it as a global benchmark for traceability standards. By leveraging these insights, food industry stakeholders can transform compliance challenges into pathways for innovation and resilience.

Development of the Low Back Pain Self-Management App Review Tool (LBP-SMART) for consumers to assess the quality, behaviour change and self-management potential of LBP smartphone apps

Purpose Low back pain (LBP) poses global health management and economic challenges. Self-management of LBP is critical, and smartphone apps have great potential to facilitate LBP self-management. This study aimed to co-design a LBP Self-Management App Review Tool (LBP-SMART) for consumers to assess the quality, behaviour change and self-management potential of LBP self-management apps for LBP rehabilitation. Methods Two-phase prospective cross-sectional design. Consumers and health professionals participated in four online co-design workshops, underpinned by the Co-KT framework, to develop a consumer-level assessment tool for LBP self-management smartphone apps. User evaluation of the tool (LBP-SMART) was then undertaken. Results Four stakeholders (consumers n = 2, health professionals n = 2) with the guidance of researchers (n = 3) participated in the workshops. The LBP-SMART was developed, consisting of seven categories: 1)Safety; 2)Download process; 3)Look, function and feel; 4)Customisation; 5)Goals and self-monitoring; 6)Enabling sharing and 7)Additional features. Five additional participants undertook user evaluation. All reported that the tool was easy to use/understand, and the order/sequencing was appropriate. The LBP-SMART has content validity based on evidence, stakeholder and expert views. Conclusion The LBP-SMART guides consumers and health professionals on appropriate app choice with quality, and self-management and behaviour change potential features that may improve LBP rehabilitation outcomes.

Response of soil organic carbon stocks and soil microbial biomass carbon to natural grassland conversion: A global meta-analysis.

Natural grasslands worldwide are increasingly being converted into other land-use types, such as cropland and forest, thereby impacting soil carbon cycles and stocks. Soil organic carbon (SOC) is essential for regulating soil properties and microbial communities, while microbial biomass carbon (MBC) is the most active fraction of the SOC pool, both of which play pivotal roles in the global carbon cycle. Here, we performed a meta-analysis on 623 and 85 individual observations from 85 peer-reviewed articles to quantitatively evaluate the effect of grassland conversion on SOCS and MBC. Overall, conversions significantly reduced SOCS and MBC by 10.11% and 30.63%, respectively. Notably, the impact varied by conversion type: converting grassland to forest, cropland, and plantation reduced SOCS by 7.69%, 16.47%, and 20.55%, respectively. Meanwhile, converting grassland to cropland and abandoned land decreased MBC by 47.80% and 38.74%, respectively. Environmental factors such as mean annual temperature (MAT), mean annual precipitation (MAP), soil total nitrogen (TN), and soil carbon-to‑nitrogen ratio (C/N) influenced these changes. SOCS and MBC were positively correlated with MAT, soil C/N and TN. Specifically, when the C/N or TN of the converted soil exceeded 1.21 or 1.11 times that of the original grassland, SOCS would exhibit a trend of carbon sequestration. Our findings provide valuable insights for global soil carbon sequestration and land use management policies.

Global distribution and sustainable management of Asian corn borer (ACB), Ostrinia furnacalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae): recent advancement and future prospects.

The Asian corn borer (ACB), Ostrinia furnacalis (Guenée, 1854), is a serious pest of several crops, particularly a destructive pest of maize and other cereals throughout most of Asia, including China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Cambodia. It has long been known as a pest in South-east Asia and has invaded other parts of Asia, Solomon Islands, parts of Africa and certain regions of Australia and Russia. Consequently, worldwide efforts have been increased to ensure new control strategies for O. furnacalis management. In this article, we provide a comprehensive review of the ACB covering its (i) distribution (geographic range and seasonal variations), (ii) morphology and ecology (taxonomy, life-history, host plants and economic importance) and (iii) management strategies (which include agroecological approaches, mating disruption, integrated genetic approaches, chemical as well as biological control). Furthermore, we conclude this review with recommendations to provide some suggestions for improving eco-friendly pest management strategies to enhance the sustainable management of ACB in infested areas.

Spatial joint hazard assessment of landslide susceptibility and intensity within a single framework: Environmental insights from the Wenchuan earthquake.

To comprehensively assess regional landslide hazards, we propose a geospatial approach that jointly evaluates both the probability of occurrence (susceptibility) and potential destructive power (intensity) within a single framework, overcoming the limitations of previous studies that treated these two disaster scenarios independently. Focusing on the largest landslide event triggered by the Wenchuan earthquake in China, we collected landslide occurrence and count data at the slope unit level, alongside 18 environmental factors, including seismic data. To enable this multi-hazard single-framework evaluation, we employed two Bayesian spatial joint regressions: the spatial shared component model (SSCM) and the spatial shared hyperparameter model (SSHM). This joint assessment focuses on three key components: identifying shared influencing factors, capturing shared spatial autocorrelated random effects, and jointly predicting susceptibility and intensity maps. Additionally, we enhanced the traditional absolute intensity index into the relative intensity by accounting for slope unit size. Both Bayesian SSCM and SSHM, incorporating multiple environmental drivers (seismic, topographical, geological, hydrological, and human activities), successfully evaluated landslide susceptibility and intensity under a single analytical frame. SSHM outperformed SSCM in terms of model fit and predictive accuracy, as revealed by cross-validation. While SSCM overfitted the landslide distribution of spatial autocorrelated random effect, SSHM provided a smoother, more spatially diverse representation. Both models consistently identified slope as the shared key factor influencing susceptibility and intensity, with the top four additional environmental factors varying slightly but all related to seismic activity. The concurrent susceptibility and absolute intensity maps produced by both models exhibited similar patterns, while relative intensity mapping identified new high-hazard areas within smaller slope units that were previously overlooked by susceptibility and absolute intensity. We established a Bayesian-based single modeling framework for joint hazard assessment and prediction of regional susceptibility and intensity, providing a cutting-edge geospatial paradigm for multi-objective hazard assessment in global environmental disaster management.

Impact of short-term pasture development on soil aggregation, temperature sensitivity of soil organic carbon, and functional diversity in semi-arid ecosystem

Pasture development could be a viable option to restore degraded land in semi-arid region. New knowledge on soil functional diversity, aggregation, and temperature sensitivity (Q 10) of soil organic carbon (SOC) after pasture development would assist to accomplish the scope of global pastureland management for climate change mitigation and land restoration. To understand the impact of pasture development on soil aggregation, SOC stock, and its Q 10, research was undertaken at three development sites (RS1, RS2, RS3) in India with seeding of Cenchrus ciliaris, Megathyrus maximus, and Stylosanthes seabrana (at a line-ratio of 2:2:1). After three years, biomass productivity and for SOC, aggregation, enzyme activities, etc. at 0–20 and 21–40 cm depths were estimated. Pasture development improved biomass productivity from 0.68 mg ha−1 in undeveloped site to 3.62–4.64 mg ha−1. Pasture development enhanced SOC stock from 5.85 to 7.31 mg C ha−1 at the surface layer with an annual accumulation rate of 28–112 kg SOC ha−1 year−1. Greater activities of extracellular enzymes were observed at the surface soil layer in pasture development sites over undeveloped control. The mean weight diameter was ∼23–38% higher at pasture development sites over undeveloped sites. The Q 10 being controlled by the labile carbon was significantly higher (13–29%) at the pasture development sites over undeveloped site. Hence, short-term pasture development could improve the SOC stocks at the surface layer only, but the stocks were vulnerable to C loss at higher temperature. However, long-term pasture development could have a great potential to accrue C to mitigate climate change.

Spatiotemporal Variation of Water Use Efficiency and Its Responses to Climate Change in the Yellow River Basin from 1982 to 2018

The ecosystem water use efficiency (WUE) plays a critical role in many aspects of the global carbon cycle, water management, and ecological services. However, the response mechanisms and driving processes of WUE need to be further studied. This research was conducted based on Gross Primary Productivity (GPP), Evapotranspiration (ET), meteorological station data, and land use/cover data, and the methods of Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD), trend variation analysis, the Mann–Kendall Significant Test (M-K test), and Partial Correlation Analysis (PCA) methods. Our study revealed the spatio-temporal trend of WUE and its influencing mechanism in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) and compared the differences in WUE change before and after the implementation of the Returned Farmland to Forestry and Grassland Project in 2000. The results show that (1) the WUE of the YRB showed a significant increase trend at a rate of 0.56 × 10−2 gC·kg−1·H2O·a−1 (p < 0.05) from 1982 to 2018. The area showing a significant increase in WUE (47.07%, Slope > 0, p < 0.05) was higher than the area with a significant decrease (14.64%, Slope < 0, p < 0.05). The region of significant increase in WUE in 2000–2018 (45.35%, Slope > 0, p < 0.05) was higher than that of 1982–2000 (8.23%, Slope > 0, p < 0.05), which was 37.12% higher in comparison. (2) Forest WUE (1.267 gC·kg−1·H2O) > Cropland WUE (0.972 gC·kg−1·H2O) > Grassland WUE (0.805 gC·kg−1·H2O) under different land cover types. Forest ecosystem WUE has the highest rate of increase (0.79 × 10−2 gC·kg−1·H2O·a−1) from 2000 to 2018. Forest ecosystem WUE increased by 0.082 gC·kg−1·H2O after 2000. (3) precipitation (37.98%, R > 0, p < 0.05) and SM (10.30%, R > 0, p < 0.05) are the main climatic factors affecting WUE in the YRB. A total of 70.39% of the WUE exhibited an increasing trend, which is mainly attributed to the simultaneous increase in GPP and ET, and the rate of increasing GPP is higher than the rate of increasing ET. This study could provide a scientific reference for policy decision-making on the terrestrial carbon cycle and biodiversity conservation.

Advancing Global Perspectives: Bridging Sustainability, Innovation, and Cultural Ethics in Management

This issue explores the dynamic interplay between sustainability, innovation, and cultural ethics in management. The issue features four diverse contributions that address pressing challenges in management, including the integration of gender-sensitive leadership, the balance of cultural preservation and economic sustainability in ethnic minority settlements, the impact of green human resource management practices on environmental performance in developing countries, and the reconfiguration of business ethics from a Chinese perspective. Together, these articles exemplify the importance of interdisciplinary approaches and contextualized solutions in advancing global management research. By drawing on case studies, empirical analyses, and theoretical frameworks, this issue provides actionable insights for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers seeking to foster sustainable and inclusive management practices.

Bridging BI and AI Enhancing Operational Efficiency in the Chinese Financial Sector

This study explores the impact of Business Intelligence (BI) systems on operational efficiency (OE) and the transition to Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies in financial firms from Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets (2007-2021). It investigates whether existing BI platforms underpin AI adoption, using Data Envelopment Analysis as a proxy for OE and the frequency of terms like Big Data and data mining in annual reports to indicate BI usage. Employing Heckman's two-stage and Hausman firm fixed effect model addresses potential endogeneity. Results show significant OE improvements post-BI adoption, with increasing benefits over time and enhanced by R&D intensity. Additionally, this research extends to global information management, linking BI capabilities with AI readiness and offering insights into strategic technology management in the financial sector, aligning with shifts towards AI in business, thereby impacting local and global information strategies.

Recovery strategies for EoL solar panels: sustainable and circular economy practices

The rapid expansion of solar PV technology highlights the need for sustainable End-of-Life (EoL) management to address resource scarcity and environmental sustainability. This study, aligned with SDG 7 and SDG 12, proposes an integrated EoL recycling approach combining thermal, chemical, and green methods to maximize material recovery while minimizing environmental impact. Thermal treatment delaminates panels, preserving silicon wafers and glass, followed by eco-friendly chemical treatments to recover metals like silver and aluminum. This method achieves high-purity material recovery for reuse in solar panel manufacturing and high-value products. By overcoming limitations of traditional methods and incorporating green solvents, it supports circular economy principles and offers cost-effective solutions for global solar panel waste management. Future research should focus on industrial scalability and economic feasibility to advance solar energy’s role in sustainable development.

Examination of Strategic Planning of Banks to the Context of India

Aim: This research is a modest effort to explore strategic analysis tools and growth aspects of the Indian banking sector. The objective of this research is to assess bank employees’ perceptions current stage of banks and identify sustainable growth strategies for the future. Study Design: I purposively selected Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana states. Multi-stage sampling (MSS) used for data collection. Statistical tools such as Correlation and Regression analysis, and Balance score-card were performed using advanced Excel. Financial ratios include DuPont model (Asset Turnover, Profit Margin, Return on Equity-ROE, and Return on Assets-ROA), were calculated. Methodology: The study analyzing a combination of financial ratios and employing strategic tools, to evaluate the sector’s progress. Primary data was collected from the employees in the banking sector, secondary data were obtained from research articles, and magazines. The total samples covered are 50. Findings and Results: The past two decades, the industry has transitioned from offering subsidized services with limited facilities to becoming more competitive. Key focus areas include achieving global standards like the Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), reducing liability and servicing costs, and fostering product differentiation. ‘P’ value 0.370, there is no significant relationship between net banking and UPI transactions, and ‘r’ value 0.938, therefore there is a highly positive correlation between them, and so to increase the growth of the banking sector, a focus on enhancing net banking and UPI transactions is recommended to achieve the target. The adjusted R-square value is 82.70; therefore, 82% of the variance of the dependent variable is explained by the independent variable in regression analysis. Y=a+bx: Positive intercept in banking transactions suggests baseline activity regardless influencing factors. Negative slope means factors like features, services, size of transactions, and volume might decrease. Policy Recommendations: Enhance resource utilization, global standards compliance, product differentiation, strategic implementation and cost management.

Timber Biogenic Carbon Stock in the Urban Environment: Santiago City as a Second Forest

Urban environments significantly contribute to carbon emissions, both through operational processes and the embodied emissions of construction materials, thus exacerbating climate change. Nevertheless, urban timber structures offer a viable alternative by acting as carbon sinks, capable of sequestering carbon for decades or even centuries. This study develops and applies a methodology to quantify the biogenic carbon stored in Santiago City’s timber-based buildings, conceptualized as a “Second Forest” that transfers and preserves the carbon capture capacity of trees in the built environment. The analysis estimates that Santiago’s urban timber constructions have expanded their wood-built surface area by 192,831 m2 over the past eight years, reflecting the growing adoption of timber in urban construction. During the same period, biogenic carbon storage increased from 199.78 kt to 202.73 kt, equivalent to 10.84 kt of CO2 under average conditions. These findings highlight the potential of urban planning strategies, such as promoting taller timber buildings and adopting circular timber practices, to enhance carbon sequestration and reduce reliance on carbon-intensive materials. This research highlights the fundamental role that timber buildings play in urban climate change mitigation, positioning them as active contributors to global carbon management efforts.

Introduction: The international political economy of green finance

From IPCC reports to global asset managers and governments, calls for more green finance to fuel the sustainability transition are ubiquitous. Concurrently, the critiques of a benign embrace of financial techniques, products, and flows as solutions to the climate crisis are growing louder. As a field of inquiry, IPE has the right tools to address such controversies productively. Yet, we diagnose a lack of what we call a deep engagement of IPE with epistemic and practical questions of what green finance is, how it operates, and its outcomes. The ambition of this special issue is to develop a research agenda that examines the contemporary global and concrete forms of green finance and its governance in order to better understand the following dynamics: first, how political and economic power relations within global finance shape environmental governance outcomes, and second, how the climate crisis itself influences the governance of global finance. To facilitate such thinking, we propose to understand green finance as an evolving ecosystem in the broader web of global finance instead of a specific instrument, asset class or concept. We hold this to be a fruitful approach to engage questions of green finance in both a global and concrete manner across different sectors, geographies, actors, and structures. By acknowledging the global nature and implications of green financial flows, we can push forward thinking not only on climate change and environmental governance in IPE, but also turn attention to the ongoing contestations, contingencies, and crises of finance in the global political economy.

A comprehensive review of recycling and reusing methods for plastic waste focusing Indian scenario.

Plastics are integral to modern life but present significant environmental and economic challenges due to ineffective waste management systems. This article provides a comprehensive review of global plastic waste management (PWM) strategies, focusing on advancements in processing technologies, policy frameworks and their practical applications. It highlights the role of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and regulatory bodies across the United States, Canada, Europe, Britain, India, Japan, Australia and China in fostering sustainable PWM practices. The study evaluates key processing techniques, including pyrolysis, gasification, supercritical water conversion, plasma-assisted processes, mechanical reprocessing and landfilling, emphasizing their technological advancements, limitations and scalability. Supercritical water conversion (operating at >374°C and 22.1 MPa) and plasma-assisted processing (using ionized gas at >3000°C) are identified as advanced methods capable of converting plastics into simpler molecules or valuable by-products. However, these technologies face challenges such as high energy requirements, operational costs and limited scalability. Persistent issues, including microplastic pollution, environmental impacts and the chemical-intensive nature of certain processes, are critically analysed. Drawing on extensive reviews of patents, case studies and real-world implementations, the study also examines the reuse potential of plastic by-products in diverse industries and evaluates state-level PWM initiatives in India. This review provides actionable insights for policymakers, researchers and industry stakeholders, highlighting critical gaps and opportunities to enhance the sustainability and scalability of PWM systems. By addressing persistent challenges, it contributes to advancing a circular economy for plastics and sustainable waste management practices globally.

Research on Artificial Intelligence Applications in Global Supply Chains

This research examines the transformative role of artificial intelligence (AI) in global supply chain management, analysing its applications, benefits, and challenges across various supply chain functions. Through a comprehensive analysis of current implementations and industry practices, the study reveals how AI technologies are revolutionizing supply chain operations through enhanced demand forecasting, inventory optimization, logistics management, and supplier risk assessment. The research identifies key success factors in AI implementation while addressing critical challenges including data privacy concerns, technical integration difficulties, cost barriers, and ethical considerations. The findings demonstrate that successful AI integration in supply chains requires a balanced approach combining technological innovation with careful consideration of organizational readiness, data security, and ethical implications. The study concludes by proposing strategic recommendations for organizations seeking to leverage AI in their supply chain operations and highlighting future development directions as AI technology continues to evolve. But the insights from industry leaders like Amazon and Alibaba may not fully apply to SMEs, which face unique challenges such as limited resources and technological readiness, highlighting the need for future research on scalable, cost-effective AI solutions and collaborative strategies to support their adoption.

Ultrasound-guided thoracic paravertebral injection of dexamethasone palmitate combined with ropivacaine for the treatment of thoracic herpes zoster-related pain: protocol for a prospective, randomized controlled, single-center study.

Herpes zoster (HZ) patients often experience herpes zoster-associated pain (ZAP). Thoracic paravertebral nerve block has been proven effective in relieving ZAP and reducing the incidence of postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). Compared to dexamethasone, dexamethasone palmitate (DXP) has stronger anti-inflammatory effects, a longer duration of action, and fewer adverse reactions. This study evaluates the efficacy and safety of ultrasound-guided thoracic paravertebral injection of DXP combined with ropivacaine for treating thoracic ZAP, compared to traditional famciclovir therapy. This prospective, randomized, controlled, open-label, endpoint-blinded, single-center trial will recruit 254 patients with ZAP. Patients will be randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to the intervention group (thoracic paravertebral injections of DXP combined with ropivacaine and antiviral therapy) or the control group (antiviral therapy). Assessments will include pain intensity, quality of life, sleep quality, inflammatory markers, and adverse events. This study strictly adheres to the 2013 SPIRIT Statement and the Declaration of Helsinki and has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University (Approval Number: 2024-KY(0505)). This clinical trial is registered on the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry platform (ChiCTR) at https://www.chictr.org.cn/index.html (ChiCTR2400087273), registered on 2024-07-24. The results will be disseminated through scientific journals and conferences, aiming to provide evidence supporting the global management of ZAP. The study is expected to start on 1 August 2024, and continue until 31 July 2027.

The Global RAdical Cystectomy Evaluation and Management (GRACEM) pathway: single-centre prospective observational cohort study protocol.

Despite guideline recommendations, few institutions have implemented clinical pathways that incorporate frailty into routine decision-making for patients undergoing radical cystectomy (RC). This paper presents an integrated clinical pathway designed to address the needs of frail patients undergoing RC. The purpose of the study is to determine whether a multifaceted prevention programme that tailors interventions to the syndromic components of frailty can improve postoperative morbidity and recovery time for patients. New insights will be gained into how to optimize the physical and mental status and quality of life of patients before and after surgery, up to 1 year later. The Global RAdical Cystectomy Evaluation and Management (GRACEM) study is a prospective, observational, single-centre, 2-year cohort study. Patient enrolment began on 27 April 2023, and results are pending. The primary endpoints are postoperative morbidity and the in-hospital postoperative care burden. Postoperative morbidity is measured by the number of early (up to 1month) and late (over 1month and up to 12 months) complications, graded by severity according to the Clavien-Dindo classification. In-hospital postoperative care burden is measured by the number and duration of key care processes as recorded by the Care Process Monitoring Chart, a tool developed for this study. Secondary endpoints are changes in frailty and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) from pre-intervention to planned follow-up up to 1year. Frailty is assessed with the Functional Limitations and Geriatric Syndromes Frailty Questionnaire (FLIGS-FQ), another ad hoc tool. HRQoL is assessed using the EQ-5D-5L questionnaire combined with the cystectomy-specific FACT-Bl-cys index from the first month of follow-up. The GRACEM study includes patients with non-metastatic, histologically confirmed, muscle-infiltrating bladder cancer who underwent RC surgery with curative intent. This study is unique in that the GRACEM Core Team shares decision-making throughout the pathway, from before the intervention to the end of the patient's follow-up. The pathway involves the patient, family members and community services.

From Coagulation to Disinfection: Key Steps and Challenges in Wastewater Treatment

Wastewater treatment is a critical process to ensure the safe management of water for domestic, industrial and municipal use. The importance of wastewater treatment has become more pronounced as water consumption increases and environmental regulations become more stringent. Wastewater treatment plants remove harmful contaminants from wastewater and produce clean discharges that meet regulatory standards through a series of mechanical, biological, and chemical processes such as coagulation, sedimentation, filtration, and disinfection. This paper explores the advantages and disadvantages of each wastewater treatment stage and evaluates the wastewater treatment infrastructure in the United States and China. The U.S. has better wastewater treatment systems, while China still has inadequate wastewater treatment facilities in rural areas. Wastewater reuse is an important part of achieving a sustainable future, and further development and implementation of these systems can help improve global water management.

Gully erosion susceptibility mapping in the Loess Plateau and the Northeast China Mollisol region: Optimal resolution and algorithms, influencing factors and spatial distribution

AbstractGully erosion susceptibility (GES) mapping is crucial for controlling gully erosion hazards and has become a significant focus of global research and management efforts. Machine learning models have proven effective in this field. However, in areas with different terrain complexity, the model shows significant variation in optimal resolution and algorithms, factor importance and spatial distribution of the model results, which limits their broader application. This study compares GES mapping in two small watersheds: one located in the complex terrain of the Loess Plateau and the other in the relatively flat terrain of the Northeast China Mollisol region. The model predictive accuracy was evaluated using 30% of the datasets that were excluded from model training. The results revealed that: 1) significant differences in optimal resolution of GES mapping in the two regions, which were 1–2.5 m for the Mollisol region, and 2.5–5 m for the Loess Plateau. The extreme boosting tree (XGBoost) algorithm achieved the best simulation results compared to random forest (RF) and gradient boosting decision tree (GBDT) in both regions. 2) Slope gradient and contributing area influenced gully distribution in both watersheds, with land use being critical in the Loess Plateau and distance from streams more important in the Mollisol region. 3) In the Loess Plateau watershed, 25% of the area was highly susceptible to gully erosion, while only 1% of the Mollisol watershed was highly susceptible. This research compared GES mapping in two watersheds with different terrain complexity, which would be beneficial for better use of machine learning in gully research.