The article describes the use of publicly available materials of radar mapping from spacecraft as a way to increase the reliability, as well as to reduce the cost and time of work to select the site of linear construction projects situated in remote underdeveloped areas. Based on the results of theoretical study and practical application of radar mapping of the Earth's surface from spacecrafts the conclusion is made about the availability of these materials, their reliability (relevance) and accuracy in order to select the site of linear construction projects at the concept design stage.

Background: Maternity leave, whether paid or unpaid, is a critical resource that can significantly impact maternal well-being and newborn outcomes. However, its availability and utilization among mothers living in poverty remain understudied. Education is widely recognized as a key factor that increases access to both paid and unpaid leave. However, the theory of Minorities’ Diminished Returns (MDRs) posits that structural racism, segregation, and labor market discrimination limit the benefits of socioeconomic resources, such as education, for Black and Latino individuals. This suggests that the effects of education on maternity leave may not be uniform across racial and ethnic groups. Objective: This study aimed to examine the MDRs of education on access to unpaid and paid maternity leave among Black and Latino mothers compared to White mothers giving birth while living in poverty. Methods: We utilized baseline data from the Baby’s First Years Study (BFY), a longitudinal investigation of the effects of poverty on child development. The sample consisted of 1,050 mothers living in poverty who had recently given birth. Maternity leave (paid and unpaid) was assessed via self-report, and educational attainment was measured in years of schooling. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and interaction terms were employed to analyze racial and ethnic differences in the relationship between education and access to maternity leave. Results: Educational attainment was positively associated with access to unpaid maternity leave for the overall sample of mothers giving birth in poverty, but this association was weaker for Black and Latino mothers compared to non-Latino White mothers. Education did not significantly increase the likelihood of paid maternity leave, and there were no group differences for this association. Conclusion: This study highlights the urgent needs to address structural racism, labor market discrimination, and residential segregation that diminish the impact of education on living conditions for Black and Latino mothers, compared to non-Latino White mothers, even for those living under poverty. Policymakers and practitioners should develop targeted interventions to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in access to paid and unpaid maternity leave and other critical resources, particularly for new mothers living in poverty. Addressing these inequities is essential for improving maternal and newborn health outcomes and promoting social justice.

Considering the current climate conjuncture, it is a consensus that green spaces in large contemporary urban areas should be increasingly more numerous and simultaneously more sustainable, being adapted to the edaphoclimatic conditions of the site, and with reduced maintenance costs. In the case of Algarve, where this research is focused, the current and future water availability, assumes a preponderant role in the design of green spaces, where the demands mentioned above can only be achieved if we deviate from conventional landscape practices and develop holistic strategies of management and design of green spaces that integrate different areas of knowledge and not merely aesthetic issues. In this context, this work aims to develop more adapted and resilient landscaping practices to the current and future climatic conditions of the Algarve, thus reinventing the concept of landscaping in the south of Portugal. Thus, it will be of paramount importance to develop more sustainable, resilient and tolerant projects to worsening ecological conditions, particularly limitations associated with water availability. The xeromorphic succulents are a group of plants with mechanisms of tolerance to water stress and with very specific characteristics, being succulence one of the most relevant. Studies on these mechanisms are increasingly frequent, which may prove to be very advantageous in our adaptation to future climatic challenges. In addition, their ornamental potential is enormous, since their bold forms and colours are a veritable sensory explosion, which, combined with their morphological and physiological characteristics, make them the species of choice in the reconversion or creation of xerophytic gardens.

The accurate estimation of Individual Wave Components (IWC) is crucial for automated diagnosis of the human digestive system in a clinical setting. However, this process can be challenging due to signal contamination by other signal sources in the body, such as the lungs and heart, as well as environmental noise. To address this issue, various denoising techniques are commonly employed in bowel sound signal processing. While denoising is important, it can increase computational complexity, making it challenging for portable devices. Therefore, signal processing algorithms often require a trade-off between fidelity and computational complexity. This study aims to evaluate an IWC parameter extraction algorithm that was previously developed and reconstruct the IWC without denoising using synthetic and clinical data. To that end, the role of a reliable model in creating synthetic data is paramount. The rigorous testing of the algorithm is limited by the availability of quality and quantity recorded data. To overcome this challenge, a mathematical model has been proposed to generate synthetic bowel sound data that can be used to test new algorithms. The proposed algorithm’s robust performance is evaluated using both synthetic and clinically recorded data. We perform time-frequency analysis of original and reconstructed bowel sound signals in various digestive system states and characterize the performance using Monte Carlo simulation when denoising is not applied. Overall, our study presents a promising algorithm for accurate IWC estimation that can be useful for predicting anomalies in the digestive system.

Risks in Public Private Procurement mass housing project (PPP-MHP) initiatives are emerging and this requires early risk identification and allocation to achieve the goal and sustenance of the scheme. The study, being a follow-up of a Delphi survey, elicits the opinion of respondents on the probability of occurrence and severity of identified risks in PPP-MHPs in Nigeria. The study adopts a quantitative research design approach by administering structure questionnaire survey on identified PPP-MHPs partners in Abuja, Nigeria. Data analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistical tools such as Mean item score (MIS), standard deviation, and Kruskal Wallis analytical techniques with the aid of SPSS software packages. The findings show that all the listed risk factors were found to be extremely high, very high, high, or moderate in terms of occurrence while all the listed risk factors recorded a very high level of severity on the delivery of PPP-MHPs. The top ten (10) risk factors frequently associated with PPP-MHPs are non-availability of finance, high finance cost, non-involvement of the host community, poor execution of housing policies, corruption and lack of respect for law, wrong perception of housing need by low-income earners, Illegal title to land, land acquisition and site availability, level of demand for the mass housing projects and unstable value of local currency. The respondents differs significantly on 29 risk factors in terms of occurrence and 40 risk factors in term of severity. The study, therefore, recommends that risk management culture should be highly encouraged among the PPP Partners in the sector. The study intends to enumerate the rate of occurrence of some itemized risk factors and their severities on the delivery of PPP – procured mass housing projects in Nigeria and the need to bookmark these risk factors in ensuring the sustainability of the PPP mass housing scheme.

The study accessed the critical risk factors in public-private partnership (PPP)-procured mass housing project (MHP) delivery in Nigeria. The research design adopts a quantitative approach, using well-structured questionnaires distributed to stakeholders involved in PPP-MHPs i.e. consultants, in-house professionals, contractors, and the organized private sector (OPS) registered with PPP departments in the Federal Capital Territory Development Authority (FCDA) Abuja, Nigeria. The instrument relates to the background information of respondents and the risk peculiar to PPP-MHP. Sixty-three (63) risk factors were submitted for the respondents to rank using Mean Item score (MIS) for risk occurrence and its severity, while risk significance index (RI) was used to determine the risk impact. Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation (FSE) method was subsequently applied to determine the risk criticality groups and the overall risk level in the sector. The fuzzy set theory deals with ambiguous, subjective and imprecise judgments peculiar to decision making in construction project risk assessment. It aims to provide a synthetic evaluation of an object relative to a fuzzy decision environment with multiple criteria that requires qualitative linguistic terms. The findings show that thirty-one (31) risk factors were critical in the sector while financial and micro-economic risk group is contributing most significantly to the overall risk level in PPP-MHPs in Nigeria. The top 10 risk factors in the sector include availability of finance, high finance cost, the unstable value of the local currency, lack of creditworthiness, influential economic events (boom/recession), high bidding cost, poor financial market, financial attraction to project investors, interest rate volatility, inflation rate volatility, corruption and lack of respect for the law, non-involvement of the host community and poor execution of housing policies. The implication for practice is that having known the risk group contributing most significantly to the overall risk level in PPP-MHPs, adequate financial and budgetary allocation should be made available before embarking on such venture so as to sustain the scheme in the country. The study is one of the recent researches conducted on housing, since the procurement option is novel in the sector. The study is of immense value to PPP actors in providing necessary information required to formulate risk response methods in minimize the identified risk impact sector.

The paper considers a specific type of such financial instrument as an option, namely an exotic barrier call option of the European type. Exotic options are gaining popularity among ordinary investors due to the development of information and telecommunication technologies, thanks to which such specific financial instruments as options have become readily available. We investigate the hedging problem for such options with some restrictions on the payment function and the availability of dividend payment on a risky asset in the classical Black-Scholes model. An analogue of the Black-Scholes formula for the mentioned variant of the exotic barrier is proved. In the future, it is planned to generalize the obtained results for put options and for more general payment functions.

The decision to choose between onsite and offsite construction is important in the effort toward sustainable construction. Offsite construction is often promoted as an environmentally friendly approach to construction operations. However, previous studies have shown that there is a lack of clarity on the environmental trade-offs between onsite and offsite construction. Factors that can affect the decision to build onsite or offsite include the availability of a local offsite manufacturing facility, the distance of the offsite factory to the final place of use, the proximity of the site to the local supply of material and labor, etc. This study provides a framework to apply the system dynamic modeling technique to evaluate how various factors can affect the environmental impact of the building construction phase (for onsite or offsite construction methods). The system dynamic model (using Vensim software) that was developed provides a platform that allows users to input variables such as the distance that is expected for transportation of labor, material, and equipment to both the onsite facility and the offsite construction location, factors associated with the use of equipment for construction, the distance needed for transportation of building panels or modules from the offsite facility to the final site, etc. Among other things, the model showed that an increase in the distance from the offsite yard to the final construction site increases the total impacts of transportation of completed modules. An increase in the number of trips for the transportation of material to the onsite construction location increases the total impact of onsite construction. In terms of the environmental impact of construction, none of the two methods of construction gives an absolute superiority over the other. The environmental performance of offsite and onsite depends on various associated factors. It is recommended that building practitioners review various factors that are peculiar to their projects to make an informed decision on the best construction methods.

This study addresses the critical challenge of material scarcity within Ghana’s creative industries by pioneering the synthesis of professional-grade stage blood from indigenous, locally-sourced materials. In the context of Ghanaian theatre and film, practitioners face significant barriers due to the high cost and limited availability of imported special effects products, often resulting in the use of inadequate substitutes that compromise aesthetic realism, safety, and narrative authenticity. This paper responds by exploring the potential of cassava starch, tapioca, kenkey dough, and fufu wax. Grounded in Schumacher’s theory of Appropriate Technology, the paper reframes indigenous resources not as inferior alternatives but as technologically and contextually appropriate solutions that align with Ghana’s economic, environmental, and social realities. The study provides detailed, reproducible recipes for both flowing and clotted blood variants, validated through practical application in simulated special effects such as gunshot wounds and deep-tissue scars. These formulations meet key performance criteria: visual fidelity under theatrical and cinematic conditions, controlled viscosity, ease of application and removal, and performer safety. Beyond technical innovation, this research contributes to shifting academic and professional discourse from dependency and scarcity toward resourcefulness, sustainability, and artistic self-reliance. It offers a practical framework for reducing production costs, enhancing the quality of visual storytelling, and fostering local value chains within Ghana’s growing creative economy.