This study critically examines the implications of international transport corridor projects for Central Asian countries, focusing on the Western-backed Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA), the Chinese initiative “One Belt—One Road”, and the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) supported by the Russian Federation, India, and Iran. The analysis underscores the risks associated with Western projects, highlighting a need for a more explicit commitment to substantial infrastructure investments and persistent contradictions among key investors and beneficiaries. While the Chinese initiative presents significant benefits such as transit participation, infrastructure development, and economic investments, it also carries risks, notably an increased debt burden and potential monopolization by Chinese corporations. The study emphasizes that Central Asian countries, though indirect beneficiaries of INSTC, may not be directly involved due to geographical constraints. Study findings advocate for Central Asian nations to balance foreign investments, promote economic integration, and safeguard political and economic sovereignty. The study underscores the region’s wealth of natural and human resources, emphasizing the potential for increased demand for goods and services with improved living standards, strategically positioning these countries in the evolving global economic landscape.

A reservoir of vegetation, wildlife, and medicinal plant abundance is represented by the Haridwar forest divisions. This study deals with the results of ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants conducted in the Haridwar forest division during the period of December 2016 and March 2019. The information on folk medicinal use of plants were gathered by interviewing with local healers and Vaidya’s who have long been advising the folk medicines for medication of various disorders. The important folk medicinal data of 33 medicinal plants species belonging to 22 families and 33 genera practiced by tribal and local people of the study area has been recorded by the survey team of the Institute. Fabaceae followed by the Lamiacea and Asteraceae were the dominant families. The species diversity showed maximum exploration of Trees, Herbs followed by Shrubs and Climbers. Leaves, seed and root were the most prevalently used part in study followed by the stem bark, fruit, flower, stem and fruit pulp. During the study it was observed that the traditional practices of Gujjars of Uttarakhand have close relation with forests and have strong dependency on the same for food, medicine, timber and fodder etc. The information recorded for the treatment in different ailments has been presented in the paper in the pie charts and tabular form. In the recorded information most of the plants along with Plant name, Family name, Voucher Specimen No., Local Name/Unani name, Part Used, Diseases/Condition and Habitat/ICBN status so as to enrich the existing knowledge on ethnopharmacology. Many of the medications used today have their roots in traditional knowledge of medicinal plants and indigenous uses of plant material, and there are still a plethora of potentially useful pharmaceutical chemicals to be found. In this regard, more in-depth field research could aid in the discovery of novel plant species utilized in indigenous medical systems to improve patient needs. With this aim this study was conducted to explore and trace the ethnobotanical potential of flora of the Haridwar forest division so that it could prove to be immensely advantageous for both the development of new medications to treat dreadful and catastrophic illnesses as well as for the study and preservation of cultural and social variety.

Implementing green retrofitting can save 50–90% of energy use in buildings built worldwide. Government policies in several developed countries have begun to increase the implementation of green retrofitting buildings in those countries, which must rise by up to 2.5% of the lifespan of buildings by 2030. By 2050, it is hoped that more than 85% of all buildings will have been retrofitted. The high costs of implementing green retrofitting amounting to 20% of the total initial construction costs, as well as the uncertainty of costs due to cost overruns are one of the main problems in achieving the implementation target in 2050. Therefore, increasing the accuracy of the costs of implementing green retrofitting is the best solution to overcome this. This research is limited to analyzing the factors that influence increasing the accuracy of green retrofitting costs based on WBS, BIM, and Information Systems. The results show that there are 10 factors affecting the cost accuracy of retrofitting or customizing high-rise office buildings, namely Energy Use Efficiency, Water Use Efficiency, Use of Environmentally Friendly Materials, Maintenance of Green Building Performance during the Use Period, Initial Survey, Project Information Documents, Cost Estimation Process, Resources, Legal, and Quantity Extraction applied. These factors are shown to increase the accuracy of green retrofitting costs.

The research aims to explore the degree of acceptance of digital work culture among the youth in the Emirati society within the study sample. Additionally, it aims to reveal the relationship between “gender” and “educational status” as sociodemographic factors among the youth in the study sample and their level of acceptance of digital work culture. Furthermore, the study aims to identify prospective trends in digital work culture among young individuals in Emirati society. Due to the nature of the descriptive research, it employed the “sample social survey” approach. The field study primarily utilized a quantitative tool for data collection, namely the “digital questionnaire.” This questionnaire was administered to a purposefully chosen random sample comprising young individuals actively seeking employment opportunities (unemployed individuals) or those new to the labor market. The participants fell within the age group of 15 to 35 years, totaling 184 individuals. Care was taken to ensure that this sample was representative of all youth categories in Emirati society, considering demographic factors such as gender, place of residence, and educational status. The research findings indicate that an overwhelming majority of young individuals in the study sample (97.8%) have no obstacles to accepting job opportunities that necessitate digital and technological skills. Moreover, the study uncovered a direct and statistically significant relation between “gender” and the “level of acceptance of digital work culture,” favoring females. This implies that females are more inclined to accept digital job opportunities compared to males. Additionally, the results highlighted a positive and statistically significant relation between both “educational status” and the “level of acceptance of digital work culture.” In other words, individuals with higher levels of education demonstrate a greater interest in digital job opportunities. Utilizing Step-wise Regression, the study also made predictions about the spread of “future digital work culture” in the United Arab Emirates based on the variable of “education.”

Recently, carbon nanocomposites have garnered a lot of curiosity because of their distinctive characteristics and extensive variety of possible possibilities. Among all of these applications, the development of sensors with electrochemical properties based on carbon nanocomposites for use in biomedicine has shown as an area with potential. These sensors are suitable for an assortment of biomedical applications, such as prescribing medications, disease diagnostics, and biomarker detection. They have many benefits, including outstanding sensitivity, selectivity, and low limitations on detection. This comprehensive review aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the recent advancements in carbon nanocomposites-based electrochemical sensors for biomedical applications. The different types of carbon nanomaterials used in sensor fabrication, their synthesis methods, and the functionalization techniques employed to enhance their sensing properties have been discussed. Furthermore, we enumerate the numerous biological and biomedical uses of electrochemical sensors based on carbon nanocomposites, among them their employment in illness diagnosis, physiological parameter monitoring, and biomolecule detection. The challenges and prospects of these sensors in biomedical applications are also discussed. Overall, this review highlights the tremendous potential of carbon nanomaterial-based electrochemical sensors in revolutionizing biomedical research and clinical diagnostics.