The integration of new technologies and digitalisation causing significant changes in the skills demanded, leading to skills shortages and skills gaps in digital context. Undoubtedly, the employees’ digital skills and knowledge need to be aligned with the ongoing technological changes. This study obtains inputs from the employers from professional services sector regarding the demand for digital skills and the existence of gaps in digital skill among the employees. The impact of digital skills and willingness to pay for the micro-credential on the employability was investigate. 308 responses from the employers reside in Klang Valley, Johor and Penang collected via online survey. The five areas of digital skills adopted from Digital Competence 2.0, and the pair-sample t-test in SPSS was used to identify the present of skill gaps. Besides, PLS-SEM was used to test the hypotheses with regard to impacts of digital skills and micro credential on employability. The findings indicate that problem-solving and safety skills were ranked as highly demanded digital skills in the future. The skill gaps were found in all areas of digital skills except information and data literacy. The employers agreed that digital skills did affect their decision in hiring the graduate employees and they are willing to pay for micro-credentials to address the skills gaps. Yet, willingness to pay for micro-credentials did not affect the employability directly and indirectly. This study provides insights into the demand of digital skills and the digital skills gaps. Implications of the study from theoretical and practical perspectives are discussed.

This review focuses on ferrites, which are gaining popularity with their unique properties like high electrical resistivity, thermal stability, and chemical stability, making them suitable for versatile applications both in industry and in biomedicine. This review is highly indicative of the importance of synthesis technique in order to control ferrite properties and, consequently, their specific applications. While synthesizing the materials with consideration of certain properties that help in certain methods of preparation using polyol route, green synthesis, sol-gel combustion, or other wise to tailor make certain properties shown by ferrites, this study also covers biomedical applications of ferrites, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), drug delivery systems, cancer hyperthermia therapy, and antimicrobial agents. This was able to inhibit the growth of all tested Gram-negative and positive bacteria as compared with pure ferrite nanoparticles without Co, Mn or Zn doping. In addition, ferrites possess the ability to be used in environmental remediation; such as treatment of wastewater which makes them useful for high-surface-area and adsorption capacity due heavy metals and organic pollutants. A critical analysis of functionalization strategies and possible applications are presented in this work to emphasize the capability of nanoferrites as an aid for the advancement both biomedical technology and environmental sustainability due to their versatile properties combined with a simple, cost effective synthetic methodology.

A fresh interest has been accorded to metal iodides due to their fascinating physicochemical properties such as high ionic conductivity, variable optical properties, and high thermal stabilities in making micro and macro devices. Breakthroughs in cathodic preparation and metallization of metal iodides revealed new opportunities for using these compounds in various fields, especially in energy conversion and materials with luminescent and sensory properties. In energy storage metal iodides are being looked at due to their potential to enhance battery performance, in optoelectronics the property of the metal iodides is available to create efficient LEDs and solar cells. Further, their application in sensing devices, especially in environmental and medical monitoring has been quite mentioned due to their response towards environmental changes such as heat or light. Nevertheless, some challenges are still in question, including material stability, scale-up opportunities, and compatibility with other technologies. This work highlights the groundbreaking potential of metal iodide-based nanomaterials, emphasizing their transformative role in innovation and their promise for future advancements.

The enormous biological potential of herbal products is one of the main reasons for their frequent use in the production of dietary supplements and functional foods, which, in addition to their nutritional properties, have pharmacological and physiological effects. New scientific knowledge on the isolation of pharmacologically active compounds from complex matrices has led to significant advances in this field. Today, the process of extraction plays a significant scientific role, with “green” technologies occupying a special place in today’s science. Herbal medicine is one of the oldest human skills, which has worn off with its centuries-old application in the path of modern medicine. Microwave-assisted extraction, or more simply, microwave extraction, is a new extraction technique that combines traditional extraction solvents and microwaves. The mentioned method takes less time, consumes less energy, and has strong penetration power into the plant matrix to obtain more oils, but it can also reduce production costs. This can eventually increase the quality of the final product and reduce the product price at the consumer level. Microwave-assisted extraction could be useful to the herbal industry for oil extraction as well as other pharmaceutically important plant components. Based on a comparison and study of published literature, this research examines the present state of extraction procedures. This review includes a detailed discussion of the most important extraction techniques.