Search Results (3,317)

The formation of peptide bonds under prebiotic conditions represents a major challenge due to both thermodynamic and kinetic constraints, particularly in aqueous environments where condensation reactions are disfavored. Mineral surfaces have long been proposed as key contributors to overcoming these limitations by providing structured and reactive interfaces that promote molecular organization and facilitate chemical transformations. In this context, hydroxyapatite emerges as a particularly promising system due to its structural versatility, surface heterogeneity, and ability to interact with a wide range of organic molecules. Its capacity to support adsorption, interfacial organization, and dynamic interactions makes it a promising platform for surface-mediated prebiotic chemistry. Furthermore, the incorporation of metal centers, especially zirconium-based species, introduces additional catalytic functionalities that can enhance bond activation and enable cooperative reaction mechanisms. The combination of mineral surfaces and metal-based catalysis thus provides a framework for understanding how complex chemical processes could have emerged under prebiotic conditions. Particular attention is given to hybrid hydroxyapatite–zirconium systems as multifunctional catalytic platforms integrating adsorption, activation, and spatial organization. Finally, the role of dynamic environmental regimes, including gradients, cyclic processes, and non-equilibrium conditions, is considered as a critical factor in sustaining chemical reactivity and promoting increasing levels of molecular complexity. Together, these elements support a scenario in which surface-mediated processes played a central role in the emergence of peptide-like structures and early protometabolic systems. Full article

This study presents a critical historical, bibliometric, and technological overview of the evolution of postharvest science, emphasizing the transition from classical physiology-based approaches to emerging predictive and technology-driven systems. Scientific production related to postharvest research was analyzed using the Scopus and Web of Science databases, while bibliometric mapping and co-occurrence networks were generated using VOSviewer to identify thematic trends, emerging research areas, and structural scientific clusters. In parallel, a technological foresight analysis was conducted through the Lens.org platform to investigate the temporal evolution of patent deposits, the geographical distribution of innovation, the leading institutional applicants, and the predominant technological domains according to the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC). The results revealed a substantial global expansion of postharvest research over recent decades. This growth was accompanied by increasing technological diversification and stronger integration between scientific knowledge and intellectual property protection. The analysis also highlighted the progressive incorporation of advanced methodologies into postharvest science, including biochemical approaches, non-destructive technologies, artificial intelligence, predictive modeling, and digital tools for quality assessment and shelf-life management. Overall, the study demonstrates that postharvest science is undergoing a paradigmatic transition toward integrated, multidisciplinary, and data-driven systems aligned with current demands for sustainability, food security, innovation, and reduction of postharvest losses. Full article

The Xizang–Sichuan region is rich in tourism resources, yet its complex geography and lagging transportation infrastructure have resulted in pronounced spatial disparities in tourism development. From a sustainability perspective, such disparities can lead to a ‘rich-get-richer’ cycle: over-tourism and ecological stress in high-accessibility cores, versus underdevelopment and resource idling in low-accessibility peripheries. To systematically examine the spatial structure of tourism in this region, this study uses counties as basic units and integrates the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) with an improved gravity model for tourism network potential accessibility (TNPA) to assess regional tourism development levels and the network-based accessibility among counties. A comprehensive evaluation framework was established across three dimensions: tourism resource endowment, service capacity, and socio-economic support. Travel times between county centers were obtained from the Amap API, and a TNPA index was computed to reflect each county’s potential for tourism interaction with the rest of the region. Results indicate that resource endowment dominates the evaluation, with scenic quality as the critical factor. TNPA exhibits a pronounced core–periphery differentiation, with Chengdu and surrounding areas forming a high-value network core, while most counties in Xizang show extremely low network potential. Equity analysis reveals a significant imbalance in the distribution of network accessibility between Sichuan and Xizang. Under the baseline setting, the population-weighted Gini coefficient, coefficient of variation, and Theil index reach 0.677, 1.724, and 0.884, respectively, indicating that tourism network potential remains highly concentrated in a limited number of counties. The population-weighted mean TNPA of Sichuan is also far higher than that of Xizang, revealing a distinct interregional accessibility gap. The development–TNPA mismatch analysis further identifies counties where tourism development foundations are relatively strong but network integration remains weak. Robustness checks indicate that the high-development–low-TNPA pattern is not simply an artefact of the median-based classification, with the most evident cases mainly concentrated in Aba and Garze in western Sichuan and a few counties in Xizang. The study highlights the asymmetric relationships among resource endowment, network accessibility, and equity, providing a scientific basis for optimizing cross-regional tourism cooperation and transportation corridors in the Xizang–Sichuan region. Full article

A novel composite catalyst for photothermal CO₂ cycloaddition was developed by integrating the ionic liquid 1-ethylpyridinium bromide (EPB) with a copper-based metal–organic framework (HKUST-1). HKUST-1 was synthesized via a hydrothermal method and functionalized with EPB through a wet impregnation strategy to enhance its catalytic performance. Under xenon lamp irradiation and optimized conditions (80 °C, 1 MPa CO₂ pressure, 12 h, and 0.07% mol of TBAB bromide as a co-catalyst), the HK@EPB composite exhibited outstanding performance in catalyzing the conversion of CO₂ and various epoxides into cyclic carbonates. The exceptional catalytic activity arises from a synergistic multicomponent mechanism: the incorporation of EPB not only enhances CO₂ adsorption capacity but also provides photothermal energy for the reaction; simultaneously, EPB dissociates bromide ions to effectively initiate epoxide ring-opening. In particular, propylene oxide achieved a selectivity of 95% for the desired cyclic carbonate, surpassing most previously reported MOF-based catalysts. This system enables efficient catalysis under mild conditions through the synergistic contributions of the high CO₂ adsorption capacity and Cu²⁺/Cu⁺ redox-mediated electron transfer of HKUST-1, the provision of nucleophilic Br-species from EPB to promote epoxide ring-opening, and the cooperative effect of TBAB. This study demonstrates that ionic-liquid-functionalized MOF composites can serve as sustainable and versatile catalytic platforms, offering an environmentally friendly pathway for large-scale CO₂ utilization. Full article

Climate action is an alarming issue, and the world is concerned about sustainable solutions. Governance quality, financial technology and advanced-resource endowments have a pivotal role in climate action, yet the literature lacks evidence on their linkages with carbon emissions. The present study covers this gap in the literature for the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, as they offer an ideal study setting given their extreme vulnerability to climate change, their reliance on fossil fuels, the strong efforts to address climate change issues, and their prioritization of transforming the financial sector through financial technology as a means of resolving climate issues. Results show that governance quality and financial technology curb carbon emissions. Specifically, financial technology reduces CO₂ emissions by approximately 36.4% in the FMOLS estimation, while governance quality contributes negatively and significantly to CO₂ emissions across most specifications. Further, the interaction term of financial technology and advanced-resource endowments is statistically significant with a negative coefficient, hereby providing a supportive role in reducing CO₂ emissions. Hence, advanced-resource endowments play a moderating role, transforming the effectiveness of financial technology in reducing carbon emissions. The findings are robust for quantile regressions and alternative measures of environmental degradation and have strong policy implications for the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Full article

Mg–La mixed metal oxides derived from layered double hydroxide (LDH) precursors were synthesized via coprecipitation and evaluated as heterogeneous catalysts for solventless glycerol etherification to short-chain polyglycerols. The influence of Mg/La molar ratio on the structural, textural, and catalytic properties of the catalysts was systematically investigated using XRD, BET, SEM-EDX, FTIR, TPD-CO₂, TPD-NH₃ and ICP-OES analyses. XRD confirmed the formation of La₂O₂CO₃ phases, while CO₂-TPD analysis revealed the presence of abundant medium-to-strong basic sites. Among the synthesized catalysts, Mg_0.25La_0.75O₂ exhibited the highest basic site concentration (6830 µmol g⁻¹) and superior catalytic performance due to the possible cooperative interaction between Mg- and La-derived sites. Under optimum reaction conditions of 220 °C, 8 h, and 2 wt% catalyst loading, the catalyst achieved 90% glycerol conversion with 70% diglycerol selectivity, 23% triglycerol selectivity, and 84% combined diglycerol and triglycerol yield. Reaction temperature, catalyst loading, and reaction duration significantly influenced oligomer distribution and catalyst performance. Reusability studies demonstrated acceptable catalyst stability for up to four cycles before gradual deactivation caused by oligomer deposition and metal leaching. The results highlight Mg–La mixed oxides as promising catalysts for sustainable solvent-free glycerol valorization, while demonstrating a scalable and environmentally benign strategy for maximizing lower-degree polyglycerol production within shorter reaction durations and reduced processing cost. Full article

Excitatory–inhibitory (E-I) local circuits play a central role in synaptic plasticity and neural coding, yet their multilayer learning dynamics remain poorly understood. We constructed a multilayer feedforward spiking neural network with intra-layer E-I connectivity, using Izhikevich neurons to model regular spiking (RS) and fast spiking (FS) cells, and examined cooperative learning under excitatory and inhibitory spike-timing-dependent plasticity (eSTDP and iSTDP). FS-mediated lateral inhibition alleviates the long-term depression bias arising from RS firing rate adaptation via winner-take-all competition, promoting heterogeneous E→E weight differentiation while preserving mean synaptic strength. A $12\times 12$ parameter grid scan shows that iSTDP expands the stable learning region in the E-I parameter space and reveals a sustained cooperative co-evolution of eSTDP and iSTDP during training. For sparse coding, RS adaptation is the primary driver of Lifetime Sparseness, with FS inhibition acting as a cooperative enhancer; the network exhibits low sparseness at the input layer, a rapid increase at the second layer, and a stable plateau in deeper layers. For temporal pattern learning, the selectivity index $d^{\prime }$ improved substantially after training, reaching approximately 1.90 times that of the FS-absent condition; both interval sensitivity and pattern generalization tests confirmed that this advantage is robust across biologically plausible inter-group delays and preserved under small temporal jitter. Mutual information analysis reveals a consistent tendency for intra-layer FS circuits to maintain higher stimulus-related information across deep layers, consistent with FS-mediated suppression of non-specific responses. These findings provide computational evidence, within the scope of the present model, for understanding cortical E-I cooperative plasticity and inform design principles for neuromorphic systems with adaptive inhibitory regulation. Full article

There is a typical coopetition relationship between the urban rail transit (URT) network scale and the urban development (UD) level. A reasonable URT network scale is essential for promoting sustainable UD. Currently, the determination of the URT network scale for planning primarily relies on qualitative approaches such as static estimation and analogical methods, which fail to dynamically reflect the coopetition relationship between URT and UD. An improved time-varying parameter Lotka–Volterra (LV) model derived from ecological theory is employed to describe the coopetition relationship between the URT network scale and the UD level. The sliding-window least squares method is applied to estimate parameters of the model. Based on the improved LV model, the lower bound of the URT network scale is obtained by solving for the minimum network scale required to promote sustainable UD under a cooperative relationship; the upper bound of the URT network scale is obtained by solving for the maximum network scale that urban resources can support under competitive conditions. The proposed model is validated using eight Chinese cities with different UD levels. The study offers quantitative theoretical insights for determining the reasonable URT network scale for planning. Full article

AVs are also bound to capitalize on 5G networks, which creates crucial challenges in the adaptable management of resources because they need very low latency, a high-speed connection, and energy-efficient functionality. Older approaches to optimizing resource allocation in the high-frequency changing vehicle environment fail to deliver as mobility trends and network status constantly adapt and change. To overcome these problems, we suggest a new Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL)-based algorithm, which is aimed at optimizing the allocation of resources to AVs. This model combines a Spatiotemporal Graph Convolution Network (ST-GCN), Gated Recurrent Units (GRU), and Multi-Agent Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (MADDPG) to create a unified model. The ST-GCN is successful at both capturing the dynamic space relationship between vehicles and between vehicles and roadside infrastructure, and also gives a complete picture of network topology. GRU uses traffic and communication information to forecast future mobility patterns and bandwidth demand of each agent and therefore allocate resources proactively. The MADDPG algorithm is used to enable decentralized but coordinated decision-making among AVs, which enables the realization of dynamic policies of bandwidth allocation in real-time. Simulations using such aspects as a realistic Rayleigh fading channel model, a node density of 100 vehicles/km², and 100 MHz of bandwidth prove the effectiveness of the framework extensively. We find that the end-to-end latency increase is reduced by up to 30%, and the system throughput is increased by up to 28, and the energy efficiency is increased by an average of 40 percent in comparison with the baseline techniques. Such results confirm our framework to be a plausible solution to building effective and sustainable communication systems to enable AVs to cooperate in the information exchange of important data. Full article

What does it mean to bring climate adaptation and sustainability “on the ground” into a Thuringian small town that is both urban and rural? From 2021 to 2024, we conducted a cooperative research project with the municipality to investigate this. For three years, the research partners explored ways to integrate the “big” topics of climate adaptation, sustainability, public services, and demographic change into the everyday urban development processes of a small town in rural Thuringia, an area experiencing long-term population decline. The result of the project is three volumes in the ISDN series that provide initial answers, which are often derived from the combination of research and teaching. One volume focuses on energy, housing, and mobility, presenting stakeholders, projects, and research results that can be used to address these issues locally in rural-urban municipalities more broadly. Another collects findings on socio-infrastructural planning, offering a dedicated perspective on gender and youth “in the countryside”. Ultimately, all socio-infrastructural planning activities aim to support an “Urban Social Cultural Care”. This article aims to contextualize transfer-oriented research within theoretical debates on sustainability transitions, paying special attention to the opportunities available to municipalities with limited administrative resources to enhance their own scope of action. Full article

The European perch (Perca fluviatilis) is highly susceptible to heat stress, limiting its sustainable aquaculture. While single-organ thermal responses are partially understood, the systemic, multi-organ cooperative survival mechanisms under acute heat stress remain poorly characterized. To elucidate the underlying tolerance mechanisms and provide genetic markers for breeding, this study investigated the multi-organ responses of European perch (n = 90; body length: 13.15 ± 1.75 cm; body weight: 30.54 ± 7.17 g) transferred from 24 °C to an acute heat stress challenge (31 °C) at an increasing rate of 2 °C/h, and the histopathological changes (liver and gill), hepatic biochemical biomarkers (CAT, SOD, GSH-Px, GST, LDH, and MDA), and transcriptomic changes (liver and kidney) were evaluated over a 24 h period. Heat stress induced progressive structural damage, including gill lamellar edema and hepatocyte necrosis, accompanied by significant hepatic oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation. RNA-seq transcriptome profiling uncovered distinct sets of genes with significant expression changes, comprising 1343 DEGs in liver tissue and 722 DEGs in kidney samples. Both organs shared a systemic endoplasmic reticulum stress response but exhibited highly divergent survival strategies. The liver underwent severe metabolic reprogramming towards anaerobic glycolysis and gluconeogenesis, coupled with vesicle-mediated membrane repair attempts and apoptosis. Conversely, the kidney adopted a strict “energy triage” strategy, suppressing highly energy-consuming immune and osmoregulatory functions while actively silencing pro-apoptotic signals. These findings highlight organ-specific adaptations and identify potential metabolic markers for the future breeding of new heat-tolerant varieties. Full article

Single-use plastic (SUP) pollution has emerged as a major sustainability and environmental-governance challenge in developing and institutionally fragile regions characterized by weak waste-management systems, uneven enforcement capacity, and fragmented regional coordination. This paper examines the regulation of SUPs in the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) member states as a case of regional environmental governance in contexts of institutional diversity and limited regulatory capacity. Using a structured doctrinal and comparative legal-analysis methodology, the study evaluates formally enacted national and selected subnational legal and policy instruments through the framework of international environmental law principles, particularly prevention, precaution, polluter-pays, cooperation, and life-cycle governance. The findings reveal substantial divergence in plastics governance across the region. Some countries, including Eritrea, Djibouti, and Somalia, rely primarily on direct bans and preventive restrictions, while others regulate plastics indirectly through broader environmental and waste-management frameworks. Kenya demonstrates the region’s most integrated governance model through preventive regulation, extended producer responsibility (EPR), recycling obligations, and circular-economy measures, whereas responsibility-based governance remains weak across much of the region. The study further shows that fragmented legal systems, weak enforcement capacity, limited recycling infrastructure, and insufficient regional coordination continue to undermine effective plastics governance in IGAD. From a sustainability-law perspective, the paper demonstrates how fragmented institutional environments and uneven governance capacities shape plastics governance in underexamined, fragile regional contexts. It concludes that progressive regional harmonization integrating prevention, producer responsibility, recycling systems, lifecycle governance, and transboundary cooperation offers the most viable pathway toward sustainable plastics governance in the IGAD region while contributing to discussions concerning SDGs 12, 13, 14, 16, and 17. The findings further suggest that IGAD institutions and member-state governments should strengthen extended producer responsibility frameworks, invest in recycling and waste-management infrastructure, enhance enforcement capacity, and promote coordinated regional policies to support a transition toward a circular economy and reduce transboundary plastic pollution. Full article

This paper investigates carbon reduction and pricing decisions in a green supply chain composed of a government, a manufacturer, and a retailer, under the joint influence of carbon tax policies and consumer environmental awareness. A game-theoretic framework is developed to systematically compare four cooperation structures: non-cooperation, emission reduction cooperation, pricing cooperation, and full cooperation. The results show that consumer environmental awareness significantly influences firms’ green investment, pricing strategies, and the government’s carbon tax policy. The analysis further reveals several nonlinear effects under different cooperation modes. In particular, when environmental performance is evaluated in terms of emission intensity, emission-reduction investment improves per-unit environmental performance, although demand expansion under strong consumer environmental awareness may weaken the extent of this improvement. In less environmentally sensitive markets, green investment translates more directly into environmental improvement. Pricing cooperation provides strong incentives for firms to reduce emissions, whereas full cooperation achieves a better balance between environmental and economic performance. This study enriches the theoretical foundation of green supply chain coordination and offers practical insights into carbon tax design and sustainable collaboration strategies. Full article

Implementing technological change in rural or culturally distinct settings requires moving beyond the modernization bias that treats Western technical solutions as universally applicable. This article develops a process-based reflection on culturally grounded co-design for sustainable technology, drawing on social design, just transition principles, and appropriate technology. Rather than evaluating final project outcomes, the article examines how technology and social organization can be approached as context-specific practices that must be negotiated, adapted, and maintained with local actors. The discussion is informed by the O-Waste Project in The Gambia, which is used as an illustrative case to examine the role of local councils, women’s organizations, market committees, and implementing partners in shaping technological adoption. By emphasizing vernacular knowledge, locally maintainable systems, and participatory decision-making, the article argues that sustainable innovation depends on technical performance as well as cultural legitimacy, institutional trust, and procedural justice. The analysis suggests that development in diverse cultural contexts requires a careful balance between external technical expertise and community appropriation. The O-Waste case therefore offers process-based insights into how sustainable technologies can be introduced without reducing local communities to passive recipients of modernization. Full article

Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 aims to make human capital the key driver of economic development and innovation. However, there is a dearth of research on employee well-being in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states and in Saudi Arabia as well. There is a need to re-examine how the Kingdom’s unique cultural disposition (tribalism, gender segregation, religious customs, expatriate dependence) interacts with the well-being of their employees. With this background, the present study, by using an in-depth qualitative approach and integrating the JD-R model and sociocultural theory, attempts to provide a comprehensive framework for analyzing and understanding employee well-being outcomes among a Saudi public university’s staff members facing the impact of internationalization, digitalization, and policy reforms. The university chosen was one of the largest public universities of Saudi Arabia based in Jeddah. The qualitative approach adopted allowed for a rich, nuanced, and contextualized understanding of the lived experiences of well-being among the university’s teaching and non-teaching employees in their distinct sociocultural setting. The results suggest that while the JD-R model provides a useful starting point, sociocultural theory more adequately explains how cultural tools (religious and tribal identities) and structures (gender segregation, seniority policies) serve as both resources and demands. The reforms introduced under Vision 2030 have created tensions between the government’s new global, meritocratic goals for the sector and traditional Saudi sociocultural norms, with a negative spillover effect disproportionately borne by the expatriate staff, women, and administrative staff members. The study suggests that staff well-being should not be viewed as an outcome but as a precondition for successfully achieving Vision 2030 reform goals. In order to reduce attrition and ensure a more sustainable reform process, policymakers must balance their emphasis on performance with tangible support for human capital development. Full article