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Found 6278 publications
From cross-helix knowledge to societal impact: The role of network diversity, innovation capabilities, and policy dynamism
Publication Name: Technological Forecasting and Social Change
Publication Date: 2026-05-01
Volume: 226
Issue: Unknown
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
Innovation ecosystems today are under more pressure than ever to not only improve technology but also solve social and environmental problems. This study, informed by the Triple Helix Theory and Public Value Theory, formulates and evaluates a multilevel framework elucidating how collaboration across universities, industry, and governments can produce sustainable and socially beneficial innovation outcomes. The model analyses the contributions of Cross-Helix Knowledge Co-Creation Intensity (CKCI) and Public Value Orientation of Innovation (PVOI) to the development of Network Structural Diversity (NSD), which subsequently enhances Sustainable Innovation Capabilities (SIC). The study utilizes data from pivotal innovation sectors in the US and UK, demonstrating that SIC is a strong predictor of both Societal Impact Performance (SIP) and Triple Helix Sustainability Synergy (THSS). A serial mediation pathway from CKCI and PVOI through NSD and SIC is established, demonstrating that collaborative knowledge and public value orientation collectively yield beneficial social outcomes. The moderating effect of Policy Environment Dynamism (PED) on the relationship between SIC and SIP was not significant, indicating that robust internal capacities can still influence social outcomes in unstable policy environments. This study offers theoretical and practical insights for businesses aiming to develop inclusive, mission-oriented, and resilient innovation ecosystems.
Open Access: Yes
Exploring Teaching Methods for Construction Contract Law Using Analytic Hierarchy Process
Publication Name: Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction
Publication Date: 2026-05-01
Volume: 18
Issue: 2
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
Construction law holds significant importance due to its inherent rationale and pervasive presence at every stage of the project in the construction sector. The average value of construction disputes worldwide was USD 42.8 million in 2021. Complying with construction law and regulations plays a pivotal role in the seamless functioning of the sector. That is why construction law skills are vital for engineers. They ensure regulatory compliance, facilitate effective contract management, foster improved communication among stakeholders, and enhance risk mitigation. The substantial and unique nature of this subject makes it challenging to condense into a traditional course format. Despite being structured as a course, effectively conveying the practical aspects of construction contract law to engineers requires a distinct pedagogical approach. The present pilot study aims to rank student preferences for different teaching methods in construction contract law education in India using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). This study contributes to the knowledge base by identifying preferred pedagogical approaches from the students' perspective. Out of nine teaching methods, the lecture method is the highest ranked by Indian students. This research seeks to enhance subject understanding and effectiveness of construction law courses in the country. This can benefit the construction sector by producing engineers who are better equipped to navigate legal complexities.
Open Access: Yes
Digital Entrepreneurship and Gendered Boundaries: Technology, Work–Life Conflict, and Well-Being
Publication Name: Gender Work and Organization
Publication Date: 2026-05-01
Volume: 33
Issue: 3
Page Range: 883-899
Description:
This study explores how women entrepreneurs in a resource-constrained setting adopt and experience personal technology for business purposes within the broader context of digital transformation. Drawing on the technology acceptance model (TAM) and work–life border theory (WLBT), qualitative data were collected through 32 semi-structured interviews with women entrepreneurs operating micro and small enterprises in Mauritius. Findings reveal that perceived usefulness, ease of use, and institutional support drive the adoption of personal devices, enabling flexibility, cost savings, and improved responsiveness to clients. However, constant connectivity also blurs boundaries between work and family life, heightening stress, emotional fatigue, and security concerns, particularly in the absence of technical support. These dynamics unfold in gendered contexts shaped by cultural expectations and caregiving responsibilities, with technology simultaneously supporting business needs while intensifying work–life conflict. Building on these insights, this study proposes a conceptual model highlighting personal technology's dual impact on business performance and well-being, as well as the moderating and mitigating roles of gender norms, structural constraints, and support systems. The findings contribute to scholarship on gender and digital entrepreneurship, offering implications for gender-sensitive policies that promote equitable and supportive technology adoption in similar Global South (GS) contexts.
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.1111/gwao.70090
Enhancing Water Productivity and Forage Yield of Egyptian Clover Through Subirrigation Controlled Drainage and Groundwater Utilisation
Publication Name: Agronomy
Publication Date: 2026-05-01
Volume: 16
Issue: 9
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
Water scarcity is a critical constraint to sustainable agricultural production in arid and semi-arid regions. This study evaluated the effectiveness of subirrigation controlled drainage (SCD) systems in improving water use efficiency, soil conditions, and productivity of Egyptian clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) over two consecutive growing seasons (2022–2024). Three drainage treatments were investigated: subirrigation controlled drainage with water table depths of 0.4 m (SCD-0.4) and 0.8 m (SCD-0.8), and conventional free drainage at 1.2 m (SFD-1.2). The results demonstrated that SCD significantly reduced irrigation water requirements, achieving water savings of up to 27% under SCD-0.4 compared with conventional drainage. The shallow water table enhanced groundwater contribution to crop evapotranspiration, reaching over 40%, which improved soil moisture availability and reduced soil water depletion. Consequently, SCD-0.4 increased fresh and dry biomass yields by approximately 18% and significantly improved water productivity and irrigation water productivity. However, controlled drainage led to increased soil salinity due to reduced leaching, particularly in upper soil layers. Economic analysis revealed that SCD-0.4 achieved the highest net returns and water use profitability. Overall, controlled drainage at shallow depths represents an effective strategy to enhance water productivity, crop yield, and economic efficiency, although long-term salinity management must be considered for sustainable implementation.
Open Access: Yes
Rapid, Matrix-Dependent Changes in Polyphenols and Antioxidant Capacity of Methanol Plant Extracts During Short-Term Storage: Implications for Analytical Timing
Publication Name: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Publication Date: 2026-05-01
Volume: 27
Issue: 9
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
Throughout this study, the short-term stability of methanol extracts was evaluated in cases of 15 distinctive, antioxidant-rich plant materials over 3, 7, and 14 days under refrigeration (4 °C), dark room-temperature, and light-exposed room-temperature conditions. A great variability in the matrix-dependent stability of the antioxidants, as well as the pronounced impact of the implied storage conditions on their plausible degradation, was revealed and featured. Initial total polyphenol content (TPC) ranged from 50.50 ± 0.44 mg gallic acid (GAE)/g DW (rosemary) to only 0.02 ± 0.006 mg GAE/g DW (amaranth). After 14 days, pigment-rich vegetable extracts (basil, beetroot powder, spinach powder, dried onion, tomato powder, and yarrow tail) lost 86.2–89.2% of TPC and 80–99% of DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) activity across all conditions, even under refrigeration. In contrast, for Lamiaceae species, markedly higher levels of the referred parameters were to be observed after 14-day-long storage. Decrease in TPC values was found to be 43.7% (rosemary), 50.6% (thyme), and 42.9% (oregano), respectively, while DPPH values were reduced by only 17–29%. Turmeric and walnut flour showed intermediate stability. Refrigeration consistently minimized the degradation of antioxidants (e.g., rosemary’s decrease in DPPH was only 20.3% at 4 °C vs. >70% under ambient conditions), while light exposure significantly accelerated losses of antioxidants in nearly all samples. Methanol extracts of many dietary plants, particularly pigment-rich ones, exhibit rapid and pronounced changes during short-term storage. Comparison with values obtained immediately after extraction shows that even brief storage can lead to substantial deviations. Although the current sampling intervals do not capture changes within the first hours, the results clearly indicate the need to minimize delays and standardize analytical timing to avoid underestimating phenolic content and antioxidant capacity. Moreover, these findings demonstrate that measured antioxidant properties are not solely inherent to the plant material but are strongly influenced by the extract matrix and methodological conditions. Consequently, antioxidant data should be regarded as matrix- and protocol-dependent, with important implications for their interpretation, comparability, and reproducibility across studies.
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.3390/ijms27093723
Mapping doping-related criminal legislation together: An informed stakeholder consultation
Publication Name: Performance Enhancement and Health
Publication Date: 2026-05-01
Volume: 14
Issue: 2
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
Access to reliable, jurisdiction-specific information on the existence and scope of doping-related criminal legislation is essential for understanding how anti-doping policies are interpreted and enforced globally. While the globally adopted World Anti-Doping Code provides a private regulatory framework for sporting sanctions, governments have introduced doping-related criminal laws that vary in scope, legal form, and underlying rationale. In the absence of a centralised legal resource, navigating this policy space becomes complex and challenging. This study addresses this gap by combining desk research with a multilingual, semi-structured informed stakeholder consultation to map the presence and scope of doping-related criminal legislation, identifying at least thirty-seven jurisdictions that have criminalised doping-related behaviours and enabling the development of five legislative typologies: comprehensive, trafficking-focused, child protection, context-specific, and fraud-based models. These typologies reveal variations in the behaviours targeted, definitions employed, and penalties applied. Such divergences raise important questions about the coherence of global anti-doping efforts, particularly regarding the definition of doping and the interaction between public and private sanctioning. This study also demonstrates the potential viability of a distributed, multi-actor approach to legal data gathering and supports the development of a dynamic, centralised legal database to advance transparency, equity, and evidence-informed anti-doping governance.
Open Access: Yes
Global, regional, and national burden of meningitis, its risk factors, and aetiologies, 1990–2023: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023
Usha Adiga
Emad M. Abdallah
Dariush Abtahi
Meriem Abdoun
Eman Abu-Gharbieh
Anirudh Balakrishna Acharya
Mohd Adnan
Mitra Abbasifard
Victor Adekanmbi
Asrat Agalu Abejew
Oyelola A. Adegboye
Samar Abd ElHafeez
Jeza Muhamad Abdul Aziz
Muhammad Sohail Afzal
Nermeen Abu-Elala
Auwal Abdullahi
Khurshid Ahmad
Rana Kamal Abu Farha
Isaac Yeboah Addo
Ahmad Y. Abuhelwa
Nadin M.I. Abdel Razeq
Sherief Abd-Elsalam
Swetha Acharya
Williams Agyemang-Duah
Samir Abu Rumeileh
Lucien R. Swetschinski
Juliana Bunmi Adetunji
Lisa C. Adams
Fuad Hamdi A. Abuadas
Madineh Abbasi
Ali Ahmadi
Omar Ahmed Abdelwahab
Bright Opoku Ahinkorah
Nurudeen A. Adegoke
Ayman Ahmed
Negar Sadat Ahmadi
Rezheen Fatah Abdulrahman
Danish Ahmad
Meshack Achore
Olumide Thomas Adeleke
Olifan Zewdie Abil
Armita Abedi
Dina Abushanab
Sawsan Abuhammad
Mostafa M. Abdrabou
Eve E. Wool
David Adedia
Kamoru Ademola Adedokun
Muayyad M. Ahmad
Aqeel Ahmad
Qorinah Estiningtyas Sakilah Adnani
Miracle Ayomikun Adesina
Hedayat Abbastabar
Tauseef Ahmad
Avina Vongpradith
Mohammed Altigani Abdalla
Temitayo Esther Adeyeoluwa
Atman Adiba
Chieh Han
Sajjad Ahmad
Gasha Salih Ahmed
Aanuoluwapo Adeyimika Afolabi
Rose Grace Bender
Giuseppina Affinito
Sepehr Aghajanian
Richard Gyan Aboagye
Rahim Abo Kasem
Mohammad Amin Aalipour
Sarah Brooke Sirota
Rizwan Suliankatchi Abdulkader
Ahmed A.J. Jabbar
Ridwan Olamilekan Adesola
Arman Abdous
Nagah M. Abourashed
Zhanar Abu
Toufik Abdul-Rahman
Prince Owusu Adoma
Gizachew Beykaso Agafari
Regina Mae Villanueva Dominguez
Hana J. Abukhadijah
Abdullahi Tunde Aborode
Ibrahim Banaru Abubakar
Mehrunnisha Sharif Ahmed
Sepideh Ahmadi
Amir Mahmoud Ahmadzade
Daniel T. Araki
Hassan Abolhassani
Aminu Kende Abubakar
Idowu Peter Adewumi
Faisal Ahmad
Syed Hani Abidi
Amanda Movo
Hasan Aalruz
Haroon Ahmed
Faezeh Abbaspour
Krishna Prasad Acharya
Suhaib Ahmad
Zhanar Abu
Abisola Esther Abdulmalik
Olumide Abiodun
Saira Afzal
Publication Name: Lancet Neurology
Publication Date: 2026-05-01
Volume: 25
Issue: 5
Page Range: 451-468
Description:
Background: Meningitis remains the leading infectious cause of neurological disabilities globally, disproportionately affecting children younger than 5 years and populations in the African meningitis belt. Whereas previous global estimates focused on ten pathogen categories, this study presents the most comprehensive analysis to date, assessing the meningitis burden attributable to 17 causative pathogens based on the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2023 framework. Methods: GBD is a systematic, scientific effort aimed at quantifying the comparative magnitude of health loss caused by diseases, injuries, and risk factors across age groups, sexes, and geographical locations over time. We estimated meningitis mortality using the Cause of Death Ensemble model (CODEm) and morbidity using DisMod-MR 2.1, incorporating data from vital registration, verbal autopsy, surveillance, hospital data, and systematic reviews. Aetiology-specific estimates were generated with pathogen-linked case-fatality ratios and splined binomial regression models. Risk factor attribution was based on established risk–outcome pairs and population attributable fractions. Findings: In 2023, there were 259 000 (95% uncertainty interval 202 000–335 000) global deaths and 2·54 million (2·20–2·93) incident cases of meningitis. Children younger than 5 years accounted for more than a third of deaths (86 600 [53 300–149 000]). Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitidis, non-polio enteroviruses, and other viruses were the leading causes of death, while non-polio enteroviruses caused the most cases. The four WHO-defined preventable meningitis pathogens of interest (S pneumoniae, N meningitidis, Haemophilus influenzae, and Group B streptococcus) contributed to 98 700 deaths (77 000–127 000) and 594 000 cases (514 000–686 000). Low birthweight, short gestation, and household air pollution were the top risk factors for meningitis-related mortality. Interpretation: Although mortality and incidence have declined significantly since 1990, progress is insufficient to meet WHO 2030 targets. Despite marked progress in reducing bacterial meningitis via global vaccination campaigns, a substantial meningitis burden persists, attributable both to common pathogens such as S pneumoniae and N meningitidis and to emerging non-bacterial pathogens such as Candida spp and drug-resistant fungi. Achieving WHO goals will require sustained investment in surveillance, vaccination, maternal screening, and health-system strengthening, especially in high-burden settings. Funding: Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, and UK Department of Health and Social Care.
Open Access: Yes
Sustainable Land Production Methods: The Spatiotemporal Evolution, Determinants, and Future Implications of Grain Crop Production Agglomeration in China Under Resource Constraints
Publication Name: Land Degradation and Development
Publication Date: 2026-04-30
Volume: 37
Issue: 7
Page Range: 2671-2684
Description:
Amid the backdrop of increasing global extreme weather events and tightening resource constraints on grain crop production. China, as the world's most populous country, faces persistent challenges to grain security. On one hand, grain crop production agglomeration (GCPA) can effectively address grain security challenges by optimizing the spatial layout of agricultural production. On the other hand, it can enhance the efficiency of resource utilization in grain production, thereby ensuring the stability and sustainability of the national grain supply. The study uses 1980 as the baseline and employs a range of analytical methods, including the spatial Gini coefficient, industrial concentration, global Moran's I, and LISA agglomeration map, to investigate the temporal–spatial variation trends and characteristics of GCPA in China from 2000 to 2020. Subsequently, a spatial Durbin model with time and space fixed effects is applied to identify the key factors influencing changes in the level of GCPA. The findings are further contextualized to explore opportunities for leveraging GCPA to promote sustainable land resource development. The results reveal that, from temporal variation trends in GCPA, the overall level of GCPA in China has exhibited a steady upward trend. From temporal variation characteristics in GCPA, the provinces contributing to GCPA have gradually concentrated in Heilongjiang, Henan, Shandong, and Anhui, demonstrating significant provincial convergence. From spatial variation trends in GCPA, while the global Moran's I of GCPA experienced brief declines in 2009 and 2018, it has generally shown a steadily increasing trend, reflecting strong spatial dependence. From spatial variation characteristics in GCPA, the spatial distribution of GCPA exhibits polarization, with provinces transitioning between high-high (H-H) and low-low (L-L) agglomeration clusters. This indicates that regions with lower grain production capacity are likely to experience further declines, regardless of their proximity to high-production regions. The analysis identifies agricultural transportation infrastructure as the most critical factor promoting GCPA. Conversely, excessive use of chemical fertilizers and labor inputs in grain crop production are found to hinder GCPA. Based on these findings, the study recommends enhancing agricultural transportation infrastructure and improving the efficiency of traditional agricultural inputs to elevate GCPA levels, thereby fostering sustainable land resource development.
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.1002/ldr.70268
Decision-Making in Climate Change Adaptation Among Tea Farmers: Empirical Insights From China
Publication Name: Land Degradation and Development
Publication Date: 2026-04-30
Volume: 37
Issue: 7
Page Range: 2424-2439
Description:
Adaptation constitutes a critical strategy for mitigating the adverse impacts of climate change. Enhancing farmers' adaptation behaviors is essential for strengthening the resilience of agricultural systems. This study focuses on tea farmers and develops a conceptual framework for climate change adaptation behavior decision-making by integrating protection motivation theory, theory of planned behavior, and farmer behavior theory. Utilizing field survey data from 313 tea farmers in Fujian Province, China, a structural equation model was employed to empirically analyze the pathways and relative strength of psychological factors influencing tea farmers' adaptation behavior decisions. The findings indicate that: (1) In response to climate change impacts, 58.8% of tea farmers have implemented adaptive measures, whereas 41.2% have undertaken no action; (2) Both risk perception and adaptability perception exert significantly positive influences on tea farmers' climate change adaptation behaviors, indicating that perception underpins adaptation behavior occurrence, with adaptability perception demonstrating a stronger effect on behavioral decisions; (3) Communication and learning with neighbors, relatives, friends, and government officials positively facilitate the adoption of adaptive measures, whereas established behavioral habits impede behavioral adjustment. Based on these results, this study proposes policy recommendations centered on enhancing perceptual capabilities, improving social learning mechanisms, and fostering adaptive practices, aimed at strengthening tea farmers' capacity and willingness to implement climate change adaptation actions.
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.1002/ldr.70249
