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Background: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is commonly defined as a transitional subclinical state between normal aging and dementia. A growing body of research indicates that health behaviors may play a protective role against cognitive decline and could potentially slow down the progression from MCI to dementia. The aim of this study is to conduct a bibliometric analysis of literature focusing on health behaviors and MCI to summarize the factors and evidence regarding the influence of health behaviors on MCI. Methods: The study performed a bibliometric analysis by retrieving publications from the Science Citation Index and Social Sciences Citation Index subdatabases within the Web of Science Core Collection. Utilizing VOSviewer and CiteSpace software, a total of 2,843 eligible articles underwent co-citation, cokeywords, and clustering analyses. This methodology aimed to investigate the current status, trends, major research questions, and potential future directions within the research domain. Results: The bibliometric analysis indicates that research on healthy behaviors in individuals with MCI originated in 2002 and experienced rapid growth in 2014, reflecting the increasing global interest in this area. The United States emerged as the primary contributor, accounting for more than one-third of the total scientific output with 982 articles. Journals that published the most articles on MCI-related health behaviors included "Journal of Alzheimer's Disease," "Neurobiology of Aging," "Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience," and other geriatricsrelated journals. High-impact papers identified by VOSviewer predominantly cover concepts related to MCI, such as diagnostic criteria, assessment, and multifactorial interventions. Co-occurrence keyword analysis highlights five research hotspots in health behavior associated with MCI: exercise, diet, risk factors and preventive measures for dementia, cognitive decline-related biomarkers, and clinical trials. Conclusion: This study provides a comprehensive review of literature on health behavior in individuals with MCI, emphasizing influential documents and journals. It outlines research trends and key focal points, offering valuable insights for researchers to comprehend significant contributions and steer future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the world population growth, energy consumption and the rapid development of industrial economy, a large amount of carbon emissions has brought destruction and threats to the earth's environment on which human beings depend. The development of low-carbon economy has become the consensus of governments all over the world and has been vigorously advocated & promoted. This paper focuses on the top five global GDP nations in 2022: The United States, China, Japan, Germany, and Britain. A comprehensive evaluation index system of urban low-carbon economic development level is constructed from four dimensions: economic development level, environmental quality, energy consumption emission intensity and social development speed by using literature review and field interview. The evaluation measures are determined using the TOPSIS evaluation method with entropy weight and the grey relational model, providing a comprehensive assessment of the low-carbon economy's development level in these five countries." Judging from the comprehensive evaluation score, the overall development of low-carbon economy in American cities is in good condition and has reached the development standard of low-carbon economy; Germany and Japan rank second and third, and they are low-carbon economies. Britain ranks fourth in comprehensive evaluation, although it belongs to a low-carbon economy country, but there is still a certain gap with Germany and Japan; There is still a big gap between China and the other four countries. Based on the measurement and evaluation outcomes, it presents recommendations and strategies to foster the growth of low-carbon economies, offering valuable insights for the advancement of such economies across different nations. The research results guide countries all over the world to reduce carbon emissions in the process of economic development, protect the earth environment on which human beings depend, and make a better tomorrow for sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Desenvolvimento e Meio Ambiente is the property of Universidade Federal do Parana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper argues that, although Japan's and Germany's energy transition paths differ in detail, a trend towards decentralisation is clearly evident in both countries. Based on comprehensive screening, own stocktaking and the results of a stakeholder dialogue, this paper highlights the motivation for different local actors to enter the energy market in both countries. Although there are challenges to success in a market dominated by large energy companies, this paper argues that the benefits to local communities outweigh the efforts. Overall, it is shown that democratisation and the decentralisation of the energy system are suitable to facilitate a successful transformation process in both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Asia Pacifi c War (1937-1945), the Japanese Imperial Army forced women in Japanese East Asian colonies to work as so-called “comfort women” (sex workers). The justice movement for these women is an international intersectional alliance of feminists from Japanese ex-colonies in East Asia, the former colonial power Japan, and other societies, such as Australia, Germany, and the USA. This long-term feminist justice movement has campaigned for an apology and compensation from the Japanese government, as well as for recognition of “comfort women‘s” suff ering and of sexual violence in war in cultural memory. Through researching this justice movement from a processual intersectionality perspective, this paper shows that it gained power and legitimacy from refl ecting and working on its internal intersectional inequalities. This included refl ecting on the class hierarchies between many former “comfort women”, who had power of defi nition, and intellectual feminist activists, as well as on the postcolonial divide between former Japanese colonies and the former colonial power Japan, leading it to develop horizontal cooperation and practices. Following an overview, the paper outlines the movements in South Korea, Japan, and Germany, and highlights the different postcolonial constellation between East Asia and Germany, the main actors, and their aims. While the Japanese government rejected the justice movement‘s demands and the right wing mobilised against it, has been able to infl uence cultural memory to widely recognize sexual violence in war and the dignity of the “comfort women”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the acceptance of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) in Japan, the UK and Germany and speculates on the implications for policy and practice. Three on-line surveys of 3,000 members of the public in total, which were conducted in January 2017 (Japan), March 2018 (UK) and November/December 2018 (Germany) were analysed using Principal Component Analysis and then with an Ordered Logit Model. It finds that acceptance of AVs was higher amongst people with higher expectations of the benefits of AVs, those with less knowledge of AVs, and those with lower perceptions of risk. It also finds frequent drivers and car passengers to be more accepting, but that socio-economic factors were mostly insignificant. Finally, there were significant cultural differences between the levels of acceptance between Japan (broadly positive), the UK (broadly neutral) and Germany (broadly negative). These findings suggest that AV promoters should raise (or at least maintain) expectations of AVs among the public; engage with the public to reverse the negative perception of AVs; address AV-generated fears; not bother targeting people by socio-economic group; target frequent car drivers and passengers with information about what AVs could do for them; and target countries where AVs already enjoy a positive image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to identify the most prolific countries in the field of special education and to discuss the widespread impact of their papers by taking into account the country's h-index. Through a bibliometric analysis, the data were collected in the Web of Science Core Collection category "Education, Special" in the Social Science Citation Index during 2011-2020. The 25 most prolific countries in the field of special education were determined in terms of paper productivity, and it was seen that the leading country was undisputedly the USA (54.42%). Meanwhile, a strong positive correlation was found between the h-index and the number of papers published by the countries (r=0.864). On the other hand, when the ranking in terms of the number of papers was reconfigured by the h-index, it was relatively changed. The possible reasons for this change for the countries with the most changing rankings were discussed by considering some definitive criteria such as the journal quartiles, the percentage of international and domestic, and the percentage of open access papers. This study reports a positive correlation between the quality and quantity in the field of special education for the publications of countries. It has been shown that where the positive correlation deviates, then especially, the journal quartiles, the percentage of international collaboration and the percentage of open access papers have a significant effect. The bibliometric findings may be useful to enrich the discussion about the widespread impact of papers and debate whether the use of h-index is acceptable for cross-national comparisons.

Copyright of Railway Standard Design is the property of Railway Standard Design Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Involving the global issues as listed in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in education is necessarily done in the education process, especially in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning. Exposure to global issues is known to improve students' understanding, awareness, and ability to solve urgent issues faced by global society. This paper aims to find out the trend of research on the coverage of SDGs in students' learning process. This systematic literature analysis was done by applying Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Method. A total of 25 studies were recognized through a systematic search by using Sustainability, SDGs, and EFL as keywords. The result shows that the trend of associating SDGs with EFL settings was done mostly in Indonesia. In the recent year 2022, it reached the highest number of studies in the particular matter with 7 total of research. It was also found that the study involving SDGs on EFL learning was mostly done in the tertiary setting, compared with K-12, junior high school, secondary, high school, and other educational institutions. It was also discovered that the specific area of study enhances EFL students' learning achievement, environmental awareness, global citizen values, as well as students' levels of self-norms, beliefs, and self-value.

Purpose Elders' ICT usage is one of the central subjects of ISG. The cabinet office of Japan has conducted "The International Comparative Survey on the Daily Life and Attitudes of the Elderly" every five years, covering individual men and women aged 60 and over (excluding institutionalized residents) in Japan and three foreign countries. The survey provides information on matters related to home life, health and welfare, economic life, employment, housing and living environment, and social relations and purpose in life of the elderly in the countries. The latest 2021 survey has been done in Japan, Germany, Sweden, and the US (https://www.e-stat.go.jp/statsearch/files?page=1&layout=dataset&toukei=00100106&metadata=1&data=1). In Japan and Sweden, 2,500 participants each country were invited by mail. In Germany and the US, 1,000 participants per country were asked by phone. All participants were chosen by random sampling. The survey period was from Dec. 2020 to Jan. 2021. The result of the survey was open for further analysis and research. Survey data was counted and provided as simple tables or cross tables. In this paper, we chose Q.34, Usage of ICT devices, and Q.35, Reason for not-to-use of such devices. The latter question was asked to participants who responded that they are not using any ICT devices. We have analyzed survey data with Correspondence Analysis to reveal four countries of elders' ICT usage features. Method Two question branches are analyzed in this research. Q34 has nine activity categories. All appropriate activities should be answered (multiple answers): 1. Fax to family members and friends, 2. PC e-mail to family and friends, 3. Mobile phone calls (including mail) to family and friends, 4. Net search for information and/or net shopping, 5. Using SNS, 6. Home Page making or Blogging, 7. Netbanking / Net trading, 8. E-government (tax etc.), 9. No ICT usage. Q35: 1. No needs regarded, 2. ICT devices are hard to understand, 3. Have interest, but no clues for purchase/shop, 4. Have no one to instruct device usage, 5. The problem of price/money, 6. The display is unreadable, 7. other reasons. Correspondence analysis was computed with the FactoMineR package (http://factominer.free.fr/), developed by statisticians at d'Agrocampus Rennes. Analysis was done on statistical computing environment R 4.1.2. Results and Discussion Figures 1 and 2 show the ICT device usage. Japanese favor Mobile phone talk and mail. In Japan, Fax and No ICT usage has larger than in other countries. SNS, HP/blogging, E-government, and Netbanking are relatively minor. US participants favor SNS, PC mail, and HP/blogging. Swedish more favors SNS, Netbanking, and E-government. Germans favor Net searching and shopping and are close to the countries average. Figures 3 and 4 show the reasons for not-to-use ICT devices. Germans with negative ICT device attitude tend to think they do not need to use them. A negative attitude in the US is slightly close to having no instructor. Japanese negative attitude is close to readability problem and understanding device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess rates of traversing barriers to care to access optimal clinical outcomes in people with migraine internationally. Background: People in need of medical care for migraine should consult a health care professional knowledgeable in migraine management, obtain an accurate diagnosis, and receive an individualized treatment plan, which includes scientific society guideline-recommended treatments where appropriate. Methods: The Chronic Migraine Epidemiology and Outcomes-International (CaMEO-I) Study was a cross-sectional, web-based survey conducted from July 2021 through March 2022 in Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States (US). Respondents who met modified International Classification of Headache Disorders, 3rd edition, criteria for migraine and had Migraine Disability Assessment Scale (MIDAS) scores of ≥ 6 (i.e., mild, moderate, or severe disability) were deemed to need medical care and were included in this analysis. Minimally effective treatment required that participants were currently consulting a health care professional for headache (barrier 1), reported an accurate diagnosis (barrier 2), and reported use of minimally appropriate pharmacologic treatment (barrier 3; based on American Headache Society 2021 Consensus Statement recommendations). Proportions of respondents who successfully traversed each barrier were calculated, and chi-square tests were used to assess overall difference among countries. Results: Among 14,492 respondents with migraine, 8,330 had MIDAS scores of ≥ 6, were deemed in need of medical care, and were included in this analysis. Current headache consultation was reported by 35.1% (2926/8330) of respondents. Compared with the US, consultation rates and diagnosis rates were statistically significantly lower in all other countries except France where they were statistically significantly higher. Total appropriate treatment rates were also statistically significantly lower in all other countries compared with the US except France, which did not differ from the US. All 3 barriers were traversed by only 11.5% (955/8330) of respondents, with differences among countries (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Of people with migraine in need of medical care for migraine, less than 15% traverse all 3 barriers to care. Although rates of consultation, diagnosis, and treatment differed among countries, improvements are needed in all countries studied to reduce the global burden of migraine. Trial registration: NA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Wheat allergy (WA), characterized by immunological responses to wheat proteins, is a gluten-related disorder that has become increasingly recognized in recent years. Bibliometrics involves the quantitative assessment of publications within a specific academic domain. Objectives: We aimed to execute an extensive bibliometric study, focusing on the past 30 years of literature related to wheat allergy. Methods: We searched the Web of Science database on 5th Dec 2023. We used the KEYWORDS: "wheat allergy or wheat anaphylaxis or wheat hypersensitivity," "gliadin allergy or gliadin anaphylaxis or gliadin hypersensitivity," "wheatdependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis," and "baker's asthma" for our search. All items published between 1993 and 2023 were included. The top 100 most cited articles were identified and analyzed. Results: Our study conducted an in-depth bibliometric analysis of the 100 mostcited articles in the field of wheat allergy, published between 2002 and 2019. These articles originated from 20 different countries, predominantly Japan and Germany. The majority of these articles were centered on the pathogenesis and treatment of wheat allergy (WA). The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI) was the most prolific contributor to this list, publishing 14 articles. The article with the highest citation count was published by Biomed Central (BMC) and garnered 748 citations. The peak citation year was 2015, with a total of 774 citations, while the years 1998, 2001, and 2005 saw the highest publication frequency, each with 7 articles. Conclusion: Our study aims to provide physicians and researchers with a historical perspective for the scientific progress of wheat allergy, and help clinicians effectively obtain useful articles that have a significant impact on the field of wheat allergy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) has been investigated widely in the past 30 years, resulting in many research achievements in this field. Purpose: To perform a comprehensive bibliometric analysis to evaluate the 100 top-cited articles on the MPFL. Study design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: We searched the Scopus database in December 2022 using the terms "medial patellofemoral ligament" OR "MPFL." The search was confined to English-language articles, including technical notes, systematic reviews on clinical outcomes and/or complications, clinical studies, studies regarding complications, and basic science articles (either cadaveric or biomechanical); we excluded letters, case reports, personal opinions, guidelines, editorials, and narrative or other types of reviews. Analysis of the 100 top-cited articles was performed according to total number of citations, average citations per year (ACY), study type, country of origin, journal of publication, affiliated institution, and most published authors. Results: The total number of citations was 16,358 (range of citations per article, 72-692). The majority of articles were published as clinical studies (54%), with cadaveric studies being the second most common (21%). Most studies originated in the United States (32%), with Japan (15%) and Germany (13%) following. The American Journal of Sports Medicine published the majority of the 100 top-cited articles (37/100; 6304 citations) as well as the 10 top-cited articles according to ACY (7/10; mean, 285.14 citations). The most prolific authors were Nomura (8 articles); Burks (6 articles); and Inoue, Sillanpää, and Dreyhaupt (5 articles each). Conclusion: By analyzing the characteristics of the 100 top-cited articles, this study demonstrated that the MPFL is a growing and popular area of research, with the focus varying through timeline trends. Questions regarding MPFL anatomy, isometry, and biomechanics might have been answered adequately, but research regarding optimal fixation technique under various circumstances is still ongoing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, this paper compares the earnings premium and employment share of jobs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) across 11 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The results reveal that the STEM wage premium is higher in the United States than in any of the other comparison countries, despite the fact that the U.S. has a larger share of workers in STEM jobs. We also find evidence that the premium varies significantly across STEM sub-fields and education levels, and that the premium tends to be higher in countries with lower unionization rates, less employment protection, or a larger share of employment in the public sector.

This study investigates the extent to which intraday price jumps and co-jumps in cryptocurrency markets stem from the release of macroeconomic news from the U.S., Germany and Japan. Using 5-min frequency prices for Bitcoin and Ethereum quoted against the U.S. dollar over the 2016–2019 period, we find that intraday price jumps are three times more frequent in Ethereum than in Bitcoin. More importantly, we show that jumps in Ethereum are more sensitive to macroeconomic news than jumps in Bitcoin, and that U.S. news releases exhibit higher influence on jumps in both cryptocurrencies than German and Japanese news announcements. We also find that co-jumps among Bitcoin and Ethereum are scarce and tend be associated only with a few U.S. news announcements, and in particular those related to the unemployment rate, new home sales, housing starts and Fed Beige Book. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present research we tested the differential effects of anger versus shame as emotional predictors of ingroup disidentification in one rather collectivistic (Japan) and two rather individualistic societies (Germany, Canada). We tested the idea that individuals cope with socially undesired emotions by disidentifying from their group. Specifically, we predicted that after a group conflict, anger, an undesired emotion in Japan, would elicit disidentification in Japan, whereas shame, an undesired emotion in Canada and Germany, would elicit disidentification in Germany and Canada. Study 1 (N = 378) found that anger, but not shame, was related to disidentification in Japan, whereas shame, but not anger, was related to disidentification in Canada and Germany. Study 2 (N = 171) shows that, after group conflict, Japanese disidentified more when imagining to feel angry, whereas Germans disidentified more when imagining to feel ashamed. Implications for these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Because of the increasing number of people with disabilities and the lack of awareness of disability prevention methods in developing countries, creating a proper rehabilitation structure and providing appropriate services are among the important goals of every health system. Conducting comparative studies is one of the research methods for reviewing the structure of the rehabilitation system in the country's health system. This study aimed to compare the rehabilitation structure in Iran with 5 other countries. Materials & Methods This research is a comparative study conducted in 2022. In this study, sampling was purposeful. Five countries of Germany, Japan, Canada, Turkey, and South Africa were compared in terms of organizational and health management, financial and legal components, and social policy components with Iran. Reliable databases and related resources in the rehabilitation structure were used to collect data. In this study, the obtained data were analyzed using the Bereday model containing four stages: Description, interpretation, proximity, and comparison. The findings were evaluated in a comparative table. Results The findings indicated that in terms of organization and health management, the Ministry of Health should be responsible for health management and rehabilitation, but in Iran, in addition to the Ministry of Health, the Red Crescent, the Martyr Foundation, and Exceptional Education Organization are also involved in the management of rehabilitation. Financial issues and problems are significant barriers for people with disabilities to access rehabilitation services in these countries. In Iran, a large part of these costs is paid from the pockets of families. Regarding legal components in Iran, as in other countries, specific rules exist to provide services to people with disabilities. But sometimes, these rules are not properly implemented. From the sociodemographic perspective, Iran has an aging population, welcomes immigrants, and holds diverse cultures. The access of all people in need of rehabilitation in this diverse population to the services needed is limited. In terms of policy components, regulating national health policy requires review and, if necessary, changes in existing health system policies. Conclusion The existence of a specific position for rehabilitation in the Iranian health system, provision of services, and management of rehabilitation affairs by a single organization such as the Ministry of Health, as well as proper implementation of laws and policies, can lead to structural improvement and management of the health system and rehabilitation. Financial obstacles and problems to rehabilitation services should be reduced, and government and insurance must cover most of the costs of rehabilitation services. Also, a review of national health policies and legislation in the country should be done to improve the access of all people with disabilities to health and rehabilitation services. Therefore, it is necessary to fundamentally review and reform the structure, value, and process of providing rehabilitation services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forests have provided support for human health and survival since ancient times. With improved public awareness of health issues and the importance of forest ecological functions, forest therapy has gradually gained momentum. Forest therapies have been applied around the world as preventive and alternative therapies to promote human health. As a safe, side-effect-free, low-cost, preventive, and alternative therapy, forest therapy has been scientifically proven to promote physical and mental health in humans. However, the forest therapy service system is still underdeveloped, and forest therapy has not become a mainstream part of clinical medical treatment methods in most countries worldwide. Therefore, in order to better present the development path and current situation of forest therapy in different countries and provide guidance for how other countries can develop similar interventions and clinical sites to base these activities, this study uses Germany, Japan, and China as examples to systematically tease out how forest therapy has developed and the status of forest therapy services in different countries, as well as the health benefits of forest therapy. Furthermore, the key components and traditional cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds related to forest therapy are discussed. Finally, based on published empirical research, we believe that forest therapy can be a solution to public health problems thanks to its multiple, medically proven health benefits. Forest therapy facilitates the return of people to the forest and nature to achieve health and well-being effects. However, there is a need for more research on the mechanisms (such as the immune system, endocrine system, nervous system, etc.) underlying forest therapy's effectiveness, which should include strengthened collaborations between disciplines. In addition, the role of forest therapy services in promoting human health needs to be emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to advance our knowledge in the genesis of extreme climatic events with the dual aim of improving forecasting methods while clarifying the role played by anthropogenic warming. Wavelet analysis is used to highlight the role of coherent Sea Surface Temperature (SST) anomalies produced from short-period oceanic Rossby waves resonantly forced, with two case studies: a Marine Heatwave (MHW) that occurred in the northwestern Pacific with a strong climatic impact in Japan, and an extreme flood event that occurred in Germany. Ocean–atmosphere interactions are evidenced by decomposing state variables into period bands within the cross-wavelet power spectra, namely SST, Sea Surface Height (SSH), and the zonal and meridional modulated geostrophic currents as well as precipitation height, i.e., the thickness of the layer of water produced during a day, with regard to subtropical cyclones. The bands are chosen according to the different harmonic modes of the oceanic Rossby waves. In each period band, the joint analysis of the amplitude and the phase of the state variables allow the estimation of the regionalized intensity of anomalies versus their time lag in relation to the date of occurrence of the extreme event. Regarding MHWs in the northwestern Pacific, it is shown how a warm SST anomaly associated with the northward component of the wind resulting from the low-pression system induces an SST response to latent and sensible heat transfer where the latitudinal SST gradient is steep. The SST anomaly is then shifted to the north as the phase becomes homogenized. As for subtropical cyclones, extreme events are the culmination of exceptional circumstances, some of which are foreseeable due to their relatively long maturation time. This is particularly the case of ocean–atmosphere interactions leading to the homogenization of the phase of SST anomalies that can potentially contribute to the supply of low-pressure systems. The same goes for the coalescence of distinct low-pressure systems during cyclogenesis. Some avenues are developed with the aim of better understanding how anthropogenic warming can modify certain key mechanisms in the evolution of those dynamic systems leading to extreme events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores faculty's perspectives and use of open educational resources (OER) and their repositories across different countries by conducting a multiple case study to find similarities and differences between academics' awareness, perceptions and use of OER, as well as examining related aspects of institutional policy and quality that may influence individual views. Data were collected through nine expert reports on each country studied (Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Spain and Turkey) and were analyzed through qualitative content analysis using thematic coding. Findings show the impact on individual OER adoption with regard to the individual control of diverse factors by faculty members; of institutional policies and quality measures on the externally determined factors (by the institution); and of institutional professional development and provision of incentives in more internally determined factors (by the faculty members themselves). These findings carry implications for higher education institutions around the world in their attempt to boost OER adoption by faculty members.

Background: COVID-19 has a direct impact on the employment of older people. This adds to the challenge of ageism. The World Health Organization has started a worldwide campaign to combat ageism and has called for more research and evidence-based strategies that have the potential to be scaled up. This study specifically aims to identify solutions to combat the adverse effects of COVID-19 on the global ageing workforce. Methods: We present 15 case studies from different countries and report on what those countries are doing or not doing to address the impact of COVID-19 on ageing workers. Results: We provide examples of how COVID-19 influences older people's ability to work and stay healthy, and offer case studies of what governments, organizations or individuals can do to help ensure older people can obtain, maintain and, potentially, expand their current work. Case studies come from Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Germany, Israel, Japan, Nigeria, Romania, Singapore, Sweden, South Korea, Thailand, United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US). Across the countries, the impact of COVID-19 on older workers is shown as widening inequalities. A particular challenge has arisen because of a large proportion of older people, often with limited education and working in the informal sector within rural areas, e.g. in Nigeria, Thailand and China. Remedies to the particular disadvantage experienced by older workers in the context of COVID are presented. These range from funding support to encouraging business continuity, innovative product and service developments, community action, new business models and localized, national and international actions. The case studies can be seen as frequently fitting within strategies that have been proven to work in reducing ageism within the workplace. They include policy and laws that have increased benefits to workers during lockdowns (most countries); educational activities such as coaching seniorpreneurship (e,g, Australia); intergenerational contact interventions such as younger Thai people who moved back to rural areas and sharing their digital knowledge with older people and where older people reciprocate by teaching the younger people farming knowledge. Conclusion: Global sharing of this knowledge among international, national and local governments and organizations, businesses, policy makers and health and human resources experts will further understanding of the issues that are faced by older workers. This will facilitate the replication or scalability of solutions as called for in the WHO call to combat ageism in 2021. We suggest that policy makers, business owners, researchers and international organisations build on the case studies by investing in evidence-based strategies to create inclusive workplaces. Such action will thus help to challenge ageism, reduce inequity, improve business continuity and add to the quality of life of older workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial planners deal with aspects related to the quality of life and future development of cities and regions, which are highly relevant for society. Due to various institutional and cultural settings, spatial planning systems emerged with comparable features. However, such systems have been adapted to specific cultural, normative, and spatial conditions. In our study, we conducted a comparison to investigate changes in planning cultures in the context of shrinking cities across the USA, Germany and Japan. The findings make it possible to detect interdependencies between changes in planning cultures and societal changes in the wake of shrinkage processes and potentially to place planning cultures in the perspective of a refiguration of spaces. We conclude with the hypothesis that planning cultures are framed by an array of factors in a somewhat polycontexturalized mode, such as geographic entities (nations, regions, cities), and also topics such as shrinking cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent controversy about misinformation has moved a question into the focus of the public eye that has occupied philosophers for decades: Under what conditions is it appropriate to assert a certain claim? When asserting a claim that x, must one know that x? Must x be true? Might it be normatively acceptable to assert whatever one believes? In the largest cross-cultural study to date (total n = 1,091) on the topic, findings from the United States, Germany, and Japan suggest that, in order to claim that x, x need not be known, and it can be false. However, the data show, we do expect considerable epistemic responsibility on the speaker's behalf: In order to appropriately assert a claim, the speaker must have good reasons to believe it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: According to a recent paper by Gelfand et al., COVID-19 infection and case mortality rates are closely connected to the strength of social norms: "Tighter" cultures that abide by strict social norms are more successful in combating the pandemic than "looser" cultures that are more permissive. However, countries with similar levels of cultural tightness exhibit big differences in mortality rates. We are investigating potential explanations for this fact. Using data from Germany and Japan-two "tight" countries with very different infection and mortality rates-we examined how differences in socio-demographic and other determinants explain differences in individual preventive attitudes and behaviors., Methods: We compared preventive attitudes and behaviors in 2020 based on real-time representative survey data and used logit regression models to study how individual attitudes and behaviors are shaped by four sets of covariates: individual socio-demographics, health, personality, and regional-level controls. Employing Blinder-Oaxaca regression techniques, we quantified the extent to which differences in averages of the covariates between Japan and Germany explain the differences in the observed preventive attitudes and behaviors., Results: In Germany and Japan, similar proportions of the population supported mandatory vaccination, avoided travel, and avoided people with symptoms of a cold. In Germany, however, a significantly higher proportion washed their hands frequently and avoided crowds, physical contact, public transport, peak-hour shopping, and contact with the elderly. In Japan, a significantly higher proportion were willing to be vaccinated. We also show that attitudes and behaviors varied significantly more with covariates in Germany than in Japan. Differences in averages of the covariates contribute little to explaining the observed differences in preventive attitudes and behaviors between the two countries., Conclusion: Consistent with tightness-looseness theory, the populations of Japan and Germany responded similarly to the pandemic. The observed differences in infection and fatality rates therefore cannot be explained by differences in behavior. The major difference in attitudes is the willingness to be vaccinated, which was much higher in Japan. Furthermore, the Japanese population behaved more uniformly across social groups than the German population. This difference in the degree of homogeneity has important implications for the effectiveness of policy measures during the pandemic., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Schmidt-Petri, Schröder, Okubo, Graeber and Rieger.)

The development of globalization has separated the production and consumption of products spatially, and the international trade of products has become a carrier of embodied carbon trade. This paper adopted the perspective of value-added trade to calculate the amount of embodied carbon trade of China from 2006 to 2015 and perform a structural decomposition analysis of the changes in China's embodied carbon trade. This study found that: (1) China's embodied carbon exports are much larger than its embodied carbon imports, and there are differences between countries. China imported the largest amount of embodied carbon from South Korea, and it exported the largest amount of embodied carbon to the United States. (2) The structural decomposition analysis shows that changes in the value-added carbon emission coefficient during the study period would have caused China's embodied carbon trade to decrease, and changes in value-added trade would have caused China's embodied carbon trade to increase. Therefore, countries trading with China need to strengthen their cooperation with China in energy conservation, emission reduction, and product trade. In order to accurately reflect China's embodied carbon trade, it is necessary to calculate embodied carbon trade from the perspective of value-added trade., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Finding the essential factors driving carbon emissions is vital for the carbon reduction policy-making. Different from the existing research, this paper studied the separate influence of internal and external input structural changes on global carbon emissions. We applied structural decomposition analysis (SDA) to decompose the global carbon emission change into six factors: namely, the carbon emission intensity, the domestic input structure, the international input structure, consumption pattern, consumption volume and population. The results firstly showed that the contributions of different factors to global carbon emissions changed over time. In recent five years, structural changes of domestic inputs became the principle driver of decrease in global carbon emissions. Secondly, the results showed that there were significant differences for countries in their factors for carbon emissions. In India and Russia, domestic input structural change was the major contributor to the decrease in carbon emissions. In Japan and Germany, the most important factor for the increase in carbon emissions was the international input structure. Finally, the results showed the factors for carbon emission changes were correlated to economic development. The international input structural changes significantly increased carbon emissions in high-income countries. Our findings suggested that some countries such as India and Russia, improving the usage efficiency of domestic carbon-intensive products would help reducing carbon emissions. For most high-income countries such as Japan and Germany, they should reduce the dependence on the imported carbon-intensive products by turning the external input sources to countries with technology advantages. In addition, technology exportation of high-income countries would also be beneficial for the global carbon reduction., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)