Boron and tungsten carbides, B₄C and WC, are hard materials widely used in modern technologies. Further improvement of their performance characteristics involves the development of new B₄C and WC-based and/or related composites in a nanodispersed state. This article provides a review of available literature research on B-C-W systems, which would be useful in future studies in this direction.

The technological development and the rise of artificial intelligence are driving a significant transformation of the labor market. The technological unemployment predicted by Keynes poses challenges for the global labor market that require new solutions. Basic income research has become a significant field of study, attracting attention from various disciplines such as political science, law, economics, and sociology. The aim of this paper is to explore on the basis of a literature review, what factors influence the support for basic income among the population. A systematic literature review based on the Web of Science and Scopus databases, after screening 2623 publications, identified 23 articles that contained findings relevant to the research question. A significant number of authors (12/23) analyzed data from the same source, the European Social Survey 2016 (ESS Round 8, 2020), conducted in 2016, first published in 2017 and updated several times since then. The paper shows that the study of the topic has a strong European focus. The social, economic, social and cultural diversity of European countries makes these studies important from a European and EU perspective, but from an international perspective, further research on the topic is needed.

 This study explores the primary drivers influencing sustainable project management (SPM) practices in the construction industry. This research study seeks to determine whether firms are primarily motivated by external pressures or internal values when embracing SPM practices. In doing so, this study contributes to the ongoing discourse on SPM drivers by considering coercive pressures (CP), ethical responsibility (ER), and green transformational leadership (GTL) as critical enablers facilitating a firm’s adoption of SPM practices. Based on data from 196 project management practitioners in Pakistan, structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to test the hypothesized relationships. Results highlight that CP influences the management of sustainability practices in construction projects, signifying firms’ concern for securing legitimacy from various institutional actors. As an ‘intrinsic value’, ER emerges as a significant motivator for ecological stewardship, driven by a genuine commitment to promoting sustainable development. This study also unveils the significant moderating effect of GTL on the association among CP, ER, and SPM. Lastly, the results of IMPA reveal that ER slightly performs better than CP as it helps firms internalize the essence of sustainability. This research study expands our understanding of SPM drivers in construction projects by exploring the differential impact of external pressures and the firm’s intrinsic values. These findings provide valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners, aiding them in promoting SPM to attain sustainable development goals.

The coconut industry has deep historical and economic importance in Sri Lanka, but coconut palms are vulnerable to water stress exacerbated by environmental challenges. This study explored using Sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea L.) in major coconut-growing soils in Sri Lanka to improve resilience to water stress. The study was conducted at the Coconut Research Institute of Sri Lanka to evaluate the growth of Sunn hemp in prominent coconut soils—gravel, loamy, and sandy—to determine its cover crop potential. Sunn hemp was planted in pots with the three soil types, arranged in a randomized, complete design with 48 replicates. Growth parameters like plant height, shoot/root dry weight, root length, and leaf area were measured at 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks after planting. Soil type significantly impacted all growth parameters. After 8 weeks, sandy soil showed the highest plant height and root length, while loamy soil showed the highest shoot/root dry weight and leaf area, followed by sandy and gravel soils. Nitrogen content at 6 and 8 weeks was highest in loamy soil plants. In summary, Sunn hemp produces more biomass in sandy soils, while loamy soils promote greater nutrient accumulation and growth. This suggests the suitability of Sunn hemp as a cover crop across major coconut-growing soils in Sri Lanka, improving resilience.

Resisting the adoption of medical artificial intelligence (AI), it is suggested that this opposition can be overcome by combining AI awareness, AI risks, and responsibility displacement. Through effective integration of public AI dangers and displacement of responsibility, some of these major concerns can be alleviated. The United Kingdom’s National Health Service has adopted the use of chatbots to provide medical advice, whereas heart disease diagnoses can be made by IBM’s Watson. This has the ability to improve healthcare by increasing accuracy, efficiency, and patient outcomes. The resistance may be due to concerns about losing jobs, anxieties about misdiagnosis or medical mistakes, and the consciousness of AI systems drifting more responsibility away from medical professionals. There is hesitancy among healthcare professionals and the general public about the deployment of AI, despite the fact that healthcare is being revolutionised by AI, its uses are pervasive. Participants’ awareness of AI in healthcare, AI risk, resistance to AI, responsibility displacement and ethical considerations were gathered through questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, chi-square tests and correlation analyses were used to establish the relationship between resistance and medical AI. The study’s objective seeks to collect data on primary and public AI awareness, perceptions of risk and feelings of displacement that the professionals have regarding medical AI. Some of these concerns can be resolved when AI awareness is effectively integrated and patients, healthcare providers, as well as the general public are well informed about AI’s potential advantages. Trust is built when, AI related issues such as bias, transparency, and data privacy are critically addressed. Another objective is to develop a seamless integration of risk management, communication and awareness of AI. Lastly to assess how this comprehensive approach has affected hospital settings’ ambitions to use medical AI. Fusing AI awareness, risk management, and effective communication can be used as a comprehensive strategy to address and promote the application of medical AI in hospital settings. An argument made by Chen et al. is that providing training in AI can improve adoption intentions while lowering complexity through the awareness of AI.