Global Factors Research Articles

Turning in the Context of Recession: Reasons and Effects of the Decline of the Feds Interest Rate in 2024

On September 18th, 2024, the Federal Reserve announced a 0.5% reduction in benchmark rates, marking its first cut since April 2020. This study aims to investigate the rationale behind this monetary policy decision and evaluate its impacts on the U.S. economy, particularly in the context of an ongoing recession. By examining both domestic and global economic factors, the research identifies decelerating growth and mounting inflationary pressures as key drivers of this policy shift. The methodology integrates a literature review, historical event analysis, and comparisons of policy adjustments over time. The findings reveal that the Federal Reserves rate cut has a dual effect: on the one hand, it may stimulate investment and consumption to some extent while also helping stabilize financial markets; on the other hand, it poses challenges such as increased inflation and limited room for additional interest rate reductions. Furthermore, these domestic effects also create ripple effects on the global economy, potentially amplifying international economic volatility. Based on the analysis, it can be concluded that while the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut demonstrates short-term benefits in addressing current economic challenges, it also introduces uncertainties that may lead to unintended consequences, both domestically and globally.

Criticality assessment of global freshwater resource use: Adapting abiotic resource criticality frameworks - Water SCARCE.

Freshwater scarcity is a growing global concern, driven by increasing demand, environmental changes, and unsustainable management practices. Assessing water resources from a criticality perspective highlights the importance and reliance of various sectors on specific water sources. Existing abiotic resource criticality assessments provide valuable frameworks for evaluating the vulnerability and supply risks of resources but have predominantly focused on minerals, overlooking the freshwater criticality. Thus, we developed Water SCARCE, a novel and integrative approach for freshwater criticality assessment. This framework builds on existing abiotic resource criticality assessment methods, ESSENZ and SCARCE while aligning with the only existing water criticality evaluation approach developed by Sonderegger et al. (2015). The methodology of Water SCARCE adapts and expands existing criticality categories and indicators to deliver water criticality characterisation factors. Key modifications of the ESSENZ and SCARCE methods include integrating parameters specific to freshwater, resulting in a framework addressing water criticality dimensions like availability, demand, and environmental and social factors. When comparing the abiotic resource criticality methods, Water SCARCE, and Sonderegger et al. (2015), all address supply risk, vulnerability, and environmental aspects. However, Sonderegger uniquely incorporates governance and geopolitical components, such as political stability of neighbouring countries, which adds a perspective on supply risks influenced by transboundary water resources. Despite this strength, Sonderegger's method lacks a distinct social dimension and water quality considerations, areas where Water SCARCE approach provides additional insights, resulting in a more comprehensive evaluation of freshwater criticality. Our findings reveal that aspects such as physical and socio-economic availability, as well as social acceptability, are relevant for assessing water as a resource. The study highlights the innovative contributions of Water SCARCE in bridging methodological gaps and enhancing criticality evaluations. Future applications of the framework include the calculation of global characterisation factors, enabling product-level assessment of freshwater criticality.

Responses of freshwater organisms to multiple stressors in a climate change scenario: a review on small-scale experiments.

This review summarizes how salinity and temperature, two key global factors driven by climate change in freshwater systems, interact with other stressors on organisms in controlled small-scale factorial experiments at the population, individual, or subindividual level (excluding mesocosm and field studies). Despite the growing interest, research following all these criteria remains limited with 156 publications of which 50% analyzed stressors + salinity, 46% stressors + temperature, and only 4% involved the triple combination. Research on the combined effect of temperature and salinity predominantly focused on metals, pesticides, and, to a lesser extent, emergent contaminants, such as microplastics and nanomaterials, encompassing various biological models and responses. In general, increased temperature amplifies the single effect of stressors, whereas salinity leads to a higher diversity of responses, with similar proportions of synergisms and antagonisms. Fish (Salmoniformes, Perciformes, and Cypriniformes) were the most studied organisms. Among Crustacea, only cladocerans of the genera Daphnia and Ceriodpahnia were considered. The present review highlights the need to include other species that play key roles in freshwater food webs and to increase triple combination studies to understand complex interactions and develop adaptation and mitigation strategies to preserve the environment and its services in this changing world.

Understanding Generalized Trust in News Media in China

Abstract: Trust in news media (TNM) has continued declining in some countries (e.g., US) while remaining stable or even increasing in others (e.g., China). Scholars are interested in understanding what factors contribute to these differences. A reliable and equivalent measurement is essential for cross-national comparisons of TNM. However, there is currently no instrument available to measure generalized TNM in China. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Generalized Trust in News Media Scale (GTNMS) in China. The study sample comprised 578 participants, including 347 females (60.0%) and 231 males (40.0%). Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), bifactor-CFA, and bifactor Exploratory Structural Equation Modelling (bifactor-ESEM) were adopted to examine the construct validity of the Chinese version of GTNMS. Measurement invariance (MI) and predictive validity of the Chinese version of GTNMS were also examined. The results revealed that the Chinese adaptation of GTNMS demonstrated optimal representation through a bifactor-ESEM, comprising a global factor (G-factor) and four specific factors (S-factors). Both the G-factor and S-factors showed acceptable internal consistency reliability. However, the S-factors retained a lower level of specificity after controlling for the G-factor, which indicated that the GTNMS was essentially unidimensional. The results from the Structural Equation Modelling analysis also revealed that only the G-factor could predict individuals’ news avoidance. In addition, MI of the GTNMS was established across participants using official and commercial media. Overall, the GTNMS is a reliable tool for measuring generalized TNM in China.

Toward a Holistic Study of Mosques in the US: A Critical Integrative Literature Review and Framework

ABSTRACT US mosques have gained considerable scholarly attention, focusing on the contested grounds on which they stand. Although literature on US mosques has been published in different fields, there is no work assessing the current state of research. Given that the number of Muslims is exponentially increasing in the US and the number of mosques increased by 31 percent between 2010 and 2020, synthesizing existing publications may lead to a renewed perspective on ways to study these complex institutions. This study sets forth a systematic critical integrative review of literature published on US mosques in peer-reviewed journals. The study presents overarching trends in publications related to mosques before December of 2022, identifies seven main themes in existing literature, proposes an integrative framework for studying mosques by highlighting global, regional, local, and internal factors that impact mosques’ development, and identifies unanswered questions in the body of literature.

Environmental Peacebuilding, Indigenous Epistemologies and Experience: Learning From Ruptures and Resilience in Solomon Islands

ABSTRACTEnvironmental peacebuilding, as a construct and practice, holds potential to recognise environmental conflicts and respond to them; however, indigenous perspectives can be obscured in its related processes, projects and reviews. This article draws on in depth research by the authors from within indigenous communities in the Solomon Islands to compare local experiences of environmental rupture, conflict and change. This comparison of local experience is integrated with analysis of colonial, neocolonial and globalisation factors to link local environmental conflicts with global and national governance, global extractive and agricultural industries, and security and governance interventions with local conflict conditions. This article argues for a reorientation of the field towards decolonising knowledge, through drawing on indigenous epistemologies and ontologies to frame and respond to environmental conflicts, and therefore peacebuilding. In doing so, space can be opened to recognise the unique relationship of indigenous people with terrestrial and marine areas, and the unacknowledged culpability and responsibilities of actors at national and global levels in fostering environmental conflicts.

Global Prevalence, Recurrence, and Risk Factors Associated with Spontaneous CSF Rhinorrhea—A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Global Prevalence, Recurrence, and Risk Factors Associated with Spontaneous CSF Rhinorrhea—A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Global burden, risk factors, and projections of early-onset dementia: Insights from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021.

Despite increasing global awareness of dementia, reliable estimates of the disease burden associated with Early-Onset Dementia (EOD) remain insufficiently quantified. This study aims to estimate the disease burden of EOD, analyze the burden attributable to risk factors from 1990 to 2021, and project these trends to 2050 at global, regional, and national levels, providing essential data to inform public health policy. By utilising data from the GBD 2021 database, this study analysed metrics such as age-standardized prevalence (ASPR), mortality (ASMR), and disability-adjusted life years (AS-DALYs) for EOD. Joinpoint Regression analysis was used to calculated average annual percent changes (AAPCs) of ASPR, ASMR, and AS-DALYs. Then, the disease burden attributable to high fasting plasma glucose (FPG), high body-mass index (BMI), and tobacco were also reported. Finally, the Bayesian age-period-cohort (BAPC) model was employed to project global ASPR, ASMR and AS-DALYs, as well as ASMR and AS-DALYs attributed to the three risk factors from 2022 to 2050. In 2021, the global case numbers of prevalence, mortality and DALYs for EOD were 7.75 (95 %UI: 5.82, 10.08) million, 73,386 (14,059, 232,169), and 3.77 (1.69, 8.88) million. Despite large increases in case numbers, AAPCs of ASR (0.08 % [0.02, 0.14], 0.07 % [0.05, 0.1], and 0.08 % [0.05, 0.1]) kept stable. Females exhibited higher case numbers and ASR across all disease burden indicators than males. Region- and country-level geographical heterogeneities were evident. Furthermore, global ASMR and AS-DALYs associated with high BMI and high FPG showed a steady increase, while the growth in ASMR and AS-DALYs attributable to tobacco has declined. To 2050, global case numbers of prevalence, mortality and DALYs for EOD will continue to rise, but ASRs won't change considerably. Females are anticipated to remain at a higher risk. The disease burden associated with high BMI and high FPG are expected to persist in their upward trends, whereas that related to tobacco are projected to decline. The increasing burden of EOD underscores the critical need for tailored public health strategies and policies, a unique challenge underrecognized before.

The Volatility of Sugar and Ethanol Prices: A Tale of Two Markets Using Wavelet Analysis

This study ventures into the dynamic and interconnected realms of sugar and ethanol prices, unveiling their volatility patterns using the powerful tool of wavelet analysis. The first part of the study establishes a link between Brazil's sugar price surge and significant economic events, including the National Alcohol Program (Proálcool), the military dictatorship, and the implementation of the Real Plan. The second part zooms out to global factors, such as concerns about the greenhouse effect, flex-fuel engine technology, and recent challenges like droughts and COVID-19. The analysis uncovers distinct patterns in the volatility of sugar and ethanol prices. Factors like global supply and demand, climate-induced crop variations, and government policies influence sugar prices. In contrast, ethanol prices are more directly influenced by energy market dynamics, particularly crude oil prices, due to its role as a biofuel component. Furthermore, the study reveals time-frequency correlations between these two markets, shedding light on moments of synchronization and divergence. In this narrative of the two markets, wavelet analysis emerges as a powerful tool for deciphering past volatility and predicting future trends. It allows both estimating the degree of correlation and verifying the unfolding of these relationships over time. The findings of this study contribute as a bridge between theory and practice for decision-making, such as resource allocation and risk management in a constantly evolving economic scenario, highlighting the importance of analysis in this context.

Modeling the COVID-19 incorporating oil futures

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the production of mathematical models that could explain and thoroughly study various aspects and features of the pandemic. In this work, we utilize mathematical modeling to model COVID-19 spread, also reflecting changes in growth rates over time. Empirically, we use data from January 2020 to May 2022, and according to the results, a significant correlation between confirmed COVID-19 cases and crude oil futures prices is revealed, with linear and non-linear analysis indicating a strong association. The findings highlight the dynamic link between public health crises and global economic factors, pointing out the need for multifaceted risk assessment frameworks that integrate health metrics with economic forecasting for improved resilience against pandemic-caused disruptions.

Detecting and Explaining Long-Term Trends in a Weed Community in a Biennial Cereal–Legume Rotation

The technique of Dynamic Factor Analysis (DFA), which aims to reduce the dimensionality of time-series data, was utilized in order to model the changes over time in eight different long-time-series weeds (26 years) growing in a biennial cereal–legume rotation. The aim of the present study was to determine the existence of long-term trends in a weed community and to identify the factors that determine them. A common trend was extracted that captured the main signal of abundance over time, indicating latent influences affecting all species. Canonical correlation analysis showed strong associations between the common trend and specific weed species, suggesting differential responses to this latent factor. Local (temperature and precipitation) and global weather factors (North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)) were considered as explanatory variables to explain the common trend. The local weather variables considered did not play a significant role in explaining the commonly observed trend. Conversely, NAO showed a significant relationship with the weed community, indicating its potential role in shaping long-term weed dynamics. DFA was found to be useful for studying the variability in multivariate weed time-series without the need for detailed a priori information on the underlying mechanisms governing weed population dynamics. Overall, this study provided valuable insights into the long-term drivers of weed dynamics and set the stage for future research in this area.

Global Value Chain Embedding and Total Factor Productivity in Carbon Emission Reduction: A Multi-Country Analysis of the Paper Industry

Against the backdrop of carbon reduction and low-carbon economic development, this study takes the global paper industry chain as its research subject and employs the SBM-GML model and input–output model to measure the low-carbon TFP and value chain embedding levels of 42 major global economies from 2001 to 2021. Using fixed-effects and threshold effect models, the study examines both the overall and stage-specific impacts of value chain embedding on low-carbon TFP. The results reveal that between 2001 and 2021, while the low-carbon TFP of major countries in the global paper industry chain steadily increased, significant disparities persisted among them. Most countries experienced low-carbon TFP growth driven by technological progress, whereas only a few high low-carbon TFP nations also demonstrated upward trends in technical efficiency. The division of labour position in the value chain significantly promoted low-carbon TFP at a ratio of 1:0.26. In contrast, the low-carbon TFP effects of participation displayed a nonlinear impact with a threshold of 0.21: it exerted an insignificant inhibitory effect in the initial stage but, upon crossing the threshold, resulted in a significant positive effect with a ratio of 1:0.13. These findings highlight the importance of optimizing GVC strategies to achieve sustainable industrial transformation and growth.

The influence of land surface temperature on Ghana’s climate variability and implications for sustainable development

Climate change poses significant global challenges, especially in the West African sub-region, with high temperature and precipitation patterns variability, threatening socio-economic stability and ecosystem health. While global factors such as greenhouse gases and oceanic circulations shape regional climates, this study focuses on the understudied role of local climatic variables in influencing near-surface air temperature (NST) in Ghana from 1981 to 2020. Based on ground observations, our findings reveal significant correlations between land surface temperature (LST) and NST before and after the identified breakpoint year of 2001. Additionally, we observe a reduction in precipitation post-2001. We also identify LST as the primary driver of NST and precipitation changes based on cause-effect analysis of multiple factors. Specifically, higher LST leads to decreased precipitation and increased NST, contributing to the increasing trend of NST over the last two decades. The insights are vital for developing targeted adaptation strategies, including integrated land and water management, sustainable agriculture, and effective interventions, directly supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 15 (Life on Land). Moreover, the study provides evidence for promoting climate-smart agriculture to ensure food security (SDG 2). By integrating these findings into climate adaptation frameworks, policymakers and stakeholders can better address the unique challenges posed by climate variability in Ghana, ensuring more resilient and sustainable environmental management.

Understanding the bovine mastitis co-infections: Coexistence with Enterobacter alters S. aureus antibiotic susceptibility and virulence phenotype.

The World Health Organization recently reported an alarming evolution and spread of antibiotic resistance, a global risk factor recognized as a One Health challenge. In veterinary, the general lack of clear treatment guidelines often leads to antibiotic misuse. Bovine mastitis is responsible for major economic losses and the main cause of antibiotic administration in the dairy industry, favoring the emergence of multi-resistant phenotypes. The complexity of inter-microbial and host-pathogen interactions in the mammary gland, demonstrated by culture-independent techniques, not only complicates the prediction of antibiotic treatment outcomes but also underscores the urgent need for further research in this field. This work evaluated the interactions between S. aureus L33 and Enterobacter sp. L34 obtained from an intramammary co-infection. The behavior of the dual-species culture resembled that of the Enterobacter monoculture in all the evaluated contexts. Most of the selected S. aureus virulence factors and the antibiotic susceptibility were altered by coexisting with Enterobacter. Under the protection of Enterobacter, S. aureus was able to survive upon exposure to concentrations of cloxacillin and other antibiotics that would be bactericidal for the monoculture. This could have serious implications for bacterial clearance of mastitis originating from the underestimated co-infections. These findings highlight the importance of broadening our knowledge of how microbial interactions in intramammary infections could contribute to antibiotic treatments failures. Moreover, they open new perspectives for the design of bovine mastitis therapies that consider the ecological context in order to optimize the antibiotic usage, improve the success rates and reduce antibiotic resistance.

Food Security in India: Concerns and Challenges

Food security means all people at all times have economic and physical access to food for dietary needs and healthy life. Ensuring food security for all is a challenge at the global level. Developing nations need help with food security. Developing countries like India are facing a severe challenge in ensuring food security. Various international and national factors contribute to food security. Global factors such as climate change affect agriculture production and productivity. Rising temperatures, increasing greenhouse gas emissions, erratic rainfall, and increasing flood and drought events affect food security adversely. The declining proportion of millet in total food production is another severe issue for physical and economic access to healthy food. Millet's crop is a consumer, environment, and farmer's friend. Several factors, such as increasing population, urbanization, food waste, reducing land for cultivation, and unhealthy change in crop patterns, are making the problem of food security more difficult. The increasing population and resulting anthropogenic activities are putting pressure on natural resources. This article discusses the food security problem and the factors contributing to this problem in the Indian case. We need to work on several fronts to ensure physical and economic access to healthy food security for the increasing population.

Transformation of the Celebrations and Entertainment Culture of Russians under the Influence of the Orthodox Clergy (Second Half of 19th — early 20th Century)

Both global social, economic and political factors on the one hand and personal ones on the other determine the ways in which the folk celebrations and entertainment culture transform over time. The article, based on archival, published and the author’s field materials, presents the results of a study of how parish clergy affected the folk celebrations and entertainment culture, playing style and repertoire in accordance with church regulations. The activities of the priests, representing a set of individual practices, were focused on achieving a common goal — the assimilation of Christian doctrine by the peasantry and the introduction of norms of behavior corresponding to Christian ethics into everyday life, including in the celebrations sphere. The study showed that thanks to continuous efforts to introduce Christian tenets into the collective consciousness of the peasants, the priests were able to gradually transform the basic understanding of a holiday, making it more canonical, which certainly influenced the forms of folk fun. As a result, a system of temporal, locative, age-related, and action-based prohibitions emerged that define the acceptable framework of the Celebrations. They were effective regulators of behavior, performing an educational and training function. The results of the transformation of the celebrations and entertainment culture are mainly presented in two variants: 1) adaptation of Christian institutions resulting in a syncretic form, including both pre-Christian and Christian elements; 2) complete displacement of unwanted entertainment from everyday life. In general, the transformation of the celebrations and entertainment culture was a complex and multidirectional process. On the one hand, it was in line with Christian institutions, on the other, a return to «pagan» forms was often observed. Abstract concepts about the sinfulness of profane entertainment, which were transmitted by the priests, could not displace the archaic attitude towards the festive and playful sphere of life and devalue the ritual, magical and socio-cultural functions that fun and play performed in peasant society.

The Influence of Political Factors on Economic Growth: a Study of the Interconnection Between Governance Spheres in a Global Context

Objective: The purpose is to study the interaction between global political factors and economic progress and to create a model that illustrates the interaction between political and economic development factors. Theoretical Framework: This article explores how policy decisions at different administrative levels interact with economic dynamics at the national and regional levels. Method: The study comprehensive review of academic sources, publications, reports, and statistics, and used correlation regression and statistical methods. Results and Discussion: The research ultimately revealed a critical revelation: political factors play a vital role in economic progress, shaping the investment environment, maintaining macroeconomic stability, providing human capital resources, promoting infrastructure development, and creating efficient institutional framework conditions. Research Implications: By analysing specific cases, we examine the impact of the political context on the investment environment, market regulation, trade relations and other economic aspects. The key factors linking the political sphere and economic development are highlighted, as well as their importance in developing effective management strategies in the contemporary environment. Originality/Value: Effective policies that promote economic growth can bring prosperity and improve citizens' living standards, highlighting the vital link between policy decisions and economic outcomes.

Blood Pressure Management Strategies and Podocyte Health.

Hypertension (HTN) is one of the key global cardiovascular risk factors, which is tightly linked to kidney health and disease development. Podocytes, glomerular epithelial cells that play a pivotal role in maintenance of the renal filtration barrier, are significantly affected by increased glomerular capillary pressure in HTN. Damage or loss of these cells causes proteinuria, which marks the initiation of the HTN-driven renal damage. It goes without saying that effective blood pressure (BP) management should not only mitigate cardiovascular risks but also preserve renal function by protecting podocyte integrity. This review offers a comprehensive examination of current BP management strategies and their implications for podocyte structure and function and emphasizes strategies for the reduction of proteinuria in HTN. We explore primary and secondary antihypertensive agents, including angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, calcium channel blockers, and diuretics, as well as newer therapies (sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 blocking and endothelin receptor antagonism), emphasizing their mechanistic roles in safeguarding podocytes and curtailing proteinuria.

Clustering fast optimization strategy for holographic video displays.

Computer-generated holography (CGH) is an advanced technology for three-dimensional (3D) displays. While the stochastic gradient descent (SGD) method is effective for holographic optimization, its application to holographic video displays is computationally expensive, as each frame requires separate optimization. To address this, we propose a novel, to the best of our knowledge, clustering optimization strategy to accelerate the SGD process for holographic video displays. Our method exploits the inherent similarities between video frames by jointly optimizing shared features first, followed by the frame-specific optimization of unique features, thereby minimizing redundant computations. The process involves clustering video frames based on common features and using the optimized holograms of the cluster center image, along with global scale factors, as initial conditions for each frame within the cluster. Numerical simulations and optical experiments demonstrate that the proposed method achieves approximately a twofold increase in computational efficiency, significantly enhancing the feasibility of holographic video displays for broader applications.

Global trends and hotspots of type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents: A bibliometric study and visualization analysis.

Epidemiological surveys indicate an increasing incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) among children and adolescents worldwide. Due to rapid disease progression, severe long-term cardiorenal complications, a lack of effective treatment strategies, and substantial socioeconomic burdens, it has become an urgent public health issue that requires management and resolution. Adolescent T2DM differs from adult T2DM. Despite a significant increase in our understanding of youth-onset T2DM over the past two decades, the related review and evidence-based content remain limited. To visualize the hotspots and trends in pediatric and adolescent T2DM research and to forecast their future research themes. This study utilized the terms "children", "adolescents", and "type 2 diabetes", retrieving relevant articles published between 1983 and 2023 from three citation databases within the Web of Science Core Collection (SCI, SSCI, ESCI). Utilizing CiteSpace and VoSviewer software, we analyze and visually represent the annual output of literature, countries involved, and participating institutions. This allows us to predict trends in this research field. Our analysis encompasses co-cited authors, journal overlays, citation overlays, time-zone views, keyword analysis, and reference analysis, etc. A total of 9210 articles were included, and the annual publication volume in this field showed a steady growth trend. The United States had the highest number of publications and the highest H-index. The United States also had the most research institutions and the strongest research capacity. The global hot journals were primarily diabetes professional journals but also included journals related to nutrition, endocrinology, and metabolism. Keyword analysis showed that research related to endothelial dysfunction, exposure risk, cardiac metabolic risk, changes in gut microbiota, the impact on comorbidities and outcomes, etc., were emerging keywords. They have maintained their popularity in this field, suggesting that these areas have garnered significant research interest in recent years. Pediatric and adolescent T2DM is increasingly drawing global attention, with genes, behaviors, environmental factors, and multisystemic interventions potentially emerging as future research hot spots.