Main Topics Research Articles

International Biological Flora: Ceratonia siliqua

Abstract This account presents information on all aspects of the biology of Ceratonia siliqua L. (Carob) that are relevant to understanding its ecological characteristics and behaviour. The main topics are presented within the standard framework of the International Biological Flora: distribution, habitat, communities, responses to biotic factors, responses to environment, structure and physiology, phenology, floral and seed characters, herbivores and disease, history and conservation. Ceratonia siliqua is a lowland evergreen shrub or tree, native around the Mediterranean basin and widely cultivated in areas with a warm temperate and subtropical climate, with more than 100 named cultivars. Carob grows on a wide range of soils including nutrient‐poor and strongly calcareous, dry soils. Carob is dioecious or rarely hermaphrodite although females dominate in cultivation due to their fruit. Pollination is primarily by insects and the relatively large seeds are spread mainly by ingestion of fruits by mammals. Seed dormancy is imposed by a hard seed coat and seeds germinate readily after natural or artificial scarification. Drought tolerance is very high, acting as a drought avoiding water spender. Carob is also very tolerant of saline conditions and tolerant of fire and can act to restrict wildfire spread by generating fuel discontinuity. It shows high post‐fire regrowth. Old individuals house a diversity of associated fauna and are comparatively unaffected by serious pests and diseases. Carob has a long cultural history around the Mediterranean as a food source for humans and domesticated animals, in herbal and modern medicine and, more recently, for the carob bean gum used in a variety of domestic products and foods. Commercial production of fruits has declined over past decades but the low cultural care needed in growing orchards, potential new markets for fruit and seeds, and growing use of the tree to prevent soil erosion and sequester carbon gives carob a brighter future.

Emerging Trends in Intimate Partner Rape and Marital/Spousal Rape During the Biennium 2020 and 2021, Including the COVID-19 Pandemic in Greece.

Intimate partner or marital/spousal rape is a phenomenon with unique characteristics and dynamics. Furthermore, it is an under-explored, under-defined, under-reported, and widely tolerated phenomenon. Gender-based violence and intimate partner violence are the main topics of the present study. The study aimed at exploring the trends in reported intimate partner and marital/spousal rape, within the wider context of reported domestic violence during the years 2020 and 2021 in Greece. Statistical analysis has not indicated positive correlation between the rate of reported domestic violence per year and the rate of reported domestic rape per year, with the former following an upward trend and the latter maintaining an almost steady course. Similarly, the rate of reported victims of intimate partner rape per year remained almost stable within in the 2 years. Importantly however, in 2021, the rate of reported victims of marital rape per year increased remarkably compared to 2020. In 2021, the rates of reported domestic violence per month and reported domestic rape per month indicated remarkable increase over the period May to December 2021. Notwithstanding, the rates mentioned above remained almost stable over the year 2020, showing an upward trend during the summer months. In August 2020 and 2021 the abovementioned rates reached their peak. In both years, the vast majority of victims of domestic rape were females, mostly between 30 and 45 years of age. The present study indicated an increase in rates of reported domestic violence and reported domestic rape per month after the lockdowns, especially after the second long-lasting lockdown that ended in May 2021. This increase, however, might be only apparent. Further research is needed to study the epidemiology of intimate partner and marital rape over a much longer timespan to provide further insight into the dynamics surrounding a public health concern.

Sustainable Affordable Housing: State-of-the-Art and Future Perspectives

Nowadays, there are many studies with a significant focus on affordable housing. The relevance of this theme, which is usually the central object of public housing policies, requires an updated review of the problems and challenges to be overcome, especially in terms of sustainability, in favor of an improvement in the quality of products delivered to beneficiaries. This research concentrates on applying the sustainability concept to affordable housing, emphasizing technical, social, and governance aspects. A novel classification framework is introduced, encompassing these aspects in the context of sustainability integrated with affordable housing. A systematic literature review is conducted and more than 100 articles are examined based on bibliometric and bibliographic analyses to highlight the main dimensions and topics involved in the housing public policy sphere. The study has been elaborated based on collecting relevant materials, building a descriptive analysis of the literature examined, highlighting the classification structure that categorizes the studies examined, and evaluating the material identified based on the classification structure. The outcomes aim to spotlight the diverse dimensions of sustainable affordable housing and associated research themes. Furthermore, the research outlines deficiencies in current approaches and outlines a future research agenda for implementing sustainability in affordable housing. It establishes a strong connection between technical, social, and governance aspects of affordable housing and sustainability, considering anticipated approaches, techniques, and challenges.

Analysis of green deal communication on twitter: environmental and political perspective

The Green Deal and its implementation are generating discussions across society. Changes brought about by the agreement could impact sustainable development worldwide; therefore, identifying the most common Green Deal-related topics on a global scale can offer insight into the public mood around implementation of the agreement. Social networks provide the opportunity to find such topics because they contain a large amount of data produced by users worldwide: analysis of their content can therefore provide insight into the discourse on the Green Deal and identify the sentiment in discussions around this topic. In this article, we present perceptions of the Green Deal and identify the main Green Deal-related topics based on analysis of communication on the Twitter social network (currently X social network). Using the search terms “green deal,” “greendeal,” and “#greendeal,” 192,567 tweets from 89,328 unique users were captured between 1 January 2019 and 31 March 2023. We identified the 40 most used unique hashtags that people used when communicating about the Green Deal, which included “#EU,” “#eugreendeal,” and “#climatechange,” and the 16 most relevant topics discussed in relation to the Green Deal, which included both European (“European Green Deal”) and North American (“Green New Deal”) perspectives. Each topic was associated with a certain amount of negative, positive, or neutral sentiment: the most positive sentiment was associated with the “Industrial plan” and “Hydrogen” topics, and the most negative sentiment was associated with topics relating to “Joe Biden” and “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.” Overall, our analysis of the discourse regarding the Green Deal offers organizations and decision-makers insight into how people perceive different aspects of the Green Deal and related topics. This may be beneficial in tackling disinformation across social networks and increasing public awareness, which could create a society better equipped to face the global concern of climate change.

Emergence of Contract Farming in India: An Overview

Emergence of Contract Farming in India: An Overview

Prevalence and trends in physical therapy interventions for erectile dysfunction: A Scopus-based bibliometric analysis (1989-2022).

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a condition that affects many males. Physical therapy (PT) is the one potential treatment for ED that may improve blood flow, muscle strength, and other factors that may contribute to the issue. Data on the prevalence and trends of research on PT for ED are lacking. This study aimed to evaluate the literature trends in PT for ED via bibliometric and visualized analysis. Data on publications were collected from Scopus covering the period between 1989 and 2022. To refine the data, bibliometric analyses were conducted using Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, an online visualization platform, and BiblioAnalytics. Power BI and Bibliomaster were used to generate figures and tables, while Biblioshiny and VOSviewer were used for visualization. A total of 494 documents were identified. The year 2019 generated the largest number of publications, with a total of 54. These studies have received 12,917 citations related to PT for ED. The most common document type was the original article with 283 publications. The University of California, USA, was the most productive institution on this topic, with 21 publications and 2,035 citations. The USA led all countries with 114 publications on the topic. The Journal of Sexual Medicine secured the top ranking with an h-index of 18. The main topics studied were erectile dysfunction, shockwave therapy, and physiotherapy. The number of publications on PT for ED has demonstrated an upward trend over the last three decades.

Cretaceous palaeoceanographic events of the northern South Atlantic: an overview

Abstract The break-up of Gondwana in the latest Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous and the subsequent opening and evolution of the South Atlantic Ocean as a new widening seaway linking northern and southern high latitudes, was the single most significant palaeoceanographic event during the Cretaceous with global consequences for the climate and the biotic evolution, both on land and at sea. Its main evolutionary stages are now becoming well known but, despite that, their global impact has been widely underestimated. Aiming to shed light on some of these unanswered questions, this work presents an overview of research carried out during the past decades in the Sergipe Basin in northeastern Brazil, integrating foraminiferal and ammonite biostratigraphic data, coupled with an assessment of their biogeographic patterns. Three main topics are discussed, and the key findings presented and set against their possible global impact: the opening of the Equatorial Atlantic Gateway in the late early to mid Aptian ( c. 118–119 Ma); the mid-Cretaceous dysoxic–anoxic events recorded in the northern South Atlantic (maxima in the late Aptian–earliest Albian, early Cenomanian and at the Cenomanian–Turonian boundary); and the timing of the North Atlantic–South Atlantic oceanic connection in the late Coniacian to early Santonian ( c. 85–87 Ma).

Glioblastoma: a comprehensive approach combining bibliometric analysis, Latent Dirichlet Allocation, and HJ-Biplot : Glioblastoma insights and trends: a 49-year bibliometric analysis.

Glioblastoma is a common and aggressive malignant central nervous system tumor in adults. This study aims to evaluate and analyze the scientific results, collaboration countries, main research topics, and topics over time reported about glioblastoma. A bibliometric analysis of glioblastoma publications was performed mainly using R and Multbiplot software for author, journal, and resume. Associated statistic methods Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) and HJ-Biplot. Inclusion criteria were research articles from the PubMed database published in English between 1973 and December 2022. A total of 64,823 documents with an annual growth rate of 8.27% indicates a consistent increase in research output over time. The results for the number of citations and significant publications showed Cancer Res, J Neuro-Oncol, and Neuro-Oncology are the most influential journals in the field of glioblastoma. The countries that concentrated research were the tumor United States, China, Germany, and Italy. Finally, there has been a marked growth in studies on prognosis and patient survival, therapies, and treatments for glioblastoma. These findings reinforce the need for increased global resources to address glioblastoma, particularly in underdeveloped countries. Glioblastoma research's exponential growth reflects sustained interest in early diagnosis and patient survival.

Design of Radial Distribution System to Study Load-Flow and Short Circuit Analysis Using ETAP Software

This work's analysis provides information on fault analysis and load flow studies, which help to understand how radial distribution networks operate both in normal and emergency circumstances. The research explores optimization methods, describing capacitor placement, transformer size, and feeder reconfiguration in order to lower losses and increase system efficacy. Moreover, the work looks at reliability-focused maintenance techniques, stressing the need of predictive maintenance and condition monitoring in raising the dependability of radial distribution networks. Modern electrical power networks depend heavily on their radial distribution system, which effectively and dependable distributes electricity to customers. Many radial distribution system-related topics are covered in detail on this website, including analytical methods, optimization processes, and dependability enhancement strategies. Power flow, voltage control, and losses in radial networks are investigated in this paper under a range of operational situations. The last and crucial stage of a power system, the electrical distribution system makes sure that customers have a steady supply of electricity. Regretfully, because it is often neglected and exposed to environmental risks, our distribution network has a number of problems. Our distribution feeder is rigorously analyzed for load flow and short-circuits in order to overcome these challenges and find and fix problems. The main topics of this study are the load flow and short-circuit analysis of a radial distribution feeder, which is mostly constructed with (ETAP). The final and crucial part of a power system, the electrical distribution system ensures that consumers receive an uninterrupted and steady supply of electricity. Our distribution feeder undergoes a rigorous and cautious process to address these issues front on because of the uncontrollable nature and susceptibility of our network to environmental hazards. This paper delves deeply into the issues of short-circuiting and load flow in radial distribution feeders. Both symmetrical and asymmetrical faults are thoroughly investigated by mathematical computations and ETAP simulations; the results of the software simulations are contrasted with those of the mathematical analysis. These discoveries will definitely influence the development and management of our system and point us in the direction of workable and practical solutions.

How Governance Can Contribute to Amazon Biome Conservation?

Forest conservation has transcended environmental concerns and become a determining factor in global social and economic issues. Therefore, setting forest conservation goals, including recovery and/or reforestation, is critical to help mitigate global warming and climate change. Although Amazonian countries have forestry policies for forest conservation, the forest continues to be degraded. The aim of this article is to suggest a regional governance model for the nine countries that share the Amazon rainforest. The thesis of the paper is that the definition of a common legal basis for the nine countries can contribute to forest conservation. Through qualitative analysis of exploratory and descriptive variables, the main topics related to the proposal of a governance model were identified. Multi-level governance contributes to the environmental conservation process by creating an environment to engage local, national, and international stakeholders from diverse groups. As a result of this paper, we suggest the creation of a supranational governance, composed and regulated by each of the nine countries of the Amazon biome and having as reference the AFR100 initiative. The proposition and creation of governance among Amazonian countries are fundamental for achieving the objectives for the conservation of the biome; such governance must take into account existing public policies, institutional mechanisms, and financial commitments. Although the Amazon countries present a framework of policies and commitments that seek to preserve the biome, the reality is that forest degradation through deforestation with negative effects on the climate and on the communities that depend on the standing forest still exists.

Human exposure to formaldehyde and health risk assessment: a 46-year systematic literature review

Human exposure to formaldehyde and health risk assessment: a 46-year systematic literature review

FORMATION OF SOCIAL COMPETENCE OF CHILDREN WITH COMPLEX DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS: IMPLEMENTATION OF THE "INTEGRATED SOCIAL AND ARTISTIC COURSE «MY WORLD» WITHIN THE NATIONAL EDWEY PLATFORM

The article is devoted to the formation of social competence of children with complex developmental disorders (ASD, ADHD, cerebral palsy, intellectual disability, Down syndrome, childhood schizophrenia) and raising the level of professional, inclusive competence of specialists, social educators of rehabilitation centres and other special institutions working with this category of wards. The article highlights a number of legislative documents on professional development of pedagogical staff, identifies free Ukrainian learning platforms for representatives of the educational community (EdWey, EdEra, Prometheus, WiseCow, Ukrainian Google Team, EduHub, Coursera, PostNauka). Based on the analysis of educational content from these educational platforms, the main directions and topics of the curricula of in-service training courses covering aspects of inclusive practice, features of inclusive education, practice-oriented approaches to working with children with developmental disabilities, including in wartime, are presented. The article highlights training courses for parents and representatives of children with developmental disabilities that contribute to the development of inclusive competence, open up opportunities for expanding the correctional knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for correct and effective work with children with developmental disabilities. The deficit of advanced training courses for social workers and specialists working with children with complex developmental disorders is outlined. The content of the author's "Integrated social and artistic course "My world" for children with complex developmental disorders" as an opportunity for advanced training of pedagogical and social workers within the National Edwey Platform is revealed, the results of students' training / check for the period of study are highlighted.

Analysis of Peatland Research Trends Based on BERTopic

Peatlands comprise approximately 3% of the land area worldwide. Peatland exists in most countries, including tropical, subtropical, and boreal regions. Accordingly, peatland has garnered increased research attention as a potential countermeasure against climate change. Therefore, it is necessary to identify and comprise the topics constituting global peatland research. In this study, we applied BERTopic—a topic modeling technique—to analyze relatedness between research topics to classify global peatland research trends, evaluate changes over time, and analyze the relationships between topics. To this end, we searched the keyword “peatland” on ScienceDirect—a global academic publication data platform—and collected the titles and abstracts from 10,158 publications from 1953 to 2022 for dynamic topic modeling and network analysis. Eighty-two peatland research topics were identified, which were combined into 15 main topics. Over time, an increasing trend was observed in topics related to production, management, and fire. In addition, upon analysis of the relationships between topics, three groups centered on fire, peatland value, and carbon were identified. We anticipate that the findings of this study can be expanded to analyze trends in research related to fires in peatlands, regional characteristics of peat soil, prediction of greenhouse gases emission and mitigation due to peatland fires, and prediction of future peatland research topics.

A bibliometric analysis of the application of the PI3K-AKT-mTOR signaling pathway in cancer.

PI3K-AKT-mTOR plays as important role in the growth, metabolism, proliferation, and migration of cancer cells, and in apoptosis, autophagy, inflammation, and angiogenesis in cancer. In this study, the aim was to comprehensively review the current research landscape regarding the PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway in cancer, using bibliometrics to analyze research hotspots, and provide ideas for future research directions. Literature published on the topic between January 2006 and May 2023 was retrieved from the Web of Science core database, and key information and a visualization map were analyzed using CiteSpace and VOSviewer. A total of 5800 articles from 95 countries/regions were collected, including from China and the USA. The number of publications on the topic increased year on year. The major research institution was the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Oncotarget and Clinical Cancer Research were the most prevalent journals in the field. Of 26,621 authors, R Kurzrock published the most articles, and J Engelman was cited most frequently. "A549 cell," "first line treatment," "first in human phase I," and "inhibitor" were the keywords of emerging research hotspots. Inhibitors of the PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway and their use in clinical therapeutic strategies for cancer were the main topics in the field, and future research should also focus on PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway inhibitors. This study is the first to comprehensively summarize trends and development s in research into the PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway in cancer. The information that was obtained clarified recent research frontiers and directions, providing references for scholars of cancer management.

A bibliometric exploration of infographics as tools for visual literacy in education

The purpose of this paper is to examine how infographics are used in the dynamics of designing or creating in the teaching and learning process. Utilising a bibliometric approach and content analysis, we examined a sample of 760 documents from the Web of Science and Scopus databases with no lower time limit until November 2023. The analyses aimed to identify trends, including main topics, authors, sources, most cited articles, institutional affiliations, and countries in the literature. This bibliometric approach allows for the observation of trends in the educational application of promoting visual literacy through students’ design or creation of infographics in formal and informal learning settings. Initial publications emerged in 2007, gaining momentum from 2014 to the present. The most prolific fields were medical science, chemistry, and computer science. This investigation shows that educational institutions could employ infographics beyond present boundaries to prepare students—particularly Generation Alpha, digital natives—for a data-driven society. Institutions should expand their use of infographics to improve visual literacy and address the changing educational requirements of students in a dynamic learning environment. Overall, this paper provides insights into the readiness of educators and institutions to engage Generation Alpha, the digital natives, through visual literacy and infographics.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on an Austrian population with or without pre-existing health issues

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic had significant effects on the well-being of individuals all over the world. The Austrian government decided to take various restrictions to contain the spread of the virus and thus protect the COVID-19 risk groups in particular. The aim of this study is to investigate how the COVID-19 risk groups perceive the pandemic and the restrictions to provide results for similar exceptional situations in the future. Methods: For this purpose, we developed a questionnaire consisting of eleven items concerning the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions on well-being and behavior. Participants of the ongoing epidemiological Paracelsus 10,000 study (P10), in Salzburg, Austria, were included. We analyzed data from 989 people and classified the participants into three sub-groups depending on their risk of suffering from a severe course of a COVID-19 infection and tested for effects of risk group, sex, and their interaction. For a better overview we decided to group the questions into four main topics, named “changes in behavior and environment”, “worries caused by the virus and the restrictions”, “mood and mental state” and “long-lasting effects.” Results: We found significant differences between the sub-groups in all main topics and a worsening in well-being across the entire sample. Especially anxiety, insecurity, nervousness, and sleep problems increased while satisfaction decreased. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions have created a highly uncertain environment and the topic was omnipresent and therefore had effects on the well-being and behavior of the risk groups as well as on our entire cohort.

A lifestyle screening tool for young children in the community: needs and wishes of parents and youth healthcare professionals

BackgroundYouth healthcare has an important role in promoting a healthy lifestyle in young children in order to prevent lifestyle-related health problems. To aid youth healthcare in this task, a new lifestyle screening tool will be developed. The aim of this study was to explore how youth healthcare professionals (YHCP) could best support parents in improving their children’s lifestyle using a new lifestyle screening tool for young children.MethodsWe conducted four and seven focus groups among parents (N = 25) and YHCP (N = 25), respectively. Two main topics were addressed: the experiences with current practice of youth healthcare regarding lifestyle in young children, and the requirements for the lifestyle screening tool to be developed. The focus groups were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using an inductive approach.ResultsBoth parents and YHCP indicated that young children’s lifestyles are often discussed during youth healthcare appointments. While parents felt that this discussion could be more in-depth, YHCP mainly needed clues to continue the discussion. According to parents and YHCP, a new lifestyle screening tool for young children should be easy to use, take little time and provide courses of action. Moreover, it should be attractive to complete and align with the family concerned.ConclusionsAccording to parents and YHCP, a new lifestyle screening tool for young children could be useful to discuss specific lifestyle topics in more detail and to provide targeted advice.

Vinterutfodring av renar - effekter på renarnas beteende, renskötseln och miljön

This report is based on the results from a Nordic network project funded by The Nordic Joint Committee for Agricultural and Food Research (NKJ) during the years 2021-2022. This network was created to encourage further cross-border discussions about the prospects of winter feeding of reindeer. In reindeer husbandry winter feeding has increased during the last decades due to competing land use activities and climate change. Herders in Norway, Sweden and Finland have previously raised concerns about the benefits and risks associated to the increasing need of winter feeding of reindeer in all three countries. The report, published in Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and North Sámi, and covers the main findings from a series of preparatory workshops within each country and a main workshop in Arvidsjaur 8-9 June 2022. During the network activities, reindeer herders, researchers and managers discussed the effects of feeding on reindeer behaviour, herding practices and the environment. The two main topics discussed at the preparatory workshops were 1) the short- and long-term effects of winter feeding on reindeer behaviour, and 2) local to large scale effects of feeding on the environment and the natural pastures. During the main workshop, discussions were held about reasons for feeding of reindeer, the preconditions of feeding in the three countries, how winter feeding is usually performed, and best practices in relation to reindeer behaviour and the environment. The work aimed at promoting knowledge exchange on winter feeding of reindeer among all participants to help find solutions and mitigation actions to avoid changes in reindeer behaviour and negative effects of feeding on reindeer, reindeer herding and the environment. The report is aimed at herders, managers, as well as other land users, authorities and policymakers to give information on what was discussed and a summary of the challenges related to winter feeding and effects on reindeer behaviour and reindeer husbandry, and the environment. Rangifer Report No 18 is the Swedish version of the report. Reports in Norwegian, Finnish and North Sámi are published as following numbers of Rangifer Report.

ELEVATING CONSTRUCTION GRADUATE STUDENTS' PEDAGOGICAL PROWESS THROUGH FACULTY DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES

Faculty development programs improve the performance of academic scholars and instructors by providing up-to-date teaching and research management tools and methods. The overall objective of this research was to organize a pilot faculty development program for recent graduates of construction programs in which participants could improve their teaching capabilities and further prepare for their classes. The overarching question of this research was to investigate the perception of participants about different aspects of a program and factors that impact the program outputs. A program was designed and developed around the main topics in construction curricula. The eligibility criterion for participation was being a Ph.D. student in the last stage of the study in a construction program. A cohort of eight students from different construction schools participated in the program in April 2023. A cross-section survey was designed and distributed to participants during the program in which they evaluated the impact of various factors on their teaching preparedness and improvement. The analysis of the data revealed that the importance and necessity of faculty development programs in the construction was greatly felt. In addition, participants indicated positive effects of the program on the course design and management process. The findings of this study provide a pilot structure for administrators and scholars in construction to design and develop general or specialized faculty development initiatives for junior faculty members who join construction schools without prior ample teaching experience.

A Microlearning-Based Self-directed Learning Chatbot on Medication Administration for New Nurses: A Feasibility Study.

New nurses must acquire accurate knowledge of medication administration, as it directly affects patient safety. This study aimed to develop a microlearning-based self-directed learning chatbot on medication administration for novice nurses. Furthermore, the study had the objective of evaluating the chatbot feasibility. The chatbot covered two main topics: medication administration processes and drug-specific management, along with 21 subtopics. Fifty-eight newly hired nurses on standby were asked to use the chatbot over a 2-week period. Moreover, we evaluated the chatbot's feasibility through a survey that gauged changes in their confidence in medication administration knowledge, intrinsic learning motivation, satisfaction with the chatbot's learning content, and usability. After using the chatbot, participants' confidence in medication administration knowledge significantly improved in all topics (P < .001) except "Understanding a concept of 5Right" (P = .077). Their intrinsic learning motivation, satisfaction with the learning content, and usability scored above 5 out of 7 in all subdomains, except for pressure/tension (mean, 2.12; median, 1.90). They scored highest on ease of learning (mean, 6.69; median, 7.00). A microlearning-based chatbot can help new nurses improve their knowledge of medication administration through self-directed learning.