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Energy use in the building sector is considered among major contributors of greenhouse gas emissions and related environmental impacts. While striving to reduce the energy consumption from this sector, it is important to avoid burden shifting from one building life cycle stage to another; thus, this requires a good understanding of the energy consumption across the building life cycle. The literature shows greater emphasis on operational energy reduction but less on embodied energy, although both have a clear impact on the building’s footprint and associated environmental impact. In previous studies the importance these energy aspects have been presented; however, the critical role of embodied energy linked to the replacement of materials over a building’s life is not well documented. Therefore, there is a knowledge gap in the available the literature about the ways to reduce the embodied energy requirements of buildings over their useful life. Service life of buildings and their constituent materials may play an important role in this regard. However, their potential role in this respect have not been explored in the previous research. This study critically addresses the above-mentioned gaps in the literature by investigating the combined effect of building and material service life on life cycle embodied energy requirements of residential buildings. Life cycle embodied energy of a case study house for an assessment period of 150 years was calculated based on minimum, average and maximum material service life values for the building service life of 50, 100 and 150 years. A comprehensive input–output hybrid analysis based on the bill of quantities was used for the embodied energy assessment of the initial and recurrent embodied energy calculation for each scenario. The combined effect of building and material service life variations was shown to result in a reduction in the life cycle embodied energy demand in the order of up to 61%. This provides quantifiable and verifiable data that shows the importance of building and material service life considerations in designing, constructing, and managing the buildings in efforts to reduce energy consumption by buildings. A secondary contribution of this paper is a detailed sensitivity analysis which was carried out by varying the material service life values of each building material and the embodied energies for each new scenario was recalculated for two assessment periods. The findings show that, for each material service life variation, the LCEE increases as BSL increases for a 50-year assessment period, but the LCEE decreases for a 150-year assessment period.

Polygamy has declined in the last decade, but it is still prevalent in West African nations including Ghana even with the arrival of Christianity and colonists, which came to be recognized as a form of slavery that needed to be abolished. To analyze the determinants of polygyny among married Christian women in Ghana. Ghana Maternal Health Survey data was used for this study to do an analytic cross-section study. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 20. The association between dependent and independent variables was explored using chi-square and logistic regression. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. The prevalence of Ghanaian Christian women's involvement in polygyny marriage union was 12.2%, the prevalence was higher (15.0%) among women of Anglican denomination, catholic denomination (13.9%), and the lowest (8.4%) prevalence recorded among those of Methodist denominations. The predictor factors identified include the age of the woman, history of education, type of place of residence, region, ethnicity, early sex initiation, and history of multiple unions. The prevalence of polygyny in this present study is high given the strict position the Christian religion has against polygyny. This study recommends that the pros and cons of polygyny are objectively looked at from a scientific point rather than a religious point of view.

In the present work, the magnetohydrodynamic flow and heat transfer of a micropolar tri-hybrid nanofluid between two porous surfaces inside a rotating system has been examined. A tri-hybrid nanofluid is a new idea in the research area, which gives a better heat transfer rate as compared to hybrid nanofluid and nanofluid. We also incorporated the thermal radiation effects and Hall current in this article. The similarity techniques are used to reduce the governing nonlinear PDEs to a set of ODEs. For the numerical solution of the considered problem, we have used the MATLAB-based Bvp4c method. The results are presented for tri-hybrid Fe 3 O 4 -Al 2 O 3 -TiO 2 /H 2 O nanofluid. The main focus of this study is to examine the magnetohydrodynamic heat transfer and tri-hybrid nanofluid flow in a rotating system between two orthogonal permeable plates by taking into account the Hall current and thermal radiation effects. The obtained results have been explained with the help of graphical illustrations and tables. It is observed that the heat transfer rate of tri-hybrid nanofluid is greater than as compared to hybrid nanofluid and nanofluid. The increasing behavior is also noticed in micro rotational velocity for augmented values of R 0 , H a , and β . The larger values of ϕ 1 , ϕ 2 , and ϕ 3 result in the decrement of SFC and increment in Nusselt number in both (suction and injection) cases.

Polygamy has declined in the last decade, but it is still prevalent in West African nations including Ghana even with the arrival of Christianity and colonists, which came to be recognized as a form of slavery that needed to be abolished. To analyze the determinants of polygyny among married Christian women in Ghana. Ghana Maternal Health Survey data was used for this study to do an analytic cross-section study. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 20. The association between dependent and independent variables was explored using chi-square and logistic regression. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. The prevalence of Ghanaian Christian women's involvement in polygyny marriage union was 12.2%, the prevalence was higher (15.0%) among women of Anglican denomination, catholic denomination (13.9%), and the lowest (8.4%) prevalence recorded among those of Methodist denominations. The predictor factors identified include the age of the woman, history of education, type of place of residence, region, ethnicity, early sex initiation, and history of multiple unions. The prevalence of polygyny in this present study is high given the strict position the Christian religion has against polygyny. This study recommends that the pros and cons of polygyny are objectively looked at from a scientific point rather than a religious point of view.

Background Cervical cancer is the most common cancer among women in Kenya. However, only 3% of women are routinely screened. This study aimed to assess women’s knowledge and attitudes towards cervical cancer and cervical cancer screening in Kenya’s Isiolo and Tharaka Nithi counties. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted between January and March 2017. Using a multistage cluster sampling methodology, 451 women 18 years of age and older participated in the study. Interviewers administered a 35-item questionnaire collecting demographic information, knowledge of risk factors and attitudes towards cervical cancer and cervical cancer screening. Bivariate and multivariate analyses of cervical cancer knowledge and demographic characteristics were conducted. Results The response rate for the study was 98% (451/460). Two-thirds of the study participants originated from Tharaka Nithi county ( n  = 318). Respondents reported a median age of 32; 70.5% were married; and 35.0% had primary education. Eighty percent of the participants were aware of cervical cancer, 25.6% of whom had previously undergone a cervical screening examination, and 44.4% had above-average knowledge of risk factors of cervical cancer. Knowledge of cervical cancer risk factors was significantly associated with employment status (adjusted odds ratio = 1.6; 95% CI: 1.0–2.6) and county of origin (adjusted odds ratio = 2.8; 95% CI: 1.6–5.0). Almost all (89.2%) of those who had heard of cervical cancer categorised it as “scary”. There was a marginal significant difference in the overall attitude assessment score towards cervical cancer between participants from Isiolo and Tharaka Nithi counties; the mean (SD) score was 2.13 (0.34) and 2.20 (0.30) respectively. The score was comparatively higher among participants residing in Tharaka Nithi (95% CI: 0.002–0.146; p  = 0.043). Conclusions Interventions to increase cervical cancer knowledge are needed in Isiolo and Tharaka Nithi counties, Kenya. Additional research is needed to further understand and assess the effectiveness of different strategies to improve attitudes regarding cervical cancer in order to increase the uptake of screening services, particularly among less-educated women and those in hard-to-reach areas.

Energy affects the economic growth and development of a country. Renewable energy has become an important part of the world’s energy consumption. The use of fossil fuel energy contributes to global warming and carbon dioxide emissions, and has a detrimental effect on the environment. The long-run and short-run causality relationships between electric power consumption, renewable electricity output, renewable energy consumption, fossil fuel energy consumption, energy use, carbon dioxide emissions, and gross domestic product per capita for Pakistan over the period of 1990–2017 were investigated in this paper using the autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing approach to cointegration. The augmented Dickey–Fuller unit root test and the Phillips–Perron unit root test were used to check the stationarity of the variables, while the Johansen cointegration test was applied to check the robustness of the long-run relationships. The Granger causality test under the vector error correction model extracted during the short-run estimation showed a unidirectional relationship among all variables except for the relationship between gross domestic product per capita and carbon dioxide emission, which was bidirectional (feedback hypothesis). The evidence showed that in the long run, carbon dioxide emissions, electric power consumption, and renewable electricity output had a positive and significant relationship with the gross domestic product per capita, while the relationship of renewable energy consumption, energy use, and fossil fuel energy consumption with the gross domestic product per capita had a negative effect. Overall, the long-run effects of the variables were found to have a stronger effect on the gross domestic product per capita than the short-run dynamics, which indicated that the findings were heterogeneous. The evidence suggests that the government of Pakistan should take steps to enhance the use of renewable energy resources to resolve the energy crisis in the country and introduce new policies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

The study was conducted during the growing seasons of 2013, 2014, and 2015 in the wet meadows on the eastern Qinghai–Tibet plateau (QTP) in the Gansu Gahai Wetland Nature Reserve to determine the dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) as affected by vegetation degradation along a moisture gradient and to assess its relationship with other soil properties and biomass yield. Hence, we measured SOC at depths of 0–10, 10–20, and 20–40 cm under the influence of four categories of vegetation degradation (healthy vegetation [HV], slightly degraded [SD], moderately degraded [MD], and heavily degraded [HD]). Our results showed that SOC decreased with increased degree of vegetation degradation. Average SOC content ranged between 36.18 ± 4.06 g/kg in HD and 69.86 ± 21.78 g/kg in HV. Compared with HV, SOC content reduced by 30.49%, 42.22%, and 48.22% in SD, MD, and HD, respectively. SOC significantly correlated positively with soil water content, aboveground biomass, and belowground biomass, but significantly correlated negatively with soil temperature and bulk density (p < 0.05). Highly Significant positive correlations were also found between SOC and total nitrogen (p = 0.0036), total phosphorus (p = 0.0006) and total potassium (p < 0.0001). Our study suggests that severe vegetation and moisture loss led to approximately 50% loss in SOC content in the wet meadows, implying that under climate warming, vegetation and soil moisture loss will dramatically destabilize carbon sink capacities of wetlands. We therefore suggest wetland hydrological management, restoration of vegetation, plant species protection, regulation of grazing activities, and other anthropogenic activities to stabilize carbon sink capacities of wetlands. This study was conducted to determine the dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) under the influence of four categories of vegetation degradation in a wet meadow along a moisture gradient. Vegetation and moisture loss caused significant reductions in SOC. SOC significantly correlated positively with soil water content, aboveground biomass, and belowground biomass, but significantly correlated negatively with soil temperature and bulk density (p < 0.05). Soil organic carbon also significantly correlated with total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and total K. Carbon sequestration roles of the wet meadows are significantly affected by moisture and vegetation changes.

This study examines the influence of Systematic Strategic Planning (SSP) on the Sustainable Performance (SP) of manufacturing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan. Despite SMEs’ vital contribution to economic growth, there is limited empirical research on how strategic planning enhances sustainable performance in SMEs operating in emerging economies facing political and economic instability. Drawing on the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) and Resource-Based View (RBV) theories, this study investigates the mediating roles of Strategic Intent (SI) and Strategic Formulation (SF) in the SSP-SP relationship. A quantitative research design was employed, and data were collected through structured questionnaires distributed to senior executives and decision-makers of manufacturing SMEs. A total of 410 valid responses were received. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was applied using AMOS 28 software to analyze the data and test the hypothesized relationships. The results demonstrate that SSP has a significant direct effect on SP and an indirect effect through SI and SF. Specifically, the components of SSP—strategic analysis, strategy creation, strategy execution, and monitoring and evaluation—enhance SMEs’ economic, environmental, and social performance. The study highlights that adopting systematic strategic planning practices enables SMEs to navigate complex and uncertain environments, achieve competitive advantage, and contribute to sustainable development goals. This research fills a critical gap in the literature by focusing on manufacturing SMEs in Pakistan, an under-researched context in the sustainability and strategic management fields. It offers practical insights for SME managers and policymakers to develop and implement comprehensive strategic planning frameworks that foster sustainability. The study also provides theoretical contributions by integrating SI and SF as key mediators within the TBL and RBV theoretical frameworks.

The effects of climate change such as dry spells, floods and erosion heavily impact agriculture especially smallholder systems on the Northwestern Loess Plateau of China. Nonetheless agriculture also contributes to global warming through the emission of greenhouse gases such as CO 2 , CH 4 and N 2 O. Yet this complex conundrum can be alleviated and mitigated through sound soil and water management practices. Despite considerable literature on Conservation Agriculture (CA) as a strategy to improve the resilience and mitigation capacity of agroecosystems, there is still paucity of information on the impacts of CA on crop production and environmental quality on the Plateau. In order to fill this gap this study examined the effects of no-till and straw mulch on crop productivity and greenhouse gas fluxes in agroecosystems on the Plateau where farmers’ common practice of conventional tillage (CT) was tested against three CA practices: conventional tillage with straw mulch (CTS), no-till (NT) and no-till with straw mulch (NTS). The results indicated that all three CA practices (CTS, NT and NTS) markedly increased soil water content (SWC), soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil total nitrogen (STN) but reduced soil temperature (ST). Average grain yields were 854.46 ± 76.51, 699.30 ± 133.52 and 908.18±38.64 kg ha -1 respectively under CTS, NT and NTS indicating an increase by approximately 33%, 9% and 41% respectively compared with CT (644.61 ± 76.98 kg ha −1 ). There were significant ( p  < 0.05) reductions of Net CO 2 emissions under NT (7.37 ± 0.89 tCO2e ha −1 y −1 ) and NTS (6.65 ± 0.73 tCO2e ha -1 y -1 ) compared with CTS (10.65 ± 0.18 tCO2e ha −1 y −1 ) and CT (11.14 ± 0.58 tCO2e ha −1 y −1 ). All the treatments served as sinks of CH 4 but NTS had the highest absorption capacity (−0.27 ± 0.024 tCO2e ha −1 y −1 ) and increased absorption significantly ( p  < 0.05) compared with CT (−0.21 ± 0.017 tCO2e ha −1 y −1 ); however, CA did not reduce emissions of N 2 O. These had an influence on Global warming potential (GWP) as NT and NTS resulted in significant reduction in net GWP. Grain yield was significantly correlated positively with SOC and STN ( p  < 0.05); ecosystem respiration was also significantly correlated with SWC and ST while CH 4 flux was highly correlated with ST ( p  < 0.001). Crop yield and GHG responses to CA were controlled by soil hydrothermal and nutrient changes, thus improving these conditions through adoption of sustainable soil moisture improvement practices such as no-till, straw mulch, green manuring, contour ploughing and terracing can improve crop resilience to climate change and reduce GHG emissions in arid and semi-arid regions.

In this work, sulphur doped copper ferrites (S-CuFe 2 O 4 ) photocatalysts were successfully synthesized for the first time using the facile hydrothermal method. The as-synthesized photocatalysts were characterized through XRD, Raman, TGA, FT-IR, UV–Vis-DRS, SEM, EDX and PL techniques. The results revealed that doping with sulphur has been found to be a suitable alternative that causes strain in the lattices as anions replace the oxygen from the CuFe 2 O 4 nanostructures. Due to sulphur dopants, photocatalysts are able to efficiently trap and transfer the photoinduced charges, which readily suppress charge recombination. A UV–Vis spectrophotometer was used to monitor the degradation of selective toxic organic dyes (RhB, CR, MO, and CV) in aqueous media. The dye degradation results provide evidence for the surprisingly superior performance of S-CuFe 2 O 4 over pristine CuFe 2 O 4 . On the basis of its efficiencies, this work can be assigned as an excellent candidate for photocatalysis science.