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The article discusses research on the Austronesian migrations revealed by phylogeography of Pacific paper mulberry. It references a study by C-S Chang et al published in a previous issue. Topics covered include the direct genetic link between Taiwan and one of the Pacific commensal species, the geographic origins of paper mulberry and its spread through Island Southeast Asia and into the Pacific, and Neolithic expansions from the mainland of China to Taiwan.

Over the last 25 years, Asia's economic rise has been extraordinary. Its share of global gross domestic product (GDP) has risen from 5.8% to 22.9%. The first phase of high economic growth — up to 1995 — saw Asia enter the global supply chain primarily with labor-intensive/low-cost manufacturing. Domestic consumption was a fairly low share of GDP; Asia was manufacturing mainly for consumption in the US and Europe. As such, it was primarily a rule-taker. In the second phase — from 1995 to 2020 — it gradually turned into an economic force joining the US and Europe in shaping the global economy, exercising significant influence upon the value chain, the cycles of the global economy, transport and logistics, the global capital markets and consumption patterns (consumer preferences and tastes). While not yet among the leading rule-makers, it had become difficult for policymakers (public and private) to make decisions without Asia's consent. To form an opinion of today's emerging third phase — post 2020 — the intriguing question is whether the Asian countries have adopted what may be termed Anglo-American economic thinking (basically, the primacy of the market). Or whether behind the curtain, the Asian economy works in its own way diverging from the American and British economic schools. Since demographics and sheer economic scale mean that Asia will dominate the global economy in the years to come, the nature of the Asian economy will be of crucial importance for the future global economy. The conclusion of this paper is that "Asia" in many respects differs — and fundamentally so — from market economy principles. How this prospect should be interpreted is also evolving, as circumstances change. Certainly, the repercussions of COVID-19 have not been the same in the US, Europe, East Asia and South Asia — and this may suggest that socio-political structures have a stronger impact on economic outcomes than economic theory teaches, thus calling into question the global validity of market economy principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Municipal wastewater treatment plants (MWWTPs) are considered essential to protect human health and aquatic systems. However, several studies in the scientific field have identified adverse environmental effects in these treatment units that involve challenges in the water industry. Therefore, this work has the following objectives: (1) to understand the global context in which MWWTPs operate and (2) to determine the thematic and geographic trend in scientific research. Through the "Publish or Perish" software, scientific articles indexed in the Scopus and Google Scholar databases during the period 2000 to 2020 were obtained. Specific terms were used: "Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants"; "Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants," so that all terms must be contained in the title of the document. Categorization was defined according to key concepts considered as adverse effects indicated in the literature and that involve common problems in the water industry at the municipal level. As a result, 1844 documents (papers, reviews, books, book chapters, citations, letters, theses, and conference papers) were retrieved and subjected to a process of refinement (discrimination) where only articles, chapters, conference papers, and reviews were considered. Finally, 800 articles were selected for further content analysis, identifying seven categories and 30 subcategories. The category of "Emerging contaminants" was the most relevant within the research topics, and the category with the least available research was "Air quality." The articles were also analyzed by economic region, identifying Asia with the largest number of studies on various topics. In conclusion, future research should be oriented towards management, energy, and air quality issues, because they are subjects of little research involving process efficiency, energy savings, and impacts on the quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the prevalence of myopia has increased significantly in Asia. One of the possible etiologies for the same may be partly related to the amount of work requiring the use of screens. Therefore, I will present possible causes and countermeasures with regard to the display and its effect on the progression of myopia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Al-Bahith Al-Aalami is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) 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.)

Simple Summary: The quality of muscle plays an important role in improving the economic benefit of aquatic products. The paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera, BP) grows wildly in the south of Asia. In this experiment, grass carps (initial weight: 50.0 ± 0.5 g) were fed diets with the addition of 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% BP in a control diet (crude protein: 31%, crude fat: 3.8%) for 8 weeks. In conclusion, adding 5% BP did not affect the growth of grass carp. However, the supplementation of 10% BP could improve muscle quality through improving muscle hardness, reducing fat accumulation and muscle fiber diameter, at the cost of reducing growth performance. The present study investigated the effects of dietary paper mulberry (Broussonetia Papyrifera, BP) on growth performance, muscle quality and muscle growth-related mRNA expressions of grass carp. Fish (initial weight: 50.0 ± 0.5 g) were fed diets supplemented with 0% (control diet), 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% BP for 8 weeks. The results showed that increasing levels of paper mulberry linearly and quadratically decreased the special gain rate (SGR) and increased the feed conversion rate (FCR) of grass carp (p < 0.05). Significantly positive quadratic trends were found between paper mulberry levels and muscle crude fat or crude protein of grass carp (p < 0.05). In comparison to the control diet, the 10%BP and 15%BP groups had significantly decreased muscle crude fat and increased crude protein (p < 0.05). The levels of paper mulberry resulted in a linear and quadratic increase in water loss of grass carp muscle (p < 0.05), and all groups with paper mulberry supplementation were significantly higher than the control group (p < 0.05). Significant positive linear and quadratic trends were found between the paper mulberry levels and muscle fiber diameter or density of grass carp (p < 0.05). In comparison to the control diet, the significant differences were found in the 15%BP and 20%BP groups (p < 0.05). The muscle adhesiveness and hardness linearly and quadratically increased with the increasing levels of paper mulberry (p < 0.05), and both of which increased significantly when the level of paper mulberry reached 10% (p < 0.05). In addition, the increase in paper mulberry linearly and quadratically improved the expressions of myoblast determination protein (MyoD), myogenin (MyoG), paired box protein 7 (Pax7) and myostatin 1 (MSTN1) (p < 0.05). When the supplementation of paper mulberry reached 15%, the expressions of all these mRNAs were significantly higher than those of the control group (p < 0.05). In summary, adding 5% paper mulberry did not affect the growth of grass carp. However, the supplementation of 10% paper mulberry could improve muscle quality through improving muscle hardness, reducing fat accumulation and muscle fiber diameter, at the cost of reducing growth performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growing demand for aquatic products, aquaculture has become a prominent means of meeting this demand. However, the selection of suitable sites for aquaculture remains a key factor in the success of any aquaculture operation. While various methods exist for site selection, geographic information system (GIS)-based multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) methods have emerged as the most widely utilized approach to identifying potential aquaculture sites. Following the guidelines of the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA), this paper presents a systematic review and meta-analysis of GIS-based MCE methods used in aquaculture sites selection. The objective of this study is to offer a comprehensive overview of existing research in this field and develop a general model for selecting sites for fish and shellfish aquaculture. The main findings indicate a growing number of studies utilizing GIS-based MCE in aquaculture site selection in recent years, with Asia being the leading continent in terms of publications in this domain. Among the journals publishing in this field, the Aquaculture journal stands out as the top publisher. Using consistent criteria across the reviewed studies, two models have been generated, each consisting of four sub-models: water quality, soil quality, infrastructure, and socioeconomic factors; and topography, environment, and physical parameters. These models can aid future researchers and assist decision-makers in identifying optimal locations for aquaculture development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights the 11th Asian Paper Congress in South Korea. Presentation of general economic conditions and the status of paper industries of Asian countries; Discussion on the production of the Japanese paper industry.

Simple Summary: Paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera, PM) is a potential roughage source widely distributed in Asia, but the chemical composition, silage fermentation, and digestibility are not fully understood. Here, we compared the chemical composition, silage fermentation, and digestibility of leaf, stem, and whole plant of PM to evaluate its feeding value. The result showed that the leaf had lower fiber content and higher protein content than the stem and whole plant. Meanwhile, the stem silage had the lowest pH value and lactate content, while those in the leaf were the highest. The in vitro and in situ digestibility showed the leaf was more digestible. Our study gives the reference of different parts of PM to be used as a feedstuff. Paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera, PM) is high protein but unutilized as a feed source. The study explores the different parts (leaf, stem, and whole plant) of PM chemical composition, silage fermentation, and in vitro and in situ digestibility, aiming to give some guidelines to PM usage as feed. The result showed that the leaf had a higher fresh weight than the stem (p < 0.05). The dry matter contents of the three groups had no differences. The highest crude protein, ether extract, water-soluble carbohydrate, ash, calcium, phosphorus, amino acid contents, and butter capacity were observed in the leaf (p < 0.05). The stem had the highest (p < 0.05) neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, and lignin contents. After ensiling, the stem silage had the lowest pH value, ammonia nitrate (NH3-N), lactate, acetate, and propionate (p < 0.05). The leaf silage had the highest pH value (p < 0.05). The lactate, acetate, and propionate in the leaf and whole plant silage had no difference. The butyrate was not detected in all silage. The in vitro and in situ digestibility experiments showed the leaf had the highest digestibility (p < 0.05), which could produce more volatile fatty acids and have a higher effective digestibility. These results allow a greater understanding of PM to be used as a feedstuff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lists papers of selected institutes concerning economic conditions in the Pacific region published in the November 1998 issue of the periodical 'Asian-Pacific Economic Literature.' Challenges for Asia's trade and environment; Aspects of urban water and sanitation in the context of rapid urbanization in developing Asia; Agricultural price policy in Asia and the Pacific.

Due to the recent developments in the delivery of teaching-learning processes when COVID-19 hit the world with a health crisis and pandemic, it is crucial to look into the quality of courses delivered via online means or through distance education modality. This paper examines implementation and application of quality assurance (QA) landscape in Distance Education (DE). A documentary review using bibliographic inquiry is used as a methodology approach to gather relevant information to address the study questions. Previous studies on QA in DE are examined and arranged into themes using thematic analysis. Findings revealed that most of the literature on QA in DE in Africa and Asia based on the reviewed Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institutions are basically dealing with frameworks, outcomes and performance, instructional design, student services and challenges as well as parity in terms of quality with the traditional institutions. Therefore, this paper concludes that more studies are needed for QA in DE to match the post-COVID-19 trends on improving QA. This implies that there is a need to expand research on QA in DE to include areas of artificial intelligence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fundamental element of quality healthcare is that provision is accessible to all users and culturally sensitive to them. However, there is evidence to suggest that there is inequity of provision across all cultures. Furthermore, there is a paucity of published research in the United Kingdom concerning palliative care for minority ethnic families with a life-threatened or life-limited child or young person. The article sets out to discuss the findings of a literature review and, drawing on current work by the Centre for Children and Families Applied Research at Coventry University under the leadership of Professor Jane Coad, to explore the interface between South Asian cultures and the experience of palliative care services of children, young peoples, and families. All families require a broad range of services which are appropriately delivered and accessible throughout the trajectory of their child's illness. The literature review findings reveal that how families understand concepts such as health and disease arise from the complex interaction between personal experience and cultural lifestyle including language, family values, and faith. There is an urgent need to involve South Asian families in research in order to provide a robust evidence-base on which to develop service provision so that care is matched to the unique needs of individuals concerned.

This review article summarizes the content of a series of interrelated workshop presentations from the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology held in Shanghai in November, 2011. The article describes tips and strategies for writing research papers and research grant applications and includes discussion of: the role of pulmonologists in research; the debates around the use of the journal impact factor; tips for writing manuscripts and publishing research in high-impact journals; how journals assess manuscripts and the most common reasons editors reject manuscripts; how to write grant applications and what grant panels look for in successful proposals; and how to undertake research in resource-limited countries., (© 2012 The Authors. Respirology © 2012 Asian Pacific Society of Respirology.)

The incidence of postoperative venous thromboembolism (VTE) in Asian populations is generally thought to be lower than in Western populations, and the use of thromboprophylaxis after surgery is not routine. This paper is authored by the Asia-Pacific Thrombosis Advisory Board. To provide guidance on the most effective postoperative thromboprophylaxis management, this paper reviews the available data on the incidence of VTE in Asian populations, considers current clinical guidelines for the prevention of VTE to determine whether these guidelines are applicable to Asian populations, and evaluates the potential of new thromboprophylactic agents. Based on the available evidence, it was agreed that VTE represents a genuine problem in Asian patients, although the exact incidence in local populations requires confirmation in large, well-designed clinical trials. Furthermore, there was consensus that current guideline recommendations for the routine use of postoperative thromboprophylaxis should be implemented in Asia, and that new oral agents now available represent an effective and potentially more convenient therapeutic option. In conclusion, we call for recognition that VTE is an issue in Asian patients, and that effective thromboprophylaxis is the most important strategy.

Diseases transmitted from animals have assumed substantial public health importance. Avian influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome, and Nipah virus infection are a few examples of growing number of diseases that humans can contract from animals. These diseases can cause huge economic losses in addition to mortality and morbidity. In developing countries of Asia, there is a continuous and close contact between animals and humans, especially in rural settings. The prevailing sociocultural practices and weak public health infrastructure further enhances the vulnerability of Asia as the epicenter of outbreaks due to zoonotic infections. There is a clear need of greater awareness and application of a multisectoral and multidisciplinary approach to prevent and control zoonotic infections.

The article presents a list of papers about economics literature, including "Export or domestic-led growth in Asia?," "The People's Republic of China and its neighbours: evolving patterns of trade and investment," "Number of children and their education in Philippine households," and "East Asian economic integration and its impact on future growth."

This study conducts a bibliometric analysis of 735 research papers on geomorphological mapping published in English between 2000 and 2021 using the Web of Science database. The analysis focuses on key metrics such as annual publication rates, journal distribution, common keywords, and frequently cited papers. The results demonstrate sustained investment in geomorphological mapping research over the past two decades, driven by advancements in data analysis, GIS technologies, and cross-institutional and cross-country collaboration. While European universities and research centers lead the field, researchers from Latin America and Asia are also making noteworthy contributions. However, research concentration remains largely in Europe, particularly at low altitudes. The study highlights the vital importance of investment in geomorphological mapping research and the benefits of collaboration to advance understanding and knowledge production. It also emphasizes the need for greater geographic and cultural diversity among researchers to ensure a more comprehensive and inclusive approach to research in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout human history, people have always produced waste, but during the last century, this has shown explosive growth. Globally, a combination of rising incomes, urbanization, the development of new, cheap materials, and changing lifestyles have driven the growth of products that were designed to be used for only limited periods of time producing a totally unprecedented amount and variety of waste. However, this development has not affected all people in similar ways. Waste has been a marker of unprecedented but unbalanced efficiency, wealth and power, and conflict. Five articles address waste as a function of conflicts in areas in various places in Europe and Asia. Collectively, these papers shed an unusual light on the twentieth century world through a collection of cases, in which conflicts have tended to exacerbate challenges of waste, either by increasing the quantity of weapons and their (often toxic) remains, or by creating contexts in which the confrontation with adversaries often relegated environmental, social and health-related consideration to the backstage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera; PM) is a type of roughage rich in bioactive substances, such as phenolics and flavonoids, which are beneficial for animal health. This study evaluated the apparent digestibility of PM silage in Holstein dairy cows and its effect on the milk production, antioxidant capacity, and fecal bacteria composition of the animals. The results showed that the PM silage had no significant influence on the milk yield, apparent digestibility, and fecal bacteria composition of dairy cows. However, diets with PM silage can enhance the antioxidant and immune capacity of dairy cows, mainly due to the bioactive substance in PM. Today, faced with a shortage of feedstuff resources in ruminants, PM can be a useful feed resource for ruminants. Simultaneously, with the ban on antibiotics, PM may become an important functional feed for protecting animal health. Paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera; PM) is an excellent and extensive type of roughage in Asia. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of PM silage on the milk production, apparent digestibility, antioxidant capacity, and fecal bacteria composition in Holstein dairy cows. Forty-five lactating Holstein dairy cows with a similar milk yield and parity were selected and randomly assigned to three groups. The control group was fed a non-PM silage diet, and the PM-treated groups were fed 4.5 and 9.0% PM silage supplementary diets for 28 days. Then, treatment groups were fed diets containing 13.5 and 18.0% PM silage for the next 28 days, respectively. PM silage increased the milk urea nitrogen and decreased the somatic cell count (p < 0.05), but did not affect the dry matter intake, milk yield, apparent digestibility, and energy balance of dairy cows. PM silage can enhance the blood total antioxidant capacity, superoxide dismutase, and immune globulin content (p < 0.05). The PM silage significantly decreased the relative abundance of the genera Ruminococcaceae UCG-013 and Tyzzerella-4 (p < 0.05). In conclusion, PM silage enhanced the antioxidant capacity and immunity of dairy cows, but did not influence the milk yield, dry matter digestibility, and fecal bacteria composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reciprocal trade agreements (RTAs) have proliferated rapidly in Asia in recent years, an unprecedented phenomenon in a region in which state-led institution-building efforts were largely unsuccessful during the Cold War years. In this article, we investigate the qualitative provisions of RTAs in Asia, focusing on agreements that are professedly geared toward trade liberalization through reciprocal exchanges of trade concessions. We build on the concept of credible commitment--that states "tie their hands" through international agreements and thus signal strong commitment to trade liberalization. We argue that a broad range of agreement provisions will affect an RTA's ability to achieve its primary objective: trade liberalization. We present a coding scheme that measures the strength of a wide variety of provisions in the legal texts of RTAs. Using quantitative analysis, we analyze the impact of various components of Asia's RTAs on participants' trade flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the domination of the Eurocentric paradigm in communication studies in the last half century is a problem, the blind acceptance of the universal applicability of the Eurocentric paradigm by educators and scholars in other areas, including Asia, reflects a more serious problem. It is a good sign that criticism of Westernization in communication education and research in Asia has grown stronger in recent years, and more scholars have attempted to propose a direction for the future of Asian communication studies ... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The OER movement originated and integrated into ODE developments. Mega Universities (MUs) are among the most important of ODE providers worldwide should be to be the primary organizations for providing access to OER. So far, however, in-depth studies on OER developments in the Asian MUs were very limited. This study focuses on the developments, motives, openness, and sustainability of OER at the six MUs official websites in Asia. Data were collected for six months using the documentation techniques and analyzed using web content or textual analyze. Results of the study shown, that: (1) OER developments on the Asian MUs' were an ongoing process, multiyear program, and developed into three characteristics: special projects or initiatives; uploading the existing learning resources collections on the Website; and by taken out-links to the centers of OER websites worldwide. Contents of OER are very rich, diverse in categories, forms, and organized integrally into "One Stop Window". The OER materials have developed by university as well as by joined with various parties of internal and external universities; (2) OER developments are based on three motives: the altruistic motivation of sharing, ego-boost motivation, and combination of both; (3) The OER openness for use or reuse by others can be classified into five categories: openness in the public domain; openness under provision by any license; openness under guarantee by government Laws, policies, missions or visions; openness under guarantee by universities policies, missions or visions; and openness because it was developed as a special initiative of the universities; and (4) Sustainability models that have been used by MUs to makes OER become viable, and stable for the long-term are institutional, governmental, workflow, user-centered, wiki, and social software models.

A literature review of various reports sponsored by federal governmental agencies and proceedings of conferences of Asian Americans' and Pacific Islanders' health organizations provides data of health disparities among and between these diverse ethnic groups. Specifically, demographic and socio-economic data, as well as health care issues, are reported. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders exceed other groups in health disparities in the area of tuberculosis and hepatitis B, whereas cancer and cardiovascular diseases are leading causes of death within the Asian American and Pacific Islander populations. Recommendations for areas of research are provided.

Distance education has emerged out of social compulsion, the dynamics of change and new cultures. It was the failure of traditional systems to be able to meet the demand in countries, where the resources available for tertiary education are limited, which basically gave birth to the new trend of education known as open and distance education. This new and innovative system of education has received a high level of acceptance in different countries as it offers flexible educational opportunities for continuing education to a large segment of their population. The increasing number of older adult learners with varying lifestyles in the population, increasing competitiveness of getting places in tertiary institutions, higher cost of education and a shortage of teachers are the main factors for increasing the popularity of distance education (Duncan, "et al.," 2003). Bangladesh has also taken the opportunity to provide a uniform and mass oriented universal system of education through open and distance education establishing Bangladesh Open University (BOU) in 1992. Objectives of the Study: The main objectives of this study are: (1) to assess the overall status of BOU in comparison with the open universities of two neighboring South Asian countries considering the following aspects: (a) Administrative structural functions; (b) Courses and instructional strategies; (c) Learning opportunities, and (d) Library, laboratory and counselling facilities; (2) to explore the potential of improvement for BOU to enable it to meet the challenges of the country's educational needs in the next millennium. (Contains 1 figure and 8 tables.)

The article discusses and reviews two documents titled "Australia in the Asian Century: Australian Government's White Paper" and "Strong and Secure: A Strategy for Australia's National Security". It mentions that "Australia in the Asian Century: Australian Government's White Paper" describes the three assumptions regarding the future economic position of Asia in the global landscape and its reduction of interdependence on other nations leading to negligible conflict.

Bronze birch borer (Agrilus anxius Gory) is the key pest of birches (Betula spp.) in North America, several of which have been recommended for ornamental landscapes based on anecdotal reports of borer resistance that had not been confirmed experimentally. In a 20-yr common garden experiment initiated in 1979 in Ohio, North American birch species, including paper birch (Betula papyrifera Marshall), 'Whitespire' gray birch (Betula populifolia Marshall), and river birch (Betula nigra L.), were much more resistant to bronze birch borer than species indigenous to Europe and Asia, including European white birch (Betula pendula Roth), downy birch (Betula pubescens Ehrh. ), monarch birch (Betula maximowicziana Regel ), and Szechuan white birch (Betula szechuanica Jansson). Within 8 yr of planting, every European white, downy, and Szechuan birch had been colonized and killed, although 100% of monarch birch had been colonized and 88% of these plants were killed after nine years. Conversely, 97% of river birch, 76% of paper birch, and 73% Whitespire gray birch were alive 20 yr after planting, and river birch showed no evidence of colonization. This pattern is consistent with biogeographic theory of plant defense: North American birch species that share a coevolutionary history with bronze birch borer were much more resistant than naive hosts endemic to Europe and Asia, possibly by virtue of evolution of targeted defenses. This information suggests that if bronze birch borer were introduced to Europe or Asia, it could threaten its hosts there on a continental scale. This study also exposed limitations of anecdotal observation as evidence of host plant resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An alternative energy source such as solar is one of the most important renewable resources. A reliable solar radiation prediction is essential for various applications in agriculture, industry, transport, and the environment because they reduce greenhouse gases and are environmentally friendly. Solar radiation data series have embedded fluctuations and noise signals due to complexity, stochasticity, non-stationarity, and nonlinearity with uncertain and time-varying nature. Aside from being highly nonlinear, solar radiation is highly influenced by the environment and environmental parameters such as air temperature, cloud cover, surface reflectivity, and aerosols. In addition, the spatial measurements of these variables are not readily available. To tackle these challenges, it is necessary to consider data preprocessing techniques and to develop and test precise solar radiation predicting models at different forecast horizons. There is, however, controversy regarding the performance of such models in various studies. Comparisons are not conducted systematically among the different studies. Using a critical literature review, the authors hope to answer these questions and believe that further investigation of solar radiation can benefit researchers and practitioners alike. This study presents a comprehensive evaluation of solar radiation modeling using artificial intelligence in the last 15 years and provides a novel detailed analysis of the available models. The studies conducted in different climates of the world that were published in distinguished journals were considered (i.e., 90 papers in total) for this purpose. Newly discovered procedures for optimizing forecasts, data cleaning, feature selection, classification methods, and stand-alone or hybrid data-driven models for solar radiation prediction and modeling were evaluated. The results strikingly showed that the most used artificial intelligence methods were artificial neural network, adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system, and decision tree family of models. In addition, the extreme learning machine, support vector machine, and particle swarm optimization were the most used optimization techniques in solar radiation modeling. In terms of forecast horizons, the most common forecast horizon found in papers was on the daily scale (51% of studies), followed by the hourly scale (26%), and the least common was the monthly scale (18%). Based on the regional studies, the highest number of solar radiation papers originated from Asia, with Europe in second place and African countries in third place. An increasing trend in the number of papers from 2011 to 2015 was noted, and the second peak started from 2018 till the present. Under each section, a summary of findings is provided. The paper concludes with future thoughts and directions on solar radiation modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]