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Adaptive capacity was recognized as one of the critical components of vulnerability assessment in 2001 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Adaptive capacity extends beyond the mere accumulation of resources to encompass the willingness and ability to transform available resources into adaptive actions. In this context, adaptive capacity denotes the ability of social-ecological systems to adjust to the negative effects of environmental change or recovery from it. Hence, enhancing adaptive capacity enriches the ability to cope with a wider spectrum and greater magnitude of climate impacts. Based on the literature review and content analysis, this study explores the foundational concepts of adaptive capacity and further assesses the evolving focus on concept, scale, geographical emphasis, dimensions, and indicators through a systematic review. The findings underscore that adaptive capacity constitutes a multidimensional and interdisciplinary research domain characterized by a range of dimensions and indicators, and diverse methods and techniques at various geographic scales. The study found that adaptive capacity research has predominantly centered on asset-based analyses within the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework in the earlier stage. However, since the past decade, the focus has shifted to indicators like agency, technology, innovation, governance, knowledge, information, and infrastructure, besides climate variability and socio-economic and cultural diversity. It is suggested that to bridge the gap between adaptive capacity and actual adaptation action, policy interventions need to be targeted. The study concludes that, despite abundant research and available literature on climate change and adaptation, there is still a lack of context-specific understanding, particularly from an insider's perspective in South Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture, significantly impacted by climate change and climate variability, serves as the primary livelihood for smallholder farmers in South Asia. This study aims to examine and evaluate the factors influencing smallholder farmers' adaptive capacity (AC) in addressing these risks through surveys from 633 households across Nepal, India, and Bangladesh. The findings reveal that AC is influenced by various indicators categorized under eight principal factors. The first three factors, which explain about one-third of the variance in each country, include distinct significant indicators for each nation: in Nepal, these indicators are landholding size, skill-development training, knowledge of improved seed varieties, number of income sources, access to markets, and access to financial institutions; in India, they encompass access to agricultural-input information, knowledge of seed varieties, access to markets, access to crop insurance, changing the sowing/harvesting times of crops, and access to financial services; in Bangladesh, the key factors are access to financial institutions, community cooperation, changing the sowing/harvesting times of crops, knowledge of improved seed varieties, and access to agricultural-input information. Notably, indicators such as trust in weather information, changing sowing/harvesting times of crops, and crop insurance were identified as important determinants of AC, which have been overlooked in previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porous materials are pivotal in emerging fields like tissue engineering, scaffold, and drug delivery due to their distinctive porosity-driven functional properties. This paper describes how to achieve multiscale porosity in food-based composites through a thermally activated gelatinization process of amylopectin molecules coupled with 3D printing. By controlling printing paths, macropores are engineered, while degree of gelatinization governs micro- and nanopores formation. Process-microstructure relationship reveals that longer preheating treatments at higher gelatinization temperatures significantly reduce micro-pore area by over twofold and nanopore surface area by over threefold. These results provide a promising route to fabricate food-based composite with tailorable microstructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canine distemper virus (CDV) is a highly contagious virus that affects domestic and wild animals, causing severe illness with high mortality rates. Rapid monitoring and sequencing can provide valuable information about circulating CDV strains, which may foster effective vaccination strategies and the successful integration of these into conservation programs. During two site visits in Bangladesh in 2023, we tested a mobile, deployable genomic surveillance setup to explore the genetic diversity and phylogenetic patterns of locally circulating CDV strains. We collected and analysed 355 oral swab samples from stray dogs in Rajshahi and Chattogram cities, Bangladesh. CDV-specific real-time RT-PCR was performed to screen the samples. Out of the 355 samples, 7.4% (10/135) from Rajshahi city and 0.9% (2/220) from Chattogram city tested positive for CDV. We applied a real-time RT-PCR assay and a pan-genotype CDV-specific amplicon-based Nanopore sequencing technology to obtain the near-completes. Five near-complete genome sequences were generated, with phylogenetic relation to the India-1/Asia-5 lineage previously identified in India. This is the first study to provide genomic data on CDV in Bangladesh and the first demonstration of a mobile laboratory setup as a powerful tool in rapid genomic surveillance and risk assessment for CDV in low resource regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotional competence (EC) refers to individual differences in the identification, comprehension, expression, regulation, and use of one's own emotions and others' emotions, (Brasseur et al. in Plos One, 8(5), e62635, 2013) and is known to be culturally construed. Cross-cultural studies involving Asians typically sample one or two cultures as representatives of a collectivistic culture, but we opine to differ, in that these cultures have their distinct character, especially with regard to EC. We investigated the measurement invariance of Profile of Emotional Competence (PEC) with samples collected from four Asian countries, representing three distinct regions of the continent: Myanmar (N = 400), Japan (N = 400), China (N = 436), and Bangladesh (N = 400). We found that the PEC was a robust measure of both intrapersonal and interpersonal EC across these countries. Myanmar showed the highest global EC, followed by Bangladesh, China, and Japan, and significant effects of culture were found in all intrapersonal and interpersonal EC factors. Gender main effect was found in one intrapersonal EC (regulation of own emotions) and four interpersonal EC (identification of, listening to, regulation of, and utilization of others' emotions), while gender-culture interaction effects were confirmed in two intrapersonal EC (comprehension and expression of own emotions). While cross-cultural studies typically bundle these cultures into one, that of Eastern, we found much variability within them, and they should be deemed independent of one another, especially in terms of EC. The findings enhance our understanding of EC across cultures, in particular with respect to the basis of which interpersonal behavior might differ across these four cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational psychologists, nowadays, are more concerned about the students who are motivated in learning and interested in achieving their academic goals. Academic motivation and achievement are considered as primary indicators of students' learning process and outcomes. This study aimed to know the relationship between the most important familial factors (e.g., parental education, parental occupation, family type, monthly household income, sibling's achievement) with students' academic motivation and achievement. One hundred and eighty high school students, age ranging from 13 to 16 years (M = 14.20, SD =.960), at eighth through tenth grade, were selected from six high schools through purposive sampling method, from Chittagong, Bangladesh. A Bangla version of 'Academic Motivation Questionnaire' (Fatematuzzohra et al., 2010), originally developed by Vallerand et al. (Can J Behav Sci 21(3):323–349, 1989. 10.1037/h0079855), was used to pursue the study. The result showed that all of the familial factors except the family type had significant effects on both students' academic motivation and achievement scores. A significant positive correlation was found between students' academic achievement and academic motivation scores (r =.339, p <.01). All of the familial factors were significant in explaining students' academic achievement as well as their academic motivation. These factors combinedly explained 57.5% of the variance in students' academic achievement (R2 =.575, F(13, 166) = 17.281, p <.01) and explained 30.5% of the variance in students' academic motivation (R2 =.305, F(13, 166) = 5.614, p <.01). Implications for understanding the relationship between familial factors and academic motivation and achievement are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have investigated the mechanical properties of porous La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3−δ (LSCF) under uniaxial compression. Porous LSCF samples containing polymethyl methacrylate pore former with different diameters (0.4, 1.5 and 10 µm) were examined. The porosity increases with the increase in pore former content, and it also slightly increases with the increase in pore former size. The average pore size is constant for the same size pore former regardless of the porosity, and it is smaller than the original pore former diameter. X-ray diffraction confirms that all the samples have a rhombohedral crystal structure. The samples contain ferroelastic domains and exhibit clear mechanical behavior related to the ferroelasticity under uniaxial compression. The initial modulus, critical stress and compressive fracture strength of the porous sample decrease with the increase in porosity and pore size, where the dependence on the pore size is most clear for the fracture strength. An empirical equation to estimate the fracture strength of porous LSCF is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was performed to investigate the in-vitro antioxidant properties, brine shrimp lethality bioassay, and antimicrobial activity and in-vivo analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antidiarrheal potentiality of methanolic and ethyl acetate extracts of Dioscorea pentaphylla (D. pentaphylla) leaf along with determining the bioactive phenolic compounds by HPLC analysis. Standard methods were used to investigate the aforementioned bioactivities. Methanol extract showed higher total phenolic activity, 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical and Nitric oxide (NO) radical scavenging activities, whereas ethyl acetate extract showed better activities in total flavonoid and total antioxidant capacity assays. Dose-dependent moderate reducing capacity was observed for both extracts in cupric reducing and reducing power capacity assays. The methanol extract was found to be more potent than ethyl acetate extract according to brine shrimp lethality bioactivity test. Both extracts exhibited broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity in the disk diffusion method. In tail immersion test, at 1000 mg/kg dose, both extracts of D. pentaphylla showed a significant (p < 0.05) reduction in pain sensation. Ethyl acetate extract has significantly (p < 0.05) decreased writhing of the tested mice which were induced by acetic acid. The number of licks in formalin-induced paw licking test was markedly (p < 0.05) lessened in both extracts administration. Ethyl acetate extract revealed better anti-inflammatory activities than methanol extract in two well-known anti-inflammatory models (Xylene-induced ear edema, Cotton pellet-induced granuloma formation). Methanol extract displayed potent anti-diarrheal activity. HPLC analysis confirmed the existence of phenolic compounds (gallic acid, rutin, and quercetin) in the leaf extract of D. pentaphylla. These phytochemical constituents might have the role in the observed activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few years, heterogeneous catalysts have attracted much attention with a view to lowering reaction temperatures and improving the selectivity of many organic syntheses. When it comes to designing or optimizing a catalyst, a lot of attention is needed to be devoted to the nature of the active sites and how they interact with the reactants, intermediates and products of the catalytic process. To this end, Raney Ni-Al alloy and noble metal catalysts such as Ru/C, Rh/C, Pd/C and Pt/C turn out to be very effective in both selective and complete reductions of various functional groups as well as aromatic rings in water. Moreover, Al powder coupled with a noble metal catalyst has been found to be capable of reducing carbonyl group, an alkyne moiety and also the aromatic rings of biphenyl, fluorene, 9,10-dihydroanthracene, polyarenes and N-heterocycles in water under mild reaction conditions. So this review offers an overview on the most recent developments especially in this particular methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gastrointestinal tract transmits feeding-regulatory signals to the brain via neuronal and hormonal pathways. Here we studied the interaction between the orexigenic gastric peptide, ghrelin, and the anorectic intestinal peptide, glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), in terms of feeding regulation via the vagal afferents. GLP-1 preadministration 30 min before ghrelin administration to rats and mice abolished ghrelin-induced food intake, while ghrelin preadministration abolished the anorectic effect of GLP-1. Ghrelin preadministration suppressed GLP-1-induced Fos expression in the nodose ganglia (NG). Electrophysiological assessment confirmed that the initially administered peptide abolished the vagal afferent electrical alteration induced by the subsequently administered peptide. Both the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR) and the GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1R) are co-localised in a major proportion of NG neurons that innervate the stomach. In these Ghsr+Glp1r+ neurons, ghrelin preadministration abolished the GLP-1-induced calcium response. Ghrelin generated a hyperpolarising current and GLP-1 generated a depolarising current in isolated NG neurons in a patch-clamp experiment. Ghrelin and GLP-1 potently influenced each other in terms of vagally mediated feeding regulation. This peptidergic interaction allows for fine control of the electrophysiological properties of NG neurons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented concerning dental education in Malaysia and geopolitical crises.