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This paper studies the joint dynamics of foreign direct investments (FDI) and output growth in European regions by using spatially augmented systems of equations modeling framework that incorporates third-region and spillover effects. The joint framework is used to study the dynamic impacts of regional human capital endowments, which demonstrates the importance of explicitly accounting for an endogenous relationship. The relationship is highlighted in a stylized projection exercise, where the long-run impacts are pronounced in Eastern Europe and capital cities. Overall, ignoring the relationship of regional economic performance and FDI distorts the implied transmission mechanism, which is of utmost importance for policy makers.

This paper studies the joint dynamics of foreign direct investments (FDI) and output growth in European regions by using spatially augmented systems of equations modeling framework that incorporates third-region and spillover effects. The joint framework is used to study the dynamic impacts of regional human capital endowments, which demonstrates the importance of explicitly accounting for an endogenous relationship. The relationship is highlighted in a stylized projection exercise, where the long-run impacts are pronounced in Eastern Europe and capital cities. Overall, ignoring the relationship of regional economic performance and FDI distorts the implied transmission mechanism, which is of utmost importance for policy makers.

This paper studies the joint dynamics of foreign direct investments (FDI) and output growth in European regions by using spatially augmented systems of equations modeling framework that incorporates third-region and spillover effects. The joint framework is used to study the dynamic impacts of regional human capital endowments, which demonstrates the importance of explicitly accounting for an endogenous relationship. The relationship is highlighted in a stylized projection exercise, where the long-run impacts are pronounced in Eastern Europe and capital cities. Overall, ignoring the relationship of regional economic performance and FDI distorts the implied transmission mechanism, which is of utmost importance for policy makers.

Reproducing the features of the extracellular matrix is important for fabricating three‐dimensional (3D) scaffolds for tissue regeneration. A collagen‐like polypeptide, poly(Pro‐Hyp‐Gly), is a promising material for 3D scaffolds because of its excellent physical properties, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. In this paper, we present a novel photocrosslinked poly(Pro‐Hyp‐Gly) hydrogel as a 3D scaffold for simultaneous rat bone marrow stromal cell (rBMSC) encapsulation. The hydrogels were fabricated using visible‐light photocrosslinking at various concentrations of methacrylated poly(Pro‐Hyp‐Gly) (20–50 mg/ml) and irradiation times (3 or 5 min). The results show that the rBMSCs encapsulated in the hydrogels survived 7 days of incubation. Calcium deposition on the encapsulated rBMSCs was assessed with scanning electron microscope observation, Alizarin Red S, and von Kossa staining. The most strongly stained area was observed in the hydrogel formed with 30 mg/ml of methacrylated poly(Pro‐Hyp‐Gly) with 5‐min irradiation. These findings demonstrate that poly(Pro‐Hyp‐Gly) hydrogels support rBMSC viability and differentiation, as well as demonstrating the feasibility of using poly(Pro‐Hyp‐Gly) hydrogels as a cytocompatible, biodegradable 3D scaffold for tissue regeneration.

This paper investigates the impact of climate change on the spatial distribution of agricultural production in Turkey between 2004 and 2019. Our findings show that climate change has a pervasive impact on agricultural development. The empirical results show that the average temperature is negatively associated with agricultural land use, grain, and legume production. Moreover, regional variability analyses reveal the nonmonotonic relationships between climatic factors and agricultural output. Climate change hurts agricultural production in northern and central regions the most. This finding points out the ineffectiveness of one-size-fits-all-type pol- icies for mitigating the adverse effects of climate change in topography with sizeable spatial dissimilarities. Over- all, our results suggest that climate change will significantly threaten the evolution of agricultural activities that are critical for regional development. In addition, findings show that spatial spillovers and heterogeneity will be crucial for designing climate change policies for rural and agricultural development.

This paper investigates the impact of climate change on the spatial distribution of agricultural production in Turkey between 2004 and 2019. Our findings show that climate change has a pervasive impact on agricultural development. The empirical results show that the average temperature is negatively associated with agricultural land use, grain, and legume production. Moreover, regional variability analyses reveal the nonmonotonic relationships between climatic factors and agricultural output. Climate change hurts agricultural production in northern and central regions the most. This finding points out the ineffectiveness of one-size-fits-all-type pol- icies for mitigating the adverse effects of climate change in topography with sizeable spatial dissimilarities. Over- all, our results suggest that climate change will significantly threaten the evolution of agricultural activities that are critical for regional development. In addition, findings show that spatial spillovers and heterogeneity will be crucial for designing climate change policies for rural and agricultural development.

Recently, poled Na₀.₅₀Bi₀.₅₀TiO₃‐BaTiO₃ (NBT‐BT)‐based polycrystalline materials have been characterized as possessing a high degree of poling‐induced domain texture in their remanent state. This finding is suggested to be the reason for their stable mechanical quality factor at high‐vibration velocity, making them promising candidates for high‐power applications. The materials in consideration are prone to self‐heating and thermal run‐away, particularly at slightly elevated temperatures. Therefore, this paper evaluates the temperature dependence of the poling‐induced domain texture of (Na₀.₄₇Bi₀.₄₇Ba₀.₀₆)TiO₃ (NBT‐6BT) doped with 0.5 mol% of Mg as compared to undoped NBT‐6BT. Its influence on small‐signal, large‐signal, and high‐power properties was investigated. To obtain a fundamental understanding of crystal structure, in‐situ synchrotron measurements were conducted as function of temperature to establish a relationship between structure and piezoelectric properties of both Mg‐doped and undoped NBT‐6BT materials.

Recently, poled Na₀.₅₀Bi₀.₅₀TiO₃‐BaTiO₃ (NBT‐BT)‐based polycrystalline materials have been characterized as possessing a high degree of poling‐induced domain texture in their remanent state. This finding is suggested to be the reason for their stable mechanical quality factor at high‐vibration velocity, making them promising candidates for high‐power applications. The materials in consideration are prone to self‐heating and thermal run‐away, particularly at slightly elevated temperatures. Therefore, this paper evaluates the temperature dependence of the poling‐induced domain texture of (Na₀.₄₇Bi₀.₄₇Ba₀.₀₆)TiO₃ (NBT‐6BT) doped with 0.5 mol% of Mg as compared to undoped NBT‐6BT. Its influence on small‐signal, large‐signal, and high‐power properties was investigated. To obtain a fundamental understanding of crystal structure, in‐situ synchrotron measurements were conducted as function of temperature to establish a relationship between structure and piezoelectric properties of both Mg‐doped and undoped NBT‐6BT materials.

Recently, poled Na₀.₅₀Bi₀.₅₀TiO₃‐BaTiO₃ (NBT‐BT)‐based polycrystalline materials have been characterized as possessing a high degree of poling‐induced domain texture in their remanent state. This finding is suggested to be the reason for their stable mechanical quality factor at high‐vibration velocity, making them promising candidates for high‐power applications. The materials in consideration are prone to self‐heating and thermal run‐away, particularly at slightly elevated temperatures. Therefore, this paper evaluates the temperature dependence of the poling‐induced domain texture of (Na₀.₄₇Bi₀.₄₇Ba₀.₀₆)TiO₃ (NBT‐6BT) doped with 0.5 mol% of Mg as compared to undoped NBT‐6BT. Its influence on small‐signal, large‐signal, and high‐power properties was investigated. To obtain a fundamental understanding of crystal structure, in‐situ synchrotron measurements were conducted as function of temperature to establish a relationship between structure and piezoelectric properties of both Mg‐doped and undoped NBT‐6BT materials.

Memory performance is a crucial bottleneck in many GPGPU applications, making optimizations for hardware and software mandatory. While hardware vendors already use highly efficient caching architectures, software engineers usually have to organize their data accordingly in order to efficiently make use of these, requiring deep knowledge of the actual hardware. In this paper we present a novel technique for fine‐grained memory profiling that simulates the whole pipeline of memory flow and finally accumulates profiling values in a way that the user retains information about the potential region in the GPU program by showing these values separately for each allocation. Our memory simulator turns out to outperform state‐of‐the‐art memory models of NVIDIA architectures by a magnitude of 2.4 for the L1 cache and 1.3 for the L2 cache, in terms of accuracy. Additionally, we find our technique of fine grained memory profiling a useful tool for memory optimizations, which we successfully show in case of ray tracing and machine learning applications.

Memory performance is a crucial bottleneck in many GPGPU applications, making optimizations for hardware and software mandatory. While hardware vendors already use highly efficient caching architectures, software engineers usually have to organize their data accordingly in order to efficiently make use of these, requiring deep knowledge of the actual hardware. In this paper we present a novel technique for fine‐grained memory profiling that simulates the whole pipeline of memory flow and finally accumulates profiling values in a way that the user retains information about the potential region in the GPU program by showing these values separately for each allocation. Our memory simulator turns out to outperform state‐of‐the‐art memory models of NVIDIA architectures by a magnitude of 2.4 for the L1 cache and 1.3 for the L2 cache, in terms of accuracy. Additionally, we find our technique of fine grained memory profiling a useful tool for memory optimizations, which we successfully show in case of ray tracing and machine learning applications.

Memory performance is a crucial bottleneck in many GPGPU applications, making optimizations for hardware and software mandatory. While hardware vendors already use highly efficient caching architectures, software engineers usually have to organize their data accordingly in order to efficiently make use of these, requiring deep knowledge of the actual hardware. In this paper we present a novel technique for fine‐grained memory profiling that simulates the whole pipeline of memory flow and finally accumulates profiling values in a way that the user retains information about the potential region in the GPU program by showing these values separately for each allocation. Our memory simulator turns out to outperform state‐of‐the‐art memory models of NVIDIA architectures by a magnitude of 2.4 for the L1 cache and 1.3 for the L2 cache, in terms of accuracy. Additionally, we find our technique of fine grained memory profiling a useful tool for memory optimizations, which we successfully show in case of ray tracing and machine learning applications.

The use of novel battery technologies in short-haul electric aircraft can support the aviation sector in achieving its goals for a sustainable development. However, the production of the batteries is often associated with adverse environmental and socio-economic impacts, potentially leading to burden shifting. Therefore, this paper investigates alternative technologies for lithium–sulfur all-solid-state batteries (LiS-ASSBs) in terms of their contribution to the sustainable development goals (SDGs). We propose a new approach that builds on life cycle sustainability assessment and links the relevant impact categories to the related SDGs. The approach is applied to analyze four LiS-ASSB configurations with different solid electrolytes, designed for maximum specific energy using an electrochemical model. They are compared to a lithium–sulfur battery with a liquid electrolyte as a benchmark. The results of our cradle-to-gate analysis reveal that the new LiS-ASSB technologies generally have a positive contribution to SDG achievement. However, the battery configuration with the best technical characteristics is not the most promising in terms of SDG achievement. Especially variations from the technically optimal cathode thickness can improve the SDG contribution. A sensitivity analysis shows that the results are rather robust against the weighting factors within the SDG quantification method.

The aim of this paper is to show that there exist infinite dimensional Banach spaces of functions that, except for 0, satisfy properties that apparently should be destroyed by the linear combination of two of them. Three of these spaces are: a Banach space of differentiable functions on R(n) failing the Denjoy-Clarkson property; a Banach space of non Riemann integrable bounded functions, but with antiderivative at each point of an interval; a Banach space of infinitely differentiable functions that vanish at infinity and are not the Fourier transform of any Lebesgue integrable function., MEC and FEDER, Marie Curie Intra European Fellowship, MEC and FEDER, Depto. de Análisis Matemático y Matemática Aplicada, Fac. de Ciencias Matemáticas, Instituto de Matemática Interdisciplinar (IMI), TRUE, pub

Starting from the assumption that citizenship is valuable private property that would be even more valuable if it were transferable, the paper explores the idea of commodification of citizenship. The paper provides arguments in favor of commodification of citizenship and recommendations to how the market for citizenship should be designed. A market for citizenships could result in an improved matching between employer and employee when citizens swap citizenship with each other. Successful States would issue new citizenships and thus provide the possibility for a greater share of the world population to live and work within the countries with the best institutions. The combined effect would be a higher global productivity. Market prices on citizenships would provide a robust indicator of institutional quality and thus provide politicians with information on voters´ preferences and it would also provide voters with information on the quality of the work of the government. The market value of a tradable citizenship is also found to be a promising candidate as tax base for a redistributive tax on a global level that could address some of the inherit inequality inherit in the current distribution of citizenships.

The authors gratefully acknowledge funding through the ServPPIN project: The Contribution of Public and Private Services to European Growth and Welfare, and the Role of Public‐Private Innovation Networks, Socio‐Economic Sciences and Humanities Programme of the EU 7th Framework Programme., This paper shapes and identifies the varieties and dynamics of service economies in the EU 25. By adopting a neo-Schumpeterian and evolutionary approach it contributes to enrich previous research dealing with national disparities from the perspective of services economic structures. Communalities across countries and time are detected and discussed at different levels of analysis. A wide set of models across the European region is found from an aggregated perspective. Moreover, the paper analyses the key dimensions explaining the different service models at sectoral level: structural change, knowledge and innovation, internationalisation and competition restrictions. The main result shows that structural composition of countries plays a prominent role, while heterogeneity is driven by dissimilarities in knowledge bases and innovative efforts across Europe., Unión Europea. FP7, Depto. de Análisis Económico y Economía Cuantitativa, Fac. de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, TRUE, pub

A bounded linear operator T on a Banach space X is called hypercyclic if there exists a vector x is an element of X such that its orbit, {T(n)x}, is dense in X. In this paper we show hypercyclic properties of the orbits of the Cesaro operator defined on different spaces. For instance, we show that the Cesaro operator defined on L(p)[0, 1] (1 < p < infinity) is hypercyclic. Moreover, it is chaotic and it has supercyclic subspaces. On the other hand, the Cesaro operator defined on other spaces of functions behave differently. Motivated by this, we study weighted Cesaro operators and different degrees of hypercyclicity are obtained. The proofs are based on the classical Muntz-Szasz theorem. We also propose problems and give new directions., Junta de Andalucia, UCA, Junta de Andalucıa, Depto. de Análisis Matemático y Matemática Aplicada, Fac. de Ciencias Matemáticas, Instituto de Matemática Interdisciplinar (IMI), TRUE, pub

Prior studies revealed that government is key factor influencing firms' decisions about the implementation of environmental innovations and pursuit of sustainable development as well as shaping their environmental orientation. However, the role of firms' R&D within these processes remains unclear. This paper explores the relationship between firms' environmental regulation, R&D, environmental orientation, and environmental outputs to better understand the relationships and dynamics among them. We used the World Bank Enterprise Survey 2019 data on 737 firms from the Czech Republic and Slovenia and employed structural equation modeling. The results indicate that environmental orientation positively influences R&D and environmental outputs. Moreover, environmental regulations spur firms' environmental orientation as well as environmental outputs. On the other hand, the findings reveal that R&D is neither a key factor nor plays a key role as a mediator of environmental regulations and environmental orientation affecting environmental outputs based on the sample of selected countries pertaining to Central and Eastern Europe., Předchozí studie odhalily, že vláda je klíčovým faktorem ovlivňujícím rozhodování firem o zavádění ekologických inovací a snaze o udržitelný rozvoj, stejně jako utváření jejich environmentální orientace. Role firemního výzkumu a vývoje v těchto procesech však zůstává nejasná. Tento dokument zkoumá vztah mezi environmentální regulací firem, výzkumem a vývojem, environmentální orientací a environmentálními výstupy, aby lépe porozuměl vztahům a dynamice mezi nimi. Použili jsme data Enterprise Survey 2019 Světové banky o 737 firmách z České republiky a Slovinska a použili jsme modelování strukturálních rovnic. Výsledky ukazují, že environmentální orientace pozitivně ovlivňuje VaV a environmentální výstupy. Kromě toho ekologické předpisy podněcují orientaci firem na životní prostředí a také environmentální výstupy. Na druhé straně zjištění ukazují, že VaV není ani klíčovým faktorem, ani nehraje klíčovou roli jako zprostředkovatel environmentálních předpisů a environmentální orientace ovlivňující environmentální výstupy na vzorku vybraných zemí střední a východní Evropy.

Seminal scientific papers positing that mycorrhizal fungal networks can distribute carbon (C) among plants have stimulated a popular narrative that overstory trees, or 'mother trees', support the growth of seedlings in this way. This narrative has far-reaching implications for our understanding of forest ecology and has been controversial in the scientific community. We review the current understanding of ectomycorrhizal C metabolism and observations on forest regeneration that make the mother tree narrative debatable. We then re-examine data and conclusions from publications that underlie the mother tree hypothesis. Isotopic labeling methods are uniquely suited for studying element fluxes through ecosystems, but the complexity of mycorrhizal symbiosis, low detection limits, and small carbon discrimination in biological processes can cause researchers to make important inferences based on miniscule shifts in isotopic abundance, which can be misleading. We conclude that evidence of a significant net C transfer via common mycorrhizal networks that benefits the recipients is still lacking. Furthermore, a role for fungi as a C pipeline between trees is difficult to reconcile with any adaptive advantages for the fungi. Finally, the hypothesis is neither supported by boreal forest regeneration patterns nor consistent with the understanding of physiological mechanisms controlling mycorrhizal symbiosis.

Seminal scientific papers positing that mycorrhizal fungal networks can distribute carbon (C) among plants have stimulated a popular narrative that overstory trees, or 'mother trees', support the growth of seedlings in this way. This narrative has far-reaching implications for our understanding of forest ecology and has been controversial in the scientific community. We review the current understanding of ectomycorrhizal C metabolism and observations on forest regeneration that make the mother tree narrative debatable. We then re-examine data and conclusions from publications that underlie the mother tree hypothesis. Isotopic labeling methods are uniquely suited for studying element fluxes through ecosystems, but the complexity of mycorrhizal symbiosis, low detection limits, and small carbon discrimination in biological processes can cause researchers to make important inferences based on miniscule shifts in isotopic abundance, which can be misleading. We conclude that evidence of a significant net C transfer via common mycorrhizal networks that benefits the recipients is still lacking. Furthermore, a role for fungi as a C pipeline between trees is difficult to reconcile with any adaptive advantages for the fungi. Finally, the hypothesis is neither supported by boreal forest regeneration patterns nor consistent with the understanding of physiological mechanisms controlling mycorrhizal symbiosis.

Seminal scientific papers positing that mycorrhizal fungal networks can distribute carbon (C) among plants have stimulated a popular narrative that overstory trees, or 'mother trees', support the growth of seedlings in this way. This narrative has far-reaching implications for our understanding of forest ecology and has been controversial in the scientific community. We review the current understanding of ectomycorrhizal C metabolism and observations on forest regeneration that make the mother tree narrative debatable. We then re-examine data and conclusions from publications that underlie the mother tree hypothesis. Isotopic labeling methods are uniquely suited for studying element fluxes through ecosystems, but the complexity of mycorrhizal symbiosis, low detection limits, and small carbon discrimination in biological processes can cause researchers to make important inferences based on miniscule shifts in isotopic abundance, which can be misleading. We conclude that evidence of a significant net C transfer via common mycorrhizal networks that benefits the recipients is still lacking. Furthermore, a role for fungi as a C pipeline between trees is difficult to reconcile with any adaptive advantages for the fungi. Finally, the hypothesis is neither supported by boreal forest regeneration patterns nor consistent with the understanding of physiological mechanisms controlling mycorrhizal symbiosis.

Wiley-Blackwell. The authors thanks economical support from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, research project FIS2008-00200. GAC acknowledges the support of the grant Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Finally, MM reckons illuminating discussions with Dr. Mattia Cafasso in relation with orthogonality and singularity confinement, and both authors are grateful to Prof. Gabriel Álvarez Galindo for several discussions and for the experimental confirmation, via Mathematica, of the existence of the confinement of singularities in the 2 × 2 case., n this paper, matrix orthogonal polynomials in the real line are described in terms of a RiemannHilbert problem. This approach provides an easy derivation of discrete equations for the corresponding matrix recursion coefficients. The discrete equation is explicitly derived in the matrix Freud case, associated with matrix quartic potentials. It is shown that, when the initial condition and the measure are simultaneously triangularizable, this matrix discrete equation possesses the singularity confinement property, independently if the solution under consideration is given by the recursion coefficients to quartic Freud matrix orthogonal polynomials or not., Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Depto. de Física Teórica, Fac. de Ciencias Físicas, TRUE, pub

In this paper we show that the Aron-Berner type extension of polynomials preserves the P-continuity property. To this end we introduce a new version of Goldstine's Theorem for locally complemented subspaces., Depto. de Análisis Matemático y Matemática Aplicada, Fac. de Ciencias Matemáticas, TRUE, pub

This paper investigates the impact of the Shanghai–Hong Kong Stock Connect (SHSC) scheme on voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in China. Using a difference-in-differences (DiD) design, we find that companies that participate in the SHSC scheme are more inclined to voluntarily issue CSR reports. This effect is more pronounced for companies that have limited access to international markets and those with weak corporate governance. Additional analyses show that SHSC-connected firms also produce higher quality CSR reports and achieve a better CSR performance. Our findings imply that capital market liberalisation promotes voluntary corporate disclosure for investors.

A commercial insurance company in the Czech Republic provided data on critical illness insurance. The survival analysis was used to study the influence of the gender of an insured person, the age at which the person entered into an insurance contract, and the region where the insured person lived on the occurrence of an insured event. The main goal of the research was to investigate whether the influence of explanatory variables is estimated differently when two different approaches of analysis are used. The two approaches used were (1) the Cox proportional hazard model that does not assign a specific cause, such as a certain diagnosis, to a critical illness insured event and (2) the competing risks models. Regression models related to these approaches were estimated by R software. The results, which are discussed and compared in the paper, show that insurance companies might benefit from offering policies that consider specific diagnoses as the cause of insured events. They also show that in addition to age, the gender of the client plays a key role in the occurrence of such insured events., Komerční pojišťovna působící v České republice poskytla údaje o pojištění závažných onemocnění. Analýza přežití byla využita ke zkoumání vlivu pohlaví pojištěného, ​​věku, kdy osoba uzavřela pojistnou smlouvu, a regionu, kde pojištěný žil, na vznik pojistné události. Hlavním cílem výzkumu bylo zjistit, zda je vliv vysvětlujících proměnných odhadován odlišně při použití dvou různých přístupů. Byly použity přístupy (1) Coxův model proporcionálního rizika, který nepřiřazuje konkrétní příčinu, jako je určitá diagnóza, pojistné události kritického onemocnění, a (2) modely konkurujících rizik. Regresní modely související s těmito přístupy byly odhadnuty pomocí softwaru R. Výsledky, které jsou v příspěvku diskutovány a srovnávány, ukazují, že pojišťovny by mohly mít prospěch z nabídky pojistek, které berou jako příčinu pojistných událostí konkrétní diagnózu. Ukazují také, že klíčovou roli při vzniku takových pojistných událostí hraje kromě věku i pohlaví klienta.

Objective: With little research investigating older Australians' experience of companion animal (pet) ownership or wildlife encounters, this paper focuses on the value of animals in their lives. Methods: Three online focus groups explored 103 older adults' lived experience of home and community, with this paper focused on interactions with animals—companion animals and wildlife. Results: Most (60%) had at least one pet, which brought love and joy into their lives. Reflexive thematic analysis identified three themes: pets as family; challenges of pet ownership; and connection to everyday wildlife and nature. Conclusions: In addition to valuing companion animals (typically cats and dogs), this research is among the first to show that some older people also develop ongoing relationships with local Australian wildlife, such as kookaburras, kangaroos, lizards and birds, which raises the possibility that fostering connections with wildlife may enhance well-being.

Objectives: GrandSchools is a new concept which co-locates retirement villages with secondary schools in the one physical environment. Designed to enhance the health and wellbeing of both younger and older generations, this intergenerational shared campus model promotes intergenerational inclusivity and active learning and living . In this paper, we explore stakeholder experts’ perceptions of current opportunities and impediments of this proposed intergenerational learning and living model. Methods: A qualitative study reporting on findings from an industry seminar (n=50) and key interviews (n=10) from stakeholders in education, health, higher education, the management, and operation of retirement villages, and design firms. Results: Three key themes summarised participants’ assessment of the value, risks, and what needs to change for intergenerational living and learning to become a reality. Conclusion: By bringing younger and older generations together in one shared campus location, GrandSchools is a novel idea to promote intergenerational inclusivity, enhancing the health and wellbeing of our whole community.

As our societies transform into knowledge societies, skills are playing an ever-increasing role in life. Despite recent efforts to consistently measure adult skills across countries, a challenge remains to understand how skills evolve over time and what the main drivers behind these changes are. By applying demographic methods to estimate the development of skills over the life course, this paper presents the reconstruction of empirical adult literacy test results along cohort lines by age, sex, and educational attainment for 44 countries for the period 1970–2015. Results suggest significant heterogeneity in the pattern of changes in literacy skills with age, reflecting the differential exposure to cognitive stimulation over the life course and suggesting that the development of skills in a country is also the consequence of a changing composition of its population. Gender, however, was found to have hardly any effect on how literacy skills evolve between the ages of 15 and 65. On the aggregate level, findings reveal considerable differences between countries—regarding both the level of skills and their development over time. Overall, it was found that massive educational expansions happening globally in the recent past only partly resulted in a corresponding rise in skills.

As our societies transform into knowledge societies, skills are playing an ever-increasing role in life. Despite recent efforts to consistently measure adult skills across countries, a challenge remains to understand how skills evolve over time and what the main drivers behind these changes are. By applying demographic methods to estimate the development of skills over the life course, this paper presents the reconstruction of empirical adult literacy test results along cohort lines by age, sex, and educational attainment for 44 countries for the period 1970–2015. Results suggest significant heterogeneity in the pattern of changes in literacy skills with age, reflecting the differential exposure to cognitive stimulation over the life course and suggesting that the development of skills in a country is also the consequence of a changing composition of its population. Gender, however, was found to have hardly any effect on how literacy skills evolve between the ages of 15 and 65. On the aggregate level, findings reveal considerable differences between countries—regarding both the level of skills and their development over time. Overall, it was found that massive educational expansions happening globally in the recent past only partly resulted in a corresponding rise in skills.

As our societies transform into knowledge societies, skills are playing an ever-increasing role in life. Despite recent efforts to consistently measure adult skills across countries, a challenge remains to understand how skills evolve over time and what the main drivers behind these changes are. By applying demographic methods to estimate the development of skills over the life course, this paper presents the reconstruction of empirical adult literacy test results along cohort lines by age, sex, and educational attainment for 44 countries for the period 1970–2015. Results suggest significant heterogeneity in the pattern of changes in literacy skills with age, reflecting the differential exposure to cognitive stimulation over the life course and suggesting that the development of skills in a country is also the consequence of a changing composition of its population. Gender, however, was found to have hardly any effect on how literacy skills evolve between the ages of 15 and 65. On the aggregate level, findings reveal considerable differences between countries—regarding both the level of skills and their development over time. Overall, it was found that massive educational expansions happening globally in the recent past only partly resulted in a corresponding rise in skills.

As our societies transform into knowledge societies, skills are playing an ever-increasing role in life. Despite recent efforts to consistently measure adult skills across countries, a challenge remains to understand how skills evolve over time and what the main drivers behind these changes are. By applying demographic methods to estimate the development of skills over the life course, this paper presents the reconstruction of empirical adult literacy test results along cohort lines by age, sex, and educational attainment for 44 countries for the period 1970–2015. Results suggest significant heterogeneity in the pattern of changes in literacy skills with age, reflecting the differential exposure to cognitive stimulation over the life course and suggesting that the development of skills in a country is also the consequence of a changing composition of its population. Gender, however, was found to have hardly any effect on how literacy skills evolve between the ages of 15 and 65. On the aggregate level, findings reveal considerable differences between countries—regarding both the level of skills and their development over time. Overall, it was found that massive educational expansions happening globally in the recent past only partly resulted in a corresponding rise in skills.

Clinical Relevance: Clinicians, researchers funding agencies and indeed the general public can benefit from knowledge of the most highly cited papers and most impactful authors, institutions, countries and journals in the field of keratoconus. Background: Bibliometrics relating to the keratoconus literature were derived to enable identification of the most impactful papers published, as well as the leading authors, institutions, countries and journals. Methods: A search was undertaken of the titles of papers on the Scopus database to identify keratoconus-related articles. The 20 most highly cited papers were determined from the total list of 4,419 papers found. Rank-order lists by count were assembled for the ‘top 20ʹ in each of four categories: authors, institutions, countries and journals. A subject-specific keratoconus-related h-index (hKC-index) was derived for each constituent of each category to serve as a measure of impact in the field. The top 10 constituents of each category were ranked by hKC-index and tabulated for consideration. Results: The hKC-index of the keratoconus field is 125. The 4,419 papers have been cited a total of 98,010 times, and 18.5% of these papers have never been cited. The most highly cited paper is a general review of keratoconus by Yaron Rabinowitz, who is also the most impactful author in the field (hKC = 31). The Cedars Sinai Medical Center in the United States produces the most impactful keratoconus-related papers (hKC = 36), and the United States is the most impactful country (hKC = 91). The Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery is the most impactful journal (hKC = 55). Conclusion: Keratoconus is a topic of high interest in the clinical and scientific literature. Highly cited papers and impactful authors, institutions, countries and journals are identified.

The development of biodegradable food packaging with superior properties and functionalities compared to conventional food packaging is one of the emerging research interests. Immediate disposal of conventional single use nonbiodegradable food packaging results in adverse environmental impact. Utilization of either biomass-based, microorganism-derived, or biotechnologically synthesized biopolymers as biodegradable matrices is the common approach toward achieving sustainability. Consequently, starch and cellulose are being commonly used as biodegradable matrices. However, rather than being fully biodegradable, most of them can be considered as semibiodegradable. Majority of the review studies are based on matrices that have an origin in edible sources, which might result in food insecurity. Although development of bio-based polymers with sound packaging properties have been extensively studied, the potential agro-industrial waste as alternative, eco-friendly, and economically viable matrices have attracted little attention. Therefore, the approaches of developing biodegradable food packaging and the framework of converting agro-industrial waste into biodegradable packaging matrices are discussed comparatively in this paper. It also critiques the approaches and valorization of agro-industrial waste in biodegradable food packaging. Thereby, an overview of physicochemical, functional, and biodegradable properties of commonly used biodegradable food packaging materials are provided as an insight for agro-industrial waste-based food packaging. The potential use of agro-industrial waste-based biodegradable food packaging materials against commonly used biodegradable food packaging materials has been highlighted in this study. Thereby, the vital necessity of growing awareness about agro-industrial waste as biodegradable food packaging materials is emphasized through this comprehensive review.

Food processing is a complex, multifaceted problem that requires substantial human interaction to optimize the various process parameters to minimize energy consumption and ensure better-quality products. The development of a machine learning (ML)-based approach to food processing applications is an exciting and innovative idea for optimizing process parameters and process kinetics to reduce energy consumption, processing time, and ensure better-quality products; however, developing such a novel approach requires significant scientific effort. This paper presents and evaluates ML-based approaches to various food processing operations such as drying, frying, baking, canning, extrusion, encapsulation, and fermentation to predict process kinetics. A step-by-step procedure to develop an ML-based model and its practical implementation is presented. The key challenges of neural network training and testing algorithms and their limitations are discussed to assist readers in selecting algorithms for solving problems specific to food processing. In addition, this paper presents the potential and challenges of applying ML-based techniques to hybrid food processing operations. The potential of physics-informed ML modeling techniques for food processing applications and their strategies is also discussed. It is expected that the potential information of this paper will be valuable in advancing the ML-based technology for food processing applications.

Conventional solid fats play a crucial role as an ingredient in many processed foods. However, these fats contain a high amount of saturated fats and trans fats. Legislations and dietary recommendations related to these two types of fats set forth as a consequence of evidence showing their deleterious health impact have triggered the attempts to find alternate tailor-made lipids for these solid fats. Oleogels is considered as a novel alternative, which has reduced saturated fat and no trans fat content. In addition to mimicking the distinctive characteristics of solid fats, oleogels can be developed to contain a high amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids and used to deliver bioactives. Although there has been a dramatic rise in the interest in developing oleogels for food applications over the past decade, none of them has been commercially used in foods so far due to the deficiency in their crystal network structure, particularly in monocomponent gels. Very recently, there is a surge in the interest in using of combination of gelators due to the synergistic effects that aid in overcoming the drawbacks in monocomponent gels. However, currently, there is no comprehensive insight into synergism among oleogelators reported in recent studies. Therefore, a comprehensive intuition into the findings reported on synergism is crucial to fill this gap. The objective of this review is to give a comprehensive insight into synergism among gelators based on recent literature. This paper also identifies the future research propositions towards developing oleogels capable of exactly mimicking the properties of conventional solid fats to bridge the gap between laboratory research and the food industry.

In this paper, I address a complex of challenges around religiously grounded ethical ideas in education, the public sphere and public institutions, focussing on the question of LGBTQ+ rights education and an exemplary conflict over this topic in Birmingham, England, in 2019. I argue that it is important, both theoretically and practically, to approach the issue, not just as a conflict between religious and liberal/secular world views, but also as a product of relatively rapid historical change in moral understandings, which has not been equally distributed in the populations that are affected by it. I revisit (1) the genealogy of current liberal conceptions on marriage, sexuality and partnership; (2) Paul Rabinow's pluralist notion of 'the contemporary' and (3) the clashing vulnerabilities of groups involved in contemporary conflicts over religion and sexual identity, to offer historically and socially sensitive tools for both theoretical and practical renegotiation.

FEBS Open Bio and our fellow FEBS Press journals have a strong commitment to maintaining the integrity of the scientific literature. The life sciences, in particular, are suffering from an ongoing reproducibility crisis, and this may in part be fuelled by mistakes, manipulation or outright fabrication of the presented data. We were recently made aware of several articles published in FEBS Open Bio that appear to contain full or partial duplications of images from other published articles in a different scientific context. In most of these cases, the duplications were taken from previously published papers. After thorough investigation and subsequent discussion within FEBS Press and with Wiley's Integrity in Publishing Group, we have retracted most of these articles.

FEBS Open Bio and our fellow FEBS Press journals have a strong commitment to maintaining the integrity of the scientific literature. The life sciences, in particular, are suffering from an ongoing reproducibility crisis, and this may in part be fuelled by mistakes, manipulation or outright fabrication of the presented data. We were recently made aware of several articles published in FEBS Open Bio that appear to contain full or partial duplications of images from other published articles in a different scientific context. In most of these cases, the duplications were taken from previously published papers. After thorough investigation and subsequent discussion within FEBS Press and with Wiley's Integrity in Publishing Group, we have retracted most of these articles.

FEBS Open Bio and our fellow FEBS Press journals have a strong commitment to maintaining the integrity of the scientific literature. The life sciences, in particular, are suffering from an ongoing reproducibility crisis, and this may in part be fuelled by mistakes, manipulation or outright fabrication of the presented data. We were recently made aware of several articles published in FEBS Open Bio that appear to contain full or partial duplications of images from other published articles in a different scientific context. In most of these cases, the duplications were taken from previously published papers. After thorough investigation and subsequent discussion within FEBS Press and with Wiley's Integrity in Publishing Group, we have retracted most of these articles.

This article analyses the review, acceptance and publication dates of a sample of 21,890 articles from 326 Ibero-American scientific journals from all subject areas and countries included in the Latindex Catalogue 2.0 and published between 2018 and 2020 (freely available as an open access dataset). The aim is to discover evaluation and publication times. The evaluation process takes a median of 110 days, the publication process, a median of 82 days, and the whole process, a median of 224 days. Statistical differences are found according to periodicity, subject areas, countries, existence of a printed version and article type (Call for Papers or General articles). From the data we find that the delay in publication is longer than publishers themselves report to the DOAJ. STEM areas present the most similarity in publication patterns, having a higher number of evaluation days (Ed) than publication days (Pd); Arts and Humanities present the opposite pattern, with a higher Pd than Ed. In the case of Social Sciences, the times are similar. General articles and Call for Papers articles differ in terms of Ed, but not Pd, indicating that Call for Papers revisions are faster.

This paper explores participation trends in interven-tions that promote self-evaluation exercises on the ef-fective use of digital technologies in schools. We use a unique dataset consisting of 83,185 respondents from 924 Spanish schools that used SELFIE, a tool based on self-reflection questionnaires that capture differ-ent dimensions of school's digital capacity. We ben-efit from a natural experiment situation caused by the parallel use of SELFIE by two groups of schools. The first group was externally selected as part of a repre-sentative sample of Spanish schools. Conversely, the second group voluntarily decided to use SELFIE as a diagnostic tool for a subsequent self-evaluation exer-cise. Moreover, a subset of schools were located in re-gions where authorities embedded SELFIE in broader digitalisation programmes. By comparing these groups, it is shown that schools that decide to partici-pate in SELFIE voluntarily are those with a lower initial digitalisation level. It is also found that the promotion of the use of SELFIE as part of public interventions can increase participation but mainly attracts digitally advanced schools. In conclusion, policy interventions aiming to develop the digital capacity of schools need to plan how to reach those schools that need it more in order to be more equitable.

Some claim that when an agent does something, their action should be treated as a particular event. However, a challenge to this has it that if we understand agency through the category particular event, then we must also deploy another, process, because we act in the present but particular events can only exist in the past. In this paper, I show how this argument can be resisted, but suggest that consideration of it should nevertheless lead one to adopt a conception of events which reflects the idea that intentional action involves self-known change. We thus get into focus how understanding agency in terms of events involves attending to the interaction between the nature of events, the metaphysics of tense, and our epistemological situation as agents.

Some claim that when an agent does something, their action should be treated as a particular event. However, a challenge to this has it that if we understand agency through the category particular event, then we must also deploy another, process, because we act in the present but particular events can only exist in the past. In this paper, I show how this argument can be resisted, but suggest that consideration of it should nevertheless lead one to adopt a conception of events which reflects the idea that intentional action involves self-known change. We thus get into focus how understanding agency in terms of events involves attending to the interaction between the nature of events, the metaphysics of tense, and our epistemological situation as agents.

This paper shows that brand reputation alone may not be sufficient to help firms successfully issue green bonds and that they may need superior corporate social responsibility performance in the form of high ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) scores to unlock the full potential of their brand reputation. Using a sample of 338 international green bond issues across 108 unique firms, we found significant positive effects of ESG disclosure score and its interaction brand reputation on the issuance of green bonds while controlling for other variables, such as fixed effects of industry, region, and time. We also show that it is the S (Social) component of ESG and the interactions of its E (Environmental) and G (Governance) components with brand reputation which drive successful green bond issuance. Besides extending the current research on the impact of brand reputation and ESG on green bonds, these results also have important managerial implications for analysts, fund managers, and firms planning to raise green capital.

Aim: To explore the significance of culture, professional support in the community, social interactions and intrapersonal determinants of adults' preferences for life-sustaining treatments and palliative care. Methods: A cross-sectional design with a Social Ecological Model was used. Between 1 October 2012 and 31 December 2012, 474 adults aged ≥20 years living in a city of Southern Taiwan completed the survey. Data were analysed using hierarchical multiple regression. Results: The life-sustaining measures model was significant with 15.3% (p < 0.0001) of the variance in the Modified Emmanuel Medical Directives being explained by variables of death of self and healthcare services' support. The palliative care model was significant with 18% (p < 0.0001) of the variance in the Modified Hospice Attitude Scale being explained by variables of palliative care knowledge, death of self and social interactions. However, cultural value adherence did not predict adults' preferences for life-sustaining measures and community resources support did not predict palliative care preference. Conclusions: Findings enhance our understanding of the significance of different societal levels on adults' preferences for end-of-life care. Palliative care knowledge, fear of death, healthcare services' support and social interactions are essential factors that need to be taken into consideration when it comes to discussion about life-sustaining treatments and palliative care. Summary statement: What is already known about this topic?. End-of-life (EOL) preferences can be shaped not just by knowledge, values and individuals' attitudes but rather a host of social influences. Few studies with theoretical frameworks or models in the literature are available to provide a comprehensive understanding of factors contributing to responses at the EOL. What this paper adds?. The findings advance the knowledge of the influence of social interactions, healthcare services' support, palliative care understa

Although considerable research has explored consumer ethnocentrism and conspicuous consumption effects independently, a meaningful quantitative analysis of the interaction of such effects on consumer perception is yet to be undertaken. This study aims to provide insight into these effects by examining the impacts of consumer ethnocentrism and consumption setting on foreign Country-of-Origin (COO) effects in a Chinese consumer wine market context. A total of 324 wine consumers in mainland China participated in a 3 (COO: France vs. Australia vs. China) × 2 (Consumption Setting: Public vs. Private) × continuous (Chinese consumer ethnocentrism) between-subject, factorial design experiment. The study finds that Chinese consumers favor French red wine when compared with its Australian and Chinese counterparts but shows that Australian wines still benefit through smaller, indirect COO effects. Additionally, French COO effects are mediated by the utilitarian and hedonic meanings of red wine and moderated by consumer trait ethnocentrism and the consumption setting. This paper contributes to the understanding of culturally informed self-regulation of consumer behaviors and how Chinese consumer ethnocentrism interacts with consumption settings to alter a consumer's perception of foreign goods. The findings of this paper also provide practical insight into Chinese wine consumers' perceptions and decision-making processes for wine exporters.

African countries are today the major importers of the lowest grade of second-hand clothing (SHC). With the opening of global markets and the intense circulation of fast fashion in the Global North from the 1990s, the trade of SHC has exploded in the twenty-first century. The fast fashion business model, which fuels the SHC trade, has led to reduced quality of clothes, limited clothing lifetime, and accelerated discard of clothing, which end up as donations or become waste. The complexity of the international geographies of the SHC trade creates opacity and secrecy, maintaining inequalities and imbalances between Global North (GN) and South (GS), which continue a relationship of colonial dependence. This paper presents a critical look at SHC exchange in Kantamanto, the biggest SHC market in West Africa, situated within the central business district of Accra, Ghana. The paper scrutinizes the export of unwanted donated clothing, popularly known as “Obroni w'awu” (white man is dead), to Kantamanto. We use direct observation along with an interpretive research design through the analysis of photos taken from Kantamanto, and scholarly and gray literature. The paper documents local practices of reuse, exposing a duality: on the one hand, clothing's symbolic value that is lost in the GN is reconstituted in the GS through exchange and labor-creating local economies. On the other, the global trade of SHC has become synonymous with dumping, continuing a colonialist relationship between the GN and GS whereby the GN exports unwanted clothing to predominantly African countries’ landfills.

Energy policy in Jordan is a contested issue as several options for deployment of technologies exist. Oil shale and renewable energy sources are two energy generation technologies which are currently being intensively considered by the Jordanian energy policy process and there are oil shale and renewable energy projects which are currently in operation, in planning or in construction. Each of these options relates to various perceptions of risks and benefits of a given technology and has its opponents and supporters. Understanding of how inhabitants of communities where infrastructure is planned perceive these energy generation technologies is crucial as infrastructure will impact the life of the community and the feedback from the community can improve the deployment of infrastructure. The major focus of this paper is on attitudes of local communities where oil shale and renewable energies are in operation. To identify of how various environmental, technical, social and environmental factors influence attitudes including awareness and perceptions of these two energy generation technologies we conducted large scale surveys in four different communities of Jordan. Two of these communities (Ma’an and Tafileh) had renewable energy projects and other two communities (Lajoun and Attarat) had projects on oil shale extraction and power generation.

Energy policy in Jordan is a contested issue as several options for deployment of technologies exist. Oil shale and renewable energy sources are two energy generation technologies which are currently being intensively considered by the Jordanian energy policy process and there are oil shale and renewable energy projects which are currently in operation, in planning or in construction. Each of these options relates to various perceptions of risks and benefits of a given technology and has its opponents and supporters. Understanding of how inhabitants of communities where infrastructure is planned perceive these energy generation technologies is crucial as infrastructure will impact the life of the community and the feedback from the community can improve the deployment of infrastructure. The major focus of this paper is on attitudes of local communities where oil shale and renewable energies are in operation. To identify of how various environmental, technical, social and environmental factors influence attitudes including awareness and perceptions of these two energy generation technologies we conducted large scale surveys in four different communities of Jordan. Two of these communities (Ma’an and Tafileh) had renewable energy projects and other two communities (Lajoun and Attarat) had projects on oil shale extraction and power generation.

Energy policy in Jordan is a contested issue as several options for deployment of technologies exist. Oil shale and renewable energy sources are two energy generation technologies which are currently being intensively considered by the Jordanian energy policy process and there are oil shale and renewable energy projects which are currently in operation, in planning or in construction. Each of these options relates to various perceptions of risks and benefits of a given technology and has its opponents and supporters. Understanding of how inhabitants of communities where infrastructure is planned perceive these energy generation technologies is crucial as infrastructure will impact the life of the community and the feedback from the community can improve the deployment of infrastructure. The major focus of this paper is on attitudes of local communities where oil shale and renewable energies are in operation. To identify of how various environmental, technical, social and environmental factors influence attitudes including awareness and perceptions of these two energy generation technologies we conducted large scale surveys in four different communities of Jordan. Two of these communities (Ma’an and Tafileh) had renewable energy projects and other two communities (Lajoun and Attarat) had projects on oil shale extraction and power generation.