Increase in Phytoextraction Potential by Genome Editing and Transformation: A Review

Soil metal contamination associated with productive activities is a global issue. Metals are not biodegradable and tend to accumulate in soils, posing potential risks to surrounding ecosystems and human health. Plant-based techniques (phytotechnologies) for the in situ remediation of metal-polluted soils have been developed, but these have some limitations. Phytotechnologies are a group of technologies that take advantage of the ability of certain plants to remediate soil, water, and air resources to rehabilitate ecosystem services in managed landscapes. Regarding soil metal pollution, the main objectives are in situ stabilization (phytostabilization) and the removal of contaminants (phytoextraction). Genetic engineering strategies such as gene editing, stacking genes, and transformation, among others, may improve the phytoextraction potential of plants by enhancing their ability to accumulate and tolerate metals and metalloids. This review discusses proven strategies to enhance phytoextraction efficiency and future perspectives on phytotechnologies.

Perspectives of integrated pest management in CDMX urban agriculture and impacts of SARS-CoV-2 health emergency

<p>The objective of this work was to determine the impact of COVID-19 on productive activities of farmers and extensionist, and the level of application of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in urban agriculture in Xochimilco, Milpa Alta, Tláhuac, Tlalpan, Magdalena Contreras and Cuajimalpa at Mexico City, a metropolitan area with a high SARS-CoV-2 positive cases. In 2020, a digital survey was applied to a total of 108 farmers and extensionists during the first COVID-19 epidemic wave. The sanitary emergency reduced the continuity of the extension service. However, this was carried out with digital technologies including photographs submitted by WhatsApp for pest diagnosis purposes. During the maximum COVID-19 peak (July, 2020), only 14% of farmers declined to sowing the summer fall season 2020. The majority established corn and, to a lesser extent, vegetables in mixed topologies. However, the activity of agricultural workers was reduced to 50%. Up to 75% of farmers reported losses of 20% derived from the epidemic. The major pest control strategy was mechanical, mainly for preventive purposes (67%) followed by chemical control (52%), biological at both preventive (8%) and curative (25%) levels, and the combination of more than one strategy in less than 10%. The data indicate an intuitive understanding of the IPM benefit, although the farmer is unaware of its principles. Faced with the growing demand for fresh, quality and safe food as a COVID-19 preventive strategy, urban agriculture has great development prospects by supplying local markets without transport problems caused by regional and global contingencies such as that caused by SARS[1]CoV-2. However, public and institutional policies of great vision are required. This work recognizes the work of farmers, as well as extensionists in favor of food security.</p>

Investment Trends for Iraqi Industries in Terms of Clean Production (selected model)

Industrial Investment according to Clean Productive methods is an important element in the process of rational use of Economic Resources, and the Iraqi industrial sector relied on traditional production methods; the productive activities in this sector did not take into consideration the environmental dimension, which leads to achieving the optimal use of economic resources, so it was necessary to have new investment trends heading with Clean Production. Therefore, the research is based on the hypothesis that "Clean Production contributes to improving the environment and rational use of Natural Resources." Based on the descriptive - inductive analysis methodology that study of Iraqi industries with Clean Production, and by seeking to collect the largest number of data and information related to these industries in order to obtain results and test the research hypothesis. The research concluded that despite the orientation of some Industries in Iraq towards Clean Production, they do not seek to achieve Sustainability in economic resources. For this, the researchers concluded that it is necessary to work seriously in harnessing technology, applied and technical sciences to direct Industrial Investment in Iraq towards Clean Products, by finding industrial alternatives that involve Cleaner Production and compensating for the inputs with Environmental damage. Research paper; Technical paper; Conceptual paper; Case study

Training on the Management of Zakat, Infaq and Shadaqah (ZIS) Productive in Kerinjing Village, Tanjung Raja District, Ogan Ilir Regency

Zakat, Infaq and Shadaqah (ZIS) are very important pillars in Islam to improve the welfare of the community, especially in rural areas. The correct management of ZIS funds needs to be understood to the village, so that it is not only depleted in consumptive activities, but can be applied in productive activities to improve the economy. The existence of mosques in the village as ZIS fund managers is very important in its distribution appropriately and usefully, so it is necessary to provide training related to the productive management of ZIS to the administrators and youth of mosques in Kerinjing Village. The goal is so that the people in Kerinjing Village can optimize the potential of ZIS collected. This training method uses discussion and counseling to the participants, so as to create a productive training atmosphere and create improved welfare for the community.

Zrnosko. Cultural Landscapes and Social Economy of a Village in Mala Prespa

This paper shows the first results of a preparatory fieldwork carried out in Zrnosko, a Macedonian-speaking village in the border region of Mala Prespa, Albania. Through observations and interviews collected around the concept of cultural landscape, it offers some insights into the history of the local social economy. Among these, the longue durée role of the forest and Prespa lake in the more general social geography of the region, the heritage of the collectivistic organization under the socialist regime of Enver Hoxha, and the contemporary marginalization of the village. The transformations in productive activities (such as small-scale agriculture and husbandry), as well as in the social organization of the local community, seem to reproduce and reshape local cultural landscapes. The widespread narratives about the lack of jobs offer a broader understanding of the village's social geography, its historical transformations and current condition. In a similar way local toponymy, as a result of an identity-building process, seems to reflect the cultural history of the environment, its productive activities and socio-cultural configurations. The participative mapping method, carried out in dialogue with locals, offers further explorations of the influence on toponyms in villagers' spatial practices, and in local identity narratives concerning ethnic and linguistic borders. Both productive activities and local geography seem to influence perceptions on the organization of space and time among inhabitants, revealing their cultural forms of appropriation and socialization of the land, as well as the current perception of its increasing abandonment. A synchronic-diachronic research on productive activities and the changings in space orienting elements mutually suggest a problematic, and ongoing, process of transition to an alternative productive model, which alternates subsistence economy with peripheral and ephemeral market-oriented efforts.

E-HRM As a Human Resource Management Tool in the Digital Economy

The article substantiates the need to create a new model of a personnel management system - electronic human resource management, which is an advanced business solution that provides full online support in the management of all processes, actions, data and information necessary for human resource management in a modern company, it is determined the essence and content, the goal, objectives, levels of electronic human resource management are shown, functions and results are shown, methods and opportunities for the implementation of electronic human resource management are proposed. It is shown that the introduction of electronic human resource management increases the efficiency of HR management processes by concentrating information about personnel in a centralized data bank, speeding up information processing, reducing errors and the amount of duplicate work, reducing less productive activities in the field of human resources and its reorientation to strategic tasks.

Providing Psychological Support to Parents of Childhood Cancer Survivors: ‘Cascade’ Intervention Trial Results and Lessons for the Future

We conducted a three-armed trial to assess Cascade, a four-module group videoconferencing cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) intervention for parents of childhood cancer survivors currently aged <18 years. We allocated parents to Cascade, an attention control (peer-support group), or a waitlist. The primary outcome was parents’ health-related quality of life (PedsQL-Family Impact/EQ-5D-5L) six months post-intervention. Parents also reported their anxiety/depression, parenting self-agency, fear of recurrence, health service and psychotropic medication use, engagement in productive activities, confidence to use, and actual use of, CBT skills, and their child’s quality of life. Seventy-six parents opted in; 56 commenced the trial. Cascade achieved good parent engagement and most Cascade parents were satisfied and reported benefits. Some parents expressed concerns about the time burden and the group format. Most outcomes did not differ across trial arms. Cascade parents felt more confident to use more CBT skills than peer-support and waitlisted parents, but this did not lead to more use of CBT. Cascade parents reported lower psychosocial health scores for their child than waitlisted parents. Cascade parents’ health service use, psychotropic medication use, and days engaged in productive activities did not improve, despite some improvements in waitlisted parents. Our trial was difficult to implement, but participants were largely satisfied. Cascade did not improve most outcomes, possibly because many parents were functioning well pre-enrolment. We used these findings to improve Cascade and will trial the new version in future.

Thermal Performance Analysis of a Newly Designed Circular Firewood Boiling Salt Stove

Different biomass stoves are introduced and distributed among people living in rural and urban areas, especially in developing countries. For salt crystal production in Thailand’s rural north-eastern area, open fire stoves are used in domestic and small productive activities. Their thermal efficiency is very low for converting heat into utilization energy. A new stove with a circular configuration was designed and constructed to consider its thermal efficiency and economics, which were compared with those from a traditional and an improved traditional stove. The obtained thermal efficiency of the newly designed stove was 14.77% higher than that of the improved stove and 81.45% higher than that of the traditional stove. For the same initial saline volume, the final amounts of salt crystals and salt flowers obtained from the newly designed stove was higher compared with those obtained from the improved stove and the traditional stove, respectively, resulting in a 69.25% shorter payback period.

Potential for the Development of Productive Activities of the Russian Penal System in the Context of Achieving National Goals Under the Paris Climate Agreement

One of the key tasks of the penal and correctional system is not only to socially isolate convicts and organize acceptable living conditions for them, but also to ensure their adequate resocialization after serving their sentence. The solution of this problem requires new approaches to the conduct of production activities by the institutions of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia. Among others, priority should be given to the areas of traditional economic specialization of the penitentiary system, which include, for example, logging and woodworking. The national contribution of the Russian Federation to the implementation of the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement implies the fullest possible use of the carbon-absorbing capacity of Russian forests. This task is solved, among other things, by a significant increase in the volume of artificial reforestation, which requires the development of a network of tree nurseries throughout the country. The article analyzes in detail the experience of a joint pilot project on forest nursery creation based on one of the institutions of the Federal Penitentiary Service with the participation of business association in the field of forest industry in Krasnoyarsk Krai. It is shown that the project is not only effective, but also has high indicators of economic efficiency, characterized by low payback period under the condition of ensuring decent working conditions for inmates. It emphasizes the importance of scientific and methodological support of the work performed by universities and research institutes, including within the program of creating world-class scientific and educational centers of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation

Efektivitas Program Baznas Microfinance di Desa Bojong Rangkas Ciampea Bogor

Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are proven to have played a role in economic development and growth, not only in developing countries but in developed countries as well. MSMEs are very important because this business sector absorbs more workers than large businesses. However, there is one problem faced by MSMEs in all countries, namely limited capital, which is mainly due to small or no access to banks or other financial institutions. In this case, zakat distributed to mustahiq will act as a supporter of their economic improvement if allocated to productive activities. The National Amil Zakat Agency (BAZNAS) is a zakat management institution established by the government that distributes zakat funds productively through a program, namely Baznas Microfinance. This study aims to determine how effective the Baznas Microfinance Desa program is in disbursing funds, to find out how effective the Baznas Microfinance Desa program is to improve MSME skills, and to find out what obstacles are faced by BMD Bojong Rangkas. This research is a qualitative research with a qualitative descriptive approach. Data collection techniques using interviews and documentation. Interviews were conducted with Baznas Microfinance in Bojong Rangkas Village. The results of the study show that Baznas Microfinance Desa provides loans only to zakat mustahik whose income is less than the minimum wage and the allocation is only for business. The maximum limit for applying for a loan is Rp. 2.500.000;- After getting a loan, there will also be a mentoring process carried out by BMD such as financial management training, product photos, marketing training, business development. Constraints faced by BMD Bojong Rangkas are the incompatibility of partners with the initial realization, delays in paying installments, and also many mustahik who do not know that in this program there is a business assistance process.