Urban public spaces are the interface of any city that could tell about the city’s dynamic and status quo. In addition, Urban public spaces play a pivotal role in shaping societies’ dynamics and can significantly affect conflict and peacebuilding initiatives. In a context marked by Conflict’s profound impact, this article aims to contribute to the knowledge base for informed urban interventions that foster positive interactions and reconciliation in post-conflict cities. The article seeks to explore the intricate relationship between urban spaces and their influence on war or to promote sustainable peacebuilding through investigating the various roles of the urban public spaces during the war and peacetimes via residents’ experiences of the diverse spaces’ functions that shaped the city’s status quo. In addition, considering the interplay of social dynamics, conflict history, and the mental spatial map of cities in public urban spaces can influence lasting peace or upcoming conflicts. This article focuses on Aleppo as a case study, understanding the positive and negative experiences from the residents’ perspective before and during the current war in Syria, and even distinguishes between two periods during the recent war, which are the active violence and after the end of the direct active violence, where it could inform the decision-makers and urban planners on the areas of focus while developing post-war urban public spaces to ensure its positive role in fostering peace and be able to deal with the social dynamic and the mental spatial map that developed along with the conflict history. The paper utilised a mixed-methods approach, encompassing a case study review of Aleppo City from an urban perspective and fieldwork involving focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews with Aleppian from different backgrounds and geographic areas that represent the social dynamic of the city, as well as approached Aleppian who are still in living in the city and those who flee out of it to ensure the coverage of different political direction in addition field work engaged with academia and technical from the city who shared their knowledge and experiences working in the city. Participants were prompted to reflect on their pre-war familiarity with public places and share their experiences. These experiences were categorized by enabling a comprehensive understanding of how conflict context influenced these spaces. The article results offer an understanding of the peace-guiding functions of the urban public spaces based on the city residents’ experiences that could inform architects and urban planners in designing spaces conducive to sustainable peacebuilding. The article’s findings underscore the importance of strategically designed urban public spaces in promoting peace and social cohesion.

Background: Bitcoin mining, an energy-intensive process, requires significant amounts of electricity, which results in a particularly high carbon footprint from mining operations. In the Republic of Kazakhstan, where a substantial portion of electricity is generated from coal-fired power plants, the carbon footprint of mining operations is particularly high. This article examines the scale of energy consumption by mining farms, assesses their share in the country’s total electricity consumption, and analyzes the carbon footprint associated with bitcoin mining. A comparative analysis with other sectors of the economy, including transportation and industry is provided, along with possible measures to reduce the environmental impact of mining operations. Materials and methods: To assess the impact of bitcoin mining on the carbon footprint in Kazakhstan, electricity consumption from 2016 to 2023, provided by the Bureau of National Statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan, was used. Data on electricity production from various types of power plants was also analyzed. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was used to analyze the environmental performance of energy systems. CO₂ emissions were estimated based on emission factors for various energy sources. Results: The total electricity consumption in Kazakhstan increased from 74,502 GWh in 2016 to 115,067.6 GWh in 2023. The industrial sector’s electricity consumption remained relatively stable over this period. The consumption by mining farms amounted to 10,346 GWh in 2021. A comparative analysis of CO₂ emissions showed that bitcoin mining has a higher carbon footprint compared to electricity generation from renewable sources, as well as oil refining and car manufacturing. Conclusions: Bitcoin mining has a significant negative impact on the environment of the Republic of Kazakhstan due to high electricity consumption and resulting carbon dioxide emissions. Measures are needed to transition to sustainable energy sources and improve energy efficiency to reduce the environmental footprint of cryptocurrency mining activities.

E-commerce is increasingly developing as a platform large and small companies use to carry out online transactions with consumers. However, the development of e-commerce is also fraught with new environmental problems. Various problems occur, such as data leaks and fraud in buying and selling transactions. This research aims to deepen the study of the e-commerce environment from the perspective of local policymakers, and this research completes a study on the analysis of e-commerce problems and solutions from the perspective of policy actors. The development of e-commerce still has an unsafe environment; the potential for fraud and data leakage is still significant, and a government response is needed, such as creating new regulations or revising existing regulations. This research uses qualitative analysis with a content analysis approach and national online news media as research data and information sources. Nvivo 12 Plus software was used to identify problems and solutions offered by actors in their narratives in the media. The results of this research show that data leaks and e-commerce have the potential to threaten the country’s resilience, conventional businesses are threatened with closure, and policymakers are shifting responsibility for overcoming e-commerce problems. Current regulations still need to be made appropriately to overcome e-commerce problems.

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a major cause of blindness globally. Effective screening programs are essential to mitigate this burden. This review outlines key principles and practices in implementing DR screening programs, emphasizing the roles of technology, patient education, and healthcare system integration. Our analysis highlights key principles for establishing successful screening initiatives, including the importance of regular screenings, optimal intervals, recommended technologies, and necessary infrastructure. We emphasize the roles of healthcare providers, patients, and policymakers in ensuring the effectiveness of these programs. Our recommendations aim to support the creation of robust policies that mitigate the impact of DR, ultimately improving public health outcomes and reducing the incidence of blindness due to diabetic retinopathy.

Background: In an increasingly globalized world, public health is a challenge in the future of health systems. Nursing is a fundamental profession in health systems and the purpose of the study is to quantify the scientific production in global public health carried out by nursing to demonstrate its competence, capacity and specialization in this subject. Methods: A bibliometric study was carried out to understand the scientific production of public health nursing in WoS. A total of 17,545 documents were analyzed using Bibliometrix software in version 4.0.5. Results: A notable increase in production is observed over time, a sign of specialization and capacity. The theme focuses on three stages: hygiene and sanitation, infectious diseases and quality, prevention and non-communicable diseases coinciding with the real social needs of each moment. Most of the production is in English and produced by countries with developed economies. Nursing is aligned with current public health needs. Conclusions: Bibliometrics is a good method to quantify scientific production. The results show extensive scientific production in public health nursing, which translates into extensive knowledge of public health by nursing. There is a growth in production in accordance with time as well as an adaptation to the most current themes in accordance with population needs. Public health is an area of concern to countries and nursing can actively participate in studies, planning and leadership of health systems. Public health nursing should not be considered relegated to medicine but independent and of crucial importance to the “Onehealth” concept. Public, private and educational administrations must promote and support nursing research in public health, and it is not advisable to reduce the teaching load of global public health in nursing studies, in favor of the family and community environment.

The rapid progress of information technology has made public online participation in policy formulation an inevitable product of modern government reshaping and reconstruction. However, compared with developed countries, citizens’ online participation in policy formulation in China started relatively late. Thus, in order to explore an effective and efficient method for Chinese citizens’ participation in policy formulation, this research made a brief review of the experiences from the typical developed country of United States of America at first, followed by some other developed countries such as Singapore, South Korea, and Japan in Asia with similar situations. Still, combined with the current situation of the China itself into consideration, this research further proposes targeted recommendations. It is expected that the findings in this research could provide some references for the Chinese government to form more effective and efficient theoretical frameworks targeted at the future development trends of the Chinese society and accordingly, to improve the construction of democracy in China.