This study explores the spatial distribution pattern of educational infrastructure development across districts and cities in North Sumatra, identifying significant disparities between urban and rural areas. The study aims to: (1) determine the distribution of educational development across districts and cities, (2) analyze global spatial autocorrelation, and (3) identify priority locations for educational development policies in North Sumatra Province. The methodology includes quantile analysis, Moran’s Global Index, and Local Indicators of Spatial Autocorrelation (LISA) using GeoDa software to address spatial autocorrelation. The results indicate that there are nine areas with a low School Participation Rate Index (SPRI), eleven areas with a low School Facilities and Infrastructure Index (SFII), and eleven areas with a low Regional Education Index (REI). Spatial autocorrelation analysis reveals that SFII shows positive spatial autocorrelation, while SPRI and REI exhibit negative spatial autocorrelation, indicating a high level of inequality between regions. Labuhan Batu Selatan and Labuhan Batu are identified as priorities for the provincial government in overseeing educational development policies.

This study investigates how digital transformation influences visitor satisfaction at 12 World Heritage Sites (WHS) across eight coastal provinces in Eastern and Southern China. Utilizing 402 valid survey responses, it explores the impact of demographic factors—education, age, and income—on visitors’ perceptions of digital services, particularly focusing on usability, quality, and overall experience. The findings reveal that younger, higher-income, and STEM-educated visitors express significantly higher satisfaction with digital services, while older, lower-income visitors report lower levels of engagement and satisfaction. This research highlights the need for tailored digital strategies that cater to diverse demographic groups, ensuring the balance between technological innovation and the preservation of cultural authenticity at heritage sites. The originality of this study lies in its focus on non-Western contexts, particularly China’s rapidly developing coastal regions, which have been largely overlooked in the global discourse on digital tourism. By applying established theoretical frameworks—such as the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Expectation-Confirmation Theory (ECT)—to a non-Western setting, this research fills a crucial gap in the literature. The insights provided offer actionable recommendations for heritage site managers to enhance visitor engagement, adapt digital services to demographic variations, and promote sustainable tourism development.

Finding the right technique to optimize a complex problem is not an easy task. There are hundreds of methods, especially in the field of metaheuristics suitable for solving NP-hard problems. Most metaheuristic research is characterized by developing a new algorithm for a task, modifying or improving an existing technique. The overall rate of reuse of metaheuristics is small. Many problems in the field of logistics are complex and NP-hard, so metaheuristics can adequately solve them. The purpose of this paper is to promote more frequent reuse of algorithms in the field of logistics. For this, a framework is presented, where tasks are analyzed and categorized in a new way in terms of variables or based on the type of task. A lot of emphasis is placed on whether the nature of a task is discrete or continuous. Metaheuristics are also analyzed from a new approach: the focus of the study is that, based on literature, an algorithm has already effectively solved mostly discrete or continuous problems. An algorithm is not modified and adapted to a problem, but methods that provide a possible good solution for a task type are collected. A kind of reverse optimization is presented, which can help the reuse and industrial application of metaheuristics. The paper also contributes to providing proof of the difficulties in the applicability of metaheuristics. The revealed research difficulties can help improve the quality of the field and, by initiating many additional research questions, it can improve the real application of metaheuristic algorithms to specific problems. The paper helps with decision support in logistics in the selection of applied optimization methods. We tested the effectiveness of the selection method on a specific task, and it was proven that the functional structure can help the decision when choosing the appropriate algorithm.

While infrastructure provides necessary public services and is vital for the socio-economic development of a nation, public funds alone cannot finance all infrastructure needs in society, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, where many countries are facing budget deficits. Although private financing schemes, such as public-private partnerships (PPPs) and land value capture, have been considered intensively, they have yet to produce adequate private capital flows to infrastructure projects due to a lack of incentives for private investors. Against the background, this paper proposes a new financing mechanism in which governments might divert some of the increased tax revenue from the spillover effects of newly constructed infrastructures to fund the private sector through grants or subsidies. The empirical work in Vietnam shows a significant increase in tax revenues after completing two expressways, supporting our idea about spillover effects, which includes small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) development. This study’s results suggest that spillover effects can bring new opportunities for governments and multilateral development banks (MDBs) to implement infrastructure projects with greater private sector involvement in the region. It also proposes some financial schemes, such as land capture and financing for business startups, including SMEs, to enhance the spillover effects of infrastructure.

Introduction: Many detrimental effects on employees’ health and wellbeing might result from inadequate illumination in the workplace. Headaches and trouble focusing can result from eye strain brought on by inadequate illumination. The purpose of this study was to simulate and optimize workplace illumination in the ceramic industry. Materials and methods: A common Luxmeter ST-1300 was used to measure the illumination in seven workplaces at a height of 100 cm above the floor. DIALux evo version 7.1 software was used to simulate the illumination of workplaces. To optimize the illumination conditions, a numerical experiment design consisting of 16 scenarios was used for each of the workplaces. Four factors were considered for each scenario: luminaire height, number of luminaires, luminous flux, and light loss factor. The Design-Expert program version 13.0.5.0 was applied for developing the scenarios. Finally, by developing quadratic models for each workplace, the optimization process was implemented. Results: Every workplace had illumination levels that were measured to be between 250 and 300 lux. Instead of using compact fluorescent luminaires, LED technology was recommended to maximize the illumination conditions for the workers. Following optimization, 376 lux of illumination were visible at each workstation in every workspace. For the majority of the workspaces, the simulated illumination was expected to have a desirability degree greater than 0.9. The uniformity and illumination of the workplace were significantly impacted by the two factors of luminaire height and luminaire count. Conclusion: The primary outcomes of this optimization were the environmental, political, and socioeconomic ones, including reduced consumption power, high light flux, and environmental compatibility. Nonetheless, the optimization technique applied in this work can be applied to the design of similar situations, such as residential infrastructure.

The rapid advancement of biotechnologies involves human subjects that brings forth intricate ethical, legal, social, and religious challenges. Recent breakthroughs in cloning and stem cell research have generated new hopes as well as presents considerable promise for treating severe diseases and regenerative medicine. In this regard, for advancements in biotechnology to be clinically applicable in medicine, it’s essential to comprehend both scientific principles and ethical implications, taken into consideration the scientific roadblocks impeding advancement in therapeutic cloning such as tumorigenicity, epigenetic reprogramming and interspecies pathogen transfer. As research in this area progresses, it will clarify that stem cells can be obtained from various sources, including therapeutic cloning, which involves cloning embryos from the nuclei of somatic cells or cloning individual organs in the laboratory. This article studies  the legitimacy extent of therapeutic cloning in Islamic Fiqh and comparative law, using the comparative analytical approach. Thus, we have reached a number of results, the most important of which is that the Islamic Fiqh perspective on the illegality of extracting stem cells by creating therapeutic embryos using Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT). It is deemed unacceptable to create an embryo for the purpose of its development and then destroying it for the purpose of stem cells, as this is unacceptable that turns the human being into a source for spare parts. Conversely, cloning specific organs and tissues in the laboratory for medical purposes is considered permissible, provided that it does not harm anyone or violate their sanctity that is consistent with many comparative laws.