Objectives: The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the stress on blood banks and deprived the blood sources due to the containment measures that restrict the movement and travel limitations among blood donors. During this time, Malaysia had a significant 40% reduction in blood supply. Blood centers and hospitals faced a huge challenge balancing blood demand and collection. The health care systems need a proactive plan to withstand the uncertain situation such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This study investigates the psychosocial factors that affect blood donation behavior during a pandemic and aims to propose evidence-based strategies for a sustainable blood supply. Study design: Qualitative design using focus group discussion (FGD) was employed. Methods: Data were acquired from the two FGDs that group from transfusion medicine specialists (N = 8) and donors (N = 10). The FGD interview protocol was developed based on the UTM Research Ethics Committee’s approval. Then, the data was analyzed using Nvivo based on the General Inductive Approach (GIA). Results: Analysis of the text data found that the psychology of blood donation during the pandemic in Malaysia can be classified into four main themes: (i) reduced donation; (ii) motivation of donating blood; (iii) trends of donation; and (iv) challenges faced by the one-off, occasional, and non-donors. Conclusions: Based on the emerging themes from the FGDs, this study proposes four psycho-contextual strategies for relevant authorities to manage sustainable blood accumulation during the pandemic: (1) develop standard operating procedure for blood donors; (2) organize awareness campaigns; (3) create a centralized integrated blood donors database; and (4) provide innovative Blood Donation Facilities.

This study examines the effectiveness of Kazakhstan’s grant funding system in supporting research institutions and universities, focusing on the relationship between funding levels, expert evaluations, and research outputs. We analyzed 317 projects awarded grants in 2021, using parametric methods to assess publication outcomes in Scopus and Web of Science databases. Descriptive statistics for 1606 grants awarded between 2021 and 2023 provide additional insights into the broader funding landscape. The results highlight key correlations between funding, evaluation scores, and journal publication percentiles, with a notable negative correlation observed between international and national expert evaluations in specific scientific fields. A productivity analysis at the organizational level was conducted using non-parametric methods to evaluate institutional efficiency in converting funding into research output. Data were manually collected from the National Center of Science and Technology Evaluation and supplemented with publication data from Scopus and Web of Science, using unique grant numbers and principal investigators’ profiles. This comprehensive analysis contributes to the development of an analytical framework for improving research funding policies in Kazakhstan.

To investigate the possible role of arbuscular mycrrhizal fungi (AMF) in alleviating the negative effects of salinity on Stevia rebaudiana (Bert.), the regenerated plantlets in tissue culture was transferred to pots in greenhouse and inoculated with Glomus intraradices. Salinity caused a significant decrease in chlorophyll content, photosynthesis efficiency and enhanced the electrolyte leakage. The use of AMF in salt –affected plants resulted in improved all above mentioned characteristics. Hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents increased in salt stressed plants while a reduction was observed due to AMF inoculation. CAT activity showed a significant increase up to 2 g/l and then followed by decline at 5 g/l NaCl in both AMF and non-AMF treated stevia, however, AMF inoculated plants maintained lower CAT activity at all salinity levels (2 and 5 g/l). Enhanced POX activities in salt- treated stevia plants were decreased by inoculation of plants with AMF. The addition of NaCl to stevia plants also resulted in an enhanced activity of SOD whilst, AMF plants maintained higher SOD activity at all salinity levels than those of non-AMF inoculated plants. AMF inoculation was capable of alleviating the damage caused by salinity on stevia plants by reducing oxidative stress and improving photosynthesis efficiency. 

To address the escalating online romance scams within telecom fraud, we developed an Adaptive Random Forest Light Gradient Boosting (ARFLGB)-XGBoost early warning system. Our method involves compiling detailed Online Romance Scams (ORS) incident data into a 24-variable dataset, categorized to analyze feature importance with Random Forest and LightGBM models. An innovative adaptive algorithm, the Adaptive Random Forest Light Gradient Boosting, optimizes these features for integration with XGBoost, enhancing early Online romance scams threat detection. Our model showed significant performance improvements over traditional models, with accuracy gains of 3.9%, a 12.5% increase in precision, recall improvement by 5%, an F1 score increase by 5.6%, and a 5.2% increase in Area Under the Curve (AUC). This research highlights the essential role of advanced fraud detection in preserving communication network integrity, contributing to a stable economy and public safety, with implications for policymakers and industry in advancing secure communication infrastructure.

International logistics supply chain is an important guarantee to support the country to build a new development pattern, this paper aims to propose a new strategy to promote the development of international logistics supply chain through the case study of Ningbo City. On the basis of supply chain theory and international logistics theory, this paper constructs SWOT model to study the case of Ningbo City, and draws the following conclusions: The international logistics supply chain of Ningbo city has the advantages of superior geographical location, perfect logistics infrastructure and strong port resources, and the disadvantages of low logistics informatization level and logistics management mode to be optimized. At the same time, it faces the opportunities of “One Belt and One Road” initiative and the competitive threat of other logistics centers. Adopting strategies such as policy support, strengthening logistics informatization construction and optimizing logistics management mode can ensure the stable development of foreign trade, which is conducive to accelerating the construction of a new development pattern and modern economic system in which domestic and foreign cycles promote each other.