This article explores ethnomedicine or traditional medication written in palm-leaf manuscripts in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. Most of the manuscripts in Lombok are written on palm leaf or lontar. One genre of palm-leaf manuscripts is USADA or traditional medication. These USADA manuscripts, serving as guides for traditional healers (dukun and balian), contain valuable information on diseases, treatments, herbal remedies, and incantations. The study reveals that ethnomedicine remains a relevant and respected practice in Lombok, often considered on par with modern medicine. Many residents rely on traditional healers for healthcare, particularly for minor illnesses. The research also highlights the living nature of the manuscript tradition, with continued recitation, copying, and teaching of these texts to younger generations. However, challenges persist in preserving these manuscripts and promoting wider appreciation for this unique cultural heritage.

This study investigates the link between debt and political alignment in international relations between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and African nations. Using recorded roll-call votes on United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions, we explore whether PRC investment in sovereign debt influences the voting behaviour of loan recipient countries. We compile voting data for African countries from 2000 to 2020 to calculate an annual voting affinity score as a proxy for political alignment. Concurrently, data on Chinese public and publicly guaranteed (PPG) loans to African governments are collected. A Two-Stage Least-Squares analysis is employed, using the ratio of Chinese PPG debt to GDP as an instrument to address endogeneity. Results reveal a negative impact of Chinese lending on African political support, while trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), and Chinese GDP positively influence political alignment. In high debt-risk African countries, interest rates have a negative impact, whereas loan maturity shows a positive effect. These findings suggest that Chinese loans, particularly under commercial terms, may have strained bilateral relations due to debt sustainability concerns. Nevertheless, the positive impacts of trade and FDI may enhance international relations, highlighting the limitations of China’s loan diplomacy in fostering long-term strategic alignment in Africa.

With the increasing climate change crisis, the ongoing global energy security challenges, and the prerequisites for the development of sustainable and affordable energy for all, the need for renewable energy resources has been highlighted as a global aim of mankind. However, the worldwide deployment of renewable energy calls for large-scale financial and technological contributions which many States cannot afford. This exacerbates the need for the promotion of foreign investments in this sector, and protecting them against various threats. International Investment Agreements (IIAs) offer several substantive protections that equally serve foreign investments in this sector. Fair and Equitable Treatment (FET) clauses are among these. This is a flexible standard of treatment whose boundaries are not clearly defined so far. Investment tribunals have diverse views of this standard. Against this background, this article asks: What are the prominent international renewable energy investment threats, and how can FET clauses better contribute to alleviating these concerns? Employing a qualitative method, it analyses the legal aspects and properties of FET and concludes that the growing security and regulatory threats have formed a sort of modern legitimate expectations on the part of renewable energy investors who expect host states to protect them against such threats. Hence, IIAs and tribunals need to uphold a definite and broadly applicable FET approach to bring more consistency and predictability to arbitral awards. This would help deter many unfavourable practices against investments in this sector.

Understanding the factors that influence early science achievement is crucial for developing effective educational policies and ensuring equity within the education system. Despite its importance, research on the patterns of young children achieving science learning milestones and the factors that can reduce disparities between students with and without disabilities remains limited. This study analyzes data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of Kindergarten Cohort 2011 (ECLS-K: 2011), which includes 18,174 children from 1328 schools across the United States, selected through a complex sampling process and spanning kindergarten to 5th grade. Utilizing survival analysis, the study finds that children with disabilities achieve science milestones later than their peers without disabilities, with these disparities persisting from early grades. The research highlights the effectiveness of center-based programs in enhancing science learning, particularly in narrowing the achievement gap between children with and without disabilities. These findings contribute to the broader discourse on equity in the education system and policy by introducing novel methodologies for assessing the frequency and duration of science learning milestones, and by providing insights into effective strategies that support equitable science education.

The purpose of the study was to examine the role of personalization in motivating senior citizens to use AI driven fitness apps. Vroom’s expectancy theory of motivation was applied to examine the motivation of senior citizens. The responses from participants were collected through structured interviews. The participants belonged to South Asian origin belonging to India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. The authors adopted a content analysis approach where the gathered interview responses were coded in the context of elements of Vroom’s theory. The findings of the study indicated that a highly personalized approach in the context of motivation, expectancy, instrumentality and valence will motivate senior citizens to use AI based fitness apps. The study contributes to the personalization of AI fitness apps for senior citizens.

Tourist visits to a destination or attraction as a result of the destination being featured on television, video, or the cinema screen were the ones, that stimulated the creation and development of film tourism, which quickly established itself in global conditions. The main objective of the paper was focused on the identification and the perception of the conditions of film tourism development in Slovak republic. So far, a lot of film production has been realized in the country, but this potential has not yet been properly used for the creation of tourism products. Implementation of the study from a methodological point of view took place using several research methods. The pilot scientific abstraction of the issue was followed by the analysis of film conditions in the territory of Slovak Republic and their categorization. The given starting points were followed by the implementation of questionnaire research, the results of which were verified using several research methods such as Doornik-Hansen test, Kruskal-Wallis test. The results of the questionnaire research show a significant positive perception of the potential of filmmaking as a significant factor in the creation of new tourism products. At the same time, they identify key destinations that could potentially become objects of product realization. Due to the fact that this issue has not received adequate attention in domestic conditions, the study brings a new, more comprehensive view of the topic and emphasizes the power of the potential for further development.