Search Results (779)

Transboundary river basins face water stress exacerbated by data scarcity and political instability, and most allocation models require ideal conditions that ordinarily do not exist. This study operationalizes Water Diplomacy Theory (WDT) for data-scarce, conflict-prone basins through quantifiable allocation rules—a critical gap as 310 transboundary basins worldwide face similar challenges. We address: (1) How can a four-stage allocation framework reduce basin-wide water stress under varying Institutional Capacity (IC), Data Transparency (DT), and Stakeholder Inclusion (SI)? (2) What treaty provisions achieve bindingness under upstream-downstream power asymmetries? (3) How does this framework advance beyond existing models in equity, efficiency, and adaptive capacity? We synthesize Water Diplomacy Theory with Hydro-political Security Complex Theory to construct a novel four-stage framework: initial allocation with ecological floors, conditional reallocation triggers, interannual water banking, and satellite-verified compliance. Drawing on 14 treaty precedents and 30-year hydrological data for the Salween River, we embed these rules in an open-source water banking model. Results demonstrate that increasing IC from low to high reduces basin-wide water stress by 34% (±7%, 95% IC) under drought conditions. Stakeholder Inclusion decreases allocation conflicts by 52%. Water banking outperforms priority rules by 23% across climate scenarios. Cooperation becomes self-enforcing when IC exceeds 0.55. The novelty and contribution to existing literature our study provides are: (1) first operationalization of hybrid commons-to-treaty transition with 85.7% empirically grounded clauses; (2) evidence that binding cooperative treaty design is achievable in weak-state contexts through institutional design; and (3) a portable template for data-scarce conflict-affected basins. Full article

Kazakhstan is one of the world’s major wheat producers and exporters, playing an important role in regional and global food security. However, increasing quality requirements in domestic and export markets have exposed limitations in the country’s capacity to consistently supply high-quality spring bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). This review aims to assess the current status of spring wheat grain quality in Northern Kazakhstan, identify the main factors driving its variation, and outline pathways for quality improvement. The analysis is based on published literature, official statistics, national quality standards, and recent data on wheat production, grading, breeding systems, agronomic practices, and trade patterns. The review reveals that wheat production is dominated by medium-quality grain (primarily class 3), while high-quality classes suitable for premium and improver markets represent a small share. Compared with major exporters such as Canada, the United States, and Australia, Kazakh wheat is generally inferior across key quality parameters. Structural constraints include the limited integration of quality assessments within breeding programs, insufficient laboratory infrastructure, weak agroecological zoning by quality classes, and suboptimal agronomic management, particularly regarding nitrogen use. Environmental heterogeneity and climate change further influence the yield–quality balance. Overall, the findings suggest that improving wheat grain quality in Kazakhstan will require coordinated advances in breeding, agronomy, institutional capacity, and market alignment, enabling a gradual shift toward a more competitive, quality-oriented wheat production system. Full article

Background: ESG activities are increasingly regarded as a critical prerequisite for the long-term survival of humanity. Global and regional efforts have been undertaken to develop and control ESG activities; however, national differences (institutional and social schemes, level of economic development) are still considered to account for most of the variance in ESG performance. On this basis, a research gap was identified and verified to determine whether legal regulations have an impact on the quality of ESG reporting in Poland. The study was further extended by investigating whether taxonomic disclosures affect the quality of ESG reporting. Methods: The CATI and CAVI methods were applied, resulting in the collection of 325 valid responses. In the first stage of the research, the diversity of respondents’ answers was analyzed, according to their sector of activity, using a one-factor analysis of ANOVA variance with Welch and Brown–Forsythe corrections. In the second stage, the Games–Howell Test was employed to determine which sectoral responses differed significantly. The third stage was focused on diagnosing the impact of the sector of activity on respondents’ answers by calculating the eta-squared ratio. Results: The existence of a positive impact of ESG regulatory development on the quality of reporting disclosures was confirmed; nevertheless, this impact was assessed as moderate or weak. When more detailed taxonomic disclosures were considered, no significant influence on the quality of ESG disclosures was identified. An analysis of responses across sectors led to the conclusion that the sectoral perspective does not exert a meaningful influence on stakeholders’ opinions. Conclusions: The presented results are useful at the regulatory level, both internationally and nationally, as they partly legitimize the simplifications and exemptions currently being introduced in ESG reporting. At the same time, while highlighting the potential of the regulations under review, they point to the need for additional efforts to strengthen their impact by enhancing communication and, based on informing and promoting new solutions, emphasizing their potential positive effects and benefits, as well as considering the scope of reporting through selective application. The findings presented are also useful for educational purposes and to other researchers for comparative purposes, providing a basis for research into other determinants of ESG reporting quality. Full article

The transition from cash-based transactions to digital wallet usage represents a structural change in the business practices of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in emerging economies. This study aims to synthesize scientific evidence on digital wallet adoption among microentrepreneurs, analyze the geographical distribution of research, and consolidate key empirical findings, with a specific focus on Asia and Latin America. These regions are of particular interest because they share high levels of economic informality, strong reliance on cash-based transactions, and rapid expansion of digital financial technologies, while also facing institutional, regulatory, and infrastructural constraints that shape technology adoption among microentrepreneurs. A systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Searches were performed in the Scopus and Web of Science databases, including open access empirical studies published between 2021 and 2025 in English or Spanish. After applying predefined eligibility criteria and removing duplicates, 39 studies were included in the final analysis. The results indicate that most publications originate from Asian countries, particularly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam, whereas Latin America is mainly represented by Colombia and Peru. Across both regions, digital wallet adoption is consistently influenced by trust, perceived security, perceived usefulness, and ease of use, while perceived risk and institutional weaknesses emerge as contextual barriers. Although several primary studies adopt a consumer-level analytical perspective, their findings are extrapolated to microentrepreneur contexts by emphasizing transaction-related behaviors directly linked to business operations. This review acknowledges that the predominance of consumer-focused evidence represents a limitation when interpreting firm-level outcomes. Overall, the findings suggest that digital wallet adoption among microentrepreneurs is a socio-technical process shaped by behavioral, institutional, and regulatory factors rather than technology alone. Full article

Transportation-disadvantaged (TD) populations, including many older adults and people with disabilities, often face mobility barriers linked to fragmented transportation services, limited information about available ride options, and weak coordination across providers. While One-Call/One-Click (1C1C) systems have emerged as solutions to centralize transportation information, support trip planning, and coordinate services across public, nonprofit, and private actors, their capacity to scale remains limited. Using a mixed-methods design, this study examined the institutional arrangements, functional scope, and service scale of 67 operational 1C1C systems to identify systemic barriers to expanding coordinated service access. Quantitative analysis revealed substantial variation in governance, service configurations, costs, and coverage relative to conservative population-based benchmarks, with most systems operating at limited scale. Qualitative interviews with system administrators provide explanatory insight into these patterns, identifying three recurring institutional constraints: funding instability, limited capacity for technology and data integration, and shallow vendor networks for specialized transportation services. The findings indicate that limits to 1C1C performance are rooted in institutional and financial conditions rather than system design. Situating coordinated transportation within the Age-Friendly Cities framework, the study argues that mobility coordination must be treated as durable public infrastructure if equitable, age-friendly mobility is to be achieved at scale. Full article

Corporate governance reforms in emerging and frontier markets frequently assume that strengthening board oversight, audit committees, and ownership monitoring will improve audit quality and enhance firm value. Yet, in weak institutional environments, these mechanisms often function symbolically rather than substantively. This study rethinks the governance–audit–value nexus by integrating Agency Theory, Institutional Theory, and the concept of symbolic governance to explain why governance may appear structurally robust while failing to constrain managerial discretion. Using panel data from Ghanaian listed firms between 2015 and 2023, the analysis shows that audit committee independence and board independence are negatively associated with both audit quality and firm value, indicating that formal independence without expertise, authority, or enforcement capacity does not translate into meaningful oversight. By contrast, institutional and managerial ownership positively influence both outcomes, suggesting that incentive alignment and informed monitoring can substitute for weak formal governance. Foreign ownership improves firm value but does not consistently enhance audit quality, while macroeconomic conditions such as inflation and GDP growth further shape firm performance. The study advances the literature by reconceptualising governance effectiveness in weak institutional environments, demonstrating that governance mechanisms may exist in form without functioning in substance. The findings underscore the need for governance reforms that prioritise enforcement capacity, board expertise, and audit committee competence rather than structural compliance alone. Full article

Tourism destinations exposed to chronic natural hazards require robust analytical frameworks to understand and prioritize the factors that sustain post-disaster resilience. This study examines Baños de Agua Santa (Ecuador), a volcano-exposed destination whose long recovery trajectory illustrates the complexity of socio-ecological adaptation. Using a multidimensional FAHP model grounded in expert judgments, eight dimensions and fifty-six criteria were evaluated through fuzzy triangular numbers and the extended analysis method of Chang to capture uncertainty and ambiguity in decision-making. Results show a consistent and hierarchical structure of resilience, with experiential, economic-entrepreneurial, and socio-community dimensions emerging as the most influential drivers of post-disaster adaptability. Fifteen criteria—primarily perceptual, community-based, and endogenous—achieved “very high impact” status, including risk perception, basic education, individual resilience capacities, institutional coordination, and entrepreneurial environment. Conversely, limited healthcare infrastructure, low economic diversification, and national-level vulnerabilities were identified as critical weaknesses. The study concludes that post-disaster recovery in Baños is shaped by a bottom-up dynamic that emphasizes agency, learning and socio-ecological memory. It also proposes an evidence-based Action Matrix for adaptive governance to guide prioritized, time-phased interventions. The FAHP model proves effective for transparent, context-sensitive prioritization in highly uncertain tourism environments. Full article

Integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into mathematics education holds significant potential to enhance learning outcomes; however, its effectiveness in resource-constrained higher education contexts remains uneven due to persistent digital divide barriers. This quantitative study investigates how socioeconomic status shapes first-level (technology access) and second level (digital skills and institutional support) digital divide barriers, and how these factors relate to students’ perceptions of AI-driven mathematics learning. Grounded in van Dijk’s digital divide theory, a cross-sectional survey was administered to 121 undergraduate mathematics students at a historically disadvantaged higher education institution. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and Chi-square analyses were employed to examine associations among socioeconomic status, access, skills, institutional support, and AI perceptions. The findings indicate that material access barriers, such as limited devices and internet connectivity, remain prevalent among disadvantaged students but show weak or inconsistent associations with perceptions of AI. In contrast, institutional support demonstrates a statistically significant positive relationship with students’ perceptions of AI training (r = 0.212, p < 0.05), highlighting its central role in shaping readiness for AI-enhanced learning. Overall, the results suggest that second-level digital divide factors, particularly structured institutional support, are more influential than access alone in determining students’ engagement with AI in mathematics education. The study implies the need for universities to move beyond infrastructure provision toward comprehensive and sustained institutional strategies that foster confidence, guided engagement, and equitable AI adoption. Full article

This paper addresses the persistent failure of major digital investments to achieve sustained smart technology adoption in developing countries, limiting productivity and business growth. Although existing research identifies institutional weaknesses as a central barrier, it provides limited guidance on how progress can occur within such constraints. To address this gap, the Institutional Framework for Smart Technology Adoption (IFSTA), pronounced Eye-f-sta, is developed as a contingent institutional framework linking digital transformation theory with practical assessment tools. IFSTA argues that adoption success depends not on technology alone, but on strategic alignment with specific institutional contexts. The framework is built around three core pillars, governance architecture, socio-technical infrastructure, and adaptive capacity, and explains how their interactions generate differentiated adoption outcomes across five institutional contexts. Localization is conceptualized as a cross-cutting mediating mechanism through which governance arrangements, standards, platforms, and capabilities are adapted to domestic realities, shaping both current performance and future transformation potential. Three questions guide the analysis: how institutional contexts moderate the impact of infrastructure investment; what complementarities and compensatory mechanisms enable progress under institutional constraints; and how digital investments can be sequenced according to institutional starting points. To operationalize this logic, the Performance–Knowledge Index (PKI) is introduced as a context-sensitive diagnostic tool that identifies binding constraints and supports sequenced intervention design. The study contributes a contingent institutional model, a methodological bridge between diagnosis and implementation, and a structured, actionable framework for advancing sustainable digital adoption in developing economies. Full article

Background/Objectives: The ethical climate in a healthcare institution encompasses the shared perceptions of how ethical issues are managed in everyday practice. Our prior survey at the University Hospital of Split, Croatia, showed a simultaneous predominance of the “Rules” and “Laws and professional codes” ethical climates. Building on these findings, we explored how these climates manifest in everyday practice, how they align with staff values and guide their ethical decision-making, and how they are shaped by external factors. Methods: We conducted seven focus groups with 31 participants: nurses, residents, specialists, and members of the Hospital Ethics Committee (HEC). We identified patterns in the data using Graneheim and Lundman’s qualitative content analysis. Results: Three themes emerged from our analysis. We observed that the ethical climate was shaped predominantly by healthcare professionals themselves based on shared professional values and informal norms, rather than explicit institutional rules. Nurses, positioned as frontline workers, felt particularly exposed to ethical dilemmas, reporting perceived subordination to physicians, increased pressures from patients, and vulnerability in ethically ambiguous situations. The participants generally believed that institutional leadership insufficiently utilised existing tools, bodies, and mechanisms to support ethical behaviour and sanction misdemeanors, resulting in gaps in human resource management, a lack of practical protocols, and a weak HEC. Conclusions: To strengthen the ethical climate, institutional leadership should provide clear and practical guidelines, effectively utilise regulating bodies and support services, establish dedicated mechanisms to support nurses, and consistently enforce sanctions for unethical behaviour. Full article

Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) is a viable method for separating hydrogen from gas mixtures, an important aspect of long-term hydrogen storage in depleted gas fields. This study explores optimizing a 12-step PSA process for recovering high-purity hydrogen from varying compositions of hydrogen–methane mixtures, simulating the conditions likely encountered during hydrogen storage and recovery. Step-time optimization was performed on four different hydrogen–methane mixtures using the toPSAil simulation package—an open-source dynamic PSA simulator developed by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology—integrated with a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. The goal was to develop an optimization framework that can reliably identify PSA step times for different operating scenarios and satisfy specified purity and recovery constraints under fluctuating wellhead feed conditions. The optimization converged within 25–30 iterations, even in high-contaminant, low-pressure scenarios, where PSA performance is traditionally weak. The product purity in the optimized cycles was above 99.1% with more than 80% recovery for all cases, while fuel cell quality (99.7%) hydrogen was achieved in two out of the four scenarios. The purge-to-feed ratio of the best-performing cycles was between 0.07 and 0.32. These findings show the potential of the proposed approach in overcoming the difficulty of designing PSA cycles for non-constant gas compositions and achieving a hydrogen purification process suitable for variable feed conditions. The workflow generates a large synthetic dataset that can support surrogate or hybrid modeling. The results can help advance research in other gas separation areas with non-constant conditions, like flue gas or biogas purification. Full article

The governance of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) has emerged as a critical issue for sustainable local development, particularly in cities where cultural vitality is largely community-driven but institutionally under-supported. This study examines the case of Kalamata, Greece, a medium-sized city with a dense network of community-based cultural associations, in order to analyse how ICH is governed in practice and how it contributes to social capital formation and sustainability outcomes. The research is based on 49 semi-structured interviews with representatives of 25 cultural associations and public or municipal bodies and employs qualitative thematic analysis. The findings demonstrate that cultural associations function as key governance actors at the community level, generating strong bonding social capital through participation, informal education, and collective memory. At the same time, limited bridging and linking social capital constrain inter-organisational cooperation, institutional coordination, and the integration of ICH into long-term development strategies. The study identifies significant governance challenges, including fragmented policy frameworks, unstable funding mechanisms, limited professional support, and weak participatory decision-making structures. By explicitly linking empirical findings to the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDGs 4.7, 11.4, 16.7, and 17, the paper highlights the importance of participatory cultural governance and co-governance models for enhancing the sustainability of local cultural ecosystems. The article contributes to policy-oriented debates on cultural sustainability by providing evidence from a Mediterranean medium-sized city and by proposing governance-relevant directions for integrating community-based ICH into sustainable local development planning. The findings offer practical guidance for local authorities and cultural organizations seeking to integrate community-based ICH into sustainable urban development strategies. Full article

Urban flood risk management in southern Chile is often constrained by fragmented territorial information, discontinuous hydrological records, and weak integration between hazard assessment and formal land-administration systems. These limitations are particularly evident in persistently cloudy cities such as Temuco, where optical satellite imagery is frequently unusable. This study examines how satellite-derived flood observations can be incorporated into municipal land-administration practices. Flood-prone areas were identified using multitemporal Sentinel-1 SAR imagery (2018–2025) and integrated into a municipal multipurpose cadastre structured according to the ISO 19152 Land Administration Domain Model (LADM). Rather than remaining as standalone GIS maps, detected inundation areas were translated into standardized cadastral entities representing spatial units and hazard-related planning constraints. The analysis identified recurrent flooding along the Cautín River floodplain, characterized by strong winter seasonality and increasing exposure linked to urban expansion. More importantly, the results demonstrate that satellite-based hazard observations can be structured as interoperable administrative information with defined semantics, temporal validity, and traceable data sources. The proposed framework enables flood information to support territorial planning, emergency preparedness, and municipal risk management without altering property legal status. By linking Earth observation data with cadastral information infrastructures, the study provides a replicable approach for integrating environmental observations into land-administration systems in regions affected by institutional fragmentation and recurring hydrometeorological hazards. Full article

Functional analysis (FA) is increasingly used in public sector reforms to assess organizational performance and guide administrative change. However, FA frequently stays procedural and descriptive in both theory and practice, providing little insight into the roots of inefficiencies. The paper addresses this gap by reconceptualizing FA as an organizational diagnostic framework and applying it to parliamentary administrations, a field that has not received much scholarly attention. Using a comparative qualitative case study design, the analysis examined the parliamentary secretariats of Armenia, Ukraine, and Serbia, drawing on functional review reports, institutional documents, and available employee self-assessment data. The proposed framework operationalizes FA across four analytical dimensions: governance and strategic management, structural design, staffing, and process efficiency. The findings show that system efficiency is shaped by governance arrangements and strategic management capacity, while structural design influences functional coherence and coordination. Staffing affects performance indirectly by mediating process efficiency rather than through staffing levels alone. Overall, inefficiencies appear cumulative and systemic rather than the result of isolated functional weaknesses. By advancing FA as a diagnostic approach, the study contributes to public administration theory and offers a transferable framework for assessing organizational efficiency in parliamentary administrations and other complex public sector organizations. Full article

Agricultural intensification and the widespread use of pesticides have exerted long-term pressures on honey bees, negatively affecting their survival, abundance, and immunity. Understanding the perceptions of beekeepers and farmers is essential to identify collaborative actions and assess whether existing regulations provide adequate protection for bee health. Laws and regulations play a crucial role in managing apicultural health risks; however, their effectiveness depends on how well they align with ecological realities and policy objectives. This study investigates whether Chile’s regulatory frameworks provide sufficient protection for honey bees by identifying key gaps and opportunities, particularly regarding pesticide use in agriculture. A mixed-methods analysis was applied to a sample of beekeepers from southern Chile—considering variables such as gender, education level, and regulatory awareness—and complemented with a review of legal documents and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders. Findings show that although Law No. 21,489 represents an important step toward formalizing beekeeping and reducing pesticide-related risks, its scope remains limited by weak enforcement capacity, scarce institutional resources, and insufficient regulation of systemic pesticides. Strengthening environmental governance and updating the regulatory framework through greater inter-institutional coordination, beekeeper participation, and effective control mechanisms are essential to reconcile agricultural production with pollinator conservation and ecosystem sustainability. Full article