AI-generated agents with expert personas in biotechnology: Delphi evaluation of emerging technologies and future trajectories

Child-centred nursing education in disaster preparedness: Strengthening knowledge and awareness.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected several elements of the rice industry. Many rice value chains (RVCs) were harmed by preventative measures, threatening food security worldwide. This systematic review examines how the COVID-19 pandemic affected Asian RVCs. Harzing’s Publish or Perish program was used to include peer-reviewed journals from 2020–2022 indexed in Scopus, Google Scholar, PubMed, and Clarivate Analytics. The upstream segment was the least affected, mainly because farmers stored agricultural inputs in preparation for lockdowns. However, domestic and household workers replaced migratory labor, reducing the availability of agricultural and production labor. In Myanmar, this labor shift contributed to a 28% reduction in overall rice production during the pandemic. The midstream segment, being the most affected, had to operate with fewer resources and longer shifts for post-harvest activities, resulting in disrupted transportation and distribution. For example, in Indonesia, logistical delays in Jakarta were 35% higher compared to Semarang, significantly impacting rice delivery times. This disruption affected the final component of the RVC, where rice scarcity in a state increases retail prices, while abundance lowers them. Retail rice prices in scarcity-affected regions rose by an average of 22%, while surplus areas experienced price drops of up to 18%, forcing farmers to consume unsold crops or sell them at low prices. Governments and farmers should collaborate on strategic planning and response, farmer support, and harvest-to-market operations to maintain market flow.

Describe the development and implementation of a theory-informed professional practice model (PPM) and examine associated workforce, quality, engagement, and financial outcomes. Healthcare organizations face persistent challenges related to workforce turnover, disengagement, and fragmented care delivery. PPMs align nursing practice, leadership, and outcomes, but are often insufficiently operationalized. This evidence-based practice QI initiative implemented a PPM grounded in Convergent Care Theory using a structured, multiphase clinical inquiry infrastructure. Aggregated organizational data were analyzed to assess workforce, patient quality and safety, staff engagement, and conservative cost avoidance. More than 2500 nurses engaged in system-wide inquiry and strategic planning. One-year RN turnover decreased from 22.14% to 10.42% (P=0.002), associated with an estimated $4.6 million in conservative cost avoidance. Catheter-associated urinary tract infection rates decreased by 48%, and Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades improved. Operationalizing theory through a system-wide PPM improved workforce retention, patient outcomes, engagement, and organizational cost avoidance.

People spend the majority of their lives within built environments, whose design can profoundly influence human- and community-centered outcomes such as social capital formation, access to opportunity, public health, and resilience to disruption. Just as the built environment shapes human behavior and well-being, its design, operation, and performance can be substantially improved by better understanding how people actually use and experience space. Yet both of these goals — enhancing human benefits from built environments and improving system performance through human-aware design — are constrained by a fundamental limitation: existing computational models oversimplify human agents, equipping them with static or assumed behavioral rules that fail to reflect the dynamic, adaptive, and context-sensitive nature of real-world behavior. These simplifications undermine generalizability, limiting the ability of such models to transfer insights across scenarios or support the design of responsive, human-centered spaces. To overcome these limitations, we introduce EMPIRE ( Empirical Modeling of People in Responsive Environments ) — a data-driven, hierarchical model for predicting human spatio-temporal behavior in dynamic physical environments, with a focus on scenario-based generalizability. Driven by in-situ data, EMPIRE integrates Imitation Learning for strategic activity planning and Reinforcement Learning for generating adaptive execution policies based on interpretation of the environment and preferences. This multi-layered decomposition mirrors the cognitive structure of human decision making, enabling modularity, interpretability, and adaptability across unseen spatial configurations. To illustrate EMPIRE’s generalizability, we simulate human behavior in a social infrastructure setting (i.e., a park) by generating synthetic ground-truth trajectories that incorporate heterogeneous agent preferences, environmental dynamics, and social constraints. We conduct a systematic evaluation across six distinct park layouts using a leave-one-layout-out strategy, where models are trained on five configurations and tested on the sixth. This setup allows assessment of EMPIRE’s capacity to generalize to various unseen spatial scenarios. Experimental results demonstrate that EMPIRE successfully transfers learned behavioral patterns to new environments. • Data-driven agent-based model learns activities and preferences from in-situ data. • Hierarchical IL-GNN-RL structure mirrors human cognition for behavior simulation. • GNN learns preference-based rewards from physical, environmental, and social features. • Modular, data-driven foundation for rapid what-if built environment analysis.

Multi-scenario optimization of future energy mix for strategic energy planning in Morocco

Urban river-crossing corridors, such as bridges and tunnels, are critical yet vulnerable links in metropolitan transportation networks, where disruptions can cause severe system-wide impacts due to limited redundancy and concentrated traffic flows. This study proposes a novel dual-indicator framework integrating vehicle detour efficiency and public transportation substitution capacity to comprehensively evaluate the vulnerability and substitutability of urban river-crossing corridors. The methodology is empirically applied to Wuhan, China—a megacity characterized by a dense network of river-crossing infrastructure. Using extensive ride-hailing trajectory data, multitemporal travel simulations, and spatial analysis of traffic analysis zones (TAZs), we systematically assess the vulnerability patterns and substitution dynamics of nine key Yangtze River crossings. Our findings reveal significant heterogeneity in vulnerability levels: peripheral corridors exhibit markedly higher vulnerability and wider impact zones than central corridors due to lower bridge density and insufficient public transit alternatives. The study also identifies spatially contiguous strip-shaped vulnerability impact areas and highlights that residents in peripheral zones face greater challenges in shifting from private vehicle to public transit during corridor disruptions. These insights provide critical implications for enhancing the resilience of river-crossing networks while also informing strategic urban transportation planning in riverine cities.

Field evaluation of entomological surveillance techniques for leishmaniasis vector sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae).

Proactive logistics-redistribution strategic planning in response to facility disruptions under contingencies

A bi-level decision framework for strategic planning in urban solid waste management

The agri-food supply chain (AFSC) needs resilience beyond organizational and dyadic levels due to its complex adaptive nature and increasing number of disruptions. Based on the investigation of expert perceptions, this study aims to explore the influence structure of social-ecological resilience capabilities to aid in understanding the complexity of resilience and informing decision making. Moreover, the prioritization of big data analytics (BDA) practices can support agri-food entities in adopting best practices for resilience improvement by using a fuzzy hybrid multiple-criteria decision analysis approach. To contribute to the two aims, first, responses from 26 distinguished supply chain resilience scientists were analyzed using a fuzzy DANP approach to uncover the influence relationships and priority weights of 19 organization, supply chain, and industry level social-ecological resilience capabilities. Second, 14 BDA practices categorized into three groups of sensing, seizing, and transforming―based on the dynamic capabilities perspective―were prioritized as judged by a total of 19 managers in three large food retailers using a fuzzy TOPSIS model, considering their assessed contribution to strengthening resilience capabilities. These capabilities have also been triangulated with secondary data to contextualize and corroborate case descriptions. The findings suggest the high prominence and net influence of adaptability and agility, alongside the centrality of collaboration, supply flexibility, and risk-aware culture within the elicited influence structure in AFSCs. Production and supply chain managers and policymakers in AFSCs can use the results to assess organizational, supply chain, and industry resilience, guiding strategic planning based on identified capability interdependencies and priority weights. In addition, retail managers can use the evaluation method to reach a consensus in their organization to better understand and implement the critical BDA practices that are prioritized for resilience enhancement in their specific context. • Adopting the theoretical angles of social-ecological resilience and dynamic capabilities • Analyzing data from 26 supply chain resilience scientists and 19 managers in three large food retailers • Uncovering the influence structures between social-ecological resilience capabilities • Developing an empirical ranking model of Big Data Analytics practices to support resilience at different levels in agri-food supply chains • Guiding future theory testing in supply chain resilience and Big Data Analytics

One health laws, policies and governance in Uganda: What's on paper and what's really happening.

Beyond the civic participation: Accentuating existential needs in rural development

This study presents an integrated, multi-criteria spatial assessment for the sustainable siting of OWFs around the island of Crete, combining expert-derived weights, a GIS-based weighted overlay analysis, and an updated socio-environmental exclusion framework. Sixteen evaluation criteria were incorporated, reflecting environmental, technical, economic, and socio-political dimensions, each adapted to the unique geographic and ecological conditions of the Mediterranean island environment. Results confirm the robustness of the original multi-criteria model while refining local suitability by incorporating real environmental evidence. In particular, areas characterised by circalittoral rocky substrates and low biodiversity (e.g., Agios Nikolaos, Chersonissos) align with previously identified high-suitability zones. In contrast, sites under archaeological or ecological protection (e.g., Zakros, Elounda–Spinalonga) were validated as unsuitable. Several areas along the northern and eastern coasts emerged as comparatively favourable due to the combination of strong wind potential and relatively short distances to existing transmission infrastructure and coastal access points. Approximately 493 km 2 of marine areas were classified as moderately to highly suitable. Detailed engineering, geotechnical, financial, and grid-integration analyses would be required to assess practical feasibility and project-scale implementation. Nevertheless, the analysis also underscores the importance of integrating ecological sensitivity into planning processes, particularly for migratory birds and species that rely on soaring–gliding flight. Overall, the findings indicate that Crete has significant spatial potential for offshore wind development within a strategic planning framework, particularly given advances in floating wind technologies and ongoing grid interconnection projects. • Integrated AHP–GIS framework for offshore wind siting in island environments • Multi-stakeholder weighting captures technical, environmental and social constraints • Suitability mapping identifies priority offshore wind zones around Crete • Field-based ROV surveys validate seabed conditions and refine spatial decisions • Methodology supports adaptive offshore wind planning in the Mediterranean

Finite element-based strategic planning of controlled progressive collapse mechanisms in the explosive demolition of a multistory building

How can hydrological connectivity inform catchment scale stormwater flood management?

The dynamics of sponge city parks: Integrated stormwater management and urban parks in shanghai

PHPM physicians practice at the intersection of medicine and public health. Medicine and public health approach the application of evidence to decision-making differently. It's unclear how PHPM specialists are trained to navigate between these approaches.

After hospital care, older people with dementia often require further health and social care services. Hospital discharge is a complex process in which such support is planned and coordinated. This typically requires collaboration between professionals with different responsibilities representing various authorities to ensure integrated care. In Sweden, the decentralised organisation of health and social care services may lead to variation in discharge procedures and in how collaboration across care providers and authorities is organised. Politicians and civil servants play a central role in shaping discharge practices and in organising collaboration and coordination of services within regions and municipalities. However, their perspectives remain relatively underrepresented in previous research on hospital discharges for older people with dementia. Maximum variation strategy was used to recruit four politicians and eleven local government officials. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Our findings suggest that the discharge process from inpatient hospital care is governed by formal agreements outlining responsibilities between care providers. This process involves both a physical relocation and an administrative handover of responsibilities. Strategic workforce planning is essential to ensure sustained staff competence, and particular attention must be given to safeguarding the individual's representation throughout the discharge process. Politicians and local government officials highlight the need for clearly defined procedures and guidelines, governed by formal agreements between care providers and care authorities. The findings problematize frequent staff turnover, which undermines the development of a stable organizational culture in relation to hospital discharges. Furthermore, there is a need for experienced professionals committed to working with people with dementia, applying a person-centred approach throughout discharges.

Tourism management has become one of the most important contributors to economic development in many regions around the world. In the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, tourism has experienced significant growth due to the region’s natural landscapes, historical attractions, cultural diversity, and increasing investment in tourism infrastructure. The purpose of this quantitative research study is to examine the modern dimensions of tourism management and their role in promoting economic progress in the Kurdistan Region. The study investigates how strategic tourism planning, digital tourism marketing, tourism infrastructure, service quality, and government support influence economic development indicators such as employment generation, investment growth, business expansion, and regional income improvement. A quantitative research design was adopted using a structured questionnaire distributed among tourism sector employees, hotel managers, travel agencies, tourism officials, and visitors in the Kurdistan Region. A total of 250 questionnaires were collected and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analysis were employed to examine relationships between tourism management dimensions and economic progress. The findings revealed strong positive relationships between modern tourism management practices and economic progress.