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Agricultural production is strongly affected by and a major contributor to climate change. Agriculture and land-use change account for a quarter of total global emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). Agriculture receives around US$600 billion per year worldwide in government support. No rigorous quantification of the impact of this support on GHG emissions has been available. This article helps fill the void. Here, we find that, while over the years the government support has incentivized the development of high-emission farming systems, at present, the support only has a small impact in terms of inducing additional global GHG emissions from agricultural production; partly because support is not systematically biased towards high-emission products, and partly because support generated by trade protection reduces demand for some high-emission products by raising their consumer prices. Substantially reducing GHG emissions from agriculture while safeguarding food security requires a more comprehensive revamping of existing support to agriculture and food consumption. Agricultural sectors receive US$600 billion per year in government support, providing incentives for GHG emission-intensive production. Here, the authors show that removing this support will not reduce global GHG emissions by much; rather it will need to be radically redirected to contribute to climate change mitigation.

Climate change impacts crop production worldwide, and coastal regions are particularly vulnerable to its adverse effects. Given the projected rise in temperature and shifting precipitation patterns, it is crucial to examine the current challenges faced by farmers in coastal Bangladesh. Using Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), we assessed the perceptions and experiences of farmers and stakeholders regarding the existing agricultural practices, the challenges they face in crop cultivation, and the adoption of climate-adaptive practices in 2 sub-districts in the southeastern coastal region of Bangladesh. Moreover, using the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) and the Standardized Terrestrial Water Storage Index (STI), we assessed the frequency and intensity of different climatic conditions in these two sub-districts. Results show that 100% of the respondents reported an increase in dry climatic conditions, the occurrence of untimely precipitation, and a decline in irrigation water during the cropping season. All the respondents in the FGDs expressed a loss of crop production because of these climate-induced disturbances. Despite these challenges, farmers have been implementing several climate-adaptive practices. Among the 9 mentioned climate-adaptive practices, 50% of FGD respondents utilize organic fertilizers, 42% cultivate heat- and drought-resilient crop varieties, use improved irrigation and harvest rainwater, and 25% cultivate integrated crops. The results of quantitative analysis of 3- and 6-month SPEI and STI values show that this region experienced frequent and intense dry climatic conditions during the growing-season, which supports the farmers’ and stakeholders’ concern about the increasing occurrence of droughts during crop growing periods. The results suggest that despite adopting climate-resilient practices under increasing growing-season droughts, farmers require support from the government and NGOs in capacity-building training and input support (e.g., stress-resilient seeds). This study holds practical implications for government, NGOs, and policymakers for ensuring sustainable agricultural productivity in the coastal region of Bangladesh.

Adolescent obesity and depression are increasingly prevalent and are currently recognised as major public health concerns worldwide. The aim of this study is to evaluate the bi-directional associations between obesity and depression in adolescents using longitudinal studies. A systematic literature search was conducted using Pubmed (including Medline), PsycINFO, Embase, CINAHL, BIOSIS Preview and the Cochrane Library databases. According to the inclusion criteria, 13 studies were found where seven studies evaluated depression leading to obesity and six other studies examined obesity leading to depression. Using a bias-adjusted quality effects model for the meta-analysis, we found that adolescents who were depressed had a 70% (RR 1.70, 95% CI: 1.40, 2.07) increased risk of being obese, conversely obese adolescents had an increased risk of 40% (RR 1.40, 95% CI: 1.16, 1.70) of being depressed. The risk difference (RD) of early adolescent depression leading to obesity is 3% higher risk than it is for obesity leading to depression. In sensitivity analysis, the association between depression leading to obesity was greater than that of obesity leading to depression for females in early adulthood compared with females in late adolescence. Overall, the findings of this study suggest a bi-directional association between depression and obesity that was stronger for female adolescents. However, this finding also underscores the importance of early detection and treatment strategies to inhibit the development of reciprocal disorders.

Every year, the world is producing around 100 million tons of waste glass (WG), the majority of them are going to landfills that create massive environmental problems. One approach to solve this problem is to transform waste glass into construction materials. Glass is recyclable; however, the melting temperature of the glass is highly dependent on its colour that requires sorting before recycling. To overcome this challenge, many researchers and end-users are using broken glass in concrete either as a binder or aggregates. While significant investigations have done in this area, however, the outcomes of these studies are scattered, and difficult to reach a firm conclusion about the effectiveness of WG in concrete. In this study, the roles of WG and its impact on microstructural and durability properties for both cement and geopolymer concrete are critically reviewed. This review reveals that the amorphous silica in WG effectively participate to the hydration and geopolymerization process and improve concrete microstructural properties. This behaviour of WG help to produce durable concrete against shrinkage, chemical attack, freeze-thaw action, electrical and thermal insulation properties. The optimum replacement volume of binders or natural aggregates and particle size of WG need to be selected carefully to minimise the possible alkali-silica reaction. This review discusses a wide range of parameters for durability properties and challenges associated with WG concrete, which provides necessary guidelines for best practice with future research directions.

For logistics service providers (LSPs), improving customer satisfaction and obtaining customer re-use intention are key to gaining sustainable competitive advantages and success. Logistics service quality (LSQ) is a concern for logistics service providers, retailers, and customers. The proposed model, which is based on the stimuli-organism-response theory and the logistics service quality framework, integrates operational quality, resource quality, information quality, personal contact quality, customization quality, and customer satisfaction to study logistics service re-use intentions. The data were obtained from an online survey using a structured questionnaire given to those with experience in logistics service. Using partial least squares structural equation modeling on 810 respondents who were adult Chinese customers, this study discovered that operational, resource, information, personal contact, and customization qualities positively affect the satisfaction of logistics service customers, while customer satisfaction positively affects re-use intention. Moreover, the results of the mediation analysis revealed that customer satisfaction mediated the connection between the five components of LSQ and the re-use intention of logistics services. The originality of the study lies in its comprehensive examination of the direct and indirect effects of service quality dimensions on customer satisfaction and logistics service re-use intention in the context of logistics services. This study provides valuable insights into the importance of customer satisfaction in the logistics industry and highlights the need for logistics companies to prioritize customer satisfaction and improve their overall performance and competitiveness.

Polyphenolic compounds have shown promising neuroprotective properties, making them a valuable resource for identifying prospective drug candidates to treat several neurological disorders (NDs). Numerous studies have reported that polyphenols can disrupt the nuclear factor kappa B(NF-κB) pathway by inhibiting the phosphorylation or ubiquitination of signaling molecules, which further prevents the degradation of IκB. Additionally, they prevent NF-κB translocation to the nucleus and pro-inflammatory cytokine production. Polyphenols such as curcumin, resveratrol, and pterostilbene had significant inhibitory effects on NF-κB, making them promising candidates for treating NDs. Recent experimental findings suggest that polyphenols possess a wide range of pharmacological properties. Notably, much attention has been directed towards their potential therapeutic effects in NDs such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), cerebral ischemia, anxiety, depression, autism, and spinal cord injury (SCI). Much preclinical data supporting the neurotherapeutic benefits of polyphenols has been developed. Nevertheless, this study has described the significance of polyphenols as potential neurotherapeutic agents, specifically emphasizing their impact on the NF-κB pathway. This article offers a comprehensive analysis of the involvement of polyphenols in NDs, including both preclinical and clinical perspectives.

This study explored the effect of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, social influence, facilitating condition, lifestyle compatibility, and perceived trust on both the intention to use an e-wallet and the adoption of an e-wallet among adults by using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). This quantitative study adopted a cross-sectional research design to gather data from 501 respondents using a Google Form. The collected data were analyzed using partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). As a result, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, social influence, lifestyle compatibility, and perceived trust displayed a significant positive effect on both intentions to use an e-wallet and adoption of an e-wallet. This study evidenced the mediating effect of the intention to use an e-wallet on the correlations between the predictors and adoption of an e-wallet. Both the age and gender of the respondents moderated the effect of lifestyle compatibility on intention to use an e-wallet. The study outcomes serve to inform managers and policy makers to devise effective strategies that capture consumers’ intention to use and experience of using an e-wallet in the midst of a turbulent market. Ultimately, such carefully sculpted policies may promote the digital platform and web-based application, apart from encouraging higher rates of e-wallet adoption in developing countries.

Alzheimer's disease is characterized by the extracellular accumulation of the amyloid β in the form of amyloid plaques and the intracellular deposition of the microtubule-associated protein tau in the form of neurofibrillary tangles. Most of the Alzheimer's drugs targeting amyloid β have been failed in clinical trials. Particularly, tau pathology connects greatly in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. Tau protein enhances the stabilization of microtubules that leads to the appropriate function of the neuron. Changes in the quantity or the conformation of tau protein could affect its function as a microtubules stabilizer and some of the processes wherein it is involved. The molecular mechanisms leading to the accumulation of tau are principally signified by numerous posttranslational modifications that change its conformation and structural state. Therefore, aberrant phosphorylation, as well as truncation of tau protein, has come into focus as significant mechanisms that make tau protein in a pathological entity. Furthermore, the shape-shifting nature of tau advocates to comprehend the progression of Alzheimer's disease precisely. In this review, we emphasize the recent studies about the toxic and shape-shifting nature of tau in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease.

Drought is one of the most destructive abiotic stresses that impact the growth, physiology, yield, and nutritional quality of seeds of crop plants. In modern agriculture, the use of nanoparticles can be beneficial due to their large surface area and higher potentiality to enter into the plant leaf during foliar application. This study aims to evaluate the effects of foliar spray containing varying doses (0, 100, and 200 ppm) of the nano-iron (Fe 3 O 4 ) on the growth, physiology, yield, and seed nutritional quality of soybean under drought (40% of field capacity, FC) and well-watered (80% of FC) conditions. Leaf water status, chlorophyll content of leaves, the height of the plant, fresh leaf weight, fresh stem weight, fresh petiole weight, total dry weight, seed yield, and protein and oil content in soybean seeds were found to be suppressed by the applied drought stress. Under both drought (40% of FC) and controlled well-watered (80% of FC) conditions, the foliar application of nano-iron substantially improved the growth, physiology, yield, and quality of soybean seeds. The nanoparticles at 200 ppm increased soybean seed yield by 40.12 and 32.60% in drought and well-watered conditions, respectively, compared to the untreated plants. Furthermore, nano-iron increased the oil content of soybean seeds by 10.14 and 7.87% under drought and well-watered conditions, respectively, compared to the untreated control. Our results indicate that the application of nano-iron improved drought tolerance, yield, and seed quality of soybean, so exogenous foliar sprays of 200 ppm Fe 3 O 4 were more effective than the other treatments in enhancing drought tolerance and can be utilized to reduce losses caused by drought stress in soybean-growing areas.

The rapid growth of the global population has placed immense pressure on agriculture to enhance food production while addressing environmental and socioeconomic challenges such as biodiversity loss, water scarcity, and climate variability. Addressing these challenges requires adopting modern techniques and advancing agricultural research. Although some techniques, such as machine learning and deep learning, are increasingly used in agriculture, progress is constrained by the lack of large labelled datasets. This constraint arises because collecting data is often time-consuming, labour-intensive, and requires expert knowledge for data annotation. To mitigate data limitations, transfer learning (TL) offers a viable solution by allowing pre-trained models to be adapted for agricultural applications. Many researchers have demonstrated TL’s potential to advance agriculture. Despite its importance, there is a lack of a comprehensive review, which could be essential to guide researchers in this field. Given the significance and the lack of a review paper, this paper provides a review dedicated to TL in agriculture, offering three main contributions. First, we provide an in-depth background study on TL and its applications in agriculture. Second, we offer a comprehensive examination of TL-based agricultural applications, covering pre-trained models, dataset sources, input image types, implementation platforms, and TL approaches. Third, based on an exploration of the existing studies, we identify the challenges faced when applying TL in agriculture. Finally, to address the identified challenges, we recommend suggestions for future research directions.