This chapter explores the severe impacts of the recent war (October 2023–January 2025) on Gaza’s coastal and marine ecosystems, with a focus on threats to marine biodiversity, environmental health, and the livelihoods that rely on these ecosystems, while addressing the challenges to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14). It examines the environmental effects on coastal communities, including habitat destruction, biodiversity loss, pollution from debris, oil spills, chemical contaminants, and the degradation of water quality. The socioeconomic repercussions are equally significant, encompassing increased poverty, loss of income, soaring unemployment, and worsening food insecurity. The discussion extends to the implications for SDG 14, emphasizing the urgent need for comprehensive environmental monitoring, targeted restoration initiatives, and strengthened international support to rehabilitate Gaza’s marine ecosystems. The chapter underscores the importance of peacebuilding, sustainable management practices, and global cooperation in safeguarding these critical ecosystems and ensuring their resilience in the face of war. This analysis is grounded in both grey literature and peer-reviewed publications, offering a robust foundation for understanding the multifaceted challenges and proposing actionable solutions to support long-term recovery and sustainability.

This study aims to examine the impact of COVID-19 and sustainable e-commerce in Hungary and Kenya. COVID-19 has devastated the global economy, resulting in financial and job losses. Routine changes in spending have moved the focus from non-essential to essential items, due to the impact of COVID-19, the associated economic meltdown, and the deterioration of people’s physical and mental health. However, e-commerce can be a better option to stop the spread of COVID-19 due to its real benefits and usefulness in solving the challenges faced. The methodology used in this paper is the collection of primary data from an online survey questionnaire, and secondary data from several databases,e.g.,the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Johns Hop-kins Centre websites. The results show the negative impact of COVID-19 on society and the economy, as well as the positive and significant effects ofthe growth of e-commerce during COVID-19, where most of the goods being purchased are medical supplies: masks, medicines, and food. This has been made possibleby the rise of e-commerce platforms as a link in sustainable e-commerce after the significant disruption to the worldwide supply chain due to total lockdown. E-commerce has shown growth during the COVID-19 pandemic period as a sustainable platform. In conclusion, this study proposes policies that support e-commerce in developing countries during and after COVID-19. Furthermore, theoretical, and managerial implications are proposed in the study. It is high time to warn businesses to adopt information and communications technology (ICT) to flourish and thrive during times of financial and economic hardship, such as the use of e-commerce with the right policies enacted to support sustainable e-commerce.

A semi-empirical method for selecting the processing parameters of laser cladding is proposed. This phenomenological approach uses simple mathematical formulae, derived from a statistical analysis of measured data, to relate the laser cladding parameters with the geometric features of the clad track. Given the required clad height and available laser beam power, the proposed method allows one to calculate values of the scanning speed and powder feed rate which are used to obtain low dilution, pore free coatings, fusion bonded to the substrate. To illustrate the application of this method, variable powder feed rate laser cladding experiments were carried out with Stellite 6 powder on mild steel substrates. In this technique the laser beam power and radius and the processing speed are kept constant, while the powder feed rate is varied along a single track length according to a specified linear function. The expressions derived from the model were used to plot the experimental data in a coherent manner, revealing the combined role of the different processing parameters.

In response to the energy crisis and the global push for sustainability, modern power grids are increasingly integrating renewable energy, plug-in electric vehicles, and energy storage systems. This evolution demands an advanced energy management system capable of handling the variability of renewable resources, uncertainties in electric vehicle performance, fluctuating electricity prices, and dynamic load conditions. To address these challenges, our study introduces a novel decision-making framework that leverages a new score function for comparing q-rung orthopair multi-fuzzy soft numbers. This approach employs the Criteria Importance Through Inter-criteria Correlation (CRITIC) method to determine objective weights while simultaneously incorporating subjective preferences through an integrated weighting scheme. The framework is further enhanced by applying the Combined Compromise Solution (CoCoSo) method within the Lq* q-rung orthopair multi-fuzzy soft decision-making structure to select optimal energy management policies. Extensive sensitivity analysis confirms the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed methodology, offering a promising solution for efficient energy management in modern power systems.

In the present paper, we apply bacterial memetic algorithms in the context of multi-objective optimization. The goal of the development is to optimize the energetic quality of residential building envelopes in a sustainable manner. Our interest is to determine a good compromise between the quality of the building envelope and the total cost of the installed energy saving components. We provide a description of the applied bacterial operators and the particular ordering of the population that is a non unique procedure. In order to refine the ordering we implement a variant of the distance metric for comparing the non-comparable individuals. The numerical computations are performed by the EnergOpt computational framework of the authors. The performance of the algorithm is demonstrated on the solution of a benchmark test case. Finally, the optimization of an existing building is presented to demonstrate the potential of the methodology. © 2013 IEEE.

Rather than representing a technological leap forward, Industry 5.0 actually nests the Industry 4.0 approach in a broader context, providing regenerative purpose and directionality to the technological transformation of industrial production for people-planet-prosperity [1]. Consequently, Industry 5.0 can be considered as the new engine of the economic and societal transition with a societal concept which can mean more distributed well-being with human-centric and sustainable, resilient industry. The advantage of the learning factory concept therefore lies in the combination of the realistic factory environment, processes and transparency of the structured activities which can provide testing of new features, modules, functionalities, tools, and technologies based on the existing Industry 4.0 framework. Especially, the concepts of implementing new business models with benchmarking emphasise the major difference in achievable results. Transition to a circular economy can only be achieved if up-skilling and re-skilling of workers can also be done which is the core function of the learning factory.

OBJECTIVE: A great number of studies have been published on acute pancreatitis, but few have focused on the recurrent form. In this study, we have sought to determine the relative frequency and mortality of recurrent acute pancreatitis, and also to update our knowledge of its etiological factors. METHODS: Patients were selected from a total of 1068 persons included in a previous European study of acute pancreatitis. All were admitted to a hospital with an attack of acute pancreatitis between January, 1990 and December, 1994. Data for each patient was recorded on a standardized form. RESULTS: Of the 1068 with acute pancreatitis, 288 (27%) had recurrent pancreatitis; the majority (78.8%) were men, with a mean age of 43 yr (range 16-95 yr). Regarding etiology, alcohol was the most frequent factor (57%), followed by gallstones (25%), other factors (7.6%), and no identified factor (10.4%). Of the 288 patients, 17 (5.9%) died, all of whom had necrotizing pancreatitis; among all of the patients with necrotizing pancreatitis (141 of 288), the mortality was 12.1%. These percentages are lower than those for patients who had a single attack (8.5% and 18.6%, respectively), but not to a statistically significant degree. Mortality was significantly lower among patients with alcoholic pancreatitis (6.9%) than among those with biliary (30%) (p < 0.002) or idiopathic pancreatitis (25%) (p < 0.04). Most of the deaths (82.4%) occurred at the second attack of pancreatitis. CONCLUSION: Acute recurrent pancreatitis remains a frequent disease, with alcohol being the most frequent etiological factor. Mortality is similar to that of a single episode of acute pancreatitis, and it is significantly lower among patients with alcohol as the etiology. © 2002 by Am. Coll. of Gastroenterology.

Since 2018, I have been a philosophical consultant for the Compagnie Pál Frenák, and, more recently a dramaturg (Cage³, Spid_er⁴, Fig_Ht⁵, Secret_ Off Man, Crazy Runners – Parad_IS_e⁶). Simultaneously with my research on somaesthetics, I became familiar with Frenák's unique organic movement system, which developed from the sign system of the deaf and hard of hearing and, over decades, evolved into a completely individual means of expression. Because Frenák, the best-known choreographer of Hungarian contemporary dance, considers Deleuze's philosophy a point of alignment, Deleuze's Abécédaire and Shusterman's aesthetics both played a role in my 2022 book about him (Horváth 2022). However, Frenák is an autonomous creator who never uses the books he reads as a concrete reference, rather, he extracts the essence of what he reads and takes inspiration from them by placing them in a totally different context. Anyone familiar with Frenák's works knows that his central theme is the libidinal energy that controls people. He researches how to express erotic radiance, repressed desire or the resonance that exists or never develops between people. Frenák opens something up to audiences, who are either drawn in or pushed away. Frenák's native language is sign language, due to his deaf mother. In the world of the deaf and hard of hearing, only continuous and intense attention is natural. His perfect knowledge of this medium and communication system adds a unique dimension to Frenák's somatic style. Frenák's work is special because since childhood, he has been experimenting with a unique language of movement, with which generations of dancers have been able to identify in joint productions over the decades. But his art is much more than that. He has been able to do what very few people do: he constantly builds and enriches the unique world in which certain themes, motifs, and emotions regularly appear. Only the harmony between the body and the soul is capable of representing the homogeneous artistic style that has characterized Frenák’s style for decades. Perhaps this is partly why we perceive that his pieces are the various manifestations of a homogeneous whole and rather than isolated choreographies, despite their fragmented nature. In my study, I examine how Frenák delves into the depths of human nature. How does his work address the myth of marriage or love triangles? How can such a feeling be realized on stage when two figures are not even touching, yet we know, we feel in our guts, that they belong together. Frenák is not satisfied with portraying superficial relationships, and he disregards patterns and norms. He is a diver delving into the depths of the soul frightened of itself, a soul that must grapple with itself to overcome its fears and its own shadows. During this investigation, the question arises: is it is possible to put into words the erotic experience that art can only partially convey? “The philosopher can speak of everything he feels. Erotic experience will commit us to silence” says Bataille in Eroticism (Bataille, 1962, p. 252.). That is the advantage that art possesses and that is why the feeling that the protracted utterance of the word “Silence” in Frenák’s pieces (e.g., in The Hidden Men) may convey. Philosophy is unable to free itself of language and, what Bataille considers the most important, “it uses language in such a way that silence never follows”, the silence of that last moment where consciousness forsakes you (Ibid, p. 274.). The atmosphere of Frenák's plays can reproduce exactly those states of mind in which awareness fails, where nothing remains but silence or madness. The question, therefore, is: how to grasp passion rendered with artistic corporality from the perspective of somaesthetics.

This paper presents a short literature review related to the fragmentation of the railway crushed ballast particles. With the help of the processed articles with the main topic of discrete element modelling (DEM) we aim to provide some insight into the international achievements and forward progress of the subject. Rock materials as granular elements can be investigated from several perspectives. The elements can be examined in laboratory conditions purely from the quarry, or even by obtaining already fragmented particles from the real railway tracks. In addition, DEM models can be created by using computer software. This article tackles only a small segment of the literature. Though each DEM topic was unique, they all involved examination of degradation of particles in some way. This review focuses on model building, including particle construction and calibration. The selected publications do not cover the current state of the entire DEM research related to ballast degradation.